Everyone remembers the terrible events of that day in sunny New York as the World Trade Center was targeted, and the Pentagon in Washington was attacked, but do you recall how the talk shows handled the events after they came back on air many days after September 11th 2001?

The Late Show With David Letterman returned to CBS with its first new show since 9/11 on the 17th September 2001. Guests on the show were news anchor Dan Rather and TV personality (and regular Late Show favourite) Regis Philbin.

The most memorable part of this show (and also one of the most memorable in the history of the Late Show) was Dave’s very moving opening monologue talking about 9/11 and the people of New York:

News anchor Dan Rather was interviewed and famously asked Letterman to go to a commercial break when he broke down in tears part-way through the interview:

Regis Philbin was the final guest on this show:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart returned to Comedy Central with its first new show on the 20th September 2001 and provided another touching opening monologue similar to Letterman’s:

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno returned to NBC with its first new show around a week after the attacks. There still aren’t any video clips online for this episode but Wikipedia says:

“The first post-9/11 episode began with a still image of an American flag and a subdued opening without the usual opening credits. Leno’s monologue paid tribute to those who lost their lives and to firefighters, police and rescue workers across the US. Leno had questioned whether a show that regularly poked fun at the government could continue after the attacks, but in his monologue he explained that he saw the show as a respite from the grim news of the world, akin to a cookie or glass of lemonade handed to a firefighter. Senator John McCain and the musical group Crosby, Stills, and Nash were featured guests. For an extended period after the attack, a short clip of a large American flag waving was shown in between the announcement of the musical guest and Leno’s introduction during the opening montage”.

Late Night With Conan O’Brien returned at around the same time as The Tonight Show:

The Colbert Report’s special Christmas episode (“A Colbert Christmas”) is nominated for “Outstanding Art Direction For Variety, Music Or Nonfiction Programming”.

Late Show With David Letterman, Real Time With Bill Maher, Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report are all up for the “Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Series” award.

Saturday Night Live and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon are nominated for “Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media”.

Late Show With David Letterman, Saturday Night Live and Jimmy Kimmel Live are nominated for “Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic, Multi-Camera) For Variety, Music Or Comedy Programming”.

Saturday Night Live is up for the “Outstanding Makeup For A Multi-Camera Series Or Special (Non-Prosthetic)” award.

The Colbert Report’s Christmas episode (“A Colbert Christmas) and Saturday Night Live are both nominated for “Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics”.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart is nominated for “Outstanding Short Form Picture Editing” and The Colbert Report (“A Colbert Christmas”) is nominated for “Outstanding Picture Editing For A Special (Single Or Multi-Camera)”.

Jay Leno’s Garage on NBC.com is up for the “Outstanding Special Class – Short-format Nonfiction Programs” award.

Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Show With David Letterman and Saturday Night Live are nominated for “Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Series”.

Late Show With David Letterman, Real Time With Bill Maher, Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart are nominated for “Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series”.

Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Late Show With David Letterman, Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart are nominated for Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Series”.

The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony will take place in Los Angeles on Sunday 20th September. Read the nominations in full.

Other guests on the final show were former Late Night sidekick Andy Richter (saying “I told you you’d never last without me”), Will Ferrell with an impression of George W. Bush and John Mayer performing a song with the lyrics “LA’s gonna eat you alive” – a tongue-in-cheek lyric for Conan’s move to The Tonight Show.

In Conan’s final farewall speech at the end of Friday’s show he said he’d “never grow up” – a reference to how some people fear he may tame down his act for The Tonight Show. He said “it’s an incredible, amazing honor to do this show for you people… we’re going on to this next gig, and sometimes I read that it’s time for Conan to grow up because he’s going to 11:30… and I assure you, that’s just not going to happen. I can’t. This is who I am, for better or for worse”.

During his farewell speech his voice cracked a little as he must have felt very emotional leaving Late Night after so many years. Conan thanked David Letterman, who hosted Late Night on NBC before he moved to the Late Show on CBS after famously losing out to host The Tonight Show to Jay Leno. He also thanked Lorne Michaels (Saturday Night Live producer), the Late Night crew and band.

