Conan O’Brien Shocking Return to Late Night: He’s Visiting Colbert’s Show and Fans Can’t Contain Their Excitement.
Conan O’Brien is set to return to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for his seventh appearance—and his first in more than five years.
The legendary former late-night talk show host will sit down with Colbert next Monday, Sep 29.
Both O’Brien and Colbert have recently been quite public in their admiration for each other. Earlier this year, Colbert honored O’Brien at the Mark Twain Prize ceremony with a bit inspired by O’Brien’s famous Hot Ones appearance, while O’Brien singled out Colbert for praise months later when he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame on the heels of CBS’s July cancellation of The Late Show.
“People like Stephen Colbert are too talented and too essential to go away,” O’Brien said at the time. “Stephen is going to evolve and shine brighter than ever in a new format that he controls completely.”
If anyone understands reinvention, it’s O’Brien.
Since stepping away from late-night television in 2021, he has built a podcast empire and launched the Emmy winning HBO Max travel series Conan O’Brien Must Go. In March, he crossed another milestone with his hosting debut at the Academy Awards, earning raves from critics and viewers alike. Within days, he was invited back to host the 2026 Oscars, a rare vote of confidence in an industry where the hosting gig has often been thankless.
O’Brien’s visit to Colbert promises to be both a reunion and a moment of solidarity between two comedians who know firsthand the challenges—and the opportunities—of surviving late night.
