Conan O’Brien Will Film His Entire Show on iPhone With Guests on Skype

Because you can only rewatch Seinfeld on Hulu or The Other Guys on Netflix so many times, everyone is eager for more new material to make us laugh in the uncertain times that we're currently in. Despite the COVID-19 health concerns, Conan O'Brien wants to give people more laughsand he's got a plan to safely resume making new episodes of his show on March 30.

Conan will film entire shows remotely on an iPhone, with no audience, and with guests filming interviews via video chat. The show's usual staff of 75 will be working remotely. The quality of my work will not go down because technically thats not possible, OBrien said in a press release.

We have a staff that wants to work, that doesnt want to not get paid, and you just want to keep the business going," the show's executive producer, Jeff Ross, told Variety .

The Conan show was supposed to be on hiatus anyway this week, but has instead been filming videos using the available technology to try to keep people entertained. In filming and putting these videos onto social media, the people involved with the show realized they could use the same process to make an entire show.

We were making stuff and putting it out and trying to be a distraction, but we just realized why not just do the show? Ross said. It will be different ,and it may not be pretty, but were going to do it.

Every late night show has currently halted production due to the fears and dangers of bringing together groups of people right now; shows have large production staffs, and audiences are obviously made up of a lot of people. Conan is the first of the late-night hosts to attempt doing something like this; his counterparts on the major networks have been airing re-runs with a bit of original content mixed in.

I am going back on the air Monday, March 30th. All my staff will work from home, I will shoot at home using an iPhone, and my guests will Skype. This will not be pretty, but feel free to laugh at our attempt. Stay safe. Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien)

O'Brien's podcast, Conan O' Brien Needs a Friend also has been doing its best to get people some laughs in this tough time. Even aside from the interviews that had already been recorded, O'Brien released a special "A Very Special Self-Quarantine Episode" of the show last Friday, which featured comedian Andy Daly of the very funny Comedy Central series Review.

In 2019, Conan shifted formats from an hour to a half-hour; having a show already loose and experimental in its format make the decision to try making shows this way easier. In fact, it just might be the relief people are looking for right now.