For a number of different reasons, last night’s episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien was must see T.V. For one, it marked Conan’s final night as the Late Night host; come June 1, 2009 he will replace Jay Leno – kind of – on The Tonight Show. But once past the sentimental side, the surprises, both expected and unexpected, that were sure to fill the final episode, made skipping a night out a no-brainer.
Was worth it? Well, if you fancy greatest hit clips of Triumph The Insult Comic Dog and appearances from Andy Richter and Will Farrell, then hell yeah it was. Notice, I didn’t include the musical guest in that grouping…
Yes, ironically, perhaps the most anticipated of the “known” surprises, the reunion of Jack and Meg White to serve as the final musical guest, proved to be, well, the most underwhelming. Sure, any performance from The White Stripes is better than 98.9% of the stuff currently out there and you got to give them props for the song selection – albeit more than appropriate, how many of us were expecting to hear “We’re Going To Be Friends”? But once the actual performance got going, let’s just say Stereogum put it kindly when describing it as “under-rehearsed.” I’ll call it a train wreck.
The Raconteurs would probably have been a better pick here…
