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By Chris Vaccari -- Irish Voice -- April 5, 1994 BY all rights, Conan O'Brien should be nervous. Sitting in his office on the set of his Late Night talk show at NBC's New York studios, it is March, just after the crucial February "sweeps period," when the viewerships of TV shows are measured so as to increase -- or decrease -- advertising rates. For O'Brien, hired by NBC after David Letterman jumped to CBS last summer, ratings are not such a good topic. In the beginning, last September, critics were sympathetic to the red-headed rookie from Brookline, Massachusetts, and the audience, perhaps out of curiosity, followed. He garnered a respectable 2.7 share in the Neilsen ratings his first night. Eventually, the reviews turned sour. Some labeled O'Brien "amateurish" and the show just a step above public access. The ratings slipped to an average of 1.9 over the next few months. To make matters worse, yet another late night talk show has just debuted behind O'Brien at 1:30p.m. The show is Later, and is hosted by Greg Kinnear, the smarmy talking head from the Entertainment Channel's Talk Soup. Kinnear's edge is that he, unlike O'Brien, has had previous broadcasting experience; Conan is acknowledged as an inspired comedy writer, but many say he has yet to impress as a performer. The critics believe NBC is merely warming up Kinnear as O'Brien's replacement. Other contenders are rattling their sabres. CBS is rumored to be developing a 12:30 program. Tom Snyder, MTV's Jon Stewart and even the "king of all media" himself, Howard Stern, are rumored candidates. Late night television is no longer a one-Carson show. Big bucks and corporate pride are at stake now. Yet Conan says he isn't worried, and his demeanor seems to reflect that. Far from trembling in his loafers, this mannish boy with the scarecrow physique shrugs his shoulders as if to say, What me, worry? It was obvious from the moment he took the stage before tonight's taping to sing a comical version of Elvis Presley's 'Hunka Burnin' Love,' that no matter about his troubles, nothing could go wrong tonight. This, after all, was 24 hours after his greatest coup yet, the day after his predecessor and hero, David Letterman, crossed networks and guested on Late Night. The entire cast seems to be grinning uncontrollably during the taping of this, their first 'post-Dave' show. "Today most of us are walking around in a daze," said O'Brien, at ease behind his desk. "It was great having him here. Last night after I got home, I watched the show [It's taped in the afternoon]. I don't always do that, mainly because I have to get up in the morning. But this was something special; it was a lot of fun. "Dave is just a gracious and sincere person and for him to come on and be so entertaining and pay me the compliments that he did, it was something I'll always have." His bosses at NBC won't soon be forgetting Letterman's appearance either. Mr. Neilsen was kind to O'Brien the night of Letterman's visit, awarding an impressive 2.6 rating. Tonight, as he grabs the microphone to lash into 'Hunka Burnin' Love,' O'Brien is nothing if not enthusiastic. Stick around for fun. CONAN was raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, one of six children in an Irish Roman Catholic family. At Harvard University, his comedy-writing skills earned him the honor of being twice elected president of the Harvard Lampoon, a feat not accomplished since 1912. Graduating in 1985, Conan went cross-country to Hollywood, where he started writing for HBO's Not Necessarily The News. He stayed in California for two years while also performing with The Groundlings, a Los Angeles based comedy group. In 1987, he started writing for Fox TV's The Wilton North Report, dubbed by some the Heaven's Gate of television. It was canceled after only a few weeks. From there, O'Brien came back east and found work writing at Saturday Night Live. He left after a successful three and a half years and went to work at The Simpsons, an experience which he compares to "being part of the Olympic basketball team." "This was the strongest collection of writers I had ever seen," said he of the Simpsons crew. "These guys were the best and they all came together on that show. I remember thinking to myself 'Just stand in the same room with these people and you'll get better.'" On his desk sits a framed picture from a recent episode of The Simpsons in which Bart Simpson is interviewed by a cartoon Conan O'Brien. Cradling the picture in his hands, O'Brien explains: "To be associated with something like The Simpsons was great, and then to have them actually put me in a show that will probably be in reruns 20 years from now is enjoyment enough. I'm not in this for self-promotion. I don't get off on being famous. I just enjoy being part of it all." In early 1993, Lorne Michaels, who as executive producer worked with O'Brien back at SNL, agreed to audition O'Brien for the job of replacing Letterman. A test episode was done on April 12, with actress Mimi Rogers and