Barney's Penthouse

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

O'Brien's career began in writing, not performing. After graduating Harvard in 1985, he moved to Los Angeles to write for HBO's Not Necessarily the News, then the short-lived The Wilton North Report. In January 1988, Lorne Michaels hired him as a writer for Saturday Night Live, where he wrote sketches like 'Mr. Short-Term Memory' and 'The Girl Watchers.' During the 1988 writers' strike, he performed in the improv revue Happy Happy Good Show with Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel. In 1989, he and his fellow SNL writers won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. After quitting SNL in 1991 following a failed sitcom pilot and a broken engagement, he joined The Simpsons as a writer and producer from 1991 to 1993. There, he wrote acclaimed episodes including 'Marge vs. the Monorail' and 'Homer Goes to College,' and sole writing credits on 'New Kid on the Block' and 'Treehouse of Horror IV.' In 1993, Michaels and NBC selected O'Brien to take over David Letterman's position as host of Late Night, despite unfavorable reviews and threats of cancellation in the show's first years. He hosted Late Night for 16 years, becoming the longest-serving host in the franchise's history as of 2025.

In Their Own Story

In 2009, O'Brien moved from New York to Los Angeles to host The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, but network politics prompted a host change after just seven months in 2010. Following his departure, he mounted a 32-city live comedy tour titled The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour, documented in the film Conan O'Brien Can't Stop (2011). He then hosted Conan on TBS from 2010 to 2021. Throughout his career, he hosted the Emmy Awards in 2002 and 2006, the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 1995 and 2013, and the Academy Awards in 2025, 2026, and 2027. He was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2010, inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2025, and received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2025. His international travel series Conan Without Borders became some of his best-received work. O'Brien's active streak as the longest-working late-night talk show host in the U.S. ended with his retirement from late-night television in June 2021, after a nearly 30-year run.

Reader's Guide

O'Brien's early life shaped his comedic voice. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, he was the son of Thomas Francis O'Brien, a physician and Harvard Medical School professor specializing in epidemiology, and Ruth O'Brien, an attorney and partner at Ropes & Gray. He has three brothers and two sisters, and is a third cousin once removed of Denis Leary. At Brookline High School, he was managing editor of the school newspaper The Sagamore, interned for Congressmen Robert Drinan and Barney Frank, and won the National Council of Teachers of English writing contest for his short story 'To Bury the Living.' He graduated as valedictorian in 1981 and entered Harvard University, living in Holworthy Hall his first year and Mather House thereafter. He majored in history and literature, graduating magna cum laude with a BA in 1985. His senior thesis was titled 'Literary Progeria in the Works of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.' At Harvard, he played drums in a band called the Bad Clams, wrote for the Harvard Lampoon, and served as its president during his sophomore and junior years. His future NBC boss Jeff Zucker was then president of The Harvard Crimson.

Did You Know?

• O'Brien's senior thesis at Harvard was titled 'Literary Progeria in the Works of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.'
• He was a congressional intern for Congressmen Robert Drinan and Barney Frank while in high school.
• During his time on The Simpsons, O'Brien would pitch characters in their voices, not realizing no one else did that.
• He briefly played drums in a college band called the Bad Clams.
• O'Brien's entire late-night hosting run lasted nearly 30 years, ending in June 2021.