Hall doesn’t know “white folks’ business,” but he does understand that there was some beef between the late-night hosts.

Arsenio Hall is ‘relieved’ to still be Conan O’Brien’s friend after hanging out with Jay Leno

Hall doesn't know "white folks' business," but he does understand that there was some beef between the late-night hosts.

By Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence is a former associate editor at **. He left EW in 2022.

EW's editorial guidelines

March 26, 2026 4:38 p.m. ET

Conan O'Brien, Arsenio Hall, Jay Leno. Credit:

Dia Dipasupil/Getty; Jerod Harris/Getty; David Becker/Getty

Don't worry, Arsenio Hall, you are still Conan O'Brien's friend.

The two former late-night hosts convened for a conversation on the *Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend* podcast, and Hall was "relieved" to be welcomed into the studio, even after spending the previous evening with Jay Leno, who infamously both preceded and succeeded O'Brien as the face of *The Tonight Show*.

"Last night, me and Howie Mandel arrived in Beverly Hills to do a benefit for abused animals with Jay Leno," Hall confessed. "So because this is last night, about 8 o'clock, and I am thinking, get to bed, get up tomorrow, do Conan, and I'm looking at Jay in this green room. And I don't keep up with all white folks' business. But I do remember that you all had friction."

Conan O'Brien reveals cut Oscars joke shading Best Picture nominee

Conan O'Brien regrets being 'way too intense' while working at 'SNL': 'I robbed myself of some fun'

After long serving as the host of NBC's *Late Night,* O'Brien signed a new contract with the network in 2004 that promised that he'd take over *The* *Tonight Show* from Leno in 2009. When the time came, NBC kept its word, only to then launch *The Jay Leno Show* in primetime. But, as both talk shows struggled in the ratings, NBC wanted to move Leno back to the 11:35 p.m. slot, shifting O'Brien to 12:05 p.m. O'Brien resisted the change, and just seven months after the premiere of his *Tonight Show*, the comedian was out, with Leno returning to the desk.

"I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it," O'Brien said at the time. "My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of *The Tonight Show*. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction."

Arsenio Hall on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.'.

Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Hall is no stranger to facing off with Leno, considering *The Arsenio Hall Show *competed with Leno's *Tonight Show* during the early '90s.

"I thought about it, and I'm like, 'Wow, I hope Conan doesn't hate me, because Jay is like a big brother to me,'" Hall shared on the podcast. "And we fought, too, me and Jay. We're like Cain and Abel."

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our ******EW Dispatch newsletter******.***

Considering the success of his subsequent TBS talk show, his podcast, his travel series, and his two outings as Oscars host (not to mention the massive payout he scored from NBC), O'Brien assures Hall that he has no hard feelings over how things went down with Leno.

"Water under the bridge," he declared. "This is gonna sound so corny, but I am so happy with my life, and I get to do the things I want to do, and I honestly don't think about any of that stuff."

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Talk”