Conan O’Brien dishes about Monday’s shows to the NYT
By
Despite the claims of this headline from the New York Times, we still miss and support the writers. But dang, that was some good TV. It was, most definitely, Ménage à awesome.
From the New York Times:
Who Needs Writers if You’ve Got a Bat?
By JACQUES STEINBERG
Published: February 6, 2008Forgive those television viewers who might have drifted off for a few minutes at the end of “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” on NBC on Monday, only to awaken confused to this scene: Conan O’Brien, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert brawling backstage at Mr. O’Brien’s “Late Night,” variously armed with a baseball bat, fire extinguisher and, of course, an oversized recycling bin.
Had the pressures of scrounging up viewers during the writers’ strike gotten to all three?
“The truth is, it’s like ‘West Side Story,’ we all know where each other’s hangout is,” said Mr. O’Brien, who sounded as if he were recovering from the beating when reached by phone on Tuesday morning. “And it’s not that hard getting in the building, even though I probably shouldn’t say that.”
…
At a certain point a few weeks ago, Mr. Colbert picked up the phone and called Mr. O’Brien — which is the just about the only serious thing Mr. O’Brien (the one with the “translucent” complexion, as Mr. Colbert put it) would confirm on Tuesday — and a running cross-network comedy bit (who created the Huckabee phenomenon) was born.
Asked if he and Mr. Colbert had actually spoken directly, or through their producers, Mr. O’Brien said: “I’m told 11:30 network hosts don’t have to talk to anyone. I’m on at 12:30. They’re cable hosts. We all answer our own phones.”
“He had been leaving me threatening messages,” Mr. O’Brien added. “He got to me. I have a temper. A famous temper.”
h/t Rebnej for the article lin, LJ user oncolgist for the pic
Related posts
6 Comments
February 5th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Great article, I hope this prompted them to all become close friends where they will do something like this at least once a month.
Reply
February 5th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I think you meant Conan dishes to the NYT
Reply
February 5th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
@hb:
Yes.
*headdesk*
When I blog at work, I’m usually in a hurry to slap something up before getting busted by the boss. Sometimes mistakes are made.
Reply
February 5th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
So, Conan admits it – Colbert made “ménage à awesome”.
Following Andrew Young’s advice and making phone calls seems to be working for Stephen.
Reply
February 5th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Interestingly enough, the NYTimes has now changed the title of the piece to “The Story Behind a Late-Night Brawl.” Guess someone realized that the original title was a bit insensitive to the writers.
Reply
February 5th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
@Rebnej:
Good catch! There’s been quite a bit of backpeddling it seems in some of these write-ups about the feud (*cough*HuffPo*cough*).
Reply