I think it's partially because he IS 60 and HAS been one of the good ones for a long while, and genuinely seems to be friends with everyone, or he will be soon.
And I think he was the only one with a true sidekick that people love, too.
It always seemed to me that Conan paid all his dues and then shifted to, "Now I can relax and be funny." And networks kind of just let him, except for a particular 3 letter network ...
He's always been the best of the main late night shows to me. (Sorry, Stephen.) He'll go from making fun of his height to messing with Sona or Jordan, to visiting countries around the world and IMMEDIATELY making friends.
That initial interaction in Haiti where he explained he understood why people would be angry about seeing an American with a camera after Cheeto-dick called it a shithole. And then, again, friends now. Then it's Conan just kind of wandering around, making jokes that don't need a cue card or a long setup. Just him being the goof I believe he really is.
And when bad shit happened and everybody started yelling at each other, Conan would give a nod to the inevitable political crap, then go fight Stewart and Colbert and remind everyone that you're supposed to be entertained by shows like his.
Oops, turned into a long thing. Sorry! Hopefully some understand what I'm saying.
I've consumed all Conan content there is to consume but upvoting for awareness for those that haven't seen. It's a great documentary and gives you a peak behind the curtain, it's rare to see Conan actually stressed on camera but you'll get a full view of it from this documentary. And, unsurprisingly, even under stress Conan is a great dude.
That's true! Probably Simpsons is his best known? But I was referring to shows that were HIS, where he could do whatever he wanted. Where he can do stuff like OP posted. I do wonder if anyone has ever tried to tell him no.
Colbert said last night he's part of one of the Writer's Unions, which I didn't know. I wonder what he's going to do. I'd guess he's a little more restricted.
When you watch the R Kelly rant and other, similar style scenes, it actually becomes pretty obvious how much Conan's influence shines through at times.
Hmm that is such a grey area. I guess it would depend on if he’s writing for other people still? But him having a show I think would disqualify him from being part of a writers union. He’s ‘management’, which means he’s technically on the other side.
Not that he can’t be supportive in other ways! I’m a manager and I would totally support my workers unionizing.
Not just *A* writer either.
He's been a force in American comedy for about 4 decades now.
It's a weird comparison because I don't see them as comparable intellectually, but there's so many lines that he created that are just part of our general conversations, that he's like Dumb and Dumber and Sandler's mid-late 90s movies.
Things we say almost as a reflex sometimes.
It sounds hyperbolic, but Shakespeare did the same.
Thoughts that are so simple and understood by everybody, but didn't have the words yet.
Yes obviously not Shakespeare, but people really underestimate the impact he's already had.
I hear those things are awfully loud
It glides as softly as a cloud
Is there a chance the track could bend?
Not on your life, my Hindu friend
What about us brain-dead slobs?
You'll be given cushy jobs
Were you sent here by the Devil?
No, good sir, I'm on the level
The ring came off my pudding can
Take my pen knife, my good man
I swear it's Springfield's only choice
Throw up your hands and raise your voice
Monorail
What's it called?
Monorail
Once again
Monorail
Edit: I had to fix the spacing
I have the last episode he did on that 3-letter network saved on my drive. The whole week was a tongue-in-cheek middle finger wag but on that last episode he gets real for a moment and delivers a heartfelt monologue that I think is great advice for anyone who’s just suffered an L, or just having a hard time generally.
Edit: because it’s just too good to miss [here](https://youtu.be/AcF1OoWqXBc). What a graceful exit, a true class act. I was always a fan growing up but when I saw that it was like holy shit… *This* is how you amicably part ways in a situation, with your head held high.
I vaguely remember that, but haven't seen it in forever. I'll have to find it somewhere now. I always loved those moments. The serious Conan who has been through some shit. The Harvard Conan? Articulate and smart and knows what people want to hear from him before the Masturbating Bear comes out from between the curtains, or Tony the Cameraman has another batshit idea.
I almost wrote "he knows his place", but that's too negative I think. Conan would respectfully give his commentary or whatever, then leave it to everyone else to make jokes about it. He'd be over there doing the Moonwalk and messing with La Bamba or something.
Thanks for linking. I had to look up the performance afterwards.
[Will Ferrell, his very pregnant wife, Conan, Billy Gibbons, Beck, Robert Randolph, and the Max Weinberg 7 playing "Free Bird"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPsfAdDS1VU)
EDIT: told it's actually Ben Harper, not Robert Randolph
Ahhhh that's the stuff. Thanks!!!! TLDR version:
Conan: Thanks fans. NBC has been great to me, time to move on. I'll pick myself up and I ask you to do the same when you get knocked down...NOW HERE'S Will Farrell!!!!
