Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien

[SteveAgee]

was at the test show yesterday and loved it. Jeff Garlin and Mary Lynn Rajskub were the guests.
It was pretty much classic Conan. He showed 2 pre-taped bits that were hilarious. Also a funny bit from the desk where he pointed out the two 12ft tall doors on either side of the stage, then a doorbell rang, Andy opened one of the 12ft doors as Conan said, "the trouble with 12ft tall doors is you get 12ft tall Jehovah's Witnesses" and there were 2 dudes dressed like Jehovah's Witnesses (with stilts in their pants).
I can't wait for June 1st.

[Scot Alan]

I was worried that the new show would be a different, toned down Conan, but it sounds like the show will just be an earlier Late Night. Awesome.

[punkdc]

Anyone know how long these test shows go? Do they just go for an hour straight an then it's over, or do they stop and start if something screws up?

When I was allowed to turn my phone back on it was 6:05. So I'm guessing it was an hour. They don't stop and reshoot anything. It's just plowing right threw everything.

[MeatLoafX]

The review on another site reveals the warm-up comic. A personal favorite of mine. I hope it's a long-lasting gig for him!

[Harry Bongers]

Why is everyone being so secretive about this warm up comic? What conceivable harm could possibly befall him should his name be revealed? Most people in show business want people to mention their names.

[aenemaTron]

If you think about it, it's kind of obvious who they chose. I mean, who would you choose? I guessed and then googled and I was right.

[Adult Ed]

The review on another site reveals the warm-up comic. A personal favorite of mine. I hope it's a long-lasting gig for him!

Well, if it is already out there... link please?

[Itslikeimsayin]

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41201

[Kentock]

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41201

Be still my heart. I REALLY hope this sticks.

[Scot Alan]

Apparently this guy HATED the warm-up comic:


"It's definitely a long read, but I went to a test show of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien 11 hours ago and it was awesome. I posted this as a "note" on my facebook account, which is why it reads the way it does. Obviously you people are gonna know what In The Year 2000 is and it's more like I'm talking to my friends, not strangers on imdb. If you are a big Conan fan such as myself though, you may find this interesting.


So I went to see a taping of The New and Improved Tonight Show yesterday (13 hours ago). Conan's first real show is on June 1st and this was his second test show (the first was the day before). I didn't really know what to expect going in since it was only a test show. I certainly did not expect there to be guests who were willing to come down and be interviewed by Conan for a show that will never air but there was. I think it's a testament to the fact that these particular celebrities aren't so egocentric that they will only appear on Conan to promote themselves or whatever it is they're selling to the public, save the audience. So we walked into the studio, and I immediately notice Jeff Ross, Conan's executive producer, standing about 15 feet in front of me, so I say "Hey Jeff!" to him and he said, "Hey Adam!" That's actually not entirely true but that would've been cool. He actually just waved and then immediately walked off to the side of the studio (I assume to get away from any other fans entering who might try to get his attention). The studio is very spacious and I think I read in an article that it has about twice as many seats as his Late Night set but pretty much anywhere you sit, you are really close. And the set is quite nice. So we sat for about 20-30 minutes and this emcee comes out and starts annoying the crap out of me. He was supposed to be warming up the audience but I think his plan of action instead was to be so bad that Conan would be a sweet sigh of relief. So after that jerk got done being a jerk, he introduces Andy Richter, Conan's Tonight Show announcer, who was Conan's sidekick from 1993-2000. The two started riffing back and forth and due to the lack of comedic skill or timing by "the jerk" this also proved to be quite uninteresting. Luckily, this only lasted two minutes and finally the emcee left and was never to be heard from again (mostly because I killed him). So Andy then talks for a minute and introduces The Tonight Show band, which consists of Max Weinberg and the Max Weinberg Seven in case you didn't know, which by the way if you don't, then why are you reading this? Max Weinberg, by the way, is the bandleader and is also well known as Mighty Max, the drummer for Bruce Springsteen (and the E. Street Band). The band played one or two songs and they were great. So FINALLY, after all this time, Andy Richter introduces Conan and oh glorious day! Conan pops out and everyone starts applauding and cheering but they weren't standing up and I was extremely tempted to just stand up by myself or start jumping up and down from excitement but I controlled myself because I didn't want Conan to think I was a jackass. Luckily after about 20 seconds, people did stand up and then everyone was up, which is good because I could not have contained myself much longer. He spoke for a couple of minutes and then riffed with an audience member or two, and asked if there were any more questions (I think there had been one up to that point, ), and I really wanted to ask him something but I couldn't think of anything except for "Why are you so great?" so again, I stopped myself from making myself look like a fool in front of Conan. So he goes back through the door and the band played another song or two and within five minutes, the show started.

So the band started up the theme song, which upon talking to my friend John afterward who is a musician, found out that it was the original theme with a different arrangement, which is why it sounded similar but not exactly the same. Out walks Conan, this time from behind the curtain and again, I had this great urge to stand up but this time, the audience did not get my telepathic memo so I stayed seated.

Conan began with about an eight minute monologue, which was great (Conan monologues always are). I vaguely remember a couple of the jokes but I don't wanna butcher them here and make them seem not funny. Oh and he did The String Dance!!!! It was a very brief version, though.

So after the monologue, he goes over to his desk and proceeds with the first segment, which was this very strange, yet funny Twitter bit. The joke basically being that the voice-over of the segment was conveying over-excitement about mundane twitters by celebrities. What made it so funny was how ridiculous this voice sounded and how it went on about these twitters saying things like, "This is one tweet you can't beat!" Again, I'm not doing the bit justice.

