1.
Flight
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Flight is the process by which an object moves, through an atmosphere or beyond it, as in the case of spaceflight. This can be achieved by generating lift, propulsive thrust, aerostatically using buoyancy. Many things fly, from natural aviators such as birds, bats and insects to human inventions such as missiles, aircraft such as airplanes, helicopters and balloons, to rockets such as spacecraft. Humans have managed to construct lighter than air vehicles that raise off the ground and fly, an aerostat is a system that remains aloft primarily through the use of buoyancy to give an aircraft the same overall density as air. Aerostats include free balloons, airships, and moored balloons, an aerostats main structural component is its envelope, a lightweight skin that encloses a volume of lifting gas to provide buoyancy, to which other components are attached. Aerostats are so named because they use aerostatic lift, a buoyant force that does not require movement through the surrounding air mass to effect a lifting force. By contrast, aerodynes primarily use aerodynamic lift, which requires the movement of at least some part of the aircraft through the surrounding air mass. Some things that fly do not generate propulsive thrust through the air, for example, some other things can exploit rising air to climb such as raptors and man-made sailplane gliders. However most other birds and all powered aircraft need a source of propulsion to climb, the only groups of living things that use powered flight are birds, insects, and bats, while many groups have evolved gliding. The extinct Pterosaurs, an order of reptiles contemporaneous with the dinosaurs, were very successful flying animals. Each of these groups wings evolved independently, bats are the only mammals capable of sustaining level flight. Flying frogs use greatly enlarged webbed feet for a similar purpose, flying snakes also use mobile ribs to flatten their body into an aerodynamic shape, with a back and forth motion much the same as they use on the ground. Flying fish can glide using enlarged wing-like fins, and have been observed soaring for hundreds of meters and it is thought that this ability was chosen by natural selection because it was an effective means of escape from underwater predators. The longest recorded flight of a fish was 45 seconds. Most birds fly, with some exceptions, the largest birds, the ostrich and the emu, are earthbound, as were the now-extinct dodos and the Phorusrhacids, which were the dominant predators of South America in the Cenozoic era. The non-flying penguins have wings adapted for use under water and use the same wing movements for swimming that most other birds use for flight, most small flightless birds are native to small islands, and lead a lifestyle where flight would offer little advantage. Among living animals that fly, the wandering albatross has the greatest wingspan, up to 3.5 meters, most species of insects can fly as adults. Insect flight makes use of either of two basic models, creating a leading edge vortex, found in most insects, and using clap and fling
2.
Hanna-Barbera
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Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated American television animation for over three decades in the mid 20th century. In late 1966, it was sold to Taft Broadcasting and spent two decades as its subsidiary and it is officially considered the very first major animation studio to successfully produce cartoons exclusively for television. For their achievements, Hanna and Barbera together won seven Academy Awards, eight Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the pair was also inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1993. Hanna-Barberas fortunes declined in the mid-1980s when the profitability of Saturday morning cartoons was eclipsed by weekday afternoon syndication, in late 1991, the animation studio was purchased from Taft by Turner Broadcasting System, who used much of its back catalog to program its new channel, Cartoon Network. After Turner purchased the company, Hanna and Barbera continued to serve as creative consultants, Turner merged with Time Warner in 1996 and the studio became a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Animation, into which Hanna-Barbera was absorbed after Hanna died in 2001, Cartoon Network Studios continued the projects for the channels output. Barbera went on to work for Warner Bros, Animation until his death in 2006. As of 2017, the studio exists as a unit used to market properties and productions associated with the Hanna-Barbera library. Melrose, New Mexico native William Hanna and New York City-born of Italian heritage Joseph Barbera first met while working at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio in 1939. Their first directorial production and collaboration was the Academy Award-nominated Puss Gets the Boot, Hanna and Barbera served as directors of the shorts for over 20 years, with Barbera in charge of the stories and pre-production and Hanna in charge of supervising the animation. Hanna also provided the screams, yelps and yells for Tom Cat, in addition to the series being nominated for twelve more Oscars, seven of the cartoons won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject between 1943 and 1953. The trophies were awarded to their producer Fred Quimby, who was not involved in the development of the shorts. In addition to their work on the cartoons, the two men moonlighted on outside projects, including the title sequences and commercials for the CBS sitcom I Love Lucy. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer decided in early 1957 to close its cartoon studio, as it felt it had acquired a reasonable backlog of shorts for re-release, Hanna and Barbera, contemplating their future while completing the final Tom and Jerry cartoons, began producing animated TV commercials. During their last year at MGM, they developed a concept for an animated TV program about a dog, a coin toss determined that Hanna would have precedence in the naming the new studio. Harry Cohn, president and head of Columbia Pictures, took an 18 percent ownership in Hanna and Barberas new company, H-B Enterprises, Screen Gems became the new studios distributor and its licensing agent, handling merchandizing of the characters from the animated programs. Sidney and several Screen Gems alumni became members of the board of directors. H-B Enterprises was one of the first American cartoon studios to produce cartoons specifically for TV broadcast
3.
