How did this one escape the all-seeing eyes of Mediaite? Somehow the Republican Party has unveiled a 2011 “campaign ad” in Spanish, and we’re seeing it for the first time on Conan O’Brien‘s late night show. But hey, it’s been a busy few weeks. At any rate, if this ad is to be believed as a genuine message by the Republican Party–and we have our doubts–the GOP needs to work on its accent. A lot. As Conan explains, the “Get Your Own Patatas” ad comes in response to a slick Spanish language ad produced by the Democrats.

This week’s headline-grabbing Paris Hilton interview by ABC’s Dan Harris got most of the attention for the reality star’s decision to walk out mid-chat rather than address Harris’ question–has your “moment” passed? But as Conan O’Brien discovered, there was an equally significant revelation in the interview–that Hilton’s on-camera voice is, basically, a put-on. In a clip aired on Conan Thursday night, Hilton ditches the baby voice and breathy whine and reveals–for the first time on camera–her real voice. And, well, it’s probably best that she sticks with the baby talk.

The team over at Conan made the mistake (cue sly wink) of booking two comedians – Jon Dore and Rory Scovel – to perform their stand-up routines on the same night. How awkward yet opportune! How embarrassing yet rife with comedic possibilities!

The result was a fun look at the nature of the genre itself, complete with a joke about butt warts.

Ever the cool kids in class, the gang at Conan have found the funny in a subject You’ll Just Never See On Leno. In case you haven’t been swept up in the uproar over Apple’s latest version of its massively popular video editing software Final Cut Pro, Conan O’Brien set it up for you: “Apple just released a new version of their famous editing software Final Cut Pro, but apparently it’s so different from the last version of Final Cut, video and film editors all over Hollywood are having a hard time adjusting to it.” Ah, but not the whizbang editors at Conan! They love Final Cut Pro X!

President Barack Obama‘s recent trip to Ireland was highlighted by many by his visit to a local pub during which he consumed a pint of Guinness. After watching footage of Obama’s later speech, Conan O’Brien could only conclude that the President of the United States is a light weight.

A discussion of healthy ways to add years to your life got mildly–and entertainingly derailed–on CONAN last night when CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta asked Conan O’Brien about his sex life: “Are you having regular sex?” Apparently, having “regular sex” is good for you, as is limiting your coffee intake and making sure you floss daily (flossing? why’s it always got to be flossing?) But 30 Rock‘s Tina Fey, sitting next to Gupta, immediately jumped on the adjective “regular.”

If you felt a little twinge around 11 o’clock last night, don’t be alarmed. That was only the universe beginning to close in on itself. The reason? Andy Richter, Conan O’Brien’s sidekick, received a sidekick of his very own. Sure, this disruptance could tear a hole in the very fabric of time and space, but it also resulted in some great TV. I think that balances it out.

Larry King is back. He’s got the desk, the desktop microphone, the suspenders, and the live phone calls (“Steve, from Grover Falls, Minnesota, you’re on with Larry King”), and all of it happening thirty feet above Conan O’Brien‘s show–in the studio’s rafters. “All my life I’ve dreamed of doing a show from these creepy rafters,” said King, peering down on Conan from high above.

In keeping with internet timing regulations, the suggestion that Rebecca Black might make a million dollars for her universally panned video Friday must lead directly to a claim of theft. And it’s come in the form of Conan O’Brien, who’s leveling the ripoff charge in a web video. “I’m pretty mad at this Rebecca Black person,” a visibly hurt Conan says to camera. “Pretty sure she ripped me off, ’cause I did one a couple weeks ago called Thursday.”

As journalists, we just don’t cover suicides. It’s a rule. But as I learned early on as a reporter, there are always tons of exceptions. Oh, the person is threatening to jump from a highway overpass? We cover that. It affects traffic. Oh, the suicide was the son of the police chief? Um, I think we cover that. Hang on, let me check.

The suicide “rule” boils down to something like this: we don’t cover suicides (unless they’re visual, interesting, or we find some other compelling argument for doing so.)

Good news for The Daily Show as Nielsen ratings show that it is now the most watched late night show with the coveted 18-34 demographic. The show overtook former leader, Conan. It’s pretty cool but, Jon Stewart, do you have your own ice cream flavor yet? Yeah, didn’t think so.

Ah, that was mean. He’s probably been jealous of Colbert over that for years. I apologize.

Throughout the past week, many in the media have attempted in their own way to explain the crisis in Egypt to a public that may not be familiar with the politics in the area. Last night, Conan O’Brien used a slightly unconventional method; illustrating the entire situation with clips from the recent CGI extravaganza Yogi Bear. It was pretty darn funny but, the entire time we were watching, we couldn’t help but think, “Come on, Conan. When the guys on the real news shows are explaining it with smiley face magnets, you may have to step your absurdity up.”

