'Conan O'Brien Can't Stop,' and We're Glad He Can't

Watching the former host of "The Tonight Show" in "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop" reminded me of Jacques' immortal line from William Shakespeare's "As You Like It:"

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players."

Conan treats everyone like an audience needing to be entertained, and he is always ready to do just that. This includes his team of people who helped him throughout his entire late night career. You'd think he would take a much deserved break at some point, but that's the thing; he can't put his desire to perform on pause. Performing in front of a live studio audience or any audience for that matter is in his blood, and it makes you realize why this documentary is named "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop."

This documentary follows the unfairly screwed over O'Brien as he picks up the pieces from NBC's embarrassing debacle and move on to the next chapter in his life. We see him going through a wave of emotions as he is frustrated and bewildered over what happened, and he's trying to remain sane as he knows wallowing in negative emotions is not going to make him feel better. This leads him to go on the road with his band (minus Max Weinberg) and Andy Richter for the "Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour." When he started it, he'd only been gone from television a little while, but he yearns to get that audience reaction even if it's denied to him for a period of time through a particular medium we spend too much time with as it is.

"Conan O'Brien Can't Stop" is not specifically about what happened when NBC kicked him off "The Tonight Show" and brought Jay Leno back on. There's a Cliff's Notes version of how that played out, but we quickly move on from there to see how O'Brien is coping with the aftermath. It's more about his "Legally Prohibited" tour and of how Conan deals with the city to city grind of it. We get to eavesdrop on him and his crew of people as they brainstorm ideas for this tour, and we see him promoting it on Twitter. It took little time after that for it to sell out just about every venue the tour was scheduled for.

Director Rodman Flender never tries to make Conan out as an iconic hero or encourage us to be infinitely bitter about what happened to him. As messed up as it was for NBC to screw him over, he shows the man to be as determined (and struggling) to make the best of a really messy situation. While he was contractually forbidden to be on television for months after he left the network, he could still perform and vent his frustrations onstage.

If there is a problem with this documentary, it is that we can't always tell if Conan is being serious or just playing for the camera. This goes straight back to that Shakespeare quote from "As You Like It;" he plays with everyone around him, and that includes his wife and kids. His personal assistant seems to get a lot of crap thrown at her, but maybe that's because Conan is playing on the thought that personal assistants have to deal with the worst side of celebrities on a regular basis. I mean he's not overly cruel to her, but you wonder at times how serious he's being with her and how annoyed she is about his behavior.

There is footage from the tour featured throughout, and it is exhilarating watch Conan and company let loose in front of so many people. We've seen him do that for many years on TV, but when he's onstage he looks like he's enjoying himself and performing more than ever before. Even as he appears exhausted and completely drained after each show, you feel his eagerness to get on with the next gig.

On the last night he hosted "The Tonight Show," Conan O'Brien said the following:

"All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism - it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."

While we see him being two steps away from being very angry over his misfortune, Conan proves himself right by fighting against negative emotions that that threaten to overwhelm him. We know before watching this documentary that things have already turned out well for him and he has taken on his second annual first show with "Conan" on TBS. But seeing him in this documentary makes clear how genuine his talent is and how glad we are that he's still doing his thing.

"Conan O'Brien Can't Stop" gives us a portrait of a man who was wronged and who made the best of a bad situation. While part of me wishes this documentary had dug a little bit deeper, it is entertaining and gives us a more intimate look at the man who may very well be better off on TBS. Conan's moved on, and so should we.

* * * out of * * * *

See also:

Conan Out, Jay Back In; No Justice at NBC

The Last Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

'Conan' - The Former Tonight Show Host Debuts His TBS Talk Show