Do you ever get the feeling you are watching greatness unfold before your very eyes? Have you ever witnessed an event, or read a book, or even seen a movie and felt like you were experiencing an instant classic? That’s exactly they way I’ve felt as I have watched Late Night With Conan O’Brien the past 2 weeks. No, I’m not kidding…

For those of you living under a rock, there is a dreadful writer’s strike under way (that I fully support) which has messed up coach potato paradise royally. All of my favorite shows have halted production during the strike, most notably Heroes and Lost (although since Season 4 of Lost premieres soon, we will at least get the first 8 or so pre-strike episodes). Even the late night talk shows took a long break trying to decide how to function without their writers. Conan (and several others included) decided they didn’t need no stinking writers! We’ll do it ourselves! And the result has been absolute, pure genius.

Now I haven’t paid much attention to the other talk shows, but if you haven’t tuned into Conan lately you are definitely missing out. Every night he comes out with no script and improvs the whole way through his monologue. He has also decided to grow out his beard until the strike is over. The shaggier that beard gets, the funnier he is. It makes me want to hope for a three year strike just to see how ridiculous he will look. He has also developed some great new bits that are just as funny, if not funnier, than anything the show’s writers ever thought up:

First, we have the wedding ring spin on the desk. Once or twice a week Conan will start the show off by spinning his ring on his desk to try and break his personal record of 41 seconds. If it sounds stupid, that’s because it is. That’s what makes it so funny. The audience absolutely loves it and I have no idea why and I guess that’s why it cracks me up. Next, we have the zip line Conan has installed in the studio. He keeps asking fans to send in ideas to make his zip line more exciting. First we’ve seen him soar through the air wearing a helmet that shoots smoke from the back. It was as lame as it sounds..and again very funny. The next time he zipped down wearing the smoke helmet and rocket boots and crashed through giant bowling pins. My favorite though was when he zipped down (with helmet and boots) and slammed into John Wilkes Booth right before he was about to assassinate President Lincoln. Afterwards, Conan and Lincoln celebrated by dancing a little jig together (See video below). Not only was this the funniest thing I’ve ever seen on his show, but quite possibly the weirdest. As fun as all of this sounds, there is more! Every Friday night Conan ends the first segment by strapping on a guitar and a hideous jacket and rocks out with the band. I had no idea he could sing or play the guitar, but he is shockingly good. Seriously…don’t take my word for it. Tune in and check it out…you will be amazed at his talent.

Of course there are other crazy things going on, but those are my favorites so far. If you haven’t seen Conan lately there is no better time to watch. I hope Conan seriously considers keeping this format even after the strike, because he has stumbled upon pure gold. I can’t wait until he takes over The Tonight Show. Who needs writers? Certainly not the great Conan O’Brien!