Dana Carvey as Johnny Carson on SNL, in 1990
A lot of the way that show was conceived was by thinking about what talk shows weren’t doing. Dana Carvey was asked to do that gig months before it landed in anyone else’s hands, right after Carson announced that he was retiring. Lorne knew that he was going to get to oversee the show, and the first person he wanted to host it was Carvey. He wanted Conan and I to work on it, and at that time no late-night talk show was doing any sort of sketch comedy at all. That idea expanded when it was decided that Conan would become the host. But before that happened I thought that the show would feature Carvey playing a lot of different characters. Months later Conan called me and said that this idea would work in reverse—he could be the straight man to all of these crazy characters. The sketches evolved into playing with visual jokes because Conan and I bonded over our love of cartoony humor.
-- Robert Smigel, explaining his approach as the initial head writer for Late Night with Conan O'Brien, in October's "comedy" issue of Vice Magazine.
The 2010 Major League Baseball playoffs have begun today, and with it, you had to know that TBS would begin ramping up what will become ubiquitous promotions for Conan O'Brien's upcoming late-night talker, Conan. Well, you're right about that.
But there's more. Think, big, orange and up in the sky. Yes. You read the headline. It's the Conan blimp!
It's currently flying over Philadelphia today and tonight.
According to the Team Coco Blimp page, it's scheduled to fly over New York City on Oct. 9, Atlanta on Oct. 16, Tampa on Oct. 19, and Boston on Oct. 26. And yes, I'm painfully well aware that Boston is not a participating baseball city this October. Just roll the clip.
You can also follow the Team Coco Blimp via Twitter and Foursquare.
UPDATED: Oh, and in brand-new spots airing during the baseball games, Conan is seen in the blimp with the UCB's own Ian Roberts as his pilot!
Oh, hello. Yes, that's right. In case you weren't anywhere near Los Angeles on Monday, Sept. 27, 2010, you may not have heard that Southern California registered its hottest-ever recorded temperatures yesterday. Through the roof triple-digit Fahrenheit readings.
We learned officially that Max Weinberg would not be joining Conan O'Brien and Team Coco on his TBS show when it bows in November. We saw that Conan and TBS have a bunch of short promo clips set to the 1980s tune, "Missing You." And we got to take a look under Conan's new TBS stage. Roll the clip.
But what else can I tell you?
It's not as if I've actually been inside the Warner Bros. lot and seen Conan's employees in their unnatural environment...(yes, I forgot to apply sunscreen)
They didn't make me sign any nondisclosure agreements, but I know that Team Coco is pretty set in their desire to break their news their own way. So. I shan't be giving you any sordid details. Although I can tell you that even Andy Richter wears shorts when the temperature approaches 117 degrees in Burbank in a dry heat.
Other tidbits I'm fairly certain I can reveal: They're out shooting their first actual video today that will air on the show in November. Also, if you're wondering what happened to Last Comic Standing finalist Laurie Kilmartin, she's now a writer for Conan. Congrats, Laurie!
Keep posted to Team Coco for further updates, or just to watch Conan get a Ph.D. to do a fan's astronomy homework.
Despite what the folks at The Hollywood Reporter say, or my best intentions to get Conan O'Brien to name his new show Team CoCo A GoGo, the talk-show host's new talk show on TBS will be called exactly what the ads already have been calling it.
See the ad?
If that doesn't tell you already, well, here's Conan himself telling you the news. Which, of course, isn't news, since the ads already told you the title.
And no, it's not really going to be called "Conaw." Roll it!
One of the more intriguing events listed on the schedule for the 2010 Bridgetown Comedy Festival was a panel featuring writers for Conan O'Brien moderated by Jimmy Pardo, who had provided the audience warm-up comedy for the short-lived Conan edition of The Tonight Show. What would they say about the tumult that hit late-night TV just a few months earlier? What are they up to now? Are they still on Team Coco?
You can hear their latest material that's not on TV by checking out the Conan O'Brien Writer's Room show on Wednesday, April 28, at the Hollywood Improv. The tentative lineup, hosted by Pardo, includes Josh Comers, Matt O’Brien, Dan Cronin, Todd Levin, Brian McCann, Brian Kiley, Andres du Bouchet and Deon Cole.
We'd get to some of that juicy news and gossip, but not after Pardo asked each of the writers present -- Brian McCann, Josh Comers, Kevin Dorff and Dan Cronin -- about how they originally had gotten hired for Conan. (Photo by Liezl)
McCann, who joined Late Night in 1995, said he had submitted writing packages at least three times since the show debuted in 1993, and joked that he thought his friendship with Andy Richter through their mutual performances in the Chicago improv scene would have gotten him in easily. As far as what earned approval even back then? "Conan was looking for ideas. Just endless ideas," McCann said. Crazy, topical, anything really. "He loves it all, as long as it makes him laugh."
As for the switch from NYC and LA, and moving from 12:35 a.m. to 11:35 p.m., McCann said the implied suggestions from on-high were to make the show "more presentational" like a "live road show." Which is, ironically, what Conan is doing this spring with his North American live tour of theaters. Dorff, meanwhile, had said the writers had heard last year to keep the show "Conan-centric." Before, the show's writers often were a big part of the mix with sketches before, during and after the guest panelists. "Give people time to get used to seeing this guy in this job which is new to him," Dorff said they were told. Cronin said that the WGA strike that lasted 14 weeks at the end of 2007 -- when Conan eventually had to front and carry the entire load himself on the air -- only drove home the point that Conan's Tonight Show would be more about Conan and less about all of the characters.
The live North American tour for Conan O'Brien and company debuted last night in Eugene, Ore., and both press and fans were there in force to document and spoiler alert the whole thing!
So if you have tickets to an upcoming show, or don't have tickets, do you want to know what you're in for? If you saw the headline, then you must be OK knowing these things, or seeing that Andy Richter is there, as is Triumph the Insult Dog, as is the Masturbating Bear, who turns into the Self-Pleasuring Panda as to avoid NBC repercussions for intellectual property...
Among those filing early reviews and recaps were The Hollywood Reporter and The New York Times, as well as locally by the Eugene Register-Guard. Team Coco also has its blogger Aaron Bleyaert filing reports from the road.
Reggie Watts is onboard as the opening act and apparently gets a solid half-hour and then some to razzle dazzle audiences with his musical comedy genius.
But there's plenty of music to follow from Conan and his band (except no Max?). Here's a fan clip of Conan performing "I Will Survive" with some changed lyrics. The tour continues through June.
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