Television talk show host, writer. Born Conan Christopher O’Brien, on April 18, 1963, in Brookline, Massachusetts, the third of six children. His father, Dr. Thomas O’Brien, is a noted epidemiologist, the head of microbiology at Peter Brigham Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School. His mother, Ruth Reardon O’Brien, was a partner at Ropes & Gray law firm outside Boston until her retirement in 1997. He has three brothers: Neal, an antique car collector, Luke, a lawyer, and Justin, a business consultant, and two sisters: Kate, a teacher, and Jane, a scriptwriter. Actor and comedian Denis Leary is a cousin.

O’Brien attended Harvard University, where he majored in American History (BA 1985). He was elected as president of the revered parody magazine, The Harvard Lampoon twice (the only other person to hold that distinction was humorist Robert Benchley in 1912). After graduation, O’Brien moved to Los Angeles and began writing for Not Necessarily the News, a series on cable station HBO. He also performed with an improv group, The Groundlings.

Television talk show host, writer. Born Conan Christopher O’Brien, on April 18, 1963, in Brookline, Massachusetts, the third of six children. His father, Dr. Thomas O’Brien, is a noted epidemiologist, the head of microbiology at Peter Brigham Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School. His mother, Ruth Reardon O’Brien, was a partner at Ropes & Gray law firm outside Boston until her retirement in 1997. He has three brothers: Neal, an antique car collector, Luke, a lawyer, and Justin, a business consultant, and two sisters: Kate, a teacher, and Jane, a scriptwriter. Actor and comedian Denis Leary is a cousin.

O’Brien attended Harvard University, where he majored in American History (BA 1985). He was elected as president of the revered parody magazine, The Harvard Lampoon twice (the only other person to hold that distinction was humorist Robert Benchley in 1912). After graduation, O’Brien moved to Los Angeles and began writing for Not Necessarily the News, a series on cable station HBO. He also performed with an improv group, The Groundlings.

From 1988-91 O’Brien wrote for the hit NBC comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live; the writing staff of the show won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in 1989. (Some of O’Brien’s more memorable sketches were the “The Girl Watchers,” first performed by Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz, singing “Roxanne” in the elevator with Sting, and Mr. Short-Term Memory). O’Brien joined The Simpsons, the animated FOX series known for its hilarious, sharp writing, as a writer, then supervising producer, for their 1992-93 season. Of the episodes he wrote, he has said that his favorite is “Springfield Gets a Monorail.”