CONAN’S CASTING CUT-UPS
Is it just us, or has Brookline native and late-night host Conan O’Brien caught the casting bug — at least in a comical way?
On his TBS show “Conan,” the famous redhead has been regularly naming his picks for upcoming movie roles and airing his faux screen tests, with the most recent going down at San Diego Comic-Con.
“Conan at Comic-Con” recently revealed clips showing some of our favorite comedic actors trying out for the role of teenage Albus Dumbledore, before he became the lovable headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Disappointed in the real-life role choice of a not-so-youthful, 44-year-old Jude Law as young Dumbledore in the upcoming sequel to “Fantastic Beasts” — because come on, people, really? — Conan enlisted the help of his funny friends to show the public a slew of other totally possible choices. They included: • Nick Offerman, the now white-bearded man who claimed to be 28 on camera and is known for playing Ron Swanson on “Parks and Recreation;”
• Standup comedian Patton Oswalt, who boasted that he knew Dumbledore’s full name, unlike Offerman;
• Silicon Valley’s Thomas Middleditch, who rocked a Fonzie look as he told all the kids out there that “Hogwart’s lame”; and
• Actor Frankie Muniz, who sent us right into a flashback to those sweet “Malcolm in the Middle” days.
That’s only the most recent casting-focused joke Conan has told in the last month. A few weeks ago, he laughed about a fake Trump-Russia scandal movie that TBS already casted. He gave us a faux rundown of who would play whom.
“Eric Trump will be played by Draco Malfoy,” said O’Brien, cracking up at the casting of the Harry Potter character. “You’ll get yours, Potter,” he added.
Other look-alikes for the Trump clan: Donald Trump Jr., who’s been smack dab in the middle of the Russian controversy, would be played by “this punching dummy you see at any gym”; Ivanka Trump, by Janice from “The Muppets”; and Melania Trump by a “bored house cat wearing jewelry.”
The actor picks for the non-Trump parts were hilariously spot-on. Conan joked that the Mucinex mucus monster would play Rob Goldstone, and Gru from “Despicable Me” would be Vladimir Putin.
We’d pay to see that movie, if Conan ever decided to quit his night job.