When Conan O’Brien introduced himself to late-night viewers in September 1993, he was, as he puts it, “a complete unknown” — a fact that Lisa Kudrow also pointed out at the time.
IN vanity faira new chronicle of oral history Late Night with Conan O’Brien first year, several key players in O’Brien’s life at the time, including his now-ex-girlfriend Kudrow, recalled that special period, which proved to be a mix of heavy suspense and on-air magic.
“I don’t know how much we talked about it. I just knew, ‘You’re trying to replace David Letterman. No one can replace David Letterman. you are nobody,” explained the 60-year-old Kudrow. “It can’t be anyone the audience knows.”
Kudrow meant her comment in the best possible way. To face a late-night heavyweight like David Letterman, who ultimately hosted late-night talk shows from 1982 to 2015, Friends alum argued that choosing a new face like O’Brien, a scribe at The Simpsons, was the best way. (According to vanity fairNBC was considering Garry Shandling at the time.)
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Lisa Kudrow and Conan O’Brien.
Warner Bros. Television
The network seemed to agree with Kudrow. But O’Brien, 60, says his audition for the show felt like “linguine meets marinara sauce for the first time,” his debut season riddled with negative reviews and disappointing ratings.
“We were very naive. I just had to go through the beating machine. I had to develop from a fetal pig to a full-sized pig in front of America,” O’Brien said vanity fair. “And it just had to happen. There was no way around it.”
The show was on the verge of being canceled several times, but one big turning point was Letterman’s “lovely” appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in February 1994. It was a moment that boosted O’Brien’s confidence and prompted some viewers to give the series a fresh look.
By the summer of 1994, viewership had increased, driven by college students.
“Suddenly the audience became great. I didn’t know what was going on. And then it dawned on me,” explained O’Brien. “Faculties let go. That’s how students started coming.”
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Conan O’Brien on ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien’ in 1993.
Lesly Weiner/NBCU
Late Night with Conan O’Brien it would run through 2009, garnering 28 nominations and one Emmy in 2007 for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program.
In 2009, O’Brien was hired to take over for Jay Leno Tonight’s show, but left after just a year, saying in a statement at the time that he could not “participate in what I sincerely believe [The Tonight Show‘s] destruction.” Jimmy Fallon took over and has remained on the air ever since.
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In 2010, O’Brien joined TBS with Conanhosted more than 1,400 episodes of the show before saying goodbye to late-night television in 2021.
“My advice to everybody watching right now — and it’s not easy to do, it’s not easy to do, but try; try to do what you love with the people you love,” O’Brien said during Conan’s last episode 2021 “If you make it, it’s the definition of heaven on Earth.”
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Source: HIS Education