Conan O’Brien is best known for being tall, having goofy red hair, and having a hilarious late night talk show. The only thing is, he stopped having a late night talk show for a while. There was a big tiff between Jay Leno wanting Conan’s airtime so Conan’s hair didn’t overshadow Jay Leno’s chin. Conan doesn’t take any disrespect like that and refused to give up his time. The network then decided the best way to deal with this dispute was to fire the red headed comedian. Was his hair color a factor in the decision? Yes. Conan took a hiatus from the late night talk show scene, but it didn’t last. He was quickly picked up by TBS and now Conan has a new show aptly named Conan, and this show is ridiculously popular. There were around six million viewers for one episode alone. Why does Conan’s hair have so much more appeal than Leno’s chin? Let’s take a look at the facts:
Conan is the Underdog
During the whole Conan O’Brien vs. Jay Leno fiasco, Jay Leno came off looking like the big bad bully and NBC came off looking even worse. They were the kids on the playground who tried to take little Conan’s Pokemon cards, and when Conan said no they pushed him over and took those cards anyway. Conan just wanted to keep what was his and tried to make a stand against the studio and Jay Leno, effectively becoming the underdog in the public’s eye. Everyone loves an underdog, and thus came about the birth of Team Coco, a group of fans passionately dedicated to supporting Conan O’Brien and everything he does.
Conan Connected with Fans
Conan embraced Team Coco, and during his time away from television he did a lot to connect with his fans. He did skits for the internet where he would directly answer questions from fans, and even do their homework for them. That is a dedicated man right there. Conan is also very careful to cultivate an everyman type of image, never flaunting his wealth even though he could afford a fleet of cars to rival Jay Leno’s. He works hard to make himself seem accessible to the Average Joe’s of the country, and that is where a lot of his success comes from. His fans can relate to him and his comedy.
Conan is Actually Funny
Do you know what Conan did when NBC announced they were letting him go? He created a character for a skit called the Bugatti Veyron Mouse. The Bugatti Veyron Mouse was actually a Bugatti Veyron, a $1.5 million car, with little mouse ears put on it. Conan admitted the only purpose of the skit was to spend his boss’s money. That is hilarious. His normal skits are pretty entertaining as well, and he has created such gems as the masturbating bear, hornymanatee.com, and Quackers, the shit eating duck. Conan O’Brien knows how to make us laugh, and as long as he keeps doing that we will continue to boost the ratings for his show.
Conan Captured the Young Audience
Conan O’Brien’s jokes are mostly aimed towards a younger audience. By that I mean people under 50. Therefore he is aimed towards the majority of people who are going to be up late watching television, rather than the old folks Jay Leno panders to. Conan is energetic with his skits and uses some off color humor that makes stoned college kids spit out their easy mac with laughter. Obviously a running joke about a masturbating bear is going to appear to a more juvenile audience, but being juvenile is fun. As many are starting to realize, the younger generation has quite a bit of power when it comes to ratings, so Conan has picked a very good group to aim his comedy at.
