Conan O’Brien on Robin Williams’ Ugly Gift After Tonight Show Firing

Conan O’Brien is sharing the story of how the late Robin Williams cheered him up after he was fired from The Tonight Show in 2010.

The late-night talk show host, 61, recalled the hilarious memory during a recent episode of his “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast, telling listeners that he was “lucky enough to have some great interactions” with the beloved comedian before his death. The actor died by suicide in August 2014. He was 63 years old.

“One of the most memorable examples to me is when I went through my whole Tonight Show debacle,” O’Brien began. “Finally, the show is done, and I don’t know if I have a career anymore. What am I gonna do next? I’m lying on the floor in the living room of my house, and my phone rings, and I pick it up, and it’s Robin Williams. I don’t even know how he got my phone number.”

Noting that Williams reassured that he would “be fine” and he’s “going to be great,” O’Brien – whose passion for cycling was shared by Williams – said the Mrs. Doubtfire actor sent him to a bike shop in Santa Monica, California, for a one-of-a-kind gift.

“And I said, ‘What?’ And he said, ‘No, no, no, just head on down there. Ride around, you’ll feel better,’” O’Brien continued. “And I went down and it was a Colnago, which is a very nice bike. And he said, ‘I told him to paint it in all these crazy Irish colors.’ I get down there and it’s the most ugliest — I mean, it was just greens and shamrocks and everything. And he was like, ‘You’re going to like that bike, chief. Don’t worry about it.’”

O’Brien added, “I thanked him many, many times. I just couldn’t believe that he was thinking about me.”

O’Brien began hosting Late Night on NBC in 1993. After his contract was nearing its end in 2001, the network extended his deal and agreed to make him the fifth host of The Tonight Show in 2009; however, Jay Leno – who began hosting The Tonight Show in 1992 – was not made aware of the deal until 2004.

Leno, 74, was given his own late-night show amid O’Brien taking over Tonight Show hosting duties. O’Brien only hosted for a few months before departing from the network in January 2010, and Leno resumed hosting The Tonight Show until 2014. O’Brien went on to host Conan, which aired on TBS for 11 seasons from 2010 to 2021.

Earlier this month, it was announced that O’Brien will host the 97th annual Academy Awards, which is set to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on March 2, 2025.