First the live Conan O’Brien tour becomes official and now this: Deadline Hollywood, who’s not in the habit of getting things wrong, has just reported that Coco is in early talks to produce a documentary film around his 30-city tour.

Mike Fleming writes on the site: “Planning is just getting underway, but I’ve heard that Media Rights Capital has already had conversations about coming aboard as financier. Rodman Flender is in talks to direct.”

We can only hope that if the film comes to fruition, it owns an equally long-winded title as Conan’s tour, dubbed The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour.

A well-placed source tells us that last night Conan O’Brien — on the heels of announcing his live concert tour — was also in a meeting with Fox executives putting the finishing touches on a new contract which will see him hosting a late-night chat show for the network.

In January rumors flew online about Conan meeting with Fox but in recent weeks the talk has slowed, no doubt in part, because of the excitement surrounding Conan’s 30-city tour, which has been buzzing around online and was just confirmed as fact yesterday.

“It’s a very compatible fit for our brand,” said Peter Reilly, Fox’s entertainment president, on Jan. 11 “He’s one of the few guys on the planet who has demonstrated he can do one of these shows every night,” adding, “I love Conan personally and professionally.”

According to Conan’s NBC contract, the host would be able to work in front of cameras as soon as this fall.

By now you know, unless you live under a rock, that Conan O’Brien’s rumored live tour is no longer rumor. What’s more is that now we know the tour has a name (The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour), a sponsor — American Express — and most importantly an official tour poster. The proof is below. Check it out. What do you think?

While we were checking out Ticketmaster this morning — and having seen 22 live dates listed for Conan O’Brien — the man himself tweeted what we’ve all been waiting for: An official announcement confirming that he will, in fact, be bringing his show on the road. Ticketmaster has all the dates listed here.

It seems the tour begins in Canada and ends in Atlanta. You can also get more info at TeamCoco.com. We’ll have more details soon. So keep checking back.

If you’ve been following the news on Punchline Magazine, you’ll know that for the past few days, Ticketmaster has been prematurely posting tour dates sporadically, creating a lot of online confusion. It hasn’t really helped our faith in the ticket giants, but with Coco’s confirmation, this is obviously the real deal this time.

Ever since it was reported on March 5 that the rumored Conan O’Brien concert tour had become official — thanks to Ticketmaster apparently prematurely posting an April 30 date in Phoenix — multiple reports have surfaced about other live show announcements. However, Conan or his people have yet to confirm anything. The closest we’ve got so far is when Conan’s longtime sidekick Andy Richter told Kelly Ripa yesterday on Live! With Regis and Kelly that the tour was a “distinct possibility.”

However, this morning, we noticed that there is a brand new date (April 17) listed for Conan O’Brien on Ticketmaster. We honestly don’t know what to think about it. Is it real? Is Ticketmaster fucking with us again? Who knows? All we know is it’s currently listed (see screen grab below) and it’s apparently happening at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Alberta, Canada. And tickets go on sale today, apparently.

Other outlets have reported that O’Brien is also set to perform at the San Diego Civic Center on April 29; however a quick search of their calendar shows no such event; there is also no listing on Ticketmaster.

UPDATE 11:52 am EST: Ticketmaster has now removed the listing. Dear, Ticketmaster: What the hell are you doing?

UPDATE 1:03 pm EST: After contacting the River Cree Resort and Casino, we were told that the Conan show “has not been announced yet.” Sounds like, to us, there’s a show then.

UPDATE 3:50 pm EST: Now, it looks like Ticketmaster has set up a test page for a live Conan date at a “small venue” in Los Angeles (see screen grab below). Dear, Ticketmaster: There are ways to create test pages without making the pages live and searchable. Why are you effing with our feelings?

In the event you didn’t catch your daily dose of Live! with Regis and Kelly this morning, let us fill you in. Conan O’Brien’s longtime sidekick and star in his own right Andy Richter filled in for Philbin. And that anorexic sassy Ripa got Andy talking about the whole late night shake up. It’s the first time Richter has talked out about it; it’s also his first television appearance since the Tonight Show was taken away from him and Conan.

