Conan O’Brien says it feels “weird” to be replaced as a talk show host.
Conan O’Brien says it feels ‘weird’ to be replaced as a talk show host
The 60-year-old, who spent 28 years hosting chat shows including ‘Conan’, made the admission as she sat down with ‘The Tonight Show’ presenter Jimmy Fallon, 49, to reminisce about Conan’s time hosting NBC’s ‘Late Night’.
He said: “It’s weird to come back. I haven’t been in this building for such a long time, and I haven’t been on this floor in forever.”
Conan went on: “I was here for 16 years doing the ‘Late Night’ show before we went out to LA, and right across the hall… all these memories came flooding back to me.
“The first thing that will hit you – and it will hit you, too, because one day you’ll have this show as long as you want it, but when you’re 98, you’ll move on and someone else will be in this studio. When someone else is in your studio, it feels weird.”
Conan added Kelly Clarkson, 41, who is the host of her eponymous daytime talk show on NBC, is in his old studio.
He said: “I love Kelly Clarkson. Who doesn’t love Kelly Clarkson? But still I felt like, ‘It’s not right! Blasphemy! They should’ve burned it to the ground!’”
Conan’s guest appearance marked the comedian’s first in-person return to Jimmy’s ‘The Tonight Show’ since his exit from NBC in 2010, in which he was replaced by Jay Leno, 73, as the show’s host following a seven-month tenure. Before his brief stint on ‘The Tonight Show’, Conan hosted ‘Late Night’ from 1993 to 2009.
He is now promoting his forthcoming travelogue series ‘Conan O’Brien Must Go’, which debuts on Max on April 18 – and marks the presenter’s first TV project since his TBS show ‘Conan’ ended in 2021 after 11 seasons.
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