Late Night with Conan O'Brien

Late Night with Conan O'Brien
The HD title frame from the opening of Late Night
Created by	Lorne Michaels
Starring	Conan O'Brien The Max Weinberg 7 Andy Richter (1993–2000)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	2,370 (as of February 24, 2007)
Production
Running time	60 minutes per episode
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 13, 1993 – present (planned to end in 2009)

Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late night talk show on NBC, that is also syndicated worldwide. The show, hosted by Conan O'Brien, features varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and stand-up comedy performances. Late Night airs weeknights at 12:37 a.m. Eastern / 11:37 p.m. Central in the United States and Canada. CNBC Europe airs the show only on the weekends.

The show's band is The Max Weinberg 7, led by Max Weinberg.

O'Brien is currently scheduled to leave Late Night in 2009 to host The Tonight Show, the late night show that precedes Late Night that is currently hosted by Jay Leno.

O'Brien's show originated as a replacement for Late Night with David Letterman, after David Letterman left NBC to create a Tonight Show competitor on CBS. For almost the first seven years of the show Andy Richter served as O'Brien's comedy sidekick.

History

Upon Johnny Carson’s retirement from The Tonight Show in 1992, executives at NBC announced Carson's frequent guest-host Jay Leno would be Carson's replacement, despite Carson's professed desire to see the torch passed to David Letterman. NBC later confirmed that Letterman's high ratings in the Late Night time slot led them to keep him where he was. Letterman was reportedly bitterly disappointed and angry at not having been given the Tonight Show job, and, reportedly on Carson’s advice, departed NBC in 1993 after eleven years of Late Night. CBS signed Letterman to host his own show opposite The Tonight Show. He moved his show over to CBS virtually unchanged, taking most of the staff, skits, and comedy formats with him. However, NBC owned the rights to the Late Night name, forcing Letterman to re-christen his show The Late Show.

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O'Brien closes out his audition on the set of The Tonight Show.

NBC was faced with an unexpected need to replace not just Letterman, but Late Night itself. They still owned the name, but needed to essentially build a new show from scratch. Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels was brought in to develop the new show and auditions were held for the host. Michaels had suggested to O'Brien, a then-unknown comedy writer at The Simpsons, that he should audition for the job, which he did on April 13, 1993. The show was first offered to Dana Carvey and Garry Shandling, who both turned it down. O'Brien was offered the show on April 26, 1993.

O'Brien's Late Night was rushed into production and debuted on September 13, 1993, with Andy Richter as O'Brien's sidekick. The premiere episode featured John Goodman (who received a "First Guest" medal for his appearance), Drew Barrymore, and Tony Randall. The episode featured a cold open of O'Brien's walk to the studio with constant reminders that he was expected to live up to Letterman, parodying a popular sentiment expressed in the media at the time. After seeming to be unaffected by the comments, O'Brien arrives at his dressing room and cheerfully prepares to hang himself. However, a warning that the show was about to start causes him to abandon his plans.

O'Brien's on-camera inexperience showed and the show's first three years were generally considered mediocre. O'Brien, an unknown, was constantly at risk of being fired: NBC had him renewing short-term contracts, thirteen weeks at a time. He was reportedly on the brink of being fired at least once in this period, but NBC had no one with whom to replace him. The show, and O'Brien, slowly improved through experience, and the show's ratings gradually improved to a level which allowed O'Brien to secure a longer contract, and not have to worry about cancellation.

In 2000, Richter left Late Night to pursue his acting career. The show's comedy bits and banter had usually depended on O'Brien's interaction with Richter, and the departure resulted in a notable difference in the show's style. O'Brien's wacky non sequitur comedy became more pronounced as he played all of his comedy and commentary directly to the audience instead of towards Richter.

Ratings and reviews continued to improve for Late Night and in 2002, when time came to renew his contract, O'Brien had notable offers from other networks to defect. 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.

In 2003, O'Brien's own production company, Conaco, was added as a producer of Late Night. The show celebrated its 10^th 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: But Mr. T, we've been on the air for ten years!
Mr. T: I know that, fool, but you only been funny for seven!

