Conan O’Brien on His Oscars Return—and Why He Doesn’t Miss Late Night

Editor’s Note: Bill Carter’s full conversation with Conan O’Brien can be heard on the latest episode of LateNighter’s Bill Carter Interview podcast, embedded at the bottom of this post and available on all podcast platforms.

Is it true that Motion Picture Academy officials asked Conan O’Brien to come back to host the Oscars again before he had finished leaving the stage last year?

Not quite. But according to Conan himself, “It was pretty quick.”

No surprise. O’Brien took the venerable Oscar telecast by comedy storm a year ago, amid a career peak that’s included a string of highlights: the funniest and most affecting Mark Twain Prize special in memory; a viral explosion with his appearance on the YouTube talk phenomenon Hot Ones; and continuing editions of his much-appreciated podcast and HBO Max travel series.

Now he’s about to bombard the Oscar stage again with his ever-inventive and energetic comic presence, and nothing the studios released—even during a strong year for the movies—promises as much excitement as that on ABC Sunday night.

It’s the prime of Mr. Conan O’Brien, and it’s the best of times for those who’ve been on the Tilt-a-Whirl ride of his career over the past three-plus decades. If you were in the Rainbow Room in New York City in May 1993, when a gangly kid few outside his friends and family would recognize took questions about succeeding David Letterman, you might be in a little awe about where the kid is now.

“Now we live in an era where there’s no such thing as a ‘complete unknown,’” Conan remarks from his offices in Los Angeles, recalling the words he used to describe himself in that first public appearance. “Anyone like me starting out today would have 600 hours of YouTube clips.” Conan’s description of his résumé at the time: “A writer, but he’s got an interesting vibe.”

Everybody awaits more of that vibe now. The Oscar host has been working with a familiar crew from his late-night days, crafting monologue jokes but also the original, unexpected comedy bits that built his reputation as one of the most creative forces ever to land in late night.

What about one of his trademark cold opens? Oh yes.

“You can expect some things,” Conan says. “We have more than one thing. We have some pieces I really like. We have some live things I’m really excited about.”

His longtime head writer Mike Sweeney is back, as is his always-executive producer Jeff Ross, and many of his writing team.

“What I love most is the process,” Conan explains. “I love hanging around the writers’ room. In my post–late night life, the two things I’ve missed most are having a writers’ room and having a band.”

The truth is no one on the team was expecting to reunite at the Oscars. The call to Conan came out of the blue last year. Jeff Ross said his own first reaction was they didn’t need the foofaraw of the Oscars at that stage in Conan’s career.

But Conan was “intrigued right away.”

He explains: “I had done awards shows in the past. I like the format. I like being out in front of people. I like that feeling of ceremony because you can kind of play against it.”

So when the call came, he said: “Yeah, I have to try this. I’m curious about it. I know it’s a lot of work. I know I’m going to put myself through some misery, but let’s do it.”

And after that second quick ask: “Yeah, I’d like to try that again. I had such a good time the first time. I’m glad I did it.”

It’s not the easiest gig for a comic. The room is huge and icy with tension. And as Conan notes, the audience isn’t there because of the host.

“You’re literally the last thing they’re thinking about.”

What matters, he says, is how he himself feels doing the show.

“If I’m having a good time and feel in the flow of it all and I’m making myself laugh, 99 percent of the time it means it went well.”

And it’s even better if something unexpected comes up during the show that begs for reaction.

“It’s a little like Olympic diving. You get graded on the difficulty. If something just happened, people are looking to the host to guide them through that,” Conan says. “If you can do that in a funny way, the potential payoff is much greater than anything you thought of three months ago.”

That’s the TV-host expertise talking—and sounding eager to experience that in-the-moment excitement again. Does that mean Conan O’Brien misses standing in front of an audience daily and feeling that jolt?

“No, I do not!” A rueful laugh further punctuates the italics.

“You get one life,” Conan says. “I spent a long chunk of my life doing that. I really enjoyed it. It was thrilling, and now I like trying all these other things.” He acknowledged being surprised. “I thought I would miss it, but I do not.”

He does still feel a camaraderie with the gents (still all gents) working that familiar farmland through what is a testing period of audience decline and hostility from powerful voices.

“My assumption has been that it is going to morph, as everything does,” Conan says. The internet has wrought the most fundamental change. “Now people are watching their favorite comedian who no one else in the room has heard of.”

That does not mean no future for the current highly talented stars of late night. Options on various platforms exist, unlike in the pre-cable, pre-internet past when a departed late-night host had a grim few.

Had he worked in late night in the 50s or 60s, “I would have left after The Tonight Show and you wouldn’t have heard from me again,” Conan says.

That’s unlikely given his talent. But it’s true Conan first had his TBS show—then his podcast and his HBO Max show keeping him in the culture.

And he can go on a digital show like Hot Ones and burn the place—and himself—nearly to the ground.

“I was getting the sauce all over myself, rubbing it into my nipples and putting it on my hands. It burns. It’s acid.”

But it was funny.

“When I get into that behavior, I will do anything that’s good for the comedy and worry about the other stuff later. That’s always my attitude. If I think it will be funny for me to go through a plate-glass window and land in a cactus, I might do it. We’ll figure things out later. Someone knows where the emergency room is.”

Hosting the Oscars may or may not be at the plate-glass level of risk, but it’s definitely putting yourself out there on a culturally iconic TV show.

How about another one? Would Conan consider hosting Saturday Night Live again?

“Good question,” he says. “I never want to be that guy who comes back and says: ‘Hey, this is my old high school. I used to go here. Hey kids, I’m groovy.’”

But: “Never say never. If it came up, it could be exciting to try. I’m not banking on it. Certainly not asking for it.”

Conan is officially well past the era when he needed to ask for anything. He’s put his name in the books as a singular comedic talent of his generation. He started in 30 Rock, in the offices of SNL’s writers’ room and then Studio 6A, where Letterman first roamed.

Now he’s coming back to center stage at the Oscars.

And he’s must-see TV all by himself.

The Academy Awards air Sunday, March 15, 2026, on ABC. The ceremony begins at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, with the official live red carpet show starting at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

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