CONAN O'BRIEN
Name: Conan Christopher O'Brien
Born: 18 April 1963 Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an Emmy Award-winning
American television host and TV writer, best known as host of NBC's Late Night
with Conan O'Brien.
Conan Christopher O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb of
Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth (nee Reardon), an attorney, and Thomas
Francis O'Brien, a professor of medicine and physician.
He later served as managing editor of his school newspaper and interned for Rep.
Barney Frank.
After graduating from the Brookline High School in 1981 as valedictorian, O'Brien
entered Harvard University and lived in Holworthy Hall during his freshman year.
In his three upper-class years, O'Brien lived in Mather House. Throughout
his college career, he was a writer for the Harvard Lampoon humor magazine.
During his sophomore and junior years, O'Brien served as the Lampoon's president,
making him the second person ever to serve as president twice, and the first
person to have done it in 85 years. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard
University in 1985 with a B.A. in History and Literature.
While attending Harvard, O'Brien was roommates with Damon Krukowski, who later
became drummer for the indie band Galaxie 500. O'Brien had previously bought
himself a drumkit, but had only recently given up playing it and instead
concentrated on playing the guitar. He lent his drumkit to Krukowski, who he
knew would get more use out of it. O'Brien's drum kit can be heard on many of
Galaxie 500's early recordings.
O'Brien moved to Los Angeles after graduation to join the writing staff of HBO's
Not Necessarily the News. He spent two years with that show, and performed
regularly with improvisational groups like The Groundlings. He also acted in
corporate infomercials to earn money during this period.
In January 1988, Saturday Night Live's executive producer Lorne Michaels hired O'Brien
as a writer. During his 3 years on SNL he wrote such recurring sketches as "Mr.
Short-Term Memory" and "The Girl Watchers," the latter of which was first
performed by Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz. O'Brien also co-wrote the sketch "Nude
Beach" with Robert Smigel, a sketch in which the word "penis" was said or sung
at least 42 times.
While on a writers' strike from Saturday Night Live following the 1987-1988
season, O'Brien put on an improvisational comedy revue in Chicago with fellow
SNL writers Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel called Happy Happy Good Show. While
living in Chicago O'Brien briefly was roommates with Jeff Garlin and lived a few
blocks away from Wrigley Field.
In 1989, O'Brien and his fellow SNL writers received an Emmy Award for
Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series.
O'Brien, like many SNL writers, occasionally appeared as an extra in sketches,
including a role as a doorman in a sketch in which Tom Hanks was inducted into
the SNL "Five-Timers Club" for hosting his fifth episode.
From 1991 - 1993, O'Brien was a writer and producer for The Simpsons,
credited as writer or cowriter of four episodes Of all the episodes he wrote,
he considers "Marge vs. the Monorail" to be his favorite. Years later, in his
speech given at Class Day at Harvard in 2000, O'Brien credited The Simpsons
with "saving" him, a reference to the career slump he was experiencing prior to
his hiring for that show. As of 2004, O'Brien's office at The Simpsons was
being used as storage.
O'Brien closes out his audition on the set of the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
at NBC Burbank Studio 1
On April 25, 1993, Lorne Michaels suggested O'Brien try out to be David
Letterman's successor as host of Late Night with David Letterman, with Andy
Richter signed on to be his sidekick. O'Brien auditioned on the set of The
Tonight Show, where he interviewed Mimi Rogers and Jason Alexander. O'Brien
resigned his position on The Simpsons, despite the fact that his contract had
not expired.
Premiering on September 13, Late Night with Conan O'Brien received generally
unfavorable critical reviews for the first 2 to 3 years after its debut. O'Brien
himself, an almost total unknown among the general public before being named
host, was seen by many as not being worthy of the program. NBC even poked fun at
this perception in a radio ad which aired shortly before the show's debut and
had O'Brien relaying an anecdote where someone recognized him on the street and
said, "Look, honey, there's the guy who doesn't deserve his own show!" Another
source of criticism was the fact that O'Brien himself appeared to be very
nervous and awkward during the show's early days. As a self-deprecating nod to
this, the original opening sequence for Late Night With Conan O'Brien was
animated and featured a caricature of O'Brien who sweated and pulled at his
collar nervously.
Conan's rise to Late Night is well documented in the 1994 book, "The Late Shift",
by New York Times television critic Bill Carter.
The show remained on multi-week renewal cycles while NBC decided its fate. By
1996-97, O'Brien's writing and comedic style was thought to have improved, and
he began to develop a growing fan base, especially with high school and college
students, as well as the respect of critics and his peers. O'Brien would later
poke fun at the first three years of the show when on his 10th Anniversary
Special, Mr. T appeared to give O'Brien a gold necklace with a giant "7" on it.
When O'Brien tried to point out that he's actually been on the air for ten years,
Mr. T responded, "I know that, fool...but you've only been funny for seven!"
Since then, O'Brien and the Late Night writing team have consistently been
nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series, and
finally won in 2007. In 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004 he and the Late Night
writing staff won the Writers Guild Award for Best Writing in a Comedy/Variety
Series.
