Attention, everyone: you can stop feeling sorry for Conan O'Brien, because he's stopped feeling sorry for himself. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, O'Brien revealed he's finally made his transformation into a mature role model and surprisingly tall butterfly.
Though the loss of The Tonight Show temporarily left O'Brien an angry, resentful wearer of neck beards, he's not interested in talking smack about Jay Leno. He wouldn't take the bait during his appearance on Letterman and he's not going to now.
The odds are we will both leave this Earth without speaking to each other, which is fine… there's really nothing to say. We both know the deal. He knows; I know. I'd rather just forget.
After the 2010 Tonight Show controversy, things were looking a little bleak for O'Brien, but he's since emerged stronger than ever, with a show that TBS gives him free reign over, a base of loyal fans (Team Coco), his own production company (Conaco, which owns the rights to his new show), and a really admirable positive outlook.
"At a certain point, you're doing yourself and the people you love and work with a disservice if you carry it around," O'Brien noted. He adds, "If you're in this business and haven't experienced profound pain at some point, you're not doing it right. I strongly believe that."
Wise words, man. It's good to see O'Brien's not harboring any lingering negativity — the success of Conan O'Brien Can't Stop and the new show must have given him some closure, and in an industry so characterized by longstanding grudges and backbiting, it's nice to see a bit of levelheadedness from one of our favorite personalities. Even if there's a bit of cognitive dissonance caused by such maturity from someone whose show featured a recurring bit called the Masturbating Bear.
