Daily Reviews » Conan

Conan O’Brien Brings Out Jim Carrey, More Celeb Pals At L.A. Show

Admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:56:52 +0000

Aziz Ansari, Jonah Hill and Jon Hamm also join Team Coco for the Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour.
By Katie Byrne

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Conan O’Brien onstage during his “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Televison Tour”

Photo: Noel Vasquez/ Getty

UNIVERSAL CITY, California — For seven short months, Conan O’Brien hosted “The Tonight Show” on the Universal Studios back lot. In a full-circle moment on Saturday night, the comedian brought his Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour to Universal Studios’ Gibson Amphitheatre, a mere 400 yards from his old stage.

“This is my first time back at Universal Studios since I lost my job,” O’Brien announced to the sold-out crowd, causing the Conan-crazy fans to boo his former employer, NBC. “Don’t boo too loudly. If you listen very carefully, you can hear bad ideas being green-lit.”

Aside from occasional jabs at O’Brien’s old network, the traveling variety show was nothing but a lovefest between TBS’ newest late-night host and his devoted fanbase. O’Brien even brought a few extra-special treats to L.A. (since his celeb pals didn’t have to travel too far to join him onstage), including appearances by Jonah Hill, 2010 MTV Movie Awards host Aziz Ansari and Jim Carrey as Superman.

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After lamenting how tough it is to be Conan O’Brien, the funnyman launched into Five for Fighting’s “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” only to be joined in the second verse by Carrey, who emerged from the crowd in red-and-blue tights. The pair hammed it up during the duet, trading over-the-top vocal runs and awkward dance moves.

The real guest-star cavalcade came during the “Walker, Texas Ranger” Lever, a staple from Conan’s late-night shows that (for legal reasons) will now be known as the Chuck Norris Rural Policeman Handle. Ansari, Hill, “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm and “30 Rock” page Jack MacBrayer all took turns pulling the handle to activate ridiculous (and completely real) “Walker” scenes. “I’m just glad I’m not one of the guys who works for NBC pulling the handle,” Hamm quipped, pointing out Ansari’s and MacBrayer’s day jobs on Peacock comedies.

Conan bestie Andy Richter, former “Tonight Show” writer Deon Cole and Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog also got in on the action with bits throughout the two-hour show. Comedian Reggie Watts kick-started the night with 20 ridiculous minutes of accents, beatboxing and unintelligible lyrics.

O’Brien will be back on the Gibson stage Sunday night (April 25) before heading to San Diego on Thursday.

Are you planning to see Conan’s tour? Are you looking forward to his TBS show? Let us know in the comments below!

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Conan O’Brien’s Tour Opener: Special Guests, Jabs At NBC

Admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:21:19 +0000

TBS’ newest recruit gives Eugene, Oregon, a variety hour.
By Serena Markstrom

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Conan O’Brien performs at his “Legally Prohibited” tour in Eugene, Oregon, on Monday

Photo: Michael Buckner/ Getty Images

EUGENE, Oregon — Monday’s kickoff of Conan O’Brien’s Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour was part rock, part late-night variety show as O’Brien demonstrated a fighting attitude that will come in handy as he leverages a television comeback on TBS next season.




	Conan O’Brien Kicks Off His ‘Legally Prohibited’ Tour

With a Doctor Evil-like character doing most of the NBC mocking, gaudy outfits (including an Eddie Murphy “Raw”-style purple leather suit), altered versions of well-worn bits, an inflatable “bat out of hell” and several guest appearances, a bearded O’Brien wowed the first group in his 32-city national tour.

“You may have heard: I got a new job,” he told the 2,500 capacity crowd, joking he’d be the new assistant manager at Banana Republic. “I’ll be in the corduroy section.”

The tour launched on the heels of shocking news that in November, O’Brien will return to television on cable channel TBS, not a major network. In the meantime, he’s contractually prohibited from appearing on TV, so the members of Team Coco have been supporting him at the box office, with most stops on this tour selling out within a few hours of going on sale in March. At Eugene’s Hull Center for the Performing Arts, there were a few people who’d dyed their hair orange for the night, but the rest of the fans looked like typical concertgoers.

