Conan O'Brien is dead; Long live Jimmy Kimmel.

[Horty Pie]

I've tried to be patient and kind, but I've had enough. Conan O'Brien has become a homogenized, safe, nonthreatening shill for the mainstream corporate media. Where Conan used to have the most interesting, tiny, up-and-coming bands, he now has only the worst of mainstream corporate music like Michelle Branch and the Blue Man Group (if he has music at all). Where Conan once had the quirkiest, most interesting fourth-rate celebrities and personalities, he now often has bigger name guests than the preceeding Tonight Show's lineup. Where Conan once indulged in short sketches so truly brilliant that made "Mr. Show" look like "Mad TV," his increasingly scarce bits are safe, lazy, by-the-numbers absurdism.

Finally fed up with Conan's blandess and reliance on re-runs, I flipped over to "Jimmy Kimmel Live." Why not?, I thought - it can't be as bad as smug, charmless Craig Kilborn.

What a shock I recieved! For the elder g-ds reached and tore back the dark curtain of soul-shattering boredom, revealing "Jimmy Kimmel Live." Here were the quirky guests Conan has since become too good for - here was the band on a smaller-than-indie label. Here was the amazing, wonderful absurdist segment!

Thus it has been declared.

[william]

bullshit. go back to complaining about VBM or something.

actually, I haven't watched the show in a month or so, but I don't think the changes you mentioned really have an impact on my enjoyment of the show in the last half-year. he's just a consistently funny guy. of course, I'd love it if he had better musical guests, but I don't usually watch the whole show anyway.

[wasp]

No.

Conan still pretty much gets the same kinds of guests he used to. He's still doing some crazy skits. He's still a hell of a lot funnier and more personable than Jimmy Kimmel.

I really have no idea what the fuck you are talking about.

[Walker]

Conan OBrien is my brother. Viva la Conan

[The Dork Knight]

I am also among the ranks that fail to see the connection between your post and reality.

[f*v]

It's not really mindblowing for me to imagine someone, anyone being funnier than Conan, especially the last year or so. However, The Man Show (you know, the chubby version of Maxim magazine) ruined Jimmy Kimmel for me. I've seen him on a couple other programs being interviewed or doing a sketch or whatever and found him to be quite all right, but it's hard for me to get past his abominable former show.

The best talk show host ever was Zach Galiufuckyouknockers. I used to watch his VH1 latenight program pretty religiously.

[El Nuevo Howman]

Conan Obrien is way funny. I love the majority of his skits, but as for being funnier than Jimmy Kimmel...i don't think so. The funniest part of Kimmels show is when his cousin, or uncle is on and does his crazy shit like at the italian restaurant or the ice cream place. Or when he gave his uncle (the old security guard) took the lie detector test.

[Nikabrik]

Actually, I think Carson has the best bands and guests... unfotunately. Shins, Tarantino, etc? Good stuff. I just hate having to sit through Daly to get to the music.

[The Dork Knight]

At first I thought you were joking and you meant Johnny Carson.

Yeah, I don't like that Carson Daly guy. He's bad news.

[wasp]

Actually, I think Carson has the best bands and guests... unfotunately. Shins, Tarantino, etc? Good stuff. I just hate having to sit through Daly to get to the music.

See, Conan had The Shins. And The Walkmen. And Lambchop. He had Tarantino, too. All this year.

[El Nuevo Howman]

Actually, I think Carson has the best bands and guests... unfotunately. Shins, Tarantino, etc? Good stuff. I just hate having to sit through Daly to get to the music.
Carson Daly gets good music guests cuz he workd for MTV. Jimmy Fallon said it best when he said "Hi, Im Carson Daly, and im a massive tool"

[YourAmericnHero]

I don't know about you, but the "army head pencil holder" sketch on "Conan" tonight had me in stitches.

[Mr. Falcon]

See, Conan had The Shins. And The Walkmen. And Lambchop. He had Tarantino, too. All this year.

Lambchop was on TV and no one told me? I feel sick. What did they play?

[jesse.n]

i don't know. kimmel is way too hit and miss for me.
i've seen some gut-busting stuff on his show, but
for the most part it's pretty bland. i thought the
show was much funnier when they had the open
bar....

as for conan, he's just as off the wall as ever.
the bigger guests are merely a direct result of his
sucess. as for the musical acts, all shows tend
to balance larger groups with smaller ones. it
comes down to the nature of the promotion for
the band. a good promoter should be able to get
any band on any show if the act is good enough.

conan's doing the show from quebec this week.
and yes... i know why... but it's still hilarious
material...
(jesse)

[Nikabrik]

I didn't know the Shins were on Conan... I definitely would have watched.

[walkergo90]

C'mon, dukes. Yr killing me softly.

In the last year, Conan has had the Walkmen, Sleepy Jackson, the Shins, and other respectable artists on his show. Surrious.

Please tell you pulled Michelle Branch's name out of yr ass on that one - I didn't even know she was promoting anything. I haven't read her name in God knows how long.

Kimmel is the unfunniest sack of sweat I have ever seen. I'm saying this, put his ass against Chevy Chase's show, and Checy would've broken his foot off in Kimmel's ass. And we all know how tore up Chevy's shit was. I'm talking Kimmel is less funnier than Horatio Sanz up in here.

What?

walker

[Nyquil Lady]

I agree with much of what has been said above. Would I really want to sit through Carson Daly just to see a good band perform one song? No, I am more likely to sit through any more 'mainstream' celebrity because Conan O'Brien is one of the most likable guys in showbusiness. Even Conan's so-called funny skits were lame at best, reminsicent of Letterman's absurdist humor and never really funny in themselves; Conan just made them funny. He has the ability to laugh at himself and is a very warm, clever, and witty person. I even like his intereviews with people I don't like more than Carson's/Jimmy's interviews with people I *do* love, just because I happen to like Conan so much.

Jimmy Kimmel has always stuck me as sort of a jerk (maybe because of the aforementioned Man Show) and for that reason I will probably never like him as much. Conan is genuinely kind to every guest he has on his show and never appears to be ridiculing them like some other smarmy talk-show hosts. He makes the show, and if he's able to get better guests because of his increased popularity, nobody should hold it against him.