Conan O'Brien

Background

Conan Christopher O’Brien was born on April 18, 1963, in Brookline, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard University where he was the president of The Harvard Lampoon and a writer for the HBO comedy series “Not Necessarily the News.” He joined the writing crew for “Saturday Night Live” in 1988. In 1991, he became a writer and producer for “The Simpsons” for two years until 1993.

O’Brien was approached by NBC to take over the hosting job for “Late Night” in 1993. He accepted and remained the host until 2009, before moving to Los Angeles to host “The Tonight Show” for seven months. O’Brien was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in 2010. After receiving that honor, he went on a national live comedy tour which was the subject of a documentary about him titled “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop.” He went on to host a self-titled comedy show from 2010 until 2021.

He has been a TV host for almost 28 years, and his spontaneous hosting style has been characterized as “awkward, self-deprecating humor.” David Letterman was once the longest-working active late-night talk show host in the U.S., but O’Brian earned the title in 2015 when Letterman retired. This streak ended in 2021 when O’Brien himself retired from late-night TV. His career doesn’t end with his retirement, however, as he is expected to launch a new show on HBO Max sometime in 2022.