A DESK DRIVE THROUGH FIVE YEARS OF LATE NIGHT By Robin Banks
LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN IN 1998
January 7, Show #875: Rob Schneider's appears as Superman. He gets stuck while "performing" and ends up being suspended over the head of former Mayor Ed Koch during his interview.
January 9, Show #877: Late Night Encore. We get a sneak peek at what happens after the credits stop rolling.
February 4, Show #887: Andy Richter premieres his new show. "Andy Richter's "World of the Unexplained of the Unknown - 'The Curse of Cocoon'".
February 18, Show #895: Shocking news from an NBC Special Report: "Conan's Been Shot"
March 5, Show #904: It turns out that Andy has been leading a secret double life. Conan announces that his brother Scott Edward O'Brien is seated in the audience and Andy blows his cover. The whole "talk show thing" was an FBI Sting Operation to catch Conan's fugitive brother.
April 8, Show #919: Jonathan Harris, better known as Dr. Smith in the original "Lost in Space" is introduced to Pimpbot 5000. Harris calls him a "bubble-headed bag of bolts".
April 16, Show #924: Conan learns various dance techniques in New York. He does ballet, ballroom and hip hop.
April 28-May 1 Shows #930 - #933: Late Night begins its week-long segment "Where in the Building is (Huh!) Andy Richter?" A parody of the "Today" show's segment where they send Matt Lauer to report from secret locations around the world. Highlights include a bizarre sex video featuring Al Roker… The week ended with Andy in the Rockefeller Center parking garage where he looks through Matt Lauer's BMW which has the licence plate "HAILS 8N".
May 14, Show #940: Late Night attracted it's highest ratings ever for a single telecast. The show averaged 5.1 million viewers during the Seinfeld finale night. Guests were Rosie O'Donnell, Patrick Wharburton, and Dave Attel. Conan's talked about the Last "Seinfeld" during the opening, and they also showed clips from "Seinfeld" during the show.
June 26, Show #957: Conan presents a montage of clips for retiring camera operator Bailey.
July 1: Krunk!! NBC Europe and Asia form a partnership with National Geographic and DFA, therefore ending the show's availability in Asia and most of Europe.
July 10: Actor William Preston a.k.a Carl "Oldy" Olson died in New York after a brief illness, he was 76. "Late Night" ran a tribute to the actor (on the Tuesday after his death), who had appeared on the show over 100 times, in over 60 Shakespeare productions and in movies such as "The Crucible" and "Far And Away". Conan said: "William was a very sweet person and a very talented actor," noted O'Brien, "William was part of our family and 'Oldy Olson' was one of our most beloved characters."
July 10, Show #961: Clive Clemmons makes his first appearance on Late Night in a Satellite TV segment, on the "Inappropriate Response Channel." Immediately, "inappropriate" becomes everyone's favorite buzzword.
July 15 Show #963: Describing his masturbation scene in "There's Something About Mary," actor Ben Stiller recalls being caught in the act by his father, comedian Jerry Stiller. To bring the family closer, Conan brings out Jerry to discuss this moment with his son. Icy silence follows. An ashamed Jerry Stiller later disowns his son.
July 17 Show #965: Chris Elliot, promoting his latest film "There's Something About Mary," shows viewers around the space he kept as "The Guy Under the Stairs" during his period the time when David Letterman was host of Late Night. Overwhelmed by nostalgia, Elliot shoots himself.
July 23, Show #968: Late Night introduces its newest character "7-Foot Groucho."
August 7: Late Night launch their newly designed website. Tons of new features include, videos of favorite skits such as buried in the back pages… new stamps and Conan's nightly conologue.
August 11, Show #974: After a second dire appearance of the "7-Foot Groucho," a contrite Conan attempts to explain that "Statistically a seven foot man cannot do a good Groucho impression."
August 18, show #978: Triumph finally meets his match in Don Rickles, who insulted almost everyone during his segment, going as far as to ask one Chinese audience member "What is it Chop Suey Louie?". "Please! Poop on me! Please Don! Poop on meeeeeeee!" Truimph desperately screams (out of a potty-training toilet and toilet paper) to Don.
September 16: "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" celebrates its fifth anniversary with a primetime special from Saturday Night Live's Studio 8H at 10 p.m. ET.
to be continued…
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