Conan

Today Lei and I went to see a taping of Conan at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank. The last time I saw a Conan taping was in 1998 in New York when he was doing Late Night with Conan O'Brien.  We got their early to make sure we could get good seats in the studio audience.  I was wondering if they would have any Conan merchandise for sale and lucky for us a guy came and opened up a stand in the waiting area.  Lei and I picked up awesome blue t-shirts of an animated owl Conan in a tv shaped bird cage that are only available for sale to audience members.

As expected there was a lot of waiting around, standing in lines and walking as we went through the Warner Brothers lot to get to Stage 15. The Conan studio is decent sized and the set looks great in person.  We had seats a few rows up in the center with a good view of everything. During the audience warm up Lei pointed me out to the comedian as someone from out of town.  Thankfully he didn't seem to question my lack of an Aussie accent.

The guests for this evening's show were comedian and tv host Howie Mandel, boxer Floyd Mayweather, and musical guest Alexander Ebert (lead singer of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros).  We had some funny comedy bits including John Galliano's brother and his many hats, and a cow committing suicide by jumping from the studio rafters and hanging itself after listening to the Basic Cable Band.  Despite the cow incident the Basic Cable Band were awesome and it was a treat to get to hear them play full songs before the taping started and during the commercial breaks. Alexander's performance of "Truth" was amazing and had me wanting to check out his solo album. After the show finished taping we were asked to stick around for a special surprise and were treated to an additional interview with Ashton Kutcher, which will air as part of Thursday's show. It was a fun taping and Conan came up into the audience and sang to the crowd at the end.

Here is Alexander doing "Truth"

Commencement Addresses

It is graduation time in the United States, and universities compete with each other to get good commencement speakers.  For my graduation from UC San Diego, they created an all-campus ceremony so that then President Bill Clinton could give a policy speech on diversity in the United States.  Probably the most sought after speakers though are comedians.  There were a couple good ones this year with Conan O'Brien giving the commencement address at Dartmouth, and Stephen Colbert at Northwestern University.





I would also like to offer my congratulations to the very first class of third graders that I taught, who graduated from high school this week.  All the best for your futures.

Conan's Back!

I am so excited that Conan is finally back on the air in late night.  His show may have moved to basic cable on TBS, but I'm sure it will be just as funny as his stints on Late Night and The Tonight Show.  The only downside for me is that his show is airing on an HD channel in Australia, and I don't have HD.  Therefore, I am hoping that the majority of each episode will be uploaded onto the show's website so I can watch it.  I've been a fan since 1993- can't miss the show now!

Here's the cold opening from his first night:

Team Conan

Before I left the States last week news broke that NBC was going to shaft Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show by moving Jay Leno's failed 10:00 pm show to 11:35 pm after the Olympics and push The Tonight Show to start a half hour later at 12:05 am. I have been really angry that Conan is being treated this way and was glad to read Conan's statement today that he is not down with it either. Who knows what will happen now, but the ball is in NBC's court.

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over “The Tonight Show” in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004, I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my “Tonight Show” in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the “Tonight Show” to 12:05 to accommodate the “Jay Leno Show” at 11:35. For 60 years, the “Tonight Show” has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the “Tonight Show” into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The “Tonight Show” at 12:05 simply isn’t the “Tonight Show.” Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the “Late Night” show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard, and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of “The Tonight Show.” But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet, a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the “Tonight Show,” I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,
Conan

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

This week was the debut of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. It is nice to have Conan back on tv after his few months away. I am glad that so many of the Late Night staff have made the move to Los Angeles, and it's great to have Andy Richter back on the show. The new Tonight Show set is gorgeous with its Art Deco style and provides a nice connection to Late Night, which was shot in the beautiful Art Deco building that is 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City.

There was a lot of debate about how Conan might have to change the show for an 11:30 p.m. audience, but it feels like the same old Conan to me. There have been lots of remote pieces this week, as well as the return of a revamped "In the Year 3000", the string dance, and even an appearance by graphic designer Pierre Bernard. The new Max Weinberg and the Tonight Show Band have grown to 8 members with the inclusion of James Wormworth on percussion (The Worm used to fill in for Max when he was on tour with Bruce Springsteen) and they have kept the old Late Night theme with some minor tweaking. It may take them some time to settle in and work out how to incorporate Andy into the show more fully, but overall I think they've made the transition well and I'm happy to be able to watch Conan again five nights a week.

Farewell Late Night with Conan O'Brien

On Friday the sixteen glorious years of Late Night with Conan O'Brien came to an end. I remember watching the first episode of Late Night in September 1993 and seeing this unknown and nervous pale, red-headed Irish Catholic host who was taking over from David Letterman. Conan and sidekick Andy Richter had a very rough first year but the comedy was always brave, intelligent and inspired. They took chances and even though not everything hit the mark you had to admire their originality.

The last couple weeks have been filled with highlights from throughout the years. The final show included some great old clips (yay for the snippet of Ken Burns' Conan) and Andy stopped by one last time. Will Ferrell made an appearance as George W. Bush and The White Stripes played a lovely version of "We're Going To Be Friends." The show ended with Conan giving an emotional and heartfelt thanks to everyone who worked on the show, helped his career, and his friends, family and fans. He did good to hold it together for the most part.

Throughout the years my favorite bits on Late Night have always been the remote segments as it's where Conan really shines. One of my favorite remote pieces was the 1864 Old Time Baseball:


Conan was recently a guest on Inside the Actor's Studio and gave a very insightful and funny interview to James Lipton, who was a frequent visitor to Late Night over the past few years. You can watch it here. It will be interesting to see how Conan goes as host of The Tonight Show, but I have great faith that he will succeed at the 11:30 pm hour.

Conan Doesn't Need Writers

Conan O'Brien on TV Talk Machine

As a devoted viewer of Late Night with Conan O'Brien since its inception in 1993 (and yes, I still watch it here in Australia) I was excited but a bit bummed out when I heard that Conan was coming to San Francisco to do a week of shows at the Orpheum Theatre starting April 30th. I would have loved to attend one of the tapings, but that won't be happening. Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle has done a podcast with Conan discussing the upcoming shows, his take over of The Tonight Show in 2009, and other assorted topics, which you can listen to here. Most interesting factoid for me- Conan's sister lives in San Rafael!