CBS
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CBS is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major facilities and operations in New York City. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the iconic logo. It has also called the Tiffany Network, alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBSs first demonstrations of color television, the network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations that was purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paleys guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, in 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which also controls the current Viacom. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated stations throughout the United States. The origins of CBS date back to January 27,1927, Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18,1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, in early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the networks Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. With the record out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. He believed in the power of advertising since his familys La Palina cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS, during Louchenheims brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebes Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the networks flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, by the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. The deal came to fruition in September 1929, Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time
4.
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
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Rowan & Martins Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22,1968, to March 12,1973, on the NBC television network. Laugh-In originally aired as a special on September 9,1967. In 2002, Rowan & Martins Laugh-In was ranked number 42 on TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, the show was characterized by a rapid-fire series of gags and sketches, many of which conveyed sexual innuendo or were politically charged. The co-hosts continued the exasperated straight man and dumb guy act which they had established as nightclub comics, each episode followed a somewhat similar format, often including recurring sketches. The show started with a dialogue between Rowan and Martin. Shortly afterward, Rowan would intone, Cmon Dick, lets go to the party, the show then proceeded through rapid-fire comedy bits, taped segments, and recurring sketches. The Rompus Room cocktail party was similar in format to the Word Dance segments of A Thurber Carnival, at the end of every show, Rowan turned to his co-host and said, Say good night, Dick, to which Martin replied, Good night, Dick. The show then featured cast members opening panels in a psychedelically painted joke wall, although most episodes include most of the above segments, the arrangement of the segments was often interchanged. The show often featured guest stars, Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Larry Hovis, Arte Johnson, and Jo Anne Worley appeared in the pilot special from 1967. Only the two hosts, announcer Gary Owens, and Buzzi, Carne, Gibson, and Johnson, were in all 14 episodes of season one, eileen Brennan, Hovis, and Roddy Maude-Roxby left after the first season. The second season had a handful of new people, including Alan Sues, Dave Madden, All of the new cast members from season two left at the end of that season, except Alan Sues, who stayed on until 1972. At the end of the 1968–69 season, Carne chose not to renew her contract, the third season had several new people who only stayed on for that season, Teresa Graves, Jeremy Lloyd, Pamela Rodgers, and Byron Gilliam. Lily Tomlin joined in the middle of the season, Jo Anne Worley, Goldie Hawn, and Judy Carne left after the season. Arte Johnson, who created many characters, insisted on star billing. The producer mollified him, but had announcer Gary Owens read Johnsons credit as a sentence, Starring Dan Rowan. This maneuver gave Johnson star billing, but made it sound like he was part of the ensemble cast. Johnson left the show after the 1970–71 season, Henry Gibson also departed after the 1970–71 season. Johnson and he were replaced by former Hogans Heroes stars Richard Dawson and Larry Hovis, however, the loss of Johnsons many popular characters caused ratings to drop further
5.
NBC
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
6.
