Premature Jocularity

Andrew Malcolm writes that Conan O’Brien “Suffers from a little premature jocularity tonight:”

Funny lines are not unusual in Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue, even in his 9-day-old gig as new host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show.”

Tonight is no exception.

“Speaking of President Obama,” NBC’s new late-night host had in his Tuesday script, “Earlier today, President Obama spoke at a town hall meeting in Green Bay Wisconsin. Half of the Wisconsin crowd had never seen an African-American and the other half had never seen a skinny person.”

A funny comment for many, unless you’re among Wisconsin’s dominant white Cheeseheads. Some of them overweight. And these shows do always try to be topical.

Unfortunately, reports of President Obama’s Green Bay town hall meeting, like Mark Twain’s death, are premature.

The town hall doesn’t happen until Thursday. Minutes before the show’s airtime in the East tonight, the show’s LA writers, asked for comment, were scrambling to determine what if anything to do. Clipping out the snafu is one possibility. Watch and see how they handle it.

If political clairvoyance is all it takes to host the Tonight Show, Lewis Lapham must be kicking himself right now that no one on late night TV is shouting “Heeeeeres Lewis!”