Tim Minchin makes his American TV debut on Conan, and Team Coco reveals his other song choice

Somewhere in a land between Reggie Watts and Bo Burnham is the fabulous rock 'n roll piano-playing comedy of Tim Minchin, who has become increasingly popular where he lives in the U.K., as well as in his native Australia.

In America, audiences in New York City and Los Angeles (and comedy festivals in Aspen and Las Vegas) only have had a few chances to experience Minchin's talent since 2007. Last night, everyone got a chance to see and hear him as Minchin made his American TV debut on Conan. He opened with "Inflatable You."


 

Safe choice? Good entry point? Perhaps and yes.

But the folks at Team Coco pointed out this morning that Minchin considered performing a completely different song, which has more of a socio-political bent, as well as a message that would have rang right at home with Conan himself. Team Coco wasn't so sure, revealing: "we thought that the US audience wouldn’t be familiar enough with the term 'ginger.'"

Let's take a look and listen to "Prejudice," shall we?


 

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

View all posts by Sean L. McCarthy →

4 thoughts on “Tim Minchin makes his American TV debut on Conan, and Team Coco reveals his other song choice

  1. This was really one of the most un-funny things I have seen in a long time. Wow. Dreadful last night.

  2. I love Minchin and he is just so, so, great. I loved him on the show and love everything he has ever done.

  3. Minchin is great, though not exactly a comic’s comic. I know some people don’t like music with their comedy, but I think Tim is a spectacular talent. Check out his special So Rock if you can find it.
    I agree that the term “ginger” isn’t as widely known in America as in Australia and the UK. But I also noticed that Tim cut out a line about football (aka soccer) from Inflatable You. So you always have to take the audience into account.
    The other thing about the song Prejudice is that Tim once got some heat for using the n-word in one of his songs, so the way he builds up to the word “ginger” here has another layer of tension neatly cut by the humor–for me anyway.

Comments are closed.