Comedian and actor Michael Ian Black took to his blog this morning to write a well-thought-out screed on Conan’s cultural martyrdom, arguing that the millionaire talk show host who quit his job because he didn’t want to air at a later time is hardly the same as working-class heroine portrayed by Sally Field in 1978’s Norma Rae:
“How did a Harvard-educated, multi-millionaire late night talk show host magically transmogrify into a guy who got laid off at the local car plant? The overreaction to Conan’s departure has been kind of astounding; as a nation, are we really that concerned about who hosts “The Tonight Show,†a television program that stopped being culturally relevant around 1986?â€
Conan himself would actually probably agree with the entire thing.
Norma Rae [Michael Ian Black’s blog]