Late Night with Conan O'Brien

From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.

Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an NBC talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. It is the nation's current leading source of both Chuck Norris and Abe Vigoda. While a popular late-night comedy-variety program these days, Late Night with Conan O'Brien has a long and varied history, airing nearly continuously on NBC for the past 52 years.

History

Late Night with Conan O'Brien debuted in 1954 as a public-affairs program featuring vigorous debate over the issues of the day. The show also included the Clutch Cargo-style sketches of today's program, only featuring a Point-Counterpoint-type exchange instead of uproarious jokes. The 1950s edition of Conan O'Brien won many top honors for its hard-hitting investigations of corruption in labor unions, Eisenhower's domestic policies, and payola scandals in the radio industry. The show's relentless reporting forced the resignation of Eisenhower's Chief of Staff, Sherman Adams, in 1958.

The show's tone took a decided change in 1966 when its first host, Conan O'Brien I, was replaced by Conan O'Brien II, the former director of communications for Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign. From that point forward, The Conan O'Brien Show regularly assailed the counter-culture, with O'Brien himself regularly denouncing young people for their long hair, leftist politics, and involvement in the counter-culture. A regular segment on the show, "Conan's Hose Party," involved the host turning a high-powered firehose on to any youths who ran afoul of his conservative world view. In a memorable episode, O'Brien II chased Abbie Hoffman with an electric meat carver.

After O'Brien II's conviction in 1974 for illegally funneling money into Richard Nixon's re-election campaign, Conan O'Brien III took over hosting duties turning Late Night into an old tyme Vaudeville show. While ridiculously out-of-step with the times, the show nevertheless made stars out of performers like mentalist Kreskin, ventriloquist Willie Tyler, and raconteur Richard Dawson. However, ratings cratered following 1982's series of All-Mime shows, and Conan O'Brien III was fired.

After Conan O'Brien IV briefly tried to turn Late Night into a self-help program that warned viewers about the evils of pornographic video rentals, Conan O'Brien V took over. By this time, NBC was airing the show at 2 a.m. and using it primarily to broadcast movies in the public domain. O'Brien V would introduce the movies and handle segues into commercial breaks; occasionally, he would also speculate on where his life went so horribly wrong and beg God for the sweet release of death.

In 1993, the current Conan O'Brien -- Conan O'Brien VI -- took over hosting duties, turning Late Night into the show you see today.

NBC executives are currently scouring the country for the seventh incarnation of Conan O'Brien. He is believed to either be an eight-year-old boy growing up outside of Ames, Iowa or comedian Rob Schneider.

Hosts

The six hosts of The Conan O'Brien Show are;

Conan O'Brien I (Born: April 12, 1898; Died: May 31, 1969 -- rubella)
Conan O'Brien II (Born: February 17, 1927; Died: January 16, 1975 -- prison riot)
Conan O'Brien III (Born: May 2, 1902; Died: December 7, 1982 -- Massive organ failure)
Conan O'Brien IV (Born: November 5, 1950; Died: December 22, 1982 -- Auto-erotic asphyxiation)
Conan O'Brien V (Born: October 17, 1958; Died: August 23, 1998 -- Mauled by bears)
Conan O'Brien VI (Born: April 18, 1963)