Norma Rae

When did Conan O’Brien become Norma Rae? For those of you who don’t remember this 1978 film, Norma Rae stars Sally Field as a beleaguered factory worker who risks her job and everything she’s worked for in order to correct injustices in the workplace. She is everywoman, standing up to The Man to do what’s right. Not just for her, but for the millions just like her all over the country. Those oppressed masses just trying to put food on the table, the ones without health care, the ones struggling to make ends meet. The ones who just want a fair shake. Somebody had to have the courage to take on the Big Baddies running the show. In 1978, that somebody was Norma Rae. In 2010, it’s Conan O’Brien?

How did a Harvard-educated, multi-millionaire late night talk show host magically transmogrify into a guy who got laid off at the local car plant? The overreaction to Conan’s departure has been kind of astounding; as a nation, are we really that concerned about who hosts “The Tonight Show,” a television program that stopped being culturally relevant around 1986?

And let’s not forget, it’s not as if Conan was cancelled. He quit. He walked away from “The Tonight Show” because he rightly or wrongly felt that moving the show half an hour later would destroy the show’s integrity. Okay, fine. But let’s not act as if he’s leading a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter. It’s not that big a deal.

Yes Americans believe in fair play. Fair play means making a deal and sticking to it. Conan got “The Tonight Show,” and therefore he should keep it. I agree with that. But Americans also believe in capitalism, and when fair play bumps up against capitalism, capitalism usually wins. It did this time.

To my mind, there are two reasons why Leno has come across looking as bad as he has throughout the last few weeks. The first is that he seems like an opportunistic pig for agreeing to move back to 11:30. He should have packed up his funny headlines and gone home. The other reason is that Conan has been much funnier about the whole thing. His letter to the Times was funny, his monologue jokes have been funnier, and whereas Leno has come across as needy and desperate, O’Brien’s departure seems, if not exactly classy, then at least in classy’s neighborhood. Of course it’s easy to be classy-ish when you and your staff are walking away with forty million dollars.

I think the deeper reason people are so inflamed by this petty war is that Conan in his own way has come to represent the aggrieved, the injured, the wrongly terminated. I think there is a sense in this country that giant corporations are ruining everything, even late night talk shows. Something so insignificant takes on greater importance because I think on some level, “The Tonight Show” actually has become a very flawed stand-in for all the jobs lost to corporate greed, arrogance, and stupidity. We see Conan as a victim because we feel as though, like us, he wasn’t given a fair shot. If a guy like that, a guy who has everything, can be downsized and demoted, what hope do the rest of us have?

Moreover Leno is installed back in his abdicated throne. It feels like a coup, a particularly unfunny coup. And above him, all the top brass still have their jobs. Just like all the top brass in every other failed or bailed-out corporation. It feels unfair. And it makes people mad.

Sure it’s a shame it didn’t work out for Conan, the most creative talk show host since David Letterman, and I think it’s great he took a principled stand against NBC, but is this really the stuff of rallies? Is this really where we want to spend our political capital? If you have the energy to protest Conan O’Brien’s departure in Burbank, shouldn’t you maybe think about spending some time chanting outside General Motors or Goldman Sachs? Or Congress? This is the cause you want to get involved with? Instead of holding up placards with the Masturbating Bear on them, maybe donate a pint of blood. It’ll be a lot more helpful to somebody.

Conan is an unlikely hero of the working man but at this point, when heroes are far more likely to be squashed than celebrated like Norma Rae, as sad as it sounds, he might actually be the closest thing we’ve got.

 

Comments

[Kristina]

Finally someone said it.
Thank you.

[Lauren]

It wasn't a matter of who's right or wrong. I've always loved Conan and was very excited when he moved up to the 11:35 spot. Even if he was fine with everything, I myself would be angry if he was pushed to 12:05. Jay Leno just isn't funny. If it was the other way around and Conan was doing this to Leno, I'd applaud.

[Jim]

" he might actually be the closest thing we’ve got"

haha wait are you implying you're apart of the "working man"?

[Diana]

I was wondering when Conan became the new Jennifer Aniston.

[John Elliott]

Maybe I'm more cynical than you, but I don't even think the reason people are getting so upset are the ones you stated. From what I gather in my wanderings, people in our culture simply don't give a shit about anything non-entertainment-related. Everything is so easy and cheap, and we've become so used to constant comfort and ample leisure time, that researching REAL injustices and working to alleviate them smacks of the kind of effort most people recoil from. We're basically a lazy, entitled nation that demands to be amused every waking second, and our priorities reflect this (I don't exempt myself from any of these criticisms). Bullshit and trivialities are what we care about, and that's why I think so many people are upset about the late night situation.

