The original post: /r/television by /u/Plenty_Firefighter40 on 2025-07-24 18:16:25.
Hot Take: I don’t think Conan O’Brien would’ve worked on the Tonight Show.
Do I think he deserved the job? Yes.
Do I think he got cheated by NBC and Jay Leno. Yes.
But…I think Jimmy Fallon was the better choice.
At the end of the day, America, i’m not talking about liberal coastal cities (which I am from) or people who think that their humor is too “sophisticated” (which I do).
I’m talking about middle-America, a huge chunk of the television watching public need a Jimmy Fallon-type. The kind of guy who just wants to have a fun time and laugh at everything. No politics, no avant-garde, no layered esoteric humor, no references you have to Google. Just a couple of “oh wow haha” and throw in a few claps for good measure.
As much as Conan loves to play the fool and not take his comedy too seriously, at the end of the day, he is a liberal, coastal, Harvard-educated comedian and he can’t hide those things (nor should he have to).
I love Conan and would love to have seen him have a go at it but ultimately, people simply need Jimmy Fallon for a simple laugh before they go to bed…I think.
Am I wrong?