Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
A thin-skinned, hyperkinetic entertainer under stress: that would describe the brash red-headed star, now 48, of Rodman Flender’s tour documentary, Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop.
“Sometimes I’m so mad I can’t even breathe,” Mr. O’Brien declares early in the film, which tracks him during his 32-city “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour,” which came after his dramatic exit from NBC in January 2010.
Paid off handsomely ($45 million for him and his staff), Mr. O’Brien was contractually forbidden to host a television show for six months. You might imagine that such a lavish severance would mollify anyone’s hurt feelings after a public breakup. But stars’ egos being what they are, the payout was small consolation.
(...) Throughout, Mr. O’Brien is seen fretting, fuming and occasionally rejoicing while in the throes of what looks like a sustained adrenaline rush. At one point he exults that for the first time in his career people have actually paid to see him. The film also reveals the grueling labor of putting together an act, taking it on the road and enduring such necessary rituals as greeting fans with whom you don’t want to spend time.
Stephen Holden, The New York Times
Duration: 89 min
Dialogue: English
Age limit: K7
