Tonight Show - Do Not Play (Record List)

Jimmy tells us what records to avoid in the segment "Do Not Play".

Tonight Show - Jon Glaser

Legendary Late Night with Conan O'Brien writer Jon Glaser appears on the Tonight Show and he's still pumped for the women's World Cup win. HE'S PUMPED.

Space Cop Trailer Released

The folks at RedLetterMedia have just released the first trailer for their upcoming movie "Space Cop". If you like space and you like cops, this is probably the space coppiest movie you'll find anywhere!

The description puts the release time as "To be released soon. When it's done."

Hello, Noram...

I fell into a Norm MacDonald youtube hole today and thought I'd post this clip. This is one of the "Conan highlights" that you see over and over, ad infinitum. But, as is the nature of highlights, you don't get the context of the broader picture. Thankfully, someone's posted more of the interview Conan conducted with "Melrose Place" star Courtney Thorne-Smith.

The thing that made it great was that it wasn't just a single joke but a series of interruptions. When Conan finally challenges, "Do something with that, you freak" and Norm does, it's just the icing on the cake.

Conan - Girl's Night Out

Conan takes his female staffers to see the new horror movie "Magic Mike XXL".

Brocktoon Update II

A while back I watched a life-changing episode of Mr. Belvedere where we all learned about the ravages of Alzheimer's Disease. Well hold on to your butts because there are yet more problems that need to be addressed in sitcom form. Namely, AIDS... It's time to talk about AIDS.

The episode begins with a comic relief subplot not related to the AIDS. Kevin is attempting to sew and having trouble with it (he keeps sticking his fingers with the needle). Between the sewing and the muffins he's baking in the oven his father starts to worry about his son's sexuality. Don't worry, he's just taking Home Ec. for an easy A. Now, am I just reading too much into this but does it strike anyone has strange that an episode about AIDS brings up both homosexuality and needles in the first few minutes? Is that irony? Is that some weird dark humor from the writers? Should I be offended? I'm so uncomfortable right now.

So anyways, it turns out Wesley's best friend has been pulled out of school because he has AIDS. [Note to writers: there are many ways to ham-fist a lesson into a TV show comedy, you don't necessarily need a cute little kid to get a death sentence.] Wesley doesn't know what AIDS is and reacts inappropriately. The parents of the show sit him down to drop some knowledge...

"Wes, AIDS is a disease and your friend is pretty sick."
[...]
"You're saying he might be sick for a whole week?"
[Here the parents, incompetently look to their butler to help]
Brocktoon: "Maybe two."
"Boy, no school! Lucky duck!"

At this point in the conversation Wesley runs away and the parents let him continue to live with misconceptions. What was the entire point of having the talk?! Why not clear up the misunderstanding, what else is more important for them to do at this point?

Oh well. Without proper guidance from his parents, Wesley goes to school and here's what the kids have to say. AIDS makes your arms fall off, AIDS is easy to catch, you can get it from touching, "A sixth-grader told me you can get it just by talking on the phone". I never even considered that one.

So, I'm going to fast forward to the end because this is getting too long and I still need to google whether AIDS can be transmitted via the phone. Wesley faces various challenges and eventually decides to do the right thing but now the President's Day Pageant at school is coming up and it's time to do something stupid.

While on stage as Abraham Lincoln, Wesley interrupts his own speech to bring his AIDS friend up on stage. Panic fills the room. Wesley tries to educate us but several kids come from backstage to yell at him. One of the parents stands up from the audience and tells their child to stay away from the kid with AIDS. And this is the scene that makes the episode worthy of the National Film Registry. This is the kind of uncomfortable that can't be replicated anywhere else in the world. The awkwardness goes to 11. And in case that scene isn't enough for you, it's followed up by a scene where Wesley and his friend discuss possibly putting together a bucket list of things to do. His friend tells him that he doesn't have enough time left to do the things he wants to do. That actually happens.

The episode ends, as every episode ends, with Mr. Belvedere writing in his diary. He says, "I suppose at this point I should write something profound about life and death. But you know something, I'm really not in the mood". Fade to black. That's it? OK? Uh, what? I think I just watched the writers give up. Oh, and then the credits go with the goofy regular theme song instead of the downtrodden version that the Alzheimer's episode got. I don't know what to read into that.