Conan O’Brien has been one of the most successful talk show hosts ever, from hosting Late Night with Conan O’Brien, to being one of the hosts of The Tonight Show, to putting TBS on the map with his long running show Conan. These are incredibly recognizable titles, however, at one point, the host wanted to call his first talk show endeavor Nighty Night with Conan O’Brien to separate himself from his predecessors – which was shot down by network executives.
O’Brien recently chatted with Jeff Ross and Robert Smigel on his Inside Conan podcast about the early development of his beloved talk show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Both guests were heavily involved with the early days of Late Night and reminisced about taking over the show from David Letterman, and establishing O’Brien as his own voice. The group talked about how intimidating it was taking over for Letterman, and how nervous they were about being in the legend’s shadow. At one point they considered changing the name of the show to something more whimsical and suited for O’Brien’s more silly sense of humor. Said the host,
