Hot on the heels of renewing his contract with TBS through 2015, Conan O'Brien is hosting a week of shows from Atlanta. The first one was last night, and here he is joining a Southern Baptist gospel choir because it's what you do when you go to Atlanta. Hit the jump for more highlights from Conan's first Atlanta episode, including Atlanta sports talk and an appearance from Jack McBrayer:
TBS announced yesterday that they've greenlit a fifth season of Cougar Town, which means the cable network's move to rescue the low-rated ABC show paid off. This is great news for all ratings-challenged network shows, but especially for Happy Endings, another critically-acclaimed ABC series that is on the verge of cancellation this season.
Cougar Town debuted its fourth season on TBS in January, and the show's been averaging 2.8 million viewers an episode (and 1.7 mil with adults 18-49), which isn't too far from the numbers it was earning on ABC. Cougar Town is currently TBS's top-rated original primetime show ever with both adults 18-49 and total viewers. The fact that the network [...]
Here's Steve Carell on Conan last night finally shirking his "nice guy" image and trying out a new persona: guy who breaks mugs.
Conan O'Brien did the right thing last night by shutting down his staff's Harlem Shake video in progress and firing everyone involved. Think of how much better a place the world would be if every employer followed Conan's lead.
Here's Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter taking you through this year's Oscar movies in case you missed any. If you're a procrastinating Oscar voter, watching this bit is just as good as watching all the movies you were supposed to have watched already and you can just make your decision now.
With the Leno/Fallon changing of the guard at NBC and a shuffle of other late night hosts expected as a result, it looks like Conan O'Brien is staying put at TBS. The cable network announced today that they've renewed Conan through November 2015. His previous contract was set to run up in April of 2014. Conan has settled into modest ratings since its high-rated debut on TBS in November of 2010. This week, the Conan gang is in Atlanta to host a week of shows from the city in conjunction with the NCAA's Final Four.
The contract renewal keeps Conan out of the mix for a series of big [...]
Yesterday night was Conan O'Brien's first show back since last week's big Fallon/Leno news, but you wouldn't know it by looking at his monologue. Last Wednesday, The NY Times confirmed that NBC is looking to replace Jay Leno with Jimmy Fallon as Tonight Show host next year and that the network is building an expensive studio for Fallon to move the late night franchise back to New York when he takes the reins. While Fallon and Leno have both joked about the situation in their monologues, O'Brien didn't make mention of the late night skirmish at the top of his show last night. Leno didn't [...]
Here's a clip from Conan last night in which he lays out a totally real plan to defend us in the event that North Korea sends a nuclear attack America's way – by just throwing Florida to Kim Jong-un . It's pretty much our only option.
Eugene Mirman returned to Conan last night to do a stand-up set, and most importantly, to answer some audience questions and to kick off what I'm assuming is his new career direction as an advice-giver to weird 22-year-olds.
Andy Samberg went on Conan last night to promote his stint hosting the Independent Spirit Awards (which air this Saturday on IFC), and he and Conan got to talk a little bit about their experiences writing for SNL. Samberg's favorite sketch he wrote that never made it to air was about a guy who desperately wants people to come to the bathroom with him. Flimsier SNL sketches were developed into movies in the early '90s, so maybe it would have actually worked.
Here's NYC-based stand-up Emily Heller making her debut performance on Conan last night and doing a great job. In addition to stand-up, Heller is the star of the new Above Average Network web series The Future, in which she gives comedians psychic readings, and she's also a top-notch Twitterer, which is totally a real word now.
Stand-up Rory Scovel, who you may know from his series of amazing Conan appearances (see below), has been added to the cast of a new TBS pilot from Spin City/Scrubs/Cougar Town creator Bill Lawrence, Deadline reports. Co-created by Lawrence and Greg Malins, the show is called Ground Floor, and it follows an Ivy League grad (Skylar Astin) who falls for his office's high school-educated maintenance supervisor (Briga Heelan). John C. McGinley, James Earl, and Rene Gube also star. Scovel will play a character named Harvard, who got his nickname because he was the only one on his co-workers to go past high school and attend community college. [...]
Pete Holmes is hardly an unknown — he hosts the hugely popular podcast You Made It Weird, recorded his own Comedy Central Presents, and of course, voices the E-Trade Baby. But he's officially moved to the next level; it was announced last week that his late night talk show (originally called The Midnight Show with Pete Holmes) will premiere after Conan this fall, executive produced by Conan O'Brien and Jeff Ross. Earlier this week, I got the chance to chat with him about putting together a half hour talk show, working with Conan, and creating a comedy clubhouse at TBS.
What can you tell us about what the show will be like?
I'll be honest [...]
Here's Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass) on Conan last night, belting out a song called "Rock is Dead" off their latest album Rize of the Fenix If you're wondering whether they get the old "Johnny Carson invite over to the desk" from Conan after their performance, you'll have to hit the jump to find out.