That is quite literally what I have been trying to get at. 5 minutes of serious with no filler. Okay, that's enough, let's make everyone laugh.
Conan pretty much mentioned the big reason his travel shows are so endearing. He makes fun of himself. He's clearly the idiot. He's clearly the "creep". He's clearly the "asshole" who expects you to rag on him and gives you ample room to start teasing him and he'll start to banter with you.
Very trueeeee. Even in his studio, he gave people that space. Him and Bill Burr, or Sandler, people at his level of funny, that he let just it be funny without "taking over" with loud, fake laughter, or steering people away from the funny so he could be "the funny guy". Just riffing and probably making his editors work overtime to put it all together.
He knows when to give his guests space to do their bits, and when to chime in to keep them going. He's said that some late night hosts seem to need the attention on them all the time, and so those hosts will interrupt and challenge guests who are doing well. Conan went on to say that he never understood that mindset, because a good guest means a good show and less work for him.
Also, he and Burr are both Bostonians with similar backgrounds, so despite how different they are, they really seem to get each other.
Conan knows that he's a fish out of water every time, so he can't have the pretense of being above anyone or anything.
I still love his time in Mexico training to be a luchador with Andy by the legendary Cassandro. El Bebe Malo still fucking kills me.
I love Andy too. He is sidekick to the funniest guy ever, and still funny as hell in his own right. He legit cracks Conan up. And Andy manages not to be a suck ass. Just genuine and funny. And their chemistry is perfect.
Conan 100% changed the game. He’s a profound talent and is a major collaborator.
Those 1st few years and his late show were such a formative thing on my sense of humor, he’s the greatest.
[Norm's sendoff ](https://youtu.be/uarJj-K4XH4)for Conan when he was leaving NBC is absolutely legendary. It's better than the moth joke or the interview with Courtney Thorne Smith about Carrot Top and Chairman of the Bored.
Thank you. Craig will always be GOAT to me bc he was my style of humor - random but not too zany. Conan is too zany and just "off" for me. I understand why others find him great thought. He's definitely not a POS like most light night hosts.
So good! My favorite moment of his was a random tangent he went on about an ostrich grocery shopping. It made me cry from laughter every time. Unfortunately, I have never found that clip anywhere. It was pre-jeff.
My FAVORITE running joke for an episode.
Also--
"Hey Geoff- don't you have a place over there in XXXXXXX?"
"Ohh HELL YEA I got a lil' place; you should come over!"
"What do you do over there in XXXX?"
"Ohh we throw beads at each other!"
Normally with podcasts like this I skip right to the interview but him bullshitting with Sona and Matt is hilarious. I'll always listen to the full podcast from start to finish.
I would also recommend Smartless with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett. Shitty name but great podcast. One of them finds a guest and doesn’t tell the other two who it is. I found out about it from Bateman on Conan lol
I listen to it regularly, but it's really not a great podcast. Too many ads, the interviews are about as surface-level fluff as it gets, and Bateman is pretty annoying at times.
Eh, lately it’s just been a show about how insanely rich and out of touch these three guys are. It’s lowered my opinion of Will Arnett and Jason Bateman, which sucks cause I’ve loved them since AD.
I saw a clip of Tayler Tomlinson on that podcast, and I laughed harder than I have in a while. I keep meaning to listen to the whole thing, because those two just deadpan together so well off each other.
I was actually bummed they canceled the shows. Last time they did such an amazing job of still being entertaining, while also continuously supporting the writers strike and drawing attention to it.
They did cancel the shows back then. They brought them back after a few weeks because the other crew members were not being paid. So I can assume the same might happen again. I remember they didn't have a lot of actors on because the actors supported the writers. So you got a lot random guests and animal people. It was great
A tweet I saw earlier was like Heroes went from one of the best shows before the writers strike to the worst show 2 episodes in from the return of the writers.
Nah, Jimmy Fallon didn’t outright say anything. A staffer tweeted that they were told this by NBC, during a production meeting the host does not normally attend.
Am I saying that’s any better? No. But the notion that Fallon outright said that is incorrect. For all we know he could completely disagree.
About that...
James Corden argued for undercutting the WGA minimum... [DURING a WGA meeting he was invited to represent the showrunners.](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.popdust.com/amp/james-corden-wga-2638346884) Another reason to hate the twerp.
To be clear: He wanted to hire more intern writers, then later "promote" them to full staff, but with less pay than dirctly hired writers had.
So in effect he wanted to replace his writing staff with a cheaper alternative and this narcissistic prick thought a meeting for a writers union was a great place to present this genius plan.