Ratings-wise, the final Late Night saw audiences “up a whopping 44 percent over the show’s season average, NBC said today” according to E! Online.

Conan now moves to LA to host The Tonight Show, which begins at the start of June. Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (which stays in New York) begins on Monday 2nd March.

E! Online – ” Conan O’Brien Takes a Bow on Last Late Night”
The Insider – “Conan O’Brien’s Last Late Night”
TV Squad – “How was Conan’s last show in New York?”
E! Online – “Conan Goes Out on Top; Dollhouse Shrinks”

Watch a video tribute for Late Night With Conan O’Brien found on YouTube below;

If you’ve ever wanted to have a piece of Late Night curtain, railing or some other Late Night With Conan O’Brien items from the set then you’re in luck.

NBC is running an eBay auction site with all funds going to the charity “House to Home Project” which helps families restarting their lives after a natural disaster with the basic furnishings that makes a house a home. Bid on Late Night costumes, Conan’s tie from the final show, signed drumsticks, props and more.

Click here to see what’s on offer and make your bids.

They talked about how Jimmy’s been getting into the right state of mind as talk show host by watching clips of old talk shows, and Jimmy also tried out some talk show host openers with Conan – including the famous Conan O’Brien “puppet strings” opening.

Late Night With Conan O’Brien will “Go Bye Bye” at the end of this week with one week of reruns to follow, before Late Night With Jimmy Fallon premieres on NBC on Monday 2nd March.

Watch Jimmy Fallon’s interview on Conan (11th February) below;

There will also be a week of reruns after next week leading up to when Late Night With Jimmy Fallon starts on Monday 2nd March.

So far – guests announced for Monday are Bob Saget & thenewno2, Jason Sudeikis on Tuesday, Nathan Lane on Wednesday, Jerry Seinfeld & Craig Bierko are on Thursday’s show and The White Stripes are confirmed for the final show on Friday.

More guests are expected to be announced for next week soon.

Conan O’Brien will take over as host of The Tonight Show at the beginning of June.

Late Show UK – Guest Listings for Late Night With Conan O’Brien
Late Night With Conan O’Brien official website
Late Night Underground official blog
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon official website

In email correspondence from CNBC, they say “of all the late night talk shows, we will only be airing The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien in 2009″.

With regards to whether or not we will see Late Night With Conan O’Brien’s final show in February, CNBC tell us “there are no plans to show Conan’s final Late Night on CNBC”.

Late Night With Conan O’Brien stopped airing on CNBC recently, and the weekend shows are now double bills of The Tonight Show With Jay Leno from 8pm.

CNBC say the decision to make these schedule changes to The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Night With Conan O’Brien is “to allow for other core business and news programming to be accommodated earlier in the day” but that they’ll “continue to review viewer interest in our entertainment programming strands and consider them if we make further programme line-up changes later in the year”.

CNBC are no longer showing Late Night With Conan O’Brien at all, and have gone back to having The Tonight Show With Jay Leno at 11pm UK time Monday-Friday in a cutdown 30 minute timeslot (instead of the full 45 minute versions).

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno airs on a 1-show delay from NBC in America.

On weekends The Tonight Show With Jay Leno airs at 8pm in a 45 minute timeslot and another episode at 8.45pm (also in a 45 minute timeslot). The Saturday and Sunday episodes are usually picked from the previous week as two of the best shows from that week.

CNBC is available on Sky channel 505, Virgin Media channel 613 and Tiscali TV channel 510.

Now we have reliable schedule details, we are now able to provide information in our Upcoming Shows box again on the right hand side of this page.

It’s a shame that we won’t be able to see the final episode of Late Night With Conan O’Brien on CNBC in February, but it won’t be long ’til Conan takes over The Tonight Show anyway.

If you’re in New York between now and the 20th February, you can get tickets for the final shows by sending an email to conangobyebye@nbc.com (good email address!) – you need to include your name, address, phone number and email address. Late Night With Conan O’Brien is recorded at Studio 6A, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York.

Conan O’Brien will start hosting duties at The Tonight Show on the 1st June in Los Angeles, California. Jimmy Fallon takes over as host of Late Night on the 2nd March in New York.