Conan O’Brien recounts conversation with Mick Jagger backstage at the Oscars: “That just blew my fucking mind”

Posted On March 14, 2025March 14, 2025

The general consensus after the Oscars earlier this month was that Conan O’Brien did a robust job as a first-time host. It is a notoriously thankless role that has been the Waterloo for many seasoned performers, and that fact wasn’t lost on him. He came armed with crowd-pleasing jokes and memorable bits, but one unexpected source of comfort came from an impromptu backstage encounter with Mick Jagger.

The Rolling Stones legend was at the ceremony to present the award for ‘Best Original Song,’ but before he made his entrance, he was hanging around in the wings where O’Brien was watching the action on-stage via a monitor.

In the latest episode of his podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, the Oscars host revealed that he’d never met Jagger in his life and was completely starstruck when he realised that they were in the same space. But the most surprising part of the interaction was the fact that the rock star wanted to know how the crowd was.

“I always worry about the crowd,” O’Brien remembered him saying, adding that even during concerts with the Rolling Stones, he always wears an earpiece to listen to the crowd before going on stage to decide whether he needs to “give it a little extra up front.”

O’Brien said that he felt “so relieved” to hear a performer of Jagger’s experience and fame voice vulnerability about the receptivity of the crowd. “I was kind of intimidated because I didn’t know what he would be like,” the host continued. “He was incredibly nice… He was lovely. He was great and funny and thoughtful, and I had a great exchange with him.”

His proudest moment, however, was being the one to end the conversation. As he walked away from Jagger, he whispered to his colleague, “Okay, that just fucking blew my mind.”

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