[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U19wqeEfP4]
[Update: An enterprising YouTuber posted the above footage of the Masturbating Bear’s curtain call at Conan’s Eugene show. For more clips—spoilers!—see Variety’s On the Air blog.]
With a freshly-inked cable-TV deal in hand, Conan O’Brien kicked off what could now be renamed the Massive Blast of Free Publicity for TBS Tour last night in Eugene, Ore. The AP has a report:
“I’m not supposed to admit this, ladies and gentlemen, but I really missed the applause,” O’Brien said Monday. “You have no idea how shallow I am.”
His journey from “Tonight” to an out-of-work guy to a reborn stage performer was the centerpiece of the show, with a helping of familiar bits like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, songs from a guitar-playing O’Brien with former “Tonight” band members and a handful of guests.
The gangly redhead worked the room hard, joking, dancing and even making costume changes that, at one point, included a pink leather outfit.
“This is the first time anyone has paid to see me. They’ve paid me to go away,” O’Brien told the audience of more than 2,500, an obvious reference to the former “Tonight” host’s $32 million exit deal with NBC.