Andy Richter on whether he'll be part of Conan O'Brien's HBO Max show: "I don't know"

The New York Times

Richter discussed his 19 years as Conan's sidekick -- 7 years on Late Night and 12 years on The Tonight Show and Conan -- in an interview with The New York Times. In addition to discussing his role, Richter was also asked about whether he'll join Conan on his future HBO Max endeavor. "I don’t know," says Richter. "It’s very much up in the air and I don’t know how much I can say about that. But I can say there’s been a difference of opinion about what the next thing will be. Just as a kindness, Conan has said to people, I don’t know. He’s not making promises he can’t keep. I’m auditioning and it’s freeing up my schedule. So it’ll give me more opportunity to do some stuff. I mean, if there’s still an Andy Richter market out there. For the most part, I am calm about it. Because I have enough people that tell me I’ll be fine and I choose to believe them. Definitely, there’s part of me that’s like, oh no, what if on tomorrow’s showbiz menu there’s an Andy Richter and everyone goes, ehhh, I’ll have the fish?" Richter will still be connected to Conan O'Brien via the Team Coco-produced podcast The Three Questions with Andy Richter, which he began hosting two years ago. Richter was also asked if being a late-night sidekick was the perfect role for him. "It all makes sense when you look back at it," says Richter. "I was the morale keeper, the kid in the family that made sure everybody was OK and kept the mood light when things were tough. Then I got into improv where it’s not about you — you share the experience and everybody pitches in and no one’s more important than anyone else. Then I got on this show where I was surrendering myself to the situation. And being there if needed. It suits me in many ways. I’ve lived a reactive life. But that’s not the way to make things happen. I’m now at a point where I’m like, maybe that’s just who I am. My ambition will be looking for situations in which to do my part. Not necessarily to grab the world by the throat and scream my name into its face. But that being said, I’m older, I’m calmer. If I were to move off-camera and just start telling stories and making TV shows, I think I’d be OK with that. I wouldn’t have to worry about how I look. I wouldn’t have to worry about getting old. I wouldn’t have to worry about this double chin. That’s an ongoing process, my tortured relationship with the notion of my own authorship. Me as an auteur is something that I’ve always thought, I should do that. It’s like the elliptical gathering dust out in my garage. Yeah, I should do that."