On Monday, I had the chance to head over to Universal Studios with my roommate Jessica to support Conan O’Brien at a rally that was held in his honor. It was POURING rain at the event, and the wind was incredibly strong. In my time in Los Angeles, I’ve never quite seen it as bad as it was that day.
The rally was very exciting and full of lively spirits. Everybody was so nice and full of energy – it was fun to see and be a part of. It was also fun to read everyone’s creative signs that were at the rally. It’s hard to imagine, but after seeing numerous rallies and protests (writers strike, etc) in Hollywood; this strike, without question, was the most energetic and upbeat crowd of them all.
After being there for an hour or so, we received word (via rumors) that Conan O’Brien himself might be making an appearance. We were all told to gather on ONE side of the street and continue our support protest there. Everyone moved to the other side as we were told, and what happened next was truly unbelievable.
As some of you may have seen on “The Tonight Show”, Conan sent out his band member – LaBamba – in a pope-mobile like vehicle to wave and serenade the crowd with his trombone. It was hilarious and put everyone in a very energetic mood. Everybody was feeling pretty confident that we would be seeing Conan after seeing LaBamba make an appearance.
About 30 minutes after LaBamba came strolling by, something CRAZY happened. Conan O’Brien came out of nowhere from the Universal City entrance hill and started running down the street. As he ran, he greeted fans and supporters with high fives and hugs. He had no security, no camera guys, NOTHING. He was running down Lankershim Blvd all by himself.
As he continued to run down Lankershim Blvd, the crowd began to follow (because Conan encouraged us to). So, imagine this: A crowd of 500 people running frantically down Lankershim Blvd at 2:00 in the afternoon on a Monday following Conan O’Brien. Can you imagine being a car on the other side of the road and seeing this play out before your very eyes? It was pretty cool and it was clear everyone’s adrenaline was rushing. As we ran down the street, almost as if by magic, the rain suddenly stopped and the sun began to shine down on the streets below.
Conan lead his group of supporters to the main gates at Universal Studios, where his interns greeted us with pizzas for EVERYONE. Usually, celebs like to say “we have pizza for everyone”, but in reality, only the first few hungry fans get a slice. For this event, that was NOT the case – EVERYONE got pizza…and lots of it! As we began to munch on the pizza, Conan O’Brein, Andy Richter, Max Weinberg, and the rest of ‘The Tonight Show’ staff went on the roof of their studio complex to wave and drop an “I’m with Coco” banner. It was quite an incredible moment, and everyone could tell Conan was truly touched by the incredible amount of support that came to take on the rain.
While a lot of people wonder why most of these events didn’t air on ‘The Tonight Show’, I think it’s quite classy of Conan that they didn’t. Conan didn’t run down the street and buy pizzas and stand on the rooftops of building for his show or good ratings…he did it because he wanted to thank his fans, and THAT, is something that is rare to find in celebrities in Hollywood.
Check out the video I made from the event:
No comments:
Post a Comment