To open the show, comedian Reggie Watts set the tone with 40-minutes of his strange humor. He sang and beat-boxed several potty-mouthed songs covering such terrain as “big-ass purses,” the anatomical function of hydrochloric acid and objectification of women in rap videos. With his huge, wobbling Afro, idiosyncratic voices and accents, and looped sound effects, Watts got the crowd roaring with more laughter than any other guest, including O’Brien’s trusty foil Andy Richter.

The first sight of O’Brien was a close-up of his pasty white skin and red facial hair on the projection screen. As the video panned out, we saw an “overweight” O’Brien splayed on the floor with a half-eaten piece of pizza on his belly and an empty bottle of Budweiser near his head. The bit introduced the running theme that O’Brien’s life is lonely and hollow when he is not on television.

But then O’Brien took the stage, slim, trim and lanky as ever. After an extended standing ovation, he began the monologue. He explained the eight stages of grief after losing a television show. The funniest was number four, anger, for which he showed photos of people such as Kim Kardashian, Snooki and illusionist Criss Angel, all of whom are on TV instead of him.

O’Brien, Richter and “Tonight Show” writer Deon Cole all took stabs at Eugene, but the funniest came from Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. “Usually you have to go to a Dave Matthews Band concert to see this many white people,” the dog said in a video segment, referring to the predictable demographics of the college town.

Triumph’s bit was Mad Libs-style pre-recorded video, overdubbing clumsy edits to insert town-specific jokes.

“I know everything about your state,” he said. Popular University of Oregon football coach Chip Kelly became the “state animal.” Gay Portland Mayor Sam Adams was the “state flower.” The puppet got more laughs than Cole’s short stand-up act and Richter’s live, radio-style “commercials.”

Indie rockers Spoon took the stage as musical guests, leaving their own fans waiting 40 minutes at a downtown venue three blocks south.

O’Brien kept his NBC-bashing light and subtle, with occasional video segments featuring a bald O’Brien as “Generic Network Executive.”

“This is the first time anyone has ever paid to see me,” O’Brien said. “They’ve paid to make me go away.”

O’Brien’s newfound independence was on display with his beard and lack of heavy makeup (large under-eye bags and dark spots on his hands were visible on the large screen). And keeping with the idea that lawyers were watching and that it’s unclear who owns his long-running jokes, Masturbating Bear became the “Self-Pleasuring Panda,” and the Walker Texas Ranger Lever was the “Chuck Norris Rural Policeman Handle.”

The random Chuck Norris video clips were a hit. But the musical numbers in which O’Brien subbed topical humor into songs like Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” and Cake’s version of “I Will Survive” fell flat at many places, perhaps because the lyrical substitutions were too obvious.

The full cast returned to the stage for an encore that featured strobe lights, backup dancers and a massive bat out of hell inflating above the band and in front of a big screen flickering with flames.

As people filed out of the theater, the sinister network executive appeared one last time to spit hateful words.

“Go home to your pathetic little houses,” he sneered, as some fans lingered, batting beach balls printed with cartoon images of O’Brien’s face.

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Conan O’Brien Kicks Off His ‘Legally Prohibited’ Tour

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Conan O’Brien Revives Edgy “Late Night” Vibe at First Live Show

Admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:18:44 +0000

Though he may not legally be able to be funny on television — at least not until his new TBS show premieres in November — Conan O’Brien kicked off his 32-city North American live comedy tour on Monday night with old friends, unexpected guests and a giant inflatable bat. And he was extremely funny.

“This is the first time anyone has ever paid to see me perform,” O’Brien informed the delirious sold-out crowd at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene, Oregon, before getting in his first dig at NBC:
“But people have paid to make me go away.”

With no couch or desk in sight, Conan lorded over the proceedings from the front of the stage, flanked by longtime sidekick Andy Richter and backed by the very band that spent 17 years with him on TV — without leader Max Weinberg.

The show started with the former Tonight Show Band — now the Legally Prohibited Band — ripping through Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up” with trombone player Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg taking the lead on vocals.

For the next 90 minutes, Conan mixed live segments of comedy and music with pre-recorded material shown on a screen behind the stage that served to transition from one piece to the next.

