On Sunday morning, late-night television host Conan O’Brien, who has consistently attacked Senator Ted Cruz over the years, moaned about the effect the coronavirus has had upon him. Cruz promptly seized the opening, issuing a hilarious and pointed response.
O’Brien complained, “I’m starting to miss things I hated.”
I'm starting to miss things I hated.
— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) April 19, 2020
Cruz, not mentioning that O’Brien is harder to find on his current network than he was at the peak of his career on NBC, answered succinctly, “I miss you too.”
I miss you too. https://t.co/xv32g5DE2h
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 19, 2020
In March 2015, O’Brien carped, “Texas senator and Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz has announced he’s running for president. He pledged to ‘Lead America boldly forward into the late 1950’s.’”
In March 2016, O’Brien tweeted: “A lot of people want Ted Cruz to win, but are we ready for a President that’s a melting candle?”
A lot of people want Ted Cruz to win, but are we ready for a President that’s a melting candle?
— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) March 17, 2016
Also in March 2016, O’Brien promoted the National Enquirer’s smear of Cruz, asserting, “A big possible scandal for Ted Cruz; I don’t know if you’re keeping up with this; it’s been reported that a contributor to CNN has been having an affair with Ted Cruz. Now, all I can say is way-to-go, Wolf Blitzer … no, Ted Cruz is being accused of having affairs with five different women. Five! Five different women! Yeah, and five different women are being accused of having terrible taste in men. So, I’m just telling you what’s happening.”
In May 2016, during a rally in Indiana, which was going to hold its presidential primary, a young boy hollered “you suck” toward Cruz while he was on stage. O’Brien commented,“A young boy, a young boy, yelled ‘You suck’ at Ted Cruz. A little kid! A little kid! He’s a little kid! ‘You suck!’ In other words, there’s hope for America’s future after all.”
After Cruz dropped out of the presidential race in 2016, O’Brien mocked him by claiming the reason he had dropped out was a “wooden stake through heart.”
In early March 2020, speaking in his monologue on TBS, O’Brien sniped, “Here’s the latest. After being near someone who had the coronavirus. Texas senator Ted Cruz said he will now work for home. Yeah, yeah. When asked for comment, Ted’s wife and two children said, ‘What a dick.’”
O’Brien rose from serving as a writer for Saturday Night Live starting in 1988 to writing for The Simpsons in 1991, then segueing to replacing David Letterman on Late Night in 1993, where he stayed until 2009. He then moved upward again to host The Tonight Show, taking over from Jay Leno in 2009. But the ratings dropped well below Leno’s, prompting NBC to decide he should move back to late night.
Since 2010, O’Brien has appeared on TBS.
When he left the Tonight Show, O’Brien issued this statement:
Every comedian, every comedian dreams of hosting The Tonight Show and—for seven months—I got to do it. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second [of it]…. All I ask is one thing, and I’m asking this particularly of young people that watch: Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism; for the record it’s my least favorite quality. It doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.
And if you consistently attack Ted Cruz, your moment will come.