Tonight, Conan O’Brien will return to late-night television as the host of his new show, “Conan,” in his first appearance on a nationally broadcasted show since he split from “The Tonight Show” in January.
The debut and much of the content for “Conan” has been left in relative ambiguity. Aside from a few promo spots and short snippets of content emerging on teamcoco.com (Conan’s website partnered with TBS), TBS has left viewers knowing little about O’Brien’s new show. From commercials and social media, it appears that O’Brien’s quirky brand of comedy will carry over to his new show.
Fans are happily awaiting the return of a man who many believed was dealt an unfair end to his NBC career. In the well-publicized aftermath of his divorce from NBC, the lanky, pale, red-headed host was prohibited from appearing on TV until September, which was part of the separation deal that included a $45 million settlement for O’Brien and “The Tonight Show” staff.
“Conan is by far the best late night host right now,” said Aleks Magi, a University product design major. “I’m glad he’s back.”
Fans remained well-connected with O’Brien during his time off-air. With social media, he was able to constantly stream his thoughts, jokes and opinions to anyone interested in listening — which proved to be many.
The “I’m with Coco” movement, launched in the waning days of O’Brien’s NBC stint, proved to be the start of a viral movement of devoted fans that kept O’Brien’s name and face relevant among an Internet-savvy audience.
Championing the fan base, O’Brien started his own set of online formats that left him ever-present and looming while his personality couldn’t be broadcast across the TV airwaves.
O’Brien started a Twitter account under the theme of an outcast celebrity. His biography simply read: “I had a show. Then I had a different show. Now I have a Twitter account.”
O’Brien also used Twitter to announce his “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour,” which sold out instantly at most venues across the country. This included the first stop on his tour, in April at the Hult Center in Eugene.
All of this off-air activity has left O’Brien highly marketable with national advertisers. Companies like AT&T, General Motors, Microsoft and News Corp., have all gotten behind the star. TBS is reportedly charging $30,000 to $40,000 for 30-second TV spots for the show’s premiere, making it competitive with both “The Late Show with David Letterman” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”
Such prospecting is on the basis that O’Brien will be able to compete at the late-night spot on a channel that has a relatively untested format when compared to juggernauts at the same time slot. The biggest of these is “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” which also runs at 11 p.m. on Comedy Central. Both O’Brien and Stewart rank highly among the late-night 18-34 demographic. If “Conan” is a huge success and “The Daily Show” continues to succeed, high ratings will prove to be a sentiment of the strength of cable television, which has already shown to be an emerging trend.
As far as student interest is concerned, most students are just happy to have the tall, red-headed TV personality back.
“It’s been a long time since Conan has been on TV,” University senior and political science major Devin Driver said. “I just hope this show is funny and ends up working out better than his last one.”
Clearly, the most thankful to see O’Brien back is the man himself. Talking to the Canadian Press early in the week, O’Brien described the time period off-air the best in a serious manner.
“If this had happened to me 10 years ago, I’d probably be in the airport handing out literature,” O’Brien said.
“Conan” airs on TBS weeknights at 11 p.m.
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