I won’t pretend as though I loved Tonight with Conan O’Brien. I didn’t. And I didn’t watch it much. I watched a few nights when it first started and after that, I just ended up having better/different things to do at 10:35 PM every night. After the recent shenanigans started, however, I began watching again…first in the form of clips on Hulu but then actually clearing my schedule to watch his final week. And what a hell of a week it was!
I loved Late Night and watched that show regularly in years past but Tonight could never hold my interest…he was too censored, too controlled being that it was in an earlier slot where things were much tighter from a network interference perspective. And that sucks. I know Conan dreamed of hosting The Tonight Show for years, but he was way above that show and this entire fiasco only goes to prove it.
The $4.8 million bit: Mine that Bird wearing a mink Snuggie watching restricted NFL Super Bowl footage
The final episode was, without a doubt, one of the best hours in the history of network television. It was more subdued than the previous few nights, but that was made up for with Conan’s farewell speech (being setup to really rip into NBC with him stating that, “Tonight, I can say whatever I want”) which ended up being so incredibly classy it was hard to watch and not get a little misty-eyed.
His speech really struck a nerve with me, too. People who know me know what a sarcastic, cynical asshole I can be and while I’ve been trying to be less like it, I realized I still have a lot of work to do. Maybe it’s toolish of me to be so inspired by a late night TV show host/comedian, but I really am going to try to erase as much cynicism from my life as possible. It’s not worth being angry and upset about stupid little things all the time. There are so many better things I could spend my time and energy on than being pissed off and mean to people.
And then ending with the greatest rock song of all-time played with an ensemble band of Will Ferrell on vocals, Billy Gibbons, Ben Harper, Beck, The Tonight Show Band and Conan himself…it was so unbelievably epic I still can’t help but burst into a huge smile every time I think about it. Free Bird was such a perfectly poignant song to play for the obvious reasons–what with it being, arguably, the most recognizable rock song ever, about moving on and getting out of a bad/pointless relationship, and most importantly: insanely fun.
I’m going out on a limb and saying this was the best ending to any TV show ever and it will likely be impossible to top. Conan was having such a blast. Hell, everyone up there was. Well played, Conan. Well played indeed. I’m sorry I didn’t watch your show more, but I promise you though that I’m going to go out of my way to watch whatever show you have in September no matter where/when it is.
Tags: Conan O'Brien, Free Bird, NBC, Tonight Show, TV
