Conan O’Brien Announces a Return to the Late-Night Show He Walked Away From 16 Years Ago

Conan O’Brien is set to visit Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show next Tuesday, Sept. 22, marking his second appearance on the late-night program since he ended his stint as host of the show in 2010.

Additional guests that day include Brandon Flowers and Lauren Lapkus. The Tonight Show typically invites two to three guests, followed by a stand-up comedian or musical performance.

The 63-year-old comedian hosted Late Night with Conan O’Brien (now called Late Night with Seth Meyers) from 1993 to 2009 before succeeding Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show that June. His tenure lasted just seven months, ending with his final episode on Jan. 22, 2010. He went on to host Conan on TBS for nearly 11 years. Fallon, who replaced O’Brien on Late Night, ultimately took over The Tonight Show himself in 2014.

“I think what you’ve done with the show is beautiful,” O’Brien told Fallon when he was last a guest on The Tonight Show in April 2024. “You made it your own. You’ve done so much great quality work. And I couldn’t be happier for you.”

Throughout his decades-long career, O’Brien has hosted multiple talk shows, including Late Night, The Tonight Show and his own titled Conan. Before his hosting career, O’Brien was a writer for Saturday Night Live from 1988 to 1991, and The Simpsons from 1991 to 1993. Since 2018, he has also hosted the podcast series Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend and started a travel show called Conan O’Brien Must Go on HBO Max in 2024.

O’Brien grew up in Boston and attended Harvard University to study history and literature. While in college, he was the president of the college’s humor publication, The Harvard Lampoon. After writing for several comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined the writing staff of SNL. Lorne Michaels then hired O’Brien to replace Leno on Late Night in 1993. During his first season, the show garnered a lot of negative reviews and threats of cancellation, but the show eventually developed and became highly regarded, earning a Primetime Emmy Award in 2007. He hosted Late Night for 16 years and is still the longest-serving host in the history of the franchise.

In 2009, O’Brien hosted The Tonight Show, but only for seven months due to highly publicized network politics that prompted a host change in 2010. NBC gave Leno an 11:35 p.m. prime-time show, pushing O’Brien’s Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m. O’Brien released a public statement stating he would not participate in the “destruction” of the franchise. The network and O’Brien never reached an agreement to switch back to the original time slot, but the talk show host was able to receive a $45 million settlement package that was divided between himself and his staff.

But that didn’t stop O’Brien from having a successful career throughout the 2010s and beyond. Since then, he has hosted multiple award shows such as the Emmy Awards and the Academy Awards, made speeches at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and gone on many successful stand-up tours across the country. O’Brien is set to host the Oscars for the third year in a row in March 2027.

“I have had to pivot like this so many times, that I’ve come to really love pivoting,” O’Brien famously said during his commencement speech he made to Harvard’s Class of 2026.

O’Brien’s return to The Tonight Show will air on NBC at 11:35 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The talk show is filmed in front of a live audience every weekday in Studio 6B at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan.

Upcoming celebrity guests prior to O’Brien’s episode include Tom Holland, Lili Reinhart, Suki Waterhouse, Sandra Bullock, Mike D, Queen Latifah, Dave Franco and Ethan Simmons-Patterson. The Tonight Show airs every weekday on NBC and clips are posted to YouTube and Instagram immediately after. Full episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.

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