- Conan O’Brien said he experienced burnout while working as a writer at “Saturday Night Live.”
- The former talk show host said he regrets being “too intense” at his job.
- Steps to overcoming burnout include getting rest and taking career breaks.
Conan O’Brien regrets being so intense while working as a writer on “Saturday Night Live.”
On Monday’s episode of his podcast, “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” the comedian opened up to his co-hosts and guest, Tom Hanks, about his time working as a writer on the show.
“I was burned out, and I said, like, I’ve got to go,” said O’Brien, who worked at SNL from 1988 to 1991. He left the show to work as a writer for “The Simpsons” before joining “Late Night” as a host in 1993.
O’Brien, 61, added that he wished he could go back in time. “People always say no regrets,” he said. “But I regret being so intense about that job. I was way too intense, and I think I robbed myself of some fun that I could have had.”
He said that although he did have “a lot of fun,” he could have stayed as a writer there longer if he hadn’t made it “such a grind” for himself.
O’Brien is not the first to have opened up about the stressful nature of working at SNL.
In July, Andy Samberg compared his job at SNL to being a professional athlete in an episode of Kevin Hart’s Peacock show, “Hart to Heart.”
“For me, it was like, I can’t actually endure it anymore,” said the “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” star, who left the show in 2012. “Physically and emotionally, I was falling apart in my life.”
A representative for O’Brien did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
Dealing with burnout at work
The World Health Organisation defines burnout as an occupational phenomenon resulting from “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”
Some signs that you’re reaching burnout include exhaustion, less productivity, and a loss of drive at work.
Simply getting more sleep will not cure burnout. In August, BI reported that people need seven types of rest: physical, mental, sensory, emotional, social, creative, and spiritual.
Additionally, Rachel O’Neill, Ph.D., a clinical counselor and mental health consultant, previously told BI that people experiencing burnout should consider speaking to a mental health professional.
“To the extent possible, try to make time in your day for self-care, especially self-care that focuses on present-focused awareness: things like mindfulness and meditation can be especially helpful here,” she added.
For some, taking a career break can also be helpful.
Anaïs Felt, a former senior product manager at a Silicon Valley tech firm, told BI she took a “micro-retirement” after feeling burned out. In the first couple of weeks of her break, she simply relaxed and rested.
“I’m so glad that I just sat down for a month because that equipped me to move into the next phase of my micro-retirement, which was doing things I loved and cared about without the excessive burnout,” she said.
Similarly, Imani Ellis wrote for BI last year that taking 30 days off from work to recharge allowed her to rediscover her creative spark.
“My time away not only allowed me the uninterrupted time to develop my daydreams into a new reality,” the CEO wrote. “But it also encouraged me to enjoy the art of doing absolutely nothing — a feeling so unfamiliar to me that it took some time to acquire the skill.”
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