“I cant recall ever before seeing a documentary in the theater. Okay, technically, Jackass is classified as a doc, but that hardly counts. Hell, I’ve only ever even seen a handful of them. Not my thing. I like narrative, among other key elements that docs tend to be missing for me. But the buzz for Conan O’Brien Cant Stop was really good. The trailer I caught had me laughing from his charisma and clever one liners. I felt that’d be enough to keep me entertained. Ultimately, I feel I made a good choice in going. It was funny, and it left me thinking.
I’m a moderate fan of Coco. When it came to late night, I was always a Jay Leno fan. Conan used to be a bit much for me, and it was rare that I’d stay up that late anyways. Then the whole late night battle happened. Now, I refuse to watch Jay on principle. I know it’s not his fault, but it’s that timeslot on the network that I refuse to support. Im more a fan of the Jimmy’s (Kimmel and Fallon) although I rarely end of catching them either. I started following Conan on Twitter and his tweets brighten my day.
I missed his tour when it came to Boston. I think I saw tickets available, but at the time didnt have much interest. Watching the doc about the tour, I kinda wish I had seen it. There was a lot of footage from it, so it’s not necessarily that I missed out on the comedy. It just would have been amazing to be able to see both sides of it.
This was a very different portrait of Conan than we’re used to seeing. True, funny Conan took up about 80% of the film. But we also got angry Conan and vulnerable Conan and exhausted Conan. Just seeing so many different sides of him brought the respect level way up there. There were so many little things that were so interesting that also garnered that respect. I love how much footage there was of him taking time out for fans. Yes he may have complained a bit behind closed doors during his more exhausted periods, but still went out there and gave as much as he could.
The reason it got me thinking is that I attend a plethora of performance events: theatre, concerts, stand up. Being involved in musical theatre I know how some of that works behind the scenes, but I feel it was actually important for me to learn how this type of show comes together and what touring is like on the performer. I may not have seen Conan, but I’ve seen Eddie Izzard and Bob Saget and others. I was thinking about the differences in their shows and the work that goes into them. Conan had a big production with rehearsals and test shows vs Kevin Smith who doesnt really prepare and just takes and answers questions. Conan was also in a unique position in that he had built his name elsewhere and then attempted the tour and it was a massive undertaking. Really makes me appreciate the game a lot more.
Taking a half a point off because it started to drag by the end, but this really was very well worth the watch.
Conan O’Brien Cant Stop – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n