[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp0U73ybt2E]
The messy fallout between David Letterman and NBC made Conan’s debut as the new host of Late Night more awkward for the gangly Irishman; the show’s opening sketch on Sept. 13, 1993, featured Conan attempting to hang himself as a result of all the media hype. And Houston, perhaps more than any other U.S. city, seemed determined to shut out the relatively unknown comedy writer — airing his show at 2:40 a.m., after repeats of Ricki Lake, Access Hollywood and the Jenny Jones Show.
So in 1997, Conan decided to take a field trip to the nation’s fourth largest city to find out who was tuning in during the middle of the night. The first problem he encounters? Finding any people at all. “Things have really gotten kind of quiet,” Conan observes from behind the steering wheel of his rental car. “And it is 11:40 … what I’m hoping is they’re taking a nap so they can get up at 2:40 and watch the show.”
After lying to an elderly M*A*S*H fan that his program is “primarily a medical drama set in Korea in the ’50s,” Conan attempts to exploit Texas’ love of country music by playing his “new” honky-tonk theme song. But Conan’s adventure turns downright scary when an imposing man called Buffalo approaches him in a bus terminal at 3 a.m., yelling, “We don’t show that kind of s___ in Houston,” before asking, “Where’s your crappy buddy?” (referring to sidekick Andy Richter). After persuading the man that “only the first year was crap,” Conan turns to the camera and says meekly, “I was just almost murdered.”