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140-414: The following is a list of sketches performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on NBC . In response to a recent news story, usually about misconduct, Conan speaks at length about his moral outrage, and his feeling of responsibility to remove this type of behavior from society; meanwhile, the camera occasionally makes brief cuts from Conan to Max. Conan may also speak of a dim-witted accomplice who aids

280-465: A $ 33 million payout – effectively a buyout of his three-year contract, which was reputed to be approximately $ 12 million a year. O'Brien's staff of almost 200 would receive $ 12 million divided in their departure, making the total of the settlement $ 45 million. O'Brien's final episode aired on Friday, January 22, ending his relationship with NBC after 22 years. Leno resumed hosting The Tonight Show on March 1, 2010, after NBC's coverage of

420-589: A 12:05 a.m. time slot, or the option to leave the network. On January 12, O'Brien issued a press release that stated he would not continue with Tonight if it was moved to a 12:05 a.m. time slot, saying, "I believe that delaying The Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't The Tonight Show. " When Oprah Winfrey later quoted this statement to Leno during an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in

560-541: A brief stint by Milton DeLugg , beginning in 1967 the "NBC Orchestra" was then headed by trumpeter Doc Severinsen who had played in the band during the Henderson era. [See "Music and Announcers" below.] For all but a few months of its first decade on the air, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City. In 1972, the show moved to Burbank, California into Studio One of NBC Studios West Coast (although it

700-589: A bullwhip, his appreciation for the band Rush , and his healthy eating habits. During the interview O'Brien found Schlansky to be totally unfazed by his boss's jokes or antics, reacting to most with a stoic demeanor. At the end of the segment, O'Brien thanked Schlansky, commenting, "I can't believe you're a real person." The positive reaction to the Schlansky interview led to an episode where Jordan and O'Brien had dinner at an Italian restaurant, with O'Brien purposefully trying to annoy and embarrass Schlansky throughout

840-513: A chair. Instead, McCann just walked out of his shot and into O'Brien's (a running gag in the satellite interview sketch), followed by Bernard, who portrayed the Obama family off screen, and an elderly man playing Brett Favre , who appeared earlier in the broadcast. Trumpeter Mark Pender is invited by Conan to sing a song about a current event. Pender begins normally, but upon reaching the refrain, he loses control, or he would intentionally climb over

980-414: A contract that gave him numerous weeks off every year, as well as Mondays. Frequent guest hosts (over 50 episodes each) included Joey Bishop (177 times, mostly in the 1960s), Joan Rivers (93, during the 1970s and 1980s), John Davidson (87), Bob Newhart (87), David Brenner (70), McLean Stevenson (58), Jerry Lewis (52, mostly in the 1960s), David Letterman (51, mostly between 1980 and 1981), and Jay Leno . By

1120-437: A current event or person, with Conan asking leading questions to which Max replies incorrectly, but in great detail in an attempt to appear knowledgeable. Usually, this is initiated when Conan introduces a person who is famous for some accomplishment but not necessarily widely recognizable. Max will claim to recognize the person and perhaps claim to be a long-time friend or acquaintance of the individual. Conan then catches Max in

1260-481: A format similar to his Tonight Show except that he was contractually prohibited from using a desk on the show. In a departure from network programming conventions of the time, the new show aired every weeknight at 10 p.m. Eastern/Pacific, competing with expensively produced narrative series on other networks and leading into affiliates' local news broadcasts and O'Brien's Tonight Show . Conan O'Brien replaced Leno as host on The Tonight Show on Monday, June 1 from

1400-595: A later hour." Music during the show's introduction and commercial segues is supplied by The Tonight Show Band . This ensemble was a jazz big band until the end of Johnny Carson's tenure. Skitch Henderson was the bandleader during the Steve Allen and early Carson years, followed briefly by Milton DeLugg (who had previously led the band on Broadway Open House and later became the musical director of The Gong Show ). Gene Rayburn served as Allen's announcer and sidekick and also guest-hosted some episodes all

1540-583: A lavish 2-hour prime time talk show for ABC entitled The Jerry Lewis Show , which was famously unsuccessful, and continued his more successful movie career. ABC also picked up Dean as a variety show host, airing The Jimmy Dean Show for three years from 1963 to 1966. The show was broadcast under the title The Tonight Show during this interregnum, with Skitch Henderson returning as bandleader. Hugh Downs remained as announcer/sidekick until taking over hosting duties on Today in September, at which point he

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1680-552: A lavish newly constructed studio inside Stage 1 of the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot, temporarily ending an era (since 1972) of recording the show in Burbank. After a strong debut week, O'Brien's total audience fell precipitously over the summer months, and the program began losing to Late Show with David Letterman in overall ratings. In contrast, O'Brien's performance in the crucial 18–49 demographic

1820-467: A leather living room couch was modified to include a cartoon cow exclaiming, "How's my ass feel, you son of a bitch?", or an ad for a new home, labeling one of the rooms as "The Room You Will Die In." Adding to the humor, Conan repeatedly insists that his ads are real, commenting "you can't make this stuff up, why would you, that would waste everybody's time." This sketch appeared on the show's very first episode in September 1993. Conan and Max converse about

1960-495: A live feed of his head. Upon learning that Halonen was running for reelection , O'Brien filmed a segment of the show which took the form of a campaign commercial for the President. When Halonen won, she offered to meet him if he ever came to Finland, which O'Brien did in a later episode. Conan and Andy "drive" the host desk through increasingly bizarre situations and locations. Both Desk Drive and Syncro-Vox were later used by

2100-515: A more futuristic-looking outfit consisting of a large metallic collar with a series of blinking lights, which Conan said were very expensive to make and Andy said smelled bad. Appearing on Tonight June 3, 2009, it was the first Late Night sketch to be carried over to Conan's Tonight Show . The open to the sketch included narration by William Shatner and, on one occasion, George Takei . In this sketch, Conan has supposedly sent out questionnaires to celebrities and he reads their replies. Conan reads

2240-455: A nightly variety show hosted primarily by comic Jerry Lester . It was unsuccessful because hosting five nights a week burned through all of Lester's material faster than he could create it, so he was given rotating hosting duties for a weekly prime time variety show in 1951. The network scaled back late-night programming to shorter weekly shows. A spin-off, Dagmar's Canteen , aired the following season on Saturday nights; at some other point in

2380-470: A question and then recites the answer that each of three celebrities gave. The answers of the first two celebrities are ordinary "straight" answers. The third is the gag answer and often relates to something unseemly about the celebrity. For example, to the question: "I like to think of my viewers as people who..." Brian Williams wrote "want to be informed." Meredith Vieira wrote "want to be my friend." Tony Danza wrote "have broken both arms and can't change

2520-405: A recent news story dealing with race, the camera cuts to bassist Mike Merritt , as the audience hears his inner thoughts regarding Conan's lack of knowledge on racial issues and his attempt at "trying to be black." He also makes note of the scant number of black people in the studio, which usually includes only him and an audience member, or crew member, who is either hired for the show or whose skin

