Good news for Conan fans...not one, but two different DVD's are in the works for release. One featuring the man himself, and the other featuring a frequent guest-star.
The
Late Night with Conan O'Brien 10th Anniversary Special that was on NBC primetime last September is coming to DVD. Guest stars include former sidekick Andy Richter, plus Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and David Lee Roth. It was mentioned that it will be presented in 1.33:1 fullscreen, but that's the only other detail we have. Exact street date, along with price, full specs, and any other features will be passed along just as soon as they are announced.
So, who's the lucky studio that will be bringing this out? In the past, NBC releases on DVD have come from an assorted group of studios, but
Video Business is confirming
in a story posted yesterday (free registration required) that "in the future, all NBC-produced titles will be released through (Universal Studios Home Video), unless a previous deal is in place..." In wrapping their story, which concentrated on recent NBC hit
The Apprentice (which we've already
reported on),
Video Business mentioned that "Other possible NBC candidates for DVD distribution include
Crossing Jordan, The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno and
Late Night With Conan O'Brien." So it looks like the newly merged NBC-Universal entity will indeed be the source of these
Conan releases.
Also in-the-works is a DVD featuring Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's appearances on
Late Night with Conan O'Brien. We first had a heads-up about this a month ago, when one of our readers, "Mike," had gone to be in the audience of
Saturday Night Live, and in the lobby encountered none other than Robert Smigel. Smigel is, of course, the person behind the Insult Dog. Besides being Triumph, Smigel also works on the "TV Funhouse" cartoons which air on SNL, which explains his being there. Reader Mike asked Smigel about DVD plans for the "TV Funhouse" cartoons, and Smigel told him that music rights would be an obstacle for those. However, Smigel went on to tell Mike that this summer there will be a DVD of Triumph's
Conan segments.
We dug a bit deeper into that, and found out that the DVD will be 60 minutes long, with full-length Triumph segments (including Conan's original show introductions), and that among the sketches planned for inclusion are:
- Westminster Dog Show
- Hollywood Squares
- Bon Jovi
- Second Westminster Segment
- Star Wars fanatics
- MTV Awards
- Quebec!
Also, the DVD will open with a brief intro that Smigel-as-Triumph recorded specificially for the collection. Cool, eh? As far as Smigel's comment that the release timeframe is "this summer", we should point out that the NBC-Universal home video slate for most of the summer timeframe is already announced, and that neither of these are on the list yet. There's still time to make it, of course, but don't be surprised if these slip to the Fall quarter. Stay tuned, though, because we'll bring you the rest of the details, plus cover art, just as soon as they are announced.
