Conan O'Brien says he's ending his long-running TBS talk show in June as he heads for a new home on streamer HBO Max. Originally a writer on shows like Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons, O'Brien entered the talk show wars in 1993 when he took over for David Letterman on NBC's Late Night. O'Brien famously landed the coveted Tonight Show in 2009 only to be ousted by Jay Leno after a year, finally ending up on cable network TBS with Conan.
Now eleven years after O'Brien first made the leap to cable, the veteran host is headed to yet another brave new world. As reported by Variety, O'Brien says he'll end his TBS show on June 24 as he plans to launch a new endeavor on streaming service HBO Max (the streaming deal was actually reported a year ago). O'Brien's new show will reportedly be a weekly variety show. O'Brien will continue producing his travel show Conan Without Borders for TBS.
O'Brien's new streaming endeavor in a sense sees him once again following in the footsteps of Letterman, as Letterman previously made the leap to streaming with his own Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman. O'Brien of course has a history of reworking his format, as his TBS show in 2019 went from the traditional hour to a half-hour focused on more in-depth interviews with individual guests. It will be interesting to see what new changes O'Brien brings to the talk show format as he heads into his new streaming endeavor on HBO Max. Hopefully O'Brien will at least retain his hilarious on-going Paul Rudd Mac and Me gag as he shifts over to a new home.
Source: Variety