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Conan in unique position

// January 14th, 2010 // General musings

Much has been documented about the current riff in late night television between Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno and NBC. I’m not going to go into everything that has happened (honestly, if you don’t know, Google it).

Now, first and foremost, I’m a huge Conan fan (as you can tell by the corresponding image). I grew up watching Late Night with Conan O’Brien at 12:35 a.m. I’ve seen the horny manatee, the masturbating bear, foam rubber Conan/Andy, etc. All of the bits were great, and if they happened to falter, Conan always made light of it. He understood he wasn’t good all the time.

On top of his show, I’ve been a huge fan of The Simpsons for as long as I can remember. The episodes Conan wrote are easily in the 10-15 episodes of all time. Personally, I’d put ‘Homer Goes to College’ in my top 5.

Quite frankly, Conan is a genius. He’s a smart, well educated man that loves comedy. He’s put so much effort into his writings, whether it was at Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons and now his two late night shows. His brand of humor appeals mostly to my generation, a younger crowd, which is evident by the ratings. Hell, Conan himself acknowledged this in one of his first Tonight Show bits by holding a secret focus group with an elderly crowd.

That being said, I believe Conan truly has a unique opportunity right now. Although I’m not sure he’ll look to go this route.

I love Conan more than any late night personality, but I don’t watch him on TV. For starters, I don’t have a cable subscription — it’s just an added expense that I don’t need right now. When I do get to watch or interact with Conan, I see clips on his Web site or Hulu, I download an episode or I join the conversation on Twitter or his official Facebook fan page. To me, and most other people of my generation, it’s better that way. Actually being able to interact with Conan, rather than simply sitting on a couch and watching the show (nothing more), is a far better experience.

With his future in doubt, many are contemplating what Conan can do. Move to Fox? Please no. Move to Comedy Central to join with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert? Interesting, but I wouldn’t do it if Conan.

What I would do is embrace an entire new medium. Either work some exclusive deal with an online content distributor or create your own presence. Howard Stern discussed this even more on his morning show today (he’s talked about before as well). Doing your own online content would allow Conan complete control of the creative process. Complete control of how the content is distributed. Complete control of how everything is marketed/designed. Basically, complete control of EVERYTHING — no longer being handcuffed by a struggling company (NBC) and industry.

The emergence of online content and social media, which Conan has embraced on his show, could make something like this a huge hit.

His show could stream live online — in a perfect world have its own channel on Roku players, be accessible through Windows Media Center, iTunes, Boxee, Hulu and anywhere else you can imagine. If you can’t see the show, or are on the go? Download a podcast of it. Add it to your iPod or phone. Take Conan with you in the car and listen to him. If you’re by the computer for the show, interact on Twitter/Facebook. Be a part of the show.

Conan has the audience to pull this off. Not many people do. Some entertainers do this on a smaller scale, but people like Conan or Stern could be the first to make this happen on a mass market.

I honestly think it’s something he should look into if he’s let go of his duties at NBC and left with a big payday. Drop the networks, Conan. Forget about the Tonight Show. Be revolutionary. I’m with Coco!

Related posts:

1. Revision3 open letter to Conan