Conan O'Brien talks to the co-creator of USB on The Tonight Show

Now this is kind of amazing. Remember those Intel "rock star" ads -- featuring the co-creator of USB, Ajay Bhatt? Of course you do. What you might not know is that the Ajay Bhatt in those commercials is actually an actor. Apparently, Conan O'Brien made this discovery and felt compelled to sit down with the actual Ajay and pick his brain about technology... and, er, other things. Just watch the video after the break -- you'll thank us later.

[Thanks, Carter]

[Vitaliy Posted Oct 10th 2009 2:28PM]

lmaooo this was awesome

[mynando Posted Oct 10th 2009 2:34PM]

Hahahaha!!!! That was so funny... And he looked like a Hindu & older Tobey Maguire.

[gouthamraj Posted Oct 12th 2009 3:34PM]

Hey Nando... Whats with the looking like a Hindu?

[jinushaun Posted Oct 10th 2009 2:38PM]

The skit at the end is awesome.

[jdbaker5 Posted Oct 10th 2009 3:11PM]

I think it's funny how Connan keeps saying "USB port" instead of USB.

The amount of effort placed into making the port was nothing compared to writing the tree-like hierarchy and plug-and-play connectivity.
Its like that Monty Python sketch where the the interviewer keeps asking the famous author about his shed. The shed doesn't matter, the book is what's special.

[spin cycle Posted Oct 10th 2009 4:29PM]

He says "the USB port" because Intel couldn't calls it "the USB" (as I mentioned above and people voted me down for). Apparently Conan finds "the USB" awkward (and it sure is), so he says "the USB port". Since Intel paid for this bit, I presume they insisted he use the proper name.

[fourthletter Posted Oct 10th 2009 2:41PM]

I'm surprised Engadget is only realising that they used an actor for their ads, the last time Engadget printed a picture of him from the ad, hundreds of people left comments pointing out he was a fake.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 10th 2009 3:29PM]

some people don't read the comments, so i guess that was for them

[sparkriver Posted Oct 10th 2009 2:42PM]

what a useless guy who interviewed him ?
hardly alllowed Ajay to talk a a line ....

[nrb Posted Oct 10th 2009 4:13PM]

You may not be familiar with Conan, but he's a COMEDIAN.

If you're looking for a deep discussion on what lead to the design of USB, you should look elsewhere.

[cursive Posted Oct 10th 2009 4:41PM]

@nrb AGREED!

[groovedafied Posted Oct 10th 2009 7:14PM]

I guess you're not aware of the awesomeness there is of Video Editing. It's really cool, you can take a section of the video that you don't want...and remove it from the entire video. BRILLIANT!!!

Ice Cream w/ USB Sprinkles on moi!!!

[jackbravo Posted Oct 10th 2009 2:49PM]

Conan rocks.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 10th 2009 2:50PM]

I heart Conan...
Always awesome.

[mattman6 Posted Oct 10th 2009 2:53PM]

Am I the only one that can't see the video?

[mattman6 Posted Oct 10th 2009 2:54PM]

Of course it pops up immediately after I add my comment.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 10th 2009 2:56PM]

I had to refresh 4 times for that crappy player to show the video. But worth it.

[Special Agent Steve Posted Oct 10th 2009 3:09PM]

Mine didn't play the ad (just the audio) but after a minute the video popped up.

[Special Agent Steve Posted Oct 10th 2009 3:09PM]

Perfect timing because USB 3.0 is coming out soon :D

[ch3burashka Posted Oct 10th 2009 3:36PM]

Those commercials were fucking amazing. I actually looked forward to seeing them.

[erwin Posted Oct 10th 2009 3:44PM]

video doesn't work for me. i'm seeing now for a couple of minutes that blue loading circle

[Saber Posted Oct 10th 2009 4:12PM]

I usually can't stand Conan O'Brien but that was funny!
Regards,

[Peet McKimmie Posted Oct 10th 2009 4:29PM]

I take it you couldn't find a clip viewable *outside* the United States, then? For the people who *didn't* get a chance to watch it off-air.

[kalleboo Posted Oct 10th 2009 8:32PM]

The embedded one works fine here in northen europe

[Merton Posted Oct 10th 2009 4:34PM]

I like how this simple skit turns into a such a big deal for tech people.

It is meant to be stupid, funny, and entertaining. Period. Don't try to look into it too much. This isn't a quiz on how much you know about USB and its inventors.

The one skit that I thought was even better was when Conan went to the Intel Science Fair. You can find it on this page: http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/intel/

[atlasfugged Posted Oct 10th 2009 5:01PM]

WIN

[va jj Posted Oct 10th 2009 5:29PM]

CONANDO! coco...

[Barkus Posted Oct 10th 2009 5:35PM]

Leave it to Conan to do interviews like this and get people out of their own shells to do skits like this. I thought it was comical... which is the format of his show... late night "comedy".

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 10th 2009 6:13PM]

Brilliant

[BratPAQ Posted Oct 10th 2009 8:00PM]

Intel: "Our Rock Stars Aren't Like Your Rock Stars"

well, yeah, our rockstars are cool enough on to be shown on TV, Intel's rockstar are hidden on office basement and portrayed by an actor.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 10th 2009 8:16PM]

I don't get why they chose such a fobby-looking actor, with his big, thick mustache screaming "1st-generation Indian," rather than a clean-shaven guy who somewhat resembled the real Ajay. I guess they thought it was funnier to get a guy who looked like a stereotype. They were right (though it is SLIGHTLY annoying).

[fokka Posted Oct 10th 2009 10:29PM]

ok, that was great!!!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 10th 2009 11:27PM]

ROTFLOL!
That was awesome! =D

[Cats Posted Oct 11th 2009 6:47AM]

I still use FW800 over USB2 for all of my backup/media needs, as it's much, much, much faster, better power/sleep management, etc.

USB3 will most likely change that, but until it does, I'm sticking with FW800 (oh, how I long for FW3200)...

[JS Posted Oct 11th 2009 7:22AM]

The funniest part was Conan saying how he was very close to inventing it himself.

[TinyGrasshopper Posted Oct 11th 2009 7:04PM]

Now THAT is how you do paid product placement

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 12th 2009 8:34AM]

did anyone else notice the messed up corkboard grid behind ajay? I could not stop looking at it

[ecsw Posted Oct 13th 2009 5:44PM]

firewire inventor on the street. lol....

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 14th 2009 4:31PM]

This guy is amazing - if you want to actually hear him talk technology (and the future of USB) he just released a podcast, he's a brilliant man. http://bit.ly/1gqbqj

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 16th 2009 2:37PM]

Maybe we're biased, but that's one great skit! I also wanted to thank Conan and the Tonight Show crew for their inadvertent use of the PremiumUSB.com colors for the "Co-Inventor of USB" shirt. Awesome shout out from the co-inventor of the USB to the Experts in Flash Media and USB Duplication! Ajay, you da man. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to the speed increases of USB 3.0 - And you started it all! ~Rock On~