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Conan O’Brien Must Go: 

The Emmy ® -winning host travels around the world to surprise his most memorable fans while taking in local culture, cuisine, and sights. 

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Conan O’Brien and Jeff Ross

Jason Chillemi, Sarah Federowicz, Matt O’Brien, Jessie Gaskell, and Mike Sweeney

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Aaron Bleyaert and Jordan Schlansky

About This Series

After years of conversations on his podcast, Conan O'Brien goes on an epic journey to Norway, Argentina, Thailand, and Ireland to connect with his listeners in person. From jousting with Vikings to drinking and knitting with locals to kissing a python, anything — and everything — can happen.

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'Conan O'Brien Must Go' is side-splitting evidence of life beyond late night TV

Eric Deggans

Conan O'Brien dresses as a Viking in Norway. Conaco/Max hide caption

Conan O'Brien dresses as a Viking in Norway.

To be honest, when I first heard Conan O'Brien was ending his TV talk show in 2021, I assumed news that he might turn to variety shows and online programs to continue his career was some combination of face-saving and wishful thinking.

But after watching the four episodes of his new Max series Conan O'Brien Must Go , it's now obvious — even to a thickheaded critic like me — that leaving late night TV really was liberating for O'Brien. He's leveraged his unique sensibility into several different podcasts, a deal with Sirius XM , specials featuring other stand-up comics and now this travel series for Max — which resembles jokey specials he did for cable channel TBS back in the day.

And as the late night TV genre crumbles under sagging viewership and the decline of traditional media, O'Brien's renaissance also provides an example for the future — where fertile comedy minds and talented performers can spread their work over a much larger canvas.

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Is conan o'brien the best 'hot ones' guest ever discuss., learning a lesson from 'hot ones'.

O'Brien already made a splash recently with his brilliantly maniacal appearance on the interview-while-eating-hot-wings show Hot Ones , slobbering over hot sauces while claiming, as he was checked over by a fake doctor, that "I'm fine! I'm perfectly f*****g fine!"

This is the place where O'Brien shines — he's called it "this strange phantom intersection between smart and stupid" — and it's on full, freakish, super silly display in every episode of Conan O'Brien Must Go .

The conceit of the show is pretty simple. O'Brien heads overseas to visit average folks in Norway, Argentina, Thailand and Ireland who had once Zoomed in to speak with him on the podcast Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan . Sometimes the visits seem like a surprise — he catches one aspiring Norwegian rapper in shorts and Crocs after popping up on his doorstep — and others seem a bit more planned, including his visit to a radio show with about four listeners in Buenos Aires.

Each episode begins with a solemn monologue which sounds like it is delivered by the film world's most eccentric voice, German filmmaker and actor Werner Herzog (he's not credited in the show and when asked, a publicist at Max shared a quote from O'Brien: "I can neither confirm nor deny the voice in question.")

The torturous accent by "Herzog" makes every line sound absurdly hilarious, describing O'Brien as "the defiler ... with dull, tiny eyes ... the eyes of a crudely painted doll ... he scavenges in distant lands, uninvited, fueled by a bottomless hunger for recognition and the occasional selfie."

Now that's smart. And oh so stupid.

A funhouse mirror version of a travel show

O'Brien performs onstage with a fan in Norway Conaco/Max hide caption

O'Brien performs onstage with a fan in Norway

Fans of O'Brien's Conan Without Borders specials on TBS already know what his style is when he tackles a travel show — throwing himself into outrageous reactions and situations while working his quirky brand of improvised conversations with hapless bystanders.

In the Max series Conan O'Brien Must Go , that includes O'Brien offering screechy vocals onstage during a performance of a Norwegian emo/rap band. Or asking provocative questions of a couple therapist/sex expert. Or getting beat up in a "fight" with a 10-year-old boy in a bar.

It's all an excuse for O'Brien to unleash his energetic wit, taste for silly absurdity and skill at drawing laughs from sympathetic — if often befuddled — strangers. Whether you enjoy this special will depend on how you feel about O'Brien's style, which can feel a bit like the world's best class clown doing everything possible to make you crack a smile.

(Rent a family in Norway so they can say goodbye when he gets on a SeaCraft? Check. Get local artists to paint a mural of O'Brien, a soccer star and The Pope on the side of a building in Argentina? Double check.)

'Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend' Is A Joke Name For A Podcast — Sort Of

But what amazes in a larger sense is how O'Brien has turned his sensibility into a comedy brand to fuel work on many different platforms. And, at age 60, with more than 30 years as a comedy star, he's been released from the shackles of any genre to shine wherever he chooses — whether it's an episode of Hot Ones or a streaming service which sometimes looks like a collision between True Detective and 90 Day Fiancé .

Leaving late night TV as late night left him

I'm old enough that I started covering TV not long after O'Brien made his first move from the shadows of life as a comedy writer – he worked on Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons — to succeed David Letterman in 1993 as host of NBC's show Late Night (now hosted by Seth Meyers). Back then, NBC gave O'Brien years to figure out the show, honing his smartly serious comedy in a way that would inspire then-teenage fans like Seth Rogen and Bill Hader .

O'Brien left NBC after a disastrous deal where the network tried to make him host of its venerated late night program The Tonight Show and also keep its former host Jay Leno at the network. He moved to a late night show on TBS in 2010, but even then, there was a sense that his creativity was a bit hemmed in by the format.

After 28 Quirky Years, Conan O'Brien Is Leaving Late Night

By the time he left his TBS show Conan for good, it seemed O'Brien was already caught in a trend which would hobble other late night shows — as young viewers consumed his content online and ratings on cable dropped.

Now, with a podcast and digital media company worth many millions and growing status as a TV comedy legend still willing to do almost anything for a laugh, O'Brien is proving there is a successful life beyond late night.

Particularly, if you have the talent to play the fool while leaving little doubt you're also the smartest person in the room.

‘Conan O’Brien Must Go’ Is a Keeper: TV Review

Legendary talk show host and hot wing evangelist returns to television with hilarious new Max travel show

By Stephen Rodrick

Stephen Rodrick

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The key to understanding Conan O’Brien’s comedy is knowing that it comes from a point of kindness. Yes, I know in this age of comics punching down , this kind of compliment may leave you with a neon “Must Avoid!” sign flashing in your bleary eyes — but stay with me.

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Conan’s three-decade run as a talk show host ended in 2021 under less-than-optimal circumstances , as he wound down his TBS show during the pandemic year. He talked to longtime sidekick Andy Richter , who sat among dozens of cardboard cutout fans. O’Brien quipped that they were last in line for the vaccine because the CDC had looked at the shows and “they said ours is the least essential of pretty much all the non-essential shows.”

There was some truth in that, but Conan had already started his move to other outlets , starting with his “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast in 2018.

The podcast is funny and sweet, especially the pre-interview segments with longtime associate Sona Movsesian and producer Matt Gourley. Conan mocks Sona’s legendarily bad work habits. and Gourley’s flea market predilections, but any kind of comedic acid is reserved for the self-lacerating O’Brien. (On a recent episode, Conan runs down his own looks, and it is cruel and hilarious, but part of me is thinking, “Dude, cut yourself a break.”). The only time things get contentious is when Conan visited by longtime friend Kevin Nealon — perhaps the podcast’s best episodes.

The podcast had an offshoot called “Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan,” on which O’Brien would talk to a fan, often in a faraway land. That led to O’Brien traveling to Norway, Thailand, Ireland and Argentina to meet them. Why? Well, a dour and ominous narrator, aka Werner Herzog, offered this rationale at the beginning of each episode: “Once a proud talk show host, he’s been driven by a changing ecosystem to a drier and harsher climate: the weekly podcast. Here , without the nourishment of his studio audience, this clown with dull , tiny eyes, the eye of a crudely painted doll , is forced to feed on that meagerest of morsels: the random call-in fan. Unhinged by the feral scent of their mild enthusiasm. He scavenges in distant lands uninvited, fueled by a bottomless hunger for recognition , and the occasional selfie.”

It’s a self-deprecating bit, but it’s also the truth. Conan has been doing travel shows for years, most notably one to Movsesian’s native Armenia , as well as a chaotic trip to Finland where O’Brien is treated as a god because of his physical resemblance to the Finnish president who happens to be a woman. He clearly loves the journey. And he loves the comedy set piece–see his classic “Old Timey Baseball” opus — which has always been an essential part of his appeal.

