In 2010, late night comedian, Conan O’Brien, got booted from NBC because the studio didn’t find the ratings satisfactory. Jay Leno once again took over the Tonight Show, leaving O’Brien unemployed. Majority of the media and public thought Conan got screwed by the network. The studio freaked about the ratings and wanted change right away. NBC should’ve given more time to Conan to connect with the viewers.
O’Brien and all of his team, including the band and sidekick, Andy Richter decided to do a 30 city comedy tour called, “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour.” The documentary covers the tour from start to finish. Some of the highlights includes Conan and the writers brainstorming to make the show entertaining, dealing with a busy schedule and interacting with the enthusiastic fans.
The film shows Conan as a person that really appreciates his fans. He can’t help it that he always welcomes his followers even though he might put his show on jeopardy. In one scene, Conan is advised to stay in the hotel until the crowd clears outside his hotel. Instead, he says he’s bored and mingles with the fans and starts signing as many autographs as possible while cracking jokes. Conan even admits that sometimes he doesn’t want to meet people because he’s too tired and he might lose his voice but when someone approaches him, he’s always smiling and posing for the camera.
Conan seems a bit obssesive sometimes, cracking jokes at every opportunity he gets. It looked like he does it to keep his comedy edge and for the most part, they are funny. I love his elitest alter ego where he’ll just start insulting his staff. They take it pretty well and just laugh at the jokes.
The show doesn’t bash NBC or Jay Leno and instead focuses on the adventure of the trip. Conan said he was angry with NBC’s decision but the tour made him more at peace, since he still continued to do what he loved doing.
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop is a good documentary that shines a new light on one of the funniest person today.
Grade: A-
Video
Since it’s a documentary and the camera follows the comedian all over the place, it’s not the clearest picture presented. There’s some expected grains in the night shot and low lighting. Overall, the video is clear and it’s well shot. The colors look natural and it’s presentable.
Grade: B
Audio
The track was a pretty good mix for a documentary. There’s a lot of scenes that skips back and forth between the tour where Conan is rocking out and backstage where it’s much more quieter and I didn’t have to adjust the volume on my receiver. Audio was clearly being supervised for this movie to level different scenes. There’s not much surround being use but the center channel is surprisingly clear and audible.
Grade: A-
Extras
The documentary is filled with great extras including
– Commentary by Conan O’Brien, director Rodman Flender, Andy Richter, Mike Sweeney and Sona Movsesian. You can tell they’re a really tight knit crew with this track. Most of the comments are really funny and it makes you appreciate how witty the comedians are.
– Deleted scenes. There’s close to 45 minutes worth of funny scenes. They’re irrelevant to the documentary that’s why it was cut but some of it is just pure craziness.
– Interview with Conan O’Brien. He talks about the tour. Kind of redundant but still not a bad feature.
– Interview outtakes. Some goofs during interviews.
Grade: A
Overall:
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop is a must own documentary. The story is emotional and it’s cool to see a comedian works under stress. The extras are great and the presentation is above average.
Overall Grade: A (Not an average)
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