Conan O’Brien has revealed a gnarly case of sunburn to be the reason for his new, slicked-back hairstyle, joking, “I’m a grease ball. I’m so greasy.”
The former late night host caused a stir among his fans Monday when a new video taping of his “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast featured him sporting not his traditional, signature pompadour but a 1950s-esque greased-back hairstyle. After fans demanded answers about the sudden change, O’Brien and his team shared a video with Entertainment Weekly explaining his new look.
According to O’Brien, the reason for his new ‘do goes back to his attendance at the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on June 18. When O’Brien learned that the event, which was scheduled to run over three hours, was going to be held outdoors, he decided to put some sunscreen on his face before he left for the opening with his wife Liza Powel.
“When it’s over, I’m so glad that I put the sunblock on, and I’m feeling really good about myself. Like, ‘Smart move,’” O’Brien recalled, noting that fellow attendees Stephen Colbert and David Letterman looked “bright, bright red” when he saw them afterward.
“A day or two later, after the event, I feel like my skull is on fire, and then two days after that, my [scalp] is really itchy, and whenever I itch it, it looks like a snow globe. It looks like confetti—white freckled confetti is pouring off of my head. It’s disgusting,” O’Brien revealed.
After a few days of feeling like he was “going crazy,” O’Brien learned that he had suffered a scalp sunburn at the event.
“I’m not used to [that] because I’ve got so much hair. But this sun just blasted right through my hair, and it roasted my scalp, and someone said, ‘To treat this, you’ve got to rub oil into it,’” O’Brien explained. “I rubbed oil into it, not thinking about the podcast when we went on camera, and then I come in and I look like I’m in Sha Na Na. I’m a grease ball. I’m so greasy. I’m Frankie (Valli).”
O’Brien added that he has to continue combing oil through his hair until the sunburn has been completely treated, which is why he now looks like he just stepped off the set of “Grease.” Fortunately, the comedian has proven to have a real sense of humor about it all.
“I look like I want to fight one of you in the parking lot by swinging a chain at you in 1952, or come at you with a switchblade,” O’Brien joked in the video. “I really feel different. I just want to fight people on the street. I want to get a hot rod and drive it around. I want to get Rizzo pregnant, so that Rizzo has a bun in the oven. You know what I mean?”
“Anyway,” O’Brien concluded, “I’m a grease ball now, and I’m just gonna keep rubbing oil into my head until this, my skull, heals.”
