This past Sunday night, two of (inarguably) the funniest human beings on the planet shared a stage in Newark.
On Dec. 7, Stephen Colbert interviewed Conan O’Brien at the regal New Jersey Performing Arts Center as part of the Montclair Film Festival.
For roughly 90 minutes, the talk show veterans riffed, traded anecdotes, mused on the state of the entertainment industry, picked at old showbiz wounds, and took chaotic questions from a cheekily hostile crowd.
O’Brien, 62, was as manic, giddy, quick-witted, and freewheeling as he’d been on his now legendary “Hot Ones” appearance, only slowing down to share a bit of hard-earned wisdom every so often. Meanwhile, Colbert was on his buttoned-up best behavior and played it close to the vest, using every arsenal in his toolkit to rein in the former “Tonight Show” host from going completely off the rails.
Well, except for when the two dropped the pretense of a Q&A entirely and masterfully improvised an Edward Albee-esque one-act play about an unseen woman they both pined for named “Rebecca.”
If you’re kicking yourself for missing this one-of-a-kind event, fear not, Coneheads and Colbert Nation members. We documented all the most memorable lines, moments, and special guest appearances from the unforgettable evening.
Pre-show at NJPAC
If you’ve never seen a show at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Prudential Hall Betty Wold Johnson Stage, picture a pastoral space with mezzanines that seemingly stretch to the sky, topped with a gorgeous circular ceiling that ties the place together.
Their website argues that “all 2,868 seats are comfortable” and “there’s not a bad view in the house.” They’re correct. Even when you’re high up, the space feels intimate and epic as well as cutting-edge and classic.
Before Colbert took the stage to introduce Conan, three Montclair Film Festival representatives — artistic director Tom Hall, President of the Board Evie Colbert and Executive Director Tricia Haggerty Wenz — kicked off the proceedings, explaining how integral their yearlong efforts are for fostering arts in the Garden State. Their message was further bolstered by surprise appearances by Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill and sitting Governor Phil Murphy, who echoed these sentiments.
A message not to request “hugs, kisses, or dates” from the evening’s stars was issued along with a plea to make sure the questions during the Q&A weren’t “statements,” and, just like that, the night was underway.
Colbert takes the stage
Cheers sounded the moment Montclair resident Stephen Colbert set foot in the Hall. The salt-and-pepper-haired funnyman politely introduced O’Brien- save for some light ribbing about how he didn’t get hired to work on “Late Night” in the mid-’90s- and the man who brought the world Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the Walker, Texas Ranger lever, and “in the year 2000” bounded into the spotlight.
Once Conan reached center stage, the two jockeyed for laughs, posturing for more and more applause. The crowd was in stitches; this was exactly the hammy comedy we’d all signed up for.
“I hate to contradict my hosts,” Conan mused. “But when we get to [the] question and answer, it does not have to be a thoughtful question. When it comes to hugs and kisses, I’m down. And my wife’s here.”
O’Brien launched into his trademark maniacal laughter, which led to a deadpan “Congratulations on being interviewed by me, Conan,” from Colbert, and we were off to the races.
From there, the riffs came fast and furious.
Conan O’Brien can’t stop
Regardless of the question lobbed by Colbert, Conan somehow always found the funny.
His first big laugh came when Colbert asked, “Does everyone call you Conan?” and he replied, “Yes. Even my children, who say, ‘Conan, I don’t like your work. You seem needy…You, I understand, like to be called Admiral Colbert.”
Interestingly enough, Colbert clutched his three-ring binder the whole evening and kept returning to its contents. This allowed O’Brien to dunk on his longtime pal over and over.
“You’re not even listening to me,” he cried after a long speech, which got a huge response from the crowd. “This is a job interview that’s not going well…do you even like me?”
“There’s no joy with you…I took the bus here. From Los Angeles.”
Was this a bit Colbert had planned in an effort to allow Conan to score? Did he play things safe because he and his wife are members of the Montclair Film’s board? Hard to say, but the laughs were that much bigger and better for it.
Early into the chat, the pompadour-sporting Oscar host sprang into action and made the most of the space. Later in the evening, he tossed a likely expensive pillow from his chair behind him. This level of anarchy and freedom is a rare trait for comics; amongst typically strait-laced talk show hosts, it’s downright shocking.
In the odd moments where Conan got serious, he explained that he knew he could be funny “at the kitchen table where everything gets sorted…seeing my parents laugh hard at my chicanery from 15 years ago is the reason for everything.”
This led to O’Brien going off-book and breaking the fourth wall in a fourth-grade production of “Oklahoma,” quipping lines like “I don’t know about you, but this part’s getting good,” which his teacher did not appreciate.
After detailing his meteoric rise through academics that gained him entrance into Harvard, he explained his introduction to the Harvard Lampoon, where he became editor of the publication as a sophomore. This led to him driving Bill Cosby, a recipient of the paper’s annual award, from the airport to the campus in his beat-up car with Big Mac wrappers on the floor in 1983. The following year, he had a better, yet crazier experience chauffeuring John Candy around, as discussed in the recent documentary “I Like Me.”
In Newark, he went a little deeper into the lore.
According to Conan, Candy was on the Pritikin diet, and his handlers made sure that he had the right kind of food to keep him on track.
