Will Arnett Explains Branded Entertainment to Conan

Will Arnett is one half of the branded entertainment production company DumbDumb, which he founded with Jason Bateman back in early 2010.

Under that banner and since that time, the duo has proceeded to produce a handful of original web series with household brand names attached, including a selection of Dirty Shorts for Orbitz and a celebrity talk show hosted inside your local neighborhood Denny’s dubbed Always Open (which, in addition to being very funny, was also was a big success for the brand, increasing the restaurant chain’s awareness among a younger demo). The creators of the popular first-person shooter Call of Duty also recently tapped Arnett and Bateman’s DumbDumb to create premium companion programming for the video game’s soon-to-be debuted online entertainment hub.

The guys clearly have a lot going on in the digital space, but your average 11PM EST viewer of TBS may or may not be aware of the kinds of programming DumbDumb produces. So, Arnett told and showed them.

After Arnett and Conan go through a requisite bit about making fun of people with red hair, Arnett continues on to debrief the host, Andy, the studio audience, and viewers not unlike you about the kinds of things DumbDumb does. The segment’s capped off with a self-referential, irreverent commercial Arnett and company created for Conan’s show.

Check it out and think about the fact Arnett – who’s in a new NBC sitcom along with Christina Applegate that’s doing okayish ratings wise and whose cult favorite series Arrested Development is lighting up Google Trends with news of a movie and mini TV run – spent half his time on a cable television talk show talking about his online branded entertainment company instead of any of his current projects.