Conan O’Brien to leave late-night show after 28 years

Conan O’Brien is bidding farewell to his 28-year late-night stint and moving to HBO Max for a weekly variety series.  

The comedian hosted Conan since 2010, which will go off the air by the end of the 10^th season in June 2021. After his widely-publicized feud with Jay Leno and departure from The Tonight Show, O’Brien hosted 1400 episodes of his TBS late night show.

 “In 1993 Johnny Carson gave me the best advice of my career: ‘As soon as possible, get to a streaming platform.’ I’m thrilled that I get to continue doing whatever the hell it is I do on HBO Max, and I look forward to a free subscription,” quipped O’Brien.

Jeff Ross, an executive producer at Conan, told Deadline, “TBS and these linear cable networks, especially, are just like death. You know there’s no circulation, so you can’t do it forever. And [Conan] is ready for a change. We’ve got a lot of stuff going on between the podcast and the show and the digital business.”

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 “28 years is a monumental achievement in late-night television,” said Brett Weitz, General Manager for TNT, TBS and truTV.  “We’re incredibly proud of the groundbreaking work that Conan and his team have accomplished during the 10 years at TBS and are so glad that we will continue to have his presence on our air with the ‘Conan Without Borders’ specials. We celebrate his success and are glad to see it grow across our WarnerMedia family.”

“Conan’s unique brand of energetic, relatable, and at times, absurdist, comedy has charmed late-night audiences for nearly three decades. We can’t wait to see what he and the rest of Team Coco will dream up for this brand new, variety format each week,” said Casey Bloys, Chief Content Officer, HBO and HBO Max.

Conan’s departure has raised old questions about the sustainability of late-night shows in the streaming era.