the comic's comic

Scenes from a stairwell: Zombies, tacos and comedy in Conan O'Brien's Live Coco Cam 24-hour event

Conan O'Brien and Team Coco briefly took over the front page of YouTube with a 24-hour event that has streamed live over the Internet.

In the latest promotional stunt to remind and alert viewers of Conan's return to late-night TV with Conan on TBS on Nov. 8, the "Live Coco Cam" has broadcasted live from the stairwell inside Conaco Production's offices, located next to the Conan set on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif. With a couple of hours left, there could still be more silliness worth reporting.

In the meantime, some highlights...

Aaron Bleyaert, Team Coco's online muse, introduced us to the marathon session with some aerobics.

 

All stretched out? Andres du Bouchet, comedian and writer for Conan, delivers a reading. Hey, look, it's Conan! Hey, look, it's Andy Richter! Hey, look out for debris! Andres will not be fazed.

 

Then things got weird.

Team Coco Presents The Conan Writers Live on TBS

The first person we see on tonight's TBS special, Team Coco Presents The Conan Writers Live, is a writer of the online variety as Team Coco's blogger Aaron Bleyaert visits the dressing room of host Andy Richter.

The first person we see performing onstage is Reggie Watts, the musical talent and Team Coco's opening act on this spring's North American theater tour as suggested by Conan's TV writers. Watts provides the special's theme music and also delivers a rather straightforward -- well, in as much as anything Watts does can be construed as straightforward -- song about women who carry big ass purses.

And as Richter notes in his opening monologue, it's a wonder any of the writers are getting primetime TV exposure, joking: "The main reason you're getting to see them at all is because Conan cannot be on TV until the fall. And as I think everybody knows by now, Conan is very easily threatened and unbelievably insecure. So he has been keeping these guys down for years. But not tonight!"

As for the writers who we do get to see on TV, Brian Kiley kicks things off properly with a tight five-minute set of his well-crafted one-liners about parenting. After the first commercial break, Richter introduces Deon Cole by noting that Cole had performed so well as a stand-up on Conan's show that they hired him to join the writing staff full-time. Cole, a native of the Chicago suburbs, joked about curing a hangover with a hangover, what it's like to be the only black person in the writers' room, and closed with a routine about the things black and white people don't want to do in front of the other race.

Jimmy Pardo, the warm-up comedian for Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show audiences, gets a shout-out for his Never Not Funny podcast in Richter's introduction. And I'm going to avoid the trap Pardo set for bloggers, instead choosing to focus on his otherwise meta routine and his one-liner roast of Watts, who remained onstage throughout the taping: "What don't you have: Scissors or a mirror?"

Josh Comers got introduced with the selling point of still having "that new writer smell." Comers wondered why little girls would ever wear a T-shirt saying "You Wish" across the chest, what it's like when your landlord is a Holocaust survivor, and boasted that one joke makes him lose 10 Facebook friends every time he tells it. You'll know it when you hear it.

Andres du Bouchet closes out the special, and Richter introduced him as a veteran of the NYC comedy scene since 1996 and, for Conan's viewers, as the "Tiger Woods joke caddy." Du Bouchet came out in character with a smoking jacket and gave the audience a preview of the one-man musical about his life: "100 and Me Percent: The Andres du Bouchet Saga." And yes, he did include the number about 9/11.

For those of you keeping track, Matt O'Brien and Dan Cronin also performed sets at the tapings which did not make it to broadcast. Eric Andre also provided an energetic stand-up routine as the warm-up comedian.

Team Coco Presents The Conan Writers Live debuts at 10 p.m. Eastern tonight on TBS.

Team Coco Presents The Conan Writers Live: Too much "very funny" for one hour of TBS airtime?

The Team Coco presents The Conan Writers Live was a big hit last night at Chicago's Bank of America Theater, but I can tell you that perhaps it was too much of a big hit.

The show, hosted by Andy Richter and featuring musical wonders from Reggie Watts, included stand-up sets from eight of the writers for Conan O'Brien's short-lived edition of The Tonight Show on NBC. But there's only room for six of them to perform on the 60-minute special, set to air on TBS at 10 p.m. Sunday, June 27. So who will make the cut? What if they all performed well during the taping? Couldn't TBS just extend the special to 90 minutes if it's all "very funny"? The special debuts late on a Sunday after the Ellen DeGeneres variety special, so it's not as if they're going to push anything major off the air to make do. A quick look at the schedule listings for June 27 shows that TBS plans to immediately repeat both Ellen and Coco, followed by a 1 a.m. rebroadcast of the movie, Vegas Vacation. I'm sure Chevy wouldn't mind getting bumped, right?

