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Conan O’Brien’s First iPhone-Shot Show Is Silly Lo-Fi Fun – The National Interest


Conan O’Brien announced last week that his TBS talk show would return from a coronavirus hiatus this week, and he would shoot episodes with an iPhone live form his home. This makes Conan the first late-night show to return with full-length episodes.

The first such episode aired on TBS Monday night, and was just as lo-fi as promised. The episode used the hashtag #ConanAtHome, and while the show was something of a trainwreck, it was at least a charming one.

Following an opening montage that resembled a Zoom call involving the show’s staff, the episode began with the host, seemingly sitting at a computer at his house.

“These shows we are going to do will tell you nothing,” O’Brien said at the time. “You’ll probably be stupider after you see these shows than before.”

“If you don’t like it remember: There’s always Netflix,” he added.

Highlights of the show included a pre-recorded chat with longtime sidekick Andy Richter, who at one point Richter turned the camera towards the screen, where actor George Takei appeared on MSNBC. This led Conan into a story, told many times before, about how as a writer on The Simpsons he wanted Takei to appear in the “Marge vs. the Monorail” episode; Takei’s costar Leonard Nimoy took the part instead.

Conan managed to land an A-list guest for the first remote show. That was Adam Sandler, who appeared despite not having any particular new project to promote. Wearing a mustache and appearing from home, Sandler told a long shaggy dog story, which was literally about his dog and a confrontation with a neighbor. Later, his daughter made a cameo.

There was some buffering in some places, including a couple of instances with Sandler when it extended for several seconds and stepped on the punchlines of jokes. Sandler also teased that he was going to do his old Opera Man character but instead belted out a protracted, opera-like voice. But hey, it’s not anything that hasn’t been happening in all of our FaceTime and Zoom calls the last couple of weeks.

This isn’t the first time a Conan-hosted late-night show has had to improvise. When O’Brien’s writing staff was on strike in 2008, he returned to the air and did such bits as spinning his wedding ring on the show’s desk, giving staffers tours of the studio, and utilizing non-writing members of his staff.

The remote premiere was far from the funniest show O’Brien has ever done-his current podcast, and his “Conan Without Borders” travel specials, are consistently hilarious, but the iPhone show was something of a throwback to the energy of the wild west, without-a-net early days of Conan’s old Late Night show.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. 



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