Conan’s Back!

Well everyone, after much anticipation and 9 months of waiting, Conan’s made his return to LateNight!

Now I really do miss the old days when I could watch Letterman ‘till 12:30, then flip to Conan on NBC at 12:35, but I’m still happy he’s back! I’m really glad he kept the traditional LateNight format,(Monlogue, funny skits, interviews, musical guest), but did anyone feel like the first night was kind of weak? Conan definitely had some Cobwebs to dust off…but I mean the man’s had 9 months to freshen up. His entire first monologue was basically him complaining about his budget cuts caused by flipping from Network TV to Cable. Or about how he lost his last job. Conan, unlike most americans without jobs, you had an $80 Million contract buyout, not to mention 9 months later you make a reported $10 Million with TBS. TBS Hired you… not saying you didn’t have other offers, but show SOME respect. I absolutely loved his cold Intro, giving a synopsis of his departure from NBC, and looking for a job.

His first guest was Seth Rogan, on to promote his movie coming out in January: The Green Hornet. Seth talked about his proposal to his Fiancee, and used some unconventional language to explain it. He dropped the F Bomb some 4 or 5 times before Conan interrupted. The most interesting thing about the first night was how during the musical guest, instead of watching from his desk, Conan played guitar WITH Jack White. It’s little things like that which set Conan apart from the oldies on NBC and CBS. On night two, things really picked up. His monologue was lively, comedic, and took some good humour to himself. He reintroduced some older characters from his days at NBC, and then had Tom Hanks on. Loving the CoCo hand symbols by Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks really had no purpose for being on Conan (promoting his movie coming out in July? lol..) but he came on to show his support for Sir CoCo! He was the second guest Conan’s Tonight Show, and the 2nd on Conan now aswell. They poked fun at Conan’s situation, and how in 9 months he’ll be the 2nd guest on Conan’s  Univision show. This show really hit stride on night two, I was really happy with it. Actually, my favourite thing about Conan is his presence in Social Media now. Conan is all over Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and more social media with the “TeamCoco” team. Conan has really embraced this campaign. Since Canada gets Conan an hour later than the states, I really cannot stay awake for it every night, SO I can watch it online the next day! Conan may very well become my new morning show if I can’t stay up! :D

Conan’s best days were always when he would joke that he couldn’t meet expectations, and now he can thrive on making jokes about his basic cable situation. I really don’t see an issue with him being on basic cable.. now everyone can watch. I really think he’ll thrive here, with total control of his show, and it’s ownership, he now has a lot more freedom than he did being constrained by NBC. Conan refered to TBS as “a very leniant parent”. Conan knew he would be safer with TBS than with taking the offer with Fox, given network TV has a lot higher expectations.

You can really tell that despite having a bit of a sour start, Conan really is just happy to be back in the studios, that smile he has is legitamate. I’ve always been told that LateNight isn’t made or broken in one night, you’re in it for the longhaul. I’m sooo excited to be in it for the long haul with him! This is a man who loves his job, and I love watchin him. Team Coco!