The Great Red Hope

I've been a fan of Conan O'brien for many years, essentially since he came on the late night scene in 1993. I've always enjoyed his odd, self deprecating sense of humor, and despite the fact that many of the jokes on the show get used to extreme repetition, almost to the point of being as repetitive as David Letterman, his show has always managed to entertain me. There were two periods of the show that I consider the high points; between 1996 and 2000 when Andy Richter was still on the show (even Conan admits the first 3 years kinda sucked), and the short period during the writers strike in 2008. They were great for drastically different reasons. The writers strike era was a great, raw format that focused on ridiculous stunts and gimmicks, and some more personal and behind the scenes style segments. The 1996 - 2000 era was so great because Andy Richter and Conan seemed to have a great Carson/Ed McMahon vibe that never got old. So it was with quite a bit of excitement that I learned that Richter would be returning to Conan's side, sort of, when O'brien takes over on June 1st. The reports are that Richter will mostly be announcing and working with the staff on pre-recorded segments, but I have a feeling that it will inevitably lead to him taking a much more familiar role as time goes by. One can only hope.