I was in the lineup to see Florence and the Machine while next to us was the lineup to see Conan OBrien - it was quite interesting how different the lines were
Conan O'Brien brings travelling roadshow to Vancouver; draws sell out crowd
By Sunny Dhillon, The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER, B.C. - As he embarks on a new career with a new network, former "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien says it's thanks to Canadians he's still on the air at all.
O'Brien brought his "Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour" to Vancouver Tuesday, where he was greeted by a raucous crowd, many of whom showed up in their finest "Team Coco" T-shirts.
O'Brien, whose eight-month stint as "Tonight" host came to an end in January, said Canadians saved his bacon when his first program, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," was struggling to find an audience and looked poised for the scrap heap.
"In 1993, when I first got started in television, just about everybody in America hated what we were doing," he recalled.
"The first people to embrace us were Canadians."
O'Brien told the boisterous Orpheum Theatre crowd he could always tell when Canadians were in attendance in those early days because his jokes actually landed.
"You saved my life and we've gone through a lot of weird stuff in the last three and a half months," he said. "The support that we have had from all of you online has been absolutely extraordinary."
O'Brien's heartfelt signoff capped a night that was far more silly than serious.
He took the stage to a thundering standing ovation and didn't wait long to poke fun at the locals.
Dressed in a dark suit, purple shirt, and Canada hat, the former "Simpsons" writer said he knew he'd arrived north of the border when someone congratulated him on his wicked "hockey beard."
"In America, we call it a beard. Here, everything's a hockey something. 'Hey, you got a hockey coldsore."'
O'Brien also said he was startled by all the cheers and applause inside the theatre because he didn't think it was very Canadian to make so much noise.
He joked he spent his day touring the city and somehow ended up in the notorious drug-riddled Downtown Eastside.
"Today, I saw three of the Olympic mascots in Pigeon Park. They looked pretty strung out," he said.
"'Can you help me? My name's Sumi. I don't know where I am, man. I'm all screwed up."'
O'Brien hosted New York-based "Late Night" from 1993 to 2009 and moved to Los Angeles for the "Tonight" gig last June.
But his time on NBC's landmark late-night program was short-lived. He exited the network after he refused to move his show back half an hour to make room for Jay Leno.
O'Brien was barred from appearing on TV until September because of his settlement agreement with NBC and announced the comedy tour last month. He has another Vancouver performance set for Wednesday, and makes stops in Enoch, Alta., on Saturday and Toronto on May 22.
Just hours before the comedy tour kicked off in Eugene, Ore., on Monday, O'Brien announced he's inked a five-year deal with TBS to host a late-night program that's expected to hit the air in November.
Tuesday's performance was cheered especially hard by long-time Conan fans.
Familiar characters like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and the Masturbating Bear made appearances, though for intellectual property reasons the bear was instead called a "self-pleasuring panda."
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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100414/entertainment/tv_conan_s_tour
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