Conan O’Brien is opening up about the current state of late night television.
The 62-year-old comedian and former late night host hit the stage on Saturday night (August 16) at the Television Academy’s 27th Annual Hall of Fame Ceremony, where he was honored as an inductee.
During his speech, Conan talked about Stephen Colbert‘s future after the end of The Late Show and how late night TV has changed.
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“Things are changing fast. I don’t claim to know the future of our beloved medium but I know this, getting the privilege to play around with an hour of television has been the great joy of my professional career,” he said, via THR.
“We’re having this event now in a time when 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,” he continued. “But — this might just 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 as potent as ever, and we have proof here tonight.”
As for Stephen Colbert, Conan praised the Late Show host and said he’s going to flourish in the next stage of his career.
“Yes, late night television as we have known it since around 1950 is going to disappear, but those voices are not going anywhere,” Conan shared. “People like Stephen Colbert are too talented and too essential to go away. It’s not going to happen, he’s not going anywhere. Stephen is going to evolve and shine brighter than ever in a new format that he controls completely.”
If you missed it, Conan‘s own HBO Max show, Conan O’Brien Must Go, is set to return for a third season, and he also joined the voice cast of the upcoming Toy Story 5!
Source: justjared.com