Has it really been ten years with Conan O'Brien? Gothamist caught Conan's Late Night 10-Year Anniversary last night and we're thankful for sophisticated yet childish humor Conan delivers night after night (and last night's glimpse of Will Ferrell in his leprauchan hot pants - super sexy, yo). Here's a list of Conan highlights from NBC, which has many mentions of the Masturbating Bear (yay!) and recent highlights, like the Claymation episode:
1993
May 3: At a press conference held in New Yorks famed Rainbow Room, Conan OBrien addresses the media for the first time as the newly named host of Late Night. In response to a journalists question referring to him as a virtual unknown, OBrien corrects him, No, sir, I am a complete unknown.
September 13 : Late Night with Conan OBrien debuts on NBC with guests Drew Barrymore, Tony Randall and John Goodman, who crab-wrestles fellow lovable burly guy George Wendt. Conan tugs at the heartstrings with his closing rendition of Edelweiss.
September 14: Radiohead performsthe first of many network debuts for cutting edge musical guests. Also, President Clinton gives Conan the first of his hundreds of Clutch Cargo satellite interviews - other heads of state and celebrities would follow.
November 25 An annual holiday tradition is established as Conan opens his Thanksgiving broadcast with a sycophantic turkey sucking up to him throughout his entire monologue, hoping to prevent the inevitable.
1994
February 28: David Letterman returns to Studio 6A for the first time since his departure from NBC to appear on Late Night. He asks Conan, How did you get this job? Was it a theme writing contest?
May Sweeps: As Leno and Letterman travel cross-country in a sweeps battle, Conan takes Late Night to Queens, N.Y.
June 22: Talk show planets align when late night chat staples Joe Franklin and Tiny Tim appear on the same episode.
July 26: Despite rampant rumors of his demise, Barney Miller and Godfather star Abe Vigoda makes his first of countless appearances on Late Night.
August 15: Andy files a mud-caked report from the historic restaging of the Woodstock music festival.
October 7: Conans former boss, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, visits the show.
October 11, 1994: Conan files a remote from Memphis, Tennessee, and records his first record, Talk Show Cowboy, at the legendary Sun Studios.
1995
March 3: Smashing musical barriers that needed no smashing, Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa, sons of rock legend Frank Zappa, jam with John Tesh, performing a classic Black Sabbath tune, Wizard.
April 29: Conan appears at the White House Correspondents Dinner, interviewing the Clutch Cargo President Clinton as another man named President Clinton watches.
June 23: Late Night broadcasts an entire episode from the Circle Line boat tour around New York City. Ed Koch accents the triumphant night with his rendition of Old Man River.
1996
January 18: Conan begins the search for Grady from Sanford & Son. When one of the shows writers tries to cast him in a sketch and repeated calls to his agent go unreturned, Conan turns to his viewers for help.
January 25, 1996: 22,958 calls are logged on the Find Grady hotline as a nationwide manhuntor Gradyhuntcontinues.
February 8: Grady is found!!! Whitman Mayo appears on the program after an Atlanta cable repairman tipped off the actors mother that Late Night was looking for her famous son.
February 20-23: The first day of Late Nights Time Travel Week. While most shows travel to other cities for Sweeps, Late Night bends the laws of time and space to visit different historical eras. Installments run the gamut from Ancient Greece with everyone in togas to the Civil War with Carl Oldy Olson appearing as the last Confederate soldier alive, stopping in the 80s and finishing in a post-apocalyptic future.
March 22: The premiere of the shocking Max on Max sex video.
April 9: Another Late Night holiday tradition is established with the short: Conans Claymation Passover
May 1: A Late Night musical milestone as blues legend John Lee Hookers dentures sit in with the Max Weinberg Seven.
September 13: Late Night with Conan OBriens Third Anniversary Special airs. Conan receives on-air congratulations from his competition, including Tom Snyder, infomercial star Tony Little, and a test pattern.
October 9: Late that night, a fire breaks out in NBCs headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, forcing Late Night out of its home in Studio 6A.
October 10 & 11: Realizing that they will not get paid if they dont do the show, Late Night broadcasts outdoors from the Rockefeller Center plaza with guests including Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Kattan. Still homeless, Late Night broadcasts from the set of the Today show. A la the early years of Today, Conan and Andy wear matching sweater vests and Andy does the weather.
November 27: Country legend Kenny Rogers fails a blind taste test to correctly identify his brand of chicken, choosing NBC Commissary chicken over Kenny Rogers Roasters.
December 31: Mindful of its 12:35 a.m. ET/11:35 p.m. CT airtime, Late Night turns its celebratory focus to the tragically overlooked Central Time Zone viewers and holds its first annual Central Time Zone New Years Eve extravaganza.
1997
February 13: A booking coup from the Westminster Dog Show as Conan presents Champion Triumph, the insult comic dog. A legend is born it is the first of many appearances for the cantankerous canine.
Also and by bizarre coincidence a massive future showbiz blunder is committed when the show bumps a fast rising star - Jennifer Lopez - from the show because film critics Siskel & Ebert and comic Jeffrey Ross went long.
