I'm With Coco

I suppose there's really no point in doing this. Nothing can be gained from me joining the multitude of those out there with a blog or some other sort of means of expressing their thoughts regarding this whole late night debacle, but nothing can be lost, either. I guess.

Late Nite with Conan O' Brien was one of my favorite shows for quite some time. It had everything a guy my age could want from a TV show--it was on late at night, it featured really off beat humor delivered by a tall Irish guy with the weirdest hair I'd ever seen, and it made me forget, just for an hour, how much I hated celebrities.

For nearly two decades, this guy would go on five nights a week with little time off and would not disappoint. He'd come up with some of the most bizarre characters ever put on screen, he'd put the perfect cynical spin on dumbass tabloid and national news coverage of things that shouldn't be stories, and it never got old.

For someone in my position, this guy was the man. He started out writing, he'd try things that other comedians wouldn't, and he'd gathered a cult following for his quirkiness and awkward way of making fun of himself. And, within the past five to eight years, I can probably count on one hand how many Monica Lewinsky jokes he's made.

Sometimes I'd sit through the last five minutes of Leno in anticipation for Conan. I'd occasionally forget that NBC would be hosting the Olympics, or some other sporting event that would completely throw their late night schedule through a loop. I'd rather have spent those shorty (but seemingly lengthy) periods of time scouring my bedroom for something sharp but with a small enough tip to fit into an electrical socket, and see if I couldn't find more new ways to physically harm myself than Jay Leno could tell a joke.

Apparently Leno used to possess some redeeming qualities as a comedian. Footage from him on Letterman's show as a guest from what appears to be circa 1860 something suggests he was once rather sharp.

None of that matters now.

It takes about as much effort as he puts into his monologues now to see that he's long sold his comedic soul. Monica Lewinsky jokes? No thanks. Jaywalking? Fuck you.

If anyone didn't see Jimmy Kimmel go on Leno's current joke of a show (not a funny joke, naturally) and completely tear Leno apart, here's a link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FNmWFD4oWg&feature=player_embedded

The latest I've heard regarding this whole fiasco is that NBC, in true blind fashion, will be buying out Conan's contract and will put Leno's enormous chin back in his old time slot, 11:35 EST. Conan? Rumors still abound, he could go to FOX, he could take his money and find something else to do with his life.

If there's ANY bit of saving grace in all this, any hint of some sort of poetic justice, it's that all those jokes Conan has been making for years about the downright awful quality of NBC's current lineup of television shows could just look truer than ever to everyone scorned by Conan's ousting.

Whatever happens, so long, Coco. Good luck to you.

And I've always loved your hair.