Logo

Adalian Column: Hair Comes Conan, At Long Last

May 29, 2009  •  Post A Comment

It’s another sunny day in Southern California, and Conan O’Brien is about to go for a ride.
The soon-to-be host of “The Tonight Show” waits just outside the entrance of his new late-night Thunderdome, Stage One on the Universal Studios backlot. The calendar says Memorial Day, but while most of the world is firing up the grill, Mr. O’Brien is standing quietly by himself, clad in a snazzy blue suit and full makeup. A nondescript black van waits a few feet away, but Mr. O’Brien pauses to greet me.
He’s clearly in “show mode,” as publicist Drew Shane calls it. But it would be very un-Conan of Mr. O’Brien to not at least chat for a few minutes. We’ve known each other since the earliest days of Mr. O’Brien’s tenure as host of “Late Night.” I was a 22-year-old cub reporter fresh out of Boston University; he was a 30-year-old hosting rookie enduring one of the harshest TV debuts in the medium’s history.
We exchange pleasantries. Quickly, oddly, and yet somehow inevitably, our brief conversation turns to … The Hair.
“The humidity is different out here,” Mr. O’Brien says, quickly running his fingers through the orange pompadour that has become his trademark. The Hair is so much a part of Mr. O’Brien’s brand, NBC has taken to installing giant billboards all over Los Angeles dominated by a gigantuan portrait of the distinctive ‘do.
Mr. O’Brien quickly offers a joke about having to import special air from New York to ensure The Hair is restored to its familiar levels of bounciness. I immediately begin thinking about how to work the matter of the mane into my story. My mind races with possible metaphors to be drawn between Mr. O’Brien’s noticeably calmer West Coast coif, and his new gig as host of one of few remaining iconic landmarks left in the increasingly downsized television landscape.
I’m not the only one stretching. The day before my brief chat with Mr. O’Brien, the New York Times Magazine profile of Conan asks, somewhat desperately, “Can He Be Our Johnny?”
And yet, on this picture-perfect L.A. day—is there really any other kind here?—Mr. O’Brien is characteristically unconcerned with the media histrionics playing out around him. Over the last few months, he’s posed for the funny photos (Conan on the beach! Conan jumping in a pool!), strolled around his set with the infobabe from “Access Hollywood,” patiently answered questions from the print reporters who assemble via conference call.
But even as he takes part in the process, even as he visits all the stations of the cross in the late-night passion play, Mr. O’Brien somehow seems—well, not above it, but apart from it. He knows he can’t control the machinery that surrounds this transition, but he chooses instead to focus his energies on what matters most, namely, making “The Tonight Show” his own.
And that’s how it should be, really.
Those of us who have followed, and sometimes reported on, the so-called Late Night Wars of the past 20 years have come to think of Johnny’s kids as Transformers-like warriors who exist only to crush each other with their comedy artillery. We paint their nightly skirmishes in the grandest of terms: Their monologues measure the mood of the nation; their plush sofas exist to rehabilitate celebrities and politicians in need of redemption.
Lost in all this psychodrama, at least much of the time, are the remarkable creative achievements of those who lead the various late-night shows.
There may no longer be one figure as dominant and all-important as Johnny. But in his place, a post-prime time renaissance has sprouted up. The one-named warriors—Dave, Jay, Conan, Craig, Stewart, Colbert—consistently deliver some of the best television on television, as well as some of the most talked-about viral videos on the Internet.
Back on the Universal lot, Mr. O’Brien quickly ends talk about The Hair, and future guests, and the possible sketches listed on the bulletin board in his office. Without prompting from any handlers, he decides it’s time to jump into the van and head out to tape the bit.
I stand for a minute, talking with Mr. Shane about the relentless schedule of rehearsals and meetings facing team “Tonight Show” in the days leading up to the June 1 premiere. Suddenly, the van starts up and begins slowly moving forward. Mr. O’Brien, in the front seat next to the driver, turns and waves goodbye.
It’s time to go for a ride.

