Minecraft

[0] Conan O 'Brien needs a fan.

[1] Want to talk to Conan?

[2] Visit teamcoco .com slash call Conan.

[3] Okay, let's get started.

[4] Hi, Brad.

[5] Oh my God.

[6] Hello.

[7] Let me quickly describe to our listeners that the gentleman who's just appeared on screen is wearing a protective helmet, a bright orange, looks like a construction jersey, and your shirt is covered in dirt.

[8] So, sir, Your name is Brad, I'm told, is that right?

[9] Yes, I'm calling you from Manitoulan Island, Gorbet, Manitoulin, Island, Canada.

[10] Okay.

[11] And so you're on a...

[12] Is this a large island or a fairly small island?

[13] I'd be about a two -hour drive across.

[14] It's about 12 ,000 residents.

[15] Okay.

[16] I'm going to say, so it's larger than Gilligan's Island, but smaller than, say, the big island of Hawaii.

[17] Okay.

[18] I'm just trying to get my bearings here.

[19] And are you a crossing guard who just fell down a hill?

[20] I'm just curious.

[21] I'm trying to judge that you've got this big white safety helmet, which by the way, I think it's a good idea for anyone calling into this podcast.

[22] You should be wearing protective gear.

[23] Tell us what is it you do because you are literally wearing your profession on your sleeve.

[24] I just can't tell what it is.

[25] So I work in mining.

[26] I currently I do I work on capital projects so building new mines but in the past I used to work underground as a shaft miner or helping with so oh so you are the classic you are a minor a man who goes down beneath the earth deep beneath the earth to extract ore is that correct yes my my role isn't specifically mining but I I help them with I started with mind design, and now I do scheduling and project controls.

[27] But for a period of five years, I did work underground.

[28] Yeah, Brad, you keep sort of saying, I don't go underground anymore, but look at your shirt.

[29] Now, either you just got into a terrible bar fight.

[30] I mean, you were covered in, looks like coal dust, frankly.

[31] So you've been down underground recently, have you not?

[32] Yeah, these are my coveralls.

[33] I go down about once every two weeks.

[34] I go from home primarily now.

[35] Okay.

[36] All right.

[37] But I work on projects in Sudbury and also some in America.

[38] Okay, okay.

[39] Well, you can throw those in the wash if you want.

[40] Okay.

[41] I'm just saying that's your business, not mine.

[42] Do you have a lunchbox?

[43] I used to have a metal lunchbox.

[44] So that's a famous thing.

[45] So they made a metal so you could sit on it while you're waiting for the cage.

[46] I didn't know that.

[47] I didn't either.

[48] That's a good, that's a good question, Sona.

[49] No, it is a good.

[50] No, no, no, no, it is a good, it is a good question because I don't have, I have never had a profession where I needed a lunchbox, you know, and I think it's, I've always been a little envious.

[51] I haven't had a lunchbox since I was a kid, but I bet this lunchbox you had is badass.

[52] I mean, it's like you could sit on it and what kind of food did you have there in your lunchbox?

[53] I just bring a sandwich, nothing too extravagant.

[54] That's where you're working.

[55] I've worked in conditions where it's constantly raining on you.

[56] So it's not like you're setting out to, you know, eat a nice meal kind of thing.

[57] Oh, so, I mean, raining on you.

[58] What about when you're, did you ever have a meal when you were deep, deep, deep underground?

[59] Yeah, one of the projects I'm working on, the mine's 8 ,500 feet underground, so about 1 .6 miles.

[60] What?

[61] What?

[62] Hard pass.

[63] Okay.

[64] No one was asking.

[65] Hey, you want to go down in a 1 .6 mile?

[66] What kind of lunch can you have?

[67] How many miles underground, six miles or 0 .6?

[68] 1 .6 miles underground?

[69] Okay, so sort of in the middle.

[70] 1 .6 miles underground, that's not good math.

