An oral history of Conan O’Brien’s Walker, Texas Ranger Lever: the Late Night gag that made Chuck Norris a meme

On his May 12, 2004 show, O’Brien explained that NBC had merged with Vivendi Universal Entertainment to form the media company NBC Universal. The merger included the USA network, which played Walker, Texas Ranger reruns, and because of that, O’Brien claimed he was allowed to show clips of the series any time he wants for no reason at all. With that, O’Brien pulled a black sheet off of a three-foot-tall red and yellow lever and cranked the lever back.