Conan O’Brien addresses uproar over drastic hair change

Headlines from several outlets that talked about O’Brien’s new look were then displayed, including one from Page Six that read: “Conan O’Brien baffles fans by ditching his signature hairstyle: ‘Did he lose a bet?’”

O’Brien then explained that his hairstyle was the result of a little oil.

“I went to an event … for the Obama library,” the comedian, 63, recalled.

“I go to this event for the Obama library, and I’m in the audience, and being this color … you can see my whole skeleton right now. I put on sunblock. This is me with makeup, but without makeup, you can see my whole circulatory system.”

The late-night talk show host said that though he put on sunblock, he forgot to wear a hat and his “head baked.”

“I got a sunburn on my scalp and then I went to a dermatologist because it really hurt,” he remembered.

“And she said, ‘Here’s an oil you can put on.’ I put it on and I’m like, ‘Oh, this is great.’ I come in, I’m late. I’m going to talk to Molly Shannon,” O’Brien shared, referring to his podcast taping.

“I just jump into the room, I slick the oil. I put the oil in my hair. It immediately feels better. I jump into the chair. I start talking to Molly Shannon. My staff is watching, going, ‘What’s going on with him? He looks like a pornographer.’”

O’Brien said that moments later, his publicist called and told him news about his hairstyle was “everywhere.”

“I never knew anyone cared,” he shared, adding that there was major news happening that was more important than his slicked-down locs.

After the podcast aired in July, fans took to social media to discuss O’Brien’s new look.

“Pretty sure this guy drives a New York cab,” one person commented on Instagram.

“AI got Conan’s hair wrong,” added another.

A third quipped, “Conan is dead. This is his doppelgänger.”

In a 2010 interview, O’Brien said he “invented” his signature hairstyle when he was in high school.

“I knew one day I wanted to be in show business. I needed a hook. … Sometimes people don’t know my name. They’re like, ‘You’re the guy with the hair,’” he told “60 Minutes” at the time.