The podcast debuted in November 2018 and features O'Brien talking with comedians and actors in the industry, including Jeff Goldblum, Adam Sandler, Stephen Colbert, David Letterman, Bill Burr, Tom Hanks, and Tina Fey, along with personal friends, such as Lisa Kudrow, Joel McHale and Timothy Olyphant,[2] people he admires such as Carol Burnett, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, John Cleese, and Robert Caro, and political figures, such as Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
[3][4] Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend has received positive reviews from critics and is one of the top comedy podcasts on iTunes.
Movsesian returned on the episode released October 10, 2021, the same podcast where Gourley announced he would be taking a month-long paternity leave.
[11] In November 2021, O'Brien, Movsesian, and Gourley performed a live version of the podcast at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles.
[14] On December 15, 2023, O'Brien recorded an episode with President of the United States Joe Biden at the White House.
[citation needed] Sona Movsesian, O'Brien's long-time personal assistant, and Matt Gourley, the podcast's producer, serve as sidekicks.
[19] In a 2010 interview on Conan, Nealon and host O'Brien discussed being holed up in a Santa Monica hotel room for a month with Carvey and Robert Smigel working on the script for what was then intended to be a musical.
According to Stern, the movie fell apart because Schwarzenegger withdrew, and that he was rumored to do so because of the poor reception of his self-parodying vehicle Last Action Hero.
Writing for Rolling Stone, Matt Saincome listed it among the best new podcasts of 2018: "Instead of the heavily choreographed late-night talk show conversations, listeners are treated to a much more vulnerable, behind the scenes vibe from O'Brien.
Saincome listed the podcasts with Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard as highlights among the first few episodes, writing, "All episodes of this podcast are worth a listen so far, but the one-two punch of Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard stood out for the genuine warmth and discussion of Conan's personal life.
Quah also praised the dynamic among O'Brien and his sidekicks on the show, Sona Movsesian and Matt Gourley: "It also helps that O'Brien is great at the performance of longer-form interviews, effectively balancing the impulse of filling the room with being genuinely curious, and there's also a lot of charm to be found in the podcast, particularly in the core O'Brien-Movsesian-Gourley workplace dynamic, which goes a long way to providing listeners with a sheen of habitual comfort.
Macht writes, "The arrival of heavy hitters such as Conan O'Brien may not signal the end of podcasting—or even the peak—but it will usher in a new phase for the medium.