• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 1, 2009

   NBC's late-night talk-show marketing efforts promise ocean-breezy, maybe salty, comedy.

 

One of the last pieces of the new "Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" marketing campaign features our funny late-night host touting the positives of a new technology: television.

"Television allows you to watch just as you would on your computer or your cell phone -- except while seated in a comfortable chair," says O'Brien, against a simple white backdrop.

Another bit of creative offers up O'Brien in a dreamy black-and-white Los Angeles beach scene, against a Chris Isaak-like music score, becoming transfixed by his new California surroundings: "Moving to Los Angeles to host 'The Tonight Show,' I wake up early for long runs on the beach," says O'Brien in a meditative mode, "my pale Irish skin burning like a vampire in the sun."

All this should embolden O'Brien loyalists that the former "Late Night" host's comedy will not be watered down to the level of Jay Leno's broader comedy styling.

The downside is that O'Brien's somewhat more spicy comedy side will make it challenging to maintain the wide appeal to viewers of Leno's show. This comedy is similar to where David Letterman lives, which, according to critics for the better part of two decades, is why the original "Late Night" host never overtook Leno in key viewer metrics when he moved to CBS.

All this will make for some interesting analysis in the coming weeks. While the media business reporting has focused on whether Leno or O'Brien will succeed or fail, few have looked at the effect these changes will have on Letterman, whose comedy is more like O'Brien's than Leno's.

With TV ratings already sinking everywhere, it's best that O'Brien not back down from the comedy edge. Viewers like predictability for their late-night entertainment brands -- but also originality and contentiousness (see Jon Stewart). These things are hard to come by on TV.