In Conan News...

Funny thing happened to the new Tonight Show set...

We're three Tonight Shows in, and I think Conan is eradicating the suck that used to fill up the 11:30 p.m. time slot. In three quick shows, we've learned the impact of Choco Tacos, Conan's new nickname (Coco) which he has since not wanted, striking glimpse into the year 3000, and Max Weinberg's alledged perversions.

All in all, this is the type of nerd humor I've wanted to share with everybody, and thanks to an equally nerdy man in Conan, I'm glad that type of humor is getting a forefront stance on popular culture.

By the way, that same nerdy humor has been applied to the new Conan monologue backdrop, which indeed does remind me of the Arsenio Hall Show backdrop. Anyways, Serious Lunch contends that the background is essentially levels in the Mario Bros. games. As a self-depricating geek, I say niiiiiice.

I Was There and You Weren't. Nah Nah Nah Nah Boo Boo

My golden ticket to a ginger pale tree's historical show.

There was so much to say about Conan O'Brien's first ever foray in the 11:30 p.m. time slot on NBC. Watching it in the comfort of your living room is one thing. But when you get the opportunity to see it up close and live before your very eyes, even to the point that you can probably hock a loogi and spit on Conan's face, you know it's something especially special.

With that said, seeing the first ever Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien live will be a highlight to me. To be sappy and queer and whatnot, Conan my comedic inspiration. And I couldn't have devoted enough time to staying up at 12:30 a.m. on a school night to catch him or his patented characters like the Masturbating Bear. The gravity of O'Brien hosting an illustrious talk show franchise such as The Tonight Show is pretty big.

So with that said, I will bulletpoint my observances from an audience members point of view:

• The line outside apparently started as early 7 a.m. My crew arrived just about 10:30 a.m. We were about 40 people in. By showtime at 5 p.m., the line grew to 380 people. Conan's debut was a big deal.
• It was cute to see this 40 year old woman get all so giddy to see Conan. She couldn't stop repeating herself. She had a creepy Pearl Jam tattoo on her ankle, though.
• You knew how special this was when the periodical lines to the bathroom reached 50 people deep.
• The studio is freakin' huge! And the background of LA behind Conan's desk is like a hologram.

• The average age of the studio audience had to be 30. This is definitely not Jay Leno's show anymore. I'm glad the 20-something hipster generation made it out.
• I got a free hat! Yay!
• The Tonight Show Band (previously known as the Max Weinberg 7) comes out. La Bamba, the black bass player, and the bald fat trumpeter are there. And the bald trumpeter hypes up the crowd with a nice number.
• Andy Richter! That dude is a pretty big dude. And considering he had two sitcoms of his own, him hooking up with Conan again just feels so right.
• It was fitting to open with Conan trekking across America. He did go from a cult late night show to a TV institution. He just had the travel that long to make it.
• CONAN! Dude is a tree. Like a tree with red leaves. Standing ovation goes on for at least 1 minute.
• Through the monologue and the desk segment, you could tell the material felt like a typical Tonight Show. It just has Conan's brand of humor in it. Again, this will definitely not be your father's Tonight Show.
• Will Ferrell. Carried by slave dudes with ripped abs. Eh. I was hoping for him to do the speedo leprachaun he used to do on Late Night.
• Robert Smigel meandered around the studio. It's weird to see him not insult a bunch of nerds with his Triumph puppet.
• You can tell the crew was anxious to put on a good show. It was the first one after all but it went swimmingly well.
• Pearl Jam. I know only two or three songs of theirs but the band rocked. And to think I was only 7 years old when "Jeremy" came out.
• Sarah Silverman is in the building. She tries to rush through the aisle to get a good glimpse of Pearl Jam. I guess that's a way to not attract attention I guess.
• Show ends but Conan pulls a trick play with a second Pearl Jam performance. "Rockin' in the Free World" was the encore song. Excellent job by the band.
• Overall, the show was a "Tonight Show" type of program with the usual safe-for-the-family humor. But expect Conan and crew to get more comfortable in the 11:30 slot. Who knows, we might get the Masturbating Bear on Episode 2.

Watch the first Tonight Show with Conan:

1 Day 'Til Conan

Whether you hate or kinda sorta like Jay Leno, there's no doubt that the big wigs at NBC know how and who to put in that 11:30 p.m. slot. Leno was Johnny Carson's replacement in 1992. Carson followed Jack Parr and Steve Allen, two staples of late night television that many in this current generation would certainly not know.

