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--->"Big Dig" is to [[DoubleEntendre "Giant Hole big enough to drive a car through"]] as ParisHilton is to ... Versatile actress/singer.
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--->"Big Dig" is to [[DoubleEntendre "Giant Hole big enough to drive a car through"]] as ParisHilton Creator/ParisHilton is to ... Versatile actress/singer.
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* TheInternetIsForPorn: Guest Creator/CarsonDaly mentioned how he was sick over Christmas and spent all his time Googling various things, and shared some science facts he learned. Conan asked: "Have you tried PORN on the computer? That's a better way to spend your time."
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* EveryoneIsChristianAtChristmas: Averted in a sketch suggesting that the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was overrated, when Conan proposed other holiday landmarks that New York City should be famous for, such as the "World's Fastest Menorah" (which quickly zipped back and forth past Conan's desk) and the "Kwanzaa Kinara in a [[CoolCar Pimped Out Ride]]", as well as "Bungee Jumping Baby Jesus" and the "Rocket-Powered Fruitcake" (set to [[Music/ZZTop "La Grange"]], no less).
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* EveryoneIsChristianAtChristmas: Averted in a sketch suggesting that the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was overrated, when overrated. Conan proposed proposes other holiday landmarks that New York City should be famous for, such as the "World's Fastest Menorah" (which (a menorah on a platform which quickly zipped zips back and forth past Conan's desk) and the "Kwanzaa Kinara in a [[CoolCar Pimped Out Ride]]", as well as Ride]]". Other honorable mentions include "Bungee Jumping Baby Jesus" and the "Rocket-Powered Fruitcake" (set to [[Music/ZZTop "La Grange"]], no less).
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** Many moments in "Photo Gallery", such as Joel having the ability to tuck his head inside his body like a turtle, or replacing his real eyeballs with eagle eyeballs.
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* FauxtasticVoyage: In a recurring sketch, Conan interviews a cast member who claims to be reporting from a distant location while actually standing in front of a projected background. When Conan expresses skepticism thathttp://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/wysiwyg_source_editor.php?groupname=Series&title=LateNightWithConanOBrien&load=source the correspondent is actually at the distant location, the correspondent insists he really is there and purports to prove it by walking to another location (represented by another projected background). The sketch typically ends with Conan walking to where the correspondent is standing (a few feet away on the stage) to hit him with a chair.
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* FauxtasticVoyage: In a recurring sketch, Conan interviews a cast member who claims to be reporting from a distant location while actually standing in front of a projected background. When Conan expresses skepticism thathttp://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/wysiwyg_source_editor.php?groupname=Series&title=LateNightWithConanOBrien&load=source that the correspondent is actually at the distant location, the correspondent insists he really is there and purports to prove it by walking to another location (represented by another projected background). The sketch typically ends with Conan walking to where the correspondent is standing (a few feet away on the stage) to hit him with a chair.
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* EveryoneIsChristianAtChristmas: Averted in a sketch suggesting that the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was overrated, when Conan proposed other holiday landmarks that New York City should be famous for, such as the "World's Fastest Menorah" (which quickly zipped back and forth past Conan's desk) and the "Kwanzaa Kinara in a [[CoolCar Pimped Out Ride]]", as well as Bungee Jumping Baby Jesus, and the Rocket-Powered Fruit Cake (set to [[Music/ZZTop "La Grange"]], no less).
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* EveryoneIsChristianAtChristmas: Averted in a sketch suggesting that the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was overrated, when Conan proposed other holiday landmarks that New York City should be famous for, such as the "World's Fastest Menorah" (which quickly zipped back and forth past Conan's desk) and the "Kwanzaa Kinara in a [[CoolCar Pimped Out Ride]]", as well as Bungee "Bungee Jumping Baby Jesus, Jesus" and the Rocket-Powered Fruit Cake "Rocket-Powered Fruitcake" (set to [[Music/ZZTop "La Grange"]], no less).
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* EveryoneIsChristianAtChristmas: Averted in a RunningGag suggesting that the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was overrated, when Conan proposed other holiday landmarks that New York City should be famous for, such as the "World's Fastest Menorah" (which quickly zipped back and forth past Conan's desk) and the "Kwanzaa Kinara in a [[CoolCar Pimped Out Ride]]", as well as Bungee Jumping Baby Jesus, and the Rocket-Powered Fruit Cake (set to [[Music/ZZTop "La Grange"]], no less).
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* EveryoneIsChristianAtChristmas: Averted in a RunningGag sketch suggesting that the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was overrated, when Conan proposed other holiday landmarks that New York City should be famous for, such as the "World's Fastest Menorah" (which quickly zipped back and forth past Conan's desk) and the "Kwanzaa Kinara in a [[CoolCar Pimped Out Ride]]", as well as Bungee Jumping Baby Jesus, and the Rocket-Powered Fruit Cake (set to [[Music/ZZTop "La Grange"]], no less).
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* EveryoneIsChristianAtChristmas: Averted in a RunningGag suggesting that the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was overrated, when Conan proposed other holiday landmarks that New York City should be famous for, such as the "World's Fastest Menorah" (which quickly zipped back and forth past Conan's desk) and the "Kwanzaa Kinara in a [[CoolCar Pimped Out Ride]]", as well as Bungee Jumping Baby Jesus, and the Rocket-Powered Fruit Cake (set to [[Music/ZZTop "La Grange"]], no less).
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* ArtEvolution: Triumph had a slightly different look in his early appearances. Lampshaded by Triumph in the intro to his "best of" DVD:
--> '''Triumph''': And by the way, you may notice that I look a little different on some of the older clips. Well, I'm not going to lie: I've had a little work done. That's right: The same guy who did Melanie Griffith's lips did my nut sack.
--> '''Triumph''': And by the way, you may notice that I look a little different on some of the older clips. Well, I'm not going to lie: I've had a little work done. That's right: The same guy who did Melanie Griffith's lips did my nut sack.
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** During an "If They Mated":
--> '''Conan''': Talk about a good looking cuppy: Naomi- ''(to producers)'' what'd I say? Did I say... what? I said "Good looking guppy"? Wow. Let's just not even air this show tonight. Let's just show an old ''Series/HappyDays'' instead. People will think Richie Cunningham is me and won't notice.
--> '''Conan''': Talk about a good looking cuppy: Naomi- ''(to producers)'' what'd I say? Did I say... what? I said "Good looking guppy"? Wow. Let's just not even air this show tonight. Let's just show an old ''Series/HappyDays'' instead. People will think Richie Cunningham is me and won't notice.
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** During a 2004 interview with Gwyneth Paltrow, Conan said that he can't get the "Hop Hop Hippity" song out of his head, and that it will randomly pop into his head during interviews.
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** In one segment, the song "Baby Got Back" was dubbed over a medical drama. Conan declared the combination to be disturbing.
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** In one segment, the song "Baby Got Back" was dubbed over a medical drama.''Series/CSIMiami''. Conan declared the combination to be disturbing.
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** Also happens to Robert Smigel on occasion during "Live via Satellite". It's almost like he's reading the lines for the first time and get amused by them.
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* AskAStupidQuestion: During a "Live via Satellite" with John [=McCain=]:
--> '''Conan''': Is there anything that you can point to that you think cost you the election?\\
'''John''': I can point to four things, my friends: Sarah, Todd, Bristol, and Levi.\\
'''Conan''': Oh, so you think the Palins?\\
'''John''': No, the Jeffersons, you pasty freckled foreskin!
--> '''Conan''': Is there anything that you can point to that you think cost you the election?\\
'''John''': I can point to four things, my friends: Sarah, Todd, Bristol, and Levi.\\
'''Conan''': Oh, so you think the Palins?\\
'''John''': No, the Jeffersons, you pasty freckled foreskin!
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* AcronymConfusion: In a sketch about the tightening rules of the FCC:
--> '''Max''': I agree with you; these FCC regulations are bogus.\\
'''Conan''': Really, Max?\\
'''Max''': Yeah. My brother owns a deli, and just because his refrigerator went out for two days, the FCC said he had to throw out all his lukewarm egg salad and cold cuts. But you know what, Conan? My brother stood up for his rights. He told the FCC to go to hell, and he'd sell his meat and dairy to whoever, whenever.\\
'''Conan''': Yeah, okay, Max, that's not the FCC, that's the FDA.\\
'''Max''': Oh. Well then a lot of people died for nothing.
--> '''Max''': I agree with you; these FCC regulations are bogus.\\
'''Conan''': Really, Max?\\
'''Max''': Yeah. My brother owns a deli, and just because his refrigerator went out for two days, the FCC said he had to throw out all his lukewarm egg salad and cold cuts. But you know what, Conan? My brother stood up for his rights. He told the FCC to go to hell, and he'd sell his meat and dairy to whoever, whenever.\\
'''Conan''': Yeah, okay, Max, that's not the FCC, that's the FDA.\\
'''Max''': Oh. Well then a lot of people died for nothing.
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** When NBC slipped into fourth place in the ratings in 2005, a singer sang a parody of "We Are the Champions" called "We Are in Fourth Place".
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* IncrediblyLongNote: The last note of the theme song, with the trumpet being the dominant instrument.
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* TakeThat: "Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland".
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** One Triumph segment had him at the 2005 Grammy's. He was interviewing a guy who presumably spoke very little English, so he had to explain every joke.
--> '''Triumph''': Music/ChristinaAguilera got engaged. I downloaded her last album, and now my [=iPod=] has a painful rash. ''(guy smiles and doesn't laugh)'' You see, Christina Aguilera is a filthy whore. And, uh, so, when she'd marry someone, they're going to have, you know, have venereal disease.
--> '''Triumph''': Music/ChristinaAguilera got engaged. I downloaded her last album, and now my [=iPod=] has a painful rash. ''(guy smiles and doesn't laugh)'' You see, Christina Aguilera is a filthy whore. And, uh, so, when she'd marry someone, they're going to have, you know, have venereal disease.
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--> '''Barbara Bush''': ''Somebody's gotta wear the jock in this family.
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--> '''Barbara Bush''': ''Somebody's ''Somebody's'' gotta wear the jock in this family.
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** In the same segment, Barbara Bush is voiced like a gruff man.
--> '''Barbara Bush''': ''Somebody's gotta wear the jock in this family.
--> '''Barbara Bush''': ''Somebody's gotta wear the jock in this family.
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* PottyFailure: In "Live Via Satellite":
--> '''John [=McCain=]''': I'm not Obama, "look at me, I'm Obama, oh, I'm Superman! I can choose when I sleep and pee!"
--> '''John [=McCain=]''': I'm not Obama, "look at me, I'm Obama, oh, I'm Superman! I can choose when I sleep and pee!"
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* NewYearHasCome: For the Central Time Zone.
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* NewYearHasCome: For a time, ''Late Night'' did new episodes on New Year's Eve, in which Conan would comedically celebrate the arrival of midnight ... in the Central Time Zone.time zone (at the time, ''The Tonight Show'' had similarly marked the arrival of the new year in the East by covering the ball drop in New York City in a special segment, since midnight falls within its traditional timeslot). This practice ended in the mid-2000s with a combination of the writers' strike, New Year's Eve falling on a weekend, and the advent of NBC's dedicated special with Carson Daly (which pushes back reruns of ''The Tonight Show'' and ''Late Night'' instead).
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* ShamelessSelfPromoter: Donald Trump in the "Live via Satellite" segments. One example, when discussing Iraq:
--> '''Conan''': Mr. Trump, how is all this possibly going to solve the problems in Iraq?\\
'''Donald''': ...''Series/TheApprentice Los Angeles'', 9 o'clock Sunday night, Rosie's fat, you're fired!
--> '''Conan''': Mr. Trump, how is all this possibly going to solve the problems in Iraq?\\
'''Donald''': ...''Series/TheApprentice Los Angeles'', 9 o'clock Sunday night, Rosie's fat, you're fired!
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** One "Conan on the Aisle" from 2004 had ''Film/HouseOfSandAndFog'' getting this treatment, with every character commenting on how Ben Kingsley was in ''Film/{{Gahndi}}''.
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** One "Conan on the Aisle" from 2004 had ''Film/HouseOfSandAndFog'' getting this treatment, with every character commenting on how Ben Kingsley was in ''Film/{{Gahndi}}''.''Film/{{Gandhi}}''.
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** One "Conan on the Aisle" from 2004 had ''Film/HouseOfSandAndFog'' getting this treatment, with every character commenting on how Ben Kingsley was in ''Film/{{Gahndi}}''.
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** In a 2004 edition of "Conan on the Aisle", a scene of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings: The Return of the King'' was accompanied by "Who Let the Dogs Out?".
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* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Disscused in an interview with Creator/EmmaWatson, who reported that her brother once vented his frustration with her by throwing benches at Hermione in the game. (here's [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5076j_late-night-conan-o-brien-with-emma_webcam the clip]]).
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* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Disscused in an interview with Creator/EmmaWatson, who reported that her brother once vented his frustration with her by throwing benches at Hermione in the game. game (here's [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5076j_late-night-conan-o-brien-with-emma_webcam the clip]]).
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* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Disscused in an interview with Creator/EmmaWatson, who reported that her brother once vented his frustration with her by throwing benches at Hermione in the game. (here's [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5076j_late-night-conan-o-brien-with-emma_webcam the clip]]).
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/late_night_with_conan_obrien.jpg]]
''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night TalkShow hosted by Creator/ConanOBrien that aired on Creator/{{NBC}} between 1993 and 2009. From 1993 until 2000, Andy Richter served as O'Brien's sidekick; following his departure, O'Brien was the show's sole featured performer. The show's house musical act was The Max Weinberg 7, led by E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg.
The second incarnation of NBC's ''Series/LateNight'' franchise, O'Brien's debuted in 1993 after Creator/DavidLetterman, who hosted the first incarnation of ''Late Night'', moved to Creator/{{CBS}} to host ''Late Show'' opposite ''Series/TheTonightShow''. 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 Creator/JayLeno as the host of ''The Tonight Show''. Creator/JimmyFallon began hosting his version of ''Late Night'' on March 2, 2009.
----
!!Tropes associated with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' include:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: #–D]]
* FiveFiveFive: In a one-time sketch about recalled cat food, Conan ended the sketch by saying, "If you think we were wrong to continue the sketch, call 555-1-800... [[Series/AmericanIdol Sanjaya.]]"
* AccidentalInnuendo: Invoked:
** A visual instance occurred in a one-time skit involving ''Late Night'' collectibles. Conan introduced toy versions of Vomiting Kermit and the Masturbating Bear. Much like bobble heads, the Masturbating Bear has an arm that shakes when you touch it. Conan shook the Bear's arm to make it look like it was masturbating, and soon after activated the Vomiting Kermit so that it threw up on the Bear. Of course, this simultaneously looked like Vomiting Kermit ''ejaculated'' on the Masturbating Bear, something which Conan immediately realized and was embarrassed about.
---> '''Conan:''' I did ''not'' intend for it to go down like that.
** When animal expert Jarod Miller brought on a baby zebra, he asked Conan to feed it with a bottle. But in the process of nudging the zebra towards Conan, he was pressed up against its backside while the zebra sucked on Conan's bottle. So it ended up looking like a certain sexual position.
---> '''Conan:''' So this is how you get 'em to do it, huh? ''[audience laughs]'' You are an incredible perv.
* AccidentalMisnaming:
** A RunningGag in the Triumph segments is for Triumph to say he's reporting for the Conan O'Donnell Show.
** Another Running Gag in "Live via Satellite" whenever Donald Trump is on: He will forget what his own wife's name is, even after being corrected by Conan.
* ActorRoleConfusion: When Creator/SylvesterStallone was interviewed in 2006, he said that whenever he visits Philly, he notices that people don't call him by his real name, but refer to him as "Rocky" or "Rock".
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: In one of the "live via satellite" segments when Arnold Schwarzenegger was running for governor, Conan mentioned that Arnold said previous California politicians were "fiddling, fumbling, and failing". Arnold said he could make alliteration out of any letter. When Conan said the letter "G":
--> '''Arnold:''' These politicians, they've been... grumbling, giggling, and gaying it up!
* AffectionateNickname: In "Live via Satellite", Music/KeithRichards had a tendency to call Conan "Consey-Ponsey".
* AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentacles: During one "Conan and Andy on the Aisle", the duo showed a clip from ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', where Hamm was speed channel surfing and came across a hentai on TV.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Invoked during a segment where crew and audience members told scary Halloween stories. First up was Mark Pender, who rubbed his hands together and asked Conan if he wanted a scary story. Conan observed: "That's more pervert than scary guy, I gotta tell ya."
