A writer for Conan O’Brien’s late-night talk show will probably be more mindful about what he says online after his boss publicly shamed him for going on a Twitter rant about the state of late-night comedy.
On Friday, longtime Conan writer Andres du Bouchet posted a string of expletive-filled tweets attacking the late-night comedy landscape, including Conan rivals Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
In the since-deleted tweets, du Bouchet called out late-night hosts for letting the “popular kids appropriate” the genre, and lamented the format’s reliance on celebrities for its comedy. The Hollywood Reporter collected the tweets before they were deleted (language edited):
For the c***s***ing motherf***ing a**punching sh** f*** c*** c*** f*** F** ever f*** f***ing love of humanity how can I block hashtag wars
— Andrés du Bouchet (@dubouchet) April 17, 2015You are all playing Boggle. pic.twitter.com/X4BZIfDPGq
— Andrés du Bouchet (@dubouchet) April 17, 2015Comedy in 2015 needs a severe motherf***ing shakeup. No celebrities, no parodies, no pranks, no mash-ups or hashtag wars. I’m fat.
— Andrés du Bouchet (@dubouchet) April 17, 2015@dubouchet and shove your lip-synching up your ass.
— Andrés du Bouchet (@dubouchet) April 17, 2015Prom King Comedy. That’s what I call all this s***. You’ve let the popular kids appropriate the very art form that helped you deal. F***.
— Andrés du Bouchet (@dubouchet) April 17, 2015None of the funniest stuff ever involved celebrity cameos.
— Andrés du Bouchet (@dubouchet) April 17, 2015That was satisfying. Sometimes just railing at the impenetrable nonsense of the retardverse is enough, despite my impotence to change it.
— Andrés du Bouchet (@dubouchet) April 17, 2015
du Bouchet did not specifically name any late-night shows in his Twitter rant, but the lip-syncing tweet is an apparent reference to The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which features a popular celebrity lip-syncing segment.
The writer seemed to realize he was pushing it a bit, and returned to his Twitter feed to apologize the next day:
Once again I’m a bonehead for tweeting as a fan of comedy instead of as a guy who earns a living doing it.
— Andrés du Bouchet (@dubouchet) April 17, 2015@guybranum thanks but now comes the inevitable dressing down at work for criticizing other talk shows!
— Andrés du Bouchet (@dubouchet) April 17, 2015
If only du Bouchet’s “dressing down” would have remained at work; instead, Conan himself used Twitter to give his show writer a public smackdown:
I wish one of my writers would focus on making my show funnier instead of tweeting stupid things about the state of late night comedy.
— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) April 19, 2015
By Monday, Conan appeared to have moved on from the exchange:
Marco Rubio opposes gay marriage. He says every religion he’s joined is against it.
— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) April 20, 2015
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