Conan O'Brien Celebrates Late Night Milestone Amid Jimmy Fallon Drama

Conan O'Brien celebrated the 30-year anniversary of the launch of his late-night talk show on Wednesday, amid fans' continued calls for him to replace beleaguered comedian Jimmy Fallon on his NBC program.

O'Brien has become a talking point on social media in recent days, after a faction of fans called for his return to hosting The Tonight Show—a role he held for under a year between 2009 and 2010—following allegations of a "toxic" workplace behind the scenes on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Fallon, who took over from Jay Leno as host of the late-night NBC show in 2014, was the subject of a Rolling Stone report published on September 7, in which several former and present staffers stepped forward accusing the comedian of "erratic" behavior behind the scenes.

With the program having gone through nine showrunners over the past nine years, the staffers shared allegations of working in a "pretty glum atmosphere," where they claim they faced intimidation from their bosses and Fallon himself.

Hours after the article was published, Rolling Stone further reported that Fallon apologized to staffers. According to the report, Fallon and The Tonight Show showrunner Chris Miller spoke with the employees via a Zoom call.

As fans tout O'Brien as a solution to the alleged issues behind the scenes, the funnyman marked the anniversary of his original foray into the late-night talk show world.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, the TV personality wrote: "30 years ago today we launched an alleged talk show called Late Night with Conan O'Brien. We were on a mission to make the silly show of our immature dreams."

Acknowledging collaborators and friends, he added: "My eternal thanks to Lorne Michaels, Jeff Ross, Robert Smigel, and countless disturbed, loyal, creative friends."

The comedian helmed The Tonight Show for nearly eight months between June 2009 and January 2010 before being ousted following a public fallout with the network over a timeslot clash. Leno, from whom O'Brien had taken over, returned to the show.

O'Brien hosted Late Night with Conan O'Brien on NBC from 1993 to 2009, and then briefly succeeded Leno on The Tonight Show. O'Brien's subsequent run as the host of TBS show Conan came to an end in June 2021 after 11 years. He is set to front the HBO Max travel show Conan O'Brien Must Go.

Amid Fallon's controversy, fans have taken to social media in recent days to share videos of O'Brien having fun-filled interactions in apparent attempts to plead their case for why the latter should return to the late-night talk show fold.

Meanwhile, Fallon has thus far maintained a public silence in the week since the allegations against him were published.

While Rolling Stone's initial article on the Fallon allegations described the comedian as snapping at and belittling staffers, another employee described a completely different working environment in an interview with People.

The unnamed staffer described Fallon as "a really, really positive guy" who is "super communicative" with those who work for him. The employee, who said they had worked on the show for approximately one year, told People it was "disheartening" to see "these old accusations being brought up again."

As the writers' strike in Hollywood continues, The Tonight Show is one of a number of shows that have been off the air since May.

A spokesperson for NBC defended The Tonight Show, telling Rolling Stone in a statement: "We are incredibly proud of The Tonight Show, and providing a respectful working environment is a top priority.

"As in any workplace, we have had employees raise issues; those have been investigated and action has been taken where appropriate. As is always the case, we encourage employees who feel they have experienced or observed behavior inconsistent with our policies to report their concerns so that we may address them accordingly."

Newsweek reached out to representatives of Fallon and NBC via email for comment.