* AmbiguousSyntax: In a "Live via Satellite" segment:
--> '''Arnold:''' ...And then I watched a porno movie with Rutger Hauer.\\
'''Conan:''' Wait a minute, wait a minute, you watched a porno movie with Ruger Hauer, ''or'', Rutger Hauer was in a porno movie?\\
'''Arnold:''' Ehh..... ''both''!
* AnythingThatMoves: How Roberto Benigni is portrayed in "Live via Satellite".
* ArchEnemy: Conan has one in Matt Lauer, host of ''Series/{{Today}}''. For instance, in one sketch, Conan presented an inflatable version of himself in Rockfeller Plaza, and Matt repeatedly popped it, getting annoyed when it kept resurfacing.
* AscendedExtra:
** Quackers. Conan once had a segment that featured a duck, which pooped on the stage. The duck later came back to his poop and started to eat it, before Conan yelled at it to stop. This gave him the idea for "Quackers The S*it Eating Duck" segment.
** There's also the manatee featured in the "NCAA Mascots" sketch; Conan's off-hand joke "He can be seen on hornymanatee.com" caused the manatee to appear in subsequent sketches when Conan said that if a fake website is said on the air, NBC has to purchase it.
* AuthorFilibuster: Pierre Bernard and his Recliner of Rage segments, where he would rant on length at whatever was bothering him.
* BabyTalk: Appropriately, Baby Trump pronounced ''Series/TheApprentice'' as "The Appwentice".
* BadBadActing: In a "Nerding it Up For Pierre" segment, Conan used sci-fi and anime jargon to explain the democratic primaries in a way that graphic designer Pierre Bernard could understand. After explaining it, Pierre said:
--> '''Pierre:''' ''[flatly]'' Wow, I had no idea the democratic primaries were so incredibly fascinating.\\
'''Conan:''' I'm glad... ''[audience applauds/cheers]'' This crowd knows true feeling when they see it.
* BaitAndSwitch: Occurs frequently.
** During an SAT Analogy sketch:
--->"Big Dig" is to [[DoubleEntendre "Giant Hole big enough to drive a car through"]] as ParisHilton is to ... Versatile actress/singer.
** One "Sweeps Ahoy" sketch had Conan announcing that he's going to have a lesbian kiss on the show to generate ratings for sweeps week. Two young, attractive, scantily-clad women came on stage, but they were merely presenting the two women would would ''actually'' kiss each other: An elderly couple.
* BarbieDollAnatomy: In one "Photo Gallery" sketch about Conan, Max, and Joel's Oscars party, Max got offended by something Joel said and [[GroinAttack hit Joel in the crotch.]] But Joel gloated that it didn't hurt, because he doesn't have genitals. Cue a photoshopped image of Joel bottomless, with a smooth spot where his genitals would normally be. [[CollectiveGroan The audience groaned at the sight.]]
* BestialityIsDepraved:
** While Conan and Triumph sang a duet of "Let it Snow", both stared into each other's eyes for a couple seconds and then made out.
** Similarly, in a St. Patrick's Day sketch from 2006, St. Patrick was set to battle a snake, but when they looked into each other's eyes, they couldn't go through with the fight and made out instead.
* BigBlackout: Just prior to taping of the show on August 14, 2003, New York City (and much of the rest of the NE United States) was hit with a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003 massive power outage]]. After the studio audience was evacuated, Conan conducted a very basic, ten-minute mini-show from the darkened set with announcer Joel Godard and a skeleton crew (before NBC filled the rest of the time with a rerun). You can see it in two parts [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsIwawod1wA here]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWB7lNk9DU4 here]].
* BlackComedyRape: In a segment where Jordan Schlansky and Conan went to a fancy Italian restaurant, Jordan was trying to tell a story about how it was the night of an important football game and afterwards he was invited down to a cellar. A drunk Conan added: "...And you were ''raped''."
* BlatantLies: The intro to every "Actual Items" segment has Conan saying that all the newspaper clippings are real. Lampshaded since Conan also says with a great deal of sarcasm, "You can't make this stuff up. Why would you? That would be a waste of everyone's time."
* BodyHorror: The recurring sketch "If They Mated", in which images of a celebrity couple get combined into something horrifying. (Often by the end of a segment, they would subvert this by putting ridiculous theoretical couples together and getting silly non-patchwork results -- Conan himself plus ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'''s Daphne, whom he claimed he had a crush on as a kid, resulted in WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants.)
* BondOneLiner: How most of Arnold's "Live via Satellite" interviews end. Arnold will describe a hypothetical action scenario where he defeats all the bad guys, takes the cigar out of his mouth, turns to the camera and delivers a corny pun.
* BorrowedCatchphrase: In one "Live via Satellite" featuring Barron Trump (Donald Trump's baby boy), Barron said, "Yuh fiyud." Conan said that was his father's catchphrase and should get one of his own, so after a pause, Barron said, "You're ''paci''fired."
* {{Bowdlerise}}: One 1995 segment involved NBC airing ''Film/JurassicPark'', and one of the sketches detailed how the movie was "toned down" for its TV airing so as not to frighten children. Silly voices were dubbed onto the raptors during the famous "chasing the kids in the kitchen" scene.
* BoyBand: Parodied in a segment where Conan assembles a band which he calls "Dudes A-Plenty".
* BrokenRecord:
** one monologue, Conan kept trying to start a joke about US Magazine, but kept getting sidetracked. He eventually lampshaded this by saying "US MAGAZINE!" over and over while walking around the set like a robot.
** Overlaps with ManipulativeEditing: In one of the "Conan on the Aisle" segments, he showed a clip from ''Film/{{GoldenEye}}'' where this exchange was repeated numerous times:
---> '''James Bond:''' "Onatopp"?\\
'''Xenia Onatopp:''' Onatopp.
* TheBusCameBack: Creator/DavidLetterman appeared as a guest a few times, complementing Conan on being able to successfully put his own spin on the ''Series/LateNight'' set and formula. During his [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tV7NC0DGgVg Letterman tribute]] on the episode of ''Conan'' that aired opposite the final ''Late Show with David Letterman'', O'Brien recalled being a "national punchline at 30" during the disastrous first months of his ''Late Night'', and credited Letterman's return appearance and verbal approval of all the changes they made for turning things around for his career.
* ByNoIMeanYes: In a "Live via Satellite" from 2006 featuring Donald Trump:
--> '''Trump:''' And Conan, let me add: As far as publicizing ''Series/TheApprentice'' 5, Mondays on NBC, Conan, if I've told you once, I've told you 9/8 central times, that's something I'd never stoop to. Never.\\
'''Conan:''' Donald, this is getting ridiculous.\\
'''Trump:''' Conan, I'm gonna put it in writing: "I, Donald Trump, do hereby solemnly swear that from this moment forward I will no longer promote or in any way publicize ''Series/TheApprentice'' season 5, featuring The Russian. Mondays, 9/8 central time on NBC."
* CaptainObvious: Frequently occurred in the "live via satellite" segments, such as the one where Conan interviewed Donald Trump, who was advertising Trump Steaks. When a still image of the Trump Steaks package appeared on the screen (which featured Trump pointing at the steaks), Trump said, "That's me pointing at them, you see that? Don't look at me, look at the steaks!"
* CatchPhrase:
** Triumph: "...For me to ''poop'' on!" and "I keed, I keed."
** Pierre Bernard, in the Recliner of Rage segment: "Comfortable and furious, Conan." And at the end of each segment: "Bottom line, America: ''(recap of what annoyed him)''"
** Don King in the "Live via Satellite" segments: "$49.95! ''Only'' on pay-per-view!!!"
** Bill Clinton in the "Live via Satellite" segments: "Nee-haw!" (a take-off on "Yee-haw!")
** Al Gore in the "Live via Satellite" segments repeatedly used the word "excited".
** After doing an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression: "My Arnold always eats a sausage."
* CerebusSyndrome: Briefly. Understandably, the first episode back after 9/11 was a mostly serious affair, with no traditional monologue but a long, somber speech from Conan sitting at his desk. His guests were also not people from the entertainment world but journalist/''60 Minutes'' correspondent Steve Kroft and author Sarah Vowell.
* CharityMotivationSong: Parodied in the "Famous Helping Song" sketch. Guest singer Sting is annoyed at the generic lyrics.
* CollectiveGroan: Happened all the time in "If They Mated" when the audience saw the result of what would happen if two celebrities had a child. Occasionally, the audience would groan in disgust at the ''before'' pictures. This would amuse Conan: "I haven't ''done'' anything yet!"
* ComicalOverreacting:
** The shtick in the "Andy's little sister" segments, where said character would go ballistic when Andy would poke fun at her precocious crush on Conan, and later in the skit when Conan politely rejected her advances.
** The "there's no reason to live!" guy. One example? He wanted to kill himself because he got the DVD release date of ''Series/{{Joey}}'' wrong.
* {{Corpsing}}: Anytime La Bamba has to read off the teleprompter or a cue card. A particularly bad one occurred in a 9/23/2008 episode:
--> '''Conan:''' ...You just had a complete meltdown on national television.
* CoverVersion: One sketch had Conan singing [[Theatre/{{Oliver}} "Consider Yourself"]] in an extremely thick Cockney accent, much to the annoyance of Creator/JerryLewis.
* CrosscastRole: The lead in "Thin Thin Ice: The Tonya Harding Story" is played by a man for some reason.
* CueCard: Very occasionally, Conan will rip up a cue card that contains a lame joke, or will give it to an audience member.
* DarkSecret: The premise of "Secrets".
--> '''Tom Hanks:''' "Tom Hanks" isn't my real name. My real name is "Hank Toms". (...) When I agreed to make ''Film/Apollo13'', I was under the impression I would be playing Apollo Creed from ''Film/{{Rocky}}''. Those sons of bitches tricked me! (...) I played Kip on ''Series/BosomBuddies'', but the funny thing is, I originally tried out for Henry. How crazy would that have been?! (...) The best thing about being seen as the nicest guy in Hollywood... is that... (pours drink) nobody searches my backyard for bodies.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: When discussing the NBC/Universal merger in 2004:
--> '''Conan:''' Now, of course, this merger has far-reaching implications for all of us here at NBC, and I thought we'd take a look at these changes in a piece we're gonna call "Let's Look at the Far-Reaching Implications of the NBC Universal Merger."
* DepravedHomosexual: Joel Godard is often portrayed as this in sketches.
* DescriptionPorn: The "Small Talk Moment" sketches, where both Conan and Max describe something in great detail, using [[OverlyLongGag overly-long sentences.]]
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Triumph initially did his usual insult comic shtick to Creator/DonRickles, but stopped after only a few jokes to ask himself why he was insulting a comedy legend. He then profusely apologized to Rickles, claiming that the staff put him up to it, and begged Rickles to poop on him.
* DirtyOldMan: Max Weinberg, in character.
* DistractedByTheSexy: In one "Live via Satellite" from 2000, Al Gore was speaking on the monitor in the studio, and said he wanted to distance himself from Bill Clinton. This cued Clinton, on his own monitor in the hallway, to enter the studio and give his two cents. But along the way, he got distracted by an attractive woman walking down the hall.
* DontExplainTheJoke: In one monologue, Conan delivered a joke: "In California, a female figure skater told police that someone slipped a roofie in her drink. Yeah, female figure skater, yeah. She said she's not sure who did it, but she is sure it wasn't a ''male'' figure skater." After few people laughed and Conan commented on the tepid reaction, he said, "Y'see, male figure skaters are ''gay''."
* DontYouDarePityMe: Played for laughs whenever a joke of Conan's doesn't do well. If the audience begins to applaud after the initial tepid response, Conan will rebuke them and say, "No pity applause." or "You were right the first time."
* DrivenToSuicide: The "There's no reason to live!!!" guy. Cue StockFootage of a man going down a ski slope in a kayak.
* DroneOfDread: Heard in "Secrets". Also heard in the one-shot sketch where Conan interviewed Pierre Bernard about allegedly being a SerialKiller.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: E–M]]
* EarWorm: Invoked: During an early 2009 show, Conan observed that people are getting impatient with newly-elected Barack Obama fulfilling his campaign promises. One of them had a guy saying he can't forget a song stuck in his head (the Subway jingle: "Five, five dollar, five dollar foot-loooooongs"), and annoyingly said he thought Obama was supposed to do something about that.
* TheElevatorFromIpanema: One skit involved two contestants racing turtles representing the New York Giants and New England Patriots to determine who would win the 2008 Super Bowl. At one point, the contestants and turtles entered an elevator and guess what song was playing inside?
--> '''Conan:''' ''[laughs]'' That is so stupid, I'm sorry.
* EvilInc: NBC was sometimes portrayed as this, such as the episode where Katt Williams didn't show up and Conan said he has experience killing time, saying he was forced at gunpoint by General Electric to go back on the show despite the 2007-2008 Writer's Strike. He further joked that NBC would pollute the Hudson River even more if he didn't cater to their demands.
--> '''Conan:''' It was a threat! What was I supposed to do?! They said, "You do it or we'll... ''[mimes dumping motion]'' You see a seven-eyed fish, you'll know where it came from. ''[[[RunningGag slams mic down]]]'' The point is... that now, I'm going to be fired. My old problem was Katt Williams not showing up; now, I've angered a monolithic corporation.
* EvilSoundsDeep: When Conan interviewed staffer Pierre Bernard, Pierre said, "I haven't been killing for a long time", which was replayed at lower pitches to make him sound evil. For added laughs, the footage was also played [[HeliumSpeech higher pitched.]]
* FauxtasticVoyage: In a recurring sketch, Conan interviews a cast member who claims to be reporting from a distant location while actually standing in front of a projected background. When Conan expresses skepticism thathttp://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/wysiwyg_source_editor.php?groupname=Series&title=LateNightWithConanOBrien&load=source the correspondent is actually at the distant location, the correspondent insists he really is there and purports to prove it by walking to another location (represented by another projected background). The sketch typically ends with Conan walking to where the correspondent is standing (a few feet away on the stage) to hit him with a chair.
* FeeFiFauxPas:
** In a Triumph segment where he visited [=ComicCon=] '08, Triumph gave a zinger to a guy:
---> '''Triumph:''' If you're ''here'', who's at home disappointing your parents? ''[crowd laughs, including the guy]''\\
'''Guy:''' Uh, I dunno, you got me.\\
'''Triumph:''' I was talking to ''the puppet''. You're ''much'' cooler. ''[referring to the puppet he's holding]''\\
'''Guy:''' My parents are dead. ''[Triumph gets up close to the guy's face, trying to get him to laugh. Eventually the guy licks Triumph's nose]''
** The whole premise behind the GE Satellite Channel called "Clive Clemen's Inappropriate Response Channel".
* FilmTheHand: In the first two segments where Triumph visited the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the sketches ended with some security personnel covering the camera with a card.
* FirstWorldProblems: Pierre Bernard's Recliner of Rage, covering such topics as ill-fitting underwear and illogical New Jersey roads.
* FlagDrop: In one segment, Conan remarked how, at the time, Britney Spears had visited New York and was acting drunk. Max Weinberg said he was disgusted, and began a speech directed at Britney about it. The catch was, he wasn't upset with her behavior, but that he didn't get to see her vagina (a reference to Britney getting out of a car without panties). During this faux patriotic speech, a flag dropped behind him in the background.
* FrivolousLawsuit: Triumph called the pets.com mascot a rip-off of himself. Pets.com retaliated by suing Robert Smigel.
* FunWithAcronyms: In "Live via Satellite", George W. Bush tells Conan he wants a little "PTL" ("pull that lever")[[labelnote:Note]](referring, of course, to the "Walker, Texas Ranger lever")[[/labelnote]]
* GagDub:
** When ''WesternAnimation/{{Delgo}}'' flopped at the box office, Conan showed clips from the film, dubbed with humorous dialogue.
** When ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' was released, Conan noted that the game toned down the controversial elements from previous games, and showed clips demonstrating the main character doing and saying non-criminal things.
* {{Gaydar}}: One NCAA Mascot was a Gator with Gaydar. It rolled towards [[ButtMonkey La Bamba]] and started beeping rapidly.
* GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity: In one episode, Conan introduced his "Green Your Routine" public service announcement, but the video clip didn't begin playing right away. Conan jokingly shouted, "EVERYBODY'S FIRED!"
* GetOut: In a "Scary Stories" segment from 2002, Mark Pender said his left ear is haunted, and proved it by sticking a Q-tip in it. A demonic voice said, "GET OUT! GET OUT!!! ''(Pender removes the Q-tip)'' THANK YOU!"
