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Coco Opens in Oregon

Conan O’Brien begins his “LegallyProhibited From Being Funny on Television Tour” tonight in Eugene, OR. The show sold out quickly:

Conan O’Brien’s Eugene stand-up show April 12 sold out in just a matter of hours, a Hult Center spokeswoman said Thursday.

Conan is kicking off his U.S. tour in Eugene.

Libby Hightower with the Hult Center said her and her coworkers were as surprised as many Eugenians when they learned Conan would play here.

“I think most of us around here were going ‘really?'” she said.

A promoter for the show said they didn’t use any paid promotion to get publicity. Instead, they relied solely of word-of-mouth and Twitter.

Interesting: they used only Twitter to promote it, where he has more than 818,000 followers, not to mention over 986,000 fans on Facebook. Great twitpic this morning.

Negotiations with Fox are ongoing, with progress being made, via The Hollywood Reporter…

When Conan O’Brien takes the stage Monday to kick off his U.S. comedy tour, the most important critics to impress will be the owners of Fox stations.

Talks between Fox and O’Brien’s reps have made significant progress in recent days toward a deal that would bring the late-night host back to broadcast TV. But affiliate concerns about airing the new venture threaten to derail any agreement.

Fox entertainment chairman Peter Rice and entertainment president Kevin Reilly have been in regular discussions with O’Brien’s camp, led by agent Rick Rosen, manager Gavin Polone and lawyer Leigh Brecheen, including at least one face-to-face meeting on the Fox lot over the past two weeks.

While such issues as O’Brien’s specific compensation and ownership of a new show are still being discussed, the host has agreed to key concessions, including lowering his salary and slashing production costs.

“It will be leaner and meaner,” a source close to the negotiation said.

But the host won’t commit to Fox unless the network can guarantee that stations will air his show in all or nearly all of the country.

And as of now, that’s far from a done deal. Some Fox affiliates are less enthusiastic about taking on O’Brien’s show. Airing O’Brien’s show means affiliates have to eat the cost of any sitcoms or other syndicated programs already booked for the late-night slot while already kicking up a retransmission fee to carry the network.

“The question is how much can one network ask of its affiliates?” an insider said.

Dissension on the Fox side is worrying negotiators that a deal might not be complete in time for the network’s upfront presentation to advertisers on May 17, if it happens at all. Without clearing the show nationwide, O’Brien and Fox would risk an uphill battle on several fronts. The show would generate lower national ratings and might fight the perception of having distribution issues, which would increase the risk of stations abandoning the format. Affiliate threats to stop airing NBC’s “The Jay Leno Show” was a key factor in the network’s decision to kill the show and return Leno to late-night.

For this reason, O’Brien’s team is still looking at alternative options, declining to enter exclusive negotiations with Fox. That said, Fox and O’Brien have cleared several points of agreement.

Fox and O’Brien want the show to air on Fox stations from 11 p.m.-midnight, which would give it a 35-minute jump on NBC’s “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” and CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman.”

The budget for the new show would be considerably less than O’Brien’s most recent stint on NBC, getting the host back to his scrappy roots after trying to fit the more bloated “Tonight Show.” O’Brien’s “Tonight” cost about $90 million a year — including O’Brien’s $12 million salary — but Fox is aiming to pay less than $60 million for the new show.

O’Brien’s show would likely be based in Los Angeles. Though some critics felt NBC mistakenly moved O’Brien from New York to L.A. when he took over “Tonight,” the host has not discussed with Fox the possibility of moving back. Keeping the show in L.A. would make it easier to book Hollywood talent.

There are, however, still several open issues. O’Brien wants ownership of his new program, like David Letterman, whose Worldwide Pants owns “Late Show.”  But Fox would prefer to keep O’Brien as a highly paid employee, similar to NBC’s relationship with Leno on “Tonight.”

Both sides remain hopeful that a deal will be struck, but the sense is that the affiliates now hold the keys to making that happen.

The comedy tour, which launches Monday night in Eugene, Ore., might help matters. O’Brien will generate plenty of headlines in the coming weeks, which should help keep his profile strong as his team tries to lock down a deal. Plus, starting Monday night, local station owners get a chance to sample O’Brien’s act live in person.

