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After barely half a year of hosting "The Tonight Show," Conan O'Brien—with a buy out of $45 million from NBC—has packed his bags and moved across networks to host his new show, simply titled "Conan," on TBS. We don't know what kind of skits, stunts and interviews he'll come up with, but we do know that topping his horny manatee-filled past will be a tough task.
To celebrate Conan's new post at TBS, we're taking a look back at some of his best work. Here's a list of our favorite skits from "Late Night"—from sexually charged water animals to an insult-barkin' dog.
Horny Manatee.com
One night Conan spurts out a made-up website name, HornyManatee.com. Fearing someone might become a cyber squatter, NBC buys the rights to the domain name for 10 years. To celebrate this turn of events, Conan and crew turn HornyManatee.com into a fake manatee porn site full of scandalous pictures of someone dressed in a manatee costume. The site is still up to this day and sells manatee-themed T-shirts, with some of the profits going to a real manatee charity. Never before or since have fake animal porn and charity come together to create such bizarre comedy goodness. Check out the clip here.
The Wedding Ring Spin
During the writers' strike Conan would kill a minute or two by taking his wedding ring and spinning it, trying to break his personal best with each attempt. In the span of the strike, he was able to boost his record from 41 seconds to 51 seconds (with performance enhancing Teflon). Even if there's never another writers strike (there's a bet we wouldn't take), we'd love to see Conan test out his new desk with a little flick of the ring. Check out the clip here.
Conan vs. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert
The writers' strike once again was responsible for television history as Conan, Jon Stewart ("The Daily Show") and Stephen Colbert ("The Colbert Report") got together and collaborated on a multi-channel, multi-week feud over who would get credit for making Mike Huckabee a popular presidential candidate. The grand finale involved all three late night hosts making appearances on each other's shows in succession, finishing on Conan's show where there was a battle royale involving baseball bats, ice skates and—why not?—a dance-off. Check out the clip here.
The "Walker, Texas Ranger" Lever
In 2004, NBC bought the rights to "Walker, Texas Ranger"—which meant that Conan could show clips from the show without paying royalties. Of course, Conan then created a lever that, when pulled, would play a random 10-second clip of Chuck Norris in action as Walker. The inaugural launch of the lever involved clips of a woman staring at Norris's backside and Norris jumping out of a low-flying plane into a car and punching that same woman. It's hard to say if Conan can ever top this—it was the number one fan requested skit. Check out the clip here.
Desk Driving with Andy
While Conan did drive with passengers other than Andy Richter, it was those drives with his ace sidekick that were his best. Conan could always channel his energy into physical comedy as he and Andy would "leave" the studio and get into trouble. Pedestrians would get run over, the car would go places no other car had gone before and Andy would sometimes have to save Conan. And with the good news that Andy will be rejoining Conan in Los Angeles as his announcer there's a chance that the duo could take a drive back in time to meet their younger selves from when they drove through LA in 1999. Check out the clip here.
Pale Force
Anytime comedian Jim Gaffigan showed up as a guest, he invariably brought Conan an animated gift known as "Pale Force." The short cartoons showed Conan as a weak sidekick to the strong and heroic Gaffigan. The two would fight crime with the bright reflection from their pale skin and two words that you don't often see together: nipple lasers. While Gaffigan would typically defeat the villain on his own, animated Conan had his moment of victory when he wet himself—and the deadly machinery he was attached to. Check out the clip here.
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
Whether he's at a comic convention or a political convention, Triumph will make you laugh, even if he's insulting you directly to your face. The scrappy cigar chomping dog, controlled and voiced by Robert Smigel, never tones down his shtick just because someone doesn't like it. When he's not humping people, animals or inanimate objects, Triumph whips up lightning fast quips like when he met a pregnant woman in line for "Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones." Upon learning her unborn baby is a boy, Triumph remarked, "That'll be the last time he ever sees female genitalia!" For Conan (and Triumph) to trump any and all past segments we can only hope for a live interview with Barack Obama, and a little alone with with his new dog, Bo. Check out the clip here.
Hunter S. Thompson Interview
The late great Hunter S. Thompson told Conan he wouldn't be interviewed unless the late night host came to an upstate New York farm with him. Conan agreed and was soon downing shots of whiskey and shooting automatic weapons at custom targets like the NBC logo. Conan must have made a good impression; a few years later Thompson went to Conan's studio for an interview. To top that, O'Brien might need to interview Ted Nugent and J.D. Salinger at the same time. Check out the clip here.
Conan goes to Finland
In 2005, Conan found out that he bore a striking resemblance to Finland's female president, Tarja Halonen. Conan started doing photo comparisons of himself and Halonen during his shows. Turns out Conan is popular in Finland and that newscasts discussing the upcoming Finnish presidential election mentioned him. Conan then started making comedic commercials in support of Halonen (and against her opponents) for her re-election campaign. She won, and in February of 2006 Conan went to Finland and got to meet his Finnish doppelganger in person. Check out the clip here.
"Conan" premieres Monday, November 8, at 11 p.m. ET/PT on TBS.
