Conan O'Brien

[Muzikman7]

Anybody catch the end of Conan O'Brien? the shows band, Will Ferrell dressed as Ronnie Van Zant, Conan O'Brien, Billy Gibbons, Robert Randolph, Beck, Ben Harper and more played Freebird to close out the . 

[uwe]

Ferrell does a credible job! He obviously has pitching problems, especially during the early verses, but that is most likely due to lack of practice. But his voice as such ain't bad at all and has quite a bit of RvZ in it.

CO'B stopped because they wanted to return him to his old time slot and he didn't accept that, is that true?

[Lightyear]

NBC moved Leno to prime time and his ratings tanked.  They moved Leno back to his time slot and wanted Conan to move back to his old slot - which he had no interest in - so he left.

I loved the Freebird thing and the cowbell at the end is an obvious nod to famous "More Cowbell!" skit on SNL.  The bassist nailed the bass part as well.

Wonder if Conan was actually plugged in?

[Dave W]

Leno's prime time audience was just as big as his Tonight Show audience, averaging a little over 5 million viewers. Unfortunately that's about one-third as much as it takes to be number one in prime time. The affiliate stations were losing ad money and news ratings and were threatening revolt.

Conan's late night audience was only about 2.5 million, he was getting clobbered by Letterman consistently. To be fair, he had only been on a few months.  No telling what might have happened down the road, NBC really didn't honor their commitment to him.

Conan will return, either on Fox or on cable. Leno will probably go back to beating Letterman in the ratings. I'll keep on watching Dave's monologues and then switching off unless there's a must-see guest.

[OldManC]

I'm pretty sure Conan does play guitar and his lead break looked and sounded real. I'm not sure if the 'pregnant' groupie/make out partner of Ferrell's Van Zant ruins the bit, but other than that it seemed appropriate.

[the mojo hobo]

Wonder if Conan was actually plugged in?

Yes, he is plugged in and he takes a lead, right after the cowbell solo.

[Dave W]

I'm not watching the clip. Never heard Freebird to my knowledge and I'm not going to start now, and I can't take more than a few seconds of Will Ferrell. But Conan can really play guitar.

[Highlander]

Curiosity got me to play thru... WF's homage even went as far as finding the correct "Tonight's The Night" tee that RVZ used to wear live...

Best version of Freebird (imho - live) is with Collins/Rossington only, recorded at the Cardiff Capitol - had it as a vinyl boot' as far back as '77 (although "real" vinyl existed as it was from a radio broadcast in '76) - presently commercially available - the tour was great - saw them at Hammersmith that year...

Conan played solos through about 2/3rds of that end section - perfect (tongue- firmly-planted) homage, even down to the multiple playing differing solos all over the place... 

[uwe]

I'm not watching the clip. Never heard Freebird to my knowledge and I'm not going to start now, and I can't take more than a few seconds of Will Ferrell. But Conan can really play guitar.

It's amazing. All these years I thought Dave is an American. Now I learn he's a Russian communist even though even most of those know Free Bird as well.

[Pilgrim]

Freebird must be one of the worst "rock" songs ever written.  Every version I've heard (and there haven't been many) is worse than the one before.

I also have very little Will Ferrell tolerance.

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Oh please! Will sounds like a braying mule. ha haaa ...but that's part of his charm.

More Cowbell!

Is that David Spade far right?

Good fun!!!

[uwe]

Freebird must be one of the worst "rock" songs ever written.  Every version I've heard (and there haven't been many) is worse than the one before.
I also have very little Will Ferrell tolerance.

How dare you criticize so openly beautiful big hair chicks (Taylor Dayne meets Stevie Nicks at the hairdresser) and handsome moustached hunks on Harleys (this guy escaped from Three Dog Night, right?  ) and their timeless 1988 rendition, nothing says "horn" better than a nice synth chord:

[OldManC]

Is that David Spade far right?

Ha ha! That's Beck, though I do see the similarity!

I can tolerate hearing Freebird but only once a year or so. I don't hate it but I don't love it all that much either. As far as this version's vocal qualities, the braying mule description is also apt.

[Darrol]

As mentioned, the situation came down to Leno not getting the ratings, affiliates getting upset because it was bringing the news ratings down and Conan's ratings weren't the best either. The executives got the bright idea to move Leno to a 30 min show at 11:35 and bump The Tonight Show to tomorrow, 12:05 am. Those executives told Leno and he asked if Conan was alright with it and the execs assured Leno that Conan would be fine with it. Conan wasn't alright with it and felt that the move would ruin the show so it started the drama. The execs went back to Leno and asked him if Conan walked, would he want the Tonight Show back and he said alright because the network would not let Leno go after his show was canceled.

When Conan started his hosting career, he was on a contract that was renewed every 13 weeks and it was a rocky start. When Leno started on The Tonight Show, he was given 18 months yet Conan only got 7 months before they wanted to replace him with the person he got the job from. Conan was classy about it and stood up for the show while Leno just chalked it up to being how the business worked.

[Lightyear]

................Never heard Freebird to my knowledge.......

Only if you're deaf!  Cripes, I hear Freebird in elevators!  The only thing worse than Freebird is the Muzak version of Freebird