The “Splash” star had a different idea and immediately went to a bakery. He proceeded to order six white eclairs, six black eclairs, seven strawberry eclairs and then looked at Conan and said, “Relax, kid. They’re Pritikin eclairs.”
That night, after a show, Candy told Conan, “You don’t try comedy,” after he told the “SCTV” alum he was interested in pursuing mirthmaking as a career. Conan knew what he meant. “No dabbling,” he said. “You burn the ships on shore so you can’t go back. You have to go all in.”
Following Harvard, Conan was hired to write for HBO’s “Not Necessarily The News.”
At the time, he was fascinated with footage of space shuttle landings at airports and suggested that they cut to “guys in spacesuits waiting at a luggage carousel.” After the staff liked that idea, Conan couldn’t believe that’s all it took to get paid as a writer. He had a knack for this comedy thing.
Colbert barely reacted and fixed him a drink. This is what led to the pair’s improvised play in the night’s high-water mark that would pay off later in the night, where the two pitched a Christmas Hallmark Channel movie they could star in together, not unlike Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig’s 2015 “A Deadly Adoption.” For a brief moment, this killed the stilted chemistry the two men had.
Other highlights
Regardless of whether or not Colbert was intentionally playing it by the book didn’t matter for O’Brien. He was more than happy to take his pal’s stock questions and expound on them until they became epic flights of fancy.
An extended monologue on playing music ended with the transcendent line “I am naked, and someone took my penis” about a real musician seeing him perform.
“Makes a handy capo in a pinch,” Colbert batted back.
Finally, nearly 35 minutes in, the two men got around to Conan’s run on “Late Night” that famously began on rocky footing — a doctor told him that his insecurities were just thoughts, which O’Brien countered with a USA Today newspaper clipping that said otherwise — and introduced his pal and original head writer Robert Smigel, who took in all the glory upon mention of his name.
Yet, the evening’s true hero was Smigel’s wife, Michelle, who we learned told Conan, “What do you have to lose?” when he doubted himself before auditioning. She rightfully received extended applause.
That attitude applies perfectly to Conan’s comedic style that shone through all evening: the man has nothing but nothing-to-lose honesty now that he’s no longer bound to a network.
Their chat resumed, and Colbert claimed it took him 21 years to figure out interviewing. “What happened tonight?” Conan smirked, cutting the gravitas of the moment in one of the evening’s wildest outbursts. “This is a rectal exam! There’s nothing on these pages!” he continued, refusing to leave any fat on the proverbial joke bone.
Later, Colbert proceeded to tell a story about Steve Martin appearing on his show and refusing to do his famous “excuuuuse me” line on his show, thinking the crowd might not laugh.
“He did it for us a week later,” Conan said, without skipping a beat.
Say what you will, but the man is a lights-out improviser, a modern Dorothy Parker, if you will.
Talk about Colbert — and Ray Romano (!) — not getting a gig writing for Conan finally rolled back around. The former “Daily Show” correspondent called “bulls—” on his potential boss, and he calmly replied, “You’ve really mastered interviewing.”
As the evening wound down, they discussed their shared love of vaudeville and show business, along with how sad they are that late-night television appears to be on the way out.
“Humans find a way,” Conan stated. “Really funny people who are 15, 16, 17, 25 right now are going to use what’s available to make beautiful, hilarious, funny things. I just believe that. It won’t be the same path but more or less the same idea.”
He later added, “If you stay in the game and just tread water, things will get better.”
Q&A
Just as the moderators began bringing microphones around, a few audience members walked out to beat the rush.
Conan was quick to point this out.
“You! With the gold jacket!” he yelled. “Get back here!”
They didn’t come back. “I’m going to see that in my sleep tonight,” he whined.
This created a loose tone. That tone, in retrospect, may have been too loose.
A questioner referred to Conan as “Conan Brown..whatever your name is” and then proceeded to complain about having to attend the first three weeks of his show because her friend needed to fill the audience.
“It was bad,” she said. “My question is…”
Conan cut her off. “Why don’t I kill myself?”
“That’s my follow-up,” she shot right back with precision comic timing.
Other questions covered which of their children is funniest, the men’s prospects of appearing on Broadway, and why Conan didn’t hire Colbert.
(Editor’s note: the author’s question was “who would win in an arm wrestling match between the two of you?” He’s still sad he never got an answer.)
Final verdict
Seeing Conan and Colbert sounds like a comedy dream come true on paper.
In actuality, it was somehow even better.
I’ve never seen the A’s fight the Q’s in a Q&A so much, which somehow delighted the crowd far more than it did the questioner (Colbert).
At 62, Conan is somehow still a giddy teen with something to prove, who somehow also has the ability to slip into elder statesman wisdom mode with ease, while Colbert may be the best living straight man.
Although the pair aren’t on tour — Colbert is contractually obligated to appear on CBS until June 2026, and Conan is gearing up to host his second consecutive Oscars in March — the duo are a reminder to seek out performers you love in a live setting every chance you can.
Other bucket list comedians on tour
Jonesing for some laughs now?
Here are just five of our favorite artists making the rounds these next few months that you won’t want to miss when they come to a venue near you.
• Steve Martin and Martin Short
Who else is on tour? Take a look at this list of comedians on tour in 2025-26 to find the show that makes sense for you.
This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change.
