I think by now we all know a little bit about Conan O’Brien. Most of us know that he wrote for Saturday Night Live back in the day, and many of us know that he was a writer and producer for The Simpsons for a couple of years. There are, however, some things that many of us may not know about him. Here are some things I didn’t know about this famous comedian.

• Conan took tap dancing lessons as a child.
• Denis Leary is his (distant) cousin.
• He drives a green 1992 Ford Taurus sedan.
• O’Brien is an avid guitarist
• In 2005, O’Brien appeared in The White Stripes music video, “The Denial Twist”.
• He has six siblings. His younger sister, Jane, is a comedy writer for The Simpsons and Futurama.
• In December of 2007 a man was arrested for impersonating Conan outside a Philadelphia night club owned by Charles Barkley. Apparently he was charging people for autographs and pictures.
• The Grammy Foundation, a charitable foundation, currently has a guitar up for auction on Ebay. The guitar will be autographed by Conan O’Brien before it goes to the winning bidder.
• One of his all-time favorite television shows is “The Odd Couple”. His current favorites are 24, Lost and Arrested Development.
• Is an avid fan of filmmaker Kevin Smith.
• Conan dated Lisa Kudrow after meeting her in an acting class. They remain good friends.
• In high school he interned for Democratic Representative Barney Frank.
• He graduated as valedictorian from Brookline High School in Massachusetts
• He went on to Harvard to earn a Bachelor of Arts in History and Literature. He graduated Magna Cum Laude.
• He was president of Harvard’s humor magazine, The Harvard Lampoon, for two years in a row.
• In 1989, at only 26 years old, he received an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series for SNL.
• O’Brien credited The Simpsons with “saving” him, a reference to the career slump he was experiencing prior to his hiring for that show.
• As of 2004, O’Brien’s office at The Simpsons was being used as storage.
• He was originally asked to produce the show, Late Night. He later realized he would be more suited for hosting the show.
• He auditioned for host of Late Night on the set of The Tonight Show, where he interviewed Mimi Rogers and Jason Alexander.
• O’Brien resigned his position on The Simpsons, despite the fact that his contract had not expired
• Late Night with Conan O’Brien received unfavorable reviews for the first 3 years. O’Brien was seen by many as not being worthy of the program.
• He signed a new contract every week because the network was doubtful of the show’s future and his ratings.
• His show was cancelled for one night. It was brought back until the network could find a replacement. A replacement show wasn’t necessary.
• To date, Conan and his crew have won four Writer’s Guild Awards.
• Conan was voted one of the “50 Funniest People Alive” by Entertainment Weekly magazine and one of the “25 Most Intriguing People” in People magazine.
• On the first episode after September 11th, O’Brien went out of character and told a story of how he went to pray for the first time in eight years.
• Conan created his own television production company, Conaco, in 2001. The name was chosen to echo the name of petroleum company Conoco.
• During a 2007 interview with sports broadcaster Joe Buck, Conan pledged to donate $1,000 to a charity of Buck’s choice if he works “Jub-Jub” into his broadcast of the World Series. (Jub-Jub, is the name which O’Brien gave Selma’s pet iguana on The Simpsons). Buck took him up on his offer by calling Chris Myers Jub-Jub during the first World Series game.
• Conan referred to Brazilian supermodel, Gisele Bündchen, as the most beautiful woman in the world. When she appeared on his show in 2005 he took the opportunity to tell her this.