Late Show UK

Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop is now available to buy on DVD. The film is a documentary about his time after departing NBC’s The Tonight Show and him enbarking on a huge 32-city music & comedy theatre tour throughout America.

As Conan was banned from TV for six months when he was forced out of The Tonight Show, his theatre tour was called The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television Tour.

The documentary sees Conan deal with his emotions when losing the biggest talk show gig of his career, and shows how he tries to overcome disappointment to entertain the US public on his tour, and his rise back to television where he currently hosts his new talk show “Conan” on basic cable channel TBS.

Variety gave the documentary a largely-positive review when it premiered at the SXSW event in Austin, Texas earlier this year, saying “more often than not, O’Brien appears to be having the time of his life onstage — interacting with longtime sidekick Andy Richter, cutting up with guest stars (including Jim Carrey, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart), and vigorously and quite capably performing covers of country and rockabilly tunes with his band and two backup singers. He comes off as genuinely surprised — and extremely grateful — that, for the first time in his showbiz career, he says, people actually are paying to see him perform”.

If you’re in the UK you can buy the DVD by clicking here, and if you’re in the US you can buy the DVD by clicking here. Please note the DVD is in region 1 format so if you’re in the UK you’ll need to have a region-all DVD player to watch it.

Conan O’Brien delivered the commencement speech at Dartmouth College earlier this month. He opened up about many aspects of his career at NBC and now TBS, and the bits in between.

Way back in the 1940s there was a very, very funny man named Jack Benny. He was a giant star, easily one of the greatest comedians of his generation. And a much younger man named Johnny Carson wanted very much to be Jack Benny. In some ways he was, but in many ways he wasn’t. He emulated Jack Benny, but his own quirks and mannerisms, along with a changing medium, pulled him in a different direction. And yet his failure to completely become his hero made him the funniest person of his generation. David Letterman wanted to be Johnny Carson, and was not, and as a result my generation of comedians wanted to be David Letterman. And none of us are. My peers and I have all missed that mark in a thousand different ways. But the point is this : It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It’s not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound re-invention.

Click here to watch the commencement address in full.

The new documentary film Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop will be released in US cinemas on the 24th June.

It’s unlikely to be released in the UK but should be available on DVD.

The film shows Conan on his 32-city music and comedy show tour across the US, and all of the drama surrounding him leaving NBC’s Tonight Show.

The film was highly regarded when it previewed at SXSW event in Texas earlier this year.

Check out the official film website at www.conanobriencantstop.com for more information.

Did you see Will Ferrell wage war on Conan’s beard in last week’s Beardpocalypse?

Check it out below. Do you prefer Conan with or without the beard?

A new Conan O’Brien documentary has premiered at this year’s South By Southwest (SXSW) event in Austin, Texas.

The documentary, Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, is directed by Rodman Flender and follows Conan on his recent epic 32-city “The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour” where he played to thousands of fans in small & large theatres following his demise from NBC’s The Tonight Show, and prior to him starting his new talk show on TBS.

The synopsis on the SXSW website says: “After a much-publicized separation with his former employers, did Conan O’Brien hit the road on a 32-City tour to connect with his fans or fill a void within himself? Filmmaker Rodman Flender followed O’Brien on his “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour” and returned with an intimate portrait of an artist trained in improvisation, captured at the most improvisational time of his career”.

In a largely positive review Variety say: “More often than not, O’Brien appears to be having the time of his life onstage — interacting with longtime sidekick Andy Richter, cutting up with guest stars (including Jim Carry, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart), and vigorously and quite capably performing covers of country and rockabilly tunes with his band and two backup singers. He comes off as genuinely surprised — and extremely grateful — that, for the first time in his showbiz career, he says, people actually are paying to see him perform”.

Don’t expect a cinema release in the UK due to Conan’s relatively limited appeal here, but I understand it should be available on DVD worldwide in the coming months so keep an eye out for it.

SXSW – “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop”
Variety – “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop” review
EW.com – “SXSW: ‘Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop’ kills at premiere’”

Conan O’Brien has been speaking to Larry King on CNN about how he feels his new talk show is progressing on TBS, and also about whether he keeps in touch with other talk show hosts (i.e. Leno!).

The Larry King Live interview airs on CNN in America tonight – watch a clip below:

The first guests on ‘Conan’ have been revealed during the ‘Live Coco Cam’ session, which took place earlier this week.

In the last hour of the live 24-hour session, two puppets revealed the guests for the first week.

Seth Rogen and Jack White will appear on the first show on Monday, 8th November. They will be followed on Tuesday by Jack McBrayer, Soundgarden and Tom Hanks, who provided Conan O’Brien with the nickname ‘Coco’ during the first week of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.

The very first guest on the programme will be chosen via a poll being taken on the Team Coco website. Jack Nicholson leads the poll, with Lady Gaga in second place.