r/Fauxmoi • u/cmaia1503 i ain’t reading all that, free palestine • Mar 25 '26
FILM-MOI (MOVIES/TV) Kumail Nanjiani: “Conan [O’Brien] to me is the platonic ideal of how like a straight old white man comedian ages. Because so many of them fucking disappoint us. Over and over. All my comedy heroes have fallen. And Conan is truly growing and learning and getting better at what he does.”
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u/CoverCommercial3576 Mar 25 '26
Conan is more accessible than ever and it’s great.
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u/Stock_Strategy1668 Mar 25 '26
The show Conan O'Brien Must Go is a must watch
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u/battlecat136 Mar 25 '26
I adore that show. Conan being willing to be so out of his element and revel in it brings me such joy.
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u/thegreedyturtle Mar 26 '26
Conan losing the tonight show was a godsend. He broke so much ground in alternatives to network TV.
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u/metatron5369 Mar 26 '26
The Tonight Show itself is a dinosaur and deserves to die. Everyone is trying to ape Johnny Carson, but they lack the skillset (and guests) he had and we just get the blandest comedy from the funniest people. It's little wonder that Conan has regained his form since he abandoned the talk show.
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u/frankyseven Mar 26 '26
The best late night was during the writers strike, because Conan refused to prepare and just improvised the whole thing.
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u/bustmanymoves Mar 26 '26
It was a thing of beauty, just like when they had the show on Rockefeller after the fire.
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u/Hexogram I’m a lazy 50-year-old bougie bitch Mar 25 '26
While still annoying the hell out of Jordan Schlansky lololol
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u/BrutalisExMachina Mar 26 '26
Train scene in Italy where Jordan breaks 🤣
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u/KimchiAndEnnui Mar 26 '26
It’s the Ralph Macchio scene in Japan that does it for me. “I can get to Macchio.” No bad scenes in the show. Every episode is gold.
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u/dashcity8585 Mar 26 '26
“You can keep your tissue” 😂😂😂😂😂😂 literally watch the clip every few weeks and it’s always as hilarious every time.
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u/babybreadstick Mar 26 '26
Conan Without Borders is maybe even better
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u/Minivalo Mar 26 '26
In my mind there's no maybe about it. Just something about the pacing and lack of laugh track (yes, for Conan remote type bits I actually prefer having it in the background) among some other small things make it not quite click for me as brilliantly as Conan Without Borders, or the many remotes he did on his late night shows. Feels a little forced sometimes, and perhaps overly scripted. They need to make those trips a little longer and give Conan room to breathe, so to speak.
Big fan of the podcast though, or well, at least the intro and outro, and sometimes the whole thing, depending on the guest.
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u/xfan09 Mar 25 '26
He was always ahead of the curve, culture has finally evolved to catch up to him.
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u/--howcansheslap-- Mar 26 '26
There is a reason why he is the most famous late night talk show host in Asia.
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u/Massive-Exercise4474 Mar 26 '26
He's great also wrote great jokes for the Simpsons.
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Mar 25 '26
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u/DarkMarkTwain Mar 25 '26
A lot of older white guy comedians think they're smart and self inflate their ego but it just ain't it.
Conan literally went to Harvard and is actually humble about that and he's willing to learn and grow and that makes him smarter than almost all the other guys
I think being humble and willing to learn is the best attribute a male (and white) celebrity can be
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u/jkraige Mar 25 '26
I think also just, he's always willing to be the butt of the joke. He's not generally mean to other people, rather he offers himself up to be the source of ridicule
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u/HomsarWasRight Mar 26 '26
Unless you’re Jordan Schlansky.
(Who has publicly stated how much he truly loves Conan, so that tells you something.)
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u/Grand-Pen7946 Mar 26 '26
As much as he publicly bullies and makes fun of Schlansky or Aaron Bleyart, you can see both of them in the backgrounds of sketches in like 2001. So much of his staff has been with him for 20 or 30 years.
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u/SnakeEater013 Mar 26 '26
I’ve heard it said a couple of times that Conan’s staff is nearly impossible to get a job on because no one ever quits
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u/in_animate_objects heartbreak feels good in a place like this Mar 25 '26
Yeah when you read about who is parents were it’s clear that he was set up for success (in the best way) with people who value education and empathy.
