Conan O’Brien mining L.A. sports for material

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Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien passed the ‘Tonight Show’ baton in the most obvious of ways -- by bashing the Clippers.

Jay’s final monologue included a joke about the franchise being the only thing that never changed in his 17 years: ‘The Clippers still suck.’ Conan’s first monologue informed his audience that, ‘This studio holds 380 people. It’s exactly like being at a Clippers game.’

On his second night, Conan turned to baseball. ‘Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez is now midway through his 50-game suspension, which he received after testing positive for a female fertility drug. When asked about it, Ramirez started crying and said, ‘You never listen to me and you don’t care about my needs.’ ‘

Night 3 featured a surprise appearance by Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (video above). Later in the show, during a sketch in which Conan and announcer Andy Richter took turns predicting the future, Richter said, ‘Dodgers fans will suspect that slugger Manny Ramirez is again taking female hormones when, during afternoon games, he demands the jumbotron be turned to Oprah.’

-- Adam Rose