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Editor’s note: This opinion is part of a point/counterpoint opinion feature about NBC’s putting Jay Leno back as the headliner of “The Tonight Show.” Read the counterpoint, “I’m still with Coco” by CU Independent staff writer Molly Maher.
When Jay Leno returns to The Tonight Show in February, he will find me situated smack-dab in the middle of my couch with a bowl of popcorn and a nice cold Dr. Pepper in my hands, eagerly awaiting his 10:30 p.m. MST re-debut to my TV.
Jay, not Conan O’Brien, is clearly meant to be the king of late night.
I’ve been waving my Team Jay flag ever since I started sneaking to the downstairs living room as a fifth-grader to watch The Tonight Show with my older sister. Jay is simply a more relatable and professional comedian than now-rival Conan.
Jay’s gags can beat Conan’s any day. Jaywalking is far wittier and cleverer than Conan’s Triumph the Insult Dog. A dog that yells racy insults? Let’s get real: We’re not in second grade anymore.
Jay has seen history walk across his stage. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his bid for office on the funnyman’s show in August 2003. Almost six years later, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to hit the late-night circuit when he stopped by The Tonight Show in March 2009. The man’s got prestige.
However, I do not think it was Conan or even Jay who were at fault during the recent NBC fight for Tonight; rather, the perpetually confused NBC executives are the ones responsible for the events that left Conan out of a job and left scores of critics across the nation condemning Jay.
NBC made the decision six years ago to switch up the late night agenda when both Jay and Conan were still going strong with their respective programs. Jay never should have left “The Tonight Show” in the first place. NBC muscled him out in a move that executives to come will be cursing in their sleep for the next century.
Conan wasn’t ready for Tonight.
Let’s face it: The guy is too much of a goofball.
Granted, that seems to be what lures the majority of his viewers, but on network television, you can’t afford to be just another goofball with a random sense of humor. Conan’s cult following is fiercely loyal to him (as evidenced by the Coco rallies across the nation last week), but he is such a niche entertainer that it is difficult for middle-class America to find him consistently appealing.
Conan is far better suited for a later night time-slot after the majority of middle-class America has gone to bed and the late night insomniacs are the only ones still awake and loopy enough to laugh with him.
That being said, Conan’s not all bad. I got a kick out of his very first Tonight Show when he ran to Los Angeles from New York, only to discover that he had left his keys back in his New York studio. The man graduated from Harvard, so we all know he’s a very bright individual.
His failing is that, despite his intelligence, he was unable to figure out how to appeal to a broader audience. It’s simple Darwinism: Adapt, or you won’t survive. Conan’s quirky humor didn’t adapt to his new Tonight Show audience, and he paid the price by being forced off the air.
However, NBC never should have put him in that position in the first place. They messed up. Their over-paid executives made a mistake when they moved Conan to “The Tonight Show.” The sad part is that Conan and Jay happened to get caught up in the middle of the NBC executives’ mid-life crises.
Perhaps even more unprofessionally so, NBC pulled Conan off the air after giving him only seven months to prove himself.
They signed a contract with him, and then had to buy him off when they realized they had just royally screwed up the NBC line-up.
Regardless of how popular Conan is, seven months wasn’t enough time for him to prove his worth. You don’t give a kid a cookie and then yank it away after his first bite.
I hope Conan teaches NBC a lesson and lands a deal with a rival network. He deserves at least that after being mistreated by the NBC executives.
However, I’m still counting down the days until Jay is back to his rightful place with Tonight.
The world will be right once again when Jay walks back onto that stage after NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics.
Contact CU Independent Managing Editor Kate Spencer at Katherine.a.spencer@colorado.edu.