Talent

The show's house band is The Max Weinberg 7, led by drummer Max Weinberg, who also serves as a sounding board for O'Brien on the show (more notably since Andy Richter's departure). The other six members are Mark Pender on trumpet, Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg on trombone, Mike Merritt on bass, Jerry Vivino on saxophone and brother Jimmy Vivino on guitar, and Scott Healy on keyboard. One of O'Brien's long-running jokes is that there's a lack of chemistry between O'Brien and Weinberg, made evident in their banter. "LaBamba" is also used as the butt of many of Conan's jokes and Mark Pender is also a talented singer who is known for his hilarious songs on current events where he rages out of control. Bassist Mike Merritt, the only African-American member of the group, was also featured in a series of skits in the Fall of 2006, parodying Survivor: Cook Islands in which the band was divided up by race in a series of music competitions. A couple of skits have made fun of the band's lack of talent or penchant for laziness and drunkenness, but in reality they are very accomplished musicians. Jimmy and Jerry Vivino as well as Mark Merritt and Mark Pender all have successful side careers as studio musicians and have contributed to many movie soundtracks.

Following a format featuring in many talk shows with live bands, the Max Weinberg 7 plays the show's opening and closing themes, plays into and out of commercial breaks (they actually play through the entire break for the studio audience), and also plays after O'Brien's monologue as he goes to his desk. The show's opening theme was written by Howard Shore and John Lurie (a finalist for the job as band leader). The show's closing theme was written by Jimmy and Jerry Vivino (members of The Max Weinberg 7), and was lifted off of their first album together.

The band plays a wide variety of songs during the show's commercial breaks — usually popular music from a variety of eras. Weinberg sometimes takes extended leaves of absence to tour with Bruce Springsteen as the drummer for his E Street Band. During his absence, temporary replacement drummers are hired, and the band is led by Jimmy Vivino ("Jimmy Vivino and the Max Weinberg 7").

Joel Godard, a long-time announcer for NBC shows (including the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade), has been the show's announcer and an occasional comedy contributor since O'Brien started hosting the show.

Members of the show's writing staff frequently appear in sketches on the show. The most prolific of them is Brian McCann, who also performs the audience warmup before tapings. McCann's recurring sketch characters include the "FedEx Pope" and "Preparation H Raymond." Other frequent performing writers (with some of their recurring characters) include Brian Stack (Hannigan the Traveling salesman, The Offensive Radio Singer Ghost), Kevin Dorff (Coked-up werewolf, Mansy the half-man/half-pansy), and Andy Blitz (Awful Ballgame Chanter, Vin Diesel's brother, Leonard Diesel). Blitz went so far as to travel to India for one skit in which he carried his computer through the streets of India to get computer help firsthand from the telephone representative at NBC's technical help center.

Late Night employs a number of extras, many of whom are frequently reused in different episodes. O'Brien's show also launched the career of Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. Amy Poehler has appeared as a bit player on Conan O'Brien as well as SNL writer J.B. Smoove (in a Terrell Owens parody).

Production

Late Night is a production of Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video (and, since 2003, O'Brien's Conaco). It is taped in studio 6A at the GE Building in New York City; the same studio in which Letterman, Carson, and Jack Paar each hosted shows. The studio holds just over 200 audience members. The show is taped at about 5:30 p.m., and is taped as an uninterrupted hour-long program, with the band playing music through the portions that will be filled by commercials. New episodes are usually taped from Monday to Friday. Between December 1995 and September 2006, the show aired a rerun on Mondays. The show also routinely airs entire weeks of reruns while the staff takes the week off. The show will sometimes film remotes during these breaks.

The show's format typically consists of an opening monologue from O'Brien, followed by a "desk bit" — a comedy piece which occurs while O'Brien is at his desk. In the show's second act and fourth acts (segments between commercial breaks), O'Brien interviews two celebrity guests, between which in the third act O'Brien lists the next night's/week's guests. There is often a comedy bit as well during this segment. The show's fifth act is usually reserved for a musical or stand-up comedy performance, or occasionally another guest interview. The show's final act is usually a quick "goodnight" and the closing credits, which sometimes features part of an earlier sketch.

Conan poking fun at the show's new HDTV widescreen format.

Broadcast

Late Night began broadcasting in 1080i ATSC on April 26 2005, with a downscaled letterboxed NTSC simulcast (unlike The Tonight Show, whose NTSC simulcast is fullscreen). Conan celebrated the conversion to the widescreen HDTV format with jokes throughout the week.

On December 6, 2005 Late Night with Conan O'Brien segments began selling on the iTunes 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.

