Conan Dresses Down His Cake-Hogging Staff (VIDEO)

To most of us, Conan O'Brien is warmly regarded as "TBS's #1 Late Night Talk Show Host." But to several of his staffers, he's something else entirely: the boss who will not let them eat cake.

As a funnyman, Conan has to worry about his audience, but as a boss, he has to make sure some irredeemably misbehaving staff members are properly punished if caught red handed. So when he discovered a secret email chain exposing the whereabouts of free food in the office to a select few, he had to take action.

In the most low-rent sting operation ever captured on basic cable, Conan sent out an anonymous tip about free cake, and set up a hidden camera to see who would fall into his trap. And of course, half his research staff were caught red handed. For shame.

(Actually, the staffers in question hold their own quite impressively after being caught, considering they were caught by O'Brien and a camera crew intending to embarrass them on TV.)

But they weren't the only victims -- Andy Richter and longtime foil Jordan Schlansky, one of Conan's producers, had their own explanations for why they ate the cake.

Is your manager as sinister, vindictive and unforgiving as Factory Foreman O'Brien?

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