If Facebook is any indication, the youth of America stand in strong support of comedian Conan O’Brien in his continued battle with former “The Tonight Show” host Jay Leno and the suits at NBC. Not only are there almost 20,000 followers spread across the various “Team Coco” fan pages and Facebook groups, but also their members have hijacked Leno’s fan page and refuse to give it back until NBC leaves O’Brien alone.
The online poker community is a young one, so it is no wonder that when Poker News Daily inquired about their thoughts on the Leno-O’Brien debate, they all came out on the side of “Coco.” Justin “jurollo” Rollo and Jason “JP OSU” Potter both proclaimed themselves to be members of Team Conan, as did World Poker Tour (WPT) Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman. During last night’s broadcast of “The Tonight Show,” Leatherman Tweeted about the comedian on @mandaLeatherman: “Conan is f***king amazing.#teamconan.” Potter claimed his allegiance to O’Brien on Twitter (@JPOSU) as well and added, “doubt you’ll find many young people who disagree.”
Potter seems to be on to something. Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar took a break from playing in the Main Event of the European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in Deauville to discuss his distaste for Leno with Poker News Daily. “Jay Leno sucks,” claimed Aguiar. “He’s out of material and his only followers are old and dying. NBC is being results-oriented and doesn’t realize that the long-term success of ‘The Tonight Show’ is based on attracting loyal young viewers who will watch Conan for the next decade, not people who will be dead in a decade and somehow still find Jay funny.”
Aguiar makes a point that a number of people have cited when discussing NBC’s decision to buy O’Brien out of his contract for a reported $45 million. O’Brien has always drawn a much younger audience than Leno, thanks, in part, to sketches and characters like In the Year 2000, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, and the Masturbating Bear, who made an appearance on last night’s show.
Also making an appearance on Wednesday’s installment of the program was a Bugatti Veyron, supposedly the most expensive car in the world. The vehicle was dressed up as a mouse and as the cameras panned over it, the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” played. O’Brien strolled over to the vehicle and said, “Is this appropriate music for a car that looks like a mouse? No! Does it add anything at all to this comedy bit? No, it doesn’t! Is it crazy expensive to play on the air – not to mention the rights to re-air this clip on the internet? Yep.”
Despite stunts like these, none of the poker players we chatted with seemed to think that O’Brien was doing anything wrong. Poker reporter B.J. Nemeth shed some light on why he thinks Leno is coming out looking like the villain in this situation. “[Leno] went back on his word,” Nemeth said, referring to Leno’s presumed retirement when O’Brien took over “The Tonight Show” helm in the summer of 2009. “Obviously, going back on your word in Hollywood is not the same as going back on your word in poker, but it still has an impact.”
Nemeth asserts that he has been a loyal member of Team Conan since 1993 and said he had hoped Leno’s longtime competitor, David Letterman, would take over for Johnny Carson when the television legend retired. Even though Nemeth is no Leno fan, he felt a little sorry for the talk show host when fellow comedian Jimmy Kimmel appeared on Leno’s program and openly mocked the host during a “10 @ 10” segment last Tuesday. “I enjoyed watching, but it was painful to see Leno crucified on his own show,” Nemeth admitted.
That is the most sympathy anyone Poker News Daily spoke with offered. The 20-somethings that make up the bulk of the online poker world essentially grew up with O’Brien on their televisions and are remaining loyal to their comedic hero. Brent “BHanks11” Hanks is one such example, telling Poker News Daily, “Put the babyboomer to the curb, bring back the ginger!”
