Step into the dojo. You’re about to get whooped by . . . The Ginja Ninja (pronounced like the “gin” in ginger).
Right, so perhaps that isn’t Conan O’Brien’s most well-known nickname. It certainly doesn’t hold a candle to “Coco,” which was originally used in a comedy sketch during Conan’s run on “the show that shall not be named” and later promoted by Tom Hanks as he riled up the audience, encouraging them to chant “Coco! Coco!” (“If that catches on,” O’Brien jokingly told Hanks, “I’ll sue you.”)
14 months and one network switch later, Conan is still receiving gifts from his guests — fashion advice, fuzzy hats and a new nickname from WWE international champion The Miz.
The two chuckled onstage, throwing various barbs at each other, and then The Miz announced that Coco was too wimpy a name for Conan, subsequently dubbing him The Ginja Ninja.
These humorous and friendly celebrity interviews are just one of many things to love about Conan O’Brien’s new show on TBS, now up and running for about five months. It’s a sometimes-sincere, often-ridiculous always-hilarious show — quirky and easily lovable, just like its host.
Self-deprecation has always been part of O’Brien’s comedic style and he folds it seamlessly into a routine that also contains a plethora of celebrity impressions, dramatic expressions, miming and other energetic, spontaneous quips.
Other favorite things to mock include: TBS, Sarah Palin, Justin Bieber, the entire cast of Jersey Shore, NBC, Larry King, Harry Potter nerds and his sidekick, Andy Ritcher.
The monologue has always been critiqued as Conan’s weakest portion, but since coming to TBS, he’s come off as less stiff and much more relaxed.
He frequently vamps with the audience, calling someone out for cheering at an inopportune time (“Math! Woohoo!”) or pointing out impressive signs, masks and — more often than you would think — fake beards.
And then there’s the comedy sketches. It’s this part of the show that more than showcases Conan’s draw towards younger audiences.
He does things like play “Angry Birds” — not the Apple game on an iPhone, but a life-size version complete with birds, pigs and Ikea furniture (since Finland invented “Angry Birds” and Finland’s nemesis is Sweden, obviously). Once, he replaced the pigs with balloons that had the faces of the Jersey Shore cast taped on them. Snooki, however, was still a green pig; she was just wearing a bump.
Other reoccurring sketches are segments from the Broadway musical Spider-Man (which includes a man dressed as Wonder Woman who makes passes at Conan), reports from his blimp complete with theme music and the ability to stalk Gary Busey and, back in December, daily appearances from Minty, the candy cane who fell on the ground.
O’Brien stays close to topics that viewers in the 18-49 age demographic would understand easily. For instance, another popular sketch is “Conan’s Video Blog,” where he mocks the thousands of awkward teenagers out there on YouTube who rant and post angsty videos for the world to watch.
At some point, Andy walks in and interrupts the blog, resulting in Conan channeling some Breakfast Club anger and kicking him out. In the most recent sketch, O’Brien spoofed Rebecca Black’s “Friday” with the song that he claims he came up with first, a heavily auto-tuned “Thursday” (“The day after Wednesday / Two days after Tuesday . . . That was a rapper / which makes this a real song / Fun fun fun fun fun fun fun . . .”).
Another favorite sketch is “The Flaming C.” Early in the season, O’Brien paid a visit to Bruce Timm of the Warner Brothers Animation Studio and together they created a new superhero.
Conan threw out ideas (“And a Star of David behind it. I just want to include everyone.” “Oven mitts!” “Shoes, like loafers.” “Old man socks with garters.” “And fishnets!”) while Timm drew. Since then, Conan has released multiple clips animated by Warner Brothers that depict the various adventures of The Flaming C as he chastises Young Justice, saves a bus full of school children and takes down his arch nemesis’s cat.
Out of all of these insanities, however, the most unique part of Conan is O’Brien’s constant interaction with his fan base.
His relationship with the audience is taken to a whole other level — he does everything from teasing an awkward sitting position to playing games to actually rubbing beards with them — but it goes further than that.
TeamCoco.com, Conan’s official website, holds a lot of contests including a car freshener giveaway (the car freshener came packaged in a car).
There was also a video submission challenge where the winning couple got to have their Valentine’s Day date live on the show where their dinner was catered by Iron Chef Michael Symon (he brought Taco Bell) while William Shatner serenaded the couple with a dramatic reading of the lyrics to Rihanna’s “Umbrella.”
Another interactive favorite is “Haha I Found an Error” where fans send in videos pointing out mistakes O’Brien made on air . . . and then he debunks each of them with conveniently-rare historical footage and explanations of new Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stops in Libya.
All in all, Conan is an absurd and whimsical show that has been running strong since its premiere.
Celebrities often comment on how much fun it was to make an appearance, though it’s questionable whether Martha Stewart or Justin Bieber would concur, as O’Brien ate all of Stewart’s prepared food and then dumped a rainstorm of Peeps on JBiebs.
That isn’t to say the show doesn’t have its rough spots. Sometimes O’Brien needs to just stop talking to Andy and get on with his joke before the flow of his comedy is lost, and it’s not uncommon for various videos to come off more dumb than funny. But there’s something innately exciting that Conan brings to the table that makes viewers overlook the flat jokes, if only because they can count on the next impression, sarcastic remark or flailing dance to be twice as funny.
If you just give The Ginja Ninja a chance, you will never want to leave his dojo again.
Conan airs on TBS Monday through Thursday nights at 11 p.m.
