Editing Late Night with Conan O'Brien (section)

==Special episodes==

===Remote pieces and episodes shot on location===
Remote pieces shot on location were a recurring staple on ''Late Night'', but occasionally, entire episodes were shot on location, usually during [[Nielsen Media Research|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 (NBC Studios Burbank) 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 and Winter Garden Theatres|Elgin Theatre]] in Toronto, Canada. 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.

[[File:Conan takes over Chicago (186360359).jpg|thumb|Chicago Theatre during Conan's week of shows there]]
From May 9–12, 2006, the show made a 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 (San Francisco)|Orpheum Theatre]] in San Francisco.

In a sketch called "Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland", Conan mocked every nation in the world to see which ones he gets letters from. An announcer on the Finnish entertainment channel SubTV, which airs the show a couple of days after it is aired in the US, asked people to defend Finland before Conan got to insult it, and the viewers in Finland began sending mail before the bit had even gotten to the letter F. Conan responded by assuming the Finnish "just couldn't wait" to be insulted and officially insulted Finland in the segment. An overwhelming number of postcards were supposedly received, which apparently "forced" Conan to give Finland a formal apology. Conan then went as far as to have the flag of Finland shown in the background during a speech and slandered the Finns' "hated" neighbor [[Sweden]] with a sign saying "Sweden Sucks!" printed over the flag of Sweden. It would seem that this chain of events led to elevated ratings in Finland and subsequently also sparked a special relationship with the viewers in Finland. 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]].  Conan mentioned the resemblance on his show, even showing pictures of Halonen next to himself.  When he discovered that Halonen was up for reelection he 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 her.<ref>[https://classic.teamcoco.com/late-night-with-conan-obrien/season-13/episode-83/conan-in-finland-presidential-visit?playlist=x%3BeyJ0eXBlIjoidGFnIiwiaWQiOjEwMzN9 Conan Meets The President Of Finland – Conan]</ref> One episode, broadcast on March 10, 2006, was compiled mainly of footage from O'Brien's trip to [[Finland]].  In the episode, Conan greeted fans at the airport, participated in a Sami cultural ceremony, appeared on a Finnish talk show, and attempted to visit a fan who had written to him. 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.

Aside from 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 New York 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.

===Technical and production difficulties===
A more unexpected shoot occurred on October 10, 1996, when a five-alarm fire in [[Rockefeller Center|Rockefeller Plaza]] rendered the 6A studios out of commission for the remainder of that week. The fire occurred 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, O'Brien taped the show outside, after dark, despite the cold weather, on a makeshift set<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nbcuphotobank.com/sales/largeview.php?name=NUP_134573_0010.jpg&id=2197159&lbx=-1&return_page=searchResults.php&searchDisplay=S&searchAction=advSearch&searchVal=conan&page=5 |title=Large View |publisher=NBCU Photobank |access-date=2011-10-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425052325/https://nbcuphotobank.com/sales/largeview.php?name=NUP_134573_0010.jpg&id=2197159&lbx=-1&return_page=searchResults.php&searchDisplay=S&searchAction=advSearch&searchVal=conan&page=5 |archive-date=April 25, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> 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]]. The second of the two "fire shows", on Friday night, was taped in the ''[[Today (American TV program)|Today Show]]'' studio, which was not affected by the fire, though the East L.A. rock band [[Los Lobos]] performed in the blustery wind a song from their newest album [[Colossal Head]].

During the [[Northeast blackout of 2003]], O'Brien and the staff taped a short 10-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. One of the scheduled guests that night, [[The Dandy Warhols]], commandeered the studio's [[green room]], where they stayed until they performed on the show the next night.

===Gimmick episodes===
Other shows that were taped in the regular 6A studio were augmented by special gimmicks:

A lot of high-concept gimmick episodes were done in the early years of the show, such as a 1995 show done entirely on a boat of the circle line or "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 and locations included [[American Civil War|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 in which the studio audience was composed solely of grade-school age children, primarily 5–10 years of age. Conan interacted with the children, encouraging them to laugh and cheer to keep away the boredom monster.

The October 18, 2002 episode was re-shot entirely in [[Claymation|clay animation]] nearly seven 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 a Halloween motif, with [[human skeleton]]s adorned with the clothing and accessories of the humans. This re-shoot was shot using the actual studio, and the puppeteers moved the skeletons with wires and cables while being visually obscured by [[Chroma key|green screen]] technology. 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]].

===U2 exclusive===
[[File:U2 ConanO.jpg|thumb|225px|right|O'Brien interviewing U2 on ''Late Night'']]
The October 5, 2005 episode of ''Late Night'' was devoted entirely to the band [[U2]], marking the first time in the show's then 13-year run that it had devoted an entire show to a single guest.<ref name="U2">{{cite web|url=https://www.today.com/popculture/u2-takes-over-conan-o-brien-s-show-wbna9592911|title=U2 takes over Conan O'Brien's show|date=October 4, 2005|publisher=The Associated Press (via Today.com)|access-date=February 5, 2010}}</ref>  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.<ref name="U2" /> The band performed three songs, two more than the customary one song, then had a lengthy interview with Conan.

===Episodes during the 2007–2008 writer's strike===
After two months of being off-air, the first show to air during the [[2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike|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 28 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 [[Polytetrafluoroethylene|Teflon]] surface. The feat was accomplished with the help of [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] [[physics]] professor Peter Fisher. The strike also gave rise to associate producer Jordan Schlansky's repeated appearances on the show as an exaggerated version of himself.

