No late night show was or is complete without a great soundtrack and 'Late Night With Conan O'Brien' was no different.

With the E Street Band's drummer, "Mighty" Max Weinberg as the musical director and band leader, the show had a lot of credibility to attract the biggest names in music. O'Brien (a devout music lover and guitar player in his own right) took full advantage of that to create some memorable music moments, including devoting full weeks to artists like Neil Young and the White Stripes.

And he looks to bring some of that music magic to 'Conan,' as proven by his performance with Jack White on his new TBS show's premiere episode.

As we welcome Conan back to TV, we remember the greatest musical moments from his 'Late Night' history.

Countdown to 'Conan': Get ready for Conan O'Brien's TBS talk show debut on Nov. 8

Andy Richter never meant to become a sidekick.

When Conan O'Brien took over 'Late Night,' head writer Robert Smigel hired Richter to be a writer. But in the weeks leading up to the new show's premiere, it became obvious O'Brien was nervous on camera (it was actually obvious the first few seasons), so Smigel told Richter to go on stage during a practice run-through, just to calm the host down. Their rapport was so strong Richter became the permanent sidekick.

Seven years later, Richter left 'Late Night With Conan O'Brien' on good terms to pursue acting. His exit gave us the cult favorites 'Andy Richter Controls The Universe' and 'Andy Barker, P.I.', but we missed his quick, deadpan one-liners and ability to play O'Brien's folly. He balanced O'Brien's hyper personae as the host tried to find the show's voice.

TBS has offered Conan O'Brien a deal that's so sweet, you could pour it over pancakes.

No one, however, is closer to achieving a full-on joygasm than 'Lopez Tonight' host George Lopez. He should. He's going to have an awesome lead-in audience, worldwide attention, and a better chance of beating the late night bigwigs than he could ever hope for if he was on his own.

So why should he not go "muy loco" or any other ethnically charged verb for sharing a late night block with "Coco"?

Conan O'Brien's deal with TBS may have thrown every TV pundit and pontificator for a loop, but here's one that will make your head spin clear around your neck. (WARNING: TV Squad and its parent companies will not be held responsible for any head and/or neck trauma that may occur while reading this article).

While everyone thought Conan would simply jump to Fox because it was the last remaining network without a strong late night slot, Coco and company were being courted by all sorts of networks and media outlets, including ... Microsoft???

That's right, the technology giant had been talking to Conan about a deal that would have brought his nightly talk show to their XBox Live service.

Coco might be unemployed, but he's not spending his days half-naked in a bean bag chair and hitting a bag of Doritos like he's trying to earn "Nacho Miles."

He's hard at work on a new live show, the big loophole in his contract that precludes him going on television for some time, starting with Phoenix, Arizona.

TMZ confirmed that Conan is holding a stage show at the Dodge Theatre on April 30 and tickets go on sale today. Ticketmaster started selling seats for the soon to be sold out show but took the listing down when TMZ broke the story. A theater representative confirmed the show will still go on as planned.

There isn't any word yet on what the show is exactly, but expect a lot of angry puppets, a heavy dose of death humor and 1,001 cracks at Jay Leno that would have gotten him thrown in FCC's "Naughty Word Jail" until the end of the next century. In other words, the depth of your standard NBC contract.

During a discussion in NYC called 'Live From New York,' Lorne Michaels offered some opinions on the entire Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien situation/fiasco. Michaels stated that he was sure Conan would land on his feet and indirectly stated that NBC handled the situation poorly. In short, it was nothing that hasn't been said before by other sources.

Given that he was one of the forces behind 'Late Night With Conan O'Brien' (and its Jimmy Fallon-hosted successor), his comments strike me as somewhat bland and politically correct. Undoubtedly Michaels took O'Brien's replacement on 'The Tonight Show' as something of a personal affront, but he has also long since learned that it's a bad idea to bad mouth the people that sign your paycheck.

Of course, this is the man from whom both Jack Donaghy and Dr. Evil were based. Whatever happens to Conan O'Brien, Michaels will undoubtedly still own a piece of his soul.

Are you a fan of Conan O'Brien? Were you so incensed at NBC's treatment of him that you considered launching some kind of letter writing campaign that, at best, could cripple NBC's mailroom department and force them to take a half day? Chances are you're also really white.

