Conan O.

Conan O’Brien said that when he appeared on “Hot Ones” to eat hot wings, he realized late-night talk shows probably didn’t have a sentence.

The comedian, who will again host the Oscars on Sunday, addressed the increasingly bleak prospects for a medium he starred in for 28 years: on “Late Night,” “The Tonight Show” briefly and then on “Conan.”

In 2024, O’Brien went on a theatrical journey by eating increasingly spicier chicken wings while chatting with “Hot Ones” host Sean Evans. The clip has received more than 15 million views since its release.

It also sparked a revelation for the comedian.

“That was the moment the scales fell out of my eyes,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Monday. “If a guy can do World Series numbers with overhead that, to me, was worth about $600, and you have all the big stars lining up to do his show or ‘Chicken Shop Date’… that’s when I deeply understood that late-night shows are in trouble.”

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O’Brien said goodbye to the main television genre in 2021. “Try to do what you love with the people you love and if you can do it, it’s the definition of heaven on Earth,” he said in his latest episode of “Conan.”

Last year, the announced May 2026 cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” for what many believe are political reasons and Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension for uncomfortable comments about Charlie Kirk’s death cast a dark shadow over the future of talk shows.

“I’m of the opinion that yes, these shows are going to go away and become something else,” O’Brien told THR. “But I don’t like it when other evil forces come in, because they’re trying to curry favor. That pisses me off.”