Stan Lee Predicts His Own Legacy in This Throwback Conan Clip


Stepping into the late-late slot vacated by David Letterman, Conan O'Brien stars in a show that far outdoes its competition in sheer strangeness. Along with the celebrity interviews and musical numbers typical of late-night talk shows, this program make frequent use of odd walk-on characters and frequent "visits" from celebrity guests.
Stepping into the late-late slot vacated by David Letterman, Conan O'Brien stars in a show that far outdoes its competition in sheer strangeness. Along with the celebrity interviews and musical numbers typical of late-night talk shows, this program make frequent use of odd walk-on characters and frequent "visits" from celebrity guests.
"That's how you know you're famous."

"Abe Vi-Yoda" and other memorable Late Night moments

Why'd he say no?

Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) will be settling into her new job as a recently elected city councilwoman on the upcoming fifth season of Parks and Recreation — but not all of her new colleagues will welcome her with open arms. Jon Glaser, a writer for Late Night with Conan O'Brien and star of Adult Swim's Delocated!, has been cast on the NBC comedy as a local orthodontist who also serves on the town council and quickly becomes Leslie's "nemesis," TV Line reports.

The Office's Ellie Kemper married longtime boyfriend Michael Koman Saturday in New York, People reports. The Bridesmaids star, 32, was joined by her....

The Office's Ellie Kemper is engaged to writer Michael Koman. Kemper, 31, shared the happy news on Conan Wednesday night. Korman was a writer on Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 2001 to 2008. "Michael's a delight, as you know, so of...

Every week, senior editors Mickey O'Connor and Adam Bryant satisfy your need for TV scoop. Please send all questions to megascoop@tvguide.com. What's the deal with McGarrett's sister on Hawaii Five-0? — Jen ADAM: Mary's presence will be explained in an upcoming episode in which she's kidnapped. McGarrett and Danno's investigation will reveal that her disappearance is connected to the murder of McGarrett's mother years before. The lead suspect: a businessman with significant ties to the Japanese mob who's also a close friend — and major campaign contributor — to the governor. Derek's taking Cristina fishing on Grey's Anatomy? How will Owen feel about that? — Diane MICKEY: Owen thinks it's...

It's been 10 months since Conan O'Brien last graced The Tonight Show stage, but he hasn't left everything from his 13 years at NBC behind for good. The former Late Night host, who left the network in January, says he still plans to...

Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band will be the house band for Conan O'Brien's upcoming TBS show, the network announced Tuesday. Andy Richter re-teams with Conan O'Brien Vivino, the former associate music director, arranger, guitarist and vocalist for Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, replaces Max Weinberg as bandleader for Conan. Weinberg, who served as bandleader on both of O'Brien's previous shows for a total of 17 years, opted not to join Conan after ...

Comedian Robert Schimmel, best known for his frequent appearances on Howard Stern's radio show, died after suffering serious injuries in a car accident, according to The Associated Press. He was 60. See other celebrities we've lost this year Schimmel died Friday evening in a Phoenix hospital, his spokesman Howard Bragman told the AP. He was a passenger in a car driven by ...

Conan O'Brien's rep says not so fast to a report that Max Weinberg will not return as O'Brien's bandleader for his new TBS show. Conan's first post-Tonight Show interview: I wouldn't have done what Jay did According to the rep, nothing with the TBS show has been set because they're too busy with O'Brien's tour at the moment. Early in the week, Al Kooper, a veteran musician who once played with Weinberg, told City Pages that Weinberg and O'Brien would part ways. ...

Conan O'Brien ended his brief run as host of The Tonight Show with thanks to his fans and even the network that is replacing him a mere seven months into his dream job. "Yes, we have our differences right now and yes, we're going to go our separate ways," O'Brien said of NBC, his employer of 17 years. "But this company has been my home for most of my adult life. I am enormously proud of the work we have done together, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible." Conan's last words as Tonight Show host O'Brien, who had announced just 10 days earlier that he would rather leave The Tonight Show than accept a move to after midnight to accommodate Jay Leno's return to the 11:35 slot, said...

NBC released Conan O'Brien's final remarks as the host of The Tonight Show shortly before his last episode aired Friday. Here they are, ending with a lead-in to a song: Manager: Conan wants to do new show "as soon as he possibly can" "Before we end this rodeo, a few things need to be said...

NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker said Monday the company has made the right business decision in bringing former Tonight Show host Jay Leno back to his former 11: 35 timeslot, even as the move paves the way out for longtime NBC late-night personality Conan O'Brien. "We think that Jay — who was the ratings champ in late night for almost 15 years — will go back to 11:35 and be ...

