Conan O’Brien, Lorne Michaels and when to not hire a professional
SNL producer Lorne Michaels tapped Conan O'Brien to replace David Letterman based on the realization that "comedy’s too important to be left to professionals."
Sometimes it’s better to go with an amateur.
In 1993, SNL producer Lorne Michaels tapped 30-year-old unknown comedy writer Conan O’Brien to replace David Letterman as the host of Late Night, a remarkable Hollywood story that never happens if Michaels doesn’t trust his gut.
O’Brien was far from the obvious choice. He’d been holed up in writer’s rooms at SNL and The Simpsons for about five years. He didn’t perform at all, let alone in front of millions. Hollywood stars with far more experience, like Garry Shandling, were being considered for the job. O’Brien didn’t make the list for potential hosts and agreed to a behind-the-scenes role on the new show.
But around this time, O’Brien told Michaels he wanted to switch gears to performing. It sounded a lot like what Chevy Chase told him years earlier:
“He wanted to be a performer on the show and I wouldn't agree to it,” Michaels said, seemingly referring to SNL, in a remarkable Vanity Fair article (with a cover photo by Annie Leibovitz) in the run-up to the premier of Conan’s show. Chase’s story must have weighed on Michaels as he and other executives decided who would be the new host.
“He came and was a writer, but he was so funny,” Michaels said of Chase. “And that’s when I learned that comedy’s too important to be left to professionals. Chevy was a great amateur in the way that Conan is a great amateur.”
“Comedy’s too important to be left to professionals” is timeless. Great amateurs routinely blow up and reshape industries and art forms, forcing the professionals to catch up. The great amateurs then become professionals, making room for a new crop of great amateurs to rattle them. Michaels knows this better than anyone. He made a career out of elevating unknowns to stars on SNL.
O’Brien injected energy into the talk show universe with an extremely goofy approach that contrasted the ironic rascal of Letterman and the right-down-the-middle, broad appeal of Jay Leno. His amateur sensibility pushed the professionals.
O’Brien’s show remained on the air for 28 years, nearly matching the 30 years Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show.
Sometimes it’s better to go with an amateur.
That Vanity Fair article mentioned some major unknowns (at the time)
That Vanity Fair article mentions many big names well before they were famous. Some examples:
It says O’Brien is dating “an actress named Lisa Kudrow,” who was just a few years shy of Friends fame.
Bob Odenkirk was just an SNL writer back then.
Greg Daniels, future showrunner of the American version of The Office, is described as O’Brien’s writing partner.
Chris Farley was already on SNL but was evidently still unknown enough to earn the description of “a large and, apparently, enthusiastic fellow.”