46 Comments

  1. I miss Jay already, but I’ll give Conan a chance.
    However, have you noticed how many of the “late night talk shows” are in California? (Kimmel, Carson Daly, Tonight Show Are there no celebs in New York or Chicago for latenight?
    There is now, no late night talk show in New York or Chicago! Why is that? I hear Bloomberg asked Conan NOT to leave NY, but Conan was anxious for the hot young, nubile bods of those skinny actresses on the beach to ogle at!
    There is now a talk show gap in NY & Chgo. Folks, there’s room for everyone . . .

  2. “There is now, no late night talk show in New York”
    David Letterman??

  3. Late Night w/ Jimmy Fallon also tapes in NY.

  4. Gory Bateson has been having nightmares that he’s trapped in Conan O’Brien’s hair. So he wrote a song about it:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K4WjsK_juU

  5. Wonderful to read!

  6. Greetings, Wanted to make you aware that your website is not displaying properly on my Samsung Slider. Anyway, I’m now browsing this page on my netbook, Thanks

  7. If you’re still on the fence: grab your favorite earphones, head down to a Best Buy and ask to plug them into a Zune then an iPod and see which one sounds better to you, and which interface makes you smile more. Then you’ll know which is right for you.

  8. Thank you for a great post

  9. “Discovery Channel show is part of a White House effort to highlight the importance of science education”

  10. I come and read constantly. very nice blog.Thank you.

  11. I come and read constantly. very nice blog.Thank you.

  12. Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here.

  13. Where is link?

  14. Love the blog here. Nice colors. I am definitely staying tuned to this one. Hope to see more.

  15. I believe your weblog is nice! I found it on Google this morning. I believe I will come back another day, thank you.

  16. Interesting layout on your blog. I really enjoyed reading it and also I will be back to read more in the future.

  17. I added Google Reader to your site when I have spare time try to follow.Thank you.

  18. link please :(((

  19. Great blog!! You should start many more. I love all the info provided. I will stay tuned 🙂

  20. Thanks for the info but I’m owning some difficulties seeing images.

  21. En güzel erotik filmler burada.

  22. En güzel erotik filmler burada.

  23. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one these days.. 🙂

  24. I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz reply back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know wheere u got this from. thanks

  25. Nice blog here! Also your website loads up fast! What host are you using? I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol

  26. I love the expression. Everyone needs to express there own opinion and feel free to hear others. Keep it up 🙂

  27. This is a extremely interesting post, thank you for sharing! There are numerous blogs on this topic but this 1 states precisely what I believe also.

  28. I also use wordpress for my website. The best thing is that comments add additional content. By the way, your chosen design suits perfetcly what is site about.

  29. Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here.

  30. High quality info here! Keep up the great work. I love the feelings being expressed.

  31. Hey how are you doing? I just wanted to stop by and say that it’s been a pleasure reading your blog. I have bookmarked your website so that I can come back & read more in the future as well. plz do keep up the quality writing

  32. I would like to start my own blog one day. This was a really nice blog that you made here. Keep up the success 😛

  33. Thats great

  34. I cant believe the NHL is going to risk losing one of the best players in his prime to the nHLwholesale cheap nhl nfl jerseys

  35. I like your blog.

  36. asqcqwcmqwcopqwc

  37. This is good info! Where else can if ind out more?? Who runs this joint too? Keep up the good work 🙂

  38. This is good info! Where else can if ind out more?? Who runs this joint too? Keep up the good work 🙂

  39. Great wordpress blog here.. It’s hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care and see you soon

  40. I love the expression. Everyone needs to express there own opinion and feel free to hear others. Keep it up 🙂

  41. Thanks for your insight for the great posting. I am glad I have taken the time to see this.

  42. Dreamin. I love blogging. You all express your feelings the right way, because they are your feeling, focus on your blog it is great.

  43. I think your blog is great.Just keep on!I think I will come back on one day.

  44. I am not truly definite if best practices include emerged roughly stuff similar to that, other than I am positive that your huge job is clearly identified. I was wondering if you offer some registration toward your RSS feeds because I would be very interested.

  45. Kudos to you! This is a really good blog here and I love your style of writing. How did you get so good at blogging?

Leave a Reply to MB Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)