That last time Conan O’Brien dropped in on David Letterman, Y2K was topical monologue material. In the intervening years, the prize that both coveted most also slipped through the fingers of O’Brien.

The red-haired one did not sound entirely convincing when he insisted (at the top of the clip below) that he is 100% happy at his new TBS home. He then told a funny story about how, the Monday after the Friday of his last Tonight Show broadcast, he was forced to convene his staff at a Marie Callender’s. O’Brien located the restaurant in Burbank, but it is actually in Toluca Lake.

Read more

Create a social media strategy and learn from the biggest names in social media in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Jen Brown (TODAY.com), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

Guy Adams, LA-based correspondent for UK’s The Independent, recently traveled to Texas to interview Marty Rathbun. The resulting article made it clear why this former high-ranking (and now self-proclaimed “independent”) Scientologist has become such a thorn in the side of the Church since publicly resurfacing in 2009:

His blog, Moving on Up a Little Higher, gets around 10,000 hits a day. It has been visited a total of six million times, is credited with encouraging scores of former Scientologists to quit, and has broken a string of sensational news stories about the Church, including film director Paul Haggis‘ resignation, in 2010, and January’s decision by Debbie Cook, a senior member of Church clergy, to quit in protest at what she called its “extreme” fundraising. Almost every former Scientologist I have spoken with checks it daily.

True to form, Rathbun has shared another dramatic post today. He reveals a recent email exchange with Belinda Robinson, a reporter for the National Enquirer, during which he was offered $20,000 to spill his Tom Cruise auditing-session secrets. Rathbun had zero interest in the payola journalism pitch, but he does use it as an opportunity to link to some older pieces and warn the actor:

As the recent email cycle between a National Enquirer “journalist” and myself clearly demonstrates, you have nothing to fear from me or the independent Scientologist community. As a matter of well-demonstrated fact, we have your back. As the referenced posts above clearly demonstrate you have every reason to continue to distance yourself from [David] Miscavige (any perceived “leadership” abilities notwithstanding) and corporate Scientology…

Read more

Despite outrageous ticket prices and no confirmed music acts, the advance passes for Coachella 2013 managed to sell out Thursday in less than five hours.

If you were able to clear your busy schedule nearly a year in advance, you could have bought a three-day general admission pass for the low price of $349 or a VIP pass for $799.

The only advance tickets that remain are part of the Lake Eldorado camping package.

Similar to this year, next year’s festival will take place over two weekends in April (12-14, 19-21).

For those of you who didn’t want to commit to a music festival without knowing any of the acts (what a concept, I know), general tickets go on sale in early 2013.

Previously on FishbowlLA:
The Coachella 2013 Lineup According to Funny or Die

If you haven’t heard, I’m taking over the @NHL twitter account tonight starting at 6pm PST during the #PhxLAK game! #FollowAnyDay #Woot

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) May 17, 2012

Los Angeles Kings season-ticket holder and actress Alyssa Milano is taking over the official Twitter account of the National Hockey League Thursday night during Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

Commenting on sports is nothing new for Milano as she previously penned a blog for Major League Baseball.

It’s a great time to be a Kings fan as our boys are two wins away from their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance in nearly 20 years.

The Los Angles Times received a $1 million grant from the Ford Foundation that will allow the newspaper to hire five new reporters to “focus on the Vietnamese, Korean and other immigrant communities, the California prison system, the border region and Brazil.”

The two-year grant comes with no strings attached, giving the Los Angeles Times complete control over their editorial hires and coverage.

After the jump is the memo from editor Davan Maharaj, from LA Observed:  Read more

This happened a couple of days ago – during the Monday 5 p.m. newscast on Chicago’s ABC-TV affiliate, to be exact. But it’s still pretty funny.

Especially since some 20/20 Laker fans are railing today against Metta World Peace for dishing the ball last night at the last second in Oklahoma City to Steve Blake rather than the Black Mamba. Via bustedcoverage.com and then Deadspin, the authenticity of this screen grab was verified:

Read more

In this episode of Cubes, we tour the worldwide headquarters of IPG Mediabrands, the media holding company responsible for $34 billion in global revenue from advertising agencies such as Universal McCann. IPG’s work includes the Geico Gecko and Volkswagen’s pint-sized Darth Vader.

The IPG headquarters is home to a cutting edge media lab full of Minority Report-esque marketing technology, and the office includes a high-tech workspace dubbed “the desk of the future” and a skyway stretching 10 stories above the street that was once used by the Gimbels department story, the building’s previous tenant.

For more mediabistroTV videos, check out our YouTube channel, and be sure to follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

Today, KPFA-FM 94.1 Berkeley launched its new 7 a.m.-8 a.m. offering, Up Front!

Joining KPFA alum Brian Edwards-Tiekert as co-host is Sonali Kolhatkar, who can also be heard from 8 a.m to 9 a.m. weekdays on Pacifica sister station KPFK-FM 90.7 in Los Angeles as the anchor of Uprising.

Read more

The original punk master is back at it again.

Actor Ashton Kutcher will make his return to Punk’D as part of the 2012 MTV Movie Awards pre-show on June 3 at 8 p.m. The show returned this season following a five-year hiatus.

The two Hollywood celebrities that Kutcher will punk haven’t been announced yet.

Regardless of the celebs involved, nothing will top his ongoing punk of Demi Moore.

 

Orange County Register media reporter Gary Lycan went public with his battle with advanced prostate cancer in his most recent column. He gave a nice shout-out to the team treating him at St. Joseph Cancer Pavillion in Orange and told of an interesting run-in he had while getting treatment.

I want to give a high-five this week to a reader, Joyce Lawson, whom I met this past week at the Medical Oncology Care Associates in the St. Joseph Cancer Pavillion in Orange. Lawson is one of a large staff of amazing caregivers there who assist patients like me.

I am being treated there for anemia and advanced prostate cancer by the remarkable team of Dr. Sam Huang. I’m getting blood infusions and chemotherapy and at this writing everything is going well.

But back to Lawson, a remarkably upbeat, positive woman who has been with Dr. Huang since 1998. When she heard my name, she looked and said “I recognize you.” When I asked her last name and she said “Lawson,” I entered a time tunnel back to 1962-63 when both of us were at Santa Ana High School.

“You wrote all about me,” she reminded me, and, indeed, I had. She was a rising track star and I profiled her for our high school paper The Generator.

Fast forward 50 years and we re-connected. It reminded me the state of wellness depends not only on good medicine, but wonderful people who touch your lives through all these years. Thank you, Joyce.

Nice story.

Here’s hoping for a swift treatment and recovery.