| Late Night with Conan O'Brien | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | Late Night(franchise brand) |
| Genre | |
| Created by | |
| Developed by | Lorne Michaels |
| Presented by | Conan O'Brien |
| Starring | |
| Announcer | Joel Godard |
| Music by | Max Weinberg and theThe Max Weinberg 7 |
| Composers |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 16 |
| No. of episodes | 2,725(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Production locations | Studio 6A,NBC Studios, New York, New York |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 42–43 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | September 13, 1993 (1993-09-13) – February 20, 2009 (2009-02-20) |
| Related | |
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American television talk show broadcast byNBC. The show is the second installment of theLate Night franchise originally established byDavid Letterman. Hosted byConan O'Brien,[1] it aired from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009, replacingLate Night with David Letterman and was replaced byLate Night with Jimmy Fallon. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances.Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 amEastern/11:37 pmCentral in the United States. From 1993 until 2000,Andy Richter served as O'Brien'ssidekick; following his departure, O'Brien was the show's sole featured performer. The show's house musical act wasThe Max Weinberg 7 and led byE Street Band drummerMax Weinberg.
In 2004, as part of a deal to secure a new contract, NBC announced that O'Brien would leaveLate Night in 2009 to succeedJay Leno as the host ofThe Tonight Show.[2][3]Jimmy Fallon began hostinghis version ofLate Night on March 2, 2009.[4]
UponJohnny Carson's May 1991 announcement of his 30-year hosting tenure onThe Tonight Show ending in a year, NBC released a statement that Jay Leno (Carson's guest-host since 1987) would become Carson's replacement, not David Letterman.[5] Though revealed two weeks after Carson's retirement announcement, the decision to go with Leno rather than Letterman had reportedly already been made for a long time, primarily by two of the top executives in NBC'sEntertainment division: its presidentWarren Littlefield and his close collaboratorJohn Agoglia.[5] NBC later said that Letterman's high ratings forLate Night were the reason they kept him where he was. Letterman was bitterly disappointed and angry at not having been givenThe Tonight Show job; and, at Carson's advice, he leftNBC after eleven years onLate Night.CBS signed Letterman to host his own show oppositeThe Tonight Show. Letterman moved his show to CBS virtually unchanged, taking most of the staff, skits, and comedy formats with him. However, NBC owned the rights to theLate Night name, forcing Letterman to rename his showLate Show with David Letterman.
Keeping theLate Night name, NBC set about building a whole new show in the 12:30 a.m. time slot, from which the network had been making some $20 million to $30 million a year towards the end of Letterman's tenure.[6][7] NBC brought inSaturday Night Live executive producerLorne Michaels to produce the new show, including selecting its host.[7] After auditioning some lower-profile comedians, such asJon Stewart,Drew Carey, andPaul Provenza, Michaels and the network started going after more established names likeSNL starDana Carvey andThe Larry Sanders Show starGarry Shandling. Both eventually declined offers to host it,[8] with NBC reportedly making several approaches to Shandling.[9]
Months into the process, Michaels auditionedConan O'Brien, an unknownThe Simpsons writer who had formerly written forSaturday Night Live. Reportedly, Micheals had originally considered hiring O'Brien as a producer for the new show, however, O'Brien then persuaded Michaels to give him a shot at being the host.[10] Despite having "about 40 seconds"[11] of television-performance experience as an occasional extra onSaturday Night Live sketches and briefly appearing in comedy bits onThe Wilton North Report,[10] O'Brien auditioned for the show on April 13, 1993. His guests wereJason Alexander andMimi Rogers; the audition took place on the set ofThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno.[8] NBC offered the show to O'Brien on April 26, and O'Brien made his first meaningful television appearance later that day when Leno introduced him onTonight.[11] In 2009, on the final episode of his 16-year run, O'Brien stated that he "owed his career to Lorne Michaels".
