Andy Richter Announces The Universe
If you watched Conan O'Brien's final episode of Late Night last Friday, then you saw his earnest and heartfelt goodbye speech at the end of the show where he thanked David Letterman for paving the way for absurdist late night comedy, and Lorne Michaels for taking a chance on him and basically creating his career out of thin air, and his entire staff and crew for 16 years of very hard work. You also might have noticed that he specifically thanked Joel Godard, the show's announcer. "Huh," I thought. "That is odd. I wonder why he isn't bringing Joel Godard to Los Angeles. Surely Joel has what it takes to say the words "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Briiiiiien" with as much authority as he's been saying "Late Night with Conan O'Briiiiiien" all these years. And then pretend to hang himself some more." That is what I thought. Well, today I have my explanation:
BECAUSE ANDY RICHTER IS BACK, SON! From TV Week:
Andy Richter is reuniting with Conan O'Brien, signing on to serve as announcer for Mr. O'Brien's new incarnation of "The Tonight Show."NBC is expected to announce the decision later today.
On "Tonight," Mr. Richter will not be a nightly desk-side presence as he was on "Late Night." He will, however, participate in both live and pre-taped comedy bits.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS! I guess the whole breaking out on his own to achieve comedic self-actualization as the star of his own projects didn't really work out, and this almost seems like two steps back starting over at square -1, and that's definitely :(, but come on guys. It's Andy Richter! Back in our faces! THE RICHTANATOR! Makin' announcements! He's the best. Watch and learn. Recess is over.
UPDATE: Official.
Posted by Gabe at 4:15 PM in Late Night, What America Wants, Where Are They Now?
Tags: Andy Richter | Conan O'Brien | Late Night | Tonight Show
He should be a nightly desk-presence. Leno was lacking someone in the Ed McMahon role.
Hey, what's Ed McMahon doing nowadays, other than melting gold? Conan should get him.
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I can only hope you're joking. The only thing Ed McMahon did worse than managing his money was being second banana.
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Yaaay!
Andy Richter and Eugene Levy both have a terrible problem with taking TERRIBLE jobs. They're so genius but they do such shit. Hopefully this will keep Andy busy doing good stuff.
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What is the evidence of Andy Richter's genius? I like him enough, but he was always over appreciated for his role on Conan's show, then his solo stuff sort of left me cold. I never actually saw Andy Richter Controls the Universe, so that's my fault for being uninformed, but I watched his detective show and would have given it about a B. Conan certainly didn't suffer when Andy left. It's great that he's returning, and this seems like a great gig, frankly. I wouldn't scoff at being the voice of the Tonight Show.
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HOLY SHIT THAT'S AWESOME! I LOVEZ ANDY RICHTERZ
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SO exciting. i'm hoping that he will start as announcer and sort of be in the background of the show but then realize it is written for him to be on the couch and will become SIDEKICK EXTREME again.
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Yay!
Andy in the sidekick seat always made me uncomfortable. It was ~awkward~, you know? But I love that he'll be a regular in bits. whee.
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DUDES, Andy Richter has NEVER, EVER been in a bad anything. THAT IS ALL.
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I never saw "Quintuplets" but I bet that those who have, would call that a misstep for Richter. No offense to the man though - I'm glad he'll be back but will miss Joel.
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He's probably able to do it and still be able to do other work, since the show is being taped in LA. I saw him do an Upright Citizens Brigade show recently. Richter's the best.
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that's rockin' good news. i know i'm in the minority on this, but i always thought andy was the best thing about conan's show during the early years.
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i'm with you on this one. in the early years, conan was just a laughing head. i found it wasn't even until andy left, that conan sort of came into his own.
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I agree as well. He was the perfect straight man, which made his zany moments even more hilarious. My favorite Andy moment, his music video for Des'ree's You Gotta Be.
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I should have posted this before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLuizZJ42bE
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This news is off the ANDY RICHTER SCALE.
:) :) :)
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I love you, wubdub.
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I'd be more psyched by a revival of the mega-underrated "Andy Richter Controls the Universe." That shit out-Scrubsed Scrubs.
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Will he be needing a stunt double for the new Tonight Show, or is Rocky out of a job?
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I've seen just about every Late Night Episode for the past 8 years and I'd much rather keep Joel than have Andy.
WTF
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I liked Joel but the stuff they wrote for him was one note. The creepy-old-dude-likes-young-asian-men" note.
I'm still a little worried about NBC sucking the life out of Conan in the 11:30 slot, but Andy coming along is a GREAT sign. Andy Richter Controls the Universe was unappreciated, but yeah, his detective show -- produced by Conan -- was a little flat.
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And this leaves the door open for Norm MacDonald to sidekick.
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I squealed like a little girl when I saw this.
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Are you sure that's a picture of Andy up there, cause that looks more like, Chareth the flirt.
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awesome awesome news, but isnt anybody else disappointed to see joel godard go?
i wish they could keep him on somehow. it was always great whenever they worked him into a bit. constantly talking in the announcer voice, grinning creepily.
i hope they bring him on for cameos or something.
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Maybe Joel didn't want to leave NYC? Regardless, this is awesome news that Richter is back. Conan did fine on his own, Richter did fine on his own, but putting chocolate and peanut butter back together....perfection.
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this is the best of both worlds. Conan was never as funny as when Andy left, but it'll be great to see Andy get tortured in various skits, love it! great idea. the dude obviously had no career after Conan except for random cameos here and there, and the only thing that came to mind when you saw him was "hey its Andy Richter from Conan O'Brian". Conan is more of a Letterman than Carson, he just needs the ocassional support, but he's better on his own.
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This makes me happier than Obama's election as president! Does that say something bad about me as a person?
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Basically, yeah.
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Yay Richtor is joining the pale force!
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