Late Night began broadcasting in 1080i ATSC on April 26, 2005, with a downscaled letterboxed NTSC simulcast (unlike The Tonight Show, whose NTSC simulcast is fullscreen). Conan celebrated the conversion to the widescreen HDTV format with jokes throughout the week.

On December 6, 2005 Late Night with Conan O'Brien segments began selling on the iTunes Store. Most segments were priced at $1.99, as were most episodes of other shows, with "special" best-ofs and other longer segments priced at $9.99. In December, 2007 NBC stopped selling all its television shows on iTunes. The show is now offered free at Hulu.com and the NBC website.

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On Location, Special, and Memorable episodes

"Remotes" (pieces shot on location) have always been a staple on Late Night, but occasionally entire episodes have been shot on location. These are usually in correlation to sweeps months. The first vacation for the show was a week-long stint of shows in Los Angeles the week of November 9-12, 1999. This was the only location week for the show while Andy Richter was with the show, and the only time the show's theme was altered for the week, with a more surf-style version of the show's normal theme (though the Toronto shows ended the normal theme with a piece of "O Canada"). The show was broadcast from NBC's L.A. studios and an L.A. themed set was built, very similar in layout to the New York set.

From February 10-13, 2004, Late Night broadcast from the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Canada. The shows were highly publicized, and demand for tickets was significant. Those desiring tickets e-mailed in and tickets were distributed by a lottery system. Despite the inhospitable winter weather, line-ups for the shows stretched around city blocks and some fans lined up the night before the shows to get good seats. More tickets than seats were distributed, and many without tickets lined up in hopes to get standby tickets, but were turned away. By the Friday taping, fans were encouraged not to bother. Those with tickets that could not fit in the main theatre were allowed to go to the Winter Garden Theatre (above the Elgin) to watch the show on a closed circuit feed from downstairs. The guests for these episodes were all Canadians, with the exception of Adam Sandler, and included such stars as Jim Carrey and Mike Myers. As the show was taped at a theater, unlike the trip to L.A., the set built was not like the show's standard set. A Toronto-themed backdrop painting was hung at the back of the stage, and a copy of the New York desk (with maple leaves on its front instead of circles), a maple leaf coffee table and a standard guest chair and couch were on a riser at center stage. O'Brien did his monologues standing in front of this area. The stage was otherwise bare. Max's drumkit was on the end of stage-right, while the rest of the band was placed in the lower private boxes next to the stage. Joel did his announcing from the upper box nearest the stage on the same side.

From May 9-12, 2006, the show made a very similar venture to the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, taking cues from their previous trip to Toronto. Between April 30-May 4, 2007, the show originated from the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, California.

One episode, broadcast on March 10, 2006, was compiled mainly of footage from O'Brien's trip to Finland. The episode was not strictly taped as a live episode there however, but was prefaced by an introduction by O'Brien taped in New York. The Finland episode came as the culmination of a long running joke on the show. Earlier in the season, Conan had been informed by some Finnish audience members that he bore a resemblance to their (female) president Tarja Halonen who was running for re-election. Conan subsequently made a running joke of the resemblance, often putting a picture of Halonen side by side with his own face. Conan's interest in the joke increased when he discovered that Late Night is quite popular in Finland, and that his running joke had made its way into actual news commentary about the Finnish election. After this discovery, Conan began making satirical commercials in support of Halonen and vowed to travel to Finland to meet her if she won re-election. When she did indeed win re-election in January 2006, Conan traveled to Finland and met with Halonen as well as with one "lucky" Finnish fan.

Aside from more "traditional" location shows, the show also did special one-shots in its early years. In 1995, one episode of the show was taped aboard a New York City ferry in NY Harbor. Dubbed "The Show on a Boat" by the showtunes-style song-and-dance number performed by a trio of "sailors" at the start of the show, O'Brien, Richter, the band and guests were all crammed onto the deck of the ferry. The show was taped at its normal afternoon time, while it was still light out.

