Ahead of Conan’s final episode on TBS, an old friend of the titular host, Homer Simpson, led his exit interview. Long before Conan O’Brien became late night’s all-time greats, he worked on SNL and The Simpsons; writing what are considered to be some of the series’ greatest episodes: “New Kid on the Block,” Marge vs. the Monorail,” and “Homer Goes to College.” Thanks to Lorne Michaels controversially recommending a no-name take over NBC’s Late Night from David Letterman, O’Brien got the call that would change his life at a table read for The Simpsons in 1993.
After building quite the reputation with Late Night, O’Brien was promoted to the prestigious Tonight Show slot, replacing Jay Leno (briefly), in 2010. The drama surrounding O’Brien’s rise and fall on network television is a thing of talk show legend—which lead him and longtime sidekick, Andy Richter, to launching cable’s Conan the same year Leno took back his show. Since its conception, Conan has switched from a more traditional hour-long show to a half-hour focused on a single interview. Now, O’Brien is leaving his third and seemingly final talk show for a new endeavor on HBO Max. The host with a propensity for string dances celebrated his final week with some of his all-time most popular guests/friends including Bill Hader, Paul Rudd, Jack Black, and, interestingly enough, someone who helped start it all: Homer Simpson.
Conan’s final episode The Simpsons created a cold open with Homer Simpson, who conducted O’Brien’s TBS exit interview. The animated interaction saw Homer reference some of O’Brien’s work on The Simpsons, or rather some of the work O’Brien made Homer do. Check out the segment below (via Team Coco):
In O’Brien’s 30 years of late night, a new chapter can finally begin without controversy or fear of failure. Following his NBC firing, O’Brien may have spent his last week on NBC’s airwaves essentially doing whatever he wanted. When he made the move to TBS, he was told he and his people should do whatever they wanted—something O’Brien said has stayed true. Unlike O'Brien’s departure from The Tonight Show, his final week on TBS has been a victory lap; making it appropriate to feature everyone who has supported him.
Conan’s final week saw Paul Rudd squeeze in the long-running Mac and Me joke, Seth Rogen pass its host a joint, Jack Black roll his ankle for a bit (that never aired) and sing a song. Homer Simpson’s appearance was a reminder of how far O’Brien has come devoting his adult life to, as he calls it, the strange phantom intersection between smart and stupid. The exit interview ended with O'Brien telling Homer that he meant the world to him. "You mean the world to me, Conrad," Homer responded. “It’s Conan.”
Source: Team Coco
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