Whenever a celebrity cook appears on a talk show like The Late Show or The Tonight Show, it's hardly ever a real cooking demonstration. Letterman will start drinking cooking sherry right out of the bottle or Conan will just go nuts and spread butter all over something he shouldn't.
Last night was particularly crazy, as Conan, Garry Shandling, and Andy Richter helped Paula Deen make... something for Halloween. It gets kinda hectic so I'm not sure what it was.
Andy Richter-related stories
What You Missed Last Night: Garry Shandling "helps" Paula Deen
Continue reading What You Missed Last Night: Garry Shandling "helps" Paula Deen
What You Missed Last Night: Conan hits his head
You don't often see actual video of a celebrity hurting themselves on the set of a TV show (unless it's some YouTube thing, but even that's pretty rare), but Conan O'Brien knew that fans would be interested in seeing it so he showed footage of the accident. It also gave him a chance to make some jokes.
Here's the clip. Conan was running a faux marathon with Teri Hatcher, and it seems the floor was very slick...
Here's the clip. Conan was running a faux marathon with Teri Hatcher, and it seems the floor was very slick...
[Watch episodes and clips of The Tonight Show and other shows at SlashControl.]
Yes, Conan is doing a show tonight
If you didn't hear, Conan O'Brien hit his head while doing a sketch on The Tonight Show on Friday and had to be rushed to the hospital. They stopped taping and put a rerun with Jeremy Piven on Friday night instead.
But there's good news! Conan is out of the hospital, he's fine, and there will indeed be a new episode of The Tonight Show tonight. Now the real question is this: will Conan show footage of the accident? They were filming so footage exists and I wonder if Conan will show it so fans can see what happened and so he can make some jokes about it.
[Watch episodes and clips of The Tonight Show and other shows at SlashControl.]
The Office: season five DVD review
When I received my copy of The Office season five DVD in the mail, the first thing I noticed was that there may or may not be a Golden Ticket enclosed that would win me a trip to Hollywood. I tore into the packaging, and saw that I had not, in fact, won. So, this DVD set sucks. THE END.
...Okay, I've been informed that I won't get paid unless I tell you about what's actually on the DVDs. So, let's get to that.
The short version of the story is, the folks who make The Office DVDs do so with fans in mind. They are not creating merely a collection of episodes: They chock the DVDs full of enough extras and other goodies to make buying the DVDs preferable to say, buying a season pass on iTunes or just not erasing the season's episodes off of your DVR.
Continue reading The Office: season five DVD review
What You Missed Last Night: Andy Richter controls the universe
This season, Jeopardy is doing a Million Dollar Celebrity Tournament. One episode a month will have three celebrities battling to see who gets to play for one million dollars for their charity later in the season. A lot of fans don't like the celebrity editions. It breaks up the flow of the regular champion coming back, the questions are easier than the regular game, etc. But last night's episode was fun.
The three celebrities who played the first game of this season's tournament were Wolf Blitzer, Dana Delany, and Andy Richer...and Richter won! Actually, it's not even fair to say he "won," he crushed Blizter and Delany. The game was over way before they even got to the Final Jeopardy round. Blitzer didn't even make it to that round (I cringed when he added an "S" to Julia Child's last name because I knew the money would be taken away), but they let him play anyway.
The three celebrities who played the first game of this season's tournament were Wolf Blitzer, Dana Delany, and Andy Richer...and Richter won! Actually, it's not even fair to say he "won," he crushed Blizter and Delany. The game was over way before they even got to the Final Jeopardy round. Blitzer didn't even make it to that round (I cringed when he added an "S" to Julia Child's last name because I knew the money would be taken away), but they let him play anyway.
Gone Too Soon: Andy Richter Controls the Universe
When Andy Richter left Late Night With Conan O'Brien to establish his own career in acting, nobody knew that he'd come full circle and rejoin O'Brien years later. At the same time, nobody knew that creator Victor Fresco would do much the same thing.
Andy Richter Controls the Universe was one of those quirky shows that most people, who enjoy a dash of nonsense in their comedy, really dug. It was a very playful show about a guy working in a massive company. It featured a small ensemble with great chemistry on-screen, and had a unique look at big corporations.
A few years later, Fresco tapped that well again, and we got Better Off Ted, another comedy with absurdist tendencies set in a massive corporation with a small cast. Like Andy, it eked out a second season based more on critical acclaim than ratings. As someone who enjoys both shows, I find myself worrying that Ted will share Andy's ultimate fate, cancellation after the second season.