2660-502: A segment in which Conan visited Skywalker Ranch , in which Schlansky corrected a variety of erroneous statements made by O'Brien's guide (for example, observing that a Darth Vader costume the guide claimed was used in Star Wars: A New Hope was, in fact, a replica due to its lack of Hebrew lettering present on the original). O'Brien questioned Schlansky about various topics: including his feelings on working for O'Brien, his skill with

2800-463: A series of guest hosts including Art Linkletter (4 weeks), Joey Bishop (2 weeks), Bob Cummings , Merv Griffin (4 weeks), Jack Carter , Jan Murray , Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy , Soupy Sales , Mort Sahl , Steve Lawrence , Jerry Lewis (2 weeks), Jimmy Dean , Arlene Francis , Jack E. Leonard , Hugh Downs , Groucho Marx , Hal March and Donald O'Connor , many of whom later noted they were being led to believe they were auditioning for

2940-446: A series of jokes) Allen refers to the fact the program is scheduled to run late into the night, his statement has come to refer to the longevity of the franchise. Rather than continuing with the same format after Allen and Kovacs 's departure from Tonight , NBC changed the show's format to a news and features show, similar to that of the network's popular morning program Today . The new show, renamed Tonight! America After Dark ,

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3080-702: A springboard for Fallon's tenure. The date was later moved up a week to February 17, midway through the Olympics. Leno's last Tonight Show aired on February 6, 2014, featuring guests Billy Crystal (Leno's first guest in 1992) and Garth Brooks . Leno gave a tearful goodbye at the end of the program, calling himself "the luckiest guy in the world", and reflecting on his time as host as "the greatest 22 years of my life." Jimmy Fallon (who had hosted The Tonight Show ' s follow-up show, Late Night , since 2009) assumed The Tonight Show hosting role on February 17, 2014, with his initial guests being Will Smith and

3220-489: A studio audience of at least 200, as long as they carry a production budget of at least $ 30 million and have been shot outside New York for at least five seasons." Studio 6B is also where Jack Paar and Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show before the show moved to Burbank in 1972. Lorne Michaels (producer of Saturday Night Live , in which Fallon appeared prior to hosting Late Night ) became executive producer of The Tonight Show . Fallon's Tonight Show has gone on

3360-460: A trip to Italy and his inclusion in various remote segments. Conan and Andy review movies released in cinemas around the time of the sketch's original airing. Initially called 'Conan and Andy on the Aisle', until Richter left Late Night . Conan and Andy usually comments on a negative quality which is either fictitious or exaggerated by an edited scene he then shows as proof. For example, when Conan

3500-450: A week starting in the 1980s), Leno never used guest hosts on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (except Katie Couric , once) and produced new shows five days a week; Leno himself was also Carson's primary guest host for the last five years of Carson's tenure, adding even more episodes to his credit. Leaving out Leno's five years as permanent guest host, Leno hosted 119 more episodes as full-time host than Carson. During Carson's first four years,

3640-426: A word by combining a guest's name or work with the word "fantastic". (For example: "Wow, Omar Epps ? That charismatic scene-stealer is Epps-tastic!" or "Tell that group, "don't stop the 'tastic!") Then, Conan reminds viewers he will also be doing his usual "hilarious monologue", the camera shows that the man prepares to do his bit, but changes his mind. Conan also mentions the show's "zany, off-the-wall comedy bits", and

3780-648: Is heavily made up to look tan. He would sign off by calling Conan a "pasty-faced pumpkin head", just before Conan finishes his speech by saying, "...because we're all part of this beautiful mosaic that is mankind", while believing that the audience is applauding for him. Reintroduced on Tonight July 7, 2009, with Conan commenting on that day's memorial service for Michael Jackson . Has been seen on Conan on TBS as well. Conan says he has "connections" which allow him to show "New" (fake) state quarters , Euros or commemorative stamps . The stamps are usually states based on people or current events. The state quarters insult

3920-581: Is in how similar the two photos are despite how vastly different the two people/things pictured are or vice versa, with Conan often commenting on how great the casting is. Running gags include President George W. Bush being played by Ralph Wiggum , Patrick Star , or a deer in the headlights, Joe Biden being played by Bob Barker , Hillary Clinton being played by Chucky , Condoleezza Rice being played by Snoop Dogg , Donald Rumsfeld being played by Skeletor , and Dick Cheney being played by The Penguin . Reintroduced on June 17, 2009. As Conan speaks on

4060-499: Is taking a tour. At one point McCann is seen wearing a pants suit and blond wig in a report about Hillary Clinton. Throughout the sketch McCann becomes increasingly frustrating to O'Brien, who wanders off his set and shows up on McCann's screen and knocks him unconscious with a breakaway chair. The camera angle shifts to show the green screen was right next to Conan's set. As McCann is revealed to be faking unconsciousness, O'Brien then derides his acting and wonders if he will lie there for

4200-1027: The 2010 Winter Olympics concluded. O'Brien returned to late-night television on November 8, 2010 (after his non-compete agreement expired), hosting the self-owned Conan on cable channel TBS . Conan remained partnered with TBS until 2021, although his show was truncated from an hour to thirty minutes in length in 2019 due to ratings issues. Conan's final episode on TBS aired on June 24, 2021. On March 1, 2010, Jay Leno returned to The Tonight Show , with Wally Wingert as his announcer. On April 12, 2010, bandleader Kevin Eubanks announced his departure after 18 years (15 years as bandleader) on May 28. Rickey Minor replaced him as bandleader on June 7. On July 1, 2010, Variety reported that only six months into its second life, Leno's Tonight Show posted its lowest ratings since 1992. By September 2010, Leno's ratings had fallen below O'Brien's when he had hosted The Tonight Show , although O'Brien's ratings had spiked during

4340-631: The Head Crusher from The Kids in the Hall ; Martin Short 's Ed Grimley , a recurring character from both SCTV and Saturday Night Live ; The Nerd from Robot Chicken ; and Kevin and Perry from Harry Enfield and Chums . Recurring characters from Saturday Night Live have notably been featured in a number of spinoff films, including The Blues Brothers (1980), Wayne's World (1992) and Superstar (1999). The idea of running characters

List of Late Night with Conan O'Brien sketches - Misplaced Pages Continue

4480-577: The NBC-owned Telemundo Spanish network. Conando (Conan with a fake mustache) is the hero of the piece, fighting mild villains to save the beautiful damsel in distress , usually from an abusive boyfriend or entering into a forced marriage , in most episodes. Each episode features a dramatic entrance, to which the villains bewilderedly ask "¿Conando?", the damsel swoons "¡Conando!" and to which Conan even more wildly replies "¡Si! ¡Conando!" In almost every sketch, Conando defenestrates