Location/Special episodes

"Remotes" (pieces shot on location) have always been a staple on Late Night, but occasionally entire episodes have been shot on location. These are usually in correlation to sweeps 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 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 the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Canada. The shows were highly publicized, and demand for tickets was significant. Those desiring tickets e-mailed in and tickets were distributed by a lottery system. Despite the inhospitable winter weather, line-ups for the shows stretched around city blocks and some fans lined up the night before the shows to get good seats. More tickets than seats were distributed, and many without tickets lined up in hopes to get standby tickets, but were turned away. By the Friday taping, fans were encouraged not to bother. Those with tickets that could not fit in the main theatre were allowed to go to the Winter Garden Theatre (above the Elgin) to watch the show on a closed circuit feed from downstairs. The guests for these episodes were all Canadians, with the exception of Adam Sandler, and included such stars as Jim Carrey and Mike 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. A Toronto-themed backdrop painting was hung at the back of the stage, and a copy of the New York desk (with maple leaves on its front instead of circles), a maple leaf coffee table and a standard guest chair and couch were on a riser at center stage. O'Brien did his monologues standing in front of this area. The stage was otherwise bare. Max's drumkit was on the end of stage-right, while the rest of the band was placed in the lower private boxes next to the stage. Joel did his announcing from the upper box nearest the stage on the same side.

From May 9-12, 2006, the show made a very similar venture to the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, taking cues from their previous trip to Toronto. Between April 30-May 4, 2007, the show originated from the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, California.

One episode, on March 10, 2006, was compiled mainly of footage from O'Brien's trip to Finland, though the episode was not strictly taped as a live episode there, and was prefaced by an introduction by O'Brien taped in New York.

Aside from more "traditional" 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 NY 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.

Another, more unexpected, "location" shoot occurred on October 10, 1996, when a five-alarm fire in Rockefeller Plaza rendered the 6A studios out-of-commission for the remainder of that week. The fire happened 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, Conan taped the show outside, near the outside walking area in front of 30 Rock, after dark. Being October, it was quite chilly outside, and despite Conan and company being bundled up in winter jackets, they were still visibly cold (Max Weinberg could be seen huffing hot air onto his hands during the opening strains of one of the night's numerous fire-themed cover songs.) 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: "We were supposed to have you on, and let [the birds] fly around the studio, and it would have been GREAT, then fire destroys our studio, we have to tape outside, and so we have to keep the birds tied up. You were the worst possible guest we could have scheduled for tonight!" (paraphrased) Earlier in the show, Conan and Andy walked into a nearby department store, camera crew in tow, and bought a massaging leather recliner for the first guest, Samuel L. Jackson. Chris Kattan was also a guest on this episode. The second of the two "fire shows," on Friday night, was taped in the Today Show studio, which wasn't affected by the fire. Conan and company dressed in conservative sweater vests and had the Sauer family as their in-studio "audience." Conan's guests were Eric Idle, Peter Gallagher and Los Lobos.

During the Northeast Blackout of 2003, Conan and the staff taped a short 5-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.

Other shows that were taped in the regular 6A studio were augmented by special gimmicks: "Time Travel Week," four episodes from early 1996, where Conan and Andy (and the rest of the crew) "time-travelled" to a different point in time each night. Times/locations included The Civil War, Ancient Greece, The Future and The Early 80s (featuring a cameo by David 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 1998, a special episode was taped where the studio audience was comprised solely of grade-school age children, primarily 5-10 years of age. Conan interacted with the children in innovative ways, respecting their intelligence and getting them to boo whenever the guest became too long-winded and boring.

A 2003 episode was reshot entirely in clay animation several 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 conceptualized Halloween episode was created from an episode which originally aired in May and featured Larry King, among other guests. Using a process the show called "Skelevision", all the visuals were reshot with human skeletons adorned with a few identifying articles of clothing and accessories (such as Larry King's suspenders) in place of all humans, including those in photographs. This reshoot was shot using the actual studio, and the puppeteers moved the skeletons with wires and cables while being visually obscured by green screen technology. Once again, the opening and bumpers were altered, this time including a model of a hearse funeral car winding through a foggy landscape and cemetery, and a ghoulish intro announcer in place of Joel Godard.