[71] 1 .6 miles underground and you crack open your lunchbox.

[72] Can you eat when you're that far down?

[73] What?

[74] You usually, when you're that deep, the rock itself is about 123 degrees Fahrenheit.

[75] right so you go to a place called a refuge station which is air condition and it's like an office space where you can have a lunch oh come on that's no that's wimping out if i were you i bring eggs down and crack them on the rock and fry up fry up literally earth's heat make fajitas yeah make fajitas down there sizzle them up on a rock that's so cool to be eating a fajita that was cooked by by earth's molten core That's an amazing thing.

[76] You could then send them to the surface and have people say, hey, do you want a molten core fajita?

[77] People would buy those.

[78] Don't you think?

[79] I think so.

[80] It might taste a little different, a little metallic.

[81] Oh, I don't want that.

[82] When you're deep, deep, deep, deep down in the earth's beneath the earth's crust.

[83] Why are you making that sexual?

[84] I know.

[85] I'm not at all.

[86] It sure sounded like it.

[87] Deep, deep, deep.

[88] Did you, Adam is shaking his head.

[89] No, he didn't think it was sexual.

[90] and Eduardo didn't think it was sexual.

[91] So I think that's you.

[92] But we were closer to you.

[93] Maybe we could sense the musk.

[94] When you are just driving that shaft.

[95] See?

[96] I still don't know what you guys are talking about.

[97] But you were pounding away, pounding away at the rich loam that is the feckoned earth.

[98] Oh, God.

[99] But no, seriously, when you are down there, do you have any?

[100] insights.

[101] Does anything ever come to when you're 1 .6 miles beneath the surface of the earth?

[102] I've never had that experience.

[103] Do you ever, does it ever give you any profound thoughts about, I don't know, the whole thing?

[104] It is really neat when you take a fresh blast, so excavating the tunnel a little bit further, that you're like the first person that stood in that place.

[105] Yeah.

[106] Oh, that is cool.

[107] So you're like on the, so yeah, yeah, it is, it is pretty fascinating what mining does and there's a lot of people that work to make that happen for sure i have to admit that the idea of having that much earth above me i don't think i'm claustrophobic but that might get to me have you ever had anybody and i'm going to use a term that matt gorely uses a lot have ever had anyone wig out just sort of flip their wig down there is that is you you say that all the time that's the way he talks but anyway you got like that have you ever had uh have you ever uh had anybody And this is another madism, you know, Coco Cabana crazy down there.

[108] Coco Cabana crazy.

[109] That one I do.

[110] But do you have people ever just lose it down there because they can't handle it?

[111] Yeah, it does happen.

[112] Like when you're traveling in the cage, which would be like the elevator shaft, you, a lot of times people just have to go back to surface.

[113] I can't handle the darkness and or the thought of it.

[114] I'd say it's quite rare.

[115] A lot of people, are fine with it but yeah and there is challenging conditions for sure now let me ask you a question Brad there's a lot of effort to make it very safe Brad you're clearly a fan because you called in unless this is a wrong number but which only happens about 20 % of the time but Brad can actually call it let's say please I'm using the old term yeah you sure are anyway Brad when you picked up the phone and hit the old rotary dial oh it's sexual again Brad, let's say that I was going down on the mind with you and you were like, oh, we know each other now, we're friends and I come by your island.

[116] What's the name of the island again?

[117] Manitula Island.

[118] Okay, Manitula Island.

[119] Okay, I come by.

[120] It's in Lake Huron.

[121] Okay, well, that's not helping at all.

[122] It helps a bit.

[123] No, no, I see no Lake Huron here on my map of the world.

[124] But anyway, oh, now you're going to say it's one of the great lakes.

[125] Whatever.

[126] We'll get into that.

[127] The greatest one.

[128] Let's say I'm going down.

[129] the cage with you because we're friends.

[130] I say, hey, Brad, it's me, Conan from the podcast.

[131] You're like, oh, cool, nice to see you.

