Late Show UK

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:

Conan’s highly-anticipated TBS show debuted last night.

The first ever episode averaged 4.2 million viewers for the 11pm telecast (quite a feat for a basic cable channel). TV By The Numbers reports “2,451,000 adults 18-34; 3,285,000 adults 18-49; and 4,155,000 viewers” watched the opening show on Monday night. Conan came out top – compare Conan’s 4.2 million viewers with The Tonight Show With Jay Leno’s 3.5 million viewers and the Late Show With David Letterman’s 3.4 million viewers.

The show started with a cold open (fact fans – all of Conan’s talk show debuts have started with a cold open – i.e. Late Night With Conan O’Brien and The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien), which poked fun at him being forced out by NBC and being left jobless having to support his family, and his apparent rise to success again when he discovered he could be on a basic cable channel instead of network TV. Larry King even makes a surprise appearance as Conan’s guardian angel:

The show format is quite similar to The Tonight Show and Late Night, but as TBS is a basic cable channel it will mean he’ll be able to do more things and not be constrained by strict network TV rules. I really like the new set – the view out to sea with the moon that Conan was moving by remote control. There’s also no barrier between the audience and the stage, which makes the audience feel closer to Conan, Andy and the guests (interesting to note Conan went and shook hands with some of the audience members – something Leno is well known for).

The opening monologue in the first show was strong, I thought. He paid particular attention on NBC saying he named his new TBS show ‘Conan’ so he couldn’t be so easily replaced, and that this talk show debut was his second premiere of the year (pointing out his short tenure on The Tonight Show before the return of the chin). He also tried to summarise all of the news that’s happened since he’s been off-air in one joke:

The old Late Night / Tonight Show band is back but this time they’re known as Jimmy Vivino And The Basic Cable Band. Max Weinberg doesn’t feature in the band this time (as decision made mostly because of Max’s recent health problems). Andy Richter has returned as Conan’s show announcer and sidekick like he was on The Tonight Show and during the earlier period of Conan’s tenure on Late Night.

Popular character the Masturbating Bear made an appearance in a taped segment – he’s got himself a new job. Also, Conan wonders whether NBC owns the intellectual property rights to these old characters from his old NBC shows (a popular subject Letterman pointed out when he left NBC’s Late Night programme to go to CBS):

Ricky Gervais also sent a good luck message to Conan (or so Conan thought):

The first guest on the show was Arlene Wagner (the curator of the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum) who won a fan vote on the Team Coco website (Conan joked it’s a “rigged” vote). The main guests on the first show were comedy actor Seth Rogen (technically the first guest interviewed on the programme if you don’t count Arlene Wagner’s walk-on beforehand), actress Lea Michele (from the popular show Glee) and musician Jack White. Seth Rogen revealed his engagement to his girlfriend exclusively on the programme. The song Conan performed with Jack White (from an album they recording together during the live theatre tour) was fantastic.

If you live in Ireland you can watch ‘Conan’ on a one week delay from the US starting next week at midnight on 3e.

TV By The Numbers – “‘Conan’ Premiere Averages 4.2 Million…”
HitFix.com – “‘Conan’ premiere audience tops Jay Leno, David Letterman”

The first episode of Conan’s new show starts on TBS next week.

The show will air Monday to Thursday at 11pm on TBS in America, but currently hasn’t been picked up by any UK TV channel.

Conan will air in Ireland on 3e. The show will air Monday to Thursday at midnight, with episodes delayed exactly one week from their US airing.

The first two weeks of guests are as follows:

Monday 8th November – Seth Rogen, Lea Michele, Jack White
Tuesday 9th November – Tom Hanks, Jack McBrayer, Soundgarden
Wednesday 10th November – Jon Hamm, Charlyne Yi, Fistful of Mercy
Thursday 11th November – Michael Cera, Julie Bowen, Jon Dore

Monday 15th November – LL Cool J, B.J. Novak, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Tuesday 16th November – Harrison Ford, Rosario Dawson, Reggie Watts
Wednesday 17th November – Russell Brand, Susan Casey, Kid Rock
Thursday 18th November – Jesse Eisenberg, Venus Williams, The Decemberists

Show Zero of Conan aired live on the Team Coco website this week.

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.

The first week of guests have been announced for Conan’s new TBS show, which premieres on the 8th November.

Monday 8th November – Seth Rogan, Jack White
Tuesday 9th November – Tom Hanks, Jack McBrayer, Soundgarden
Wednesday 10th November – Jon Hamm, Charlyne Yind, Fistful Of Mercy
Thursday 11th November – Michael Cera, Julie Bowen, Jon Dore

Please note Conan will air Monday-Thursday every week – there won’t be any shows on Fridays.

The “Live Coco Cam” is now available on the official Team Coco website. The live webcam gives you a chance to see behind-the-scenes as Conan prepares for his new show.

Click here to watch the live webcam.

Audience tickets for Conan O’Brien’s first TBS shows are now available.

Tickets are issued via a lottery system by completing the form on the official website, and you are emailed if you are successful at getting them, then a phonecall from someone at Team Coco HQ 1-4 weeks prior to the taping date you’ve requested to confirm you’re still coming. Conan’s new show tapes at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. There’s a very high demand for tickets, so try to book as far in advance as possible. The online form only appears to give you US address options, but it might be worth giving it a shot even if you live outside of the US.

There are also standby tickets available on the day of the taping. You need to go to the Audience Queue Area at 10am on the day you want to attend where you will be given a time to return if you’re successful in getting standby tickets. The address to go to for the Audience Queue Area is Warner Bros. Studios, 6564 Forest Lawn Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90068.

At the time of posting this blog entry the first available show date is the 13th January next year – all shows prior to this are sold out, but you can still try the standby option as above for earlier shows.

Click here to visit the Tickets page on the official Team Coco website.