The Daily Show wrapped the first month of 2011 as the top show in late night TV, with Jon Stewart‘s nightly take on politics and news winning key ratings groups including total viewers, viewers 18-49, men 18-34 and men 18-24.

Daily Show beat Conan in all major demos for the last week of the month, averaged nearly 1.6 million viewers on Comedy Central, while Conan O’Brien‘s new show–also doing very well among younger, advertiser-coveted viewers–pulled in 1.1 million viewers on TBS.

Conan O’Brien has given a revealing interview to The New York Times‘ Bill Carter, talking about the move from NBC’s Tonight Show to his current perch as host of Conan on TBS.

“Everything has worked out great for me,” O’Brien says, insisting he’s come a long way from this time last year, when he made the decision not to move Tonight to midnight, and was forced from NBC. O’Brien says the emotions of 2010 have settled. “We all know what happened. Life’s short. I’ve got a family and I’m really happy here, so I don’t think about it too much.”

TBS is jazzed about ratings information from Nielsen that show Conan beating its late-night rivals among a key demographic: viewers aged 18-49. According to a report by New York Magazine, Conan O’Brien‘s new show is averaging 1.44 million viewers in the advertiser-friendly demo, “about 100,000 more than nemesis Jay Leno (1.35 million) and substantially more than CBS’s David Letterman (1.16 million) and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show/Colbert Report tandem (about 829,000 for the hour).”

If you’ve caught Conan this week, you’ve probably seen his over-the-top, no Christmas cliche left off the table–and a few new ones introduced, like Godzilla, King Kong, and the Larry King shrine. The debut of the biggest, baddest holiday set in late night all of recorded history clearly took some time to put together.

How much time? Two days. Curious to see it in a thirty second time-lapse? Of course you are. Well, your holiday prayers have been answered, thanks to Team Coco. The set work involved the entire Conan crew and, we’re just guessing here, some serious supplies of beer and/or holiday-themed beverages. Here’s how the Conan Crew put it:

If you watch television at this time of the year, you know it’s the season of standard-issue poinsettias, trees and plenty of bows, ribbons and snowscapes covering backgrounds and news desks.

It’s of course no different for the late night talk shows, who unveil holiday-themed adjustments to their sets as well. But not Conan O’Brien. Last night on Conan, the red-headed host debuted what he billed as “the greatest Christmas decorations since the history of storytelling and humanity first came upon this world.”

While the WikiLeaks saga brings about it a lengthy debate about the thin line between transparency and ruining the privacy necessary to run a government, it’s also a comedy gold mine. I mean, how often are public figures routinely described as “James Bond villain-esque.” While SNL went about butchering a fright wig just enough for it to look properly Assange-like, Conan O’Brien went the goofier route, bringing back Ricky Gervais to reveal some new deep, dark, classified secrets…all about Conan!

Oh, man, is this funny. Last night, Conan O’Brien showed a little video highlighting how a special “Favorite Things” episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show could go horribly wrong and it is hilarious. So hilarious that I can’t really write anything else because I don’t want to give away the joke. But I need a full introductory paragraph so… Everyone excited about turkey? That’s good.

How huge is Harry Potter right now? Huge enough that video of the stars faking American accents was one of the most popular stories yesterday. Huge enough that so many people I know went to see the midnight screening last night that I could make my own Rotten Tomatoes aggregation from their Twitter reviews alone. And huge enough that Conan O’Brien couldn’t get through a Potter joke in his monologue without being completely derailed by a fan in full costume in the audience.

Harrison Ford was a guest on Conan O’Brien‘s TBS show last night, to promote his new network news-based movie Morning Glory.

That was the plan, at least – the result was the first of Conan’s classic, delightfully awkward interviews since his recent move, trying to make sense of an…off Harrison Ford.

Remember all the drama around Conan O’Brien losing the Tonight Show? The 60 Minutes interview, the live shows, the Team Coco rallies, the buzzy social media campaign, the Conan Blimp? By the time the clock hit 11 pm on November 8th, it was a pretty big deal — a veritable Television Event. And the ratings [...]

Conan O’Brien made his much talked about (and written about) return to late night this week, to strong ratings.

But while a lot of attention has been paid to Conan’s place in the late night community, someone else is continuing to break the mold: NBC’s Jimmy Fallon (also on the New York cover this week).

Conan O’Brien is off to a huge start in the ratings for his new cable late night show, attracting more than 4.1 million viewers on his first night.

This was better than Jay Leno‘s Tonight Show on NBC – an amazing statistic, that would be made more amazing if it happens again.

Conan O’Brien‘s night owl cohorts weren’t shy about mentioning the redhead’s new program on their own shows yesterday. David Letterman, though, wasn’t quite so gentle when he gave Conan a shoutout. In a typically sarcastic move, the acerbic late night titan took Conan‘s premiere as an opportunity to lob an uppercut at his favorite punching bag.