Conan O'Brien: From Harvard Yard to Comedy Icon
Conan Christopher O'Brien, born on April 18, 1963, is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. His journey from the hallowed halls of Harvard University to the forefront of late-night television is a testament to his unique comedic sensibilities, relentless work ethic, and genuine connection with people. O'Brien is best known for hosting late-night talk shows, beginning with Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993-2009) and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (2009-2010) on NBC, and Conan (2010-2021) on TBS. Before his hosting career, O'Brien was a writer for Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons.
Early Life and Harvard Years: The Making of a Comedian
Growing up in Brookline, Massachusetts, as the third of six children in a large Irish Catholic family, O'Brien was raised by his father, Dr. Thomas O'Brien, a physician and Harvard Medical School professor, and his mother, Ruth O'Brien, an attorney. According to former roommate Luis A. Ubiñas '85, O'Brien's middle-child status forced him to cultivate two important skills: watching and communicating.
After graduating as valedictorian from Brookline High School, O'Brien arrived at Harvard full of contagious energy. Ubiñas recalled his first impression: "My first impression was that he was incredibly tall and incredibly red-he seemed seven feet tall to me and that giant shock of unruly red hair was unlike anything you’ve ever seen."
O'Brien's Harvard years were marked by his involvement with the Harvard Lampoon, a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization that occasionally published a so-called humor magazine. By his sophomore year, O'Brien had been elected Lampoon President-a role that suited him beautifully, according to friend Edward L. Widmer '84, who said O'Brien had "the body of Abraham Lincoln and the head of Martin Van Buren." He became the first leader in the magazine’s 134-year history to reign for two terms.
O'Brien's comedic talent and observational skills were evident even then. His Holworthy 16 and later Mather House roommate Eric B. Reiff ’85 recalled an incident where O'Brien composed a musical ode to an elderly gentleman who worked the desk at Lamont Library. "Book checker, book checker, please check my book! Open my bag, please take a look-Book checker, book checker, please check my book, Oooooh book checker!" O'Brien would sing, his "impeccable mock cockney accent ringing out into the night." Reiff noted, "Most of us are not walking around making up musical comedies in our heads when we’re 18 or 19-years-old." Reiff said, “Conan does not have an elitist bone in his body,” Reiff said. “He is as interested in what the book checker says as what some eminent professor says-and is open to the idea that the book checker might be funnier.”
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One day in 1984, O’Brien and a few ’Poon affiliates masqueraded as security guards while a decoy in a penguin costume made a grand entrance into a Science Center hall where actor Burt Ward was displaying his Batman costume. According to Widmer’s version of the tale, the penguin unleashed the code words: “Riddle me this, boy wonder: when is a security guard not a security guard?” At that moment, the boys hit the lights and dashed towards the costume. In the ensuing chaos, O’Brien managed to snatch the costume away.
Despite his comedic pursuits, O'Brien took his academics seriously. A History and Literature concentrator, O’Brien crafted a senior thesis entitled “The ‘Old Child’ in Faulkner and O’Connor.” The 72-page typewritten work argues that the New South’s emerging identity is manifested in the literature of William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor via the motif of children that age too quickly, a phenomenon O’Brien termed “literary progeria.”
From SNL to The Simpsons: Honing His Craft
After Harvard, O'Brien moved to Los Angeles and wrote for Not Necessarily the News. He then joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live from 1988 to 1991, where he won an Emmy Award for his writing. In 1991, after the failure of his sitcom and an engagement that fell through, O'Brien left SNL, citing burnout.
Mike Reiss and Al Jean, then showrunners of The Simpsons, offered O'Brien a job as a writer and producer for the show. From 1991 to 1993, O'Brien contributed to some of the series' most acclaimed episodes, including "Marge vs. the Monorail" and "Homer Goes to College". He also has sole writing credits on "New Kid on the Block" and "Treehouse of Horror IV".
