Conan O'Brien is promoting his new talk show with the intensity of someone running a national political campaign, but with ads that feature less rallying and more explosions. In his latest promotion, the comedian, just a few short weeks from returning to late-night TV after "The Tonight Show" fiasco that made him a beloved TV underdog, stages a summer-blockbuster-worthy gag: driving a 1969 Dodge Dart full of explosives (and hundreds of dollars of "illegal fireworks" and unpopped popcorn, in keeping with his absurd sense of humor) off a 900-foot cliff.

For months now, O'Brien's team has released near-daily promotional material through its website TeamCoCo.com, including a video of Conan "seductively" washing his new desk. He's also been answering viewer questions like "Is Andy Richter coming back for the new show?" (Answer: after some joking around that he wasn't, yes.) But nothing beats this week's stunts, which include a big orange blimp flying around the East Coast, and now a video with CGI that's worthy of an action movie.



The video begins with Conan walking fast through the desert: "Instead of doing yet another promo for my new show coming this November on TBS," he says, addressing what some fans have seen as a little too much promotion, "I thought I'd give you guys what you really want: top-notch entertainment."

Conan then explains that he's bought a 1969 Dodge Dart filled with gasoline, plastique explosives, "illegal fireworks from the state of New Hampshire," and 600 pounds of unpopped popcorn. And he's about to drive it off a cliff into Devil's Drop Canyon

The video was directed by Super Bowl commercial veteran Bryan Buckley (who also shot Conan's memorable '09 Bud Light Super Bowl commercial), and as the comedy site Splitsider explains, it will be shown in movie theaters prior to the show's November 8 premiere on TBS (hence Conan's line "You've got a movie to watch.")

[Video: Check out Conan's first TBS ad]
This latest stunt comes on the heels of another big marketing coup: the Conan blimp, which is drifting around the East Coast all through October. Twitter users have already photographed the Conan blimp at a Yankee game and above the Statue of Liberty, among other landmarks.


Even as a Conan fanatic who was complaining about "Conan Promo Fatigue" earlier this week, I'll admit this latest video is pretty cool. Now I'm just wondering which movie(s) it'll be shown in front of (first guess: Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis's November 5 comedy, "Due Date.") Regardless, November 8 can't come fast enough.