Conan O’Brien’s “Hot Ones” Mercilessly Mocks WarnerMedia Suits For Rebranding HBO Max as Max: “They Used to Call It HBO, But People Found That Too Popular”

By Radhamely De Leon
Published April 12, 2024
Updated April 18, 2024

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While promoting his new HBO special on Hot Ones, Conan O’Brien did not stop himself from taking shots at his employer.

The former Tonight Show host will be venturing new terrain on his travel series, Conan O’Brien Must Go, which premieres soon on Max.

For those who don’t remember, HBO rebranded its streaming platform, HBO Max, in 2023. But the company made the questionable decision of dropping its iconic title from the platform’s name.

O’Brien was chugging milk from the glass when he began promoting his show. “Is it HBO Max or just Max? I can’t get used to it,” O’Brien joked, before bluntly noting, “It’s not a better name.”

Nonetheless, he found the strength after that hot wing challenge to promote Conan O’Brien Must Go.

“I have a show, it’s on Max,” he shouted, with milk spilling out of his mouth.“They used to call it HBO, but people found that too popular. So now it’s Max because that really rolls off the tongue. And it’s a funny show.”

O’Brien’s Hot Ones episode went viral after it premiered Thursday (April 11), with many calling it “the craziest — and best — Hot Ones interviews to date,” according to Entertainment Weekly.

“I grew up in an Irish house,” O’Brien tells Hot Ones host Sean Evans, per EW. “An Irish Catholic home in Boston. I never saw a spice till I was about 52 years old. So I’m terrible with hot food. I grew up on tasteless food. So this is a whole new experience for me.”

What started off as a rather normal interview between the two quickly devolved into chaos as O’Brien dove head-first into the spicy wing challenge. He not only snuck chicken wings into his pockets, but during one particularly deranged moment he also rubbed a chicken wing all over his tongue and proceeded to yell at Evans.

“Come on, man, are we doing this or not?! Are we doing this or not?! What’s the point of even being alive if we can’t do this?!” he yells.

At another point, he drinks straight from the bottle of hot sauce. As his eyes water and turn red, he shouts at Evans that he’s feeling “perfectly f—ing fine!”

Conan O’Brien Must Go premieres on Max April 18.

Scroll up to check out O’Brien’s entire Hot Ones interview.