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TMZ.com
Conan O’Brien is looking forward to his return to “The Tonight Show” 14 years after his messy exit … telling TMZ there’s no bad blood, and that he’s excited to hit the stage again.
We caught up with the comedian outside the Whitby Hotel in NYC Tuesday — just as he was on his way to film his ‘TS’ appearance at 30 Rock — where he told us how he was feeling heading into his highly-anticipated late-night comeback.
As Conan puts it … he’s jazzed to be in front of the camera again in that environment — as he has nothing but fond memories about his time there, which is interesting considering he was fired by NBC in 2010 … and rather unceremoniously too.
COB says the ‘Tonight Show’ was a big part of his life … and he’s a fan of Jimmy Fallon, so he’s looking forward to the guest spot — where he’ll be plugging his new travelogue series.
In terms of whether he jumped at the opportunity … Conan says hell yeah, as he says he needed the work.
Remember, Conan gave up his longtime ‘Late Night’ gig in 2009 to host NBC’s beloved evening talk show … but he was only on the job for 7 months before the execs at the time gave him the boot, making way for Jay Leno’s grand return in 2010. After his exit, Conan launched a new late-night show on TBS, which ran for 11 seasons.
And, as you well may know, Jimmy stepped in to Jay’s hosting shoes in 2014 … leading the charge on “The Tonight Show” ever since. So, Conan coming back is a major deal — especially considering how they did him (dirty) back in the day.
And yet, despite all that … the dude seemed real chipper talking to us about it — and he even gave us some insight into how he thinks the current late-night guys are doing.
Long story short … he thinks they’re all talented, and even if late-night talk shows come to an end in the near future — he believes they’ll all land on their feet and be just fine.
Can’t wait to see the show!