* GoodAngelBadAngel: The recurring sketch [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKQ-pvm0f3I "Moral Dilemma"]], where Conan would be faced with a small one -- e.g. finding a wallet full of cash and deciding whether or not to keep it or return it to its rightful owner. Suddenly, a little devil urging him to do the wrong choice would appearing on one shoulder. On the other shoulder, instead of an angel, it would be something like a bear or an astronaut, giving advice pertaining to that character.
* GratuitousItalian: In a "live via satellite" sketch from 1998 about the Oscars, Roberto Benigni had a stereotypical Italian accent and used numerous Italian words amidst his English.
--> '''Roberto:''' Let me kiss your genitalissimo!
* GrossUpCloseUp: When Jarod Miller brought an armadillo on, the camera zoomed in on its fake penis and held on it a long time. Finally, Conan said:
--> '''Conan:''' Okay, director, I think we've seen it enough! Allan used to work in pornos: "Get in tight!"
* HeelRealization: Conan called himself on his [[HypocrisyNod insult]] to La Bamba during a sketch where La Bamba hadn't seen the Christmas tree yet.
--> '''Conan:''' And you like that Christmas tree, don't you?\\
'''La Bamba:''' ''[downbeat]'' Sure do.\\
'''Conan:''' Yeah. Okay. ''[audience laughs]'' That's the first time you've gotten a line right on this show... ''[laughs]'' in sixteen years. You have no idea. This guy's in a mirror for six hours: "Sure do. Sure ''do''! ''Sure'' do! Sure do! Suredosuredosuredo, suredosuredosure." Anywho, I had a thought, I'm a nice guy, despite that cruel thing I just said.
* HollywoodMirage: In one "Comedy Spring Cleaning" sketch, one of the sketches was about worst mirages. A man was shown crawling through a desert and coming across the opening theme to the sitcom ''227''.
* HopelessWithTech: Conan was selling tickets to his week of shows in Chicago, and claimed it was so easy that Max's mom could do it. It turned out to be false.
* HulkingOut: In an early episode, Andy mocked Conan until he transformed into a green version of himself with wild hair. Not more muscular, though.
--> '''Conan:''' Look what you did.\\
'''Andy:''' Oops.\\
'''Conan:''' No, I mean, I feel like a jerk now. Why do you push me like that?
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Parodied in a "Scary Stories" segment from 2002, when Conan opened a door in the studio that's never been opened, and found a devil inside:
--> '''Conan:''' Aaaahhh!! A monster!\\
'''Monster:''' "Monster", Conan? Last year, humans destroyed more than 3 million unwanted dogs and cats because they didn't take the time to properly spay and neuter their pets. So who's the ''real'' monster, Conan?\\
'''Conan:''' Humans, I guess.\\
'''Monster:''' Yes, Conan. Humans.\\
''[NBC's "The More You Know" graphic plays]''
* HypocriticalHumor:
** In one of the "live via satellite" segments, Conan interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger on the subject of immigration. Arnold stated:
---> '''Arnold:''' WE HAVE TO KEEP OUT THE FOREIGNERS! Yah! You do, because... because... they can't speak de Englishes! And Conan, their diction, it can only be described... as fleigengrapenscheizen!\\
'''Conan:''' What does that mean?\\
'''Arnold:''' It means, that these people lack the basic vlasitruden to achieve the grubenschnitzen!
** A one-time sketch had an audience member calling Conan a hypocrite about a comment he made, then a ''different'' audience member calling the previous audience member a hypocrite, followed by ''another'' audience member calling out the audience member who called out the audience member, and so on.
* HypocrisyNod: When Conan interviewed Jimmy Fallon in 2005 about his newest movie, ''Film/{{Taxi}}'', he asked Jimmy, now that he's a big movie star, if he's going to move out to L.A. Jimmy replied: "No, I gotta stay home right here in New York City, ''[[SuddenlyShouting THE BEST CITY IN THE WORLD!!!]]''" and ran into the cheering crowd. When Jimmy sat back down:
--> '''Conan:''' So you filmed ''Taxi'' in New York City, then?\\
'''Jimmy:''' No, we did a lot in L.A., actually.\\
'''Conan:''' Which I understand is the greatest town ever. ''[laughs]''
* IApprovedThisMessage: Parodied in a spoof of attack ads.
--> '''Announcer:''' UsefulNotes/BarackObama said he'd never lie to the American people. But look what he told Conan O'Brien.\\
'''Barack Obama:''' I was thinking about you as my running mate. ''[clip repeated twice more]''\\
'''Announcer:''' But then, Obama said this:\\
'''Barack Obama:''' I searched for a leader, and that man is UsefulNotes/JoeBiden.\\
'''Announcer:''' Barack Obama. He lied to Conan O'Brien. What will he do to ''you''?\\
'''Conan:''' ''[in pop-up bubble]'' I'm Conan O'Brien, and I edited this on my Mac.
* ICommaNoun: "I, Rowboat", a parody of the then-recently-released ''I, Robot'' movie.
* IdenticalStranger: A RunningGag in the last few seasons was how Conan bore a strong resemblance to Finnish politician Tarja Halonen, whom he later got to meet in real life.
* ImGoingToHellForThis:
** "I'm-a gonna go to Hell when I die."
** In one "Photos" segment where Conan, Max, and Joel went golfing, a shot is shown of the trio responding to their tee time in an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp-dJm695vI&t=3m00s exaggerated manner]], prompting a chuckle from Conan and this remark: "God... we're all going to Hell."
* ImpersonationParadox: Robert Smigel's impression of Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger in the "live via satellite" segment got more and more exaggerated over time to the point where Arnold shouted every line.
* InnocentInnuendo: In a one-shot skit, Conan had Vomiting Kermit vomit up hot chocolate for two freezing bystanders. Then Conan remarked: "But of course, you can't have hot chocolate... without whipped cream. Here to dispense the whipped cream is the one and only Masturbating Bear!" At that, the Masturbating Bear came on stage and literally dispensed whipped cream from a can. When the audience had a disappointed reaction, Conan asked, "Wait a minute, what did ''you'' think was gonna happen?" Immediately, the Masturbating Bear did what he does best.
* InsaneTrollLogic: When Conan interviewed Donald Trump on "Live via Satellite" about his "Trump Steaks", sold only at The Sharper Image:
--> '''Trump:''' Just as everyone wants their music now from their computers, it naturally follows that they'd want to get their steaks from a high-tech electronic store.
* InstantSeduction: One of the entries in the "Late Night Create Your Own Commercial" contest involved a nerdy guy who watched Conan, which highly impressed a woman to the point that the two had sex.
--> '''Announcer:''' Watch ''Late Night'': It'll get you laid!
* IsThisThingStillOn: In one of James Spader's interviews, James was talking when all of a sudden a voice played over the studio sound system: "Now that's a good Friday." Conan and James were both baffled, and when Conan asked what that was, producer Jeff Ross said the crew backstage was preparing a comedy bit for a future episode and their recording accidentally got fed into the studio.
--> '''Conan:''' And they're pre-recording it ''now'' while we're doing the show now? [[SelfDeprecation What kind of crappy show is this?!]]
* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: In one episode, Conan asked Max how his weekend was, and Max said he had a nice "respite". Conan thought his pronunciation was odd, and said it should be "res-pit".
* ItMakesSenseInContext:
** On one night where Conan was going to pull the ''Walker, Texas Ranger'' Lever, he hadn't even started that segment but a guy in the audience yelled out, "Pull the lever!" Conan remarked how odd that must sound to anybody at home who isn't familiar with the Lever, since it's out of context.
** In fact, the entire ''Walker, Texas Ranger Lever'' segment is one big example of this, with brief clips from random episodes shown without any context. Which, of course, makes the show look more ridiculous than it is.
* {{Jerkass}}: A-Hole Ronald, who would swat competing restaurant's bags and drinks out of people's hands. [[SubvertedTrope He even did it to people actually eating [=McDonald's=].]]
* JustJokingJustification: When Creator/JimCarrey was a guest during the shows in Canada, he said that Canadians have a way of insulting you to your face but can cover for it by giving a goofy smile after the insult. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQtzZ32K3-0&t=7m32s Conan and Jim both tried it on each other.]]
* LameComeback: A recurring gag when Conan interviews Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger in the "live via satellite" segment. Example:
--> '''Arnold:''' These are people [immigrants] who risk life and limb, swim across rivers, crawl through the hand-dug tunnels, and give up everything they had, just so that their children might one day see my all-time smash holiday classic, ''Film/JingleAllTheWay''! ''[audience laughs]'' Don't you understand, Conan? It's the American dream!
--> '''Conan:''' That is not...
--> '''Arnold:''' ''Jingle All the Way''!
--> '''Conan:''' That is ''not'' the American dream.
--> '''Arnold:''' ''You're'' not the American dream!
--> '''Conan:''' [[SarcasmMode Oh, good one. Yeah.]]
* LampshadedTheObscureReference:
** If Max and the band plays an old song, Conan will occasionally comment on how the younger viewers won't know it.
** The RunningGag at the end of every "Pierre Bernard's Recliner of Rage"; Conan will say (paraphrased), "You've summed up the thoughts of two or three other people."
* LanguageFluencyDenial: When Conan interviewed Sammy Sosa about the steroids scandal in "Live via Satellite", Sosa responded to everything with "No hablo."
* LastNameBasis: When Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were guests in 1997, Andy had a question and, without thinking, said, "Y'know, Ebert..." This was not missed.
--> '''Conan:''' "Hey Ebert, get over here." Andy, what the hell was that?!
* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: A gag in "Decision 2000". The first two photos that appear are, appropriately, of George W. Bush and Al Gore. The third photo will be a random celebrity like Slash. This gag was also used during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
* {{Leitmotif}}:
** A-Hole Ronald had "Hair of the Dog" by Nazareth.
** The Masturbating Bear had "Saber Dance" by Aram Khachaturian whenever he pleasured himself.
** The Horny Manatee had The Divinyl's "I Touch Myself".
* {{Leprechaun}}: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVVAP3SZW5c One sketch]] involved Conan dressing as a leprechaun and, while speaking in an over-the-top Irish accent, telling the audience that they won't be getting his pot o' gold.
* LongList:
** In one "SAT Analogies" skit:
---> '''Conan:''' Romeo and Juliet: love at first sight. Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez: love after Jen broke off her engagement with Ben Affleck and divorced Cris Judd who'd been there after P. Diddy who she dated after divorcing model Ojani Noa, and five days after Marc got a judge in the Dominican Republic to sign off on his divorce from former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres who he dated after model Kim Vilanueva who is three women removed from the mother of his daughter Arianna, Debbie Rosado.
** Doubling as a TakeThat: When Triumph interviewed Ralph Nader during the 2008 election season:
---> '''Triumph:''' Ralph Nader. You've been called a champion of the consumer. You've also been called a kook, a nutjob, the idiot who got George Bush elected, a mistake, a... self-important, let me get this right, self-important, narcissistic windbag, without merit, human feces, dog feces, unidentifiable feces, a confused, doddering douchebag, and all-around terrible guy. My question to you is: Do you think the critics go far enough?
** In a "Small Talk Moment" about NBC airing the 2008 Olympics:
---> '''Conan:''' I tell ya, Max, we may not know who will bring home the gold in women's 10 meter air pistol, but one thing's for sure, mi chaco: When it comes to comprehensive, multi-platform Olympic coverage, I can guarantee the gold medal will go to NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Universal HD, Oxygen, Telemundo, USA, and NBC.com, baby!
** Done a couple times when Howard Dean was on "Live via Satellite":
---> '''Howard Dean:''' AND WE'RE COMIN' TO YOUR STATE NEXT! WE'RE GOIN' TO NEW HAMPSHIRE!!! AND COLORADO!!! AND MINNESOTA!!! AND UTAH!!! AND NEW MEXICO!!! YAAAHHH!!!\\
'''Conan:''' Yeah, all right, we know, we know. Sir, you're going to a lot of other states-\\
'''Howard Dean:''' CAROLINA!!!\\
'''Conan:''' People are saying-\\
'''Howard Dean:''' AND NEVADA!!!\\
'''Conan:''' People are saying this kind of over-exuberant behavior-\\
'''Howard Dean:''' AND SOUTH NEVADA!!! (...) AND TEXAS!!! AND MASSACHUSETTS!!! AND IOWA!!!
** And later:
---> '''Howard Dean:''' HOW CAN I CALM DOWN, WHEN I'VE CONSUMED SO MUCH COFFEE!!! AND DO-DOS!!! AND EPHEDRINE!!! AND RITALIN!!! AND ANABOLIC STEROIDS!!! AND CRACK!!! AND CRYSTAL METH!!! AND PIXIE STICKS!!! YEE-HAH!!! AND COKE!!! AND (???)!!! AND MICHAEL DUKAKIS!!! AND TEXAS!!! AND COLORADO!!!
* LongTitle:
** One sketch in 2005 about ''Film/KingKong2005'' had this title:
---> "Boy, This "King Kong" Movie Sure Looks Incredible. Plus, I'm a Big Corporate Suck-Up and Maybe if I Help Promote it, the Brass at NBC Universal Will Notice And Who Knows? It's Christmas Time and Maybe There'll Be a Little Something Extra For Me in My Stocking, if You Know What I Mean."
** An even longer title was used in a 2006 St. Patrick's Day episode:
---> "We Were Going to do Some Scathing Satire About the Recently-renewed Patriot Act and Its Implications For the Future of American Democracy, Then I Realized it Was St. Patrick's Day and Everyone Expects Me to do Something About it Just Because I'm Irish, and When Your Name's Conan O'Brien, You Can't Really Fight it, so Here's Some Stuff We Threw Together About St. Patrick's Day."
* LovableSexManiac: How UsefulNotes/BillClinton is portrayed in the "Live via Satellite" skits.
* ManlyTears: Conan, when watching ''Theatre/{{Cats}}''.
* MathematiciansAnswer: When Creator/StevenWright was interviewed in 1999, a gimmick in the first two minutes was Conan asking questions that Steven could answer with either, "Yes" or "No", with no elaborations.
* MirrorMonologue: Done in "The Conan O'Brien Story" sketch, with Jim Carrey as Conan.
--> '''Jim:''' ''[in despair]'' I can't hear the laughter anymore...
* MisogynySong: The second song in the "Artie Kendall the Crooner Ghost" sketches was always this.
* MisterSeahorse: Joel was pregnant during one "sweeps week" episode, and wanted to know who the father was.
--> '''Conan:''' I've never been this depressed before. And that's saying something.
* MotorMouth: Occurs during the "Small Talk Moment" sketches.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: One "Live via Satellite" from late 2003 had Arnold talking about how his job as governor was just as exciting as one of his action movies. After listing a couple examples, he abruptly shouted how bored he was and that he made a mistake.
* TheMusical: For three nights in 2006, Conan showed a selection of songs from the ill-fated ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' musical stage show.
--> "You can keep your mystical spells and chants / I'll trade them in for that song and dance / And be the wizard of the great white way!"
[[/folder]]
[[folder: N–R]]
* NakedPeopleAreFunny:
** Demonstrated in the "big finale" during ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' musical numbers, when Gollom takes his loin cloth off.
** In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DilVJb8Eho one sketch]], Conan and Andy are set to go into a Turkish spa, and Conan informs Andy that they have to be nude before they go in. Conan took off Andy's towel and pushed him through the doors, laughing. It turns out the doors led to ''The Series/{{Today}} Show'' set, where Matt Lauer is on the air. Cue awkward small talk between Matt and the naked Andy.
* NamesTheSame: Invoked: One of the Creator/TomHanks "Secrets" involved bumping into Creator/TomSelleck in the bathroom at the Oscars:
--> '''Tom Hanks:''' I said, "Looks like we're a couple of ''[[{{Pun}} peeing Toms]]''! ''[soberly]'' His angry silence is something I'll ''never'' forget.
* NewYearHasCome: For the Central Time Zone.
* NoIndoorVoice:
** TheAnnouncer, Joel Godard. Dear God. "PLUS '''''MAX WEINBERG''''' and the MAX WEINBERG SEVEN!!! Now, here's your host, CO-nan '''''O-BRIIIIIIIIYUUUUUHN!!!!!!!!!'''''"
** Nearly all the characters in the "live via satellite" segment, especially Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bill Clinton.
