Conan is changing its format. A year after signing a new four-year deal with TBS, the Turner-owned cable network announced Thursday that it will reduce Conan O’Brien’s little-watched late-night series from an hour a night to a half hour a night come 2019. Additionally, TBS is expanding its partnership with O’Brien’s Team Coco and has unveiled plans to expand its touring and online efforts connected to the long-running late-night series.
“Since I inherited my Late Night show in 1993, TV has changed exponentially. I’d like to think I have evolved with many of these changes, but now it’s time to take the next leap,” O’Brien said in a release announcing the changes. “A half-hour show will give me the time to do a higher percentage of the comedy in, and out, of the studio that I love and that seems to resonate in this new digital world. It’s still going to be me hosting a very silly show, but I want segments on my half-hour program to link to digital content, deepening the experience for my younger fans, and confusing my older ones.”
Late-night’s longest-tenured host will continue to air four nights a week and starting next year will unveil a less structured 30-minute format that will feature guests and a variety of segments drawn from the newly expanded Team Coco portfolio. Team Coco’s expansion will also feature talent deals with stand-up comedians that will be driven by live touring and original digital material. That will kick off late this year, when O’Brien and his team of comics will embark on a multicity tour. Conan will continue to feature an array of emerging stand-up comedians on its linear and nonlinear platforms.
The touring component builds on the show’s history of taking its show on the road to locations such as Cuba, Mexico, Haiti and Israel via its Conan Without Borders series of specials.
Additionally, as O’Brien celebrates 25 years on late-night TV (with eight of them at TBS), Team Coco will partner with NBC and TBS to put the host’s entire Late Night With Conan O’Brien and Conan catalog online.
“Starting out on Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons, through Late Night and my work with TBS, one of the great joys of my life has been collaborating with brilliantly funny people,” O’Brien said. “This new venture with TBS will give me a platform to nurture exciting young talent and find the right place for their gifts in a crowded and chaotic landscape. My goal is to be Red Lobster, only instead of affordable seafood we make comedy, and every customer gets a bib. I wish I had thought this through.”
