Andy Richter Defends Hilaria Baldwin After She Got Ousted From 'DWTS'

Andy Richter is used to being Conan O'Brien's sidekick, but now he's coming to back up Hilaria Baldwin's ... defending her against the internet "mean girls" she blames for her "Dancing with the Stars" ousting.

We caught up with the actor-comedian in Los Angeles Wednesday outside the 'DWTS' rehearsal studio, where he told us ... "I've read some pretty terrible stuff about her, and I just don't think that's necessary. People can have their opinions, but I just don't think there's any reason to be mean in a dance competition."

He added ... "People can be pretty mean on the internet."

So mean, in fact, he felt the need to make clear he wasn't telling the internet what to do for fear of "being in its jaws."

He and Hilaria had been going toe-to-toe on the ABC dance competition's 34th season until her journey came to an abrupt end last week. Since then, Andy's been going through his own battle ... recovering from the flu.

He told us, "I'm finishing up having the flu. It was a little rough to have the flu while dancing."

Could have fooled us! The 58-year-old father of two has gone pretty dang far with pro partner Emma Slater.