There’s a rich (if short) tradition of late night hosts taking note of new ownership at the parent company– and last night, Conan O’Brien continued said tradition.
Playing off the adjective-laden, multipage press release which formally announced the deal Thursday, O’Brien ended his monplogue last night with a mock sincere recitation of the advantages of the new partnership. And then: He broke out the guitar. And the dancers. And Andy Richter with a tambourine.
It was a twist on the bit David Letterman did back in 1986, when GE took over NBC and RCA. Letterman — then the host of NBC’s "Late Night with David Letterman"– was a bit snarkier and less musical– but his take on the coming corporatization of network TV was dead-on (and very, very funny).
Check out Conan and Dave’s take on their respective mergers below:
