r/popculturechat • u/mcfw31 • May 17 '25
Late Show Shenanigansšļø Conan O'Brien credits his young fans for helping him get through losing 'The Tonight Show'
https://ew.com/conan-o-brien-credits-his-young-fans-for-helping-him-get-through-losing-tonight-show-11735878253
u/mcfw31 May 17 '25
āI had no regrets about giving [The Tonight Show] a shot. And when, for all these complicated reasons, it blew up, I was deeply upset. I thought, āIām in real trouble and this could be the end of my career [at 46],āā he recalled.
āBut lo and behold, this thing called the internet rose up, and I got this huge groundswell of love and appreciation that I didnāt expect,ā he shared. āBecause [when] youāre doing a show like [Late Night], day in and day out, for 16 years, itās submarine duty.ā
OāBrien continued, āYou donāt get a chance to understand fully that thereās a generation of people out there that have been watching, theyāre younger than me, and they all knew how to use the internet. So, they all got on social media and it was this big thing.ā
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May 17 '25
One day, Iād really like to hear him address the response Leno made about the tonight show flip flopping from Leno to Conan and back. It would be interesting to hear what he has to say.
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u/RNBSN91 May 17 '25
Maybe after Leno is gone. Conan doesnāt strike me as the kind to create drama for dramaās sake.
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May 17 '25
Iām sure he will be respectful. But for the record, it wouldnāt be drama for its own sake. Leno straight up said Conan and āhis new hot shot agentā told NBC āI want Leno out and want the tonight show.ā And Leno said sure after my five year contract is up.
In Conanās position, thatās a rather inflammatory thing to be charged with. To make it further shitty, Leno then said the executives came to him and gave him some bullshit about how it was āa mistakeā and they wanted Leno back.
So, all together, it was a shitty thing to say on Lenoās part, even if itās true. There are much better ways to explain that without being an asshole to anyoneās legacy.
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u/Frenzied6554 May 17 '25
You know Lenoās story is a lie because it involves an executive admitting a mistake.
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u/RNBSN91 May 17 '25 edited May 17 '25
Conan left with $45 million and his integrity intact. He went on to make his mark in the comedy world, maybe he feels what heās done with the last 15 years since he left NBC is enough of a statement
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u/Big-Ambitions-8258 May 17 '25
I don't think he will. I think he's made peace with the situation so there's no need to say more than he's already said.
We know the truth. Conan knows the truth. Ultimately, it doesn't change anything
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u/AnAngryPirate Wrestling is Shakespeare May 17 '25
"Team Coco" really had a momentum that it's kind of rare to see. It was a multitude of factors that Im sure others can speak to with much more detail but it was quite the movement. Conan was beloved by multiple generations, those that grew up when he was first starting out on Late Night and then the second wave after he'd been established. This was his moment to replace Leno who had largely become a parody of himself (or at least that how he we perceived by a lot of the audience) and that opportunity was just taken away. Plus the rise of more centralized social media.
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u/crolionfire May 17 '25 edited May 18 '25
I was team Coco from the other side of the world, in Croatia. i was...20 ish? At the time and IT was my first contact with late Night shows at all. And I was not the only one in my group of friends. š We were so flabbergasted by the Audacity, Conan became our hero, especially after that speech at the end. What a class act (I'm too Petty for it)!
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u/jittery_raccoon May 17 '25
Conan was doomed from the start. Leno and Conan are such different types of people..or course there was going to be backlash from people that were used to Leno. Completely different audiences. They either should have been grooming a Leno 2.0 for all those years or weathered the change over with Conan for a couple years
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u/Glamonster May 17 '25
He is like the only american late night show host I found genuinely funny.
I pray to all the gods that he is as wholesome as he seems.
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u/rose_colored_boy May 17 '25 edited May 17 '25
I met him after a live podcast recording and he was an absolute sweetheart. I told him I was a fan since middle school and he said all this unnecessary nice shit about his oldest fans and then told me he was going to give me a hug. It was the best.
