James Cochran’s Blog

The wife and I visited New York for my birthday.  What led us there was Conan O’Brien.  I’ve always loved his show going all the way back to when I was in high school and would watch him late at night with Andy Richter.  Once I joined the Air Force I didn’t have the opportunity to watch him since I was in England for so long without regular T.V.  See all we had was the AFN (Armed Forces Network) and the six or so channels that came with it.  Every now and again I’d catch him on there since they did play regular shows after all but it was nothing like my regular watching of Conan in the past few years since I’ve been back.

I’ve been home for awhile now and realized that Late Night with Conan O’Brien is going off the air since he is taking Leno’s spot.  For my 29th birthday I wanted to go and see his show.  My wonderful wife called for about a week trying to get tickets when luckily she was able to pick up the last two tickets for the Friday night showing that just so happened to be on my birthday.  How awesome is that?

When we first got there we originally wanted to take a tour of NBC studios but realized that it would be cutting into the time we should line up to see Conan. It was about 2 or so and the line for Conan started at 3. The tour would take 1 hour and 10 minutes and it started at 2:30 so that wasn’t going to work at all.  So we waited and got our tickets and then waited some more to get in at around 4:30.

That’s when the real fun started to begin.  As they were ushering us into the studio someone was handing out hats from L.L. Cool J’s new fashion line (exclusively at Sears) and we were asked to wear them when he came on.  We sat on the right about 3 rows back and all the way up against the wall.  If you haven’t heard it before then let me tell you, that studio is Small with a capitol S.  I had heard it many times before but you actually have to check it out to appreciate just how small it is.  T.V. of course makes it look huge or at the very least much larger.

Once everyone was seated they played some highlights to warm up the audience.  It wasn’t exactly like the video I posted below but it has a lot of the same clips.  After the video one of the extras (and possibly a writer?) came out to do some additional warming up.  He introduced the band and Max and then Conan O’Brien.  He came out and got the crowd going even more which didn’t seem like it would have been possible but he did and everyone was super excited to be there.

I’ll make this brief as it’s more of a had to be there moment.  Conan came out and started dancing with a guy in the audience, we’ll call him Al since I don’t know his real name.  They were dancing for a minute when Al turns around and starts to “back that thing up” on Conan prompting a, “What the hell was that!”  Everyone laughed about it as Conan made a few jokes about the guy and then Conan had the Al stand back up so he could give him a hug.  Then told him to hug the guy behind him which they did.  Then Al was told to go hug Max ending in him getting a signed pair of drum sticks.  Al was only a few seats down from me which makes a me a bit jealous but it was really hilarious.

Then Conan came out and did the show.  What I like most about Conan are the sketches they do.  With L.L. Cool J and Oliver Stone they were short on time but it was still good.  Being able to just go there and see the show live was amazing for a fan like me and I loved it.  If there is a show out there that you love I’d definitely recommend going and seeing a taping of it, it’s an experience you won’t forget.  Check back soon for my post about the next day and the NYC sight seeing.  For now enjoys these videos!

I’ve been all over and have been neglecting you all, my faithful and adoring fans.  Starting with the Cochran family reunion and finishing up this past weekend with a four day vacation that included a couple of night in New York I’ve been crazy busy traveling.  Throw in all my school work and it makes for one giant headache of a time.

To all you who forgot to tell me happy birthday on the 10th I’ll be writing down you names and making sure I don’t tell you happy birthday on whatever day it is for you that I don’t know anyway.  Which brings up an interesting point.  I know like 4 birthdays and one of them is mine.  I just don’t remember that sort of thing.  Heck, there are people I hang out with that I can’t remember their names half the time.  So I just call them some derogatory name and they usually answer.  I guess the point of this story is to say that it doesn’t bother me if you don’t know it’s my birthday because I don’t know when yours is.  If, by chance, you saw it was my birthday on some social site and took the time to say “Happy Birthday” then thank you very much.  If I don’t return the favor when it comes your time just know that you’re still awesome and maybe I’ll catch it next year.  It’s nothing personal though.  

So in the coming few days expect a post about the reunion and my trip to New York.  Until then for those of you wanting to get me a late birthday present I’ll take one of these: New Aluminum Macbook and one of these: 24-inch Cinema Display.  I’ll be sure to remember your birthday and give you a hearty For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow when it’s your turn.

So for this months Third Day on the third day post it seems everyone is a little bit late.  That’s ok though because just today I was able to find out where I’ll be sitting when me and the wife see them in November.  Section C Row 3 seats 207 and 208.  That doesn’t mean much if you don’t know where the seats are actually located so how about a picture.  That always seems to do the trick.

So there you have it.  I’m pretty excited for the show.  It’s the best seats we’ve ever gotten.  The ones we had last time were pretty good and the State Fair show we went to back in 2006 were even better but I think this time it’s going to be really special.  Hopefully the band will be doing a meet and great so we can say hi.  Soon I’ll have the tickets in hand and all that will be left to do is count the days!

Or should I say the Texans lost.  And really maybe I should say Rosenfels lost.  Had it not been for his two fumbles and an interception the Colts would not have been able to comeback.  Sure the Colts won but it was ugly the whole game.  The kind of ugly that makes me want to put a paper bag over my T.V.  I couldn’t find one big enough though.

I was hoping that after the bye week the Colts would come out firing.  I got my wish.  During the first quarter they came out firing.  After a quick 10 point making it 10-0 the Colts didn’t do anything the rest the game until the final few minutes.  They couldn’t run.  Timing was all off and passes were falling incomplete.  The defense couldn’t stop the run or the pass it seemed.  Brackett was on the field hurt at one point during a “hold your breath” moment.  Penalties that made it seem like it was some other team and not the Colts (unless you’ve watched the other games this year). It was definitely one of those scream at your T.V. games that turned into quiet disappointment.

In the last four minutes after the Colts allowed 27 unanswered points making it 10-27, Manning had a decent drive down the field that ended in a touchdown.  Then a Rosenfels fumble for a defensive touchdown.  Then another Rosenfels fumble which allowed the Colts another touchdown drive.  Finally it ended when Rosenfels threw a pass to seemingly right to the Colts so they could intercept it.  Which I should mention after several great passes down the field which looked as if they had every chance to get down the field to score in the 1:56 or so they had to do it in.  I think Rosenfels had money on the Colts and really wasn’t expecting to play. Why else would he have thrown the game like that?

A win is a win as I usually say.  Or as my dad put it, “If there was money on the pool table the Colts would be scooping it up.”  In actuality I think Rosenfels lost the game.  The Texans played superior football throughout and it was a fluke the Colts were able to pull off what they did.  I’m happy about the win but if we play that poorly against this “tough-as-nails” schedule coming up it’s going to be a long December followed by a boring January and February with no Colts to watch.