Lisa Kudrow Reveals How Telling Conan O'Brien He Was a 'No One' Was a Good Thing During 'Late Night' Auditions

Lisa Kudrow reflected on the unique way that she lifted her ex Conan O’Brien‘s spirits when he was auditioning to replace David Letterman as the host of Late Night in the early ’90s.

Conan took over the show in 1993 and held down the hosting spot until 2009, when Jimmy Fallon took over. The gig now belongs to Seth Meyers.

While he is now regarded as one of the best late-night hosts of all time, Conan was new to the scene at the time, which led to some doubts about if he would be cast.

Thirty years later, a new retrospective about his time on the show reveals how Lisa lifted his spirits with a one-of-a-kind compliment.

Read more about Lisa Kudrow’s recollection…

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Lisa said that she didn’t recall “how much we talked about” the audition process.

“I just knew, ‘You’re trying to replace David Letterman. No one replaces David Letterman. You’re no one’” she explained. “It can’t be anybody that an audience would know.”

Lisa went on to praise Conan for his work on the show.

“He just kept showing up as him. He just kept being himself, with his own kind of humor and comedy, where if you just keep doing it, then people get it: ‘Oh, that’s you. This isn’t an awkward thing. It’s you,’” she said.

If you missed it, earlier this year Lisa opened up about her longtime friendship with Friends costar Courteney Cox during a very special event.