The Late Shift 2010: The Coco Letters

The continued shake-up/feud/brouhaha over at NBC concerning its Late Night Schedule continues, and today there was a pretty fantastic statement appearing around the web, which says:

"...I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is [the Tonight Show's] destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet, a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the “Tonight Show,” I believe nothing could matter more."

In short, he won't take the 12:05 AM slot, which makes sense, as that's technically "The Tomorrow Show" and Tom Snyder already had that gig. Twitter and social media outlets erupted in support of Mr. O'Brien, and while you all know we're big fans, we can't help but wonder how many of these people actually watch the show given the reports of Tonight's ratings as of late.

But Wait, What About Jay?
Over on The Naughty But Nice Blog, Mr. Leno may also be considering departing NBC, which raises all sorts of questions. (For example, "is any of this true?") It's an exciting time for comedy gossip, is it not?

File Under Rumor Mill
Another rumor going around, one we have yet to find a credit for beyond it appearing on a single blog and being repeated, is that NBC is talking to possible "guest hosts" for The Tonight Show in the near-term, which is something we haven't seen since the Carson era.

Tonight Show Highlights: Dumbledore, Twitter Tracker

Because of the short week, or perhaps because of a sense of giving the audience what they want, The Tonight Show rolled out three of their most popular recurring bits this week. If you haven't been watching what Conan has been doing, here you are.

Twitter Tracker


Dumbledore Rides Again


Noches De Pasion con Señor O'Brien

DVD Review: Andy Barker PI

WHAT: Short-lived 6-episode sitcom created by Conan O’Brien, starring Andy Richter and Tony Hale

LABEL: Shout! Factory, 2009

GOOD IF YOU LIKE: Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Arrested Development

WHERE TO FIND IT: Amazon. Retail stores seem to be shunning it.

LENGTH: 132 minutes

Andy Barker PI aired for only a couple of episodes in 2007 before quickly being cancelled by NBC; the remaining 3 or 4 episodes aired online only, and now we’ve got the whole shebang on DVD thanks to Shout! Factory, who seem increasingly dedicated to putting every great piece of television comedy on DVD.

The show itself was created by Conan O’Brien and Jonathan Groff, and the premise is pretty simple: guileless, straight-laced accountant Andy Barker find himself unwittingly thrust into the gritty world of Private Dick-ism when a femme fatale shows up in his CPA office, mistaking Andy for crusty old PI Lew Staziak (who is probably the funniest character in the show, played by the late Harve Presnell). Since his accountant business is struggling, he finds himself taking more and more detective work to pay the bills. Along for the ride is video store clerk-slash-eccentric nerd Simon (Tony Hale, best known as Buster in Arrested Development) and kebab shop owner Wally (Marshall Manesh, reliable sitcom character actor).

The show is, for lack of a better phrase, really damn good. Every episode – probably due to the show’s short life – is incredibly solid from start to finish, and rare is the gag that falls short. The cast gels immediately, and every one of the supporting characters gets time to shine. The show’s sense of humor is clearly very informed by Conan O’Brien, which means there are a whole lot of jokes about old people and a lot of subdued absurdism. Tone-wise it’s very much like the comedy bits on Late Night and Conan’s version of the Tonight Show.

In typical Shout! Factory fashion, the DVD set is loaded with about as much extra material as you could possibly expect from a 6-episode cancelled sitcom. There are two documentaries – one focusing on the show’s writing staff, and the other a complete history of the series. There are commentaries on every episode – the pilot commentary features Conan himself – and a gag reel. It’s really all anyone could ask for.

Andy Barker PI, like so many solid, funny sitcoms for smart people with good senses of humor, was probably never meant to last in a TV landscape that nurtures the likes of Jenna Elfman, but it’s great to have it archived on DVD. Now it’s up to you to see if you have the Mike ‘n Ikes to pick it up.

This Week in Late Night: There Is No God Edition

ALERT! Robin Williams is on Conan this week! And Carrot Top is on Ferguson!!!

Set your DVRs and cross your fingers that he’ll follow his cowboy voice with his gay voice and then shift into his Indian convenience store clerk voice! SO WACKY!

Then set your funny bone to “stunned” when Carrot Top takes the stage on Craig Ferguson!!
Will there be props? YES! Will there be creepy over-developed muscles? HECK YES!!

Seriously though it’s a pretty light week for late night. Letterman’s off, as is Kimmel.

Conan
8.12 BJ Novak
8.13 ROBIN WILLIAMS!! The moment you’ve been waiting for!!
8.14 Demetri Martin

Ferguson
8.10 C-C-C-CARROT TOP!!!

Fallon
8.13 Seth Green, Avenue Q
8.14 Neal Brennan

Tavis Smiley (this is on PBS, just in case you’ve never heard of it, and you haven’t)
8.10 Jay Leno

Chelsea Lately
8.10 Jen Kirkman
8.11 Tony Rock
8.12 Chris Franjola
8.13 Arden Miryn, Matt Braunger

This Week in Late Night: Piven Edition

The Funny People junket train finally ends this week, which means we’ll get the last talk show appearances by the Apatow crew until the next movie rolls around. The Goods comes out next week though, which means between this week and next we’re going to probably see a whole lot of Jeremy Piven.

