I've been a big fan of Conan O'Brien's since college. When my schedule allowed me to do it, I'd go back to my apartment during lunch and catch the re-run of the episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien that had aired the night before. Conan's self deprecating humor really spoke to me. He never felt like he was trying to be the coolest guy in the room. If one of his monologue jokes bombed (and every monologue was good for at least one or two dud jokes per show), he'd laugh it off and just move on to the next joke. He was constantly making fun of himself for being a tall, gawky redhead and, while I'm not a tall, gawky redhead, I did (and still do) have issues with my self-confidence. The fact that Conan was rich, successful and talented, yet still saw the flaws in himself made him very relatable. Needless to say, I was very excited for Conan to take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno and pretty bummed out when Leno ended up taking it back.
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop is a documentary that picks up with Conan in the wake of his departure from The Tonight Show and follows him around the country on his Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour. Since NBC, uh, legally prohibited Conan from being funny on television for six months, he decided to put together a live show that consisted of equal parts stand-up comedy, live music, video sketches and old bits from his Late Night show. (Although they had to be re-named for legal reasons. Example: the Walker Texas Ranger Lever became the Chuck Norris Rural Policeman's Handle.)
(Side note: Simona and I saw the Legally Prohibited Tour when it came through Los Angeles, and it was very funny. We had a blast.)
I had read a few reviews of the movie and many of them focused on how Conan could be kind of a dick to the people around him (most notably, his assistant, Sona). I was a little concerned that the movie would sully my image of Conan and make me not want to watch his show anymore. Fortunately, I thought the reviews exaggerated a bit. Yes, Conan is not always loveable and yes, some of his jokes are mean-spirited, but overall, the guy comes across as someone who is under a lot of pressure and has a lot of people relying on him. He very much trusts and appreciates the people that work for him and, although he's very hard on them, he's even harder on himself.
The title, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop is very apt. The guy cannot seem to survive without a large group of people applauding and cheering for him. Even on the tour's off-days, he has to go out and perform. He schedules a secret show for some of his fans in Nashville at Jack White's recording studio, brings his band on stage to perform at his 25 year college reunion talent show and gets roped into introducing every musical act at Bonnaroo. Conan spends his down time lamenting that he doesn't have enough down time and that his producer has over-booked him, but it all seems like a bit of a ruse. Conan feeds off his audience and seems incomplete when he's not in front of a crowd. He seems to go out of his way to interact with fans, pose for pictures, and sign autographs.
The one thing that disappointed me about the movie is that it seemed to be about "Conan O'Brien," the character and not Conan O'Brien, the man. Conan is keenly aware of the documentary cameras and mugs for them at every opportunity. There are a couple of scenes involving Conan and his kids and only then did he seem to let his guard down. Still, I didn't watch Conan O'Brien Can't Stop looking for new insights into Conan's personal life or even new details about how NBC screwed him. I watched it because I wanted to hang out with Conan and his crew for an hour and a half. Conan O'Brien Can't Stop is a fun, if superficial, look into the mind of my favorite talk show host.
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