Late Night Time Machine: Conan O’Brien Searches for Grady

Whitman Mayp and Conan O'Brien — Photo:: Vicky Kasala/NBC

The search lasted forty-seven days. It took Union soldiers just twelve to find John Wilkes Booth.

It was as 1995 became 1996 that the team at Late Night with Conan O’Brien set out to find Whitman Mayo, the character actor best known for playing Grady on the then-twenty-year-old sitcom Sanford and Son.

The manhunt began simply enough: a writer on the show got the idea to write a sketch featuring Mayo. Though Conan O’Brien himself was only 32 years-old, the host had a deep admiration for stars of the past. Nipsey Russell became a regular performer on Late Night. The show has been credited for helping fuel Tony Bennett’s late career renaissance. Thus, it was only natural that Mayo would get his due.

There was just one problem: they couldn’t find Grady. “After repeated calls to his agent went unanswered,” the Tampa Bay Times reported at the time, “the show took to the airwaves.”

Across several weeks, Late Night made finding Mayo, who the host referred to simply as “Grady,” their top mission. The show launched a 1-800 number. By the end of the first week, according to the New York Daily News, they had received more than 23,000 tips. “To date,” the Daily News gravely reported on January 31, 1996, “the real Whitman Mayo has yet to surface.”

By February 7, the show had received more than 50,000 phone calls. On that evening’s show, O’Brien shared one of the calls with the audience. Jo from Oklahoma phoned in to inform the Late Night team that while she had no leads as to Grady’s whereabouts, she once named her dog after him in the 1970s. “He lived to be over twelve years old,” she shared. “He was a special puppy.” At least there was some good news.

But the show was growing impatient, and worried. On this night, O’Brien shared, they had decided “to bring in the big guns.” Cue the Unsolved Mysteries theme music as Robert Stack appears onscreen. He begins to tell the story: “Grady Wilson by all accounts was a kind and gentle man. A man who almost twenty years ago to this day suddenly disappeared without a trace, without so much as a goodbye.”

The mock Unsolved Mysteries episode even featured a “dramatization” of Grady’s life, a recreated Sanford & Son scene featuring characters Fred Sanford and Aunt Esther. While Redd Foxx, who played Fredd, had died in 1991, the show was able to secure an appearance from the great LaWanda Page, who played Esther. “I remember that day…” Page as Esther says, eliciting large cheers from the audience as she reflects on the last time she saw Grady.

On the same episode, O’Brien shared that while the program had received thousands of purported sightings, they had yet to lead anywhere. Even newspapers got involved. “A [Tampa Bay] Times researcher discovered that Mayo had been seen last May at a North Carolina college fund-raiser,” the paper reported, “putting the show one step closer to his whereabouts.”

But then there was a breakthrough. On February 8, the Times reported that Late Night had finally managed to make contact with Grady “He’s been overwhelmed by how many people have been looking for him,” then-NBC spokesman Daniel Ferguson told the paper. “He really got a kick out of it.”

Also getting a kick out of it was a young John Mulaney, who on a recent episode of his Netflix program, Everybody’s Live, recounted his time following the Grady saga while in conversation with O’Brien. He shared that he was at a friend’s house on a Friday night when he learned that Grady would be appearing that evening. When he found out that they would not be watching Late Night at the sleepover, the eleven-year-old Mulaney raced home.

When Whitman Mayo finally appeared on the February 8, 1996 episode of Late Night, he more than lived up to the hype. The show traced every aspect of his arrival, beginning with footage of Grady’s plane touching at Laguardia Airport, voiced by a newsman reporting as if the public were witnessing the Apollo 11 mission for the first time. One could feel the weight of history: “Ladies and gentlemen, Grady has landed.”

Following that night’s monologue, O’Brien and Andy Richter discussed just how excited they were. They could not sleep the night before. Richter said he had his face pressed against the window all night. The show cut to a “live” feed of Grady being transported to the studio via police escort. “Phones are shutting down in New York City right now,” O’Brien said. “Things are getting out of hand.”

As the show proceeded, O’Brien went on to interview Mark Henry, then the world’s strongest man. Throughout, the host kept checking in on Grady’s progress to the studio. At one moment, he cut to a limo driver standing outside a pizzeria. By the way it all plays out, it’s easy to imagine some viewers starting to think that Mayo would not, in fact, appear.

“And when we come back,” O’Brien eventually said later in the broadcast, “it’s Grady time.” When they returned, O’Brien provided one last update on the search. The 47-day effort had finally ended. It was the moment, he shared, “that you’ve all been waiting for.”

A drumroll is heard. The lights go dark. And out into a spotlight walks Whitman Mayo. The crowd goes crazy as a figure stands in near total darkness. But then fireworks go off. A neon GRADY sign is lowered into frame. There, he stands, as “Whoomp! (There It Is)” beings to play.

Best of all, Mayo did not disappoint. The audience erupts as the sixty-five-year-old actor starts dancing, smiling ear to ear. Eventually, the scene becomes emotional, as Mayo seemingly wipes away tears from his eyes and shakes his head. He seems genuinely touched by the reaction, equally appreciative and, perhaps, bewildered. “I mean this is, this is …” he says, fighting back tears. “This is incredible.” Fans shout out, “We love you!” Grady blows back a kiss.

Such was the genius of Conan O’Brien and his team at Late Night. It’s easy to imagine a bit like this dipping into condescension. Instead, at its apex, they found a way to turn a joke into genuine appreciation, all while preserving the funny. Not an easy feat.

After a commercial break, Mayo sits down for an actual interview, which O’Brien opens by saying of the GRADY sign, “that is the most money we have spent on anything.” Mayo relishes every moment. He shares a story about how a cable television installer noticed a picture of Mayo on his eighty-five-year-old mother’s mantle. Knowing that Late Night was looking for the man, he said, “If you know him, we can make some money.”

O’Brien eats it up, declaring: “The power of television!”

Of having seen the Unsolved Mysteries bit, Mayo says, “I’m looking at Robert Stack and, I mean, I’m scared to death.”

Conan sincerely thanks his guest. “It was so great to have you actually come here on the show,” he says. “We’re glad we found you, we’re glad that you’re well and that you’re doing so great.”

The two then embrace. The perfect end to, without question, the most loving manhunt in American history.