Welcome to the house of fun!: Conan O Brien

Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an Emmy-winning American comedian, writer and television personality best known as host of NBC's late-night talk/variety show Late Night with Conan O'Brien. NBC has announced that O'Brien will take over for Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show in 2009.

In January 1988, Saturday Night Live's executive producer Lorne Michaels hired O'Brien as a writer. During his 3 years on SNL he wrote such recurring sketches as "Mr. Short-Term Memory" and "The Girl Watchers," the latter of which was first performed by Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz. O'Brien also wrote the sketch "Nude Beach", a sketch in which the word "penis" was said or sung at least 42 times.

In 1989, O'Brien and his fellow SNL writers received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series.

From 1991 to 1994, O'Brien was a writer and producer for The Simpsons. Of all the episodes he wrote while writing for The Simpsons, he considers "Marge vs. the Monorail" to be his favorite. Years later, in his speech given at Class Day at Harvard in 2000, O'Brien credited The Simpsons with "saving" him, a reference to the career slump he was experiencing prior to his hiring for that show.

On April 25, 1993, Lorne Michaels chose O'Brien to be David Letterman's successor as host of Late Night with David Letterman, with Andy Richter signed on to be his sidekick. Conan auditioned on the set of The Tonight Show, where he interviewed Mimi Rogers and Jason Alexander. O'Brien resigned his position on The Simpsons, despite the fact that his contract had not expired.

Premiering on September 13, Late Night with Conan O'Brien received generally unfavorable critical reviews for the first 2 to 3 years after its debut. O'Brien himself, an almost total unknown among the general public before being named host, was seen by many as not being worthy of the program. NBC even poked fun at this perception in a radio ad which aired shortly before the show's debut and had Conan relaying an anecdote where someone recognized him on the street and said, "Look, honey, there's the guy who doesn't deserve his own show!" Another source of criticism was the fact that Conan himself appeared to be very nervous and awkward during the show's early days. As a self-deprecating nod to this, the original opening sequence for Late Night With Conan O'Brien was animated and featured a caricature of Conan who sweated and pulled at his collar nervously. O'Brien was a guest on The Howard Stern Show, where Stern and his crew mocked him by throwing a going-away party for him, brought on by newspaper reports that NBC was already looking for someone to replace O'Brien.

The show remained on multi-week renewal cycles while NBC decided its fate. By 1996-97, O'Brien's writing and comedic style was thought to have improved, and he began to develop a growing fan base, especially with high school and college students, as well as the respect of critics and his peers. Since then, O'Brien and the Late Night writing team have consistently been nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series. In 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004 he and the Late Night writing staff won the Writers Guild Award for Best Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series.

In 2005, Jay Leno named Conan as his replacement when he leaves the "Tonight Show" in 2009. Leno stated on the show that he had done this to avoid a repeat of the controversy and hard feelings that resulted when he was chosen by NBC to host the Tonight Show over David Letterman. According to speculation, NBC had asked Leno to do this so Conan, who was a vital asset to the network, wouldn't jump ship for a more lucrative offer. It was rumored that at the time of the announcement ABC was talking to Conan about possibly replacing Jimmy Kimmel.

As of October 2006, Late Night with Conan O'Brien had for eleven years consistently attracted an audience averaging about 2.5 million viewers

Conan at the Border: