Conan, Jay, and Dave, April-June 1993

On April 26, 1993, the bird network announced Conan O'Brien as Dave's successor on Late Night. That evening, Jay Leno introduced Conan on The Tonight Show. What I videotaped at the time was news coverage the following day of these programs:
1. ABC's World News Now: a brief mention
2. CNN: With an excerpt of Jay introducing Conan
3. WNBC, Ch. 4 6 PM News: With Al Roker on peeking into Late Night's taping across the hall. The clip comes in after co-anchor Carol Jenkins mentions Garry Shandling as a once-possible choice for Late Night host. She also announces that Conan's Late Night will premiere on August 23, but it ends up debuting three weeks later on September 13.
4. E! Talk Soup: With an extended excerpt of Jay introducing Conan
The rest of this collection focuses on Late Night's reaction to the announcement:
5. April 27, 1993: Dave announces Conan as his successor as Late Night host and offers him a Top Ten list of tips.
6. April 28, 1993: Paul tries out a new name for himself.
7. April 30, 1993: Dave discusses Mother's Day with mom.
8. May 4, 1993: Conan appears as Dave's guest.*
9. June 25, 1993: As part of his closing remarks on his final Late Night, Dave wishes Conan well when he takes the show over later in the year.
*In Conan's May 4 guest appearance on Late Night, Dave mentions that he called Conan "last week." Conan recalls the phone conversation here:
New York Magazine September 21, 1998:
The Late Conan O'Brien
By James Kaplan
The summit of the talk-show mountain is strange territory. Among other things, it is a notoriously solitary place. A story Conan O'Brien tells me about David Letterman underlines this.
When I -- somewhat naïvely -- ask him whether he's friendly with the man he succeeded as host of Late Night, O'Brien shakes his head. "I really don't know Dave very well," he says. "When I first got the show, he called me up. There's a formality about him. Sort of an old-world gentility. He said, 'I'm not sure we've met. Have we met?' And I said, 'No, we haven't really met, Dave.' He was very nice. And at the end of the conversation -- I just couldn't help it, because he's such a big influence and everything -- I said the thing you're not supposed to. You know, 'It meant so much to me that you called; I'm a huge fan of your -- ' and I don't think I even got to finish the sentence. He said, 'Well, that's not why I called.'"

[@mrchopsticks3]

I went to a taping of Conan's show in '96 and I laughed from when I sat down to when I stood up. So much fun, Conan is the best.

[@Kylefassbinderful]

Damn, that's pretty dope! I'm jealous lol

[@bletheringfool]

Conan is such a likeable person. His humour is a great mix of clever and stupid jokes and when he interviews people they are always engaging to watch. The term genuine comes to mind.

[@IamSH1VA]

Great part is even after all these years he’s still genuine 😊

[@Kylefassbinderful]

He's so damn humble while he's funny. Jabs himself in a heartbeat to save a joke.

[@legasiguy551]

15:35 Dave has Conan for the first time. OMG he looked so nervous! lol But credit to him, he was virtual unknown taking the place of a legend which is insane! Now Dave and Jay are retired and he's the Late Night king! Kudos Conan! :)

[@RichV20]

He's scared to riff and holds back several times.

[@Bullpup2]

The "they'd like to see you in a tie, they'd like to see me in a cab" line was surprisingly brilliant, must've shaken The Conebone

[@williamg7185]

Even through intense nerves, Conan’s wit shone through. Was made for it.

[@YouTubeKnight]

It was just the beginning of the hellstorm that Conan went through for about next 3 years. And since, the way he grew his confidence is inspiring.

[@myworms]

anthrogend you’re very right. Nowadays NBC would’ve cancelled him after 6 months, but to their credit they rode it out until Conan found his groove. Did the same with Seinfeld.

[@dongiller]

And Conan thanked Dave's guest appearance in 1994 for giving his show a huge shot in the arm, a legitimacy he felt it had previously lacked.

[@mikezazworsky]

25 damn years ago, Don...I was 14 & I remember every bit of the summer of 1993, particularly how weird it was to not have new episodes of Dave for 2 months...great compilation, well done as usual...