The encounters work because O’Brien doesn’t treat his new friends as fools — rather , he revels in the fact that he is the fool. (See his instant-classic appearance on “Hot Ones,” the show where interviews are conducted while the celebrity consumes increasingly acidic chicken wings. Conan rhapsodizes on comedy being all around us as green-yellow mucus drips down his nose.) Of course, there are exceptions made for old friends. Conan goes out for asada in Buenos Aires with the effete and erudite Jordan Schlansky, a longtime producer and frenemy. Schlansky and Conan are the Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon of American cable , and on his TBS show and podcast the two have tangled over Japanese customs, Conan hosting Schlansky’s bachelor party in his own office, and Schlansky hiding an expensive Espresso machine in an inaccessible part of their offices. (As with the Courtney Thorne-Smith segment, Conan’s visceral malice toward Schlansky works because it is so out-of-character).

During the Argentina episode, they get into a fierce argument about the proper pronunciation of the word “tango,” Conan then licks Schlansky’s favorite cut of meat — wait, that came out wrong. After, they go on an ill-fated trip to the Pampas, where both fail spectacularly at gaucho life.

Not everything works. O’Brien does a self-referential bit about the expensive drone he is using on the first show , and for the next four episodes I am distracted every time I see a beautiful shot thinking about the drone’s specifications and capabilities. Some of the stuff goes on a bit long, but so does my writing.

These are minor quibbles. If you’re a Conan fan, you’ll treasure the trips, just like his completists treasure encounters with a masturbating bear. The series ends with Conan tracing his family’s roots in Ireland. He comes across his ancestor’s land, makes a few jokes, but then looks at the land, clearly moved. Conan O’Brien has played the fool long enough; we grant him this moment of humanity with all our hearts.

All four episodes of “Conan O’Brien Must Go” are now available on Max.

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‘Conan O’Brien Must Go’ Is the Best Version of Conan

The comedian’s new travel show proves he’s at his best away from the rigid confines of late night

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After hundreds of episodes of Hot Ones , there’s little a guest can do to shake up the reliable formula of thoughtful questions combined with increasingly spicy chicken wings. But Conan O’Brien isn’t just any guest. Conan is someone who arrives with “Dr. Arroyo,” his personal physician, who, when asked where he went to medical school, answers “1998”; he deposits the remains of each wing into his jacket pocket; seemingly unfazed by the heat, he chugs hot sauces like they’re in tiny liquor bottles from a hotel minibar; he rubs the drumsticks on his hands, mouth, and, yes, nipples. Even as Conan’s pale complexion begins to resemble a ripe tomato, he remains committed to the bit, raising his body temperature by two degrees in a state of delirium. (According to Dr. Arroyo, of course.) Behold, the comedy GOAT:

Aside from being one of the funniest people on the planet, Conan seems to operate at the peak of his powers when surrounded by chaos. He was, for a time, our longest-tenured late-night host: He had a career on the airwaves that spanned nearly three decades, not unlike his icon, Johnny Carson. But while Conan could do the usual late-night beats in his sleep—the opening monologue, the celebrity interviews—he was never better than when things went completely off the rails. Consider: Conan used his last week as the short-lived host of The Tonight Show to waste NBC’s money on bringing a Kentucky Derby–winning horse to set; trolled his interns and staff in remote segments; introduced the world to his associate producer Jordan Schlansky, who gamely played a pretentious foil ; found an actual Tinder date with Dave Franco.

But some of Conan’s best work has been when he’s left the rigid confines of late night altogether. In 2015 Conan began a spinoff travel series, Conan Without Borders , in which he explored other countries armed with little more than his self-deprecating wit. “[Travel shows are] completely outside the realm of anything I do,” he explained to The New York Times in 2019. “They can be frightening because they take away a lot of control. I’m out there, I don’t often know what I’m going to encounter.” More often than not, it’s led to comedy gold. For instance, while he was taking a Japanese etiquette lesson, Conan’s instructor said that he wasn’t her type. The reason: “Face.”

Face . You could never script something so casually brutal; therein lies the magic. Most important, Conan never mocks other cultures to induce laughs—instead, he makes himself the butt of the joke, leaning into the bit of an ignorant tourist. But what truly elevated Conan Without Borders was how he could deftly weave in educational components and approach dark periods of a country’s history with genuine sensitivity. (Conan’s visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial with his longtime assistant, Sona Movsesian, is among the most emotionally resonant moments of his career.) Thankfully, even though Conan has bowed out of the late-night scene, he’s doubling down on the travelogues.

