Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Jax - Concert Review - Conan O'Brien

Live From Vancouver, It’s Conan O’Brien!


*Many Spoilers Ahead!*


It’s 6:12pm and I’ve just pulled into the closest parking lot to The Orpheum Theatre in downtown Vancouver. I’m running behind as usual and don’t even realize I’m parked directly in front of the tour bus taking the cast and crew of Conan O’Brien’s Legally Prohibited Tour to 31 shows across North America. Giggling to myself like a naughty toddler, I snap a few pictures on my camera phone and meet up with my friend Jen to see The Greatest Man In Late Night play at one of the oldest and most regal theatres in the city.After some seriously good hot dogs and root beers at Dougie’s Modern Dog on Granville we lined up with the crowd outside the Orpheum and waited our turn to be searched for cameras.As you can see, there were a few restrictions regarding recording and picture taking. I was only armed with my camera phone because of this but somehow a guy managed to enter with his Mac Book Air a few rows ahead of me. I can’t take a grainy picture without flash, but he can Skype his wife? I digress.The show started out with singer/comedian Reggie Watts, a crazy, funny and talented man with the raddest afro I have ever seen. His songs were a mix of beatbox,drum machine and soul music. In between each one he had the crowd warmed up with funny stories and audience interaction. By the time he had us chanting “Conan! Conan!” in a mix of his dance/trip hop song, we were pumped and ready for the Ginger to take the stage. What a great way to kick off the night.Conan enters the stage to cheers and catcalls and a thunderous applause after a brief intermission. The standing ovation lasts 5 full minutes as Conan humbly bows and waves to the crowd. A smile spreads across my face as I realize how much I’ve missed sharing my late nights with the tall redheaded kid from Boston. It’s been 3 months since he’s been on TV and although we haven’t forgotten how great of a host O’Brien can be, it’s still amazing to see firsthand after 17 years of watching live from my couch.

There were appearances by The Masturbating Bear,Triumph the Insult Dog, Andy Richter as the loyal sidekick and the Max Weinberg-less 7 featuring Labamba. A 30foot bat from Meatloaf’s last concert, a Walker, Texas Ranger “handle” that showed some classic and hilarious clips of the show and a really clever montage about post talk show depression as well as the 8 Steps To Grieving the Loss of a Talk Show. #8 being “Get Your Ass To Vancouver!”That’s one of the best things about the show they have cleverly put together. It had a lot of local shout outs and Conan, missing being able to “throw to a commercial”, took it upon himself to create some funny local commercials for Andy Richter like Japadog and The Penthouse t-tty bar. As Andy says, “The Penthouse has been around since 1940, and so have some of its dancers. For when you’re feeling more creepy than horny!” If he comes to your town you will really enjoy this part of the show. I especially liked hearing about one of our Olympic mascots, Sumi, down on his/her luck and strung out on smack in Pigeon Park, a local all-you-can-inject drug buffet on the Lower Eastside. Funny, yet laced with a bit of politico snark.

The evening would not have been complete without seeing Conan in the tight ass purple pleather suit Eddie Murphy wore in Raw. Yes, that one. Not only, did it make me feel good about my pasty skin and flat ass, it seriously had me laughing so hard I was wheezing. Never has the Irish looked so good. Forget Colin Farell, I’m with Coco.The show ended after several more songs, one liners and completely appropriate jabs at Leno. He expressed how thankful he was to Canadians, as we were the first ones to really get his humour when his ratings weren’t that strong in the early years. I was sorry to see it coming to an end. After two hours of non stop giggling my cheeks hurt, my stomach had an ab workout and my mascara was all gone from the tears of laughter.

“You know in all my years in show biz, this is the first time anyone has ever paid to see me and I really appreciate that. But I have been paid for people not to see me…” he says with a maniacal laugh and does the String Dance.

We’ve missed ya, Conan. Welcome back.

41 comments:

MISCH said...

YES WELCOME BACK...CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU ON TBS IN THE FALL...I KNEW CABLE WOULD GRAB YOU....SO WEEKDAYS AT 11 P.M. ...IT SHOULD BE INTERESTING...

lmnop123 said...

Nice review Jax even if I'm really, really not a Conan fan.

Anonymous said...

Can't even look at him. Leno, either. Good thing I'm not an insomniac.

heatherhug said...

Is Enty a man or a woman? He has had multiple wives, wears mascara, and gets offended at magazines calling women fat. But for the first, I'd say he's a she.

chopchop said...

^^ Umm ... this review was from Jax. Just like it says in the title.

Green Wave Gal said...

Well-written Jax! I felt like I was there with you!

Oh, and Jax is definitely a woman! lol :)

libby said...

heatherhug: ++Yawn++

On Topic: I saw Conan do "Late Night" live in Chicago in 2006. He is really tall and really fit in person, and much hotter in 3-D.

heatherhug said...

Ah, Jax. I'm an idiot.

jax said...

thankyou!

last photo credited to Susan Willets on Flikr.

jax said...

it's ok Heather, we're all idiots at some point around here.

Sue Ellen Mishkey said...

Last night I saw a little clip of George Lopez talking to Chris Rock about Conan bumping his time slot on TBS, and instead of being upset about it he said, "I get to go to work an hour later, it's a Latino's dream." I laughed so hard. Way to take the high road.

libby said...

I'm an idiot b/c I thought heatherhug was just dropping troll bombs. I thought her comment was about the blog in general. Sorry

George Lopez is NOT getting screwed. His show will be seen a lot more following Conan than it is now.

I'm sad that Coco has to compete w/ DS/Colbert hour. TBS should definitely post Conan shows online, otherwise I'll never see him.

mygeorgie said...

Great review Jax!

Conan is REALLY high on my 'Sexy Beast' list. Humour & intelligence goes a long way. Good to see he's takin it to the streets & kick'n ass.

Sue Ellen Mishkey said...

haha @libby, your post made me laugh. Something about saying more poeple will see his show now, and then 1 sentence later saying they should post it online, otherwise you'll never see it, made me laugh quite a bit. Perhaps it's the contrast. Classic.

mygeorgie said...

And thanks for the visual of Conan in purple pleather. That'll get me thru this crappy day with a good sneaky smile!

Sue Ellen Mishkey said...

I just re-read libby's post and comprehended it. :( There is my boob move of the day. sigh.

libby said...

Yeah, I am not interested in Geo. Lopez in the least. But if the DS weren't there, I would def. watch Conan every night.

Sue Ellen Mishkey said...

What is DS? I have been trying to crack the code on that, but I can't. Dave Stewart? Dancing with Stars?

mooshki said...

Aw, that sounds really sweet as well as funny! I'm glad he's going to be on TBS because he'll have more freedom than he would on one of the networks. Can't wait!

I bet George Lopez will triple his viewership with a Conan lead-in.

Sue Ellen Mishkey said...

DAILY SHOW!!!!! HuzzzzAHHHH! Cracked 'er.

jax said...

if you get a chance to see him in your town TAKE IT. i would have paid double for my tickets based on how good it was. I'm a Conan fan and it was 10x better than his show. we seriously did not stop laughing for 2 hours. my sides ache today...go if you can get a ticket.

as for TBS...TBS Canada has no pans as of yet to show it. please contact your local cable provider to try and get it on Canadian tv's!

Seachica said...

Am I the only one who doesn't get why people are such big Conan fans?

MnGddess said...

Jax, I swear to God, you are on my bucket list. I'm going to come up to Vancouver and go to a show with you. I'm buying drinks. Just a soon as I get a job and make some damn money.

MnGddess said...

Conan looks kinda hawt in that last photo....

Green Wave Gal said...

@mngddss: I can attest to how awesome Jax is in real life! We had lunch together when I was at a conference in Vancouver! :)

Syd said...

I had no idea what to expect from a live Conan show, but this sounds incredible. I'm totally envious.

Thanks for the review.

jax said...

lol, i'm like the Vancouver Unofficial Mascot..lol.

jax said...

Valerie..depending on your age, I think Conan is the late night voice of our generation and after the crap with NBC...everyone loves an underdog.

Syd- really was.

califblondy said...

Valerie - No, you're not.

I don't care for Leno either so it's not like I picked sides.

I used to love Dave Letterman, but now I'd rather go to bed with a Friends rerun than watch the late night talk shows.

Nobody does it like Johnny...

jax said...

sorry, my bad the last pic is credited to Susan Gittns on Flikr.

great shot!!

RocketQueen said...

Great review! All the other reviews I've read have also said it was great - good for Coco!

And PS Jax - isn't it "The Self-Pleasuring Panda" now, due to copywrite issues? ;)

mooshki said...

NBC screwed Conan twice by canceling him and then holding on to all his material. Sure, they have the legal right, and it probably was negotiated into his settlement, but it's still douchey of them.

Maja With a J said...

Great review, Jax!

I've heard from several people that the show was fantastic. He's not coming to Calgary, unfortunately, and not even Coco could make me go to Edmonton.

KellyLynn said...

Excellent review, Jax. Team Coco!

jax said...

Rocket...sorda. i don't want to give everything away for those going tonight.

@harriet LOL. truer words were never spoken.

Miranda said...

Kick ass review, lady! Enty should get you to write more :)

lutefisk said...

That was great Jax--I wish I was with you instead of sitting here with my leg up!!!

shakey said...

He really put some thought and research into this. (Yeah it was probably the writers, but he came up with the idea at least.) This is why we should be fans. Now I'm sorry I don't get TBS anymore.

Great review, Jax!

Julie said...

is anyone going to the upper darby, pa show? I'm so excited, 10th row floor YAYYYY got my ticket in the mail the other day.

I'm going alone... which kinda sucks. lol i may catch a ride with a friend, but i'm totally sitting alone. but thats ok because I wouldn't be paying attention to anyone else anyway.

(I saw Britney alone, and I kinda thought, at that time, that was the sign of a problem. like drinking alone. hahaha)

SPEAKING OF! Do they serve alcoholic drinks at his shows? hrmm and that sucks that you're not supposed to take pictures. hrmph.

GladysKravitz said...

Thanks for the fun review, Jax. As always, I enjoyed it--we're too busy watching what we've DVR'd during primetime to watch any late night shows, so I barely know Leno, Conan or Letterman. But I'd go to a show near here, just based on YOUR review.

Meg said...

Yay! @Jax - Great Review!!!! Thank you for sharing what sounds like an awesome night.

Makes me SO excited to see him even more than already. Anyone on here going to the ATL show?

@Julie - 10th Row that is awesome! I pondered going by myself too since my husband does not "get" Conan or my obsession with him.

Advertisements

Popular Posts from the last 30 days