jenniferteeter.com

There’s been quite a bit of kerfuffle about Conan and Leno and NBC, and there’s been so much backlash, and I think everyone is missing the point.
I don’t feel sorry for Conan. Not really.
I mean, there’s a small part of me that does. You have a dream, you get your dream, only to realize it’s too good to be true, yadda yadda yadda. You have millions, you have a large following, you’ve got a hot wife and ginger kids, life’s all good.
This isn’t about Conan’s feelings. This is about everyone who watched Conan on Late Night and thought, “Oh my god, how is this guy on the air? He’s REALLY funny.”
This was a success for the young, the outliers, the simpsons fans, the geeks, dorks, and misfits (not to mention pre-world series win Red Sox fans) to have a hero. This lanky, awkward guy was our Leno. He was later, edgier, and our parents didn’t think he was funny. SCORE. For the babies reading this, he was our Glee, except your mom doesn’t like him.
And then, we heard he was getting the Tonight Show. No fucking way. It was a new frontier! People who we liked and cared about were actually coming into the mainstream! What’ll they do next? Let David Lynch have his own TV show ?
But then it’s taken away. And we all kind of felt it coming. Like the lone season of Firefly, or Michael Cera before we realized he’s kinda a dick, there was an eerie calm before the disappointment storm. The last week of Late Night with Conan, we saw Jack White cry, and we thought “Does he know something we don’t?”
Well he does. He knows how to play guitar REALLY well. But also, I think he might be prescient, because it’s now all fucked up.
So stop making fun of the Conanites. We’re not worried about Conan, he’ll be fine. Despite Jimmy Kimmel begging Leno to leave his show alone because “Conan and I have families. All you have to take care of are cars.” (not exact quote), this isn’t about Conan. This isn’t like the Oscars where we get to see a bunch of stars cry and hug about how great they are.
This is about US. Conan was making funny for US, and no one was doing that, and he was going to get the fucking Tonight Show. Like Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. Like Jack Parr’s Tonight Show (or was it George Burns? Wait….I think it was Amos and Andy). Someone we LOVED, who seemed to kind of love us, was going to be part of television history.
Except not.
Psych.
Fuck you.
Go watch adult swim.
I don’t have cable…
I SAID GO WATCH ADULT SWIM