Is Conan Leno'ing up his monologue?

[The Fake Shemp]

He's begun to insert Leno-esque "fake video bits" of recent events in his monologue within the past couple of weeks, coinciding with his ratings drop.

They're never funny and they're straight out of the Leno playbook ("Hilary Clinton tried to appeal to Indians in her latest visit, take a look! [cue video of Hilary at press conference with eight arms]").  And it looks like Conan doesn't even like them; he routinely mocks them and not in a friendly way.

I wonder if this is something NBC brass has forced on him.

[Enl]

Yeah I noticed that too. It seems the best bit of the monologues (which have been mostly awful, and he realizes it) is his improv inbetween them. Most of his bits since he's started the Tonight Show do feel really restraint and seems to lack something the Late Night ones had (Twitter Tracker has been played out too much and needs to die). He does seem to get increasingly agitated with them. The only times I appear to be laughing during the show have been during his off the cuff remarks, especially with Andy.

[The Fake Shemp]

I think, initially, the show really brought that Late Night edge.  The Twitter Tracker, Conando, the wax figures (Conan loves the running joke), etc.  A lot of the goofy stuff (such as mocking the Super Mario Bros. backdrop) has disappeared.

I think it came off as "too goofy" for 11:30 and now he really does feel like he is pulling his punches.

Plus, there are bits where he honestly looks like he can't believe he let that stuff on the air.

... the plus side is that Fallon is getting better.  Having Will Arnett reading "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" had me in stitches last night.

That's something Conan would do.

[BlueTsunami]

There's a couple of jokes that he obviously hated delivering. Seems like there's some execs tinkering in the background. Why let Leno go if all you wanted was another Leno?

On the plus side, most of the Andy segments have been hilarious.

[TakingBackSunday]

He's not in any way, anywhere NEAR the turrible material that Leno did.

"Heya folks, Monica Lewinski, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, KEVIN EUBANKS heh heh heh"

Conan's monologue has always been dumb, but funny because of his acknowledgement of such fact.  His little video pieces have been great since he started back up.  The Universal tour, the sound dubbing, the clothes shopping, Bonnaroo, etc have all been great.

[BlueTsunami]

The "Twitter Tracker" or whatever it was called had me dieing

[hulu]http://www.hulu.com/embed/WR0hLnMSUwAcnpJ8XWHuNA[/hulu]

"Bro's a no no for CoCo?"

[The Fake Shemp]

He's not in any way, anywhere NEAR the turrible material that Leno did.

"Heya folks, Monica Lewinski, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, KEVIN EUBANKS heh heh heh"

Uh, they tell the same jokes.  Just repackaged differently.  That's probably what you heard if you watched The Tonight Show... ten years ago.  Conan is a lot funnier than Leno, but this had my eyes rolling.

Conan's monologue has always been dumb, but funny because of his acknowledgement of such fact.

No, this is not true and total spin.  His monologues have always been goofy at best and his acknowledgment of the jokes that bomb have been great, but even Enl notes that the monologue has shifted.

His little video pieces have been great since he started back up.  The Universal tour, the sound dubbing, the clothes shopping, Bonnaroo, etc have all been great.

Pretty much everything you stated, save for the Universal tour bit (which is funny), are from last month.  Which is what we're talking about when I say he's pulling punches and what have you.

[AdmiralViscen]

Called it

[Christopher]

Thank You

I thought I was the only one who noticed that...it seemed like Conan was def not like his Late Night self, he just doesn't feel the same.  His monologs are way too long now for his style, and I don't feel the Andy/Conan combo like him and Max.

...where is Piere Benards recliner of rage?

His jokes and skits are really lame now is it really because he had to tone down his style?

[Eel O'Brian]

i'm sure he's getting a lot of pressure from the nbc muckity-mucks, but he'll eventually gain ground again, i think

letterman's too much of a bitter old man nowadays, and kimmel (although i do think he's funny at times) really just doesn't have the charm to keep a mass audience engaged

leno's going to fuck him for a while with the 10 pm lead, but that show won't last a full year before it goes to a once-a-week format or just disappears altogether

[Great Rumbler]

Some pretty good videos/skits on tonight's episode:

A drunken Dumbledore crashes a party
Conan and Andy do their own dub of Ghost in the Shell

There was a fake clip of Max Weinberg in Europe, getting beat up, but it was only about two seconds long. So no big deal.

[Dickie Dee]

He's not in any way, anywhere NEAR the turrible material that Leno did.

"Heya folks, Monica Lewinski, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, KEVIN EUBANKS heh heh heh"

Conan's monologue has always been dumb, but funny because of his acknowledgement of such fact.  His little video pieces have been great since he started back up.  The Universal tour, the sound dubbing, the clothes shopping, Bonnaroo, etc have all been great.

Probably my favorite GAF post of all time