Shark Bytes

If there is one thing Conan needs to improve on, it's his ability to express his emotions when something sad happens.

Take the 6/13 episode of Late Night - the show begins with Conan expressing his sadness over the death of Tim Russert. As I've seen the past, when Conan pays tribute to a fallen celebrity, his tributes are filled with "uh"s, pauses, lack of eye contact, and just plain nervousness. It often comes across as insincere. After this tribute, Conan had a very smooth delivery after the commercial break and the show resumed.

Contrast this with Jay Leno on the his 6/13 show when he closed his monologue with a tribute to Russert that was smooth and enthusiastic.

Compare for yourself on the NBC website, where full episodes of the 6/13 shows are available.

Conan really needs to work on his nervousness in dealing with serious issues before he moves to the big spotlight of the Tonight Show.

I just don't think it's possible for any comedian to stay funny and fresh while doing five shows a week for so long. Leno isn't funny anymore, Letterman isn't funny anymore, even the sainted Johnny Carson was pretty weak in the later years. I still like Conan, but as he's gotten more popular, he can't do the edgier material anymore for fear of upsetting the sponsors. The first week after the strike was the funniest thing I'd seen on TV in a long time. When he gets the earlier time slot, it will be over.

Can we do a prospective jump for when Jimmy Fallon joins the cast? I understand that when Conan was hired people generally said "WTF? They're giving it to a nobody?" But he proved himself quite capable. Jimmy Fallon has had about 5 years on SNL and a couple of films to prove himself worthy of the show, and has failed to do so. In my mind casting him was the ultimate death of what the show first stood for under Letterman, and what it subsequently stood for under O'Brien: underground, take on the establishment humor. Adding Jimmy Fallon promises to turn "Late Night" into a sillier, bigger-budget "Last Call With Carson Daly."

Loved this show at one point and would watch it from time to time but I found out that Jimmy Fallon will be taking over when Conan moves to Jay's time slot. I thought they might look for somebody with some talent. Guess not. Lorne Michaels is vastly overrated and needs to retire. He's seen to the death of some great show's (SNL, KITH, crappy movies, etc). And Ferguson is way better now and reminds me of how Conan and Andy were in the beginning of their run. What a shame.

Conan is just lame nowadays. Untalented piece of donkey rectum. Kimmel and Ferguson are the wave of the future.

As much as I loved Conan before the strike, he jumped for me during the strike. There's a difference between being SILLY and being FUNNY. You can be silly in any environment. Turn the studio into a German disco and act silly. Acting silly is not being funny.

Now take a look at timeslot competitor Craig Ferguson. He can do the same sound effects every night and keep it fresh. He can do a Paul McCarney joke and do the "Do we have a photo of Paul McCartney?" routine every other night and keep it fresh. Unfortunately, Conan bores me after repeating a joke for the second time (the ring spin, the German disco light show, etc).

Thank you strike for helping me permanantly switch to a FUNNY man (vs Conan the silly man). Please put that "Ass" stamp over Conan and keep it there.

Conan jumped the shark when the writers strike exposed that he has absolutely no comedic talent whatsoever. Letterman and Leno at least tried, Conan just sat behind his desk waiting for the show to end. Pathetic.

Craig Ferguson can spin webs around these other talk show hosts, especially Conan. On the one hand I'd like Craig to take over The Tonight Show, but on the other I know his style of brilliant humor and wit would probably be curtailed by the network. Too bad, because he's freaking hilarious and so so smart - and smart is sexy. His interviews of these, sometimes, ego-centric 'celebs' is entertainment in itself - and he puts his guests completely at ease. I've seen some stuffy guests genuinely laugh out loud with Craig compared to other talk show hosts who only emphasize their stuffiness. Love Craig. Adore his monolog.

The writers are doing that thing where they are being as strange as they can be just to see what might be funny on the show. This show is the writing staff's experiment on all of us.

Andy Richter is a bit raunchy sometimes, but Andy and Conan have a great chemistry that needs to be brought back to NBC.

Who cares about any of these mediocre celebrities? When it comes to comedy with actual wit, Letterman completely owns these guys, especially Leno. The fact that his TV rating numbers fall flat next to Leno is irrelevant to anything but the value of commercial air time.

I saw Leno perform live once and he went non-stop for 110 minutes which was pretty impressive. He was funnier and more risque' than he is on TV, but really overall, he still was just not that funny. It was really one of those sorts of deals where we were all laughing because the friends we knew around us were laughing and there was a sort of peer pressure, or group mentality. We were laughing at him because he is likeable and so recognizable and we wanted him to seem funny, we were pulling for him to be funny. But our laughter was not because he was really funny, because he just wasn't, damnit.

I can't wait until conan takes over the Tonight Show. Although i like Leno, I think conan is more original and very talented. I watch every show because he is do freakin' funnny.

I thought that once the writer's strike was over, Conan's writers would come up with new and fresh ideas thanks to their three-month break. However, it appears that they're back to the same old stuff that people were getting tired of seeing; Celebrity Survey made a comeback on their first night back and a Kirstie Alley fat joke was made during the monologue on the second night. If these writers are coming along with Conan when he moves to the Tonight Show, I predict that it'll be a failure of Chevy Chase show proportions.

The show improved drastically without writers, then jumped back when they returned. Moral: the writers are dragging the show down.

Totally agreed with Mikey. The unwritten shows are way better than the recent written shows.

It's actually interesting to see what he'll do next, instead of watching another "Joe's" sketch. It'll be a sad day when the writers return.

The show actually jumped back when the writers left! I wrote on here about a year ago that the show lost its edge when NBC announced that Conan was going to take over for Leno in 2009-2010. The show got lazy and dumb-down their comedy with tiresome sketches. But now Conan is back!! I guess the show needed that kick in a$$ to wake up. They're force to produce fresh material and its paying off.