When Conan O’Brien wrapped up his final appearance on The Tonight Show, his parting message was about cynicism.
“I’m asking this particularly of young people that watch: please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it’s my least favourite quality. It doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”
What’s missed is the context within which O’Brien shares these words.
He’s at the end of a 22-year relationship with NBC. Only 7 months earlier they moved him from ‘The Late Show’ to ‘The Tonight Show’, where he took the reins from Jay Leno, and held the primetime slot: directly after the late night local news.
However, due to poor ratings, NBC wanted to reshuffle the programming order and move O’Brien later in the evening. O’Brien refused, citing it would ruin the long and rich tradition of ‘The Tonight Show’ (it started back in 1954!).
O’Brien had every reason to be cynical, bitter, and despondent. Yet he chose to encourage the exact opposite. It’s the context that make his message all the more resonant.