Wallace Wolodarsky described a "room character" O'Brien put on for the writers: "Conan used to do this thing called the Nervous Writer that involved him opening a can of Diet Coke and then nervously pitching a joke."
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Late Night: A Star is Born
While O'Brien was working at The Simpsons, David Letterman was preparing to leave Late Night, prompting executive producer Lorne Michaels to search for a new host. Michaels approached O'Brien, and he was picked as the new host of Late Night on April 26, 1993.
Late Night with Conan O'Brien premiered on September 13, 1993, originating from Studio 6A at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. The show initially received unfavorable reviews from critics, with some suggesting that O'Brien was "too smart, too East Coast, too sophisticated, too young and even too tall to be successful." The show was constantly at risk for cancellation, but O'Brien and his team persevered.
Over time, Late Night slowly but steadily acquired commercial and critical success. Sketches like "If They Mated," "Desk Drive," and "In the Year 2000" grew in popularity. A turning point was David Letterman's February 1994 appearance. "It was a morale boost," said O'Brien. O'Brien's "emotional intelligence" shone. “I love when he gets out of the studio and jumps into situations with ordinary people,” Reiff said. “He played ‘old time baseball’ on Long Island, he tried to reunite two former best friends that he met in Finland.” “It’s as if the whole world is his roommate,” he added. 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.
The Tonight Show and Beyond: Navigating the Shifting Sands of Late Night
In 2004, NBC promised O'Brien that in five years, he would be hosting The Tonight Show. O'Brien indeed ascended to the post in 2009, but after seven months, NBC gave the show back to Jay Leno when O'Brien declined to accept a later time slot, a move he felt would have betrayed the show’s integrity.
The final Tonight Show with O'Brien aired January 22, 2010, and featured guests Tom Hanks, Steve Carell, Neil Young, and Will Ferrell.
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After being prohibited from making television appearances of any kind until May, O'Brien spoke about the Tonight Show conflict on the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes on May 2, 2010. During the interview with Steve Kroft, O'Brien said the situation felt "like a marriage breaking up suddenly, violently, quickly. And I was just trying to figure out what happened." He also said he "absolutely" expected NBC to give him more of a chance and that, if in Jay Leno's position, he would not have come back to The Tonight Show. However, O'Brien said he did not feel unfortunate. "It's crucial to me that anyone seeing this, if they take anything away from this, it's I'm fine. I'm doing great," said O'Brien. "I hope people still find me comedically absurd and ridiculous."
Following his departure from The Tonight Show, O'Brien embarked on a 32-city live comedy tour titled "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour," which was the subject of the documentary Conan O'Brien Can't Stop (2011).
O'Brien then hosted Conan on TBS from 2010 to 2021. TBS extended the show through 2018 in 2014 and through 2022 in 2017. In late 2018, Conan took a three-month hiatus while O'Brien launched another national comedy tour.
Conan Without Borders and Continued Success
Known for his spontaneous hosting style, O'Brien's remotes have also become some of his best-received work, including the international travel series Conan Without Borders. In February 2015, following the onset of the Cuban thaw, O'Brien became the first American television personality to film in Cuba for more than half a century. O'Brien then visited Armenia for his next show abroad, during which he featured his assistant Sona Movsesian, who is Armenian American.
In 2018, O'Brien's production company, Team Coco, partnered with Earwolf to launch his own weekly podcast, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. The podcast debuted November 18, 2018, with Will Ferrell as the first guest. Guests on the podcast have included Barack and Michelle Obama, Stephen Colbert, and Bob Newhart among others. The podcast has received strong reviews and became the top podcast on iTunes.
On April 18, 2024, HBO released a four-episode international travel series titled Conan O'Brien Must Go on Max to widespread critical acclaim. The series featured O'Brien traveling to Norway, Argentina, Thailand, and Ireland to meet fans whom he had previously featured via video calls in his podcast series Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan. The show was renewed for a second season of six episodes in May 2024.
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