[@daboys1215]

Yeah. I liked that summer though because NBC aired old episodes that I was too young to have watched. It was a treat.

[@philippinevlogsandgamingpl7671]

Post-Simpson Conan. I remember that on the 1994 Tree House of Horror pre-credits, his credit names were "Conan 12:30 PM NBC" O'Brien and Watch Conan O'Brien.

[@TheCNRProject]

It is such a wild story that an unknown 29/30 year old comedy writer became the next late show host after Letterman. Conan is obviously immensely talented and I consider one of the greatest hosts of all time but he really went into this with very little onscreen experience. His lack of experience on top of being such a nervous, young man here, I am just amazed that the network ended up choosing him. I'm glad they did!

[@caroltan8257]

Miss the 90's watching this.. and I'm so proud of Conan! I guess they saw something big about Conan that they decide him to be the next host of late night.. and I guess, they we're right!

[@jimlaforte1755]

Garry Shandling, Dana Carvey and others did not want to follow Leno. Conan was not the first choice. "Late Night with David Letterman" reruns aired until Conan's debut in September, 1993. Just look at how it all turned out in the End.

[@pooyab01]

This is gold. Thanks for the upload

[@fuelwall]

'Relatively Unknown' Its sounds really funny now.

[@chaseb5376]

“Conan you seem to be a relative unknown” “Sir, I will have you know I am a complete unknown” Even as an inexperienced kid, Conan managed to get some good jokes in.

[@lionheart2484]

Team coco😃

[@michaelpeterson2139]

How on earth did you compile these? Your channel is truly exceptional

[@dongiller]

Thanks!

[@wallflee]

Best decision NBC ever made

[@rattis]

I miss the days when late night television had Conan, Letterman AND Leno. We were so spoiled by then, made late nights the best time to be watching TV!

[@petercipriani3307]

First of all, the denim shirt-flowered tie combo Conan sports on Leno takes me back. So very early 90's. Secondly, welcome back Don! So glad your crisis has passed.

[@dongiller]

You and me both. :)

[@VittorioIacovella]

thanks for this collage! this is a really great piece of tv history!

[@tnawcwvictoria]

David Letterman is a fan of Conan, in fact, he's also a mentor to Conan The one thing that they have in common: They both got screwed out of The Tonight Show Letterman by Warren Littlefield and Conan by Jeff Zucker

[@rockerseven]

Dave is to Conan as Johnny was to Dave.

[@shahoccalifornia7392]

Love your channel, thanks for your hard work putting these together.. Do you happen to have video of Conans first press conference/meet the media in rainbow room from 93?

[@dongiller]

I don’t, sorry. And thanks!

[@danieloconnor8413]

Don Giller.....Thanks so much for all your time & effort in uploading all of these amazing videos of David Letterman, I hope it's ok to ask you one question, in your honest opinion how talented do you think Conan & Jay Leno are as talk show hosts? Thanks.

[@dongiller]

Honestly, I'm uncomfortable pontificating.

[@groxx11]

@@dongiller I bet. I wouldn’t want to risk being replaced either. Me was Craig Ferguson off the ballpark, Conan slightly above Dave (on a hundreds fraction) then the car enthusiast.

[@philippinevlogsandgamingpl7671]

Jokes on you, Jay. Conan's a legend now and has fans of all ages all all. And no young person know who Jay is.

[@italkgory99]

But his networth is almost half a billion dollars with his nice garage 😁

[@vhinang-kay3037]

@@italkgory99 so money is everything now huh 😏😏 thats why floyd can do anything

[@darealpapajon]

I forgot about leno actually

[@twalker191]

And one day, the people younger than you will no longer know who Conan is...it’s how time goes on...MySpace? TikTok kids don’t know much about that...younger people know way more about Fallon than Letterman/Leno/Conan right now. Also, why is there more value on a young person knowing who someone is...young/old? People matter.

[@leliamoody7649]

@@italkgory99 p

[@markjones952]

Conan has been on the air a sneaky long time now. 25 years! He's closing in on Johnny and Dave.

