The first episode of "Serious Jibber-Jabber," Conan O'Brien's new non-comedy chat show, launched on his website Team Coco Thursday afternoon. The debut episode of the web series features Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Edmund Morris in a 47-minute chat about President Theodore Roosevelt.
Yes, you read that correctly. The TBS host may be famous for introducing America to the Masturbating Bear and a poop-threatening dog puppet, but he's also a serious student of American history. That interest rarely makes appearances on his talk shows (although it does sneak in occasionally), but as he indicated last week when announcing the show, hosting a chat program where he gets to talk at length to interesting people of his choosing is a "dream job" for O'Brien.
Now, where have we heard that before? Oh, right. However, the difference between the post-NBC incarnation of Conan O'Brien and his former self is that he currently does not appear to feel restricted by any one ambition. Instead, the mirage that was the "Tonight Show" is now a vast landscape of endless opportunities afforded by the Internet. Hell, without network brass breathing down his neck, he can even host his own version of "The Charlie Rose Show" and talk about turn-of-the-century politics for an hour. No sweat.
Team Coco has put out a few original comedy series prior to "Serious Jibber-Jabber," but this is the first one to feature O'Brien himself. Representatives for O'Brien have indicated that although the web series is intended to be ongoing, no fixed schedule for releasing additional episodes is currently planned.
In this first episode, Conan and Morris have a lengthy discussion of presidential politics and history, focusing on Roosevelt. Morris is best known for his biographies on the 26th president, including "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt," for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. Watch the full first episode above.