Do Not Feel Sorry For Conan O’Brien

Another example of the vast sums of money being thrown around is the nightly sketch Conan started Wednesday, where the punchline is finding unique ways to spend NBC’s money. Millions of it. Even if it’s actually not true, the audience response is uproarious, as if wasting millions of dollars for some sort of late night revenge is totally appropriate. As Conan picks up an eight figure check in a few days, maybe it’s funny to him. But how out of touch does he have to be to think that purporting to waste six million dollars because a company spoiled your dream will ingratiate you to the majority of the country?

Or the world. At 8pm tonight on NBC (and dozens of other networks), celebrities and musicians will raise millions to help the people of Haiti, who have been absolutely devastated by a deadly earthquake. The death toll has risen to the six figures, and the damage to the country is nearly unimaginable. Millions of dollars will be raised, and it will just serve to scratch the surface of what needs to be done to repair the damage that now exists across all of Haiti. So from 8-10pm, we’ll see images of suffering, then we’ll get Jay Leno cracking some jokes about how he somehow got screwed by NBC too (he really didn’t – he got what he wanted), some local news, and then a millionaire comedian will make jokes about wasting his company’s money. And many will feel bad for him – it will probably be emotional. He’ll be leaving a job he loved, very publicly, after an embarrassing couple weeks. But think about the bigger picture.

I really like Conan O’Brien. I think he’s enormously talented and absolutely hilarious. In the Team Conan vs. Team Leno or Team NBC debate, I’m on Team Conan. He hasn’t slept with co-workers and cheated on his significant other, like David Letterman. He didn’t passively play ‘company guy’ while behind-the-scenes wrangling to re-assume the reins of The Tonight Show out from under the current host, like Leno. He’s a really good guy.

As a page at NBC, I spent three months at Late Night with Conan O’Brien desk. From the writers to the producers to Conan himself, everyone was gracious, helpful and down-to-earth. There wasn’t an ounce of disparagement toward the kid with the peacock tie. In rehearsal or just in the hallway, his not-safe-for-network-TV comedy had everyone cracking up, keeping the atmosphere loose. He was a perfectionist – if there was a tech problem during the show, or he misstated a guest’s background during an interview, there was nervous energy over his reaction in the post-show meeting. But it came from a desire to do the absolute best show he could. And when Conan went to L.A. to host The Tonight Show, he took a large portion of the staff with him. They moved their families across the country, and Conan did right to secure some severance for them as well. But if you feel bad for anyone, how about starting with the staff?

Conan O’Brien will host a successful show somewhere soon. He’ll go onto bigger and better things, and his large contingent of hardcore fans will follow him wherever he goes, along with likely a growing audience. He’ll be just fine. So please, as we see Conan sign off tonight for the last time on NBC, and those (like me) who have watched him for years feel some sense of sadness over the circumstances that got us to this point, let’s put it all in some perspective.

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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.