On September 13, Conan O’Brien announced that he will be streaming 4,000 episodes of his show via TeamCoco.com, his official website. The launch will happen in January 2019. In celebration of that, our resident Conan-ite Allison Lips picked five of O’Brien’s funniest sketches, that you can still find online.
It can’t be overstated how much of a Late Night with Conan O’Brien fan I am. When I discovered the show when I was ten, I immediately fell in love. He was everything Jay Leno wasn’t. Funny. Smart. Absurd. Subversive. My third crush.
I recorded the show religiously on a VHS player longer after I should have switched to a DVR and memorized every moment I could. To this day, Conan is still one of my biggest comedy influences.
While there are an overabundance of Late Night with Conan retrospectives, I noticed they recapped the same sketches over and over. We all remember classics like Slipnutz, The Year 2000, the Walker Texas Ranger Lever, and the ever popular Conan plays old-timey baseball. However, the show was so much more than these few sketches.
Of course, these sketches are the most remembered because they are also the most shared online. During my research for this article, I found that many videos I wanted to include couldn’t be found online, which underscores the need for the Conan archive. I remember Conan playing games with his audience and giving audience members ridiculous prizes that the prop department created. In a sketch that still haunts me, Conan had band member Mark Pender strip to flesh colored underwear, so that they could figure out the right texture for Nickelodeon slime. Then there are others like Quackers, the Sh*t eating duck that are online through sheer luck.
The good news is that there is still a wealth of lesser known sketches floating around the bowels of YouTube. Here are a few highlights that deserve to be better remembered.
Joel Goddard’s Love for Asian Men
Late Night with Conan O’Brien loved to make Joel and Max Weinberg perverts. Max banged anything female, whereas Joel did anything that moved. Conan’s Late Night was definitely the only show with an announcer who was perfectly comfortable playing a depraved bisexual with a preference for Asian men. The fact that Joel agreed and the writers got away with this premise repeatedly is mind boggling on so many levels. Is it funny? Racist? Both?
SAT Analogies
Conan’s SAT Analogies stayed a beloved part of the show long after analogies were removed from the actual SATs. The reason is simple: they were hilarious. The reason Conan’s analogies don’t get enough love anymore is also simple: the references are dated. Still, that doesn’t make them any less funny. It just makes the nostalgia stronger.
Max Finds Conan Annoying
Max Weinberg was a great friend to Conan. As such, Max told Conan that he does something very annoying. After some trash talk, they switch places. This clip is an example of how Max stepped up to the plate as sidekick after Andy Richter left.
The Fagerström Chronicles
Before Conan made traveling a regular part of his show. Conan went to Finland to meet Tarja Halonen, who looks like him. During his time in Finland, Conan met his Finnish fans and wreaked havoc in a foreign country.
Dudez-a-Plenty
Conan discovered kids say “awesome” a lot and like boybands. What could be better than combining the two? That’s were Dudez-a-Plenty come in. Conan takes it so seriously he even tries to recruit Lance Bass at the hight of his *N Sync fame for the boyband.
Lullaby
Since late night aired at 12:35 in the morning. Conan knew his audience consisted of many parents. He attempted to help them out with his lullabies, which went always went off the rails.
It’s impossible to list every brilliant moment from Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Once the archive goes live, watch it and discover your own favorite moments. The ones that you cherish, but few other people remember. Just start from Late Night with Conan O’Brien’s 4th year, Mr. T likes to remind everyone Conan the first three weren’t funny.