February 26: Former pimp-turned-rapper-turned-actor Ice T meets Late Nights Pimpbot 5000, a 1950s robot with the dynamic flair of a 1970s street pimp. Pimpbot complains that he hasnt seen Ice in the old neighborhood for a while.
April 7: After a series of short-term renewals, Conan OBriens contract with NBC is extended for five more years, guaranteeing he will host Late Night into the millennium. Hopefully this means Ill be able to move out of the YMCA, says OBrien.
May 1: Conan risks his life to meet viewers in Houston, Texas (where the show airs at 2:40 a.m), meeting fans in a bus station, including a 300-pound biker known simply as Buffalo.
May 8: Conan boldly breaks a cardinal show business rule as he confronts Fabio about his man boobs.
May 14: Senator Bob Dole confronts his Clutch Cargo alter ego. Audience is not sure which Dole is the still photograph.
May 22: Fueled by the shows popularity in Europe, Late Nights Ventriloquist Dummy Choir flies to Budapest to appear on a Hungarian primetime variety show.
July 10: Conan flies to London to nab an exclusive late-night interview with Paul McCartney.
August 8: Late Night hosts an all-kids audience, filled with six- to eight-year-olds. If the NBC research department is correct, this is our core audience, notes OBrien. Guests appearing on the telecast are: Dave Foley of NBCs NewsRadio, CNN financial expert Myron Kandel and reptile expert Clyde Peeling as well as the Boredom Monster who appears when segments slow down. The show ends in a silly string fight.
November 6: Conan files a remote from Amsterdam and is surprised to meet Ozzy Osbourne in his hotel. The two tour Amsterdam together and years ahead of The Osbournes - America is treated to the unintentional comedy genius of Ozzy.
November 26: Political and social activist and now Presidential hopeful Rev. Al Sharpton performs the James Brown funk classic Sex Machine.
1998
July 10: Sad news at Late Night, William Preston, the actor who played one of the shows most beloved characters, Carl Oldy Olson dies after a brief illness in New York. He was 76 years old.
July 17: Chris Elliot, promoting his latest film, shows viewers around the space he kept as The Guy Under the Stairs during David Lettermans tenure at Late Night. Overwhelmed by nostalgia, Elliot shoots himself.
September 16: Late Night with Conan OBrien celebrates its fifth anniversary with a gala primetime special from NBCs famed Studio 8H at 10 p.m. ET.
October 8: Late Night marks its 1,000th show - by pleading on-air with potential future guest Sandra Bullock not to cancel her October 14 booking.
October 14: Bullock appears on Late Night.
October 28: In a textbook definition of variety show, newsman Sam Donaldson and Motley Crue share the Late Night couch.
December 11: At the height of the Clinton Impeachment furor, actor Alec Baldwin courts controversy by calling for Congressman Henry Hyde to be stoned to death (Conan administers oxygen to the Left-leaning actor and he eventually calms down.)
1999
February 18: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog files his first report outside Studio 6A - from where it all began: the Westminster Dog Show.
February 26: Bruce Springsteen shows up to take Max away for the E Street Bands reunion tour. With the Boss urging, Max removes his suit jacket and tie as the Max Weinberg Seven and Bruce rip into Working on a Highway to herald Weinbergs return to the road.
October 14: In what may be a first (and last) for late night television, SNL star Will Ferrell appears and heckles himself from the audience.
November 9 - 12: Late Night makes its first-ever road trip to sunny Los Angeles. In addition to booking A-list celebrities for the entire week -- Conan and Andy pitch mega-producer Aaron Spelling a new show, Conan tracks down several of the actresses that have flirted with him on the air and hits on them and Triumph conducts a tour of the stars homes.
December 17: In his first appearance on the show, Jim Carrey gives a sneak peek at his future project The Conan OBrien Story with Carrey as a brooding OBrien.
2000
February 23: In an attempt to cash in on the burgeoning reality show craze, Late Night debuts its new relationship game show Who Wants To Marry The Masturbating Bear?
February 24: During a Clutch Cargo satellite interview with Democratic candidates for the partys nomination, real candidate Bill Bradley surprises Conan and disconnects the lip-flapping version of himself.
May 4: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog holds a press conference on Late Night to attack the Pets.com sock puppet for plagiarism.
May 26: No guests are needed when after seven years on the show, sidekick Andy Richter bids a fond farewell to Late Night in a gala send-off complete with a full blown musical number and a final staring contest where Andy finally wins.
June 7: Conan addresses the graduating Class of 2000 at his alma mater, Harvard University. The celebrated speech is later distributed widely via the internet.
July 11: Legendary guitarist Jimmy Page plays on the show with the Black Crowes. Later in the interview, Crowes frontman Chris Robinson is surprised by his favorite character - the Masturbating Bear.
