Title: Late Night with Conan O'Brien
As Host: Conan O'Brien (1993 to 2009)
Previous Host: David Letterman (1982 to 1993)
Current Host: Jimmy Fallon (2009 to ??). Note: For an overview of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, look under Jimmy Fallon's category.
Band Leader: Max Weinberg (1993 to 2009)
Former Band Leader: Paul Shaffer (1982 to 1993)
Band: The Max Weinberg 7
Announcer: Joel Godard
Personalities: Andy Richter, Robert Smigel, Amy Poehler, Brian Stack, , Brian McCann, James Eason, Mary Ann Hannon, Iris Delgado, Kevin Dorff
Format: One-hour, classic format (host behind the desk)
Network: NBC (from Feb. 1982 to June 1993 as Late Night with David Letterman)
Broadcasts: Weeknights, 12:35 p.m. to 1:35 a.m. ET
Tapes: Weekday afternoons around 5:30 p.m. prior to evening broadcast
Premiere Date: September 13, 1993
Originating From: New York City
Overview:
Late Night with Conan O'Brien follows what is considered the standard late-night talk show format:
- Open with topical monologue
- Follow with banter and a comedy bit from behind the talk show host’s desk
- Introduce the first guest
- Introduce second guest
- Inject a mid-show comedy sketch
- Introduce third guest, usually a stand-up comic or musical guest
- End with a short comic closing
Unique to Late Night is the program’s “End of Show Song,” sung by O’Brien to his audience after taping has stopped. It is said this tradition has never – and will never – air on television.
Late Night is known for its absurdist and scatological humor. O’Brien, a Harvard grad and known as a whip-smart comedy writer prior to his talk show host debut (he worked on both Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons before taking over for David Letterman), is perhaps the first Generation X late night talk show host. His style of humor feeds the show’s sensibility and set him apart early on from the talk show hosts of his day – Letterman and Jay Leno.
The show is known for giving Saturday Night Live star Amy Poehler one of her first break’s (she played Andy Richter’s kid sister with a huge crush on Conan) and introducing the world to Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the irrepressible plastic dog puppet commanded by comedian Robert Smigel (also known for his SNL “Saturday TV Funhouse” cartoons).
What’s the connection between Late Night and SNL? Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of both (and Conan’s stint as a writer on SNL). It also answers the question why Jimmy Fallon is next in line to host the show, when O’Brien leaves in 2009 for The Tonight Show desk.
Popular Segments:
Celebrity Secrets: Conan invites celebrity guests to pre-tape this comedy segment, during which the celebrity reveals a “secret” about their past. For example, on segment found actor Michael Caine telling audience members that he was convinced the 'MC' in MC Hammer's name stood for Michael Caine. “When I found out it didn't,” Caine says, “I destroyed his career.”
Desk Driving: One of my favorites and at its best when Andy Richter was O’Brien’s sidekick. This sketch typically reveals that O’Brien’s desk is secretly mobile – steering wheel and all. Green screen special effects allow the desk to zip off like a racecar and drive through exotic locations. Usually, O’Brien will leave the studio by “driving” off the stage, up through the audience and out the front door. Destinations have included the forest, a mall, dance clubs and, if I remember correctly, the Great Wall of China.
If They Mated: Popular almost since the beginning of the show, this segment answers the question “What would the offspring of celebrity A and celebrity B look like?” by showing a goofy amalgam of the celebrity’s pictures. Usually it ends by asking the question of two oddball celebrities and then showing the image of an actual person – such as Frankenstein and Dracula’s offspring being Michael Jackson.
In the Year 2000: Set to eerie music, O’Brien makes goofy predictions of what life will be like in the Year 2000. The sketch began in the late 1990s, but – eight years past the year 2000 – the show has retained the title and the reference for comic effect.
