Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an NBC talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired on NBC from 1993 to 2009. The second incarnation of NBC's Late Night franchise, O'Brien's debuted in 1993 after previous host David Letterman moved to CBS to host the Late Show. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and stand-up comedy performances.
From 1993 until 2000, Andy Richter served as O'Brien's sidekick. The show's house musical act was The Max Weinberg 7, led by E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg. In 1997 the show launched the career of Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, a popular recurring character of Late Night performed by then-head writer Robert Smigel.
O'Brien ended the show in February 2009 in order to transition to taking over The Tonight Show; Jimmy Fallon began his version of Late Night in March 2009.
Like many late night talk shows, Late Night has done its share of Muppet related jokes and gags. One well-known recurring gag on the program was "Vomiting Kermit" (a Kermit doll that spewed fake vomit from its mouth).
On the September 9, 2004 show, Conan showed a clip of Bert and Ernie singing "Dance Myself to Sleep" dubbed to parody the alleged relationship between the two.
On the September 14, 2004 show, Conan previewed some fake upcoming postage stamps including a series called "Muppet Mug Shots".
Muppets have been cast in fictional made-for-TV movies, of which Conan shows the cast lists. Here are a few of the choices that were made:
O'Brien jested in the monologue of his March 11, 2006 show stating, "The producers of Sesame Street say they have decided not to ask Russell Crowe to appear on the show because they don't think he's a good role model. Crowe is upset because he really wanted to host the episode sponsored by the letters 'F' and 'U.'"
Another Muppet related joke was made in O'Brien's regular "In the Year 2000" segement, where he and a guest give cryptic news from the future, here are a few Muppet related gags:
On September 14, 2006, upon the show's 13th anniversary (and bar mitzvah) Conan vowed that there would be no more low-brow jokes, such as "Vomiting Kermit", instead he introduced the new character "Morally Outraged Kermit".
In an "Actual Items" segment from a November 2007 episode, Conan shows an advertisement for Sesame Place, with photos of Oscar the Grouch, the Cookie Monster walkaround, and an illustration of Ernie choking Bert to death.
The show made a parody of the Faces of Death videos with a "Muppets Faces of Death" spoof.
Quentin Tarantino made an appearance on the show just prior to the initial airing of The Muppets' Wizard of Oz to promote various projects -- a majority of the interview was spent talking about his experience with the Muppets and his love for the characters.
Andie MacDowell appeared on the show in 1999 to promote Muppets From Space and talked about her cat fight with Miss Piggy. A clip of said fight was shown.
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