Stephen Colbert is “too talented and too essential to go away,” Conan O’Brien said Saturday night as he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. “It’s not going to happen,” O’Brien added near the end of a lengthy and emotional speech celebrating the occasion.
Colbert will “evolve and shine brighter than ever in a new format that he controls completely,” O’Brien insisted. And “technology can do whatever they want” in terms of changing the landscape of television, even “make a television pill.”
More from TheWrap
“It can make television shows a high protein, chewable, vanilla-flavored capsule with added fiber. It still won’t matter,” O’Brien continued. “If the stories are good, if the performances are honest and inspired, if the people making it are brave and of good will, then somewhere, two weird siblings huddled in their crowded living room just off Route 9 outside Boston are going to be moved.”
O’Brien began his speech by recalling a childhood spent with his brother Neil, an unabashed fan of TV. And though “streaming changes the pipeline” through which series are delivered into homes and minds, he said, “the connection, the talent, the ideas that come into our homes, I think it’s as potent as ever.”
The late night host pointed to the audience as proof positive, and cited series like “Severance” and “Andor” to support his point. The reality of TV in 2025 is that “it’s all electrifying a new generation of viewers.”
“Yes, late night television as we have known it since around 1950 is doing to disappear,” O’Brien admitted, “but those voices aren’t going anywhere.”
Colbert announced the end of his late show in mid-July. Since then late night ratings have surged, and Colbert has managed to get in a few jokes that surprised even his audience.
The post Conan O’Brien Insists Stephen Colbert Is ‘Too Talented and Too Essential’ to Disappear: ‘Not Going to Happen’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com ’
