Conan O'Brien's Interaction With Fan Goes Viral Amid Jimmy Fallon Drama

A video clip of Conan O'Brien interacting with a young fan has gone viral on social media, amid calls for him to return to late-night television.

A faction of fans have called for O'Brien to 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 Thursday 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.

Of those who spoke with Rolling Stone, seven people said that their mental health had been negatively impacted by the purported working atmosphere.

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 on Thursday evening.

O'Brien helmed the iconic NBC talk 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.

Amid fans' calls for O'Brien to return to the talk show in light of the allegations, one social media user took to X, formerly Twitter, to share an undated clip of the comedian interacting with a young fan.

"May I ask you what your interests are, young lady?" O'Brien asked the youngster during a remote segment.

"I dance," the girl responded, prompting O'Brien to ask if she would dance on the spot for him.

On seeing her reluctance, O'Brien said: "You would rather not? Would you like me to dance for you?" He then proceeded to show his comedically awkward moves.

"What did you think of my dance?" O'Brien asked the dancer, who drew laughs when she responded with a vomiting gesture.

"A graduate of the manners school," O'Brien deadpanned as the clip concluded.

An X user captioned the clip: "Since people are talking about Conan in the wake of the Jimmy Fallon situation, here's one of my fave moments: In a bit where he was supposed to converse with a young girl, he picked up that she was clearly nervous. So he immediately turns it around to make her laugh."

The clip, which has been viewed more than 700,000 times, sparked praise from fans, one of whom wrote that O'Brien was "the best of them all, but especially when you gave him just a camera and put him somewhere with people. Anywhere."

"Conan made so many random people famous on his show it's actually unreal," said another. "He really didn't need writers and was extremely creative. He made sure everyone was having fun. Unbelievable talent, the others were on bigger networks had bigger guests and were boring[...]with fake laughs."

Another stated that O'Brien is "naturally funny and can have hilarious interactions with anyone. You can drop him anywhere and it will be funny."

O'Brien's run as the host of TBS show Conan came to an end in June 2021 after 11 years. Before TBS' Conan, O'Brien hosted Late Night with Conan O'Brien on NBC from 1993 to 2009, and then succeeded Leno on The Tonight Show for less than year, before Leno returned to the program.

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."

Amid the ongoing writers' strike in Hollywood, 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.