Last Night with Conan O’Brien
Tonight marks an important moment in comedic television history. Conan O’Brien will be hosting his final episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
Conan has been hosting his late night comedy/talk show since 1993. I was only five years old at that time, so in no way am I a lifelong Conan fan. However over the past six to seven years I have been in an on and off relationship with the show, and consider Conan to be one of the funniest people on television.
The show is perfectly slotted into its 12:37am start time. Many nights of my life have been transformed from normal to hysterical because of the irreverent and offbeat humor on Late Night. The humor often does not make sense, but the beauty therein is that at 1am intelligence is no longer a requirement. Be it a poorly created costume, shots of Max Weinberg’s blank stare, or Conan knocking over the microphone, even the worst jokes are hysterical.
Far and away the greatest segment on Late Night is the Walker, Texas Ranger lever. As all Late Night fans are aware, in this segment Conan pulls a lever that produces various clips from Texas Ranger featuring the legendary Chuck Norris. Unfortunately I was unable to find any video examples to link. It seems that NBC has scoured the internet and taken down any Late Night clips. The only place to find them currently is on Hulu, but due to their crippled search feature I am unable to locate any Walker clips.
Regardless, the concept alone illustrates the absurdity of Conan’s humor. Another favorite segment of mine is In the Year 2000… where Conan and a guest predict the future that will occur in the year 2000. Accompanied by La Bamba’s singing, the predictions are in sync with the rest of the show: they are absolutely ridiculous, but it makes you laugh. I was able to find some video on Hulu: In the Year 2000: Tracy Morgan Edition.
There are a plethora of other moments in Conan history that have been great. Just by pointing out two of my favorite recurring segments dozens of other hilarious moments crossed my mind. Conan’s irrational monologues have been the source of many laughs across the nation. And of course the many hilarious interviews over the years cannot be ignored.
This week Conan has been recapping great moments in Late Night history. Conan has also begun to literally take an axe to various parts of the set and give the pieces away to audience members. It is this kind of…well, stupidity that I hope is not lost in Conan’s transition to The Tonight Show as he takes over for Jay Leno. Moving up an hour in airtime might not seem like a big deal, but Leno has never even approached the levels of nonsense that Conan reaches every night. Will the NBC suits allow Conan to continue his type of humor?
You can find the full episodes from this week on the Late Night Hulu page. If by chance you miss tonight’s episode I am sure it will be on that site shortly after tonight’s airing.
Thanks Conan, and good luck on The Tonight Show.
4 Comments
The senior trip will never be the same :-(
thankfully at the end of last night’s show conan said that he wouldn’t change anything. again, if the big guys tell he has to obviously he will change but i think his core craziness will stay. i often look at the clock at 12:37 in the afternoon just by chance and literally immediately think that its 12 hours to conan. conan is a genius.
@Mr.I They could be, but the hilarity has to start 1 hour earlier now!
@mark: I am also excited by Conan’s promise not to change. By far my favorite part of the final episode was his proclamation that though many people suggest he needs to grow up for The Tonight Show, it simply is not going to happen. That gave me comfort that when he debuts in a few months, we will see the same old Conan antics. We can only hope.
i really liked how he got emotional at the end because it proves how much he really cares about what he does and does not take it for granted like so many people in show business do.
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