Jay Leno's last "Tonight" is tonight

Larry "Bud" Melman!

 

I miss Larry "Bud"! Heck, I even miss his son, Larry "Chip" Melman!

 

Yeah, you're right...what I should have said is I imagine at some level he wishes he could have had Carson's respect, too, that maybe there's still something missing. He has the ratings and the money and the nice cars and he got the upper hand on NBC when they yanked The Tonight Show from him, but in a three degrees of separation sort of way, he still has to feel as if Carson's guy is finally on The Tonight Show (Late Night With David Letterman beget Late Night With Conan O'Brien) and that he'll never be that guy, even if he ends up back in the chair at some point.

 

Seriously. I can't conceive of anything funnier in the history of Earth. They should give Conan an Emmy, and Norm lifetime achievement award. Because nothing will ever top this.

 

Just watched it again. Has there ever been a scene where you'd more like to hear the participants' interior dialogues? Was Conan horrified, or loving it? Was CTS offended, or privately realizing her career had turned to shit?

 

I think Conan secretly thinks it's hilarious. Sort of like a Norm appearance on the Daily Show, years later, where Jon Stewart has to say, "Please don't make me laugh at this," because Norm is making (hilarious) Crocodile Hunter jokes ... like a week after that whole thing happened.

Meanwhile, I think CTS is insulted and horrified, but does a tremendous job of playing it off.

EDIT: This might be the second funniest thing in the history of the world.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=125858&title=norm-macdonald

 

Watching it for the 90,210th time this afternoon, I think she realizes she's promoting complete dreck (Melrose Place AND Chairman Of The Bored, quite a double play), as you can see when she's scrambling for something to say about the movie and Carrot Top. So I think she got a good laugh out of it and was a good sport. And hey, she got the last laugh...since then, she's been on two long-lasting TV shows, two more than Norm.

And I think Conan thought it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. Nobody, least of all Conan, expected Norm to come up with "B-O-R-E-D," which was just a fucking walk-off, Series-winning grand slam.

 

I think we as the media typically overhype the whole rivalry thing and the whole mentor thing and the whole "seeking approval" thing.
I think Jay Leno knows he is simply not cut from the same cloth as Carson. Almost like a superstar high school offensive lineman who may be part of the in crowd, but won't ever be cool like the quarterback. I think very early on he realized, I just have to be what I am, and if that's not good enough for Johnny or Dave, fuck 'em. I am what I am.

 

<i>"Conan has always been the funniest of the three, <b>because he simply does not give a shit."</b></i>

You couldn't be more wrong about that.

 

Please explain. Or maybe I should.

Conan didn't come from the same talk show host factory that guys like Leno, Letterman and Carson did. When he was given the Late Night gig, most people didn't know who the fuck he was. He believed himself to be a career writer, a behind-the-scenes guy. He had never been a stand-up comedian. He was weird and, let's face it, awkward looking. Getting his own show was like playing with house money, and his show reflected that, especially in the early going.

Tell me Leno would have had character on his show called "The Masturbating Bear." No way. Even Letterman is too conventional for that.

Conan's shows always had the air of "let's see what we can get away with today, because we might not be on the air tomorrow." You got the sense he was just trying to entertain himself, and if other people liked it, too, good for them.

And I loved that about the show.

 

I'm a little uncertain on the timeline - did Letterman ever follow Leno's tonight show or did he go to CBS before Leno started up?

 

I think the point you're both trying to make is that Conan obviously puts a ton of attention, care and energy into his show in a completely different way than Leno/Letterman/Kimmel.

He gives a shit, just not about the same stuff.