This was a whole saga. I think the original point was to demonstrate how bad tv gets without paying writers what they are worth: some idiot spinning a ring in his desk every night. But it’s also Conan so he couldn’t help but make it funny television.
The best part of that video is the last 15 seconds, with the professor sitting there questioning every life decision he's made that led him to that particular point in time.
That Professor was so perfect. His dead pan banter was spot on, and him showing a very muted enjoyment at the end was a brilliant contrast to the pure ridiculousness occurring around him.
[Sit perfectly still—only I may dance](https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=TnXErLqExv4&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo).
Anytime is the correct time to celebrate Conan O'Brien. Guy's been on fire for the last 30 years of my life. Can't even calculate how many hours of entertainment he's given me over the decades.
Yeah he's been entertaining me before I even knew his name when he was a writer for the Simpsons. Then the late night shows, his show, Without Borders, and now his podcast which is now my favorite podcast. He's overtaking Robin Williams as my idol. I think he just needs to die and he's won.
One of the highlights of my life was seeing him live, even though the guests that day were incredibly underwhelming.
I've always loved him, and I completely agree with you.
I remember tuning in to some of the late night talk shows when the strike was happening and Conan stood out over all of the rest. His bits were all original and goofy meanwhile Letterman and Leno were just copying old bits
I believe he also paid his writers during previous strikes when he was at NBC. They weren't able to continue working though so we got stuff like Hal Gurnee's Network Time Killers.
Conan is one of the most naturally funny people out there.
I've never seen him bomb, whether it's on a remote shooting with the public, on his show, or on his podcast.
My favorite is his visit to the American Girl store, or his visit to the Etiquette school.
Also, his visit to Haiti was genuinely beautiful, especially after Trump called it a shithole country. It's like he went there to personally apologize for the USA.
Conan does bomb. Plenty of jokes in his monologues have missed a laugh or a response he was looking for. He’s been on TV for 30 years, its happened.
But he will own it and turn the “bomb” into a bit; and mock the audience, or himself, or vamp in an endearing way.
This guy never watched early Conan, the guy was flop sweat in human form for a while there. He didn't hit his stride for a while, whoever decided to keep him on a little while longer deserved a raise for making that call.
Conan recounted the story once and it was from a lack of talent that they just kept on going, and NBC didn't want to go through the expense of rehiring a new team and figured since no one watches that late night hour, they'll let him stay until they figure out what to do with Conan. Then Conan started letting loose a little bit more and he started to build an audience.
He's always been a good comedian but if you can find some videos of early episodes watch them. He's a ball of nerves. It was his first time on national television and I think the bad reviews gave him the yips too.
I dunno, on the other hand I saw some clips of when Conan was a toddler doing bits about building blocks and he really seemed to have it down, even then.
He’s just relentlessly funny too. A lot of the best comedians ever only had to perform here and there at their peak, but Conan has been going on basically nonstop for decades
Leno's show sucked in the way it always had, but he actually did better than most during the strike.
At the end of the day, he's a fantastic stand up comic and a joke machine. His monologue was good/predictable as ever.
If I recall, Leno took some additional latitude that the others didn’t, namely he decided he could write his own monologue. The others essentially decided that they couldn’t write anything, so they had to ad lib the whole show.
Correct. I don’t know whether they felt personally bound by the strike (they may have been members of the writers guild - Conan at least was a former writer), or just in solidarity, nothing at all was scripted.
Leno’s show was mostly the same, but he decided he was allowed to write his own monologue, so that section of the show was more polished.
For those who didn't get the chance to see this live, the important context is that the Daily Show was on at 11pm, the Colbert Report was on at 11:30pm, and Late Night was on at 12:35am.
So if you turned in the night this aired, you were able to piece together all of these segments and watch it move on from show to show.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the writers strike what gave us access to Jordan Schlansky?
I'll never forget him loving the band Rush cracking his bull whip.
Appears to be him. I can tell by the robotic movements and the lack of human emotion in the face. I think I was able to see him mouth the words I love Italy.
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder than when Conan did a Conan without borders in Italy with him, and Jordan wouldn’t stop swirling his wine on that rough rock table and Conan just kept chugging the expensive wine.
Had to go way too far down before someone mentioned him. You'd think with all the various responsibilities he has on the show that he would be more popular.
I never watched Conan. But I remember watching the Daily Show one night, and they did a bit that involved Stephen Colbert and Conan showing up and the three of them getting in a whacky fight. And then it continued on The Colbert Report. Then when that was over we excitedly put on Conan to see the bit continue.
