Staying Up Late Night

My Visit to the Conan O'Brien Show

Monday, February 7, 2000.... I went to New York City last week to help my mom move into her new condo. Unless there's a sudden and all-abiding interest in my Adventures in Unpacking, that is not what I will detail in this update. Instead, thanks to the generosity of the irrepressible Brian Stack, I was able to go behind the scenes at Late Night With Conan O'Brien!

First, some information on Mr. Stack.

Brian joined the Second City tourco in the early 90s and eventually became a member of the etc cast in 1995. Fellow members of that cast were Adam McKay, Aaron Rhodes, Dee Ryan, Miriam Tolan, and Jim Zulevic. I first met Brian when he was on the Second City etc stage. I'm about to tell this story and I don't even think he will recall this, but here goes...

I was in the Mainstage souvenir booth setting things up when I saw Brian locking his bike up in front of the building. He came right in and introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Brian. I work over in the etc," said the lanky one. Do you see the careful and modest wording there? "You must be new here."

I told him the quick version of why I was working there and he welcomed me to Chicago and then, he went back outside to go to the etc via the Piper's Alley entrance. He wasn't stopping on his way to the etc, he purposely came in to say hi to a new face. Ever since then Brian has always been courteous, smart and always willing to listen. A great guy.

He left Second city in 1996 and promptly got a writing job on the Late Night with Conan O' Brien show. One of his most recognizable gifts to the Late Night show is the creation of Andy Richter's Conan-obsessed "little sister" (portrayed with manic zeal by Upright Citizen Amy Poehler.) You might recognize him as the Reluctant Vampire (one of my favorite characters.)

Okay. That doesn't do justice at all, but I have a lack of research material here. I bug SC enough for PerformInk; it would probably be bad of me to call for info for this thing.. Anyway..

After some e-mailing and phone tagging, I arrived at the NBC studios on 6th avenue in Manhattan at 4:45pm. I quickly browsed through the  enormous NBC gift shop (years ago, just two actually, the NBC gift shop was still a tiny thing, about 30 by 40 feet but now it's a monster size, two floors of GE-owned fun.) I chuckled at the cast photo for SNL complete with a smiling Raj Sanz. That was completely weird and surreal.

I enjoyed breezing past security while someone else kept insisting that they double check for his name. I went straight up to the 6th floor.

*Ding!*

I arrived on the 6th floor and there was some giant prop and some stagehands smack dab in the middle of the elevator bank area. I wandered past them and peered at their paperwork but could not figure out what they were working on. Someone was looking at some slides, but didn't have enough light to see them so he put them up against a giant size headshot of Conan. Conan's forehead was plenty bright.

As I walked towards the Page's Desk I noticed a dressing room with the sign "The Cats." Inside were several of the Late Night band members all in jeans and t-shirts just sitting around and gabbing.

At the Page's Desk were several people either talking to each other or on one of the four phones on the desk. There was a large monitor with color bars on it facing the desk. This part of the hallway is where all the dressing rooms are. The main hall way branches off to the left just before the Desk, separating the Desk and the Monitor. That short hallway leads to the studio and houses both Conan and Andy's dressing rooms. I peeking into them and there was nothing fancy or elaborate in either of them; some exercise equipment, guitars, and a repro of Rolling Stone cover, but that's it.

I asked the page to call Brian Stack and let him know I was there. He wasn't in so she left a message for him. I stood near the desk and waited.

Conan walked by in jeans and a sweater. He's very tall. No one acknowledged him.

Andy walked by in a suit. He spoke briefly with one of the Desk hangers-on.

Guest Alan Cummings walked by.

Guest Parker Posey was getting her make-up done with a whole bunch of people in the dressing room including Jimmy Fallon from SNL.

The newsroom for the New York NBC station is on the same floor. Newsman Chuck Scarborough walked by. I always liked him.

Max walked by.

