Conan O'Brien vs. Cleveland
Conan O'Brien's monologue Tuesday night began with a joke that went something like this: (Paraphrasing):
The Yankees have been eliminated from the playoffs by the Cleveland Indians. The Yankees were upset because their season is over. The Indians are upset because they have to go back to Cleveland.
Here's the thing. I could care less if Conan O'Brien chooses to joke about my hometown. David Letterman used to do it all the time. And I can appreciate a good Cleveland joke.
Sadly, this was not a good Cleveland joke. I have heard it about 100 times, the first time in 1990, when the Browns played the Broncos on Monday Night Football. They had a cut-in of the cast of Coach watching the game. Hayden commented to his buddies that the games were always close, but the Broncos always seemed to pull it out. Luther Van Damm (his assistant) responded that no matter what the outcome was, the Browns always lose because they have to go back to Cleveland.
It was barely funny then. Still, I encourage Conan to keep trying. It's not like our city hasn't given him a lot to go on. Our rivers and our Mayor's hair have caught on fire. We can't win in sports. Our top athlete wears a Yankees hat at an Indians playoff game.
Come on Conan, you can do better. Really go for it. Stop stealing Luther Van Damm's material.
Besides, Cleveland fans should take heart. In the game where Van Damm made the joke, the Browns rallied to win. And who are the Indians playing in the ALCS? The Red Sox. O'Brien's favorite team.
Maybe it's a good sign.
posted by Zach @ 8:17 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
The jokes, as you say, are not funny, but will be even more frequent with the school shooting.
(PS: It's COULDN'T care less.)
Conan O'Brien's taken other swipes at Cleveland in his monologues. I think his writers are just lazy and can't come up with any original material that they didn't rip off of a Carson monologue circa 1978.
Or maybe O'Brien just isn't that good of a comedian. I don't really remember finding any of his material particularly side-splitting. Most of it is as lame as anything that currently airs on SNL.
I think it's a mixture of both. There is a reason why O'Brien is stuck in the Class AAA of late-night time slots behind Leno and Letterman. Personally, I'm doing something productive by the time O'Brien is on TV: I'm sleeping.
Joel,
I actually used to agree with you on the could care less/couldn't care less thing.
After years of thought, I have decided either works.
If you say you couldn't care less, you're saying you couldn't possibly be more ambivalent than you are at this moment.
However, if you say "could care less" you're saying you don't care, and could, on a whim, say you could be less interested.
As I said, either works.
But doesn't "I could be less interested" sort of nullify the impact of what you're trying to say in regards to Conan's words?
In other words, you're not as ambivalent, or pissed off, as you could be, so Conan's words must not be that impactful.
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