Story #1: I met Conan O’Brien once—I think it was in the summer of 1999. He was marrying my friend’s neighbor, so we went over to her house and lurked around (there may have been binoculars involved but LET US NEVER SPEAK OF IT) and wandered the streets and eventually ran into Conan and his bride-to-be out for a lovely stroll. He was nice to us—four incredibly awkward high school kids interrupting his lovely stroll and nerding out all over him (the phrase, “Hey, where’s the little fat dude?” occurred)—and posed for this magical picture:
- Guess how much Conan charged us to take this picture? I hope you guessed ZERO DOLLARS.
Story #2: My mom met Jay Leno’s wife once. “I met her at a party, and I was going to have my picture taken with her, but then she told me that I had to pay for it.” I don’t know why it occurred to my mom to have her picture taken with Jay Leno’s wife, but LET US NEVER SPEAK OF IT. Then Jay Leno’s wife did not pose for this picture with my mom, because my mom did not fork over hella bucks:
- the internet
- Jay Leno’s wife, and some lady who is NOT my mom. $$$$$$$$$$!!!
Conan O’Brien, gracious gentleman. Jay Leno’s wife, GRIFTER!
As if it wasn’t already abundantly clear: CONAN > LENO.
Conan = Leno.
Colbert > Stewart > everybody else > (Conan, Leno).
He does seem like he would be very nice in person. I hope he gets a show on another network soon.
I’ve never met Conan personally, but a friend of mine from college has the best story of him.
Years ago my friend visited New York and had to see Conan’s show in person cause they looked very similar. While my friend waited in line, someone from the show noticed the similarity and mentioned it to Conan. They chose him to introduce the show that night and did a side-by-side comparison on air. So awesome!
Sean was actually an intern at the Stranger, and he succumbed to cancer a year or two after he graduated college. I remember the signed picture of Sean and Conan at the memorial cause it was one of this favorite stories to tell.
Conan > Leno
Oh Fnarf. Go watch Conan interact with Jordan Schlansky and then come talk to me about your equation.
Also let me tell you how terrible it is to be suffering from a horrific eyeball infection on the day you meet your comedy hero–the shame of it lives on in this photo.
My opinion: Stewart > Colbert > Conan > Letterman & Leno > everybody else.
I used to prefer Letterman to Leno but now I don’t really care anymore, performance-wise. Though, Leno now seems kind of like a huge asshole to me for offering his show to Conan 4-5 years ago and then reneging.
Leno is a reneger. Never call anyone a “reneger” out loud though. Suddenly all conversation will die and everyone will spin around and stare at you and ask “What did you just say?”
The second story is so bizarre. The only explanation I can fathom is that Jay Leno’s wife really, really doesn’t like having her picture taken, for whatever reason, and “You have to pay me” is what she says when she can’t duck away with a better excuse. Pictures with her cannot possibly be so in-demand that she actually makes a regular habit of charging people for taking a picture with her.
…Right?
A friend of mine met Conan on the Burke-Gilman trail biking in the Kenmore/Bothell area, said he was really cool and friendly. I guess Conan’s wife is from the area. My friend is thinking now that Conan will be off tee vee a while, he’ll see him out there again.
@ 6..
tee hee… snicker…giggle..
Sorry Conan fans, but to this aging baby boomer, Conan I just don’t get. Yes, he was good when his show was going down the tubes, but fact is, he didn’t get the ratings at 11:35 that Leno did. And he had 7 months to make it work.
I saw it coming miles away; I tried Conan for a while but finally just started making 11:35 my go-to-sleep time.
I really can’t see blame for Leno here. When NBC decided 5 years ago that he should give up the Tonight show for Conan this year, he said fine. When NBC said he should do a 10:00 p.m. show every night, he said fine. Perhaps he knew in the back of his mind, like I did, that Conan wasn’t going to work out so all he had to do was bide his time. Perhaps so, but Leno didn’t do anything to pull the rug out from under Conan; Conan just couldn’t find the audience at 11:35.
As all agree, in television it’s the ratings. Get the numbers and you keep your job. Don’t get the numbers you don’t keep your job.
Conan’s wife is hotter too.
@10 Leno didn’t “get the numbers” at 10pm and not only did he keep his job, but he got a promotion. He also had 7 months to make it work. You could also argue that one of the reasons Conan didn’t fare well at 11:35 is because of Leno’s shit ratings at 10. Although, the entire internet has already discussed this to death so I’m going to go take a nap now.
And I accept your apology.
Lindy, thank you for cropping your terrible jeans out of this picture. I mean, it was ’99, most of us wore terrible jeans, but still.
@10: Aha! You admit to being an aging baby boomer! IT’S YOUR FAULT CONAN IS OFF THE AIR!
What I don’t understand is, if Conan had done something interesting with his comedic instincts, he’d be poor now; but since he decided that he was a Talk Show Host For Life, he gets like a hundred million dollars. Talk shows are lame. I don’t see anyone here getting all broken up over Arsenio or Mike Douglas.
Oh, come now, TV Dinner. It’s not the aging Baby Boomers’ fault. We never watched Leno either. Past our bedtime, you know.
Great stories Lindy.
My opinion… a good book > a movie > other print media > tv
Not that it matters to you all.
@6: Well, you need to annunciate that last e. Reminds me of spigot and spicket.
Stewart>Colbert>Letterman>Conan>everybody else.
Anyone seen the paper coffee cup Conan signed over in Madrona?
where is that thing? Hi spot?
Conan used to live in my building. So tall he barely fit in the elevator. Always looked tired. Sure, he’s nice, but so is Leno, say my two friends in common with Leno. One met him by crashing her bike right at his feet at a big motorcyclist get together at a bar. In front of hundreds of people. As she humiliatedly got up from the gravel, a guy helped her pick up her bike. “Wait, you’ll hurt yourself, let me help.” She looked up and saw Leno. He grinned and said, “Ya know, it happens to everybody. But to happen HERE?” So even though his wife tried to charge for a picture, and he plays hardball careerwise, and maybe his tolerance for pestering fans is not infinite, he’s at least sometimes nice.
I’ve met Leno in person, and it doesn’t surprise me that his wife charges for photos. Leno probably does too. He’s a bit of an ass.
So I’ll accept your contention that Conan is, indeed, a more personable guy than Leno. Of the two, Conan would probably make a better friend.
But as far as comedy? They are both about the same to me: Mildly amusing at times, but rarely ever truly funny. Either Stewart or Colbert on a bad night are still 100 times funnier than Conan or Leno on a good night.
@18: I always worry about people who feel the need to annunciate their vowels. They seem awfully pretentious, what with all that fanfare about a few humble letters. Now people who enunciate their vowels, well, we’ll let ’em live.
Posing for pictures with complete strangers must be the shittiest part of being a celebrity.
@21 – It’s a documented fact that Leno does not have friends. I don’t have a citation for that, but I know it in my heart.
mrs. leno looks like she’s had a LOTTA work done on her face. a LOTTA LOTTA work.
Conan and his wife shopped at a market that I worked at for a while. I found him to be very nice and very respectful to myself and the other workers. He signed a hat for us, drew a little cartoon of himself and it has been hanging above the counter ever since. His wife was so sweet as well.
@12 Leno got the numbers evreryone at NBC thought he would get. about five million. the problem was with the affiliates. Conan’s ratings sucked and they were loosing money. end of story. don’t hate on Jay because he won. conan can cry himself to sleep on his huge pile of money.