4620-774: The Pittsburgh -based pop-punk duo Rocket Me Nowhere to New York to perform their tribute song "My Hopeless Manatee". Sketch comedy Sketch comedy has its origins in vaudeville and music hall , where many brief humorous acts were strung together to form a larger programme. In Britain , it moved to stage performances by Cambridge Footlights , such as Beyond the Fringe and A Clump of Plinths (which evolved into Cambridge Circus ), to radio, with such shows as It's That Man Again and I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again , then to television, with such shows as Not Only... But Also , Monty Python's Flying Circus , Not

4760-435: The nations of the world in alphabetical order [1] , with the expectation that angry mail will come pouring in from offended viewers in countries where the show is broadcast. O'Brien insults 5 countries (with a bell ringing between each one) each time the bit airs. A sample insult: Georgia : Where Europe meets Asia and says "Hey, why don't we both dump our crap here?" Announcer Joel Godard then tells insulted viewers around

4900-499: The 11:35 period, The Late Show would largely maintain its lead over The Tonight Show in total viewers in early Fall, during which Letterman was receiving tabloid attention due to a blackmail scandal . In addition, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien was in the unusual situation of being a talk show following a talk show hosted by its predecessor on the same network, and the booking war that resulted often left The Tonight Show getting second dibs on guests. One publicist reported that

5040-607: The 1970s and 1980s include If You Don't Stop It... You'll Go Blind and the sequel Can I Do It... 'Til I Need Glasses? , The Groove Tube , Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) , The Kentucky Fried Movie and its sequel Amazon Women on the Moon , and Monty Python 's And Now for Something Completely Different and The Meaning of Life . More recent sketch films include The Underground Comedy Movie , InAPPropriate Comedy , Movie 43 and Livrés chez vous sans contact . Many of

5180-634: The 1970s, largely growing out of The Second City in Chicago and Toronto , which was built upon the success in Minneapolis of The Brave New Workshop and Dudley Riggs . Notable contemporary American stage sketch comedy groups include The Second City, the Upright Citizens Brigade , and The Groundlings . In South Bend, Indiana , area high school students produced a sketch comedy series called Beyond Our Control that aired on

5320-590: The Finns' "hated" neighbor Sweden with a sign saying "Sweden Sucks!" printed over the flag of Sweden . In 2006, the Finland antics increased. While talking to fans before the show, O'Brien met two Finnish fans who commented that he strongly resembled Tarja Halonen , who served as the 11th president of Finland between 2000 and 2012. Amused that his show was even airing in Finland, O'Brien made frequent references to his resemblance to Halonen, even putting her picture beside

5460-454: The German late night show Die Harald Schmidt Show . This sketch sometimes occurs when Conan announces future guests. After announcing the first guest, a member of the audience (played by writer Brian Stack ) is seen saying that the guest is " Fan tastic!" right to the camera with a thumbs up . After Conan announces the next guest, the member does almost the same thing, but ends by making up

5600-484: The Interrupter constantly interrupts Conan by finishing his sentences for him, always knowing exactly what Conan is going to say, even when it's denigrating to the Interrupter himself. He appeared in a black cape, purple ruffled shirt, long black hair and a handlebar mustache. Occasionally, if the sketch runs long enough, the roles will eventually become reversed, with the Interrupter starting sentences and Conan doing

5740-488: The Most Like Fresh Salmon" was attacked by a man in a bear costume. Awards show intermission segments (red carpet, how the award is built, etc. ) are also parodied. Reintroduced on Tonight June 16, 2009, and later reintroduced again on Conan on June 21, 2011. A fictitious new made-for-TV movie is announced, based on a real-life event Conan has mentioned. Conan then says he has the inside scoop on

List of Late Night with Conan O'Brien sketches - Misplaced Pages Continue

5880-467: The Nine O'Clock News (and its successor Alas Smith and Jones ), and A Bit of Fry and Laurie . An early, perhaps the first, televised example of a sketch comedy show is Texaco Star Theater aka The Milton Berle Show 1948–1967, hosted by Milton Berle . In Mexico, the series Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada , created by Mexican comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños under the stage name Chespirito ,

6020-663: The Stanley Cup Playoffs when Conan said he was cheering for the Boston Bruins, since Conan is from Boston. Andy then called him out on it, saying he's never heard about him talk about hockey before. Andy then quizzed him on who the coach was, name a forward, the goalie, etc., and then asked who the Assistant Equipment Manager was, and then ridiculous ones like Vice-President of Corporate Partnerships. Eventually, Conan got one wrong and Conan

6160-428: The aftermath of the fallout, he responded: "Well, if you look at where [Conan's Tonight Show ] ratings were, it was already destructive to the franchise". Leno was criticized for his remark, which contradicted his statement that "I think Conan is doing fine" mere months earlier, after which O’Brien's ratings were on an upward trend. Some observers considered the portrayal of O'Brien's ouster as being specifically about

6300-423: The aggression was such that The Jay Leno Show had signaled to potential guests that doing O'Brien's program before Leno's would be punished with secondary placement in the line-up. Though NBC claimed that the performance of The Jay Leno Show offered no surprises and that O'Brien was meeting expectations as well, the network had failed to anticipate the impact that Leno's weaker 10   pm lead-in would have on

6440-683: The audience erupted in applause, Paar continued: "when I walked off, I said there must be a better way of making a living. Well, I've looked—and there isn't!" However, citing that he would prefer to do one prime-time show per week rather than five late-night installments, Paar eventually left the show two years later in March 1962, at the pinnacle of his success as host. The guests on the last show were Jack E. Leonard , Alexander King , Robert Merrill and Buddy Hackett . Among those appearing in taped farewell messages were Richard Nixon , Robert F. Kennedy , Billy Graham , Bob Hope and Jack Benny . Hugh Downs

6580-475: The band for Jack Paar, and, after a short while of using comic actor Franklin Pangborn , Hugh Downs was Paar's announcer. For most of Johnny Carson's run on the show, the show's band, then called " The NBC Orchestra " was led by Doc Severinsen , former trumpet soloist in Henderson's band for Steve Allen. When McMahon was away from the show, Severinsen was the substitute announcer and Tommy Newsom would lead

6720-516: The before picture: for example, if George W. Bush had plastic surgery, his before picture would be that of a chimpanzee. The sketch is loosely related to the "If They Mated" sketch in that it uses the same technology for a similar comedic premise. Features celebrities in a room that looks like a jail cell or perhaps a police interrogation room, smoking a cigarette and downing hard liquor, usually telling some humorous "secret" previously unknown about them. For example, one featured Michael Caine saying "I

6860-465: The bit had even gotten to the letter F. O'Brien responded by assuming the Finnish "just couldn't wait" to be insulted and officially insulted Finland in the segment. An overwhelming number of postcards were supposedly received, which apparently "forced" O'Brien to give Finland a formal apology. O'Brien then went as far as to have the flag of Finland shown in the background during a speech and slandered

