US LATE NIGHT television host Conan O’Brien has won an Emmy for an episode titled ‘Ireland’ of his travel show, Conan O’Brien Must Go – in which he travels to Ireland and even makes a cameo in Irish language drama Ros na Rún. 

O’Brien and his co-writers won the Emmy award for Outstanding Writing For A Nonfiction Program for the episode of the show, which aired on HBO Max. The show received two nominations: Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series Or Special, as well as the category it won in. 

O’Brien, who claims Irish-American heritage, visited Ireland back in January of this year, when he filmed both the winning episode of his travel show and appeared in an episode of Season 28 of TG4′s Ros na Rún as a “delivery man”.

O’Brien is known primarily as a comedian and host of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, though he has also served as a writer on The Simpsons and late night comedy show Saturday Night Live. 

Speaking at the time, O’Brien said: “Getting to work with the cast and crew of ‘Ros Na Run’ was a delightful highlight of my trip to Ireland, and I apologise in advance for inadvertently butchering my Mother Tongue.”

He worked with a linguistics coach, Kevin Hussey, in preparation for the shoot at the studio in Connemara. 

The ‘Ireland’ episode beat out the four other nominees: How To With John Wilson; Jim Henson Idea Man; The Jinx – Part Two; and The Reluctant Traveler With Eugene Levy. 

The travel show, of which the first season has four episodes, was renewed for a second season after receiving critical acclaim. O’Brien visited four different countries throughout the series: Norway, Argentina, Thailand, and Ireland.

In episode ‘Ireland’, O’Brien visits the Barack Obama Plaza in Tipperary, where he unveils the ‘Conan O’Brien Air Pump’, and learns Irish slang in Dublin. Between a search for Bono and a visit to the Wicklow Head Lighthouse, he meets with a genealogist to trace his ancestry. 

The episode is available to watch on HBO Max.