Year 14, Day 226 - 8/14/22 - Movie #4,224
BEFORE: This documentary came out in 2011, so it may seem like I'm a bit behind the times, but I'm including it here for a reason - I'm trying to end on a positive note, and I'm thinking this film will demonstrate the sort of resiliency and hopefulness that I've seen in the last few films. So many of the films in my Summer Rock & Doc Block this year have been about dead celebrities, even half of the four chefs profiled in that part of the chain were among the departed. Dead comedians, dead musicians, dead painters, dead oceanographers - there hasn't been much hope on display here, even when you factor in the fact that everybody's story ends the same way, more or less. So I'm going to close with a film about a comedian losing his job and then bouncing back, which seems about as positive a story as I can hope for.
Stephen Colbert carries over from "Running with Beto".
THE PLOT: A documentary on Conan O'Brien's comedy tour of the U.S. and Canada after leaving his post at "The Tonight Show" and severing his relationship with NBC.
AFTER: This may be before your time, but back in 2008 or so, Jay Leno was the successful host of "The Tonight Show" and his contract was almost up for renewal, BUT rather than just stay on the same show that aired at 11:30 pm on NBC, he had his sights set on something bigger, a new nightly talk show on every night at 10 pm. In 2009, Conan O'Brien, who had been hosting "Late Night", ever since David Letterman left NBC to move to CBS, was nominated to move up in the ranks, from his 12:30 am show to the 11:30 "Tonight Show". But this proved to be a terrible idea, because "The Jay Leno Show" failed to get great ratings at 10 pm, and ratings weren't up either for Conan on "The Tonight Show", so rather than lose one of their popular TV hosts, NBC executives moved Jay Leno's show to the 11:35 slot, and Conan was offered to keep his job on "The Tonight Show" with the show moving to 12:05 am, essentially becoming "The Tomorrow Show".
By January of 2010, Conan had taken the other option, to leave the network with a $33 million payout, with another $12 million in severance for his staff, and Jay Leno moved back to "The Tonight Show" at 11:35, which he hosted for another 4 years. Conan was forbidden to work in late night television for six months, but when that term was up, he started another nightly talk show on TBS, and that show ran for 10 years, until June 2021. To fill the downtime before he could host another show, Conan went on a live tour, produced by his longtime staffers, around the U.S. and Canada, doing comedy bits and music performances. This is somewhat relevant now because Conan's between shows AGAIN right now, there's some kind of weekly show in development at HBO Max, but it's a bit unclear whether that will follow a similar talk-show and variety format, or if it will be something different. (This May his podcast was sold to Sirius for $150 million, so even if the new show tanks, I think Conan will be OK.)
But I guess there's some inspiration to be drawn from this, if your show gets cancelled, you can start another one, if you lose your job, you don't give up, you find a new job or a new line of work. This is just what successful people do - Lucille Ball and Betty White always found a new show to appear on, Mel Brooks didn't quit after "Life Stinks" stank, he started turning his films into Broadway musicals. Bob Einstein found a new job on "Curb Your Enthusiasm", Bob Ross and Julia Child kept painting and cooking as long as they could still stand up, George Carlin made HBO specials (even though they kept getting angrier) and The Sparks Brothers didn't let the lack of a hit single keep them from releasing album after album. Dick Gregory, Brian Wilson, Elaine Stritch, Rick James, Kenny G and Beto O'Rourke they all kept going, even through the personal and professional losses, because life's a marathon that keeps going as long as you can keep running.
Conan's tour seems a bit like Beto's, maybe he didn't hit every county in Texas, but he was on the "Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television" tour for two months, from April to June of 2010, starting in Eugene, Oregon, passing through Los Angeles, Bonnaroo, Boston and New York, then ending in Atlanta. Look, I'm not going to say that everything he performed on stage was comedy gold, a lot of it just wasn't, but I would have rather seen more of the concert footage and less of Conan's backstage antics, when he often complained about the dressing room conditions, or the fact that band members or back-up singers would bring their families to meet him, without warning. I know that most of his complaining and ridiculing his assistant is done in the name of comedy, but even knowing that, it's quite unbecoming.
I would have suggested maybe 50% concert film and 50% backstage material, but this doc is weighted heavily in favor of the behind-the-scenes stuff, and it's too much. Perhaps someone was thinking that the live performances could be released as their own film, but now that's very unlikely to happen, so it's really a missed opportunity to showcase all that here. If that's where Conan really shines, where he's really funny, in front of an audience, why couldn't we just see more of that?
Anyway, I'm kind of split on Conan O'Brien because I did watch his TBS show for the last five years, and he made it through the pandemic, eventually broadcasting from L.A.'s Largo Theater with no audience present for a while, and then shortly after the return of the live shows with an audience, he announced that the TBS show was ending. Look, he had a great run, between all of his shows on NBC and TBS he lasted 28 years, and that's something. Some late night hosts only last three years or five years, like Craig Kilborn or Craig Ferguson on "The Late Late Show". James Corden's been hosting that show since 2015, but now he's announced he's going to retire in 2023. I guess the only thing consistent in late night programming is change, and maybe there's another lesson to be learned there. Hosting a late-night talk show seems like a pretty sweet deal, and I can't imagine why anyone would quit that gig unless they're incredibly tired of it or have already made enough money at it.
Anyway, we don't stop here at the Movie Year, either - my staff of one is going to take tomorrow off, but it's in the interests of spreading out my August films so I don't run out of material in September. But I'm very anxious to get back to fiction films after 46 (!!) documentaries and bridging movies in this last chain. The next 31 films need to last about 46 days, and should get me to where I need to be on October 1. Then after a jam-packed month of horror films, I'll need to spread out the remaining slots between November and December. It's hard to believe, but Christmas is just 75 movies away! And the Summer Rock & Doc Block is now officially over.
Also starring Conan O'Brien (last seen in "The Super Bob Einstein Movie"), Andy Richter (last seen in "Fyre"), Jack Black (last seen in "The Love Letter"), Jim Carrey (last seen in "The Last Blockbuster"), Margaret Cho, Deon Cole (last seen in "The Female Brain"), Andrés du Bouchet, Kyle Gass (last seen in "Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny"), Jon Hamm (last seen in "Dean Martin: King of Cool"), Rachel Hollingsworth, Ellie Kemper (last heard in "The Secret Life of Pets 2"), Steve Kroft, Jack McBrayer (last heard in "Ralph Breaks the Internet"), Fredericka Meek, Nick Offerman (last seen in "Lucy in the Sky"), Liza Powel O'Brien, Craig Robinson (last heard in "The Bad Guys"), Richie "La Bamba" Rosenberg, Jeff Ross, Kristen Schaal (last seen in "My Spy"), Brian Stack (last seen in "Rough Night"), Jon Stewart (last seen in "George Carlin's American Dream"), Mike Sweeney, Eddie Vedder, Jimmy Vivino (last seen in "Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band"), Reggie Watts (last heard in "My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea"), Jennifer Westfeldt, Jack White (last seen in "Shine a Light").
RATING: 5 out of 10 costume changes
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