The Career of Conan O’Brien

 

Conan O’Brien is 60 years old, so he still has plenty of time ahead of him to accomplish more in show business. He has an impressive resume, although he has weathered some significant challenges. I wanted to write about him since he is an impressive figure in the history of late-night TV, who is #3 on my list of favorites, behind Johnny Carson and David Letterman.

Conaco Productions is a production company was founded by Conan O’Brien in 2001. It produced “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” and “Conan” (TBS). Having ownership of his programs has contributed significantly to Conan’s wealth, which is estimated at $200 million. Other shows produced by Conaco produced included “Andy Barker PI,” “Operating Instructions,” and “Outlaw.”

His dad was a doctor and his mother was a lawyer, so he came from a family that emphasized education. Both of his parents died in December of 2024, a few days apart. They were both in their 90s.

Here are a few key events in the timeline of Conan.

1981 Conan graduates from high school in Brookline, Massachusetts as valedictorian.

1981-85, attends Harvard where he was president of “The Harvard Lampoon,” the college humor magazine. He majored in history and literature.

1985-1987 Conan wrote for “Not Necessarily the News.” Another writer on the show was Greg Daniels, who Conan knew from Harvard. Daniels went on to write for “Parks and Recreation”, and he was the creator/writer for “The Office” and “King of the Hill.”  Around this time, Conan took improvisational classes at “The Groundlings” in Los Angeles.

1987 “Rich Hall Show,” writer

1987-88 “The Wilton North Report,” writer

1987-1991 He wrote for “SNL.”

1991 He worked with Robert Smigel to write a pilot for “Lookwell,” starring Adam West. NBC chairman Brandon Tartikoff liked the show, but it was not picked up as a series. Smigel would end up writing for “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “Saturday Night Live.”

1992-1993 he wrote for “The Simpsons”. Two episodes in season 4 (New Kid on the Block, Marge vs. the Monorail), 2 in season 5 (Homer Goes to College, Treehouse of Horror IV).

1993 marked his debut on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” replacing David Letterman in the 12:35 am time slot. He stayed at the show until 2009.

2009-2010 “Tonight Show” host. Conan was only host for a short period of time and then Jay Leno was reinstated as “Tonight Show” host. NBC wanted to hand on to Conan and Jay so they made a deal where Conan would eventually replace Leno as “Tonight Show” host. NBC tried putting Jay into a Monday-Friday 10 pm show, but the ratings were poor. An offer was made to Conan to start his show at 12:05 am eastern, following a 30-minute Jay Leno show but Conan declined. This was a poorly handled fiasco for NBC. The whole situation is detailed in the book “The War for Late Night.” This was written by Bill Carter, who also wrote “The Late Shift” which chronicled the period in 1991-93 where it was Leno vs. Letterman to take over for Johnny Carson. Leno got The Tonight Show and Letterman left for CBS.

April 2010 Kicked off a 30-city tour of live performances since he could not do TV shows for a certain period after leaving The Tonight Show.

2010-2021 Conan on TBS.

2019 Conan show on TBS was trimmed back to 30 minutes and the live band was dropped. Conan switched to a more casual wardrobe, often wearing a jean jacket over a button-down shirt.

2018 “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast begins. This is released every Monday. This podcast has become very successful, and Conan attracts big name guests.

2019-2023 “Conan without Borders.” This made sense since often the best Conan comedy bits were when he was outside of the studio.

2022 Conan’s podcast and entire Team Coco digital media business were sold to SiriusXM radio for $150 million.

2024 “Conan O’Brien Must Go” on MAX. This is another travel show, but it’s a brilliant concept since Conan is meeting up with people overseas that he has interviewed on his podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan.” That podcast comes out on Thursdays and features interviews with non-celebrities. It’s kind of like Conan took a cue from Johnny Carson who would sometimes feature non-celebrities on his show, or as he called them, “civilians.”

I have always felt that Conan had a very impressive career even before getting his Late-Night job in 1993. He graduated from Harvard, wrote for “SNL” and “The Simpsons.” Many writers for “The Simpsons” and “SNL” came out of Harvard, which can be a reason for the success and longevity of those programs.

Conan owes a large debt of gratitude to Lorne Michaels, who recognized his talents and saw his potential as a late-night host. Conan had zero experience as a stand-up comic or interviewer when he took the job filling the shoes of David Letterman in 1993. The odds were against him, but he prevailed. He worked in late night TV for 28 years, coming close to the longevity of 2 of his idols, Johnny Carson (30 years) and David Letterman (33 years). Other influences include Bob Hope, Woody Allen, Bob Newhart, Peter Sellers, Sid Caesar and others.