As for the show itself, it was more than a little heartwarming to see the audience immediately take to Watts even before the taping itself began. I had to scramble to find a seat because my seat in Row G had been (mild spoiler alert?) occupied by a young Conan doppelganger.

Host Andy Richter explained onstage that since Conan himself cannot be on the special -- due to the terms he negotiated upon his exit from NBC -- that meant his writers would get to have this time in the limelight.  "Tonight they get to tell their dick jokes in their own voices!" Richter boasted.

Except now it looks like two of them might not get to be seen on TV. That's not fun. To add to the awkwardness, none of "The Conan Writers" actually have jobs with TBS yet. Yes. You read that right. TBS has signed Conan, but since he, Richter and some of his writers have been spending their entire spring on a North American theater tour, the budgeting for the new late-night show on TBS has not included hiring any of the writers. Of course, you'd suspect that anyone Conan brought along on his official "Team Coco" tour and branded on the TV as "The Conan Writers" would be reasonably assured of a full-time writing job in the fall. Just like you'd reasonably think they'd get their time on TV next weekend. Right? Right???

UPDATED: For those of you wondering, the eight sets did not include any of the sketch performers from Conan's various late-night TV shows, but did include Matt O'Brien, Jimmy Pardo, Josh Comers, Brian Kiley, Andres du Bouchet, Dan Cronin, Deon Cole and a Reggie Watts set.

Video: Imaginary Bats Home Gym

This ad spoof from the Talk Show with Spike Feresten, Imaginary Bats Home Gym, stars Andre du Bouchet. Swat, swat, swat those pounds away! The show bills this segment as "Comedy For Stoners," which also seems like code words, a euphemism as it were, for "Comedy For Tim & Eric Fans, Who Are Stoners." Either way, enjoy!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

The Mini Hot Dog Eating Championships

Is it too early in the morning to ponder hot dogs? How about mini hot dogs, the ever-popular pigs in blankets? Well, it's not too early in the month, because July means we're only days away from the Fourth of July and the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. Will it be Joey Chestnut again? Or will Kobayashi reclaim his legend status? More pressing, as commentators Sean Crespo and Christian Finnegan note in this newly unearthed video, can Adira Amram or H. Alan Scott dethrone Andres du Bouchet in the first-ever mini-dog "contest" at Comix? You'll have to watch to find out:

Naughty Town's "lost" hit: "She's Nine!"

This is the most important music video that you may ever watch that has ever come out of the 1980s glam metal band tradition. It comes from a band called Naughty Town. This song is so spot-on that you could play it on the radio today (yes, today, Wednesday, April 16, 2008) and rock fans would call in to their DJs and say I like it, play it again, please? And no one would know the difference. Kudos, also, on the video execution. Clean. Crisp. Huzzah! So, what are we waiting for? Roll it! Then email it to everyone you know and play it again and again...

Credits: Bryan Olsen and Mark Douglas wrote it. Tiffany Graeff directed it. Barry Rothbart edited it. Naughty Town are: Bryan Olsen (singer) Mark Douglas (guitarist) Dan Siegal (drummer) Roger Hailes (bassist/dancer) Andres du Bouchet played the judge and Kimmy Gatewood was nine.

Can you guess 2008's fastest-selling DVD?

Hint: It was the 2007 movie Alvin and the Chipmunks, which sold 2.6 million copies yesterday in its DVD debut (Variety). FOX also is promoting the DVD with a live touring stage show in shopping malls. And no, David Cross is not on that tour. Last night, in fact, Cross performed at Ochi's Lounge, the basement lounge of Comix comedy club in Manhattan for Andres du Bouchet's new monthly show. In case you or Patton Oswalt or anyone else were curious. But back to Alvin, Simon and Theodore...wow! Then again, I had no idea that movie managed to tally more than $216 million at the box office!

