Why wasn't Broadway with "Coco"??

I just got back from seeing Conan O' Brien's Sacramento engagement for his "Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television" tour. It's a 32 city tour that lets Conan circumvent his NBC settlement, which prohibits him from performing on TV, radio, and the Internet until the fall. As you know, Conan recently signed a deal with TBS for a new cable program that begins at the end of his non-compete clause.

The show was an extension of his talk show including appearances from characters like "Triumph the Insult Comic Dog", the "Masturbating Bear", his sidekick Andy Richter, and more. The tour has been sold out at every date and has been met with wildly enthusiastic audiences.

As the night ended with Conan and his band performing a cover of "I Will Survive", I began to wonder if Broadway producers missed a huge opportunity by not signing Conan to a "smash and grab" limited engagement of his show. Given the success of previous limited engagements like Will Ferrell's George Bush Tribute, Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays, and to some extent, Carrie Fisher's recent Wishful Drinking, you would have to think that there could have been an audience for a 6 week Conan run.

Afterall, he has a long history with the city of New York, and was rumored to be angling to keep the Tonight Show there upon taking over the franchise last year. The location would have been conducive to booking a variety of surprise celebrity appearances (which he's been doing at many of his road dates), and his variety act of music and comedy would have just made sense in New York.

His Sacramento date had a ticket price ranging from $35-$75 in a 3200 capacity venue. My guess is that the gross of thee shows are in the neighborhood of $175,000 per night, more than he would take in for a single New York performance, but the production costs would also be reduced without having to travel from city to city. Surely this could have worked, right? Too bad the Roundabout couldn't have booked a lucrative Conan engagement instead of having to give away the house to see Everyday Rapture