TBS has announced plans for Conan O’Brien’s recurring Clueless Gamer sketch to become its own series. While the project is still in active development, it’s expected that the show will receive a series order, although there’s currently no word on when the series would make its debut.
Clueless Gamer revolves around O’Brien playing new video game releases with celebrity guests. As the name suggests, the host doesn’t have a huge amount of familiarity with video games — his ignorance of common gaming tropes and general lack of skill form the comedic backbone of the segment.
Despite the fact that these sketches take an irreverent approach to the subject matter, Clueless Gamer has become a potent marketing tool for publishers looking to expose mainstream audiences to their biggest releases. Clips typically garner millions of views when they’re posted on YouTube, which has prompted major studios to approach O’Brien’s team in the hopes of having their games featured.
“We’ve gotten to the point where video game companies are sending us their new product for us to play and make fun of because it’s been such a huge success,” said TBS president Kevin Reilly, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter.
However, there will be one major change when Clueless Gamer is launched as its own standalone series. O’Brien will act as executive producer, but he won’t be the host. There’s currently no indication as to who would take on the job.
Clueless Gamer isn’t the first late-night sketch to be developed into a spin-off series. The persistently popular Lip Sync Battle started out as a segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and it’s been confirmed that a version of the Carpool Karaoke sketch that’s regularly featured on The Late Late Show with James Corden is in development for Apple TV.
