Conan O’Brien will make his first appearance on The Tonight Show since his abrupt firing in 2010.
The 60-year-old comedian will return to NBC’s late-night show, now hosted by Jimmy Fallon, to promote his upcoming Max series, Conan O’Brien Must Go, on Tuesday.
O’Brien had hosted The Tonight Show from June 2009 to January 2010.
His departure, prompted by NBC’s decision to replace him with Jay Leno despite Leno’s previous handover of the reins of the Tonight Show to O’Brien, remains one of the most surprising turns in the history of late-night television.
Following his stint on The Tonight Show, O’Brien embarked on an 11-season journey as host of TBS’s late-night show Conan, culminating in its finale in 2021, concluding his 28-year stint as a late-night talk host. show host.
Conan O’Brien will make his first appearance on The Tonight Show since his abrupt firing in 2010; in the photo 2023
The 60-year-old comedian will return to NBC’s late-night show, now hosted by Jimmy Fallon, to promote his upcoming Max series, Conan O’Brien Must Go, on Tuesday; photographed with Tom Hanks in January 2010.
In a 2022 interview at Bill Maher’s Random club On the podcast, Leno addressed the Tonight Show drama and refuted any accusations of intentionally undermining O’Brien’s opportunity on the show.
“That doesn’t work,” Leno explained. ‘It doesn’t work that way. You try to do the best you can and it didn’t work.’
In May 2009, Leno said goodbye to The Tonight Show and began hosting The Jay Leno Show at 10 pm on NBC.
However, with ratings declining for both shows, he resumed his hosting duties on The Tonight Show in 2010.
During Maher’s podcast, Leno stood by his decision to stay at NBC rather than move to another network amid the controversy.
“Sometimes the czar you have is better than the one you’re going to have,” he told Maher. —Then your old team will shoot you too. I thought let’s play with this and see what happens. “This all happened pretty quickly.”
Leno acknowledged having considered moving to ABC, Jimmy Kimmel Live’s network, and approached Kimmel himself for a conversation, but ultimately opted to remain at NBC.
“I guess I should have called Jimmy and explained it to him again, but I didn’t,” Leno said.
His departure, prompted by NBC’s decision to replace him with Jay Leno despite Leno’s earlier handing of the reins of the Tonight Show to O’Brien, remains one of the most surprising turns in late-night television history; Leno photographed in 2011
O’Brien had hosted The Tonight Show from June 2009 to January 2010; in the photo 2010
Following his stint on The Tonight Show, O’Brien embarked on an 11-season journey as host of TBS’s late-night show Conan, culminating in its finale in 2021, concluding his 28-year stint as a late-night talk host. show host; in the photo 2014
‘I don’t know why I didn’t do it. I just didn’t do it. I thought I’d probably figure it out. But I think maybe that hurt him and I apologized for that.”
In February 2014, Leno bid farewell to The Tonight Show and Jimmy Fallon took over as his successor.
O’Brien addressed the controversy in a 2010 interview with 60 Minutes.
“He went and picked up that show and I think in a similar situation, if the roles had been reversed, I know, I know myself, I wouldn’t have done that,” O’Brien said at the time.
The former Simpsons writer went on to say that he “wouldn’t give up The Tonight Show and hand it over to someone publicly and wish them well, and then… six months later (he claimed it). But that’s me, you know?”
He added that if he were in Leno’s position, he would have looked for alternative opportunities elsewhere.
In a statement at the time of his dismissal, O’Brien said: “I cannot put into words how much I enjoy presenting this show and what a huge personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it.”
‘My staff and I have worked incredibly hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the Tonight Show legacy.
In a 2022 interview on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, Leno addressed the Tonight Show drama and refuted any accusations of intentionally undermining O’Brien’s opportunity on the show; in the photo 2011
O’Brien addressed the controversy in a 2010 interview with 60 Minutes. “He went and picked up that show and I think in a similar situation, if the roles had been reversed, I know, I know myself, he wouldn’t have done that,” O’Brien said at the time; in the photo 2010
In February 2014, Leno said goodbye to The Tonight Show and Jimmy Fallon took over as his successor; in the photo 2022
“But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction.”
O’Brien initially ventured into late-night television in 1993 with NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien, a role he held until 2009.
Her upcoming appearance on Tuesday will mark her first live return to the network’s late-night programming, following her previous pre-taped sketch on The Tonight Show in 2018 alongside Stephen Colbert.
Additional guests scheduled for next Tuesday’s episode include Nicole Richie and musical guest Benson Boone.