Conan O’Brien passed on hiring Ray Romano‘s writing chops just a year before Romano hit it big on Everybody Loves Raymond, O’Brien shared this week.
“Ray Romano wanted to be a monologue writer for my show,” O’Brien said during an episode of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. “Great comedian, great joke writer. We didn’t have a slot, but he had a good packet and people knew him, so I met with him.”
O’Brien, now 61, went on to say he was around 32 at the time of this anecdote, about two years into hosting Late Night with Conan O’Brien. He only “vaguely” remembers the interaction with Romano, but said the actor “was real nervous.”
“I just kind of said that your stuff is great but we didn’t have an opening,” O’Brien said of the meeting. About a year later, Romano shot to stardom with Everybody Loves Raymond and became, in O’Brien’s words, a “monolithic TV star.”
The pair ran into each other years later, and Romano told O’Brien he “was really bummed” to have lost the monologue job. “I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? Do you realize what we pay monologue writers?’” O’Brien said with a laugh. “Ray, Ray, hello! Ray, you’re Ray Romano. That doesn’t happen if you’re with me writing!’”
Everybody Loves Raymond ran from 1996 to 2005, and followed the daily antics of Ray Barone, a Long Island sports writer.
O’Brien hosted Late Night with Conan O’Brien from 1993 to 2009, and after a brief stint leading The Tonight Show, went on to host Conan from 2010 to 2021.
On March 2, he will host the Academy Awards for the first time, less than two months after the Eaton and Palisades fires decimated several Los Angeles communities.
“It’s not the easiest assignment I’ve ever had but I’m embracing it,” O’Brien told The Hollywood Reporter of the gig’s timing. “And it’s not about me, obviously. This is a moment for all of us to step back and say, ‘Be humble.’ Just be humble and say, ‘This is a massive moment. This is a terrible thing that’s happened in Los Angeles.’”