Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an Emmy-winning American television personality best known as host of NBC's late-night talk/variety show Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
He's 44!
NBC has announced that O'Brien will take over for Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show in 2009.
Personal Life:
Conan was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, to Ruth Reardon, an attorney, and Thomas Francis O’Brien, M.D. O'Brien excelled at English; he served as managing editor of his school newspaper and interned for Rep. Barney Frank.
After graduating from high school, O'Brien entered Harvard University and, in his three upper-class years, lived in Mather House. Throughout his college career, he was a writer for the Harvard Lampoon humor magazine. During his sophomore and junior years, O'Brien served as the Lampoon's president, making him only the second person ever to serve as president twice, and the first person to have done it in 85 years. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1985 with a B.A. in U.S. History. O'Brien is a regular supporter of the gay community as well as supporting gay rights and helping to achieve better equality for homosexuals around the globe.
A Bit of Trivia:
- O'Brien is 6'4" tall (1.93 m), a fact which becomes obvious when he stands up to greet a guest.
- O'Brien is a huge fan of the rock band Phish and was seen in many of Phish concerts.
- He was also a big Frank Zappa and Grateful Dead fan.
- During O'Brien's first rocky year as host of Late Night, his predecessor, David Letterman, was very supportive, making an amicable appearance as one of O'Brien's first guests and later filling O'Brien's audience with the stand-by audience from his own show. Letterman also invited O'Brien to guest on The Late Show. Years later, when NBC announced that O'Brien would take-over The Tonight Show, Letterman openly congratulated O'Brien on The Late Show.
- Also during his first rocky year, O'Brien was a guest on The Howard Stern Show, where Stern and his crew mocked him by throwing a going-away party for him, brought on by newspaper reports that NBC was already looking for someone to replace O'Brien. After the joking subsided, Stern said that O'Brien was more talented than his competition and that he was improving.
- O'Brien is an avid guitarist and music listener. He frequently features little-known musical acts on his show to give talented, lesser-known artists some exposure.
- When Regis Philbin is a guest on the show, he calls him coNAN (emphasis on the NAN). Conan often makes fun of him for it. It turns out that Regis actually knows the proper pronunciation, but chooses to do it to bug Conan.
- Was famous for going "out of character" in the first episode after September 11th, telling a story of how he went to pray for the first time in eight years, the previous time was after he was announced as the host of Late Night. O'Brien was noticeably shaken up, however he did not cry on the air. He talked about a need to have faith and even said "God Bless" at the end of the show.
Shirley MacLaine-Actress - 73
Barbara Streisand-Actress/Singer -65
Eric Bogosian-Actor -54
Michael O'Keefe-Actor/Roseanne -52
Cedric the Entertainer-Actor/Comedian -43
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Melinda Clarke-Actress/The O.C. -38
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Kelly Clarkson-Singer -25
Published 4/18/07 by
Allie Is Wired
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Will you still watch The Tonight Show hosted by Conan O'Brien?
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