Team Coco: Nono, we won’t gogo
Tanis said it first: we are staunchly Team Conan around these parts.
I’ve been watching Conan since I was old enough to stay up late enough to watch Conan. I have vivid memories of his trip to Canada; I watched every night with exceeding joy as he and Triumph traipsed around Toronto. I relished each and every appearance of Norm MacDonald. I loved his apple orchard piece with Mr. T so much I took it out behind the middle school and got it pregnant. His old-timey baseball bit was unbelievable. I downloaded every episode during the writer’s strike, unable to look away as he clamored for ways to fill the time (and out of curiosity about the extent to which he would grow his beard). Of late, his nights and days out on the town in L.A. with staff member Jordan Schlansky revealed a whole new side of him (namely the kind of dickish side). While I thought the ‘celebrity survey’ bit was getting very old in the tooth and the ‘Twitter Tracker’ segment was woefully underused I still watched every night of his Tonight Show run.
I’ll admit it: I cried a little during Neil Young’s performance and Conan’s speech. I know, it seems like petty nothingness in the face of Haiti’s devestation and a million other serious and impactful things that happen all over the world every day. But I don’t have a lot going on in my life right now and Conan has been there with me for more than ten years. He didn’t deserve this. He was really coming into his own and the show was on a level it hadn’t been before.
In hindsight I only wish Canadians could contribute to the Neilsen ratings. Or that my TV had channels so that I could watch Conan when it might’ve slightly (not at all) counted. I’ve always thought Conan’s style and sense of humour played so much better in Canada. It’s a shame our TV industry clearly cannot support a late night talk program. Mike Bullard, you were meant for better things (no, he wasn’t).
So I thank Tanis for her previous post (and for explaining Conan’s appeal with the elequence my sleep-deprived brain just doesn’t have today) but that post was missing something. Something I either have the advanced technological capabilities or a willingness to breach NBC Universal copyrights that she does not.
Look below for Neil Young’s tear-stirring performance of “Long Will You Run” and a faithful take on “Free Bird” courtesy of Conan, his axe, Will Ferrell, Beck, ZZ Top, Ben Harper some dude that looks exactly like Ben Harper named Robert Randolph Ben Harper, Max Weinberg and the Tonight Show Band, some pregnant hippy, and Will Ferrell’s cowbell. So appropriate it hurts.
Neil Young - Long Will You Run (live on the Tonight Show) [4:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Will Ferrell, Conan O'Brien, Beck, ZZ Top, Ben Harper, some pregnant hippie, and the Tonight Show Band - Free Bird (live on the Tonight Show) [6:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadWe love you Conan. Hurry back to us.
You cried? My dad was disappointed in the sappy performance. “Neil Young used to be cool” is what he said. From what I’ve read that was Will’s real wife and she’s actually pregnant.
That was Robert Randolph sitting down playing slide guitar, not Ben Harper.
This is about the 10th time I’ve seem Robert Randolph’s name pop in any comments about this performance with adamant arguments on both sides of “Team Randolph” and “Team Harper”. For what it’s worth, Ben Harper’s official people seem sure Ben was playing. http://www.benharper.com/#/news
@roc
It was touching! Neil Young is super-cool! He’s cool as balls!
And I hop it was his wife, they were making out like a couple teenagers.