Now that Conan looks to be getting his check and his network freedom, we can all get really excited about what the next iteration of his career will look like. I truly hope that it’s another late night talk show. There have been calls to bring him to the internet exclusively, but I can’t imagine that Conan’s handlers would allow that to happen when there are still eight figure deals to be had for him on television.
As a Late Night fan from the very beginning, lately I’ve been excited to see the original Conan attitude again. Not unlike the mid-90s Late Night, when O’Brien was constantly teetering on the verge of cancellation due to his inexperience, Conan’s red pompadour was a beacon of comedic brilliance last night as the carefree butt of his own jokes. O’Brien got his mojo back in a role that fits him perfectly: the readily pummeled victim of the identifiable corporate bully that has been NBC.
The next show will feature Conan as the dethroned king of Late Night. Not only does that give Conan a nemesis in NBC, but also that “not yet ready for the big leagues” attitude that works so well for him. That cocktail should make for a nightcap that might even have Letterman worried about Conan as competition (assuming he’s on at 11:35).
While I’ll miss the characters he’ll have to leave in the vaults of NBC, as well as the theme song, I can only be excited that the departure from The Tonight Show has popped Conan right back into his groove.
