"Let's have fun on television"

"If you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen." - Conan O'Brien

The king of late-night is dead. Long live the king.

Conan O'Brien did his final Tonight Show this past Friday, a mere seven months into his tenure as the new host. This wasn't supposed to happen. People like me have been waiting for years to see Coco take his rightful throne atop all the other late-night clowns. Seven months. It's like if Obama got laid off a month after being sworn in so that we could have another term under Bush.

I'm sure at this point everyone has heard what has gone down between Conan, Jay Leno, and NBC. Personally I really don't wish to re-hash the details again because frankly there's nothing to talk about. It's happened. Jay Leno is a pompous shitbag, NBC clearly has no idea what it's doing, and as far as I'm concerned the Tonight Show is over. If anyone reading this has no idea what I'm talking about, this video will explain it all. And very clearly.



That's pretty much what happened. Conan turned into the Hulk and apparently Captain America's power comes from the top of his glowing head. It goes without saying that Conan O'Brien deserved better than this. This was supposed to be the dawning of a new renaissance for late-night comedy. After Jay Leno had spent the better part of the past decade making the Tonight Show thoroughly unfunny Conan was finally coming in to return the once great show to Carson-level status. And now, after a mere seven months, it's right back to the old status quo. Goodbye Andy Richter and Masturbating Bear; hello more wacky headlines.

If you have not yet seen Conan's final episode check it out, it's quite a show. Steve Carrell stops by to do Conan's exit interview on behalf of NBC. My professional nemesis Sir Thomas Hanks stopped by and was his usual, charming self. Neil Young performs, and not the song "Hey Hey, My My" as I predicted when I first heard he would be appearing on the final Tonight Show. Plus Beck, Billy Gibbons, and Mister Will Ferrell himself show up for the final close-out. Not to mention all the emotional retrospection and looks back at Conan's epic NBC career. Watch it here: Coco's final Tonight Show

This got to me:



If anything this whole ordeal with NBC screwing Conan over has made me indeed cynical. Cynical about the whole entertainment business and the process behind it. It felt like Conan was talking directly to me/the Spitz. I think I can confidently speak on behalf of the whole group when I say that Conan O'Brien has been an inspiration and idol to me for years and if any of us in the Spitz have even half the career he already has then it would be both a fantastic accomplishment and partially due to Conan himself. Thanks for everything Conan O'Brien. We miss you already, and can't wait to see where you turn up next.

We at Cherry Spitz promise to continue working hard and being kind. Stay tuned for some amazing things.



-James


[He's as free as a bird now...]