Conan O’Brien bringing tour to Spokane

Comedian and former “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien will bring his touring show to Spokane on April 16. The “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour” will visit the INB Performing Arts Center as part of a 32-city tour, according to information posted on teamcoco.com. The Web site describes the show as “a night of comedy, music, hugging, and the occasional awkward silence. Tickets are available through TicketsWest and start at $39.50. Sidekick Andy Richter and the former “Tonight Show” band will join O’Brien. O’Brien quit “The Tonight Show” in January instead of taking NBC’s offer to move his start time back by a half-hour to make room for “Tonight Show” veteran Jay Leno’s return to late night from a failed prime-time show. He hasn’t announced any future television plans. Leno now is back in his old “Tonight” slot, which he had bequeathed to O’Brien last June. Being off the air hasn’t hurt O’Brien’s popularity, if social networking sites are any sort of indicator. After his future on “The Tonight Show” was cast in doubt, fans on Facebook joined the I’m with Coco fan page by the thousands, many changing their profile images to a poster by Los Angeles artist Mike Mitchell featuring O’Brien in front of an American flag. The comic has fully embraced the page and the image, using it on the tour Web site. And shortly after leaving NBC, O’Brien signed up for an account on Twitter. In a matter of days, more than 500,000 people had followed the account.