One Ticked-Off Comic, Venting to the Faithful

A thin-skinned, hyperkinetic entertainer under stress: that would describe the brash red-headed star, now 48, of Rodman Flender’s tour documentary, “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop.” As revealed in the film, this high-strung showoff who often behaves like a fourth grader on the verge of a tantrum is a classic example of talent fueled by anger.

“Sometimes I’m so mad I can’t even breathe,” Mr. O’Brien declares early in the film, which tracks him during his 32-city “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour,” which came after his dramatic exit from NBC in January 2010.

That anger is righteous. By now almost everybody knows the story of how Mr. O’Brien’s cozy two-decade relationship with that network fractured over his objection to hosting “The Tonight Show” at a later hour. That move was to be made to accommodate Jay Leno, after Mr. Leno’s own show faltered when he left “Tonight” and moved to an earlier time. Mr. Leno eventually took back “Tonight” from his designated successor, who left humiliated and in a rage.

Paid off handsomely ($45 million for him and his staff, including $32.5 million for himself), Mr. O’Brien was contractually forbidden to host a television show for six months. You might imagine that such a lavish severance would mollify anyone’s hurt feelings after a public breakup. But stars’ egos being what they are, the payout was small consolation.

More embarrassing for NBC than for Mr. O’Brien, the contretemps made a lot of media noise. At one point in the film Mr. O’Brien snidely reads an imaginary telegram from Mr. Leno asking, “What’s it like to have a soul?”

“Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop” tracks him from Eugene, Ore., to Atlanta, with stops in Las Vegas, New York, and at the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tenn. Throughout, Mr. O’Brien is seen fretting, fuming and occasionally rejoicing while in the throes of what looks like a sustained adrenaline rush. At one point he exults that for the first time in his career people have actually paid to see him. The film also reveals the grueling labor of putting together an act, taking it on the road and enduring such necessary rituals as greeting fans with whom you don’t want to spend time.

If “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop” is consistently watchable, it isn’t especially funny, nor does it give any deeper insight into its star than you might get from seeing his late-night shows. Mr. O’Brien, a Harvard-educated entertainer from an upper-middle-class background in Brookline, Mass., is certainly smart. The way he tosses off witticisms both onstage and back suggests a mind so supercharged it risks eating itself. In one amusing stage bit he notes his own physical resemblance to Jimmy Neutron and Tilda Swinton. But a longer monologue in which he identifies “the four stages of anger” doesn’t quite pay off.

As a tour documentary “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop” leaves much to be desired. You long to see more of this rock ’n’ roll comedy extravaganza than the film’s scattered short excerpts provide. The jumpy editing suggests that the filmmakers were worried that longer segments might reveal the thinness of Mr. O’Brien’s material, though there is no way of knowing, since so little of it is shown. The film spends too much time with Mr. O’Brien and his team backstage, where he is the needy focus of attention at all times. That he can be volatile and peevish is suggested by his half-joking diatribe to an assistant who had been instructed to order a plain grilled-cheese sandwich that arrived drenched in butter.

The appearances of musical guests like Eddie Vedder and Jack White are so brief that they barely have time to register. Mr. O’Brien is by no means a great rock ’n’ roller, but he has nervous energy to spare, and several manic rockabilly numbers find him dancing around like a wild man. He invents new words for the Willie Nelson anthem, “On the Road Again,” to describe his circumstances. One line goes, “My own show again/I just can’t wait to get my own show again.”

He has that show now, on TBS. Though the ratings have fallen precipitously since its premiere last November, Mr. O’Brien is hanging in there, back doing what he wants.

“Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes some strong language.

CONAN O’BRIEN CAN’T STOP

Opens on Friday in Manhattan.

Directed and edited by Rodman Flender; director of photography, Mr. Flender; produced by Gavin Polone and Rachel Griffin; released by Abramorama. Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes.