Comedy is Weird

robashejr:

The History of CONAN logos

The is a collection of logos that I have been asked to make for CONAN on TBS over the past few years. The original design of course derives from the Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour which dervied it’s design from the famous “I’m with Coco” poster.  The typeface used is “Gotham” which is a very popular font these days. Here is some information about the history and usage of the font from good old wikipedia:

The Gotham typeface was initially commissioned by GQ magazine, whose editors wanted to display a sans-serif with a “geometric structure” that would look “masculine, new, and fresh” for their magazine. GQ agreed that they needed something “that was going to be very fresh and very established to have a sort of credible voice to it,” according to Jonathan Hoefler.^[2]

The lettering that inspired this typeface originated from the style of 1920s era sans-serifs like Futura, where “Type, like architecture, like the organization of society itself, was to be reduced to its bare, efficient essentials, rid of undesirable, local or ethnic elements.” This theme was found frequently in Depression-era type in both North America and Europe, particularly Germany.^[4] This simplification of type is characterized by Frere-Jones as “not the kind of letter a type designer would make. It’s the kind of letter an engineer would make. It was born outside the type design in some other world and has a very distinct flavor from that.”^[2]

Gotham has been used in numerous other print and media outlets. Here are some notable examples from Wikipedia:

Gotham has found its way into other commercial media, as well. Coca-Cola, television shows Maury and Saturday Night Live, the Tribeca Film Festival, the Qwest advertisements, and the Georgia Governor’s Office of Customer Service have all used Gotham in logos.^[7] The Georgia state government cited Gotham’s “clean, fresh lines” and variations that “offer a variety of options for use in all marketing, advertising and signage applications” as reason for its use.^[13] Starbucks used the typeface in conjunction with the 2008 Presidential election to advertise an offer of free coffee to people who vote.^[14][15] Gotham has also been used byYahoo’s website as well as The Criterion Collection’s.

Gotham has also been used by Rite Aid Pharmacy, Banana Republic, Crest dental hygiene products, and Smirnoff Cocktails.

• Gotham is used in New York University’s logo and official materials.

• Gotham is the brand font for Tom Ford, Yahoo!, Fisher & Paykel Appliances and ZipRealty.

• Gotham is the font used in the Chicago 2016 Summer Olympic Games Bid.

• Gotham is used in new logo of TV channels Discovery Channel and HGTV, and branding for QVC, USA Network and History Channel.

• A modified version of Gotham Ultra is used by Cartoon Network for its new logo and for presentation.

• Some NBC Owned-and-Operated stations use Gotham for on-screen typographic identity on its newcasts.

• Gotham was used for the popular I’m With Coco posters during Conan O’Brien’s 2010 Tonight Show conflict. The font was eventually adopted for TBS’s Conan logo.

• Gotham has been used for BBC Sport television programmes’ on-screen graphics since the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

• The typographical logo of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum (or, 9/11 Memorial), designed by Landor Associates, features a style mixture of Gotham and Verlag, another H & FJ typeface.^[16]

• Gotham Narrow is used for the Today show’s graphics starting January 17, 2012.

It’s been a absolute pleasure making these over the last few years. I hope you enjoyed this post and reading about fonts. Font literature always makes time go by quick. Come join us in Atlanta. 

popculturebrain:

Watch Louis C.K.’s Appearance on Conan Last Night | Teamcoco.com

spectacular. Louie is always the funniest guest on late night tv.

huffpostcomedy:

[via videogum + joemande]

Jon Dore and Rory Scovel perform standup at the same time on Conan

This is objectively awesome.