Turns Out the Background of Conan O’Brien’s Set is Inspired by Super Mario

So I’m still trying to track down the episode where Conan O’Brien’s staff actually did this, but so far I haven’t come up with anything.  However there’s a picture floating around the internet right now that shows Conan doing a monologue or presentation or something somewhere and you’ll notice this almost stained glass-like background.   As it turns out this background is a dead ringer for a world created in the Super Mario Brothers universe.  Have a look at it below:

There’s no denying that coincidence.  I mean that’s an exact match.  However, the issue I’m having is that this is not the normal background that Conan O’Brien has on his show when doing his monologues.   Take a look at a screenshot below from a monologue that’s less than a week old.

So here’s the thing.  Where did that photo up top come from?  Obviously it’s completely possible that someone doctored the picture with Photoshop.  I mean we all know this isn’t that hard to do.  However, I’d like to think this is 100% real and deliberate.  If any of you can get out there and do the research, help me out in tracking down the date in which that Mario background image was taken.  I really want to give Conan’s team credit on this one.  If not, nice job by whoever Photoshopped the picture.