The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

To quote a line from Seinfeld, "that's gold, Jerry. Gold!" Is it possible that in only ONE night, Conan O' Brien has surpassed 17 years of Jay Leno? Yes, it is very possible. Conan's first episode as host of the Tonight show was, to say the least, hilarious! He began the show by running from New York to L.A. to host the show. That's right. Watching Conan run across the country was funnier than Leno's monologue. Then, he began the show by doing his usual monologue in the set Universal built just for him. It's different from Leno's set since it's a more traditional talk show set with a little New York flavor. However, he did keep Leno's lighting which I thought was interesting. Conan followed the monologue by showing two hilarious remote pieces. One was Conan giving a tour of Universal Studios and the other was him driving his 1992 Ford Tarus around town. Then, the show lost some steam during the interview segment. The guest was Will Ferrell. I like Ferrell and he was funny but you couldn't ignore the fact that a show owned by Universal, being shot at Universal was promoting a movie by Universal. The show went from 30 minutes of hilarity to 30 minutes of promotions.

Either way, it was a great episode. And I hope there's more great episodes to come. We've been waiting 5 years for this and it lived up to expectations. The best part is that Conan didn't really change a thing. It's classic Conan!

For almost 8 months, Conan O'Brien tries to take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno. NBC had hoped to keep them both and settled on a flawed strategy. By the end, Jay would take back his show and Conan would be let go. It is better that Conan finds a home on TBS which gives him more freedom than The Tonight Show.

The start was rough as Conan tries to fit the show's traditional mould. He loses a lot of his irreverence as he tries to appeal to its older demographics. It's all a mistake and it doesn't help to have Jay doing another talk show at 10pm. The whole situation was untenable but it does lead to one of the most hilarious network public infighting in TV history. Conan's ingenious comedy is unleashed against Jay. Whatever shortcoming Conan had during the early months is overcome by Conan's good-natured takedown of the network brass. It got so great that even Kimmel from another network goes on Jay's show to take him down. Conan's humor is more niche than a watered down Jay and is probably never going to work. Conan is by no means an edgy comedian but even that is not white bread enough for that show. It's a show of bland humor geared towards the broadest of common denominator. This is a car wreck waiting to happen but it was spectacular while it lasted.

My wife and I were die hard fans of The Tonight Show, our favorite host had to be Johnny Carson, no one can replace the master. Jay Leno took a long time for us to 'warm-up' to him but he finally became the norm, or we just got used to him. Then along came Conan, we didn't particularly care for Conan when he was on The Late Show, he was just to outlandish for us or just to 'gayesque'. When Conan started on the Tonight Show we gave him a chance to entertain us. And entertain us he did. Conan started out acting nervous and it took awhile for him to get into his groove. After awhile we had a lot of respect for him for hanging in there and giving it his best. And as we got used to him he became part of us just like Jay had done previously. NBC in their ultimate wisdom decided it was time for him to go. I don't know why or neither do I understand the politics of bringing Jay back. But it was totally unfair to Conan. I am glad that Conan got another gig. But now that Jay Leno is gone I will no longer be watching the Tonight Show. Jimmy Fallon is not and will not be as good as Conan. NBC really screwed the pooch on this one. Conan worked for NBC for over 20 years and then gets told he is fired, what a bunch of BS. How much NBC stock does Jay Leno own? I like Jay but he is no Johnny as Jimmy is no Conan. Rock on Conan.

No offense to the late Johnny Carson, or Jay Leno for that matter. But I think Conan O'Brien is the funniest talk show host of all time. Better than Letterman, Kimmel, and Jack Pahr as well. There's not a minute of the show that my abs are not still recovering from my last gut-wrenching outburst of laughter. Conan knows what's funny, and he's got a wit that is unmatched by any comedian I've ever seen. And of course Andy Richter does a GREAT job as Connan's Ed McMahon. He should definitely go back to sitting on the couch. McMahon did it right? Leno is a decent comedian, but he didn't have the charisma and fast paced sense of humor like Conan does. He made Tom Hanks, Will Ferrel, and Julia Louise Dreyfuss ten times funnier than what they actually were. And of course CoCo and Coop was hilarious as well. I have to say that I had HUGE expectations for Conan in his Tonight Show debut, and he's surpassed them with an enormous surplus. The Tonight Show is my new favorite show. And I think that if NBC doesn't fold under pressure, it will soon blow David Letterman out of the water with ease.

PS: I've watched Jimmy Fallon too. It has potential. He just still seems pretty uncomfortable being the leading man on an unscripted show.

When Jay Leno gave The Tonight Show hosting gig to Conan O'Brien in 2009, what we didn't know that would lead into one of the biggest television conflicts ever.

As for the show itself, it didn't feel too different from his Late Night tenure, with his bandleader Max Weinberg returning alongside Andy Richter now having an additional role as announcer in addition to being Conan's sidekick.

Sadly, not many clips exist from his Tonight Show hosting tenure, but he did not lose a step when did transition from hosting Late Night to The Tonight Show.