CONAN O’Brien will return this year as the host of the 2006 Emmy telecast.

O’Brien, the host of NBC’s “Late Night,” served as the show’s host four years ago, the last time NBC aired TV’s version of the Oscars.

O’Brien will be joined this time by his “Late Night’ executive producer Jeff Ross, who will oversee the awards show telecast along with Ken Ehrlich, the veteran Grammy producer who last year replaced long-time Emmy producer Don Mischer.

This year’s Primetime Emmy nominations will be announced July 6.

The Emmycast is slated for Sunday, Aug. 27 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Ross has been with O’Brien’s “Late Night” since it began in 1993.

This will be the second time that O’Brien has hosted the show on his own. He also appeared as an Emmy host in 2002 and in 2003 was one of 11 hosts when the show aired on Fox.

O’Brien has garnered a lot of headlines lately, first by traveling to Finland to visit Finnish president Tarja Halonen, a Conan lookalike whose photo O’Brien frequently featured on his show.

Last week, O’Brien took “Late Night” to Chicago, where the show scored bigger-than-usual viewership numbers.