In 2004, as part of a deal to secure a new contract, NBC announced that O'Brien would leave Late Night in 2009 to succeed Jay Leno as the host of The Tonight Show.

Letterman was bitterly disappointed and angry at not having been given The Tonight Show job; and, at Carson's advice, he left NBC after eleven years on Late Night.

[6] Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels was brought in to develop the new show,[5] and comedians Jon Stewart, Drew Carey, and Paul Provenza auditioned to host.

The premiere episode featured John Goodman, who received a "First Guest" medal for his appearance, Drew Barrymore, and Tony Randall with cameos from George Wendt and Bob Costas.

"[13] In an unusual form of advertising, Conan O'Brien's credits in The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror IV" episode, originally aired on October 28, 1993 (and produced before O'Brien's left the Simpsons writing staff to host Late Night), reference his new role as host of Late Night, including one credit that lists "Watch My Show" as his "middle" name.

(All Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episodes credit the voice cast and crew under Halloween-associated nicknames, some being faux middle names in quotation marks.

)[14] One NBC affiliate, KPRC-TV in Houston, dropped Late Night with Conan O'Brien in September 1994 due to low ratings and replaced it with the syndicated Jenny Jones Show.

It was "what would I do with a talk show…" And I was fourth.According to O'Brien, NBC network executive Warren Littlefield told him, with regard to Andy Richter, he'd "never succeed until I 'got rid of that big fat dildo.'

We had the added bonus of being Letterman's replacement.Typically O'Brien would play the 'straight man' role to the general absurdity of the comedy, treating the material or wacky nature of the sketches with sincerity.

These humorous sketches usually revolved around LaBamba's sizeable mustache, his poor acting skills, and his alleged inability to read written music.

In the first few seasons of the show, the writing staff consisted of several now-prolific comics including Robert Smigel as the head writer, Bob Odenkirk, Louis C.K., Tommy Blacha and Dino Stamatopoulos.

Several writing staff interns have gone on to become noted actors or writers including Vanessa Bayer,[29] John Krasinski,[30] Mindy Kaling,[31] Ellie Kemper[32] and Jack McBrayer.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (created and voiced by original head writer Robert Smigel) began as part of a sketch on Late Night.

Celebrities such as Joyce Brothers, Nipsey Russell, Abe Vigoda, James Lipton, Bob Saget and William Preston as the character Carl 'Oldy' Olsen also made frequent cameo appearances in comedy sketches on the show at different periods.

The show made a cameo appearance in the Sesame Street special Elmopalooza, where Conan was interviewing two aliens while Big Bird was passing by them carrying a video tape.

The original set, used from the show's debut in 1993 until August 6, 1996, was primarily yellow, and the desk background resembled the living room of a New York City apartment, with windows that looked out at a Manhattan backdrop; it was modeled after Lorne Michaels' office.

This set debuted on September 4, 2001, and necessitated changes almost instantly as its backdrop view of New York City contained the World Trade Center, which was destroyed a week later.

Later when Conan was talking to audience members before the show, a group of fans visiting from Finland commented that he resembled their female president Tarja Halonen.

Pressed for time as 12:35 approached, O'Brien taped the show outside, after dark, despite the cold weather, on a makeshift set[39] with the Prometheus statue and 30 Rock serving as a backdrop.

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 had to be kept tied up, as they could not be freed outside.

Earlier in the show, O'Brien and Richter walked into Brookstone (located in the lobby of Rockefeller Center), camera crew in tow, and bought a massaging leather recliner for the first guest, Samuel L. Jackson.

Once again, the opening and bumpers were altered, this time including a model of a hearse winding through a foggy landscape and cemetery, and the voice of Bill Hader as Vincent Price in place of Joel Godard.

[40] Jim Pitt, the talent executive in charge of booking acts for the show, remarked that in his 12 years of working for Late Night, U2 and Johnny Cash were the "dream artists" he'd tried, but never succeeded in getting.

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.

John Mayer sent a farewell video message, singing a song about how Los Angeles is "going to eat [Conan] alive" (an ironic foretelling of things to come).

In a short remote piece, Conan released regular contributor Abe Vigoda "into the wild," as he could not bring him to Los Angeles for the move to The Tonight Show.

[42] Among the clips shown, O'Brien noted that his all-time favorite Late Night piece was when he attended a re-enactment of an American Civil War-era baseball game, played at a Long Island, New York museum, Old Bethpage Village Restoration.

The program concluded with a visibly emotional O'Brien giving a farewell speech from behind his desk, thanking his fans, writers, producers, backstage crew, his family, the Max Weinberg 7, David Letterman, Joel Godard, Jay Leno, and Lorne Michaels, as well as a final assurance that he would not "grow up" as he moved to The Tonight Show.

On the week of August 4, 2008, however, CNBC Europe has discontinued showing the NBC Nightly News, which for many years was shown live from America in a 12:30 am–1:00 am CET slot.

In September 2008, CNBC Europe changed the weeknight schedules to include full uncut editions of Late Night with Conan O'Brien broadcast in the 11:45 am CET/10:45 pm GMT 45-minute time slot.