Sigh. Here is how Friday's fare fared: 8 pm/ET A repeat of Ghost Whisperer's season opener topped the hour with 8.35 million total viewers. Trailing both a warmed-over Wife Swap (4.09 mil) and Howie Do It (3.89 mil), Sarah Connor Chronicles came in fourth with 3.84 million viewers, up four percent from its Friday time-slot premiere. 9 pm Dollhouse came in third behind a Flashpoint repeat (8.06 million viewers) and Supernanny (5.25 mil), dipping 10 percent from its premiere to 4.22 mil. That said, Dollhouse actually gained viewers over the hour. Friday Night Lights surged 14 percent to just under four mil. 10 pm A Numbers repeat was No. 1 with 7.99 million viewers, followed by 20/20 (7.27 mil) and Dateline (5.57 mil). Late NightConan O'Brien's final Late Night drew the talker's best numbers since Dec. 8, 2006, representing a 44 percent increase on his average for this season.

Monk9 pm/ET USAThe seventh season wraps up tonight with a case that has special significance to Monk. He's investigating the disappearance of a city official who was lobbying to preserve a parking garage. But what's so personal about that? Well, it's the garage where Monk's wife was killed by a car bomb that he believes was intended for him. The series is scheduled to return for its eighth and final season this summer.Read on for previews of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Psych, Real Time with Bill Maher and Battlestar Galactica.

This fall — some six months before his Late Night talker hits the airwaves — Jimmy Fallon will attempt a "soft launch" of the show, performing five- to 10-minute routines on an NBC online portal TBA. This unorthodox "dry run" is intended to let Fallon find his voice and rhythm and thus avoid the sort of pitfalls that plagued Conan O'Brien when he himself entered the late-night realm.As for Conan, he is expected to cease production on his Late Night in February, then head west to prepare his take on The Tonight Show, which will premiere sometime in June — and from a brand-new stage now in production. Fallon's Late Night is slated to hit NBC proper "sometime in the spring," giving him Leno as a lead-in for a brief stretch. — Matt Mitovich

Uh-oh! Looks like Conan O’Brien and Stephen Colbert’s tiff over who’s really responsible for Huckabee’s fame has reached a new level—we’re talking the ass-kicking kind! Last night, both Colbert and John Stewart appeared on Conan’s show to duke it out like men. Oh, and it was ugly too—bats were swinging, trash cans were flying and they even busted out a blow torch. It was no holds barred, we tell you!
Should the Writers Guild of America take this personally? According to Nielsen's overnight ratings in 55 markets, NBC's writer-less Tonight Show with Jay Leno was the audience favorite with a 5.3 rating and a 12 share on Wednesday night. That topped CBS' Late Show with David Letterman, which returned with its writers after Letterman's production company worked out its own deal with the WGA. It scored a 4.3/10. Viewers were clearly happy to see both shows return after a strike-imposed two-month hiatus, as both hit season highs. The same goes for NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien, which averaged a 2.5/8 in its return. That topped the 1.9/6 delivered by Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live, which actually saw a ratings spike in November while the leading shows were in repeats, scored a 1.4/4. — Stephen BattaglioRelated:• TVGuide.com Asks... Which Late-night Host Had the Write Stuff?• Matt Roush grades Letterman, Leno and the restIn TVGuide.com's ...

The new year brings new shows from Letterman, Leno and the gang. As Dave and his night-owl peers return to the airwaves, come here to share your takes on the individual hosts. Did Dave and Craig Ferguson take advantage of the enormous advantage given them by the WGA-approved return of their writing staffs?Did Jay, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel happen to impress you with their writer-less wit?Chime in here with your opinions! Plus, see how TV Guide's Matt Roush grades the assorted returns.Related:• WGA Plans "Intense" Pressure on Returning Late-night Shows• Letterman, Ferguson to Return With Writers, Thanks to WGA Deal• Stewart and Colbert Return Jan. 7, But WGA Isn't Laughing
This just in from NBC:"After two months of repeats, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O'Brien will resume broadcasting all-new episodes beginning Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008. The late-night shows suspended production due to the strike by the Writers Guild of America on Nov. 5 and have aired repeats since. "During the 1988 writers' strike, Johnny Carson reluctantly returned to The Tonight Show without his writers after two months," notes Rick Ludwin, executive vice president, late night and primetime series. "Both Jay and Conan have supported their writers during the first two months of this WGA strike and will continue to support them. However, there are hundreds of people who will be able to return to work as a result of Jay's and Conan's decision."Acknowledging that he will have to serve up a modified, unscripted version of his talker, Conan says in a statement, "Of course, my show will not be as good. In fact, in moments it may very well be terrible." As such, ...

