Gawker: Conan O'brien

Jimmy Fallon's Ascent Upon Us

Ryan Tate — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:35:38 EDT

Reports surfaced a few weeks ago that Jimmy Fallon, the former Saturday Night Live cast member, would replace Conan O'Brien on NBC's Late Night. This morning NBC will formally announce the move, reports the Times: "[Fallon] is expected to appear at the news conference accompanied by Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of SNL, who was also responsible for choosing Mr. O’Brien’s successor on Late Night." As said in the comments last time around: "Every generation gets the late-night comedy talk show host they deserve." [Times]

Conan O'Brien's Grand Theft Auto for Yuppies

ian spiegelman — Sat, 03 May 2008 10:53:38 EDT

Do you shop at Whole Foods? Live in gentrified Brooklyn? Read the Sunday Times with no seething sense of rage? Then Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City isn't for you. But fear not, Conan O'Brien and his pals at Late Night have developed a kinder gentler version. Sample clip after the jump.

Jimmy Fallon To Replace Conan O'Brien

Ryan Tate — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:07:20 EDT

Jimmy Fallon's long-rumored takeover of NBC's Late Night is now officially going to happen and will be announced in the coming weeks, according to anonymously-sourced reports from Fox News, Variety, Hollywood Reporter and Reuters. Current Late Night host Conan O'Brien is expected to take over from Jay Leno next year following a six-month break, and Leno is being pushed out. On Saturday Night Live, Fallon was famous for fumbling his lines by cracking up, and was recently named one of the two least funny comedians in the country. He'll take some jeers when he starts, but the critics were brutally hard on O'Brien in his early days, as well. And Fallon's already practiced being a tough, take-no-guff talk show host, as his well-liked Barry Gibb character on SNL, shown in the video after the jump (complete with another insult to the dignity of Times columnist Thomas Friedman).

[Variety, Hulu]

Conan-Harassing Priest Plans Return To Church

Ryan Tate — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 04:46:53 EDT

The Roman Catholic priest accused of stalking Conan O'Brien pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and confessed to writing to the Late Night host's parents and sending DVDs to O'Brien's home and office. He promised to stay away from O'Brien for two years. "I recognize that what I did was disorderly, and I’m glad the people of New York have accepted that... I plan to return to the Archdiocese of Boston, and I hope to return to ministry duties." [Times]

Conan O'Brien Recipe "Completely Made Up" By Good Housekeeping

Ryan Tate — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:09:17 EDT

Late-night TV host Conan O'Brien was surprised to read about his "St. Patrick's Day Stew" in Good Housekeeping given that he doesn't cook, has never tasted the dish and has no idea how the recipe got into the magazine. O'Brien devoted three prime minutes of his show, immediately following the monologue, to the recipe. He said the Hearst magazine "completely made this [recipe] up" and made a jokey statement about feeling "a little exploited." Well, Conan, just imagine how the rest of us feel: First we lost any faith in the accuracy of personal memoirs, now we can't even trust that celebrity magazine recipes aren't totally fabricated? Video after the jump.

Full episode: NBC

It's Remarkably Easy To Stalk Anderson Cooper

Pareene — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:36:58 EST

Silver-maned CNN heartthrob Anderson Cooper's New Year's Resolution was to "blog more." And blog more he has, taking time during the commercial breaks of his nightly CNN program to join in the online discussion of the events of the day. But, as he explained last night to Conan O'Brien, this allows his "stalkers" to find him. Stalkers like the woman—"clearly deranged," in the words of Cooper—who crashed his book signing and made him take a crazy letter. Then, King of Comedy-style, she ended up in his waiting limo. Thanks to blogging, and to bloggers like us, and like him, stalking Anderson Cooper is apparently not that hard. It's easier than stalking Conan, as we learn in the anecdote's surprise twist ending. Full clip attached. [NBC]

Few Things Funnier Than Jane Fonda Saying "Cunt"

Pareene — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:35:34 EST

Oh hey, Conan made fun of Jane Fonda's little cursing episode on yesterday's Today too! In his once-again professionally written monologue, O'Brien discussed the incident, then presented two little-seen clips of Ms. Fonda enjoying the word "cunt" in earlier performances.

Tina Fey Welcomes You Back To Glorious Scripted Television

Ryan Tate — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:11:28 EST

The writers strike is truly, finally, mercifully over. Here's what it means to you, the crazed television junkie hustling madly for your next fix: Writers come back right away for Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Tina Fey hustles Saturday Night Live back on the air Feb. 23rd as host while her show 30 Rock may or may not get five episodes out before the end of the season, depending on Alec Baldwin's availability. Scripted shows that will return at all this season will come back roughly between mid-March and mid-April, including CSI, Desperate Housewives, Two and a Half Men, the Office, Grey's Anatomy and House. Heroes probably returns in the fall, torture-fest 24 not until next year. The point is, start clearing space on your TiVo yesterday. After the jump, union booster Fey's 30 Rock character takes in a lesson in hardball negotiation tactics — for managers — in an episode the WGA probably did not watch closely enough.

[NYP, NYT]

Conan O'Brien's Harvard Lampoon Prank Did Not Involve Paris Hilton

Ryan Tate — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:02:56 EST

The Harvard Lampoon's weak "prank" of inviting Paris Hilton to speak on campus was a clumsy coda to far more clever Lampoon stunts of yore. Take Conan O'Brien's 1984 shenanigans involving Robin from TV's "Batman and Robin" and a ruthless kidnapping.

Two Harvard Freshmen, Jess Bravin (now at the Wall Street Journal) and Peter Sagal (now at NPR), had convinced the actor who played Robin, Burt Ward, to speak on campus. The invitation was something of a lark, to see if the administration could be convinced to treat an icon of frivolous pop culture as a serious academic.

