Conan O’Brien, iconic and renowned Late Night show host is finally calling it quits after 28 years of work. O’Brien, 58, has worked on his TBS show, Conan, for 11 years, and in a farewell speech given on Thursday, he expressed his love and appreciation for everyone involved over the years.
“When I started there were three late night hosts,” he said on Monday night’s Conan. “Now there’s 25 hosts, and I’m the ‘I Thought You Died Six Years Ago Guy.'”
Conan has never been one to shy away from making fun of himself, as all good comedians do. He was seen often as the lanky (at a whopping 6’4″), anxious type often associated with greyhounds. He described himself on Thursday night as “this strange phantom intersection between smart and stupid.”
“There’s a lot of people who believe the two cannot coexist, but god, I will tell you, it is something that I believe religiously,” O’Brien said. “I think when smart and stupid come together, it’s very difficult, but if you can make it happen, I think it’s the most beautiful thing in the world.”
Whatever you want to call him, smart, stupid or funny, O’Brien is a much beloved pop culture cornerstone that has shifted the late night genre. Whether for better or for worse, that’s for you to decide.
After graduating from Harvard University, he plunged into the entertainment atmosphere when he first appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1988 as a writer. He wrote the much beloved skits of “Mr. Short-Term memory” and “The Girl Watchers.” In 1991, he then moved on to write for a groundbreaking new animated series titled The Simpsons. In 2011, the world of late night shifted when O’Brien was granted his own show, Conan, on TBS.
But this isn’t the full-stop end to O’Brien’s career. As he departed on Thursday night, O’Brien teased at his upcoming work with HBO Max.
“The plan is to re-emerge on HBO Max sometime in the near future with I think what will be my fourth iteration of a program,” O’Brien said.
The details of this project are still in the works however and remain shrouded in a good amount of mystery. The program is reportedly going to be a shift from the typical late night talk show format. But after his work as the longest-running talk show host in the United States, beating out David Letterman’s tenure, it’s unsurprising that O’Brien would like to shift gears in his work.
“So my advice to people watching out there right now — it’s not easy to do. It’s not easy to do,” O’Brien said. “It’s not easy to do, but try — try and do what you love with people you love. And if you can manage that, it’s the definition of heaven on earth. I swear to God, it really is.”
