Conan O'Brien has assured fans he has no plans to retire following the conclusion of his talk show.
In a new interview with Variety, the 58-year-old comedian addressed rumours that he's retiring from show business after ending his third late-night show, Conan, in June.
"Since I left Late Night, I've had people on the streets saying, 'Congratulations on your retirement,'" O'Brien said, referring to Late Night with Conan O'Brien, which ended in 2009. "And they have no idea that I'm as far from retired as you could possibly imagine."
The talk show host is instead focusing on his podcast network, which he launched in late 2018 and now hosts 11 different shows.
"We started doing a podcast just a couple of years ago, and I started on a whim," the former The Simpsons writer explained. "There's no polite way to say it - it just kind of blew up. It became a thing. And it's just been a fantastic experience because I spent 28 years honing these interview skills, and then suddenly I could use them, but in a completely different format."
As his late-night show wrapped up, O'Brien announced he will be moving to a weekly variety show on HBO Max, the details of which have been kept tightly under wraps. Once it is safe to do so, the Saturday Night Live alum plans to resume his travel show, Conan Without Borders, as well.
Although his career is changing, O'Brien said his longevity has been a "gift."
"If you had told me when I was a writer on The Simpsons back in the early '90s that one day I'd be ending a 28-year Late Night career by having these incredible people make this gift, which was lovely... it floored me," O'Brien said. "We could have done an hour-long episode of Homer just making fun of me, which would have been delightful."
