Thursday, February 4, 2010

How to survive Conan withdrawal

So you've watched all the YouTube clips you could find and ripped 'em to your hard drive. Your DVR has gotten frequent replay of the last two weeks of Tonight Show episodes. You've downloaded all of the old Late Night sketches and specials available on iTunes.

After all that, how else do you survive seven Coco-free months--and potentially more after September if he doesn't land back on TV? (I won't be cynical, dammit! He WILL get back on TV, Rupert Murdoch-willing!!!)

Kittens and COCO-nuts, here are some suggestions on how to deal:
  • Become acquainted with other redheaded comedy pioneers. If you aren't familiar with the work of Lucille Ball or Carol Burnett, get to know them ASAP. (And let's be honest here--who hasn't seen an episode of I Love Lucy in their lifetimes?) Lucy's still on TV Land, I believe, but you'll need to do a YouTube search for Carol clips. I'm particularly addressing this to the younguns in the Peanut Gallery, who were not fortunate enough to grow up with either The Carol Burnett Show or Carol Burnett and Friends. I've still got Carol DVDs that I haven't watched yet. Now's the perfect time!
  • Feel free to steal my Conan playlist. I created it after his last episode of the Tonight Show. I selected some obvious ones here, but I also included tunes from artists who appeared on the show during its all-too-brief run on the airwaves (as well as a couple of tunes from Late Night):
  1. "Surrender," Cheap Trick
  2. "We're Going to Be Friends," the White Stripes
  3. "Sulphur to Sugarcane," Elvis Costello
  4. "You Never Know," Wilco
  5. "Need You Now," Lady Antebellum
  6. "Chasing Pavements," Adele
  7. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)," the Chipettes
  8. "Nothing But a Miracle," Diane Birch
  9. "Tik Tok," Ke$ha
  10. "The Night Chicago Died," Paper Lace
  11. "Cousins," Vampire Weekend
  12. "Where Do I Begin (Theme from Love Story)," Barry Manilow
  13. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," the Rolling Stones
  14. "Long May You Run," Neil Young and Stephen Stills
  15. "Free Bird," Lynyrd Skynyrd
  16. "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday," Boyz II Men
  • Check out other quirky, offbeat comedy shows. I highly recommend Flight of the Conchords. And while you're at it, get the FotC soundtracks as well.
  • Go visit the blog of former Tonight Show blogger, Aaron Bleyaert. You can visit his blog here. He seems like one extremely cool dude. And he's starting a web show with other former Tonight Show staffers. Looking forward to that!
  • Try not to search Google News too much for all of the latest info. If Conan's name doesn't show up in the first few articles that come up in the Entertainment section, nothing big has happened.
And there you have it. I'm sure that my other darling kittens and COCOnuts have some suggestions out there...fire away!

1 comment:

Celia said...

You MUST check out Mr. Show.