The vibe was much more Late Night than Tonight Show, with Conan strolling on stage looking like a paler, readheaded Barry Gibb, complete with full beard, no tie, and the top two buttons undone on his shirt. The content of the show occasionally strayed to places he’s never gone on TV, with a smattering of profanities tossed in to give the show an edgier feel.

After a lengthy standing ovation greeted him, he admitted to missing the nightly adoration from a live audience. “You have no idea how shallow I am,” he cracked.

Conan never mentioned his former employer by name, but did take a few jabs, most notably in a series of video bits featuring Conan as a Dr. Evil-esque “generic network executive.” The most direct acknowledgment of his disappointment over losing the Tonight Show job came in a monologue discussing the “eight levels of grief over losing your talk show,” which included stages such as denial, anger and “36 hours of Red Bull and Halo.”

Though his trademark self-deprecation permeated his performance, like when he joked about having “no ass” while donning the ridiculous purple suit Eddie Murphy wore in his stand-up film Raw, O’Brien exuded defiant confidence throughout the night, bolstered by a crowd that roared with approval of nearly everything he did.

He also used the format to show off his musical chops, strapping on a guitar for his personalized version of “On the Road Again” and an unfinished original called “The Girl Who Looked Like Conrad Bain,” which he claims to have been writing for 18 years.

And for those concerned that Conan’s settlement with NBC would mean the disappearance of some of his most beloved characters and comedy bits, such worries were squashed when the Masturbating Bear made an early appearance. But in a half-joking concession that his use of the bear may be unauthorized, Conan came up with a new plan. So long, Masturbating Bear — hello, Self-Pleasuring Panda.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog drew some of the biggest laughs of the night in a pre-taped bit, introducing himself as “the only dog who hasn’t been banged by Jesse James or Tiger Woods” before launching into a tirade that used clever sound editing to bring it a local touch.

The reintroduction of the “Walker, Texas Ranger Lever” was arguably the most popular segment of the evening. Renamed the “Chuck Norris Rural Policeman Handle,” special guest Jack McBrayer of 30 Rock joined Conan and Andy onstage to give it a pull.

And then there was the night’s signature non sequitur: the huge inflatable creature Conan claims to have purchased from Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell tour.

Other guests included Spoon, which performed “I Summon You,” and comedian and ex-Tonight Show writer Deon Cole, who did a short stand-up set.

At the start of the night, Conan copped to modest expectations for the tour, saying he hoped that attendees left “thinking that was sort of worth it.” But by the time O’Brien was tearing into a reflective “I Will Survive” an hour and a half later, it was clear that the formerly devastated members of Team Coco couldn’t be happier with his transformation from late-night pariah to traveling folk hero.

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Why Didn’t Jay Leno Congratulate Conan?

Admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 06:47:55 +0000

After hinting months ago that he would scale down his role with The Tonight Show, Kevin Eubanks announced on Monday’s show that he would step down as Jay Leno‘s bandleader, a role he’s played for 18 years.

Conan O’Brien going to TBS

The announcement may have been the reason Leno made no mention in his monologue of Monday’s other late-night news:

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Jay Leno: Conan and I “Got Screwed” By NBC

Admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:25:52 +0000

Jay Leno thinks he and Conan O’Brien were “treated terribly” by NBC.

When Joy Behar made a guest appearance Tuesday night on The Tonight Show, she brought…

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Live on Stage: Conan Hitting the Road for Comedy Tour

Admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:37:33 +0000

Remember that guy who had a show and then had another show? Well, he now has a tour.

Conan O’Brien will hit the road for a live comedy/music tour — dubbed the “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour” — starting April 12. The two-month …

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View full post on TVGuide.com: Breaking News

Conan O’Brien Joins Twitter

Admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:49:15 +0000

More than a one month after exiting The Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien returned to the spotlight — with the debut of his…

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Fox Boss Says He Needs to Be Convinced Conan Could be Profitable

Admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:55:54 +0000

Fox executives are mulling the possibility of a late-night show hosted by Conan O’Brien, but their boss, Rupert Murdoch, says they have to convince him it would be profitable.

