Movie review: 'Conan O'Brien Can't Stop'

The title — "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop" — is as much a diagnosis as an ironic understatement in this hyperbolic fugue-documentary that follows the fast and furious comic blur as he burns through some very dark times. Rodman Flender may be the director, but O'Brien is setting the agenda and the breakneck pace.

The film unfolds during the legally imposed TV blackout designed to keep O'Brien mostly gagged for about six months in 2010 after his brief gig as host of "The Tonight Show" publicly imploded. The very messy final chapter in his mostly successful 22-year run with NBC (briefly interrupted in the early '90s for "The Simpsons") — which began in '88 with "Saturday Night Live," thrived for years at "Late Night" before infamously ending on "Tonight" — left the comic bitter and at loose ends. Which is to say, somewhere between purgatory and pure hell for a guy whose every breath depends on playing to a crowd.

What was designed to keep him quietly and competitively out of sight while Jay Leno retook "The Tonight Show" reins, turned into a sold-out, cross-country comedy and rockabilly rave. Flender starts when the NBC-O'Brien split is still a fresh wound, that moment when the death of one dream starts to give birth to another — the Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour, in which O'Brien takes his humor and rage on the road and Flender takes his camera along for the ride.

It's a very candid camera, as it turns out, because O'Brien literally can't stop performing. He's equally "on" whether it's the sold-out crowd in Seattle or the "surprise" appearance with Jack White in Nashville on a scheduled day off. On the verge of exhaustion, he can't even resist the request to sign the bare midriff of just one more screaming fan, or complaining about it afterward.

Just as O'Brien doesn't seem to have an "off" switch, neither does the filmmaker. On the plus side, it enables us to see the comic not only at his best, but at his worst — impatient, whiny, turning his frustrations into acerbic cuts that sting friend and foe alike. But in never stepping out of the maelstrom, Flender fails to mine the rich access he has for any deep insight into all that raw ambition he's exposing, something that documentarians Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg did to such riveting effect in their 2010 portrait of another driven comic, "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work."

This is Flender's second documentary after a 2004 debut with "Let Them Eat Rock," and he has a sheaf of horror writing and directing credits as well. In "Rock" he was looking at fame from a distance, through the eyes of a mostly unknown Boston rock band. In "Conan," it's fame from the point of view of someone who has it, isn't always comfortable with it but really does not want to lose it. Much of the intelligent, self-deprecating style that began winning O'Brien an avid fan base years ago is on display here, and the film, like the tour, will satisfy the Conan cravings of hardcore fans the most, and prove an enjoyable enough diversion for the rest.

That Flender was shooting much of the 149 hours of footage himself (and editing too) helps to keep the film lean and loose as O'Brien and his team patch together a show. This is all coming before O'Brien's talk show deal with TBS existed, and the fear that he might be forgotten can be felt alongside the comedy. You can almost hear the stomachs churn as they gather around a computer waiting for the tour tickets to go on sale. As shows start selling out in minutes, rather than relief, O'Brien just trades it for a new worry — how to make sure the show actually works.

Some of the best fun comes as O'Brien indulges his passion for music — casting his backup singers, wearing Elvis-evoking spangly suits, shredding his electric guitar, gyrating though his parody of "Polk Salad Annie." Where the cinéma vérité style flounders is in its lack of restraint — a bit more filtering would have gone a long way.

At one point O'Brien says, "I don't know what it would be like to stop." You can't help but think he'd be terrified to find out.

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop Movie Review

After being very publicly forced out of his dream job as host of ‘The Tonight Show’ in order to make way for the return of Jay Leno (and his equally large contract and chin), Conan O’Brien was at a place most of us have been in our lives — very angry, but in front of a large group of people, and unable to really express or address it. Of course, O’Brien was being paid millions of dollars not to say anything, as the final legal details of his buyout and exit were hammered out. Still, trying to channel that debilitating rage into something more constructive was at the heart of O’Brien’s decision to launch his “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television” live tour, which, starting of April last year, spanned 44 dates in 33 cities. His traveling show — part high-energy song-and-dance routine, part variety sketch show, all smiling exorcism — is lovingly chronicled in the ramshackle new travelogue ‘Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop’.

A bit of brief interview footage with O’Brien sets the stage, and we see him and his team discussing and concocting details of how to roll out the announcement for his show — even before they really know what it’s going to be. After that, however, the film mostly unfolds in a straightforward chronological fashion, rolling from city to city and bearing witness to the highs and lows of creating, honing and delivering a live show, while also pressing the flesh with fans at after-show events and figuring out what comes next in life.

Director Rodman Flender’s film is an admirably candid look at the sheer amount of work that is married to this sort of high-wire creativity, and in that respect the movie is, perhaps surprisingly, somewhat reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s ‘This Is It’. Regrettably, the film could use a bit more of a streamlined vision. Those early, direct chats with O’Brien that give an interesting glimpse into the gaping need for acceptance that drives so many of the most successful showbiz psyches unfortunately melt away. Flender doesn’t spend much time soliciting the opinions of the comedian’s peers and employees, which would complement the footage of O’Brien onstage and round out a professional portrait of the man.

Instead, ‘Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop’ kind of morphs into the ultimate backstage video, which is surely not the worst thing in the world. Fans ply the tall, exceedingly friendly, once and future TV host with “masturbating panda” pizzas and an endless stream of photograph requests. He’s only human, though. O’Brien finally does lose it just a bit, and question the sanity of exhaustive pre-show and post-show meet-and-greets with everyone and their families. One day he’ll stop, maybe — just not yet.

TV Breakdown: 'Conan O'Brien Can't Stop'

After an ugly ouster by NBC, Conan O'Brien hosted his final "Tonight Show" in January, 2010. Within three months, he'd embarked on a national tour, fronting a full band and delivering bitter jokes about a flameout that had contractually barred him from TV for six months.

The documentary film "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop" delves into the rage and restlessness that the star tried to exorcise with this live show. It also reveals his complex relationship with the fans (aka Team Coco) who rallied during his ordeal as if around an oppressed political dissident. In one scene, he excitedly rushes outside to greet a throng of supporters, only to later escape into a waiting car, annoyed by their demands for photos.

"I'm like Tinkerbell, without applause I die," he says in the film.

Director Rodman Flender used the contract dispute only as backdrop. There's no mention of the value of Mr. O'Brien's exit deal from NBC ($45 million). Mr. Flender says he focused on backstage scenes and how Mr. O'Brien drove himself to exhaustion—"how a comedian deals with his anger."

Mr. Flender, who got his start working for B-movie king Roger Corman, is a friend of Mr. O'Brien's since their days at Harvard. While Mr. O'Brien was brainstorming ideas for the live show, Mr. Flender proposed doing a documentary. He recalls, "A week later Conan called and said, 'I have an idea. I want to make a documentary.'"

The air of sarcastic self-importance Mr. O'Brien employs on TV is amplified behind the scenes. He snipes at his assistant, punches a writer repeatedly with mock force, and grows crankier as the tour wears on. Says his director friend, "I didn't want to do a valentine to Conan."

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