The departing late-night host on his 28-year run and his trick for staying childlike forever.
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This is going to take a long time.
The only thing I can do is to get a core audience and build out from there.
The last time I interviewed Conan OBrien was earlier this month, on June 9.
Hello, Conan OBrien!
How are you doing?Im doing really well, actually.
Were getting live audiences back next week, and that just …
I mean, that just makes me want to cry.
Im looking forward to people again so much.
Wheres your head?You know, people use the wordgratitudea lot when theyre talking about crystals and healing.
I have felt an enormous amount of gratitude that Ive been allowed to do this for so long.
I started just after Johnny Carson retired, and hed done 30 years.
I still want to make comedy, and I still want to make funny stuff.
But the night-in, night-out rhythm that started for me in September of 1993 is kind of grueling.
I cannot tell you how I will feel on that last night.
Im sure Ill feel sadness and some pretty strong emotions.
But I think the overriding emotion is going to be gratitude that all of this happened.
I watch it and I go,Okay, thats cool, thats neat.
I cant believe we did that.
I love making stuff.
Im always going to want to make stuff.
Long after anyone wants to see my stuff, Ill want to make stuff.
It felt different night-in, night-out, where youre trying to make that shows deadline.
I think, for many years, that was thrilling, and I was addicted to it.Reallyaddicted to it.
What happens is, over time as you get older, you start craving different experiences.
Those travel shows made me feel like,This is fantastic.
The other thing wasthe podcast.
So this just felt like the right time.
You seemed reinvigorated by the new format, and there was good critical reaction.
But then, barely a year later, the pandemic blew things up again.
Do you think COVID maybe sped up the decision to give up the nightly gig?Its possible.
I wouldnt say, Oh, it was the pandemic.
But you bring up a good point.
Its possible the last 15 months could have sped things up by a year.
Its why we went to half an hour; its why we tried to strip it down.
It helped get us out of what I call the lines on the highway.
Im probably unaware that Im driving.
But for me, even if Im not youthful anymore, my comedy is youthful.
Ive always had a very silly, energetic approach to comedy, and so I cant fake that.
How do you view the time from the start ofLate Nightin 1993 until now?
Is it one long continuum of shows, just with different formats?
Thats the best visual representation I have for the first three years of theLate Nightshow.
Then you switch into this other era, the last 16 years ofLate Night.
Then you get to theTonight Showperiod, which is brief shockingly brief.
What is interesting is that, all along, there are different feelings as you go and different looks.
The comedy I really like is evergreen.
But its not what I do.
It is a 28-year journey to find silly things that we hope amuse other people.
So if you really think about it … whether itsLate NightorThe Tonight ShoworConan, its all the same idea.
If Im remembering right, you had a couple of options after you left NBC.
You probably could have done a show for Fox or maybe syndication.
It was a little surprising when you chose TBS.
We arent, actually.I think more than civilians, the media likes a late-night war.
I was caught up in all that.
It was actually nice for a long time at NBC atLate Nightbecause I wasnt caught up in all that.
And then I went through the wholeTonight Showcraziness.
That wasnt too appealing.
Then I had a meeting with [thenTurner Entertainment chief] Steve Koonin.
He was wearing a raincoat that Columbo would wear.
It was raining in L.A., and he looked rumpled and he was not slick.
He had so much emotional intelligence, and hes such a genuinely kind person.
Steve always kept his word, and everyone since Steve did the same thing.
I cant say enough good things about TBS.
I dont know what would have happened if we had gone to Fox.
I think the pressure at Fox would have been a lot more intense than at TBS.
The whole TV universe has changed so much.
Everyones ratings are dramatically lower than they used to be.Its really changed so much.
That was hilarious and fantastic!
In 1993, if you werent up at 12:35 and saw the show, you missed it.
When I arrived at the airport in Seoul, they said, Theres some people out there.
And it was just insane.
This is how I best describe it: I didnt decide to be ambitious.
Something was pushing me.
What feels right to me?
What am I really proud of?
God, that felt good; how can I get that feeling again?
Now can I get that again?
Now can I get that again?
And I am happier now than I was at any other period in my life.
Theyve actually done studies where they say people do tend to get happier later on.
That defined this whole chunk of my career.
I have no interest in revisiting that period; I do not romanticize it.
And honestly, you still seem that way.
I come from a family where theres no escaping who you are.
So that I cannot take credit for.
I think I spoke to your brother Luke.Thats so funny.
Im not really doing press for this.
Im not looking for a lot of fanfare.
I call this the Irish good-bye, which youve probably heard about.
Luke had one of the best quotes about me ever.
Someone said to him, Gee, can you believe Conans been working on his show for 28 years?
And Luke said and he meant it You dont understand.
Conans been working on this show his entire life.
I wouldnt play the fucking game!
But what about full episodes of your past shows, particularly from theLate Nightera?
Will we ever get access to those?
And that does seem to be the way people consume shows now.
If I go to my parents house, on each cassette, theres three-to-four shows.
If you used them as bricks, you could build an exact reproduction of the Pentagon in real size.
Its massive, the amount of tape he has.
I disagree with you that theres not an audience for the full episodes.
And youre a lot more current than Carson.Oh, wow.
Itd be interesting to watch it because the other thing you see is how TVs rhythm changes.
The one stumbling block would be musical guests.
Its so expensive to get the rights cleared.Right, thats the other thing.
But you cant get the clearances.
So thats an issue.
We didnt know what the hell we were doing.
Wed just think of the perfect tune for that sketch, and wed do it.
Ill tell you one funny thing.
Ive had the opportunity to hang a couple of times with Sir Paul McCartney.
And Paul McCartney said, What do you do that for?
And I said, So I dont have to pay you anything!
As I recall, he wasnt laughing.
Its very funny, but its also more than that somehow.
Its very human, and that really impresses me.
My wife and I have been watchingHacks, and the writing on that show is superb.
I mean, the cast, the performances are fantastic.
Im blown away by Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder.
Ive been really blown away by that show.
I mean, the list goes on.
Theres so much good stuff.
Theres more good stuff now than there ever was before, I think.
Its just fantastic and surreal and creative.
Theres so much good stuff everywhere that its a little humbling.
So many people are out there making really impressive comedy and not just in the United States but worldwide.
Those guys have really walked that line with eerie perfection.
I think Ive now given you many shows.
I know you havent really figured out the details of the new show for HBO Max.
Ive been talking to the HBO Max people, whove been terrific.
Theyre very nice, and they seem very smart and are great collaborators.
I will not be fighting crime.
My aim is to have my cake and eat it, too.
Do you think itll be at least mid-2022 before you return with the new show?
Could it be sooner?
Later?It will definitely be into 2022 before people see anything.
I can do that pretty quickly, but youve got to give me at least six months.
But I want it to be upsetting to people what I look like when I reemerge.
And Im going to act like I always have.
Ill act very youthful and impish and foolish, like Im a 30-year-old who just got his late-night show.
But I want my physical appearance to be nothing less than horrifying.
No more beards, though!
You talked about that on Stern a few years ago.No, weve done the beard.
And onceWill Ferrell shaves your beard on TV, youre not allowed to grow it back.
Speaking of long beards,you interviewed David Letterman on your podcast in 2019.
How fun has it been experimenting with that format?The podcast was a total accident.
I had Obama on the [TV] show, but thats very different.
Theres an audience, theres music, theres Lets take a break and well have more.
My goal is to just stay a kid.
It really is Peter Pan syndrome.
Im very grateful for 11 years at TBS, but I want to retain that foolishness.
And if I lose track of that, I will just have a very sad comb-over.
