Late Night with Conan O’Brien writer/host September 13, 1993-present
Birthdate: April 18, 1963
Hometown: Brookline, Massachusetts
Education: graduated as valedictorian from Brookline High School in 1981; attended Harvard University from 1981-1985, graduating magna cum laude with a double major in American History and Literature
Writing Awards:
- Won a top prize in the National Council of Teachers of English writing contest in 1980 as a senior in high school
- Won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program in 1989 at the age of 26 as a member of the writing team for Saturday Night Live; nominated in 1990 & 1991
- Nominated for an Emmy every year since 1996 for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program as a member of the writing team for Late Night with Conan O'Brien
- Won 6 Writers Guild Awards for Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series as a member of the writing team for Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006); nominated in 1999, 2001, 2004
Conan has a long, successful history when it comes to writing. When he was a senior at Brookline High School, Conan wrote a short story called, "To Bury The Living," which won him a top prize in the National Council of Teachers of English writing contest. Upon being interviewed after winning the contest, Conan provided a glimpse of how important writing was to him when he said, "I live in the corner of the attic because it's quiet there and nobody can shuffle my paper around.” [1]
In high school, Conan was an editorial writer on the Sagamore newspaper. The Sagamore published an annual April Fools' issue; Conan wrote a humor piece for it, and this tradition continued. [2] He was editorial editor his junior year and managing editor his senior year. At the time, one of his classmates said, “Conan probably does the most re-writes until they come out sharp.” Conan had said, "There's not that much that separates me from other students, except that I take English very seriously. If I get a mediocre mark in math, I let it slide, but not in English.” At that point he was “interested in writing, history, and politics. That's my dilemma. I like all three." [1] Conan thought he’d do “something responsible -- go to a good college, then law school, and then maybe get into politics.” [3]
The Harvard Lampoon (1981-1985)
After graduating from Brookline High School in 1981, Conan enrolled at Harvard University in neighboring Cambridge. His college roommate had suggested they check out the Harvard Lampoon, the university’s venerable comedy magazine -- an idea that had not occurred to him (he was eyeing the Crimson instead). O'Brien wrote several humor pieces for Lampoon editors, who were so impressed that they named him the only freshman writer chosen that year. [2]
"I fell into it without even trying," says O'Brien. "I just liked to write funny things. And here were these semi-adults taking what I wrote seriously. It was the biggest thing that happened to me in my life. It's very hard to explain, but it was a powerful thing. And then I got to edit the magazine two years in a row. That's when I realized I wanted to do this with my life." [4]
The revelation came at an opportune time, as O'Brien's future career plans were dicey at best. Visions of law school danced in his head, so too did a career in politics. But both of these options proved to be just a blur that stirred no passion inside. Clarity arrived with Conan's experience at the Lampoon. [5]
"I've done plenty of things in my life where you just go through the motions," he offers. "But comedy was something I felt I could give 100% of myself, and effortlessly, too." [5]
While at Harvard, Conan still took his studies seriously. He wrote a thesis called “Literary Progeria in the Works of Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner” [6], majored in American History and Literature, and graduated magna cum laude.
Necessarily the News (1985-1987)
After graduating from Harvard in 1985, Conan teamed with fellow Harvard grad Greg Daniels and headed to Los Angeles in May of that year. O'Brien and Daniels worked for a couple of years as writers on HBO's satirical Not Necessarily the News. [2]
The Groundlings
It was also in LA where Conan started to work on his performance skills -- writing was great and all, but his desire to actually get up on stage and interact with people was just as prevalent as well. He attended improv classes at the Groundling Theater which is renowned for producing a number of big stars, including Conan’s famous pal from the Groundlings, Lisa Kudrow. [5]
The Wilton North Report (1987)
Two years later, Conan landed work as a writer and performer on a short-lived late-night comedy show on Fox called The Wilton North Report. It was there, Daniels says, that Conan began creating pretaped comedy pieces (or "remotes") that presaged the ones he now uses on Late Night. [2] According to Conan, “The [Wilton North Report] was so hated and did so badly that when, four weeks later, news of its cancellation was announced to the Fox affiliates, they burst into applause.” [6] After the show’s cancellation, Conan decided to move to New York. [3]
Saturday Night Live (1988-1991)
Conan had submitted a batch of sketches to Saturday Night Live and a year and a half later, in January of 1988, SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels hired him as a writer. [6] Under a decree from Michaels, writers were responsible for the production aspects of the sketches they wrote. While he was learning the skills of a producer himself on SNL, O'Brien discovered that he loved performing. He began requesting and receiving roles as an extra in SNL sketches. [2] Conan and the 1988-1989 SNL writing team won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program. According to Conan, "I remember saying to my agent, ‘This is big! This is really going to change things.’ He just stared at me and said, ‘What are you talking about?’" [12]
- The Happy Happy Good Show (1988)
When he was a writer at SNL, Conan began to feel burnt out. He says, “I went into therapy when I was at Saturday Night Live, because I was feeling like I was running on empty. That was creating anger.” (GQ Magazine, October 2003).