7000-633: The bit, without apparent success. When O'Brien moved from New York to Los Angeles, most of his staff moved with him and found places to live, except for Schlansky. O'Brien and a realtor helped Schlansky find a house, with O'Brien again trying unsuccessfully to provoke an emotional reaction from Schlansky. Throughout subsequent sketches O'Brien would make more pointed criticisms of Schlansky's various tastes and lifestyle, specifically mocking Schlansky's fascination with Italy and coffee. Schlansky's bizarre worldview and demeanor proved to be popular with viewers, leading to various segments centered on Schlansky, such as

7140-459: The cancellation of his primetime show. O'Brien's rating surge during the controversy was also seen by some of his proponents as having the potential to be the host's "Hugh Grant moment" – an allusion to a 1995 interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that aired shortly after the British actor had been caught publicly soliciting a prostitute. Leno's interview with Grant was widely watched due to

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7280-415: The channel;" A running joke has the survey frequently including a question which is answered by O.J. Simpson somehow referring to committing murder. To the question: "My favorite time of day is..." Evangeline Lilly wrote: "Dawn." Matt Lauer wrote "Twilight". O. J. Simpson wrote: "Murder O'Clock." A reply where Paris Hilton is the final respondent to a question has been used in every segment for at least

7420-405: The course of almost 70 years, The Tonight Show has undergone only minor title changes. It aired under the name Tonight for several of its early years, as well as Tonight Starring Jack Paar and The Jack Paar Show due to the runaway popularity of its host, eventually settling permanently on The Tonight Show after Carson began his tenure in 1962, albeit with the host's name always included in

7560-454: The debut of Saturday Night Live in October 1975, NBC aired The Best of Carson on Saturday nights at 11:30 pm. Apart from the show's brief run as a news show in 1957, its shortest-serving host was Conan O'Brien, who went on to continue hosting a late-night program following his controversial departure . O'Brien hosted 146 episodes over the course of fewer than eight months before Leno

7700-421: The deviant in his exploits, after which the camera briefly cuts from Conan to LaBamba. Finally, Conan urges the public to expose such people using the show's address which, together with the heading "Shameless Adulterous Weasel" or the like, is superimposed over Max. The sketch is typically performed with Richter participating, but after Richter left Late Night , the celebrity guest would participate (when Richter

7840-486: The dominance of the Sunday night ratings first by CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show then by ABC's Maverick . Unlike the first installment of Johnny Carson's tenure, which is lost except for audio recordings, a kinescope recording of most of the first Tonight Show under Allen survives. In this recording, Allen states during his opening monologue that "this show is going to go on forever"; although in context (and as part of

7980-461: The floor the instant he makes physical contact with Conan. During the airing of the usual " New College Mascots " sketch, a character called the " FSU Webcam Manatee " was featured - a manatee in front of a computer, dancing to the Divinyls ' " I Touch Myself ", being watched remotely by trumpeter Mark Pender . Conan, in an ad-libbed statement, mentioned that the character appeared on the (at

8120-481: The form of humorous predictions of what will happen in the year 2000. Quite commonly, the second-to-last prediction involves Conan mocking his guest, while the last prediction involves the guest mocking Conan in return. This sketch is very similar to one Conan performed with the Happy Happy Good Show in 1988. The sketch was created prior to the actual year 2000, but the show's writers decided to keep

8260-454: The future, all the way to the year 2000 !" During an "In the Year 2000" sketch, O'Brien, Andy or the guest, as well as band member Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg, each wears a black robe and futuristic-looking collar and hold a lit flashlight to their face. Between La Bamba's chant of "In the year 2000...", O'Brien and Andy or the guest alternate delivering jokes, often based on current events , in

8400-450: The guests for that night's show are, then mention that sometimes they book guests whose appearances end up being disastrous. He then introduces a series of fictional clips from past shows where the guests reveal themselves to have unforeseen quirks or cause disturbing mishaps. Some examples include a chef who does not actually make anything, but only reassembles food to its original form, and a character named Barney Brittlebones who crumples to

8540-404: The host's ratings to be spin, as it ignored O'Brien's far less expensive contract (and thus far less expensive buyout), O'Brien's improving ratings before the controversy, and O'Brien's younger demographics, all of which suggested profitability. After the decision was made to reinstate Leno, NBC executives and Leno maintained in the media that O'Brien's ratings were responsible for his removal from

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8680-503: The interrupting. Eventually, the sketches evolved so that the first celebrity guest, and O'Brien himself, would replace the Interrupter as the one interrupting. Reintroduced on Tonight on September 3, 2009 and reprised for Stack's final show on Conan on April 2, 2015. Conan and Max make small talk about a particular subject. The result is usually that both Max and Conan, bantering back and forth, end up going into extreme detail or citing obscure people and events. Once they have exhausted

8820-416: The job" in the wake of his (Leno's) eventual departure. Five years later, what was to have been the final episode of The Tonight Show with Leno as host aired on Friday, May 29, 2009. Not wanting Leno, who remained number one in the ratings, to move to a competing network, NBC signed the host to a new contract to host a new prime-time talk show beginning in September 2009, entitled The Jay Leno Show , with

8960-440: The job; Francis was among the first women to ever host a late-night talk show. Griffin was so well received as a guest host that NBC gave him his own daytime talk show, the first of three he would host in his broadcasting career, which debuted the same day Carson took over the late-night show, and Lewis's two-week stint was so successful that NBC seriously considered retracting their offer to Carson. Lewis subsequently wound up hosting

9100-661: The joke was an image on a Ukrainian Euro Coin depicting a man in Eastern European dress with four arms, holding up seventeen fingers, with the caption on the coin saying "Over 17 years since the Chernobyl Accident". O'Brien was unaware that his show was even airing in Ukraine - thus, the premise of "Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland" is that O'Brien, in an effort to find out where else the show is being aired without his knowledge, reads fast-paced insults of each of

9240-540: The last four years, usually about her promiscuous dating habits. O'Brien and bandleader Max Weinberg have been used as well, with answers that perceive O'Brien as a loser and Max as a pervert. Another running gag has both Larry King and Kirstie Alley answering, usually poking fun at Larry King's age and Kirstie Alley's weight. Reintroduced on The Tonight Show on June 5, 2009 and later reintroduced February 1, 2012 on Conan . A Spanglish telenovela parody , which Conan announces that they have made specifically for

9380-538: The late 1980s, Leno was designated the permanent and only guest host, and consequently hosted several dozen episodes each year, totalling 333 "guest host" appearances during Carson's tenure. On May 22, 1992, Johnny Carson retired after three decades behind the iconic late-night desk, and was replaced by Jay Leno amid national and media controversy. David Letterman not only wanted to move into that earlier time slot from his Late Night spot (which had been broadcast following Carson's program) after The Tonight Show , and

9520-487: The late-night broadcast himself. An English lady is visiting Switzerland. She asks about the location of the "W.C."  The Swiss, thinking she is referring to the Wayside Chapel, leaves her a note that said (in part) "the W.C. is situated nine miles from the room that you will occupy. It is capable of holding about 229 people and it is only open on Sunday and Thursday. It may interest you to know that my daughter