So it is refreshing that NBC went with Conan O'Brien to fill the role at the Tonight Show. I am eager to see how this turns out. I expect it to be weird at first to see the pale, milktoast ginger do a monologue at 11:30 p.m. rather than the 12:35 a.m. slot we're accustomed to seeing him in. But you gotta keep an open mind here. He did, after all, write for The Simpsons.

2 Days 'Til Conan

As Lorne Michaels did for Conan, Conan did for a buttload of people throughout his run. No, I'm not talking about one person giving a ream job to the other. Lorne snatched Conan from relative obscurity to host Late Night. And in turn, Conan created a slew of personalities that would go on to create success in their own right. That couldn't be truer in Andy Richter and Amy Poehler. Andy was Conan's Ed McMahon-esque sidekick from the very beginning until 2000. Andy was panned from the start but it was his witty banter and relativity with Conan that struck a chord with Late Night's audience. Along for the ride was Amy Poehler, way, way before her days hamming it up on Saturday Night Live. She's small, setting up all the deception that she can come off as a little child. And thus, a concept was created. Andy's little sister Stacy, the little teenage girl who harbored a psychotic and at times vengeful crush on Conan. May hilarity ensue.

Andy will return as Conan's sidekick on The Tonight Show.

3 Days 'Til Conan

Late Night with Conan O'Brien later in its run became a staple all over the world. Considering it was called Late Night, folks in different time zones caught an early glimpse of the show catching all that was the zany blunders of the red headed jokester before it even aired in the U.S. But his international reach only got larger and much sustained when he got the attention of the Finnish public. His striking resemblance to the country's president, a woman, attracted a hailstorm of fan reaction, and in an instant, Finland became Conan's own territory.

That was fully realized in 2005 when he visited the Scandanavian nation and chroniclized a whole week of shows to show his appreciation...and entertainment...to a whole snowy white land which, on a map, looks very much like a penis that got grouped up with other penises (Sweden, Norway? too much sex ed, little geography?)

4 Days 'Til Conan

Borat on Late Night With Conan O'Brien
by DasReich

What may go unnoticed when looking back at Conan O'Brien's run on Late Night is his remrkable rapport with his guests. He can still manage to get the best answers out of his guests and he can, at times, be as funny as he wants and as serious as he wants. There are also times when being the serious, cordial interviewer that he becomes responsible for what kind of answers are presented in his forum. The vid with Conan and Borat is something of remarkable.

He knows he's interviewing the man who's disguised as a Kazakh journalist but he humors him. And he humors him to the point where the proposition of touching each other's penii arise. Conan's one brave ginger.

5 Days 'Til Conan

The Interrupter - 02/06/05
by ccob

I don't think any current sketch comedy show, even those that go for all out wackiness and weirdness (see The State), could ever conjure up something like The Interrupter. This "in-between-guests" bit from Late Night had to be one of the best written things that the show came up with and I found that this was made in an era when the show hit its stride (2000-2006).

But then again why...
...would you say something like that?

I respect that show enough...
...to say it had its stride throughout its run?

Even though...
...you thought the Masturbating Bear was too much?

Darn Interrupter. Why can't he just...

...go get screwed by a fire hydrant?

6 Days 'Til Conan

I thought this was one of the underrated "at-the-desk" comedy bits on Conan's Late Night show. I understand from a television producer's perspective that keeping up with time in the run of a show is important. Everything has to be timely and if you need to, you can wrap up a segment or stretch segment long enough as long as everything fits in.

The bit "Frankenstein Wastes a Minute of Our Time" is both lovable and playful about being on time for a show. And it always ends the way you don't expect it to end because the premise is to lead people into a trail of suspense only to pay them off with the ultimate let down.

Gotta love basic, formulaic comedy.

7 Days 'Til Conan

Conan O'Brien may have not gotten that stoner, college student demographic if it weren't in part due to the presence of Robert Smigel's Triumph the Insult Comic Dog character.

You keep forgetting that Triumph is merely a puppet being channeled through Smigel's twisted humor and unforgiving apathy. And no one was safe from Triumph. He targeted nerds, most especially, but other dogs and their owners, as well as Southerners and the like. The logic with the accent doesn't really get me but it's still funny as hell.

I remembered that I was so compelled by the Triumph character that I pre-ordered his comedy CD when I only had only $20 in my bank account to spend from the time of the pre-order to the release. It was a worthy purchase...

FOR ME TO POOP ON!

8 Days 'Til Conan

By a miraculous, happenstantial chance, I am being given the opportunity to attend the first taping of the newly minted Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, which will air June 1.

