Conan O’Brien is set to return to airing new episodes of his TBS late-night show at the end of this month despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that’s brought nearly all film and TV production to a standstill in the last week or so.
Starting Monday, March 30, “Conan” will resume airing new episodes shot remotely using an iPhone, with production staff continuing to work remotely, the network said Wednesday. To prevent any potential spread of the disease, there will be no live audience for the shows, and guest interviews will be filmed via video chat.
“Our first priority is the health and well-being of everyone in the Team Coco family, and our second priority is to try and find a way that we can do our jobs safely, from home, and contribute some entertainment for our fans out there who may be hungry for silly distraction,” executive producer Jeff Ross said in a statement.
Production on just about every show has been on hiatus for the past few days in light of the pandemic, but several late-night hosts have found ways to produce new segments from isolation. “Conan” had a pre-scheduled hiatus this week, but O’Brien has put out several short videos related to the pandemic and released a one-off special episode of his podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” which was released last week.
“The quality of my work will not go down because technically that’s not possible,” O’Brien said.