On Thursday—Conan’s birthday, no less—Max released Conan O’Brien Must Go , a four-part series that takes him to Norway, Argentina, Thailand, and Ireland. These destinations were inspired by his podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend , which, in addition to celebrity interviews, features conversations with fans from around the globe. (The fans frequently invite Conan to come visit their neck of the woods; few would ever imagine he’d take them up on the offer.) While Conan O’Brien Must Go doesn’t rely on celebrity cameos, every episode opens with Werner Herzog voice-over narration about the grandeur of Mother Earth and how, to fully appreciate its natural wonders, we must sometimes “defile it.” Rest assured, Conan the Defiler is more than up to the task.

What separates Conan O’Brien Must Go from his first travel show is the incorporation of those fans, including a Norwegian fish farmer, an Irish medical student, and an Argentine painter. The fans understandably react to Conan showing up at their front door with a mixture of shock and glee, but before they even get a chance to compose themselves, he playfully roasts their respective living situations. Nobody gets it worse than Jarle, a young Norwegian rapper who still sleeps with soccer-themed bedsheets from childhood and has bread so stale it lands with an audible thud when Conan drops it. “I’ll wipe the floor with you,” Conan tells Jarle, “which actually might be a good idea, because I think you’d pick up a lot of lint.”

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But while it’s enjoyable in its own right to see Conan surprise fans, Conan O’Brien Must Go is never better than when he throws all caution to the wind mingling with the locals. One standout bit in Argentina involves a soccer team that invites Conan to its stadium, where he proceeds to take the sport’s reputation for theatrical diving to another level, with fake blood spurting out of his mouth. Argentina is also where Conan reunites with his archnemesis, Schlansky, who repeatedly corrects him on the proper pronunciation of tango over dinner. (Schlansky insists he’s right, even when the chefs disagree with him.) And while some comedians might have second thoughts if nobody seems entertained by their shenanigans, Conan always doubles down—if only for his own amusement. (The Argentine gauchos did not enjoy his singing talents.)

Despite all the silliness that’s part of the Conan experience, Conan O’Brien Must Go also manages to have moments of real profundity. For one, Conan uses the Ireland episode to explore his own heritage, culminating with a visit to the patch of rural farmland that belonged to his ancestors. It puts everything into perspective: His forebears fled the Irish famine for America, and their descendant returned with a camera crew and decades of fame and success under his belt. Truly, what are the odds? But what really tugs at the heartstrings is a brief video from the Norwegian fish farmer Kai, who explains how Conan’s visit to his small town completely changed his life. It’s genuinely heartwarming stuff, proving that comedy can achieve more than just laughs when it’s approached with curiosity and empathy.

It’s been three years since Conan last graced our screens, and his absence really underlined that he’s one of one. You can’t imagine anyone else showing up to a foreign country and reacting to situations on the fly without everything falling apart at the seams. But as Conan proved time and again during his late-night tenure, that’s where great comedy can be found: among the people, whether it’s in the streets of Harlem or a Civil War reenactment . Conan’s late-night career went through many phases , all of them worthy, but in retrospect, it feels like the format was holding him back. Conan O’Brien Must Go isn’t just a hilarious return to form: It’s one of the best things he’s ever done. Let’s hope the show’s Season 2 renewal will be a matter of when, not if. With Conan at the helm, there are so many more countries worth exploring—and defiling.

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Critics Have Seen Conan O’Brien Must Go, And They’re All Saying The Same Thing About The ‘Absurd’ New Travel Show On Max

Coco is back.

Conan O’Brien made a return to The Tonight Show recently, 14 years after he unceremoniously parted ways with NBC in 2010, but that’s not the reason one of the best late-night hosts ever has been back in the conversation. A viral appearance on the show Hot Ones has fans appreciating the comedian anew, sharing hit best bits from over the years on social media. Well, there’s good news for O’Brien loyalists old and new, as the travel series Conan O’Brien Must Go has premiered for those with a Max subscription , and critics are weighing in on if it’s worth the watch.

Conan O’Brien Must Go is a spinoff to the ex-late-night host’s podcast Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend and features the comedy veteran traveling all over the world to meet fans in destinations like Norway and Ireland. Longtime Coco followers may have an idea of what to expect, given THR writer Daniel Fienberg ’s description of the series as “smartly stupid fun.” The critic continues:

Conan O’Brien Must Go is a smartly dumb show — or a stupidly smart show — focused (loosely) on what is essential about travel. It’s a series about arriving in a new place open to meeting new people, learning new languages, tasting new foods and experiencing uncomfortable new circumstances … and then making fun of them, when all the while you’re mostly mocking yourself and the fears people have about stepping outside of their comfort zones.

