Too late?

When I was 16 I wanted a job. Not because of some innate ethic or boredom. I wanted money and like most Americans who don't live in coal mining towns real jobs are hard to come by when you're 12.

I got a job at American TV & Appliance in the warehouse. I was really excited about this job for a few reasons. Importantly it wasn't fast food or food service at all, something I wanted to avoid and to this day have never done. It also afforded a great opportunity as the reason I wanted a job in the first place would now be cheaper with an employee discount.

I wanted a TV for my room. More specifically I wanted a TV and VCR for my room. My parents would not buy one for me so I would have to obtain it on my own. Prior to turning 16 that would have meant saving up an entire summer's worth of lawnmowing money, which admittedly was a bit too much to ask at the time. This job meant affording these things after only about a month of work.

I bought these things right away, I believe with my second paycheck I received from American. I of course set them up immediately and got excited that night. The other nice thing was that American closed at 9pm so I would usually get home around 10. This was important.

The reason I wanted a TV in my room, not the only reason but the reason, was because I wanted to watch Conan while I went to sleep. I would often fall asleep with the show on and because I didn't want to miss it at all I recorded it every night with my VCR. I would watch what I missed the next morning while getting ready for school.

My senior year of high school I had current events. Our professor was pretty laid back and let the class pretty much be a free for all of ideas and conversation. My main contribution to this class was to bring in any political discussion/skit/anything from Conan and play it for the class. It wasn't something I did every day or even every week, but often enough that anyone who took that class with me probably remembers me for that specifically.

Years later I'm 25 and living in Chicago when Conan announces he is doing a week of shows at the Chicago Theater. I get excited until it's announced that the tickets will be free in a random drawing of entrants. I honestly had planned to buy tickets for every night. I entered my email and told everyone I knew to do the same. In the end I got one pair of tickets. Marty and I got to sit and watch in amazement as a man drove off Marina Towers, Dave Chappelle had a funny interview, Conan played the blues, Norm couldn't make a basket, and Common performed to close it out. It was a blast that I'll never forget.

Now I'm 28 and Conan gets his chance on The Tonight Show. I hadn't watched an actual episode of The Tonight Show since Johnny left. This was exciting for me. I DVR'd the first week of shows and watched them. Conan, true to his word, kept his unique style of humor in the move West.

Admittedly over the years his style had been honed a bit into something probably more suited to the palette of a wider audience. His early shows/years were filled with nonsensical humor and pacing that were so oddball it was wondered if he could find an audience soon enough to not be cancelled. His last years at Late Night were filled more regularly with poking fun at celebrities, but it still often had a bizarre slant or offbeat timing. Also there were still gems that would not be found on any other show, for example Conan visiting the baseball recreation society, a clip Conan himself has identified as probably the best thing he has ever done.

I have not been religiously following the Tonight Show. I probably caught a handful of episodes over the last seven months. I've probably caught part of the show once a month or so. My life has changed at this point where I really won't be around often or am busy even late at night. I don't DVR the show regularly because I would not be able to keep up and old episodes would sit unwatched until my memory was filled. All that being said I still think Conan is the finest talk show host on television.

This whole Leno/Conan business at NBC is troubling in part because the message seems to be that the network believes in Leno more greatly than they believe in Conan. They know their market and numbers so they would know best but honestly I can tell you that if someone asked me right now that I could either pay to watch Conan or watch Leno for free I would choose Conan every time.

Conan will be fine, at NBC or somewhere else. I know this and so does everyone else. As I sit and write about this I just miss the nights when I would drift asleep hoping for an appearance by Pimpbot 5000, when it seemed like the show was made just for me and that's all that mattered.