Conan O'Brien Returned to Late Night for a Vulnerable, Funny Seth Meyers Interview
The comedian, who helmed the show for 16 years, thanked Lorne Michaels for "going out on a limb" to pick him.
The June 11 episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers was a momentous one for late night fans — meaning, fans of both the genre and the long-running program itself. Conan O'Brien returned to the show more than 15 years after his departure, and this time he was on the other side of the desk as he and Seth Meyers sat down for a wonderful 18-minute interview.
"I'm thrilled to have you here," Meyers told O'Brien at the top of their chat, as the comedy icon soaked up the applause and joked that "the danger here is that I will never leave."
O'Brien said it felt "beautiful" to be back in 30 Rock again. Between his time as a writer for Saturday Night Live and his 16 years hosting Late Night from 1993 to 2009, "I was here almost 20 years in this building. And then I didn't come here for a long time. And then I came back briefly, and they showed me my old studio, and it was Doctor Oz?"
"We thought that was a nice tribute," Meyers joked.
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Conan O'Brien says Lorne Michaels "went out on a huge limb" for him
Meyers and O'Brien have a few major career milestones in common: They were both writers on before SNL creator Lorne Michaels hand-picked them to host Late Night (they've also both become successful podcasters). O'Brien shared that back in his days as an SNL writer, he'd sneak into Letterman's Late Night home in Studio 6A to write there with Greg Daniels, who'd go on to create The Office and Parks and Recreation.
"I would go there regularly and sit behind Dave's desk, and I was — you know this is a couple of years before — out of nowhere — they go to Lorne Michaels to say 'Who should replace David Letterman?,'" O'Brien told Meyers. As Michaels, O'Brien, and others explain in Vanity Fair's oral history of his Late Night show's first year, Michaels worked very hard to convince NBC executives to take a chance on the then-obscure writer.
"This is back when there's like, you know, two or three late-night hosts and that's it," he continued. "And they're it's like, 'Who should we add to Mount Rushmore?' And Lorne said, 'I know this guy. His name's Bix Widdly!'"
"I would never say in a million years I was Lorne's best pick. I'm not in that category," O'Brien too-modestly added. "But I think I was his bravest pick, because at the time, Lorne Michaels went out on a huge limb and said to the network, 'Trust me.' They saw me. They watched me on air for a year and they said, 'Lorne, you were wrong.' And Lorne was like, 'Nope, you'll see.' And they still don't get it! But, Lorne, I love you and thank you."
O'Brien and Meyers went deep in the extended interview, touching on the state of late night in the online world, how they approach being the best interviewers possible, and that time O'Brien and writer Robert Smigel pitched changing Late Night's name to Nighty Night with Conan O'Brien.
"I think you do a beautiful job with this show," O'Brien told Meyers sincerely.
Watch Conan O'Brien's interview with Seth Meyers above, and watch Late Night with Seth Meyers weeknights at 12:35/11:35c on NBC, streaming next-day on Peacock.