Beck
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Beck Hansen, known mononymously as Beck, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is mostly known for his composition, as well as a palette of sonic genres. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style. Today, he musically encompasses folk, funk, soul, hip hop, alternative rock, country and he has released 12 studio albums, as well as several non-album singles and a book of sheet music. Born in Los Angeles in 1970, Beck grew towards hip-hop and folk in his teens and began to perform locally at coffeehouses and he moved to New York City in 1989 and became involved in the citys small fiery anti-folk movement. Returning to Los Angeles in the early 1990s, he cut his breakthrough single Loser, which became a hit in 1994, and released his first major album, Mellow Gold. Odelay, released in 1996, produced hit singles, topped critic polls and he released the psychedelic Mutations in 1998, and the funk-infused Midnite Vultures in 1999. The soft-acoustic Sea Change in 2002 showcased a more serious Beck and he is reportedly working on a thirteenth studio album, with the singles Dreams and Wow having already been released. Two of Becks most popular and acclaimed recordings are Odelay and Sea Change, the four-time platinum artist has collaborated with several artists and has made several contributions to soundtracks. Beck is married to actress Marissa Ribisi, and is an active Scientologist, Beck was born in Los Angeles, to David Campbell, a Canadian-born musician, and Bibbe Hansen, a visual artist and former Warhol superstar. Bibbes mother was half Jewish, while Bibbes father, Al Hansen, was partly of Norwegian descent, Beck has said that he was raised celebrating Jewish holidays, and that he considers himself Jewish. Becks mother grew up amid New Yorks Andy Warhol Factory art scene of the 1960s, but moved to California at age 17 and his father is a Canadian-born arranger, composer and conductor who worked on hundreds of albums and numerous films. Beck began life in a house near downtown Los Angeles. As a child, he lived in a neighborhood just off Hollywood Boulevard. By the time we left there, they were ripping out miles of houses en masse and building low-rent, giant apartment blocks, the lower-class family struggled financially, moving to Hoover and Ninth Street, a neighborhood populated primarily by Koreans and Salvadorian refugees. He was sent for a time to live with his grandparents in Kansas. Since his paternal grandfather was a Presbyterian minister, Beck grew up influenced by church music, Beck also spent time in Europe with his maternal grandfather, Al Hansen, a visual collage artist and a pioneer in the avant-garde Fluxus movement. Beck obtained his first guitar at 16 and became a street musician, during his teens, Beck discovered the music of Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore and X, but remained uninterested in most music outside folk until many years into his career
7.
David Byrne
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Byrne is a multi-instrumentalist and is known for his distinctive voice. Since then, Byrne has released his own recordings and worked with various media including film, photography, opera. He has received Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe awards and been inducted into the Rock, David Byrne was born 14 May 1952, in Dumbarton, Scotland, to parents Tom and Emma. He is the elder of two children, two years after his birth, his parents moved to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and then to Arbutus, Maryland, in the United States, when he was 8 or 9 years old. His father worked as an electronics engineer, before high school, Byrne already knew how to play the guitar, accordion, and violin. He was rejected from his schools choir because they claimed he was off-key. From a young age, he had a strong interest in music and his parents say that he would constantly play his phonograph from age three and he learned how to play the harmonica at age five. In his journals he says, I was a peculiar young man—borderline Aspergers, Byrne graduated from Lansdowne High School in southwest Baltimore County. He started his career in a high school band called Revelation. Their repertoire consisted mostly of songs such as April Showers,96 Tears, Dancing on the Ceiling, Byrne attended the Rhode Island School of Design and the Maryland Institute College of Art before dropping out. He returned to Providence in 1973 and formed a band called the Artistics with fellow RISD student Chris Frantz, Byrne moved to New York City in May that year and was joined by Frantz and his girlfriend Tina Weymouth in September. Unable to find a player in New York, Frantz. While working day jobs in late 1974, they were contemplating a band, by January 1975, they were practicing and playing together, while still working normal day jobs. They founded the band Talking Heads and had their first gig in June, Byrne quit his day job in May 1976 and the three-piece band signed to Sire Records in November. Multi-instrumentalist Jerry Harrison joined the band in 1977, the band released eight studio albums before going into hiatus in 1988. Byrne desired to go solo, but it took three years until 1991 to announce that the band was breaking up, a brief reunion for a single Sax and Violins in 1991 occurred before dissolving again. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, following this record, Byrne focused his attention on Talking Heads. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was re-released for its 25th anniversary in early 2006, in keeping with the spirit of the original album, stems for two of the songs component tracks were released under Creative Commons licenses and a remix contest site was launched
8.