** And of course, Howard Dean, '''THE DEAN MACHINE!!!!!'''
* NoOneShouldSurviveThat: The "there's no reason to live!" guy, who often returns to the studio alive and well, despite getting in a skiing accident that should've killed him.
* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer:
** Occasionally, Conan will say this when describing a "news of the weird" story.
** Unrelated: After a commercial break in one episode, Conan began a comedy bit but an unusual alarm noise went off. Conan had to tell the audience that the alarm wasn't part of a bit. It turns out there was a false alarm condition on another floor of the building. [[ThrowItIn This whole segment was kept in the aired episode.]]
* NoYou: A staple of the Arnold interviews in "Live via Satellite". Conan's been told such ridiculous statements as, "''You're'' not a movie!"
* ObfuscatingStupidity: One sketch involved La Bamba announcing he was the winner of a Genius Grant. Conan was surprised, and asked if his stupidity has been an act all this time. La Bamba responded that he had an MFA from Yale, double-majored in molecular biology and Asian studies, and was an erudite polyglot. But he refused to stop pretending, because he could lose his Genius Grant.
--> '''La Bamba:''' ''[holding up his fingers caught in a Chinese Finger Trap]'' Help me! Help me, ''please''!
* ObligatorySwearing: At the start of one monologue, Conan said they were going to have a good show, and Max replied, "That's right, ''damn'' right!" An amused Conan said that the network told Max to "butch it up".
* OddCouple: Conan and Triumph in the sitcom parody "A Couple of Mutts".
* OlderThanTheyLook: Parodied; Conan often jokes that he's older than he is ("I'm 64 years old."), or that the show's been running since the '50s.
* OncePerEpisode: At the top of the show, Conan scrunched his legs together and took a jump forward, which prompted a trumpet sting. Conan would then stand up and point to the band leader, who would wrap up the opening theme. Episodes frequently had Conan performing "the string dance" as well.
* OperatorFromIndia: One sketch had Andy Blitz attempting to fix his computer with the help of an Indian telephone IT technician… And traveling to India with his computer (in RealLife!) to pester her.
* OverlyLongGag: The New York Yankees fan who created overly elaborate sports chants. One chant went on for ''four'' minutes.
* {{Parody}}: "Actual Items" is a parody of Leno's "Headlines".
* PerpSweating: Parodied in the sketch where Conan tried to get Pierre Bernard to admit he was a serial killer. He sprayed Pierre's face with water, and then asked him if he could go to his house and examine his basement. Cue a reaction shot of Pierre "sweating".
* PissTakeRap: Max Weinberg [[http://youtu.be/8wXtfG5Oxtw?t=4m does one]] during the [[MusicalEpisode Musical Sketch]] in 2002.
* {{Portmanteau}}: "[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Spock]]tober", which involved a disinterested guy in a Spock uniform and ears walking down the aisle and lazily tossing candy into the audience. Conan was not pleased.
* PottyEmergency: When Music/KanyeWest was interviewed, he claimed he really had to go to the bathroom.
* ThePratfall: In one famous blooper, God (played by Brian Stack) entered the studio and started walking down the steps, but briefly lost his balance.
--> '''Conan:''' [[ThrowItIn You been drinking, God?]]\\
'''God:''' Yes.
* PrecisionFStrike:
** In a segment where Jordan Schlansky and Conan went to a fancy Italian restaurant, Jordan kept bugging Conan about savoring the dessert he was about to eat, and finally after many pretentious sentences, Conan told him, "You've GOT to shut the (bleep) up. You're killing me. You're killing my mind, you're killing my spirit. I like you, you're a nice guy; eat the mush, shut the pie hole."
** When an alarm went off in the studio, Conan asked, "Do they realize we're taping a (fuck)ing show?!"
* PrecociousCrush: Andy's little sister (played by Creator/AmyPoehler) to Conan.
* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: How Martha Stewart was portrayed in "Live via Satellite" during and after her brief prison stint.
--> '''Martha Stewart:''' Conan, that allegation is straight-up "whack".
* ProductPlacement: Parodied in a "Conan and Andy on the Aisle", which had a ''Film/ClearAndPresentDanger'' scene full of product placement; at one point a bag of Frito's flat out ''danced'' in front of the president's head!
* PsychicNosebleed: Parodied in one episode, where a psychic guest loses copious amounts of blood while using telepathy. The psychic's spoon is indeed ''nudged'', although he is now wearing a wet red shirt for it.
* PublicServiceAnnouncement: Parodied, of course. For example, during 2008, Conan and his band created some mock "Green Your Routine" ads, which NBC was running at the time.
--> '''Joel Godard:''' One simple way to reduce energy consumption is by turning off all the lights in your house. It's as easy as flipping a switch, or not paying your electric bill for seven months because you kept spending your money on barbiturates.
* {{Pun}}:
** This example was so bad that the audience booed him:
---> '''Conan:''' This week, airport security in England recently detained James Hetfield, the lead singer for Metallica. Apparently, he kept setting off the heavy metal detector.
** In one sketch, Max remarked that he spilled wine on himself. Conan then declared he should change his name to "Max ''Wine''berg". God arrived to admonish Conan for his bad pun.
** In one of the Toronto episodes, Creator/MikeMyers was a guest and told a true story about being greeted by a fan in a public bathroom. Despite having a PottyEmergency, the fan kept asking Myers questions. After Myers said he was working on ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', the fan asked, "So what else you got [[ToiletHumour comin' out]]?"
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Triumph gave a particularly biting one to Simon Cowell (he was still on ''Series/AmericanIdol'' at the time):
--> '''Triumph:''' I'm ready for you, bitch! Can't believe I wasted half my ''life'' watching that. No no, it was great. It was great, it was a fascinating interview. I always wondered what would happen if we blow-dried the ''[[Series/TheWeakestLink Weakest Link]]'' chick and cut off her nuts! No no seriously, man, what's with the '80s hair? Look at that thing. What's with the '80s hair style, man? You look like Denny Terrio shtupped a chow chow! Get a lawyer and sue Super Cuts! ''[Triumph grabs some cards]'' Got a few more here. ''[Conan laughs]'' All right. No no, seriously: Who the ''hell'' do you think you are, man? ''[beep]'' You're telling- listen to me! You're telling th- I don't understand the logic. (...) Seriously, what's the logic here? You go on, and you ''tell'' people they have no talent?? That's like ''poop'' telling ''vomit'' it stinks! I keed, I keed, you're a big star! You're a big star, you're- you're like the star of ''Series/AmericanIdol'', seriously, they should rename it "British Homo". No no, he's fine, he's good, don't worry about him, he can handle it, he gives to people straight and hard! I guess... I guess I don't need a punchline for that one. GO BACK TO ENGLAND, BITCH!!!
* RecurringCharacter:
** The 10th Anniversary Special ran through a bunch of them in short order: Vomiting Kermit, Pimpbot 5000, Little Jay Leno, the Coked-Up Werewolf, Frankenstein, Preparation H Raymond, the Masturbating Bear, and finally... Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
** Abe Vigoda is also a frequent guest, though not as an interviewee but as an almost-always [[TheVoiceless silent]] player in a sketch.
* {{Retool}}: ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' musical; first, as a tap dancing musical, second, in the style of Billy Joel's ''Movin' Out'', and finally in the style of Blue Collar musical comedy. All three failed, but Conan admitted, "It's getting better" after seeing the Blue Collar version.
* RevisedEnding: Done during a sketch on revisiting classic Christmas movies: One doctored clip was from ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', with George Bailey getting shot when running down the street.
--> '''George Bailey:''' Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!\\
'''Cop:''' Stand back! ''[shoots at George Bailey, who is hit and falls to the ground]''
* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: When bread expert Steven Kaplan was on, he suggested that Conan didn't know what good bread was:
--> '''Steven:''' How much good bread have you eaten?\\
'''Conan:''' I eat bread.\\
'''Steven:''' ''[derisively]'' Yeah, Wonderbread, I imagine.\\
'''Conan:''' Hey! Suddenly, you don't like Wonderbread, huh? What's wrong with Wonderbread?\\
'''Steven:''' It's tasteless, it's insipid, it's without any interest, it has no crust, it has a crumb that's charged with chemicals, why else should I like it?
* RiddleForTheAges: The 9/24/08 episode asked the question, "Why is Carrot Top in the audience?" We never do find out the answer.
* RightHandCat: In a segment where Conan complained about his long interview for the ESPY Awards being whittled down to "Red Sox", Conan said that the person calling the shots on the bad editing had a white cat on hand.
* RoommateCom: Parodied in "A Couple of Mutts", with Conan and Triumph living together. Conan faked a disability (specifically, blindness) so he could live in the building, and pretended Triumph was his seeing eye dog.
* RunningGag:
** Conan will call the area where he does the monologue "The Laugh Zone". He also frequently calls his desk "Old Bessie Lou". And he often purposefully knocks over his microphone.
** Whenever Arnold Schwartenegger shows up in the Live Via Satellite segments he would inevitably throw in a plug for his "smash hit holiday classic ''Film/JingleAllTheWay''!" He would also inevitably propose to solve whatever problem he would be facing that week with an explosive action-movie sequence, after which he would "light/drop my cigar, turn to the camera and say: [Insert corny pun-based BondOneLiner or PreMortemOneLiner]".
[[/folder]]
[[folder: S–Z]]
* ScreenShake: In a monologue during the Writer's Strike, Conan wanted to re-enact ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}''. What followed was Conan running around the stage while the camera shook violently.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: One of many [[RunningGag running gags]] when Bill Clinton was interviewed in "Live via Satellite". For example, in 1996 he was convinced the election was in the bag, so said anything he wanted ("Milkshakes, naked women, nachos, boobies!"). And when the Monica Lewinsky scandal hit, he didn't pay any mind to the impeachment trial, and even showed Conan how to ''appear'' sincere.
* ScrewYourself: "Max on Max", which was footage of Max Weinberg having sex with himself.
* SelfDeprecation:
** "This is the worst show on television."
** Much humor was also derived from the news that NBC dropped to fourth place amongst the major networks in the mid-2000s. They did a whole segment about it.
* SerialKiller: Conan was convinced Pierre Bernard was one after Pierre refused to allow a remote segment taped at his house. What followed was a newsmagazine-style interview where Conan tried to get Pierre to admit he was a mass murderer.
* TheShowMustGoOn: In one episode later in the run, guest Katt Williams didn't show up as planned (while Conan was unaware of the cause at the time, it was due to Williams being arrested on weapons charges that same day). With nothing else to fill the eight minutes of screen time, Conan decided to try to beat his "ring spinning" record.
* ShowWithinAShow:
** "A Couple of Mutts", starring Conan and Triumph. Also "Quackers the Sh*t Eating Duck".
** And there's all the weird shows in the GE Satellite Channels segments.
* SkippingSchool: The work variant. In one episode, Conan was informed that one of his writers, Michael Koman, had called in sick. Since Conan didn't think Mike looked sick the previous day, he thought something was fishy and ''went to his apartment''. He spent a whole sketch harassing Mike into admitting he just wanted to stay home from work that day, and eventually forced him to come into work.
* SkywardScream: In one of the entries for "Late Night Create Your Own Commercials Contest", a nerdy guy takes a woman to bed, leaving the sunglasses-wearing jock who was mocking him earlier to shout, "DAMN YOU, CONAN!" while looking upwards.
* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** Two episodes took previous episodes and rendered them in different styles:
*** Claymation special: Everyone was animated in [[StopMotion claymation]]. Aired in 2003.
*** "Skelevision" Halloween special: Everyone was replaced with skeletons on strings. Aired in 2006.
** There was an episode that took place on a boat, which aired in 1995.
** There was also an episode where the entire studio audience consisted of kids instead of adults.
* SongParody:
** Triumph parodied Bon Jovi's song "You Give Love a Bad Name" to "You Give Poop a Bad Name".
---> '''Triumph:''' Humped a shar pei, / pulled out too late. / Now that bitch has a litter of eight! / They eat all the Alpo / right off my plate! / Why the hell / didn't I just masturbate?! / Oh, I'm a loaded gun! / Here comes Bon Jovi, / the pooping's begun! / Look at you guys; / have you no shame? / You give poop, / a bad name! / Crawl back in the butt, / from whence you came! / You give poop, / a bad name!
** Triumph also parodied Music/{{Eminem}}'s "Lose Yourself" with "Lick Yourself".
** And his first album was called [[Music/FrankSinatra "Come Poop With Me".]]
** "Where in the Building is Andy Richter?", a parody of "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?", which in itself was a parody of the theme song to ''Series/WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego''.
* SoundEffectBleep: On the episode where the duck Quackers took a dump on the floor and then ate it, Conan remarked, "There's a (bleep) eating duck over here." and immediately apologized: "I don't ''swear'' often, but that's what he did!"
* SoundtrackDissonance:
** In one segment, the song "Baby Got Back" was dubbed over a medical drama. Conan declared the combination to be disturbing.
** On the third attempt at a ''Lord of the Rings'' musical, the cast sang "Sweet Home Alabama" as the big finale.
* StaircaseTumble: In an early 2008 episode, Conan picked out a guy from the crowd to take a GE tour with him. The two ran throughout the building, and at one point, scrambled down a stairwell. In the excitement, the guy briefly lost his footing and went down the stairs faster than he expected; thankfully he wasn't hurt.
* StealthInsult:
** When Creator/DonRickles was a guest in 2005, he began to talk about how Johnny Carson was a great entertainer, and "you don't see that too much anymore." He then stared at Conan.
---> '''Conan:''' ''[smiling at camera]'' It's ''very'' rare!
** This was the RunningGag in a sketch where an irritated audience member (played by Brian [=McCann=]) claimed that every little thing Barack Obama said was a StealthInsult towards Sarah Palin.
---> '''Conan:''' It seems a lot of people are offended by Barack Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comment. Personally, I've been thinking about it, I think they're reading too much into it. I don't think he meant to imply that Sarah Palin is actually a pig.\\
'''Man:''' Man, what are you kiddin'? This was a direct attack on Sarah Palin. SHAME on Barack Obama! HE'S the pig!\\
'''Conan:''' ...Okay, sir, I'm sorry, but I think you're overreacting.\\
'''Man:''' "Overreacting"?! This is just the latest in Obama's laundry list of tasteless Palin jabs!\\
'''Conan:''' Really? W-what are you talking about?\\
'''Man:''' Yeah, first, he keeps talking about how he's against drilling in Alaska, a direct shot at Palin's pregnant daughter who was ''drilled in Alaska''! Very funny, senator!\\
'''Conan:''' No, I don't think-\\
'''Man:''' Yeah, and then he wants to end the Iraq War with "honor". Get it? ''On her'', like Bristol Palin's boyfriend was ''on her''? It's a cheap shot, it's just tasteless!\\
'''Conan:''' W- that's crazy!\\
'''Man:''' No it's not! And how about Obama's constant call for change, implying that Sarah Palin had a ''sex'' change?!\\
'''Conan:''' Okay, that's ridiculous. You're making a mountain out of a mole hill.\\
'''Man:''' "Mole hill"?! That's a low blow, Conan, making fun of the giant mole on my hill-like penis. Shame on ''you''!\\
'''Conan:''' Okay sir, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to my show.\\
'''Man:''' "Right back"?! Now you're making fun of the ''other'' hill penis I have on the right side of my back?! Unbelievable!
** In a 2006 episode, Conan complimented the band, saying they were on fire. He proceeded to say:
---> '''Conan:''' Some nights, it's not there, but tonight...\\
'''Max:''' ''[chuckles]'' Thank you, Conan.\\
'''Conan:''' No, it's always there. You know I'm kidding you, giving you a hard time. [[VerbalBackspace Some nights, it's not there.]]
* StepfordSmiler: Joel in sketches.
* StickFigureComic: One of the Horny Manatee fan submissions was drawn in this style. Conan loved the story it told: Conan finds a manatee in his bed; he gives the manatee a meaningful look, the manatee gives Conan a meaningful look, and then the two go at it.
* StopMotion:
** A 2003 episode of Conan's ''Late Night'' was done in claymation style.
** One "Late Night Create Your Own Commercial" entry was done in stop motion.
* StreisandEffect: Invoked: In one "Walker, Texas Ranger lever" segment, Conan announced he'd be retiring the lever, since he didn't want to run the segment into the ground. Of course, doing so meant that the lever kept getting pulled without Conan's control, such as a man spitting a watermelon seed which ricocheted all around the studio and hit the lever, activating another ''Walker'' clip.
* StuffyOldSongsAboutTheButtocks: In a "live via satellite" segment featuring Saddam Hussein, Saddam sang a cover of "Baby Got Back".