O'Brien'sLate Night debuted on September 13, 1993, withAndy Richter chosen as O'Brien's sidekick. The premiere episode featuredJohn Goodman, who received a "First Guest" medal for his appearance,Drew Barrymore, andTony Randall with cameos fromGeorge Wendt andBob Costas. The episode featured acold open of O'Brien's walk to the studio with constant reminders that he was expected to live up to Letterman.Tom Brokaw makes a cameo, welcoming O'Brien to NBC but, doing as those on O'Brien's walk had done, warning him that he had "better be as good as Letterman, or else...", before menacingly crushingsaltine crackers in front of O'Brien, appearing to be representative of the fate that awaited the new host if he failed to meet expectations. After seeming to be unaffected by the comments, O'Brien arrives at his dressing room and cheerfully prepares tohang himself. However, a warning that the show is about to start causes him to abandon his plans.[6][12]
The show's first musical guest was English rock bandRadiohead, who performed during the second episode. American singer-songwriterJonathan Richman was the show's second musical guest.[13]
O'Brien's inexperience was apparent, and the show was generally considered mediocre by critics in terms of hosting. TheChicago Sun-Times' Lon Grankhe called O'Brien "nervous, unprepared and generally geeky",[14] andTom Shales wrote "As for O'Brien, the young man is a living collage of annoying nervous habits. He giggles and titters, jiggles about and fiddles with his cuffs. He has dark, beady little eyes like a rabbit. He's one of the whitest white men ever."[15] (O'Brien wrote forThe New York Times a satirical review of the first episode the day it aired titled "O'Brien Flops!", in which he told readers "Frankly, I was not impressed".[16]) The originality and quality of the comedy, however, led by original head writerRobert Smigel, was widely praised. Although O'Brien benefited by comparison from the quick critical and commercial failure of the fellow new late-nightThe Chevy Chase Show,[6] NBC only offered short-term contracts, 13 weeks at a time[8] and once for six weeks, as widely reported by the press at the time.[6] O'Brien was reportedly almost fired at least once in this period, but NBC had no one to replace him. According to Smigel, "We were basically canceled atConan, and then they changed their minds in August of '94, gave us a reprieve."[17]
In an unusual form of advertising, Conan O'Brien's credits inThe Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror IV" episode, originally aired on October 28, 1993 (and produced before O'Brien's left theSimpsons writing staff to hostLate Night), reference his new role as host ofLate Night, including one credit that lists "Watch My Show" as his "middle" name. (AllSimpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episodes credit the voice cast and crew under Halloween-associated nicknames, some being faux middle names in quotation marks.)[18]
One NBC affiliate,KPRC-TV inHouston, droppedLate Night with Conan O'Brien in September 1994 due to low ratings and replaced it with the syndicatedJenny Jones Show. KPRC reinstated O'Brien'sLate Night in the fall of 1996, but scheduled it to air as late as 2:40 a.m.; over the next eight years, the station, in addition toThe Jenny Jones Show, had aired various other first-run syndicated programs (Extra,Access Hollywood,Ricki Lake,Montel Williams andInside Edition) and a rebroadcast of its 10:00 p.m. newscast between Leno and O'Brien after it reinstatedLate Night. Houston became the subject of a 1997 skit (via classic remote piece) in which O'Brien made impromptu stops at Houston's central bus terminal and theAstrodome to watch an episode of his own show with Houstonians. In response to emails sent by O'Brien's fans following the skit regarding itsgraveyard placement, KPRC moved the show to 12:35 a.m. in 1998; it would eventually moveLate Night to its network-assigned timeslot, immediately followingThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno, in 2004.[19][20]
O'Brien: When I first got this job, I came here to30 Rock …
Letterman: Howdid you get this job? Was it a theme-writing contest?
O'Brien: Yeah. It was "what would I do with a talk show…" And I was fourth.
According to O'Brien, NBC network executive Warren Littlefield told him, with regard to Andy Richter, he'd "never succeed until I 'got rid of that big fat dildo.' That was the tone of the conversations between us and the network." It was widely expected that the host ofTalk Soup,Greg Kinnear would take over the role, but Kinnear turned down the opportunity. (Kinnear would instead become host ofLate Night's then-lead-out program,Later, in February 1994, remaining there for two years before deciding to pursue an acting career.)[23] Stars likeTom Hanks agreed to appear onLate Night, which boosted audience awareness.
Even Letterman, who admired O'Brien's comic sensibility, appeared as a guest to register his support. According to O'Brien, Letterman's appearance was the catalyst that turned the show around.[24] At first, the show's staff believed that Letterman's request to appear on the show was a prank, because, as O'Brien put it, Letterman "never goes on anyone else's show".[24] Yet Letterman's show of support led others to start believing in O'Brien and, 22 years later when Letterman retired, O'Brien expressed his gratitude and stated that he owed his own late night career to Letterman.[24]
O'Brien's performance style improved through experience, and he began to receive more favorable reviews and ratings the following year.[25] With the ratings gradually improving over the course of two years,Late Night reached a new level of critical and commercial success in 1996; Tom Shales wrote a article entitled "The Late Night Dawning of Conan", and O'Brien received his first Emmy nomination for writing, which he received every year until 2011.
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In 2000, Richter leftLate Night on good terms, to pursue his acting career, a move that emotionally affected O'Brien, as evidenced by Richter's last show. The show's comedy bits and banter had usually depended on O'Brien's interaction with Richter. O'Brien's wackynon-sequitur comedy became more pronounced as he played all of his comedy and commentary directly to the audience andMax Weinberg instead of towards Richter.
In 2002, when time came to renew his contract, O'Brien had notable offers from other networks to defect;[26]Fox was reported to have made particularly strong overtures, pitching him an 11:00 p.m. show.[27] O'Brien decided to re-sign with NBC, however, joking that he initially wanted to make a 13-week deal (a nod to his first contract). He ultimately signed through 2005, indicating that it was symbolic of surpassing Letterman's run with 12 years of hosting.[26]
In 2003, O'Brien's own production company,Conaco, was added as a producer ofLate Night. The show celebrated its 10th anniversary, another milestone that O'Brien said he wanted to achieve with his 2002 contract. During the anniversary show,Mr. T handed O'Brien a chain with a large gold "7" on it.
