Conan O’Brien

Conan married Liza Powel, an advertising executive, on January 12, 2002, after dating her for a while. He had met Liza on the sets of ‘Late Night’ in 2000.

Conan and Liza have two children. Their daughter, Neve, was born on October 14, 2003, and their son, Beckett, was born on November 9, 2005.

In 2011, O’Brien was ordained as a minister by the ‘Universal Life Church Monastery,’ thereby allowing him to perform a same-sex marriage in New York.

Conan Christopher O’Brien was born on April 18, 1963, in Brookline, Massachusetts, to Thomas Francis O’Brien and Ruth O’Brien.

He was the third of the six children of his parents. His has three brothers and two sisters.

His father was a professor of medicine at the prestigious ‘Harvard Medical School,’ a physician, and an epidemiologist. His mother was an attorney till she retired in 1997.

However, Conan always wanted to be part of the entertainment industry. He graduated from ‘Brookline High School’ as a valedictorian in 1981, before attending the prestigious ‘Harvard University.’

He majored in American history in 1985 from ‘Harvard.’ He had also written for ‘The Harvard Lampoon,’ the prestigious humor magazine of ‘Harvard,’ and was elected as the president of the magazine twice.

After completing his graduation, Conan moved to Los Angeles to work as a writer for ‘HBO’s ‘Not Necessarily the News’ (1985). He also performed for the improvisational group ‘The Groundlings’ during this time.

Finally, he found a job with the late-night comedy series ‘Saturday Night Live’ and worked as its staff writer from 1988 to 1991. Some of the most memorable skits written by him for the show were ‘Mr. Short-Term Memory’; ‘The Girl Watchers,’ which was performed by Tom Hanks; and ‘Nude Beach.’

He co-wrote the pilot of the show ‘Lookwell’ with Robert Smigel. It was broadcast on ‘NBC’ in 1999. The pilot never made it to TV screens, but later became a super hit. Soon, O’Brien quit ‘Saturday Night Live’ to explore other options.

He decided to roam the streets of New York and wait for a big break. Finally, he was asked to join the hit animation series ‘The Simpsons’ as a writer.

He worked for ‘The Simpsons’ from 1991 to 1993, becoming the supervising producer of the show from 1992 to 1993.

In 1992, O’Brien was approached to produce ‘Late Night with David Letterman,’ since Letterman was about to quit. O’Brien’s agent made it clear that Conan would rather perform than produce.

He auditioned for the position of the host, and on April 26, 1993, he was chosen as the new host of ‘NBC’s late-night show, renamed as ‘Late Night with Conan O’ Brien.’ The show premiered on September 13, 1993, but received bad reviews. This made the show come close to being canceled.

In 1994, David Letterman appeared on the show and made a lot of positive statements that encouraged the team to keep going. Steadily, Conan started connecting with the audience. By its last season, the show became one of the most amazing transformations that TV had ever witnessed.

The show ran for 15 seasons after it was almost canceled due to lack of viewership. By 2005, the show had garnered an average viewership of 2.5 million.