Friday, May 18, 2012

Conan & Dave Trash Leno

I think the headline says it all. They really do enjoy trashing Leno.

41 comments:

CarolMR said...

These two rich guys should get over it. Letterman is such a sleaze, I can't even stand to look at his face.

Erin said...

Who doesn't enjoy a good Leno bash?

libby said...

Letterman's no more of a sleaze than half the people any of us know. He's just a public figure, so it makes headlines.

Leno's got the best PR person in Hollywood. Everybody thinks he's just the nicest. It's amazing his shenanigans haven't gotten more press in his demographic.

I saw "Late Night" w/ Conan live in Chicago, it was a really good show. I was surprised how much Conan was walking all over, giving notes (very nicely, smiling) to the whole crew during the commercial breaks. Then he'd have to stand still for face powder, and he would be talking to someone AND reading script during that. It was interesting to watch him, because his on-camera dork persona is SO opposite how driven to entertain he really is, and how much he seemed to control. And he's really, really skinny and much hotter IRL.
The Masturbating Bear is super-nice. I spoke to him outside. I was even on the tee-vee (silent footage) doing it!

Has anyone else here ever attended a taping of anyone? I would love to hear what other hosts do during 'commercials.' I just wonder who's really in charge, like Conan seemed to be, and who's just a talking head. if anyone cares to share, that would be fun. Thanks.

libby said...

I forgot to mention, i went over and talked to Conan's band guys and they were so gracious and sweet; I was surprised they still have the patience for being approached.
And they were very flirty, even La Bamba!

Jasmine said...

When Conan neighed during this clip it made my whole day! The only confirms my assertion regarding his My Little Pony Hair on a post from yesterday ;-)

Also, Libby, doesnt surprise me he's hot in person.
In fact,here's my list of fuckable late night hosts:

Jon Stewart (all hail king of the fuckables)
Stephen Colbert (me---ow)
Fallon (goofy cute)
Conan (how fun would THAT be to say in bed?) lol
Carson Daly (though he prolly should be lower on the list since he's slept with Tara Reid)
Bill Maher (I know, I know, but I LOVE his chutzpah and politics SOOO much, Religulous was AMAZING, and I bet we'd have hot weird angry sex)
Also, I will say Leno was sorta hot in his comedy days.

Elizabeth said...

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Love Letterman!
Jasmine, I like most of your list but as much as I like Jon Stewart, Colbert tends to have the edge for me. He has come up with some pure genius bits and his SuperPAC work should get the Pulitzer.
I like Maher's politics but sexy? Gah. And Conan is funny but not him either.
Leno is the slithery slug you find in the garden right after planting before you put out the slugbait.

anita_mark said...

I saw a taping of Letterman back in 2002. I don't remember the commercials but I remember at the beginning, they were introducing the band and then Paul Schaeffer and then BAM, suddenly Letterman appeared. No intro, no build up, he was just there. I thought that was cool, like he didn't need a big ego boost. He told jokes and then proceded to taked questions from the audience. Some stupid tit, complete with the sing-song voice and tons of "ums, asked, "In all your travels, what is the weirdest religious pairing you've ever seen?" He just stared at her, bit back saying something mean and announced that he would never take questions from the audience again.

Al Gore was the first guest and they mostly discussed September 11th. This was a year after, in New York. It got depressing fast.

Mama June said...

I've always been a Letterman fan, and Libby thanks for the story! I'd love to go see Letterman or Real Time with Bill Maher.

Amartel said...

Jeez, guys, let it go. Love Conan, even saw him on his tour, but Letterman is such a sour old puss. Leno keeps on keeping on; he's perfect for 11:30 at night.

Staci said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ingrid Superstar said...

I like when Letterman eggs people on because he doesn't give a shit. If possible check out his interview with Linda Cardellini right after Freaks and Geeks was cancelled and with Norm MacDonald after he was fired from SNL. He's very supportive and cool and I wish he would interview me after I lost one of my (many)jobs.

auntliddy said...

I so do not get their beef with Leno. They are all working, making zillions- whats the problem? Conan blew when he did tonight show, so they canned him. Actually offered him half hour later, which idiotically was refused by him, so now he toils at TNT. Good move-not! Letterman is a nasty f*ck who hates people and loves to humiliate them, under the guise of comedy. Who the hell wants to watch that?? So when Leno was offered his old job back- which incidentally, Conan was pushing Leno out if- what was Jay supp to say? Oh no, - please! Its show BUSINESS!! The other two wld and hv done same thing. Why standards all diff fir Leno? And btw, I dont watch any of their shiws, but fair is fair!

libby said...

Jasmine, my top 3 would be
Colbert
Conan
Jon Stewart

Part of what made Conan extra-hot was his confidence. He was actually graceful and a little macho, when breaks were happening. So different than how he plays. It was striking.

Elizabeth said...

