For much of the past year Conan O'Brien has been like a political party languishing in opposition. You don't have any power, but it's easy to sound smart - or funny - when nothing that you say really counts. But on Monday O'Brien rejoined the government of late-night hosts.
That's where the real pressure lies for these idiosyncratic comedians, rather than going out on tour, growing a beard and throwing bombs at Jay Leno from afar.
Simply titled Conan, O'Brien's new show - which originates on cable network TBS in the United States and airs in Canada on CTV and on the CTV-owned Comedy Network - debuted with heightened creative expectations but lowered ratings expectations.
The good news was that O'Brien seemed way more relaxed on Monday - make that early Tuesday in Canada - than at any time during his brief and awkward stint as host of The Tonight Show on NBC.
Same thing can be said for O'Brien's formerly stinking-of-failure sidekick Andy Richter, and that comfort level for the two of them probably is the most important thing as the show endeavours to move forward.
The bad news was that the opener itself was a bit of a bore - not a horrible bore, but let's be honest, a bit of a bore. The comedy bits were amusing but not drop-dead funny. And guests Seth Rogen, Lea Michele and Jack White didn't exactly inspire heart palpitations, although John Hamm, Larry King and Ricky Gervais all appeared briefly on tape.
The set for Conan on the Warner Brothers lot in Los Angeles looked a lot like his old Tonight Show set, actually, save for the new floating and movable moon behind the host's desk.
We all know about O'Brien's nasty exit from NBC and how The Tonight Show wound up back in the meaty mitts of his self-imposed enemy, Leno.
O'Brien subsequently played the victim very well, but the victim bit is getting old, and we hope he can move past it soon.
Complaining about Leno and NBC plays to O'Brien's devotees and to most TV critics, but it doesn't play to the wider audience.
Nonetheless, the first episode of Conan opened with O'Brien being gunned down by NBC hit men. As expected, the loud and loyal in-studio audience lapped it up like a Bill Maher crowd.
Of the opening ovation, O'Brien said, "That lasted longer than my last job."
Other monologue lines: "Welcome to my second annual first show." "I know what you're thinking: 'Hey, it's the guy from Twitter.' " "People asked me why I named the show Conan. I did it so I'd be harder to replace." "I have to be honest, it's not easy doing a late-night show on a network without a lot of money that viewers have trouble finding. So that's why I left NBC."
There was a funny moment when O'Brien displayed a real Halloween mask featuring his likeness that sold under the name, "Ex-talk show host."
Donning the mask, Richter quipped, "Inside it smells like tears." It was Richter's funniest line on a night when he broke recent tradition and actually had a few.
A scheduling quibble: Of the 1,000 channels in Canada, CTV seemingly owns about 800 of them. So you'd think the network could find a way to get Conan on at 11 p.m. - which is when it airs in the U.S. - on one of its countless properties.
In most Canadian cities, Conan is airing at midnight on Comedy and at 1 a.m. on CTV.
Isn't there room for Conan at 11 p.m. on Comedy Gold, or the Business News Network, or Fashion Television, or Animal Planet, for the love of God?
One last request. Conan, please quit doing that thing with your nipples. It's gross.
"That was fast," O'Brien said as the first episode of Conan ended.
Geez, don't say that. Bad karma.
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