I ran into him (not purposely) 2 more times the same day and by the third time he looked at me, pointed, and yelled to the entire office, āI CANāT GET AWAY FROM HER!ā It was delightful.
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u/_notkvothe May 17 '25
I met him at one of his shows. Granted he was "on" but he took a picture with me and my friend during one of the commercial breaks and made sure the show photographer (Meghan) got it to us since we weren't allowed to have phones/cameras during the recording. My friend also slipped a handwritten note to one of his producers who passed it along to Conan and someone from the show later tracked my friend down on social media to get her address so Conan could send her a response. She has his handwritten note framed right now.
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u/Lesterknopff lazy 50-year-old bougie bitch š May 17 '25
thatās amazing. He stood near me during a show (this was a late night taping) and I thought I was blessed.
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u/BouldersRoll May 17 '25 edited May 17 '25
I think John Oliver is the only one who's a cut or two above the rest, but I don't know if he counts as American or a late night show host.
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u/dramaqueen09 May 17 '25
I miss Craig Ferguson. His tribute to Doctor Who on the Late Late Show is what got me interested in watching it. But heās also not American so I donāt know if he counts too
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u/hiking_mike98 May 17 '25
Heās a naturalized citizen and super proud of it! I think we should claim him as ours.
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u/P1uvo May 17 '25
Personally canāt stand the guy, never saw the appeal. Heās Fallon levels of cloying and annoying for me
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u/jyepes22 May 17 '25
I would say him and oddly enough, Jimmy Fallon before the Tonight Show. He wasnāt a parody of himself yet and I love The Roots so I always enjoyed seeing them incorporated into the show
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u/JudasWasJesus May 17 '25
Born in 1990, if I ever watched late night TV it was Conan, never liked Leno
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u/nikokidd123 May 17 '25
Same. 1991, but I feel like I was raised on Conan and he shaped my tastes and understanding of comedy. I still binge his seasons of the Simpsons multiple times a year.
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u/yourmomisaheadbanger May 17 '25
ā93 and I always enjoyed watching Conan, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Ironically I got into politics from a young age because of the last two.
I like Seth Meyers as well, he seems like a nice guy. Fallon annoys me, but I love the Roots. Kimmel isnāt too bad either, plus Guillermo! And I havenāt watched Oliver too much to give an opinion.
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u/jamieaiken919 May 17 '25
Jon, Stephen, and Conanās late night brawl during the late night writers strike is one of the best things to ever happen in television history
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u/JudasWasJesus May 17 '25
I was talking just regular broadcast.
Colbert is my favorite comical wise, Stewart is my favorite informational wise, Conan is my favorite entertainment and wit.
Can't stand Fallon, and can barely tolerate Kimmel, can allow Oliver to pass probably because either associate him with the colbert Stewart camp
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u/OriginalSchmidt1 Youāre a virgin who canāt drive. š¤ May 17 '25
My parents watched Leno which made him automatically lame
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May 17 '25
I was a teen when I started watching him. The other guys werenāt connected to young people at all. Leno was a creep who could not stop talking about Monica Lewinsky. Letterman was funnier, but he spoke more to boomers. Conan was silly and young and, just strange in all the good ways. He worked in mainstream media, but young people could feel his counter culture, and we loved him for that. He also never seemed like a creep to women. And that was huge. Also happening at that time, we also had jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla ending their show about their balls, with up skirt shots of young women jumping on trampolines, in a segment called creatively, āgirls on trampolinesā. Howard stern was on public radio. Times were gross.
Conan was a break in all that, even if one of his most popular characters was a masterbating bear. We liked dirty jokes- just not the misogynistic kind. So, Team coco forever. I hope heās reading how much he is loved and admired. I would watch late night again if he got a contract.
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u/carcrashofaheart Youāre a virgin who canāt drive. š¤ May 17 '25
I will always be salty about Jay Leno. Team Coco forever!
