Conan likes those quasi-meta-shaggy dog jokes which has kind of defined much of the humor of his show. The whole point of the joke is that you know it's coming, because he always does it. The problem is more that the studio audience in later episodes don't seem to realize it's a joke, much less be in on the long running gag, until well into the clip.

Every time I tune in to Conan, he fails to make it weird.

It's like Quirk-in-a-Can nowadays.

Go watch some Letterman clips with Brother Theodore. Christ, what a show that was.

@boner, When I was a lad, my personal favorite was when Dave called up the Russian embassy or TASS to try and spread a rumor. There had been some rumor-mongering with the Soviets at the time, so they decided (with audience votes) to call 'em up and tell them that the latest shipment of wheat to Russia was accidentally bathed in a chemical that would turn your urine blue.

After calling back and being hung up on several times, the next night Dave called the guy they'd messed with back up and offered him a load of NBC swag for the trouble they'd caused. I think they sent an intern over with the items, though I dunno if the dude got to keep them.

Leno's the one who was fired, not Conan. He didn't screw over anyone. You could make the case that NBC royally botched that whole thing, but Leno didn't do anything wrong. Except for being a painfully unfunny hack, obviously.

Last thing I saw in latenight land that was any good was this:

http://youtu.be/cXIQRh6f6kc

Not really worth submitting but it's a fun trainwreck to watch. Reminds me of early Conan, before his trainwreck became staged.

Not exactly, Pete:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Tonight_Show_conflict

thanks for linking that infinite zest i am enjoying it so far.

@infinite zest: Actually I thought that was funny enough to be worth submitting. It has eric andre. And definitely makes the point that more improv is better.

SPK: here's what I see in that link. "Facing the prospect of attempting to keep both Leno and O'Brien, Zucker made final call on Leno's deal: "Yes, we’ll extend your deal. But this is your last contract. Time to hand over the keys."[14] The plan would extend Leno four additional years, after which he would give The Tonight Show to O'Brien."

I remember what happened; it wasn't that long ago and was pretty well documented...

ok, I submitted it, breaking my own rule of not submitting SNL/Late Night etc. clips. I don't feel dirty. :)