“The Walk of Thrones”

Conan goes for the hat trick as he hosts his third live show from the nexus of the universe via Comic Con in San Diego, CA. Tonight’s episodes promise to be big as two HUGE blockbuster casts: The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones will be the special guests. I for one cannot wait. (As the kids would say these days, I can’t even.)

In the opening monologue he tells us what to expect while putting a zany spin on it of course. He pokes fun that the cast of Game of Thrones is here but they are all dead. He then says wahhh Jon Snow, prompting Andy to say “Never kill someone that’s hot.” (It’s all fun and games till a pack of fans dressed as wildlings attack.. No not really, but hey it could happen.) Conan tells us about the great panels that Comic Con hosts. The big one of course and one of the most anticipated in all the Nerd Nebula is the Star Wars panel. Conan like I, thinks ace director J.J. Abrams will do wonders with the franchise. (Go ahead and recount your billions George, I sense the Force is quite strong with this one.) In a funny yet sad point Conan points out what I’ve often wondered for years. He poses the question of “Why are there so many people at the My Little Pony panels, and why are the audiences mostly men?” To each his own I guess but its nice to see that I am not the only one who is plagued by this conundrum. Another unsolved mystery I suppose.

Next we switch gears to the topic of Game of Thrones, but more specifically it’s gargantuan author George R.R. Martin himself. Now It’s pretty well known fact that he is currently at work on the next installment of the fantasy novel powerhouse titled: The Winds of Winter, but Conan tells us that he has procured “illegal” footage of the author from his home as he rolls the tape..

Now I must say the sight of George on his estate playing with bubbles was just hilarious! The fun doesn’t stop there as we next see him sitting in a lounge chair controlling a remote toy car. We then find George in what appears to be deep thought and just when you think he might write something, he switches modes and heads to his game room to perform a solo on his bongos. Then later on in the footage he goes mysteriously missing until a sweep of the rooms in his house shows him running from his patio wearing a bathing suit and suspenders to jump on a giant inflatable turtle! (There’s more here but I can’t do it all justice. It’s just nice to see such a big celebrity have an even larger sense of whimsy.) This was all around great. Liking the show’s pacing tonight so far.

Then of course, my praise yields because we get a ridiculous throw away bit of a fake astronaut supposedly coming back from a mission to Jupiter after his crew has been killed by aliens. (Yawn) Wait! he’s here to play us some smooth tunes on his saxophone. (Double yawn) All of a sudden an alien breaks free from his chest, just like the movie Alien and decides to play a mini sax of it’s own. (Triple yawn and super face palm. That was just terrible and dragged on too long for mine and anyone with taste, tastes.)

We return back from commercial and get a offer for another special edition Conan PoP! toy. Tonight’s giveaway is Zombie Conan and viewers need to use the code: The Walking Red to win. Besides the Batman one from the previous episode this would be the most sought after one for me.)

Just when I thought he’d get the show back on track we get another bloated skit, with Andy showing us the weather in CA as well as almost every major fictional realm. The only part of this that was anywhere near entertaining was when he gave us the forcast for Westeros (The world of Game of Thrones) for the next 5,000 years. In short, Winter is Coming. Moving on..

Finally after way too commercials and skits we get to the meaning of the evening and we are joined by the cast of The Walking Dead Danai Gurira (Michonne) Steven Yuen (Glenn) and Darryl himself, Norman Reedus. Once the women are done losing their minds and the squealing subsides we actually get a pretty good interview. Conan asks them about what is the level of crazy they go through now that the cast of the show is so well known. Each of them shares a brief story. Up first is Norman who says that he was on a plane recently waiting for take off when he noticed that all of the passengers were video taping him. He states he was just trying to eat his sandwich and in a moment that makes you say “Say it ain’t so Darryl!” he gets up and takes his sandwich to the airplane urinal. (Not to worry Norman, the ladies still love you, even if you eat some meals on the hopper.) Next up Danai tells us that the fans of the show are unique in that they seem to know the cast’s flight locations at all times. She shares with us a small group of fans that follow her to multiple airports on a consistant basis. (I’m a dedicated fan of the “Dead” but that’s a bit much. TSA should really screen those people. Oh wait..) Finally Steven shares with us that his inner most darkest fear is ghosts. Not because they ghosts mind you, but because they don’t play fair. (Well they been dead along time Steven, what else do they have to do?)

We then get a cool onscreen statistic about the total number of “walker kills” for each of the cast’s characters.

(Behold the badassness)

Before the gang heads back to the walls of Alexandria, Conan asks them if they can share anything at all about the upcoming Season 6 in October. Norman tells us that there is sure to be conflict in this season. (Geesh no kidding Norman. Maybe even some Walking too?) Well those juicy spoilers are sure to whet our appetites until the Fall. Conan then thanks them all for coming and they head off. All in all, just a likable bunch of people and a good interview. October can’t arrive soon enough.

Quick commercial break and we are back with our main even of the evening, the cast of Game of Thrones! There are clearly too many of them and the set would need a limo couch to hold them all. Conan welcomes Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Carice Van Houten (Melisandre) Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth) John-Bradley West (Samwell Tarly) and Conleth Hill (Lord Varys) (Whew try saying that just one time fast!) Since there are so many chairs on the set Conan jokingly welcomes us to his version of “The View”. Each of the cast like the previous get to share a spicy tidbit with us. John-Bradley says fans despite all the amazing things they see on a “fantasy” show, can’t believe he’s still fat. (That had me speechless) Carice tells us she’s just happy she doesn’t have to be naked on the show all the time because it saves her from counting carbs. Maisie tells us she’s glad her character gets to actually shoot on location in a beautiful setting this season. Those were all entertaining comments but by far and away the best one of the night goes to Sophie. She tells us she’s had to grow up fast on the show and has been part of it since she was 13. Her parents asked her if they should have the “talk” with her. Her reply is epic. “Mom I’m on Game of Thrones! What could you teach me?” The cast also reveals that the writers play gags with fake scripts. As the interview starts to heat up, Conan informs us that we are out of time. What? Gee maybe because all the lame skits? If you’re going to book this, do it right. That was a rookie move.

Overall: This had such promise with both casts on board, but with the insane amount of commercials and long skits it really took something away here. Tomorrow we venture to the Final Conan Frontier and we are promised a surprise movie cast! If only we could do this one over properly..