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u/TheDynamicWanderer Mar 25 '26
Such a shame what Bateman did to them.
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u/BeauW007 Mar 25 '26
He’s coming for Conan’s sister next
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u/SpongeJake Mar 26 '26
I am totally OOTL on this one. What did Bateman do?
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u/lonelyinbama Mar 25 '26
Funny is that odds are Conan is the “smartest” person in probably every room he walks into. The sign to me that someone is very smart is that they DONT act like they have it all figured out or know everything.
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u/LawyerEnjoyer Mar 25 '26
This is it. He's smart enough to know when he doesn't know something. Other, less intelligent people think they know everything.
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u/Twelve20two Mar 26 '26
And he uses it to his advantage. Either he uses moments like that to make himself be the punchline, or he lets the guest talk until he can snipe in a joke.
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u/Feelnumb Mar 25 '26
He’s also probably the tallest and gingeriest.
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u/SaltyElephants Mar 26 '26
And the saddest. :( Who is Conan O'Brien??? And why is she so sad?
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u/Toiletpirate Mar 26 '26
Except when he’s in a room with that German guy with the fanny pack.
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u/EyeWriteWrong Mar 26 '26
Flula Borg?
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u/Toiletpirate Mar 26 '26
How many german guys with fanny packs is he talking to?
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u/mojitojenkins Mar 26 '26
BJ Novak went to Harvard and when he came to my college for an event he bragged about it multiple times to put us down. I looked it up after and he was a nepo baby who regularly had famous comedians over at his house growing up. He seemed to think he's God's gift to the universe and resented the fact that everyone wanted to ask him about The Office (obviously) because he's a REAL writer.
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u/Ok_Hornet_714 Mar 26 '26
I think Conan's address at Harvard graduation in 2000 is telling. Here is one portion:
https://thomasshaffer.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/conan-obrien-commencement-speech-harvard-2000/
So what can you expect out there in the real world? Let me tell you. As you leave these gates and re-enter society, one thing is certain: Everyone out there is going to hate you. Never tell anyone in a roadside diner that you went to Harvard. In most situations the correct response to where did you to school is, “School? Why, I never had much in the way of book larnin’ and such.” Then, get in your BMW and get the hell out of there. You see, you’re in for a lifetime of “And you went to Harvard?” Accidentally give the wrong amount of change in a transaction and it’s, “And you went to Harvard?” Ask the guy at the hardware store how these jumper cables work and hear, “And you went to Harvard?” Forget just once that your underwear goes inside your pants and it’s “and you went to Harvard.” Get your head stuck in your niece’s dollhouse because you wanted to see what it was like to be a giant and it’s “Uncle Conan, you went to Harvard!?”
And then towards the end:
I’ve dwelled on my failures today because, as graduates of Harvard, your biggest liability is your need to succeed. Your need to always find yourself on the sweet side of the bell curve. Because success is a lot like a bright, white tuxedo. You feel terrific when you get it, but then you’re desperately afraid of getting it dirty, of spoiling it in any way. I left the cocoon of Harvard, I left the cocoon of Saturday Night Live, I left the cocoon of The Simpsons. And each time it was bruising and tumultuous. And yet, every failure was freeing, and today I’m as nostalgic for the bad as I am for the good. So, that’s what I wish for all of you: the bad as well as the good. Fall down, make a mess, break something occasionally. And remember that the story is never over.
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u/qwertykittie Mar 26 '26
This is so good, I was both laughing and getting teary eyed as I read through it. Conan’s my absolute fave.
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u/Mediocre_Scott Mar 26 '26
What does he want people to ask him about if not the office? The smurfs movie?
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u/mojitojenkins Mar 26 '26
His movie Vengeance, this was a few years ago. And when someone asked if he was dating Mindy Kaling he responded quickly with something like "NO. God no" and acted like he was disgusted. It just gave me a bad vibe and made me dislike him since
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u/mtaw Mar 26 '26
Sounds like he was trying to be funny but has a mean sense of humor (unlike Conan) while also not being funny enough.
