The show must go on. As much of the country sat in shock after two bombs went off near the finish line at the Boston Marathon, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, and Craig Ferguson and were getting ready to take the stage.
Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Jimmy Fallon all aired reruns last night and haven’t commented on the disaster yet.
O’Brien, who grew up in Boston, took a moment at the start of the show to address the incident at the marathon.
O’Brien said that most of his family still lives in Boston and that his thoughts and prayers were with his hometown.
Conan said: “First, I did wanna start by mentioning what an upsetting and sad day it has been… Boston is my home town, it’s where I grew up, and it’s where my family lives. So I just wanted to take a moment to say that, like everyone here, my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Boston and everybody who’s been affected by this absolutely senseless act.”
“That said, it is our job to do a show. And we’re gonna try and entertain you the very best we can,” O’Brien said. “Which, given our track record, gives you people a 20 percent chance of having a good show tonight, and I think that’s pretty good.”
Here’s the video from Conan’s opening monologue.
Craig Ferguson also addressed the incident on his show. Ferguson took a little different approach, however, and didn’t even make an attempt at a joke.
Ferguson said: “Is anyone else sick of this s—? I seem to have to say that too often. I have to not say it’s a great day for America for some random act of madness or terrorism… This is on my mind, I can’t pretend it’s not there… People say ‘Craig your job is to make people laugh at the end of the day.’ But I can’t not think about it. I can’t pretend it’s not there.”
Kimmel opened his show with the same tone as Ferguson and Conan. Kimmel said that the events in Boston were terrible and he didn’t understand why it happened. But, Kimmel added, he has a job to do.
Kimmel said: “Well, it was a terrible day. Very bad things happened today for no good reason, and our thoughts are with the people of Boston and everyone who is suffering as a result of the bombings at the marathon.”
“It’s a disgusting thing. I don’t understand it. But my job is to make you laugh and so I will try to do that. And I will probably fail. I’m failing already.”
