Conan O’Brien returned as a guest on The Tonight Show for the first time since he was axed in 2010. As he walked onto the stage, the crowd went wild.
As Conan sat down with current host Jimmy Fallon to promote his upcoming Max series Conan O’Brien Must Go, he mentioned to Jimmy that “it’s weird to come back.”
“I haven’t been in this building for such a long time, and I haven’t been on this floor in forever,” he said.
Jimmy mentioned that Conan’s Late Nite was actually his first talk show in 1999. “You were my first-ever talk show, and I thank you so much,” Jimmy said as he showed him a photo of their interview from over two decades ago. “I was honored to be on your show.”
Conan then recalled how he ran into Jimmy’s parents in the hall after that first interview. “They were like, ‘How did Jimmy do?'” Conan said. He added that he knew Jimmy would make it far in his career. What a full-circle moment!
Conan O’Brien Returns as Guest to ‘The Tonight Show’
When Conan O’Brien returned to The Tonight Show as a guest, Jimmy asked if he had any flashbacks about his time hosting the show.
O’Brien hosted The Tonight Show from 2009 to 2010 but was fired when Jay Leno returned to the show. Leno was later replaced by Fallon and has remained at Rockefeller Center since.
Allegedly, before Jay returned as host, NBC attempted to move The Tonight Show to a later slot so The Jay Leno Show could precede it. However, Conan did not agree with this suggestion.
“My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard, and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of the Tonight Show,” he said in a statement. “But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction.”
“Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.”
Despite all the conflict, Conan appeared happy to return and speak with Jimmy. He did, however, mention that he had “strange memories” of the studio.
“I mean, I was here for 16 years doing the Late Night show before we went out to LA,” he said. “All these memories came flooding back to me.”
Conan then told Jimmy he would one day experience the same feelings. “When you’re 98, you’ll move on and someone else will be in the studio,” he joked.