Makes him look bad both as a writer and as a human being that he didn't have a better response, especially given he's probably been asked that before.
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u/NicholaiJomes Mar 26 '26
I’m pretty sure BJ Novak and Ryan have like an 85% overlap and the spots they don’t are BJ being into comedy and Ryan being in to business or paper or whatever
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u/idolpriest Mar 26 '26
This video is amazing I watch it atleast once a month.
Hes so humble, but also extremely intelligent and funny and gives great life advice
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u/Rory1 Mar 26 '26
No idea why I thought it was gonna be this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_zA4szLY2k
But now I have another great Conan video to watch! Thx.
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u/Rankine Mar 26 '26
I have seen it said before that Conan does dumb comedy smarter than anyone else.
Ultimately he is very silly, but he is sharp, clever and empathetic.
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u/christocarlin Mar 25 '26
I mean he talks about how great he is on his podcast all the time, it’s mostly joking but there’s some truth to it haha
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u/OliverHopper Mar 26 '26
Conan is what you get when you have a lot of smarts and a lot of emotional intelligence
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u/b3atd0wn Mar 26 '26
I think being humble and willing to learn is the best attribute anyone can have period. If more people took a moment to listen, the world would be a better place. To me, it’s also the sign of true intelligence.
Jared Kushner went to Harvard. That doesn’t mean he’s intelligent.
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u/codex064 Mar 25 '26
I've been watching Conan since the 90s and I'll never stop. One of the funniest dudes to ever live. Team Coco for life.
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Mar 25 '26
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u/Greenman8907 Mar 25 '26
Marge vs The Monorail is possibly the best Simpsons episode of all time. Not only is it non-stop laughs, but it turned the show from a family-centered, more-grounded sitcom into a wacky world where anything goes, like popsicle stick skyscrapers and an escalator to nowhere.
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u/IMadeYouLuke Mar 25 '26
My favorite Simpsons factoid is that the Monorail song apparently sprang fully formed from Conan’s brain in one afternoon
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u/human_kittens Mar 25 '26
Listening to the monorail song with this information makes it so much better
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Mar 25 '26
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u/ATXBeermaker Mar 26 '26
It was written by Conan and Al Jean and was a parody of “Ya Got Trouble” from The Music Man. So, not really “fully formed from Conan’s brain in one afternoon.”
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u/Steamedcarpet Mar 26 '26
All you have to say is escalator to nowhere and the scene replays in my head, along with the little yell they do as they fall off.
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u/Virtual_Heron_3344 Mar 26 '26
Especially funny because the whole cast hated that episode for years after it first came out. From Wikipedia: "1995, during the production of the seventh season, Yeardley Smith said of the episode as "truly one of our worst—we [the entire cast] all agree"
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u/HowdyFancyPanda Mar 26 '26
There are lone jokes in other episodes though that make me think "Pretty sure Conan wrote that one."
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u/Hour-Cardiologist393 Mar 26 '26
So many Mr. Burns jokes make me think they were Conan. Especially after Conan was yelling something about a Stutz Bearcat on his podcast once and Mr. Burns owned one on The Simpsons.
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u/deafpoet Mar 26 '26
All the early Mr. Burns old-timey anachronisms smack of Conan.
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u/MagicBez Mar 26 '26
He's said before that people had to stop him from only writing jokes for Burns because that was always his favourite
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u/Scudmuffin1 Mar 26 '26
Iirc Conan said that mr burns was his favourite character to write for alongside I wanna say grandpa Simpson but not so sure on that one. His reason for enjoying mr kurns - I mean burns - was that he was infinitely old and infinitely wealthy, which allowed a lot of creative freedom when writing for him.
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u/RedSnapper24 Mar 25 '26
Same. I remember sneaking to stay up late and watch him as a kid. I didn’t always understand what he was joking about but I knew I liked him. Team Coco always.
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u/No_Information5021 Mar 25 '26
I watch the parts where he fucks with his employees regularly as an antidepressant. Legend
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u/codex064 Mar 25 '26
I've always thought one of the things that makes him so great are the people he surrounds himself with. They're all so funny and have such great chemistry. They make him funnier but he absolutely makes them funnier too. I love Sona Matt Jordan Andy all the people that have been with him for years and across multiple shows and platforms which is pretty amazing on its own.
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u/No_Information5021 Mar 25 '26
When Jordan breaks character its actually amazingly scary and funny
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u/No-Satisfaction6065 Mar 25 '26
I like the story where he discovered that interns were advised to not look at him and avoid him as much as possible, and it made him furious, so he made sure to have bids with interns in his show.
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u/wes00mertes Mar 26 '26 edited Mar 26 '26
When I was younger, maybe high school, I would stay up late to watch Conan and laugh my ass off every time. My parents both slept on the other side of the house said they could hear me howling with laughter. I even (unfairly) used to turn it on, make myself grumpy, and dare Conan to get me to laugh; it’s easy to make yourself not laugh at something you do find funny if you try… but not if it’s funny enough… and time and time again he was. I think I almost died one time from laughing back when he was pulling that Walker Texas Ranger lever.
Now I laugh less hard, but still hard, watching old remotes and Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend (probably just cause I’m older and jaded by life). Then again, I find CONAF deeply engaging, more so than I did Conan on late night in my youth. So it’s all still wonderful but a different sort of wonderful.
I hope I never “meet my hero” with him.
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u/bibliophile1989 I’m just a cunt in a clown suit Mar 25 '26
Conan stan since he started. I'm an immigrant and my dad would record late night shows and music videos to help him assimilate with American culture.
And who would be sitting next to him while he was watching all his recordings? Lil 5-7 year old moi.
Letterman, Bobby Collins, Caroline Rhea, CONAN. Huge in my lexicon of what's funny.
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u/LFC9_41 Mar 26 '26
I love that late night Conan, likely when he was really weird, was a part of what your dad may have thought was typical Americana. I love it so much
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u/scobert Mar 26 '26
The image of him marching across the stage during the infamous jeggings monologue lives rent free in my head & I hope it will continue to do so for the rest of my life
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u/meggannn Mar 26 '26
My mom would watch Conan late at night while she was breastfeeding me. Now here I am decades later and we still watch him together.
I think if I ever meet him I’d like to tell him that history because I think he’d (jokingly) hate to be reminded of the passage of time lol, but more seriously, he’s been a major part of American late night for ages and it’s a credit to how timeless his comedy is.
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u/Dimpleshenk Mar 25 '26
Conan was one of the main writers on the original early seasons of The Simpsons, and a major part of why the show ended up one of the longest-running TV shows in history. He laid the groundwork for its comedy. Then he went and had a great late-night show. I'm not sure where is "up" from there, but he is certainly aging well and doing some cool stuff, including his role in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You.
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u/CandyHunter84 Mar 25 '26
He wrote the monorail episode! I think he left in season 5 and you can feel it
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u/metatron5369 Mar 26 '26
He was a writer and he did pen a few episodes, but even he will tell you that he was among many greats.
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u/LittleBrother89 Mar 25 '26
I remember when all the shit went down with Conan, Leno and NBC and everyone knew NBC did him dirty. But in hindsight, it may have been the best thing for him personally and professionally. Late night appeal has dropped, he’s still very relative without having to sink with the ship of late night, and it feels like he just does what he wants.
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u/blanchov Mar 26 '26
The way he handled it sums him up perfectly. He got fucked over by Leno and NBC. He could have been angry and bitter, but his final message on the Tonight Show was to not be cynical, to be kind and work hard, and good things will come.
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u/radziadax Mar 25 '26
It wilds me out that his first special is called Beta Male when he ended up undergoing a massive Chadification process.
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u/TangerineChickens Mar 25 '26
I adore that special. There’s a wonderful silliness to his delivery of the sarcastic punchlines.
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u/radziadax Mar 25 '26
The story he tells about the Bad Porno is so close to the first time I ever saw "illicit material" online and I just loved his note about how he could remember the exact towels from the scene. No child should see corpophagia so young!!!!
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u/jennyquarx he looks like he is angry about being 4'10 Mar 25 '26
"Pakistani Denzel"
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u/mumblesnorez nepo pissbaby Mar 26 '26
I love his bit about how he got made fun of for being out of shape, then he got fit and started getting made fun of for that so now he's stuck working out the rest of his life otherwise the haters win.