9660-525: The late-night television universe, Late Show with David Letterman , airing in the same slot, competed head to head against The Tonight Show with Leno in the host's chair and behind that iconic desk, for the better part of two decades, although Leno consistently enjoyed higher ratings after the first two years. On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of the show's premiere, NBC announced that Leno would be succeeded by Conan O'Brien in 2009. The network shocked Leno, who had been consistently number one in

9800-741: The later Steve Allen years, regular audience member Lillian Miller (usually referred to as "Miss Miller") became such an integral part that she was forced to join American Federation of Television and Radio Artists , the television/radio performers union. She would continue to perform the same service for most of the major talk shows for decades, including those hosted by Paar, Carson, Merv Griffin (until 1986), and Mike Douglas , among others. Allen and Kovacs departed Tonight in January 1957 after NBC ordered Allen to concentrate all his efforts on his Sunday-night variety program, hoping to combat

9940-613: The lie, stating "I made it up just to make a fool out of you!". Max replies "Well, I guess I know what's coming...", Conan says "You sure do", and a large red stamp (like a typical rubber stamp imprint) of the word "ASS" appears on the screen over a dejected Max, along with a dramatic voiceover of the word. Occasionally, the roles will be reversed, and Conan will be "stamped". Other stamps are often used to abruptly punctuate various one-off sketches, including words such as "Alone", "Liar", "Sad", and "Small Penis". Another sketch on Tonight ended with an "Admirable" stamp after Barack Obama called

10080-454: The local 11   pm news, which suffered a drastic drop in ratings (between 25%–50% nationwide) as a demonstrable result. As the affiliates rely on the revenue generated during the news, this generated a furor from the local stations and placed pressure on NBC to quickly fix the 10   pm situation, which was contributing to a cascading effect on the ratings of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon , although

10220-545: The local NBC affiliate WNDU-TV from 1967 to 1986. Warner Bros. Animation made two sketch comedy shows, Mad and Right Now Kapow . Australian television of the '80s and '90s featured several successful sketch comedy shows, notably The Comedy Company , whose recurring characters included Col'n Carpenter , Kylie Mole and Con the Fruiterer . An early British example is the influential The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959). Sketch films made during

10360-491: The local network affiliate station in New York City . Beginning in September 1954, it was renamed Tonight! and began its historic run on the full NBC network. Notes for hosting history The first Tonight announcer was Gene Rayburn . Allen's version of the show originated talk show staples such as an opening monologue, celebrity interviews, audience participation, and comedy bits in which cameras were taken outside

10500-408: The main hosts, a number of regular "guest hosts" have been used, notably Ernie Kovacs , who hosted two nights per week during 1956–1957, and a number of guests used by Carson, who curtailed his own hosting duties back to three nights per week by the 1980s. Among Carson's regular guest hosts were Joey Bishop , McLean Stevenson , David Letterman , David Brenner , Joan Rivers , and Jay Leno, although

10640-437: The man either already stopped paying attention and/or begun torturing himself. (Examples: reading a disturbing or uninteresting book or newspaper article, drinking bleach or drilling his teeth.) Conan then questions the man, asking if he just likes the guests but "thinks everything else we do is crap ?" or some other negative word. The man will then finish with "not crap, crap tastic !" Conan will start by talking about how great

10780-401: The monologue or opening segment, O'Brien mentions a big news item and says Brian McCann is on the scene and cuts to him via a "remote feed", which is actually McCann standing in front of a greenscreen backdrop. McCann gives an increasingly absurd report that involves a variety of gags, such as the backdrop turning into a slideshow of various landmarks as he attempts to convince O'Brien that he

10920-403: The monologue, Leno's most popular segment, the essence of the program. This would move The Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m., a post-midnight start for the first time in its sixty-year history, while Late Night with Jimmy Fallon would be pushed to 1:05   am, and Last Call with Carson Daly would likely be cancelled. Under NBC's (later contested) interpretation of O’Brien's contract, the host

11060-402: The movie's casting. Viewers are shown two photos side-by-side of a person or thing who will be portrayed in the movie and the person that will be playing the role. The casting first starts off with people who strikingly resemble the person they are playing but then goes off to extremes with, usually, objects or fictitious characters bearing some resemblance to the person they are playing. The humor

11200-417: The named year the same even after the passing of that year, in a sort of ironic twist. However, when the sketch was revived on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien , Richter heaped ridicule upon O'Brien for failing to update the name of the skit nine years after the year 2000 had passed. The sketch is renamed "In the Year 3000", with the black robe (referred to as a "ratty smock" by Richter) being replaced with

11340-453: The network. Skip Brittenham, an entertainment attorney and partner at the law firm that had negotiated Leno's contract, was later asked about this claim in an interview. Though Brittenham refused to comment on the veracity of the publicly reported penalty figure, he allowed that "I think the facts speak for themselves." On January 21, it was announced that NBC had struck a deal with O'Brien in which he would leave The Tonight Show and receive

11480-586: The newest and then lowest-rated radio and television network, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC, as the Blue Network , had been separated from NBC in 1943 owing to government pressure). Because Carson was under contract through September to ABC and producer Don Fedderson (who held him to his contract until the day it expired), he could not take over as host until October 1, 1962. The months between Paar and Carson were filled by

11620-488: The page. Since that night, Conan has periodically given viewers an "update" on the website's status, mentioning its hit count and several fan submitted images, poems, and other media pouring in. Conan also used the updates as lead ins for special, on-stage Horny Manatee segments. For example, Conan called on James Lipton to dramatically recite the fan-made poetry, then dance with the Manatee on air at his own request, and flew

11760-491: The panic ended. Carson's ratings usually substantially led his timeslot, in spite of the fact that he intermittently faced many other late-night competitors including Les Crane , Bill Dana , David Frost , Regis Philbin , Alan Thicke , Jerry Lewis , Joan Rivers , David Brenner , Pat Sajak , Ron Reagan , Dennis Miller , and most notably Steve Allen , Arsenio Hall , Joey Bishop, Merv Griffin, and Dick Cavett (Carson saw his friend Cavett as his real competition but Cavett

11900-483: The part of one or the entire cast. Towards the end of the bit they are always joined by a celebrity, played by an actor with a superimposed picture of the celebrity at hand. The celebrity usually ends up getting into a fight with Conan, Joel, or Max, or is seen in compromising positions and/or situations, always looking back at the camera with exactly the same look, since the superimposed picture never changes. Before his death, Carl "Oldie" Olsen, played by William Preston ,

12040-708: The practice has been mostly abandoned since hosts currently prefer reruns to showcasing potential rivals. The Tonight Show is the world's longest-running talk show and the longest-running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States. It is the third-longest-running show on NBC, after the news-and-talk shows Today and Meet the Press . The current incarnation is taped from Studio 6B at NBC Studios in Rockefeller Center in New York,

