conan por vida
i’ve been watching this man since i was in 6th grade. his show(s) has been the most consistent thing on television i’ve watched for the last 16 years. at eleven years old we formed a conan o’brien fan club, two members strong. we found someone whose sensibilities were as odd and twisted as ours, whose comedy was for us and only us.
for the past two weeks conan has been quick to mention that his troubles are silly in the context of real-world suffering, much like jon stewart post 9/11 or craig ferguson last week, who says that middle-aged white guys talking nonsense late at night is just that, nonsense. i believe in the business of making people laugh, especially when there’s darkness. this is important work, and conan has done it brilliantly.
what i love about this guy other than his general display of jackassery is that he’s got heart. he takes what he does seriously, actually cares about what he does. see on youtube: his interview on inside the actors studio, his commencement addresses to stuyvesant and harvard, his final sign-offs; this guy is real. he could have stuck it to nbc one last time, but instead chose to acknowledge how fortunate he has been. it’s as if he was saying, don’t pity me, i’ve been the luckiest motherfucker in the world. that much i expected.
but tonight he also advised us to not be cynical, that if we work hard and are kind then amazing things will happen. i would never believe that coming from anyone else. this guy is my goddamn hero.
godspeed, conesy/chip whitley/coco, you are missed. team conan for life.