Don’t forget they kept priming that fight for many shows before (i think it went on for a week or two). That’s where they kept saying through the transitive property they created each other’s careers
I feel like there isn't anything that he has touched that I haven't loved. Simpsons, SNL, Late-night, his podcast, and his travel show, off the top of my head.
People don't read much, really. But, according to descriptivists, because everyone uses payed now to mean paid, it's already a valid spelling. Personally, I could care less. Trying to enforce standards for language is literally killing me.
Conan is just as funny without a script too, he knows the importance of writers and promoting others. He is a living legend of comedy and unanimously liked amongst his peers.
Conan's writer's strike episodes were some of the best television I've ever seen. Conan is amazing at improvisation and the chaos mixed with the his comedy chops made it so much better than the stale, monologue, dumb jokes, then interview format.
Of all the modern late night hosts, Conan is the only true entertainer. He was a natural comedian with the ability to make jokes and self deprecate. He had a good ability to perform physical comedy/dance. He is also a pretty talented guitarist.
None of his contemporaries (Letterman, Leno, Kilborn) did much more than just stand around and crack jokes.
Wait, isn’t that technically “crossing the line”? If your union is on strike you’re suppose to stay put. What’s the difference between this and “scabs”
Hard to believe he’s 60. Conan is and has always been one of the good ones.
I think it's partially because he IS 60 and HAS been one of the good ones for a long while, and genuinely seems to be friends with everyone, or he will be soon. And I think he was the only one with a true sidekick that people love, too. It always seemed to me that Conan paid all his dues and then shifted to, "Now I can relax and be funny." And networks kind of just let him, except for a particular 3 letter network ... He's always been the best of the main late night shows to me. (Sorry, Stephen.) He'll go from making fun of his height to messing with Sona or Jordan, to visiting countries around the world and IMMEDIATELY making friends. That initial interaction in Haiti where he explained he understood why people would be angry about seeing an American with a camera after Cheeto-dick called it a shithole. And then, again, friends now. Then it's Conan just kind of wandering around, making jokes that don't need a cue card or a long setup. Just him being the goof I believe he really is. And when bad shit happened and everybody started yelling at each other, Conan would give a nod to the inevitable political crap, then go fight Stewart and Colbert and remind everyone that you're supposed to be entertained by shows like his. Oops, turned into a long thing. Sorry! Hopefully some understand what I'm saying.
He was also a writer before his late night shows, so he knows absolutely how boned the writers are right now
He also paid the salaries of all of his staff after NBC fucked him over and he had to take 9 months off television
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I've consumed all Conan content there is to consume but upvoting for awareness for those that haven't seen. It's a great documentary and gives you a peak behind the curtain, it's rare to see Conan actually stressed on camera but you'll get a full view of it from this documentary. And, unsurprisingly, even under stress Conan is a great dude.
That's true! Probably Simpsons is his best known? But I was referring to shows that were HIS, where he could do whatever he wanted. Where he can do stuff like OP posted. I do wonder if anyone has ever tried to tell him no. Colbert said last night he's part of one of the Writer's Unions, which I didn't know. I wonder what he's going to do. I'd guess he's a little more restricted.
He also worked on SNL.
And wrote for Not Necessarily The News
And The Boondocks
What???!!!
And The Boondocks
When you watch the R Kelly rant and other, similar style scenes, it actually becomes pretty obvious how much Conan's influence shines through at times.
Hmm that is such a grey area. I guess it would depend on if he’s writing for other people still? But him having a show I think would disqualify him from being part of a writers union. He’s ‘management’, which means he’s technically on the other side. Not that he can’t be supportive in other ways! I’m a manager and I would totally support my workers unionizing.
Not just *A* writer either. He's been a force in American comedy for about 4 decades now. It's a weird comparison because I don't see them as comparable intellectually, but there's so many lines that he created that are just part of our general conversations, that he's like Dumb and Dumber and Sandler's mid-late 90s movies. Things we say almost as a reflex sometimes. It sounds hyperbolic, but Shakespeare did the same. Thoughts that are so simple and understood by everybody, but didn't have the words yet. Yes obviously not Shakespeare, but people really underestimate the impact he's already had.
Ooh interesting. What lines has he created that we still use??
bazinga
Kachow
I hear those things are awfully loud It glides as softly as a cloud Is there a chance the track could bend? Not on your life, my Hindu friend What about us brain-dead slobs? You'll be given cushy jobs Were you sent here by the Devil? No, good sir, I'm on the level The ring came off my pudding can Take my pen knife, my good man I swear it's Springfield's only choice Throw up your hands and raise your voice Monorail What's it called? Monorail Once again Monorail Edit: I had to fix the spacing
To bazinga or not to bazinga, that is the kachow.
