Conan O'Brien has no documented IQ score, and no consistent figure circulates. His academic record is real and public: which is exactly why a made-up number isn't needed.
Third of six, in a house of professionals
Born 18 April 1963 into an Irish Catholic family. His father, Thomas, was a physician and professor at Harvard Medical School; his mother, Ruth, a partner at a Boston law firm.
He has described himself as a nervous, bookish kid who used jokes to get attention in a crowded household, and who was, at 6 ft 4, easy to spot.
Wrote for and edited the Brookline High student newspaper.
Won the National Council of Teachers of English writing award as a senior.
Interned for Massachusetts congressman Joe Moakley in Washington.
Harvard, in four issues
1981–1985, laid out like covers of the humour magazine that shaped him.
Arrived to study history and literature, and tried out for the Lampoon, the undergraduate humour magazine.
Elected president of the Harvard Lampoon for two terms, one of the few people in its history to hold it twice.
His senior thesis examined the use of children in the fiction of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.
Graduated with honours in history and literature. Returned in 2000 as Harvard's Class Day speaker.
Who had the time slot?
His career is the story of late night's schedule. Pick a year to see where he was on the grid.
Letterman moved to CBS; NBC gave Late Night to an unknown writer who had never hosted anything. Early reviews were harsh and NBC renewed him in short increments.
Writing room to host's chair
HBO satirical news show, his first job after Harvard.
Staff writer; shared a 1989 Emmy for writing.
Wrote episodes including “Marge vs. the Monorail”, often ranked among the show's best.
Co-wrote an unaired NBC pilot with Robert Smigel that became a cult favourite.
NBC, New York. Nearly 2,500 episodes; bits like the Masturbating Bear and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
NBC, Los Angeles; seven months before the time-slot dispute.
TBS; added travel specials filmed in Cuba, Korea, Armenia and elsewhere.
One of the most popular comedy podcasts.
Travel series on Max.
Hosted the 97th Academy Awards and received the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
Sources
- Harvard Lampoon records and Harvard Crimson archives
- NBC and TBS programme announcements (1993, 2004, 2010)
- Carter, B. (2010). The War for Late Night. Viking
- Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize announcement (2025)
- What's Your IQ editorial review of circulated figures