Around 5pm Brian found me. We gabbed about Chicago and stuff. That was great. I think he was actually more interested in improv goings-on than I was in Late Night stuff, if that was possible.

When the stand-up went in to the studio to warm-up the audience, Brian suggested that we go into the Green Room to watch the show on the monitors. We did. The Green Room was sort of small. About four feet deep and twenty-five feet wide. At one end of the room was a countertop with coffee(s) and fixings on it. A small monitor was mounted above the counter. In the counter was a small fridge filled with sodas. I had a diet coke. There was a paper plate with some veggies and a dip. I had some broccoli. At the other end of the room was a couch. Above the couch was a large mirror. The middle of the room had two comfy chairs, a phone on a table and another wall-mounted monitor.

Second City and IO alum Jon Glaser came in. So did IO alum Brian McCann. McCann was in a videotaped segment in that night's show.  We were all gabbing by the time Conan and Andy made it to the desk. The desk piece is anything that is done at the desk (obviously) such as The Staring Contest, Clinton or that night's piece, Guests We'll Never Have Back. There were several Guests We'll Never Have Back, but the middle one was McCann in a leotard and a horrid wig as the Champion Hula Hooper. He began hula hooping and horrible farting noises began to emanate from him. We were cracking up in the Green Room, but apparently the audience didn't think it was that funny. More on that later.

Halfway through, Brian realized he had to run up to his office for something. He ran out and I stayed in the Green Room. Then it was me, two other writers and Jimmy Fallon. We all talked about something, about street fighting, I think, and Fallon jumped up to beat me up. "Hey, leave the guest alone, Jimmy!" said one of the writers.

"Ahh, he's from Chicago! He can take it," Fallon replied as he slapped me in my chair ala Nicholson and Dunaway in Chinatown.

Alan Cummings came in to tell Jimmy that he'd see him upstairs (Cummings was the host of SNL that weekend.) I shook hands with the Tony-winner. McCann also did the voice of Jimmy Stewart Reincarnated As A Crab who announced who would be on tomorrow's show. Surreally funny. Parker Posey went on and talked about Scream 3 and her new play. The band Live went on and did a nice song. I don't remember the title. Parker Posey came into the green room to say goodbye to everyone. She then went somewhere. She was very nice and looked very much like a pretty, nice girl. Everyone left the green room except for me. Two of Parker's "people" came in to figure out which car they were taking.

Brian came back in.

The show was over. The guests were gone. The audience was probably in the gift shop. Brian wanted to take me into the studio but they were re-shooting a part of the show. They were going to edit out the farting hula hooper and needed to re-shoot the intro for the next bit. That was neat and it took about 5 minutes.

We entered the studio and the head writer, someone I didn't recognize and Conan were still on the desk set. Conan was strumming a very expensive looking guitar (which, according to an Entertainment Weekly I read later, is his "creative crutch.") The studio is much, much smaller that it looks on TV.

We walked through the studio and into the back. We wandered through some hallways and Brian pointed out some offices and the control room. We came to some elevators and we went up to the 9th (I think) floor where the Late Night offices reside. Upstairs we made our way through a maze of offices to come to Brian's office. Small, but with an amazing view of 6th avenue (at least I think it was 6th.) I was very pleased to see that his desk was just like mine; a complete shambles. You can see the keyboard and the monitor, but the rest of the desk is covered with books, CDs, photos, magazines, etc. Add some action figures and some comics and that's my desk!

We talked for awhile and then he had to actually get to work!  The Late Night staff comes in  around 11am or noon to work on that night's show (writing or shooting a bit.) After the show is taped, the cast and writing staff begins work on the next night's show. They usually get out of there around 11pm or so. Just enough time to get home to watch that night's show.

I left the NBC Studios and it was snowing like crazy, but I was filled with smiles. A great, fun excursion! I learned some cool things and met some great people. I got to visit with one of my all-time favorite improvisers. I filled out the application for Richter's job, so keep your fingers crossed!!

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