In 1988 he began working as a writer for NBC's "Saturday Night Live," after which time he wrote for and produced "The Simpsons" on the Fox television network.
When he was an undergraduate, O'Brien served for two terms as president of the Harvard Lampoon, a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine.
He told The Crimson earlier this year that if the Lampoon did not directly teach him how to be "funny," it at least allowed people--however ironically--to take him seriously in the business.
According to O'Brien's publicist, the comedian will stay true to his days in improvisational comedy and will not plan too far ahead for his speech.
"He's not planning to prepare anything until the night before when he's going to pull an all-nighter," NBC's Marc Liepis said yesterday.