Bill Nye
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William Sanford Bill Nye, popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an American science educator, television presenter, and mechanical engineer. He is best known as the host of the PBS childrens science show Bill Nye the Science Guy, currently, he is the CEO of The Planetary Society. Nye was born on November 27,1955, in Washington, after attending Lafayette Elementary and Alice Deal Junior High in the city, he was accepted to the private Sidwell Friends School on a partial scholarship and graduated in 1973. He studied mechanical engineering at Cornell University and graduated with a B. S. in mechanical engineering in 1977, Nye occasionally returns to Cornell as a guest-lecturer of introductory-level astronomy and human ecology classes. Nye began his career in Seattle at Boeing, where, among other things, he starred in training films, later, he worked as a consultant in the aeronautics industry. In 1999, he told the St. Petersburg Times that he applied to be a NASA astronaut every few years, Nye began his professional entertainment career as a writer/actor on a local sketch comedy television show in Seattle, Washington, called Almost Live. The host of the show, Ross Shafer, suggested he do some scientific demonstrations in a six-minute segment and his other main recurring role on Almost Live. was as Speedwalker, a speedwalking Seattle superhero. The segments national popularity led to Nyes hosting a television program, Bill Nye the Science Guy. Each of the 100 episodes aimed to teach a specific topic in science to a younger audience, with its comedic overtones, the show became popular as a teaching aid in schools. When portraying The Science Guy, Nye wears a blue lab coat. Nye has also several books as The Science Guy. In addition to hosting, he was a writer and producer for the show, all of it was filmed in the Seattle area. His voice is heard in the Dinosaur attraction in Disneys Animal Kingdom park and he appears in video form in the Design Lab of CyberSpace Mountain, inside DisneyQuest at Walt Disney World, where he refers to himself as Bill Nye the Coaster Guy. His Science Guy persona was also the spokesman for the Noggin television network during 1999. Nye remained interested in education through entertainment. He played a teacher in Disneys 1998 TV movie The Principal Takes a Holiday. From 2000 to 2002, Nye was the expert in BattleBots. In 2004 and 2005, Nye hosted 100 Greatest Discoveries, a series produced by THINKFilm for The Science Channel
9.
Jim Carrey
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James Eugene Jim Carrey is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for his highly energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990 after landing a recurring role in the sketch comedy television series In Living Color. He then starred in The Truman Show and Man on the Moon, in the 2010s, he has starred in Mr. Poppers Penguins and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. In 2013, he appeared in Kick-Ass 2 as Colonel Stars and he retracted support for the film two months prior to its release. He issued a statement via his Twitter account that, in light of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary, Carrey reprised his role as Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber To. Carrey was born in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, to Kathleen, a homemaker, and Percy Carrey and he has three older siblings, John, Patricia, and Rita. He was raised a Roman Catholic and his mother was of French, Irish, and Scottish descent and his father was of French-Canadian ancestry. Carrey lived in Burlington, Ontario, for eight years, in a Hamilton Spectator interview, Carrey said, If my career in show business hadnt panned out I would probably be working today in Hamilton, Ontario at the Dofasco steel mill. When looking across the Burlington Bay toward Hamilton, he could see the mills and thought, Those were where the great jobs were. While Carrey was struggling to work and make a name for himself, his father tried to help the young comedian put together a stage act. Carreys impersonations bombed and this gave him doubts about his capabilities as a professional entertainer and his familys financial struggles made it difficult for them to support Carreys ambitions. Eventually, the financial problems were resolved and they moved into a new home. With more domestic stability, Carrey returned to the stage with a more polished act, in a short period of time, he went from open-mic nights to regular paid shows, building his reputation in the process. A reviewer in the Toronto Star raved that Carrey was a star coming to life. Carrey was soon noticed by comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who signed the young comic to open his tour performances, Dangerfield eventually brought Carrey to Las Vegas. However, Carrey soon decided to move to Hollywood, where he began performing at The Comedy Store and, in 1982, the following year, he debuted his act on The Tonight Show. Carrey was not selected for the position, although he hosted the show in May 1996, January 2011. In 1984 Carrey was in the short-lived sitcom The Duck Factory, from 1990 to 1994, Carrey was a regular cast member of the ensemble comedy television series In Living Color
10.
