Conan O’Brien and Will Arnett pay tribute to Robin Williams

The news of the death of Robin Williams spread quickly Monday afternoon, but many people who were present at the taping of “Conan” had no idea it had happened until Conan O’Brien himself broke the news at the end of the show.

Clearly shaken, O’Brien informed the audience of Williams’ death. The news was so new to him, in fact, that he had no details and had put no thought into what he was going to say. The result was an impromptu and quite moving remembrance of Williams from O’Brien, sidekick Andy Richter and guest Will Arnett.

“This is unusual and upsetting,” O’Brien told his audience before announcing Williams’ death to audible gasps.

“As funny as he was, he was truly one of the all-time greats,” Arnett said. “He was even better as a person. He was fantastic, just the loveliest, sweetest, one of the kindest guys that I’ve ever worked with.”

O’Brien was upfront with his audience that he was still processing the information. Many late night shows are on a summer hiatus this week, but will no doubt have more fully formed tributes in the days to come.

“By the time we’re back tomorrow, we’ll know more,” O’Brien said before ending the show with, “God bless Robin Williams.”

Full video of the tribute can be seen here.

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