‘SNL’: Conan O’Brien Makes Surprise Return to NBC More Than Decade After ‘Tonight Show’ Debacle

Conan O’Brien made a surprise return to NBC, during the most recent episode of SNL, more than a decade after the Tonight Show debacle that led him to leave the network. On Saturday, O’Brien made an appearance in a Five Timers Club sketch, alongside John Mulaney, Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Candace Bergen, Elliot Gould, and Paul Rudd. The sketch was about Mulaney being inducted into the club, as the episode was his fifth time hosting the show he previously worked on as a writer.

O’Brien himself also used to work at Saturday Night Live in the late ’80s and early 90’s, prior to taking over as host of NBC’s Late Night in 1993, when David Letterman exited to host The Late Show at CBS. O’Brien was host of Late Night until 2009, when he became the host of The Tonight Show after longtime host Jay Leno announced his retirement. Leno, however, did not retire, but rather began hosting a new talk show, The Jay Leno Show. NBC eventually decided to move the shows back, which would give Leno his old timeslot back, and push The Tonight Show and Late Night, which was being hosted by Jimmy Fallon, back as well.

Upon learning of the news, O’Brien opted not to make the move and chose to quit The Tonight Show instead. Leno then resumed his previous role as host of the iconic nightly talk show, which sparked quite a bit of controversy. O’Brien later moved to TBS and hosted a new show, Conan, from 2010 until 2021. His big return to NBC has caused a lot of chatter online, with many fans very stoked to see him pop up on SNL. Scroll down to read some reactions to O’Brien’s big homecoming moment.

“Surprising as Hell”

“Not gonna [lie,] was surprising as hell to see Conan on NBC again after all the s— that went down in the past,” one Twitter user commented.

“Legend”

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“When Conan came through I was so happy,” a fan gushed.

“Always Conan”

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“Conan O’Brien makes everything better,” someone else wrote.

“4 More Times”

“Love this. It was nice seeing Conan,” a fan tweeted.

“Gluten Free Sliced Bread”

“Go Conan O’Brien,” someone cheered. “I waslate to the party. However, your podcast is the best thing since gluten free sliced bread!”

“Miss You”

“Conan, I miss you on late nite tv,” one user commented. “What a great sketch…”

Late Night Appearance

Notably, this was not O’Brien’s first time back at NBC since the Tonight Show controversy, as The Wrap previously reported that he turned up on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon back in 2011.