O'Brien's last season onLate Night attracted an average of 1.98 million viewers, compared to 1.92 million viewers forThe Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.[29]
| Season | Nielsen rank | Nielsen rating[30] |
|---|---|---|
| 1993–94 | 4 | 2.0 |
| 1994–95 | 3 | 2.2 |
| 1995–96 | 3 | 2.2 |
| 1996–97 | 4 | 2.5 |
| 1997–98 | 4 | 2.5 |
| 1998–99 | 4 | 2.5 |
| 1999–2000 | 4 | 2.5 |
| 2000–01 | 4 | 2.5 |
| 2001–02 | 3 (tied withPolitically Incorrect) | 2.5 |
| 2002–03 | 3 | 2.6 |
| 2003–04 | 3 | 2.6 |
| 2004–05 | 3 | 2.5 |
| 2005–06 | 3 | 2.5 |
| 2006–07 | 3 | 2.4 |
| 2007–08 | 3 | 2.0 |
| 2008–09 | 3 | 2.0 |
The show was known for its wacky and absurd sophomoric comedic sensibility that is edgier than most other talk shows. Like hisLate Night predecessor, David Letterman, the show's humor also had a streak of biting sarcasm and irony. According toRobert Smigel, who served as head writer in 1993, the show's comedic approach was to focus on being different from David Letterman:
I set down a lot of rules, some of which were crazy, but ultimately it forced us to come up with a lot of original stuff. We had the added bonus of being Letterman's replacement.
Typically O'Brien would play the 'straight man' role to the general absurdity of the comedy, treating the material or wacky nature of the sketches with sincerity. The show had an unusual quantity of comedy and original content rather than other talk shows such asLate Show with David Letterman orThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno that relied heavily on recurring segments and 'found' humor. The show was particularly unique in the lack of 'found' humor to derive content from i.e. most content being scripted as opposed to Letterman's Small Town News or Jay Leno's headlines that used this "found humor". O'Brien would often playfully chide his audience for an underwhelming or overly enthusiastic response to his jokes.
Particularly in the early years, comedic sketches overtook all segments on the show, occasionally even interrupting guest interviews and O'Brien's monologue. Frequently sketches would randomly begin without introduction, such as during banter between Richter and O'Brien. A lot of the humor had a fantasy-like quality to it, where inanimate objects would talk or silly characters would disrupt the show. Sometimes a short story would emerge in these sketches with a resolution culminating in a song.
One recurring technique is to superimpose lips onto an existing image, as in theSyncro-Voxlimited animation technique, resulting in the speaker saying things often quite out of character.
AlthoughLate Night used political humor, it did so far less frequently than competing shows did. During the 1996 and 2000 presidential election seasons,Late Night was found to be the least politically oriented late night program. It averaged 310 political jokes per election season, in contrast to the Leno-ledTonight Show with 1,275.[31]
(SeeList ofLate Night with Conan O'Brien sketches for an extensive list)
The show'shouse band wasThe Max Weinberg 7, led by drummerMax Weinberg. The other six members wereMark Pender on trumpet, Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg on trombone,Mike Merritt on bass,Jerry Vivino on saxophone and brotherJimmy Vivino on guitar, andScott Healy on keyboards. Weinberg sometimes took extended leaves of absence to tour withBruce Springsteen as the drummer for theE Street Band (which happened in 1999-2000, 2002-2004 and 2007-08). During his absence,James Wormworth would typically fill in on drums, and the band was led by Vivino under the name Jimmy Vivino and the Max Weinberg 7.
With the departure of Andy Richter fromLate Night in May 2000, Max Weinberg assumed a bigger role as an interlocutor for O'Brien's jokes. One common running gag was Max's awkwardness on camera and his apparent lack of chemistry with Conan. Weinberg was often used in sketches as well, which usually revolved around his purported sexual deviance (mostly a penchant for bedding barely legalgroupies), although long-running sketches also spoofed Max's lack of knowledge of current affairs.
"LaBamba" was also used as the butt of many of Conan's jokes. These humorous sketches usually revolved around LaBamba's sizeable mustache, his poor acting skills, and his alleged inability to readwritten music. Mark Pender would often sing songs on the topic of a current event which ended with him screeching uncontrollably and climbing the risers into the audience. All members of the 7 have had successful side careers asstudio musicians.
The show's opening theme was co-written by composerHoward Shore andJohn Lurie (of the bandThe Lounge Lizards). Lurie would later say that he was contracted by Shore to write the theme, and after he turned in the piece, Shore made minimal changes and claimed an unwarranted co-writing credit.[32][33] Lurie also claimed to have been a finalist forLate Night's band leader position, but said producers told him, "Conan thinks you're funnier than him and that scares him."[32][33]
As is common in the talk show format, the Max Weinberg 7 performed the show's opening and closing themes, playedbumpers into and out of commercial breaks (they actually played through the entire break for the studio audience), and a short piece during O'Brien's crossover to his desk after his monologue. The show's closing theme was called "Cornell Knowledge", and was lifted from Jerry and Jimmy Vivino's first album together. However, onLate Night, it was played at a much quicker tempo than the album version. The band also played a wide variety of songs as bumpers coming to and from commercial breaks and introducing guests—usuallypopular music from a variety of eras.
