So this post is way late. Busy times call for blog delays, but I’ll try to make it up to you in a short amount of time, but that’s for another post. With nary another delay, I present the Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour.
Kim and I went to CoCo’s Show-Show on Friday the 30th at Dodge Theater. When we got there it was hella packed, and as we walked in we saw Pender out talking to people. Totally cool, right? We went in and got situated in our seats, fairly central to the crowd and with a decent view of the stage. Also to note, there were several bars in the lobby area of the theater – totally normal – but there was also a bar in the theater. Like, exit stage right. I haven’t been to too many theaters before, but I thought that was pretty different.
The opening act for the show was Reggie Watts, who was a very interesting dude. He was a pretty funny guy and will be on Comedy Central soon (if not already). His routine included a number of really good accents and he did a lot of music as well. The cool thing was that he was mixing music on stage, which I’ve never actually seen anybody do so it was pretty neat. His songs, just a disclaimer, are not songs to play for your grandmother. Doesn’t make them any less awesome though!
Then! The Legally Prohibited Band showed up! They played some great music right off the bat, and the three men on brass went into the crowd. One thing I learned that night was that Mark Pender can hold a note like a champ. The screen then showed a short story about Conan between getting fired and starting the tour – including massive beard and pot belly. And then Conan came out (less beard and less belly) – in a Phoenix Suns jersey! It was pretty awesome.
Conan addressed recent happenings with NBC and the Tonight Show, obviously. He explained a bit about how he’s been doing since, adding lots of comedy but some definite statements in there (when going through stages of losing one’s TV show, he said he skipped passed blaming himself because “what the Hell did I do?”) but he moved on quickly to music, with the CoCo-ettes dancing at his side.
The show overall was a great mix of music and comedy, including a number of tributes to Late Night fun like the Chuck Norris lever and…. shudder…. Triumph. They also had some fun random things like the bat out of hell and Andy Richter riding a horse. Conan even sang a song about his childhood. Also he wore a paisley suit, which I do not condone. For anyone. But! In the end, Conan ran out into the crowd while playing guitar and actually came pretty close to us, but he was running so fast with those gangly legs that I couldn’t get a decent picture of him. Alas, I’m going to stop talking and let you look at pretty pictures:
Scott Ross 