One should not be mad at either Conan O'Brien or Jay Leno in this latest Late Night soap opera. They should be mad at NBC for putting either of them in the position to choose between one of two different options: Shitty door number one or shitty door number two. Actually both of them are hard to root for. Conan comes off as a whiner and as Dick Ebersol puts it, "gutless". Going at Jay Leno like he is doing in his monologue isn't the right play because Jay didn't quit. He was asked to take the 10 o'oclock time slot, step aside and be a good soldier. Conan should be mad at the Executives who have no idea what they are doing. Furthermore, Conan should be mad at his writers because they need to be funny. 12:30 ain't 11:30. His rating have been low because his comedy played to white college kids and comedy nerds. If he wanted the gig he should have tailored his act accordingly. You want the big success you have to make your act bigger not smaller. Cut out the suspender dance. WTF? Conan needs to cut his ties with NBC go to Fox and see how those dickheads at The Murdoch - owned Australian mafia front company will run things there. Remember this is the same network that fired Arsenio Hall and hired Chevy Chase, Magic Johnson and Keenan Ivory Wayans to host Late Night Talk Shows. They may be even worse than NBC at this.
Now on to the chin. Poor Jay Leno. He will forever be known as the guy that stole jobs from two different generations of Late Night talk show hosts. Listen, at the end of the day Jay Leno does not get enough credit that he surely deserves for being what every comedian dreams of being: Consistent on a nightly basis. He is that comic who other comics don't think is funny but the audience is laughing after every punchline. His ratings were high for a reason: He makes dumb middle Americans laugh. Once you get them the rest will follow. If you are like Dave, Conan or even Jimmy you only get the smarties. The Coasts. You will get respect and accolades but not the numbers. Jay, if he were a certain type of man would say to NBC, "hey I know you guys are in a tough position but what is fair is fair: Let Conan work this out I'll leave Ten P.M. to the dramas and get out of dodge." But at the end of the day, Jay wants the Tonight Show and never wanted to leave it. He did it out of respect for NBC and history. Is it his fault that O'Brien was tanking? No. Is it his fault that the executives at NBC panicked and made public this fiasco? No. So fuck it. I'm with Team Jay on this: Don't hate the player - Hate the game.
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I don't know... is dumbing everything down to a generic level the way we build a national identity, or cater to the majority? that is sort of how I see Leno, like you say. Folksy chuckle. I think we need entertainment and news sources (like PBS) that theoretically serve a broad audience because it is part of the nation building psyche essential for a union. but much of art and true imagination is lost in this, so I am glad Conan did not Disney-fy his show.
My vote, the absolute funniest man on TV: Craig Ferguson.
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