Conan O’Brien is nostalgic, but he’s not sentimental. Speaking at Bloomberg’s Screentime event, the former Tonight Show host recalled the glory days of late-night comedy — the lavish meals, the lobster, the champagne — and made a blunt declaration: none of it is coming back.
“When I first was put into a writer’s room when I was 22. I really did feel like a fish that had been living in the desert for a long time, and then I suddenly was put into my environment, and it’s my happy place,” he said. “Things are changing.”
From Sketch Comedy To Late Night
O’Brien got his start as a writer on HBO’s Not Necessarily The News and Fox’s The Wilton North Report. He landed a job at Saturday Night Live in 1988, where he worked through 1991, before moving to The Simpsons. His late-night career began with Late Night with Conan O’Brien, followed by The Tonight Show.
During those early days, his writers’ meals were paid for, and they took full advantage. “They used to order lobster and champagne,” he recalled, adding that the writers wore bibs. “That’s not coming back, it shouldn’t come back.”
The Writers Room Problem
O’Brien was asked whether comedians were losing something by having fewer opportunities to be in a writers’ room. His answer was direct: it’s a “real problem.”
His comments come as data shows the numbers of writers working today have plummeted. The WGA West’s latest report showed there were 27% fewer writers working in 2025 than in 2022.
Hope For Creatives
Despite the decline, O’Brien remains optimistic. “Creative people will find a way to be creative,” he said. “There’ll be ways that people get together and make things, and really talented people will profit from it.”
He was at the event ostensibly to talk about his podcasting empire. In 2022, he struck a deal with SiriusXM for the radio giant to acquire his Team Coco company for a reported $150M. That deal is said to keep him employed until 2027.
When asked whether he would continue after that, he said, “I haven’t even thought about it yet. You know, 2027 is so far off. What is it like 2023 right now? I’m not worried about that. We’ll get to that when the time comes. But I assure you, all will be well.”
| Career Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Not Necessarily The News writer | Early career |
| The Wilton North Report writer | Early career |
| SNL writer | 1988–1991 |
| The Simpsons writer | After SNL |
| Late Night with Conan O’Brien | Late-night debut |
| The Tonight Show | Late-night peak |
| SiriusXM deal | 2022 |
The WGA West’s report paints a picture of a shrinking industry. A 27% drop in writers over three years is significant.
O’Brien’s optimism about creatives finding new ways to collaborate is a hedge against despair. He believes talented people will still profit, even if the traditional writers room disappears.
The lobster and champagne were fun. But the point was the room itself — a space where writers could gather, share ideas, and build shows together. That space is shrinking. The numbers show it.
Source material: “Lobster’s Off The Menu: Conan O’Brien Laments The Decline Of Writers’ Rooms,” Deadline.
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