Conan O'Brien is remembering his parents, Dr. Thomas O'Brien and Ruth Reardon O'Brien, who passed away within three days of each other on Dec. 9 and Dec. 12, respectively.

In an interview with his hometown paper, The Boston Globe, O'Brien recalled how his father, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, pulled him out of school one year to bring him on an international work trip. "He took me on a trip through South America when I was, I think, in seventh grade," O'Brien told the paper. "He thought, 'You're going to learn more traveling through these various neighborhoods and cities in South America for a week and a half than you will in public school in Brookline.' I think he put the travel bug in me."

O'Brien later went on to incorporate international travel into his TBS talk show, and hosts the Emmy-nominated Max travel series Conan O'Brien Must Go.

The comedian and podcast host described his mother as "heroic," seamlessly balancing her life as a lawyer and a parent to six children. "She's doing all this mom stuff, and when that was done, rushing into a phone booth and becoming Ruth O'Brien, second woman partner at Ropes & Gray," he said. As busy as she was, added O'Brien, she was quick to volunteer her services if older people in the neighborhood needed assistance: "She would rush in and help take care of their legal problems."

"If anyone was unhappy around my mom in a 50-mile radius, she thought it was incumbent on her to fix the problem," he continued. "It did not make her life easy, but it was very much a part of her Catholic drive -- that 'I have to be of service to people.' And good God, she was." The comedian said his parents were "kindred spirits," two people who "were incredibly hard-working and disciplined."

O'Brien, who currently hosts the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast, is also prepping to host the 97th Annual Academy Awards, which will air Sunday, March 2 on ABC.