Butler's Cinema Scene

“CONAN O’BRIEN CAN’T STOP”  My rating: B- (Opening July 1 at the Screenland Crossroads)

89 minutes | MPAA rating: R

It’s said that comedy is born of anger. And you’ll no find a better illustration of that than Conan’s O’Brien’s Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour.

In the wake of his 2010 breakup/betrayal with NBC, the former “Tonight Show” host — who in return for a huge cash settlement agreed not to appear on TV, radio or the Internet for six months — opted to launch a nationwide comedy tour.

It was no small affair: a full band, backup singers/dancers, elaborate props (like a masturbating stuffed panda) and an ever-changing slate of special guests.

And it was all fueled by rage.

In “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop” the normally affable funnyman admits to filmmaker Rodman Flender’s camera that he is amazed by his anger over his treatment by the network. Part of his motivation behind the tour is to explore that rage.

But it’s also about performing in front of an audience.  O’Brienis addicted to the audience, and the thought of months without that gratifying fix is just too much to contemplate.

This doc is divided between O’Brien’s onstage antics (comic sideman Andy Richter is always on hand) and his backstage behavior.

What we get here is a portrait of a guy trying to behave decently (“I’m the least entitled guy you’ll ever meet,” O’Brien claims) but who often turns churlish after taking on too much work, juggling too busy a schedule and indulging his own eagerness to please others.

When that happens he can get very, very cranky.

At least he’s good at masking his genuine anger with mock fury. For example, he fires his long-suffering personal assistant at least once a day. She’s so used to it she ignores her boss’s scathing pronouncements.

Conan is like a hyperactive kid. One of his signature moves is to punch his co-workers in the upper arm. It looks like it might hurt.

But he’s also a master of self-deprecation. Deplaning on an empty runway, he bellows to his crew to keep at bay the non-existent welcoming committee of rabid Coco-nuts.

At other times he swallows his sarcasm and behaves with real decency…as when a carload of fans he encounters at a gas station have him join their prayer circle. They invoke God’s blessing on the star…and he has the good taste not to roll his eyes at people who seem to genuinely care about him.

| Robert W. Butler