Anniversary episodes

In 1996, a 3^rd Anniversary episode was taped, though it aired in the regular 12:35/11:35 late night time slot. The show was comprised of clips of the best of the first three years, and featured cameos from many former guests, including Janeane Garafalo, Scott Thompson, Tony Randall and George Wendt. In 1998, Late Night aired a 5^th anniversary special in prime time, mostly consisting of clips from the first five years. It was taped in the Saturday Night Live studio, also in the GE Building. The special was later sold on VHS tape. In 2003, a similar 10^th anniversary special was taped in New York City's famed Beacon Theater.

Set design

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The major variations of the desk area on the set of Late Night, including the set from the show's trip to L.A.

Late Night has gone through a number of set changes, including several complete redesigns which have come to be used by fans somewhat as denoting 'eras' of the show. Each set has basically had the same structure, however, with changes being primarily cosmetic. The set is broken into two areas: The desk area, to the viewer's right, where interviews are done, and the performance space at the viewer's left. The desk area has always been designed with 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. The area is designed with some type of facade. The performance area is where The Max Weinberg 7 are, in the corner between the stage-right wall and the wall in front of the audience. O'Brien does his monologue in this area, emerging at the start of each episode from the area where musical guests perform.

The set in the premiere episode featured a desk area that had mustard colored walls with pictures on them, and was designed with the facade of a living room. The desk was rather plain with ribbed columns at the corners. A typical house window with blinds and curtains, as well as a door were on the wall behind the chair and couch (which matched the curtains). The window looked out upon New York and featured the Empire State Building. Above the window, too high to see in most shots, a piece of the wall was cutaway with a view of a full moon. The most notable and recognizable element of this set was the desk fan between O'Brien and Richter. Two items were on his desk that remain to this day: A microphone to his right, which O'Brien often uses in bouts of randomness, and a mug which was a gift to O'Brien which features random words and phrases such as he is known to spout. The mug was once accidentally broken and had to be recreated. By 1994, a mug in the shape of a bust of Dwight Eisenhower filled with pencils also found a home there. The performance space was done in blue, with a blue curtain between the musical guest area and the monologue area, and stars projected on the floor. Most of the band formed a line on a riser in front of the audience wall with generic music orchestral stands, aside from the keyboardist who sat in the corner, and Max who had his own riser against the stage-right wall.

The set was tweaked significantly in the early days of the show. The band was given more decorative risers, and most of the members were given podium-style music stands. The desk area was also changed, most notably by the addition of a much larger window behind O'Brien where there had previously been a simple wall. The Empire State building was moved to this new window, along with the Twin Towers, which had previously been added to the original window. In the old window, the Chrysler Building took their place, though the two views continued to be tweaked over the years. The full moon was eventually reportedly removed. The carpet was also changed from a sandy color to a mauve. In 1996, a few other changes were made including leaving the curtains open for the monologue, and a new bandstand. Max got a new red drum riser, and the rest of the band got a two-level bandstand - a format still used today.

The first major overhaul to the set came during the 1996 Olympic break. The new desk area facade featured a balcony instead of windows. At the sides of the set, as walls, were a checkerboard of blue and purple cushioned panels. The guest chair and sofa were replaced with a more traditional shaped set in a purple-blue, with yellow wavy-lined pattern. Behind the desk and the guest chair, was a lattice of metal bars forming a transparent wall. Behind the wall was a stone balcony edge, beyond which was a cityscape. Many buildings were depicted, and they were much "closer" to the set than in the original windows. Buildings spanned past the ceiling of the backdrop, and none appeared to be actual well-known New York City buildings. A new desk and coffee table were constructed, similar to the originals, except with a diamond-like set of columns instead of the ribbed rings. The desk was also placed parallel to the chair and couch for the first time. The rest of the set was also redressed in accordance with the style of the desk area. Four black & white pictures hung on the wall to the right of the desk (possibly also present on the original set), of Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, and David Letterman as a tribute to those who have hosted late night shows in New York City. Allen, Paar, and Carson have died during O'Brien's reign as Late Night host; after each of their passings, O'Brien took the time to remember them on the show, discussing personal anecdotes and how each one was supportive of him when he first started hosting Late Night. The pictures hang in about the same spot on the current set.

In mid-1998, the set was retooled again. However, the only major change came to the backdrop behind the balcony in the desk area. Instead of the grey and off-white dominated background of many close buildings, the backdrop was replaced by a blue sky with only a handful of buildings in the distance, mainly in silhouette with lights. The Chrysler Building was the only building "near" the set, behind the guest chair, while the Empire State Building was farther away between the chair and the desk. The light blue faded to darker blue at the top of the set and a few stars were visible, along with a large full moon well to the right of the desk. The camera rarely caught the backdrop high enough to see this part of the set though.