[Joshua]

That was all very well put Mr. Black. I know that I care so much because I've been watching Conan since I was 17 when I saw his first episode of "Late Night". It's not that this situation is such a big deal as it is just a sad thing to see him go from this coveted spot. Maybe the show isn't "relevant" anymore but it meant a lot to Conan and watching Conan is a relevant part of my night. Obviously there are bigger things going on in the world and maybe this has become a metaphor for those things. For me though, this is a big deal because I liked Conan on the Tonight Show and figured he'd earned it. The fact of his or his staff's wealth never came into it for me, it was purely selfish.

[Haiti]

What about us? :'(

[Grace O'Grady]

My comment is similar to lolitahaze's comment. Yes there are more important issues in the world than Conan and Jay Leno. But I donated money to help the relief in Haiti and I donate to local charities and organizations that clothe and feed starving people in our own country. I write to congress regarding issues I feel are important such as healthcare and same sex marriage. I have also updated my twitter and facebook statuses with any new and verified helpful information regarding what is going on in Haiti right now.

Just because I started updating my twitter or my facebook or whatever with Conan related information rather than something else does not mean that I sit in a room worshipping a Conan shrine every night. I just happen to like him. I also happen to like a lot of people and television shows; if ABC decided to just cancel Lost midway through the last season and somehow made it so that the remaining episodes could never be seen by the public, yeah I'd be pretty damn pissed off and would probably make some public internet comments about it. But Lost is not my entire life.

I'm glad the comparison was made between Conan's situation and many of us who have had to deal with layoffs or our company treating us like we don't matter. However, I think the attitude of "there are more important things in the world and how dare you spend any time or energy being upset about a celebrity and a television show" is ridiculous.

[Cece]

You make a lot of good points but I was unaware that people were unable to express their interest in something they care about. It's just out of fun. Why am I reading your blog instead of sending letters to my local congressman? Cuz quite frankly this conan situation is something I care about that I can fit my head around without feeling helpless.

I just can't figure out why, out of all the crazy media overhype of things like twilight, you would choose this conan thing as an example political inactivity. I think it's cuz you're placing conan as some representative for many workers rather that just a funny guy people love.

[Mike]

Jay got twice as many viewers as Conan did on the Tonight Show. Of course Jay will be a bigger priority to NBC, he drew the bigger ratings when he had the Tonight Show.

When they moved Jay, he was in primetime, and honestly, talk shows just do not work in primetime. They never have and they never will.

All of these people are bitching about Conan getting shafted but it's not like they just said the hell with him. Jay is able to get bigger ratings in that time slot and if anything, Jay's ratings could have helped Conan.

I just cannot believe people rallied for this. It's damn late night talk show, I think we should get over it.

10 bucks says Conan gets a new show and people still do not watch.

[Kelly]

I love you.

[Kira]

As much as I adore you, you have even less place making statements about what people should or shouldn't be standing for than the rest of us poor, unwashed masses. Is it all silly, of course. You seemed to have been standing firm at the absurdist end of our sad, declining society, and I had much respect for that. Don't attempt all of a sudden to be disgusted with that which you have immersed yourself in.

[Splinterphobic/twitter]

But, Jay's an unfunny, smarmy dick.

It's like Scooby and the gang finally unmasked
the evil carnival owner.

[Mark]

Don't ask me, I'm still not over Craig Kilborn leaving the Late Late Show.

[EJ]

Very well-articulated. I hadn't considered the "wrongful termination" angle to all this, with Conan as a stand-in for viewers who have lost a lot more than the Tonight Show.

I'm kind of amused by the people in the comments who can't understand the nuance of even a short blog post like this. "I can't tell if you are for or against COCO." Whether or not he means to take sides doesn't matter - it's Michael's blog, and these are his opinions.

However, I do agree with the commenters defending the rallies organized on Facebook. Modern political protest is a joke, and has been for decades. We might as well accept the ridiculousness and use it when we feel strongly about supposedly trivial things like comedians, multi-millionaire or not.

[Rickets]

What a snide cuntbag MIB is.

[cameron]

nice job! ...but Conan himself has repeatedly reiterated how lucky he's been, so it's not like he's trying to be superficial or whiney about it; just stating the facts of how he's been screwed and being very funny about it.

and comedy in America does matter and is important, and Jay has mayonased it into this tasteless paste for so long that people have become condioned to beleive his brand of humor is what's funny (thus his ratings) and that's always going to piss me off; that and is hollow shilling.