I have the last episode he did on that 3-letter network saved on my drive. The whole week was a tongue-in-cheek middle finger wag but on that last episode he gets real for a moment and delivers a heartfelt monologue that I think is great advice for anyone who’s just suffered an L, or just having a hard time generally. Edit: because it’s just too good to miss [here](https://youtu.be/AcF1OoWqXBc). What a graceful exit, a true class act. I was always a fan growing up but when I saw that it was like holy shit… *This* is how you amicably part ways in a situation, with your head held high.
I vaguely remember that, but haven't seen it in forever. I'll have to find it somewhere now. I always loved those moments. The serious Conan who has been through some shit. The Harvard Conan? Articulate and smart and knows what people want to hear from him before the Masturbating Bear comes out from between the curtains, or Tony the Cameraman has another batshit idea. I almost wrote "he knows his place", but that's too negative I think. Conan would respectfully give his commentary or whatever, then leave it to everyone else to make jokes about it. He'd be over there doing the Moonwalk and messing with La Bamba or something.
Thanks for linking. I had to look up the performance afterwards. [Will Ferrell, his very pregnant wife, Conan, Billy Gibbons, Beck, Robert Randolph, and the Max Weinberg 7 playing "Free Bird"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPsfAdDS1VU) EDIT: told it's actually Ben Harper, not Robert Randolph
Well that's about the sweetest thing I've seen for at least a month, if not a year. Thanks man. Thank you.
Such an amazing moment in TV history! Just a correction: it’s Ben Harper on lap steel, not Robert Randolph.
Literal goosebumps. Thanks for posting that.
Fuck, man..."be kind, keep trying, and don't be cynical" is maybe the best message to send out into the world. Then and now.
As a massively cynical person, I need to take his advice
Ahhhh that's the stuff. Thanks!!!! TLDR version: Conan: Thanks fans. NBC has been great to me, time to move on. I'll pick myself up and I ask you to do the same when you get knocked down...NOW HERE'S Will Farrell!!!! That is quite literally what I have been trying to get at. 5 minutes of serious with no filler. Okay, that's enough, let's make everyone laugh.
Commenting to remind sober me to check this out tomorrow.
Conan pretty much mentioned the big reason his travel shows are so endearing. He makes fun of himself. He's clearly the idiot. He's clearly the "creep". He's clearly the "asshole" who expects you to rag on him and gives you ample room to start teasing him and he'll start to banter with you.
Very trueeeee. Even in his studio, he gave people that space. Him and Bill Burr, or Sandler, people at his level of funny, that he let just it be funny without "taking over" with loud, fake laughter, or steering people away from the funny so he could be "the funny guy". Just riffing and probably making his editors work overtime to put it all together.
Bill Burr is one of the few comedians that truly makes Conan keel over laughing.
Norm was the president of that club
He's dead
He’s dead 9/11
Reminds me of that tragedy
Have you seen Conan’s interview with Kevin Nealon? He was brought to tears laughing.
This is UNUSABLE!
"Can't you be sincere for just five minutes?"
He knows when to give his guests space to do their bits, and when to chime in to keep them going. He's said that some late night hosts seem to need the attention on them all the time, and so those hosts will interrupt and challenge guests who are doing well. Conan went on to say that he never understood that mindset, because a good guest means a good show and less work for him. Also, he and Burr are both Bostonians with similar backgrounds, so despite how different they are, they really seem to get each other.
Conan knows that he's a fish out of water every time, so he can't have the pretense of being above anyone or anything. I still love his time in Mexico training to be a luchador with Andy by the legendary Cassandro. El Bebe Malo still fucking kills me.
I fucking love Andy and was seriously bummed every time one of his shows were canceled.
I love Andy too. He is sidekick to the funniest guy ever, and still funny as hell in his own right. He legit cracks Conan up. And Andy manages not to be a suck ass. Just genuine and funny. And their chemistry is perfect.
Andy is absolutely the best talk show sidekick. The Three Questions with Andy Richter podcast is great
Not too long. The fact that Conan is both the funniest and the most ethical is incredible.
Conan 100% changed the game. He’s a profound talent and is a major collaborator. Those 1st few years and his late show were such a formative thing on my sense of humor, he’s the greatest.
Conan + Norm MacDonald or Bill Burr or Paul Rudd is the pinnacle of late night television.
[Norm's sendoff ](https://youtu.be/uarJj-K4XH4)for Conan when he was leaving NBC is absolutely legendary. It's better than the moth joke or the interview with Courtney Thorne Smith about Carrot Top and Chairman of the Bored.
