A Class Act

There are very few times when real people (as opposed to fictional characters) do something that makes me proud, and makes me want to live up to their standard. There are even fewer times when the person who makes me feel that way isn't a blood relative, or an inspirational teacher, or a humanitarian of some sort.

No, my inspiration today was, in fact, a comedian. None other than Mr. Conan O'Brien, former host of "The Tonight Show."

He was interviewed on tonight's episode of 60 minutes, and I was inspired by just how classy he was, by how much integrity he had in his decisions, and how he chose to live out those decisions with so much grace.

For those not aware, or perhaps wrongfully aware, of the situation, let me fill you in to the extent of my own knowledge.

In late June 2009, Jay Leno stepped down from "The Tonight Show" and handed it over to Conan O'Brien. Leno was moving on to his own show in an earlier slot, intended to interest adult viewers (his primary audience) who would then watch the nightly news after his show. O'Brien took over the traditional time slot for the show, and after only six or so months, had amassed a huge following of younger viewers, hitting largely on the 18-35 group.

But NBC was faced with a decision. Leno's early show was not making money nor being very successful in the ratings, and allegedly Conan's show wasn't either, although those are only rumors and NBC hasn't backed them with numbers. NBC offered to squeeze Leno into a shortened slot, and push "The Tonight Show" back to midnight (thereby making it no longer a show that happened at night).

Conan turned down the offer, and in a contract with NBC recieved 32 million dollars to terminate his contract, and was legally prohibited from appearing on television at all until May 1, and from operating his own show again for 7 months (so he could not have a show until after August).

Leno resumed his old post as the host of "The Tonight Show," a decision that shocked viewers across the country.

Since his leaving NBC, Conan O'Brien and many of his crew from the show have started touring the country on the "Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television" Tour. Conan has also signed a deal with TBS to start his own show in early November, appearing at 11p.m., and pushing George Lopez back to midnight, an situation that many sources, including the two hosts, have confirmed was Lopez's idea.

So now that you have some history, I think perhaps you can begin to see why I feel his actions were classy. Conan had the opportunity to continue his life-long dream of hosting "The Tonight Show," but at the expense of the history and principles of the show. He chose to leave gracefully, and has since continued to make us all laugh with his tour and his amazing Twitter account. If you have one, I suggest you follow him.

But as you can see from the interview, he genuinely feels no remorse for his decisions, and doesn't dislike the NBC executives or even Jay Leno. He refuses to say that they screwed him over (although, really, they kind of did), and instead maintains that things just didn't work out like they planned.

But the real test of his character, and the part I found inspiring, has to do with reversed roles. When asked what he would have done in Jay Leno's position, had he been offered "The Tonight Show" back, Conan replied that he wouldn't have made the same decision, that he would have chosen to leave that dream behind to act honestly and with integrity. And I think he is believable, because that is exactly what he did in January, in choosing to leave the show in the first place.

And although his new show will push Lopez back, he has said that he was reluctant to do that to someone else, and wouldn't accept the offer until Lopez himself called to explain that the situation was what he wanted.

It's truly inspirational to watch, and maybe more so for me because I have been an invested viewer of his show who watched the whole thing happen. But either way, I continue to look forward to Conan's return to t.v. in November and having him make the whole world laugh again. Because you can honestly tell from this interview that our laughter is all he wants in the world.

I'm going to choose to end this (LONG) post with a funny quote from the interview, since I've been very serious about a funny guy. Interestingly, this was his only form of revenge:

"That first day that I woke up and was no longer the host of "The Tonight Show" I remember the first thought I had is "I am not shaving." And that was my small victory. Ok, so I lost the Tonight Show, but I'll show them, I'll stop shaving!"

Please check out the full interview HERE.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6453980n&tag=contentMain;contentBody