Thirty-year-old comedy writer Conan O’Brien got his big break on NBC’s late-late show when
David Letterman moved to CBS and he seemed as startled by that as was the audience. (Previously he had been seen on-camera fleetingly on Fox’s abortive ‘Wilton North Report’). His youthful, offhanded manner wore well with viewers, however, as he interviewed the usual parade of celebrity guests and musical acts. Andy was his rather dense sidekick. The writing staff for the program were mainly from Chicago’s improve community and such Eastern bastions of youthful humor as ‘The Harvard Lampoon’ for which Conan himself had once been a writer.
Among the recurring comic bits were ‘Triumph the Insult Comic Dog”, “If They Mated”, “Clutch Cargo”, “Pimpbot 5000” and “The Lips”, in which photos of politicians and celebrities appeared with someone else’s lips superimposed doing the talking.
The final episode featured clips from past shows and reflected on the show's sixteen-year run. John Mayer and Will Ferrell (as President George W. Bush) made guest appearances and The White Stripes (one of Conan’s favorite music acts) performed “We Are Going to be Friends”.
