Published by: Romani1969

Uploaded on: 2008-12-22 05:43:28

Video Status: down:copyright:NBC Universal.

Down Since: 2009-12-26 18:42:47

Description: This information was taken from: <br />http://tviv.org/Late_Night_with_Conan_O%27Brien<br /><br />History<br /><br />In 1992, when Johnny Carson decided to retire from comedy, David Letterman, the host of Late Night with David Letterman vied for the vacated hosting position for The Tonight Show (reportedly with the blessing of Carson himself) but lost out to Jay Leno. After Letterman left NBC for CBS, NBC was faced with the task of reinventing Late Night entirely.<br /><br />The network brought in Lorne Michaels, executive producer of Saturday Night Live, to develop a new incarnation of Late Night. Michaels suggested O'Brien as a potential host, who was then an unknown writer for The Simpsons but previously worked on SNL with Michaels. When the first choices, Dana Carvey and Garry Shandling, turned down offers to host the show, the series was given to O'Brien despite protests from NBC, who expected a seasoned comedian to take up the gig.<br /><br />The first three years for the series were intensely turbulent behind-the-scenes. O'Brien's contracts were short-term, lasting 13 weeks each, and the series was in constant jeopardy of cancellation. O'Brien's inexperience with being on camera also showed through until he found his groove. On the 10th anniversary special this was mocked by Mr. T, who gave Conan a gold chain with a large seven on it because he had "only been funny for seven" years.<br /><br />In 2000, long-time sidekick Andy Richter left the show in order to pursue an acting career, which caused O'Brien to dramatically refocus his comedy so that his commentary was directed at the audience and the non-sequitor humor became more and more prominent. O'Brien attempted to replace Richter, as such, with Max Weinberg 7 band leader Max Weinberg, but only in small doses which mainly make fun of their lack of chemistry.<br /><br />The series will come to an end in February 2009 when O'Brien leaves the show to replace Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. The Late Night brand will continue with Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, with former Saturday Night Live cast member Jimmy Fallon as the new host.

Tags: Conan O'Brien