Can Conan O'Brien break 'Tonight Show' Emmy curse?
Conan O'Brien took over the "Tonight Show" franchise Monday and met with mostly positive reviews. But while Conan O'Brien might have won over the TV critics, convincing the TV academy of his merits is another matter. In Jay Leno's first 16 years of hosting this fabled franchise, he won exactly one Emmy for best variety comedy music series. That single victory was way back in 1995. And the last of his nine nods came in 2003.
And it took Conan O'Brien a full decade of hosting "Late Night" before the show got its first Emmy nomination in the variety comedy music series category in 2003. Both he and Leno lost that year to "The Daily Show" hosted by Jon Stewart.
"Late Night" landed a nod in each of the next four years, but Stewart's irreverent take on the news of the day would always win the Emmy. Last year, "Late Night" was not even nominated as the resurgent "Saturday Night Live" reclaimed a slot in the final five.
Conan O'Brien and his writing staff finally won an Emmy in 2007 after being also-rans every year from 1996 to 2004 and then again in 2006. That win brought an end to a four-year winning streak for "The Daily Show" scribes. Last year, the "Late Night" crew lost to the team behind "The Colbert Report."
Conan O'Brien has moved most of his staff west to do the "Tonight Show" from its new home in Universal Studios. If they get a writing nod for their first year at the helm, that will be quite a slap in the face to Jay Leno and his team of gag writers, who have been snubbed by the Emmys for 16 years in a row.
Leno's late-night rival David Letterman won the Emmy Award for best variety comedy or music series for the inaugural season of the "Late Show" in 1994 and piled up another five consecutive wins beginning in 1998. It has been a perennial nominee ever since. And David Letterman won four consecutive Emmys as part of the writing team on the original "Late Night" beginning in 1984 and has been a perennial writing nominee for "Late Show," including last year.
Leno's predecessor — Johnny Carson— faced his own set of woes with the Emmys. He never understood the rationale behind the placement of his talker. During his tenure, "The Tonight Show" lost seven bids for best variety show in the 1960s and 1970s. Carson then relented and entered the show in the special class category, where it won three times in a row beginning in 1977. After losing a fourth bid in that race in 1980 — though he received the Governor's Award as a consolation prize — Carson competed unsuccessfully again in the variety category another seven times until he finally won in 1992.
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Conan is not funny, period. He may have been a comedy writer but he definitely can't deliver. He really is awful!
Posted by: Betty Holmberg | June 11, 2009 at 09:35 PM
I'm surprised at the comments being left bashing Conan. He is naturally appealing and very quick, which probably likens to the years spent writing comedy for saturday night live. I'm left to guess we have a lot of over 50yr olds who figured out the magic box with keys attached and are leaving comments. If so eat your prunes and drink ur camomile tea and go to bed.
Posted by: markdrew | June 06, 2009 at 04:45 AM
I wish Conan success, but, I, for one, cannot endure him or his schtick. It is not appealing. In fact, it is mostly annoying and irritating. Since I wish to be entertained, and not annoyed...
[CLICK]
(NBC, the next best thing to GM...?)
Posted by: Jet Graphics | June 04, 2009 at 10:08 PM
Tonight Show should have gone to....Jerry Seinfeld
Posted by: gino | June 04, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Jay Lenos interviews make me go to sleep. He was always the worst of the Late Night hosts. I would rather watch re-runs of Two And A Half Men, than Leno.
Posted by: jay | June 03, 2009 at 09:32 PM
I love me some conan.
Posted by: Pgh Gurl | June 03, 2009 at 07:24 PM
Johnny Carson must be turning over in his grave. Monday's show was the single worst 60 minutes of TV I've watched in years, and I'll never go back. Until Jay returns, it's all Letterman for me.
Tonight Show? Good night, forever.
Posted by: tommygun | June 03, 2009 at 05:37 PM
Wow - I just read the comments here and can't believe you guys don't find the Tonight Show funnier than ever. Jay was funny, but he never made me cry myself to sleep in laughter like Conan has done the past two nights. (Do a majority of you take your Xanax at bedtime? That might be part of the problem...) I didn't mention the band in my first post - it's awesome. And so is the stage - I couldn't believe it when I saw it. And I love Andy Richter being back too!
Posted by: Caroline | June 03, 2009 at 05:27 PM
I LOVE the new Tonight Show. Conan is doing a fabulous job and the writing is absolutely hysterical. I loved his material on Late Night, but his skits on the Tonight Show are like 10x better. Bravo! I'm happy for Conan - he's talented and he deserves it!
Posted by: Caroline | June 03, 2009 at 05:18 PM
Comedy is subjective. But I am really shocked that people prefer Jay over Conan. I enjoyed Leno as a stand-up back in the 80s, but found him rather stale as a host. I have been a fan of Conan, pretty much since he started at Late Night. I have enjoyed his first 2 nights at The Tonight Show and plan on supporting him for a long time.
