Here's What Conan O'Brien's Axed Minecraft Episode Looked Like

Not long ago, comedian Conan O'Brien had an idea for an entire episode of his show Late Night With Conan O'Brien to take place inside of Minecraft. He pitched it to Minecraft's developers at Mojang, and they originally said yes, before later changing their minds and vetoing the concept. But all is not lost.

This week, O'Brien reminisced about the canceled concept, and released some footage of himself, co-host Andy Richter, and even actress Cameron Diaz in block form. Also included in the footage is Minecraft-styled crowd shots and even a Conan O'Brien pirate ship.

Diaz appeared on Late Night With Conan O'Brien in July 2014, suggesting this was the episode O'Brien and his team had originally planned to shoot inside of Minecraft.

As O'Brien and Richter point out, their Minecraft episode probably would have brought even more attention and goodwill to the Minecraft series. So it's unclear why Mojang wanted to shut the concept down.

One possible explanation is that those in the Minecraft camp weren't too thrilled with O'Brien's previous Minecraft spoof. After Microsoft paid $2.5 billion to buy Minecraft and Mojang in September, O'Brien aired a skit wherein the "Minecraft inventor"--likely a reference to Markus "Notch" Persson--spent his share of the acquisition proceeds to build and enjoy a strip club.