It's been a charming last few days in which I've been very pleased to work at the place where I work. Friday saw the culmination of our Cinematic Titanic planning (I arranged the catering and RSVPs): many of the original folks from MST3K visited work to make fun of "Brain of Blood," which was appropriately awful and funny.

I had one weird interaction during the post-show reception. It involved taints, and left me with more questions than it answered.

About a year ago, we were watching America's Funniest Home Videos, for which Trace Beaulieu writes. And during a clip in which a child fell forward on a bike, the voiceover giggled, "that bike is about to get TAINTED!" I was convinced that it was a taint joke, but James insisted otherwise, saying that I always think EVERYTHING is about taints. Finally, on Friday, I had an opportunity to ask Trace the truth -- and I was vindicated. It WAS a taint joke. "We have one writer who tries to get at least one in per episode," he said.

And then we stood there in a sort of awkward pause, having just used the word "taint" several times. "So, do you know about the whole Conan O'Brien taint thing from Saturday Night Live?" he finally asked. "NO," I exclaimed. But then, J. Elvis Weinstein ran in to exclaim that Lucasfilm had just opened the schwag closet, and was permitting the Cinematic Titanic people to take home as many Star Wars t-shirts as they could carry. And they all rushed off, leaving me and the untold story behind.

This was a hell of a place to end the conversation. Naturally, I assumed that Conan O'Brien accidentally showed his netherbits on live TV, or maybe had a birthmark there in the shape of Lorne Michaels. Google comes to the rescue, though, with a transcript that explains everything. But I kind of wish I hadn't found an explanation, and led the rest of my life thinking there was something outrageous about Conan O'Brien's taint. Maybe I still can.

Anyway, here's a fun video of Conan riffing at Bill Gates when a software demo goes predictably awry.