Conan is Coming to Chicago

from the Tribune

Fresh from his triumphant visit to Finland, Conan O’Brien is coming to Chicago.

“Late Night with Conan O’Brien” will broadcast four shows live from the Chicago Theatre starting May 9, NBC announced Monday.

O’Brien will tell viewers how to get tickets to the five Chicago broadcasts on the March 28 edition of his show, which airs 11:35 p.m. weeknights on WMAQ-Ch. 5.

Though David Letterman visited our fair city to do live broadcasts of his late-night show, that was way back in 1989, and we’re long overdue for a visit from a talk-show host. (As a couple of readers have pointed out, Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" has visited Chicago too, but I think of O'Brien as Letterman's late-night heir, and await O'Brien's visit with almost as much anticipation as I had for Letterman's arrival back in the day.)

O’Brien, who has done live shows from Toronto and Los Angeles, has never done his show from the Windy City, though NBC’s press release says “Late Night” “has deep Chicago roots, from the numerous writers on the show who have honed their craft in Chicago at the famed Second City and Improv Olympic theaters to the show’s recurring ‘live’ Central Time Zone New Years Eve Countdown.”