Another, more unexpected, "location" shoot occurred on October 10, 1996, when a five-alarm fire in Rockefeller Plaza rendered the 6A studios out-of-commission for the remainder of that week. The fire happened on early Thursday morning, which left O'Brien's staff precious little time to assemble a show elsewhere. Pressed for time as 12:35 approached, Conan taped the show outside, near the outside walking area in front of 30 Rock, after dark. Being October, it was quite chilly outside, and despite Conan and company being bundled up in winter jackets, they were still visibly cold (Max Weinberg could be seen huffing hot air onto his hands during the opening strains of one of the night's numerous fire-themed cover songs.) Furthering the unfortunate nature of the evening's circumstances was the final guest, Julie Scardina, who brought along wild animals, including birds that Conan explained: "We were supposed to have you on, and let [the birds] fly around the studio, and it would have been GREAT, then fire destroys our studio, we have to tape outside, and so we have to keep the birds tied up. You were the worst possible guest we could have scheduled for tonight!" (paraphrased) Earlier in the show, Conan and Andy walked into a nearby department store, camera crew in tow, and bought a massaging leather recliner for the first guest, Samuel L. Jackson. Chris Kattan was also a guest on this episode. The second of the two "fire shows," on Friday night, was taped in the Today Show studio, which wasn't affected by the fire. Conan and company dressed in conservative sweater vests and had the Sauer family as their in-studio "audience." Conan's guests were Eric Idle, Peter Gallagher and Los Lobos.

During the Northeast Blackout of 2003, Conan and the staff taped a short 5-minute introduction explaining that the episode they had planned would not be taking place due to the blackout. Studio 6A was powered by a generator and lit by battery-powered floodlights. A standby show was aired in-progress after the intro.

Other shows that were taped in the regular 6A studio were augmented by special gimmicks: "Time Travel Week," four episodes from early 1996, where Conan and Andy (and the rest of the crew) "time-traveled" to a different point in time each night. Times/locations included The Civil War, Ancient Greece, The Future and The Early 80s (featuring a cameo by David Letterman in the cold open, who occupied Conan's studio in 1983, cruelly brushing off Conan and Andy's attempt at explaining their presence in Letterman's dressing room by saying "Why don't you two fellas go find a nice, warm place to screw yourselves. Security!").

In 1997, a special episode was taped where the studio audience was composed solely of grade-school age children, primarily 5-10 years of age. Conan interacted with the children in innovative ways, respecting their intelligence and getting them to boo whenever the guest (Dave Foley) became too long-winded and boring.

A 2003 episode was re-shot entirely in clay animation several months after its first airing, including the opening credits and commercial bumpers. The episode's originally broadcast soundtrack was retained while the visuals were reproduced to mirror the original footage in a small-scale reproduction of the studio 6A.

On October 31, 2006, a similarly conceptualized Halloween episode was created from an episode which originally aired in May and featured Larry King, among other guests. Using a process the show called "Skelevision", all the visuals were re-shot with human skeletons adorned with a few identifying articles of clothing and accessories (such as Larry King's suspenders) in place of all humans, including those in photographs. This re-shoot was shot using the actual studio, and the puppeteers moved the skeletons with wires and cables while being visually obscured by green screen technology. Once again, the opening and bumpers were altered, this time including a model of a hearse funeral car winding through a foggy landscape and cemetery, and a ghoulish intro announcer in place of Joel Godard.

After two months of being off-air, the first show to air during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike on January 2, 2008 featured a small musical segment at the beginning of the show detailing O'Brien's newly grown beard in a show of support for the striking writers. At the beginning of the January 28th episode, it was revealed that Conan had shaved his beard, which was followed with a similar musical segment.

