Conan O'Brien Leaving Late Night Tonight
I remember back in 1993 when Conan did his first show. I only had one kid, I recorded it on VHS tape, and I was prepared to hate him. After all, he was stepping into the show which my boy David Letterman had made famous, and he got that sweet gig only because NBC had decided to go with the safer Jay Leno instead of giving The Tonight Show to Dave after the retirement of the late, great Johnny Carson. I remember watching the first show, and laughing in spite of myself at Conan's wry way of poking fun at himself.
Now, here we are in 2009...Conan himself is getting ready to take over the hosting duties of Tonight, Dave has carved out his own unique niche over at CBS, Jay is gearing up for his own variety-type show at 10 PM. How things can change. It took Conan until about 1996 to truly find his footing, and he was famously on thirteen-week extensions of his contract for a long time until he finally figured out how to showcase his unique brand of humor. On his 10th Anniversary Show, Mr. T came out and presented him a medal with a 7 on it:
O'Brien: But Mr. T, we've been on the air for ten years! Mr. T: I know that, fool, but you only been funny for seven!Tonight is Conan's last Late Night (wow, I swear it seems like yesterday that he just got there...isn't that something only old people say?):
Over the past week, his last as host of NBC’s “Late Night,” Conan O’Brien has taken to entering the NBC headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Center from the ice-rink side, breaking with his long routine of coming in from Avenue of the Americas. “I was just determined that in the last few days I would walk through the front and into that main entrance,” Mr. O’Brien said. “I know I won’t come this way again.” He added, “I’ll probably cry like a baby on Friday night.” [...]I'd be lying if I said I didn't have reservations about how Conan will fit into the earlier time slot. He's already had to leave some of his best-known gags behind because of censor issues and the earlier time is usually more traditional than edgy:
What he creates on “Tonight” will inevitably be different, he said, in ways still to be determined. Several other late-night producers privately question whether Mr. O’Brien’s comedy style — which he himself defines as more silly than sophisticated — will translate to the more traditional “Tonight” show. A competitor who would speak on the record, Rob Burnett of the Letterman show, said: “I think Conan will succeed. He’s a really smart, really funny guy.”
Plus, let's face it, Leno going to the 10 PM slot probably wasn't the news Conan was waiting all his life to hear:
Warren Littlefield, who was NBC’s top program executive when Mr. Leno began at “Tonight” in 1992, said: “Sure, Conan is still getting the ‘Tonight Show,’ but who are we kidding? Call it what you will. But if NBC hasn’t done it yet, you know they are going to at some point be saying: ‘Late night begins at 10 o’clock.’ ” [...] Mr. Leno made clear in an interview in December that he envisions his show as another late-night entity, despite the prime-time location. “Even though it’s 10 o’clock, we’re going to pretend it’s 11:30,” Mr. Leno had said. As to guests, he added, “I think we will have an advantage in saying to press agents: It’s prime time. We reach a wider audience.” [...] After the announcement Mr. O’Brien’s representatives said they preferred this outcome to the prospect of Mr. Leno landing at ABC — his most likely destination — and going head-to-head with “Tonight.” But the move gave Mr. O’Brien pause for about “an hour and 45 minutes,” he said. “The 10 p.m. thing, Monday through Friday, I don’t think that was something anybody necessarily saw coming. “I took some time before I went to my producer and said: ‘In this scenario I’m still hosting that show that Johnny Carson had that I watched with my father in my living room, right?’ And he said, ‘Yes, you are.’ And I said, ‘Then I’m good.’ ” Known for an affable demeanor uncommon to the often cutthroat world of television stars, Mr. O’Brien professed relief that NBC found a way to keep Mr. Leno in house. “Of all the alternatives in the universe, this one honestly does work best for me,” he said. “I didn’t want to suddenly be perceived as this person who forced someone into a bad position. I wouldn’t be comfortable in that role.”And here's a bit of Conan trivia that I didn't know...according to the article, NBC actually gave Conan the axe one night, only to change their mind the next morning. Oh yeah, I'll bet that was fun. Anyway, I thought you might like to see what things were like back in the day. I'll be tuning in to watch the show tonight, only I'll put it on DVR instead of VHS. Oh, and for a little bit of Conan fun that I can't post here, here's the End Of The Show Song, the part that is never on TV! Enjoy a blast from the past...that's all I got, I'm outta here!
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