Conan O’Brien’s secret midnight rendezvous with Aaron Barnhart

In his bizarre column yesterday, Aaron Barnhart tells a creepy

story about sneaking into 30 Rockefeller Center late one night two years

after Conan O’Brien first got a show. (That’s what TV critics do!) Barnhart

skulks around, because of journalism, and then he sees Conan playing

guitar by himself in a room with an open door. Barnhart stands there

nervously gaping until Conan spies him.

Yes, this is a little

Penthouse-y. What happened next?

“I realized I’d walked in on

some sort of detox session, understandable for someone who thrusts

himself every night in front of a studio audience and 2 million others

in viewerland. I knew not to overstay my welcome, but O’Brien showed no

sign of displeasure and, indeed, immediately struck up a conversation.”

Already

this story seems dream-like and fantastic, and then, as if to emphasize

the queasy weirdness, Barnhart has to drop in that “thrusts.” Ick.

Anyway, intrepid reporter Barnhart got exactly what he was looking for

— hot insider dish!