CONAN
8.4 Jeremy Piven
8.6 Ed Helms

FERGUSON
8.7 Don Rickles

FALLON
8.3 Marlon Wayans, Judd Apatow
8.5 Chris Kattan
8.6 Jeremy Piven, Greg Giraldo
8.7 Ken Jeong

KIMMEL
8.6 Doug Benson

CHELSEA LATELY
8.3 The Sklar Brothers
8.4 John Caparulo
8.5 Chris Hardwick

This Week in Late Night (Plus Mid-Afternoon)

Our Weekly Comedy lists were getting too damn long, so we've spun off the Late Night listings into their own post. You can plan out your week of talk shows much easier this way!

This week, the Funny People promotional train keeps on rollin', so there are a ton of appearances by the film's cast. Also, Judd Apatow is on Inside the Actors Studio tonight, so keep an eye out for that on Bravo.

Letterman
7.30 – Adam Sandler

Conan
7.28 – Steve Zahn, Jimmy Carr
7.29 – Rainn Wilson

Ferguson
7.28 – Johnny Galecki

Fallon
7.29 – Leslie Mann
7.30 – Tim Meadows
7.31 – Adam Sandler

Stewart
7.28 – Spinal Tap
7.30 – Judd Apatow

Kimmel
7.28 – Leslie Mann
7.29 – Jonah Hill
7.30 – Seth Rogen

Chelsea Handler
7.29 – Chris Kattan
7.30 – Greg Proops
7.31 – Jen Kirkman (repeat, but catch it if you missed it last week)

TELEVISION FOR THE UNEMPLOYED

If you're out of work, you have time to catch all the banal daytime talk shows too! Here's what's up this week.

The View
7.30 – Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen

Regis & Kelly
7.28 – Jonah Hill
7.31 – Adam Sandler

Late Night Reminder II: The Legend of Curly's Gold

Yet another milestone happens tonight on Conan: the return of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.

People were skeptical that Triumph would make it to the 11:30 show, but he apparently taped a remote at Bonnaroo, and it's on tonight. No, we're not going to link to the Star Wars video.

But we will link to this one:



Also tonight, Jimmy Fallon has Our Lord and Savior Jeff Goldblum, and Mike Birbiglia, who doesn't appear to have anything to promote, so maybe he'll just show up and be funny. Who knows?

Live Audience Diaries: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

Zac and I were lucky enough to score tickets for The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien for Episode #11, which taped a few hours ago. We've been to precious few live tapings, and this was the first time either of us got to see Co Co live and in person.

Warm-Up: Comic Jimmy Pardo, best known for his "Never Not Funny" podcast, did a little crowd work and presented all the legalese regarding emergency exists. He also started to ferret out potential attention whores, one of which was ejected later in the evening. Pardo's quite the talent. If you go to the taping you'll notice that either Andy Richter is a giant or Jimmy Pardo is a member of the Lollipop Guild.

The Guests: Tonight, we saw Spinal Tap, Will Arnett, and some old guy from some sport which was quaint thirty years ago. (Joe Torre, LA Dodgers manager.) Tap played "Heavy Duty", Arnett basically goofed around and quasi-plugged G-Force, and Torre I tuned out. Sorry, I hate baseball. Due to the band playing, there's zero chance of you hearing what Conan is saying to the guests during the breaks, or your own child scream. It turns out Weinberg runs a tight ship and an extremely loud band.

The Swag: You get a little note card that beckons you to go to the official site, give them your name, and then you can post this to your blog.

The main purpose of which is apparently to get you poor suckers to go to the Tonight Show web site.

What You Don't See At Home: Local affiliate teasers are made after the show ends, which aren't particularly funny. But they're there. Before the show, there's a fairly energetic opening number with the band, in which we saw members of the former Max Weinberg 7 (now "The Tonight Show Band" with 8 people) go through the audience and generally get people worked up. The band also plays between segments, although sometimes they'll stop and switch to pre-recorded music, going back to live music right before "coming back from commercial." Aside from Max Weinberg's musical circus of fun, you really don't miss much as a home viewer.

Should you go?: If you like Conan on TV, you'll like Conan live. Tickets are free and available from NBC's web site. Parking, however, is not-- expect to pay about $10. It's just down the hill (a steep hill, I might add) from Universal Citywalk, where you can go after the show for overpriced mall food and $18 mugs. Zac brought up a great point-- tapings of shows like this one are great date materials, so you can ferret out undesirables for much less than the cost of other comedy venues. There's just enough live stuff at the taping that you'll probably be glad you went, particularly if the guests are good-- and ours largely were.

Important Reminder: Norm Macdonald on Conan Tonight

Comedy nerds have probably been looking forward to tonight's Conan even more than the show's premiere a few weeks ago, and that's because the legendary Best Talk Show Guest Ever, Norm Macdonald, will be on.

A brief reminder of the magical things that happen when Norm is on Conan: