Conan O’Brien addresses ‘weirdness’ of being back on Tonight Show after 2010 firing

O’Brien briefly hosted ‘The Tonight Show’ for two seasons before his unceremonious exit in 2010

Conan O’Brien made his return to The Tonight Show for the first time in 14 years since his abrupt exit as host in 2010.

Appearing on Tuesday (9 April) night’s episode of the popular late-night chat show with current host Jimmy Fallon, O’Brien, 60, admitted that it felt “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,” O’Brien said.

Asked if he had any flashbacks, O’Brien said he had “strange memories”.

“I was here for 16 years doing the Late Night show before we went out to LA – right across the hall – and all these memories came flooding back to me.”

Continuing, he told Fallon: “The first thing that will hit you – and it will hit you, too, because one day you’ll have this show as long as you want it, but when you’re 98, you’ll move on and someone else will be in this studio. When someone else is in your studio, it feels weird.

“So I walked in and went, ‘Who’s in my old studio?’ And they said Kelly Clarkson.” The American Idol star currently hosts her eponymous talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show.

“I love Kelly Clarkson. Who doesn’t love Kelly Clarkson? But still I felt like, ‘It’s not right! Blasphemy! They should’ve burned it to the ground,’” O’Brien joked.

He briefly hosted NBC’s Tonight Show for two seasons following his tenure hosting the network’s Late Night show from 1993 to 2009. He was fired from the former in 2010 when host Jay Leno decided to return.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2012, O’Brien said that while he still had latent resentment, he acknowledged a onetime “amazing partnership with NBC”.

“There are moments of, ‘What the hell happened? Why did that person do that or say that?’ But there’s also lot of, ‘OK, let’s file this under There’s A Lot I Can’t Control,’” he said.

The comedian makes his return to television with his forthcoming travel series, Conan O’Brien Must Go, which debuts on 18 April on Max in the US. The series will follow O’Brien as he travels to locations such as Ireland, Thailand, Argentina and Norway and takes in the local culture, cuisine, and sights.

It marks O’Brien’s first TV project since he wrapped his 11-season late-night TBS show, Conan, in 2021. He’s been hosting his podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, in the meantime.