Yesterday, Conan O’Brien was feted at the Paley Museum in New York at a PaleyLive event celebrating his “life after late-night TV”. And earlier this week, he made his return to The Tonight Show after his short stint hosting in the early 2010s.
He got a hero’s welcome from the audience, and it was a genial enough interview, but of course, Hot Ones did it best. They really do ask the most spectacularly well researched questions.
All of this comes in advance of his return to television with his new travel show, Conan O’Brien Must Go. I am genuinely excited to have Conan back on TV—he’s a GREAT podcaster (because he’s a great interviewer), but I’ve missed him and so has everyone else, apparently, given the tremendous welcomes he got all over town this week. But I also mention Conan to bring up Seth Meyers. Every time I write about Conan I mention how his staff adores him, how loyal they are—people rarely leave Conan’s employ—and his reputation for being one of Hollywood’s best bosses. And then inevitably, like clockwork, someone from Late Night with Seth Meyers reaches out to say something like, Hey, not that we disagree, but Seth is ALSO all of those things.
So let’s acknowledge it—Seth Meyers is Conan’s best and brightest heir in late-night TV. Not only has he developed his own comedic voice to stand out from the pack (and frankly, revitalized his show post-COVID in a way no other late-night host has done), he is also one of the good ones, a boss people actually like working for. People rarely leave his employ, too. Which means, it’s time for the ultimate franchise crossover. Over the years, Meyers has made a point of having all the late-night hosts on his show, but Conan has never gone on Late Night with Seth Meyers. It’s time. Late night’s two best bosses need to sit down together.
You can stream Conan’s PaleyLive event here:
