On Aug. 27, you don’t have to stay up after midnight to get your Conan O’Brien fix. The late night talk show host is bringing his signature brand of funny business back to primetime once again as he hosts the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, and the redheaded emcee gave Hollywood.com a sneak peek as to what to expect this time around.
Hollywood.com: What’s the biggest challenge of the Emmy hosting job, from your perspective?
Conan O’Brien: To find a way to make it fun. If you do the preparation and you get some good ideas, it’s fun. When I’m having a good time, people say “that was really good.” And that’s key for me. When I’m not having a good time it’s just not as good, it’s not terrible but… That’s the goal for me, to remember that hosting an award show should be fun
HW: Are there any special challenges of hosting the show this year? Was it a good year in TV, in your opinion?
CO: Yeah. Well, first of all, I honestly believe it’s one of the best periods ever in television. I mean personally I watch shows like House—I’m sure somebody at NBC is ticking off the number of non-NBC shows I’m about to list—Lost, 24, I’m stunned by their quality. I started out as a television writer, and I don’t understand how these people are making these shows. I think The Office—there you go, NBC—is an incredible program. I really think it’s one of the best periods ever for the quality of television. I think all the competition has actually made TV better. So that’s terrific. As for whether it’s a great year to be hosting or not, who can say? It’s an award show, and I’ll do my best to make it funny and move it along. Other than that, I’ll do everything I can there. But I think for the quality of television, it’s maybe the best it’s ever been.
HW: Because the show is airing earlier this year, is that a challenge at all?
CO: Boy, it may. It might be a little bit of a ratings challenge. It’s late August. I think most people are on an inflatable raft at that period of the summer. But we’re going to do everything we can to try and do a good job with that. Other than that, no, I don’t think it’s particularly difficult or more difficult than it was in the past. I usually put these shows together the night before anyway, so the extra two, three weeks wouldn’t have mattered.
HW: Care to give us a sneak peek at the monologue you have planned?
CO: I could tell you all the jokes. Yeah, we have started to get into some things. I don’t really see the point of getting into a— I think most people here know my sense of humor. It’s fairly silly. It’s, for the most part, a waste of time. It will be in that vein. And like I say, there’s a lot of things—we have a lot of different ideas right now. We have some ideas I’m excited about. But comedy, she’s a fickle lady, is a phrase I like to say every now and then. I don’t say it often. It’s pretty bad. But there are some ideas that we have that we could be very excited about and they could fall apart three days before the show, and the idea that we have contempt for, you know, with the mule wearing a beret, turns out to be our best—there, I gave one away—turns out to be our best bit. So it’s very hard to discuss in general. I had a really good time hosting the last show. I really enjoyed it. And I’m very excited that I’m working with Ken and Jeff on this. I think we could potentially maybe try and do some things a little differently and possibly just do anything we can to move the show along and to get people to laugh. So I’m excited about that challenge. I think it should be fun.
HW: Aside from the straight-up monologue, will you be doing any of your signature bits, filmed segments and that sort of thing?
CO: It’s nice to have a bit of a mix. I do the late-night show, and I think we’ve done something like two, three, four, five hours of television out of the same space. And what’s fun for me is when I go into a space like the Shrine Auditorium or a week of shows that we did in Chicago a couple of months ago or I go to Finland, I really am like a kid in a candy store. It’s a chance for me to be in a different environment and to use a slightly different part of my brain. So approaching this show, one of the things that’s really fun is that I try to put myself in your position. You’re all going to be watching this show, and we’ve all seen these shows many, many, many, many, many, many times. What can you do here and there that might change it up a little bit, that might be visually interesting or alter the pace? I love doing a monologue. Last time, I think I did a 12- or 13-joke monologue, which I think is fairly standard for an awards show like the Emmys. But I also like to have visual bits. And we’re going to want to involve some of the other people in different ways in the show, some of the other nominees, maybe some of the people that haven’t been nominated, but are big names with a fan base.
HW: How tough is it facing your TV peers after—and in this case during—the jokes you make at their expense?
CO: Well, I’m on at 12:30 at night so I don’t think of these people as my peers, they’re above me. That’s how I’m able to do it. A lot of the people have been on my show if you think about it so I feel like I know them a little bit. The biggest problem with an award show is it’s not a regular audience. When I perform for a regular audience the people are there to have fun. With an award show crowd, everyone is thinking about “What’s gonna happen to me tonight? How am I going to do?” and for at least half the evening a good chunk of the audience is severely disappointed about something that happened to them. It creates different challenges so you try to create some fun bits and keep moving.
HW: What’s your personal favorite Emmy moment from your previous time as host?
CO: It was really fun to do the Jennifer Aniston bit with Garry Shandling. That was really fun. Everything came together magically with that. It was a kick. It was nice to be in a big room and get a laugh like that.
HW: You can generally only get tapped to host the show when NBC is the network airing it. Who do you think would make a good Emmy host for future telecasts?
CO: You know, I think the way it works now, which is every network gets to pick a different person each time. So we’ve seen a lot of talented people. I mean, this might be it for me. I wouldn’t have an opportunity, I don’t think, to host the Emmys again for another four years, which I think opens it up a lot. I don’t know who’s next year. Who’s next year?
HW: Fox.
CO: Fox? Oh, well, they’re screwed.
HW: How do you think Emmy viewers should prepare for this year’s telecast?
CO: I think the viewers should remember that TV is sacred and there’s nothing more important than television and spend the day in quiet reflection.
Reporting by Gerri Miller