* StylisticSuck: How the "Car Chases" segments are executed: Matchbox cars driving on the floor.
* SublimeRhyme:
** One segment made fun of Jesse Jackson's "cut Obama's nuts off" remark, with the gimmick that Conan has just uncovered even more exclusive footage of Jackson speaking about cutting off Obama's testicles (with a dubbed-in voice, of course). They all rhymed:
---> '''Jesse Jackson:''' I'm gonna take some cutting tools to his family jewels. / I want him to say "ouch!" when I deflate his pouch. / I'll show no restraint to that which hangs above his taint. / It's twice as zesty when I remove the testes. / I have no preference for his vas deferens. / Here's one I’m still working on: When I see Obama, it's a drag... something-something to his pastry bag.
** Whenever Don King was a guest in "Live via Satellite", he would name the matches something that would rhyme.
* TakeThatAudience: During 2008, Conan presented a "Late Night Create Your Own Commercial" contest, and showcased some of the entries. After a particularly bad entry:
--> '''Conan:''' Folks, when I decided to do this contest, this is ''not'' what I had in mind. ''[laughs]'' These are like snuff films. We need more submissions, okay? And I'm changing the rules: They're allowed to be ''good''.
* ThatCameOutWrong:
** In 2005, Roger Ebert was a guest and mentioned that he met Rosario Dawson, saying she was beautiful but also surprisingly smart. Realizing that has negative connotations, he reworded it to simply: "She ''is'' smart."
** Similarly, when Conan interviewed Sylvester Stallone in 2006 to promote ''Film/RockyBalboa'', Conan remarked that it was great seeing Rocky beat the meat again. Conan instantly realized how dirty that line sounded.
* ThatCloudLooksLike: In one "Walker, Texas Ranger" clip, Walker and a boy are looking at clouds. Walker says one of the clouds looks like a bear. After the clip, Conan disputed that, and had them show the clip again. He asked incredulously, "Where's the bear?!"
* ThirdTimesTheCharm:
** In a one-time sketch about recalled cat food, Joel Goddard said he wasn't bothered by the news, because he only buys generic brand. Conan then asked, "Joel, why would you eat cat food?", to which Joel was supposed to reply, "On what ''you'' pay me, I'm lucky I'm not eating ''paint chips''!", but he took three tries to get the line right (the first two times, he was thrown off by actually eating the food).
** During the 2007/2008 Writer's Strike, one sketch featured turtles on remote-controlled vehicles and rockets, with the premise being that each turtle represented a different football team that was playing in the 2008 Super Bowl. However, they encountered an unplanned problem when the two turtles crossed the finish line ''virtually simultaneously''; they had to re-do it the next night, and in order to make things fair, they did it for a third time the night after that. The third night's results were the official ruling, as one of the turtles finished way ahead of the other one.
* ToiletHumour:
** Naturally occurs with Triumph and his "...for me to poop on!"
** One "Live via Satellite" with Donald Trump's baby had the baby saying what a great poop it just took, in typical grandiose Trump fashion.
---> '''Baby Trump:''' Conan, this poopie was yuuuuuge.
* TongueTied:
** Occurs on occasion. One instance occurred in "Small Talk Moment", which is no surprise since it's very easy to trip up when you're talking really fast.
** Another blooper involved Aqua King, God of the Sea, appearing in the studio:
---> '''Aqua King:''' My power, is virtuiantly linit- limitless. ''[[[{{Corpsing}} smiles]]]''\\
'''Conan:''' Apparently, not your power of speech.
** In one sketch, Max was supposed to say "Hold it, Conan", but it came out as "Ho-do-de Cannon." Addressed on the next episode.
* TooMuchInformation: In one of the segments with animal expert Jarod Miller, Conan congratulated Jarod for "turning 13" (in reference to how young Jarod looked), and Jarod replied, "I have pubes now." Conan asked incredulously, "What the hell was that?!"
* TrashTheSet: Conan did this on air immediately before leaving the show.
* TheUnintelligible: How Dennis Kucinich was portrayed in "Live via Satellite", speaking in high-pitched gibberish except for a couple random intelligible words ("Rhode Island!"; "health care!").
* UnsettlingGenderReveal:
--> '''Triumph:''' What happened to Sally Jesse Raphael? Now ''that'' was a guy you could trust!\\
'''Dr. Phil:''' Sally Jesse was a ''woman''.\\
'''Triumph:''' ''That'' was a woman? Excuse me... ''[immediately projectile vomits... [[OverlyLongGag and vomits... and vomits]]]''
* VocalDissonance: In a "Live via Satellite" from 2006, Donald Trump's baby sounded exactly like the regular Donald Trump.
* VomitIndiscretionShot:
** Vomiting Kermit certainly didn't hide it whenever he appeared.
---> '''Conan:''' How do you know when he's done?!
** In a skit where Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was interviewed by Dr. Phil, Triumph vomited when he found out that Sally Jesse Raphael was actually a woman.
* WhatAreRecords: In one of the "live via satellite" segments, Conan interviewed Donald Trump, who was advertising his Trump Steaks, which were being sold exclusively at The Sharper Image. When Conan remarked that this was odd, Trump said that people who shop at supermarkets were fat losers. He further went on to claim that only a couple decades from now, steaks will overtake television in popularity.
--> '''Trump:''' Mark my words! Mark my words! In twenty years, your kids will say, "What? You used to watch images on a screen, instead of just eating a steak?! Are you kidding me?!"
* WithFriendsLikeThese: A recurring sketch was "Joe's", a bar where Conan would go to and be relentlessly harassed and insulted by the bartender and another patron. It would always end with Conan snapping and shouting, "I'll pay my tab WHEN I'M GOOD AND READY!!!" and throwing his mug against the wall.
* WorstWhateverEver:
** In a "Live via Satellite" where Arnold discussed an L.A. earthquake in 2008:
---> '''Arnold:''' When the quake started, it was 9.12! Yeah! But I acted quickly: I wrapped a chain around my waist and tied it to my Hummer and dove head-first into the fault line! Then I punched the tectonic plates, crushed the sub-duction zone with my massive biceps, then I karate-kicked it in his igneous testicles! Then I turned to the camera, took the cigar out of my mouth, and said, "Let's get ready to ''not'' rumble."\\
'''Conan:''' That's... that's the worst line I've ever heard.
** On the third night of Horny Manatee fan submissions, Conan showed a fan's manatee cosplay, which was clearly thrown together at the last minute. Conan declared his costume the worst thing ever.
* YouGetWhatYouPayFor: Conan occasionally says something to the effect of, "This show is free, what do you want?" if the audience boos one of his jokes.
* YouMakeMeSick: Triumph says this to Richard Belzer in the "Hollywood Squares" segment when he's treating him like an actual dog.
[[/folder]]
----
''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night TalkShow hosted by Creator/ConanOBrien that aired on Creator/{{NBC}} between 1993 and 2009. From 1993 until 2000, Andy Richter served as O'Brien's sidekick; following his departure, O'Brien was the show's sole featured performer. The show's house musical act was The Max Weinberg 7, led by E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg.
The second incarnation of NBC's ''Series/LateNight'' franchise, O'Brien's debuted in 1993 after Creator/DavidLetterman, who hosted the first incarnation of ''Late Night'', moved to Creator/{{CBS}} to host ''Late Show'' opposite ''Series/TheTonightShow''. 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 Creator/JayLeno as the host of ''The Tonight Show''. Creator/JimmyFallon began hosting his version of ''Late Night'' on March 2, 2009.
----
!!Tropes associated with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' include:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: #–D]]
* FiveFiveFive: In a one-time sketch about recalled cat food, Conan ended the sketch by saying, "If you think we were wrong to continue the sketch, call 555-1-800... [[Series/AmericanIdol Sanjaya.]]"
* AccidentalInnuendo: Invoked:
** A visual instance occurred in a one-time skit involving ''Late Night'' collectibles. Conan introduced toy versions of Vomiting Kermit and the Masturbating Bear. Much like bobble heads, the Masturbating Bear has an arm that shakes when you touch it. Conan shook the Bear's arm to make it look like it was masturbating, and soon after activated the Vomiting Kermit so that it threw up on the Bear. Of course, this simultaneously looked like Vomiting Kermit ''ejaculated'' on the Masturbating Bear, something which Conan immediately realized and was embarrassed about.
---> '''Conan:''' I did ''not'' intend for it to go down like that.
** When animal expert Jarod Miller brought on a baby zebra, he asked Conan to feed it with a bottle. But in the process of nudging the zebra towards Conan, he was pressed up against its backside while the zebra sucked on Conan's bottle. So it ended up looking like a certain sexual position.
---> '''Conan:''' So this is how you get 'em to do it, huh? ''[audience laughs]'' You are an incredible perv.
* AccidentalMisnaming:
** A RunningGag in the Triumph segments is for Triumph to say he's reporting for the Conan O'Donnell Show.
** Another Running Gag in "Live via Satellite" whenever Donald Trump is on: He will forget what his own wife's name is, even after being corrected by Conan.
* ActorRoleConfusion: When Creator/SylvesterStallone was interviewed in 2006, he said that whenever he visits Philly, he notices that people don't call him by his real name, but refer to him as "Rocky" or "Rock".
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: In one of the "live via satellite" segments when Arnold Schwarzenegger was running for governor, Conan mentioned that Arnold said previous California politicians were "fiddling, fumbling, and failing". Arnold said he could make alliteration out of any letter. When Conan said the letter "G":
--> '''Arnold:''' These politicians, they've been... grumbling, giggling, and gaying it up!
* AffectionateNickname: In "Live via Satellite", Music/KeithRichards had a tendency to call Conan "Consey-Ponsey".
* AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentacles: During one "Conan and Andy on the Aisle", the duo showed a clip from ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', where Hamm was speed channel surfing and came across a hentai on TV.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Invoked during a segment where crew and audience members told scary Halloween stories. First up was Mark Pender, who rubbed his hands together and asked Conan if he wanted a scary story. Conan observed: "That's more pervert than scary guy, I gotta tell ya."
* AmbiguousSyntax: In a "Live via Satellite" segment:
--> '''Arnold:''' ...And then I watched a porno movie with Rutger Hauer.\\
'''Conan:''' Wait a minute, wait a minute, you watched a porno movie with Ruger Hauer, ''or'', Rutger Hauer was in a porno movie?\\
'''Arnold:''' Ehh..... ''both''!
* AnythingThatMoves: How Roberto Benigni is portrayed in "Live via Satellite".
* ArchEnemy: Conan has one in Matt Lauer, host of ''Series/{{Today}}''. For instance, in one sketch, Conan presented an inflatable version of himself in Rockfeller Plaza, and Matt repeatedly popped it, getting annoyed when it kept resurfacing.
* AscendedExtra:
** Quackers. Conan once had a segment that featured a duck, which pooped on the stage. The duck later came back to his poop and started to eat it, before Conan yelled at it to stop. This gave him the idea for "Quackers The S*it Eating Duck" segment.
** There's also the manatee featured in the "NCAA Mascots" sketch; Conan's off-hand joke "He can be seen on hornymanatee.com" caused the manatee to appear in subsequent sketches when Conan said that if a fake website is said on the air, NBC has to purchase it.
* AuthorFilibuster: Pierre Bernard and his Recliner of Rage segments, where he would rant on length at whatever was bothering him.
* BabyTalk: Appropriately, Baby Trump pronounced ''Series/TheApprentice'' as "The Appwentice".
* BadBadActing: In a "Nerding it Up For Pierre" segment, Conan used sci-fi and anime jargon to explain the democratic primaries in a way that graphic designer Pierre Bernard could understand. After explaining it, Pierre said:
--> '''Pierre:''' ''[flatly]'' Wow, I had no idea the democratic primaries were so incredibly fascinating.\\
'''Conan:''' I'm glad... ''[audience applauds/cheers]'' This crowd knows true feeling when they see it.
* BaitAndSwitch: Occurs frequently.
** During an SAT Analogy sketch:
--->"Big Dig" is to [[DoubleEntendre "Giant Hole big enough to drive a car through"]] as ParisHilton is to ... Versatile actress/singer.
** One "Sweeps Ahoy" sketch had Conan announcing that he's going to have a lesbian kiss on the show to generate ratings for sweeps week. Two young, attractive, scantily-clad women came on stage, but they were merely presenting the two women would would ''actually'' kiss each other: An elderly couple.
* BarbieDollAnatomy: In one "Photo Gallery" sketch about Conan, Max, and Joel's Oscars party, Max got offended by something Joel said and [[GroinAttack hit Joel in the crotch.]] But Joel gloated that it didn't hurt, because he doesn't have genitals. Cue a photoshopped image of Joel bottomless, with a smooth spot where his genitals would normally be. [[CollectiveGroan The audience groaned at the sight.]]
* BestialityIsDepraved:
** While Conan and Triumph sang a duet of "Let it Snow", both stared into each other's eyes for a couple seconds and then made out.
** Similarly, in a St. Patrick's Day sketch from 2006, St. Patrick was set to battle a snake, but when they looked into each other's eyes, they couldn't go through with the fight and made out instead.
* BigBlackout: Just prior to taping of the show on August 14, 2003, New York City (and much of the rest of the NE United States) was hit with a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003 massive power outage]]. After the studio audience was evacuated, Conan conducted a very basic, ten-minute mini-show from the darkened set with announcer Joel Godard and a skeleton crew (before NBC filled the rest of the time with a rerun). You can see it in two parts [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsIwawod1wA here]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWB7lNk9DU4 here]].
* BlackComedyRape: In a segment where Jordan Schlansky and Conan went to a fancy Italian restaurant, Jordan was trying to tell a story about how it was the night of an important football game and afterwards he was invited down to a cellar. A drunk Conan added: "...And you were ''raped''."
* BlatantLies: The intro to every "Actual Items" segment has Conan saying that all the newspaper clippings are real. Lampshaded since Conan also says with a great deal of sarcasm, "You can't make this stuff up. Why would you? That would be a waste of everyone's time."
* BodyHorror: The recurring sketch "If They Mated", in which images of a celebrity couple get combined into something horrifying. (Often by the end of a segment, they would subvert this by putting ridiculous theoretical couples together and getting silly non-patchwork results -- Conan himself plus ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'''s Daphne, whom he claimed he had a crush on as a kid, resulted in WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants.)
* BondOneLiner: How most of Arnold's "Live via Satellite" interviews end. Arnold will describe a hypothetical action scenario where he defeats all the bad guys, takes the cigar out of his mouth, turns to the camera and delivers a corny pun.
* BorrowedCatchphrase: In one "Live via Satellite" featuring Barron Trump (Donald Trump's baby boy), Barron said, "Yuh fiyud." Conan said that was his father's catchphrase and should get one of his own, so after a pause, Barron said, "You're ''paci''fired."
* {{Bowdlerise}}: One 1995 segment involved NBC airing ''Film/JurassicPark'', and one of the sketches detailed how the movie was "toned down" for its TV airing so as not to frighten children. Silly voices were dubbed onto the raptors during the famous "chasing the kids in the kitchen" scene.
* BoyBand: Parodied in a segment where Conan assembles a band which he calls "Dudes A-Plenty".
* BrokenRecord:
** one monologue, Conan kept trying to start a joke about US Magazine, but kept getting sidetracked. He eventually lampshaded this by saying "US MAGAZINE!" over and over while walking around the set like a robot.
** Overlaps with ManipulativeEditing: In one of the "Conan on the Aisle" segments, he showed a clip from ''Film/{{GoldenEye}}'' where this exchange was repeated numerous times:
---> '''James Bond:''' "Onatopp"?\\
'''Xenia Onatopp:''' Onatopp.
* TheBusCameBack: Creator/DavidLetterman appeared as a guest a few times, complementing Conan on being able to successfully put his own spin on the ''Series/LateNight'' set and formula. During his [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tV7NC0DGgVg Letterman tribute]] on the episode of ''Conan'' that aired opposite the final ''Late Show with David Letterman'', O'Brien recalled being a "national punchline at 30" during the disastrous first months of his ''Late Night'', and credited Letterman's return appearance and verbal approval of all the changes they made for turning things around for his career.
* ByNoIMeanYes: In a "Live via Satellite" from 2006 featuring Donald Trump:
--> '''Trump:''' And Conan, let me add: As far as publicizing ''Series/TheApprentice'' 5, Mondays on NBC, Conan, if I've told you once, I've told you 9/8 central times, that's something I'd never stoop to. Never.\\
'''Conan:''' Donald, this is getting ridiculous.\\
'''Trump:''' Conan, I'm gonna put it in writing: "I, Donald Trump, do hereby solemnly swear that from this moment forward I will no longer promote or in any way publicize ''Series/TheApprentice'' season 5, featuring The Russian. Mondays, 9/8 central time on NBC."