[@tnawcwvictoria]

Well I hate to brake the news to ya, but Conan is stepping down from Late Night TV in 2021 after 28 years and he's ready to do a Travel Show on HBOMAX Conan will be the 3rd longest running host of Late Night TV behind Carson with 30 years and Dave with 33 years Which means that Jimmy Kimmel will be the longest running host on Late Night TV as he became a Late Night Talk Show host since 2003 Conan has already surpassed Jay Leno, as a matter of fact, Conan, Carson and Letterman have been on Late Night TV longer than Leno and anyone else

[@leahryan5560]

@@tnawcwvictoria: I think his time on HBO will count cause Dave had been in television for a while before he got into late night. John Oliver’s on HBO and he’s considered a late night host.

[@thenostalgiafactor5023]

@@leahryan5560 Dave's 33 year total only counts his runs on Late Night and the Late Show. 33 years as a late night host (1982 - 2015)

[@bernlin2000]

And he's quietly cemented himself as an equal to the likes of those men, but especially Carson (who I think he more exemplifies the spirit of). Conan should be the host of The Tonight Show today, he would have kept the idea alive. It's a clown-car show with Fallon, there's just no levity or sincerity beyond that of a 12 year old man-child.

[@stressfulprick1409]

Damn, the way Jay talked to Conan....

[@vhinang-kay3037]

Disgusting

[@Cpt_Natalia]

He always hated Conan.

[@brycemcneil4404]

The Kinnear bit was pretty funny both for the mentioning of Wrecxx N Effect and the fact that Kinnear would end up following O'Brien on "Later" for many years.

[@KungEMuller]

Actually, even though Greg Kinnear did follow Conan O'Brien on Later shortly after Conan replaced David Letterman, he didn't last long on that show because near the end of 1996, Greg left the show to give acting a shot, and he never looked back.

[@zzzdoctor]

I just noticed Paul played “New Kid inTown” for Conan’s intro. I guess they didn’t have to pony up a lot of dough to use that.

[@vhinang-kay3037]

I wish they can play new kid in town too during the eagles episode of letterman. I love eagles!

[@bernlin2000]

They should have played Supercharger ;-)

[@unclejemima83]

thanks for this, good stuff

[@LiamJLFoster]

Hi Don! Do you know what song Paul Shaffer and the band were playing when Conan was introduced by Dave on May 4, 1993? I’d appreciate it if you knew! Thanks.

[@dongiller]

Eagles - “New Kid in Town.”

[@niceguystat27]

His hair looked great. Looks better with those bangs

[@rockerseven]

I love how the news clips are all "Who IS this guy?!" And now he's the biggest guy in Late Night.

[@davidgrillo9928]

Conan is great

[@continentalrcinglg]

4:55 - It's OK, Greg. A year from then, you'd be following Conan on NBC.

[@AjayBagga9]

He sounds exactly like Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker.

[@finnibertlunchiken7792]

It is incredible and pretty astute of whoever picked Conan to host the show. It must have come down to 'Lets pick a guy who would be most like Dave in appearance, attitude, age and experience when he first started the show'. Though unknown, he hit every mark for the other criteria. Though I can still easily imagine some execs in an office talking nervously in the weeks before the premiere "Uh....well Bill, maybe...y'think maybe people will tune in for the trainwreck aspect? Maybe right? Thats something too isnt it?" The amazing part is it worked and they picked a guy who had a great run for 25 years. Who knew? 6:00 This is the manic Dave that I remember of the early to mid 90's to 24:45 the more rare solemn, wistful, sentimental Dave that appeared from time to time during momentous ocassions. ( Eg; Final show in 2015, 9/11, blackmail/scandal, Watergate, 'Family Ties' last show, Wall Street crash of 1929 ). The only appearance I remember Dave making on Conan was storming onto the set looking for Joan Collins. Wasn't much sentimental feeling to that.

[@squibbelsmcjohnson]

Lauren knows talent

[@shahoccalifornia7392]

Conan getting late night show, what an incredible underdog story.

