Conan Returns in 'Second Annual First Show'

Conan O'Brien returned to late-night TV last night and, to nobody's surprise, the firing jokes flew fast and furious. "Welcome to my second first show. I know what you’re thinking—it’s that guy from Twitter,” O’Brien told the TBS audience in his series-opening monologue. "People asked me why I named the show Conan. I did it so I'd be harder to replace," the host quipped.

"It’s not easy doing a late-night show on a channel without a lot of money and that viewers have trouble finding. So that’s why I left NBC," O'Brien said in his most direct shot at his former employer. Guests Seth Rogen, Lea Michele, and Jack White joined the host for his return—as did the Masturbating Bear—but "we’ll really get to see what O’Brien’s new basic cable late night show will be like once the focus shifts from fired to funny," Mediaite notes. "Which likely comes soon." (More Conan O'Brien stories.)