BK's NYC debut, plus Conan is funnier than Letterman

BK arrives, just in time for good eatin'

Wednesday night, BK arrived in NYC (his first time there!), at the fancy "Westminster Suite" at the Warwick hotel. We met up with friends, Grace, and Jordy for a respite in Bryant Park, then walked over to meet cousin Bill and Jenn at a hidden gem of a restaurant: Sakagura, a Japanese restaurant known for its consistently delectable small bites and extensive sake menu. Located at 43rd street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, this restaurant is well-hidden in the basement but manages to still be busy.

The interior had a traditional Japanese feel with its wooden panelled booths. The bathrooms look like they're inside giant wooden sake barrels. We ate heartily, especially the braised beef spare ribs, Japanese eggplant, karaage (fried chicken), and seaweed salads. Bill, Jenn, and I had sake-based lychee martinis. For dessert, we enjoyed very unusual and yummy Japanese truffles. They looked like they were covered in white chocolate. The ones with a green creamy center were green tea flavored, and the ones with a purple creamy center had a sochu flavor.

Conan makes a pass at a 16-year old girl

Thursday August 11: The big day arrived. We were going to see Conan O'Brien, LIVE, in person!

Bill and I met up with Todd and BK extra early at the NBC studios inside Rockefeller Center, around 3pm to make sure we'd get into the show, because our ticket confirmations warned that we were not guaranteed entrance.

Even though we had to stand around for over an hour, I was relieved that we were waiting indoors, with A/C. (At Letterman, you wait outside on the sidewalk, with the heat, humidity, and street smog beating you down.) Todd's parents and little sister Anna joined us later (after shopping at an important designer jeans sale at Bloomies).

Meanwhile, a stranger came by asking if anyone had an extra ticket, which I had! So we offered it to him. He didn't realize just how damned lucky he was, because when we finally got inside the theater (around 4:15), we were seated in the FRONT ROW!

As we came out of the secret one-stop elevator to the theater, we were greeted by staffers handing out free Conan O'Brien shirts, labelled with "Audience Member" on them. Though the shirts were XL, I was already more pleased with this experience than with the Letterman experience.

Sitting in the front row, we are amazed at how close everything is. The theater itself is surprisingly small, and it's amazing how the cameras fool the eye and make everything look more expansive. The ceiling is covered in big mechanical lighting fixtures and hanging hi-definition flat-panel monitors. They even play good indie music while you wait around for the crew to get the show started. Conan's desk was maybe 15 feet away from our seats.

The warm-up guy who came out in a bright orange shirt is the funny-lookin' dude who does various bits on the show, such as Raymond the Preparation-H guy. He makes some funny, borderline subversive jokes for a while and then introduces Max Weinberg's band, which has some really fun and energetic horn players.

Then Conan O'Brien himself comes running out of the side doors, up into the audience, shaking people's hands (including Todd's and our token stranger's hands), doing a crazy hip-thrusting dance to the music. Seeing him so close, we were struck by his spastic and freakishly tall physique, with the bouncy hair and exaggerated facial features. Some guy jumps up in the aisle to boogie with Conan, and already people were in hysterics. Conan hugged the dancing guy and then made homoerotic jokes at him, but then also invited him to hug Max Weinberg, who gave the dancing guy free drumsticks.

Conan made some banter with some ladies high up in the audience. Then he said, "What am I doing talking to you people way up there, when the ladies are all right heeerrre?" --proceeding to lean in to Todd's little sister Anna, with a lecherous "rrrrrrOOOAAAWWW!" --gesturing goofy cat claws. As he leaned in, Anna scooted back laughing, and he says, "Isn't my FACE-REALLY-SCARY-WHEN-IT-GETS-THIS-CLOSE-TO-YOU???" I should have yelled, "She's only sixteen!!"

He started up the show, jumping in excitement, then miming a rowboat. Already I was amused with the monologue and didn't have to fake laughter.

After the monologue, Conan did the State Coins bit and also the lullaby bit. I don't remember Conan using a guitar before, but he used one this time. Also he did a new one where he and Max Weinberg catch up on Nick and Jessica gossip, and then glare at each other back and forth.

Rob Schneider was the first guest, and although I am not a fan of his movies, he still entertained the audience, doing a very good Elvis impersonation to the tune of "Old MacDonald had a Farm." Conan mentioned how they used to go karaoke in the old days when they both worked at SNL, which made me fantasize about them going karaoke with us after the show.

Then Andre Benjamin (AKA Andre 3000 of Outkast) showed up looking very sharp as usual, promoting his movie, Four Brothers. Sadly he didn't perform any music. The final guest, Louis C.K. (a comedian), was funny, although he got really harsh on his kids for a good joke (he called his daughter a douchebag!).

Everyone including Todd's Republican family enjoyed the experience (despite the usual anti-Bush humor and anti-Clay-Aiken humor).

Side note: Be warned that Rockefeller Center's bathroom locations do NOT match their maps, and the signs pointing to them are totally nonsensical. So if you ever go there, find the bathrooms first before you get into panic mode.

We ended the evening with some amazing New York pizza at Lombardi's, located in Nolita. All the toppings tasted very fresh, and the thin crust was yummy. We followed that with dessert across the street at Rice to Riches, a rice pudding parlor with a tomorrowland-style interior.