Angela Peterson/Milwaukee Journal

Conan O'Brien is 'as far from retirement as you could possibly imagine'

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated Aug 10, 2021 4:11 PM ET

Conan O'Brien ended his 10-season Conan run and illustrious 28-year career hosting late-night television back on June 24, but you'd be foolish to think that meant the Emmy winner was signing off for good.

"Since I left Late Night, I’ve had people on the streets saying, ‘Congratulations on your retirement,'" O’Brien told Variety. "And they have no idea that I'm as far from retired as you could possibly imagine."

The 58-year-old is having the time of his life hosting the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast, and he "hopes to continue" his Conan Without Borders series once it is safe to do so during these COVID times.

The earlier years of O'Brien's career included writing on Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons before spearheading Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009—with a brief and messy stint as host of The Tonight Show to follow from June 2009 to January 2010. It was after Jay Leno reclaimed his Tonight Show throne that O'Brien left NBC and launched Conan on TBS.

It was reported by Deadline last November that O'Brien would be ending Conan and stepping away from traditional late-night TV in exchange for an HBO Max "weekly variety series" produced by Team Coco, which is expected in the near future.

Watch O'Brien's full 44-minute "Streaming Room" interview with Variety here.

Megan Armstrong

Megan Armstrong (@megankarmstrong) is a writer whose work has appeared in places such as Billboard, GQ, Esquire, Bleacher Report, Uproxx, and others. Megan has also produced various podcasts and hosted a daily radio show at Mizzou. She grew up obsessed with sports — impressing adults by memorizing NFL statistics as a kindergartner — and grew into an obsession with music

More must-reads: