9.29.2009

Conan falls during taping, is hospitalized: "His pumpkin really got pounded"

Conan O'Brien has turned his "Tonight Show" stunt injury into comedy, showing footage of it as a "cautionary tale" for kids.

"As many of you may know, on this past Friday's show I was doing a stunt and I hit my head and suffered a slight concussion. And I promise, if you're a good audience, I'll do it again tonight," O'Brien said during Monday's taping.

In a transcript released by NBC, he joked that he struck his head so hard "that for five seconds I actually understood the plot of 'Lost.'"

O'Brien and guest Teri Hatcher were in a footrace when he tumbled, forcing Friday's show to be halted. He was taken to a hospital for examination, and a "Tonight" rerun aired instead of the planned episode.

In his monologue Monday, O'Brien joked that he got so much media attention from the accident that he's planning a sequel with one of Hatcher's "Desperate Housewives" co-stars.

"So tune in tomorrow when Eva Longoria pushes me down an elevator shaft," O'Brien quipped.

Before showing clips from Friday, O'Brien suggested parents "wake up your children because this is a cautionary tale."

The race between him and Hatcher was to end at the studio with the two rushing down stairs to the finish line. His memory was fuzzy, O'Brien said Monday, but he thinks he was trying to slide on a slick floor when he lost his footing.

"Why don't we show people what happened. Set your VCR to record, and your friends can all laugh watching this later," he said before the tape rolled. "'His pumpkin really got pounded' -- that's my father talking."

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