The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
The shortest-running iteration of The Tonight Show.
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien is the fifth installment of NBC's long-running late-night talk show, hosted by Conan O'Brien. It aired from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, making it the shortest-running iteration in the program's sixty-year history. The show ended when NBC bought out O'Brien's contract after announcing plans to move Jay Leno back to the 11:35 pm timeslot.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Late-night talk show
- Variety show
- Political satire
- Creator
- Sylvester Weaver
- Developer
- Conan O'Brien
- Music
- Max Weinberg and The Tonight Show Band
- Announcer
- Andy Richter (sidekick)
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Episodes
- 145 (1 not completed)
Facts from the source article.
Format
The show followed the established six-piece format used by previous hosts Jay Leno and Johnny Carson, along with elements from O'Brien's Late Night. The first segment featured a monologue by O'Brien, sometimes accompanied by altered news clips or brief comedy sketches. Most episodes included a second segment with a full comedy sketch immediately after the monologue, followed by interviews with one or two guests and a musical or comedy performance. After the last performance, O'Brien thanked the performers, bid farewell, and recommended watching Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. For the first six shows, credits ran in the right half of a split screen, a former NBC standard; from episode seven onward, credits appeared at the bottom third of the screen. New sketches included "Conan's Tabloid Moment" and "Twitter Tracker," while sketches from Late Night such as "In the Year 3000" and "Celebrity Surveys" were reintroduced. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog appeared on June 19, 2009, as a correspondent for the Bonnaroo Music Festival. The Masturbating Bear was reintroduced on January 20, 2010, after being retired at the end of Late Night due to concerns about its appropriateness for the 11:30 timeslot. The Interrupter made his first appearance on September 3, 2009. The last segment typically featured a musical guest or stand-up comedian, and O'Brien occasionally played acoustic guitar in sketches or electric guitar during the final episode's cover of "Free Bird."
Production
The show originated from Stage 1 at Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California, a stage built specifically for O'Brien's version and previously used for Jack Benny's television show. This was the first time since before May 1972 that The Tonight Show was not shot in Burbank. The set was designed in art deco style with multi-colored art deco murals along the top. The show was shot in 16:9 aspect ratio with a 4:3 center-cut and broadcast in 1080i high definition, making O'Brien's entire tenure the first version of The Tonight Show recorded and broadcast exclusively in high definition. Nine cameras and eight camera operators were used, including Sony HDC-1500 cameras with Canon DigiSuper lenses. Unlike Leno's show, the studio audience was several feet removed from the stage, similar to Carson's original set. The stage layout placed the house band to the right of the performance stage and the interview set on the far left, opposite the arrangement used on Late Night. From 2012 until 2014, Stage 1 was home to Chelsea Lately on E!.
History
On September 27, 2004, NBC announced that Conan O'Brien would take over as host of The Tonight Show in 2009, replacing Jay Leno after a seventeen-year run. Leno had told Jeff Zucker of his plans to retire that year, and on his show the following night explained that he wanted to avoid the hardship of the 1992 dispute over Johnny Carson's hosting duties. However, in 2008, Leno changed his mind and instead hosted a new prime-time variety show, The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 pm from September 14, 2009, until its cancellation on February 9, 2010. The first episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien featured Will Ferrell and a musical performance by Pearl Jam. The show's opening began with the classic "Laramie Peacock" logo and the announcement that the program was brought to viewers in living color on NBC. In the cold open, O'Brien realized he was still in New York and ran across the country through locations including Amish Country, Wrigley Field, the Gateway Arch, the Teton Range, Las Vegas, and the Arizona desert before arriving at Universal Studios Hollywood, where he drove a bulldozer through the studio wall. The Cheap Trick song "Surrender" played over this sketch.
More in 2000s American Late-night Television Series
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