Randall Park Used To Memorize The TV Guide | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

As a child, Randall studied the TV Guide so he’d never miss an episode of his favorite sitcoms. link.chtbl.com...
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ABOUT CONAN O’BRIEN NEEDS A FRIEND
Deeper, unboundedly playful, and free from FCC regulations, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend is a weekly opportunity for Conan to hang out with the people he enjoys most and perhaps find some real friendship along the way. Watch highlights of Conan, Sona Movsesian and Matt Gourley chatting with celebrities and meeting fans, along with special segments like “Review the Reviewers” and “Big Dick History.”
ABOUT TEAM COCO
Team Coco is the KZbin home for all things Conan O’Brien and the Team Coco Podcast Network. Team Coco features over 25 years of comedy sketches, celebrity interviews and stand-up comedy sets from CONAN on TBS and Late Night with Conan O’Brien, as well as exclusive videos from podcasts like Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,
Literally! with Rob Lowe, Why Won’t You Date Me? with Nicole Byer, The Three Questions with Andy Richter, May I Elaborate? with JB Smoove and Scam Goddess with Laci Mosley.
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[@sarahbim8]

Don't worry, Conan. I'm a high school teacher and I have had a couple little freshmen who would watch you every morning before school, and they are obsessed with your old 90's footage. You are Carson to certain kids these days.

[@kyfnajamiitv]

Thank you *Sarah* for your good advice and strong statement to strengthen others life

[@drthunder8841]

kids at school always thought i was funny but it was because i stayed up late and watched conan.

[@iTalkALotDontListen]

I’m one of those kids. I watch old Carson episodes, letterman episodes, old stand up performances, almost all of Conan’s stuff. I love it. Entertainment was amazing and so different from today.

[@EmpyreanLightASMR]

That's really wild to hear. I'm from Conan's era but didn't really watch him when he was on in the 90s. But I adore the old late night stuff and some of his early 2000s stuff will have me in tears. It's cool to read that kids today love watching him, but it makes me curious because of how *racy* his stuff might come across as. Gun humor, throwing out things like the r-word nonchalantly (which a lot of us did back then), it takes me back to a less PC world and cracks me up, but I would never just freely share it with anyone today haha

[@patreekotime4578]

Randall struck on something there. We really WERE watching those shows as one giant audience, all at the same time (hopefully) laughing at the same jokes at the same time, gasping at the same shock twists at the same time. You could call a friend up during commercial and say, DID YOU SEE THAT? and they would know exactly what you meant and they would also be grabbing a snack or a drink at the same time as you. At the time it was just the way things were, but now looking back it feels incredibly odd and almost creepy. Also, how the heck is Randall my age!... No older! I thought I looked good for my age until this. 🤣

[@MISNM0]

Great post of your own and you made me laugh with your age reference. I do that too and it can be painful.

[@DirtyFrigginHarry]

I mean I was doing that all the way into college in the early 2010s.

[@MadaRevird]

...perfect receipt for fascism...called "Gleichschaltung".

[@zoperxplex]

If only mankind can tap into that energy that keeps Conan's pompadour from collapsing Cold Fusion would be a thing of the past.

[@annapreble]

Whenever I think of stuff like the saga of "Who shot Mr. Burns" of the Simpsons, I'm definitely reminded of the sense that we were all in it together, as Conan puts it. Marketing departments everywhere milked that cow all summer

[@DwayneShaw1]

there was more milking than you know - "Who Shot J.R.?" (1980)

[@annapreble]

@@DwayneShaw1 Ah, the muse! But I recall convenience store and fast food promos for the Simpsons

[@DwayneShaw1]

@@annapreble - J.R. had all the common promotional hyperbole - and his own beer ... of course, it isn't a fair comparison - the guy had a genie.

[@DavidRexGlenn]

I learned to read using the TV Guide as well as all the PBS educational programs that launched in the late '60s, early '70s

[@MISNM0]

Excellent plug for how literacy can be taught outside of books.

[@erickatesar6044]

I remember, I was in middle school and at home room Monday morning I started singing the chopping broccoli song from SNL and everyone sang it with me as soon as I started. It went on for a week or so. On sight of each other we would start so ging and laughing to the point of tears. It was my first experience where comedy surpassed logic and just was funny in a way anyone else couldn't understand.

[@IPlayOneOnT.V.]

