The farewell speech given by Conan O'Brien on his last day at Tonight show was quite possibly one of the most thoughtful monologue of his entire his entire career. Conan told his fans (of which I was one) that cynicism is not a quality worth having. Things did not went according to his plan but there were plenty of good moments during his employment at NBC, moments that he would cherish his entire life. Conan's entire shtick has always been about being a funny man without any adding any extraneous variables like politics, social commentary, and the like. But that speech made me feel like behind all this physical comedy was a thoughtful and reflective human being who has a good grasp of what it means to have lived a good life.
And then this documentary came out.
The movie opens with Conan being surrounded by writers and other co workers from now defunct tonight show with Conan O'Brien and everyone planning about doing a tour around the country. Conan comes off as gloomy and confused, and rightfully so. Partially what it means to not be cynical is to simply move on, and according to Conan doing a tour around the country was meant help him do just that.
Usually documentaries of this nature try to reveal other sides of a personality that viewers might not be familiar with, and this one is no exception. Aside from physical comedy Conan there is snarky Conan, self-aggrandizing Conan, passive aggressive Conan, politician Conan, and a permutation of these temperaments. Near the beginning of the movie Conan does his typical "mocking others around him" type of jokes where he for example forces his assistant to hold a banana and act as if it were a microphone and other people in the room laugh. The scene made me smile as well because everyone appeared to be in on the joke. But this mocking behavior never stops.
There is a scene towards the middle of the movie where a flight attendant is doing her job and informing all the passengers about routine emergency related procedures. During attendant's speech Conan proceeds to make faces, be snarky, and treat her as a worthless human being. Throughout this scene Conan's assistant (who over the course of the movie is either eating something or playing around with her cell phone) laughs at this emotional maltreatment of a fellow human being. In her mind this was just Conan being Conan but in reality this kind of behavior wasn't any different from typical K-12 classroom scenario where the teacher talks about something important while the class clown continues to make jokes so that she/he can be the center of attention.
A lot of the documentary is about showing Conan as a hard working human being who cares about his craft. Conan is depicted as always going the extra mile shaking his fans hands, kissing babies, signing autographs, and taking pictures. After every instance of fan interaction Conan complains to his handlers about this being meaningless, and it is. He notes how this level of interaction is only superficial and he doesn't really know any of his fans more so than before. But after that he goes back to signing autographs and taking pictures like a career politician. Why?
As the tour ends, the movie also just sort of ends. Did the tour help Conan get over his job loss? If so then how? Conan describes his insistence to be in front of an audience as a sickness, and in the end he still appears to have that condition. The guy comes off as an egomaniac who is tolerated by people around him because he brings in cash and the audience loves him because they never get to see this side.
Maybe Conan did learn something from this experience. Maybe he learned to appreciate genuine relationship with those close to him. But even that seems doubtful because Conan barely talks about any of his friends and family in that manner. It's all about him and how he loves to have fun, loves to be on the road, and so on. It's always I (X) and I (Y) and never I's relationship to X or Y. Conan seems to be lacking in perspective taking department.
This movie was a disappointing experience. Disappointing not only in the sense that the documentary never tried to explore any of Conan's internal struggles, assuming there were any, but disappointing in the revelation of Conan being a pathetic human being. The documentary is not that great but I would recommend it to any and all individuals who purport to be fans of Conan. Perhaps after watching this documentary you would like to change your mind.
And then this documentary came out.
The movie opens with Conan being surrounded by writers and other co workers from now defunct tonight show with Conan O'Brien and everyone planning about doing a tour around the country. Conan comes off as gloomy and confused, and rightfully so. Partially what it means to not be cynical is to simply move on, and according to Conan doing a tour around the country was meant help him do just that.
Usually documentaries of this nature try to reveal other sides of a personality that viewers might not be familiar with, and this one is no exception. Aside from physical comedy Conan there is snarky Conan, self-aggrandizing Conan, passive aggressive Conan, politician Conan, and a permutation of these temperaments. Near the beginning of the movie Conan does his typical "mocking others around him" type of jokes where he for example forces his assistant to hold a banana and act as if it were a microphone and other people in the room laugh. The scene made me smile as well because everyone appeared to be in on the joke. But this mocking behavior never stops.
There is a scene towards the middle of the movie where a flight attendant is doing her job and informing all the passengers about routine emergency related procedures. During attendant's speech Conan proceeds to make faces, be snarky, and treat her as a worthless human being. Throughout this scene Conan's assistant (who over the course of the movie is either eating something or playing around with her cell phone) laughs at this emotional maltreatment of a fellow human being. In her mind this was just Conan being Conan but in reality this kind of behavior wasn't any different from typical K-12 classroom scenario where the teacher talks about something important while the class clown continues to make jokes so that she/he can be the center of attention.
A lot of the documentary is about showing Conan as a hard working human being who cares about his craft. Conan is depicted as always going the extra mile shaking his fans hands, kissing babies, signing autographs, and taking pictures. After every instance of fan interaction Conan complains to his handlers about this being meaningless, and it is. He notes how this level of interaction is only superficial and he doesn't really know any of his fans more so than before. But after that he goes back to signing autographs and taking pictures like a career politician. Why?
As the tour ends, the movie also just sort of ends. Did the tour help Conan get over his job loss? If so then how? Conan describes his insistence to be in front of an audience as a sickness, and in the end he still appears to have that condition. The guy comes off as an egomaniac who is tolerated by people around him because he brings in cash and the audience loves him because they never get to see this side.
Maybe Conan did learn something from this experience. Maybe he learned to appreciate genuine relationship with those close to him. But even that seems doubtful because Conan barely talks about any of his friends and family in that manner. It's all about him and how he loves to have fun, loves to be on the road, and so on. It's always I (X) and I (Y) and never I's relationship to X or Y. Conan seems to be lacking in perspective taking department.
This movie was a disappointing experience. Disappointing not only in the sense that the documentary never tried to explore any of Conan's internal struggles, assuming there were any, but disappointing in the revelation of Conan being a pathetic human being. The documentary is not that great but I would recommend it to any and all individuals who purport to be fans of Conan. Perhaps after watching this documentary you would like to change your mind.