Conan O'Brien Bids Adieu to Late Night

Although Conan O'Brien has been around a long time, according to Wikipedia a little over 16 years (which is hard to believe in itself!), as host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, I was a little sad to see him go on Friday.

According to Associated Press, since taking over the Tonight Show from Jay Leno almost 7 mos. ago the networks been losing money. So his ratings took a nosedive. Same thing with the 10:00PM experiment with Jay. It just didn't pan out, nobody watched. So instead of axing Jay, like they should of, they basically fired Conan so Jay could have his old time slot back. That's it in a nutshell.

Most people, including moi, thought Conan was going to cave in and bow to network pressure and take his old time-slot back. Why not? He'd still be making a ton of money,except he'd be on an hour later. No biggie!

And In the end doesn't it really just boil down to money? Isn't that what Leno, Letterman and all the other comedians do it for? It's not for the sake of the art or anything highbrow like that, it's for the big bucks and ego gratification that comes along with hosting a late night show.

Except now it's beginning to look like they don't know when to leave. As long as they get their money they're happy. But surprise surprise, it turns out O'Brien had a little more character than.....either Letterman or Leno. Wikipedia states (on O'Brien's fact sheet) that on Jan. 21, 2010 he decided not to accept the networks offer. As part of his severance package he gets a cool $45 mil., but $12 mil. of that goes to his staff! How nice.

Hooray for Conan! Honestly I think I can speak for a lot of people when I say I like him even better now than I did before. Anyone who could walk away from all that money and the prestige that goes along with it is a great guy. I really admire him for that.

Now Jay Leno is starting to look like a schmuck. Pushing Conan aside because he just won't quit! Plus he's NOT funny! To tell you the truth I never thought he was all that particularly funny. He's an okay guy, reliable and somewhat likable...but he's not funny. Not laugh-out loud funny! I can't even think of the last time I laughed at any of his jokes?

He's certainly no Johnny Carson. But then again no one is, including David Letterman. No one could ever fill Johnny's shoes. Johnny was the master. No one has ever come close. Although Carson was okay as a comedian, what he excelled at was his extemporaneous remarks and funny mannerisms.

I loved his interviews too. He brought out the best in children, old people, Hollywood celebs and animals, you name it he was good with everyone. He was an everyman. I feel sorry for the people who never saw him. And let's not forget his rapport he had with Ed McMahon, the best sidekick that ever lived. I can still hear Ed laughing at Johnny's jokes, especially the ones that didn't go over so well.

They were both class acts...just like Conan's turning out to be!

Good luck Conan, can't wait to see you on Fox...with or without Megan!