Conan O'Brien ends 16-year run in New York to take over 'Tonight Show'

[Refugee 7]

Conan O'Brien has been busting up NBC this week - not just with laughs, but literally taking an ax to the "Late Night" set, his television home since 1993.

Tuesday night, he smashed the railing behind his desk and handed a lucky audience member a souvenir.

The crowds this week, his last in New York, have been filled with adoring followers who won tickets in a lottery.

Not bad for a guy who, when he started, got such a weak vote of confidence from the folks at NBC they would commit to him for only three months at time.

Better yet, this spring O'Brien will be given the keys to NBC's lucrative "Tonight" show franchise. "For a while, I was in denial - 'Oh, we'll just stop doing this show and we'll move on to the next one,'" O'Brien told the Associated Press of his pending end at "Late Night." "That's very me, very male. Men don't like to say goodbye. My wife told me about six months ago, 'I think you have to admit that you have mixed feelings about leaving this late-night show. It's very emotionally charged for you. That's okay.'"

O'Brien's last show is Friday. Then, he and most of his staff, including band-leader Max Weinberg, will head west.

"Late Night" will be in reruns for a week and then on March 2, former "Saturday Night Live" staffer Jimmy Fallon begins as host. Current "Tonight" host Jay Leno says farewell May 29, with O'Brien talking over June 1. Leno moves to 10 p.m. in the fall.

O'Brien's departure from "Late Night" marks the most significant shift in the late-night television landscape since he landed in the time period as an unknown. He got the seat after NBC named Leno the replacement for Johnny Carson on "Tonight." David Letterman, then the host of "Late Night" on NBC, was hurt he didn't get the "Tonight" gig and left for CBS.

After a search to replace Letterman, NBC and the show's executive producer, Lorne Michaels, chose O'Brien, who up to then had been a writer for "The Simpsons" and "Saturday Night Live."

A virtual unknown, O'Brien got 13-week contracts, which are normal for people on prime-time series, but hardly the norm in late night. Eventually, NBC brass broke down and gave him a six-month deal and finally contracts measured in years.

"I think it's really interesting that Conan O'Brien was simply a writer.

Nobody knew who he was, and he became the kind of cultural icon that he became," said Syracuse University Professor Robert Thompson, the director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture.

Thompson said O'Brien is a mix of Charlie Chaplin's Tramp and Bugs Bunny, all wrapped up with self-effacing humor.

During the past 16 years, O'Brien has grown. And with partners such as musical director Weinberg and his band and features including a Masturbating Bear, "Clutch Cargo" interviews, and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, he has become a hit with the younger set looking for big-name guests and a frat-party atmosphere.

"The one thing that's worked consistently for me is just to use your common sense, just try to be funny," O'Brien told the Associated Press.

"For 16 years, I've just been trying to think of funny stuff. We miss sometimes, we hit sometimes, but I think our average is pretty good."

"Conan is at his best when it's really not about the guest," Thompson said.

"It's using the guest as raw material, to continue to perform this deconstruction of what we used to know of the late-night television show."

Which, of course, explains why no one is getting bent out of shape over O'Brien taking an ax to the "Late Night" set.

The past weeks have been insanely busy for "Late Night" insiders, who have been more focused on getting the final shows on the air than on the magnitude of what's before them. No one is saying exactly what will be on the final show. The current week has been filled with O'Brien & Co. reliving moments, big and small, from his "Late Night" run.

Friday night's show will include a performance by the White Stripes, making their first appearance since 2007. A few years back, they played an entire week on "Late Night." The show has had drop-ins all week, too. Tuesday night, Stephen Colbert and O'Brien had a "string dance-off" and Mayor Bloomberg appeared Wednesday night.

Friday's show will be taped, as usual, at 5:30 p.m. at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in preparation to air at 12:35 that night. Then, in keeping with the showbiz tradition, the cast and crew will head out to a wrap party. Then, some suspect, beer will mix with tears.

"Being lanky, geeky, from Harvard, a pasty character, he's the last person in the world you'd expect to become one of the most interesting avant-garde comics in our history in the Letterman tradition," Thompson said, "and he pulled it off because he's such an unlikely character."

[Echosoftom 3]

Finally! I Can't wait for June 1st!!! :041:

[KansasPettyFan 1]

^ Me too! I'd love to watch him but I can't stay awake that late so this should work out fine.

[agirl 0]

YAY!! I'm looking forward to it too! I'm so sick of Jay.

[martin03345 167]

Edit: Nevermind, my bad for skimming:P

[DCAHNM 0]

I love Conan. Hope when he gets his new desk, he will let some lucky audience member drive along with him!

[watchtheparkingmeters 0]

did anyone see that "string dance-off" on Tuesday night? classic!

[Refugee 7]

I can't wait! I despise Jay Leno.

[AmyLou 5]

Hmmmm - is he moving out to Calif. then? Maybe another chance for our resident Conan stalker (Sharon) to have another go at him!

[knebworth_1978 22]

It's hard when you really like both of them. I think Jay's new show has a chance to make it.

[LizzieB 0]

I love Conan O'Brien and I'm looking forward to the new show (his and Jimmy's).

I won't bore you with the story, but my cousin Justin got to dance with him once in the audience warm up before the show. LOL!

[Katie 0]

I LOVE Conan O'Brien. He is the only one worth watching so I'm over the moon that he will be on earlier!!!

[angelic_22 0]

I've always been a Letterman kinda guy Linda, but Leno does have his moments - that Jay Walking thing is just too damn funny (kinda scary too).

[Refugee 7]

^ Nope, no love here for Jay Leno. Can't stand him. He's not funny, his voice is like fingers on a chalkboard, ugh, can't wait till he is gone.

[Patty Petty 9]

I dvr'ed Conan's show last night, I can't wait to see it.

[normandi 21]

^ Nope, no love here for Jay Leno. Can't stand him. He's not funny, his voice is like fingers on a chalkboard, ugh, can't wait till he is gone.

Thank you! I can not stand him either. I have always been a Letterman fan. I hope Conan does well in the Tonight Show.

[Nylle 0]

How can he go wrong with Mighty Max in his corner?