When Andy Richter first appeared on television as Conan O'Brien's sidekick, people hated him. Actually, they hated Conan, too. These were two unknown comedians trying to do their own thing with a show that once belonged to late night legacy David Letterman, and the public wasn't going to cut either of them much slack. The public was wrong, as it turned out, and both men turned out to be extremely likeable, especially Richter. Not just a mere "Ed McMahon" type who laughed at all of Conan's jokes, Richter was very much Conan's equal, and the two worked well as a team.

One of Richter's first ventures after leaving Late Night was the FOX series Andy Richter Controls The Universe, one of many quality shows FOX ended way too soon (it lasted for two seasons). The show centered on Andy, an aspiring short story writer who, like most aspiring writers, finds a "writing" job to make ends meet while he works on his real writing. In this case, he writes technical manuals for a company in Chicago that makes large scale weapons. The show is driven by Andy's overactive imagination as he imagines different scenarios and different outcomes which are played against the harsh reality of what's really going on. The show featured writers from such shows as Family Guy, Futurama, and Malcom in the Middle.

Best episode: Conan O'Brien guest stars on the show as Andy's new boss and turns out not only to be very eccentric, but a near-homicidal lunatic. Probably not much of a stretch for Conan, actually.