“A lot has changed in the past ten years,” Conan O’Brien announced to a crowd at the Beacon Theatre last Friday at the opening of his Tenth Anniversary Special. “Ten years ago George W. Bush was the proud owner of the Texas Rangers … and M.C. Hammer was the proud owner of a house.”
True. But so much more has changed for O’Brien in the past decade.
The once obscure host of NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” has reached new peaks of success in the past few years with his self-deprecating sense of humor, memorable monologues and innovative skits such as “Clutch Cargo” and “If They Mated”.
That success was celebrated in a television special that aired Sunday evening in prime time on NBC.
Ten years ago critics cruelly dismissed O’Brien when he took over David Lettermanå’s position as “Late Night” host in September of 1993. NBC initially refused to him to a contract that lasted longer than 13 weeks.
“There was a time when a beeper went off every 20 minutes on (former NBC entertainment chief) Warren Littlefield’s watch, and they had to decide whether to renew me,” O’Brien once joked to the Los Angeles Times.
Things have changed since then.
Ratings soared through the roof and O’Brien, who once held onto his job by a thread, was given a hefty $8 million a year to stay on with “Late Night” through 2006, making him the highest paid television host ever in the 12:35 timeslot.
Since 1996, O’Brien and the “Late Night” writing team have consistently nominated for Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing. In addition, he and the writing staff have won four Writer’s Guild Award for Best Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series.
The Brookline, Mass. native and Harvard graduate began his comedic career in college, working on his schools’ comedic magazine before moving to Los Angeles and joining several improvisational groups, including The Groundlings.
In January of 1988 O’Brien moved to New York City and became a writer on “Saturday Night Live”. In his three and a half years with the show he produced such memorable skits as “Mr. Short Term Memory” and “The Girl Watchers”.
In 1991 O’Brien moved to Fox network where he wrote for the animated series “The Simpsons”. Later he became the show’s supervising producer, before leaving the series to audition for “Late Night” in the spring of 1993.
The rest, as they like to say, is history.
The Tenth Anniversary Special celebrated that history with an array of guest appearances,a collection of favorite clips and various celebrity tributes to O’Brien.
Highlights included a visit from former sidekick Andy Richter, a striptease from Will Farrell and a musical tribute from Jack Black.
Conan was also joined in celebration by the whole ensemble of “Late Night” characters including Preparation H Raymond, Little Jay Leno, Pimpbot 5000, The Coked-Up Werewolf, The Masturbating Bear and everyone’s favorite – Triumph the Comic Insult Dog.
It was a memorable night for the self-effacing O’Brien whom admitted to USA Today he always knew deep down he’d leave his mark.
“I used to tell myself that even if the show was on for just five days, I’d still be in the TV encyclopedia with Johnny Carson and Petticoat Junction.”
Ten years strong, it’s safe to say O’Brien will be remembered as much more.
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