Conan O'Brien visits, mocks Intel HQ

Sure it's interesting to watch geeks give other geeks tours of data centers, automated warehouses, fab plants, and the like, but sometimes you'd rather just kick back and hear an outsider's perspective on an industry we sometimes take way too seriously. So we're sure a lot of you will get a kick out of Conan O'Brien's recent tour of Intel's Santa Clara headquarters (video after the break), where instead of discussing northbridges and front side bus speeds, the mischievous host mocks the company's drab grey interior and Dilbert-esque maze of cubes delineated parking lot-style by letter-number combinations. While a few of the bits fall flat (don't play dumb Conan -- we all know you went to Harvard), the carrot-topped ex-Simpsons writer really falls into stride when he meets a group of second graders touring the Intel museum: "Was this your first choice for a field trip, kids?" "NOOOOOO!!!" [Warning: Video may be NSFW due to a brief scene of animals engaged in adult relations.]

Update: Whoops, guess NBC Universal doesn't like YouTube hosting Conan clips, 'cause the video that was formerly after the break and all those like it have mysteriously disappered. So you'll just have to take our word and that of your fellow readers: it was pretty funny.

Update 2: Thank heaven for all the YouTube clones! Video is up over here. Let's hope clipstr stays under the radar for a little while longer.

[Arno @ May 8th 2007 1:26PM]

Hahahaha Conan FTW!! :)

[ray @ May 8th 2007 1:28PM]

That was brilliant but it really made intel look awful! What a depressing place to work.
Btw this is off topic but has anyone seen the new zune ad? I thinkit's pretty good here it is:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MvrMB66Xy1I

[PDubNYC @ May 8th 2007 1:34PM]

I love these little "field trips" that Conan does, though I can't say as I am too surprised at the work environment at Intel.

@ray
and Microsoft, seriously, can you hide your astroturfing a little better? This is just pathetic. No where near on topic, a lame commerical, and a stupid rap song. Ya, I can really understand why you just had to share it with us.

join the social, meet the pathetic.

[Darnell @ May 8th 2007 1:30PM]

Conan is great. Very funny skit. He always does a good job at lambasting hosts he visits.

[michael @ May 8th 2007 5:32PM]

While I do agree with you that the Zune ad link that Ray posted on here was completely unnecessary, you didn't have to bonanza about how the Zune was bad and all that. Yes, ray was stupid for posting such stuff, but you didn't make it any better, by also sounding like a fanboy, and saying that I hate the Zune, anything else (ipod?) is better than it. If anybody was an astroturfer, it's probaly Apple users themselves.

[Dean @ May 8th 2007 1:42PM]

That was pretty sweet

[Tom @ May 8th 2007 2:12PM]

Hahaha I love that he moved that chair!
Where I work there are plenty of anal retentive people who actually put signs on their chairs that read "do not move this chair from this cube". Good for you, Conan!

[GunForHire @ May 8th 2007 2:12PM]

Intel looks like Initech from Office Space, exactly!

[KYDS3K @ May 8th 2007 2:18PM]

i ROTFL!

[o0adam0o @ May 8th 2007 2:38PM]

Haha that whole thing was funny!

I can relate cuz i work for a company that manufactures semiconductor machines...the cleanroom suits suck! You arent itcht untill u put those bunny suits on...then ur tormented by all those areas u cant scratch! The gear on my face just made every hour feel like 3!

[Yubal @ May 8th 2007 3:12PM]

now that's some funny shit, lol

[Yubal @ May 8th 2007 3:14PM]

hey engadget, pop ups aren't nice... guess you have to pay the bills somehow, eh?

[Mike @ May 8th 2007 3:37PM]

I work at Intel and my manager forwarded me this video yesterday. Yes, it is as depressing as the video portrays it to be. White walls and big gray cubes with parking lot numbers.

And the cleanroom suits arnt itchy at all. I dont know about you, but those suits still let you use your hands, so I dont know you wouldnt be able to scrach an itch. They get a bit warm though.

[Ben H. @ May 8th 2007 3:45PM]

Darn it! I work at the Intel Museum and I had to be off that day! Would have been fun to meet Conan!

[Revrant2394 @ May 8th 2007 3:49PM]

I watched Every Single Night of the San Francisco shows, love Conan! This was one of my favorite bits, this an the one Lucas whatever place, gold baby!

[Sean @ May 8th 2007 4:04PM]

I for one welcome our freckled red headed comedic overlords

[Gil @ May 8th 2007 5:16PM]

This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by NBC Universal

:(

[PDubNYC @ May 8th 2007 5:36PM]

WTF are you talking about? I said nothing of the sort. Tag-tem astroturf is what I am sensing here. I said nothing about the quality of the Zune, and didn't even mention another MP3 player. So please STFU.

[rock99rock @ May 8th 2007 6:08PM]

Found an active stream for those interested...

http://www.clipstr.com/videos/ConanVisitsIntel/

[irdepesca @ May 8th 2007 6:17PM]

Sorry about the video being removed; I didn't think they'd actually do that.

It's really just free publicity for NBC. :P

Thanks for posting the video mirror by the way.

[anthony @ May 8th 2007 9:29PM]

*Official* NBC Stream:

http://blog.nbc.com/latenight/2007/04/i_left_my_heart_in_san_francis.php

[Nick @ May 8th 2007 9:46PM]

Does anyone else think that thing to the right of Conan in that pic up top looks disturbingly like a vending machine full of underpants?

[Paul @ May 8th 2007 10:21PM]

Heh, that is exactly what I thought. Before seeing the video I thought it was going to be part of the gag.

[n.p. @ May 8th 2007 10:08PM]

fuck you NBC. i refuse to visit your crappy website. some of us live outside the country and your shitty streams aren't accessible half the time.

[Dave @ May 9th 2007 6:37AM]

man... when will companies like NBC realize that they are just hurting themselves by enforcing this kind of crap? Seeing how funny Conan still is makes me want to watch him, but at the same time, seeing what morons run NBC makes me say "screw it".

[Betty @ May 9th 2007 2:54PM]

During the whole cubicle bit ("D5, meet D4"), he totally should have re-enacted the board game Battleship!

[mosquito710 @ May 9th 2007 3:07PM]

official NBC youtube vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvv28t8WR4E

[Shanx @ May 11th 2007 12:31PM]

Ok all you Intel shills raise your hand (don't you all get up at once!!)