‘Conan’ Returning On March 30 With New Episodes Shot On An iPhone
There’s a documentary calledConan O’Brien Can’t Stopthat follows the comedian as he goes on tour following the famous debacle of losingThe Tonight Showgig after Jay Leno decided he wanted it back. It sounds like that documentary title still holds truth even in these chaotic times, becauseConanwill be coming back to TBS with new episodes onMarch 30, despite the growing coronavirus concerns around the county. But don’t worry: the show will be shot on an iPhone, there will be no audience, and guests will use Skype to appear on the show.
Varietyhas word on the return newConanepisodes during coronavirus containment. Since pretty much allshows and movies shut down productionto help slow the spread of this dangerous virus, new entertainment will soon run thin. But people are hungry to keep producing content, because that’s what they love to do.Jeff Ross, executive producer ofConan, told the trade:
Conanhas been delivering limited new content on YouTube this week from the comfort of his home. Stuff like this:
Even thoughConanwas supposed to be on hiatus this week, he and his staff couldn’t help trying to lighten the mood during these troubling times. O’Brien said:
“We were making stuff and putting it out and trying to be a distraction, but we just realized – why not just do the show? It will be different, and it may not be pretty, but we’re going to do it.”
Honestly, people would love to see the other suspended late night talk shows follow suit. At the very least, the return of Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, James Corden, Seth Meyers, and Samantha Bee would be a welcome presence right now. Sure, there’s plenty of streaming content people can catch up on right now, but having new, topical comedic material to help make light of this stark situation would be nice. Some of these shows have been making new material with their limited resources to inject into reruns, but surely they can do more from home. Then again, these late night shows have a much longer format than Conan has now.
Jeff Ross made sure to stress that he knows safety is the most important thing now, but distraction is necessary too:
“Our first priority is the health and well-being of everyone in the Team Coco family, and our second priority is to try and find a way that we can do our jobs safely, from home, and contribute some entertainment for our fans out there who may be hungry for silly distraction”
After all, how can you not love goofy stuff like this as we’re staring death in the face?
The fact thatConanwill try to pull something like this off with an iPhone, Skype and whatever technology he has at his disposal shows what incredible things people can do when they put their minds to it. Sure, it’s better and more professional to have an entire studio and crew help you produce a show, but doing something creative like this, even if it’s not perfect, will still be a welcome presence. Plus, any flubs that might come from this unorthodox production will only make it funnier.
For his part, O’Brien said, “The quality of my work will not go down because technically that’s not possible.”
