Friday, March 12, 2010

Conan is Back!


Well, well.  It appears that Conan O'Brien is taking his Tonight Show crew on the road for a 30-city tour.  This was a pleasant surprise; I honestly wasn't sure what direction Conan would take after abdicating Johnny Carson's throne.  Being a writer by trade, he could just as easily disappear into the background and quietly enjoy his millions.

You can order tickets from the Team Coco website, and you can also download this poster.  That's a rather interesting tagline on the poster, don't you agree?  I suspect we are about to discover the behind-the-scenes story of Conan's Tonight Show tenure, of network suits blocking or watering down comedy material (can't let the peasants get too worked up, now).

I'm not sure if this tagline refers to any future move to a rival tv network; I thought the issue of moving to Fox was resolved, but perhaps I'm wrong.  A cross-country tour that lasts until June wouldn't leave nearly enough time to prepare a new late-night show on Fox, certainly not for a September 2010 launch.  It's also debatable whether the Fox network would even want a 10pm show that competes directly with Leno and Letterman (affiliates would have to give up their syndicated shows, a very daunting task).  So it appears that this tour is as much about Conan staying in the public eye as anything.  He may not return to television for a long time, if ever.  Nothing is ever guaranteed in show business.

The Conan O'Brien/ex-Tonight Show tour will be a smashing success, especially with us younger fans.  I'm hoping that tickets at the Minneapolis Orpheum Theatre haven't already sold out.  These seats are going to go fast.

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