Conan O'Brien Slams the Tonight Show, Ridicules Google and Reveals NBC's Attack on His Twitter Account

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Why would Conan O'Brien interrupt his Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour last Wednesday for a 48-minute interview with Google? Movieline has no idea, and judging by Coco's confused expression throughout the sit down, the former Tonight Show host had no idea either. Fortunately, Conan used his pit stop to brush up on his open mic skills, roast his moderator (Google's Vice-President of Engineering Vic Gundotra) and direct a few cheap shots at his former employer. Click through for the best of Coco's zingers and full video from the interview.

1. After being played onstage by a Google bagpiper:

"Thanks for playing music usually reserved for a fireman's funeral. That's creating a really nice atmosphere for me right now."

2. After being told not to worry about the meaning of an insider Google phrase:

"You're the most condescending man I've ever met. 'Don't you worry about it. Just relax and let the search engine do the work.'"

3. After the moderator revealed that his "Democratic" method for picking questions from Google employees was by picking the ones he liked best:

"That's not Democratic at all. That's like Stalin saying, 'You guys decide amongst yourselves and then I'll kill all of you.'"

4. After the moderator misread an employee's name as Chirp instead of Chip:

"Why are you running this thing?!"

5. On how his young audience does not even know what the Tonight Show is:

"That's good. I like that. Who even needs to know what a Tonight Show is anymore? [Maniacal laughter and then fake sobs] It hurts so much. It'll get better. Anyway."

5. After being asked to dance for the audience:

"What is this? You guys are so power-mad now at Google. You're such entitled A-holes. 'Hey, Conan's in the area, make him come by. [...] What do you want? You can have one water. We've got a stool for you. Hey, do a dance. Turn around a little bit. Let's see your a**. Hey, you want my job in five years? Maybe I'll give it to you.'"

6. On NBC nearly shutting down his Twitter account:

"I had nowhere else to go so I started on Twitter... I was and am legally prohibited from appearing on television, radio and doing performances on the Internet. So I was just, literally, like a prisoner in a 14th-century cell writing little things on a scrap of paper and throwing them out the window and hoping a peasant would go by and [find them]. So I did that and it exploded overnight."

"At first, I started to hear a little bit of stuff from [NBC] saying, 'We're not sure you should be able to [communicate via Twitter] and then they realized the absurdity of shutting down my Twitter account."

The full interview -- including Conan's impression of Leno (begins at 22:04), Conan's hairy foreplay with a Google employee (begins at 23:24), and Andy Richter's guest appearance (begins at 29:00) -- below.

· @Google & YouTube present A Conversation with Conan O'Brien! [YouTube]



Comments

  • Maybe if Conan O'Brien had ever been funny in the first place, he might not have been replaced on The Tonight Show ... although Jay Leno really is not very funny either.
    In fact, the biggest question to ask, of O'Brien, of Leno, of Google's engineers and officers: Whatever happened to humor?
    It has been replaced by vulgarity, by silliness, by strange facial expressions and spastic movements.
    Actually Leno occasionally has some funny lines, but his delivery needs a LOT of work; O'Brien nearly always came across as a likable person, but his material usually stank; Google probably should just get out of entertainment and stick with searching.

  • Oh, one more: NBC probably should just go out of business entirely.

  • rfd says:

    Conan, you're like David Scwhimmer ("Ross"). You, both, were so lucky to get the gigs you did. Neither one of you should ever do anything but thank your lucky stars and be quiet. Leno, at least, use to be funny and is a car and bike guy to boot.

  • cinechiquita says:

    Based on these previous comments, I can tell that none of the commenters have even seen Conan's shows including Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Sit down you two. Be quiet. My boos wash over you.

  • justynaa says:

    ahaha i like how the writer made conan seem like a total ass, and he's far from it. great article... not.

  • Zeke says:

    Because who the hell needs to take context or tone into account!

  • carlfifty says:

    kill yourself

  • carlfifty says:

    conan was the king of late night for 16 years and he should still be doing his show right now. nbc and jay leno fucked him over but he got a good lawyer and was able to walk out with 32 million dollars. gave money to every member of his staff and put on a tour for all of his fans. he will be great on tbs and you will be writing some bullshit comments under some pointless article for the rest of your life.

  • carlfifty says:

    julie miller you are an awful journalist. i watched the video and conan was very funny, i'm so glad he is speaking his mind. nbc tries to turn their employees into empty suits like jay leno. please stop writing articles you are embarassing yourself.