How Conan O'Brien 'Flipped Out' His Gossip Girl Obsessed Family

For a beloved late-night talk show host who helped introduce Triumph the Comic Insult Dog to the world, Conan O'Brien has quite the intellectual pedigree. He graduated from Harvard magna cum laude and wrote a thesis paper on novelist William Faulkner (via The Harvard Crimson). O'Brien also wrote for "Saturday Night Live" and "The Simpsons" (via Deadline). The writer arguably contributed some of the show's best scripts while he was on the staff, but eventually left in 1993 to take over "Late Night."

Yet despite his literary interests and achievements, O'Brien joked with Wesley Morris during a JFK Library conversation, "The Pulitzer Prize winner is asking questions of the idiot on television." The "Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend" podcast host often mixes lowbrow and highbrow jokes and ideas into his persona, after all.

But did you know O'Brien loves the hit CW drama "Gossip Girl?" Here's how he made his family freak out with the help of one of the show's co-stars.

When Conan O'Brien appeared on Penn Badgley's podcast "Podcrushed," the comedian revealed that he, his wife, and children are all "Gossip Girl" fans. O'Brien explained that his two kids watched it first, and "Gossip Girl" became something they could all view together. He also liked the show "Because it was kind of fun, and there were elements of the show that, you know, the whole Chuck Bass character was so hilarious to me."

Evidently, O'Brien has a rule about not taking selfies with celebrity guests he interviews. But when Badgley guested on his show, he couldn't resist asking for one. "I took it, and I sent it to, we have a group chat for our family, which is just my wife, myself, and my two kids, and I sent it, and they were all flipped out."

As O'Brien testifies, it brought them all even closer together. "It's funny because it's just this moment of, that's been something we've bonded over, so it's really fun."