Biogs – The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien

Conan O’Brien

Conan started off his career as a writer for NBC favourite Saturday Night Live and as a writer for Fox animated classic The Simpsons. Prior to working on The Simpsons, he wrote a TV pilot called Lookwell but it wasn’t commissioned, although it gained a cult following.

He became a familiar face on US television every weeknight with his show Late Night With Conan O’Brien – he replaced David Letterman as host of Late Night when Letterman moved to CBS to host the Late Show. Late Night With Conan O’Brien ran from 1993 through to 2009 an gained a huge following – not only in the US, but worldwide. Conan became known for his zany antics, including appearances by Triumph The Dog and strange websites like hornymanatee.com. Late Night With Conan O’Brien wasn’t a huge success in it’s early years, but soon became a must-see show.

Conan took over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in June 2009 – maintaining a similar opening theme tune to Late Night, and similar features, sketches and humour – and the usual monologue at the start of each show.

Andy Richter

When Conan took over The Tonight Show it saw the return of his former Late Night sidekick Andy Richter (Andy was involved in Late Night With Conan O’Brien up until 2000). Andy provides voiceovers for The Tonight Show and also gets involved with some other portions of the show. He’s had several TV shows including Andy Richter Controls The Universe and Quintuplets.

Max Weinberg and The Tonight Show Band

The Tonight Show Band is fronted by drummer Max Weinberg. The band was known as The Max Weinberg 7 on Late Night With Conan O’Brien. The band (as of August 2009) consists of Jimmy Vivino (guitar), Richie Rosenberg aka LaBamba (trombone), Scott Healy (keyboard), Mike Merritt (bass guitar), Mark Pender aka Love Man (trumpet and acoustic guitar), Jerry Vivino (woodwinds) and James Wormworth (percussion).

Max Weinberg is also well-known for being part of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. When Max is touring With Springsteen, James Wormworth acts as band leader.