Conan O'Brien Puts A Tasty Twist On The Reuben To Create His Favorite Sandwich

From his time writing for "The Simpsons" and "Saturday Night Live" to his career as a late night talk show host, Conan O'Brien has always combined an old-fashioned entertainment ethos with a freewheeling, postmodern sensibility. You can't imagine Johnny Carson doing something like the "Walker Texas Ranger" Lever, nor can you imagine, say, David Cross hosting the Oscars; O'Brien, by contrast, is equally at home in the cozy confines of late night as he is going feral chugging hot sauce on "Hot Ones." So, it makes sense that his favorite sandwich is a twist on a reliable deli favorite: It's like a Reuben, but with a couple of atypical choices. (Call it "Reubenesque.")

In March 2026, O'Brien appeared on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" to promote the upcoming Oscars, and took the "Colbert Questionert" — a series of questions the soon-to-be-former late night host poses to certain guests. Right off the bat, O'Brien was asked about the best sandwich, and he had an answer ready. While he concedes that "a Reuben is great," his preferred sandwich has "corned beef, some coleslaw in there, a little Thousand Island dressing," all served on a deli roll. Typically, Reubens are served with sauerkraut rather than coleslaw and use rye bread rather than deli rolls; they usually have Swiss cheese, too. (Russian dressing and Thousand Island dressing are often used interchangeably, though.) Maybe you could quibble with his non-traditional choices, but you didn't write "Marge vs. the Monorail," now, did you?

You might think Conan O'Brien's affinity for corned beef has an easily identifiable source. After all, this is a man whose DNA results came back as "100% Irish" — which his baffled doctor told him is all but unheard of, even in Ireland. Of course he'd enjoy the food of his homeland! Well, about that: Corned beef isn't really eaten in Ireland. Although the country produced plenty of corned beef in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was generally too expensive for the average Irish person to eat regularly. The tradition of corned beef and cabbage we associate with St. Patrick's Day came about when Irish-American immigrants began to consort with Jewish deli owners.

There is, however, a rich history of corned beef in New England, as the Massachusetts native O'Brien surely knows. Consider the New England boiled dinner, a vintage one-pot recipe which is basically just corned beef and cabbage with extra vegetables. Or consider corned beef hash, which was originally developed in New England as a way to use up leftover boiled dinner. (Bette Davis had a favorite "red flannel hash" recipe, which included beets.) Perhaps that tradition of corned beef is why that sandwich tastes so good to O'Brien, or maybe there's another factor at play. It could be it just tastes good.