Bryan Curtis of The Daily Beast writes:

As a member of the coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic, let me say that I thought Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show stunk. I like Conan—I really do. I feel bad that he’s become the latest corpse in Jeff Zucker’s NBC funeral parlor. But in all the odes to Conan’s martyrdom, no one actually seems to be defending his seven-month-old Tonight Show. That’s because the show, even for us Cocophiles, wasn’t funny.

To the polls!

WAS CONAN O’BRIEN’S TONIGHT SHOW… YOU KNOW… “FUNNY”?

Bang bang, choo-choo train, let me see you shake that thang. Wm. Steven Humphrey is the editor-in-chief of the Portland Mercury and has held the job since 2000. (So don’t get any funny ideas.)

7 replies on “The Uncomfortable Question: Was Conan’s <i>Tonight Show</i> “Funny”?”

  2. Not as funny as he was on Late Night, and I assume that’s entirely due to trying to appeal to a wider audience. Hopefully that changes wherever he goes.

  3. Conan’s Tonight Show wasn’t funny in the weeks immediately following his takeover, but it is now. At first he was pulling his punches, careful not to get too weird or raunchy, but now he’s found his stride and is just as weird and raunchy as ever. As far as I’m concerned, the biggest difference between his Tonight Show and his Late Night is the absence of the masturbating bear. I think anyone who says it isn’t a funny show is either not much of a Conan fan to begin with, or stopped watching the Tonight Show before it started to get good.

  5. Yes it was!! Conan’s Tonight Show had so many classic moments and bits… YouTwitFace, TwitterTracker, Conan’s Ford, the Cold Open, Triumph at Bonaroo… His interviews crack me up. Norm Macdonald, Eva Mendes talking about taking Conan to her spa for a body scrub… so many good ones.

    Bryan, I don’t know what to say to you. There is no accounting for taste. I guess some people just prefer stupid comedy. So lucky for you, Leno is there to fullfill that need. I, however am also a member of the coveted 18-49 graphic… 32, college educated, a parent and a 6 figure income household (we’re talking the dream demographic advertisers drool over) and I love Conan’s Tonight Show and watched it nightly. I NEVER watch Leno and will not. My husband, siblings and a majority of friends are right there with me (hear me advertisers, drop Leno… we will be where Conan is).

  6. I didn’t like some of the sketches and it seemed obvious that Conan had changed some the antics that got him to where he was/is/will be? I really didn’t like the change of “in the year 2000” to “3000”, while that may seem small, petty and insignificant, you can believe me when I tell you that those who have been watching Conan for many years cared. However, despite the bad, there was still more than enough good. I liked the new “Connando” spanish melodramas that were added. Also, Conan still has a truly sharp wit and way of interacting with guests that is unmatched in the industry. He is one of a kind and if anything this time has made his shows even better (the recent one with Ricky Gervais for example). I hope he goes and does late night at another station and goes head-to-head with Leno. Conan has the talent and I am sure he will be quite okay.

  7. My boyfriend and I are both in the “coveted demographic.” He LOVES Leno. I like him, but I think he hasn’t been as funny in recent years, and I absolutely thought his primetime show was horrible. My bf, however, loved it, and he loved it for the same reason that Jay was number one for fifteen years in latenight…because Jay comes across as affable, warm, gentle, and comfortable. My boyfriend is smart, and (unfortunately) a staunch Republican. Many of Jay’s fans are smart, not dumb, ignorant half-wits like many of Conan’s fans like to post. Different people are going to find different things to be funny, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

    I thought Conan’s Late Show was so horrible when it first started – painful to watch, in fact. I just couldn’t do it after a couple of weeks. But I started watching again about two years in, and became a fan. I like his brand of comedy. Not sure, though, that it is a good fit for the 11:30 timeslot; but I do wish they had given him more time to have a chance to build an audience (or not, whichever the case may have ended up being).

    I blame NBC and Zucker mostly for this mess, although I think they really thought having Jay be a lead-in to Conan was going to be an acceptable compromise for all parties. Conan maybe shouldn’t have made that public memo so soon…mayhap he should have continued negotiations in private a while longer instead of backing everyone into a corner. I feel sorry for his staff.

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