Conan Overhaul: Show Will Cut Back to 30 Minutes in 2019
The Conan show is making major changes in 2019. Today TBS announced that the show is changing to a half hour nightly format.
Conan is currently the most experienced of the late night hosts- he’s been around the longest of the current late night crew. The focus of his new half hour show will be “freewheeling comedy” although the show will likely exit the role of providing a platform for stand up comedians to perform on television.
“Now it’s time to take the next leap,” Conan said, acknowledging the change in the television landscape since he first took the Late Night desk in 1993. “A half-hour show will give me the time to do a higher percentage of the comedy in, and out, of the studio that I love and that seems to resonate in this new digital world. It’s still going to be me hosting a very silly show, but I want segments on my half-hour program to link to digital content, deepening the experience for my younger fans, and confusing my older ones,” he said in a statement.
Conan offered more details on the new format during a telephone press conference. He says 2019 will bring a brand new set, only one celebrity guest per show, and more road trips. The show will air from 11pm to 11:30pm.
Before launching his new format, Conan will be going on tour with some young comics.