Lookwell (1991)
While at SNL, Conan and Robert Smigel wrote a TV pilot for an original NBC sitcom called Lookwell, and when the network decided to make it in 1991, Conan left Saturday Night Live after working there for three and a half years. [6] The sitcom starred Batman's Adam West and was, in [Conan’s brother] Luke O'Brien's view, "the funniest thing [Conan] ever did." [2] According to Conan, “When the pilot aired, it was the second lowest-rated television show of all time. It's tied with a test pattern they show in Nova Scotia.” [6]
However, Conan’s reputation for originality was spreading, and soon another big break was at hand: In 1991, he was hired for the writing staff of a landmark TV comedy, The Simpsons. [2]
The Simpsons (1991-1993)
On getting his job at The Simpsons, Conan said, "I felt like the all-star basketball team had finally decided to let someone else in, and I got to play with them. I had a huge anxiety attack the first day. They sent me off to write a script, and I just thought, ‘I'm not going to be able to do this; I shouldn't be here; I'm not funny enough to be with these people.’" [2]
”But his ‘cartoonish sense of humor’ carried him through, and he eventually went on to write some of the best-known episodes of The Simpsons, including ‘Whacking Day’ and ‘Springfield Gets a Monorail.’ In the writers' room, O'Brien satisfied his yen to perform with impromptu bits for the amusement of his colleagues. ‘A lot of the stuff he does on his show is little scraps he would do to amuse writers on other shows,’ notes Daniels.” [2]
”As much as O'Brien treasured his time on The Simpsons, it was still an animated series – ‘a comedy lab,’ in O'Brien's view -- that ‘isolates one muscle.’ O'Brien had other muscles he wanted to use; he missed the wild and woolly atmosphere of SNL, its backstage teeming with costumed actors and a performance structure blending sketch comedy, stand-up monologues, short films, musical performances, and the all-important element of unpredictability.” [2]
“The latent performer inside of him was itching to get out. ‘My friend Bob Odenkirk, who was also a writer, was starting to perform,’ O'Brien recalls. ‘And I'd go and see Bob and I'd think - Bob's doing what I need to be doing. I just don't know exactly what that is. Lisa Kudrow and I - this was before (Friends), when we were just doing improv together - we were talking about, you know, Well, maybe we should just write a show for ourselves, and go perform it in Santa Monica. But I was very aware of what I wasn't. I mean, I would work with Dana Carvey, and I would think, well, I'm not a Dana Carvey. I'm not a guy who does a million impressions, or a million sketch characters ... I'm not this, I'm not that ... It was almost the process of elimination.’" [9]
Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993-present)
It was right around that time that Conan’s old SNL boss, Lorne Michaels, was starting to look around in earnest for a Late Night replacement for the departing David Letterman. [9]
Conan’s sister, Jane, recalls informing Conan that Michaels would be in charge of filling the hole left by Letterman's departure from Late Night in 1993. According to Jane, "I was working at William Morris and had access to the confidential e-mail when it was announced that Lorne Michaels was given the Late Night time slot. I called Conan and told him. I just knew it was his slot." [4]
“Garry Shandling was asked and passed. So, ironically, did Dana Carvey. O'Brien was initially approached - not to host, but to produce.” [9]
Conan recalls, "Lorne calls and asks me, 'Do you want to produce this thing?' And I'm thinking about it, and everybody's saying, 'Gee, this is such a huge opportunity' ... but then I'm thinking, 'You know what? It's just not sitting with me. I just need to go do my thing.' So I turned him down.” [9]
"Three weeks go by. And I guess Lorne was getting frustrated because he hadn't found exactly what he wanted, and one day in a meeting he says to NBC, 'You know, I think Conan could probably have done it ... And they're like, 'Conan O'Brien the writer?!' And he says, 'Well, it wouldn't happen overnight. But he's got a sensibility and he's got a look ...” [9]
Conan recalls his chance to audition for host of the Late Night show: “I took the opportunity seriously but, at the same time, I had the relaxed confidence of someone who knew he had no real shot.” [6]
Conan auditioned brilliantly, and Late Night with Conan O’Brien would soon be born. "The audition was what did it. Before the audition, it was just a silly notion. The audition was better than any [Late Night] show I did for the first year. Honestly. Because I had nothing to lose. I was completely myself. I just walked out, and was self-deprecating, and made fun of the whole idea of me doing it. I was getting laughs, and I was doing it the way I do it now, which is through my personality, and spouting out weird imagery." [9]
Conan still seems to be in disbelief over the unlikely turn his career took. When reflecting on what it’s like to be in his dressing room as the audience is loaded into the studio each night, Conan says, "I hear them all murmuring and they're all excited. Sometimes I kind of have an out-of-body experience and I think, 'Wow, I wonder who's hosting that show?'” [10]
“I feel really lucky -- I’m the poster boy for luck. Getting this job was an extremely fortunate break.” –Conan O’Brien [3]
Conan as Boss: “O’Brien has adopted Michaels's SNL policy and requires writers to produce the sketches they write, viewing it as a way to engender both autonomy and accountability. So the writers cast the actors for the pieces they write, arrange for sets and wardrobe, go out in the field with a cameraman to shoot the pieces, and edit them. The need to generate comic ideas is endless. ‘This thing [the show] is The Beast,’ says O'Brien. ‘This Beast eats ideas at an incredible rate.’” [2]
Behind-the-scenes Conan: “Rehearsal begins around 2 p.m., and that is where O'Brien really puts his stamp on the show: suggesting alternate endings for comedy sketches, adding or dropping jokes, generally fixing bits that don't quite work. ‘He gets involved in everything,’ says [Jeff] Ross. ‘This isn't a guy who walks in at 4 o'clock and just reads the cue cards and then goes home.’” [2]
A short time before the audience warm-up, O'Brien meets with his writers again and chooses four or five jokes for his monologue. [2] "Conan is really the editor of the show," according to monologue joke writer Brian Kiley. "Some days he likes everything we give him," Kiley said. "On other days he might like only one or even none of our jokes. Conan will occasionally come up with a joke, or it's not unusual for him to rewrite one or just change it slightly, tweak it, like, 'I would say it more conversationally -- like this.'" [11]
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