If you never managed to catch Andy Barker, P.I. when it originally aired two years ago, try not to beat yourself up. Though the show had an impressive cast, led by Andy Richter as a CPA-turned-private-investigator, and including Harve Presnell, Tony Hale, Marshall Manesh, and Clea Lewis. It was also created by Conan O'Brien and Jonathan Groff. But it only lasted six episodes, and didn't seem to get much push from NBC. Watching it on the newly released DVD, Andy Barker, P.I.: The Complete Series, it's hard not to feel the show could have had legs if given the chance.
All's well that ends well, though, and Richter is happier than ever, paired again with Conan O'Brien on The Tonight Show, getting to do what he calls a "silly little comedy show" without dealing with the backwards world of the sitcom. I spoke with Richter earlier this week about Barker and being back with Conan.
Do you think Andy Barker, P.I. got a fair shake when it was first out?
Oh, certainly not. Absolutely not. It was sort of just, you know, shoved on TV and meant to go away.
Last night, Spencer Pratt announced on The Tonight Show that he might run for President. His reasoning? It has to do with becoming hated by everyone and hacking computers. Or something. I don't think he's thought it through yet. Seth Green gets a little dig in, and the audience is obviously tired of him and Heidi.
What you don't hear in the clip (it cuts off early) is the audience actually booing Heidi and Spencer. My favorite part of the show was the end, as the music played and credits rolled Conan talked to guest Brian Setzer and Green talked to Andy, leaving Speidi all alone in the middle on the couch, not sure where to look or who to talk to.
Conan O'Brien is a better interviewee than interviewer, as this "Between Two Ferns" interview with Zach Galifianakis shows. He and Andy Richter sat down to chat with Galifianakis at FunnyorDie.com and they touch on everything from The Tonight Show to whether or not Conan touches himself while watching himself. It seems to be all scripted but it's funny (not die). There's a surprise guest star too.
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.
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...
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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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
I love seeing behind the scenes footage of what goes on during the production and taping of a TV show. Aaron Bleyaert, who does theTonight 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...
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.
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.
If you never managed to catch Andy Barker, P.I. when it originally aired two years ago, try not to beat yourself up. Though the show had an impressive cast, led by Andy Richter as a CPA-turned-private-investigator, and including Harve Presnell, Tony Hale, Marshall Manesh, and Clea Lewis. It was also created by Conan O'Brien and Jonathan Groff. But it only lasted six episodes, and didn't seem to get much push from NBC. Watching it on the newly released DVD, Andy Barker, P.I.: The Complete Series, it's hard not to feel the show could have had legs if given the chance. 
I love Andy Richter, but he seems awfully stiff every time I watch him on 
Does your ride lack a certain something that all good cars should possess, like brakes? 
TV Squad Ten: Top Ten ESPN shows from worst to first
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
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