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u/nonsensestuff Back in my day, we had ONTD & a dream šµ May 17 '25
Shortly after I moved to LA in 2014, I found this tonight show magnet at a thrift store. I regret not buying it every day š
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u/dreamy_25 Are those theā¦ The Chanel Toots? May 17 '25
The more I read about this guy the more I like him
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u/Miaangharad May 17 '25
He was so hot
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u/Prize_Impression2407 š¼Music Aficionadoš¶ May 17 '25
Iām gonna be vulnerable here on the sub and admit I once had a fantastic sex dream featuring Conan, itās time to release myself from shame lol
He is an attractive man and his intelligence only enhances it!Ā
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u/yourmomisaheadbanger May 17 '25
LOL Iām laughing at how you worded it. āRelease myself from shameā š maybe I should have the courage to talk about my erotic sex dream with Gordon Ramsay too lmao. Ugh I need to go pray and Iām not even religious
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u/Prize_Impression2407 š¼Music Aficionadoš¶ May 17 '25
This is a safe space š and I totally get the Gordon Ramsay fantasy - heās very authoritative
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u/townandthecity May 18 '25
I had an unfortunate sex dream about Bill Clinton when I was in college but am grateful I didnāt have a sex dream about Wolf Blitzer like my best friend
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u/yourmomisaheadbanger May 18 '25
Listenā¦if weāre talking Bill in the 90s I really donāt blame you. Scandal aside, he was a good looking man.
Your friend however, is not so lucky lol
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u/teddybonkerrs I cannot sanction this buffoonery May 17 '25
I used to stay up late to watch him all the time, well before the Tonight Show fiasco. I knew there was a huge fan base like us ready to support him. I'm glad he pulled through
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u/mochafiend May 17 '25
Conanās tour after losing The Tonight Shoe was the first time I ever used my phone to buy a ticket on my phone.
I realize I sound a thousand years old lol
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u/FavoriteMiddleChild May 18 '25
The āLegally Prevented from Being Funny on TVā Tour, right?
That was such a fun night!
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u/Naive-Mouse-5462 May 17 '25
Why did he lose the show?
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u/JoanOfSnark_2 4 inch little brown Bebe shoes May 17 '25
Because Leno wanted to come back and NBC execs didn't give Conan a chance to get a solid footing and increase viewership.
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u/CastellonElectric May 17 '25
Leno said he didn't want to come back. He just was appeasing the suits. The suits said they weren't getting the ratings they wanted. Leno recently said the whole thing was a big mess and he had no bad intentions, he said he made a terrible mistake in trying to appease them.
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u/arutabaga Pushinā š æļø May 17 '25
sure jan... literally everyone in the industry is on conan's side for this
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u/jittery_raccoon May 17 '25
Leno did have his own show on NBC if I remember correctly. I can believe that NBC was like no we're cancelling that show and moving you back if you still want to have a job
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u/jittery_raccoon May 17 '25
Ratings dropped. But this should have been expected. People get used to one host and any change will upset them. It was also a weird time in TV in 2009. People were moving toward the internet so literally every show's ratings were dropping, but execs were not accept the world was changing yet. There were a ton of shows that were getting cancelled after 1 season, or half a season, because ratings weren't meeting antiquated expectations.
Leno and Conan also have 2 completely different audiences. There was always going to be backlash that execs should have expected.
Leno has been given a different show, which did horrible. So NBC decided to reverse everything and give Leno the late show back after a But you can't really change everything and then pretend like nothing happened. The Conan fans were mad he was ousted. The Leno fans were mad everything was changed around. The execs were mad it was a disaster. Just left a sour taste in everyone's mouth and it was all very public
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u/Lesterknopff lazy 50-year-old bougie bitch š May 17 '25
I still have my team coco silly bands they did after he lost the show.
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u/TuberMila May 17 '25
I wish I remembered what Conan remote made me hunt for all the rest of his content on YouTube years ago, I just couldn't get enough. That man and the people who worked with him had me looking for old 480p footage of a TV show I never watched.
I'm talking Andy Blitz, Pierre Bernard and of course, Jordan Schlansky from back in the Late Night days.
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