Joel Godard, a long-time announcer for NBC shows, was the program's announcer and a frequent comedy contributor. On the show's final episode, Conan noted that Godard was originally hired to simply announce the show's intro and claimed "nobody thought you'd ever see him"; however, he was gradually worked into the show's comedy pieces. These bits usually revolved around Godard's supposed homosexual fetishes, deviant sexual habits, substance abuse, and suicidal tendencies. The humor came in part from Godard's delivery. No matter how depressing or deviant the topic being discussed was, he always did so in an exaggeratedly cheerful voice and with a huge smile plastered on his face. Several sketches ended with Godard apparently committing suicide in his announcer's booth. When Andy Richter left the show in 2000, Godard began to appear in sketches more frequently.
In the first few seasons of the show, the writing staff consisted of several now-prolific comics includingRobert Smigel as the head writer,Bob Odenkirk,Louis C.K.,Tommy Blacha andDino Stamatopoulos. Smigel left his position as head writer of the show in 1995[17] but continued to appear on the show to do bits asTriumph the Insult Comic Dog and the 'Satellite Interviews'.Jonathan Groff took over his position until replaced by Mike Sweeney in 2001.
Members of the show's writing staff frequently appeared in sketches on the show. Among the most prolific were:Brian McCann (Preparation H Raymond, FedEx Pope, The Loser, Airsick Moth, Jerry Butters, Awesome Dave, Funhole Guy, Bulletproof Legs Guy, Adrian "Raisin" Foster, S&M Lincoln, etc.),Brian Stack (Hannigan the Traveling Salesman, Artie Kendall the Ghost Crooner, The Interrupter, Kilty McBagpipes, Fan-tastic Guy, Clive Clemmons, Frankenstein, Ira, Slipnut Brian, etc.),Jon Glaser (Segue Sam, Pubes, Awareness Del, Wrist Hulk, Ahole Ronald, Gorton's Fisherman, Jeremy, Slipnut Jon, etc.),Kevin Dorff (Coked-up Werewolf, Jesus Christ, Mansy the half-man/half-pansy, Joe's Bartender, Todd the Tiny Guy, etc.), andAndy Blitz (Awful Ballgame Chanter, Vin Diesel's brother Leonard Diesel, Slipnut Andy, Chuck Aloo aka the star of the24 spin-off series60). Blitz went so far as to travel to India for one bit in which he carried his computer through the streets of India to get technical support firsthand from the telephone representative at NBC's technical help center.
Several writing staff interns have gone on to become noted actors or writers includingVanessa Bayer,[34]John Krasinski,[35]Mindy Kaling,[36]Ellie Kemper[37] andJack McBrayer.[38]
Late Night employed a number of sketch actors, many of whom were frequently reused in different roles in different episodes. Several years before joining the cast ofSaturday Night Live, and before playing the role ofLeslie Knope on another NBC TV show,Parks and Recreation,Amy Poehler often appeared as a regular in many sketches, though she was best remembered for playing the recurring role of Andy Richter's Conan-obsessed teenage sister, Stacy. Other notable comedians such asJack McBrayer,Rob Riggle,Rob Corddry,H. Jon Benjamin,Ellie Kemper,Bobby Moynihan,Matt Besser,Ian Roberts,Matt Walsh andAndrew Daly also frequently appeared as sketch actors on the show for several years.Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (created and voiced by original head writerRobert Smigel) began as part of a sketch onLate Night. Celebrities such asJoyce Brothers,Nipsey Russell,Abe Vigoda,James Lipton,Bob Saget andWilliam Preston as the character Carl 'Oldy' Olsen also made frequent cameo appearances in comedy sketches on the show at different periods. One of the show's graphic designers,Pierre Bernard, was featured in several sketches, such as "Pierre Bernard's Recliner of Rage" and "Nerding It Up For Pierre".
Celebrity guests of the night would also occasionally appear in sketches either during their interviews or during the earlier comedy segments, e.g. in "In the year 2000" (which always included the participation of a celebrity guest after Andy Richter left the show) or a sketch where Conan would pretend to write in his diary while an attractive female guest was there. Quite rare for a talk show, sometimes interviews began normally but turned into sketches with both the guest and Conan participating, usually when the guest was a "friend of the show."
Unusual for a late night talk show,Late Night made frequent use of various costumed characters such as The Masturbating Bear, Robot on a Toilet, and Pimpbot 5000. The humor in these sketches often derived from the crude construction of the characters' costumes as well as the absurdist nature of their conceptions. For example, Pimpbot 5000 was a 1950s-style robot who dressed and acted in the manner of an exaggeratedblaxploitationpimp, while The Masturbating Bear was a man in a bear costume wearing an oversized diaper who would invariably begin to fondle himself to the tune ofAram Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" when brought on stage. Many of these characters did little more in their appearances than walk across the stage or be wheeled out from behind the curtain, but some had extensive sketches on the show.
The show made a cameo appearance in theSesame Street specialElmopalooza, where Conan was interviewing two aliens whileBig Bird was passing by them carrying a video tape.
The show also made an appearance onThe Simpsons in the episode "Bart Gets Famous", where Conan interviews a now famousBart.