[@mrmike743]

Don giller I was born in 1980 and was very close to my grandparents who were depression era ww2 era people and anytime I would stay at their home they would watch Johnny Carson and at some point in the mid 80s I was up watching Johnny with them and letterman came on and it was unbelievable to me. My 6-7 year old brain couldn't believe the absolute silliness that I was seeing and I loved silly. I became hooked on him and I was a huge fan of letterman from then on. He is the king.no doubt about it. Chris Elliot,Manny the hippy,Biff Henderson,his mom,and all the other crazy guests like Crispin glover,Farrah fawcett,Madonna, Shirley maclaine,Cher,and so many more were just hilarious. I loved it all. Thanks for the videos. Keep them up.

[@dongiller]

Thanks, Michael! Your words and memory have great meaning, and I'm grateful you shared them. To me, this has always been a two-way street.

[@KungEMuller]

Wow! People were really shocked when Conan O'Brien replaced David Letterman in 1993. Who knew that a complete unknown writer with almost no TV experience would replace one of the biggest late night talk show hosts ever!? I don't think that that will ever happen again. Mostly because we have KZbin now. Anyway, in regards to the Talk Soup clip, maybe it's just me, but I think that Greg Kinnear really wanted to replace David Letterman. Then again, he did start hosting Later the following February before leaving the show about 3 years later.

[@langdonalger9219]

Kung-E Muller as Conan has said himself, there is no such thing as a complete unknown anymore. Not with KZbin like you pointed out. Everyone could go to that persons channel and watch them do hours of material before they went on the air. Conan replacing Letterman was a very unique situation. Probably considered a bad idea at the time, but it worked out in the long run.

[@KungEMuller]

Yes, indeed! That was a real shot in the dark that you & I had both mentioned, and very rarely does that work anymore. I mean, from the late 70s to the early 90s, if you want your own late night talk show, then you have to appear on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson as a guest a few times, guest host for Mr. Carson several times, and then sign a contract that will guarantee you your own show. Over the last 10 years or so, we've had late night talk show hosts like Robin Thede, Pete Holmes, Jordan Klepper, etc. How many of them are still on the air today? None of them! Like I said, Conan was a shot in the dark back in 1993, but now that he's celebrating 25 years on the air, we can't help but give him some well-deserved respect. You can't say that about the current late night guys anymore, and I'm pretty sure that Busy Philipps will bomb on the E! network because unlike KZbin, you can only do 10 seconds or so on Instagram (unless you have that IGTV nonsense), and Busy's Instagram status won't be enough to give her a following on late night TV.

[@JayDeeIsMyName]

@@KungEMuller I looked up the Busy Phillips-thing. Didn't last a year, did it?

[@KungEMuller]

@@JayDeeIsMyName Nope! You're right about that!

[@mladyhazel]

Conan is the man

[@culwin]

I can't wait to see Wreckx-n-Effect!!!

[@thelatebrianjones]

2 things- I forgot O'Brien was originally supposed to launch in August and its odd seeing some of the interplay with Bill Wendell in light of Robert Morton's recent comments about him

[@daboys1215]

That was great. They moved Conan's start to September so for a month you could watch Dave's new show on CBS at 11:30PM and turn over to NBC to watch Dave's old show at 12:30AM.

[@carlacortes5268]

HE WAS SO CUTE

[@chrisvaello5838]

was!?!?!?!

[@JoshuaMPatton]

Holy shit, I have so many questions about the first clip. My absolute favorite part is the uncomfortable cough after he does his milk carton joke. Like he realized after he said it that's not how the milk carton thing works. That was fun.

[@bernlin2000]

The journalist that definitely should not quit his day job lol. It's interesting to see how sneering people could be just because Conan hadn't been on TV yet, like he had to "earn" the position with guest appearances on another late night show (like Letterman had done). Dumb media being dumb...some things never change.

[@ozzyku1269]

Love Conan!!

[@2dasimmons]

Conan has a very funny interview with WILT CHAMBERLAIN on Conan's old show. Very good.

[@dsb227]

Wow that was really interesting!

[@mgaamerica9185]

Damn, this has been so long ago, Al wasn’t even Incontinent yet.

[@minatadros2451]

does anybody have the july 18 1996 episode of the late show

[@Rowe104]

Young Conan looks like an old rly tall baby

[@IamSH1VA]

They freaking don’t even have idea they are talking to/about *_Living Legend_* 😂😂

[@Studeb]

That "Home Improvements guy" did not pay his debt to society, he sang like a canary on the other cocaine smugglers.

