EXCLUSIVE: Longtime late-night host Conan O’Brien is set for a sitdown with The Late Show‘s Stephen Colbert as part of the annual fundraiser for Montclair Film, New Jersey’s leading film non-profit, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in downtown Newark at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 7.
The conversation will celebrate O’Brien’s career as one of the leading minds in contemporary comedy.
Best known for stints as host of Late Night with Conan O’Brien (1993–2009) and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien (2009–2010) on NBC, as well as Conan (2010–2021) on TBS, O’Brien famously came to comedy after making a name for himself as two-time president of The Harvard Lampoon. Before making his way to late-night, he worked as a writer and producer on series including Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons.
Over the course of his career, O’Brien has hosted the Emmys twice — winning six awards there himself, in addition to seven Writers Guild Awards and many other accolades. This year alone, he’s been honored with The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and seen his induction into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
O’Brien hosted this year’s Oscars to critical acclaim and is set to do so again in 2026. Currently in production on the third season of his Emmy-winning international travel series Conan O’Brien Must Go for HBO Max, he’s also behind the podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, which has notched over 700 million downloads since 2018. O’Brien can also currently be seen in theaters as part of the cast of Mary Bronstein’s acclaimed A24 pic If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, in a rare acting role where he’s not playing himself.
In a statement to Deadline, Montclair Film Artistic Director Tom Hall said, “We are incredibly grateful to Conan O’Brien for his support of our mission at Montclair Film. Throughout his legendary career, Conan’s work has delighted audiences across the globe, and we look forward to a terrific evening when he joins Stephen Colbert for what is sure to be a hilarious conversation.”
Tickets for An Evening With Conan O’Brien, hosted by Colbert, will be available online for Montclair Film and NJPAC members beginning Wednesday, October 15 at 10:00 a.m. They’ll go on sale to the general public Friday, October 17 at 10:00 a.m.
A co-founder of Montclair Film, whose wife Evie McGee is president of the organization’s board of trustees, Colbert is set to wrap up a decade-plus as host of The Late Show in May 2026, as CBS announced in July — in a bombshell move also marking the end of The Late Show as a franchise. Colbert accepted his first Emmy for his work on the series when it finally broke through in Outstanding Talk Series in September.
