Conan OBriens writers and longtime sidekick on their favorite memories from the show.
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Note: A version of this article was first published on September 13, 2018.
It has been updated.
In 1993,Conan OBrienwas about to start a new job.
And America responded, Who?
figurine, and, most recently, a podcast vanguardist.
TommyBlacha
Writer (Late Night), 199399
My favorite all-time bit was Satellite TV.
Usually it was on a Friday, and you had all week to produce around ten channels.
You had a whole staff of talented writers that would pitch wonderfully smart or amazingly stupid channels.
Often the pitch process was this quick: How about a potato that is a judge?
It was rumored that Richard Nixon once commented on the show, calling it madcap.
I dont know why, but that made me happy.
AndyBlitz
Writer (Late Night), 19992006
I loved doing the remotes.
Theres another where Conan takes meapartment hunting/becomes a dictatorand we annoy everyone.
It showed how an extremely ridiculous decision could get approved as long as it was funny.
Dan Goor came along to produce the piece with me.
He went on to have much more success withBrooklyn Nine-Ninethan he did avoiding diarrhea on that trip.
Well, also a studio audience very capable of sitting in confused silence.
I dont even watchBridgerton.
Im mature enough to work around boobies I mean, that just kills me.
A dumb character dripping with unearned confidence really hits my comedy sweet spot.
Everything was funny first.
The whole piece was sparked by our excellent stage manager, Steve Hollander, an avid baseball fan.
I took the article directly to Mike Sweeney, and Sweeney took it in to Conan.
I think in less than an hour, the remote was approved.
His tone was gently mocking pretty much just being a wiseass, nothing too major.
Then Conan noticed that there were actual spectators at the game.
One of them went by the name Nell.
She was shy and rather intense, according to the other interns.
She affected a slight Irish lilt, and shed done her makeup to make her look consumptive.
Her companions literally did not know her real name.
Conans laser beam was activated right then and there.
It was a joy to watch them together.
Conan asked Nell if she was married.
When she refused, Conan casually wondered aloud if her husband might already be dead.
It sounded like a coked-up Teddy Roosevelt channeling a drunk Bobby Knight.
In an amazing stroke of luck, Conans tirade was suddenly interrupted by a low-flying jet overhead.
The flying anachronism terrorized him, and he ran off the field, shrieking.
The last shot of the piece has Conan and Nell walking down a country path.
As he reaches over to cuddle her, she bats his hand away.
Then theres a lovely dissolve to a formal daguerreotype of Conan with his team, the Wabash Mashers.
Late one night, we showed Conan the final cut.
[He said], Its likeField of Dreamsmeets the Donner Party.
I was too tired at the moment to understand what a high compliment that was.
Conan wanted it to be the last piece on his lastLate Nightepisode.
He said he wanted it played at his funeral.
Im obviously biased, but I think what setsConanapart from other late-night shows is Conan.
It was dark but also really joyful.
Elmos Firetheme, and each verse is hyperbolic praise for how Conan is changing the world with his comedy.
JonGlaser
Writer (Late Night), 19982008
Satellite TV was always fun to write.
It was completely open-ended to whatever short, weird, random, stupid idea you could think of.
It was a very fun job.
To me, what was really astonishing is thatConanremained silly and stupid even in the Trump years.
No matter how many times Trump was destroyed, he remained.
Conan decided not to enter that fray, and that was a relief to us writers.
It makes sense, because I thinkLate Nightcasts such a long shadow.
WikiBear stands out to me for a couple of reasons.
Even if our tent is smaller, at least everyone in the tent is laughing.
The way Conan embraced the absurd was so refreshing.
Other shows tried to go that way, and it didnt feel authentic.
It was as low-rent as it’s possible for you to imagine but somehow worked.
A complete waste of resources and time, which also might describe our show.
Someone described our show as the intersection of smart and stupid.
Im not sure anyone in history has existed in that space more brilliantly than Conan.
Also, the breadth of remote segments hes done is unmatched.
And then there were just slo-mo shots of Lincoln having orgasms.
Our bits werent going to come out and make you love them.
We were like, Hey!
This is whatwe do.
This is what we think is funny.
And youre welcome to come onboard, but its all we can do we cant cater to you.
And luckily, there were just enough young people who got it and liked what we did.
Also, we got so many talented people.
We used tokill ourselves.
As time went on, that changed.
Like thatDesk Drive bitthat we used to do?
That was a fucking nightmare every day.
It eventually slowed down.
We would just do less complicated bits.
I think our brand of humor has always been true to itself.
Our first concern wasnt whats going to work; it was whats funniest.
Those are two different things.
There was a standard of how funny something had to be.
I will say ours is the funniest late-night show thats ever been on.
And IlovedLate Night With David Letterman.Thats the only one that even comes close to us.
A perfect example was the sketch that led to Triumph.
Letterman was getting laughs on theLate Showby having Westminster dogs run down the aisles of the Ed Sullivan Theater.
That was it, but it was funny.
Getting that show off the ground was both the best and toughest experience Ive had on television.
Only the writers knew how funny he was back then.
I remember hearing some staff grumbling that its like were doingEvery Night Live.
And I actually heard a staffer saying, We love it!
Its like were doingEvery Night Live!
When I heard it had become a Triumph sketch, I was a little intimidated.
Smigel didnt hear me and said impatiently, WHAT?
Ill always be grateful to her for that.
She can do anything, though, obviously.
Cactus Chef Playing We Didnt Start the Fire on the Flute comes to mind.
It wasnt clever or smart.
There was no deeper meaning to it.
It really had no reason to exist at all.
But it did, because we all agreed it was somehow funny.
Thats what I loved most about working on the show.
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