(no subject)
It's insane how emotional this whole Conan O'Brien thing is making me. It's stupid really. But Conan was probably the closest thing I'm going to have to an everyman. The first I can remember watching Conan was in a hotel room in Florida in June of 1997. I was up late and hotel TVs back in those days only had like ten channels so I ended up watching Conan. It wasn't any sort of revelation. I can remember thinking that I had heard a lot of good things about this show, so I paid attention, and I laughed. And maybe I saw it a few times at home before I headed off to Cambridge for the summer. But at some point between then and the end of the year Conan became an almost nightly habit. I was practically nocturnal anyways, so this was something fun on besides whatever syndicated sitcom reruns were around. But by the middle of my junior year of High School Conan was a must see every night.
And looking back on it, I can totally see why Conan and that show ended up being so important to me. In 1997 I was in this weird crisis of identity. When your a teenager you forge your identity based on stuff you like. The things you enjoy and take pleasure out of... make up a big part of who you are in high school. And back then all the stuff I loved was considered bad. And not bad like Fred Durst is bad, but bad like abnormal and should be shunned bad. And obviously the comics reading and action figure collecting is an obvious taboo... but it was other stuff too. I liked politics and talk radio and obscure films. I loved stand up comedy. In fact the only acceptable thing I enjoyed doing was football, but by that time medical issues had gotten to the point where I couldn't play anymore. So all the stuff I loved was unacceptable, therefore I was unacceptable. And there were only about three hundred and fifty kids total in my high school. It wasn't like there were other nerdy kids along with me... there was just me! I was the only freak like me in the entire school.
Keep in mind, this was 1997. The whole nerd/internet takeover of pop culture hadn't happened. And that everyday irony that we all take for granted now just didn't exist back then. At least not in Oklahoma. So it wasn't cool to be uncool. You wanted EVERYONE to think you were cool at all times.
But then here comes Conan and Late Night. Here comes this nerdy awkward guy who hosts his own talk show. And it's not just that he's nerdy... He's happy about it. For one hour a night a world existed where everything I saw in myself was celebrated. Conan and Andy were gleefully absurd. They were self deprecating. They were giant nerds... and people laughed! In my head the audience was always full of all these people who were just like me and they were all enjoying all the stuff everyone around me said was bad.
It wasn't like I thought of it in these terms at the time. Mostly I was just laughing at everything. But sitting here watching old clips of Late Night... I can't help but remember ho much my perspective really changed by watching him.
Yeah... so fuck Jay Leno. Nobody should watch any of the Winter Olympics, and whenever Conan moves to a new network, I'm there.
And looking back on it, I can totally see why Conan and that show ended up being so important to me. In 1997 I was in this weird crisis of identity. When your a teenager you forge your identity based on stuff you like. The things you enjoy and take pleasure out of... make up a big part of who you are in high school. And back then all the stuff I loved was considered bad. And not bad like Fred Durst is bad, but bad like abnormal and should be shunned bad. And obviously the comics reading and action figure collecting is an obvious taboo... but it was other stuff too. I liked politics and talk radio and obscure films. I loved stand up comedy. In fact the only acceptable thing I enjoyed doing was football, but by that time medical issues had gotten to the point where I couldn't play anymore. So all the stuff I loved was unacceptable, therefore I was unacceptable. And there were only about three hundred and fifty kids total in my high school. It wasn't like there were other nerdy kids along with me... there was just me! I was the only freak like me in the entire school.
Keep in mind, this was 1997. The whole nerd/internet takeover of pop culture hadn't happened. And that everyday irony that we all take for granted now just didn't exist back then. At least not in Oklahoma. So it wasn't cool to be uncool. You wanted EVERYONE to think you were cool at all times.
But then here comes Conan and Late Night. Here comes this nerdy awkward guy who hosts his own talk show. And it's not just that he's nerdy... He's happy about it. For one hour a night a world existed where everything I saw in myself was celebrated. Conan and Andy were gleefully absurd. They were self deprecating. They were giant nerds... and people laughed! In my head the audience was always full of all these people who were just like me and they were all enjoying all the stuff everyone around me said was bad.
It wasn't like I thought of it in these terms at the time. Mostly I was just laughing at everything. But sitting here watching old clips of Late Night... I can't help but remember ho much my perspective really changed by watching him.
Yeah... so fuck Jay Leno. Nobody should watch any of the Winter Olympics, and whenever Conan moves to a new network, I'm there.