# Twenty-Five Minutes to Conan! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452 "2009-06-02T03:10:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/1 "2009-06-02T03:10:22Z")
Okay, make that twenty-four. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/2 "2009-06-02T04:03:34Z")
IMO very funny so far. Except, Andy Richter is just as useless now as he was when he was on Conan’s show the first time. Why did they bring him back? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/3 "2009-06-02T04:34:29Z")
First half of the show was odd. (Stopped watching before Will Farrell came on.) The Universal Studios bit wasn’t very funny and the old car even less so. The real problem was that they both felt old, tired and overdone, which can’t be the tone he wanted to set for the very first show even if he was trying to tone down the humor for the 11:30 crowd. Besides, the 99 cent store and car jokes are both associated with Leno’s Tonight Show. Why drag in unfavorable comparisons if you don’t have to? First show, first week, first few months don’t really mean much. But with everybody scrutinizing the first show with magnifying glasses, the choices made were bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/4 "2009-06-02T04:45:42Z")
I liked Andy being back. They come up with great stuff on the fly - just like two writers bouncing stuff off of each other. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/5 "2009-06-02T04:50:13Z")
I don’t get Conan at all. He acts like a 12 year old who blurts out every stupid thought that comes to his mind (which is ironically fed by writers of the same skill). The opening sketch where he runs coast to coast was stupid and the amusement park tour was painful to watch. And although he can claim a better quaff than Donald Trump his hair belongs in a B-52 video. If Leno can keep his old audience it will give America an excuse to get a good night’s sleep. ---
**Author:** ![quixotic78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3ab097/32.png) [@quixotic78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quixotic78)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/6 "2009-06-02T05:57:37Z")
I found the bit with Hilary Clinton inordinately (and inexplicably) funny. The rest was mostly meh. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/7 "2009-06-02T14:22:33Z")
> [@quixotic78](#): > > I found the bit with Hilary Clinton inordinately (and inexplicably) funny. The rest was mostly meh. Yes, that was actually funny. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/8 "2009-06-02T14:32:02Z")
MrWhatsit and I laughed a lot at the Universal tram ride. It was weird, because mentally I was thinking “this shouldn’t be that funny,” but I had this visceral gut laugh reaction to it. I don’t know, the scene of the tram riding around in a circle and then everyone chanting, “Circle! Circle!” – see, I’m chuckling right now thinking about it. No accounting for taste, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/9 "2009-06-02T14:37:42Z")
I thought the running across America amusing, then he got to Wrigley Field and it turned brilliant. I’m not so sure why he was running South towards the Loop, then was all of a sudden up in Wrigleyville though. I suppose he got turned around. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/10 "2009-06-02T14:48:38Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I thought the running across America amusing, then he got to Wrigley Field and it turned brilliant. I’m not so sure why he was running South towards the Loop, then was all of a sudden up in Wrigleyville though. I suppose he got turned around. 😃 Yeah, kind of like running across the lawn in front of the St.Louis arch which is on the west bank of the Mississippi and then swimming across the river. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/11 "2009-06-02T14:55:27Z")
Andy was just embarrassing…every word out of Conan’s mouth caused him to guffaw like he went off his meds at the mental clinic. The Universal tram ride was a bit overwrought…crying hysterically once might have been amusing, but doing it over and over again got to be annoying. For his first show, he pretty much kept up his shtick from his Late Night Show, which I didn’t particularly like, so I guess this means nothing new on the immediate horizon. Again, I don’t hate Conan - he seems to be a likable guy - it is just I find his humor more suited to a dorm full of 20-something guys who couldn’t get dates and have nothing better to do than sit around, get stoned and watch Conan. That is not exactly my demographic, and at the earlier time slot, I doubt it is the demographic of many viewers. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/12 "2009-06-02T15:28:31Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Andy was just embarrassing…every word out of Conan’s mouth caused him to guffaw like he went off his meds at the mental clinic. > > The Universal tram ride was a bit overwrought…crying hysterically once might have been amusing, but doing it over and over again got to be annoying. > > For his first show, he pretty much kept up his shtick from his Late Night Show, which I didn’t particularly like, so I guess this means nothing new on the immediate horizon. > > Again, I don’t hate Conan - he seems to be a likable guy - it is just I find his humor more suited to a dorm full of 20-something guys who couldn’t get dates and have nothing better to do than sit around, get stoned and watch Conan. That is not exactly my demographic, and at the earlier time slot, I doubt it is the demographic of many viewers. Even granting that you’ve identified a key demographic, Conan’s been entertaining them since 1993; those young twenty-year-olds are in their later thirties, and they aren’t all still going to stay up for his old time slot. They’ve got families and early morning jobs now. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/13 "2009-06-02T16:16:03Z")
If he keeps Pearl Jam as the house band, it might just work out… ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/14 "2009-06-02T16:57:53Z")
The biggest difference between Conan and Jay is that Conan is way more of an actor, whereas Jay was more of a performer. Jay had headlines, 99 cent store (same one Conan went to??), Jaywalking etc. This wasn’t Jay really acting, just presenting and being funny. Conan has more “theater” to his bits. He does the little field trips, the running thing, and he will do more characters. It will be interesting to see if/when/how that translates to the earlier time, and supposed “older” fanbase of The Tonight Show. (Also, no banter with Max?!?!) ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/15 "2009-06-02T17:05:13Z")
They need to move Andy to the couch. The mix on Pearl Jam sounded bad to me. Will Ferrel’s song bit was funny, but goes more to the theatrical type of humor Conan does, as mentioned above, rather than comedy that springs from true interaction. I guess there just aren’t any more from the Jack Parr/Johnny Carson mold. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/16 "2009-06-02T17:17:32Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > The biggest difference between Conan and Jay is that Conan is way more of an actor, whereas Jay was more of a performer. > > Jay had headlines, 99 cent store (same one Conan went to??), Jaywalking etc. This wasn’t Jay really acting, just presenting and being funny. Conan has more “theater” to his bits. He does the little field trips, the running thing, and he will do more characters. > > It will be interesting to see if/when/how that translates to the earlier time, and supposed “older” fanbase of The Tonight Show. It’s interesting, because Conan is more in the Carson mold (characters & skits) than Jay ever was. I haven’t seen much of Steve Allen’s work, but he seems a bit closer to Jay in his hosting “style”. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-five-minutes-to-conan/498452/17 "2009-06-02T17:46:34Z")
I thought the first show was okay, but not great. The location bit at Universal was funny enough, but he’s done better. Andy looked… not well. Maybe it’s just that he’s gotten older. But it also looked like maybe he’d been doing some drinking the past few years. I actually felt a little bad for him. His TV shows were excellent but couldn’t find an audience, and he slowly just lost his career. Now he’s back with Conan, but it looks like even there his role has been downgraded. That’s too bad for a truly funny guy. Hopefully his role on the show will expand and he’ll start building his reputation again. Pearl Jam sounded awful. The mix was terrible. The vocals weren’t processed right and sounded thin and weak. Maybe it’s the 5.1 channel surround mix and it sounded okay on a non-HD set, but it was really bad. The set, I must say, is gorgeous. Easily the best-looking talk show set I’ve ever seen.