I loved "Frasier" because it had no laugh track. That seemed to work so well for that show.

[@DirtyFrigginHarry]

I watched cheers with my parents as a little kid when it was on and then again as a teenager when it was on nick @ nite. Never cared for frasier until I was 25 years old and now its quite possibly my favorite sitcom of all time.

[@MTVCOPS]

They keep saying laugh track but these were live studio audiences. Frasier had them, too.

[@DirtyFrigginHarry]

Despite being born in 1990, I did the same things that Randall and Conan did. I knew the schedule, every day at school you talked about what was on last night. I would watch Nick at Nite before bed, so I also grew up watching Newhart and Happy Days and I Love Lucy ect. I even remember the first time I saw Conan's show I was maybe 11 and my friend had recorded it on a VHS and brought it over and I got it trouble for watching it. I would just go to my friend's house and his room was on the third floor, so we had plenty of time to hear parents coming up the stairs and change the channel or stop a tape. Nobody under the age of 22 knows what the hell I'm talking about right now

[@pepsiwepsi1952]

🏆

[@Spaced92]

Where I lived I remember my national TV station used to occasionally replace or push back Buffy past my bedtime with Tennis game reruns, on one particularly big episode they replaced I wrote an angry letter to the TV station. I was like 10 or 11! Idk if it was a coincidence but they never replaced Buffy again. I also remember my family raging because someone didn't rewind a VHS tape or worse, taped over it with some random TV show, thinking back on it VHS tapes was like deleting someones save file to make room for your own, evil but everyone did it lmao

[@DirtyFrigginHarry]

@@Spaced92 I never had the balls to write in but I remember TNN would sometimes postpone or not air Monster Jam (prerecorded) because of live coverage of bullriding or sprint car racing. Same thing with baseball games and family guy

[@BrentWigginsWords]

A laugh track feels forced at times, as if it's telling you when to laugh and what to laugh at or with. Without a laugh track, your laughter becomes tailored to the moments you find funny in an organic and spontaneous way.

[@Nacho_problem_]

Didn’t know Jim was an Argentina 🇦🇷 fan 😮

[@Gus-op5ff]

This is from week's ago.

[@San_Vito]

@@Gus-op5ff He's using (a very old design of) the shirt of the Argie rugby national team, "the Pumas". I don't think OP implied anything about today's match.

[@Gus-op5ff]

@@San_Vito I know that, people just buy the polo shirts with team's logos, without even knowing the teams.

[@lachlanmoir79]

I wish Conan would do more of this. A whole 2hr plus movie of his life and family etc.

[@JTHX-1138]

Jim’s never looked better!

[@AL__EX]

Randall predicted the Argentina win 😲

[@seansimpson8758]

Bob Newhart made my childhood so difficult! I still remember that night Larry came on and introduced us to his brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl. I have two brother Daves, and two sister Loris. You cannot choose your parents people! LOL

[@Trendyflute]

Was that from Newhart!?! My family has been quoting that for my whole life and I never knew what it was from! 😂

[@seansimpson8758]

@@Trendyflute sure is! Bob has been my nemesis as long as I can remember. I had a picture of him on my dart board, people were always like who doesn't like Bob Newhart?

[@kikib8434]

😂😂😂

[@pepsiwepsi1952]

@@TrendyfluteFrom “Newhart”

[@brokenglassshimmerlikestar3407]

When I was little my cousin and I would play nintendo games when adults were out. Often it was when his Mom went out shopping. So one of us would be playing while the other one stake out behind the front window and then we would switch. Once we saw his Mom walking back and we quickly disconnected the console and turned off the TV and went back to our desks pretending we were doing homework all this time. And the first thing she did when she came in was to touch the back of the TV and we were screwed lol.

[@MISNM0]

Ahahahaha.... kids always think they're slick

[@DirtyFrigginHarry]

I remember my friend bought GTA vice city from some kid at school an we'd turn the volume down when we played it and hide it when we were done so his little brother didn't find it.

[@BMAN-qt3ro]

If conan or anyone calls you a mythic figure, you will go down in history

[@blessingsoutlaw]

Wow! Randall’s parents really let him watch a lot of TV.

