Kids Stuff
This is one of the most weird episodes of a late night talk show I’ve seen. Periodically, some late night shows, notably David Letterman, would have some odd theme – like “Reverse Night” or cameras on rollerskating monkeys. But this one is high up on the list – it’s a Conan O’Brien show from 1987 when the audience was made up entirely of little kids.
For part of the time, he plays the show fairly straightforward, like beginning jokes “You kids all read the newspaper, right? Well, in the news today…” leading into a joke about O.J. Simpson, or a joke about Barbara Streisand, to which he notes, “You remember her from Yentl, and having as one of the guests Myron Kandel, financial editor of CNN Financial News – who actually has a straight-forward discussion of the stock market and inflation…as the camera periodically guts to bored kids. Though, of course, there’s a great deal of pandering to the kids, including Naughty Land, the Boring Monster, and the loopy Sick Exotic Bird Parade. And much more, including a short video sketch of Conan taking a group of 6-year-olds on a tour of the studio, at one point getting them to ridicule the show’s interns. Fun, too, is the kids in the audience just being kids and regularly yelling back comments to Conan and his guests.
Since the commercials are edited out, It’s only about 38 minutes. But even if you don’t want to watch the whole thing, it’s definitely fun to see their effort for a few minutes.
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