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"Conan O&amp;apos;Brien made his Tonight Show debut Monday -- but critics weren&amp;apos;t exactly roaring with laughter.\r\n&amp;quot;After one show, let&amp;apos;s say he&amp;apos;s a work in progress,&amp;quot; wrote Randee Dawn of The Hollywood Reporter. &amp;quot;O&amp;apos;Brien commanded the stage, but seemed more comfortable laughing it up with erstwhile sidekick-turned-announcer Andy Richter than in interacting with his 380 audience members.&amp;quot;\r\nSee then-and-now photos of your favorite TV stars\r\nO&amp;apos;Brien&amp;apos;s opening monologue mostly consisted of &amp;quot;sketch upon sketch&amp;quot; -- notes New York Post TV critic Linda Stasi -- most of which were &amp;quot;at times, painfully unfunny.&amp;quot;  In one scene, O&amp;apos;Brien -- who spent the last 17 years as host of NBC&amp;apos;s Late Night -- was shown jogging across the country from New York to Los Angeles. &amp;quot;I think I&amp;apos;ve timed this move perfectly,&amp;quot; he quipped. &amp;quot;I&amp;apos;m on a last-place network, I moved to a state that&amp;apos;s bankrupt and The Tonight Show is sponsored by General Motors.&amp;quot;  Other clips showed him giving a tram tour of Universal Studios, sitting in the last row of a Lakers game (to show how well he&amp;apos;s acclimated to L.A.)  and paying homage to his beat-up 1992 Ford Taurus.  &amp;quot;Again,&amp;quot; said Stasi, &amp;quot;not a million big laughs.&amp;quot;\r\nSee what this famous TV kid star looks like all grown up\r\n David Hinckley of New York&amp;apos;s Daily News said the bits &amp;quot;lasted too long.&amp;quot; Said Hinckley, &amp;quot;He&amp;apos;s from the world of sketch comedy, not monologues, and he sticks with an idea as long as he feels something funny could happen.&amp;quot;  Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly got a chuckle out of the sketches.  &amp;quot;All in all, a large-scale, impressive debut,&amp;quot; he wrote. &amp;quot;But we all know that success in late-night depends on the long haul -- Conan knows this as well as anyone. So now I want to see how he follows up his glitzy debut.&amp;quot;\r\nSee famous TV scandals\r\nAdded USA Today&amp;apos;s Robert Bianco: &amp;quot;Overall, the show wasn&amp;apos;t O&amp;apos;Brien at his funniest, but it was funny enough to get by.&amp;quot;  Check out today&amp;apos;s top celeb news photos David Letterman definitely took notice of his new competition.  &amp;quot;I&amp;apos;m still here,&amp;quot; Mr. Letterman told his audience on his show Monday night. &amp;quot;I knocked off another competitor.&amp;quot;  He said that his mother had called him to say, &amp;quot;Well, David, I see you didn&amp;apos;t get the Tonight Show again.&amp;apos;&amp;quot; When he said he told his mom that he had Bill Cosby as his guest, his mother replied: &amp;quot;&amp;apos;OK, maybe I&amp;apos;ll switch from Conan.&amp;apos;&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/critics-not-laughing-at-conan-obriens-tonight-show-debut-200926>