Conan O'Brien: 22 years on stage

Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American comedian, TV presenter, writer, musician, producer and actor of scoring. Known as the host of night comedy shows. Since 2010, he has been conducting the program "Conan" on the cable channel TBS.

100% Irish Catholic

Conan O'Brien was born on April 18, 1963 in Brooklyn, Massachusetts. The father of the comedian, Thomas Francis is an epidemiologist, physician and professor of medicine at Harvard University. Mother, Ruth Reardon is a lawyer and partner of Ropes & Gray. The third of six children. The Conan family has Irish Catholic roots. His ancestors immigrated from Ireland before the Civil War in the United States. One of the episodes of Late Night-show O'Brien dedicated to the county of Kerry (Ireland) - the motherland of his ancestors.

Harvard Scandalmaker

Conan O'Brien attended the Brooklyn school, in which he edited the school newspaper Sagamor. While studying, he trained with Congressman Robert Drinan and won the competition of the National Council of English Teachers.

In 1981 he entered Harvard University. Here he studied history and literature. He graduated from the university with distinction in 1985. His thesis was devoted to children-symbols in the works of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. Managed the student humorous magazine "Harvard Lampoon" while studying at Harvard University and was the author of a comedy sketch series.

SNL and the Simpsons

After working in comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined Saturday Night Live. Conan spent two seasons writing and producing the Simpsons series until he received an offer from NBC to replace David Letterman as the lead Late Night in 1993.

Night show

The premiere of a night show with Conan O'Brien in studio 6A at Rockefeller Plaza, 30, in New York, occurred on September 13, 1993, and was accompanied by unfavorable reviews by contemporary critics. On the day of the premiere, Conan wrote an article in The New York Times titled "O'Brien Failed!"

The show was constantly threatened with closure, and in 1994 NBC threatened to transfer the presenter to weekly contracts. The management wanted to replace O'Brien with Greg Kinnear, whose program started later, at 1:30 in the morning.

But the popularity of the show was gradually growing. This was promoted by the sketches "If they were married", "Trip on the table", "In 2000". The turning point was February 1994, when the TV host was visited by David Letterman. There was a comedy handwriting program: a combination of obscene and eccentric jokes with elegant narrative exit scenes.

Honored awards

O'Brien's audience, young people and men, grew steadily, and the show became the leader of the ratings. This lasted for 15 seasons. Beginning in 1996, Conan O'Brien and the team of the authors of the program were each year nominated for the Emmy Award, having received it for the first and only time in 2007. In 1997, 2000, 2002-2004, he and the team of authors received the Guild of Screenwriters award. In 2001, O'Brien founded his own television company Conaco.

20.02.09 NBC broadcast the last episode of the night show. The program consisted of old stories and included the unexpected appearance of ex-buddy Andy Richter, John Mayer and Will Ferrell. The TV host finished the episode, cutting the stage equipment with an ax, giving out audiences and thanking everyone who helped him to reach this moment in his career, including David Letterman, Lorna Michaels, Jay Leno, his children and his wife.

Evening show with Conan O'Brien

Subsequently, O'Brien moved from New York to Los Angeles to lead his own version of The Tonight Show for seven months. Eventually, the television company's policy demanded the replacement of the presenter in 2010. "Evening show" with Conan O'Brien ceased to exist.

"Conan-show"

O'Brien became the leading "Conan-show" from 2010 and also led such ceremonies as the delivery of the American television Emmy Award and "Christmas in Washington". About him was shot an autobiographical film "Conan O'Brien can not stop" (2011).

12.04.10, a few hours before the start of his tour in Eugene, Oregon, the broadcaster announced the transition to the cable television channel TBS. The program debuted on November 8, 2010 and is aired from Monday to Thursday at 11:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.

01.09.10 O'Brien announced via Twitter and Team Coco on YouTube that the new show program on TBS will be called simply "Conan". Recently, the broadcaster extended the contract until 2018.

In February 2015, after the warming of American-Cuban relations, O'Brien became the first American television operator in the last 50 years to get permission to shoot in Cuba.

Conan O'Brien in Armenia

Encouraged by the visit to Cuba and tripling the rating, Conan decided to dedicate his next international episode to the homeland of his assistant, Sonya Movsesyan. In Yerevan, the TV host visited the market where he explored local delicacies and practiced in Armenian, addressing sellers with phrases: "I want to eat your liver" and "I will die on your body".

Personal life

Conan O'Brien met Elizabeth Ann Powell in 2000. The couple met almost 18 months before marriage in 2002 in the hometown of the wife of Seattle. October 14, 2003 they had a daughter, Niv, and November 9, 2005 - the son of Beckett. O'Brien is a convinced Democrat since his first vote in the presidential election in 1984.

21.10.11 Conan was ordained a priest with the right to perform a same-sex marriage ceremony in New York to record a series of programs. The wedding between the employee of the TV host and his partner was held on the stage of the Beacon Theater on November 3, 2011 and was broadcast by Conan show.

With the retirement of David Letterman on May 20, 2015, American TV presenter Conan O'Brien became the record holder for the duration of night talk shows in the US - his record exceeded 22 years.