The comedian’s self-deprecating humor and absurdity sticks out to the critics in the four-episode first season, with Decider’s Joel Keller saying Conan O’Brien’s willingness to put his ego aside and be completely silly is why his brand of comedy is still getting new life decades later. Keller writes:

That sort of self-deprecating, absurdist shtick is what has carried Conan for his entire career and three decades on, it still seems less like an act and more like the way Conan generally lives his life. It’s why it still comes off as genuine and really, really funny, whether you’ve been a fan of Conan since the ’90s or just became a fan in recent years.

Eric Deggans of NPR says Conan O’Brien’s talent is genius in that he can play the fool while leaving no doubt that he’s also the smartest person in the room. This quality is on display in every episode of Conan O’Brien Must Go , Deggans says, writing:

It's all an excuse for O'Brien to unleash his energetic wit, taste for silly absurdity and skill at drawing laughs from sympathetic — if often befuddled — strangers. Whether you enjoy this special will depend on how you feel about O'Brien's style, which can feel a bit like the world's best class clown doing everything possible to make you crack a smile.

Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence rates the series an A-, saying that if Conan must go, we must follow. The host keeps the energy high throughout the series and puts his new friends at ease by consistently making himself the butt of the joke. The critic says:

Whether playing football in Argentina or exploring his Irish heritage on the Emerald Isle, each episode is a playful, immersive delight. (Even the crew is having a good time; you can sometimes hear them laughing in the background.) And it all speaks to O’Brien’s abilities to not just find the funny in any moment, but connect with others.

Meredith Hobbs Coons of AV Club grades Must Go a B, agreeing with the above assessments that Conan O’Brien’s self-deprecation — in addition to his absurd and silly antics — are a joy to witness on screen again. Coons writes:

Yes, Conan stays Conan. He will always be a champion of the silliest, goofiest forms of comedy, with himself as the butt of every joke. It’s tough, when other people are brought into it, to tell exactly how enthused they are about their role in his brand of humor, especially when he’s in a new place and doesn’t speak the language. It’s worth mentioning that the vibes can be a bit off at times, and certain scenes seem to drag, as if he’s willing with all his might to draw comedy from them. But boy is it good to see Conan out there throwing his full, feral self (not just his voice) into the act again.

The critics seem to be in agreement that Conan O’Brien Must Go is a must-watch for fans of the famous talk show host. All four episodes are available now on Max — one of the best streaming services , per CinemaBlend’s staff — and be sure to check out our 2024 TV schedule to see what other premieres are coming soon.

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Heidi Venable is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend, a mom of two and a hard-core '90s kid. She started freelancing for CinemaBlend in 2020 and officially came on board in 2021. Her job entails writing news stories and TV reactions from some of her favorite prime-time shows like Grey's Anatomy and The Bachelor. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a degree in Journalism and worked in the newspaper industry for almost two decades in multiple roles including Sports Editor, Page Designer and Online Editor. Unprovoked, will quote Friends in any situation. Thrives on New Orleans Saints football, The West Wing and taco trucks.

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‘conan o’brien must go’ is a wacky travel show: review.

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In “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” the comedian and talk show host puts his own irreverent spin on the well-worn travel show format. 

Premiering Thursday, April 18 on Max, the four-episode series is based on the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.” 

The show follows O’Brien, 60, as he visits “friends” that he’s made (aka, fans who have called into his podcast). 

The result is a travel show that feels self indulgent, at times – as all celebrity travel shows often do – but it’s also entertaining and provides an off-beat and quirky look into a variety of countries. 

It should appeal to fans of O’Brien, and it may also appeal to viewers who feel indifferent to him, but enjoy amusing insights into other cultures. 

Each episode opens with idyllic scenes of gorgeous landscapes. 

There’s a voiceover similar to what you’d hear in a nature documentary, narrating how O’Brien was once “a proud talk show host,” but “a changing ecosystem” has sent him to a “drier and harsher climate: the weekly podcast.” 

The voice further describes O’Brien as “This clown with dull tiny eyes, the eyes of a crudely painted doll,” and talks about how he is “forced to feed on that meagerist of morsels, the random calling fan, unhinged by the feral scent of their mild enthusiasm…..He scavenges in distant lands. Uninvited, fueled by a bottomless hunger for recognition and the occasional selfie.”

The first episode then cuts to O’Brien showing up to ring one fan’s doorbell in Norway. 

The shocked fan lets him into his apartment, and O’Brien proceeds to critique his living situation on the fly, pointing out how the bread in his kitchen is stale. 

