When Conan O'Brien first hit the scene, I was thirteen, and I thought he was an idiot. How dare he replace Dave. Then one day, at 16, I decide to give him a chance. It's Thanksgiving-time, and the first thing I see is an ostrich pooping presents out onto the audience. Despite where you might think this is leading, I wasn't sold yet...
One way or the other, I ended up hooked. It was slow. Conan was an acquired taste befored he was required watching. Now, if you want to talk about late-night success leading to even bigger things - like The Tonight Show - you can't not mention Conan. You don't have to mention, however, how lame Jay Leno's show is, how Craig Kilborn was a miserable failure, how lame Craig Ferguson is (Dave really wants a Craig to follow in his stead, it seems) and how dull Dave can be. Conan, though, reigns supreme, whether he's making a good joke, a predictable joke, or laughing at how horrible something he's just put on national TV is. Though you can't shit gold forever, Conan, at least, has the crown at the moment.
Unless you're still into Clinton/Lewinsky jokes.
Now something recently came to my attention. Something I'd regrettably forgotten about those early years of Conan. Conan and his writers invented a term as "the ultimate swearword," a word so ahead of it's time that contemporary censors wouldn't know to bleep it. And so he (and Andy?) used the word on a regular basis for quite awhile, though as a citation in WikiPedia states, Conan seems to have forgotten that the etymology of the word "krunk," includes - perhaps is - Late Night With Conan O'Brien.
Sure, now, thanks to Lil' Jon, the word is everywhere, and people have tried to define it as "crazy-drunk," or some other arbitrary definition likely pulled out of thin air to sate parents that their kids aren't listening to dirty words.
I just wonder if anyone has asked Conan, mentioned it to him, said "Do you realize that on top of everything else you've done for the world of comedy, your own terminology - perhaps one of the greatest practical jokes ever (except, maybe, "Freestyle Walking") - has made it into the cultural fabric of today's youth?" He'd probably laugh or, as he did with Finland, take charge of the whole thing and make a spectacle of a mock-trial with hip-hop community. Someone really needs to tell him, and they need to do it on air.
Conan is my hero.
Crunk on Wikipedia
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