| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Conan O'Brien to mark 10 years of late night television
Friday August 15, 2003LOS ANGELES (AP) Ten years ago, comedian Conan O'Brien took to the late-night airwaves on NBC as ``just a guy who was in the phone book who was chosen to replace David Letterman.''
Critics teed off on the red-haired rookie and audiences were unimpressed. NBC wasn't sure, either, and O'Brien recalled the network initially suggested week-to-week renewals.
``I thought the reviews were fair when they went after me as a performer and a late-night host because I just didn't have the confidence and the chops yet, but I thought that they were unfair when they attacked the comedy because I always thought the comedy was good,'' he said recently.
The first three years were the toughest as skepticism persisted, O'Brien recalled.
``We were put in a very difficult position,'' he said. ``Going through that gauntlet, going through the thousand-mile-long spanking machine that we went through helped us earn the right to be there. I honestly wouldn't change anything. It worked out. I'm lucky to be here.''
NBC will air his 10th anniversary special in primetime on Sept. 14 and his show is nominated for an Emmy for best variety and comedy series.
In 1994, Letterman was a guest on O'Brien's show after moving to CBS and O'Brien has been indebted ever since.
``It was a great thing because I think it got people to come back and look at the show again who thought, 'Well, that thing's dead, he's an idiot,' and walked away,'' he said. ``They came back and maybe said, 'OK, I still don't love him but maybe, and Dave seems to like him.' It may have helped keep me on the air.''
O'Brien, 40, wouldn't mind someday succeeding Jay Leno on ``The Tonight Show,'' which airs an hour earlier than O'Brien's show.
``It's a little like saying my ambition is to be pope, because so much weird stuff has to happen for you to become pope and so much of it is out of your control,'' he said. ``Jay may want to do it 10, 15, 20 more years and then I'm not going to succeed him if I'm 50 or 60.''
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