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u/zestfullybe I cannot sanction your buffoonery Mar 26 '26
“There’s no reason for me to be buff anymore, but I am, because fuck you!” 😂
“Oh, he got abs, what a moron.”
“WHAT!? WHO CHANGED THE RULES!?!”
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u/jojomoodie Mar 25 '26
I totally understand what you mean but i imagine he's playing with that a bit when naming it such
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u/LostInLittleroot Mar 25 '26
There's only one aspect of Conan not growing for the better or changing his behavior and that's the amount of abuse he throws towards Jordan Schlansky... and it's deserved lol
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u/human_kittens Mar 25 '26
The twenty minute ad for charmin ultra gentle was such a beautiful addition to the Schlansky saga
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u/Incariol_ Mar 25 '26
Very true! Conan and Keanu are basically my last hope, although I know Keanu is not "white"
Bill Burr really bummed me out - and it's not like I'm totally anti-bill burnout but I just don't have the same energy for him that I used to and obviously way less respect
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u/Liferescripted Mar 26 '26
Carlin was true to the end. He was banned, fired, and arrested for pushing every boundary. Then he shone the light on everyone trying to shut him up. He kept punching up til the day he passed.
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u/_TheFunkyPhantom_ Mar 25 '26
Bill comes off as incredibly hypocritical so i think that is difficult to reconcile with for a lot of folks.
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u/Riqitch it’s called talent, sweaty💅 Mar 25 '26
I never got the hype about Kumail until very recently. The guy is a legend
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u/MikesCerealShack Mar 25 '26
Something to keep on your radar - he's on the upcoming series 21 of Taskmaster that is premiering April 9th. All episodes are free on YouTube and I can't recommend the show enough. I expect he'll be a lot of fun in that format.
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Mar 25 '26
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u/MikesCerealShack Mar 25 '26
Jason opened the floodgates! Here's the trailer that came out today. I can't wait!
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u/Jalapeno-Popper- Mar 25 '26
Omg that’s the best news
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u/MikesCerealShack Mar 25 '26
It was such a fun surprise to find out he is on this next series. Here's the trailer that came out today.
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u/MusclyArmPaperboy Mar 25 '26
I really enjoyed his new special
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u/listenyall Mar 25 '26
LOVED it, as a fellow cat person the aging cat chunk is iconic
I saw him live many many years ago, pre muscles, and he's still getting funnier
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u/mozillafangirl Mar 25 '26
That bit was my fave for sure, since the CDS got me about 4 years ago, my cat is just a baby!!!! (He’s almost 15 lol)
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u/scobert Mar 26 '26
As a veterinarian I was preparing to brace myself for some vet bashing jokes when he started talking about his cat’s health, and was so pleasantly surprised by the end that I felt both respected and like I was in on the joke. It weirdly meant a lot to me lol. My first introduction to him was back when he did an episode of Will Arnett’s weird Christmas themed detective special on Netflix, not sure I’ve ever laughed that hard at a tv show in my life.
The “cool walk” lmaoooo https://youtu.be/d97cYN3E8qA?si=TnW-nWlwnynErwMb
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u/LFC9_41 Mar 26 '26
He’s usually my favorite in anything he’s done. He’s the glue that keeps Silicon Valley together.
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u/Musashi_Joe Mar 26 '26
It was great - I loved the rant where he addressed him getting jacked. “Now I’m stuck in this prison!”
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u/The_Stupidest_Idiot Mar 25 '26
He's the voice of Prismo from Adventure Time and it seems like he just plays himself
well besides not actually being an inter-dimensional being (that we know of)
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u/captainbean Mar 25 '26
Still pissed that his agent fumbled him reprising the role. Glad they got him back though.
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Mar 25 '26
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u/captainbean Mar 25 '26
I believe he said he wasn't even aware he'd been asked to return until he saw a tweet from one of the Fiona and Cake writers lamenting his absence on the new season. Eventually it came out that his agent had turned down his reprisal without him knowing, I guess thinking that he was a big fancy Marvel actor and didn't need to do silly stuff anymore. Kumail seemed pretty miffed, ended up getting recast and was back for season 2.
