'The Walking Dead' invades 'Conan'

By Meredith Blake

April 3, 2013 12 AM PT

This week Conan O’Brien is broadcasting his late-night show from Atlanta, where’s he’s soaked up some of the local culture by joining a gospel choir, becoming a Civil War reenactor and throwing a General Sherman effigy off a roof.

These days Atlanta is also home base for AMC’s mega hit, “The Walking Dead,” and given O’Brien’s well-established geek tendencies, it hardly seems surprising that on Tuesday night he got a visit from a few weary survivors of the zombie apocalypse.

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O’Brien was in the middle of his monologue when he was interrupted by the chilling sounds of “The Walking Dead” theme song. That’s when Merle and Carol (a.k.a. Michael Rooker and Melissa McBride) came storming into the auditorium.

At first O’Brien was happy to let them seek refuge from the swarm of “walkers” -- what the rest of the world calls “zombies” –- but then Merle, as is his wont, began to act up. We don’t want to spoil the surprise, but let’s just say he’s about as tolerant of corny jokes as he is of, well, everything else.

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