I’ve been taking in the late shows more then usual lately and while I should really sit down and pull out a blog entry just on my observations of the three shows on NBC this one is just about an interesting moment during the guest segment on the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien that I saw tonight. His guests, in case you missed it, were Michael Moore and Seth Macfarlane. Michael was on first and Conan asked him some good questions allowing Michael to expand on some items from his upcoming documentary that he hadn’t been given a chance to on other shows. It showed some good researching and a familiarity with the subject matter on Conan’s and the Tonight Show behind the scenes personnel. Oddly enough, after his segment was over, Moore stuck around. This is where the awkward moment starts.

If you’ve seen as much Family Guy as I have you undoubtedly know the formula where they cut away from the main plot to tell a half related or sometimes totally unrelated joke. Well in the episode I recall and the one recalled by Moore was when Peter of Family guy has a farting contest with Michael Moore in a public bathroom. Clearly just a joke about fat people, low brow but it hit it’s mark by evolving into a musical number composed of farts. Anyway the issue came up when Conan mentioned that Seth had Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh on the show and the two had actually come on to do their own voices and Michael remarked that he was in the show but was never asked to do his “voice”.  There was some brief joking as everybody in the studio seemed to recall the bit I described earlier before Conan pushed the interview forward.

Conan went on to say that everybody wants to be in show biz, regarding Seth’s comments about Rove and Rush, Michael replied (as near a quote as I can remember it) “Sure destroy the country then go into show biz.”. Michael looked agitated and Conan, I thought I heard remark under his breath, said something like “that guy…”. It was bizarre television to say the least. Now I’ve always thought Seth Macfarlane as a person is a little creepy, a little snobby and a little to trying to be hipster, though I must say I don’t know the guy at all it’s just my natural American attitude to judge celebrities on the tiny bits and pieces I’ve seen of them. But it wasn’t his fault here. He was caught in the middle of what looked like a bait by Conan. Have a couple guests with liberal attitudes on then ask one about a gig he worked on with conservatives to get a reaction from the first guest? I’m probably reading to much into it, but it sure was some interesting viewing, abet more then a little awkward.

To end, hind site is twenty twenty but never the less, I’d have some advice to Moore on how to handle that next time.  Perhaps that’s the reason Rove and Rush peruse their feverish rhetoric, because it provides them with that show biz feeling.  An opportunity at the real thing is likely impossible for them to turn down.  They want the spot light, in whatever form it comes.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 11:42 pm and is filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.