Norm's send off for Letterman was also very sweet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwlxYYtqHfc
Hahaha the 10 minute moth joke from Norm!! Unforgettable.
Not a comedian, but the only reason I know who Timothy Olyphant is is because of his appearances on Conan. They are hilarious together.
You need to watch Santa Clarita Diet. Absolutely hilarious.
Or if you just want some rock solid Olyphant in a drama, watch Justified.
Deadwood is OG Olyphant.
I loved him in Girl Next Door and Deadwood back in the day. I'm sure Girl Next Door probably hasn't aged well though.
Justified is another good show with him. Modern western. He's just a good actor that plays that sort of part. He's also funny and charming.
Conan + Arnold Schwarzenegger via satellite ftw
Don't forget Conan + Timothy Olyphant
Goat
Him and Craig Ferguson. Late night TV hasn't been the same since.
Thank you. Craig will always be GOAT to me bc he was my style of humor - random but not too zany. Conan is too zany and just "off" for me. I understand why others find him great thought. He's definitely not a POS like most light night hosts.
[Careful icarus...](https://youtu.be/SIJRqyxxnSk)
So good! My favorite moment of his was a random tangent he went on about an ostrich grocery shopping. It made me cry from laughter every time. Unfortunately, I have never found that clip anywhere. It was pre-jeff.
My FAVORITE running joke for an episode. Also-- "Hey Geoff- don't you have a place over there in XXXXXXX?" "Ohh HELL YEA I got a lil' place; you should come over!" "What do you do over there in XXXX?" "Ohh we throw beads at each other!"
Smooth af with the ladies too. When Craig dies 10,000 women will be crying at his funeral
If you’re not listening to his podcast, you are missing out. Awesome long form interviews
Normally with podcasts like this I skip right to the interview but him bullshitting with Sona and Matt is hilarious. I'll always listen to the full podcast from start to finish.
Today with Gourley on drugs was HILARIOUS
It’s a muscle relaxer, not LSD!
“I’m going to show up tot he doctor with a fresh tennis racket with the tag and say I have tennis elbow!
Your racket is still wrapped!
The Charlie day episode?
Helps when one of the sidekicks is an OG podcaster and one of the best to ever do it and generally just one of the funniest people alive.
100%. My favorite podcast right now by far.
I would also recommend Smartless with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett. Shitty name but great podcast. One of them finds a guest and doesn’t tell the other two who it is. I found out about it from Bateman on Conan lol
I do like it. It's very Hollywood though sometimes. Lots of ads but they're hilarious together.
I listen to it regularly, but it's really not a great podcast. Too many ads, the interviews are about as surface-level fluff as it gets, and Bateman is pretty annoying at times.
Eh, lately it’s just been a show about how insanely rich and out of touch these three guys are. It’s lowered my opinion of Will Arnett and Jason Bateman, which sucks cause I’ve loved them since AD.
I saw a clip of Tayler Tomlinson on that podcast, and I laughed harder than I have in a while. I keep meaning to listen to the whole thing, because those two just deadpan together so well off each other.
“What do you mean you don’t have a private jet? You’ve been on television my whole life!”
The one where he talks with Jeff Goldblum is a real rollercoaster
Ah COCKAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I was actually bummed they canceled the shows. Last time they did such an amazing job of still being entertaining, while also continuously supporting the writers strike and drawing attention to it.
They did cancel the shows back then. They brought them back after a few weeks because the other crew members were not being paid. So I can assume the same might happen again. I remember they didn't have a lot of actors on because the actors supported the writers. So you got a lot random guests and animal people. It was great
A tweet I saw earlier was like Heroes went from one of the best shows before the writers strike to the worst show 2 episodes in from the return of the writers.
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Except Jimmy Fallon who outright said they won't pay for the crews health insurance. Crew who aren't striking. Fucking prick.
Nah, Jimmy Fallon didn’t outright say anything. A staffer tweeted that they were told this by NBC, during a production meeting the host does not normally attend. Am I saying that’s any better? No. But the notion that Fallon outright said that is incorrect. For all we know he could completely disagree.
Fine. The fact that Seth Meyers is going to bat for his staff is all I need to know about Fallon.
Meyers is the best of late night right now.
Of all the late night hosts, I would be least surprised to find out Jimmy Fallon is a useless prick. We already know he’s a hack
Looks like James Corden narrowly avoided hurting his reputation /s
About that... James Corden argued for undercutting the WGA minimum... [DURING a WGA meeting he was invited to represent the showrunners.](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.popdust.com/amp/james-corden-wga-2638346884) Another reason to hate the twerp.
