OK, I'll cease this line of questioning. Tell me about the interviews that threaten to go right out of control. Eartha Kitt, Gilbert Gottfried...

When people get up and start running around, that's good. We're on at 12:30 at night, so we want people to go [feigning waking] 'Hey what's going on? Look!' When they'd show Carson's 'best of' clips, it's always someone getting out of control or something happening unexpectedly. It isn't so much the prepared bits. What's more embarrassing is an interview where nothing interesting comes out. It's good when somebody walks out and their dress almost falls off [supermodel Tyra] or they bring out a farting machine [Leslie Nielsen]. That's good TV. You remember it. Bad TV is when somebody comes out and sits down and nothing amusing comes of it.

What side projects might we find you in? Cameos in SNL movies? Calvin Klein spokesmodel?

I'm going to be travelling and singing around the country, mostly gospel. Honestly, I've had some offers to do commercials. When would I do anything? Look what I do. You've seen what goes into a show. There is no way. Five days a week, 49 weeks a year, it's insane. I couldn't even be in a celebrity golf tournament if I wanted to.

Is it now difficult to conduct life as an average Joe when you visit Boston?

I was just back, it was fun going to Grendel's... People know who I am and they'll ask me to come over to their table to wish someone happy birthday, and I like that, I enjoy it. People are always really enthusiastic and responsive, they'll come up to me and tell me things they like about the show. Let's face it, I'm on the lower rung of the celebrity ladder. It's not like I'm a huge rock star. It doesn't get weird. I walk in and people say 'Hey Conan, how's it going?' and I'll go have a beer.

You did a Lampoon piece-about a recurring nightmare that someone steals your elaborately set up punchline. Do you still have that dream?

Now my anxiety dreams are that I walk out and there's no audience or that I've broken a $250,000 television camera. Your anxiety dreams are just replaced by new anxiety dreams. I was really into the idea, especially when I was in college--when you're in college, you're an idiot about life, or at least I was--the idea that, if you could get through the problems in your life and accomplish things, you'd have no more problems. I think the pressure of the show is tough, but then I think--I haven't had kids yet.

You've said that there's something terrifying about getting exactly what you want.

There's part of you that has the fear that you might not like it. It's what you really want to do, but now you have to go actually do it. That's what's scary about it. If all your life you just want to be a fireman, and you study, then you finally get to be a fireman, the hell of it is: What if the first day, the hat doesn't fit? Or you just don't like it? That was something that worried me over the summer. I could imagine what it was like to do one show, but you can't imagine what it's like to do 140 shows. To put a lot of comedy together, to really be on top of what's funny to me about the guests, what can we talk about that's interesting--and make it all fit into an hour. Then do it five nights a week. And when one doesn't go so well, come back and do another one. That was intimidating. But now that's sort of gone away and now the good news for me, personally, is that this is what I want to do, and now I'm doing it. I've done almost 140 hours of television and I want to do 140 more.

So the hat does fit.

The hat fits. I like being a fireman. I'm not saying I'm the greatest fireman in the world, but I'd like to learn to be the greatest fireman.

Is there anything that you yet want that you haven't got?

You always want more. That's the sad thing about human nature. It's what makes us sick. I've got the show and that's what I want. I want the show to reach its potential, and I know the potential is amazing. My job is to do this show that I really like and always make it better. I want this thing to be as great as it can be and I'll die a happy man. I'll enjoy it, do it full out, play with it, and be honest with it, and good things will come of that. Will I be on in a year? Yeah I think so. There are no guarantees of that, but I think so. The network is happy-the growth in the numbers and the ratings and just the reaction I get from young people-those are indications to me that I'm doing the right thing.

The show is very much a personalized reflection of you, an invitation to an hour of hanging out and having a good time. Does that make the criticism especially hard for you?