LATE NIGHT EMMY NOMINATION
It was announced Thursday (July 23) that Late Night have received one Emmy nomination in the category of "Outstanding Writing For a Variety or Music Program".
Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Jonathan Groff, Head Writer; Brian Kiley, Janine DiTullio, Chris Albers, Tommy Blacha, Brian McCann, Brian Reich, Michael Gordon, Mike Sweeney, Greg Cohen, Ellie Barancik, Brian Stack, Andy Richter, Conan O'Brien.
Late Night is up against HBO's "The Chris Rock Show," which features ex-LN staff writer Louis "CK" and Chuck Sklar who plays David Copperfield on Late Night. "Mr. Show," which also featured ex-LN staff writers Dino Stamatopoulos and Mike Stoyanov. Also, competing in this category are "Dennis Miller Live," and "Late Show with David Letterman".
The Emmy's will be screened live on NBC on Sunday, September 13. Wouldn't this be a nice way to celebrate five Conetastic years of outstanding comedy? Full listing of nominations can be found at: http://www.emmys.org
CONAN'S NO SHOW @NBC.COM LIVE CHAT
Last Sunday's (July 19) scheduled NBC Live chat with stars from Late Night, Friday Night, Saturday Night Live, and Jay Leno turned out to be an anti-climax for fans of Late Night since neither Conan, Andy, nor Max were able to chat with them.
Hundreds of Conan fans waited several hours online for a chance to speak to Conan. Some European fans stayed up all night for the event. NBC advertised the event for days, informing us that people from Late Night would be there. The chat host was quoted as saying, "Conan will be here," on several occasions. Was this false advertising on the part of NBC? What went wrong?
NBC's Marc Liepis tells us: "Conan was surrounded by reporters for the entire evening. Andy not only had to cut out early to catch a red-eye flight home, he literally was in the same spot the entire party flanked by folks with tape recorders. As for Max, he was never in the same place long enough to chat online - he must've talked to every person in the room though. Sorry for the disappointment - Conan was a huge hit at the Tour."
So Long Oldy!!
Actor William Preston who played Carl 'Oldy' Olson on Late Night has died, aged 76 in New York last Friday. Damone has a memorial page for him up at his site. Go to: http://www.ios.com/~damone/oldy.html Read The Bone Of Contention NEE-HA's Micah Honee's tribute here.
LATE NIGHT'S FIFTH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL!!
Late Night's fifth anniversary is fast approaching. It was announced on Tuesday (July 14) that it would be an NBC PrimeTime Special - a first ever for Late Night. You can read the NBC Press Release here. And a New York Times article on it here. I'll post more information about it as and when it becomes available.
CONAN ON THE RADIO
by Robin Banks
NBC announced last Friday at a radio industry conference that two-minute snippets of the Conologue from "Late Night" will be featured on a daily radio program on more than 200 radio stations across the United States. United States Radio Network will produce and syndicate the radio program, which is expected to begin airing on August 1, 1998.
John Miller from NBC Entertainment, said: "'Late Night's' popularity is at an all-time high and Conan's opening monologue is where it all begins. Replaying highlights from the monologue on the radio each day will reinforce Conan's popularity by wetting listeners' appetites for his comedy and will bring more viewers to the show each night.''
Nightly highlights from the Conologue will be fed via satellite to the stations that carry the program for broadcast the following day. "The Conologue Cuts" are to be sponsored by by ``Supercuts,'' the Minneapolis-based North American chain of hair styling salons. "We think Conan is the perfect fit for our customer base," said Patti Langworthy, Director of Advertising and Promotions for 'Supercuts'. "His shock of red hair is always well-styled and has become a signature for him. Conan and 'Supercuts' just make for an excellent association.''
CONAN AND MW7 ON COMIC RELIEF
By Lauders
Conan and The Max Weinberg Seven appeared on HBO's Comic Relief on Monday night. Max and the guys did a superb job as usual playing the intro music for the show and the music that introduces the guests--just as they do on Late Night. Conan was there, like every other well-known celebrity face, to plug the causes of Comic Relief and to get people to call in and make a donation ($30 or more and you get a free t-shirt).
A denim-clad Conan came out after around two hours of dull 'celebrity plugging' and IMHO his segment was hilarious and livened up the show. He sat down and started to sing a 'spontaneous' song about those free-if-you donate-30-bucks t-shirts. The song quickly veered off in the direction of 'Jethro Tull' type-music (as seen on a sort of tribute thing on Late Night before) and host Billy Crystal had to butt in and remind Conan of why he was there.
Conan apologized and started to sing the Comic Relief t-shirt song again. And again went into his wild rocky type stuff. All very reminiscent of the skit he does on the show with the audience members. It was cool to see that Conan didn't just do what every other celeb did to promote the cause. I may be slightly biased here, but I think his was the best and most entertaining "Buy The T-shirt Help The Cause" appearance on the show.