EXCLUSIVE Conan O’Brien is taping the Kennedy Center Mark Twain prize show tonight. It airs on Netflix soon.
Reports from spies down in DC say the red carpet is kind of spare. The only celebrity not paid to be there is Jake Tapper, who doesn’t care what Donald Trump has done to the country’s premier arts institution.
Celebs who came but skipped the black carpet included Adam Sandler, John Mulaney, Sarah Silverman, Stephen Colbert, Tracy Morgan, and Will Ferrell.
There was no pre-reception, but an after party will take place at The Reach, a restaurant next door.
David Letterman spoke as the top of the show. He also presented O’Brien with his award.
“This will be the most entertaining gathering of the Resistance.”
Colbert joked about new members of the board being Arabs: the former head of Sudan who’s in prison, and Skeletor, a fictional super villain and main antagonist from Mattel toys.
The people who came are friends of Conan — who everyone loves. They include Netflix chief Ted Sarandos, plus Nikki Glaser, Kumail Nanjani, Bill Burr, E Street drummer Max Weinberg, Reggie Watts. So far, no photos of people I expected, like Conan sidekick Andy Richter, or the Kennedy Center’s new chief Richard Grennell.
If more show up, I’ll update.
Trump himself isn’t there, but he sent his usual lackeys. The word inside is that veteran staffers were mostly turned down for tickets by the new people installed by Trump.
Conan, according to The Hill’s Judy Kurtz, was diplomatic about the tense situation. He told her, “Only he [Trump] knows his priorities best. There’s a lot going on in the world, but probably taking control of the Kennedy Center should be at the top of the list.”
According to observers in the room: “There are plenty of Trump jokes. Conan very specifically thanked Deborah Rutter and David Rubenstein. They got a huge ovation.” Trump fired the latter. He’s running out the contract of the former.
Conan thanked all the Kennedy Center employees.
Spies say the former communications director Eileen Andrews showed up, causing a stir.
Colbert said, “He remembered when Conan was the only red-headed asshole.”
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