12180-415: The railing into the audience, eventually writhing around on the floor within the top of his voice shouting "baby" over and over again until Conan finally stops him. The rhythm of the song is typically the same, with different lyrics each time. Reintroduced on Tonight August 28, 2009, when it was incorporated into the "Conan, Please Blow Up My Car" contest. A melodramatic villain (played by Brian Stack ),

12320-486: The ratings for eighteen months before eventually cementing his number one status. The Jay Leno Show debuted in September 2009, three months into O'Brien's Tonight Show tenure, performing to significantly lower ratings than the primetime dramas it had replaced on NBC and trailing the competition. NBC had expected the drop, having calculated that lower ratings would be balanced by a talk show's correspondingly lower expense compared to more popular scripted programming. In

12460-410: The ratings of O'Brien's Tonight Show had already nosedived months before Leno's prime time show went on the air. On January 7, 2010, multiple media outlets reported that beginning March 1, 2010, Leno would move from his 10 p.m. weeknight time slot back to the traditional Tonight Show slot at 11:35. Under this proposal, Leno's show would be shortened from an hour to 30 minutes, which would make

12600-658: The ratings, for the first time since Leno returned to hosting The Tonight Show. By May 2011, Leno regained the lead over Letterman and held it until leaving the show in February 2014. In August 2012, The Los Angeles Times reported that The Tonight Show was in trouble for a number of reasons, notably that NBC was losing money. The Times later elaborated, noting that advertising revenue from The Tonight Show had dropped more than 40% since 2007, from $ 255.9 million annually to $ 146.1 million. Still, despite these problems, during 2012–13, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

12740-548: The rest of the bit. McCann has also done a remote feed of sporting events, such as NBA Finals and U.S. Open , where he had Kevin Garnett , Doc Rivers , and Tiger Woods to interview, though they did not appear on screen. But at the end, the interviewees come out, partially hiding themselves, but only to reveal that it is actually Pierre Bernard . Then O'Brien would knock out McCann with an object. When reintroduced on Tonight August 24, 2009, O'Brien did not hit McCann with

12880-673: The road to produce episodes remotely in its first year, spending four days at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida in June 2014 to promote new attractions at NBCUniversal 's theme parks there. In February 2015, Fallon presented a special Sunday night show from Phoenix, Arizona airing after NBC's coverage of Super Bowl XLIX , followed by four days of shows in Stage 1 at Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles (where Conan O'Brien's version

13020-403: The rock band U2 , plus an assortment of celebrity cameos, including an appearance by one of Fallon's direct broadcast competitors, Stephen Colbert (who would later replace David Letterman on the competing The Late Show in 2015), and another by former permanent guest host Joan Rivers , making her first appearance on Tonight since cutting ties with Carson in 1986. The show's opening sequence

13160-518: The same studio used during the later Jack Paar era and the first 10 years of Carson. During its initial run under Steve Allen, it originated from the Hudson Theatre on Broadway. From 1973 to 2009, and from 2010 to 2014 the show was taped at one of three different studios at NBC's Burbank, California Studios . During Conan O'Brien's brief tenure, the show was taped at an opulently reworked studio on Stage 1 of Universal Studios Hollywood . Over

13300-471: The scandal, and Leno's fortunes in his rivalry with Letterman permanently turned around in its wake. The New York Post advanced a theory that O'Brien being the cheaper host to lose was the cardinal factor in NBC's decision to negotiate his departure. The Post claimed that Leno had an "ironclad" guarantee for $ 150 million if he had been taken off the air, far higher than what it would cost for O'Brien to depart

13440-606: The series after the host, and as such the program, though officially still called Tonight , was also marketed as The Jack Paar Show . A combo band conducted by Paar's Army buddy pianist Jose Melis filled commercial breaks and backed musical entertainers. Paar also introduced the idea of having guest hosts; one of these early hosts was Johnny Carson . It was also one of the first regularly scheduled network shows to be telecast in color beginning sporadically in September 1957, with regular color broadcasts beginning in September 1960. On February 11, 1960, Jack Paar unexpectedly walked off

13580-454: The show in the midst of the program – an absence that lasted almost a month – after NBC censors edited out a segment taped the night before about a joke involving a "WC" ("water closet", a polite term for a flush toilet) being confused for a "wayside chapel". As he left his desk, he said, "I am leaving The Tonight Show . There must be a better way of making a living than this". Paar's abrupt departure left his startled announcer to finish

13720-517: The show ran for 105 minutes and then was reduced to ninety minutes in early 1967 when Carson stopped appearing for the first 15 minutes because most affiliates were carrying their local news during that time slot as they expanded to half an hour. During Carson's 1980 contract negotiations, the show was shortened to sixty minutes beginning that September, where it has remained since. NBC also broadcast The Best of Carson which were repeats of some of Carson's popular older albeit usually recent shows. Prior to

13860-412: The show's final days during the media publicity onslaught, and this tally pivots upon that anomalous spike in O'Brien's ratings. NBC ratings specialist Tom Bierbaum commented that due to the host being out of late-night television for a period of time and the subsequent 2010 Tonight Show conflict , Leno's ratings fall was "not a surprise at all." In October 2010, David Letterman beat Leno's program in

14000-466: The show. In July 1957, NBC returned the program to a talk/variety show format once again, with Jack Paar (who left his role as morning show host on CBS to join NBC) becoming the new solo host of the show. Under Paar, most of the NBC affiliates that had dropped the show during the ill-fated run of Tonight! America After Dark began airing the show once again. Paar's era began the practice of branding

14140-764: The sketch comedy revues in Britain included seasons at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival . Since 1999, the growing sketch comedy scene has precipitated the development of sketch comedy festivals in cities all around North America. Noted festivals include: The Tonight Show The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 2010–2014), Conan O'Brien (2009–2010), and Jimmy Fallon (2014–present). Besides

14280-631: The sketch, they admitted they were not Irish . When Senator John McCain ran for president in 2008 , Conan began replaying his secrets segments, which included McCain plugging "The McCain-Feingold Singles Guide to Portland." Shown in 2003 numerous times. The sketch was simply a man in a werewolf costume, rubbing his snout in a manner stereotypically associated with cocaine users. The premise of this skit had its origin when Late Night received many angry letters from viewers in Ukraine after mocking that nation in another recurring skit, New Euros , where

14420-449: The speed, grammar mistakes, pronunciation and agility of an advanced level high school Spanish student. Reintroduced on Tonight June 8, 2009, and performed many times on Tonight , Richter is introduced as Conando's sidekick Nachito, who always shows up when Conando is about to make love to the damsel, thus spoiling the romantic mood. In one sketch, the damsel did not end up with Conando but rather Mario Lopez . Conan awards members of

14560-502: The state they are based on, and the Euros insult the country they are based on. One such Euros skit led to the creation of Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland . The new coins sketch was reintroduced on Tonight July 13, 2009. Conan, Max, and announcer Joel Godard have recently had a party and Conan displays the ridiculous and fictional events of this party. These events typically include heavy drinking and rather gory violence or homicide on