[@SoMixedUp]

It’s true. I’m 30 and I’ve seen him a few times from past interviews I’ve dug up but I can’t place him in my mind right now

[@zackperkins6107]

One thing about shows with the laugh track, to me at least, was that for every one classic like family ties, home improvement, or golden girls, there was always like 5 or 6 flop shows that had the laugh track. After so many decades of shows having it, it felt like some shows just had the track as part of the formula. X goes to Y which then leads to Z sound the laugh track. Then 2000 or hit and the laugh track now is only used on a handful of shows. The times they are a changing

[@nomisukeindustries]

Speaking to laugh tracks in modern television: almost every children and young adults program on Disney and Nickelodeon has a canned laugh track. So it's not that strange to younger generations. They're just not used to hearing a live audience.

[@citisoccer]

Lol How does Conan not mention Always Sunny?!? An OG of the style, AND they even did an episode mocking the laugh tracks.

[@dillsnufus]

Looking forward to his next Netflix Project called TV Guide lol

[@lance134679]

I'm currently binge-watching Happy Days, so I think I know what episode he's talking about, where Fonzie has to jump 14 garbage cans with his motorcycle to break the record of 13 garbage cans. Fonzie wipes out in Arnold's chicken stand and has to go to the hospital. It was the episode that established Fonzie as a daredevil and they would visit that well again many times. Oh, and Fonzie was okay, in case anyone is worried. Ayyyy! 😄

[@jaimel88]

Great old-school Argentinian rugby shirt!

[@D17802]

I went to college on the west coast. A friend on the east coast missed an episode of Friends when her study group ran long. There was a panicked call to me to tape Friends and mail her the tape.

[@jdspencer60]

I miss TV guide. that was special

[@jaggedbrain]

my Dad did the same thing, i had a 11 inch tube tv and he would put his hand on it to see if it was warm.

[@jimhoyt5]

What's funny to me is that you couldn't see that episode which had Fonzi jumping his motorcycle over 14 barrels on a show that was called "You Wanted To See It".

[@pj101]

Nice story with the photo of conan with Johnny Carson

[@Orange-em]

My boyfriend doesn't like laugh tracks and I kind of love them. I guess I was watching older shows than him when I was a kid and teen.

[@andreachung396]

jake is conan's friend he did the play with!

[@alphanerd7221]

It's the stage that legitimizes the laugh track. On the rare occasions old sitcoms had a laugh track on a legitimate exterior shot always felt out of place.

[@yurielcundangan9090]

Love CoNaN what a wonderful Comedian

[@jdspencer60]

MASH, Fraiser, Cheers, Newhart, Golden Girls

[@UPB78]

Wow, he's wearing a Pumas shirt. Aguante Argentina!!!!

[@ZachsMind]

Johnny Carson was king of late night. Better than that, he was the Ghengis Khan of Late night. For decades he was where everyone who was watching TV tuned in at bed time. More babies were conceived while he was on screen than any other comic artist before or since. Think about that. His ratings were so good for so long, the other networks dared not touch it. What toppled Carson's shining star at the top of the mountain was Ted Koppel's Nightline. At first it was breaking news about "The Iran Crisis - America Held Hostage." When that was over, Koppel decided to continue reporting other current events in the world, and ABC had nothing but reruns to put opposite Carson so they said yes. So the 1980s sounded a death knell for Carson's reign on late night. Once more people tuned in to Koppel and less tuned in to Carson, the networks smelled blood. There were a great many failed late night talk shows as the years progressed. Strangely enough it was a weatherman from the midwest with no chance of success who cracked the code, and the late night wars began. The younger generation doesn't know about all this, and they certainly don't know about Steve Allen or Jack Paar or what led up to Johnny Carson's reign. From 1962 to 1992, Carson was a mainstay on our television screens. When he left, his domain was ransacked and split among a great many other faces. The media world continues to splinter and we will never see the likes of Carson ever again.

[@ShrimplyPibblesJr]

Next time Timothy Olyphant (Elephant?) is on, could you broach the topic of him being a Marshall (US Marshall or otherwise) in everything?

[@dlxmarks]

Funny how the first 3 minutes of this clip got cut from the actual podcast episode.

[@noticiasinmundicias]

Of course he's wearing a vintage Pumas shirt, the argentine national rugby team.

