Conan O’Brien has gone from upstart late night host on NBC to host of The Tonight Show to unemployed late-night host to host of the long-running TBS show Conan to, more recently, the host of a more intimate, half-hour version of his show plus the host of a regular podcast plus head of a growing media empire.
Conan O’Brien is my favorite currently working late-night talk show host, and yet his TBS show is the least necessary, best consumed in highlight form on YouTube the next day (like when Conan and Jim Carrey sketched each other last week). However, I never miss an episode of Conan’s podcast, which can maybe be described as an even longer-form interview show than the existing iteration of Conan (if you’re new to Conan Needs a Friend, listen to the Timothy Olyphant episode and thank me later). Andy Richter now has his own podcast, there’s a behind-the-scenes podcast from writers Mike Sweeney and Jessie Gaskell, and there’s even a podcast on Team Coco devoted to Big Tech.
Now Team Coco is going to use its massive YouTube audience to launch a behind-the-scenes web series called Meet the CONAN Staff, which looks like a combination of The Office and The Larry Sanders Show crossed with Conan’s comedic sensibilities. It is not a documentary-style series (which might be fascinating in and of itself); it’s a scripted web series. Conan and Andy Richer will be on the series, plus guest appearances from Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers, among others. Unfortunately, however, it does not feature some of the actual cast members Team Coco fans would probably most want to see: Sona Movsesian, Jordan Schlansky, Diana Chang, et. al. However, it does feature Conan O’Brien hulking out on Conor Oberst.
Meet the CONAN Staff premieres on Tuesday, February 18th.
