What I learned from Conan

I was one of a few thousand people at Radio City Music Hall (RCMH) on Tuesday night that gathered to see Conan O’Brien’s “The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour.” It was an evening filled with comedy, rants about NBC, and special guests. Here’s what I took away, in addition to the image of Stephen Colbert and O’Brien in a hysterical yet rather uncoordinated dance-off:

-Team Coco wants you to tweet

 

Last month when I took my stepdaughter to see “Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway, we were reminded to turn off our cell phones and pagers (really, the announcement said pagers). For years now, audience members at shows and performances of all kinds have been asked to turn off wireless devices. So I thought it interesting that upon entering RCMH I was greeted with a sign instructing audience members who planned to tweet about the night’s events to use the hashtag #triumph (as in the insult comic dog).

 

It’s a new world. One where people are compelled to share whenever and wherever they may be. Encouraging tweeting – at a sporting event, performance, etc. – especially with a suggested hashtag, is a smart way to build trackable buzz and create a sense of camaraderie amongst audience members.

-Shtick journalism really resonates

 

Tuesday’s show was jam packed with special guests – Colbert, Vampire Weekend, John Krasinski, Paul Rudd, Bill Hader and Jon Stewart, clearly the crowd favorite. The applause the “Daily Show” anchor received rivaled when O’Brien first took to the stage. Nearly a year ago, a Time.com poll named Stewart “the most trusted news man in America,” beating out Charlie Gibson, Brian Williams, and Katie Couric. Judging by the crowd’s uproarious reaction to Stewart’s appearance, I’d stay he still ranks number one – at least with folks in their late teens to early 40’s.

 

I’ve liked Stewart since his days on MTV. He’s funny but beyond that he is articulate, expressive and appears well-informed. He’s addressing important stories in a way that makes people smile and think. Like Mary Poppins sang, “a spoon full of sugar makes the makes the medicine go down.”

 

 

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