Conan O’Brien laments decline of late-night television
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Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast is now the 19th most popular podcast in the US, according to Edison Research.
PHOTO: AFP
LOS ANGELES – Comedian Conan O’Brien lamented the decline of late-night television as it transitioned from “a giant machine that fires out cash” to a struggling industry competing with the millions of social media videos posted every day.
“It’s a little like Detroit and automobiles,” he said while speaking at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles on Sept 30.
Despite the downturn, the former late-night host said people will still find ways to be creative and profit from comedy.
He pointed to the launch of his own podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, in 2018, which features him talking to high-profile figures ranging from former president Barack Obama to actor Adam Sandler.
“I’m much more comfortable in my situation now,” O’Brien said.
In 2022, SiriusXM purchased O’Brien’s Team Coco media company and Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, which is now the 19th most popular podcast in the US, according to Edison Research.
O’Brien said he was happy to be part of a larger machine that provided support while still letting him be himself.
“The secret to my success, other than being crazily lucky, is that I rigidly maintained my persona, my personality,” he said.
For nearly three decades, O’Brien was a staple of late-night television, hosting Late Night With Conan O’Brien and The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien on Comcast’s NBC, followed by Conan on Warner Bros Discovery’s TBS.
Conan ended in 2021 after an 11-year run amid falling ratings for late-night TV.
“In true sort of Irish tradition, I wanted to leave the party before I was asked to leave,” O’Brien said.
The former writer for Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons is set to return in 2027 for his third consecutive year as host of the Oscars ceremony.
O’Brien said that even with television writers’ rooms disappearing and late-night TV in decline, he thinks comedy will survive.
“There’ll be ways that people get together and make things, and really talented people will profit from it,” he said. BLOOMBERG