Conan O’Brien lights up Spokane stage

Comedian and recently-canned talk show host Conan O'Brien took the stage to thunderous applause at the INB Performing Arts Center last Friday night on the third stop of his "Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour." 

Bursting with energy and donning a Stephen Gray Gonzaga basketball jersey that perfectly complemented his ‘Grizzly Man' beard, O'Brien soaked up the love from the2,800in attendance at the nearly sold-out event.

"This tour is the first time people have paid to see me perform," O'Brien yelled over the roar of the crowd, many of whom were still on their feet.

"They've paid to make me go away before though," he said, poking fun at his battle this past winter with NBC executives and Jay Leno over hosting duties on "The Tonight Show." 

Teamcoco.com, O'Brien's official Web site, billed the tour as, "a night of music, comedy, hugging, and the occasional awkward silence." 

Luckily, O'Brien and his crew were able to live up to these lofty promises.
Members of the former "Tonight Show" band got the crowd warmed up with a jazzy number that included a riotous horn section. 

Anchoring the horn section was fan-favorite La Bamba on trumpet.  Later in the show O'Brien inexplicably licked the side of La Bamba's face before declaring that he, "tasted like funyuns." 

The sight of a tall, pasty redhead licking another man's head would have been horrifying in any other situation but in the hands of O'Brien it was pure comedy gold.
O'Brien's turbulent past six months provided great material for the show. 

A video depicting O'Brien during his recent stretch of unemployment kicked off the show and drew big laughs from the audience. In the pre-recorded bit a dirty and hysterically overweight O'Brien receives a call from his manager with news of the tour prompting a hilarious "Rocky"-style training montage.

The show certainly fulfilled the musical aspect of its bill, though after six songs I would have preferred less music and more comedy. 

The best musical numbers featured O'Brien on guitar talking his way through lyrically altered versions of "On the Road Again," and "I Will Survive." 

Classic "Late Night" and "Tonight Show" gags kept the show moving at a brisk pace. 
An intentionally poorly dubbed video with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog featured the cigar-chomping puppet hurling insults at local Spokane landmarks. 

The beloved, foul-mouthed dog jested that he comes to Spokane to "purchase meth lab supplies."  Despite having their city ridiculed by an angry puppet the crowd roared with laughter.   

I was ecstatic to see the return of the ancient, "Walker, Texas Ranger Lever" gag. 
O'Brien and announcer Andy Richter took turns pulling a lever that would cue up a random snippet of a scene from the Chuck Norris cheese-fest "Walker, Texas Ranger." 

The completely irreverent bit included scenes with Norris getting shot in the back after proposing to his girlfriend and catching a bad guy in a bear trap before punching him out.
And no O'Brien show would be complete without a visit from the always inappropriate, "Masturbating Bear." 

I've seen the bear featured on dozens of O'Brien's late-night shows, but they hardly do justice to seeing the sight of a guy in a bear costume pretending to pleasure himself up close and in person.

The night was jam packed with good, clean American comedy from the new late night king of basic cable. 

The show was just days after the announcement that O'Brien will host a new talk show this November on TBS.

Jabs were thrown throughout the night at O'Brien's former employer NBC, the best being a video that depicted a bald O'Brien as a network executive that was more parts Bond villain than corporate slime ball. 

He insulted O'Brien famous pinwheel dance while sitting in a large leather chair and petting a white cat a la Ernst Stavro Blofeld from "You Only Live Twice."

O'Brien delivered a fast-paced, laugh-a-minute show that thrilled and often ridiculed the denizens of Spokane.  If he's able to bring this kind of off-the-wall energy to TBS this fall, audiences are in for a treat