Conan may no longer have a late-night show on TV anymore, but Samsung has a 24/7 channel that has highlights from his TBS show.

Conan has been married to his wife Liza since 2000 and they have 2 children.

*Some information from imdb and Wikipedia.

 

Top Notch Comedy Writers Come from the Harvard Lampoon

Everyone knows that getting into Harvard is very challenging. They only accept the cream of the crop, academically. The average high school grade point average to get into Harvard is a 4.0. Most students take AP or IB classes that make their g.p.a. above 4.0. Many people would not associate super academic people with people who are incredibly funny, but at Harvard, the humorous students write for The Harvard Lampoon. Members must demonstrate that they are funny on paper, by submitting six pieces of humor writing. These are evaluated by the Lampoon members, including the president of the organization. Founded in 1876 by seven Harvard undergraduates, The Harvard Lampoon is one of the world’s longest-running continuously-published humor magazines. The Lampoon publishes five issues annually and occasionally parodies other magazines (People, Time, Mademoiselle, Playboy, National Geographic, and many more) or the day’s popular literature (Bored of the Rings, The Hunger Pains, Nightlight, Lame of Thrones). The publication’s circulation is 30,000. It’s inside a castle-like building (pictured above) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a few blocks from Harvard Square. You have probably heard of The National Lampoon, which once had a magazine and was behind films such as Vacation, European Vacation, Christmas Vacation, Animal House, and others. The National Lampoon was founded by Harvard Lampoon members in 1970. But, everyone associated with National Lampoon was not a Harvard Lampoon member. The Lampoon name was licensed to National Lampoon and that provides much of the revenue for the Harvard Lampoon. The National Lampoon Radio Hour included Chevy Chase, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer. 1973 was the launch of a stage show called National Lampoon; Lemmings which was a launching pad for Chase, Guest and John Belushi. This was a precursor to Saturday Night Live. Alumni of the Harvard Lampoon include: business tycoon and newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, authors George Plimpton and John Updike, MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell, and actor Fred Gwynne. Many of the top comedy writers in late night TV and sitcoms are Lampoon alumni such as: Conan O’Brien (SNL, The Simpsons, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Conan), Greg Daniels (The Office, SNL, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Parks and Recreation), Colin Jost (SNL), Jeff Martin (The Simpsons, David Letterman), Jim Downey (SNL, David Letterman), BJ Novak (The Office), Mike Reiss (The Simpsons, The Critic, Johnny Carson), Steve Young (David Letterman), Bill Oakley (The Simpsons), Josh Weinstein (The Simpsons), Robert Carlock (SNL, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Dana Carvey Show, 30 Rock), Al Jean (The Simpsons, The Critic, Johnny Carson), Jon Vitti (The Simpsons, The Critic, King of the Hill, The Office), Steve O’Donnell (David Letterman, The Simpsons, Seinfeld), Al Jean (The Simpsons, Johnny Carson, ALF, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show), Jon Beckerman (David Letterman, Ed), David X. Cohen (Beavis and Butthead, The Simpsons, Futurama), Andy Borowitz (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, The Facts of Life, Square Pegs), George Meyer (David Letterman, The Simpsons), Eric Kaplan (David Letterman, The Simpsons, Futurama, The Big Bang Theory, Malcolm in the Middle), Ethan Cohen (Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill, American Dad). An old copy of the Lampoon was shown in the season four finale of NewsRadio. It was called a "nefarious scandal sheet." Honorary members include: John Cleese, Bill Cosby, Billy Crystal, Jay Leno, Adam Sandler, Tracey Ullman, Robin Williams and more. It's incredible to think about how many Lampoon writers worked on very funny, popular shows, especially The Simpsons, SNL and David Letterman.

Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

I have always admired the talent of Conan O’Brien. He is 60 years old, and from Brookline, Massachusetts. Even before his late-night show, he had a very impressive resume. Personally, he is my #3 favorite late-night host of all time, behind only Carson and Letterman. He graduated from Harvard, (like many successful television writers), studied improv comedy at The Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles, wrote for The Simpsons and SNL. Conan's friend and writing collaborator from Harvard was Greg Daniels, who created the American version of The Office for NBC, Parks and Recreation and King of the Hill. Conan had no stand-up experience or hosting experience, but Lorne Michaels recruited him for the NBC Late Night show, filling the formidable shoes of David Letterman. Conan debuted as the host of that show in 1993, as Letterman went to CBS and his show which was one hour earlier. Jay Leno was given The Tonight Show after the departure of Johnny Carson in 1992. Letterman wanted that job, and decided to jump ship. Conan hosted Late Night from 1993-2009. He hosted The Tonight Show from 2009-2010. NBC wanted to hang onto Jay Leno, so they put him at 10 pm Monday-Friday. I think that affected the numbers for Conan's Tonight Show. That whole mess was a blunder by the folks at the peacock network. I felt bad for Conan since he got a raw deal. He hosted his TBS show from 2010-2021. So, Conan worked in late night TV for almost 30 years. Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show for 30 years (1962-1992). Between his NBC and CBS shows, David Letterman worked in late night TV for 33 years (1982-2015). So, Conan will go down in history as one of the giants of the late night TV genre. According to celebrity net worth, Conan has accumulated $200 million. David Letterman and Jay Leno are each worth $400 million. November of 2018 was the first episode of Conan's podcast. At this point, the TBS show was transitioning from one hour to 30 minutes. Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend is released on Mondays, Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan is released on Thursdays. Both shows feature Conan O’Brien, Sona Movsesian (Conan’s assistant) and Matt Gourley (Podcast producer). This is available on Amazon Music, Earwolf, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Sirius XM, Google Podcasts, etc. This is put out by Conan’s company, Team Coco, which produces 17 podcasts. Other than Conan’s show, the company produces podcasts by Rob Lowe, J.B. Smoove, Conan’s longtime sidekick Andy Richter, Rob Lowe, and Lea Thompson. Conan's podcast has featured interviews with some of the biggest names in show biz, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paul Reubens, David Letterman, Dana Carvey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Martin Short, Steve Martin and many more. I have always had a fascination with the world of entertainment, especially late night TV. Thos ewho have an interest in celebrities and show biz will enjoy this podcast. Conan can be very funny of course, but he also is an excellent interviewer, and his subjects feel at ease with him, and discuss things with him that they might not discuss elsewhere. All of the best late night hosts are excellent interviewers who listen closely to their guests, and come up with thoughtful questions. Some of the best interviewers in the late night genre have included Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Conan, Tom Snyder and Dick Cavett. I would include Bob Costas in this list, due to his 30 minute show on NBC called Later. I never saw Jay Leno as a strong interviewer, but he has been very successful in the late night genre, probably due to his stand up skills and his likeability factor with people of all backgrounds. Conan’s Thursday show, Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan, is an interview with a non-celebrity, but someone who is a Conan fan. Many of them are from overseas, and they tend to have unique careers. The people from this show will appear on Conan’s new show on MAX (formerly HBO Max). The release of that show was delayed by the writer's strike. This show should be entertaining since Conan's remote pieces were always his strong point.

A New Era for Conan O'Brien

2019 marks a year of changes for 55-year-old late night host Conan O'Brien. He is now the "old man" of late night TV, working in the genre since 1993. 2019 will be his 26th year in late night. So, just another 4 years and he ties Johnny Carson's run, and with 7 more years he ties David Letterman. Starting on Tuesday, January 22, 2019, Conan's TBS late night show will be trimmed from 60 minutes down to 30 minutes. This change means that his "Basic Cable Band" will no longer be a part of the show. Conan now has a podcast, and he has been touring doing some live comedy shows with other comics. His "Conan without Borders" shows are on Netflix. These are remote segments from his shows where he has visited other countries. Conan is often at his comedic best when he is outside the confines of the studio. Six episodes are on Netflix and he visits Cuba, Korea, Italy, Israel, Mexico and Haiti. So, the enterprise that is Conan is revamping itself, taking a step in a new direction. “Since I inherited my Late Night show in 1993, TV has changed exponentially. I’d like to think I have evolved with many of these changes, but now it’s time to take the next leap. A half-hour show will give me the time to do a higher percentage of the comedy in, and out, of the studio that I love and that seems to resonate in this new digital world,” O’Brien said in a statement announcing the changes. “It’s still going to be me hosting a very silly show, but I want segments on my half-hour program to link to digital content, deepening the experience for my younger fans, and confusing my older ones.” Podcasts and online videos from You Tube have experienced a surge in popularity. So, Conan is changing with the times.

