Conan O’Brien says people who didn’t know who he was on new travel series are ‘not that impressed’

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — Conan O’Brien is gearing up for a new iteration in his career as show host extraordinaire.

The former “Late Night” and ”Conan” funnyman spoke with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday about his upcoming Max travel series “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” in which he travels around the world to experience local cultures and connect with fans. (Max and CNN are both owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.)

“I love talking to people,” O’Brien said this week. “It’s just a joy, it’s really fun.”

One of his favorite parts about his experience filming the travel series was not just meeting and surprising fans, he said, but also how he’d constantly bump into people who didn’t know who he was.

“They’re not that impressed,” he joked. “And I egg them on until they really put me down and I don’t know why, but it makes me so happy.”

In the series, which is set to premiere on Max next week, O’Brien visits locales including Ireland, Norway, Thailand and Argentina, and he said he loved each destination equally.

“I cannot say I liked one country more than another,” he said, adding that each episode “is very different, but they were really fun to do.”

Another special destination that O’Brien recently visited was his old stomping grounds during an appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” earlier this week. O’Brien hosted “The Tonight Show” at that NBC studio from 2009 to 2010.

O’Brien told Tapper that his studio was actually across the hall from where Fallon’s show tapes, and even though he didn’t pop onto his old set, he said “it was a great feeling” to be back in the building.

“It felt very nice to just be back on that floor. There are still some who came out who are still working at NBC who were there when I was there,” he said, describing the reunions as “very emotional.”

“It was a very sweet feeling, it was so nice to be back,” he added.

O’Brien hosted “Late Night” from 1993 to 2009, before his brief stint hosting “The Tonight Show.” His TBS late-night show “Conan” ended in 2021 after 11 seasons.

“Conan O’Brien Must Go” debuts on Max on April 18.

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