[@ankuwadhwani8651]

hey don , do u have the interview of conan and leno right before conan took over the tonight show

[@dongiller]

Nearly certain I don’t. On whose show?

[@ankuwadhwani8651]

@@dongiller is was on" tonight show with Jay Leno" in 2009 . I think it was just before Jay left the tonight show for the first time

[@ankuwadhwani8651]

And Don one more thing do u know what happened to the KZbin channel by the name of " letterman cronologist "

[@dongiller]

Not a clue. Was that the channel that compiled specific guest compilations?

[@ankuwadhwani8651]

Yes

[@fcknpiercedd0000]

I wasn’t even born :(

[@slou124]

why

[@2dasimmons]

Conan is TALL much more so than Jay. His talent is comparable to this comparison.

[@VIFG]

Jay is the better comedian. Conan is the better host.

[@johncarranza]

@@VIFG or vice versa. That works too

[@VIFG]

@@johncarranza No it doesn't

[@limp6129]

@@VIFG Conan is the better comedian.

[@VIFG]

@@limp6129 No he's not. You're latching onto him because you like him as a host.

[@briankelleywastaken]

You're doing God's work

[@bryceerickson603]

Single tear. Lol

[@HumblyArtsy]

Would you happen to have Conan’s audition?

[@dongiller]

I don't, sorry.

[@HumblyArtsy]

Don Giller it’s no problem :) I love your uploads, I been a fan of letterman and Conan since 2002! These are great!!

[@emirvmendoza]

Team Coco uploaded a snippet, titled "Conan's "Late Night" Audition ".

[@abooboo654]

3:00 is that...is that GREG KINNEAR!?. YES IT IS!

[@deputay]

And if the rumors are true, he was discussed to replace Jay and/or Conan after he started Later...one can only imagine...

[@KungEMuller]

Indeed! There were rumors that Greg Kinnear was going to replace Conan O'Brien that started appearing after he replaced Bob Costas on Later, but the reason for those rumors is simple. Critics loved Kinnear on Talk Soup, and they thought that he should've replaced Letterman and not Conan. Now, the lineup would've been Conan-Kinnear-Daly if Kinnear hadn't left the 1:35 show so soon, but he did.

[@philippinevlogsandgamingpl7671]

Greg Kinnear is great as an actor. But I read somewhere back in the 2000s that the guy doesnt want to be extremely famous considering how people and the media treat celebrities. So it's probably best for him that he's not a talk show host.

[@truemamrdi4all]

Louie, Season 3, Episode 12 - I guess Conan was the uncredited writer

[@dcluvspie5777]

Greg Kinnear was the host of Talk Soup?

[@dongiller]

1991 to 1995.

[@bmoneyrancidfan91]

So conan replaced dave on cbs ? Then went to nbc?

[@dongiller]

Um, no.

[@brewer921]

Dave was right about Tim Allen and Charles S. Dutton (Roc), although it was sometimes hard to tell when Dave was serious. Allen served 2+ years for felony drug trafficking. Dutton served eight years for manslaughter and other convictions.

[@chris2423]

Conan voice was different then

[@Stemma3]

Funny thing, nobody knows the first guy on this video.

[@bb-gc2tx]

remember the days of late night when the hosts would make fun of all politicians and didnt say you are basically subhuman for supporting a certain person. seems like a100 years ago

[@shahoccalifornia7392]

It’s insane how extreme one sided these shows have become. I mean bumbling biden is material that keeps on giving but they still only go afterTrump.,

[@johnspence8141]

Theres a great video out there somewhere where Dave asked Conan how he got the job and Conan said: There was an essay contest, I came in fourth or something. And Dave laughed at it and gave him a look like "Ok, this guy might make it." Ah found it at five thirty eight: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aaDOpIyFarmJapo, 5:35

[@dongiller]

I included it. NBCU blocked it.

[@dongiller]

Yeah, I pointed that upload to NBCU, just asking for some consistency. If they allowed that to stay up, why were they blocking mine? No answer; they rejected my challenge, and that was that.

[@danielnajerabetancourt8415]

Finally, they were able to play an Eagle's song ?!! 16:00

[@dongiller]

This was decades before.