*Some information from https://celebrityaccess.com/2018/05/03/conan-obrien-trims-show-to-30-minutes-shifts-focus-to-live-comedy/

Late Night TV Demographics

Different groups of people tend to watch different late night TV shows. Letterman and Leno tend to get older viewers, whereas Fallon and O'Brien tend to skew younger. The late night TV landscape seems to be constantly shifting. Even basic cable channels like Comedy Central and E! have had success with shows like The Daily Show and Chelsea Lately. Soon, Leno will step aside as Jimmy Fallon will take over the coveted Tonight Show gig, following in the footsteps of Johnny Carson, Steve Allen and Jack Paar. SNL alum Seth Myers will get the 12:35 am slot on NBC. This link looks at late night audience composition. http://theinterrobang.com/2013/11/your-guide-to-whos-watching-whose-late-night-show/

NBC's Unprecedented Late Night Blunders

NBC moved Jay Leno from 11:35pm back to 10pm only about 6 months ago. Conan O'Brien moved from 12:35am to Leno's old slot at 11:35pm as host of The Tonight Show. Conan has been working for NBC since 1993, when David Letterman left to get his 11:35pm show at CBS. The ratings for Leno at 10pm have been really bad, and he gets beat night in and night out, especially by the CBS dramas like CSI:Miami, CSI:NY and The Mentalist. His numbers are about what they were at 11:35, but in prime time those numbers do not fly. The numbers need to be there to get decent ad rates, and to keep the affiliates happy. Now NBC wants to end this little experiment and move Leno back to 11:35pm. His show may be only 30 minutes, putting Conan on at 12:05am. If this is the case, Jimmy Fallon would move from 12:35am to 1:05am assuming Conan's show is 60 minutes. If I were in Conan's shoes I would jump ship to Fox. ABC has Nightline at 11:35pm and Jimmy Kimmel at 12:05am, so Fox is probably the best bet. Maybe NBC should drop the unfunny Leno all together. I assume they will go back to dramas from 10-11pm on NBC and the affiliates are hoping their newscasts will get better numbers once Leno vacates after the 2010 winter olympics. Conan is not hurting for money. He gets $20 million per year for the next 4 years. Still, Conan has paid his dues, he deserves to be on at 11:35pm, and this is the biggest network blunder I can recall. Sure the networks have put on many shows that have flopped, but this was a 5 night per week, 10pm-11pm experiment that failed miserably. Their justification is that a talk show is cheaper to produce than a scripted show. But, what good does that do if the ratings are poor and you are affecting your affiliates numbers for their newscasts which provide a major revenue source? The once mighty peacock network has fallen a long way from the days of must see TV.

History of Late Night TV

With all of the recent changes in late night TV, I decided to find out a bit about the predecessors to today's late night hosts. Different networks have tried to establish late night franchises, and some have had more success than others. I will look at the different personalities which have contributed to the genre. The above pictures show some of the greats in late night TV. From top: the original host of The Tonight Show, Steve Allen. The next picture shows Tom Snyder who hosted The Tomorrow Show and The Late Late Show. The third picture shows Johnny Carson doing his "Carnac" bit. The bottom picture shows from left to right; Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, David Letterman and Conan O'Brien.

The network that has been the most successful in establishing a late night audience has been NBC. Saturday Night Live has aired from 11:30 pm to 1:00 am on NBC since 1975. The Tonight Show is the third longest running TV show in history, only eclipsed by Guiding Light and the Hallmark Hall of Fame. When the show started in 1954 it was 90 minutes in length, airing from 11:30 pm until 1:00 am. Its first host was Steve Allen, and he did the show from 1954 to 1957. His original announcer was Gene Rayburn, who later spent many years hosting The Match Game. Allen was known for his man on the street bits and David Letterman has cited him as an influence. The next host of the show was Jack Paar, from 1957 to 1962. His announcer was Hugh Downs, who later worked for ABC for many years as host of 20/20 with Barbara Walters. In 1960, Paar's show became one of the first programs to air in color. He left the show after becoming frustrated with the network for censoring his material. The next host would change late night TV forever and become one of the most beloved icons in entertainment history. Johnny Carson hosted the show from 1962 to 1992 and he got his start entertaining people as a magician in his home state of Nebraska. In 1970, The Tonight Show moved its operations from New York City to Burbank, California. Johnny's show had announcer/sidekick Ed McMahon as a significant aspect of the show as well as fantastic big band jazz music from trumpeter Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show Orchestra. When Johnny retired in 1992, Jay Leno took over and hosted until 2009. It has been reported that Carson wanted Letterman to take over but NBC wanted Leno, who was seen as more of a safe bet and he was not known as an edgy, trouble maker like Letterman. Carson wrote some jokes for Letterman, and this was acknowledged by Dave after Carson's death. Letterman sometimes does a "Stump the Band" bit on his show, preceded by music leader Paul Shaffer doing an homage to Carson's Carnac character. To have the right to do these, Letterman must have received clearance from Carson, which is more proof that Carson favored Letterman over Leno. When Jay Leno took over the show he fired Carson's entire staff and did not acknowledge Johnny on his first episode. The animosity between Letterman and Leno exists to this day. In June, 2009, Conan O'Brien took over for Leno as the 5th host of The Tonight Show.