[@Czechbound]

*Fun Fact :* The Queen's sister, Princess Margaret, upon returning after a day doing royal family engagements, would rush into the room in her residence where the TV was, and put her hand on the back of the TV set. If it was warm she would shout "See, the staff have been watching it again !", and the staff would be made to line up to be berated for breaking the rule of not watching the TV while they cleaned while she was out. True story. You can find this anecdote online in an article published by one of the BBC royal correspondents ...

[@xGuitarInFlamesx]

man I wish there was a way to level Conan volume. When he speaks low I have to raise the volume and then Randall sounds loud af :(

[@JohnDoe-vc5qb]

Community da GOAT

[@lachauntiswashington231]

very good👍👍👍👍

[@eyeDavid]

Wouldn’t mind these two doing a remote together

[@andyprice]

Happy Days MUST have done a Fonz-before-he-was-cool flashback, right? I remember he lost his cool at least once. Right? Am I crazy?

[@Mokkari77]

I remember an episode where he had a nightmare that his cool was transferred to a robot that looked like him by a mad scientist.

[@ianseverson8618]

Petition to get Chelsea Handler on this podcast! I memorized All her jokes and recorded Chelsea Lately over a lot of family videos and have no regrets.

[@nvrules27]

He memorizes…TV Guide?

[@MISNM0]

IYKYK

[@MTVCOPS]

Lots of media professionals started that way.

[@mrstinky2421]

Wow Manny Pacquiao!

[@BrawlerTM]

I wonder why they didn't mention Leno 🤔

[@pizza_guyny]

The electoral charge I think you mean the TV was hot

[@bernlin2000]

I feel like the staffer was just not well-prepared for working with Conan 🤣 it's well known that Conan cites Letterman as a huge influence in his late night career, and Letterman was influenced by Carson. Not a very long chain there 🤣

[@dlxmarks]

I think that was probably David Hopping but Conan didn't want to specifically call him out on it.

[@MadaRevird]

Old people wondering why young people have different view on people from the past... DERP

[@yurielcundangan9090]

politicians need to listen to their constituents

[@Trendyflute]

I don't miss laugh tracks, I think they just feel cheap and like they're leading the audience on and I'm turned off by content with a laugh track.

[@MTVCOPS]

Conan’s show had an audience. Shows still have them. If they are not oversweetened, it’s a honest communal experience.

[@Czechbound]

In Europe, we wonder at this fixation with Johnny Carson. We never saw him. We say US TV series ( Matlock, The Streets of San Francisco etc.). Then in the early 90's, we saw on some new European satellite channels ( eg Eurochannel ) we saw Leno and Conan. So for us Europeans, Conan is one of the "original" US superstar talkshow hosts. That's why all the weekend chat shows copy Leno's/ Conan's studio design from the early 90's ( even today, they are interchangeable from those of the US 30 years ago. Search out the German weekend "latenight" guy - he's a total Leno / Conan rip off ). So Carson means nothing to us. When we see him on KZbin clips, his guests are the stars. So I guess this proves the oft quoted gift of Carson of making the guest the star; not undermining their story/ jokes. Unlike a certain (insecure and narcissistic) Mr. Colbert, whose show is all about him. And let's not forget that Andy Ricter is *the* best sidekick. Ever interjection an Emmy winning *zinger*

[@RandyJames22]

Really odd -- Those laugh tracks on Saturday morning cartoons.

[@ChillPillDyl]

I don’t like laugh tracks and I grew up with them a bit. Always felt cheesy

[@andersestes]

Freaking hate laughtrack. Would love to see Cheers and Friends without laughs.

[@Sileonex123]

1

[@FeministEst]

The laugh track was AWFUL. I cannot watch a show with one anymore. Without it the writers and actors have to carry the weight of the show. It always felt to me like they thought I was too dumb to know what is funny. They just seem corny.

[@EmpyreanLightASMR]

i grew up with a few laugh-track shows and I could never stand it. I just can't stand canned and forced laughter and the delivery of the lines, like hey, here's a punchline, here's a punchline, punchlinepunchlnepunchline, pause, hold for laughter. Some shows were fun, but it turned me off to the point whree I stopped watching TV for the most part... and then coworkers years and years later told me about The Office and Lost and it was a whole new world.

[@tracygaluszynski1868]

Show is better without that cackling assistant .

[@emu_warrior]

This was very boring, it's like Randall doesn't even want to be there. Conan did all the talking, and Park seemed like he wasn't interested in contributing anything. Thankfully Conan saved it with interesting anecdotes.