[@BerishaFatian]

His hair isn't that much different from now.

[@kiwi25.0]

I can’t believe Al roker looked like that

[@bob8144]

Yep, sure did. Then he had surgery to help him lose weight.

[@wretchedref]

Letterman taking not so lighthearted jabs at Tim Allen.

[@worsley1]

Fun fact: Conan was part of team put together by Lorne Michaels to find a new host, they didn't have any luck, so Conan suggested himself.

[@UmarTahir]

Really??

[@limp6129]

@@UmarTahir no, Lorne Michaels suggested Conan O’Brien

[@MD-supernova]

This is not true.

[@2dasimmons]

Dave was such a FAN of Johnny Carson! I wonder if those double sided erase pencils are from JC? That man from Roc really did go to prison for murder I believe it was.

[@TheOneCleanHippy]

Conan's first time on TV with Jay, it really seems like Jay rubs Conan the wrong way pretty much immediately. Conan's reaction when Jay says "this is your first time on TV" and then does that ridiculous laugh...

[@pemo2676]

i've always seen jay as a sleazy type, it's weird how much praise he got for straight up belittling people

[@stillhere1425]

My imagination, maybe, but do Dave and Conan sort of resemble each other here?

[@andyrose5616]

The song they play after the “new host“ Top Ten is “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.”

[@dongiller]

Which was also the last song they played on the final Late Night.

[@andyrose5616]

I also like Conan’s introduction music: “New Kid in Town”

[@rainej7013]

HE'S HOT!!!

[@masimmomasimmo]

Incredible how jay Leno is such a despicable man

[@jilpok1074]

Dang, Conan looks super old for a 30 year old

[@donniemorris6751]

Lettermen is the GOAT.

[@bob8144]

No. Carson, Conan and Craig Ferguson were better.

[@fakecandyheart]

and time proved this poor “conan the comedian” guy was unsuccessful in his late nite endeavors and never heard from again oh wait

[@Danimal77]

WOW, Conan was so unprofessional. He shows up on Letterman in jeans, no tie and he's chewing gum and had ZERO confidence in himself and ZERO personality at that time and ZERO ability to engage other people. It's amazing how much he's grown as a comedian and as a person in general since the 1990's.

[@doderiolarkisso4038]

I don't know, Dave also appeared in jeans many times before..i mean it was late night so..

[@petercipriani3307]

I don't think his outfit was in any way his own choice. I imagine it was an attempt to attract "the kids." Also, as much as I love Conan and think he's hilarious, he has NEVER been good at engaging with guests. He's at his best and most comfortable when riffing imo

[@alramone1]

he had no idea how to be on TV yet, but he's still pretty charming and funny as a guest...

[@dannyd1572]

This was actually nice attire in the late 80's and early 90's.

[@RogerBarraud]

+Dan Maler Sounds like *you* were at Chuckles' in '93... :-/

[@stillhere1425]

Who is this dingnabbed Harry Truman? Why should HE be Veep?

[@SunnyDiegoProduction]

First, Don Giller you’re awesome for all these uploads. Second, weird to think someone like Conan would get the show. Yes, over time Conan proved himself, yet many great comedians with much more experience and who had been working towards that job were overlooked for a nobody. He’s only qualification was knowing Lorne Michaels. Sure, he graduated from Harvard and wrote for the Simpsons and SNL but that should land you another writing job not a late night talk show host job. I feel this is Lorne’s way giving all comedians the middle finger. I’m sure Lorne always wanted to be a great comedian so he must have some grudge about that. He didn’t just do this with Conan, he also did it with Fallon and Seth. Unprepared hosts were giving dream jobs which over time they have been able to make their own, but let’s be honest there’s much better comedians out there who could have done those jobs, but Lorne’s ego kept them from doing it.

[@thielees]

What if Conan was actually the needy, manipulative climber?

[@kevinhanney1979]

Conan's cool and from Boston area, and he actually dated Lisa Kudrow 4 a while...if people wanna pay him, y not let him do his thing?

[@Larkinchance]

Conan who?

[@TheBobbyMcHenryShow]

Conan O’Brien