Even though Conan O'Brien's talk show ended in 2021, he is still considered to be a titan of the genre by most observers. In fact, O'Brien is such a talented host and lovable figure that it was important when the streaming rights to one of his talk shows were sold. O'Brien is also so entertaining that it could be argued that he created the best talk show moment of all time.
Because O'Brien is such a talented host, he has many dedicated fans who will no doubt remember that Andy Richter was his sidekick off and on during his late-night TV years. Since the duo has long been associated, many observers wanted to know how O'Brien would react to Richter's time competing on Dancing with the Stars. Fortunately, O'Brien's remarks about Richter's DWTS tenure showed how happy he is for his longtime friend and co-worker.
Conan O'Brien explained how "proud" he was of Andy Richter's DWTS tenure
In 2025, Dancing with the Stars fans got to enjoy seeing the former talk show star Andy Richter compete on the popular competition reality show. In Nov. 2025, the NESN YouTube channel uploaded a video of an interview they conducted with O'Brien about Richter's time on DWTS. During that conversation, O'Brien stated how proud he was of Richter, while unsurprisingly cracking jokes. "I am a proud dad. I'm also a proud mom. I'm both those figures to Andy. "
After joking about being Richter's mother and father figures, O'Brien became more serious about the topic. To the delight of anyone who watched the two men on TV for years, it was heartwarming to see how shockingly earnest O'Brien seemed as he spoke about how happy he was for Richter's success. O'Brien also expressed that he wished that his schedule had allowed him to see Richter compete on DWTS in person.
"I text with him all the time, every time he gets by a new hurdle. I'm just delighted for him. He's America's sweetheart. I keep texting him and telling him how happy I am. Right now I'm traveling for work. I just did an event last night with Liam Neeson in New York. I'm here with Dennis and the gang tonight in Boston. I'm going on to London to do an event. And then I'm going to India to shoot my travel show. Otherwise, I would really like to go and be there in the audience and watch Andy. That would make me really happy."
Sadly, O'Brien's comments about Richter were uploaded to YouTube just before things went awry for his former sidekick. The day after O'Brien's interview was published, Richter was eliminated from Dancing with the Stars season 34, on Nov. 11, 2025. While it was sad to see Richter get eliminated, it is still great to celebrate how successful he was on the reality show. The former talk show co-host outlasted seven of the season's other celebrity competitors until he was eliminated eighth during week 9.
At the end of O'Brien's interview, which involved him gushing about his pal, he was asked about competing on Dancing with the Stars himself someday. While he'd been sincere while talking about Richter, O'Brien went back to embracing his typical sarcastic sense of humor while joking about what he'd need to do before he could compete on Dancing with the Stars. “I would need several surgeries. And some of them cosmetic. Actually, all of them cosmetic."