Team Coco Goes 'Intergalactic'

"Yep! We were really on #Conan! And we've got the video to prove it!" That was the excited tweet from Austin's own live action graphic novelists of The Intergalactic Nemesis. "Holy mackerel," producer Jason Neulander just told us on the line from Hollywoodland, "We just did our show on Conan, with Conan!"

The cast, including Neulander, composer Graham Reynolds and foley genius Buzz Moran, were joined by two promising young performers called (and pardon me if I get the spelling wrong) Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter for a scene from book one of the Best of Austin winning show, entitled Target Earth. Seems it was a big smash: "We have more comments on our segment than anything," Neulander said. "Apart from the puppies. And who can compete with puppies?"

Neulander explained that the idea for doing Conan came about a year ago, when he brought in Doug Edley at the Gersh Agency to handle the ever-growing touring schedule for the Nemesis. Edley contacted Conan's longtime segment producer J.P. Buck, and a few weeks ago Buck showed some footage to the tall ginger raconteur himself. "Conan saw the video and said 'I want to be part of this,'" Neulander said. "It just totally matches the Conan O'Brien zeitgeist … but apparently Conan came to the same conclusion himself." While the cast had hoped O'Brien would want to be part of the performance, he suggested it himself: "No one had to pitch the idea to him," Neulander said.

The last three days have been a bit of a blur. Buck had them flown out for an extra day of tech rehearsals on Monday, then Tuesday it was show time. "We got to rehearse with Conan and Andy, which was really crazy," Neulander said. "Conan O'Brien is one of the celebrities I always wanted to meet, and when I met him of course I was completely tongue-tied."

But let's step back a moment. Book one, I hear you say? Why, yes, since the team is hard at work on book two, Robot Planet Rising. There was a sneak peek of the first act last Spring at Staple!, the indie comic expo, but there will be special rough cut screenings at the Alamo Drafthouse on March 3 and 4, before the big premier at the Long Center on June 8. Check out their Kickstarter page for more details and some pretty nifty perks for anyone who wants to help the new episode blast off into the touring eternity.

Need more convincing? How about this new trailer?