Late Night with Conan O'Brien's 1993 premiere still holds up as a slice of punk comedy art

UPROXX

Critics pilloried Conan upon his talk show debut on Sept. 13, 1993. But 25 years later, it still stands up as punk comedy art, says Jason Tabrys. "Thank goodness NBC didn’t make a snap decision and gave the show enough time to gel, but I wonder if the prospect of failure helped drive the creativity of the show as much as it ratcheted up the anxiety," he says. "Starting with the first episode, there’s a definite feeling that everyone involved had decided that dying with their spurs on held more appeal than trying to be something counter to what they wanted to be."