The Town of Vulcan has reached out to comedian Conan O'Brien to extend a very special invite for him and his associate producer Jordan Schlansky to visit the small Alberta town this summer.
The invite which was posted on the Vulcan Tourism & Trek Station's Facebook page was prompted by a podcast that aired on January 4 on Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend. A local from Vulcan, Jill, was a guest on the show hosted by O'Brien, who shocked the comedian by telling him that Vulcan is well-known for its Star Trek theme.
"Wait a minute... I don't understand what you're saying. So, I just thought it was a town called Vulcan," O'Brien said on the show, which was aptly titled Klingons and Cowboys.
Chris Gauthier, the town's Community Services Manager said that considering O'Brien said he'd be open to visiting the town of Vulcan sometime, the invite seemed the only natural thing to do. This summer, VULCON, which is the Star Trek convention held in the city, will be celebrating its 30th year in existence. While Gauthier admitted he himself is a bit of a neophyte when it comes to all things within the Star Trek fandom universe, he said the inspiration for leaning into the Star Trek theme in the town started several decades ago.
"It was kind of laughed off at first, but then they kind of got looking into it more and more and then thought, this is something we can maybe make work," he said. "It just started to catch o and that got bigger and bigger. We have the USS Enterprise Starship down on Main Street."
O'Brien was also quite mesmerized by the starship on his show.
"You guys are from Vulcan and you lost your mind. When you say there's a statue of the USS Enterprise - how big is this thing? How big are we talking?" he asked perplexed.
Although Conan has yet to accept an invite, Gauthier is hopeful that he will, especially since the town has invited Conan to be the Parade Marshall for the convention as well as a costume contest judge.
"[There's] been a good buzz around town. I think it's good vibes for the town and everybody is excited about it," Gauthier said.
The buzz has also travelled across Alberta, as fans of Conan O'Brien are waiting to see if he'd make a trip to the province, bringing along his side-kick and producer Jordan Schlansky - whom Conan has said is the most annoying person in the world, although the duo's comedic chemistry leaves many in stitches more often than not.
While the podcast did focus on the Vulcan being a haven for Star Trek fanatics, Conan did enquire whether there is some bad blood between Star Trek fans and Star Wars Fans.
"Do Star Wars people ever come to town and does that get tense? For example, Matt [Gourley] here is a real Star Wars fan. He gets offended if I bring up Star Trek, but I'm wondering if Matt was just travelling along with his lovely wife and his daughter and they stopped through town and he got out and maybe was wearing a t-shirt that said Yoda rules, which is an actual shirt he has, would he be beaten? Would he be attacked?"
Vulcan local, Jill didn't miss a beat and delivered a dead-pan response.
"I mean... it depends on when you come - if it's during Spock days, possibly," she jested.
Conan ended the podcast by commending not only Jill but the entire town of Vulcan, for being undeniably unique.
"I applaud your fainting goats, your Spocks, your Vulcans, that massive statue that's in town, and everything that's happening in that weird corner of the world that you call home."
We can only hope that Conan stops by this weird little corner of the world to see what it's all about.