I get by with a little help from… Conan O’Brien! (and my friends)

Yesterday was amazing! S, N, J and I went to The Big Apple to see Conan O’Brien LIVE… and we could not have had a better day. Luck was definitely on our side. First, we had beautiful weather – the perfect amount of sunshine, heat, and breezes. The traffic God’s were watching over us as well, seeing as we only hit about 20 minutes of traffic on our way home due to parkway construction and an accident. We took the Weehawken ferry into the city and got right on a bus to Rockefeller Center. Right away we got our passes for the NBC Studio Tour and then wandered around the city in order to kill a few hours before the tour. We did some window shopping along 5th Ave., played around F.A.O Shwartz for a half hour, strolled through Central Park, and payed a short visit to the Disney Store.

The NBC Studio Tour was great – we saw the control center for the network (which basically consisted of a hundred television monitors and switchs), the SNL studio, a mock make-up room, and a mock news room. I won’t spoil any of the fascinating details for any of you who will someday venture into 30Rock.

The highlight of the day was, of course, watching Late Night and Conan… in the FIRST ROW! Since seating is pretty random and highly secretive, it is amazing how we even managed to get seated in the first row, front and center, less than a hundred feet away from Conan’s desk. Not to mention Conan shook S’s hand and flirted with me! [I got "the purr" and a wink] I will say that Conan really is a great host, on and off-air, and makes sure his audience is happy and having a good time. His security guard, on the other hand, looks like he wants to kill everyone in the room – very intimidating. I think he had a gun. Also… did I mention we made it on TV??? 3 times???!!! Look for us front row during a blow-up balloon person and the taking of an audience member – June 19th Episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien, guest starring James Lipton, Anne Hathaway, Ramony Malcolm, and some obscure band called My Morning Jacket.

Dinner was delicious, too. Next time you are in the city near Times Square and are looking for some good Italian food, check out John’s Pizzeria. They had the BEST PIZZA and bruschetta I have ever had, and that is no exaggeration. Pricing was relatively mild as well, at least for the city (around 20 per person).

All in all it was a perfectly wonderful day and a much needed good time with good friends.