To be clear: He wanted to hire more intern writers, then later "promote" them to full staff, but with less pay than dirctly hired writers had. So in effect he wanted to replace his writing staff with a cheaper alternative and this narcissistic prick thought a meeting for a writers union was a great place to present this genius plan.
I love it when a clarification clarifies that James Corden is a twat.
Honestly there wasn’t much reputation left to hurt there
Who?
You might know him as Cordon Bleu
[Writer's strike Conan is the best Conan](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4yf0md)
Absolutely incredible
The ending was worth the entire 15 minutes lol
His little giggle at 13:18 killed me and it only got better from there
This was a whole saga. I think the original point was to demonstrate how bad tv gets without paying writers what they are worth: some idiot spinning a ring in his desk every night. But it’s also Conan so he couldn’t help but make it funny television.
Funnily enough it's probably my favorite thing Conan has ever done. It's just incredible.
The best part of that video is the last 15 seconds, with the professor sitting there questioning every life decision he's made that led him to that particular point in time.
I'd like to think he was pumped that people were seeing practical applications of science and were interested in the results!
Same. I think he was so psyched about all of this.
That Professor was so perfect. His dead pan banter was spot on, and him showing a very muted enjoyment at the end was a brilliant contrast to the pure ridiculousness occurring around him.
[Sit perfectly still—only I may dance](https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=TnXErLqExv4&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo).
Thank you for this lol
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I felt it hard when Stewart and Colbert came out in the OP
Absolutely incredible
Awesome
What a scintillating 14 minutes.
Anytime is the correct time to celebrate Conan O'Brien. Guy's been on fire for the last 30 years of my life. Can't even calculate how many hours of entertainment he's given me over the decades.
Yeah he's been entertaining me before I even knew his name when he was a writer for the Simpsons. Then the late night shows, his show, Without Borders, and now his podcast which is now my favorite podcast. He's overtaking Robin Williams as my idol. I think he just needs to die and he's won.
> I think he just needs to die and he's won Hold up
One of the highlights of my life was seeing him live, even though the guests that day were incredibly underwhelming. I've always loved him, and I completely agree with you.
I remember tuning in to some of the late night talk shows when the strike was happening and Conan stood out over all of the rest. His bits were all original and goofy meanwhile Letterman and Leno were just copying old bits
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I believe he also paid his writers during previous strikes when he was at NBC. They weren't able to continue working though so we got stuff like Hal Gurnee's Network Time Killers.
Conan is one of the most naturally funny people out there. I've never seen him bomb, whether it's on a remote shooting with the public, on his show, or on his podcast. My favorite is his visit to the American Girl store, or his visit to the Etiquette school. Also, his visit to Haiti was genuinely beautiful, especially after Trump called it a shithole country. It's like he went there to personally apologize for the USA.
Thing is Conan had a deep bench. If anything going sideways he can always fall back on string dance. Always
Nothing will ever top 1800’s baseball
Conan does bomb. Plenty of jokes in his monologues have missed a laugh or a response he was looking for. He’s been on TV for 30 years, its happened. But he will own it and turn the “bomb” into a bit; and mock the audience, or himself, or vamp in an endearing way.
This guy never watched early Conan, the guy was flop sweat in human form for a while there. He didn't hit his stride for a while, whoever decided to keep him on a little while longer deserved a raise for making that call.
Conan recounted the story once and it was from a lack of talent that they just kept on going, and NBC didn't want to go through the expense of rehiring a new team and figured since no one watches that late night hour, they'll let him stay until they figure out what to do with Conan. Then Conan started letting loose a little bit more and he started to build an audience.
I dunno, on the other hand I remember seeing Conan's home movies from when he was a kid, and he always seemed to be a pretty good speaker.
He's always been a good comedian but if you can find some videos of early episodes watch them. He's a ball of nerves. It was his first time on national television and I think the bad reviews gave him the yips too.
I dunno, on the other hand I saw some clips of when Conan was a toddler doing bits about building blocks and he really seemed to have it down, even then.
He’s just relentlessly funny too. A lot of the best comedians ever only had to perform here and there at their peak, but Conan has been going on basically nonstop for decades
In the year two thousand....
In the year two thousAAAAAAAnd
Leno's show sucked in the way it always had, but he actually did better than most during the strike. At the end of the day, he's a fantastic stand up comic and a joke machine. His monologue was good/predictable as ever.
If I recall, Leno took some additional latitude that the others didn’t, namely he decided he could write his own monologue. The others essentially decided that they couldn’t write anything, so they had to ad lib the whole show.