Seinfeld's Jason Alexander as the "guests." O'Brien obviously did something right. On Monday, April 26, he got the job. Goodbye, private life. Hello, public figure. O'Brien was introduced to America on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, he was hustled to photo shoots and press conferences and ultimately to his future place of work, the set of Late Night. This time, however, he was there as a guest of his predecessor, Mr. Letterman, for a passing of the torch. And perhaps most importantly, NBC brought him to buy a few suits. The wardrobe of a writer, he was told, was simply not up to snuff for talk show hosts. THE Late Night producers have kept O'Brien busy with a dizzyingly eclectic range of guests. Tonight, it's halfway through the taping of show number 115 and O'Brien finds himself exchanging verbal barbs with 1970s pop star Donny Osmond. Osmond, whose campy stage act has inspired something of a revival to cult status, has a chip on his shoulder as O'Brien pokes fun at Osmond's boxing ability, or lack thereof, as evidenced in a recent charity match versus another star of the 1970s, Danny Bonaduce, of Partridge Family fame. In response, Osmond challenges O'Brien to a similar encounter. Conan quips, "Please, I'm a busy man." "What I like about my show is that you're getting such an eclectic mix of guests," says O'Brien. "I look back and think I had a good interview with David Letterman, I had a good interview with Donny Osmond. Senator Bob Dole was here the other night. The same goes for Ice-T or David Halberstam or James Carville. "One of my favorite moments was when we had Francis Ford Coppola. He moved over on the couch and my next guest, Florence Henderson, came in. I'm talking to her and then they start talking and she says something that was a little insulting to him. All of a sudden there's this weird dynamic going on between the mom of The Brady Bunch and the most acclaimed director of the last 20 years and it's terrific. "Ice T was on the night before Senator Dole and made a disgruntled face when I said 'Hey Ice T, what do you think about Bob Dole coming on the show tomorrow?' That's what I love. Talking to everybody. "Dole is one of the most amazing and interesting people in American politics and I couldn't believe he was on the show," says O'Brien. "We'll talk seriously for one minute and then we'll play around with him a bit. We did a bit where we added NCAA rankings to his chart detailing Clinton's health care plan. Dole laughs and gets a kick out of it. "TV is at its best when it's unpredictable. At 12:30 in the morning, you're fighting sleep. People out there should really be going to bed. The more times you can surprise them, the better. "Another one of the luxuries is that we can book bands that we want to put on. Boy, the perks just keep on comin'. At our time slot, we don't have to fight over who gets Billy Joel. We can just take a look at a band like The Cranberries and say, 'What a great band, let's get them on.' Or Black 47, whom we have had on twice. They are just a good band. They're different. So let's get them on and talk to the lead singer. "But on the other hand, let's have Tony Bennett. Or Mel Torme. One thing I hate is pretension. I'll never say 'Oh, we don't do that on this show' or 'He's too old for us.' There is something valid about all these people. You just have to find it." MARCH 2, 1994, and it's a cold, windy day in New York City. The reviews are just coming in from Burbank about Greg Kinnear's debut and they are mixed. But even if they proclaimed Kinnear the new savior of late night television, O'Brien says he would still be doing what he's doing. "Greg has to do what I did, which is carve out a niche for yourself," says O'Brien. "Your audience has to get to know you. That takes time, especially on a show like this or like Greg's where you're being yourself. It's not like Magnum P.I. You can know him in one night. Talk shows are all about getting to know the host's personality. It's important for me not to forget that. "Who really knows where I'll be in five or ten or 20 years. TV is a volatile and ephemeral business. Hopefully in 20 years I'll still be here, looking for ways to improve things. "What I am confident about is that I'm going where I want to go. The worst thing that could happen is if I got a shot like this and did it the way someone else wanted me to. I'm doing the kind of show that I would want to watch...That's really all I ever wanted out of this." Confident words from a man whom the Common Knowledge has earmarked as a likely casualty in the late night talk show wars. "These late night wars turned into a silly thing," say O'Brien. "After all, these are TV shows that do different kinds of comedy...This isn't a war between Serbia and Croatia." For now, show number 115 is in the can, it's on to 116, and O'Brien remains the eternal optimist. And why not? When David Letterman comes on your show and tells you to keep up the great work, there's no reason to worry, right? Ethnic NewsWatch © SoftLine Information, Inc., Stamford, CT |