Comedian, late-night legend, podcast host, and Howard’s best interview of all-time Conan O’Brien returned to the Stern Show Tuesday for another epic sit-down covering everything from his early days at Harvard, “Saturday Night Live,” and “The Simpsons” to his musings on which qualities entertainment icons like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Hanks possess that make them so successful. The 59-year-old TV star turned podcast mogul spoke about the highs and lows of his late-night career, which included crawling underneath the desk in his “Late Night” office and watching the Rock repeat one of his zingers in the wrestling ring. He also broke big news regarding his new Team Coco Radio network, debuting Tuesday, Nov. 15 on SiriusXM channel 106.
In 2009, Jay Leno seemingly retired as host of “The Tonight Show” and handed the reins over to “Late Night” host and longtime network colleague Conan O’Brien. Less than eight months later, and for a variety of reasons that can and have filled a book, the network gave Leno back his old time slot and essentially forced Conan out. For years, the shake-up and apparent subterfuge was all Hollywood wanted to talk about.
“I remember at the time thinking, ‘Oh shit, now this is the first paragraph of my obit,’” Conan told Howard, explaining he then made it his mission to change the narrative by working hard and letting go of his anger. “I was furious for two years … but I kept my head down and now there are so many people around the world that know me from [other work].”
Over a decade later, Conan believes the late-night fiasco may finally be in his rearview. “It is generational. Younger people … know me from YouTube, and they like that stuff,” he said, adding, “Which I’m happy about.”
Howard wondered if Conan had seen Jay since the drama went down.
“Oh god, no,” Conan laughed. “He would pretend nothing happened, I’m pretty sure.”