===="Feud" with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert====
{{main|Who Made Huckabee?}}
Early on in the later half of the [[2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike|2007–2008 Writer's Guild strike]], Conan O'Brien claimed credit for presidential candidate [[Mike Huckabee]]'s popularity in opinion polling, due to his use of the ''[[Walker, Texas Ranger]]'' Lever while [[Chuck Norris]] was coincidentally sponsoring Huckabee. [[Stephen Colbert (character)|Stephen Colbert]] made the claim that because of "the Colbert bump," he was responsible for Huckabee's current success in the 2008 presidential race. O'Brien then claimed to be responsible for Colbert's success; in response, [[Jon Stewart]], host of ''[[The Daily Show]]'', claimed that ''he'' was responsible for the success of O'Brien, and in turn the success of both Huckabee and Colbert. This resulted in a three-part comedic battle among the three hosts, with all three appearing on each other's shows. The feud ended on ''Late Night'' with an all-out mock brawl between the three talk-show hosts.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2008-05-11|url=http://www.today.com/id/23017599|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923014932/http://www.today.com/id/23017599|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 23, 2013|title=Conan, Stewart, Colbert unite in mock feud|publisher=[[Today.com]]|date=2008-02-05}}</ref>

===Anniversary episodes===
In 1996, a third 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 (actor)|Scott Thompson]], [[Tony Randall]] and [[George Wendt]]. Typical of O'Brien's style of comedy, he introduced his first guest (Wendt) by listing his notable achievements in television (particularly ''[[Cheers]]'') then introduced each subsequent guest by repeatedly listing Wendt's achievements (insinuating that all of his guests for that night's show played the role of Norm on ''Cheers''). In 1998, ''Late Night'' aired a fifth 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 tenth anniversary special was taped in New York City's famed [[Beacon Theatre (New York City)|Beacon Theatre]] and later made available on DVD.

===The final episode===
''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''{{'}}s last episode was recorded February 20, 2009, and aired shortly after midnight that next morning. The episode featured clips from past shows and a reflection on the show's sixteen-year-long run. [[John Mayer]] sent a farewell video message, singing a song about how Los Angeles is "going to eat [Conan] alive" (an ironic foretelling of [[2010 Tonight Show conflict|things to come]]). In a short [[remote broadcast|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''. [[Will Ferrell]] made a surprise visit as [[George W. Bush]], which quickly devolved into Ferrell tearing off his business suit to reveal an ill-fitting green leprechaun outfit that had been worn in a number of previous appearances on the show.<ref name="ew">''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' article: "[http://watching-tv.ew.com/2009/02/conan-obrien-la.html?iid=top25-Conan+O%27Brien%3A+His+last+%27Late+Night%27+a+triumph%2C+no+insult%2C+highly+comic%2C+not+a+dog Conan O'Brien: His last 'Late Night' a triumph, no insult, highly comic, not a dog]".</ref>

Former sidekick [[Andy Richter]], who re-joined O'Brien when he took over ''The Tonight Show'' in June, joined O'Brien onstage for two segments, watching clips and reminiscing about the show.<ref name="ew" /> 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. During the course of the final week, O'Brien began violently dismantling and handing out pieces of the production set to the audience. In the final show, a large piece of the stage's frame was pulled down and chopped into pieces. O'Brien then promised to give each audience member in attendance a piece of the set.<ref name="ew" />

One of Conan's favorite bands, [[The White Stripes]], performed a new, slower arrangement of their song "[[We're Going to Be Friends]]" based on Conan's lullaby rendition of the song, with drummer [[Meg White]] playing second guitar and singing along with vocalist/guitarist [[Jack White]]. The performance proved to be the band's last before their breakup in February 2011.<ref name="RSwhitestripes">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/02/20/white-stripes-final-late-night-gig-conan-obrien-on-special-relationship-with-jack-and-meg/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223061236/http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/02/20/white-stripes-final-late-night-gig-conan-obrien-on-special-relationship-with-jack-and-meg|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 23, 2009|title=White Stripes' Final "Late Night" Gig: Conan O'Brien on Special Relationship With Jack and Meg|last=Ganz|first=Caryn|date=2009-02-20|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=February 5, 2010}}</ref> The song would be used many years later as the theme for O'Brien's podcast ''[[Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend]]''. 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, [[Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band|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]]''.<ref name="ew" />

About 3.4&nbsp;million viewers watched O'Brien's final episode of ''Late Night'', the largest audience since the January 24, 2005 episode that followed [[The Tonight Show with Jay Leno|Jay Leno's]] tribute to [[Johnny Carson]].<ref name="WPost-Conan">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/26/AR2009022603677_pf.html|title=Seinfeld, NBC Renew Their Vows With 'The Marriage Ref'|last=de Moraes|first=Lisa|date=2009-02-27|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2009-02-27}}</ref>

After the end of the series, Studio 6A at Rockefeller Center was remodeled for ''[[The Dr. Oz Show]]''.<ref>Battaglio, Stephen. "He Will Survive". ''TV Guide''. November 7, 2011. Page 20.</ref> In the summer of 2013, NBC moved ''[[Late Night with Jimmy Fallon]]'' to Studio 6A while 6B, which housed ''Late Night'' since Fallon succeeded O'Brien in 2009, was being renovated when Fallon took over ''The Tonight Show'' on February 17, 2014, while ''The Dr. Oz Show'' moved to ABC's Upper West Side studios.