Conan in Austin

Photo by Thao Nguyen for the Austin American-Statesman. Go read TV critic Dale Roe's review.

Last night, we went to see Conan O’Brien at Austin Music Hall. This involved a convoluted set of babysitting maneuvers — my in laws are out of town this weekend and my mom was due for minor surgery Friday morning (it was cancelled at the last minute), so we took the girls up to Austin with us to go stay with their aunts.

We love Conan. We saw him in New York years ago and he was no less funny, although it was strange to see him in Austin and I could have done with about three fewer indulgent musical numbers. But the videos, the monologue, the bits with my hero Andy Richter, were all fantastic.  It almost made up for the fact that Austin Music Hall is a hellhole. Even though it’s been remodeled, it has seats that feel like they cost about 25 cents and jab into your back, the acoustics are still shit and, as O’Brien pointed out, it looks like it could be cleared out for cockfighting.  The show also ran so long that we missed seeing visiting friends Tara and Glark afterward (yes, we have turned into those parents who can’t ever stay out past 11 p.m.).

But I’m glad we went — it feels like something we might never get to see again and depending on how things go for Conan on TBS, he might never have the cultural lightning in a bottle he’s got right now to pull off a tour like this again. The mood in the room was certainly electric and the show brought out two of Austin’s most vibrant communities — dorks of Austin (if you wear a porn moustache and straw election hat, you are an Austin dork. Sorry) and comedy nerds.  As far as the content of the show, I agree with pretty much everything our TV critic Dale Roe said about the performance. I would have liked more comedy bits and fewer songs, but most of the comedic stuff killed and I was gasping for breath during the sublime Walker, Texas Ranger handle bit (which still works. Brilliantly.).

I did a story in the Statesman earlier in the week about social media and ticket sales related to the show. Still pretty amazing how quickly it sold out given, as O’Brien himself pointed out, this is the first time audiences have paid to see him perform.