Conan O’Brien’s Yiddishe Canadian Mama

Do you ever watch television and feel certain that someone inside that little box is sending you a message? Well, that happened to me watching Conan O’Brien‘s “The Tonight Show” from Friday night — it wasn’t quite “What’s The Frequency Kenneth,” but it was close.

First, they had a clip in honor of Rosh Hashanah from the Chabad Telethon which was nothing short of awesome, and I can’t believe it hasn’t been burning up the Internets (it might have something to do with Jewish sites being off for the High Holidays, but still, my usual chide for the Conan team on using the internet effectively still holds). It’s of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog appearing on the telethon, singing “My Yiddishe Mama,” canine version. The most surprising thing here, NB, is how respectful Triumph (and, by extension, puppetmaster Robert Smigel) was — there was nothing in his performance that could be construed as disrespectful or shocking to the Orthodox Jews running the telethon. (I have seen Triumph perform live before, and admit that I was cringing in anticipation as the clip began.) It is actually a wonderful, adorable segment — seeing Triumph singing “Witch Doctor” with his Hasidic brethren, plus the mazel-bringing message from Conan. So much nachas.

The next clip that seemed targeted straight for my heart involved something that Triumph had historically not been quite so gentle with: Canada. (Remember that?) It’s short but sweet, called “Canada’s Got Talent!” and predictably mocking Canada with predictable “Canadian” things like logging. Nonetheless I get excited whenever someone mentions Canada. But just so you know, Canada is about more than just logging. There’s fishing, too.

Also meant specifically to reach out of the telly and into my heart: A Mary Poppins joke in the monologue, and a joke about Norwegian farmers loving their cows, which I just thought was funny. Watch it here here.

Also he hosted Courteney Cox from the new ABC show “Cougartown” about an older woman who liked younger men, but to be clear, that has NOTHING to do with me.

Triumph on the Chabad Telethon


Canada’s Got Talent

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