Imagine my surprise last Friday morning when I went to open our Advocate Facebook page and saw a photo of an Advocate staffer getting a bear hug from Conan O’Brien in my newsfeed.

Yep, that’s right. Last Thursday night, Advocate sales director (and all-around cool chick) Kristy Gaconnier went to see O’Brien’s show at SMU’s McFarlin Auditorium. Conan’s band leader, Jimmy Vivino, is a cousin of Kristy’s husband Steve, and he got them tickets and backstage passes.

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The Gaconniers took Vivino and “La Bamba,” the band’s trombone player, to the Metro Diner for pancakes before the show, and Kristy told me that La Bamba “eats his pancakes from the middle out with a puddle of real maple syrup filling up the hole.”

“Conan told me that when he licks Jimmy’s face he can taste maple syrup coming out of his pores,” she adds.

Oh Conan, always joking. You are joking, right?

Anyway, she also noted that the show itself was really good and high energy. “More like a variety show — not so much like a stand-up comedy show.”

And that photo? Here it is. And note that our sales director is very good at getting people to do what she wants them to do. “I told him to act like he loves me, and I got this great shot!”

Advocate sales director Kristy Gaconnier and Conan O'Brien

Did any of you readers make it to Conan’s show?