Conan Bounces Back

In Conan O'Brien's first appearance since being hospitalized on Friday during an on-air stunt, the "Late Night" host gave a play-by-play of what happened, including video of the injury.

During a taping of a competition segment with guest Teri Hatcher on Friday, Conan raced Hatcher to the finish line onstage, where O'Brien's feet slipped out from under him, causing his head to smack on the floor. The woozy host - slurring his words - tried to keep going with the show, until it became apparent to producers that he was really out of it. They rushed Conan to the hospital where he was treated for a concussion. A rerun aired on Friday.

What's remarkable is how hosting a nightly talk show is akin to being the President of the United States--it's understood that you simply don't take a day off for anything. The show must go on! Only in severe cases have late night talk show hosts called in sick.

In April of this year, Jay Leno missed his first episode in 17 years as host of the "Tonight Show" after coming down with a 103-degree fever, which he later joked was swine flu. David Letterman has had two notable absences in his 27 years in late night - one in 2000 when he had open heart surgery and the other in 2003 when he had a bad case of shingles - but just last month hosted the show with a 100-degree fever.

Certainly, there are intense pressures by the network and by fans to do the show every night, but I wonder how much ego is involved by wanting to be on-air every night no matter what. I think Jay and Dave and Conan could take a lesson from Johnny Carson, who took a night off once a week for much of his "Tonight Show" run and would let guest hosts take over for many weeks during the year.

It's only TV, guys. Wait a minute. Did I just say that? I must be coming down with a fever.