Conan O'Brien Brings Finnish President 15 Minutes of Fame

Finnish newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet reports that the host of the popular American television show Late Night with Conan O'Brien traveled to Helsinki to claim a cabinet post from Finland's President Tarja Halonen, after he 'helped her' win re-election. In the days leading up to the meeting, we are told that Fins not only gave Conan a rousing welcome, they renamed a neighborhood 'Konala' in his honor.

By Ralf Sundberg and Janne Strang

Translated By Carl Bergquist

February 11 and 14, 2006

Original Article, Feb. 11 (Swedish)    
Original Article, Feb. 14 (Swedish)    

"Conan is good. He's a really funny guy, we like him. And we always watch the Late Show with Conan O'Brien," say Bo Reuter and Ensio Lehto. They were perched up in a tree to get a peek of the star comedian.

"We came from Valkeala (around 80 miles north of Helsinki), now we have to take the train back," Laura proclaimed.

Laura and her friends Hanna and Johanna had stood and battled the crowds and the cold outside the airport terminal for several hours. As the afternoon went by, the temperature quickly sank from 32 degrees to below 20. But despite the cold, spirits were high.

The fans greeted their hero with banners, flags and placards. The joys and jollies almost assumed hysterical proportions when Conan O'Brien emerged and climbed up onto the terminal's roof, from where he received the ovations of the masses.

Suddenly he pulled up his shirt and displayed his hairy stomach. The cheer of the fans was deafening. Nobody heard what Conan had to say. But the fans got just what they wanted: their hero in the flesh.

"We always watch the shows. Conan is good, he's funny, everybody loves him," say Karl-Anders Hagen and Edvard af Enehjelm.

And according to Johan Godenhjelm: "Everybody in Finland relates to him, he's got a good sense of humor."

One of the placards says"Conan Go Home"?! What's going on? Are there dissidents amidst the crowd?

"No, no. Conan has a sense of humor. He understands us," say Kristian Pulkkinen and Tommy Eklund.

"I never miss an episode," Kristian states. But Tommy claims that "my night shift gets in the way and I can't always see it."

Inside the terminal, before receiving the crowd, Conan O'Brien listened to local acts Sam Huber and Eternal.

"The Max Weinberg seven is fired. (Now it's) Eternal Erection or something better. Late Night and Ever Lasting Erection sure sounds good," says Conan O'Brien.

With a hint of sadness, he reveals that his dog is currently caged at Heathrow Airport in London.

"Would you believe it, he's suspected of terrorism."

Before meeting the hundreds of fans, the star also met his Finnish doppelganger. Fifteen-year-old Victor Wikström from Abo, who won a contest to see which Finn most resembled the celebrity.

"My mother doesn't even know I am here," says Victor.

"You're better looking than me. How old are you?"

"Fifteen, look at me and you'll see how you're going to look when you're 62," says Conan.

He doesn't know yet if his crew and he are visiting Abo.

"I understand there's some kind of rivalry between Abo and Helsinki. The Abo locals lost the university long ago when it moved to Helsinki, and now it's time to forget this rivalry. I mean, what's the future of humanity if Helsinki and Abo can't get along," O'Brien wonders.

"For Valentine's Day, when I meet Tarja [president of Finland], I'm going to shop for a friendship gift. It'll be a surprise and I won't be wasting my own money, just NBC's."

Conan has been looking forward to this visit to Finland. He feels warmly embraced.

"Half the population is crowding outside the terminal. Long live Finland. Before I leave I'm going on a Kossu (vodka) binge and checking out Lappland (northern Scandinavia). I've heard it's beautiful in Lappland. A DNA-test also needs to be administered, I feel so at home here."

A neighborhood called Konala?

"I knew it, I knew it. Wherever I go, things happen. It's not enough that people begin to resemble me - now they're changing the names of cities I visit."

Conan O'Brien and his 18 person team are staying in Finland until February 14th.

THE DAY OF THE MEETING

The history of Finland, Swedish Finns, and their "amazing similarity" were topics of discussion when Conan O'Brien finally got to meet the President of the Republic. [ About Swedish Finns].

Over a hundred fans had gathered outside the Presidential Palace half an hour ahead of the designated time, just to catch a glimpse of the American TV-star Conan O'Brien. Since last Saturday, he's been topping the headlines across the country.

Standing in the middle of the crowd were junior high school students Anna Laitinen, Maarit Peltomäki and Stella Charrington, who is dressed up as La Bambi the trombonist, a character from the star's show "Late Night."

"I brought my trombone," says Stella, displaying the case.

The girls giggle when asked if they shouldn't really be in school, and describe how they've been trailing Conan all weekend.

"We were at the airport when he arrived," claimed Maarit, "you really had to fight for a spot."

"Then we spent all of Sunday in the city looking for him. And then it turns out he was in a sauna out on Drumsö (outside of Helsinki)," sighed Anna.

Ten minutes before one the palace gates open, and the TV-crew's rented mini-van rolls into the courtyard. A couple of policemen are on hand for crowd control, but there are no altercations.

Conan waves and the cameraman films the crowd for a while. Then it's time for the real audience.

O'Brien, who had been joking about demands for a cabinet position and an island in the archipelago, looks composed before the meeting. A tall and well-coiffed talk show host radiates all manner of elegance and respect when he greets Halonen, who as usual is all smiles.

[editor's note: Conan's demand for a cabinet post stem from his 'endorsement' of Halonen last year during her re-election campaign, because he said she looked like him.]

The President had familiarized herself with a couple of "Late Night" episodes and noted what the fans already knew, that O'Brien was obsessive when it came to Finland.

On the occasion of Valentine's Day, Conan hands over a gift, a red heart-shaped box of chocolates, before the couple sit down for a talk.

"The President and O'Brien naturally discussed their resemblance of each other, but they also talked about Finland's history and Swedish Finns," said Press Secretary Maria Romantschuk.

The visit lasted a quarter of an hour. Halonen spoke of Finland's Swedish speaking minority when she gave Moomin dolls to Conan's children (Tove Jansson, who wrote the Moomin-troll books, was a Swedish Finn).

According to Romantschuk, the President's reason for receiving Conan was to thank him for highlighting Finland on a TV-show that reaches millions of Americans every night.

At around 1:30pm, the front doors of the palace swing open, and the camera crew prepared for Conan's exit. The crowd on the other side of the gates shrieked with joy when the pale Irishman appeared, waving to his fans with a gesture worthy of a conqueror.

Though he is visibly tired and worn-out, Conan still spends a little time signing autographs and chitchatting with fans. Then with a swift "Thanks everybody, I gotta go," he hops into the mini-van.

The camera crew sticks around for a while and talk with Stella 'La Bamba' Charrington before heading off to the hotel for a well-deserved rest. That evening O'Brien is to participate in the Telvis Awards (Finland's Emmys) and present the award for best female TV personality.

He himself received the distinction of "The Most Colorful Dude of the Year."Conan O'Brien returned to the U.S. today.