30 Years Ago I Said ‘No’ to Working for Phil Donahue, and ‘Yes’ to Conan O’Brien. No Regrets, But Only Now Do I Understand How Amazing Donahue Was.

“You see, I was hoping to work on Saturday Night Live.” That was my request of the NBC Human Resources department when making my case for a 1994–1995 internship. Enough years have passed that I don’t recall whether I received an actual verbal response or just an extended eye-roll. But I do know the choice they offered me instead: The Phil Donahue Show or Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

Familiar enough with Donahue from my NYC suburban upbringing I picked Late Night, opting for a personality that seemed more edgy, more provocative, more current. Only recently did I learn how, in his own right, Phil Donahue also deserved those descriptions.

On a recent The Daily podcast host Michael Barbaro recounts his love of The Phil Donahue Show and in doing so, served as my professor for where the host fit in journalism’s history. The answer? Much more groundbreaking than I’d realized. Beyond longevity, Donahue played a critical role in elevating and involving the studio audience, not as props, but as people with opinions, questions, and concerns that were of equal importance to his own. He believe in standing up to the powerful and creating space for dialogue. He followed up when someone…