What Did We Learn from Conan O'Brien's Aptly Titled 'Show Zero'?
I feel a tad foolish today. Imagine my surprise last night when, after looking forward all day to Conan O'Brien's "Show Zero," I nestled up to my laptop at 11 p.m. only to find out that the "show" turned out to be just under five minutes in length -- barely longer than the videos of O'Brien answering Facebook questions. Sigh. Regardless of the brevity, though, did we learn anything about O'Brien's actual show, Conan, debuting next week? A little bit, actually.
Conan O'Brien's "Show Zero" was, for all intents and purposes, a miniature version of what we should all expect next week. Though, what we should expect shouldn't be too surprising: An Andy Richter intro, a monologue, a guest -- in this case, a brief appearance by The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons -- a musical performance, commercials and some credits. (Lots of credits.) So, yeah, it appears that Conan is not going to completely re-imagine the standard talk show format, which was probably already a given, but still.
Unfortunately, Conan hosted "Show Zero" from a conference room, so we didn't even get a chance to look at his new set. Which was fairly short-sighted on his part. Honestly, I can't believe I set aside my night to watch this. I fell for this tomfoolery! I feel like I was the only one not in on this joke. Well, Conan, you win. Now I have to have my guard up and assume that your actual show is a joke of some kind as well. Or maybe just a big Diet Coke commercial. Fool me once!
Anyway, if you missed it, here's Conan's "Show Zero" in its entirety.
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Comments
Yeah, I felt duped too. Mostly by his staff of annoying hipster interns.
Why wasn't Conan's "Show Zero" sponsored by Coke Zero instead of Diet Coke? If I had a show and called it "Crystal Show", you'd better believe Crystal Pepsi would be the sponsor!
Oh feh. That's one of the things we love about Conan ~ he's a prankster! Puppies like you should just go back to be patted on the head by Leno.
Not revealing the studio is part of the premiere-night fun!
I wish that hideous facial hair would fall off, though.
With all the hype and raised expectations, Conan may have painted himself into a corner he won't be able to get out of. His mini show seems to be nothing new. Nothing we haven't seen before from him again and again. Nothing innovative seems to be in sight.
I'm beginning to think he's mocking his fans. First it was the 24 hour webcam with fans glued to watching a staircase waiting for something to happen, the equivalent of staring at a bright, shiny object for hours--now this. Has Conan come to believe that his fans are so easily entertained that anything is acceptable? What is really laughable is that way some fans try to read into the most mundane, lazy, throw away bits some kind of deeper comic irony. As long as Conan leaves his comic meaning up to his fans imaginations and their unwillingness to accept that's all there is, Conan won't have to work very hard.
But, hey, no skits seemingly!
These comments are true.
Fool me once...
But with the smart emphasis Mr. Obe has placed on the internet these last few months, isn't there something a little smarter he could do?
It all seems kind of rote.
I'm still hoping though.