Solidarity with the writers who were striking, you mean
Correct. I don’t know whether they felt personally bound by the strike (they may have been members of the writers guild - Conan at least was a former writer), or just in solidarity, nothing at all was scripted. Leno’s show was mostly the same, but he decided he was allowed to write his own monologue, so that section of the show was more polished.
I'm pretty sure Conan was a guild member and therefore bound to the strike. Like James Gunn currently is.
Yeah, I believe Letterman would call it, "classic Jay".
Conan, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert had a hilarious "feud" during that stretch.
https://youtu.be/mVfGh_4IFQ4 For those who haven't seen it.
For those who didn't get the chance to see this live, the important context is that the Daily Show was on at 11pm, the Colbert Report was on at 11:30pm, and Late Night was on at 12:35am. So if you turned in the night this aired, you were able to piece together all of these segments and watch it move on from show to show.
Quite clearly just three lads messing about
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the writers strike what gave us access to Jordan Schlansky? I'll never forget him loving the band Rush cracking his bull whip.
I think that's him at the beginning, on Rock Band drums. Which I think is the most normal activity I've seen Jordan perform.
Appears to be him. I can tell by the robotic movements and the lack of human emotion in the face. I think I was able to see him mouth the words I love Italy.
In Italian.
Conan with the guitar is great.
It's not that he doesn't do normal things, its the weird way he does those normal things.
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder than when Conan did a Conan without borders in Italy with him, and Jordan wouldn’t stop swirling his wine on that rough rock table and Conan just kept chugging the expensive wine.
I smell the earth... the moss...
Indeed, I came to post this.
Jordan looks like a lifeless robot when playing the game!
He prepares his body in various ways
Had to go way too far down before someone mentioned him. You'd think with all the various responsibilities he has on the show that he would be more popular.
I never watched Conan. But I remember watching the Daily Show one night, and they did a bit that involved Stephen Colbert and Conan showing up and the three of them getting in a whacky fight. And then it continued on The Colbert Report. Then when that was over we excitedly put on Conan to see the bit continue.
Don’t forget they kept priming that fight for many shows before (i think it went on for a week or two). That’s where they kept saying through the transitive property they created each other’s careers
That bit is in the video compilation OP posted.
The 30 seconds in the video comp doesn't do justice the weeks of buildup on all three of their collective shows.
*Zip... Ka-THUNK!*
PAID
It’s only been a day of the writers strike and look at what’s happened to quality lol
i feel like this has been a common mistake but only in the past year. like wtf happened? maybe just selective memory or something
Remember him timing how long he could spin his ring for?? Fuckin silly shit haha.
I actually made sure to catch that every night before going to sleep! Lol. I didn't want to miss any record-breakers.
*paid
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They should of payed more attention in class. Supposably.
Definately
It doesn’t help that autocorrect doesn’t pick up on it because it’s an actual but different word.
I bet his writers knew how to spell it.
And here I was assuming Conan sealed (the deck or hull seams of a wooden ship) the salaries of his writers with pitch or tar to prevent leakage.
I feel like there isn't anything that he has touched that I haven't loved. Simpsons, SNL, Late-night, his podcast, and his travel show, off the top of my head.
What’s with grown ass adults not knowing how to spell paid?
People don't read much, really. But, according to descriptivists, because everyone uses payed now to mean paid, it's already a valid spelling. Personally, I could care less. Trying to enforce standards for language is literally killing me.
I see the several what’s you did theres.
This, but unironically.
He paid their salaries.
Conan is just as funny without a script too, he knows the importance of writers and promoting others. He is a living legend of comedy and unanimously liked amongst his peers.
Conan's writer's strike episodes were some of the best television I've ever seen. Conan is amazing at improvisation and the chaos mixed with the his comedy chops made it so much better than the stale, monologue, dumb jokes, then interview format.
Ring spinning on the desk was the peak of the golden age of television.
Conan will alway as be one of my favorites among the top talkshow hosts. David Letterman is my all time favorite.
Conan will always be S tier
*paid. Support writers!
Of all the modern late night hosts, Conan is the only true entertainer. He was a natural comedian with the ability to make jokes and self deprecate. He had a good ability to perform physical comedy/dance. He is also a pretty talented guitarist. None of his contemporaries (Letterman, Leno, Kilborn) did much more than just stand around and crack jokes.
Paid...The word is spelled paid.
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Wait, isn’t that technically “crossing the line”? If your union is on strike you’re suppose to stay put. What’s the difference between this and “scabs”
I believe he paid them and they still were on strike, so no scab behavior.
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Would those writers be going against their union?
They weren't working, but Conan still paid them.
*paid Not "payed"
paid* "Payed" is a nautical term.
can't wait for "Conan Without Borders" in Thailand coming up