Conan was macho? Okay, I get it :)

califblondy said...

I saw Letterman taping several years back. The wait was terrible and all the RULES, jeesh, you woulda thought we were being herded into the White House. I got a head nod from the trumpet player (BFD, I know) when we took our seats, front row balcony. During commercials the band played so loudly we couldn't talk and Dave did not interact with anyone. He took his jacket off at every commercial. The man has got to be part polar bear.

Meg Ryan and Diana Krall were on that night.

When I saw Regis and Kelly it was totally different. They both spoke to the audience and posed for pictures during the commercials. Kelly had a stash of breath mints she kept popping during commercials. After the show I posed in front of the fake window for a picture.

Jasmine said...

Libby- graceful and a little macho huh?
Best combo ever in a man! No wonder you were all ovah that!

Because of this yum description I'm offically re-laminating my list to Conan as my #3 and bumping Fallon underneath. This is prolly a better plan anyways cause you just know Fallon breaks into giggles during sex- just like he annoyingly would break character in pretty much EVERY SNL sketch ;-P

poovey-tunt said...

Leno bashing will never ever get old for me. He deserves every bit of it and more.

bored soccer mom said...

I went to a taping of Late Night with Conan about 17 yrs ago. He came out before the show, ran right up to me and my friend and the band started playing hunka hunka burnin love by Elvis, and Conan sang it to us. It was so funny. Then he apologized for embarassing us and moved us into seats in the front row. He was very tall, and very nice. He was just starting out too, his guests were Dick Cavett and Denny Dillon. Not exactly Tom Hanks!!!!!!

I met Letterman once, he was very nice and gracious.

tracynator said...

I once had a very sexual dream about Conan. Very hot it was. My subconscious really digs him, I guess. This bit was funny esp. Conan's impression. Never cared for Leno.

Agent**It said...

Just a tidbit:
Conan O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and Jay Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts.

libby said...

Jasmine--seriously, it was striking b/c of his on-air persona. It was like suddenly realizing he would be GREAT in bed, not awkward.

Jimmy Fallon is a little younger than me, not my type. But I love his cross-overs w/ Colbert!

Jason Blue Eyes said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jason Blue Eyes said...

Disappointed they never called him "Big-Jaw." And He is one of the most two faced cretins in the industry, just ask his old announcer Ed Hall. He'll tell you all about it. I hope the rumors of Big-Jaw retiring next year are true. I'd love to go to a Dave taping. My cousin went when he was at NBC and even got a T-shirt - which she won't give me.

How mean.

anita_mark said...

If I remember, during the "commercial" breaks (it's not live), they re-did some of the comedy segments.

And yeah, there were 8,000 rules. They herded us into the Roseland Ballroom. It smelled like piss. And the NBC employees wouldn't shut up about making sure we laughed cuz he needed our energy, blah blah blah. I think for the amount of $$$ he makes, he needs to earn my laughs.

We got the tickets totally by fluke. We had tried calling that morning but to no avail. Later that morning (maybe around 11:30), we were headed to Tavern on the Green for lunch (we were on our honeymoon) and passed the Ed Sullivan Theatre and there was an employee at the southern corner of the street who asked if we wanted to see a taping. We felt kind of bad because we overheard people in line talking about how bummed their friends were because they couldn't get in to see Pearl Jam.

I'd do anything to see an SNL taping. A friend said once you have a better shot of hosting than getting in to a taping. If anyone can make that happen for me, I'll be your best friend forever.

Pink_Palace said...

Thanks Libby, that was a fun story! I went to Arsenio a couple of times. We missed the Magic Johnson interview by one stinking day, grrr. Arsenio was friendly and my girlfriends and I just loved his band leader. The next time I saw him, was the night after his show went off the air. We were in the VIP room of the Roxbury - yes, there was a real club called that - and he was sitting w/Johnny Gil. Always a day late, but he was a nice guy...

mazemerizing said...

@auntdiddy: For someone who doesn't watch any of the late night shows, you sure have opinions. Letterman can be mean, I think he was mean to Kristen Stewart when she was talking about her mother raising wolf hybrids (or all wolf? Can't remember). He was very angry about that, as he has friends in Montana whose livestock are constantly being attacked by wolves. But then you see him with veterans who have been awarded Medals of Honor and his compassion makes you wanna cry. Or the amount of knowledge he has about politics and can go toe-to-toe with Bill O'Reilly, talk with politicians and ask pertinent questions.

And Leno? The networks wanted someone younger. Leno agreed to an end date so Conan could come in. But when that date came, Leno changed his mind, but the network didn't. Leno threatened to go to another network to do another late night show. NBC gave him the weekly prime time show. And it sucked. Conan's show never got the ratings he needed because Leno was his lead-in before the local news, which also did poorly. The local stations pestered the networks to get Leno back on the late show because their nightly news ratings sucked. So Conan was offered a show at 12:30. Not late night, but very early morning. He declined. So he got a very sizable compensation package, which he shared with his crew. Classy guy. Leno got his show back. Never apologized. He's a skunk. Letterman, by the way, also paid his crew during the Writer's Guild strike several years ago. He also screwed a bunch of secretaries and pages, but that's another story.

califblondy said...

