Conan O'Brien's New Podcast Has an Insanely Good Guest Lineup

Conan O'Brien is switching everything up. Last month, he hosted his final hour-long show on TBS, ending the brilliant late-night show as we know it. When he comes back early next year, it'll be with a radically different program—one that will be half as long, have fewer guests, and ditch the talk show format that he's stuck with for decades.

It's an exciting prospect, especially since most late-night shows in 2018 feel like relics of the long-forgotten, pre-YouTube days of yore, but it comes with a price. O'Brien's arguably the best interviewer currently on TV, and knowing that he's planning to scale back on guests is kind of sad. Luckily, he's got just the thing to fill that gaping void: a brand-new interview podcast called Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. And from the look of the lineup he released on Thursday, the thing is going to be packed with killer guests, AV Club reports.

The first episode of the podcast will debut later this month, featuring an extended conversation with Will Ferrell. From there, episodes will roll out every Monday until the end of the year, each with a different master comedian, from Bill Burr to Wanda Sykes to the interview maestro himself, Marc Maron.

“After 25 years of extensive market research, we have learned that people want to hear my voice without seeing my face. So rejoice, America," O’Brien wrote in a press release. Here's the full lineup, courtesy of AV Club:

The Earwolf-produced podcast is already locked in for 36 episodes, so these seven episodes are just the beginning. But if this is the caliber of guests we should expect, this thing's going to be incredible. Plus, it's probably just a matter of time before Obama makes an appearance, since the former president has already sat down for interviews with Maron and David Letterman—at least if he isn't too busy cranking out Netflix shows about how fucked the Trump administration is or whatever.

You can listen to the audio trailer for Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend over on iTunes and check out the first episode on Monday, November 19.

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