Conan O'Brien

O'Brien in Elmopalooza.

Kermit on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

O'Brien in the Celebrity "Sing" montage.

O'Brien with his frog double

Conan O'Brien (b. 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Following stints as a writer on Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons, he hosted Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993-2009) and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (2009-2010) on NBC, and Conan (2010-2021) on TBS. O'Brien formally retired from late-night television in 2021.

Appearances

• 1994 — appeared in Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy's music video "She Drives Me Crazy."

• 1994 — Kermit appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

• 1998 — During a race to the broadcast room in order to deliver a tape in Elmopalooza, Big Bird passes through the set of Late Night where Conan O'Brien is interviewing the Martians. Andy Richter can also be seen in this very short bit.

• 1999 — hosted "Late Night on Sesame Street" from the yard in Episode 3807.

• 2000 — featured in the celebrity version of "Sing."

• 2007 — presented "dog" as the Word of the Day from his Late Night set for Episode 4137.

• 2011 — presented "amphibian" as the Word of the Day in Episode 4273 where Abby Cadabby turns him into a bearded frog.

Connection to Jim Henson

O'Brien, who was head of the Harvard Lampoon in the 1980s under Lisa Henson, shared a story with Ron Howard (director of Jim Henson: Idea Man) on his podcast in 2024 about meeting Jim Henson:

“So I go to a serious college, which turns out to have this very old humor magazine in it as part of it, the Harvard Lampoon. I get on the Lampoon and almost immediately, the person who's put in charge of it, the first woman to ever be put in charge of it is Lisa Henson. She's my boss. I'm working for Lisa Henson. And every now and then Jim Henson's around and I'm losing my mind. And he could not have been a sweeter, nicer man.

And in fact, Lisa graduates, I take over the Lampoon and at one point Jim Henson calls me and says, "hey, we just finished The Dark Crystal and we have these thrones that the creatures sit on in The Dark Crystal. Do you guys want one for your Lampoon building?" You've never heard me say yes to anything more quickly. And so I said, "yes. How do I make this happen?" 'cause I'm just still a kid, right? I'm like, 19. And I'm going, "yeah, thanks Mr. Henson. Oh, so what do I", and he said, and it's funny 'cause when you're talking to Jim Henson, you're talking to Kermit.

So Kermit's on the other end of the line saying, "well, you know, just get a van and come on down to New York and pick it up." I'm like, "okay, Kermi-Mr. Henson. Bye." So I hang up the phone, we rent a van, and we jump in this van and we drive down to Manhattan. And I'm petrified because I'm like, we're driving to Manhattan. Suddenly it's like a Muppet movie. And I'm kind of a Muppet and I'm going, "what's happening?" And then we get there and sure enough, there's like Snuffleupagus hanging from the ceiling, and they say, "Oh. yeah. Here's the chair." It's not that heavy 'cause it's made of this super light material. We carry it like a jewel. And it's amazing. We put it in the back of the van. And I drove it all the way back to Cambridge and we put it in the Lampoon building.

So, cut to, I don't know, like maybe nine months ago, I'm in Cambridge and a student comes up to me and says, "hey, by the way, Conan, I'm on the Lampoon. Do you want to come by?" And I went, "yeah, sure. I haven't been there in a long time." So I go by and there's the chair.”

Conan also recounted auditioning for a Jim Henson project in the mid-1980s (a story he told several times on his late night talk shows), and also being invited to attend Henson's memorial service in 1990.

Mentions

• As a guest on the March 27, 2008 episode of The Tonight Show, O'Brien discussed being recognized in public:

“A lot of people can blend in...but you and I are like Muppets, you know. We're very, we have distinctive looks, you know. And I'm just like, when I put on a hat and glasses I'm like Big Bird putting on a hat and glasses. People just think, "Oh, Big Bird's trying to walk down the street" and I'm like (accompanied by walking motions) GALOMPH, GALOMPH, GALOMPH, you know, (in a high voice) "leave me alone!"”

• On January 28, 2011, O'Brien tweeted about the latest season of American Idol saying: "First there was Kermit, then Cookie Monster, and now Steven Tyler. Thanks, Jim Henson!" [1]

References

• An image of O'Brien appeared in The Muppets on CDE's chart of "Key Demographic Analysis of Top 100 Things in Popular Culture."

External links

• Official site
• Conan O'Brien on Twitter
• IMDb