I don't take a stand on too many things. You will rarely see me dig my heels in the ground out of principle. It's not really the kind of guy I am (i.e. one with principles). But there is one thing that has recently crawled right under my skin like a pack of wild aboriginal chiggers. Now I have to admit - I tend to overreact when people get credit for being funny when I seem to be the only person that realizes they are not (I'm looking at you, Flight of the Conchords). Equally as frustrating is when someone that is down right hilarious gets no credit for being funny in an industry where funny people are as about as prevalent as virgins.
NBC executives are all but forcing Conan O'Brien to leave The Tonight Show. A show that had been previously hosted by Jay Leno for 17 years. If you are keeping score at home that is 17 years without one funny thing being uttered on The Tonight Show stage. And then someone that is actually very funny gets to host it and NBC cans him within 7 months. And to exacerbate the situation who do they replace him with? Jay Leno. Jay Leno who had previously been (generously) given a slot before The Tonight Show and whose ratings have been awful. Recently his show was getting trounced by a show called Castle. I have never heard of Castle, but unless it stars Danny DeVito building a sand castle, I can't imagine it is very good.
And I have a theory on why Jay Leno's show tanked. He is not funny. Now I know there are plenty of cases where shows that are supposed to be funny succeed even though they aren't funny such as - Sex and the City, Frasier, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I also have a theory about how this happens, but it has to do with sorcery and I can't prove it.
Now what really gets me about the shows is that they aren't funny despite having an army of "comedy" writers on staff getting paid to think of funny things. How can 12 "comedy" writers sitting in a room not think of one funny idea and I can write these comedy nuggets alone on my lunch break? And I don't get paid dookie for this thing. I do it for the love of making the four people that read this potentially giggle. But I'm easily motivated too. I once tried to eat 50 hard boiled eggs after I watched Cool Hand Luke.
But Conan O'Brien was the exception to the rule of late/tonight shows. He was funny. And not just his monologue. He was actually funny when he was just talking to guests or his band or whoever. He was just a funny guy. And he found success because people recognized this. Most of the other talk show hosts are terrible (Craig Ferguson is pretty funny). And now The Tonight Show will be terrible again too.
Again - I normally do not care if a show is not funny. But what really irritates me is (much like "comedy" writers) there are people that are hired to make good decisions. These are executives at NBC deciding to take a funny guy off the air and replace him with the H1N1 of comedy. How do these people get to their respective positions? Past job experience - bank executive. I really want to drive this point home. There are people making a lot of money to decide what shows should be on NBC. And those people have decided to take someone that is funny off the air and replace him with someone that is not funny. And presumably, these people took this job as a better opportunity than the job they previously held (seriously - I am betting bank executive). Which is obviously considered a step up on the career ladder. So they are basically being promoted despite being bad at their job.
Common sense would dictate that a person cannot fail up the corporate ladder. No one gets better job opportunities without a history of success, Right? OK except Lane Kiffin. Anyone else? I didn't think so, smart guy.
So I am taking a stand for Conan O'Brien (because clearly he needs my help). I'm not watching anything on NBC anymore. If a new sitcom comes out I will know it is not funny. And do you know how I will know? That's right. Because the person that decided to run the show also decided it was a good idea to replace Conan O'Brien with Jay Leno. And therefore that person has terrible judgment. That kind of judgment is how we end up with things like the holocaust. In fact - the only way I will watch anything on NBC from now on is if they have a show where Danny DeVito builds a sand castle (*).
*Note to self. Pitch. That. Show.
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