Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - A New Documentary

FilmCritic3000 · Mar 14, 2011

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As a huge Conan O'Brien fan, I can't wait to see this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/m...-stop-documentary-by-rodman-flender.html?_r=1

Conan in the Wilderness

By DAVE ITZKOFF

WHEN darkness falls on Building 34 here at the Warner Brothers lot, the home of the TBS late-night show Conan, a repose sets in as the fake palm trees and oversize Angry Birds props are put away for the night, and the shows namesake host unwinds in his dimly lighted office, decorated with career memorabilia, vintage guitars and a bust of Teddy Roosevelt.

But when a dark mood hits Conan OBrien, he says he ceases to be the talkative, excitable joke teller seen on television and becomes a cutting, sarcastic person his co-workers call Mean Conan.

Im really hard on myself, Mr. OBrien said, describing this persona in an interview on Wednesday. I tease people constantly. I physically fight my writers, and they fight me back.

Mr. OBrien said his staff members regarded Mean Conan as the funniest Conan, which is weird. But he added, Might as well let people know he exists.

There is enough Mean Conan not to mention Cranky Conan, Exhausted Conan and Vulnerable Conan to go around in Conan OBrien Cant Stop, a documentary directed by Rodman Flender that will make its debut Sunday at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Tex.

If the months depicted in the documentary, when Mr. OBrien, now 47, wrapped up a short and star-crossed run at The Tonight Show and began a 32-city concert tour, seem overly familiar, its subject said they reveal a rarely seen side of him: Conan in extremis, he said, adding that during this time he lost 15 pounds and countless hours of sleep, and concluded that his need to perform in front of people might be a kind of addiction. He regards the film as an accurate portrait and a necessary exorcism, he said, though perhaps one he now feels uneasy about sharing with an audience.

I certainly wont go through anything like this again, he said, because if I do, Ill kill myself next time around. I thought, this is going to come but once, lets record it, and whats the worst that happens?

With a chuckle he added: Well, it turns out the worst that can happen is that it can be seen by people.

The period of Mr. OBriens life framed by the film is not exactly underexposed. In January 2010 he very publicly declared (in an open letter addressed to People of Earth) that he would not go along with a plan by NBC to push his Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m. and insert Jay Leno at 11:35 p.m. He hosted his final NBC broadcast later that month.

Though his severance agreement with NBC (he was reported to have received $32 million) barred him from the airwaves until the fall, Mr. OBrien announced that he would give a series of live performances, April through June, called the Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour.

The tour appeared to be good therapy for Mr. OBrien, who got to live his rock-star dreams by ripping television executives and performing his parody of On the Road Again for paying crowds.

But at the outset of the documentary Mr. OBrien admits that he is very angry about the way that I was treated by NBC, adding that he is the least entitled person youll meet in the world.

The 90 minutes or so that follow seem dedicated to tearing down Mr. OBriens assessment of himself, as he is relentlessly pummeled by the expectations of his fans and the rigors of the road. He is seen snapping at his wife, Liza; his assistant, Sona Movsesian; and the 30 Rock actor Jack McBrayer, whose smiling Southern countenance collapses when Mr. OBrien serenades him with a piano tune called You Stupid Hick.

By the time Mr. OBrien reaches the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tenn., in June, the temperature and his temper are at full boil. Frustrated by the demands of the festivals organizers and told that his ordeal will be over soon, Mr. OBrien replies, I know people keep saying that, but thats what they said to Anne Frank. (When someone off -camera reacts to the comparison with shock, Mr. OBrien adds, We both took a stand.)

Mr. Flender, the director, who has known Mr. OBrien since the two were undergraduates at Harvard in the 1980s, said in a telephone interview that he did not set out to create a puff piece or commit character assassination but simply wanted to depict Mr. OBrien as he is.

At the start of filming, Mr. Flender said, he told Mr. OBrien: I dont want this to be U2 Rattle and Hum. I dont want to deify you. I want this to be honest. He added that while Mr. OBrien had final approval over the film, he didnt censor me in any way.

Mr. Flender pointed to scenes like the one depicting Mr. OBriens interactions with Mr. McBrayer (who is also seen dancing awkwardly as Mr. OBrien strums Dueling Banjos on a guitar) as evidence that Mr. OBrien ultimately enjoyed the tour.

I think everyone around him is in on the joke, Mr. Flender said.

Mr. OBrien said his remarks about Anne Frank were not intended to make light of her experience, and that in sequences like the one at Bonnaroo, thats real fear youre seeing.

He added: Its the flip side of performing. When I finally get out there, the cerebral side of me and the worrying side of me, and the Catholic side of me just turns off, and I just go.

Mr. OBrien rejected the idea that he was still wallowing in his post-Tonight Show melancholy. Im ready to move on and never revisit that time again, he said, arguing that the happy ending implicit in the film is that he is now back on late-night television.

He also realized that not everyone would accept this rationale.

The last year has taught me that at this point in my career its not about trying to get more people into the tent, he said. Its about trying to deepen the connection I have with my fans.

Though the documentary does not yet have a distributor, Mr. OBrien has made peace with the fact that it will most likely be shown in theaters or on home video, and reluctantly plans to attend its South by Southwest premiere.

After that Mr. OBrien said he would give a copy of the movie to the therapist he has been seeing for the past 15 years: I said, Im sending this to you because its everything weve ever talked about.
Click to expand...

MegaHertz67 · Mar 14, 2011

I'd watch it. I have found Conan's story so fascinating because it is all that is right with TV and all that is wrong with TV wrapped in one package.

I say it is all that is right with TV because TV is a business about ratings and commercials and selling products and making money. One could say that however sloppily they got to their decision, NBC made what they felt was the correct business decision in the end. They feared losing Leno to a competitor would be more damaging then paying Conan $32 million to go away.

It was everything that is wrong with TV for just about everything else. From the public promise to give Conan the Tonight Show back in 2005 all the way to yanking it away from him after such a short time. It is amazing that NBC could make so many bad decisions about 1 show and how it would effect so much of their operation.

The icing on the cake is hopefully Conan is somewhat happy and at peace with where he is now. Comedians don't usually get to be happy for long because of how they are wired and driven, but it's fun to have Conan on the air doing goofy stuff again.

BK89 · Mar 14, 2011

Cool, first I have heard about this. Sounds interesting, cant wait to check it out.

ElJay · Mar 14, 2011

I remember seeing signs up at his Boston show warning people that they were filming something.

Jesda · Mar 15, 2011

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I'm a fan too, but I don't understand why this story gets so much attention. People act like a child was beaten.

FilmCritic3000 · Mar 15, 2011

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop now has a distributor.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/03/sxsw-conan-obrien-documentary-makes-distribution-deal/

marksman · Mar 16, 2011

I have heard good things from people who saw it at SXSW

appleye1 · Mar 16, 2011

FilmCritic3000 said: ↑

As a huge Conan O'Brien fan, I can't wait to see this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/m...-stop-documentary-by-rodman-flender.html?_r=1
Click to expand...

Did you quote the entire article? I don't think you're supposed to do that.

scooterboy · Mar 16, 2011

FilmCritic3000 said: ↑

As a huge Conan O'Brien fan, I can't wait to see this.
Click to expand...

You should try to exercise more. Just sayin'...

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Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - A New Documentary

FilmCritic3000 Well-Known Member

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marksman ID-10-T

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