Posted in: NBC, TV | Tagged: Andy Richter, conan o'brien, In the Year 2000, late night, Richie Rosenberg, robert smigel, The Tonight Show

Conan O'Brien & Robert Smigel Discuss "In the Year 2000" Origins

On his podcast, Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel reflect on the creation of "In the Year 2000" on O'Brien's Late Night & The Tonight Show.

One of the most popular bits during the early years of Conan O'Brien's tenure as late-night host across his time on NBC's Late Night and The Tonight Show was "In the Year 2000". While Late Night exceeded to 2009, it wasn't until his Tonight Show stint that O'Brien finally updated the name "In the Year 3000" following sidekick Andy Richter's mocking due to his complacency. The bit originated with O'Brien, Richter, and band member Richie Rosenberg donning black futuristic-looking robes, Rosenberg repeating the title of the bit in an ominous vocal as O'Brien and Richter made outlandish predictions with flashlights shining from below. When Richter left Late Night, O'Brien invited guests to participate before his sidekick returned as a guest and, later, to his original role for The Tonight Show. It was so popular there was a book incarnation called "In the Year 2000" released in 1999. On his podcast Conan Needs a Friend, the host spoke with writer, actor, and creator of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Robert Smigel about the origin of "In the Year 2000" among several subjects.

At the 7:20 mark, "Lorne [Michaels] called me in at the last minute, but [Bob] Odenkirk and I were developing a sketch show that summer," Smigel said. "We were going to call it 'Sketch-com '90' or something. That's where I had the first idea for the 'In the Year 2000' sketch, which we ended up doing." "We did it in Chicago in 1988," O'Brien added. "We would all stand there 'In the Year 2000' and then make these insane predictions about what was then the future."

"It was all based on this 'Jetsons' concept in the 60s that 60s kids grew up with which was the idea that like the space age is coming like by the year 2000," Smigel explained. "They had so much mystique to it, and then as we got closer to the year 2000, it was quite clear that it was going to be well…" "'Late Night'…despite everyone's predictions kept going and going and lasted and actually started you know, worked and then we were doing it [laughs]. Then it is the year 2000, and I was thinking, 'Do we need to change it to 'In the Distant Future?'" For more, including the origins of Triumph and why O'Brien decided to keep the title for so long, you can check out the video below.

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