In this recurring bit, The Tonight Show poked fun at the banality of Twitter by attempting to make it "extreme." Conan staple Brian McCann would read celebrity tweets in a booming rock-star voice ("HERE'S ONE FROM JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT: 'IT'S BEAUTIFUL OUT TONIGHT!'") while on-screen graphics violently murdered Twitter's cute-little-bird mascot. It's always hilarious when adorable cartoons are engulfed in fiery explosions.
In September, guest Teri Hatcher challenged Conan to a studio triathlon to prove who was the more iron celeb. On the home stretch across the slick studio floor, Conan (in form-fitting track suit) attempted to slide across the finish line, subsequently losing his balance and cracking the back of his head on the ground. The impact left his speech slurred as he called for an instant replay; despite a valiant effort to carry on the show, he was rushed to a hospital where it was determined he'd suffered a mild concussion. The decision was made after an on-set nurse asked O'Brien what year it was, and the host replied, "I know it's not 2011. That's too high." Coco recovered quickly and was able to joke about his injury the following Monday.
Famed song-clown William Shatner occasionally popped up on Conan's Tonight Show to read various tweets by Sarah Palin in his patented post-bebop style. This eventually led to the Shat Man reading passages from Palin's infamous memoirs, Going Rogue. In December, the tables were turned when Palin herself strolled out from behind the Tonight Show curtains and presented a passage from Shatner's autobiography Up Till Now ("I glanced over at Johnny Carson, who had a look vaguely similar to the look on Spock's face when his brain was missing.").
Coco joked that Newark mayor Cory Booker's health-care plan boiled down to giving every resident a bus ticket out of the city. A seemingly furious Booker took to YouTube demanding an apology and banned O'Brien from Newark Liberty International Airport. In response, Conan banned Booker from Burbank's airport. The feud intensified when Booker banned Conan from the entirety of the Garden State, prompting mayors from several other Jersey cities to take sides. Eventually, Hillary Clinton herself called for an end to the Booker/Conan "war" and blamed Coco's recent concussion for the craziness. The hatchet was buried when Booker finally came on Tonight on October 16.
As Conan's late-night demise turned very public and ugly, the host capped three days of vicious shots at NBC with the most expensive comedy bit he could dream up — dressing up the priciest sports car in the world with giant mouse ears and whiskers and accompanying its on-camera appearance with "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones — solely to stick his soon-to-be-former employer with the bill. Final cost of this stunt? $1.5 million. A grumpy NBC excised the Bugatti Veyron Mouse from online episodes of the program the next day, which only served to sweeten Conan's victory.
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