Jon Stewart
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Jon Stewart is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, actor, media critic, and former television host. He was the host of The Daily Show, a news program on Comedy Central. Stewart started as a comedian, but branched into television as host of Short Attention Span Theater for Comedy Central. He went on to host his own show on MTV, The Jon Stewart Show and he has also had several film roles as an actor, but has done few cinematic projects since becoming the host of The Daily Show in 1999. He was also a writer and co-executive producer of the show, after Stewart joined, The Daily Show steadily gained popularity and critical acclaim, and his work won 22 Primetime Emmy Awards. Stewart has gained acclaim as an acerbic, satirical critic of personality-driven media shows, in particular those of the U. S. media networks such as CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. Critics say Stewart benefits from a standard, he critiques other news shows from the safe. Stewart agrees, saying that neither his nor his channel purports to be anything other than satire. In spite of its self-professed entertainment mandate, The Daily Show has been nominated for news, Stewart hosted the 78th and 80th Academy Awards. He is the co-author of America, A Citizens Guide to Democracy Inaction, which was one of the books in the U. S. in 2004. Stewarts final show aired on August 6,2015, Stewarts family is Jewish, and emigrated to the U. S. from Poland, Ukraine and Belarus, one of his grandfathers was born in Manzhouli. Stewart is the second of four sons, with older brother Lawrence and younger brothers Dan, Stewarts parents divorced when Stewart was eleven years old, and Stewart was apparently largely estranged from his father. Because of his relationship with his father, which in 2015 he described as still complicated, he dropped his surname and began using his middle name. Stewart stated, There was a thought of using my mothers maiden name, yet people always view through the prism of ethnic identity. He had his surname changed to Stewart in 2001. Stewart and his brother Lawrence, who was previously the Chief Operating Officer of NYSE Euronext, grew up in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, according to Stewart, he was subjected to anti-Semitic bullying as a child. He describes himself in school as very into Eugene Debs. Stewart grew up in the era of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal and his first job was working at a Woolworths at which his brother Lawrence worked, and jokingly describes being fired by Lawrence as one of the scarring events of his youth
11.
Conan O'Brien
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Conan Christopher OBrien is an American television host, comedian, and television producer. He is best known for hosting several talk shows, since 2010 he has hosted Conan on the cable channel TBS. OBrien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and was raised in an Irish Catholic family and he served as president of The Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, and was a writer for the sketch comedy series Not Necessarily the News. After writing for comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live. OBrien was a writer and producer for The Simpsons for two seasons until he was commissioned by NBC to take over David Lettermans position as host of Late Night in 1993. A virtual unknown to the public, OBriens initial Late Night tenure received unfavorable reviews, the show generally improved over time and was highly regarded by the time of his departure in 2009. Afterwards, OBrien relocated from New York to Los Angeles to host his own incarnation of The Tonight Show for seven months until network politics prompted a host change in 2010. He has hosted Conan since 2010 and has hosted such events as the Emmy Awards. OBrien has been the subject of a documentary, Conan OBrien Cant Stop, with the retirement of David Letterman on May 20,2015, OBrien became the longest-working of all current late-night talk show hosts in the United States, at 22 years. OBrien was born on April 18,1963 in Brookline, Massachusetts and his father, Thomas Francis OBrien, is a physician, epidemiologist, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. His mother, Ruth OBrien, is an attorney and partner at the Boston firm Ropes & Gray and he is the third of six children. OBriens family is Irish Catholic, some of his Irish ancestors immigrated before the American Civil War, in a Late Night episode, OBrien paid a visit to County Kerry, Ireland, where his ancestors originated. OBrien attended Brookline High School, where he served as the editor of the school newspaper. After graduating as valedictorian in 1981, he entered Harvard University, at Harvard, OBrien lived in Holworthy Hall during his first year and Mather House during his three upper-class years. He concentrated in history and literature and graduated cum laude in 1985. OBriens senior thesis concerned the use of children as symbols in the works of William Faulkner, larry Bird in which the Boston Celtics play against a classical ballet troupe. During his sophomore and junior years he served as the Lampoons president, at this time, OBriens future boss at NBC, Jeff Zucker, was serving as President of the schools newspaper The Harvard Crimson. OBrien moved to Los Angeles after graduation to join the staff of HBOs Not Necessarily the News
