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By Ken Baron -- Swing Magazine -- June, 1998 issue After a rocky start and triumphal rise, Conan O'Brien has earned the right to gloat -- and give advice. On the eve of his show's fifth anniversary, the late knight tells how he conquered his demons and the prophecies of doom By now, the story of Conan O'Brien's rise from ratings shame to late-night fame is the stuff of television folklore. He's gone from being the guy who couldn't give away free beer at a frat party to the highest-rated late-night attraction among 18-to-49-year-olds. As a way of saying thanks, NBC recently extended his contract for another four years. Now the man who turned a robot pimp, The Gaseous Weiner, Carl "Oldy" Olsen, and a hillbilly Clinton head into touchstones for an entire generation finally has job security. He also has five years' worth of hard-knocks career advice to share. SWING: HOW DO YOU KEEP GOING IN THE FACE OF CRITICISM? Conan O'Brien: Muttering under your breath and passive-aggressive behavior. I used to go home and rant and rave to my girlfriend not realizing that 10 minutes earlier she had left the room and I'd been yelling at a floor lamp. SWING: HOW DO YOU HANDLE COMING INTO A NEW WORK ENVIRONMENT AND REPLACING SOMEONE WHO'S POPULAR? CO: I wouldn't know about that. Actually, people don't remember that Late Night with David Letterman was not at all popular. He had really failed as a late-night host. Which made my job very easy. SWING: SO, DO YOU THINK YOU SHOULD GLOAT WHEN YOU FINALLY PROVE EVERYONE WRONG? CO: Yes,. Though I haven't because I agreed with a lot of the early criticisms of me. They were accurate. But to me it was also a little like criticizing a newborn baby: "Look at him, he can't walk! He can't speak!" SWING: CAN SUCCESS BE DANGEROUS? CO: No, success is great! I definitely think people should try to get some. SWING: HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD A PERSON BE GIVEN TO SUCCEED? CO: Until he's 70. At that point he's on marked time. Take Ronald Reagan. At any point in his career you could have written him off. Then, suddenly, he was president. SWING: I'VE HEARD YOU SAY ON THE SHOW THAT DENIAL CAN BE A GOOD THING. CO: I'm a big believer in denial. It's what gets most of us through jobs we don't like. In the 80's I was doing improv in the basement of a church and I told myself, "This will lead to good things!" If I'd been realistic, I'd have said, "Give up the performing thing. You're almost 30. It's not going to happen." SWING: HOW DO YOU DECIDE IF SOMETHING'S NOT WORKING? CO: Well, in my business there's this thing called silence. That's why I think accountants and stockbrokers would do better work if they all sat before an audience of 200 people with a little band. SWING: HOW SHOULD YOU DEAL WITH WORKING FOR SOMEONE WHOM YOU THINK IS NOT AS SMART OR AS TALENTED AS YOU? CO: Early on I used to get notes [from NBC executives] that were just wrong and I would ignore them. But I wouldn't say to them, "I'm not doing that." I would say, "Hey, I think you're on to something," and then not do it. People say you should be honest and forthright at work. That's not true! SWING: HOW DO YOU HANDLE THE TRANSITION FROM BEING ONE OF THE GANG TO BEING THE BOSS? CO: I'm always trying to deny it. It's more fun to be the person who gets to mess around. I spend a lot of time with the writers after the show. But I realized that, at times, I'm not writing so much as just trying to be one of them. SWING: IS IT DIFFICULT HIRING PEOPLE? CO: I try to find "yes" men. It's important that they speak English as long as they can smile and nod. Actually, the hardest thing in the world is finding people who are good. Most of the writers we hire don't have agents and have not worked in TV before. Calling the agencies is easy, but that's not how to find the best people. SWING: WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU PICK SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T WORK OUT? CO: It's called firing. But I try to do it the way the Beatles got rid of Pete Best. They had Brian Epstein do it. So I hired a guy named Brian Epstein. SWING: WHAT DO YOU SAY TO HOPEFUL TV WRITERS UP AGAINST THE STAGGERING ODDS OF MAKING IT? CO: The odds aren't really that staggering. In fact, I think now is the best time for a comedy writer. There are all these great outlets, shows like South Park, or rogue comedy networks, cable stations. Also, you don't have to be a writer right away. The problem is, sometimes people shoot too high. Spike Feresten [ a writer at Seinfeld ] started at Saturday Night Live answering phones. So don't just send off a packet to me or Leno and then wait. Try to be in the environment. Get coffee for someone at Talk Soup. SWING: HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE A MENTOR IN THE BUSINESS? CO: I think it's good to look to people you admire and study their qualities and sensibilities. Also, you can have a composite, not just one person. For me, it was elements of SCTV, Woody Allen, Letterman. So actually your mentor doesn't even have to know who you are. SWING: WHO WOULD WIN IN A FIST FIGHT, YOU OR ANDY? CO: I would stun him initially, but Andy would squeeze the life out of me... and then carry me up to a castle. SWING: TELL US A LATE NIGHT SECRET. CO: When we come back from commercial and you see Andy and I chuckling, we've usually just finished the most obscene conversation. SWING: CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF IN A DIFFERENT JOB? CO: I always wanted to own something where I wouldn't have to do any work and the money would keep coming in, like a parking garage. My only responsibility would be to repaint the lines every three years. |