conan o'brien

To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism- it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.

-Conan O’Brien - in his Tonight Show farewell

A few years back, I worked for a church that was… let’s just say… less than ideal. I’m not going to lie, anytime you get the shaft there’s a bit of hurt feelings and pain that always linger. And recently, with Conan O’Brien getting the shaft from NBC, those ol’ feelings are ruminating up to the surface again in me. I know a bit how Coco feels (minus the $45 million pay off).

Then, the other night, when Conan ran this bit on the Tonight Show, I enjoyed it (yes, it’s banned… so if it gets pulled from youtube… go here). Enjoy it in all it’s $1.5 million “stickin’ it to NBC” glory.

And if you try and play the religious card on me, check out Psalm 69 from David. We’ve got some room for this. It’s one of those, “Oh God, defend me… stick it to the man for me…” psalms. I’m not saying that I want God to go all “Sodom and Gomorrah” on NBC. I’m just saying that I take comfort in the Lord defending me, even when Christians give me the shaft. Sometimes when injustice happens, that’s all you can do… just give it up to the Lord, and let Him deal with it. We just have to keep walking on. But, it’s always fun to see a situation when someone’s stickin’ it to the man…

FYI: this has nothing to do with religion or youth ministry.

I started watching Conan in High School. And his show became a communal event for a group of us in college. I’ve kept up with Coco ever since. So needless to say, I love Conan and with his recent banishment from NBC, it feels a bit personal.

And the recently, I was asked to post this by a buddy:

This one’s from a few years back. I was in the audience of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Jay is predictable and I shouted out the answer to his joke before he said the punchline (and yes that was me – listen carefully). Jay wasn’t happy. Neither were security guards.

But in lieu of Coco’ejection from the Tonight show… here’s Jay from 12 years ago. He wasn’t funny then. He’s not funny now.

I’m still with team Coco.

I know there’s a lot of controversy going on in the media. I typically like to steer clear of any controversial topics on this blog. In fact, I don’t think we’ve ever been controversial or ticked anyone off. Ever.

But there comes a time where you have to take a stand. So here’s all I have to say:

I’m with Coco.