Instant celebrities are a well-known species, but O’Brien may have set a record. The 6-foot-4 television writer grew up in Brookline, Mass., and attended Harvard, where he was president of the comedy finishing school they call the Harvard Lampoon. In 1987, after stints with HBO’s “Not Necessarily the News” and Fox’s “Wilton North Report,” O’Brien started down a road well traveled by Lampoon alumni. He spent three and a half years at “Saturday Night Live,” where he popped up on a few skits and pulled down an Emmy, then moved on to “The Simpsons.” “He was the most entertaining guy in the room,” says Matt Groening, who created the latter show. " He has great observations about the social scene, and he does strange characters. He also plays sensitive folk guitar. Let’s hope he keeps that talent to himself. And he’s young. He won’t have that pained smile on his face when he introduces, oh, the Butthole Surfers."
At stake for NBC is a reported $70 million in advertising revenue, as well as a network of affiliates that may pull the plug on the unproven new guy, choosing to air reruns of “Cheers” instead. After having botched negotiations and lost Letterman earlier this year, NBC went through unholy machinations to get a bigname replacement. In a private courtship that was subject to much public speculation, executives considered Dana Carvey and Dennis Miller; Carvey said no.
NBC then turned to Garry Shandling, who plays a talk-show host on an HBO series. Last week Shandling told NBC that he didn’t want the slot, whereupon network spokesmen began denying they had ever offered it to him or to anyone else. (They came clean a day later.) “SNL” guru Lorne Michaels, who will executive-produce the new “Late Night,” lobbied for O’Brien. Michaels had earlier brought Carvey, John Belushi and Bill Murray up from obscurity. As one Hollywood agent puts it, “He wants to create a star, not to be bullied around by the star.”
Little has been decided about the format of O’Brien’s show, although insiders predict a Steve Allen-style format that’s heavy on sketches and light on guests. The new “Late Night” debuts in August, as does Letterman’s new show. Fox plans its own late-night entry-with Chevy Chase–and, according to one late-breaking rumor, CBS has offered Shandling its 12:30 slot.
By choosing O’Brien, NBC hopes it has discovered what West Coast president Don Ohlmeyer calls “the voice of the next generation.” The NBC family remains cautious, but hopeful. “We really don’t know Conan yet,” says Jim Waterbury, president of the NBC Affiliate Board. “In fact, he’s America’s best-known unknown.” John Serrao, of KCRA in Sacramento, Calif., predicts the jury will he in on O’Brien within two months, adding that the affiliates know exactly what they’re looking for: “It’s about enthusiasm and eyes and teeth.”
These days, it’s mostly about teeth.
