Conan O’Brien Returns to ‘Tonight Show’ for First Time After Firing: ‘It’s Weird to Come Back’

Conan O’Brien returned to The Tonight Show last night, reflecting with host Jimmy Fallon about his time on NBC’s late-night shows. The comedian hosted Late Night for 16 seasons from 1993 to 2009, before briefly helming The Tonight Show from 2009 to 2010, when he was fired.

“It’s weird to come back,” O’Brien said. “I haven’t been in this building for such a long time, and I haven’t been on this floor in forever. I was here for 16 years doing the Late Night show before we went out to LA. And right across the hall, all these memories came flooding back to me.”

After debuting on The Tonight Show in June 2009, O’Brien was abruptly ousted from his dream job after being on air for seven months. He was unceremoniously replaced by Jay Leno in January 2010 (which Rolling Stone likened at the time as the comedy-world equivalent of being jilted at the altar for a Jersey Shore cast member) and hadn’t set foot on the NBC franchise’s stage since.

“The first thing that will hit you, and it will hit you too — you’ll have this show as long as you want it, but when you’re 98 you’ll move on and someone else will be in this studio,” O’Brien continued. “When someone else is in your studio, it feels weird. So I walked in and said, ‘Who’s in my old studio?’ And they said, ‘Kelly Clarkson.’ And I love Kelly Clarkson. Who doesn’t love Kelly Clarkson? But still I felt like, ‘It’s not right! Blasphemy! They should have burned it to the ground!'”

Fallon also recalled appearing on Late Night as a guest in 1999, noting that it was his “first-ever talk show.” “I was honored to be on your show,” Fallon said. O’Brien replied, “You know what I remember most? You were on the show, great. And I come out in the hallway and your parents are in the hall, which is right here. His parents are in the hall and they’re like, ‘How did Jimmy do?’ And so I just said, ‘That kid’s going all the way!'” He added, “And then I realized I say that to everybody.”

Later in the interview, O’Brien discussed chatting with people like Paul McCartney and Barack Obama on air, and his new Max series Conan O’Brien Must Go, which premieres April 18. Before leaving, O’Brien complimented Fallon’s work on The Tonight Show.

“I’m very happy for you,” he said. “I’ve had the honor of meeting every Tonight Show host going back to Steve Allen, and I think what you’ve done with the show is beautiful and you made it your own. You’ve done so much great quality work, and I couldn’t be happier for you.”

“You raised the bar,” Fallon replied. “You made me work hard.”

Following his 2010 departure from The Tonight Show, O’Brien would go on to helm his flagship TBS late-night talk show Conan for an 11-season run. The series finale aired June 2021 — featuring guests Will Ferrell and Jack Black, and it took place in front of a live audience at Los Angeles’ iconic club Largo.

Conan O’Brien Must Go is a four-episode Max Original travel series based on O’Brien’s podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan. It follows the host as he visits new friends in Norway, Thailand, Argentina, and Ireland.