Conan vs. bear

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"Conan vs. bear" is a comedic web phenomenon created by Matt Alland and Randy Rydeen. Their web site ConanVsBear.com saw a traffic surge in August, 2005 when professional artwork began streaming in, after some initial fan artwork submissions. The web site depicts a fictional confrontation between Late Night talk show host Conan O'Brien and a bear. Different artists have unique interpretations of this concept from a wedding, to sock puppets, to clay animations. The artwork on the site is displayed in a random order, hence stick-figure style artwork appears side-by-side with elaborate paintings and professional cartoons.

Some of the artwork comes from notable artists. Dan Piraro did a relevant image in his syndicated comic strip, Bizarro, and Hallmark card artist Revilo has contributed numerous illustrations to the site.

On 2005-09-09, the site was noted by Conan O'Brien on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. During the interview with actor Elijah Wood, Conan said "It’s very strange when sometimes -- someone made me aware today of a website that’s artists doing drawings of me fighting bears. *audience cheers* Seriously, it’s me fighting bears!".

On 2005-09-29, Dan Piraro released a Conan O'Brien vs. Bear themed cartoon in his nationally syndicated comic strip, Bizarro.

The site has over 500 unique renderings, and hasn't changed much since its beginning. Despite significant growth, the site remains somewhat cheap in appearance and there remains no description on the site itself the purpose of this confrontation. There is a claim that if an artist sends in artwork they might be given free toothpicks and napkins, but the specifics on how to attain that prize is not further described.

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