"Like most the best things in my life, "explains Conan O'Brien, with a wry smile," the success of the podcast was a complete surprise. "The response is typically shy from the comedian. Since the launch of" Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend "nearly two years ago, the show quickly climbed the podcast charts to become one of the most popular in the country.
For those who have followed his 30-year career in entertainment, it's easy to see why. Intelligent and almost superhumanly affable, the shift to podcasting seems almost a given in retrospect. After all, hosting a series of late-night networked talk shows for decades isn't exactly starting from scratch when it comes to launching a new entertainment venture. Nor, for that matter, have tens of millions of followers on Twitter and your online media company, Team Coco.
Not that things have always been easy. A long-promised Tonight Show slot wasn't all he had hoped for, leading to a very public exit from the most coveted late-night show after just under eight months. It was the shortest tenure in the series' history, culminating in a televised "release interview" with Steve Carrell who found the Office star smashing his NBC badge. But O'Brien's late-night hiatus was short-lived. That same year, he returned with TBS's Conan, which will celebrate its tenth year on the air in November (and will be renewed until at least 2022).
The 2018 launch of "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" saw the comedian embrace the newfound freedom of podcasting.
"There are a couple of things about making podcasts that are superior or more fun than doing a talk show," O'Brien from the quarantined hair in an interview with ProWellTech Disrupt this week. "When I do the traditional talk show, I'm limited. For years and years and years, when he was on television, I had to do shifts of six and seven minutes, which means I'm having a conversation with you or I'm having a conversation with someone I've always dreamed of talking about, whether it's Tom Hanks or Jim Carrey or Robin Williams. Then, after six or seven minutes, there must be a laugh and we'll take a break and be right back.
"It's not a natural flow of conversation," he continues. "What you can do with a podcast is really amazing. I can talk to someone for an hour and 15 minutes. We try to fix them, but for the most part people let their guard down. My other favorite: no hair and makeup. Looks like I'm kidding. But after nearly 30 years of people encrusting my very white face with makeup so it still looks alive. "
The Coco team produced 10 shows in all, including shows by longtime collaborator Andy Richter and actor Rob Lowe, writers Mike Sweeney and Jessie Gaskel intimately titled Inside Conan, and a six-part mini-series of interviews with the SNL alum, Dana Carvey.
"I don't want to set a number goal," O'Brien says. "I am amazed: in two years we have launched 10 different podcasts, some without scripts, but also with scripts. I'm not sitting around saying, "Hey, we need to get to 35 podcasts at this point." Because I wish they were good. "
The talk show also went on, undergoing its own transformations in the process.
In 2019, the schedule was rearranged for a half hour format. O'Brien dropped his desk and suit, adopting a larger format perhaps inspired in part by the new freedoms offered by his podcast initiatives. When COVID-19 made the in-person show impossible, he started working from home like so many others, moving on to remote Zoom interviews. In all of this, "Conan O'Brien needs a friend" continued to post weekly interviews.
When asked if he was planning to continue his late night show after his contract expired in a couple of years, O'Brien seemed unsure.
"I think it is a mistake to think that you will stop doing the show and just do the podcast? Or will you retire and quietly work on your letters in a shack? I love to create things. I have a lot of energy. I like trying to make people laugh. And so I see all of this converging, I think the message I would like to have for everyone watching ProWellTech Disrupt right now is that people need to open their minds a little bit. If I'm doing podcasts, it doesn't even stop me from doing maybe something, it doesn't necessarily have to be for Turner, it could be for anyone. "
Several decades of success, it seems, has put O'Brien in the relatively unique position of being able to be somewhat platform independent. Not being tied to a single medium is a strong place to be when it comes to preparing for the unexpected technological changes that will continue to disrupt and disrupt the entertainment industry.
"In five years, our entertainment could come in the form of pills," he says. "You could gorge yourself on Sopranos. You could take a whole bottle of soprano and then drink a lot of water and then, you know, you don't need red meat.
"This is going to sound far-fetched, but I think this is the most exciting time of my career, because there were so many ways to be creative. There are so many ways to make people laugh and I love these new opportunities. I think when you are someone who has been around for a long time like me, you have a choice. You can be afraid of change or you can be happy about it. "