Conan O'Brien fits right in at Seattle's F.X. McRory's bar

"No one said we were going to a bar!" Conan O'Brien said Friday, and then he walked into F.X. McRory's anyway.

The red-haired late-show host with the incredibly Irish name ("This is just the way God made me," he said) was in Seattle on Friday to promote his June 1 takeover of "The Tonight Show" on NBC. Stops included an appearance on KING-TV's "Evening Magazine."

Instead of interviewing O'Brien at KING studios, "Evening" host John Curley thought they should meet at McRory's during the 37th annual Irish Week Proclamation Luncheon.

"Totally the luck of the Irish on that one," said Curley, who planned to trick O'Brien into "co-hosting" Monday's show. He's done it before to people like Ellen DeGeneres.

"They don't even know they're hosting," Curley said. "I'll ask, 'Hey, you like chocolate? Well, you know what? Josephine Chang has a great story about a place in Woodinville,' and they're like, 'What the hell is going on?' "

Turned out that O'Brien — who married local Liza Powel at Seattle's St. James Cathedral in 2002 — was up for anything. He signed autographs, posed for pictures and mugged it up for the "Evening" camera.

O'Brien, who will move to Los Angeles for his new gig, said he'll miss New York's bagels, "and people shoving me on the sidewalk."

Ah, but there was none of that going on at McRory's. People cheered when O'Brien showed up, cheered for the cameras on Curley's cue, and cheered when they left.

"With the Irish, everything is fun," said McRory's owner Mick McHugh. "We're extras all the time."

Nicole Brodeur: 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.