Comedian and former talk show host Conan O'Brien received love and support from fans en masse following the death of his parents.
After 66 years of marriage and raising six children, Dr. Thomas Francis O’Brien and Ruth Reardon O’Brien died three days apart.
According to to The Boston Globe, Dr. O'Brien's health had been failing before his death on Monday at 95.
His beloved wife, Ruth O'Brien, died on Thursday at age 92. Her obituary indicated the Worcester, Massachusetts, native had "passed away peacefully."
Their causes of death are currently undisclosed.
Both parents lived in Brookline, Massachusetts.
The comedian's father was a Harvard Medical School physician and professor who specialized in epidemiology. He was also the director of the division of infectious diseases at what is now called Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston.
Ruth O'Brien, a Worcester native, clerked for a former chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court as an attorney and eventually became the second woman to become a partner as a real estate attorney at the renowned Boston firm Ropes & Gray.
The younger O'Brien's penchant for comedy likely stemmed from his father, who "made sure his children knew comedy’s classics,” including comic legends Jack Benny, the Marx Brothers, and Charlie Chaplin, according to the Globe.
The former late-night host recalled his father's love of comedy and told the outlet:
“The loudest I’ve ever heard anybody laugh was sitting next to him in a theater watching Peter Sellers in a ‘Pink Panther’ movie.”
The 61-year-old comedian, who studied History & Literature at Harvard and graduated magna cum laude, continued:
“But he was often the funniest guy in the room. And when he would laugh, his whole body would convulse and he would almost hug himself.”
He added:
“For the rest of my time on earth I will be hearing from people who want to talk with me about my dad. ... I’ve never met anyone like him, and he happens to be my father."
"If I met him randomly in a hotel lobby, I’d think, ‘Who the hell is this guy? He’s the most interesting person I’ve ever met.’”
Last year, O'Brien spoke with the Your Mama's Kitchen podcast and shared his Catholic upbringing and attempts at trying to make his parents laugh as a toddler.
He said of his mother:
"My mom was very much a 'straight man,' you know, she was very much a, 'oh don't say that, sit up straight, now why would you say that.' And what happens is that made me want to be really funny."
Fans sent condolences to the grieving entertainer during a difficult time.
They also shared their heartbreaking experiences of losing both parents within a short time.
In 2017, O'Brien paid tribute to his mother's accomplishments after she became the second recipient of the coveted iRelaunch Pioneering Relauncher Award.
“There were six kids, two dogs, a cat, my grandmother, a parakeet—I’m not kidding—that house was a kind of madness sometimes,” he said. “Lovely madness, but madness still the same.”
He said of his parents at the time:
“I don’t know how they worked it out, but they worked it out pretty well."
"We’re all here, we’re all alive. I don’t know how they did it."
- YouTubeyoutu.be
Our hearts go out to O'Brien, his three brothers, and two sisters for their losses.