:) check out my novels? :D THX! http://tinyurl.com/ygh3vux http://cameronglenn.wordpress.com/

[Dan Mullen]

People still watch these crappy late night talk shows? They're not that funny and the hosts are lame. You old fucks need to get cable or get laid.

[Jacob]

Conan was our escape from the "real" world. We deal with the real world every day, and then when our entertainment (that helps us cope with the "real" world) gets destroyed, we feel insulted and that we must take action. Sure we've done other things, helped other causes, watched other shows, but the fact that people still care about SOMETHING is a wonderful thing.

[Tanis]

I get what you're saying, but I always kind of loathe that people think they have to be dicks and say it.

Criticizing people for caring too deeply about something frivolous is just, ugh. That is life, my friend. People can care about silly things and serious things at the same time. The two are not mutually exclusive and I cannot think of a better example of that than the last two weeks.

[Cdinosaur]

I think people (me included) are mad about this because NBC/Leno represents "the man" and Conan is the dark humored geek that gets picked onand treated unfairly by "the man" but he stood up and people applauded and supported him because somehow we relate to that, being treated unfairly or not given a chance after you work your ass off, if anything this incident kind of gives you america's temperature right now, we are pissed people.

[eric]

Yes, this really is where I want to spend my political capital.

I toil every goddamn day in the non-profit sector. I make my donations, I write my letters, I volunteer my time, and it never really seems to have any long term impact aside from helping to prolong the inevitable. But it does provide a short term relief. Not for me, but for whatever person or entity is being served.

The show provided me with that same sort of relief. Quick, temporary, but a reliable amusement, distraction, and comfort. Replaceable, sure, but not something I willingly wanted to give up. I resent having that option taken away from me, and I resent and loathe the substitute I am being offered in place of it.

You may not see these things as equal, but personal meaning has just as much of a right to expression as political meaning.

It may look absurd or hollow, but I don't really give a shit. The local homeless have blankets and coats, I got Haiti their quarter million in donations this month, let me have my fucking show.

I guess I can always fall back on booze and porn.

[Mike]

So just because Conan is gone from your life, for now at least, you're going to get drunk and watch porn? Those are really your only other options and forms of entertainment?

Dear god people it's a fucking late night talk show. All this talk about it being an escape or whatever is a bunch of bullshit.

It didn't get the ratings, and it's not like he was axed anyway. He chose to leave so quit blaming everybody besides Conan. You guys should be mad at him for leaving your so called 'lives'. Not NBC , not Jay, not anyone! And all this talk about him wanting to preserve the prestigue of the show is bullshit too. There is no prestigue to it anymore. If anyone is being greedy here, it's Conan. He's pissed because he can't have the golden spot. Booo hoo. Should've attracted more viewers then. and I don't mean right before you leave the show either.

If he really loved that job for anything besides the money, he would've kept it, but now he thinks he's some hero. HE'S GOT ALMOST 40 MILLION DOLLARS FOR DOING NOTHING!!! What's there to feel sorry for?

Seriously, people these days amaze me. Don't get me wrong, I like Conan but get off his dick people.

[Biz]

You know what I think is crap. Stella getting cancelled. Where were people when that happened? Asses. Besides, Conan is a ginger. We all know how society feels about gingers. Or maybe that's what it's about. Maybe it's because Conan was the sole representation of redheaded males in the media aside from Carrot Top and now we've tipped the scales too far.

I completely agree though. I think people are being a bit over-dramatic. Honestly, Conan's getting way more money from this than most of us are going to get in our lives. His family is going to be fine. And quite frankly, I doubt this is the last we'll see of him. Whether it's Comedy Central, Fox, voice-acting in cartoons, or the internet. He'll do something. (Isn't that what most comedians have to resort to anyways now? Posting videos on the internet? Why should he be above it?)

Thank you sir. I feel that needed to be said and you said it well.

[Torrance]

I resent your implication that we're not allowed to care about comedy because we could spend our time giving blood. That's an argument that gets trotted out every time something bad happens, and it's almost always applied selectively and disingenuously. Of course something like the tragedy in Haiti deserves our attention, but we're human and we can't spend every second of our lives worrying about the single worst thing in the world at that moment. Perhaps a bit callous, yes, but it's closer to the truth.

Further, I don't think the pro-Conan sentiment is about a hard-working guy getting canned because of the economy. I think it's about a (minority) segment of the country seeing someone who tried do something creative and new in entertainment being canned in favor of someone safe, hacky, and boring. Maybe Leno is getting a lot of the blame that NBC executives deserve, but I would think you of all people would understand the frustration of an audience seeing something fresh and exciting squashed by the merciless treads of the familiar and the mediocre.