"It has been one of the great privileges of my life," declared Conan O'Brien (61) in January of last year in a video posted by the Prado Museum in Madrid after his visit to the art gallery. The unforgettable host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993-2009) and The Tonight Show (2009-2010) is back in the spotlight because he is hosting the Oscars for the second consecutive year. We will have to pay attention to his sarcastic sense of humor once again.
It was his father who instilled in him the foundations of comedy when they watched movies by Charlie Chaplin or the Marx Brothers together when he was young.
After graduating in history and literature from Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude with a thesis on the symbolism of childhood in William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor, O'Brien decided to pursue a career in show business. A lot has happened since he started in the industry as a writer for Not Necessarily the News and Saturday Night Live (1985-1991), which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with an epic reunion of the most notable celebrities on the planet. A little-known fact is that from 1991 to 1993 he produced and wrote scripts for The Simpsons. After David Letterman's departure, O'Brien replaced him in the Late Night franchise, produced by Lorne Michaels, who hired him.
It was during the filming of a commercial for Late Night with Conan O'Brien that he met his wife Liza while working at the advertising agency. The host mentioned on The Michelle Obama Podcast that "I walked into a room with 11 people, sat down with the creative team from Fotos, Con & Belding, all dressed in black, I guess it's a New York advertising custom, and immediately started talking to Liza. I didn't even try to be funny, I just wanted to find out more about this woman."
After leaving the meeting room, they started joking about having children together, they got along very well, had practically the same sense of humor, and started dating. In January 2002, they got married in Seattle, Liza's hometown. The couple has two children, Neve (22) and Beckett (20).
The family moved to one of the penthouses at The Majestic, the exclusive art deco building overlooking Central Park, which consisted of seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and a powder room, and was sold in 2011 for 25 million dollars. They later bought different mansions in California, including a $23 million property in Carpinteria, not far from where Oprah Winfrey and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex live.
With a surreal sense of humor that mixes intelligence with stupidity, Conan O'Brien has won the hearts of the audience. His recent successful shows have been Conan (2010-2021) and Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, which has been airing since 2018. After more than four decades in the industry, the comedian and host has a fortune of 200 million dollars according to The Celebrity Net Worth.