The Importance of Conan O’Brien

Conan O’Brien, the red-headed leprechaun of late-night television, has been in standoff against the self-harming network known as NBC, and it has brought to light a previously ignored issue:  Coco is not just another late-night host, and his importance to both people and culture is greater than many people realize.

For years, Jay Leno and Letterman have ruled as the kings of late-night, playing perfectly into the paradigm of an unfunny personality that did all the expected and normal activities of talk show hosts catering to older generations – but Conan O’Brien has never played that game.  On his Late Night show, Conando pushed the boundaries of what was considered mainstream humor, not to mention considered acceptable for the late-night television format, from 1993 through last year with his nonsensical comedy bits.

His success as a host, even when playing second fiddle to Leno, was representative of a change in the tone of television:  the audience that Conan garnered was extremely different from that of Leno or Letterman.  Historically, the late-night demographics have skewed older to those that are entertained by comfortable and predictable comedy, but Late Night eventually saw the rise of the younger generations as the key to its success.  Once the Internet became commonplace, clips and episodes of Conan O’Brien’s antics far outperformed any others from similar personalities – for good reason.

Largely eschewing politics, he has historically preferred skits about pop culture, eccentric topics, or characters he has developed, resulting in an unpredictable and hilarious product with more in common with Saturday Night Live than Jay Leno.  More importantly, Conan was spontaneous, independently hilarious, and unafraid to cross into controversial, weird, or blackballed arenas.  It is because of his style and personality that he has assembled an audience among the younger generations and the geeks he so proudly self-identifies himself with.

NBC was no doubt surprised with the outpouring of support that appeared almost instantaneously as they went public with the intentions to, once again, slight the redheaded stepchild of comedy in favor of their dependable chin, and this reaction has everything to do with Conan’s audience.  Protests, rallies, Internet discussions, countless emails, crazy foreign videos, and, ultimately, television coverage of pro-Conan movements quickly took over the media, allowing him to negotiate acceptable terms to leave the failed network, although he is still fighting for his crew.

Would this have happened if Leno or Letterman were in similar positions?  What about Jimmy Kimmel, Carson Daly, or Jimmy Fallon?  The simple fact is that the former’s audiences are too old to truly feel attached as many do to Conan, and the latter are popular only in the sparsest sense.  What NBC has failed to realize is that not only are they losing a major talent, who will now move to another network to compete with Leno, but they are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of viewers.  The concept of children as the future applies heavily to the late-night television market, and NBC is alienating an entire generation and culture with this single move – the audience of Conando will follow him to whatever his final destination may be.

It should come as no surprise, however, that NBC does not understand this – Jeff Zucker has proved surprisingly inept at managing a television network, even in an industry that promotes failure upwards.  Between the continual failure to produce interesting, original, and viable primetime television and “the O’Brien situation”, NBC’s very fate may hang in the balance.

Either way, I’m with Coco.

Kyle can be found on his blog, on Facebook, via email, or on Twitter.