Conan Week—All Kids Audience

On Thursday, June 24, Conan O’Brien will record his last talk show on TV. The comedy giant (and almost literal giant?) already has his own popular podcast network, and there will be more projects in the future. But in honor of this occasion particular phase’s ending, Afternoon Delights will be featuring various Conan O’Brien-centric clips/videos/whatnots.

For today’s installment, we are looking at the Late Night episode that aired August 8, 1997. The audience was filled only with kids (most on field trips from summer camps) and it is such a great twisted metal car crash of brilliance, the bizarre, silliness, and more. It was clearly a risk to fill the audience with a bunch of children who barely understand societal norms in the first place, let alone TV talk show conventions.

What makes it work best is that Late Night did a genius move of having segments fall into one of two categories: stuff that would play well to kids with high energy and giddiness (while imbuing it with the show’s patented weirdness), and a typical business-as-usual late night talk show.

It is a bold whiplash of reactions that hasn’t been replicated and remains a terrific bit of inspired lunacy. The best parts are when the child audience inexplicably boo the face of Al Gore or when they start to chant “boring” during Conan’s interview with CNN financial correspondent Myron Kandel. This is the weirdo energy that will sorely be missed with O’Brien’s departure.