O'Brien was not involved with the invitation, but was president of the Lampoon, and devised a scheme to interfere.

Ward faced a lecture hall "jammed" with 250 students, the Boston Globe reported at the time, and he brought his costume, attached to a mannequin. O'Brien approached him before the speech. Here's how he described the conversation in 1998 to Playboy:

We went dressed as security guards. I said, "Mr. Ward, I've been sent by the dean to safeguard the costume."
As if it were the Shroud of Turin. But the guy is humorless. "Yes, very good. That costume is very valuable," he says.

Midway through the speech, O'Brien and the rest of the Lampoon crew cut the lights. Bravin described the theft:

They burst into the lecture Burt was giving and a huge fat guy dressed as the Penguin said in a heavy Boston accent, "Mistah Wahwd, when is a
secyoo-it-ee gahd not a secyoo-it-ee gahd?" Then the student security guards, who I had thought were somewhat suspicious, grabbed the mannequin with Burt's costume and ran out the hallway. Peter tackled them outside the lecture hall, but they outnumbered him and got away with it.

Bravin handled "hostage negotiations" with O'Brien the next day, which ultimately proved successful, but not before O'Brien had his fun with the aging star.

We proceeded to torment Burt Ward for hours on the phone, saying, "This is the Joker, hee-hee-hee. I've got your costume."

PLAYBOY: How did Burt react?

O'BRIEN: Robinlike. He said, "Return it or you will feel my wrath!"

PLAYBOY: Burt Ward used to tell reporters he had an IQ of 200.

O'BRIEN: He may be delusional.

Brokaw Must Clear Elaborate Maze To Promote NBC News, Rescue Baby Brother

Pareene — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:09:51 EST

Conan O'Brien, still struggling to fill out a nightly talk show without his striking writers, came upon a cunning, time-wasting plan last night: forcing his guests to make it through a maze before sitting down with him. The first guest subjected to the cardboard labyrinth was venerated newsman Tom Brokaw. Brokaw was game, as you can see in the attached clip. SAG-affiliated actors across the entertainment industry are presumably thrilled the picket lines give them a better excuse to turn down Late Night than "I'm barely coordinated enough to intro a clip, let alone make it through a rat maze." [Late Night]

Conan O'Brien Is Actually Funny

Joshua Stein — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:25:03 EST

I was just getting depressed about how unfunny professional comedians are and how the strike lays that bare and how sad that is. Then came across this video of Conan O'Brien singing the Beastie Boys' Sabotage as Edith Bunker from All In The Family. It made Kottke laugh. It made us laugh. It will make you laugh. Also: check out O'Brien's 2003 TimesTalk interview with snowy-haired TV reporter Bill Carter. It's great.

The creepy Conan-stalking priest was a frequent ...

Pareene — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 17:16:28 EST

The creepy Conan-stalking priest was a frequent poster to NBC's Late Night message boards, natch. One old gem from "Padre 009": "I'm a LIAR OK??? Imagine that— a priest who LIES AND LIES AND LIES. Doesn't that thrill all of you, really and strengthen your grip on sanity?? It should....?" [Bostonist]

The saddest part of the on-going WGA strike ...

Pareene — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:35:38 EST

The saddest part of the on-going WGA strike just might be that it'll prevent Catholic priest David Ajemian from successfully stalking Conan O'Brien. The priest, 46, was arrested last week after sending O'Brien weird letters, harassing his parents and finally showing up at Late Night's studio. "I want a public confession before I ever consider giving you absolution—or a spot on your couch," Ajemain wrote in one of his stalky letters. The Boston Globe points out that Ajemain went to Harvard, just like Conan, so maybe they totally know each other because how big could Harvard be? The Church has placed Ajemain "on leave." We are not sure what being "on leave" from being a Priest involves but maybe now he's allowed to take "spots" on people's couches. [Boston.com, TSG]

Conan O'Brien Cottons On To 'Radar' Business Plan

Choire — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:35:59 EDT

Last night, some wily publicist (or someone) got a mention of Radar magazine into the "Conan O'Brien" opening monologue. Conan explains the cover of their new issue, which features a naked Photoshop of Hillary Clinton and a partially nude Rudy Giuliani. He has a prediction for how well that will do on newsstands.

Mystery Reveals His Astounding Secrets

abalk — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:37:57 EDT

Last night megadouche pick up artist "Mystery" was a guest on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," where we learned that some of his most interesting lines come from the inside of a Snapple bottlecap. We also learned that we can barely stand to look at his ridiculous face anymore. One more episode of that show and we're DONE, please God. It's going to be so hard!

Jeff Zucker meets with Jon Stewart in case ...

abalk — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 11:40:22 EDT

Jeff Zucker meets with Jon Stewart in case NBC sticks with Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien bolts the network, possibly to replace David Letterman or Jimmy Kimmel. Got it? [B&C]

Conan O'Brien 'Mash'-Up

Chris Mohney — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 14:10:20 EDT

We apologize in advance for this highly sophomoric clip, but it emerged from video minion Richard Blakeley's fascination with Conan O'Brien's whiteboy dance moves. Hence, a compilation of Conan's antics set to the calendar-appropriate "Monster Mash." Refined discourse will resume after this message.

We Would Never Let Will Arnett Down

Jessica — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 09:44:33 EST

On Friday night, Arrested Development star Will Arnett went on Conan O'Brien and engaged in some puppy love with his host; as they resumed their proper interview/interviewee positions, Arnett noted that the moment would likely be displayed on Gawker the next day.

While we don't typically take celebrity requests regarding our content, we are positively thrilled to learn that an attractive man actually knows our name.

Gawker on Conan [Vimeo]