I don't remember at one point they did this bit but I'll mention it now. They showed a day-by-day construction of the studio's exterior over about a 6-month period on the monitors. Then, they showed a day-by-day montage of stills of Conan basically getting dressed over a 6-month period. Next was Andy, who started out as a drunken slob. Finally, Max Weinberg, who started out as an old asian lady hahaha.

The next bit was a video on the monitors that showed Conan in his Taurus, which is old and crappy and has been mentioned several times on Late Night, the concept being that in LA, it's all about the car you drive. So it showed Conan driving around with several funny things happening, of which I only remember a couple. One was that apparently he was so cool in his Taurus that a blind man walking down the street tips his glasses to get a better look at Conan in his car. Needless to say, it was ridiculous, yet hilarious.

For the next bit, Conan talked about how the paparazzi make good money off of pictures of celebrities being idiots and he came up with the idea to take pictures of himself doing something foolish and send them to magazines to collect the money himself. So he quickly runs outside right in front of the studio, gets in a mustang, was handed a bottle of jack daniels, a man lied down on the hood of his car, and then to indicate that this man was a bible salesman (or possibly just religious; I don't remember), someone held bibles on strings out in front of the man on the hood in the foreground. Then they took a still of this and it basically looked like Conan had drunkenly run over a bible salesman and the bibles on strings were meant to look like they were flying through the air, which I found exceptionally funny.

The final segment was a very popular Late Night segment, called In The Year 2000, which is definitely a top five recurring segment for me. In the normal version of this segment, Conan and a guest (usually that night's guest but sometimes a celebrity who wasn't even on the show that night would make an appearance in the segment). Conan, the guest, and band member La Bamba would wear black garbs, the former two making observations back and forth about the future, hence the title, while in between each prediction, La Bamba does a very high-pitched falsetto exclaiming, "In the Year 2000!" They didn't bother to change the title once the year 2000 came along, not to mention every post-2000 year for that matter. Andy Richter points this out and Conan suggests that they do a refined version, and look waaaaay into the future, hence the new title, "In the Year 3000." Then, instead of the black garbs they usually wear, space-age shoulder pads float down from the ceiling on wires over Conan, Andy, and La Bamba (which I found hilarious due to the fact that they were so precisely placed that Conan just sat there as it went directly and perfectly over his head without having to guide it with his hands or move to accommodate). Then they proceeded with the bit. I recommend you check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87soTsQjf5Y It's the David Duchovny edition of In the Year 2000 and I particularly like 2:50-3:55. I also have to point out that I laugh hysterically every time I watch Conan's expression at 3:46 when the preceding joke bombs and I have now watched it about ten times.

After In the Year 3000, Conan's first guest, Rebecca Romijn came out. In case you have no clue who that is, she is a model/actress, played Mystique in X-Men, and used to be married to John Stamos and is now married to Jerry O'Connell. She has a very memorable past Conan moment that is often shown in anniversary specials or clip shows where she kisses Conan on the lips and he goes completely insane with joy. I didn't find her particularly interesting here, though. She did have the crew put up a still of Conan, however, of him riding his bike around LA and she had them zoom in on his leg hair. It was the most interesting thing she had to talk about.

The next guest was comedian Patton Oswalt, who you probably wouldn't know from anything other than Kevin James' friend in The King of Queens. He was funny and I recall one particular instance in which he made the audience laugh hysterically.

Finally, the band Everest, who I've never heard of, came on and played a song which wasn't anything too special but I did enjoy it. Conan then thanked his guests and the Tonight Show band played the closing song, which was the same as the one on Late Night. Conan then got a mic and started singing the "End of the Show Song" that he apparently always sings to the audience and is never shown on TV, which he even mentions in the lyrics.

My overall feeling of the experience was that it was absolutely hilarious and it was a definite 10 out of 10 (what did you expect?) and I can't wait to go again and again and again and........"

[yumitree]

So after that jerk got done being a jerk

screw all the talk in the nwiot thread, jp has got himself a cd title right there.

[DiggityDawg]

Be still my heart. I REALLY hope this sticks.

We wish him a lotta luck.

[scamboogah]

The next guest was comedian Patton Oswalt, who you probably wouldn't know from anything other than Kevin James' friend in The King of Queens.

Obviously a big comedy fan.

So, warm up comic was awful, Romijn was boring, and Patton was ok, despite being a nobody that was barely in King of Queens. 10 out of 10!

Jackass.

[BillBrasky]

This is pretty incredible news. It really sounds like the show is going to be just like "Late Night". And with the addition of *ahem* as warm-up comic, things couldn't possibly get any better. Can't wait to see the show live!

[I love nny]

That is awesome, hopefully he will get a chance to be in front of the camera on a later show. and i think we all know how he got that job...because he's talented

[Garon]

I'm going to the June 3rd taping. I don't think it's possible to get any better than "Warm Up Comic," Andy Richter, and Conan O'Brian together. I don't even care who the guests are at this point.

[punkdc]

I didn't post the warm up comic because I was expecting him to post on AST the big news. I feel he deserves the excitement of posting it.

[MeatLoafX]

I didn't post the warm up comic because I was expecting him to post on AST the big news. I feel he deserves the excitement of posting it.

Exactly. My first reaction was to post it loud and proud.
Then I reconsidered and will simply just wish him luck. I hope he enjoys the hell out of the gig and, if it's what he wants, I hope more comes of it. They couldn't pick a better talent.

[yumitree]

I didn't post the warm up comic because I was expecting him to post on AST the big news. I feel he deserves the excitement of posting it.

i wonder if he might be a bit too busy to be posting on the internet...

[crimestick]

Fantastic news. Hope it's a permanent thing.