.jpg)
4 hours ago
1
Conan O’Brien’s Parents Die Within Three Days of Each Other
Conan O’Brien knows that laughter is the best medicine.
In fact, it rang true when he hosted the 2025 Oscars, three months after the deaths of his parents Dr. Thomas F. O’Brien and Ruth Reardon O’Brien, who passed away in December within three days of each other. At the time, Conan was in his busiest career season, leaving him no choice but to get the job done.
“You can do things when you don’t have a choice,” the comedian said during an interview with NBC News published May 14. “And I think that’s an amazing thing.”
The 62-year-old reflected on the moment he got the call about his father’s death on Dec. 9 while he was in the middle of shooting his Max series Conan Must Go.
"I was in Austria when my brother Luke called me and said, 'Dad passed,'" Conan said about the late scientist who was 95 at the time of his death. "And I took a van to a plane to another plane, just different airport hubs, got to Boston. And walk in the room and my dad’s bed is empty, and my mom was in the bed next to him.”
"And I could tell that she was going,” he continued about his mother. “Which was surreal. And she passed within three days of my dad passing."
At the time of loss of his father, and mother—who was 92 at the time of her death—Conan had agreed to host the Oscars for the first time, finish his Max series, and his family was facing the unexpected as they had to evacuate their home due to the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles in January. On top of all of that, he had to plan a joint funeral.
Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
"Then the funeral became a double funeral, and the scramble to get that together, and all the emotions that come with it," the former Late Night host said. "And the minute Christmas was over I was like, 'OK, you just have to get to work on the Oscars because there’s not much time.' And the fires hit, and we were evacuated and we’re living in a hotel, very fortunately. The fire came very close and our house survived.”
For Conan, being surrounded by work was a saving grace as he called the Oscars writers’ room “healing,” amid all the chaos in his life.
"I’ve known these people for decades, some of them, and they’re friends," Conan—who agreed to host the ceremony again in 2026—shared. "And so the fact that I’m together with them, it sounds crazy, but it’s healing to be in a room with really funny people that know and care about me, and to be working on something that we’re trying to make that’s positive and life-affirming and silly."
"So in a way, it was good therapy," he added. "I wish my parents had been able to see the Oscars, but they got to see a lot. They got to see a lot of cool things. And they were very proud, and so I had the knowledge of knowing that they saw a lot."
Watch E! News weeknights Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m., only on E!.
English (US)