Conan O’Brien Says He Reaches “More People” After Late-Night Exit

Although Conan O’Brien has been out of the late-night game for nearly five years, he’s still finding plenty of people to hear what he has to say.

The 6x Emmy-winning comedian, who hosts the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast and the HBO/Max travel show Conan O’Brien Must Go, said he likely reaches “more people now” that his TBS talk show Conan has been off air since 2021, explaining that the traditional talk show format “is going away.”

“I left my late-night show four years ago. I’ve had a wonderful time,” O’Brien told the New Yorker. “I think I reach more people now, either through the podcast or doing the travel show.”

Before his 11-year run on TBS, O’Brien hosted NBC’s The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien (2009-’10) and Late Night with Conan O’Brien (1993-2009).

“I have all this freedom to be me in different ways, in different formats,” he explained. “There’s a lot of really beautiful opportunities, and I’ve been having a blast and getting to have types of interviews I never could have had in that old ‘You’re up in the attic’ format.”

O’Brien continued, “I mean, this old format is going away, but they’re being replaced by a multitude of other ways to connect with people and be funny, and be satirical, and be probing, and let your talent run wild—that in some ways are more freeing.”

The late-night alum’s comments come after CBS announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will go off the air in May, following ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live.