The A.V. Club Interview: Conan O'Brien

Nathan Rabin: Was writing for The Simpsons like being back at the Harvard Lampoon?

Conan O'Brien: Not really, because it's very different. A job is a job. There's a reason it's called a job. So many people come up to me and say "It must be a dream to work at The Simpsons." Well, it was a great job. That room was one of the funniest rooms I've ever been in. It's terrific in a lot of ways. But you're still pulling an oar to make something move forward, and that's a long day. There were no vacations at The Simpsons that I can recall. You're in a poorly ventilated room with horrific furniture, worse than any furniture that had been in my dorm room. In my dorm room, we had, like everyone else, found furniture. Like, "Look at this thing on the sidewalk! It looks pretty good!" When you're there, it's really fun, but when it's 10 o' clock at night and you just want to go home, but you can't until you figure out what Marge says after Homer shoves the plutonium rod through his ear, and you've got to come up with that next line: "Oh, Homey!" It gets kind of grim. 

The A.V. Club Interview: Conan O'Brien / By Nathan Rabin / August 30, 2006