O’Brien then leaves to do segments exploring Norwegian culture – including a segment visiting Viking enthusiasts, an interview with a psychologist about the modern day sex and dating customs in the culture, and he visits another fan who works on a fishing boat. 

“That’s right, I have two fans in Norway!” he boasts. 

The result is an hour that feels fairly well-rounded, digging into different aspects of the country and culture. But it never loses sight of doing it in O’Brien’s idiosyncratic way . 

When his second fan turns out to be laconic, O’Brien says, “We have zero chemistry, what are we going to do?” 

That breaks the ice, and it demonstrates O’Brien’s talent for thinking on his feet and making conversation with just about anyone.

However, sometimes his jokes and bits get tedious – like a scene when he loses his luggage, so he dons traditional “Norwegian” attire from a nearby store. He then interviews a local man on the street about how nobody really wears that, and O’Brien looks foolish. It’s mildly funny, but the man isn’t that chatty. So the result is a repetitive conversation where O’Brien keeps prompting a man, who gives terse “yes” answers. 

But, O’Brien is an old pro, and the show clips along at a steady pace. Just when a segment feels like its overstaying its welcome, the show moves onto new and fresh material. 

Other episodes include the comedian taking trips to Thailand, Argentina and Ireland. 

The Emerald Isle episode has an amusing bit where O’Brien hunts for Bono in a park among the shrubbery, as if he’s searching for a wild animal. Finding a pair of Bono’s trademark sunglasses, he comments that he’s close to finding the musician because “He sheds these.” He then uses a Global Humanitarian Award statuette as “bait.” 

“Conan O’Brien Must go” fits comfortably into the genre of “celebrity travel shows,” and it may not win over viewers who never much cared for him, but it’s an amusing watch.

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Conan O'Brien Is Always Pitching a Travel Show to Ex Turned 'Good Friend' Lisa Kudrow

In a conversation moderated by Jake Tapper, O'Brien talked about his career and previewed his new Max series

Brendan Le is an Editorial Intern at PEOPLE with three years of experience working as an editor and writer.

Jamie McCarthy/Getty; Amy Sussman/WireImage

Conan O’Brien continues to prove he’s a master of live entertainment.

On April 11, the longtime talk show host, 60, sat down for a chat moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper at The Paley Center For Media in New York City. During the event, titled “Globetrotting and Podcasting: Conan O’Brien’s Life After Late-Night TV,” O’Brien offered insights into his career following the end of his TBS late-night show Conan in 2021 and gave guests a preview of his upcoming Max series Conan O’Brien Must Go .

During the sit-down, O'Brien shared an idea for a series he pitched to his now-ex-turned pal Lisa Kudrow . (The pair previously dated from 1988 to 1993, though O'Brien wed Liza Powel O'Brien in 2002 and Kudrow has been married to Michel Stern since 1995.)

"I did pitch my good friend, Lisa Kudrow, who I love, an idea for a travel show because it's very her," the comedian said. "She travels the world but never leaves her hotel room. And she's always wearing a big robe and sipping on, like, a smoothie."

"People come in and show her pictures of that amazing part of the world and she's like, 'I'm good. I'm gonna watch Sixteen Candles now,'" he continued. "And every now and then, she does go out, but in like a giant SUV . . . and she doesn't come out of it. And she was laughing. She was like, 'I'd do that.'"

Reflecting on his own upcoming travel comedy series Conan O’Brien Must Go , the podcaster noted that he doesn't want his show to be similar to Stanley Tucci 's CNN program Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy .

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

"I have a lot of respect and love for Stanely Tucci, but what I wanna do is the exact opposite," he explained while talking about his 2018  Conan Without Borders  episode, in which he went to Italy with his staffer Jordan Schlanksy. "I want people to really have a good time and laugh, but I want there to be a deficit in their knowledge when they're done watching my show."

Earlier in the week, O’Brien’s press run for his travel docuseries took him back to The Tonight Show , where he served as the host for a short one-season stint from 2009 to 2010. 

Of returning to the program , O’Brien told host Jimmy Fallon , “It’s weird to come back.”

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O'Brien was suddenly laid off from his Tonight Show gig and predecessor Jay Leno returned to his former role. 

In addition to his self-titled talk show that ran for 11 seasons, O’Brien launched a podcast in 2018 called Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend . The audio show welcomed an array of notable guests, from former President Barack Obama to Prince and Paul McCartney .

Conan O’Brien Must Go premieres on April 18 on Max. 

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