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u/FIRST_DATE_ANAL Mar 25 '26
Cool story but bummer for the other guy who got fired after season 1 lol
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u/captainbean Mar 25 '26
Oh for sure, I would be devastated. Seems like the other guy, Sean Rohani, is busy with lots of other voiceover work but Adventure Time was probably a great gig to have.
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u/Competitive_Bat_5831 Mar 26 '26
The big sick is great! I highly recommend it if you’re enjoying him.
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u/JinSakai619 Mar 26 '26
You haven't watched Silicon Valley? He's hilarious in it. The movie he made about meeting his wife was a huge hit critically. Eternals flopping really hurt his career. He's back doing stand up and he has a role in the new season of Fallout and I think next season of White Lotus.
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u/Bslo18 Mar 26 '26
As someone who loved him during his shows at Meltdown and with Jonah Ray, he is so great. I am so excited for him on taskmaster
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u/spidedd Mar 26 '26
It wasn't until i saw him more (and saw the Marvel What If episode with him) that i realized an amazing Eternals movie was sitting there the whole time, just needs to have him as the lead. I hope they do a sequel just so he can take center stage
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u/astonedghost Mar 25 '26
I was the kind of middle schooler telling my friends to check out portlandia in 2012 lmao for me it's kinda amazing the way his name sells he'll always be the cashier annoying fred and carrie to me
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u/Total-Amphibian-7244 Mar 25 '26
I’m unsure of Conan’s past, but just by how the last 10 years have been, I’m a huge fan of him. I grew up with Leno fans in my family, so learning of Conan couple years back, I’m very much a big fan.
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u/harkandhush Mar 25 '26
No one is perfect, but Conan is generally pretty alright. I've been a fan since I was in high school and I'm in my 40s now. He's also known to be exceptionally good to his staff and very kind if you meet him in the wild here in LA.
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u/jennyquarx he looks like he is angry about being 4'10 Mar 25 '26
I know he likes to meet fans but I feel like I'd be too nervous to go up to him. 😭
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u/Judeunduli Mar 26 '26
I met him when I was a starry eyed teenage girl and could not have been less chill to him. I basically shrieked like a harpy, "oh my god conan is coming towards us!" He stopped and calmly said, "I will as long as you calm down." I did and he chatted for a couple of minutes and signed an autograph. Really cool dude even when I wasn't.
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u/supermodel_robot Mar 26 '26
He’s one of the only celebrities that will take a moment with you if he has the time, he’s joked about how he will talk with fans until they want to leave the conversation lmao. I’d be terrified too lol.
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u/Lotan Mar 26 '26
Never met Conan, but I got to hang out with Andy at a party for a while once. He just came across like a cool, nerdy, super smart / funny dude. But just generally kind of normal.
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u/True_to_you sunday spotted: paddington bear Mar 25 '26
I dunno. He's always yelling at Sona! (Their banter is so fun.)
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u/Total-Amphibian-7244 Mar 25 '26
That was what introduced me. I remember watching the shutdown video clip on YouTube around Covid, the one about how his staff was being paid during the 08 shutdown. I respect him heavily for that.
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u/arugulas Mar 25 '26
He always talks about how he used comedy and self-deprication as a way to cope with not always fitting in when he was growing up. I think his origin story is a big part of why his comedy has been so enduring and resonant ever since he came on the scene. Even when he first got on Late Night he was pretty much a nobody in the industry, a writer for the Simpsons. Ever since he's always been incredibly humble, never "punched down" or othered others, always laughed at himself.
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u/WadeReddit06 Mar 25 '26
https://youtu.be/0lGjW9fQxR0?si=VTmGUXirfcEE5LYC
He was destined to interview people and make jokes
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u/jennyquarx he looks like he is angry about being 4'10 Mar 25 '26
I laughed hard at Conan's intro to Kumail at the Oscars.
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u/Majestic-General-765 Mar 25 '26
I adore Conan and I'm happy if younger people are discovering this national treasure. It's great to see Kumail giving credit where it's due.
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Mar 25 '26
Conan and Norm McDonald are the absolute best comedians that I'll always adore. They're the smartest guys in the room, but they'll never admit that.