In addition to — as diplomatically as possible — voicing his anger toward NBC and Leno, Richter reveals that the rumored live Conan O’Brien tour is a “distinct possibility.” Check it out.

We reported on Feb. 19 that Conan O’Brien and crew were in the midst of planning a possible live national tour.

Well, it seems like it’s 100 percent a go. TMZ just reported that Ticketmaster confirmed with them that you will, indeed, be able to see Conan live at a theater near you. Or, at least Phoenix to start. There’s a show listed on the ticket site at the Dodge Theater for April 30; tickets go on sale March 8 MST.

We can already feel Team Coco organizing.

This week marked the return of Jay Leno as host of the Tonight Show, after Conan was unceremoniously pushed out of his promised spot at NBC. It also marked a rise in vocal Leno critics. On Tuesday, Howard Stern made an appearance from his studio at Sirius XM on CBS’ Early Show, wherein he expressed his hatred for Jay Leno, outlining the reasons the late night host has not been not acting like a man nor a professional.

A Day later, however, comedian Jim Norton, the man behind the third mic on Sirius XM’s Opie & Anthony Show (a long time rival of Stern), popped up on a Web-only interview on CBS news, defending Leno’s character and business decisions. Norton was a regular contributor on the Jay Leno Show. So let’s take a look at both interviews. Who makes better points? Does this resolve anything? Let us know in the comments section!

After the jump, check out Stern’s appearance on Conan from 2006, where he warns Coco about the deal he’s made with NBC to take over the Tonight Show.

Read the rest of this entry »

For all the members of Team Coco, the idea of winning tickets to see Jay Leno host the premiere episode of the show he once had, promised to Conan and then stole back from Conan, has to be little more than barf inducing. But that’s what’s happening. A few hours ago, Leno announced the contest to his studio audience. Apparently one person and a friend can snag the spots for this historic, albeit, incredibility tainted television event. Leno supporters need to go to facebook.com/jayleno and fill out some info in order to be considered to win. You also need to have removed your soul. Kidding, of course! Can’t we kid?

We’re not sure how many of our readers watch the Oprah Winfrey Show, even when someone like Jay Leno guests on the chat fest. So, in the event, you didn’t catch his interview yesterday with Lord Oprah, Nikki Finke over at Deadline.com has provided the entire transcript for our reading pleasure.

Most interesting, in our opinion, is a part of the discussion when Winfrey asks Leno to explain how NBC originally asked him to leave his Tonight Show spot five years ago, despite him being number one in the ratings. Check it out

WINFREY: When they came into your office, they, NBC executives, come to your office, your show is number one in nighttime and tell you that you’re going to be moving out in five years, what is your first reaction to that?

Mr. LENO: It broke my heart. It really did. I was devastated. This is the job that I always wanted and it was the only job that ever mattered in show business to me. It’s the job every comic aspires to. And it was just like, “What’s–why–what is it?” “Well, we’re getting pressure here and Conan’s people want to make this announcement and to make sure you do leave we want to announce it right now, you know, prior to the five years.” And I said, “Can we at least wait and as I said the other night on my show, couldn’t we wait until I’m number two and then say, okay, he dropped to number two, that’s the reason we’re moving you.”

WINFREY: So in your mind this happened or that move happened, because Conan wanted that spot?

Mr. LENO: Yeah.

WINFREY: And…

Mr. LENO: Well, what happened was Conan’s contract was up and ABC I think and some other networks were making overtures.
WINFREY: To Conan.

Mr. LENO: NBC didn’t want to lose him.

WINFREY: So they asked you to move out in order to make room for Conan to promise Conan “The Tonight Show” slot.

Mr. LENO: Right. Right.

WINFREY: Even though your show was number one at the time?

Mr. LENO: Mm-hmm.

WINFREY: So that broke your heart?

Mr. LENO: Yeah, it really did. I mean it was–I was devastated. I’m not a person who carries my emotions on the sleeve, but you know something? I’m happy with what I had, it was a tremendous success up to that point, I’m going to do the best I can to keep it number one for the next five years.

Interesting, to say the least. We wonder if this recollection would make any member of Team Coco see Conan as partly responsible for the current late night debacle. What do you think? In the meantime, check out some video from yesterday’s interview below.