Amazing Things Will Happen

Originally written Friday January 22nd. But not posted til now. Because that's how I roll.

For reasons passing understanding, this has been a very difficult past 8 days for me. I can't even begin to describe how terrible it was. All the while I tried to keep things in perspective. Compared to those helpless souls in Haiti and in so many other parts of the world, even on my worst day, I've still got it great.


With that said, it was pretty terrible. I don't like it when I'm on a mission to accomplish something, and not only do I not accomplish it, but I don't even get the chance to try, because sometimes, life just fucking happens. I don't like being put in a position where I am weak and helpless, but shit happens. You do what you need to and deal with it as best you can. Right now, I'm kind of still in it, but I'm hoping that's light that I see at the end of this tunnel. And as down as one can get, you do strive to pull yourself up from your boot straps. You pick yourself up. But sometimes you need a little boost to get you there.

Tonight I saw several celebrities work together to give a helping hand to a country in dire need of one. That by itself was both saddening and inspiring. I'm always moved by the efforts of others to help each other.

Tonight was also Conan O'Brien's final broadcast as host of The Tonight Show. It does seem silly to speak of something so trivial as a talk show in the same post as Haiti, but I must.

The events that unfolded with NBC over the late night shows was an important one to me, simply because I truly do love Conan O'Brien. I watched him from the beginning of Late Night after he took over for David Letterman, respected him even more when I learned he was a writer for Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons, and cheered him on as he got to live his dream as host of The Tonight Show.

We all know the details of what went down, and we all have our different takes on it. Me personally I was rooting for O'Brien. Not once did I feel sorry for him. I knew he'd leave NBC and he'll end up doing an even better show on another network, I mean you just can't stop talent like that. I was happy to join the bandwagon of fun rooting for Conan. I joined all the groups and pages on Facebook. Team Conan, I'm With Coco. Watched every piece of news footage on the subject and all the videos from the rallies. Warmed my heart to see so many people cheer for Conan and to know so many others are fans like me.

I knew his final broadcast would be bitter sweet. A truly great show with some surprises. Tom Hanks was there. The man who originally created the name Coco. The entire show was full of fun and energy. Then it came time for Conan to speak seriously about the situation. Towards the end he started to tear up, which made me and I believe most people watching tear up. But in that final sentence of his entire statement, he said EXACTLY what it was I needed to hear. And when he said it, it almost felt like he was talking directly to me. Here is his final statement on his final broadcast as host of The Tonight Show.

"Before we end this rodeo, a few things need to be said. There has been a lot of speculation in the press about what I legally can and can't say about NBC. To set the record straight, tonight I am allowed to say anything I want. And what I want to say is this: between my time at Saturday Night Live, The Late Night Show, and my brief run here on The Tonight Show, I have worked with NBC for over twenty years. Yes, we have our differences right now and yes, we're going to go our separate ways. But this company has been my home for most of my adult life. I am enormously proud of the work we have done together, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible.

Walking away from The Tonight Show is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Making this choice has been enormously difficult. This is the best job in the world, I absolutely love doing it, and I have the best staff and crew in the history of the medium. But despite this sense of loss, I really feel this should be a happy moment. Every comedian dreams of hosting The Tonight Show and, for seven months, I got to. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second. I've had more good fortune than anyone I know and if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-11 parking lot, we'll find a way to make it fun.

And finally, I have to say something to our fans. The massive outpouring of support and passion from so many people has been overwhelming. The rallies, the signs, all the goofy, outrageous creativity on the internet, and the fact that people have traveled long distances and camped out all night in the pouring rain to be in our audience, made a sad situation joyous and inspirational. To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I'll think about it for the rest of my life.

All I ask of you is one thing, I'm asking this particularly of young people that watch: please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism -- for the record it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. 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's not the end of Conan, but a part of my heart for media and entertainment is broken. But as I said, it's not the end. THANK YOU CONAN O'BRIEN. Thank you for entertaining us for so long on NBC. And thank you so much for saying what you said. I needed to hear it.

In 7 months I look forward to Conan's return on a yet to be determined network. To be continued indeed.

As for me, I now return to my regularly scheduled fight. A fight where I am determined to make amazing things happen.







;)

Conan

Conan's statement concerning his leaving The Tonight Show.  I'm posting it here, because I admire Conan, I think he's making the right decision, and I think he explains it with class and eloquence and his classic brand of comedy.

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me.  For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky.  That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009.  Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me.  I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future.   It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule.  Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance.  After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35.  For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news.  I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting.  The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show.  Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot.  That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this:  I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it.  My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction.  Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter.  But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next.  My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way.

Yours,
Conan

I could read that all day. It's almost poetic.

My heart broke the day Carson left The Tonight Show. I grew up watching him. When Jay took over, it didn't feel quite right, but I gave it a chance. I never once thought the writing on the show was all that great and the show itself went from truly classy to completely terrible. For some strange reason Jay's ratings were good although everyone I had ever talked to disliked Leno, with the exception of one or two people that thought he was alright.

I was happy that Conan took over.  I knew he would do something great with it. But to be honest, I missed him in New York.  L.A. never really felt right.  But hey, I'll watch Conan where ever he goes. I hope he goes to FOX. Don't know what the hell's going on over there, but NBC's really been missing the boat lately.

Late Night With Conan O'brien

I have totally missed Conan's last week. But thankfully I've been able to catch up with it on HULU.com.

I remember the very first episode of Late Night without David Letterman with a then unknown Conan. I remember how odd it felt not having Johnny Carson around, Leno taking over, Letterman leaving for CBS, and Late Night being hosted by some guy named Conan I had never even heard of before. It was like my world was being rearranged. I had grown up with the late night schedule of Carson then Letterman. Seeing it change in such a weird way was just mind blowing. Conan eventually became my favorite in late night.

I have my reservations about Jimmy Fallon. I think he has great potential, for both greatness and for mediocrity. He's made me laugh so many times in the past, but just as many times he's displayed an irritating immaturity to his craft. The last few years of SNL were filled with flubbed lines and breaking character. Nothing was more annoying than a Jimmy Fallon / Horatio Sanz sketch. You knew they were going to screw it up some how. I can only hope that we can see the great side of Jimmy Fallon on Late Night. If Timberlake can make a surprise appearance and they can do The Barry Gibb Talk Show, then I'll be alright with it.

I am going to miss Conan in New York. Had this specific feel to it that was quite classy. New York feels different from L.A. But then again The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson had this classy feel to it. With Conan taking over, maybe we can finally get rid of that cheesy mediocre atmosphere from Leno's Tonight Show, and bring it back to something substantial, and actually funny.

Here's a segment from Late Night with Conan that I absolutely love. It had me in tears. Let's hope The Tonight Show will be as good if not better. I'm sure it will.



EDIT: (March 2nd) Just got done watching the entire last episode of Late Night with Conan. I nearly teared up at the end with everything Conan had to say. Really felt it. And now there is no doubt that The Tonight Show will be amazing.



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