Conan O'Brien

• Born: April 18, 1963
• Place of Birth: Brookline, MA

American comedian and television show host Conan O'Brien is known for his sixteen-year tenure on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, as well as for his seven-month stint as host of the The Tonight Show from 2009 to 2010. Following the announcement of the end of his duties on the The Tonight Show, O'Brien enjoyed a resurgence of popularity and support from the viewing public with his TBS show Conan, which ended in 2021. His work continued on other platforms into the 2020s, including a SiriusXM Radio station and a travel series on the streaming service Max.

Early Life

Conan Christopher O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on April 18, 1963, to parents Ruth, a lawyer, and Thomas, a doctor and professor. He was the third of six children. In 1981, O'Brien graduated valedictorian from Brookline High School, where he also served as the editor of the school newspaper. O'Brien next enrolled at Harvard University, where he majored in history and wrote for the school's famed humor magazine, National Lampoon.

After college, O'Brien wrote for television and performed in improvisational groups, such as the Groundlings. In 1988, he began writing for the late-night comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live. The next year, he and the other writers won an Emmy Award for Best Writing on a Comedy or Variety Series. From 1991 through 1993, O'Brien wrote for the animated television series The Simpsons.

O'Brien married Elizabeth Ann Powell in 2002. Their daughter Neve was born in 2003, and their son Beckett in 2005.

Late Nights

In 1993, O'Brien began hosting the television show Late Night with Conan O'Brien. In 2007, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program. In 2004, he signed a contract with NBC that named him as the replacement for longtime Tonight Show host Jay Leno.

In June 2009, the first episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien aired. In September 2009, Leno began his own hour-long talk show, the Jay Leno Show, in the 10:00 PM EST time slot on NBC. (The Tonight Show aired at 11:30 PM, typically after the local news.)

In January 2010, as a response to low ratings for both shows, NBC announced plans to reduce the Jay Leno Show to thirty minutes and air it in the 11:30 PM timeslot, and to move O'Brien's show to a midnight slot. O'Brien objected, stating that a shift in time slot would hurt The Tonight Show, which had aired after the local news for over sixty years.

O'Brien and NBC reached a deal in January 2009 that resulted in his leaving The Tonight Show. Jay Leno resumed his role as host of The Tonight Show in March 2010. O'Brien's negotiations with NBC resulted in a monetary settlement for both him and his staff, most of whom had relocated from New York City to Los Angeles, California, to work for the show.

In April 2010, O'Brien announced that he would return to late-night television with a show on TBS. His new show, Conan, debuted in November 2010. With the show attracting loyal audiences, particularly younger viewers, it was renewed by the network in 2014 and again in 2017. During that time, he became the first late-night host to broadcast from Cuba in decades, and he continued to film such spin-off specials in which he traveled to various locations around the world, including Armenia and Israel. In addition to joining a large number of celebrities and influencers hosting podcast programs with the launch of his own in 2018, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, on which he conducted interviews with a wide range of guests, he went on an eighteen-city tour with his stand-up for the first time in several years in the fall of 2018. Also an accomplished voice actor, between 2017 and 2019, he lent his voice to the film The Lego Batman Movie (2017) and began providing the voice for the character Clarence on the TBS animated series Final Space, which first aired in 2018. The following year, Conan switched to a thirty-minute format, and, in 2021, the show ended.

In 2022, O’Brien launched Conan O'Brien Radio, a channel on SiriusXM Radio. The channel featured interviews and comedy with O’Brien’s signature brand of humor. His popular podcast, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, also aired on the channel. In 2024, O’Brien partnered with the streaming service Max to launch a travel show called Conan O’Brien Must Go, in which he paid surprise visits to people he met on his podcast. The first season consisted of four episodes and was picked up for a six-episode second season.

Bibliography

Deggans, Eric. “After 28 Quirky Years, Conan O'Brien Is Leaving Late Night.” NPR, 24 June 2021, www.npr.org/2021/06/24/1009587267/conan-obrien-ends-tbs-show-leaves-late-night. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.

Itzkoff, Dave. "Can Conan O'Brien Reinvent 'Conan'?" The New York Times, 21 Jan. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/01/21/arts/television/conan-obrien-new-show.html. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.

O'Brien, Conan. "Conan O'Brien on Podcasting and Why Late-Night TV Rivalries Are Over." Interview by Brent Lang. Variety, 20 Aug. 2019, variety.com/2019/digital/news/conan-obrien-needs-a-friend-podcast-interview-1203306660/. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.

O'Brien, Conan. "In Conversation: Conan O'Brien." Interview by David Marchese. Vulture, Vox Media, 4 June 2018, www.vulture.com/2018/06/conan-obrien-in-conversation.html. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.

Otterson, Joe. “‘Conan O’Brien Must Go’ Renewed for Season 2 at Max.” Variety, 15 May 2024, variety.com/2024/tv/news/conan-obrien-must-go-renewed-season-2-max-1236003905/. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.

Simeone, Matt. “Tune in to Conan O’Brien Radio, a Channel Produced by Conan O’Brien.” SiriusXM, 15 Nov. 2022, www.siriusxm.com/blog/team-coco-radio. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.