Conan O'Brien: Replaying his head injury

How the 'Tonight Show' host handled the concussion he sustained during a skit-gone-wrong

Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien certainly isn't afraid to generate "laughs at his expense," said Lynn Elber in the Associated Press. On his show Monday, O'Brien played "cringe-worthy" footage of his skit-gone-wrong last Friday when, while racing with guest Teri Hatcher, the 6-foot-4 comedian slipped onstage and hit his head, causing a concussion (watch). The "audience gasped" at the footage, in which "O'Brien looked like a rag doll," but he and his sidekick Andy Richter were quick to joke about it.

Conan O'Brien may have been "joking sardonically on Monday night about the head injury he sustained," said Dave Itzkoff in The New York Times, "but the footage of the incident is more frightening than laugh-out-loud funny." The injury was so serious that O'Brien was "unable to complete Friday's show" and had to be taken to the hospital.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up