Christian Lander's hilarious Stuff White People Like blog featured the former 'Tonight Show' host the No. 113 thing that white people, presumably, like.

Lander said the lighter skinned people of the universe are behind Coco because "he embodies so many of the things they already like before he even opens his mouth: Ivy League Schools, Red Hair, the Boston Red Sox, Self Deprecating Humor, The Simpsons, and Bad Memories of High School (likely, but not confirmed). Seeing him on television five nights a week is a comforting reminder of community to the white people who still have televisions."

Everyone involved in the Second Late Night War got both criticism and praise. Yes, even Jay Leno got praise in some circles (just not from me). But now we've had some time to let the dust settle and take a closer look, there's a clear winner in this battle: Conan O'Brien.

Why? Well, some news from our friends at TMZ is a good place to start:

1. Conan is paying his crew himself. TMZ reported yesterday that some of the old 'Tonight Show' crew -- namely, the stage hands -- are being paid severance directly by Conan because they weren't among the staff being paid under Conan's separation agreement with NBC. According to the report, he's paying 50 staffers six weeks' worth of severance. Now, that's not going to help those staffers pay the bills until Conan comes back in September, but it's better than getting what NBC was offering, which was zero. The word mensch comes to mind when I read this story.

You might have wondered why Howard Stern really declined to be Conan O'Brien's last few shows on The Tonight Show. Here's a possibility: Howard hates being proved right. Sure, it's a long shot.

TVTattle dug up an old Late Night interview from 2006 with the longtime radio host warning Conan, "I don't see this guy (Leno) leaving and letting you walk in and I'm concerned about you."

Nice call, Howard. Would you also be willing to take over my stock portfolio and attend my upcoming IRS audit with me?

Did Conan O'Brien's 'Tonight Show' fail because of an Andy Richter curse?

Actually, it probably failed because of a Jeff Zucker curse. But still, what of poor Andy? He seems to have been operating under a perpetual cloud ever since he left Conan's side the first time, when he quit his job as sidekick on 'Late Night With Conan O'Brien' in 2000 for a Hollywood career. He's worked consistently since then, but his list of credits over the last decade consists largely of box office flops and short-lived TV series. To which we can now add 'The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien.'

"This is hard for me. I've been with NBC a long time," said Conan O'Brien in Thursday's 'Tonight Show' monologue. "Remember 'The Cosby Show'? I was Rudy." It was a long wait for O'Brien to assume hosting duties on 'The Tonight Show,' but the goodbye will be short and sweet -- the last show of his seven-month run will air tonight.

It's as good a time as any to review some of the highlights of Conan O'Brien's career as a host, a comedy writer and an enabler of libidinous wildlife.

Earlier today we posted video of a 2004 Jay Leno telling his Tonight Show audience that Conan O'Brien would take over the show in 2009, and how it's right to hand it over to someone like Conan who is a gentleman and funny. Now here's Conan's thoughts at the same time. He thanks everyone at NBC and says that hosting The Tonight Show is something he has always dreamed about.

[via TV Tattle]

A lot of crazy things have been said about NBC's efforts to reshuffle their late night deck. Thankfully, Conan O'Brien is here to clear them all up.

The Tonight Show host addressed the rumors surrounding his show last night. I'm sure you'll be happy to know that neither he nor Leno will have to take any last minute maternity leave.

Finally, there is some good news in the never-ending Jay Leno debacle and no, it's not that NBC has finally decided to put The Jay Leno Show out of its long-standing misery.

NBC just released a statement that whatever decision they make regarding Leno's show, they are sticking with Conan O'Brien.

Of course, that doesn't mean they won't make him move back to Late Night or out of The Tonight Show spot to make room for Leno. What do you think the NBC executives will do with Leno or O'Brien, other than pray to Pan, the goat god worshiped by all of the corporate elite?

When it debuted last spring, 'Parks and Recreation' already seemed in need of some urban renewal. Sure, Amy Poehler was funny, but the rest of the ensemble didn't gel around her, the plotting was listless and the jokes fell flat.

In its second season, however, the writing has become sharper, the pacing has gathered steam and Poehler's bureaucrat with delusions of grandeur has become someone to sympathize with and root for.

'Parks' deserves a ribbon for improving on a rocky start; after all, few shows that stumble out of the gate are able to recover their footing and race to the forefront. Here are nine more that did ...