Finally, a good answer to the "Where will you keep your Emmy?" roundup question: "I had a giant Emmy shelf built years ago, capable of holding 500 Emmys," says Conan, fielding questions backstage with headwriter Mike Sweeney.When a reporter flubs his verb tense and asks for Conan's take on how Ryan Seacrest is doing (the telecast had ended), O'Brien quipped, "If he's still doing it in the parking lot, that’s very, very sad. I think he's lost his mind, he's on TV way too much. It's not good for anyone." But seriously, Conan gave some props to Seacrest and the "different" kudoscast, saying. "It was neat to try it in the round, and he was right to not do [a previous host's] awards show."Asked if he had heard about O.J. Simpson being arrested in Los Angeles earlier in the evening — a topic oft trotted out in the press room but to little effect — O'Brien said he heard the news from no less than Mary Hart. "But then I went to that guy from Extra to be sure. The one who sued...
It's a good thing Jimmy Fallon is used to working late, because when Conan O'Brien replaces Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show in 2009, the SNL alum is likely to replace O'Brien as host of Late Night. "He is at the top of our short list," admitted NBC's late-night prez Rick Ludwin, adding that we shouldn't start holding our breath for an announcement until early '08. Fallon has also gotten a vote of confidence from his former Weekend Update coanchor, Tina Fey. He's really funny and loves to talk to people," she observed. "It must be that Irish charm." If nothing else, he'd certainly give Carson Daly a run for the up-past-bedtime TRL audience. Tuesday's Today's News was written by Ben Katner.

NBC Universal biggies Jeff Zucker and Marc Graboff recently had "exploratory" talks over dinner with Jon Stewart, Broadcasting & Cable reports, suggesting that the Daily Show frontman might somehow fit into the Peacock's late-night plan. Rather than pitch Stewart anything specific, a source tells B&C, Zucker and Graboff "just made their interest known in finding a way to do business together if Jon was ever available."Stewart's Comedy Central pact expires in 2008, not long before Conan O'Brien is scheduled to inherit The Tonight Show from Leno. There is some buzz, though, that with Leno still being immensely profitable, NBC might pay Conan to walk away, thus freeing up the 12:30 slot.POLL: Would NBC be wrong to pull The Tonight Show gig away from Conan? Vote here.POLL: Would you like to see Stewart host a late-night talker? Vote here.POLL: Should Leno retire as planned? Vote here.

In an unbridled side-by-side Q&A, Andy Barker, P.I. star Andy Richter and series cocreator Conan O'Brien riff on their new NBC sitcom (premiering tonight at 9:30 pm/ET), Britney Spears jokes and the future of Late Night. TV Guide: In Andy Barker, P.I., Andy plays an accountant who acciden­tally becomes a detective. As your company developed it with NBC, Conan, how did you keep it so funny?Conan O'Brien: We really like it, which is usually a bad sign. One of the things that was nice about this project is that I've always thought it's such a crapshoot to make a good television show. So many

If you haven't watched Late Night with Conan O'Brien lately, you might not know that comedian Jim Gaffigan and his brother-in-law, cartoonist Paul Noth, have created a bit of a following with their Pale Force shorts. In fact, the animated adventures of Gaffigan as a pallid superhero and O'Brien as his whining sidekick so impressed NBC that they ordered 20 episodes to air on Late Night before being made downloadable by cell phone on the Peacock's website. TVGuide.com spoke with Gaffigan about the colorless crime fighters as well as his role on the new TBS comedy My Boys. TVGuide.com: Is pale just a skin tone, or is it a state of mind?

After using his late-night talk show to support the reelection bid of his look-alike, Finnish president Tarja Halonen, Conan O'Brien wants to enter politics himself. Sorta. According to the Associated Press, he expects his doppelganger to make him a part of her cabinet as inspector of saunas. "Mostly women's saunas," he added.
It's uncanny, isn't it? It's hard to say who better captured the spirit of this 1954 cover. Was it the exuberant and bright-eyed Conan O'Brien, or was it the exact replica of the original Howdy Doody puppet? It's a close call, but we think they both did a great job of helping us commemorate TV Guide's final digest-size issue before we relaunch as a full-size magazine next week. (Click here to check out the other eight recreated covers.) We spoke to the Late Night host about this unique photo shoot, his first experience with the iconic red-haired marionette and his thoughts about taking over The Tonight Show in 2009. TVGuide.com: How was it impersonating Buffalo Bob?Conan O'Brien: They made my hair
