14 Celebs Who Got Their Start As Interns, Writers, And Bandleaders On Talk Shows

In show business, everybody has to start somewhere, and many people get their start working behind-the-scenes or in supporting roles.

Here are 14 celebs who used to work on talk shows:

1.John Krasinski interned for Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 2000.

Appearing on the show as a guest five years later, he told the host, "I had a blast. My job was actually just to hang out backstage with you just before you went on, and you'd run through some monologue jokes."

Watch him reminisce on his internship below:

2.In 1994, Angela Kinsey interned for bandleader Max Weinberg on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Reading from the journal she kept during her internship, she said, "There are some serious food perks at Conan. I get a free meal with the writers if I stay late, and I had my first bagel! It's basically bread that looks like a donut."

You can watch her discuss more experiences she had during her internship below:

3.When Mindy Kaling was a sophomore in college, she also interned for Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Appearing as a guest on Conan in 2012, she told the host, "I was the worst intern that's ever worked in the program... I wanted to work there, not to learn how to photocopy things, but to, like, watch you... So I wouldn't do my things that I was hired to do. I would just kind of, like, follow you around."

Here's a clip of her first interview with Conan:

4.In her 20s, Ellie Kemper interned for Late Night with Conan O'Brien. She also appeared in comedy sketches on the show.

While working there, she met her husband, Michael Koman, who was a writer.

She told Vanity Fair, "I was an old intern, and he was a young writer. There was a part of me that was like, 'No time for love! I have to focus on my career!'"

Here's a sketch she appeared in on a 2007 episode:

5.Saturday Night Live alum Vanessa Bayer was a Late Night with Conan O'Brien intern as well.

On Conan, she said, "I had the best time here. It was so great."

You can watch her share some pictures from her internship in the clip below:

6.Early in his career, Jack McBrayer played bit sketch roles on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, often appearing as a "dim hillbilly."

Before he taped his audition for 30 Rock, Conan's staff helped him get into character as a page.

On Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, Jack said, "I called up y'all's page desk, and I got up there, and I talked to wardrobe. I was like, 'Can I borrow, just for 20 minutes, a page uniform?' They're like, 'Yeah, whatever.' So they put me in there. Your hair and your makeup people, like, gussied me up, and I went upstairs...[and] put myself on tape for the untitled Tina Fey pilot. And that is the tape that got me through the studio, through the network. It got me the job."

Here's a compilation of some of the characters he played:

7.And in 1997, Mike Birbiglia interned for Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

On Instagram, he said, "I love doing standup comedy and all, but I would totally still be Conan's intern if he let me. Bill Hader and Mulaney and other comics whom I love endlessly talk about how influential Conan was on our comedy. He's a GOAT."

Conan had Mike back as a guest several times.

8.Before leaving the show in 2022, Jon Batiste spent seven years as the bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Sharing the announcement, Stephen said, "But it's for all the best reasons, including to continue sharing his art with the world... We wanted to give him a big in-person send-off. Joe Walsh was going to pop out of a cake, but Jon's not in town. I hope he's cutting his new album, and I hope it's called More Grammys, Please. We have been so lucky to have a front-row seat to Jon's incredible talent for the past seven years, and will we miss him here? Yeah! Yeah! But we're happy for you, Jon, and I can't wait to have you back on as a guest with your next hit record. I love you."

He was replaced by Louis Cato.

You can watch a musical segment he did with guest Simon Helberg below, starting at the 5:22 mark:

9.In 1996, Stephen Colbert took a job as a comedic correspondent on Good Morning America.

To MediaBistro, he said, "I had been working for ABC Entertainment at The Dana Carvey Show in 1996. That show got canceled, my wife wasn't working, and we had a baby. Someone from entertainment division recommended to the news division that if they were looking for somebody who was funny but looked really straight, for a correspondent for Good Morning America, that they should consider me... They asked me if I could do it, I said yes, and they hired me. I did exactly two reports."

Here's a clip of Stephen on GMA:

10.Chris Elliott was one of the original Late Night with David Letterman writers when the show debuted in 1982. During his six-year tenure, he also made on-air appearances as himself and a variety of characters.

He was working as an NBC page when he met David Letterman, who was so impressed with him that he asked him to be one of his writers.

He returned to the show as a guest many times.

Here's a clip of Chris impersonating Paul Shaffer, the show's bandleader:

11.In 2004, Ben Schwartz was a page for Late Show with David Letterman. He then worked his way up to freelance writing jokes for the host's monologues.

On WTF with Marc Maron, he explained that, after dropping his résumé off at the MTV offices in hopes of landing an internship, a Letterman staff member approached him outside the studio and asked if he'd like to sit in the audience because they needed seat fillers.

Inside, he told one of the pages, "This is my dream job. Who can I talk to to get this job?" So, the page brought over their boss, who said, "I’m sorry. I can't help you unless you have a résumé."

Ben said, "I took out all 20 résumés from my backpack, and he laughed, set up a meeting, and that's how I got that job, which led to me writing jokes for Letterman's monologue, which started the whole thing."

Here's a clip of Ben talking about his experiences on the show:

12.From 1997–2000, Wanda Sykes wrote for The Chris Rock Show. She also occasionally performed on the show.

She won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing For a Variety or Music Program in 1999.

Here's a clip from one of the episodes she appeared on:

13.Ross Mathews famously got his start as an intern on The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno. Though he started off-camera, he became a correspondent known as "Ross the Intern" after his first on-air segment in 2001.

On Twitter, he said, "I was an intern behind the scenes, but Jay Leno & The Tonight Show producers sent me to cover the Oceans 11 premiere & David Duchovney was my 1st. I was just a kid & cuz YOU watched, they kept asking me back. THANK YOU, more than you’ll ever know."

Watch a segment he filmed at the zoo below:

14.And finally, since 2014, Fred Armisen has been the bandleader and drummer on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Aside from being a comedian and actor, Fred previously played with the post-hardcore band Trenchmouth, the Chicago chapter of the Blue Man Group, and the indie rock band Les Savy Fav.

Watch him play with The 8G Band here: