Conan O'Brien/YMMV

• Crowning Music of Awesome: FREE BIRD.
  • His joining in on two separate occasions (on Late Night) with Bruce Springsteen for performances of "Merry Christmas, Baby", and "Pay Me My Money Down".
  • Rocking out with Jack White on the first TBS episode.
  • The opening sequence of Conan running from New York to L.A. at the top of his first Tonight Show, set to "Surrender" by Cheap Trick.
• Funny Aneurysm Moment: Nathan Lane's retooling of "You Did It Your Way" he performed during Conan's last week on Late Night involved many jokes about Conan failing to gain big enough ratings while at The Tonight Show.
  • Ditto John Mayer's "LA's Gonna Eat You Alive"
• Finns Love Conan O'Brien: Mainly due to his resemblance to Finnish president Tarja Halonen, a fact that he has pointed out a few times on his show. He also has more than one Taiwanese CGI news reel to his name. In 2006, Conan met with the president of Finland in what the Embassy describes as a "whirlwind tour", where they compared hairstyles.

Conan: Hello Finland! It's Conan O'Brien, your golden god.

• Growing the Beard: Literally, during the Writers' Guild strike and after leaving The Tonight Show. People asked for a lock of his beard during the second episode, so he pulled out a hair and gave it to an audience member claiming that if he kept doing that he would be clean in a month.
• Heartwarming Moments/Tear Jerker: Conan's final speech on The Tonight Show, speaking positively of his 20 years with NBC despite their acrimonious breakup. His voice breaking as he recalled the massive groundswell of support he received from the fans. And his imploring everybody, especially the young ones, not to be cynical, during a situation that would surely breed cynicism even for the most idealistic of people.
  • While nowhere near as wrenching as the abovementioned, the following moments certainly qualify:
    • His goodbye speech on his final Late Night, where he spent nearly 15 minutes fighting back tears while thanking everyone under the sun (including, ironically, Jay Leno) for helping him get where he is.
    • Andy Richter's final Late Night, which Conan dedicated entirely to him (there wasn't even a monologue). He concluded the show by crediting his success to Richter, then crying as he told him that he loved him and wished him the best.
    • His first show after 9/11, the first time he implored his young viewers not to be cynical.
    • The day of Tim Russert's death, walking out onto the stage without any music or introduction, informing the audience that he had just learned of his friend's passing, discussing him for several minutes, then playing several clips of Russert's appearances on Late Night.
    • On a happier note, his exuberant gushing following the births of his children, at one point declaring it "Next to meeting my wife, the best thing that ever happened to me."
    • Winning the People's Choice Award for Favorite Talk Show Host and thanking his fans, saying "You made what could have been the worst year of my life into one of the best."
  • Hey, sometimes it's the simple things.
  • Seeing as how his Twitter is a plethora of odd thoughts he posts on a whim, his last Tweet of 2010 was especially touching.
• Hype Backlash: In the aftermath of the NBC fiasco, the huge amount of adoration for him from the media and Conan's fans did not go well with some people, especially from Leno fans.
• Internet Backdraft / Never Live It Down: Debates on the whole Leno-Conan fiasco between Leno fans and Conan fans tend to get quite heated even to this very day.
• Memetic Mutation: Conan is one of YTMND's oldest fads to work from. See also Chuck Norris Facts, above.
• Memetic Haircut: Conan's signature high pompadour / duck's ass hairdo.
• Moment of Awesome: For many years, his commencement speech to the graduating class of 2000 at Harvard was considered his crowning moment. Then came his open letter to the "People of Earth".
  • The very end of his final The Tonight Show, when he, Will Ferrell, and numerous musicians all rocked out to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird".
    • And an unknown heavily-pregnant woman who just sort of danced in place. Turns out it was Ferrell's wife, but why was she on the show?
  • One of his advertisements for Conan where he drove a car filled with explosives and fireworks off a cliff...by throwing out the Conan Stunt Double and getting into the car. The only thing that would've made it better is if he used NBC's money to do this ad.
  • Just his triumphant return to television after being Screwed by the Network in general.
• Seasonal Rot: Sort of. Given that NBC owns most of the trademarks associated with Conan's two prior shows, recurring gags/bits/sketches on the TBS show have not stuck around very long, with the exception of "Fan Correktions". It may be heresy for even some diehard Conan fans to admit that maybe, just maybe, TBS Conan O'Brien is not as funny as his NBC days.
  • In one episode Conan did bring back the Clutch Cargo interviews though. The Masturbating Bear and Triumph were also in the New York episodes, so he could start bringing them back at some point.
• Too Good to Last: He had the rug pulled from under him on The Tonight Show just as it was starting to get really good (with Andy Richter returning to the couch), although it can be argued that the manic last two weeks of his run were probably some of the best episodes of a late-night television show in a very long time precisely because he was probably quitting anyway and just didn't care anymore. Of course, Conan stated he did care very deeply for his crew, his fans, and his show.