Conan O’Brien thinks TV is changing dramatically but there will always be a place for the likes of Stephen Colbert.
Conan O’Brien thinks late-night television “is going to disappear”.
The 62-year-old broadcaster – who has hosted talk shows including Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, and Conan (2010–2021) – believes the entire industry is “undergoing seismic change” but he doesn’t think it is necessarily a bad thing and there will always be a place for the likes of Stephen Colbert, who recently announced his programme The Late Show was being axed.
Speaking as he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in Los Angeles over the weekend, Variety reports he said: “There’s a lot of fear about the future of television, and rightfully so. The life we’ve all known for almost 80 years is undergoing seismic change.
“This might just be my nature. I choose not to mourn what is lost, because I think in the most essential way, what we have is not changing at all. Streaming changes the pipeline, but the connection, the talent, the ideas that come into our homes… I think it’s the focus.”
Conan went on to point out the success of shows such as Hacks and Abbott Elementary prove Hollywood is still open to creative new ideas.
He added: “It’s all electrifying a new generation of viewers. Yes, late-night television, as we have known it since around 1950, is going to disappear. But those voices are not going anywhere. People like Stephen Colbert are too talented and too essential to go away.”
The Conan Needs a Friend podcaster praised the variety of late night talk shows which have aired in recent years.
He said: “I’ve dabbled in other things, but that’s where I’ve lived.
“And for those of you under 40, late-night television was a service designed to distract college students until science would perfect the internet and online pornography. Boy, did they get that right.”
Conan went on to voice his support for Stephen, who he believes will thrive without his show.
He said: “Stephen is going to evolve and shine brighter than ever in a new format that he controls completely.
“So, technology can do whatever they want. It can make television a pill. It can make television shows a high-protein, chewable, vanilla-flavoured capsule with added fibre.
“It still won’t matter, if the stories are good, if the performances are honest and inspired, if the people making it are brave and of goodwill.”
Conan O’Brien believes TV is undergoing ‘seismic change’
