This week on LateNighter’s Inside Late Night podcast, Mark Malkoff welcomes Nikki Nash—veteran associate director with a forty-five-year run in television whose credits span The Academy Awards, The Chevy Chase Show (all twenty-nine days), Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and twelve years with Conan O’Brien across The Tonight Show and TBS.
Nash pulls back the curtain on what makes (and breaks) a talk show. Having worked with him at the Oscars and the Reagan inaugural, she recalls how exacting Johnny Carson could be: “Johnny Carson was very clear… never cut away from him.” On the rocky launch of The Chevy Chase Show, she shares a moment that signaled trouble after an early segment: “He gets off stage and he says… ‘I hate that part where I have to talk to people.’”
Her Conan years are the heart of the episode. Nash calls working for O’Brien “the best job I’ve ever had,” adding, “we were like family… he was fantastic, a genius.” She describes rehearsals where Conan would riff for minutes—“we would just sit there in awe in the control room”—plus the bittersweet final Tonight Show, followed by an act of generosity she’ll never forget.
Nash also touches on quick-turn fill-in stints at Kimmel and the craft of cutting a show in real time when the unexpected happens—whether it’s breaking news pushing a live telecast or an on-set mishap that forces a reset.
Her new memoir, Collateral Stardust, threads throughout the conversation: a sharp, funny, and candid account of Hollywood’s inner workings as Nash pursues a vibrant career in TV, stand-up, writing, and acting—alongside her unvarnished stories about drugs, faith, studio culture, and the mysteries of the city of angels.
Click the embed at the top of this post to watch now, or find The LateNighter Podcast Network on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