In 2001, he formed his own television production company, Conaco, which has
since shared in the production credits for Late Night.
On the first episode after September 11th, O'Brien went out of character and
told a story of how he went to pray for the first time in eight years, the
previous time was after he was announced as the host of Late Night. O'Brien was
reported to have been shaken up and talked about a need to have faith.
After meeting Finnish actor/director Lauri Nurkse on October 11, 2005, O'Brien
discovered that he was popular in Finland, and began a long running joke that he
resembles the first female President of Finland, Tarja Halonen. After joking
about this for several months (which led to the recurring segment "Conan O'Brien
Hates My Homeland" and his highly advantageous endorsement of her campaign), O'Brien
traveled to Finland and appeared on several television shows, and met President
Halonen. The trip was filmed and aired as a special.
O'Brien ad libbed the fictional website name "hornymanatee.com" on December 4,
2006, after a sketch about the fictional manatee mascot and its inappropriate
web-cam site. NBC opted to purchase the website domain name for $159, since the
website did not previously exist. The network was concerned that someone might
register the domain name and post content with which NBC would not wish to be
associated, or that people would get upset and sue NBC when they found out the
website is fictional. NBC now owns the rights to www.hornymanatee.com for 10
years, as per Conan O'Brien. According to O'Brien, it was decided that, since
NBC owned the name, they might as well create the website. Late Night has since
developed an actual website, which now has received millions of hits, reaching 4
million page views in four days. People send in "horny manatee" artwork, poems,
and other content. According to the Alexa website ranking system, Hornymanatee.com
has had over 10 million web hits.
A popular recurring bit on the show is Pale Force, a series of animated episodes
in which comedian Jim Gaffigan and O'Brien are superheroes who fight crime with
their "paleness." As Gaffigan introduces each new episode, O'Brien protests the
portrayal of his character as cowardly, weak and incontinent.
As of October 2005, Late Night with Conan O'Brien had for eleven years
consistently attracted an audience averaging about 2.5 million viewers.
In 2004, O'Brien was named as Jay Leno's replacement when he leaves the "Tonight
Show" in 2009. Leno stated on the show that he wanted to avoid a repeat of the
controversy and hard feelings that resulted when he was chosen by NBC to host
the Tonight Show over David Letterman.
In 2008, Conan O'Brien staged a mock fight against Comedy Central's Jon Stewart
and Stephen Colbert over taking credit on giving Mike Huckabee's campaign a "bump."
This fight crossed over all three television shows and across two networks.
Name: Conan Christopher O'Brien
Born: 18 April 1963 Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an Emmy Award-winning
American television host and TV writer, best known as host of NBC's Late Night
with Conan O'Brien.
Conan Christopher O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb of
Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth (nee Reardon), an attorney, and Thomas
Francis O'Brien, a professor of medicine and physician.
He later served as managing editor of his school newspaper and interned for Rep.
Barney Frank.
After graduating from the Brookline High School in 1981 as valedictorian, O'Brien
entered Harvard University and lived in Holworthy Hall during his freshman year.
In his three upper-class years, O'Brien lived in Mather House. Throughout
his college career, he was a writer for the Harvard Lampoon humor magazine.
During his sophomore and junior years, O'Brien served as the Lampoon's president,
making him the second person ever to serve as president twice, and the first
person to have done it in 85 years. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard
University in 1985 with a B.A. in History and Literature.
While attending Harvard, O'Brien was roommates with Damon Krukowski, who later
became drummer for the indie band Galaxie 500. O'Brien had previously bought
himself a drumkit, but had only recently given up playing it and instead
concentrated on playing the guitar. He lent his drumkit to Krukowski, who he
knew would get more use out of it. O'Brien's drum kit can be heard on many of
Galaxie 500's early recordings.
O'Brien moved to Los Angeles after graduation to join the writing staff of HBO's
Not Necessarily the News. He spent two years with that show, and performed
regularly with improvisational groups like The Groundlings. He also acted in
corporate infomercials to earn money during this period.
In January 1988, Saturday Night Live's executive producer Lorne Michaels hired O'Brien
as a writer. During his 3 years on SNL he wrote such recurring sketches as "Mr.
Short-Term Memory" and "The Girl Watchers," the latter of which was first
performed by Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz. O'Brien also co-wrote the sketch "Nude
Beach" with Robert Smigel, a sketch in which the word "penis" was said or sung
at least 42 times.
While on a writers' strike from Saturday Night Live following the 1987-1988
season, O'Brien put on an improvisational comedy revue in Chicago with fellow
SNL writers Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel called Happy Happy Good Show. While
living in Chicago O'Brien briefly was roommates with Jeff Garlin and lived a few
blocks away from Wrigley Field.
In 1989, O'Brien and his fellow SNL writers received an Emmy Award for
Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series.
O'Brien, like many SNL writers, occasionally appeared as an extra in sketches,
including a role as a doorman in a sketch in which Tom Hanks was inducted into
the SNL "Five-Timers Club" for hosting his fifth episode.