The backdrop continued to be retooled and in early 1999, the sky was darkened to a deep blue fading to a purple horizon, and a starfield was added. The buildings were also given some more realistic detail, and the full moon was retouched into a crescent moon. New lighting was added, and lighting of both the desk area and the performance area would continue to be periodically tweaked from time to time. By 2001, more purple had been added to the sky.

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(clockwise) The latest desk area; before 9/11, with the curtain blocking the Twin Towers, with the Twin Towers removed, and with the curtain returned as decoration.

In late August 2001, while the show was on break, the set was completely redone for the second time in the show's history. The balcony concept was used again, but instead of a fake window separating the balcony, the balcony rail was directly behind the seating area. A new desk, with a field of circles within squares on its front was created, and a new chair and sofa were brought in, with a pattern of multi-colored layered squares. The view behind the balcony was a fairly realistic (relative to past sets) view of New York City looking south from a tall building, though it is by no means geographically accurate. The buildings were far away and only the Empire State Building, between the desk and chair, and the Twin Towers, slightly to the right, were notable. The Chrysler Building was off to the right of the desk near what would be the Hudson River - not where the building would actually be. Unlike past sets, almost all of the buildings on the backdrop reached no higher than the head of a seated guest. Most of the backdrop was plain sky, though the crescent moon from the previous set remained in about the same position. In the performance area, the back wall which previously appeared to be an un-dressed studio wall was fitted with a pattern of blue triangular outcroppings. The floor had a similar circles within squares pattern to the desk, and the monologue and musical performance area had new squared arches framing it. The band also got a new performance area, laid out the same as the previous one. From the ceiling of the desk area, several white orbs could be lowered, which O'Brien showed off in the set's debut. The orbs have never been used functionally on the show aside from as decor.

Tragically, and in a case of bad timing, the September 11 attacks occurred about a week after the new set's debut. Late Night, like the other late night shows went on hiatus again after the attacks. When they returned, a curtain had been added behind the balcony with gathered material at intervals designed to obstruct the spot where the Twin Towers were depicted. After having a chance to retouch the backdrop image and remove the Twin Towers, the curtain was again removed. The buildings were also retouched, with more light showing in the skyline. More contrast was added to the sky as well as a light starfield. Perhaps deciding that vast sky was too plain of a backdrop, the decorative curtain was once again added, without the bunched material. Like the past set, color tweaks continued to be made for a while after, but the set has remained fairly unchanged since the curtain was re-added.

Trivia

• In response to the fact that The Tonight Show and The Late Show frequently cover the Eastern Time Zone New Year's Eve countdown, Late Night has done a farcical Central Time Zone countdown for several years. The bit has been in hiatus since 2004, as subsequent New Year's Eves in 2005 and 2006 fell on a weekend.
• The words "Late Night" can be seen in the current backdrop just below the balcony rail when the camera shoots the first guest chair. Depending on what angle the camera shoots at, it is often visible over one of the guest's shoulders.
• In the Philippines, Late Night is shown seven days a week. This includes re-runs at 5 a.m. and 2 p.m.
• In Finland, Late Night with Conan O'Brien airs approximately at 23:00 local time on SubTV, with a repeat at 16:00 the next day.
• In some parts of Europe, Late Night with Conan O'Brien is no longer shown on weekdays, and only airs one episode on the weekends.
• Awarded a 2006 High Times "Stony Award" for Best Late-Night Talk Show.

See also

• Characters from Late Night with Conan O'Brien
• Sketches from Late Night with Conan O'Brien
• Pale Force

External links

• Late Night with Conan O’Brien’s official website
• HornyManatee.com as seen on the show.
• ConanVsBear.com — Independently launched in 2005 in which artists send in artwork based on the premise of Conan fighting bears.
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien at IMDb
• Late Night with Conan O’Brien at JumpTheShark.com
• Transcript of Conan’s monologue from his first show after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
• Late Night HD Bumper Gallery — A collection of Hi-Def bumpers from Late Night
• Conan, a musical — A musical stage-show parody/tribute
• Bring back Leno and Conan - A petiton for CNBC Europe to re-instate the airing of the Tonight Show and Late Night