Channing Tatum's Magic Mike XXL is a movie that is geared toward a...specific audience. This can lead the rest of us to wondering exactly what does go on in those movies. Luckily, we have intrepid explorers like Conan O'Brien who are willing to venture into parts unknown so that the rest of us may remain safe. He took several of his female staffers on an outing to see the film and the result was fantastic, and also terrible.
The evening begins with drinks at the apartment of Conan’s own personal assistant, where everybody was meeting for the evening, and a discussion of the various attributes of several of the film’s stars, including Channing Tatum and Joe Manganiello. Conan then makes his own attempt at the "floor hump," a move we have on good authority is well represented in the movie. After dinner at the aptly named Big Wang’s, and picking up a waitress to join them for the rest of the night, they get to the theater and watch the film, which confuses Conan as much as we would expect. Then Conan heads home, where he has his own Magic Mike experience. Stay to the end of the clip.
One of Conan O’Brien’s strongest comedic skills is his willingness to embarrass himself or involve himself in activities that he has absolutely no understanding of. He plays video games on a regular basis as the "clueless gamer," we can call this the "clueless moviegoer." Although to be fair, the women are having an equally awkward experience. It doesn’t really matter how many times you’re told this is a comedy bit, at the end of the day your boss is taking his shirt off and dancing in front of you. That has to be more than a little creepy. We assume releases were signed by all to prevent lawsuits. Also, while we totally understand that this bit was entirely scripted, there isn’t a single other guy shown in line or in the theater with Conan. Nobody dragged their husband or boyfriend to this? Not one? Really?
It looks like Conan and crew weren’t the only ones to go see Magic Mike XXL as the movie looks ready to dance all over the holiday weekend. It’s getting better reviews than Terminator: Genisys, and the early box office reports are looking much better for Mike than Arnold. To be fair, Arnold is getting up there in age. It’s probably getting tough for him to dance.
We hope this becomes a regular occurrence on Conan. We’re looking forward to when he takes a limo full of comic book geeks to see Ant-Man in a couple weeks. Instead of dancing and drinking fruity drinks, Conan can get involved in a deep conversation on the continuity of Hank Pym vs. Scott Lang over a case of Mountain Dew.
