Conan O'Brien Celebrates His New, More 'Sirius' Podcast Studio

Podcasts sure have come a long way. When I first recorded one, back in 2010, my friend and I sat around his computer and spoke into a very cheap Yetti mic. Even with the poor sound quality and lack of formation we still managed to snare a decent amount of listeners for our hot comic book takes. Meanwhile, even the then-fledgling podcast company EarWolf resembled a DIY operation. Now, podcast studios resemble radio stations. Big, gorgeous spaces meant to enhance visual and sound quality. The latest to debut such a studio is former late-night host and tallest man to ever write for The Simpsons, Conan O’Brien.

Conan debuted his podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, all the way back in 2018. It began as a way to shake things up for the storied host. Since then, it has grown into a mega-hit. From that, Conan created a podcast network with shows hosted by the likes of JB Smoove, Rob Lowe, and Nicole Byer. The network has grown in popularity so much that Sirius XM shelled out $150 million for it! That’s a lot of Bonobos bucks (the most precious currency in the podcast world)!

It’s incredible to see Conan have a bit of a second life here. He also seems happier with it. Obviously, I don’t know him personally, but you could sense the burnout toward the end of his late-night tenure. He seemed less and less interested in getting in front of a camera and pretending he was interested in everyone he was talking to.

Is this the new endgame? When we first heard the Sirius news, Dustin brought up the HBO Max show Conan was supposed to start. Is that null and void now? Are we officially at the end of Conan on our TVs (asked the guy who watched this YouTube clip on his TV)? As Bob Dylan once said, “Everybody Must Get Stoned.” (Not sure if that’s the right quote but I’m gonna stick with it anyway.)