HARD TO SUCCEED more predictable, cheesier, more irritating in its insufferable clichés, kind of program than travel documentary, in all its gruesome forms, some of which have often found refuge on the ever-welcoming Greek television. Exceptions are rare and Anthony Bourdain he is no longer with us.
A delightful version of the filmed travelogue was his film series Michael Winterbottom The Trip (2011), The Trip to Italy (2014), The Trip to Spain (2017) and The Trip to Greece (2020) with spartan guides on our journey, two prominent comedians such as Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon who spent most of the time arguing, when they weren’t doing an impersonation contest, instead of dealing with the tourist scene.
His travel series also moves in this comic / (self) sarcastic style HBO Maxwhere in its four approximately 45-minute episodes, Conan O’Brien, famous comedian and even more famous as one of the “kings” of the night talk show of American television, travels to Norwaythe Argentinathe Thailand and Irelandcarrying with him all the shopping of one celebrity and all the blatant prejudices of the American tourist, before they are hilariously smashed into the realities of each place.
The episodes have the typical structure of a travel documentary, but Conan O’Brien’s often wild encounters and inspirations seem unrehearsed and move at an improvisational and unpredictable pace.
The three decades of Conan – who in the series’ final journey, to Ireland, undertakes a pilgrimage in search of his roots – on his throne talk show host they ended somewhat ingloriously in 2021 amid the pandemic, but he had then already found other means of expression and communication with the public, mainly through the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” which also contained a section entitled “Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan” where he spoke on air to listeners from different parts of the world, who invited him to their countries – and that was the basis of this series.
The “context” is perfectly set by his Teutonically smooth voice Werner Herzog of himself, who announces at the beginning of each episode: “The once-proud talk show host has been driven by a changing ecosystem into a drier and wilder climate: the weekly podcast. Here, away from the cackle of the live studio audience, this clown with the laziest and tiniest eyes, the eyes of a poorly designed doll, is forced to feed his vanity by resorting to the last wheel on the wagon: the random listener who calls into the show . Crazed by the wild scent of their humble enthusiasm, he wanders uninvited into faraway places, fueled by a bottomless thirst for recognition and the solace of the occasional selfie.”
The episodes have the typical structure of a travel documentary, but Conan O’Brien’s often wild encounters and inspirations seem unrehearsed and move at an improvisational and unpredictable pace. “Whenever I visit a new place, I like to learn the local customs so that I completely ignore them,” he says at one point. And on the occasions when a joke doesn’t quite work or trips up the locals, he makes sure to disavow it with quips like “AI wrote that, not me, it’s going to eat us all, you got it.”
Conan O’Brien Must Go | Official Trailer | Max
