List of Late Night with Conan O'Brien sketches
The sketch was invented prior to the actual year 2000, but the show's writers decided to keep the named year the same even after the passing of the titular year, in a sort of ironic twist. However, when the sketch was revived on "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien", Richter heaped ridicule upon O'Brien for failing to update the name of the skit nine years after the year 2000 had passed. The sketch is renamed "In the Year 3000", with the black robe (referred to as a 'ratty smock' by Richter) being replaced with a more futuristic-looking outfit consisting of a large metallic collar with a series of blinking lights, which Conan said were very expensive to make and Andy said smelled bad. Appearing on "Tonight" June 3, 2009, it was the first "Late Night" sketch to be carried over to Conan's "Tonight Show". The open to the sketch included narration by William Shatner and, on one occasion, George Takei.
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Upon Johnny Carson's retirement from "The Tonight Show" in 1992, executives at NBC announced that Carson's frequent guest-host Jay Leno would be Carson's replacement, and not David Letterman. NBC later said that Letterman's high ratings for "Late Night" were the reason they kept him where he was. Letterman was bitterly disappointed and angry at not having been given "The Tonight Show" job and, at Carson's advice, he left NBC after eleven years on "Late Night". CBS signed Letterman to host his own show opposite "The Tonight Show". He moved his show over to CBS virtually unchanged, taking most of the staff, skits, and comedy formats with him. However, NBC owned the rights to the "Late Night" name, forcing Letterman to re-christen his show "Late Show with David Letterman".