Conan O’Brien – currently in the middle of a North American comedy tour – stopped by Google headquarters in Mountain View, Ca., talked for a few minutes and then opened the floor to questions.
The 48-minute vid is typical Conan zaniness: high-pitched voices, Jay Leno imitations, evil laughter, riffing with flirty fangirls. You can tell Conan is in his element here, even when he jokes on Web 2.0 geekery such as Twitter tweets and search engine tips.
There are some softball questions, some emailed to the host. “What’s your favourite Mr. Burns quote?” (Conan wrote for The Simpsons) Conan cites the recurring joke where Burns keeps forgetting Homer’s last name each episode.
Probably not the same routine he’ll do when he stops by Massey Hall on May 22, but there’ll be some overlap for sure.
As expected, he discusses the Late Night fiasco, noting how his supports were behind him early. “The groundswell of Internet support from lots of young people, like those in this room, took my network by surprise. They didn’t know what hit them. Many people in broadcast TV have been dismissive of the Internet…and they tend to deride what they don’t understand.”
Why did Conan turn to Twitter to update the public about his next moves? “I had no other options,” he admits, “I felt like a prisoner in a 14th century cell writing little things on scrap of paper and throwing them out the window and hoping a peasant goes by to find the note.”
Watch for more NBC jokes and a guest appearance by Andy Richter in the clip. Definitely worth your time, if you’re a Conan nut.
And kudos to the Big G for their Google Talks series, where they have also presented interviews with author Cory Doctorow (born in Toronto), comedian Jeff Garlin, Wired editor Chris Anderson, Middle East analyst Daniel Pipes and dozens more.
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