The King of Late Late Night

In 1985, The Crimson questioned O'Brien, about to graduate, about his career plans.

"The perfect world would be where the 'Conan O'Brien Show' would be on, and you'd be reading my short story and wearing my designer jeans," O'Brien said.

It seemed unlikely. After all, while many Lampoon alums had gone on to careers in comedy writing or filmmaking, few actually made it in front of the camera.

But on April 26, 1993, less than eight years after he graduated from college, O'Brien saw his dream--or at least the first part of it--come true.

In that year, late-night legend Johnny Carson retired and a bitter competition for his NBC show erupted between late night hosts Jay Leno and David Letterman. When NBC chose Leno to fill Carson's shoes, an angered Letterman left the network--and his popular 12:30 show--for an earlier slot on CBS.

NBC was left host-less for its later show. Rather than go with an established celebrity, Michaels decided to take a chance with O'Brien.

Before 1993, networks had little luck with late, late talk shows hosted by men not named Letterman. Such diverse personalities as Pat Sajak, Chevy Chase and Arsenio Hall all tried and failed to get people to stay up. Chase's ill-fated show lasted only days.