I don’t know about you, but I feel like we’re in an odd moment for comedy. Rarely do belly laughs come from movie theater trips in the streaming era, and one really has to scroll … and scroll some more for something funny to watch among all those various services. But this past weekend, I found myself in a four-hour hole of hilarity thanks to Conan O’Brien’s new Max travel show, Conan O’Brien Must Go, and I need more seasons of the new series stat!
When it comes to the current late night TV roster of hosts, I find we are sorely missing the absurdity of Conan O’Brien following him saying goodbye to his TBS show in 2021. Over the years, like so many, I’ve become a regular listener of his podcast Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, especially for all the improvised debauchery he and his co-hosts get into between the celebrity interviews. Conan O’Brien Must Go is kind of the perfect marriage between Conan being good ol' Conan and being a natural progression from where he’s at in his career right now. Let me talk more about why Max needs to pay for Conan to travel to more of the world and give us more seasons of the new show.
It’s A Treat To See Conan Outside Of His Talk Show Element
Conan has accomplished a lot in his career thus far! The 61-year-old was a late night host for nearly 30 years, and he’s in an exciting era right now with his successful podcast. While Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend is a welcome new energy for the host to get out of his suit and tie and get deeper with his guests, some of my favorite things about the host have always been the fun in-between segments he used to do outside of the typical talk show portions.
I always enjoyed when Conan would go out in the world with a guest or someone from his staff and do something random, like when he and Billy Eichner joined Grindr or when he visited the American Girl store. Conan O’Brien Must Go feels like it builds upon this strength of Conan’s, which we don’t get to see much anymore, except when he’s traveling around the world. While I think Conan is great at conducting good interviews, it’s nice to see him get out of that groove and do something completely different. It shows that a TV personality like him can adjust to the streaming era without operating under the constraints of it.
Conan O’Brien Must Go Lets The Master Improviser Run Wild
Whether Conan goes to a real Viking town to learn their ways in Norway, gets Tango lessons in Argentina, learns a song in Thai to guest on a TV show there, or goes looking for Bono nature documentary-style in Ireland, he always finds some fun and awkwardness to entertain the cameras. It made me realize the beauty of Conan is his unhinged personality and how others react to it. He’s a master improviser who knows how to make people chuckle, get uncomfortable or, honestly most of the time, get other people to make fun of him.
I watch travel shows from time to time, but going on a trip with Conan O’Brien is something else because it’s purely for the fun of it. You can go in empty-headed without learning anything about different countries. It’s truly just funny and it gives Conan the atmosphere to deliver some fun comedy just out of the random situations he finds himself in. There’s an authenticity to that kind of comedic style that I really enjoy. So much comedy these days feels like forced jokes and dialogue, so I appreciate the raw amusement the former late night host brings to the world (literally).
Involving Real Fans Is Actually Genius
Aside from Conan getting to run around the map with his winning personality, one dimension of the show I especially enjoyed was how it tied into his podcast. On Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, there’s a segment where the hosts speak to fans all over the world, and it’s always delightful. In Conan O’Brien Must Go, Conan took his need for budding friendship a step further by going across the country to visit some of the guests on his show and hang around with them in their daily lives. This particularly worked swimmingly in the Norway episode, where he ends up contributing to a rap track for a Norwegian duo and spends the day on a fish farming boat.
I also liked that he came to visit these podcast guests not necessarily to help them in a massive way, but to accompany them on a unique journey. Another fun one was when he guests on one fan’s Argentinian radio show. When the fan asked if he was giving him a makeover, he clarified that wasn’t on his list, but he did give some hilarious free advice on how to implement ads to the show. In addition, the moments where Conan was either just talking on the street with random locals or learning about the unique customs of a country were quite hilarious as well.
Four Episodes Was Simply Not Enough
While getting four episodes of Conan O’Brien Must Go was simply delightful, I would watch so many more episodes of Conan meeting fans around the world to go rock climbing with them or have them make murals of him with the Pope. I could even see Conan taking the series a step further by inviting some famous friends on his excursions as well. I would even watch Conan O’Brien Must Go in a stateside setting where the comedian simply meets people around the USA to be part of their lives for a day, or help them out with a small request.
Of course I’m not the only one who’s really been digging the series, as critics gave it good marks, too. You can check out all four episodes of Conan O’Brien Must Go with a Max subscription.