Late Night was a production of Lorne Michaels'sBroadway Video (and, since 2003, O'Brien's Conaco). It was taped in Studio 6A in theGE Building at30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Next to the door were framed pictures of Letterman, Carson,Jack Paar andSteve Allen, each of whose groundbreaking late-night shows originated from studio 6A or 6B (whereThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is currently taped).[39] The studio holds just over 200 audience members. It was taped at about 5:30 pm as an uninterrupted hour-long program, with the band playing music through the portions that would be filled by commercials. Generally, shows were taped at 5:30 pm Monday through Friday, although for much of the show's run, reruns would be aired on Mondays and the show would not tape that day.
The show's format consisted of an openingmonologue from O'Brien, followed by various "desk bits". These generally included several brief sketches, recurring segments, or some other form of comedy. Typically O'Brien would play the 'straight man' role to the general absurdity of the comedy, treating the material or wacky nature of the sketches with sincerity. In the show's second and fourth segments, O'Brien interviewed two celebrity guests, between which, in the third segment, O'Brien listed the next night's/week's guests. There was often a comedy bit as well during this segment. The show's fifth segment was usually reserved for a musical or stand-up comedy performance, or occasionally another guest interview. The show's final segment was usually a quick "goodnight" and the closing credits, which sometimes featured part of a bit from earlier in the show. Quite rare for a talkshow, frequently comedy segments would also spill into the interviews, typically when a guest was a 'friend' of the show.
During the live tapings, and prior to the show,[citation needed] there was an audience warm-up, during which the audience watched a montage of highlights from the show, and staff writerBrian McCann greeted the audience (this task was formerly undertaken by head writer Mike Sweeney). McCann delivered a few jokes, told the audience what to expect, and finally introduced the band and then O'Brien. O'Brien then thanked the audience for coming, meeting as many audience members as he could. He would often then do a musical number with the band to pump up the audience ("Burning Love" was one standard). After the show was finished taping, O'Brien sang the "End of the Show Song", which never aired on Late Night, although in February 2009, a short video of it was posted on Late Night Underground.[40] The End of the Show Song finally did reach air on January 21, 2010, his penultimate show as Tonight Show host. It also was aired on the March 29, 2012 episode of Conan. The tradition of singing The End of the Show Song has continued, un-aired as usual, onConan.
Late Night began broadcasting in1080iATSC on April 26, 2005, with a downscaledletterboxedNTSC simulcast (unlikeThe Tonight Show, whose NTSC simulcast is fullscreen). O'Brien celebrated the conversion to thewidescreenHDTV format with jokes throughout the week.
On December 6, 2005Late Night with Conan O'Brien segments began selling on theiTunes Store. Most segments were priced at $1.99, as were most episodes of other shows, with "special" best-ofs and other longer segments priced at $9.99. In December, 2007 NBC stopped selling all its television shows on iTunes, but the network returned it to iTunes in September 2008 after NBC and Apple worked out a new agreement. The show was offered free atHulu.com and the NBC website but has been unavailable on the Internet since the2010Tonight Show conflict. However, in May 2018, O'Brien andTBS, announced they would partner with NBC to make his entireLate Night archives available online, marking the 25th anniversary of O'Brien's late night debut.[41]
O'Brien'sLate Night had three long-term permanent sets, but retained the basic structure used when Letterman occupied Studio 6A: the performance space at the viewer's left, and the desk area, to the viewer's right, where interviews were done. O'Brien did his monologue in the performance area, emerging at the start of each episode from the area where musical guests perform. The Max Weinberg 7 were in the corner made by the stage-right wall and the wall in front of the audience. The desk area had a desk for O'Brien, a chair and couch(es) to the viewer's left for guests (and originally Andy Richter), and a coffee table.
Primarily, set changes involved the background behind the desk and chair and couch. The original set, used from the show's debut in 1993 until August 6, 1996, was primarily yellow, and the desk background resembled the living room of a New York City apartment, with windows that looked out at a Manhattan backdrop; it was modeled after Lorne Michaels' office.[42] For years afterwards, O'Brien mocked this original set, particularly its "mustard color". The two subsequent set designs featured darker blues and violets to emulate the feel of nighttime, with the final set featuring a balcony railing in front of a backdrop with the view from the top of Rockefeller Center. This set debuted on September 4, 2001, and necessitated changes almost instantly as its backdrop view of New York City contained theWorld Trade Center, which wasdestroyed a week later. A special curtain was used to obstruct the towers until October, when the curtain became a permanent part of the set design even after the backdrop was altered. During his final week of episodes, Conan took an axe to parts of the set, giving it out to audience members as souvenirs, not wanting to allow it to simply be thrown away.
Remote pieces shot on location were a recurring staple onLate Night, but occasionally, entire episodes were shot on location, usually duringsweeps months. The first vacation for the show was a week-long stint of shows in Los Angeles the week of November 9–12, 1999. This was the only location week for the show while Andy Richter was with the show, and the only time the show's theme was altered for the week, with a more surf-style version of the show's normal theme (though the Toronto shows ended the normal theme with a piece of "O Canada"). The show was broadcast from NBC's L.A. studios (NBC Studios Burbank) and an L.A.-themed set was built, very similar in layout to the New York set.
From February 10–13, 2004,Late Night broadcast from theElgin Theatre in Toronto, Canada. The guests for these episodes were all Canadians (with the exception ofAdam Sandler), and included such stars asJim Carrey andMike Myers. As the show was taped at a theater, unlike the trip to L.A., the set built was not like the show's standard set.
