Conan O’Brien Says ‘It’s Weird to Come Back’ to NBC on ‘Tonight Show’

Conan O’Brien sat down with host Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” Tuesday night, where the two reminisced about O’Brien’s time hosting NBC’s “Late Night.”

“It’s weird to come back,” O’Brien told Fallon. “I haven’t been in this building for such a long time, and I haven’t been on this floor in forever.”

“I was here for 16 years doing the ‘Late Night’ show before we went out to L.A. and right across the hall — all these memories came flooding back to me,” O’Brien added.

Fallon shared a photo of himself and O’Brien on “Late Night” in 1999, when Fallon was a guest on the show.

“You were my first-ever talk show,” Fallon said.

O’Brien’s guest appearance marks the comedian’s first in-person return to “The Tonight Show” since his acrimonious departure from NBC in 2010, in which he was replaced by Jay Leno as the show’s host following a months-long tenure.

“And I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life. Unless Jay Leno wants to do it, too,” O’Brien said in a monologue before his exit, adding that “The Tonight Show” was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

O’Brien is promoting his forthcoming travelogue series, “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” which debuts on Max on April 18. The show marks O’Brien’s first television project since his TBS late night show “Conan” ended in 2021 after 11 seasons on air.

Other guests on Tuesday night’s episode of “The Tonight Show” included Nicole Richie and musical guest Benson Boone.