Thursday, May 28, 2009
By JULIE HINDS
The first episode of “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” in 1993 opened with a skit where the relatively unknown host strolls to work as people he encounters keep reminding him, “Better be good!” and “Lot of pressure!”
Alone in his dressing room, a whistling O’Brien grabs a rope and prepares to hang himself until there’s a knock at his door to tell him it’s show time. Then he bounces out of the room, ready to go on the air.
It was a sly, self-aware beginning for a man who seemed an unlikely replacement for David Letterman but who went on to defy the naysayers and win over a devoted audience with his unique brand of comedy.
Now comes the biggest step in O’Brien’s television career. On June 1, he’ll become the new host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” the job once held by Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and, until Friday, Jay Leno.
His first guest is Will Ferrell. His old sidekick, Andy Richter, will be his announcer.
As the tall, lanky host — O’Brien’s legs stretch like Mr. Fantastic’s in the promo of him running on the beach to “Eye of the Tiger” — prepares for the move, the questions are mounting.
Will Leno’s move to a five-nights-a-week show at 10 p.m. in the fall eat into O’Brien’s ratings? Can “The Tonight Show” retain its stature in the fragmented media age? How will O’Brien’s post-midnight humor be received by a more mainstream audience that wants to hear a few jokes about politicians before going to sleep?
Talk about pressure. Lot of pressure.
In January, when O’Brien was in Detroit to visit the NBC affiliate, WDIV-TV, he sounded calm and confident.
“I don’t want to overthink,” he said. “I don’t want to say, well, this is 11:30, so I better button up and maybe try and have a little less fun and be a little more serious. ... When I’m having a good time and enjoying myself and doing things I think are funny, it tends to work. I think that’s what I have to continue to do at 11:30.”
That same month, at the annual conference in Los Angeles for TV journalists, he resorted to his usual self-deprecation when fielding a question about taking over the “The Tonight Show” with Leno casting a prime-time shadow.
“Since — what is it? — 1949, 1950, ‘The Tonight Show’ has been 11:30 on NBC. And, to me, that is sacred territory. ... A few people asked me, ‘Does this, you know, in any way diminish “The Tonight Show”?’ And my response is I don’t need any help diminishing ‘The Tonight Show.’ I’ve got that covered,” he kidded.
A brief history of O’Brien goes like this. The third of six children, he grew up in Brookline, Mass. A graduate of the Ivy League, he was president of the famous breeding ground for humorists, the Harvard Lampoon. A writer for “The Simpsons” and “Saturday Night Live,” he was plucked from obscurity by Lorne Michaels to fill the NBC spot left vacant by Letterman, who landed at CBS.