Can ‘Conan’ return to the Emmy lineup one last time?
June 24, 2021, marked the end of an era as Conan O’Brien signed off for the final time with the series finale of “Conan.” With his exit stage left from late night after 28 years — he was the longest-serving late-night host until bidding adieu — could he get a farewell nomination from Emmy voters?
Since the finale, “Conan” has risen to sixth place in the Best Variety Talk Series odds, just one spot out of the field of five, having climbed over “Desus & Mero” and nine-time nominee “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The latter was nominated last year alongside four of the current top five: frontrunner and five-time reigning champ “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,” “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.” The fifth predicted nominee, “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” which is in fourth place ahead of “Full Frontal,” has never been nominated for series.
But you know what iteration of “Late Night” has though? O’Brien’s. From 2003-07, “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” collected five nominations for Best Variety Series — it was split into Best Variety Talk Series and Best Variety Sketch Series in 2015 — losing every time to “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” (“Late Night” did win writing in 2007). In fact, all three of O’Brien’s late-night shows have earned series bids, which no one else can claim, mostly because people don’t usually do more than two shows or haven’t yet outside of Coco (see: David Letterman, Stephen Colbert).
SEE Conan O’Brien says farewell to late night in his final talk show episode
But as we all know, O’Brien’s late-night tenure was unique and briefly fraught, though at the time it felt interminable. After just seven months, “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” ended in January 2010 when O’Brien opted to step away instead of agreeing to push back his show to make room for his predecessor Jay Leno‘s talk show. To many people’s surprise, O’Brien chose to go to TBS, launching “Conan” in November 2010 following an agreement in his NBC exit deal that prevented him from appearing on television for seven months.
Six months after he left NBC, “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” was nominated for Best Variety Series in 2010 — #neverforget O’Brien’s tweet — and then in 2011, “Conan” was nominated for its first season, but it hasn’t been nominated in the category since. Were these sympathy votes? There definitely were some because how could there not be? But O’Brien is also an established name, a past Emmy nominee and winner, and remains a highly respected force in comedy — all things that could help him out this year. As “Conan” wound down, just days before nomination voting ended on June 28, tributes poured in from all corners — his fellow late-night hosts, celebrities and comedians — praising his impact, kindness and genius, and perhaps also serving as a reminder that this is someone we’ve all been taking for granted the past decade because he was on a lower-profile network.
O’Brien’s sign-off was also pitch-perfect, just like his “Tonight Show” one. The tenor was different, of course, since he’s leaving this time on his own volition — he’s set to launch a variety show on HBO Max — but it was emotional, funny and full of pearls of wisdom just the same.
The real challenge for “Conan” will be breaking (back) into a category that can be very samey-samey — if it weren’t for the new proportional submission rules, we probably would’ve gotten the same six nominees for a third year in a row last year (“The Late Late Show with James Corden” was the one that missed out). But if anyone can do it, it’s Team Coco.
PREDICT the 2021 Emmy nominations through July 13
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