A moment with du Bouchet

I never got to see the Giant Tuesday show at Rififi, but last night, I did get a moment to meet and speak with the comedy giant himself, Andres du Bouchet. That was nice. You know what else would be nice? Updating my site. I've got two show recaps just waiting to leap from the notepad to the keypad. Until then, enjoy this funny ad spoof, courtesy of Monsieur du Bouchet:

2008 ECNY Awards

Over the years, I've witnessed some of the uglier facets of comedy contests as both a participant and as a judge. Last night, however, I saw the sunnier side at the ECNY Awards (please don't call them the Emerging Comics of New York anymore) ceremony at Comix in New York City. Even before the showcase started, you could see something special happening. Comedians got dressed up. There was a red carpet. Small, to be sure, but still there and still red with correspondents talking to a camera in footage that presumably will wind up on the Internet. A very festive air. And so nice to see a scene -- or at least a distinctly unique scene -- come together in celebration of the art of comedy. Host Jon Friedman said they changed the name of the awards KFC-like to just ECNY to show they were rewarding all sorts of comedy, not just the emerging kind. At the same time, though, it would've been nice to really see all of New York comedy represented in the room. When the ceremony ended, several comedians had to turn around and go back to their table because they didn't have their proper receipts on hand for the door guys. We spent the night in a traditional comedy club with traditional item minimums and rules, and yet we could've used a few more traditional club comedians. Maybe next year?

Anyhow. I was saying how nice the night was, right?

Some highlights: The show opened with a six-minute video montage of the nominees speaking directly to the camera. Well-edited. And made funnier after Joe Mande said it'd be creepy if this montage turned out to be their memorial video. Friedman, not only hosting the show but also an organizer and a nominee for best host, acknowledged the conflict, quipping: "This for me is a lose-lose." Later, when he lost, he immediately asked the other "losers" in his category to play his Rejection Show. Another big laugh line from Friedman: "I was told to be very Seacresty." Scott Bateman provided professional animated videos to list all of the nominees. And most of the award presenters brought it, too. Matt McCarthy, presenting best director, opened the proceedings with a wicked Stanley Kubrick from the set of The Shining. Andres Du Bouchet delivered the opening and closing lines from Act 1 of his upcoming fictional one-man-show (100 and Me Percent?) that went over so well, he almost wasn't joking when he said, "I can tell it's going to be a big hit." The Whitest Kids U'Know went to see a psychic yesterday for help determining the best sketch group winners. Carolyn Castiglia joked: "It's great to see so many comedians get dressed up to get drunk and cry. Usually I do it naked and covered in pizza!"

What else? All of the musical comedy nominees performed during the show. Only Reggie Watts got a standing ovation. And didn't win. Eddie Brill received the first "lifetime achievement award" and really took it to heart, confessing in his speech, "I've never been more nervous." They also debuted a new soap opera parody from A.D. Miles called "Horrible People" that'll begin airing soon online on My Damn Channel. I sat next to Jordan Carlos and Andrew WK. Carlos was nice. WK was nice, but awfully quiet aside from his brief stint as a presenter. The show limited acceptance speeches to 30 seconds, but the show still lasted close to two-and-a-half hours. The afterparty at Comix lasted just as long. At said afterparty, Nate Sloan from The Apiary wanted Todd Jackson from Dead-Frog and I to dish our "hot tips." I'm no Gossip Girl. XOXO.

The winners! Congrats to all, for whatever an ECNY Award is worth, you got one! Hooray!

Best Director: Kurt Braunohler

Best Improv Group: I Eat Pandas

Best One Person Show: Nick Kroll (Fabrice Fabrice)

Best Sketch Comedy Group: Harvard Sailing Team

Outstanding Achievement in Flyer or Postcard Design: The Apple Sisters (Matthew C. Johnson, Keith Huang)

Best Technician: Pat Baer

Best Short Comedic Film: Minesweeper: The Movie (Elephant Larry)

Best Website, Original Content: The Onion News Network

Best Website, News and Commentary: The Apiary

Best Host: Eugene Mirman and Michael Showalter, Tearing the Veil of Maya

Best Variety Show: The Greg Johnson and Larry Murphy Show

Emerging Comic Award: Joe Mande

Best Musical Comedy Act: The Apple Sisters

Best Female Stand-up: Kristen Schaal

Best Male Stand-up: John Mulaney

And for those of you playing the Full Disclosure Home Game, four of the five producers of the ECNY Awards also were up for awards (the exception: Alex Goldberg). Friedman (host) and Carol Hartsell (tech) didn't win. Alex Zalben (sketch) and Nate/The Apiary (website/news) won. I was not nominated. Snub? Jackson joked to me that I was too new to New York City to get a nod and would have to wait my turn, like Barack Obama. I'll take an Obama comparison, so thanks, Todd!

UPDATED/CORRECTED! I cleaned up a couple of things in this post that weren't entirely clear when I first wrote them (thank you, commenters!). Also, if you want to see what I look like, as well as Dead-Frog's Todd Jackson, there is a lovely picture of us taken last night by Rachel Kramer Bussel!