NBC decided they wanted to add another late night show to air after Johnny Carson, so in 1973, Tom Snyder started hosting The Tomorrow Show and this lasted until 1982. From 1982 to 1993, David Letterman took over the 12:35 am time slot with his show Late Night. His band was led by Paul Shaffer, who had previously worked on Saturday Night Live. After being denied the job hosting The Tonight Show, Letterman was fed up with NBC and his show was taken over by Conan O'Brien. Conan was known as a writer, not a performer and he got off to a shaky start. He had been a writer for The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live, and he is a Harvard graduate. Conan hosted the Late Night show from 1993 to 2009, before leaving to host The Tonight Show. Conan's announcer on the 12:35 am show was Joel Goddard. His band on the 12:35 am show and on the 11:35 pm show is led by Bruce Springsteen drummer, Max Weinberg. His sidekick on the 12:35 am show for many years was Andy Richter, who left to pursue TV and film opportunities. He will be back with Conan as sidekick/announcer on the 11:35 pm show. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Jimmy Fallon took over for Conan in 2009.

NBC decided to add another show after the 12:35 am show, when the interview show Later started in 1988. This aired from 1:35 am to 2:05 am and was hosted by Bob Costas until 1994. This was a change of pace for late night TV since this was a show with one guest, no house band, and no studio audience. From 1994 to 1996 it was hosted by Greg Kinnear, who had hosted Talk Soup on the E! network. Kinnear left to focus on his film career and from 1996 to 1998 the show rotated various hosts. Cynthia Garrett hosted from 1998 to 2000. For the next 2 years this time slot was filled with SCTV reruns, a sketch comedy show which featured Martin Short and John Candy. From 2002 to the present, the show in this time slot has been Last Call with Carson Daly, who previously hosted TRL on MTV.

CBS got into the late night talk show game in 1993 when David Letterman left NBC, and his show was called The Late Show with David Letterman. Letterman wanted an 11:35 pm show, and since he did not get The Tonight Show, he figured that at least at CBS he could go head to head with Leno. Many staff memebers have worked with Letterman since the days at NBC, including musicians Paul Shaffer, Sid McGinnis, Will Lee, Anton Fig, stage manager Biff Henderson and producers Maria Pope, Jude Brennan and Barbara Gaines. Letterman's announcer for many years was Bill Wendell and the current announcer is Alan Kalter.

From 1995 to 1999, the 12:35 am slot on CBS was filled by Tom Snyder who hosted The Late Late Show. Former host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, Craig Kilborn took over for Snyder, and he did the show until 2004. From 2004 to the present the show has been hosted by former cast member from The Drew Carey show, Scottish comedian Craig Ferguson. The show has been produced by Letterman's company, Worldwide Pants, since the beginning. This company also produced the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.

ABC has dabbled on an off in late night and from 1967 to 1969 a late night show was hosted by rat pack member Joey Bishop. His sidekick was a then little known Regis Philbin. Nightline has been on ABC for many years at 11:35 pm, but this is a news show, not a typical late night talk show. In 2003 Jimmy Kimmel started hosting his own talk show after Nightline, at 12:05 am and his show has become the longest running ABC late night talk show since Dick Cavett hosted from 1969 to 1975.

In the early days of the Fox network, Joan Rivers had a late night show, but it only lated a year, starting in 1986. The sketch comedy show Mad TV aired on Fox from 1995 to 2009 from 11 pm to 12 am Saturday nights. Former Seinfeld writer Spike Feresten had a show on Fox called Talk Show with Spike Feresten. This aired from 2006 to 2009 on Saturdays. Fox has cancelled Talk Show and Mad TV.

Many other have tried to helm late night talk shows, some more successfully than others. Arsenio Hall had a late night syndicated show from 1989 to 1994. Chevy Chase did not fare as well since his late night outing only lasted 6 weeks in 1993. Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak had a show from 1989 to 1990. NBA legend Magic Johnson did not have much luck with his late night show, lasting only 3 months in 1998.

In the fall of 2009, NBC will try a new experiment when they move Jay Leno to have a show from 10 pm to 11 pm weeknights. The struggling network saw it as a way to hang on to Leno, as well as a way to cut costs since the one hour dramas that typically air in the 10 pm hour are expensive to produce. We will have to see how this affects the ratings for NBC affiliates' 11 pm newscasts as well as how many viewers stick around to watch Conan at 11:35 pm.

* Some information from en.wikipedia.org