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From May 9–12, 2006, the show made a similar venture to theChicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, taking cues from their previous trip to Toronto. Between April 30 – May 4, 2007, the show originated from theOrpheum Theatre in San Francisco.
In a sketch called "Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland", Conan mocked every nation in the world to see which ones he gets letters from. An announcer on the Finnish entertainment channel SubTV, which airs the show a couple of days after it is aired in the US, asked people to defend Finland before Conan got to insult it, and the viewers in Finland began sending mail before the bit had even gotten to the letter F. Conan responded by assuming the Finnish "just couldn't wait" to be insulted and officially insulted Finland in the segment. An overwhelming number of postcards were supposedly received, which apparently "forced" Conan to give Finland a formal apology. Conan then went as far as to have the flag of Finland shown in the background during a speech and slandered the Finns' "hated" neighborSweden with a sign saying "Sweden Sucks!" printed over the flag of Sweden. It would seem that this chain of events led to elevated ratings in Finland and subsequently also sparked a special relationship with the viewers in Finland. Later when Conan was talking to audience members before the show, a group of fans visiting from Finland commented that he resembled their female presidentTarja Halonen. Conan mentioned the resemblance on his show, even showing pictures of Halonen next to himself. When he discovered that Halonen was up forreelection he began making satirical commercials in support of Halonen and vowed to travel to Finland to meet her if she won re-election. When she did indeed win re-election in January 2006, Conan traveled to Finland and met with her.[43] One episode, broadcast on March 10, 2006, was compiled mainly of footage from O'Brien's trip toFinland. In the episode, Conan greeted fans at the airport, participated in a Sami cultural ceremony, appeared on a Finnish talk show, and attempted to visit a fan who had written to him. The episode was not strictly taped as a live episode there, however, but was prefaced by an introduction by O'Brien taped in New York. The Finland episode came as the culmination of a long-running joke on the show.
Aside from location shows, the show also did special one-shots in its early years. In 1995, one episode of the show was taped aboard a New York City ferry in New York Harbor. Dubbed "The Show on a Boat" by the showtunes-style song-and-dance number performed by a trio of "sailors" at the start of the show, O'Brien, Richter, the band and guests were all crammed onto the deck of the ferry. The show was taped at its normal afternoon time, while it was still light out.
A more unexpected shoot occurred on October 10, 1996, when a five-alarm fire inRockefeller Plaza rendered the 6A studios out of commission for the remainder of that week. The fire occurred on early Thursday morning, which left O'Brien's staff precious little time to assemble a show elsewhere. Pressed for time as 12:35 approached, O'Brien taped the show outside, after dark, despite the cold weather, on a makeshift set[44] with thePrometheus statue and 30 Rock serving as a backdrop. Furthering the unfortunate nature of the evening's circumstances was the final guest,Julie Scardina, who brought along wild animals, including birds that Conan explained had to be kept tied up, as they could not be freed outside. Earlier in the show, O'Brien and Richter walked intoBrookstone (located in the lobby of Rockefeller Center), camera crew in tow, and bought a massaging leather recliner for the first guest,Samuel L. Jackson. The second of the two "fire shows", on Friday night, was taped in theToday Show studio, which was not affected by the fire, though the East L.A. rock bandLos Lobos performed in the blustery wind a song from their newest albumColossal Head.
During theNortheast blackout of 2003, O'Brien and the staff taped a short 10-minute introduction explaining that the episode they had planned would not be taking place due to the blackout. Studio 6A was powered by a generator and lit by battery-powered floodlights. A standby show was aired in-progress after the intro. One of the scheduled guests that night,The Dandy Warhols, commandeered the studio'sgreen room, where they stayed until they performed on the show the next night.
Other shows that were taped in the regular 6A studio were augmented by special gimmicks:
A lot of high-concept gimmick episodes were done in the early years of the show, such as a 1995 show done entirely on a boat of the circle line or "Time Travel Week", four episodes from early 1996, where Conan and Andy (and the rest of the crew) "time-traveled" to a different point in time each night. Times and locations includedThe Civil War,Ancient Greece, The future, and The early '80s (featuring a cameo byDavid Letterman in the cold open, who occupied Conan's studio in 1983, cruelly brushing off Conan and Andy's attempt at explaining their presence in Letterman's dressing room by saying, "Why don't you two fellas go find a nice, warm place to screw yourselves? Security!").
In 1997, a special episode was taped in which the studio audience was composed solely of grade-school age children, primarily 5–10 years of age. Conan interacted with the children, encouraging them to laugh and cheer to keep away the boredom monster.
The October 18, 2002 episode was re-shot entirely inclay animation nearly seven months after its first airing, including the opening credits and commercial bumpers. The episode's originally broadcast soundtrack was retained while the visuals were reproduced to mirror the original footage in a small-scale reproduction of the studio 6A.