And apparently, I'm willing to wake up at 6:30 a.m. that morning to wait in line the whole day to get good seats to see my comedic idol. You don't understand, Conan reared my teenage years. I remember when I was 15 and during the summer I had nothing to watch in my bedroom on my antenna television. At 11:35 p.m., though, I was guaranteed to see all out innaity and insanity all in one package in the form of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. And I would laugh my ass off until my parents would yell from downstairs to "wrap up the night" and go to bed.

And I carried that 11:35 p.m. tradition over to my college years when I had nothing to do but to anticipate the next episode of Late Night. There were gems like Conan's impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger and his look into the Year 2000. It was all priceless to me.

Anyways, I will be in attendance for TV history next Monday. Until then, each day of the countdown, I will post a clip from the priceless Late Night days. This one is an oldie but goodie. Nothing says dignified television like a self-pleasuring bear. God bless America.

Craig Ferguson = Genius?

Introducing the next best thing...

I have mostly dismissed the comedic material of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson because, frankly, its predecessor The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn generally sucked huge fat mule dick. So I've turned a blind eye to the Scottish-made comedic actor who has been, up until the beginning of the late night show, known for being Drew Carey's boss on The Drew Carey Show. Pretty dubious distinction if you ask me.

But his brand of showmanship, comedy, and original entertainment has caught on with Americans. How about that? A Scottish man getting love from the Staties. I've been on the fence with him because he appears opposite to my favorite late night host of all time Conan O'Brien. But now that Jimmy O'Douchebag is on, I've given him some attention. And he did not waste time to get me entertained.

Here's Craig doing the most "out of left field" thing to open a late night television program. Beware, puppets:

NBC Station: F*CK YOU, LENO!

Angry blogger, too: F*CK YOU, LENO!

Finally, somebody agrees with me about the Jay Leno primetime jump to 10 p.m. For the record, I think Leno's planned move to a nightly primetime schedule, which will end 35 minutes before The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, is so wrong on so many levels. Leno knew he was losing his spot four years ago and, being the hard-headed prick that he is, he used his so-called "pull" at NBC to keep his name in the social conscious. NBC froze, then flinched, and essentially let Leno butt-rape them and Conan O'Brien into creating the new show. Leno's move just steals the thunder of Conan's stint on The Tonight Show. The only way TTS with Conan O'Brien will work is if the Leno show is entirely different from the Conan show, or some body assassinates this Leno weasel into oblivion.

There's also the move WHDH in Boston, MA reportedly pulled. The NBC-affiliated station owned by the good folks at Sunbeam Television announced through its website that it will launch a new 10 p.m. hourlong newscast essentially pre-empting the Leno show this fall, Variety reported today. And sure enough, when NBC caught wind of this news, the smell of a shit storm was on the horizon. NBC said the pre-emption will put WHDH in breach of its affiliation contract and they will not hesitate to pull its affiliation. WHDH said the move was "purely financial," aka the hell with Jay Leno! Who gives a shit about NBC anyways? They are a far cry from the days of Seinfeld and Friends. They recently aired that Momma's Boy reality dating show essentially putting the net on "jump the shark" status. And the best part of this is that this is happening in Leno's hometown. May I also mention that it's Conan O'Brien's hometown as well. WHDH definitely let everyone know who they are behind.

Now, all NBC stations! Follow your affiliated brethren in taking Jay Leno off the air! Oh, yeah, F*CK YOU TOO, KEVIN EUBANKS!

Cooter Footer: Conan Withdrawal

Before work f's up your week again, I'll give you one last thing to salvage any dignity of the weekend. Thus, setting a good "footnote" on the week behind.

He's old timey and Irish, which probably means he'll beat his wife.

Four weeks have past since Conan O'Brien aired his last Late Night show in the 12:35 a.m. ET slot. Since then, we were served with straight mediocrity. Wait, maybe not so mediocrity. More like shit - plain brown turd served in the form of Jimmy Fallon. I don't give a f*ck if he's just beginning. Fallon did seven seasons of Saturday Night Live, and you can tell me with a straight face that it's all beginning jitters. F*ck that. Just give us an hour variety show with just The Roots, that's it.

I'm not patient. Conan O'Brien must comeback like now. Like now now. Just get him to push over Jay Leno in his freaky chin (because you know that's where 3/4 of his body weight is...it'll keep him down for a while) and start the monologue.

With that said, I bring you a Conan flashback. Enjoy: