Denis Leary Recalls Learning He’s Related to Conan O’Brien: “We Look Like Two Irish Aunts”

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Denis Leary is recalling how he found out he and Conan O’Brien are third cousins.

Actor Idris Elba, known for his role in “No Good Deed”, paid a visit to “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Thursday, during which he verified that there is indeed a familial connection between him and the show’s previous host, comedian Jimmy Fallon.

He remarked, “We resemble two elderly Irish aunts,” as Jimmy Fallon displayed a picture of them. “Check us out,” he added, “we’re almost identical! Goodness gracious, we truly seem like sisters. In fact, that’s exactly what we look like – two old sisters.

Later on, Leary shared the story of how he discovered they were long-lost relatives. “My parents are Irish immigrants,” he stated. “They hail from the same town, Killarney in Ireland, and arrived [in the U.S.] around 1950 by boat. Most of their siblings didn’t follow them here, so the majority of our family remained back in Killarney.

To put it simply, my eldest uncle in the Leary clan, Patrick, received a satellite dish as a gift. This was so he could watch the Late Night with Conan O’Brien shows that I appeared on, as Conan hosted this program from 1993 to 2009. On one occasion, while watching me on Conan, he phoned another of my cousins and said, ‘Hey, take note, the person Denis is conversing with right now is actually a member of our family.’

The actor and creator of the show “Rescue Me” mentioned that his uncle had jotted down his thoughts about what was happening, and as it turns out, he was correct.

Leary recalled their conversation, saying, “He mentioned, ‘I believe this man is a Reardon.’ It turns out that Reardon was Conan’s mother’s name. He went on to say, ‘There was a Reardon woman residing in Worcester, Massachusetts, who inhabited a three-story building when your father and his brother Jerry arrived in New York. They struggled to secure stable employment here, so they moved to Worcester, to where this Reardon woman lived. She had him stay in the basement and found him under-the-table jobs, legitimate ones that paid well.’

He added, “When I showed this document to Conan and mentioned Reardon, he exclaimed, ‘Wow, it turns out my family hailed from Worcester before moving to Brooklyn.’ To which we both responded with a similar surprise, ‘Wow, isn’t that something!’ After all, we all share a common physical trait – long limbs. Moreover, observe our hair textures and our skin tones; they’re remarkably alike.

Initially, Leary and O’Brien made their mark in the world of comedy, with one being a stand-up comedian and the other writing for ‘Saturday Night Live’. Later on, they both achieved significant success in the film industry.

Leary and O’Brien began their careers in comedy, as a stand-up comedian and a writer for ‘Saturday Night Live’, respectively. They later became well-known figures in Hollywood due to their successful careers.

In the previous year, Dr. Thomas O’Brien and his wife, Ruth Reardon O’Brien, passed away just three days apart at ages 95 and 92 respectively.

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2025-01-25 04:54