Reply to What are your thoughts on Conan O'Brien?

Forum Index » Entertainment and Pop Culture

Reply to "What are your thoughts on Conan O'Brien?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Let me try that again (and maybe ask Jeff to delete my messed up post above.  I am sorry, Jeff!).

O'Brien gave a commencement speech about 25 years ago that I still refer to now. The speech was about failing and how important it can be, and that it often led to better things.

Major excerpts of the speech are here (https://academyatthelakes.org/wp-content/uplo...vard2000Excerpts.pdf ), but here is the end if you don't want to follow the link:

"And then, an insane, inexplicable opportunity came my way. A chance to audition for host of the new Late Night Show. I took the opportunity seriously but, at the same time, I had the relaxed confidence of someone who knew he had no real shot…a week later I got the job.

"So, this was undeniably it: the truly life-altering break I had always dreamed of. And, I went to work. … We debuted on September 13, 1993 and I was happy with our effort. I felt like I had seized the moment and put my very best foot forward. And this is what the most respected and widely read television critic, Tom Shales, wrote in the Washington Post: “O’Brien is a living collage of annoying nervous habits. He giggles and titters, jiggles about and fiddles with his cuffs. He had dark, beady little eyes like a rabbit. … O’Brien is a switch on the guest who won’t leave: he’s the host who should never have come….

"There’s more but it gets kind of mean.

"Needless to say, I took a lot of criticism, some of it deserved, some of it excessive. And it hurt like you wouldn’t believe. But I’m telling you all this for a reason. I’ve had a lot of success and I’ve had a lot of failure. I’ve looked good and I’ve looked bad. I’ve been praised and I’ve been criticized. But my mistakes have been necessary. [...]

"I’ve dwelled on my failures today because, as graduates of Harvard, your biggest liability is your need to succeed. Your need to always find yourself on the sweet side of the bell curve. Because success is a lot like a bright, white tuxedo. You feel terrific when you get it, but then you’re desperately afraid of getting it dirty, of spoiling it in any way. I left the cocoon of Harvard, I left the cocoon of Saturday Night Live, I left the cocoon of The Simpsons. And each time it was bruising and tumultuous. And yet, every failure was freeing, and today I’m as nostalgic for the bad as I am for the good. So, that’s what I wish for all of you: the bad as well as the good. Fall down, make a mess, break something occasionally. And remember that the story is never over."

[/quote]

So I have always loved him as a comedian and this makes him really like him as a person.  A lot of people, not just successful/showbiz people, they don't get this.  This is something only someone with a soul would say.  And to say it to a grad class at Harvard and not to just say something funny/charming/witty/cool/easy that sounds good - that's someone who actually cares about others.  Not sure how you would not like someone who would make a speech like this?[/quote]

A pampered silver spoon ego maniac with all the connections you’d ever need in life and a Harvard degree waxing on about failure and taking risks. What a rebel.  :roll: [/quote]

Actually coming from wealth, medical doctor and law partner - it is highly commendable that he stayed true to his creative comic self,

There would be so much pressure to be successful in more conventional ways .

I often feel like I am being transported to places that I have never heard of when listening to  Conan. He definitely lives in a way more interesting head space than most of us.[/quote]

Yes he's awesome and so much smarter than me. He and his guests make me laugh so much, and always have - I love good smart comedy. [/quote]

:roll: He's so smart because he went to HARVARD. If he went to UMass like any of regular Boston kid nobody would trip over themselves to assert how sharp he is. Then you learn the real reason he went to Harvard is because he's a rich nepo baby whose dad was faculty. It's like calling Jared Kushner a genius because he went to Harvard... never mind that Jared only got in because he dad pledged $2.5 million bucks to get him in in the late 90s.[/quote]

You may generally be correct, but I think in Conan's case, he is one of the people who genuinely deserved to go there. For example, he wrote a thesis on a very difficult topic - "Literary Progeria in the Works of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor".  Also, even for rich people, getting in is never guaranteed...there just isn't enough space for everyone. And his parents had some money, but they also had six kids and female lawyers back in the day weren't paid the big bucks like men were. I just listened to the podcast this morning, and his assistant Sona was making the point that Conan's mom was not allowed in the men's only dining area of the law firm - as a partner!

[/quote]

Why do you know his thesis? Weird.[/quote]

He's mentioned it a lot, and it's well known.[/quote]

He’s made Harvard his entire personality because he’s not actually funny and has convinced a niche audience of midwit pseuds he’s some genius Harvard Man and they “get it.” He’s a typical arrogant smug egomaniac brat and it’s astonishing he has any fans. I know, I know he’s totally self deprecating and totally isn’t an elitist money grabbing POS. Riiiiight.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics