NBC may have banned Conan O'Brien from performing on TV airwaves until September, but the comedian is quickly making his presence known across nearly every other platform: First with Twitter, and then with a Web site promoting his 30-city Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour, and now with plans for a documentary that could put Coco in a nation of rejoicing multiplexes before he's allowed back on television.
Deadline reports that Media Rights Capital, the independent financier behind Richard Kelly's The Box and HBO's Life & Times of Tim, is in early talks with Conan about backing a documentary project. Rodman Flender (Party of Five, The Knights of Prosperity) is identified as a potential director.
O'Brien's expensive exit deal with NBC did not stipulate that the red-headed comedian could not make a film, perform live across the country or make peace with each and every Bottlenose dolphin in Hawaii.
The tour, which is being sponsored by American Express, was originally conceived to keep O'Brien's staff employed until September and give Coco-Nation a night of "music, comedy, hugging and awkward silence." Which translates to the big screen a lot better than you might expect at first. Just look at Precious.
ยท Conan O'Brien Plots A Movie Maneuver [DHD]