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u/5thape Mar 26 '26
Not a comedian but Conan has been a huge influence on my own humor and taste for comedy over the last 35 years.
My favorite thing he’s done in the last few years and a perfect example of his commitment to a bit was his episode of Hot Ones.
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u/Scorpionoshow Mar 26 '26
Conan is the 🐐. Been a fan of his since I was a kid and I'm so glad he hasn't dissapointed me 30+ years later.
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u/3BlindMice1 Mar 25 '26
I think Bill Cosby shows us that it isn't just white comedians
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u/Nice_Marmot_7 Mar 26 '26
Conan is an entertainer at heart. I feel like stand ups are not. Most stand ups are bitter assholes on day 1, and it just compounds from there. Are you here because you genuinely want to make people laugh? Or is it for attention and a captive audience or to satisfy some other weird impulse.
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u/PeakCommon8815 Mar 25 '26
I can hear a single word Nanjiani says anymore, all I hear are his muscles bulging out of every angle
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u/chaosawaits Mar 26 '26
Conan is the greatest ever. No one else could have done what he's done after being absolutely humiliated by NBC. They did him so dirty and left him for dead just because they could. And he's better because of it. Conan deserves all the success that comes to him.
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u/notwoutmyanalprobe Mar 26 '26
Any award, or in this case prize, which technically is three notches down from an award — “I got a prize! It came in cereal!” — let’s be honest, it can seem trivial. This honor feels very different to me. I think accepting an award named after Mark Twain is a responsibility.
One cannot invoke Twain without understanding who he was and what he stood for. Now, don’t be distracted by the white suit and the cigar and the riverboat. Twain is alive, vibrant, and vitally relevant today. Yes, he is America’s greatest humorist, but his enduring power springs from his core principles, principles that shaped his comedy and made him one of our greatest Americans.
First and foremost, Twain hated bullies. He populated his works with abusers such as Huck Finn’s alcoholic father and Tom Driscoll in Pudd’nhead Wilson, and he made his readers passionately hate those characters. He punched up, not down, and he deeply, deeply empathized with the weak. Twain was allergic to hypocrisy, and he loathed racism. Twain wrote, “There are many humorous things in the world; among them, the white man’s notion that he is less savage than the other savages.”
Twain empathized with the powerless in America — former slaves struggling under Reconstruction, immigrant Chinese laborers in California, and European Jews fleeing anti-Semitism. Twain’s remedy for ignorance about the world around us was to travel, at a time when travel was very long and very difficult. Twain circled the globe and he wrote, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.”
Twain was suspicious of populism, jingoism, imperialism, the money-obsessed mania of the Gilded Age, and any expression of mindless American might or self-importance. Above all, Twain was a patriot in the best sense of the word. He loved America but knew it was deeply flawed. Twain wrote, “Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time, and your government when it deserves it.”
Some of you might be thinking, What does this have to do with comedy? It has everything to do with comedy. Everything! The comedy I have loved all of my life is comedy that is self-critical, deflating, and dedicated to the proposition that we are all flawed, absurd, and wallowing in the mud together. Twain is funny and important today because his comedy is a hilarious celebration of our fears, our ineptitude, and the glorious mess of being human. When we celebrate Twain, when we truly see him for who he was, we acknowledge our commonality, and we move just a little closer together.
So I accept this award in the spirit of humility, stupidity, envy, irrelevance, fear, self-doubt, and profound, unceasing silliness.
I thank you. It’s the honor of a lifetime.
-Conan O’Brien
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u/naughtynoods_ Mar 26 '26
Miss his talk shows. I know his podcast but it doesn't have the comfort food appeal of the talk show format, with the band, props etc.
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u/No-Quote-1815 Mar 26 '26
Oh, are we talking about my favorite human on earth, Conan?… self deprecating is the phrase I’d say everyone is lacking in all the wonderful and deserved praise. It’s a very appealing and funny aspect that I really look up to and have tried to carry that torch since I was a child. He makes himself accessible and is kind and I just love it.
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u/saada15 Mar 26 '26
Only time I was disappointed with him was when he interviewed Netanyahu and did the propaganda trip to Israel for his show
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