And We're Back

A historic switch in late night television is upon us. 5 nights from tonight, Conan O'Brien will shoot and air his last episode on Late Night, then prepare for the move to LA to take over the Tonight Show. Jimmy Fallon will take over as host of Late Night. For those who don't know, I am a huge JF fan from his days on SNL. I rank his best-of DVD as one of the favorites of my massive collection. The Jimmy haters out there will tell you that he had a habit of breaking character and laughing in the middle of sketches. Looking over his body of work, there's some truth to this. But at Late Night, that kind of thing is allowed, albeit encouraged. Conan has, in my opinion, one of the best laughs in show business, and when he laughs in an interview, or giggles during a sketch, it makes it that much better. Jimmy's weekend update experience should serve him well during sketches, and I look forward to what the new era brings.

I have much more concern for my main man Sno-Cone moving to the Tonight Show at 11:30. There are few people I love more than Conan. His comedic stylings of childish humor, pointless antics, and self-deprecating comments speak to me the way few others do. While I am happy for Conzie to get the promotion, the Tonight Show and the 11:35 time slot is a different audience. They will demand class, integrity, and standards that Conan has disregarded so well for years. Characters like Cyberg, the Jewish robot, S&M Lincoln, and Vomiting Kermit the Frog have no place at the 11:35 hour. Spoof trailers for films like "I Rowboat" where a cop searches for the rowboat that killed his partner, will likely be found repulsive by the 11:35 crowd. When it comes down to it, the Tonight Show is more about monologues, and less about sketches. Conan has always had decent monologues, but he shines with his sketches. What will happen when unstoppable force meets the immovable object? Time will tell.

Over the last month Conan has begun "saying goodbye" to his childish characters. FedEx Pope. The gator with gay-dar. Gone. When he brought out the masturbating bear to say goodbye, I had a tear in my eye, but in a brilliant move, he just changed him into "Bear frantically searching for his cell phone in his fanny pack." I AOLd (Applauded out loud). So here's to hoping that there is some place in the hearts of 11:35 viewers for pointless, childish humor. If not, that twinkle in my eye might just be a little bit dimmer come summertime...