14700-405: The studio audience for various talents. Typically this will always include "best celebrity impression" to highlight lookalikes (as in movie casting ), and then a variety of other awards which are achieved with props and superimposed images. For example, the winner of "Best Foreign Language Audience Member" was shown with a large superimposed moustache and sombrero, and the "Audience Member Who Smells

14840-551: The studio, as well as music including guest performers, a house vocal group (duo Steve and Eydie , who would marry each other in 1957) and a house band under Lyle "Skitch" Henderson . When the show became a success, Allen got a primetime Sunday comedy/variety show in June 1956, leading him to share Tonight hosting duties with Ernie Kovacs during the 1956–57 season . To give Allen time to work on his Sunday evening show, Kovacs hosted Tonight on Monday and Tuesday nights with his own announcer ( Bill Wendell ) and bandleader. During

14980-642: The subject, Max stops and says, "Wow, Conan! Talking about (this subject) sure is interesting", to which Conan enthusiastically responds, "IT SURE IS, MAX!!!" They then stare at one another in dull fashion as the camera cuts back and forth between them. Reintroduced on November 23, 2009 when Max returned from his tour with Bruce Springsteen. The topic of the first return sketch was soccer. A parody of Jay Leno 's Headlines segment on The Tonight Show in which Leno finds humorous mistakes in various newspapers. Conan's bit takes regular newspaper ads and stories and adds blatantly fake text; for example, an ad depicting

15120-442: The talk show format introduced by Allen and honed further by Paar. Carson is the longest-serving host to date, although he is not the host with the most episodes. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson aired for 30 seasons between October 1962 and May 1992. Leno has the record of having hosted the greatest number of total televised episodes. Leno's record is due to the fact that, unlike Carson (who only produced new shows three days

15260-431: The then-new television series Viva Laughlin claiming the producers missed some key signals of the show's poor quality. A clip of the show featuring one of its musical numbers appeared interspersed with footage of a "crew member" who, horrified at how terrible the show is, suddenly activates a TNT detonator and the scene switches to stock footage of an imploding building. Reintroduced on Tonight August 4, 2009. During

15400-410: The time period, when he was told that he would be fired in five years, with O'Brien taking over the slot at that time. Leno told his audience about this unique network decision at the beginning of his next show, mentioning that he had accepted it, noting that he wanted to avoid repeating the hard feelings that had somehow developed with Letterman, and called O'Brien "certainly the most deserving person for

15540-405: The time slot. On April 3, 2013, after a dispute with the network over Leno's joking about the network's poor prime time performance in his monologues, NBC announced that Leno would retire in 2014, with Late Night host Jimmy Fallon taking over The Tonight Show after the conclusion of NBC's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics . It was Leno's suggestion to use NBC's coverage of the Olympics as

15680-505: The time) fictitious web site "HornyManatee.com". The next night, Conan told viewers that if he mentions a web site which does not exist, NBC corporate policy is to buy the domain name lest someone else use it and potentially make NBC liable for the site's content. Conan said Late Night decided to use the domain name to create an actual web site, giving it the appearance of a fake porn site . With http://www.hornymanatee.com/ (no longer operational), Conan asked viewers to submit pictures to

15820-436: The title. Beginning with Carson's debut episode, network programmers, advertisers, and the show's announcers would refer to the show by including the name of the host: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson , The Tonight Show with Jay Leno , The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien , and, currently, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon . In 1957, the show briefly tried a more news-style format. It has otherwise adhered to

15960-447: The traditional Tonight Show time slot, while O'Brien's supporters argued that the incumbent host had been denied the unambiguous transition, network support and time to grow that his predecessor had received. In addition, it was pointed out that Leno's 10   pm program, rather than O'Brien's performance, had forced the need for line-up changes, while Leno's penalty clause all but guaranteed his continued presence on NBC late night after

16100-526: The villains, making extensive use of stock footage. Quite often the sketch would include ridiculous phrases which you would not often use in daily conversation, but are common in Spanish-learning texts. Also, on occasion, the sketch would include long and complicated speeches which are obviously and extremely voiced-over. Also, on occasion, the sketches would include long and complicated speeches which Conan himself would rapidly read off cue cards with

16240-677: The way through the early part of Carson's run. The Lou Stein Trio originally provided musical accompaniment during the short run of Tonight! America After Dark , which ran for six months between the Steve Allen/Ernie Kovacs and Jack Paar eras of The Tonight Show , and was later replaced by the Mort Lindsey Quartet, which in turn, was replaced by the Johnny Guarnieri Quartet. José Melis led

16380-427: The week, Mary Kay's Nightcap (which mostly consisted of previews of the next day's programming) also aired that season. The format of The Tonight Show can be traced to a nightly 40-minute local program in New York, hosted by Allen and originally titled The Knickerbocker Beer Show (after the sponsor). It was quickly retitled The Steve Allen Show . This premiered in 1953 on WNBT-TV (now broadcasting as WNBC-TV),

16520-476: The work of AFTRA members "admirable" in a video. Otherwise, these sketches bear no particular resemblance to the standard recurring "Ass Stamp" sketch. A variation of the ass stamp appeared on Conan's new show on TBS in 2011 during the NFL playoffs where Conan and Andy are trying to feign an interest in the NFL playoffs and afterward, a stamp appears over the two of them calling them "GIRLS". This happened again during

16660-456: The world a real address to send their angry letters. On August 9, 2007, Zimbabwe was the last country to be featured, thus ending the sketch after three years. An announcer on the Finnish entertainment channel SubTV , which airs the show a couple of days after it is aired in the USA, asked people to defend Finland before O'Brien got to insult it, and the viewers in Finland began sending mail before

16800-408: Was announced as coming from nearby Hollywood ) for the remainder of his tenure. Carson lacked the mercurial, electric personality of Paar, and his version of The Tonight Show never riveted the country's attention the way that Paar's had, but his more predictable approach eventually became part of the cultural landscape by virtue of the fact that the viewership, in a basically three-network paradigm,

16940-536: Was broadcast between 1968 and 1973, creating such famous characters as El Chavo del Ocho and El Chapulín Colorado . While separate sketches historically have tended to be unrelated, more recent groups have introduced overarching themes that connect the sketches within a particular show with recurring characters that return for more than one appearance. Examples of recurring characters include Mr. Gumby from Monty Python's Flying Circus ; Ted and Ralph from The Fast Show ; The Family from The Carol Burnett Show ;

17080-421: Was brought back as host, where he served for almost four additional years. Current host Fallon debuted on February 17, 2014. Fallon had previously hosted Late Night with Jimmy Fallon , and before Late Night he was a popular member of the cast of Saturday Night Live , co-hosting the " Weekend Update " segment with Tina Fey as well as performing sketches. From 1950 to 1951 NBC aired Broadway Open House ,

