A night with Conan O’Brien
I’m a Team CoCo fan for life. Believe that. That’s us in the photo above, on our feet for most of the show.
Not too long after his tour tickets were up for sale, I immediately rounded up a few people to come cheer, chant, & laugh with me. Clay & Marvin were those winners. As expected, the show itself was hilarious. I won’t go into the details so I won’t spoil it for friends who have tickets for the San Jose show.
The San Francisco crowd was a bit lackluster for our tastes, so we were probably the loudest people on the second deck of the theatre. It was a perfect opportunity to have a one-on-one conversation with Conan. In between a joke, when there was a hush in the crowd, I hollered:
me: Conan, we love your beard!
Conan: What’s that, sir?
me: (louder) We love your beard!
Conan: I’m glad you do. A lot of people don’t really like it…I look like the Brawny paper towel guy after a bone marrow transplant.
We had our fun. Again, without spoiling too much of the show, a stage personality was holding a handheld camera to showcase ‘groupies’ to be shown on the big screen behind Conan. I jumped out of my seat, screaming, & pointing to myself. Yep, I got us on big screen at the show. Too bad I didn’t get to do anything cool except scream like a little girl.
We tried to maximize our time after the show, hoping that Conan would make a surprise visit in the lobby (wishful thinking). We stuck around long enough to a point where we were forced to leave, so we finally started the slow journey down a few blocks to the garage. Toward the end of the block, however, was a small group of people waiting behind an imaginary line. “Conan’s coming out? We’re not in a rush to get home. Let’s stay for a bit.” These people were, in fact, waiting for Conan to leave his dressing room to the unmarked white vans waiting for him & his entourage.
Some of you may know that I collect signatures on my iPhone. I’d use this opportunity to do the same, especially since I wasn’t equipped with a pen anyway. After about 15 minutes of waiting on the sidewalk, he comes out:
I shove my iPhone in his face, hoping he will leave his mark on my screen with a drawing app I had open. After giving signatures the traditional way with the pen & paper, he looks at my phone.
Conan: So…what am I supposed to do with this?
me: You can use your finger to sign my phone.
He looks at the phone, confused. He’s still holding a silver ink Sharpie from a previous signature. He flips over my phone.
Conan: What if I just sign the back of this phone? That actually makes a bit more sense.
me: (reluctantly) Umm…okay. That will work, too.
Behold, the ultimate souvenir of the night. I may need to clearcoat or laminate this:
As he boards his white van, I used Clay’s phone to take a picture. When you hold down the shutter button, a big bright light illuminates the subject. Conan used that as a cue to turn to me & pose with a big open smile & a thumbs-up. I took two exposures, but this blurry mess was the better of the two, sadly:
As he was driving away, I thanked him for a good show & a lovely evening in a way only a true Conebone fan could—I looked him in the eyes & started chanting: Circle! Circle! Circle!, but then was quickly silenced by security because we were disturbing the Nob Hill residents who go to bed at 8:30pm.
I’m a Team CoCo fan for life.
