The word ‘nerd’ means to me that engagement with some form
of content is far from casual; it is dedicated and intense. Well, I am a nerd.
Be it Harry Potter or Marvel, which frequently come up on this blog, I am never
satisfied with having just covered the basics. I know too many Les Miserables
lyrics for it to be mere appreciation of the musical and have read too many of
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s notes on Hamilton to be simply following the hype. But for
the past four years my nerdom has expanded to talk shows, and not just any talk
shows, but American late night talk shows. And there has been one late night
show that I am happily obsessed with above all others; Conan. And sadly, last
week it came to an end.
I wasn’t much aware of Conan until 2016. I had seen some interview
clips but had not paid much attention. I, like most people in Greece, had heard
of Colbert, Jon Stewart and John Oliver as the more politically engaged
commentators. We do like our political comedy here in Greece as it makes us
feel smarter. I had enjoyed Jimmy Kimmel’s high status interviews, and didn’t
care much for Jimmy Fallon’s celebrity games, but was definitely aware of him. However,
a friend at my brother’s wedding gave me a bunch of cool comedy series to watch
and on the subject of late night added ‘Oh, I only watch Conan O’Brien, because
he is consistently purely funny’. And I ignored him completely, naturally. Then,
about a year later, I went through a Benedict Cumberbatch phase where I watched
anything he ever said on YouTube in that deep voice and English accent, and
through those interviews I stumbled onto his appearances on Conan (tip: it
includes a topless Cumbershower). It was just as that friend had said;
laugh-out-loud, out-of-time funny. And that was it. It has been four years that
people beg me to stop discussing the host, the sketches, the podcast. My
friends have given me a daily restriction to bringing it all up. I have
received numerous Conan related gifts and people have been genuinely worried
about this obsession and I don’t blame them. It is borderline juvenile.
But I don’t care. I have discovered so many comedians,
laughed so much at silly things that somehow work and felt such comfort and
compassion. And unfortunately for you, these are not just one-off statements; I
will elaborate. First of all, that show put comedians first and comedians have
put that show first right back. A lot of great comedians cite the show as their
starting point, either in the form of a stand-up opportunity, internship or
mere inspiration. They had stand-up sets more frequently than any other show
and they have pushed and produced comedians without hesitation. And that appreciation
that has been flying around Twitter and Instagram by anyone from Bill Hader to
John Krasinsky? I get it. I get why they felt like, back in the nineties, ‘Late
Night with Conan O’Brien’ felt like a dirty, little secret and revealed a place
in the comedy spectrum for new talent to belong. Which brings me to the second
reason I loved the show; ‘Silly’ is such a misunderstood word, often confused
with ‘dumb’. Silly is so much more related to the complex and peculiar turns
our thought process goes through. Silly can be incredibly smart; silly can be
‘Monty Python’ and ‘The Simpsons’. And it is a revelation, or at least it was
to me, that silly is far from something to be ashamed of, but incredibly
entertaining and, frankly, timeless. The remotes, Clueless Gamer, even the
animal expert segments will always be just as funny, whether it is a clip from
1993 or 2021. I do not want to be misunderstood; all this fascination might be
mostly associated with the man, Conan O’Brien, but there are the Robert
Smiegels and Mike Sweenies and Brian Stacks that wrote mind-blowing, silly
sketches (bring back WikiBear). And still do; Brian Stack’s silly influence on
‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ is obvious and very, very necessary.
Necessary, because it adds some comical endurance to an otherwise very
‘current’ show, maybe too current.
I have purposely left the last point for a separate
paragraph. ‘Comfort’ and ‘Compassion’. This last bit might actually be a tad
more ‘Conan O’Brien’ oriented than ‘The Conan Show’. That self-deprecation that
Conan features can be met by no other. He will gladly be the butt of the joke
and he never seemed hurtful. Comedy is so often confused with insults that to
me, an annoyingly polite and discreet person (that might sound like bragging,
but those closest to me can attest to its inhibitory effects), it was
refreshing to see someone primarily occupied with being kind, being as funny, noteworthy
and successful as Conan. I don’t know if anyone else feels comforted and cosy
by that thought, but Conan clips have actually got me through very stressful
times for that very reason; no one had to suffer for the sake of a joke, the
show was a safe space. It is almost unfair to forego Andy Richter at this
point, a quick-witted man that was ahead of his time, socially and otherwise.
And again, so comfortable in being the sidekick, so confident in his own worth
that any tension that ever came out of the show felt scripted. I guess I am
saying that other than an excellent comedy show, this frequently felt like an
obscene, yet cosy quilt. Hence its need for when my PhD was downright sucking the life out of me. God
knows I hated those hiatuses they went on.
I decided to wrap this up because I realise this is not even
remotely funny and probably not of interest to anyone but me. Their late night
run is over, though, and this felt like the only appropriate opportunity to write
this post of appreciation. I don’t mind having a juvenile, nerdy fascination if
it is for celebrities like Conan O’Brien. I don’t know if he is, but from his
relationship with his staff, the Reddit threads of fan encounters and from a
naïve belief in ‘auras’ or whatever, I feel safe in admiring this particularly
silly comedian and missing a daily talk show that got me through a lot. I thank
them all for serving that ‘strange phantom intersection between smart and
stupid’ and Conan for choosing this following, lovely quote at the lowest of
times:
‘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’
(I know it has been used to death, but it is a damn good
quote)
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