Posted by: albass | June 03, 2009 at 02:57 PM
Conan is not funny. His delivery is disjointed and rough. It's evident that he is not an experienced stand up entertainer. The greatest quest in the world can not make up for a problem master of ceremonies.
Waiting for Jay to return.
Posted by: FCnLA | June 03, 2009 at 09:34 AM
Have enjoyed Conan's first two nights and I bet it'll keep getting better. Laughed my a$$ off. Plus, the band is such an improvement over the smooth jazz / pseudo-funk lame-fest it replaced. I feel sorry for you if Jay's sub-junior-high jokes made you laugh but Conan doesn't....
Posted by: Kang | June 03, 2009 at 09:26 AM
Tonight Show is over for me. Conan is horrible...not funny...
Looking forward to watch Jay Leno's new show in the Fall.
Posted by: Lucia | June 03, 2009 at 07:33 AM
As far as I am concerned; The Tonight Show died on May 29, 2009 when the final credits rolled. Conan is boring, anything but funny and I will watch Letterman before I lower myself to watching him laugh at himself.
Posted by: kat | June 03, 2009 at 03:03 AM
I sat patiently waiting for Conan to say or do something funny, It NEVER came !
He will Never make it .
Posted by: Jim Hewett | June 03, 2009 at 02:35 AM
TONIGHT SHOW with CONAN OBRIEN,- 5 minutes of Comedy, all crammed into an hour-and-a-half!
Posted by: GonzoMan! | June 03, 2009 at 12:58 AM
Wow, is this a real revue or is KEN TUCKER a pseudonym for the NBC hype-Machine? NO timing, NO personailty, I guess Conans masterplan is to underwhelm us with lameness so progressive shows will seem better.
Watched 25 min til I switched to Letterman *(Whom I can't stand) just to recover from the Joke-Vacume that was the TONIGHT SHOW.
"Conan OBrien, 15 years and Still Sucking!..."
Posted by: GonzoMan! | June 03, 2009 at 12:56 AM
I stopped watching jay leno during his barrage of Monica Lewinsky jokes.. 9/10 jokes in his pocket are sexual in nature...hes trying to play that classy italiano type of role but hes just soooo sleezy and his jokes get old real quick.. people are tired of people coming off AS TRYING TOO HARD AND DOING THE WHOLE COOL SELF IMAGE THING
enter Conan Obrian: hes what you would get if you could scrape the outter coating of a standup comic
and marvel at his insides.. i think people will see him as more REAL than the blantant attemp at mixing classyness with horrible skits that was found with Jay
Posted by: Mcsillybreath | June 02, 2009 at 10:03 PM
Never really watched Conan, and lost interest in Leno some years back, but...I watched my recording of the birth of the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and it turned out to be a miscarriage. Jokes were feeble, clips were boring and inane. I kept waiting for the pace to pick up, however, it only got worse. Sorry, but "Conan The Invincible" became "Conan The Lame." How could such a brilliant and creative writer stand to watch what he had wrought? Scale of 1 to 10...gave it a 3.
Posted by: Dave DeHart | June 02, 2009 at 09:46 PM
Conan has a different sense of humor, and I love him for it. If you like the Simpsons (he was a writer for it), you'll like Conan. I'm a big Jon Stewart fan as well. Conan's witty, while Stewart's got balls.
Posted by: Nate | June 02, 2009 at 09:45 PM
I have watched the tonight show since around 1975. I will be watching Letterman until Jay returns. When Jay returns, I will record his show and watch it during the tonight show time slot... just like always. No one in my office plans on watching Conan
Posted by: Dean | June 02, 2009 at 09:25 PM
This is not the calibre of Carson or Leno !!! Come on I hate him!!!
Posted by: Andre Boaden | June 02, 2009 at 09:19 PM
"Conan the Destroyer" of the Tonight show legend. The man is a complete idiot and his shtick is stupid and BORING! He has nothing - never has. Johnny would never have picked him to take over if he were alive and had anything to do with it. Looks like Dave Letterman and John Stewart are it.
Posted by: Gary F | June 02, 2009 at 09:16 PM
Conan O'Brien has moved his tasteless jokes and his insipid silliness over to the Tonight Show. After Jay Leno's unique genre of humor that offered more substance and less monkeying around, I believe Conan will rather harm than help the Tonight Show.
Posted by: stefan | June 02, 2009 at 08:37 PM
I don't know what it is, but I got tired of watching Conan time ago.
The first times I saw his Late Show I thought he was kinda funny, but then I got progressively tired of his way of doing comedy.
I much prefer Leno, over the Conan style. Actually, I'd pick Craig Ferguson over Conan as well.
Posted by: Dave Libniz | June 02, 2009 at 08:24 PM