It’s been a gut-wrenching week for the usually happy-go-lucky Conan O’Brien. The comedian lost both of his parents within three days of each other. Dr. Thomas O’Brien, 95, and Ruth Reardon O’Brien, 92, were married for 66 years. Now it seems they couldn’t bear to be apart. They raised six children in a large Irish Catholic family in Massachusetts. Conan credits his love for stand-up comedy to his father.
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Conan O’Brien Shared Kind Words About His Dad
He told the Boston Globe his father ignited a fire in him for the comedy world.
“The loudest I’ve ever heard anybody laugh was sitting next to him in a theater watching Peter Sellers in a Pink Panther movie,” Conan said. “[My dad] 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 that his father was always in “constant motion” and longed to continue learning. Conan O’Brien’s father fascinated him and many others.
“For the rest of my time on earth I will be hearing from people who want to talk with me about my dad,” Conan said. “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.'”
According to her obituary, Conan’s mother was an accomplished attorney and one of only four women in her law school class.
“Ruth was a law clerk to The Honorable Raymond Wilkins, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1956-57), and a real estate attorney at the law firm Ropes & Gray in Boston (1957-58 and 1971-96). In 1978, she became the second woman to be a partner at the firm. She was a resident of Brookline since 1963,” her obituary reads.
This story’s featured image is by Kathy Hutchins via Shutterstock.
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