Anita, I heard the only show harder to get tix to than Letterman was SNL so I've never tried. I tried for years for Letterman before a friend of friend who worked at CBS sent a "special guest" letter. I know there's usually a couple of no-shows and some people get lucky at the last minute, but my time in NYC is too limited to hang around a studio hoping to get lucky.

Jessie said...

We stayed in an apartment above Letterman's studio while in New York so decided to go in the ballot for tickets. None of us are Dave fans but thought we might as well. We saw a show with Steve Carrell who was just lovely on stage. And I found the interns warming is up funnier than Dave. He just seemed grumpy between the commercial break. Cool experience though!

Bangagong said...

What? No love for Craig Ferguson?!

ChasingHeaven said...

Leno can suck it. He steals others work and claims it as his own and he has also hidden in a closet to eavesdrop. Plus all the things mazemerizing said.

I've attend two Craig Ferguson tapings and two Oprah tapings. Craig Ferguson's set was small and intimate. He's funny and charming with the audience. Oprah, well, she ignored the audience at all costs. Although, off camera, she DID allude to the Tom Cruise couch jumping incident and grabbing Katie from backstage. She didn't name him specifically, but it was pretty clear she was referring to him. She said that she wasn't really comfortable with him making an announcement (his love for Katie) like that because it wasn't genuine and once you go all out like that there's no going back. She didn't think it was a good idea for him to do. He insisted upon it anyway and as well all know, the rest is history.

Elizabeth said...

Oh I love Craig Ferguson when I see him. He's cute and just when I thought I must be the only one who thought so, I saw a picture of his wife and well, clearly he's doing well for himself.

auntliddy said...

To clarify, I dont watch any of these shows on a regular basis, I have seen all of them several times over the years, so my opinion of them stands. Personally, I dont think it was Leno that caused Conan to tank. If conan was so good, people wld hv tuned in. Hes a very specific taste, not really for mass appeal. I think if he had stayed, eventually Leno wld retire, and people wld hv gotten used to Conan. And he shld share he money after he uprooted everyone and their families from nyc to ca!!!!! And I still dont think Leno has anything to apologize for.

Jenny S said...

Good. Leno deserves it. I watched the American Masters on Johnny Carson and Leno's agitating the network is what pushed Johnny to retire when he did. Leno is a dick.

portlandjewel said...

Leno is a known douche. He's not funny either.

Anonymous said...

I went to a Letterman taping in December 2010. What a let down. First off the guests that day were... you couldnt have picked two people on the planet I was less interested in - Ricky Gervais and P Diddy. You are herded in there like cattle and the entire time you're in line (felt like hours) you are provoked by some snot-faced little twats into laughter. They literally come to you one by one and force you to laugh. My friend and I just stood there and looked at him. Surprised they still let us in. Anyway... must be nice to do stand-up to an audience that is forced to laugh.

Poisonfawn said...

LOL my little pony!?? wth!??? my little pony hair? haha

Poisonfawn said...

yeah i have been watchin conan for years yeah i had sex dreams about him yeah yeah yeah i went to see a live taping in california, (burbank?) this january..sean white was guest, he said my little pony that conan did....and other synchs idk?

Poisonfawn said...

oh he didnt 'neigh' he made a jay impression!?? ok thats enough now, (me)

shakey said...

This was the first time I've watched Letterman in years. Only did it for Conan. It was fun to watch.

I often wondered what had happened to Edd Hall ...

I went to a taping of the Merv Griffin show when I was 16, lol! Missed Steve Martin by one day. When they announced that, I groaned loudly. I can't remember right now who the main guest was, but I remember Suzy Quattro was the musical guest. Surprised me they played the song with her live singing over it. The other surprises as well (for a 16 year-old) - the studio was tiny compared to how it looked on tv, the applause sign, the interns making the audience practice their clapping with the applause sign, the gang of people going to Merv and guest during the commercial, doing makeup or talking closely in their face.

Went on a tour of the Tonight Show set. It was interesting. No Johnny, Ed or Doc sighting, but it was still good.

Danielle said...

Thank you, @Aunt Liddy! I share your totally unpopular opinion and ITA!!!!

Lelaina Pierce said...

I entered the lottery to get tix for Conan's taping in Chicago in June! Are you talking about the last time he was in Chicago?

I am glad to see I'm not the only weirdo on the planet who has a crush on Conan. ;) I find his awkwardness and humor extraordinarily sexy.

I love hearing these stories about talk shows, since I'm mildly obsessed with them.

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