Conan O’Brien does not need a friend who is funnier than he is.

That means you, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Rangers.

One of the most amusing and unlikely of fake feuds has broken out between the famous TV host and an unusually witty crew of Rangers who are crowding O’Brien’s comedy lane like a fearless bugling bull elk in rut season.

The story starts with an unsolved mystery that’s brewing at the CPW’s branch office at Roxborough State Park near Littleton. Rangers there are curious to know how a signed, framed photo of a young Conan O’Brien that has been hanging on one of their walls for years got there in the first place.

More cuttingly, they asked in a Tweet: “Why does this exist?” They further asked O’Brien’s team if they might be able to shed some light on the mystery.

Shed? More like shade. (Clever shade.)

Matt Gourley, O’Brien’s genial producer, told the story on the March 31 episode of the popular podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.” “I guess they’ve changed personnel and there’s been enough turnover there that nobody knows what the story of this picture is,” Gourley said.

That was comedy bait, and O’Brien pounced on it like a redheaded Colorado bobcat.

“First of all, it’s an insult – a huge insult,” said O’Brien, feigning indignation that drew snickers from his podcast team. “If someone takes over an office and there’s a signed photograph (left behind) of, say, Jerry Seinfeld, no one says, ‘Who would want this? Why would this be in here?’”

“That’s not what they’re saying,” Gourley tried to assure him. But once O’Brien is out of the bottle, let’s just say – that bottle never sees a cork again.

“Maybe somebody who worked as a park Ranger in this area of Colorado took a liking – for some reason we don’t understand – to my comedy stylings, and asked me if I would autograph something for the park Rangers, and I sent it in, and they put it up on the wall, and it stayed there,” O’Brien ranted for laughs. “And the fact that it’s this big mystery, it’s like someone shoving a hot poker up my (bleep). I’ll say it again: It’s insulting!”

He was less (fake) insulted when Gourley read him the entire first CPW Tweet, which went out March 2 – the very same day O’Brien was hosting the Oscars telecast. It read:

“Hey, @Conan O’Brien, we realize you’re a bit busy today, but at some point, can you explain the signed pic at Roxborough State Park in Littleton, Colorado? No one knows the story, and we would really love to. You clearly left your mark on the park, though.”

The Tweet included an altered photo of the area’s dramatic, jutting sandstone rocks adorned with orange pompadours. It was designed by CPW spokesperson Kara Van Hoose, who has been directing the whole clever social campaign. “The rocks are tall and red and pointy – and Conan is also,” Van Hoose told The Denver Gazette. “Seems like a natural.”

The autographed photo of O’Brien (“clearly taken in my handsome beard phase,” he quipped), was signed: “To the Park Rangers. Best, Conan O’Brien.”

Van Hoose said the photo has been hanging on an office wall for years, and that the question of its unknown origin has been a topic of staff conversation there for at least the past two. “It was not left inside a vacant office,” she said. “It’s been hanging on a wall in a hallway leading into a staff kitchen in an upstairs area that is away from the general public.”

Solving the mystery is more difficult than it might appear. Did O’Brien perhaps visit the park years ago and leave the photo behind as a gift? (He says he did not.) Was it sent by a kind staffer in response to a fan-mail request? Could the photo have been left behind by a long ago former employee? Hard to say. Van Hoose said, because CPW has full- and part-time employees, seasonal workers and volunteers who all traffic in the staff hallway.

O’Brien finally publicly responded to all this on his podcast after visiting with comedian John Mulaney.

“We’ve got beef now, Colorado, we’ve got beef. I’m coming for you. I’m coming for you. I don’t even know what that means, but I’m coming for you.”

Van Hoose goaded O’Brien a bit further with an April 10 Tweet that said: “You know you want to settle this beef in person, Conan.” Then came a personal invite to join the Rangers in Littleton for a party marking O’Brien’s 62nd birthday on April 18. He did not respond.

The Rangers upped the comedy stakes further still the next day, when they posted a very funny short video showing three shivering Rangers celebrating O’Brien in his absence during a snowstorm. Collecting snow on a table next to the birthday cake they made for him is the framed, famed O’Brien photo.

One Ranger throws his slice of cake on the ground in mock disgust, crying out like a wounded teen, “He’s not coming!” Another drills O’Brien’s photo with a snowball. One of several Tweets accompanying the video says simply: “We waited for you, @ConanOBrien. IN THE SNOW.”

This whole frivolously funny feud has garnered media attention from Fox News to Cracked magazine and beyond.

Van Hoose now believes the mystery will be solved, because the former journalist has come into possession of some unconfirmed information she fears will end the fun unsatisfactorily.

“There are some credible theories emerging that are way more lame than I was hoping it would be,” said Van Hoose, refusing to elaborate.

She’s hoping that O’Brien’s team will be intrigued enough to allow her a spot on “Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan,” a spinoff podcast where O’Brien interviews everyday people the same way he speaks with celebrities, to talk about all of this.

Meanwhile, Season 2 of O’Brien’s popular travel show “Conan O’Brien Must Go” premieres May 8 on Max.

Clearly, O’Brien Must Go … to Roxborough State Park – and settle this beef once and for all.