The Conan O’Brien Always Has Obscure Show Titles
(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series)
The title of the November 14th episode of Conan is adapted from the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice. This is a bit of a ballsy move, as reading does not seem to be a primary cultural referent these days (even though The Postman is one of the more famous novels out there).Then again, I may give TV too much credit here; the Conan title references are notoriously obscure.
I’m quite sad; I was hoping to keep this ol’ blog honest and almost 100% cartoons. But I suppose Conan O’Brien is a bit of a cartoon.
As literate late-night hosts go, Craig Ferguson’s the king. Haven’t watched him much lately, but I always love how he’ll treat his celebutard guests with a bit of light disdain or condescension, but when an author or auteur comes out, he engages them in a well-informed, quality convo. It helps that he’s a fiction and nonfiction author himself. Recently, Paris Hilton was his first guest; she got one segment, then was followed by Neil Gaiman, who got two!