How Conan O’Brien Is Prepping to Host Oscars After Parents’ Deaths, L.A. Fires

Conan O’Brien is preparing to host the 97th annual Academy Awards by taking everything “a day at a time.”

It’s been a tough few months for the comedian, 61, who, a month after being announced as the host of the 2025 Oscars in November, lost both his parents three days apart from one another.

While his Pacific Palisades home was spared in the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires that began on Tuesday, Jan. 7, O’Brien is all too aware of the destruction they have left behind for so many.

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“It has been a lot happening in a very short time, and there’s a lot that happened in my personal life starting in December that was intense, and then going into this month with the fires and prep for what’s coming up,” he tells PEOPLE at the Sundance Film Festival premiere of If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, held at the Library Center Theatre in Park City, Utah, on Friday, Jan. 24.

The actor’s father, Dr. Thomas O’Brien, died at 95 on Dec. 9, after “his health had been failing,” The Boston Globe reported.

His mother, Ruth Reardon O’Brien, died “peacefully” at 92 on Dec. 12, according to an obituary shared by the Bell-O’Dea Funeral Home in Brookline, Mass.

O’Brien tells PEOPLE, “It’s been a time where I just take it a day at a time,” which is the “advice” he’s been offering to others in Los Angeles.

He recalls speaking to the woman who drove him to the Park City, Utah premiere about the ongoing fires and learning that she was actually from Los Angeles and her apartment “burned to the ground.”

“It’s the time to be asking other people how they’re doing, listening to them,” says O’Brien.

“In that respect, some of the things I’m doing, like come here at Sundance for [the] film or the Oscars award show coming up, can seem silly and trivial, but they’re also important at the same time because we keep going,” he continues. “We keep going. We keep making stuff.”

As of Friday, Jan. 24, the Palisades Fire has burned 23,448 acres and is 77% contained. The Eaton Fire is 95% contained after burning 14,021 acres, while the Hughes Fire is 56% contained after burning 10,396, per the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

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The 97th Oscars will air live on Sunday, March 2, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.

Click here to learn more about how to help the victims of the L.A. fires.