• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, May 23, 2023

Warner Bros. Discovery has ordered Conan O’Brien to go away, but it is only for a new, four-episode travel series. 

Conan’s new venture was announced last week at the WBD Upfront. The series is called “Conan O’Brien Must Go.”

In the show, which is currently in production, Conan will be seen traveling to locations around the country and the world to visit people who WBD says are “new fans” who he has met through one of his podcasts “Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan.” The big surprise here: Conan O’Brien has fans around the world.

The “Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan” podcasts are described as “mini-episodes” of his podcast called “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.” On “Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan,” he takes questions from fans who he then interviews.  

In a press release about “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” needy Conan joked, “My fans around the globe never asked me to visit them, so I did!” 

The release does not say if these fans welcomed these visits from Conan, or where he visited.

The new show likely evolved from his other travel series, “Conan: Without Borders.” These specials started when he hosted his 11 p.m. (Eastern) nightly show, “Conan,” on TBS.

On “Conan: Without Borders,” his destinations were far-flung: Cuba, Armenia, Qatar, South Korea (and briefly, North Korea), Berlin, Mexico, Israel, Haiti, Italy, Japan, Australia, Greenland and Ghana.

He survived all these trips and then came home, where he remains in the employ of WBD, which sent him away again for this new show, only to have him return again.

“Conan is a national treasure … at least, that’s what he keeps telling me!” said Nina Rosenstein, executive vice president of HBO Programming, in the press release.

With “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” WBD makes good on the promise made to Conan when the decision was made in 2021 by WarnerMedia to end his TBS show after 11 years.

After “Conan” ends, “O’Brien will turn his focus to his deal with WarnerMedia and development on his new show for HBO Max, which will be a departure from his current traditional talk-show format,” said a news release from TBS on May 3, 2021. “Conan” ended the following month.

There has been no word yet on when “Conan O’Brien Must Go” will makes its debut.