Fear Not: Conan's Still Conan

By Brian Wallace | Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 1:31 AM

Will Ferrell serenades Conan O'Brien.

NBC/Paul Drinkwater

For a while now, there have been two big questions on the minds of Conan O'Brien fans, and TV's funniest late-night host answered both of them when he took over "The Tonight Show" on Monday.

First of all, why did Conan need three months to transition from one studio to another? Sure, the two locations are thousands of miles apart, but certainly NBC could've finished building and testing Conan's new digs in California by the time his final New York show wrapped on March 2.

Well, it turns out, Conan traveled all the way from Manhattan to Hollywood on foot:

But the even bigger question on everyone's mind was this: Would we still be getting the same Conan O'Brien? Would "The Tonight Show," with its storied history and earlier timeslot, cause O'Brien to stiffen up or rein in his goofy sophomoric charm? In interviews leading up to his big debut, he insisted he wasn't going to change a thing, and on Monday night he confidently strode out into Universal's sizable Stage 1 theater and laid those concerns to rest.

Kicking things off with his trademark pocket-pulling "string dance," Conan breezed through a solid opening monologue that, as usual, was more self-deprecating than topical.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is a huge night for me. I remember watching Johnny Carson when I was a kid and thinking, 'That's what I want to be when I grow up,'" he said. "And I'm sure right now, somewhere in America there's a little kid watching me, thinking, 'What is wrong with that man's hair?'"

Conan's best work, though, often happens outside the studio walls, and there was plenty of that on Monday's show. In one segment, the lanky redhead climbed aboard a Universal Studios tour tram, giving those onboard a decidedly off-script narration featuring crying, murder tips, and a detour off the lot to a 99 Cents Only store. Another segment followed the host as he introduced his 1992 Ford Taurus to the streets of car-centric Los Angeles, turning heads and fertilizing wombs in the process. (Yes, you read that right.)

The show was so heavy on comedy bits that there was only time for two guests: Pearl Jam, who debuted a song off their upcoming album, "Backspacer," and "Land of the Lost" star Will Ferrell, who surprised Conan by arriving on a throne carried by actors portraying shirtless Egyptian slaves. "I didn't want to upstage you," he explained, before giving Conan some insider tips about L.A., including the location of a great little Pasadena burger joint named Burger King. "It's worth the drive, my friend."

But the night's biggest laugh came later, when Ferrell serenaded Conan with the Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye." The host pointed out that it was odd to perform a goodbye song on the very first show. "Look, don't get me wrong," Ferrell deadpanned. "I'm pulling for you, man, but this whole thing is a crapshoot at best. You've got some shaky studio execs back there waiting to pull the plug at any second."

If Monday's show is any indication, Conan's got nothing to worry about.

Talk About It: What did you think of Conan's "Tonight Show" debut?

Watch the "Land of the Lost" trailer here: