Washington: Actor-comedian Kumail Nanjiani apologised to American TV host Conan O’Brien after the talk show host hilariously called him a “troublesome diva” for cancelling his appearance on ‘Conan’.
Taking to Twitter, the 41-year-old actor wrote, “I’m so sorry Conan,” in response to O’Brien, who wrote, “We had to scramble when @Kumalin couldn’t make it last night, but I think we turned a tricky situation into something really fun.”
During his opening monologue, O’Brien revealed that just a half-hour before taping, he received the news that Nanjiani will not be able to make it due to being stuck on the set of a different show, reported People.
“I was having my pre-show nap. Andy Ritcher was having his bath in heavy cream, and they came in and they said, Kumail can’t get here,” O’Brien told the audience.
The last-minute cancellation made by the actor led O’Brien to change the rest of the show, but he made sure to take digs at Nanjiani throughout the episode.
“I’m not sure what kind of program we have tonight. We have a little bit of an unusual situation going on with our show, and that is that tonight we’re supposed to be having Kumail Nanjiani on the show,” O’Brien said.
“When you’re a show that’s based on just interviewing one guest, and that guest doesn’t show up, you’re really screwed,” O’Brien added.
The 56-year-old talk show host then revealed that this isn’t the first time he’s had a guest cancel on the show.
“Maybe 15, 20 minutes before the show started, we got a call from our guest, and it was Liza Minnelli, and she said she couldn’t make it. Liza Minnelli cancelled, and she’s you know, she’s a great artist, but she’s known for sometimes flaking out,” O’Brien said with Ritcher adding that she is a “troublesome diva.”
O’Brien then joked that Nanjiani and Minelli are now in the same “troublesome diva category.”
The talk show host went on to share that in support of Nanjiani’s appearance, he was going to feature a clip of his new film ‘Stuber’. However, since he bailed, O’Brien opted to instead show a clip from a competing release ‘The Lion King’.
“We had his clip all loaded up and then we started talking about it and we thought, Hey, if the guy doesn’t show up were not going to show the clip, promoting his movie,” O’Brien explained.
“You gotta show up to get the cookie,” Richter added.
Nanjiani responded to the opening monologue on Twitter, writing, “@conanOBrien is my comedy hero. Him and @AndyRichter are the reason I started comedy. So this clip is something I would love if it was about anybody other than me. But it’s about me, so I’m truly mortified.”
The show went on without the actor as O’Brien continued the episode by interviewing his assistant Sona Movsesian.
The upcoming film ‘Stuber’ which is about a detective, who recruits his Uber driver into an unexpected night of adventure, is slated to release on July 12.