TBS Greenlights Conan O’Brien-Produced Late-Night Show Starring Pete Holmes As ‘Conan’ Companion

Conan O’Brien’s late-night TBS show is getting a companion. The network has ordered a four-week run of a new untitled late-night comedy series starring comedian Pete Holmes and produced by O’Brien’s Conaco production company, which is also behind O’Brien’s talker Conan. The Pete Holmes series will launch in fall 2013 and air four nights a week (Monday-Thursday) at midnight, following Conan. Taped before a live studio audience, the new show will combine sketches, short films, live comedy, field pieces and in-studio guest interviews. O’Brien, Jeff Ross, David Kissinger, Nick Bernstein and Dave Rath executive produce.

Conaco has had the right to program the slot after Conan as part of O’Brien’s original deal with TBS, which he signed in 2010, shortly after his exit from NBC. The agreement mirrors that of David Letterman’s production company Worldwide Pants, which owns/produces both Late Show and Late Late Show. Conaco’s initial focus was on getting Conan off the ground, with TBS airing various repeats after it. It gradually began exploring potential companions, with TBS ordering a pilot for a Holmes-fronted talk show in July. “Pete Holmes is an enormously likable performer with an agile and innovative mind,” said O’Brien. “I’m really looking forward to his show, and I’ve already had my son program my DVR.”

Holmes hosts the You Made It Weird podcast, which has been downloaded nearly 6 million times. He also has starred in a series of popular Batman parodies on the website CollegeHumor, and he provides the voice of the e*trade baby. “The first half of my meeting with Conan was spent making sure this wasn’t all part of a new TBS prank show called You Got Coned!” Holmes said. “The second half was spent expressing my sincerest enthusiasm and gratitude for this incredible dream come true.”

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