On October 31, 2006, a similarly conceptualizedHalloween episode was created from an episode which originally aired in May and featuredLarry King, among other guests. Using a process the show called "Skelevision", all the visuals were re-shot with a Halloween motif, withhuman skeletons adorned with the clothing and accessories of the humans. This re-shoot was shot using the actual studio, and the puppeteers moved the skeletons with wires and cables while being visually obscured bygreen screen technology. Once again, the opening and bumpers were altered, this time including a model of a hearse winding through a foggy landscape and cemetery, and the voice ofBill Hader asVincent Price in place ofJoel Godard.
The October 5, 2005 episode ofLate Night was devoted entirely to the bandU2, marking the first time in the show's then 13-year run that it had devoted an entire show to a single guest.[45] Jim Pitt, the talent executive in charge of booking acts for the show, remarked that in his 12 years of working forLate Night, U2 andJohnny Cash were the "dream artists" he'd tried, but never succeeded in getting.[45] The band performed three songs, two more than the customary one song, then had a lengthy interview with Conan.
After two months of being off-air, the first show to air during the2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike on January 2, 2008, featured a small musical segment at the beginning of the show detailing O'Brien's newly grown beard in a show of support for the striking writers. At the beginning of the January 28 episode, it was revealed that Conan had shaved his beard, which was followed with a similar musical segment.
Several times during the episodes produced during the writer's strike, O'Brien would kill time by spinning his wedding ring on his desk, which he previously only did during rehearsals. His personal best was 41 seconds, achieved during an un-aired rehearsal. After several unsuccessful on-air attempts to break his record, during the show originally broadcast on February 9, 2008, O'Brien broke his record for endurance ring spinning, setting a time of 51 seconds by coating his wedding ring withVaseline and spinning it on aTeflon surface. The feat was accomplished with the help ofMITphysics professor Peter Fisher. The strike also gave rise to associate producer Jordan Schlansky's repeated appearances on the show as an exaggerated version of himself.
Early on in the later half of the2007–2008 Writer's Guild strike, Conan O'Brien claimed credit for presidential candidateMike Huckabee's popularity in opinion polling, due to his use of theWalker, Texas Ranger Lever whileChuck Norris was coincidentally sponsoring Huckabee.Stephen Colbert made the claim that because of "the Colbert bump," he was responsible for Huckabee's current success in the 2008 presidential race. O'Brien then claimed to be responsible for Colbert's success; in response,Jon Stewart, host ofThe Daily Show, claimed thathe was responsible for the success of O'Brien, and in turn the success of both Huckabee and Colbert. This resulted in a three-part comedic battle among the three hosts, with all three appearing on each other's shows. The feud ended onLate Night with an all-out mock brawl between the three talk-show hosts.[46]
In 1996, a third anniversary episode was taped, though it aired in the regular 12:35/11:35 late night time slot. The show was composed of clips of the best of the first three years, and featured cameos from many former guests, includingJaneane Garofalo,Scott Thompson,Tony Randall andGeorge Wendt. Typical of O'Brien's style of comedy, he introduced his first guest (Wendt) by listing his notable achievements in television (particularlyCheers) then introduced each subsequent guest by repeatedly listing Wendt's achievements (insinuating that all of his guests for that night's show played the role of Norm onCheers). In 1998,Late Night aired a fifth anniversary special in prime time, mostly consisting of clips from the first five years. It was taped in theSaturday Night Live studio, also in the GE Building. The special was later sold on VHS tape. In 2003, a similar tenth anniversary special was taped in New York City's famedBeacon Theatre and later made available on DVD.
Late Night with Conan O'Brien's last episode was recorded February 20, 2009, and aired shortly after midnight that next morning. The episode featured clips from past shows and a reflection on the show's sixteen-year-long run.John Mayer sent a farewell video message, singing a song about how Los Angeles is "going to eat [Conan] alive" (an ironic foretelling ofthings to come). In a shortremote piece, Conan released regular contributorAbe Vigoda "into the wild," as he could not bring him to Los Angeles for the move toThe Tonight Show.Will Ferrell made a surprise visit asGeorge W. Bush, which quickly devolved into Ferrell tearing off his business suit to reveal an ill-fitting green leprechaun outfit that had been worn in a number of previous appearances on the show.[47]
Former sidekickAndy Richter, who re-joined O'Brien when he took overThe Tonight Show in June, joined O'Brien onstage for two segments, watching clips and reminiscing about the show.[47] Among the clips shown, O'Brien noted that his all-time favoriteLate Night piece was when he attended a re-enactment of anAmerican Civil War-era baseball game, played at a Long Island, New York museum, Old Bethpage Village Restoration. During the course of the final week, O'Brien began violently dismantling and handing out pieces of the production set to the audience. In the final show, a large piece of the stage's frame was pulled down and chopped into pieces. O'Brien then promised to give each audience member in attendance a piece of the set.[47]
One of Conan's favorite bands,The White Stripes, performed a new, slower arrangement of their song "We're Going to Be Friends" based on Conan's lullaby rendition of the song, with drummerMeg White playing second guitar and singing along with vocalist/guitaristJack White. The performance proved to be the band's last before their breakup in February 2011.[48] The song would be used many years later as the theme for O'Brien's podcastConan O'Brien Needs a Friend. The program concluded with a visibly emotional O'Brien giving a farewell speech from behind his desk, thanking his fans, writers, producers, backstage crew, his family,the Max Weinberg 7,David Letterman,Joel Godard,Jay Leno, andLorne Michaels, as well as a final assurance that he would not "grow up" as he moved toThe Tonight Show.[47]
About 3.4 million viewers watched O'Brien's final episode ofLate Night, the largest audience since the January 24, 2005 episode that followedJay Leno's tribute toJohnny Carson.[49]
After the end of the series, Studio 6A at Rockefeller Center was remodeled forThe Dr. Oz Show.[50] In the summer of 2013, NBC movedLate Night with Jimmy Fallon to Studio 6A while 6B, which housedLate Night since Fallon succeeded O'Brien in 2009, was being renovated when Fallon took overThe Tonight Show on February 17, 2014, whileThe Dr. Oz Show moved to ABC's Upper West Side studios.
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[51] |
| 1997 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[51] |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Won[51] | |
| 1998 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[51] |
| 1999 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[51] |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Nominated[51] | |
| 2000 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[51] |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Won[51] | |
| 2001 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[51] |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Nominated[51] | |
| 2002 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[51] |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Won[51][52] | |
| 2003 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[51][52] |
| Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series | Nominated[53] | ||
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Won[51][52] | |
| 2004 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[51][52] |
| Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video for a Series | Nominated[53] | ||
| Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series | Nominated[53] | ||
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Nominated[51] | |
| 2005 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[51][52] |
| Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video for a Series | Nominated[53] | ||
| Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series | Nominated[53] | ||
| People's Choice Award | Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host | Nominated[51] | |
| Telvis Award | Special Telvis | Won[51] | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Won[51] | |
| 2006 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[51][52] |
| Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic, Multi-Camera) for VMC Programming | Nominated[53] | ||
| Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing for a Series | Nominated[53] | ||
| Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video for a Series | Nominated[53] | ||
| Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series | Nominated[53] | ||
| PGA Award | Television Producer of the Year Award in Variety Television | Nominated[53] | |
| People's Choice Award | Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host | Nominated[51] | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Won[51] | |
| 2007 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Won[51][52] |
| Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic, Multi-Camera) for VMC Programming | Nominated[53] | ||
| Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video for a Series | Nominated[53] | ||
| Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series | Nominated[53] | ||
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Nominated[51] | |
| PGA Award | Television Producer of the Year Award in Variety Television | Nominated[53] | |
| 2008 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[51][52] |
| Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic, Multi-Camera) for VMC Programming | Nominated[53] | ||
| Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety, Music Series or a Special | Nominated[53] | ||
| Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video for a Series | Nominated[53] | ||
| 2009 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[51][52] |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Nominated[51] |
 | This section mayrequirecleanup to meet Wikipedia'squality standards. The specific problem is:Listings of international channels are discouraged by theManual of Style. Please helpimprove this section if you can.(June 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Country | TV Network(s) | Weekly Schedule (local time) |
|---|---|---|
 Israel | Yes stars Comedy | 11:15 pm Weeknights |
 Australia | The Comedy Channel | 11:15 pm Weeknights |
 Canada | 'A' | Simulcast with NBC |
 Finland | Sub | Usually starts at 12:00 am Weeknights, otherwise starts during the following hour |
 Sweden | TV4 Plus | Usually starts some time between 11:55 pm and 12:10 am Weeknights |
| The Middle East | Super Comedy | |
| Latin America | I-Sat | 12:30 am Weeknights |
 Turkey | e2 | 11:00 pm Tuesday–Friday |
 Portugal | SIC Radical | |
 Ireland | 3e | Usually starts at 12:00 am Weeknights, otherwise starts during the following hour |
CNBC Europe used to airLate Night with Conan O'Brien on weeknights from 11:45 pm–12:30 am CET, with weekend editions on Saturdays and Sundays at 9:45 pm–10:30 pm CET. However, in March 2007,CNBC Europe decided to show only the weekend editions, and drop the weeknight editions, to make way for more business news programmes in their weeknight schedules.
On the week of August 4, 2008, however, CNBC Europe has discontinued showing theNBC Nightly News, which for many years was shown live from America in a 12:30 am–1:00 am CET slot.Late Night with Conan O'Brien has replacedNBC Nightly News in the 12:30 am–1:00 am slot. The weeknight editions were a 30-minute condensed version of the show. The show followed the weeknight condensed version ofThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno which aired at 12:00 am CET.
In September 2008, CNBC Europe changed the weeknight schedules to include full uncut editions ofLate Night with Conan O'Brien broadcast in the 11:45 am CET/10:45 pm GMT 45-minute time slot. This schedule usually ran from Tuesdays to Fridays. CNBC Europe decided to stop broadcasting Late Night as of January 1, 2009, a mere two months before Conan's last show as host. Instead of followingThe Tonight Show reruns on weekends, CNBC broadcast twoTonight Show episodes in a row.
Leno's last show will be Friday, May 29, and O'Brien will start the following Monday, June 1, NBC executives told a Television Critics Association meeting Monday.
Not so Conan O'Brien. The set of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," at the 30 Rockefeller Center studio his predecessor used, is tidy. The set, which looks like a hip men's club, was inspired by the office of Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of "Late Night" and "Saturday Night Live."
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