Conan O'Brien Net Worth

Age, Biography and Wiki

💰 Net worth: $150 Million (2024)

Some Conan O'Brien images

For his work on TBS he earns an annual salary of $12 million.

Early Life: Conan Christopher O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on April 18, 1963. His father is a physician and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and his mother is a retired attorney and former partner at Boston firm Ropes & Gray. He has three brothers and two sisters. O'Brien attended Brookline High School, graduating in 1981 as valedictorian. He continued his education at Harvard University, where he studied History and Literature, graduating in 1985.

Television Career: After graduating from Harvard, O'Brien moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the writing staff of HBO show "Not Necessarily the News." In his own time, he also performed with improvisational groups like the Groundlings. He joined the "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) writing team in January 1988, and spent three years there. In 1989, he actually received an Emmy Award together with fellow SNL writers for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series. He occasionally appeared as an extra in SNL sketches, such as his role as a doorman in a sketch with Tom Hanks. During this time, he also wrote the television pilot for "Lookwell" with Robert Smigel, starring Adam West. The pilot aired on NBC in 1991, but was not picked up by the network. Following the failure of the Lookwell pilot and the ending of his engagement, he quit SNL in 1991.

He was subsequently offered a job writing for the animated sitcom "The Simpsons," a highly-coveted rare opportunity. He worked as writer and producer for "The Simpsons" from 1991 to 1993, writing some of the most acclaimed episodes of the series, including "Marge vs. the Monorail" and "Homer Goes to College." In the meantime, David Letterman was getting ready to depart the talk show "Late Night," so executive producer Lorne Michaels was searching for a new host to take over. He initially approached O'Brien to produce, but O'Brien's agent highlighted that he wanted to perform, not just produce and write. A test audition was arranged, and O'Brien was selected as the new "Late Night" host in April 1993. He still has a contract with Fox, however, to work on "The Simpsons," so O'Brien and "Late Night" network NBC split the cost to get him out of it.

"Late Night with Conan O'Brien" premiered on September 13, 1993, and was initially poorly received by critics. Things got so bad that at one point NBC threatened O'Brien with a weekly contract, and interns had to fill in empty seats in the audience. Eventually though, things gradually improved, and the show grew in popularity. Beginning in 1996, the show's writing team along with O'Brien himself would be nominated annually for the Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series, willing the award for the first and only time in 2007. They would also win the Writers Guild Award for Best Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series several times. By October 2005, the show was consistently attracting an average audience of 2.5 million viewers. "Late Night" officially aired for the last time on February 20, 2009, ending O'Brien's 15-year run with the show.

Subsequently, O'Brien took over "The Tonight Show" from Jay Leno, and remained in the position for seven months between 2009 and 2010. A combination of low ratings for O'Brien, as well as low ratings for Jay Leno in his new prime time slot, resulted in Leno returning to the late night slot and "The Tonight Show" in 2010. The tensions between O'Brien and NBC became known as the "Tonight Show conflict."

NBC Settlement: Conan was ultimately paid a reported $32.5 million settlement when he left NBC. The network also agreed to pay $12 million which went to his staff.

After leaving NBC, O'Brien took a hiatus from television, and embarked instead on a 30-city live tour "The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour" in 2010. The day his tour began, he also announced his new show on cable station TBS. "Conan" premiered on November 8, 2010, and he continues to host it in the present, with the show extended through to 2022. On "Conan," O'Brien has had several notable moments, including being the first American television personality to film in Cuba for more than fifty years, and also filming at the DMZ in South Korea (and technically North Korea, because he stepped across the border line at the DMZ).

Other Pursuits: O'Brien founded the television production company Conaco in 2001, which first began sharing in the production credits for "Late Night." Through Conaco, he has been executive producer for several shows and pilots, including "Andy Barker, P.I." (2007) and "Outlaw" (2010). He also owns the production company TeamCoco, which partnered with Earwolf to launch the weekly podcast "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" in 2018. The podcast has won awards such as the iHeartRadio Podcast Award for Best Comedy Podcast and Best Ad Read.

Personal Life: O'Brien met Elizabeth Ann "Liza" Powel in 2000. At the time, she worked as a senior copywriter at Foote, Cone & Belding. She appeared in a skit involving the firm on his show "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." They dated for almost eighteen months before tying the knot in Seattle in 2002. Together they have two children; daughter Neve (born 2003) and son Beckett (born 2005).

Real Estate: While he was hosting "Late Night" from New York City, Conan and his family lived in a duplex apartment overlooking Central Park. As the family prepared for the move to LA, they quietly listed the apartment fully furnished for $30 million. The home sold in July 2010 for $25 million.

In 2008, upon relocating from New York to Los Angeles to takeover "The Tonight Show", Conan purchased a home in LA's Brentwood neighborhood for $10.75 million. He sold the house in June 2012 for $9.25 million, a $1.5 million loss.

In 2011, Conan and his wife paid $19.4 million for new mansion in nearby Pacific Palisades. He also bought the property next door. It's unclear if that purchase is included in the reported $19.4 million price.