“We’re giving it a lot of thought and a lot of examination,” said Murdoch, head of Fox’s parent company, News Corp.

Ratings: 10.3 million tune in for O’Brien’s final Tonight Show

Fox owned-and operated TV stations and affiliates (a total of 205, according to The Wall Street Journal) now generally air reruns of syndicated sitcoms from 11 to midnight that make them a lot of money.

So, Murdoch said…

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Jay Leno Tells Oprah He’s ‘Hugely’ Embarrassed By Conan O’Brien Fiasco

Admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:39:03 +0000

‘It was really agonizing,’ he says about the reaction to his ‘Tonight Show’ return.
By Eric Ditzian

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Jay Leno on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on Thursday

Photo: ABC/ Harpo

Less than a week after Conan O’Brien’s “Tonight Show” farewell, and with less than a dozen episodes of his own failed prime-time show still to come, Jay Leno appeared on Thursday’s (January 28) episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to air his thoughts on the late-night debacle.

“It’s hugely embarrassing,” the 59-year-old comedian said of the situation, in which he fizzled at the 10 p.m. hour and then took back the “Tonight Show” mantle just seven months after O’Brien assumed it.

“Anything they did would have been better than this,” Leno said during the hour-long interview, which took place on the set of his current show. “Anything. Anything they did. If they’d come in and shot everybody, I mean, it would have been people murdered, but at least it would have been a two-day story. Yes, NBC could not have handled it worse, from 2004 onward. This whole thing was a huge, huge mess.”

Suggesting that a preferable alternative would involve a workplace massacre might be a tad extreme, but that statement just speaks to how heated this latest late-night shift has become. Pilloried nightly by his fellow hosts and forced to watch as the entire nation seemed to side with O’Brien, Leno took the time on “Oprah” to finally air his grievances and explain the reasoning behind his actions.

“I had a show; my show got canceled,” he said. “They weren’t happy with the other guy’s show. They said, ‘We want you to go back.’ I said, ‘OK.’ And this seemed to make a lot of people really upset. And I go, ‘Well, who wouldn’t take that job, though? Who wouldn’t do that?’ And it was really agonizing. And I would spend a lot of time just thinking about it, going, ‘I think I’m a good guy. Am I not a good guy?’ Maybe I’m just one of those guys who thinks I see everything with the rose-colored glasses and the world is falling around you.”

Asked if he was being treated unfairly in the media, Leno said, “I think so, but I think you have to look for a bad guy.”

Leno also admitted he lied to his viewers in 2004 when he said on air that he planned to retire once O’Brien took over “Tonight,” a fiction he maintained in public for much of the next five years. “I told a little white lie on the air,” he revealed. “It made it easier that way.”

His intention the entire time was to launch a new show on a rival network after NBC’s decision to give his show to O’Brien left Leno “devastated.” “It broke my heart,” he said.

But when NBC approached him with the idea to move to prime time, Leno said he took it because he was “comfortable” and starting a show on a new network would be “a lot of work.” Still, he argued Conan could now start “a successful show on Fox or wherever else he goes.”

“Good performer and good comic and a good guy,” Leno said about O’Brien. “No animosity there.”

Nor was there ill will in 2004, when the late-show succession plan was first hatched. Leno said the two hosts remained friendly. When Leno’s prime-time show faltered after its launch and NBC suggested giving him a 30-minute program at 11:30 p.m., followed by Conan’s “Tonight Show,” Leno said he never thought his rival would reject the offer.

Asked to respond to accusations that moving “Tonight” to midnight would be destructive to the franchise, Leno said, “If you look at the ratings, it was already destructive to the franchise.

“It all comes down to numbers in show business,” he added.

Before Leno returns to “Tonight” following the Winter Olympics, the comedian said “there’s a lot of damage control that has to be done” and that he worries about rebuilding his audience after the feud. Can he regain the #1 late-night spot in the ratings now that David Letterman has assumed that perch?

“I don’t know,” he answered.

What do you think about Leno’s “Oprah” appearance? Is he right that he’s been vilified in the press for no reason? Let us know below!

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