17220-416: Was considered personally by Carson (whose opinion was not revealed until several years later) as his natural successor despite Leno having been Carson's permanent guest host for several years. Letterman, having had his heart set on the earlier time slot in spite of Leno's ratings success as recurring substitute host, left NBC (on Carson's advice) and joined rival network CBS . Their new program and entry into

17360-689: Was consistently the highest-ranking late-night show, regularly achieving audiences of over 3.5 million, according to Nielsen ratings . Leno's audience became considerably smaller after its peak 2002–03 season, when it routinely attracted 5.8 million viewers a night. This was partly due to the continuing fragmentation of the TV audience, with an increasing number of cable shows, such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart , The Colbert Report and Conan O'Brien's new show on TBS , in addition to competition with Letterman on CBS and since January 8, 2013, Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC , although Leno continued to lead

17500-478: Was convinced that the 'MC' in MC Hammer 's name stood for Michael Caine. When I found out it didn't, I destroyed his career." Another featured Alex Trebek taking a drink, and admitting he had a "potent potables" problem. When Gwyneth Paltrow appeared on the sketch she admitted that anytime before she starts a new film she kills a hobo with a hammer, as well as admitting an affinity for porn. When U2 appeared on

17640-481: Was directed by filmmaker Spike Lee . As part of the transition to Fallon, The Tonight Show would be brought back to New York City after 42 years in Southern California. Approximately $ 5 million was budgeted to renovate Studio 6B , where Fallon recorded Late Night . The move also enabled NBC to take advantage of a newly enacted New York state tax credit for talk shows that are "filmed before

17780-522: Was favorable, and it was found that he had brought down the median age of The Tonight Show audience by a decade compared with his predecessor, indicating that a generational shift was taking effect as O'Brien established himself in an earlier timeslot. Taking this into account, columnist Tom Shales assessed in August 2009 that O'Brien was in a better position than Leno had been when he began his Tonight Show run in 1992; Leno consistently lost to Letterman in

17920-698: Was hosted first by Jack Lescoulie (also an announcer and long-time cast member on the Today morning program, 1952–1967) and then by Al ("Jazzbo") Collins , with interviews conducted by Hy Gardner , and music provided by the Lou Stein Trio (later replaced by the Mort Lindsey Quartet , then the Johnny Guarnieri Quartet ). This new version of the show was unpopular, resulting in a significant number of NBC affiliates dropping

18060-471: Was infinitely more monolithic than it later became. Examples include when he played the game Twister with Eva Gabor in 1966, which increased the sales of the relatively unknown game. In December 1973, when Carson joked about an alleged shortage of toilet paper , panic buying and hoarding ensued across the United States as consumers emptied stores, causing a real shortage that lasted for weeks. Stores and toilet paper manufacturers had to ration supplies until

18200-416: Was married in the W.C. and it was there that she met her husband. I shall be delighted to reserve the best seat for you, if you wish, where you will be seen by everyone'. —Censored joke dropped from February 11, 1960, show Paar returned to the show on March 7, 1960, strolled on stage after the opening credits, struck a pose, and said, "As I was saying before I was interrupted . . ." After

18340-735: Was on ABC, a much smaller network at the time). As primetime variety shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show faded in prominence over the course of the 1970s, Carson's Tonight Show emerged as a showcase for all kinds of talent, as well as continuing the tradition of a vaudeville-style variety show. Carson's show continued Paar's tradition of launching the careers of a number of comedians, in Carson's case including Jerry Seinfeld , David Letterman , Joan Rivers , Jeff Foxworthy , Ellen DeGeneres , Freddie Prinze , David Brenner , Tim Allen , Drew Carey , and Roseanne Barr . Carson also frequently used guest hosts, especially after 1981 when he negotiated

18480-400: Was only guaranteed The Tonight Show in name rather than the 11:35   pm slot with which it was synonymous. On January 10, NBC confirmed it would be moving Leno out of primetime as of February 12 and intended to move him back to late-night as soon as possible. TMZ reported that O'Brien was given no advance notice of this change, and that NBC offered him a choice: The Tonight Show in

18620-436: Was produced). Aside from the title change and a new set, Fallon's version of The Tonight Show is nearly identical to the format of Late Night he employed, as he imported many of his signature comedy bits and much of his Late Night staff, including house band The Roots and announcer Steve Higgins . Prior to the transition, Fallon said, "In our heads, we've been doing The Tonight Show for five years. We're just on at

18760-404: Was replaced by Ed Herlihy . Groucho Marx introduced Carson as the new host on October 1, 1962. Ed McMahon was Carson's announcer and on-screen side-kick, the same role he'd filled on Who Do You Trust? McMahon also introduced Carson with the drawn out catchphrase "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" The Tonight Show orchestra was, for Carson's first four years, still led by Skitch Henderson . After

18900-406: Was reviewing Jurassic Park III , he mentioned that the movie had scenes that were disgusting and weird. A scene then appeared where a couple ran and were surprised by a dinosaur which opened its mouth to roar. Late Night edited the couple's lost child into the dinosaur's mouth, and the child says "hello" to the parents. The sketch occasionally reviewed TV shows. For example, Conan poked fun at

19040-471: Was scheduled as a guest, he would again take part). Each guest version would usually be titled "The [guest's surname ] Edition" with "2.0" added for guests who have done the sketch more than once. In 2006, the naming format was changed to simply "The [guest's name] Edition". Its introduction is as follows: Conan: "... It's time, once again, to look into the future." Andy/Guest: "The future, Conan?" Conan: "That's right, Andy/[Guest's name]. Let's look to

19180-440: Was stamped as a "PHONY A-HOLE". A picture of a famous celebrity, usually either rumored to have had or has actually had plastic surgery done in real life, is shown. The picture is then distorted with exaggerated features into a grotesque new picture of what that person looked like before the surgery. The last item in the sketch often makes a joke using an unaltered photograph of another unrelated celebrity, animal, plant or object as

19320-431: Was taken a step further with shows like The Red Green Show and The League of Gentlemen , where sketches centered on the various inhabitants of the fictional towns of Possum Lake and Royston Vasey , respectively. In Little Britain , sketches focused on a cast of recurring characters. In North America , contemporary sketch comedy is largely an outgrowth of the improvisational comedy scene that flourished during

19460-402: Was the announcer, and José Melis led the band. The Jack Paar Show was moved to the evening's prime time (as The Jack Paar Program ) and aired weekly on Friday nights through the 1965 season. Johnny Carson was chosen as Paar's successor when Paar chose to leave The Tonight Show for a prime time show. Carson was host at the time of the weekday afternoon quiz show Who Do You Trust? on

19600-404: Was usually in the party instead of Joel Godard. Reintroduced on Tonight July 21, 2009, featuring only Conan and Andy, and their trip to the beach. During the 2007-08 writers' strike, O'Brien interviewed various members of his production staff, including associate producer Jordan Schlansky. Schlansky had previously been featured as an extra in various skits, but was first prominently featured in

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