The Fearless Blogger

Hand over those invisible strings, Stephen Colbert, Conan has a whole gang of potential String-Dancing companions.

From Northwestern News on Vimeo:

Tim McGovern, a Communication senior who twice interned on Conan O’Brien’s late night talk shows, organized an informal campus rally to support the TV host.

Thanks to Facebook, Twitter and a plug for the rally during O’Brien’s monologue on The Tonight Show, more than 45 students turned out for “Conan O’Brien Day” and emulated O’Brien’s signature “string dance” at various campus landmarks.

Students Celebrate ‘Conan O’Brien Day’ at Northwestern

from The Inside Scoop from Backstage

(Yes, another Conan blog posting. Sorry if this blog’s been a bit single-minded the past week. For those who are not Conan fans, please bear with me – there’s just another week of this!)

Didn’t get to see La Bamba in a Popemobile today? Me neither.

At least folks like us can live vicariously through Tonight Show blogger Aaron Bleyaert, who just posted a great depiction of today’s rally outside the Universal lot where the Tonight Show is recorded.

Die hard fans who braved the torrential downpours were rewarded with appearances by band member La Bamba (in aforementioned “Popemobile”), announcer Andy Richter and Conan himself, plus free pizza, Conan/Leno look-alike showdowns and “I’m Wet for Conan” buttons.

La Bamba in the Popemobile (from The Inside Scoop from Backstage)

My favorite part:

(warning: Truman Show spoiler ahead!)

Conan O’Brien himself jumped out of a white van, and started jogging up the street towards Gate 2 and our building!!  It was like The Beatles dropped out of the sky holding the Jonas Brothers on their shoulders – everyone went CRAZY and ran with Coco up the street and into Gate 2!!!  Then, the weirdest thing happened: Just as Conan started running up the street, THE RAIN STOPPED. It was magical. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life; the cops blocked off lanes of traffic as everyone cheered and screamed and jumped up and down and blue sky actually peeked through the thick dark clouds and I almost expected the booming voice of Ed Harris to come rolling out of the clouds like in that part at the end of The Truman Show. . .

My favorite chant of the whole day was then: “Conan stopped the rain!  Conan stopped the rain!”

Were you there? If so, I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!

If not, feel free to leave a comment anyhow, sharing what you imagine it was like.

And read Aaron’s full story here.

video of today’s events shot by Tonight Show Clip Guy Doug Karo

click image to get your own Conan Hair portrait via Buzzfeed.com

The recent NBC “Tonight Show” battle has provided a wealth of video clips as each host and their supporters take on-air jabs at each other.

Of all the clips making the rounds this one may be the least current, but (in my opinion) it’s the most successful at making Leno look like a jerk.  Proving that no one does a better job of making Jay look like an a-hole than Jay, it’s a clip of Leno’s 2004 announcement of his plans to hand the Tonight Show over to Conan in 2009.

Some classic quotes:

When I took this show over, boy there was a lot of animosity between me and Dave and who’s going to get it, and quite frankly a lot of good friendships were permanently damaged and I don’t want to see anybody have to go through that again.

You know, this show is like a dynasty. You hold it and then you hand it off to the next person and I don’t want to see all the fighting and all the who’s better and nasty things back and forth in the press so right now, here it is:

Conan it’s yours. See you in five years, buddy.

As James Poniewozik points out in his post about the video

. . .the biggest danger to Leno among the audience is not his money, or sympathy for Conan, or the notion that he was somehow pulling the strings behind NBC’s decision. It’s being seen as a phony. Or, more to the point, actually being a phony.

People will forgive a lot of comedians they love. They’ll forgive affairs, offensive remarks, arrests, jokes that crossed a line. But they rely on guys like Leno to puncture other people’s phoniness and to have an impeccable B.S. detector. . .

My guess is Leno’s B.S. detector finally broke down from the stress of Leno setting it off himself so frequently.

Update: I found this clip of Conan’s 2004 announcement on Funny or Die & I thought it was worth including

In the market for a talk show?

If you don’t mind one that’s been slightly used, Conan’s listed his on Craigslist!

4 SALE: BARELY-USED LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW – MAKE ME AN OFFER!!!

This is a chance of a lifetime to own your very own late night talk show–guaranteed to last for up to seven months!! Really must see to appreciate.

Information for potential buyers:

- Measures 100’ x 100’ x 32’ – plenty of room for a futon!

- Designed for 11:35 but can be easily moved

- Band can be sold separately

- Buyer must honor Barry Manilow booking next Thursday

MAKE ME YOUR BEST OFFER!!!!! (Also willing to trade for Coldplay tickets.)

(How much for just La Bamba?)

I'm with Coco! (image courtesy of sirmikeofmitchell.com)

For months I’ve been perplexed, trying to figure out what is was that made the Leno show suck so very, painfully badly.

Confession: I used to enjoy Leno on the Tonight Show. I’ll even admit to being a bit of a fan.  One that even followed Kevin Eubanks on Twitter. I actually was excited to watch the premiere of his prime time show.

I didn’t make it past the first half hour.  Leno’s performance in his new time slot was so bad that I couldn’t even tolerate it as background noise.  I found it to suck to such a degree that its extreme suckiness was a distraction. It’s douche chill bad.

Did he lose his writers? Is it the lack of a couch?  Did taking so much time off impact Jay’s confidence? How could a show be THAT bad? What happened?! These were the questions that buzzed around my brain each night at 1opm since September 14, 2009.

Mystery Solved
Based on recent events, I finally have a theory. Sucking that badly was no accident: Leno’s been sucking intentionally!

It’s all part of his master plan to get his old spot back hosting the “Tonight Show” and NBC execs were in on it too.

How else do you explain the chain of events that boils down to NBC rewarding Leno’s abysmal ratings by giving him exactly what he wanted all along? read more