Conan O’Brien on Late Night’s Decline and Trump’s Greatest Crime

[jmyrlefuller]

Kara Swisher talks to the podcaster about writers’ strikes, AI, and … accounting.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/09/on-with-kara-swisher-conan-obrien-on-late-nights-decline.html

September 11, 2023

Conan O’Brien doesn’t pay much attention to late night anymore. He gave up his hosting desk for a less stressful podcast, a massive SiriusXM deal, and, most recently, a new travel show on HBO Max, Conan O’Brien Must Go, in which he gets to hop the globe, talk to strangers, and help Nordic fisherman solve their differences. In the latest episode of On With Kara Swisher, Kara trades interviewing notes with the late-night legend, asks him about his own experience on the picket line, and tries, unsuccessfully, to drill him for info about his business model. They also discuss the dramatic recent changes in the TV industry, whether or not AI is a threat to comedy, and the benefits of old-fashioned silliness. Their full conversation is at the link.

[jmyrlefuller]

Point to be made here: I am not Team Coco. I think O'Brien's sense of humor often veers into cringy, wannabe-edgelord awkwardness that doesn't make me laugh. (That said, it could just be me, the kind of guy who thinks Fibber McGee and Molly perfected the sitcom format.) But there's a surprisingly good amount of insight into what's gone wrong in the late-night genre: a saturated market of too many hosts, overemphasis on topical humor that doesn't age well, technology changes that give people the opportunity to watch whatever they want, whenever, meaning late night loses its captive audience, and the fact that Donald Trump not only sucks all the air out of the proverbial room, but draws such strong opinions that you can't make genuine fun of him.

[berdie]

Point to be made here: I am not Team Coco. I think O'Brien's sense of humor often veers into cringy, wannabe-edgelord awkwardness that doesn't make me laugh. (That said, it could just be me, the kind of guy who thinks Fibber McGee and Molly perfected the sitcom format.) But there's a surprisingly good amount of insight into what's gone wrong in the late-night genre: a saturated market of too many hosts, overemphasis on topical humor that doesn't age well, technology changes that give people the opportunity to watch whatever they want, whenever, meaning late night loses its captive audience, and the fact that Donald Trump not only sucks all the air out of the proverbial room, but draws such strong opinions that you can't make genuine fun of him.

All those things are why I left late night talk shows. They all went too political for my taste. Trying to be influential I guess. At one time, Kimmel was funny and made me laugh. But then he focused on politics and became obnoxious.

These guys need to watch reruns of Johnny Carson to see how it's done. jmho

[goatprairie]

All those things are why I left late night talk shows. They all went too political for my taste. Trying to be influential I guess. At one time, Kimmel was funny and made me laugh. But then he focused on politics and became obnoxious.

These guys need to watch reruns of Johnny Carson to see how it's done. jmho

Carson used to take his digs at politicians/presidents too. But he didn't try to make himself some sort of Social Justice warrior like Kimmel and the others.
Carson knew that his job was to entertain and not flog people with his thoughts on politics and social issues.
Carson claimed that nobody could tell what his politics were, but he occasionally let his liberal side slip by regularly hosting people like Paul Ehrlich and his "Population Bomb" idiocy, but that was rare.
 For the most part Carson liked to make fun of figures like Ehrlich. He's still the best ever.

[catfish1957]

I think O'Brien's sense of humor often veers into cringy, wannabe-edgelord awkwardness that doesn't make me laugh. (That said, it could just be me, the kind of guy who thinks Fibber McGee and Molly perfected the sitcom format.) But there's a surprisingly good amount of insight into what's gone wrong in the late-night genre: a saturated market of too many hosts, overemphasis on topical humor that doesn't age well, technology changes that give people the opportunity to watch whatever they want, whenever, meaning late night loses its captive audience, and the fact that Donald Trump not only sucks all the air out of the proverbial room, but draws such strong opinions that you can't make genuine fun of him.

I get a kick out of Gutfeld, but can't stand his gay schtick.  Format wise, it kicks ass though.

The thing is though, is that leftys like Colbert and Kimmel have taken their Trump hate to such extremes they have become serially un-funny.  And Gutfeld for this reason mostly has filled that vacuum. 

[goatprairie]

I get a kick out of Gutfeld, but can't stand his gay schtick.  Format wise, it kicks ass though.

The thing is though, is that leftys like Colbert and Kimmel have taken their Trump hate to such extremes they have become serially un-funny.  And Gutfeld for this reason mostly has filled that vacuum.

Gutfeld doesn't take himself too seriously and has quite a few very funny people on his show. Obviously, the great majority of the jokes are jabs at liberals and Democrats, but he satirizes quite a few other weird events that happen in America and around the world.