Conan O'Brien Will Return To Air Soon Using An iPhone And Video Chat

Conan O'Brien has a plan to resume his late-night show as early as possible. While late-night shows like Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers are currently off the air in the wake of the global COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, which is making it unwise to bring together crews and guests, O'Brien wants to start up his show again by filming on an iPhone and using video chat.

Variety is reporting that the show Conan will return to the air from March 30, with the show being filmed and produced remotely. The show will be shot on an iPhone, with no audience, and guests will be interviewed by video chat. This will allow the show's employees to keep working during a period of social isolation.

According to the show's producer Jeff Ross, this decision is borne from both O'Brien's desire to work and the need to keep paying staff. "We have a staff that wants to work, that doesn’t want to not get paid, and you just want to keep the business going," he says.

O'Brien gave Variety a statement on the show's return: "The quality of my work will not go down because technically that’s not possible."

During this down time, O'Brien has continued to release videos to his Team Coco YouTube channel, and has continued his (excellent) podcast, Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend, which recently released a self-quarantine special episode with Andy Daly.

Conan O'Brien recently appeared in Death Stranding, and has a history of covering games in his "Clueless Gamer" segments.