* CaptainObvious: Frequently occurred in the "live via satellite" segments, such as the one where Conan interviewed Donald Trump, who was advertising Trump Steaks. When a still image of the Trump Steaks package appeared on the screen (which featured Trump pointing at the steaks), Trump said, "That's me pointing at them, you see that? Don't look at me, look at the steaks!"
* CatchPhrase:
** Triumph: "...For me to ''poop'' on!" and "I keed, I keed."
** Pierre Bernard, in the Recliner of Rage segment: "Comfortable and furious, Conan." And at the end of each segment: "Bottom line, America: ''(recap of what annoyed him)''"
** Don King in the "Live via Satellite" segments: "$49.95! ''Only'' on pay-per-view!!!"
** Bill Clinton in the "Live via Satellite" segments: "Nee-haw!" (a take-off on "Yee-haw!")
** Al Gore in the "Live via Satellite" segments repeatedly used the word "excited".
** After doing an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression: "My Arnold always eats a sausage."
* CerebusSyndrome: Briefly. Understandably, the first episode back after 9/11 was a mostly serious affair, with no traditional monologue but a long, somber speech from Conan sitting at his desk. His guests were also not people from the entertainment world but journalist/''60 Minutes'' correspondent Steve Kroft and author Sarah Vowell.
* CharityMotivationSong: Parodied in the "Famous Helping Song" sketch. Guest singer Sting is annoyed at the generic lyrics.
* CollectiveGroan: Happened all the time in "If They Mated" when the audience saw the result of what would happen if two celebrities had a child. Occasionally, the audience would groan in disgust at the ''before'' pictures. This would amuse Conan: "I haven't ''done'' anything yet!"
* ComicalOverreacting:
** The shtick in the "Andy's little sister" segments, where said character would go ballistic when Andy would poke fun at her precocious crush on Conan, and later in the skit when Conan politely rejected her advances.
** The "there's no reason to live!" guy. One example? He wanted to kill himself because he got the DVD release date of ''Series/{{Joey}}'' wrong.
* {{Corpsing}}: Anytime La Bamba has to read off the teleprompter or a cue card. A particularly bad one occurred in a 9/23/2008 episode:
--> '''Conan:''' ...You just had a complete meltdown on national television.
* CoverVersion: One sketch had Conan singing [[Theatre/{{Oliver}} "Consider Yourself"]] in an extremely thick Cockney accent, much to the annoyance of Creator/JerryLewis.
* CrosscastRole: The lead in "Thin Thin Ice: The Tonya Harding Story" is played by a man for some reason.
* CueCard: Very occasionally, Conan will rip up a cue card that contains a lame joke, or will give it to an audience member.
* DarkSecret: The premise of "Secrets".
--> '''Tom Hanks:''' "Tom Hanks" isn't my real name. My real name is "Hank Toms". (...) When I agreed to make ''Film/Apollo13'', I was under the impression I would be playing Apollo Creed from ''Film/{{Rocky}}''. Those sons of bitches tricked me! (...) I played Kip on ''Series/BosomBuddies'', but the funny thing is, I originally tried out for Henry. How crazy would that have been?! (...) The best thing about being seen as the nicest guy in Hollywood... is that... (pours drink) nobody searches my backyard for bodies.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: When discussing the NBC/Universal merger in 2004:
--> '''Conan:''' Now, of course, this merger has far-reaching implications for all of us here at NBC, and I thought we'd take a look at these changes in a piece we're gonna call "Let's Look at the Far-Reaching Implications of the NBC Universal Merger."
* DepravedHomosexual: Joel Godard is often portrayed as this in sketches.
* DescriptionPorn: The "Small Talk Moment" sketches, where both Conan and Max describe something in great detail, using [[OverlyLongGag overly-long sentences.]]
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Triumph initially did his usual insult comic shtick to Creator/DonRickles, but stopped after only a few jokes to ask himself why he was insulting a comedy legend. He then profusely apologized to Rickles, claiming that the staff put him up to it, and begged Rickles to poop on him.
* DirtyOldMan: Max Weinberg, in character.
* DistractedByTheSexy: In one "Live via Satellite" from 2000, Al Gore was speaking on the monitor in the studio, and said he wanted to distance himself from Bill Clinton. This cued Clinton, on his own monitor in the hallway, to enter the studio and give his two cents. But along the way, he got distracted by an attractive woman walking down the hall.
* DontExplainTheJoke: In one monologue, Conan delivered a joke: "In California, a female figure skater told police that someone slipped a roofie in her drink. Yeah, female figure skater, yeah. She said she's not sure who did it, but she is sure it wasn't a ''male'' figure skater." After few people laughed and Conan commented on the tepid reaction, he said, "Y'see, male figure skaters are ''gay''."
* DontYouDarePityMe: Played for laughs whenever a joke of Conan's doesn't do well. If the audience begins to applaud after the initial tepid response, Conan will rebuke them and say, "No pity applause." or "You were right the first time."
* DrivenToSuicide: The "There's no reason to live!!!" guy. Cue StockFootage of a man going down a ski slope in a kayak.
* DroneOfDread: Heard in "Secrets". Also heard in the one-shot sketch where Conan interviewed Pierre Bernard about allegedly being a SerialKiller.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: E–M]]
* EarWorm: Invoked: During an early 2009 show, Conan observed that people are getting impatient with newly-elected Barack Obama fulfilling his campaign promises. One of them had a guy saying he can't forget a song stuck in his head (the Subway jingle: "Five, five dollar, five dollar foot-loooooongs"), and annoyingly said he thought Obama was supposed to do something about that.
* TheElevatorFromIpanema: One skit involved two contestants racing turtles representing the New York Giants and New England Patriots to determine who would win the 2008 Super Bowl. At one point, the contestants and turtles entered an elevator and guess what song was playing inside?
--> '''Conan:''' ''[laughs]'' That is so stupid, I'm sorry.
* EvilInc: NBC was sometimes portrayed as this, such as the episode where Katt Williams didn't show up and Conan said he has experience killing time, saying he was forced at gunpoint by General Electric to go back on the show despite the 2007-2008 Writer's Strike. He further joked that NBC would pollute the Hudson River even more if he didn't cater to their demands.
--> '''Conan:''' It was a threat! What was I supposed to do?! They said, "You do it or we'll... ''[mimes dumping motion]'' You see a seven-eyed fish, you'll know where it came from. ''[[[RunningGag slams mic down]]]'' The point is... that now, I'm going to be fired. My old problem was Katt Williams not showing up; now, I've angered a monolithic corporation.
* EvilSoundsDeep: When Conan interviewed staffer Pierre Bernard, Pierre said, "I haven't been killing for a long time", which was replayed at lower pitches to make him sound evil. For added laughs, the footage was also played [[HeliumSpeech higher pitched.]]
* FauxtasticVoyage: In a recurring sketch, Conan interviews a cast member who claims to be reporting from a distant location while actually standing in front of a projected background. When Conan expresses skepticism thathttp://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/wysiwyg_source_editor.php?groupname=Series&title=LateNightWithConanOBrien&load=source the correspondent is actually at the distant location, the correspondent insists he really is there and purports to prove it by walking to another location (represented by another projected background). The sketch typically ends with Conan walking to where the correspondent is standing (a few feet away on the stage) to hit him with a chair.
* FeeFiFauxPas:
** In a Triumph segment where he visited [=ComicCon=] '08, Triumph gave a zinger to a guy:
---> '''Triumph:''' If you're ''here'', who's at home disappointing your parents? ''[crowd laughs, including the guy]''\\
'''Guy:''' Uh, I dunno, you got me.\\
'''Triumph:''' I was talking to ''the puppet''. You're ''much'' cooler. ''[referring to the puppet he's holding]''\\
'''Guy:''' My parents are dead. ''[Triumph gets up close to the guy's face, trying to get him to laugh. Eventually the guy licks Triumph's nose]''
** The whole premise behind the GE Satellite Channel called "Clive Clemen's Inappropriate Response Channel".
* FilmTheHand: In the first two segments where Triumph visited the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the sketches ended with some security personnel covering the camera with a card.
* FirstWorldProblems: Pierre Bernard's Recliner of Rage, covering such topics as ill-fitting underwear and illogical New Jersey roads.
* FlagDrop: In one segment, Conan remarked how, at the time, Britney Spears had visited New York and was acting drunk. Max Weinberg said he was disgusted, and began a speech directed at Britney about it. The catch was, he wasn't upset with her behavior, but that he didn't get to see her vagina (a reference to Britney getting out of a car without panties). During this faux patriotic speech, a flag dropped behind him in the background.
* FrivolousLawsuit: Triumph called the pets.com mascot a rip-off of himself. Pets.com retaliated by suing Robert Smigel.
* FunWithAcronyms: In "Live via Satellite", George W. Bush tells Conan he wants a little "PTL" ("pull that lever")[[labelnote:Note]](referring, of course, to the "Walker, Texas Ranger lever")[[/labelnote]]
* GagDub:
** When ''WesternAnimation/{{Delgo}}'' flopped at the box office, Conan showed clips from the film, dubbed with humorous dialogue.
** When ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' was released, Conan noted that the game toned down the controversial elements from previous games, and showed clips demonstrating the main character doing and saying non-criminal things.
* {{Gaydar}}: One NCAA Mascot was a Gator with Gaydar. It rolled towards [[ButtMonkey La Bamba]] and started beeping rapidly.
* GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity: In one episode, Conan introduced his "Green Your Routine" public service announcement, but the video clip didn't begin playing right away. Conan jokingly shouted, "EVERYBODY'S FIRED!"
* GetOut: In a "Scary Stories" segment from 2002, Mark Pender said his left ear is haunted, and proved it by sticking a Q-tip in it. A demonic voice said, "GET OUT! GET OUT!!! ''(Pender removes the Q-tip)'' THANK YOU!"
* GoodAngelBadAngel: The recurring sketch [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKQ-pvm0f3I "Moral Dilemma"]], where Conan would be faced with a small one -- e.g. finding a wallet full of cash and deciding whether or not to keep it or return it to its rightful owner. Suddenly, a little devil urging him to do the wrong choice would appearing on one shoulder. On the other shoulder, instead of an angel, it would be something like a bear or an astronaut, giving advice pertaining to that character.
* GratuitousItalian: In a "live via satellite" sketch from 1998 about the Oscars, Roberto Benigni had a stereotypical Italian accent and used numerous Italian words amidst his English.
--> '''Roberto:''' Let me kiss your genitalissimo!
* GrossUpCloseUp: When Jarod Miller brought an armadillo on, the camera zoomed in on its fake penis and held on it a long time. Finally, Conan said:
--> '''Conan:''' Okay, director, I think we've seen it enough! Allan used to work in pornos: "Get in tight!"
* HeelRealization: Conan called himself on his [[HypocrisyNod insult]] to La Bamba during a sketch where La Bamba hadn't seen the Christmas tree yet.
--> '''Conan:''' And you like that Christmas tree, don't you?\\
'''La Bamba:''' ''[downbeat]'' Sure do.\\
'''Conan:''' Yeah. Okay. ''[audience laughs]'' That's the first time you've gotten a line right on this show... ''[laughs]'' in sixteen years. You have no idea. This guy's in a mirror for six hours: "Sure do. Sure ''do''! ''Sure'' do! Sure do! Suredosuredosuredo, suredosuredosure." Anywho, I had a thought, I'm a nice guy, despite that cruel thing I just said.
* HollywoodMirage: In one "Comedy Spring Cleaning" sketch, one of the sketches was about worst mirages. A man was shown crawling through a desert and coming across the opening theme to the sitcom ''227''.
* HopelessWithTech: Conan was selling tickets to his week of shows in Chicago, and claimed it was so easy that Max's mom could do it. It turned out to be false.
* HulkingOut: In an early episode, Andy mocked Conan until he transformed into a green version of himself with wild hair. Not more muscular, though.
--> '''Conan:''' Look what you did.\\
'''Andy:''' Oops.\\
'''Conan:''' No, I mean, I feel like a jerk now. Why do you push me like that?
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Parodied in a "Scary Stories" segment from 2002, when Conan opened a door in the studio that's never been opened, and found a devil inside:
--> '''Conan:''' Aaaahhh!! A monster!\\
'''Monster:''' "Monster", Conan? Last year, humans destroyed more than 3 million unwanted dogs and cats because they didn't take the time to properly spay and neuter their pets. So who's the ''real'' monster, Conan?\\
'''Conan:''' Humans, I guess.\\
'''Monster:''' Yes, Conan. Humans.\\
''[NBC's "The More You Know" graphic plays]''
* HypocriticalHumor:
** In one of the "live via satellite" segments, Conan interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger on the subject of immigration. Arnold stated:
---> '''Arnold:''' WE HAVE TO KEEP OUT THE FOREIGNERS! Yah! You do, because... because... they can't speak de Englishes! And Conan, their diction, it can only be described... as fleigengrapenscheizen!\\
'''Conan:''' What does that mean?\\
'''Arnold:''' It means, that these people lack the basic vlasitruden to achieve the grubenschnitzen!
** A one-time sketch had an audience member calling Conan a hypocrite about a comment he made, then a ''different'' audience member calling the previous audience member a hypocrite, followed by ''another'' audience member calling out the audience member who called out the audience member, and so on.
* HypocrisyNod: When Conan interviewed Jimmy Fallon in 2005 about his newest movie, ''Film/{{Taxi}}'', he asked Jimmy, now that he's a big movie star, if he's going to move out to L.A. Jimmy replied: "No, I gotta stay home right here in New York City, ''[[SuddenlyShouting THE BEST CITY IN THE WORLD!!!]]''" and ran into the cheering crowd. When Jimmy sat back down:
--> '''Conan:''' So you filmed ''Taxi'' in New York City, then?\\
'''Jimmy:''' No, we did a lot in L.A., actually.\\
'''Conan:''' Which I understand is the greatest town ever. ''[laughs]''
* IApprovedThisMessage: Parodied in a spoof of attack ads.
--> '''Announcer:''' UsefulNotes/BarackObama said he'd never lie to the American people. But look what he told Conan O'Brien.\\
'''Barack Obama:''' I was thinking about you as my running mate. ''[clip repeated twice more]''\\
'''Announcer:''' But then, Obama said this:\\
'''Barack Obama:''' I searched for a leader, and that man is UsefulNotes/JoeBiden.\\
'''Announcer:''' Barack Obama. He lied to Conan O'Brien. What will he do to ''you''?\\
'''Conan:''' ''[in pop-up bubble]'' I'm Conan O'Brien, and I edited this on my Mac.
* ICommaNoun: "I, Rowboat", a parody of the then-recently-released ''I, Robot'' movie.
* IdenticalStranger: A RunningGag in the last few seasons was how Conan bore a strong resemblance to Finnish politician Tarja Halonen, whom he later got to meet in real life.
* ImGoingToHellForThis:
** "I'm-a gonna go to Hell when I die."
** In one "Photos" segment where Conan, Max, and Joel went golfing, a shot is shown of the trio responding to their tee time in an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp-dJm695vI&t=3m00s exaggerated manner]], prompting a chuckle from Conan and this remark: "God... we're all going to Hell."
* ImpersonationParadox: Robert Smigel's impression of Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger in the "live via satellite" segment got more and more exaggerated over time to the point where Arnold shouted every line.
* InnocentInnuendo: In a one-shot skit, Conan had Vomiting Kermit vomit up hot chocolate for two freezing bystanders. Then Conan remarked: "But of course, you can't have hot chocolate... without whipped cream. Here to dispense the whipped cream is the one and only Masturbating Bear!" At that, the Masturbating Bear came on stage and literally dispensed whipped cream from a can. When the audience had a disappointed reaction, Conan asked, "Wait a minute, what did ''you'' think was gonna happen?" Immediately, the Masturbating Bear did what he does best.
* InsaneTrollLogic: When Conan interviewed Donald Trump on "Live via Satellite" about his "Trump Steaks", sold only at The Sharper Image:
--> '''Trump:''' Just as everyone wants their music now from their computers, it naturally follows that they'd want to get their steaks from a high-tech electronic store.
* InstantSeduction: One of the entries in the "Late Night Create Your Own Commercial" contest involved a nerdy guy who watched Conan, which highly impressed a woman to the point that the two had sex.
