The comedian left the sketch comedy show in 1991 and became a writer on the animated series that same year
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NEED TO KNOW
- Conan O’Brien says he left SNL feeling lost before being hired as a writer for The Simpsons
- He credits The Simpsons with transforming his life and career, calling it a “magical” experience
- O’Brien later hosted Late Night with Conan O’Brien from 1993 to 2009 after his time on the show
Conan O’Brien still looks back on his time writing for The Simpsons as a blessing.
While chatting with The Simpsons creator Matt Groening for his podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, the 63-year-old comedian said that joining the animated series “saved my life.”
“You are a big part of my life changing in this amazing way,” the former late-night host told Groening, 72.
“My origin story for people that don’t know is I was working on Saturday Night Live. I was in a funk,” O’Brien confessed. “I loved that job and I loved everyone there, but I thought, ‘I need to go. I’m just in a bad place in my life.’ “
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O’Brien started as a writer for Saturday Night Live in 1988, but left in 1991, later joining The Simpsons as a writer and producer that same year.
“I walked away from SNL with no job, and two of your writers, I think it was [Mike] Reiss and [Al] Jean, heard that Conan O’Brien might be loose and available. So the next thing I knew, I was submitting, I don’t know, some of the sketches I had written on SNL, and then I was told, ‘You’ve got a job on The Simpsons, and you need to be here in 4 days.’ And it really saved my life,” he shared.
During his time writing for the sitcom, O’Brien notably wrote “Marge vs. the Monorail,” which is widely regarded by fans as one of the best episodes of The Simpsons.
The comedian, who left the long-running animated series in 1993, noted that he was surrounded by “just such a fantastic, legendary writer room” while on the show.
“I was so intimidated when I showed up. I had never written that form before,” he admitted. “I had only written sketch and suddenly they’re saying, ‘This has to happen in this act, but then in that act…’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ It was a magical part of my life.”
Over 30 years later, O’Brien was thrilled to have the chance to formally “thank” Groening.
“God, do I thank you. I don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t gone there,” he said.
After The Simpsons, O’Brien went on to host Late Night with Conan O’Brien from 1993 to 2009, followed by The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.
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