You can expect the same ol' Conan 'Tonight'

When Conan O'Brien takes over as host of "The Tonight Show," he's planning to be pretty much the same guy we saw on "Late Night" for 16 years.

"Funny is just funny." O'Brien said in a conference call with TV critics. "And that needs to be the focus. I think the worst mistake I could make would be to over-think it. I think it just has to be a funny show."

O'Brien makes his debut as the successor to Jay Leno (and Johnny Carson and Jack Paar and Steve Allen) tonight at 10:35 on NBC/Ch. 5. And, in addition to being on an hour earlier, there will be some obvious changes.

He's moved from New York to Los Angeles — to a brand-new studio built just for him inside Universal Studios.

He'll be rejoined by his former sidekick, Andy Richter, who's the new "Tonight Show" announcer. Richter will also be on hand for comedy bits, location shoots and back-and-forth with O'Brien.

His theme-song has been "turbo charged … a little bit."

And, while he didn't want to get too specific, O'Brien did say his "Late Night" act will morph a bit for "Tonight." But only a bit.

"I think people would be disappointed if I didn't re-invent myself to some degree," he said. "One of the things I've been stressing with my writers since the beginning is we're moving from one playground to another playground for the first time in 16 years … that it's an opportunity here to think of new ideas.

"It would be a shame to just dust off the 'Late Night' show and move it to (10:35). It doesn't feel right to do that."

He said he recognizes that "Tonight" is a different venue than "Late Night."

"If you walk in the door and everyone's in T-shirts and Bermuda shorts and there's a keg in the middle of the room, you're going to behave a certain way," he said. "And if you walk into a party and the men are wearing white evening jackets and the women are wearing gowns, you alter your behavior slightly.

"I'm sure that there are going to be ways in which hosting 'The Tonight Show' … this long-respected television institution … will act upon me in subtle ways."

At the same time, he rejects the notion that comedy has to change significantly if it's on an hour earlier.