From 1991 - 1993, O'Brien was a writer and producer for The Simpsons,
credited as writer or cowriter of four episodes Of all the episodes he wrote,
he considers "Marge vs. the Monorail" to be his favorite. Years later, in his
speech given at Class Day at Harvard in 2000, O'Brien credited The Simpsons
with "saving" him, a reference to the career slump he was experiencing prior to
his hiring for that show. As of 2004, O'Brien's office at The Simpsons was
being used as storage.
O'Brien closes out his audition on the set of the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
at NBC Burbank Studio 1
On April 25, 1993, Lorne Michaels suggested O'Brien try out to be David
Letterman's successor as host of Late Night with David Letterman, with Andy
Richter signed on to be his sidekick. O'Brien auditioned on the set of The
Tonight Show, where he interviewed Mimi Rogers and Jason Alexander. O'Brien
resigned his position on The Simpsons, despite the fact that his contract had
not expired.
Premiering on September 13, Late Night with Conan O'Brien received generally
unfavorable critical reviews for the first 2 to 3 years after its debut. O'Brien
himself, an almost total unknown among the general public before being named
host, was seen by many as not being worthy of the program. NBC even poked fun at
this perception in a radio ad which aired shortly before the show's debut and
had O'Brien relaying an anecdote where someone recognized him on the street and
said, "Look, honey, there's the guy who doesn't deserve his own show!" Another
source of criticism was the fact that O'Brien himself appeared to be very
nervous and awkward during the show's early days. As a self-deprecating nod to
this, the original opening sequence for Late Night With Conan O'Brien was
animated and featured a caricature of O'Brien who sweated and pulled at his
collar nervously.
Conan's rise to Late Night is well documented in the 1994 book, "The Late Shift",
by New York Times television critic Bill Carter.
The show remained on multi-week renewal cycles while NBC decided its fate. By
1996-97, O'Brien's writing and comedic style was thought to have improved, and
he began to develop a growing fan base, especially with high school and college
students, as well as the respect of critics and his peers. O'Brien would later
poke fun at the first three years of the show when on his 10th Anniversary
Special, Mr. T appeared to give O'Brien a gold necklace with a giant "7" on it.
When O'Brien tried to point out that he's actually been on the air for ten years,
Mr. T responded, "I know that, fool...but you've only been funny for seven!"
Since then, O'Brien and the Late Night writing team have consistently been
nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series, and
finally won in 2007. In 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004 he and the Late Night
writing staff won the Writers Guild Award for Best Writing in a Comedy/Variety
Series.
In 2001, he formed his own television production company, Conaco, which has
since shared in the production credits for Late Night.
On the first episode after September 11th, O'Brien went out of character and
told a story of how he went to pray for the first time in eight years, the
previous time was after he was announced as the host of Late Night. O'Brien was
reported to have been shaken up and talked about a need to have faith.
After meeting Finnish actor/director Lauri Nurkse on October 11, 2005, O'Brien
discovered that he was popular in Finland, and began a long running joke that he
resembles the first female President of Finland, Tarja Halonen. After joking
about this for several months (which led to the recurring segment "Conan O'Brien
Hates My Homeland" and his highly advantageous endorsement of her campaign), O'Brien
traveled to Finland and appeared on several television shows, and met President
Halonen. The trip was filmed and aired as a special.
O'Brien ad libbed the fictional website name "hornymanatee.com" on December 4,
2006, after a sketch about the fictional manatee mascot and its inappropriate
web-cam site. NBC opted to purchase the website domain name for $159, since the
website did not previously exist. The network was concerned that someone might
register the domain name and post content with which NBC would not wish to be
associated, or that people would get upset and sue NBC when they found out the
website is fictional. NBC now owns the rights to www.hornymanatee.com for 10
years, as per Conan O'Brien. According to O'Brien, it was decided that, since
NBC owned the name, they might as well create the website. Late Night has since
developed an actual website, which now has received millions of hits, reaching 4
million page views in four days. People send in "horny manatee" artwork, poems,
and other content. According to the Alexa website ranking system, Hornymanatee.com
has had over 10 million web hits.
A popular recurring bit on the show is Pale Force, a series of animated episodes
in which comedian Jim Gaffigan and O'Brien are superheroes who fight crime with
their "paleness." As Gaffigan introduces each new episode, O'Brien protests the
portrayal of his character as cowardly, weak and incontinent.
As of October 2005, Late Night with Conan O'Brien had for eleven years
consistently attracted an audience averaging about 2.5 million viewers.
In 2004, O'Brien was named as Jay Leno's replacement when he leaves the "Tonight
Show" in 2009. Leno stated on the show that he wanted to avoid a repeat of the
controversy and hard feelings that resulted when he was chosen by NBC to host
the Tonight Show over David Letterman.
In 2008, Conan O'Brien staged a mock fight against Comedy Central's Jon Stewart
and Stephen Colbert over taking credit on giving Mike Huckabee's campaign a "bump."
This fight crossed over all three television shows and across two networks.