--> '''Announcer:''' Watch ''Late Night'': It'll get you laid!
* IsThisThingStillOn: In one of James Spader's interviews, James was talking when all of a sudden a voice played over the studio sound system: "Now that's a good Friday." Conan and James were both baffled, and when Conan asked what that was, producer Jeff Ross said the crew backstage was preparing a comedy bit for a future episode and their recording accidentally got fed into the studio.
--> '''Conan:''' And they're pre-recording it ''now'' while we're doing the show now? [[SelfDeprecation What kind of crappy show is this?!]]
* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: In one episode, Conan asked Max how his weekend was, and Max said he had a nice "respite". Conan thought his pronunciation was odd, and said it should be "res-pit".
* ItMakesSenseInContext:
** On one night where Conan was going to pull the ''Walker, Texas Ranger'' Lever, he hadn't even started that segment but a guy in the audience yelled out, "Pull the lever!" Conan remarked how odd that must sound to anybody at home who isn't familiar with the Lever, since it's out of context.
** In fact, the entire ''Walker, Texas Ranger Lever'' segment is one big example of this, with brief clips from random episodes shown without any context. Which, of course, makes the show look more ridiculous than it is.
* {{Jerkass}}: A-Hole Ronald, who would swat competing restaurant's bags and drinks out of people's hands. [[SubvertedTrope He even did it to people actually eating [=McDonald's=].]]
* JustJokingJustification: When Creator/JimCarrey was a guest during the shows in Canada, he said that Canadians have a way of insulting you to your face but can cover for it by giving a goofy smile after the insult. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQtzZ32K3-0&t=7m32s Conan and Jim both tried it on each other.]]
* LameComeback: A recurring gag when Conan interviews Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger in the "live via satellite" segment. Example:
--> '''Arnold:''' These are people [immigrants] who risk life and limb, swim across rivers, crawl through the hand-dug tunnels, and give up everything they had, just so that their children might one day see my all-time smash holiday classic, ''Film/JingleAllTheWay''! ''[audience laughs]'' Don't you understand, Conan? It's the American dream!
--> '''Conan:''' That is not...
--> '''Arnold:''' ''Jingle All the Way''!
--> '''Conan:''' That is ''not'' the American dream.
--> '''Arnold:''' ''You're'' not the American dream!
--> '''Conan:''' [[SarcasmMode Oh, good one. Yeah.]]
* LampshadedTheObscureReference:
** If Max and the band plays an old song, Conan will occasionally comment on how the younger viewers won't know it.
** The RunningGag at the end of every "Pierre Bernard's Recliner of Rage"; Conan will say (paraphrased), "You've summed up the thoughts of two or three other people."
* LanguageFluencyDenial: When Conan interviewed Sammy Sosa about the steroids scandal in "Live via Satellite", Sosa responded to everything with "No hablo."
* LastNameBasis: When Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were guests in 1997, Andy had a question and, without thinking, said, "Y'know, Ebert..." This was not missed.
--> '''Conan:''' "Hey Ebert, get over here." Andy, what the hell was that?!
* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: A gag in "Decision 2000". The first two photos that appear are, appropriately, of George W. Bush and Al Gore. The third photo will be a random celebrity like Slash. This gag was also used during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
* {{Leitmotif}}:
** A-Hole Ronald had "Hair of the Dog" by Nazareth.
** The Masturbating Bear had "Saber Dance" by Aram Khachaturian whenever he pleasured himself.
** The Horny Manatee had The Divinyl's "I Touch Myself".
* {{Leprechaun}}: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVVAP3SZW5c One sketch]] involved Conan dressing as a leprechaun and, while speaking in an over-the-top Irish accent, telling the audience that they won't be getting his pot o' gold.
* LongList:
** In one "SAT Analogies" skit:
---> '''Conan:''' Romeo and Juliet: love at first sight. Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez: love after Jen broke off her engagement with Ben Affleck and divorced Cris Judd who'd been there after P. Diddy who she dated after divorcing model Ojani Noa, and five days after Marc got a judge in the Dominican Republic to sign off on his divorce from former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres who he dated after model Kim Vilanueva who is three women removed from the mother of his daughter Arianna, Debbie Rosado.
** Doubling as a TakeThat: When Triumph interviewed Ralph Nader during the 2008 election season:
---> '''Triumph:''' Ralph Nader. You've been called a champion of the consumer. You've also been called a kook, a nutjob, the idiot who got George Bush elected, a mistake, a... self-important, let me get this right, self-important, narcissistic windbag, without merit, human feces, dog feces, unidentifiable feces, a confused, doddering douchebag, and all-around terrible guy. My question to you is: Do you think the critics go far enough?
** In a "Small Talk Moment" about NBC airing the 2008 Olympics:
---> '''Conan:''' I tell ya, Max, we may not know who will bring home the gold in women's 10 meter air pistol, but one thing's for sure, mi chaco: When it comes to comprehensive, multi-platform Olympic coverage, I can guarantee the gold medal will go to NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Universal HD, Oxygen, Telemundo, USA, and NBC.com, baby!
** Done a couple times when Howard Dean was on "Live via Satellite":
---> '''Howard Dean:''' AND WE'RE COMIN' TO YOUR STATE NEXT! WE'RE GOIN' TO NEW HAMPSHIRE!!! AND COLORADO!!! AND MINNESOTA!!! AND UTAH!!! AND NEW MEXICO!!! YAAAHHH!!!\\
'''Conan:''' Yeah, all right, we know, we know. Sir, you're going to a lot of other states-\\
'''Howard Dean:''' CAROLINA!!!\\
'''Conan:''' People are saying-\\
'''Howard Dean:''' AND NEVADA!!!\\
'''Conan:''' People are saying this kind of over-exuberant behavior-\\
'''Howard Dean:''' AND SOUTH NEVADA!!! (...) AND TEXAS!!! AND MASSACHUSETTS!!! AND IOWA!!!
** And later:
---> '''Howard Dean:''' HOW CAN I CALM DOWN, WHEN I'VE CONSUMED SO MUCH COFFEE!!! AND DO-DOS!!! AND EPHEDRINE!!! AND RITALIN!!! AND ANABOLIC STEROIDS!!! AND CRACK!!! AND CRYSTAL METH!!! AND PIXIE STICKS!!! YEE-HAH!!! AND COKE!!! AND (???)!!! AND MICHAEL DUKAKIS!!! AND TEXAS!!! AND COLORADO!!!
* LongTitle:
** One sketch in 2005 about ''Film/KingKong2005'' had this title:
---> "Boy, This "King Kong" Movie Sure Looks Incredible. Plus, I'm a Big Corporate Suck-Up and Maybe if I Help Promote it, the Brass at NBC Universal Will Notice And Who Knows? It's Christmas Time and Maybe There'll Be a Little Something Extra For Me in My Stocking, if You Know What I Mean."
** An even longer title was used in a 2006 St. Patrick's Day episode:
---> "We Were Going to do Some Scathing Satire About the Recently-renewed Patriot Act and Its Implications For the Future of American Democracy, Then I Realized it Was St. Patrick's Day and Everyone Expects Me to do Something About it Just Because I'm Irish, and When Your Name's Conan O'Brien, You Can't Really Fight it, so Here's Some Stuff We Threw Together About St. Patrick's Day."
* LovableSexManiac: How UsefulNotes/BillClinton is portrayed in the "Live via Satellite" skits.
* ManlyTears: Conan, when watching ''Theatre/{{Cats}}''.
* MathematiciansAnswer: When Creator/StevenWright was interviewed in 1999, a gimmick in the first two minutes was Conan asking questions that Steven could answer with either, "Yes" or "No", with no elaborations.
* MirrorMonologue: Done in "The Conan O'Brien Story" sketch, with Jim Carrey as Conan.
--> '''Jim:''' ''[in despair]'' I can't hear the laughter anymore...
* MisogynySong: The second song in the "Artie Kendall the Crooner Ghost" sketches was always this.
* MisterSeahorse: Joel was pregnant during one "sweeps week" episode, and wanted to know who the father was.
--> '''Conan:''' I've never been this depressed before. And that's saying something.
* MotorMouth: Occurs during the "Small Talk Moment" sketches.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: One "Live via Satellite" from late 2003 had Arnold talking about how his job as governor was just as exciting as one of his action movies. After listing a couple examples, he abruptly shouted how bored he was and that he made a mistake.
* TheMusical: For three nights in 2006, Conan showed a selection of songs from the ill-fated ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' musical stage show.
--> "You can keep your mystical spells and chants / I'll trade them in for that song and dance / And be the wizard of the great white way!"
[[/folder]]
[[folder: N–R]]
* NakedPeopleAreFunny:
** Demonstrated in the "big finale" during ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' musical numbers, when Gollom takes his loin cloth off.
** In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DilVJb8Eho one sketch]], Conan and Andy are set to go into a Turkish spa, and Conan informs Andy that they have to be nude before they go in. Conan took off Andy's towel and pushed him through the doors, laughing. It turns out the doors led to ''The Series/{{Today}} Show'' set, where Matt Lauer is on the air. Cue awkward small talk between Matt and the naked Andy.
* NamesTheSame: Invoked: One of the Creator/TomHanks "Secrets" involved bumping into Creator/TomSelleck in the bathroom at the Oscars:
--> '''Tom Hanks:''' I said, "Looks like we're a couple of ''[[{{Pun}} peeing Toms]]''! ''[soberly]'' His angry silence is something I'll ''never'' forget.
* NewYearHasCome: For the Central Time Zone.
* NoIndoorVoice:
** TheAnnouncer, Joel Godard. Dear God. "PLUS '''''MAX WEINBERG''''' and the MAX WEINBERG SEVEN!!! Now, here's your host, CO-nan '''''O-BRIIIIIIIIYUUUUUHN!!!!!!!!!'''''"
** Nearly all the characters in the "live via satellite" segment, especially Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bill Clinton.
** And of course, Howard Dean, '''THE DEAN MACHINE!!!!!'''
* NoOneShouldSurviveThat: The "there's no reason to live!" guy, who often returns to the studio alive and well, despite getting in a skiing accident that should've killed him.
* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer:
** Occasionally, Conan will say this when describing a "news of the weird" story.
** Unrelated: After a commercial break in one episode, Conan began a comedy bit but an unusual alarm noise went off. Conan had to tell the audience that the alarm wasn't part of a bit. It turns out there was a false alarm condition on another floor of the building. [[ThrowItIn This whole segment was kept in the aired episode.]]
* NoYou: A staple of the Arnold interviews in "Live via Satellite". Conan's been told such ridiculous statements as, "''You're'' not a movie!"
* ObfuscatingStupidity: One sketch involved La Bamba announcing he was the winner of a Genius Grant. Conan was surprised, and asked if his stupidity has been an act all this time. La Bamba responded that he had an MFA from Yale, double-majored in molecular biology and Asian studies, and was an erudite polyglot. But he refused to stop pretending, because he could lose his Genius Grant.
--> '''La Bamba:''' ''[holding up his fingers caught in a Chinese Finger Trap]'' Help me! Help me, ''please''!
* ObligatorySwearing: At the start of one monologue, Conan said they were going to have a good show, and Max replied, "That's right, ''damn'' right!" An amused Conan said that the network told Max to "butch it up".
* OddCouple: Conan and Triumph in the sitcom parody "A Couple of Mutts".
* OlderThanTheyLook: Parodied; Conan often jokes that he's older than he is ("I'm 64 years old."), or that the show's been running since the '50s.
* OncePerEpisode: At the top of the show, Conan scrunched his legs together and took a jump forward, which prompted a trumpet sting. Conan would then stand up and point to the band leader, who would wrap up the opening theme. Episodes frequently had Conan performing "the string dance" as well.
* OperatorFromIndia: One sketch had Andy Blitz attempting to fix his computer with the help of an Indian telephone IT technician… And traveling to India with his computer (in RealLife!) to pester her.
* OverlyLongGag: The New York Yankees fan who created overly elaborate sports chants. One chant went on for ''four'' minutes.
* {{Parody}}: "Actual Items" is a parody of Leno's "Headlines".
* PerpSweating: Parodied in the sketch where Conan tried to get Pierre Bernard to admit he was a serial killer. He sprayed Pierre's face with water, and then asked him if he could go to his house and examine his basement. Cue a reaction shot of Pierre "sweating".
* PissTakeRap: Max Weinberg [[http://youtu.be/8wXtfG5Oxtw?t=4m does one]] during the [[MusicalEpisode Musical Sketch]] in 2002.
* {{Portmanteau}}: "[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Spock]]tober", which involved a disinterested guy in a Spock uniform and ears walking down the aisle and lazily tossing candy into the audience. Conan was not pleased.
* PottyEmergency: When Music/KanyeWest was interviewed, he claimed he really had to go to the bathroom.
* ThePratfall: In one famous blooper, God (played by Brian Stack) entered the studio and started walking down the steps, but briefly lost his balance.
--> '''Conan:''' [[ThrowItIn You been drinking, God?]]\\
'''God:''' Yes.
* PrecisionFStrike:
** In a segment where Jordan Schlansky and Conan went to a fancy Italian restaurant, Jordan kept bugging Conan about savoring the dessert he was about to eat, and finally after many pretentious sentences, Conan told him, "You've GOT to shut the (bleep) up. You're killing me. You're killing my mind, you're killing my spirit. I like you, you're a nice guy; eat the mush, shut the pie hole."
** When an alarm went off in the studio, Conan asked, "Do they realize we're taping a (fuck)ing show?!"
* PrecociousCrush: Andy's little sister (played by Creator/AmyPoehler) to Conan.
* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: How Martha Stewart was portrayed in "Live via Satellite" during and after her brief prison stint.
--> '''Martha Stewart:''' Conan, that allegation is straight-up "whack".
* ProductPlacement: Parodied in a "Conan and Andy on the Aisle", which had a ''Film/ClearAndPresentDanger'' scene full of product placement; at one point a bag of Frito's flat out ''danced'' in front of the president's head!
* PsychicNosebleed: Parodied in one episode, where a psychic guest loses copious amounts of blood while using telepathy. The psychic's spoon is indeed ''nudged'', although he is now wearing a wet red shirt for it.
* PublicServiceAnnouncement: Parodied, of course. For example, during 2008, Conan and his band created some mock "Green Your Routine" ads, which NBC was running at the time.
--> '''Joel Godard:''' One simple way to reduce energy consumption is by turning off all the lights in your house. It's as easy as flipping a switch, or not paying your electric bill for seven months because you kept spending your money on barbiturates.
* {{Pun}}:
** This example was so bad that the audience booed him:
---> '''Conan:''' This week, airport security in England recently detained James Hetfield, the lead singer for Metallica. Apparently, he kept setting off the heavy metal detector.
** In one sketch, Max remarked that he spilled wine on himself. Conan then declared he should change his name to "Max ''Wine''berg". God arrived to admonish Conan for his bad pun.
** In one of the Toronto episodes, Creator/MikeMyers was a guest and told a true story about being greeted by a fan in a public bathroom. Despite having a PottyEmergency, the fan kept asking Myers questions. After Myers said he was working on ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', the fan asked, "So what else you got [[ToiletHumour comin' out]]?"
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Triumph gave a particularly biting one to Simon Cowell (he was still on ''Series/AmericanIdol'' at the time):
--> '''Triumph:''' I'm ready for you, bitch! Can't believe I wasted half my ''life'' watching that. No no, it was great. It was great, it was a fascinating interview. I always wondered what would happen if we blow-dried the ''[[Series/TheWeakestLink Weakest Link]]'' chick and cut off her nuts! No no seriously, man, what's with the '80s hair? Look at that thing. What's with the '80s hair style, man? You look like Denny Terrio shtupped a chow chow! Get a lawyer and sue Super Cuts! ''[Triumph grabs some cards]'' Got a few more here. ''[Conan laughs]'' All right. No no, seriously: Who the ''hell'' do you think you are, man? ''[beep]'' You're telling- listen to me! You're telling th- I don't understand the logic. (...) Seriously, what's the logic here? You go on, and you ''tell'' people they have no talent?? That's like ''poop'' telling ''vomit'' it stinks! I keed, I keed, you're a big star! You're a big star, you're- you're like the star of ''Series/AmericanIdol'', seriously, they should rename it "British Homo". No no, he's fine, he's good, don't worry about him, he can handle it, he gives to people straight and hard! I guess... I guess I don't need a punchline for that one. GO BACK TO ENGLAND, BITCH!!!
