PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA, THE: DECONSTRUCTING CONAN: A PANEL DISCUSSION WITH THE WRITERS OF "LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN" {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in a series of special evenings presented by The Paley Center for Media in New York, in association with the New York Comedy Festival. This evening focuses on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," the late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. The evening opens with a clip montage of monologue highlights and skits from "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," after which Paley Center curatorial researcher Arthur Smith takes the stage as the evening's host. He introduces author and NPR contributor Sarah Vowell, who serves as moderator. Then, Vowell takes a seat with the panelists, all writers on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien." They are: Dan Cronin, Berkley Johnson, Brian McCann, Matt O'Brien, Brian Stack, Andrew Weinberg, and head writer Mike Sweeney.
The panelists touch on such topics as: their favorite skits for "Conan" which got on the air and "bombed"; O'Brien's reactions to material that doesn't work; the unpredictable nature of comedy; skit ideas that never made it out of the writers' room; O'Brien's ability to "crack up" the writing staff at rehearsal; if the writers consciously put O'Brien in skits which will humiliate him; going on location to Finland with O'Brien to film comic segments for the show; incorporating notable guests like business mogul Donald Trump and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich into skits; why Kiss member Gene Simmons proved to be a particularly disagreeable guest; and the process for coming up with a nightly monologue.
Questions from the audience then lead to a discussion of the following topics: if free-lancer's submissions are accepted on the show; if writers need an acting background to get hired by O'Brien; if the writers enjoy performing in sketches which they've written; previous jobs held by each writer; why no sidekick was hired to replace Andy Richter; how famous sketches like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the masturbating bear, and prognosticating about "the year 2000" were conceived; why no female writers are on staff; changes to be made before June 1, 2009 as "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" officially becomes the new "Tonight" show; practical jokes which the writers have played on each other; if O'Brien habitually jettisons jokes and replaces them with improv; and if the writers make fun of O'Brien's "bouffant" hair.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: November 8, 2008 3:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:20:16
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:93378
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Arthur Smith … Host
- Sarah Vowell … Moderator
- Dan Cronin … Panelist
- Berkley Johnson … Panelist
- Brian McCann … Panelist
- Matt O'Brien … Panelist
- Brian Stack … Panelist
- Andrew Weinberg … Panelist
- Mike Sweeney … Panelist
- Conan O'Brien
- Robert Reich
- Andy Richter
- Gene Simmons
- Donald Trump