Several times during the episodes produced during the writer's strike, O'Brien would kill time by spinning his wedding ring on his desk, which he previously only did during rehearsals. His personal best was 41 seconds, achieved during an un-aired rehearsal. After several unsuccessful on-air attempts to break his record, during the show originally broadcast on February 9, 2008, O'Brien broke his record for endurance ring spinning, setting a time of 51 seconds by coating his wedding ring with Vaseline and spinning it on a Teflon surface. The feat was accomplished with the help of MIT physics professor Peter Fisher.

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Anniversary episodes

In 1996, a 3^rd Anniversary episode was taped, though it aired in the regular 12:35/11:35 late night time slot. The show was composed of clips of the best of the first three years, and featured cameos from many former guests, including Janeane Garofalo, Scott Thompson, Tony Randall and George Wendt. In 1998, Late Night aired a 5^th anniversary special in prime time, mostly consisting of clips from the first five years. It was taped in the Saturday Night Live studio, also in the GE Building. The special was later sold on VHS tape. In 2003, a similar 10^th anniversary special was taped in New York City's famed Beacon Theater and later made available on DVD.

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Set design

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The major variations of the desk area on the set of Late Night, including the set from the show's trip to L.A.

Late Night has gone through a number of set changes, including several complete redesigns which have come to be used by fans somewhat as denoting 'eras' of the show. Each set has basically had the same structure, however, with changes being primarily cosmetic. The set is broken into two areas: The desk area, to the viewer's right, where interviews are done, and the performance space at the viewer's left. The desk area has always been designed with a desk for O'Brien, a chair and couch(es) to the viewer's left for guests (and originally Andy Richter), and a coffee table. The area is designed with some type of facade. The performance area is where The Max Weinberg 7 are, in the corner between the stage-right wall and the wall in front of the audience. O'Brien does his monologue in this area, emerging at the start of each episode from the area where musical guests perform.

The set was tweaked significantly in the early days of the show. The band was given more decorative risers, and most of the members were given podium-style music stands. The desk area was also changed, most notably by the addition of a much larger window behind O'Brien where there had previously been a simple wall. The Empire State building was moved to this new window, along with the Twin Towers, which had previously been added to the original window. In the old window, the Chrysler Building took their place, though the two views continued to be tweaked over the years. The full moon was eventually reportedly removed. The carpet was also changed from a sandy color to a mauve. In 1996, a few other changes were made including leaving the curtains open for the monologue, and a new bandstand. Max got a new red drum riser, and the rest of the band got a two-level bandstand - a format still used today.

The first major overhaul to the set came during the 1996 Olympic break. The new desk area facade feaured a balcony instead of windows. At the sides of the set, as walls, were a checkerboard of blue and purple cushioned panels. The guest chair and sofa were replaced with a more traditional shaped set in a purple-blue, with yellow wavy-lined pattern. Behind the desk and the guest chair, was a lattice of metal bars forming a transparent wall. Behind the wall was a stone balcony edge, beyond which was a cityscape. Many buildings were depicted, and they were much "closer" to the set than in the original windows. Buildings spanned past the ceiling of the backdrop, and none appeared to be actual well-known New York City buildings. A new desk and coffee table were constructed, similar to the originals, except with a diamond-like set of columns instead of the ribbed rings. The desk was also placed parallel to the chair and couch for the first time. The rest of the set was also redressed in accordance with the style of the desk area. Four black & white pictures hung on the wall to the right of the desk (possibly also present on the original set), of Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, and David Letterman as a tribute to those who have hosted late night shows in New York City. Allen, Paar, and Carson have died during O'Brien's reign as Late Night host; after each of their passings, O'Brien took the time to remember them on the show, discussing personal anecdotes and how each one was supportive of him when he first started hosting Late Night. The pictures hang in about the same spot on the current set.

In mid-1998, the set was retooled again. However, the only major change came to the backdrop behind the balcony in the desk area. Instead of the grey and off-white dominated background of many close buildings, the backdrop was replaced by a blue sky with only a handful of buildings in the distance, mainly in silhouette with lights. The Chrysler Building was the only building "near" the set, behind the guest chair, while the Empire State Building was farther away between the chair and the desk. The light blue faded to darker blue at the top of the set and a few stars were visible, along with a large full moon well to the right of the desk. The camera rarely caught the backdrop high enough to see this part of the set though.

