End of Tour Party

Hey everyone,
So tonight, in Atlanta, we had our End of Tour Party. We went to a nice bar/restaurant called Shout, and had dinner and drinks in their "private wine room." We were all impressed with the food and the wine list. The room was pretty small for the number of people we had, though. Basically, you were trapped in your seat, talking only to the people closest to you. Later we would end up relocating the entire party to the lounge of the W Hotel next door. There we could roam around and get in a little face time with everyone.

Detained at meetings at TBS (which happens to be headquartered in Atlanta), Conan arrived a couple hours after the rest of us. Honestly, he looked very, very tired. He has looked tired often during the tour- I'm sure we all have. But none of us works as hard as Conan. The reality show "My Super Sweet 16" happened to be filming in the restaurant, right outside of our private room. Four 16-year-old blondes screamed upon Conan's arrival, then posed for pictures with him until he managed to extricate himself a few minutes later. After the excitement of his arrival subsided, he made his way to a small podium at the front of the room. He began to speak through a microphone they'd set up for him, but stopped mid-sentence because it was so horribly distorted.

"Oh this is disgusting" Conan said (in regard to sound system). We all laughed.

"Hey, where the sound guys at?!" someone yelled out.

"Whose system is this?" Conan jeered. "I sound like Stephen Hawking. I'm not gonna use this."

Hoarse from the torturous schedule of singing, screaming comically, and constant talking, meet-and-greets and business meetings, Conan motioned for us to quiet down.

"Shhhh... so I don't have to yell. And, yeah, close that curtain" (separating the private room from the restaurant)- "I don't want this to be part of the filming of 'Super Sweet Sixteen."

"I just wanted to say something. It's not gonna be funny."
(crew laughs) "I like to say that ahead of time."

"I've been in show business since I was twenty-two. And I've never, ever, ever worked on anything that has meant as much to me, spiritually, emotionally, creatively.... as this tour. And that's because of everybody in this room. And I am horrified at the idea of this stopping. At the same time, if it doesn't stop, I will go to the hospital." (big crew laughs) "And not come out. It's been the professional honor of my life to work with you people, and it has meant everything to me. And I would just like to say to everyone in this room, please consider me a friend. If there's anything I can do for anybody in this room- if I can get on the phone, and help you with something else, write a letter. You know how to get me."

Andy yelled out "What about money?"

This, of course, got HUGE laughs, followed by chants of "Money! Money! Money!" then "USA! USA! USA!"

"Sorry, sorry," Andy said.

"That's an expensive laugh, Andy." Conan countered before continuing with his speech.

"So I don't want to take any more of anybody's time. I just want everyone to drink and have a good time tonight. I want tomorrow to be our best show ever." (some laughs from crew) "No, seriously, there's a lot on the line tomorrow." (huge laughs)

"But just thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you very much for everything you've done. And I love you all."

That's my boss, my friend, Conan O'Brien.