Conan O'Brien Fans Were Extremely Impressed By His 60 Minutes Interview
Conan O'Brien has long been considered one of the most successful comedians and late-night television hosts in American history, but his journey to get there definitely wasn't the conventional route. His monologue on his very first episode of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" is a good indicator of his own bewilderment at being chosen for the job, as he joked about his "plan is to start on TV, claw my way into the clubs — ten years from now, I want to be in high school." Thanks to Lorne Michaels seeing something in O'Brien, the awkward and nervous comedy writer became one of our favorite late-night hosts.
But even those who weren't fans during his 16 years hosting "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" still felt anger and compassion when, seven months into his tenure as the new host of "The Tonight Show," he released a statement addressed to the "People of Earth," detailing his objections to NBC's proposed schedule changes for his program. "I sincerely believe that NBC's plan of "delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting," he stated, via The New York Times.
Rather than agreeing to the changed time, he resigned. After the allotted year had passed in which he wasn't allowed to appear on television or say anything about NBC, he gave an interview with Steve Kroft of "60 Minutes," and fans were very impressed at his humbleness and honesty.
He refused to point fingers
While talking to Steve Kroft of "60 Minutes," Conan O'Brien told him how people are always coming up to him and telling him, "You got screwed. I always tell them, no, I didn't get screwed. I'm fine, it just didn't work out." While Kroft bluntly disagreed with O'Brien's assessment and told him so, fans took to the comment section to praise O'Brien for being above all the negativity. "Even in a real interview about a serious topic he parodies himself. At times this comes off as a parody interview altogether but that's his genius. Comedy with class," wrote one fan. Viewers were impressed at how well it aged, even more than a decade later.
When O'Brien left his TBS late-night show "Conan" in 2021, he soon announced his new SiriusXM station, Team Coco Radio, which debuted November 15, 2022. He also continued making his podcast, "Conan Needs a Friend," which he'd begun in 2018. While he's spoken about working on a show with HBO Max, we have no idea if it will be released, and O'Brien hasn't given any hints, either. But no matter, fans will still be waiting to see what he does next.
"I love everything about Conan. Everything. He's classic," commented Katie, another fan. "It didn't work out with NBC because he was WELL out of their league – just whole other level. He's like classic literature – so many layers to him. He's genius. Facts."