July 18: Despite being mid-way through the ACTUAL year 2000, Conan once again looks all the way to the year 2000, in this the first installment without Richter. Filling in is William Shatner. Other stars will follow, including: Bob Costas, Sting, David Duchovny, Will Ferrell, Mr T., Chris Rock George Foreman, Jeff Goldblum, Nathan Lane, Roseanne and Jim Carrey
September 14: As the finish line approaches for the Presidential election, Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Sen. Joe Lieberman appears on the show and clinches his eventual loss by performing My Way.
October 2: After a two-week hiatus for the Summer Olympics, Conan files a remote from Sydney, Australia.
October 12: In a less geographically challenging but equally ambitious remote - Conan checks out fall foliage and goes apple picking with Mr. T.
December 21: Late Night debuts its holiday animated minor classic - The Late Night Potato Christmas.
2001
January 10: Late Night debuts its popular character Little Jay Leno
February 1: The debut of the kind-hearted hemorrhoidal activist Preparation H Raymond.
February 2: The debut of recurring Late Night feature Secrets in which celebrities spill their guts telling their darkest, truest Hollywood stories. Revelations emerge over the next two years from the likes of William Shatner, John Ritter, Mr. T, Snoop Dogg, Harrison Ford, Jeff Goldblum, Gwyneth Paltrow and David Bowie
March 10: Conan hosts Saturday Night Live - debuting, among many other characters, the superhero, Moleculo: the Molecular Man.
April 24: Sopranos star Lorraine Bracco is overjoyed to be reunited with her favorite Late Night character Preparation H Boy better known to fans as Preparation H Raymond
May 17: After 8 years of punch lines, Kathie Lee Gifford makes her first appearance on Late Night. Says Gifford: Theres more sexual tension in here than in 15 years with Regis
May 18: Robert Goulet (Will Ferrell) appears on the show.
September 7: More controversy for Triumph as he begs to sniff J. Los butt (the Mount Everest of asses), humps Mobys head and goes toe-to-toe with hip-hop superstar Eminem at the MTV Video Music Awards.
September 18: Conan and Late Night return to the air after the terrorist attacks of September 11.
October 18: Conan brings Ozzy Osbourne to the office to cheer up the Late Night staff in the wake of 9/11. Ozzy answers phones, helps out around the office and performs in the elevator bank.
November 2: Late Night adds another awards show to the crowded landscape with the Law & Ordies - awards given only to Law & Order shows.
2002
February 26: After a two-week hiatus for the Winter Olympics, Conan files a report from Salt Lake City featuring him speed skating and snowboarding badly.
March 13: In a craven attempt to rectify an error from the early years of the show, Conan begs forgiveness of superstar Jennifer Lopez - who was bumped off of Late Night in 1997. He offers her a spot following Datelines Stone Phillips. No calls from J. Lo have been received.
May 17: Triumphs Triumph: The pugnacious puppet unleashes himself on the geeky fans waiting on line for the New York premiere of Star Wars Episode II.
September 22:Conan hosts the 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards and delivers what the Los Angeles Times calls one of the funniest opening monologues in Emmy history. Bear in mind that historically, the show has been hosted by Angela Lansbury, Robert Blake and Bryant Gumbel.
September 26: Sopranos star Joe Pantoliano bets Conan $10,000 that his character Ralph will survive the mob dramas entire fourth season. (On November 10, Ralphie is beheaded. No money changes hands.)
November 29: Triumph previews his feature film debut - biting off his new nemesis Eminem - in the new feature 8 Nipples.
December 11: After taking Max Weinberg on the road a second time, Bruce Springsteen and the entire E Street Band return to Late Night and play the rare Kittys Back. Conan joins the band for Merry Christmas Baby
December 26: Taking the talk show gold moment of a guest removing his pants on the air a bit further -- diminutive star Roberto Begnini switches suits with 6 4 Conan OBrien.
2003
January 16: Guest Tom Selleck is reunited with his first mustache only to find out that it is in a coma. Selleck visits it in a miniature hospital, where the mustache expresses jealousy toward his new mustache. When left alone, Selleck murders the facial hair. He remains a free man today.
March 27: Academy Award winner Robert Duvall reveals a lost scene from The Godfather with Late Night favorite Abe Vigoda.
April 22 - 25: In an unprecedented musical booking, Conan welcomes The White Stripes as musical guest for the entire week.
May 15: Late night television history - the show broadcasts an entire episode in Clay Animation.
May 22: Bending time and space, Jim Carrey does a comedy bit via cell phone with eminent physicist Stephen Hawking three times in one segment.
May 23: Conan airs a video diary from his USO Tour to Bahrain, Kuwait and the USS Nimitz.
June 26: Conan welcomes all the stars of Charlies Angels: Full Throttle at once (Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu).
July 17: Late Night with Conan OBrien receives its first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy/Variety Series (in addition to its 8 previous nominations for Outstanding Writing).
August 15: When the biggest blackout in U.S. History befalls the Northeast and Canada, Late Night broadcasts a 10 minute opening with minimal power, no guests and no audience.
September 14: LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN OBRIEN CELEBRATES ITS TENTH ANNIVERSARY WITH A STAR-STUDDED EVENT AT NEW YORKS BEACON THEATER.