* RecurringCharacter:
** The 10th Anniversary Special ran through a bunch of them in short order: Vomiting Kermit, Pimpbot 5000, Little Jay Leno, the Coked-Up Werewolf, Frankenstein, Preparation H Raymond, the Masturbating Bear, and finally... Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
** Abe Vigoda is also a frequent guest, though not as an interviewee but as an almost-always [[TheVoiceless silent]] player in a sketch.
* {{Retool}}: ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' musical; first, as a tap dancing musical, second, in the style of Billy Joel's ''Movin' Out'', and finally in the style of Blue Collar musical comedy. All three failed, but Conan admitted, "It's getting better" after seeing the Blue Collar version.
* RevisedEnding: Done during a sketch on revisiting classic Christmas movies: One doctored clip was from ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', with George Bailey getting shot when running down the street.
--> '''George Bailey:''' Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!\\
'''Cop:''' Stand back! ''[shoots at George Bailey, who is hit and falls to the ground]''
* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: When bread expert Steven Kaplan was on, he suggested that Conan didn't know what good bread was:
--> '''Steven:''' How much good bread have you eaten?\\
'''Conan:''' I eat bread.\\
'''Steven:''' ''[derisively]'' Yeah, Wonderbread, I imagine.\\
'''Conan:''' Hey! Suddenly, you don't like Wonderbread, huh? What's wrong with Wonderbread?\\
'''Steven:''' It's tasteless, it's insipid, it's without any interest, it has no crust, it has a crumb that's charged with chemicals, why else should I like it?
* RiddleForTheAges: The 9/24/08 episode asked the question, "Why is Carrot Top in the audience?" We never do find out the answer.
* RightHandCat: In a segment where Conan complained about his long interview for the ESPY Awards being whittled down to "Red Sox", Conan said that the person calling the shots on the bad editing had a white cat on hand.
* RoommateCom: Parodied in "A Couple of Mutts", with Conan and Triumph living together. Conan faked a disability (specifically, blindness) so he could live in the building, and pretended Triumph was his seeing eye dog.
* RunningGag:
** Conan will call the area where he does the monologue "The Laugh Zone". He also frequently calls his desk "Old Bessie Lou". And he often purposefully knocks over his microphone.
** Whenever Arnold Schwartenegger shows up in the Live Via Satellite segments he would inevitably throw in a plug for his "smash hit holiday classic ''Film/JingleAllTheWay''!" He would also inevitably propose to solve whatever problem he would be facing that week with an explosive action-movie sequence, after which he would "light/drop my cigar, turn to the camera and say: [Insert corny pun-based BondOneLiner or PreMortemOneLiner]".
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[[folder: S–Z]]
* ScreenShake: In a monologue during the Writer's Strike, Conan wanted to re-enact ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}''. What followed was Conan running around the stage while the camera shook violently.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: One of many [[RunningGag running gags]] when Bill Clinton was interviewed in "Live via Satellite". For example, in 1996 he was convinced the election was in the bag, so said anything he wanted ("Milkshakes, naked women, nachos, boobies!"). And when the Monica Lewinsky scandal hit, he didn't pay any mind to the impeachment trial, and even showed Conan how to ''appear'' sincere.
* ScrewYourself: "Max on Max", which was footage of Max Weinberg having sex with himself.
* SelfDeprecation:
** "This is the worst show on television."
** Much humor was also derived from the news that NBC dropped to fourth place amongst the major networks in the mid-2000s. They did a whole segment about it.
* SerialKiller: Conan was convinced Pierre Bernard was one after Pierre refused to allow a remote segment taped at his house. What followed was a newsmagazine-style interview where Conan tried to get Pierre to admit he was a mass murderer.
* TheShowMustGoOn: In one episode later in the run, guest Katt Williams didn't show up as planned (while Conan was unaware of the cause at the time, it was due to Williams being arrested on weapons charges that same day). With nothing else to fill the eight minutes of screen time, Conan decided to try to beat his "ring spinning" record.
* ShowWithinAShow:
** "A Couple of Mutts", starring Conan and Triumph. Also "Quackers the Sh*t Eating Duck".
** And there's all the weird shows in the GE Satellite Channels segments.
* SkippingSchool: The work variant. In one episode, Conan was informed that one of his writers, Michael Koman, had called in sick. Since Conan didn't think Mike looked sick the previous day, he thought something was fishy and ''went to his apartment''. He spent a whole sketch harassing Mike into admitting he just wanted to stay home from work that day, and eventually forced him to come into work.
* SkywardScream: In one of the entries for "Late Night Create Your Own Commercials Contest", a nerdy guy takes a woman to bed, leaving the sunglasses-wearing jock who was mocking him earlier to shout, "DAMN YOU, CONAN!" while looking upwards.
* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** Two episodes took previous episodes and rendered them in different styles:
*** Claymation special: Everyone was animated in [[StopMotion claymation]]. Aired in 2003.
*** "Skelevision" Halloween special: Everyone was replaced with skeletons on strings. Aired in 2006.
** There was an episode that took place on a boat, which aired in 1995.
** There was also an episode where the entire studio audience consisted of kids instead of adults.
* SongParody:
** Triumph parodied Bon Jovi's song "You Give Love a Bad Name" to "You Give Poop a Bad Name".
---> '''Triumph:''' Humped a shar pei, / pulled out too late. / Now that bitch has a litter of eight! / They eat all the Alpo / right off my plate! / Why the hell / didn't I just masturbate?! / Oh, I'm a loaded gun! / Here comes Bon Jovi, / the pooping's begun! / Look at you guys; / have you no shame? / You give poop, / a bad name! / Crawl back in the butt, / from whence you came! / You give poop, / a bad name!
** Triumph also parodied Music/{{Eminem}}'s "Lose Yourself" with "Lick Yourself".
** And his first album was called [[Music/FrankSinatra "Come Poop With Me".]]
** "Where in the Building is Andy Richter?", a parody of "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?", which in itself was a parody of the theme song to ''Series/WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego''.
* SoundEffectBleep: On the episode where the duck Quackers took a dump on the floor and then ate it, Conan remarked, "There's a (bleep) eating duck over here." and immediately apologized: "I don't ''swear'' often, but that's what he did!"
* SoundtrackDissonance:
** In one segment, the song "Baby Got Back" was dubbed over a medical drama. Conan declared the combination to be disturbing.
** On the third attempt at a ''Lord of the Rings'' musical, the cast sang "Sweet Home Alabama" as the big finale.
* StaircaseTumble: In an early 2008 episode, Conan picked out a guy from the crowd to take a GE tour with him. The two ran throughout the building, and at one point, scrambled down a stairwell. In the excitement, the guy briefly lost his footing and went down the stairs faster than he expected; thankfully he wasn't hurt.
* StealthInsult:
** When Creator/DonRickles was a guest in 2005, he began to talk about how Johnny Carson was a great entertainer, and "you don't see that too much anymore." He then stared at Conan.
---> '''Conan:''' ''[smiling at camera]'' It's ''very'' rare!
** This was the RunningGag in a sketch where an irritated audience member (played by Brian [=McCann=]) claimed that every little thing Barack Obama said was a StealthInsult towards Sarah Palin.
---> '''Conan:''' It seems a lot of people are offended by Barack Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comment. Personally, I've been thinking about it, I think they're reading too much into it. I don't think he meant to imply that Sarah Palin is actually a pig.\\
'''Man:''' Man, what are you kiddin'? This was a direct attack on Sarah Palin. SHAME on Barack Obama! HE'S the pig!\\
'''Conan:''' ...Okay, sir, I'm sorry, but I think you're overreacting.\\
'''Man:''' "Overreacting"?! This is just the latest in Obama's laundry list of tasteless Palin jabs!\\
'''Conan:''' Really? W-what are you talking about?\\
'''Man:''' Yeah, first, he keeps talking about how he's against drilling in Alaska, a direct shot at Palin's pregnant daughter who was ''drilled in Alaska''! Very funny, senator!\\
'''Conan:''' No, I don't think-\\
'''Man:''' Yeah, and then he wants to end the Iraq War with "honor". Get it? ''On her'', like Bristol Palin's boyfriend was ''on her''? It's a cheap shot, it's just tasteless!\\
'''Conan:''' W- that's crazy!\\
'''Man:''' No it's not! And how about Obama's constant call for change, implying that Sarah Palin had a ''sex'' change?!\\
'''Conan:''' Okay, that's ridiculous. You're making a mountain out of a mole hill.\\
'''Man:''' "Mole hill"?! That's a low blow, Conan, making fun of the giant mole on my hill-like penis. Shame on ''you''!\\
'''Conan:''' Okay sir, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to my show.\\
'''Man:''' "Right back"?! Now you're making fun of the ''other'' hill penis I have on the right side of my back?! Unbelievable!
** In a 2006 episode, Conan complimented the band, saying they were on fire. He proceeded to say:
---> '''Conan:''' Some nights, it's not there, but tonight...\\
'''Max:''' ''[chuckles]'' Thank you, Conan.\\
'''Conan:''' No, it's always there. You know I'm kidding you, giving you a hard time. [[VerbalBackspace Some nights, it's not there.]]
* StepfordSmiler: Joel in sketches.
* StickFigureComic: One of the Horny Manatee fan submissions was drawn in this style. Conan loved the story it told: Conan finds a manatee in his bed; he gives the manatee a meaningful look, the manatee gives Conan a meaningful look, and then the two go at it.
* StopMotion:
** A 2003 episode of Conan's ''Late Night'' was done in claymation style.
** One "Late Night Create Your Own Commercial" entry was done in stop motion.
* StreisandEffect: Invoked: In one "Walker, Texas Ranger lever" segment, Conan announced he'd be retiring the lever, since he didn't want to run the segment into the ground. Of course, doing so meant that the lever kept getting pulled without Conan's control, such as a man spitting a watermelon seed which ricocheted all around the studio and hit the lever, activating another ''Walker'' clip.
* StuffyOldSongsAboutTheButtocks: In a "live via satellite" segment featuring Saddam Hussein, Saddam sang a cover of "Baby Got Back".
* StylisticSuck: How the "Car Chases" segments are executed: Matchbox cars driving on the floor.
* SublimeRhyme:
** One segment made fun of Jesse Jackson's "cut Obama's nuts off" remark, with the gimmick that Conan has just uncovered even more exclusive footage of Jackson speaking about cutting off Obama's testicles (with a dubbed-in voice, of course). They all rhymed:
---> '''Jesse Jackson:''' I'm gonna take some cutting tools to his family jewels. / I want him to say "ouch!" when I deflate his pouch. / I'll show no restraint to that which hangs above his taint. / It's twice as zesty when I remove the testes. / I have no preference for his vas deferens. / Here's one I’m still working on: When I see Obama, it's a drag... something-something to his pastry bag.
** Whenever Don King was a guest in "Live via Satellite", he would name the matches something that would rhyme.
* TakeThatAudience: During 2008, Conan presented a "Late Night Create Your Own Commercial" contest, and showcased some of the entries. After a particularly bad entry:
--> '''Conan:''' Folks, when I decided to do this contest, this is ''not'' what I had in mind. ''[laughs]'' These are like snuff films. We need more submissions, okay? And I'm changing the rules: They're allowed to be ''good''.
* ThatCameOutWrong:
** In 2005, Roger Ebert was a guest and mentioned that he met Rosario Dawson, saying she was beautiful but also surprisingly smart. Realizing that has negative connotations, he reworded it to simply: "She ''is'' smart."
** Similarly, when Conan interviewed Sylvester Stallone in 2006 to promote ''Film/RockyBalboa'', Conan remarked that it was great seeing Rocky beat the meat again. Conan instantly realized how dirty that line sounded.
* ThatCloudLooksLike: In one "Walker, Texas Ranger" clip, Walker and a boy are looking at clouds. Walker says one of the clouds looks like a bear. After the clip, Conan disputed that, and had them show the clip again. He asked incredulously, "Where's the bear?!"
* ThirdTimesTheCharm:
** In a one-time sketch about recalled cat food, Joel Goddard said he wasn't bothered by the news, because he only buys generic brand. Conan then asked, "Joel, why would you eat cat food?", to which Joel was supposed to reply, "On what ''you'' pay me, I'm lucky I'm not eating ''paint chips''!", but he took three tries to get the line right (the first two times, he was thrown off by actually eating the food).
** During the 2007/2008 Writer's Strike, one sketch featured turtles on remote-controlled vehicles and rockets, with the premise being that each turtle represented a different football team that was playing in the 2008 Super Bowl. However, they encountered an unplanned problem when the two turtles crossed the finish line ''virtually simultaneously''; they had to re-do it the next night, and in order to make things fair, they did it for a third time the night after that. The third night's results were the official ruling, as one of the turtles finished way ahead of the other one.
* ToiletHumour:
** Naturally occurs with Triumph and his "...for me to poop on!"
** One "Live via Satellite" with Donald Trump's baby had the baby saying what a great poop it just took, in typical grandiose Trump fashion.
---> '''Baby Trump:''' Conan, this poopie was yuuuuuge.
* TongueTied:
** Occurs on occasion. One instance occurred in "Small Talk Moment", which is no surprise since it's very easy to trip up when you're talking really fast.
** Another blooper involved Aqua King, God of the Sea, appearing in the studio:
---> '''Aqua King:''' My power, is virtuiantly linit- limitless. ''[[[{{Corpsing}} smiles]]]''\\
'''Conan:''' Apparently, not your power of speech.
** In one sketch, Max was supposed to say "Hold it, Conan", but it came out as "Ho-do-de Cannon." Addressed on the next episode.
* TooMuchInformation: In one of the segments with animal expert Jarod Miller, Conan congratulated Jarod for "turning 13" (in reference to how young Jarod looked), and Jarod replied, "I have pubes now." Conan asked incredulously, "What the hell was that?!"
* TrashTheSet: Conan did this on air immediately before leaving the show.
* TheUnintelligible: How Dennis Kucinich was portrayed in "Live via Satellite", speaking in high-pitched gibberish except for a couple random intelligible words ("Rhode Island!"; "health care!").
* UnsettlingGenderReveal:
--> '''Triumph:''' What happened to Sally Jesse Raphael? Now ''that'' was a guy you could trust!\\
'''Dr. Phil:''' Sally Jesse was a ''woman''.\\
'''Triumph:''' ''That'' was a woman? Excuse me... ''[immediately projectile vomits... [[OverlyLongGag and vomits... and vomits]]]''
* VocalDissonance: In a "Live via Satellite" from 2006, Donald Trump's baby sounded exactly like the regular Donald Trump.
* VomitIndiscretionShot:
** Vomiting Kermit certainly didn't hide it whenever he appeared.
---> '''Conan:''' How do you know when he's done?!
** In a skit where Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was interviewed by Dr. Phil, Triumph vomited when he found out that Sally Jesse Raphael was actually a woman.
* WhatAreRecords: In one of the "live via satellite" segments, Conan interviewed Donald Trump, who was advertising his Trump Steaks, which were being sold exclusively at The Sharper Image. When Conan remarked that this was odd, Trump said that people who shop at supermarkets were fat losers. He further went on to claim that only a couple decades from now, steaks will overtake television in popularity.
--> '''Trump:''' Mark my words! Mark my words! In twenty years, your kids will say, "What? You used to watch images on a screen, instead of just eating a steak?! Are you kidding me?!"
* WithFriendsLikeThese: A recurring sketch was "Joe's", a bar where Conan would go to and be relentlessly harassed and insulted by the bartender and another patron. It would always end with Conan snapping and shouting, "I'll pay my tab WHEN I'M GOOD AND READY!!!" and throwing his mug against the wall.
* WorstWhateverEver:
** In a "Live via Satellite" where Arnold discussed an L.A. earthquake in 2008:
---> '''Arnold:''' When the quake started, it was 9.12! Yeah! But I acted quickly: I wrapped a chain around my waist and tied it to my Hummer and dove head-first into the fault line! Then I punched the tectonic plates, crushed the sub-duction zone with my massive biceps, then I karate-kicked it in his igneous testicles! Then I turned to the camera, took the cigar out of my mouth, and said, "Let's get ready to ''not'' rumble."\\
'''Conan:''' That's... that's the worst line I've ever heard.
** On the third night of Horny Manatee fan submissions, Conan showed a fan's manatee cosplay, which was clearly thrown together at the last minute. Conan declared his costume the worst thing ever.
* YouGetWhatYouPayFor: Conan occasionally says something to the effect of, "This show is free, what do you want?" if the audience boos one of his jokes.
* YouMakeMeSick: Triumph says this to Richard Belzer in the "Hollywood Squares" segment when he's treating him like an actual dog.
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