Story and Photos by Keegan Clements-Housser
Another month has passed, and the Ethos team along with the Bijou have had another successful Ethos Movie Night to show for it.
This month’s title was Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, a documentary following Conan O’Brien’s live tour throughout the nation launched after he left his spot on NBC’s The Tonight Show. The tour, which started in Eugene, was intended to be a precursor to his upcoming show Conan on TBS, turned out to be a huge success, with every show selling out.
Despite being a relatively small affair, the Ethos hosting of the opening night of the documentary at the Bijou was itself plenty successful.
The cupcakes, Ethos t-shirts, and copies of the magazine’s summer issue set up in the Bijou’s reception area got a fair amount of interest prior to the debut itself. Ethos staff members mingled with members of the public before the show, with plenty of joking and laughing to go around, before heading off to the almost-full theater to get a glimpse of the man known as Conan.
Speaking of which – that humor isn’t an act for the public, as Can’t Stop reveals. In fact, his stage act is just him slightly rehearsed. His day-to-day interactions with the world are apparently often just as funny as his “official” jokes on stage or on the film set.
A perfect example of this is his joking with and prodding of his crew members. In addition to often being returned with comments that are as funny if not more so than O’Brien’s original jab, they show a level of comfortable camaraderie that never fades.
Even in the most stressful stages of the tour, after back-to-back shows with almost no downtime afterward, his humor doesn’t fade… even if it becomes more biting. His crew, too, show a genuine amount of care for him, warning him to not overextend himself and commiserating with him throughout.
The natural stage presence and infectious sense of humor that comes with O’Brien’s personality is potent enough to reach across the screen and affect the audience as well. Throughout the film, the gathered movie-goers often couldn’t help but laugh at some of the situations and binds O’Brien finds himself in – situations that, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t be funny at all. Of course, normal circumstances for most tend not to involve Conan O’Brien.
The end of the documentary didn’t end the audience participation, either. As people filed out of the movie theater, Conan was still the name on everyone’s lips, discussing their favorite parts of the show and quoting their favorite phrases (a quote involving O’Brien’s stated belief that nobody actually lives in Eugene being a particular favorite).
Judging by the reactions of both Ethos staff and the general public as they left, it was certainly a pleasant night spent in front of the big screen, and one likely to be remembered.
A successful Ethos Movie Night, indeed.

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Ethos Movie Night: ‘Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop’