COB

Conan O'Brien turns 55 today.  He's had an odd career.  A writer for Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons, he somehow got to host NBC's late night talk show.  He didn't get great reviews at first, but he stuck around and developed an audience.

Then he graduated to NBC's Tonight Show where the ratings were weak and he was unceremoniously kicked out and replaced by Jay Leno, the very man he'd replaced.  After a short period in the wilderness, he landed a talk show on TBS, where he's been ever since.

I remember watching him from the start.  I think his best show was his original Late Night show.  And he had his take on things.  In general, he had a self-deprecating style (as befits someone who didn't come up in show biz the normal way).

And from his very first regular bit, "Actual Items" (at least partly created by staff writer Louis C. K.), you could see his show was different.  Where Letterman, the previous host in that slot, would look at real items in the news, or real people and places in the streets, and mock them, here was Conan showing you real items with fake stuff added--found comedy versus fake found comedy (or "fake news" if you like).

Here are a few of my favorite moments from his show: