Late Night with Conan O'Brien: 5th Anniversary Special (1998) (TV)

Director:

Liz Plonka

Writers:

Jonathan Groff &
Chris Albers ...
(more)

Release Date:

16 September 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

He's given us five years. The least we could do is give him an hour.

Plot Keywords:

Satire | Entertainment | Joke | Irreverence | Celebrity

Cast

Conan O'Brien	...	Himself
Andy Richter	...	Himself
Max Weinberg	...	Himself (as Max Weinberg and the Max Weinberg 7)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tom Arnold	...	Himself
Lynn Clayton	...	Max Weinberg's Wife
Joel Godard	...	Himself - Announcer (voice)
Harris Goldberg	...	Himself (1998)
Scott Healy	...	Himself (as The Max Weinberg 7)
Lisa Kudrow	...	Herself
Mike Merritt	...	Himself (as The Max Weinberg 7)
Mark 'Love Man' Pender	...	Himself (as The Max Weinberg 7)
Tony Randall	...	Himself
Chris Rock	...	Himself
Richie 'La Bamba' Rosenberg	...	Himself (as The Max Weinberg 7)
Adam Sandler	...	Crank Caller
Jerry Vivino	...	Himself (as The Max Weinberg 7)
Jimmy Vivino	...	Himself (as The Max Weinberg 7)
Jackie Chan	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Billy Crystal	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Andrew Daly	...	Various (uncredited)
Fran Drescher	...	Herself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Fabio	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Jon Glaser	...	Various (uncredited)
Steve Irwin	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Larry King	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
David Letterman	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Jerry Lewis	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Norm MacDonald	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Brian McCann	...	Pimpbot 5000 (uncredited)
Maureen McCormick	...	Herself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Ed McMahon	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Eddie Pepitone	...	Various (uncredited)
Michael Richards	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Katie Roberts	...	Various (uncredited)
Rebecca Romijn	...	Herself (archive footage) (uncredited)
William Shatner	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Robert Smigel	...	Triumph / President Clinton / Various (voice) (uncredited)
Brian Stack	...	Clive Clemmons (uncredited)
Martha Stewart	...	Herself (archive footage) (uncredited)
George Takei	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Courtney Thorne-Smith	...	Herself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Michael Wehrhahn	...	Ghost from Christmas future (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Liz Plonka

Writing credits
Jonathan Groff		&
Chris Albers		&
Ellie Barancik		&
Tommy Blacha		&
Janine Ditullio		&
Jon Glaser		&
Michael Gordon		&
Brian Kiley		&
Brian McCann		&
Conan O'Brien		&
Brian Reich		&
Andy Richter		&
Brian Stack		&
Mike Sweeney		&
Robert Smigel		additional material

Produced by
Geoffrey Addeo	....	associate producer
Geoffrey Addeo	....	line producer
Gary Considine	....	executive producer: NBC studios
Daniel Ferguson	....	segment producer
Tracy King	....	line producer
Lorne Michaels	....	executive producer
Maria Notaras	....	segment producer
Jeff Ross	....	producer
Frank Smiley	....	senior segment producer

Casting by
Lauren Singer

Production Design by
Bobby Berg

Art Direction by
Diann Duthie

Costume Design by
Deborah Shaw

Production Management
Geoffrey Addeo	....	production manager
Ken Aymong	....	production consultant
Jordan Schlansky	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Billy Bollotino	....	associate director
Maureen Smith	....	associate director

Art Department
Pierre Bernard Jr.	....	graphics
Anne Elbagali	....	graphics
Kevin Frank	....	graphics
Marty Geller	....	graphics

Sound Department
Julie Gribble	....	sound mixer

Visual Effects by
Chris DeLuca	....	graphics coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Brett Buckwalter	....	lighting director
Phil Hyms	....	lighting consultant (as Phil Hymes)

Editorial Department
Jon Vesey	....	post-production coordinator

Music Department
Scott Healy	....	musician: house band
Mike Merritt	....	musician: house band
Mark 'Love Man' Pender	....	musician: house band
Richie 'La Bamba' Rosenberg	....	musician: house band
Jerry Vivino	....	musician: house band
Jimmy Vivino	....	associate music director
Jimmy Vivino	....	music arranger
Jimmy Vivino	....	musician: house band
Max Weinberg	....	musical director
Max Weinberg	....	musician: band leader
Debbie Wunder	....	music coordinator

