Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop

Firstly I’ve got a confession to make, although I’ve been a casual fan of Conan O’Brien over the years and strongly supported him when he was clearly wronged by NBC, the television network he’d devoted 17 years of his life to, I’ve never felt the same affection towards him that clearly exists in droves within the US.

That’s probably easily understandable considering the time of his show’s and the fact that I don’t make a habit of monitoring the ever-increasing number of American chat shows that have sprung up over the last decade.

One thing that is perfectly apparent from even the first 30 minutes of ‘Conan O’Brien can’t stop ‘ is that entertaining people, may it be through the medium of dance, song, stand up or just mad rambling, is everything to Conan. The exhausting relentlessness with which O’Brien carries out every aspect of his work conveys perfectly why he is so adored by his army of fans.

The ‘Legally prohibited from being on television’ tour took place in the months following his departure from NBC, after the debacle surrounding taking the ‘Tonight Show’ away from Jay Leno only, to prioritise his earlier show ahead of Conan’s rightfully earned place as new host of ‘The Tonight Show’. By moving the infamous show to a 12:05 slot, ‘The Tonight Show’ became “ The tomorrow show” as O’Brien once quipped.

O’Brien was legally prohibited from appearing on T.V. until September 20th 2010 and so embarked upon this hastily arranged tour purely to pass the time and channel the unbridled creative energy (combined with newly generated anger) he possesses by the barrelful.
The documentary follows him prior to and during the 31-city tour and provides great insight and perspective into the mindset of one U.S. tv’s most beloved personalities.

There are both highs and lows as on any ‘road trip film’ of sorts and at times the film is exhausting purely watching the staggering amount of travelling and commitments O’Brien refuses to shy away from. The film also documents the great network of support that surrounds and enables him to channel his creativity so effectively to so many people.
However, its O’Brien that is the star and this candid view into his work ethic, passion and creativity demonstrates perfectly how he deserves to be doing what he does best, entertaining people in anyway he possibly can.