Atticus & Silas: A Day in the Life

Frank Sinatra is heckled by Dean Martin & Sammy Davis

The title says it all. Just watch.

Tom Waits on Fernwood Tonight

This is a gem of a clip. Tom Waits shows up on Fernwood Tonight, (a seventies parody of the mid-western talk show format) on the premise that his tour bus broke down. Martin Mull and Norman Lear are funny, but Tom Waits is the show stealer. His best line is, “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me, then a frontal lobotomy.”

Conan vs. James Ellroy

James Ellroy is a wild, unpredictable, unapologetic, self- promoter. But he’s a good writer. And he makes appearances on talk shows, like not other. This clip is of a young Conan O’Brien holding his own with a crazy ass guest.

Orson Welles Drunk Outtake

This clip of Orson Welles was in the “Recommended for you” section of my YouTube page. I don’t know what that says about my search habits, but I watched it, and it is awesome. Orson drank about 8 bottles of the wine he’s doing a commercial for and he is a mess.

Star Wars / Dallas opening

Mashups are old news I guess, but they’re still fun. This is a great example of how editing can change the message for anything.

Star Trek as The A-Team

Bob is back!

Bob is back. And not a moment to soon.

Richter is back!

I love Conan O’Brien, even if I only watch him about twice a year. I go to bed before he comes on, and chances are if I’m watching his show, I’ve either worked late or I’m having a bout of insomnia. Either way, whenever I watch Conan I love it. He’s part Johnny Carson, part Letterman and all Conan. He’s really the Carson of the Gen Xers. He appears to be a straight man and then launches into screwball comedy that only he can create.

I was watching one of Conan’s last shows the other night, where he ripped off a piece of the set and then had some set people chop it up, so he could give it to the audience at the end of the show – classic! The whole show was devoted to flashbacks, with one very special guest, Andy Richter. In the early days of the Conan show, Andy Richter was McMahon to Conan O’Brien’s Carson. It was a great comedy team-up but Richter left the show in 2000 and started a mild tv career. (with one recent appearance on 30 ROCK as Liz Lemon’s brother – a great episode) But, he never quite recaptured the popularity of his team-up with Conan. Well, now thats changed, because not only is Conan moving over to late night, but Richter is going to rejoin the show. Why do I care? I don’t know. I just like to know that when I tune in to a Conan O’Brien show, any day of the week, I am going to be entertained and laugh my ass off. And thats something we can all use with all of the good news these days.
Welcome back Andy.

Because he’s a pro…

…David Letterman had no problem with a quiet and pensive Joaquin Phoenix, who was on the Late Show for what? Oh yeah, he was promoting a movie and retiring from acting, but you wouldn’t have known that if Letterman didn’t drag it out of him. Its not easy to sit at a desk day after day and talk up celebrities and make the time interesting, let alone a guest that doesn’t say a thing. But, in short, Letterman shows you why he is still the king of late night TV. He simultaneously calms any agitation (if that is what he was felling) that Phoenix had and then zings him with some great lines. My favorite is, “We owe an apology to Farah Fawcett, ” a reference to what was until now, the most uncomfortable Letterman appearance.