Picking sides in the Conan O'Brien-Jay Leno battle might seem unfair, but Conan deserves our support for his love for Toronto when the city needed it the most.
In 2004, Toronto was recovering from the SARS epidemic. And tourism was considerably down. Who came to the rescue of Toronto and Canada? Conan O'Brien.
O'Brien brought his Late Night show on NBC to the Elgin Theatre February 10–13, 2004. There were tons of Canadian guests, some of which American audiences knew (Jim Carrey, Michael J. Fox, Mike Myers) and some that were relatively unknown (Stompin' Tom Connors and Ron James).
Conan had a lot of fun with Canadians, such as encouraging chants of "Go Leafs Go." There was a bit of trouble as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog visited Quebec and took some unflattering shots at the French (not so much the Quebecois).
Would love to have a DVD of those episodes to relive those times, though this URL has a lot of info and memories from that week.
Talk show hosts take their shows on the road. Chicago and Los Angeles have been popular destinations. But O'Brien stretched the limit when he didn't have to do so, and took a chance in putting Toronto and Canada in the spotlight, and did so when Toronto was at its lowest.
For that effort, we heartily endorse Conan O'Brien in any late-night talk show battle. Love for Canada conquers all.
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