5 Questions With: Conan O'Brien

In his last time hosting 'Late Night' on Friday, Feb. 20, Conan O'Brien will say goodbye to Studio 6A in 30 Rockefeller Plaza and depart for L.A. to prepare to take the late night throne as the new host of 'The Tonight Show.'

Replacing Jay Leno -- who's moving to an earlier, prime-time time slot for a new nightly show -- Conan will finally get to showcase his offbeat and irreverent comedy style to an audience that isn't half-asleep.

We spoke to Conan about his "vacation" before taking over the 55-year-old talk show franchise, his plans for the L.A. commute (car or seaplane?), putting his stamp on the new set (ready for a rec room vibe?) ... and then he treated us to a little original song. No, seriously. --By Maggie Furlong



1. What do you have planned for your three months' "vacation"?
Yeah, Feb. 20 till June 1, we're gonna be working -- that will not be me, sitting in a Jacuzzi somewhere. Not that I ever do that, but that's gonna be a busy time.

2. You've said you always had a personal theme song in your head as a kid -- what was it, and how does it compare to your real theme song now?
It was like [sings in a jazzy voice] "Here he comes! Here comes Conan! Here he comes -- that's a real cool guy!" Which is horrible.

3. What do you have planned for reinventing the set?
It's not rocket science -- what we're not gonna do is reinvent the wheel. It's gonna be pretty and attractive and something that people are going to be willing to have on their TV screen night after night after night. These things are always a work in progress. What Jay did is he got out there with his set and realized, You know, I want it to feel more like a nightclub, because that's his milieu. So mine might eventually become more like a basement rec room, because that's where I did my best work. [Laughs]

4. There was a lot of talk about the house you bought in L.A. ...
I know, you can't do anything in this town without ... I've been in diners and I've had waitresses say, "I like your house, but that foyer -- it's high. What are you gonna do?" I guess there's a Website ... you know, I don't care -- I don't guard my privacy very carefully. I'm gonna live on Catalina Island [laughs] and every day, I'm gonna take one of those airplane boats. You know, Jay got all this attention, like [in his Jay Leno voice], "Look at me! I'm riding in a really cool 1911 Duesenberg!" I'm gonna land a seaplane at Universal Studios, where the 'Jaws' shark is, and I'm gonna step out in a bodysuit and walk [to work]. That's gonna get so much attention -- I will be the seaplane guy. That will be my celebrity affectation.

5. Is there one sketch that, if anyone says it needs to go, you would put your foot down?
No, because I don't think anyone's going to. I think if I like it and it works, we're gonna do it, you know what I mean? There's a skit we like that I do -- I don't know how other people feel about it -- but it's really weird and I like it. It's where I sing a lullaby to the audience. And sometimes I think, "Can you do that at 11:30?" But I think it's funny, and it's different and nobody does anything like that. I don't want this [move] to be an excuse for the show to become tamer.