Conan O'brien 10th Anniversary

9:30-11 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 14
NBC

Is Conan O'Brien ready for primetime? More to the point, are primetime audiences ready for him? In his 10th anniversary show, O'Brien reminded us just how far he has pushed the envelope of content in his regular late-night slot that follows Jay Leno.

As always, some of the comic bits were wildly funny, other gags miss the target and most of it is geared to the sensibility of a younger crowd at a no-holds-barred comedy club.

There was an advisory at the top of the show that ran Sunday night cautioning viewer discretion. Near the end of the 90-minute special, O'Brien brought out his cast of spoofy regular characters, including a projectile-vomiting Kermit the Frog, the Masturbating Bear and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, who is as nasty (and funny) as he wants to be.

The former "Simpsons" writer-producer's trademark is dark, irreverent humor, pratfalls and bad-boy innuendo, with the kind of laugh-out-loud, subversive sensibility that "Saturday Night Live" offered in its heyday. "Conan," to its credit, has earned nine Emmy noms.

With a huge, responsive audience in place at New York's lavish Beacon Theatre, the hip host went hopping down the memory trail, showing outrageous clips from past shows, some of them reminiscent of David Letterman's too-hip-for-the-room bits.

The special also featured the return of bandleader Max Weinberg, who was touring with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and a reunion with former sidekick Andy Richter.

Wearing a smart, dark suit, the host did his regular "I'm so hot" routine and urged the audience to "Keep cool, my babies." O'Brien's deliberately gawky, geeky moves were, as usual, self-deprecating and self-indulgent.

"This is a huge night for me," he said to his audience, explaining that when he was a kid growing up in Boston, he always wanted to be "that jackass who comes on after Leno."

O'Brien, through the years, has opted to overtly goof on his guests than to actually get them to open up and share details of their life and projects. In clips, O'Brien tearfully lip synchs to a song from "Cats," deliberately annoys Martha Stewart, hangs out with Mr. T, cracks wise with a partly animated photo of former President Clinton and indulges in mock gay scenes with Harry Connick Jr. and Will Ferrell ("SNL"). Appearing in person were William Shatner, Ferrell, John Tesh and others.

Also welcome was an outstanding clip of Jim Carrey playing O'Brien in the dressing room. Talk about dark and hilariously funny. A show-stopping "Broadway"-style number by actor-singer Jack Black recounted O'Brien's vicissitudes