Continue reading Gone Too Soon: Andy Richter Controls the Universe
DVD cover art and release date for Andy Barker, P.I.
I love Andy Richter, but he seems awfully stiff every time I watch him on The Tonight Show. I prefer to remember the guy from his early days on Late Night, his short-lived show Andy Richter Controls the Universe, and his other short-lived show, the hilarious Andy Barker, P.I. Like Danny reported back in May, Andy Barker, P.I. is finally coming to DVD. Shout! Factory will release the entire series on Nov. 17. The two-disc set will include all six episodes, some with commentary by Richter and producer Conan O'Brien, plus a retrospective feature and a doc about the show's amazing writers, including Jonathan Groff (How I Met Your Mother), Josh Bycel (Psych), and Jane Espenson (Buffy, BSG). Click through for a better look at the DVD cover art.
Continue reading DVD cover art and release date for Andy Barker, P.I.
Conan O'Brien wants to pimp-slap your ride
Does your ride lack a certain something that all good cars should possess, like brakes? When you drive to work, do the ambulances and fire trucks pull over to the shoulder to let you pass?
Is your vehicle so old that Jesus co-signed the lease?
Maybe it's time you traded that clunker in, not for a bounced government check or another clunker some guy in a $1,000 suit conned you into buying. Maybe it's time you traded it in for two pounds of C4 and 30 spools of Primacord.
Conan O'Brien premiered on last night's Tonight Show the funniest car related sweepstakes since AMC tried to give away a Pacer: one lucky American will get to blow up their car on national television.
Continue reading Conan O'Brien wants to pimp-slap your ride
Conan and Andy spend a day at the beach
The best stuff that Conan does, whether it was on the old Late Night or the new Tonight Show, is the out of the studio segments. This clip from last night isn't one of the video segments they usually do, there's a lot of special effects and fake stuff in the pictures, but it's still pretty funny. Conan really is the whitest man in the world (and kudos to Andy for agreeing to take off some or most of his clothes in sketches like this).
Inside the Tonight Show control room during the opening and monologue
I love seeing behind the scenes footage of what goes on during the production and taping of a TV show. Aaron Bleyaert, who does the Tonight Show blog, took a camera to the control room of the show to show us what goes on in there during the opening of the show and the monologue.
Hey, someone should make a TV show about the behind the scenes goings-on at a late night variety show. Oh wait...
Hey, someone should make a TV show about the behind the scenes goings-on at a late night variety show. Oh wait...
Andy Richter reports live from the California wildfires
At first I thought it was going to be one of those sketches where Conan tells Andy to do something that should be safe but it turns into a disaster for Andy somehow. I pictured Andy being trapped by fire all around him or maybe one of those giant buckets of water dropped on him from a helicopter. But they take it in a different direction.
Conan unveils the Tour-Iffic Tram-Tacular
One night, Conan O'Brien is going to stop using the Universal tour tram as a comedic device to go to. Last night was not that night. But I guess this is funny enough. The tour stops in front of the Tonight Show doors now, but it's a pretty boring strop, and Conan and Andy Ricther wanted to give tourists something to remember.
The face behind The Tonight Show's booming voice
No, not Andy Richter. We know his face. I'm talking about the deep, booming voice of the guy who does the Twitter Tracker (and before that, many other segments on Late Night). It's Brian McCann, and this short clip below shows him recording some of the loud phrases (he's also a writer on the show and an actor, having appeared on 30 Rock as "the head" in "The Head and the Hair" episode). There's something about the voice that I find annoying yet hilarious and fascinating. It's like the Kool-Aid guy mixed with a demon.
What You Missed Last Night: Conan screws up a comedy bit
I love it when comedy sketches don't go right. That can often be funnier than the sketch itself. Last night, Conan O'Brien played a game called "Sanford or Steele," where Andy Richter had to guess whether a quote was from Governor Mark Sanford or romance-novelist Danielle Steele. Richter asks to phone-a-friend and the friend is Fabio. It always irks me when the appearance by a celeb is prerecorded and they try to act as if it isn't (this happens on Letterman's show sometimes), so it's funny to see it backfire once.
Andy Richter gets the best of Norm MacDonald
Sometimes Norm MacDonald can be really funny, sometimes not so much. Last night's Tonight Show appearance was mostly the latter, as he told some jokes that you and I would probably tell at a party, not because we made them up but because we heard them from someone who heard them from someone who heard them from someone and they're 30 years old. That's why I'm glad that at the end of this clip Andy Richter says what we've all been thinking. (Full interview here)
The TV Squad Podcast: Linda Purl talks about The Office, we talk spoilers, and more
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