"Homer Goes to College" was the final episode of the show for which Conan O'Brien received sole writing credit; his final writing credit altogether was for the episode "Treehouse of Horror IV", which he co-wrote with five other writers. O'Brien would leave the series halfway through the production of the season to host his own show, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" on NBC. O'Brien was informed that he had been hired by NBC not long before the recording session for this episode began, and he was forced to walk out on his contract. The concept of the episode was that Homer attends college, but bases his entire understanding of what college is on "bad "Animal House" rip-off movies". O'Brien mentioned in the DVD commentary that the antics of the characters Benjamin, Doug, and Gary were based on three "incredible nerds" who lived in the same college dormitory as O'Brien.