Other crew
Tonya Addy	....	talent coordinator
Gregory Aull	....	technical director
Gina Battista	....	talent executive
Paula Davis	....	talent executive
Stacey Foster	....	technical consultant
Danielle Giovanniello	....	script intern
Joel Godard	....	announcer
Steve Hollander	....	stage manager
Andrea Kail	....	script coordinator
Scott Kaye	....	stage manager
Lori Levine	....	talent executive
Theresa O'Neill	....	researcher
Jim Pitt	....	talent executive
Frank Radice	....	promotion (1993-1998)
Haleigh Safran	....	researcher
Susan Santomauro	....	production associate
Laurie Scollar	....	assistant: Conan O'Brien
Yaffa Shahom	....	assistant to producer
Kimberly Simon	....	researcher
Ruth Sinanian	....	writers: assistant

Production Companies

• NBC Studios

Distributors

• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1998) (USA) (TV)

Other Companies

• Astrovision  production assistance
• Panasonic  production assistance

Runtime:

USA:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

NBC Studios

Movie Connections:

Spoofs "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (1987)

5 Krunking years of Conan - for Triumph to poop on!

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years already since Conan O'Brien's first prime time special celebrating the first five years of his Late Night show. I suppose they could have done a 15th anniversary show this year had it not been for the fact that everyone knows Conan's going to take over the Tonight Show in June 2009, there's not much of a point. It's basically a clip show, and as such recycles a lot of material from the third anniversary show, which is not that surprising when you do the math. But since it's a compilation of some of the silliest, cheapest humor on late night television from 1993-1999, any Conan & Andy fan is in for a treat.

The show opened with a daring stunt in which Conan dives into the Hudson river (and if it's true what they say about NYC, that takes a lot of guts!). Then O'Brien delivered his 'Conologue' not from the usual set, but a redecorated studio 8H (SNL's home base). Perennial talk show guest Tony Randall teamed up with Pimpbot 5000 to introduce a montage of great guests and Tom Arnold was teamed with Triumph the Insult comic dog to present a collection of clips featuring Conan & Andy all over the world. Back then Triumph didn't even have a body, just a rubber face, though it's inspired to see Arnold coming down the Award style steps with an actual Hungarian mountain dog on a leash. Robert Smigel not only voices Triumph, but also President Bill Clinton in 'clutch' mode (i.e. lips superimposed on a picture). The commander in chief introduces a Clutch clips package of various people (almost all voiced by Smigel). Also, Chris Rock and Lisa Kudrow share some brief pre-recorded 'Favorite Conan Moments' and Conan gets a little surprise from Adam Sandler.

Still, compared to the three year anniversary from 1996, this show does seem a bit less inspired. There were much more C-status celebrities in attendance two years earlier, appearances by both Letterman and Leno, a desk ride by Conan and Andy (this time around they watch some new cable channels instead) and a segment on 'lovely violence' introduced by Carl 'Oldie'Olsen (William Preston), who passed away in early 1998. It's also a bit weird to see an advert for a 'Too hot for Late Night 5th Anniversary video with 3 diff collectible video covers' that's basically the show we're watching right now. That's right, folks a mere ten years ago video's were all the rage and most people had no idea what a DVD was.

8 out of 10

PS. Here is a personal top 5 comedy bits from the first five years of Late Night that unfortunately weren't in either special: 5 - The three remaining Beatles (in Clutch form) present a song based on a recently discovered John Lennon recording (his answering machine message). 4 - Babe the cute little piglet uttering "You big Krunkhole" (a swearword so new the censors didn't pick up on it yet) 3- Clutch Johnny Cochran's unused rhymes in the O.J. Simpson defense ("He was # 32, so no crime could he do". "He was in Naked Gun, how could he be the one?"). 2 - Some Adult film stars proving their acting prowess by recreating the signing of the declaration of independence (with hilarious money shot stills to introduce each of them). 1- Foam rubber Conan & Andy (one resembling Howdy Doody, the other a blond boy with the body of a Care Bear) at the Repubulican convention (ending up with Foam rubber Andy vomiting in their hotel bathroom).