Conan O’Brien Will Be A Guest On ‘The Tonight Show,’ 14 Years After His Acrimonious Exit

Does time—and a new host—heal all wounds? Fourteen years after being abruptly removed from NBC’s “The Tonight Show” to make space for Jay Leno’s comeback, Conan O’Brien is finally back.

Conan will appear on the April 9 episode to promote his new travel series “Conan O’Brien Must Go” for Max, in conversation with Jimmy Fallon, who succeeded Leno in 2014.

After over 15 years of presenting “Late Night with Conan OBrien” on NBC, OBrien was promoted to lead the network’s flagship late-night show in 2009, following the announcement that Leno would be granted a new prime-time show on NBC.

Conan O’Brien Will Be A Guest On ‘The Tonight Show,’ 14 Years After His Acrimonious Exit

After seven months of declining “Tonight Show” ratings and pressure from affiliates who said “The Jay Leno Show” wasn’t a strong enough lead-in to their nightly newscasts, NBC decided to cut Leno’s show to a half-hour and move it to 11:35 p.m., which would have pushed “The Tonight Show” to 12:05 a.m.

“It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule,” OBrien said in a statement at the time.

He declined the transfer, and the public spat resulted in O’Brien and his staff obtaining a multimillion-dollar severance package from NBC in early 2010.

“And I simply want to tell the kids who are watching that they can do whatever they want in life. Unless Jay Leno wants to do it, too,” O’Brien quipped in a monologue before departing, calling “The Tonight Show” the realization of a lifetime ambition.

OBrien did not stay away from the airwaves for long, returning to late-night in November 2010 on the basic cable network TBS. “Conan” would last for over 11 years. (The first episode outperformed Leno’s “Tonight Show” in the ratings.)

In 2012, O’Brien told The Hollywood Reporter that he still harbored anger and recognized a one-time “amazing partnership with NBC.”

Conan O’Brien Will Be A Guest On ‘The Tonight Show,’ 14 Years After His Acrimonious Exit

“There are moments when you wonder, ‘What the hell happened?'” Why did that individual do or say that? But there’s also a lot of, ‘OK, let’s file this under There’s A Lot I Can’t Control,'” he told the trade newspaper, adding that he and Leno had stopped speaking.

Conan’s return to “The Tonight Show”—which moved from Southern California to New York when Fallon took over—isn’t the first time Fallon has used his show to reach out. Joan Rivers briefly appeared on his first night as host in a segment where celebrities wagered money that Fallon would never be on the show. After launching her late-night show on Fox, rivers were notably barred from the show when Johnny Carson was the host. (After his contentious departure from NBC, O’Brien unexpectedly appeared on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”).

Conan O’Brien Will Be A Guest On ‘The Tonight Show,’ 14 Years After His Acrimonious Exit

OBrien now presents the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.” In his latest trip episode, O’Brien visits Ireland, Thailand, Argentina, and Norway.

The prevailing tone among late-night talk show hosts has shifted from heated competition between Leno and CBS’ David Letterman to congeniality — and even friendship. Last summer, Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, and Jimmy Kimmel collaborated on a podcast called “Strike Force Five” to support their staff during the writer’s strike.

SOURCE – (AP)