Excellent promotional plan by Team Coco.

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Vinny-O's

As an artist, Vincent van Gogh had a vivid and productive imagination. However, I don’t think he ever dreamed his works would ever be reproduced using Tootie Fruities, Cocoa Dyno-Bites and Frosted Mini Spooners.

Humanities teacher Doyle Geddes and his students at Sky View High School in Smithfield, UT, used cereal from Malt-O-Meal to reproduce Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night” on their gym floor, measuring 72 x 90 feet.

The details, via The Herald Journal…

For the last few years, Doyle Geddes has wanted to create the world’s largest reproduction of a master painting. Using two tons of breakfast cereal, that dream became reality Saturday with a re-creation of Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” that covered an area 72 feet by 90 feet.

Geddes, who teaches humanities at Sky View High School, led more than 150 of his students through the process of creating a replica of “Starry Night” 30 times the size of Van Gogh’s original painting.

“To the best of our knowledge it is the largest re-creation of a Van Gogh work of art in any medium,” he said. The re-creation – made with blue, purple, red, green, yellow and brown cereals – was displayed in a gym at Sky View.

As he looked at the completed project Saturday, Geddes said, “I think it’s better than we even expected or dreamed that it could be.” He thinks Van Gogh would be happy with the re-creation, too.

“I think he’s smiling on us today,” Geddes said.

Preparations in Sky View’s gym began about a week ago, Geddes said. They first spread plastic sheeting on the gym floor and then made a grid that created 4-foot boxes across the area. Using that grid, he said, they drew the contours of “Starry Night.”

“It’s as close to the original as it can possibly be,” Geddes said.

Friday night, students caulked one-inch strips of card stock to the plastic sheeting along the drawing of the painting. Areas were labeled by color and Saturday morning, they filled in the spaces with the appropriate color of cereal. Cereal was spread one inch thick.

Saturday morning, Geddes, who wore a Van Gogh tie for luck, said he was a little worried about running out of cereal, but they ended up having enough.

“Our math was good. Our drawing was good and it resulted in a great final product,” Geddes said.

He estimated it would take almost five hours to fill the space with cereal. When they got working Saturday, however, it went faster than he anticipated. It took three and a half hours to fill the area with cereal.

But students didn’t just dump cereal in the bordered contours. Andy Chaparro, student project manager of the “Starry Night” recreation, said that to add texture and form to the piece, some cereal was crunched.

Geddes said the Malt-O-Meal factory in Tremonton donated Tootie Fruities, Cocoa Dyno-Bites and Frosted Mini Spooners, Square One and Lowe’s also donated supplies, he said. Geddes said people were supportive of the idea from the start, and that students have been excited, too.

Chaparro said when he first heard Geddes talk about the project, he felt some disbelief.

“This is incredible,” Chaparro said. “When he announced it to us I almost thought it was just a joke … it’s a dream but I didn’t think it would ever come to pass.”

Geddes said they chose to recreate “Starry Night” because of its beauty and recognition. To accompany the display of “Starry Night,” there were also 28 smaller Van Gogh recreations that students made with cereal.

There was a public viewing 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. Afterward, the cereal was put back into totes and given to a pig farmer that will use it to feed pigs.

“So ‘Starry Night’ is going to the pigs, and I think Van Gogh would be happy with that,” Geddes said. “I think he’d be quite happy … I think he’d be happy that we’re doing it and I think he would love the madness of his work of art going to the pigs.”

Geddes said he began assigning projects like “Starry Night,” but on a smaller scale, years ago “to break up the monotony of the classroom routine” and to offer students “a different experience with art.”

He said he hopes that after students work on the “Starry Night” project, they have an appreciation for and a greater connection to art.

“When Van Gogh created this, you know, 100-plus years ago, it said something about him as a person, about the time that he lived, the culture that influenced him, and it’s also part of who we are,” he said.

Geddes dream is the result of what he describes as “an overactive imagination.” He said the idea may have been ambitious but, he hopes students learn to dream big.

“Let your imagination go,” he said.

Those little piggies in Utah are getting some kind of sugar rush now.

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