The backdrop continued to be retooled and in early 1999, the sky was darkened to a deep blue fading to a purple horizon, and a starfield was added. The buildings were also given some more realistic detail, and the full moon was retouched into a crescent moon. New lighting was added, and lighting of both the desk area and the performance area would continue to be periodically tweaked from time to time. By 2001, more purple had been added to the sky.

The latest desk area before 9/11; with the curtain blocking the Twin Towers; with the Twin Towers removed; and with the curtain returned as decoration.

In late August 2001, while the show was on break, the set was completely redone for the second time in the show's history. The balcony concept was used again, but instead of a fake window separating the balcony, the balcony rail was directly behind the seating area. A new desk, with a field of circles within squares on its front was created, and a new chair and sofa were brought in, with a pattern of multi-colored layered squares. The view behind the balcony was a fairly realistic (relative to past sets) view of New York City looking south from a tall building, though it is by no means geographically accurate. The buildings were far away and only the Empire State Building, between the desk and chair, and the Twin Towers, slightly to the right, were notable. The Chrysler Building was off to the right of the desk near what would be the Hudson River - not where the building would actually be. Unlike past sets, almost all of the buildings on the backdrop reached no higher than the head of a seated guest. Most of the backdrop was plain sky, though the crescent moon from the previous set remained in about the same position. In the performance area, the back wall which previously appeared to be an un-dressed studio wall was fitted with a pattern of blue triangular outcroppings. The floor had a similar circles within squares pattern to the desk, and the monologue and musical performance area had new squared arches framing it. The band also got a new performance area, laid out the same as the previous one. From the ceiling of the desk area, several white orbs could be lowered, which O'Brien showed off in the set's debut. The orbs have never been used functionally on the show aside from as decor.

Tragically, and in a case of bad timing, the September 11 attacks occurred about a week after the new set's debut. Late Night, like the other late night shows went on hiatus again after the attacks. When they returned, a curtain had been added behind the balcony with gathered material at intervals designed to obstruct the spot where the Twin Towers were depicted. After having a chance to retouch the backdrop image and remove the Twin Towers, the curtain was again removed. The buildings were also retouched, with more light showing in the skyline. More contrast was added to the sky as well as a light starfield. Perhaps deciding that vast sky was too plain of a backdrop, the decorative curtain was once again added, without the bunched material. Like the past set, color tweaks continued to be made for a while after, but the set has remained fairly unchanged since the curtain was re-added.

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Late Night around the world

Broadcasts in Europe

Late Night with Conan O'Brien is broadcast across Europe on CNBC Europe. The program is broadcast at 9:45pm CET (8:45PM GMT) on Saturdays and Sundays in an uncut 45 minute version. Late Night used to be broadcast on CNBC Europe on weeknights but in March 2007 CNBC Europe decided to relegate the show to weekend broadcasts only to make way for more business programming on weeknights. Broadcasts across Europe are around 1-2 weeks behind first transmission in the US.

Broadcasts in Australia

Late Night with Conan O'Brien is broadcast across Australia on the Comedy Channel (Foxtel/ Austar). The program is broadcast weeknights at 11:45pm ESDT (11:15PM CST) Broadcasts across Australia are only 1 day behind first transmission in the US.

Broadcasts in the Philippines

Late Night with Conan O'Brien is broadcast across the Philippines on JackTV (Global Destiny Cable). The program is broadcast at 11:30pm local time (UTC/GMT +8 hours). Broadcasts across the Philippines are only 1 day behind first transmission in the US.

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See also

• Sketches from Late Night with Conan O'Brien
• Pale Force
• List of late night network TV programs

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References

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External links

• Late Night with Conan O’Brien’s official website
• HornyManatee.com as seen on the show.
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien at the Internet Movie Database
• Conan Can Help