[132] And I go, oh, wow, it's a little pretty dusty.

[133] You could clean that thing once in a while.

[134] And you go like, yeah, I know.

[135] Then we get in the shaft and we start to go down, down, down in the cage.

[136] If I started to freak out, would you immediately take me back up?

[137] Or was there some part of you that would, like, maybe, is it possible that you would slap me in the face and say, get a hold of yourself?

[138] Yeah, we'd let you work down there for a while, just work it out, sweat it out.

[139] I'd sweat it out pretty fast if it's 123 degrees.

[140] I'll tell you that much right now.

[141] I'd love to slap you in the face and go, get it together, man. Listen, and you've said that before when, in your words, I flip my wig.

[142] But, yes, in the old days, it was acceptable if someone was wigging out or getting crazy to slap them to bring them around.

[143] But you can't do that anymore.

[144] We're not allowed to slap people, which I think is a...

[145] That's true.

[146] We live in terrible times.

[147] Tell me about...

[148] Is this for the area where you grew up?

[149] I grew up in Subbary, which is where a lot of mining happens for nickel and copper.

[150] An asteroid actually hit there two billion years ago, roughly, and that's what created all that metal in the ground.

[151] Are you kidding?

[152] And I grew up in the crater.

[153] You grew up in an asteroid crater.

[154] Yeah.

[155] Wow.

[156] You're like Superman.

[157] Yeah, I was going to say, you might have abilities that others don't have because you grew up in an asteroid crater.

[158] It's got to have some effect on you.

[159] I mean, that's got to just be packed with all kinds of metallic, you know, various structures and ores, if you will, or I don't quite know what I'm saying.

[160] But you have to admit that you grew up in a crater that was formed by an asteroid.

[161] You might have, can you read my mind right now?

[162] That's a song from Superman.

[163] I can, but I'm scared to what I'm reading.

[164] There's nothing in there.

[165] Listen, those killings were self -defense.

[166] Oh, no. What do you mean?

[167] I would say if you grew up in an asteroid crater, there's a good chance you won't get hit again.

[168] So statistically speaking, you're safest from an asteroid.

[169] So congrats.

[170] No?

[171] Okay.

[172] No, no, that's true.

[173] How many times can an asteroid hit one place?

[174] Well, I think it resets every time.

[175] What do you mean?

[176] Actually.

[177] It's randomly flying.

[178] No, no, no. I think what Matt is saying if you're really getting into hardcore statistics is correct that when something like that happens, it does reset so that the chances of it happening there again are the same as the chances of it ever happening in the first place.

[179] Right.

[180] Or any other place.

[181] Yeah.

[182] Yeah.

[183] So would you, I think actually, you should go.

[184] That's a little extreme.

[185] Okay.

[186] But sure.

[187] Hey, so Brad, I'm curious about something.

[188] I sometimes, when my kids were littler, I would play.

[189] Minecraft with them, does that give me the same amount of technical skill in mining as what you possess?

[190] Pretty close.

[191] Yeah, it's right there.

[192] How about dig -dug?

[193] What's dig -dug?

[194] What's dig -dug?

[195] What do you mean what's dig -dug?

[196] What's a dig -dug?

[197] It's a video game from the 80s.

[198] Anyone here know it?

[199] I know it.

[200] Oh, Eduardo knew it.

[201] Yeah.

[202] What's dig -dug?

[203] Adam did a thumbs down.

[204] Adam just gave it a vicious thumbs down.

[205] I got to get with some people that know culture.

[206] It was disgusted.

[207] You brought it up.

[208] So, Brad, you're saying that if I've done Minecraft with my kids, I'm kind of have not the same amount of knowledge as you, but I have a similar amount of knowledge.

[209] Yes, you're right up there.

[210] Hey, you can start tomorrow if you want.

[211] I have a question.

[212] When you dig a mine, let's say you dig a really deep shaft that goes like two miles down.

[213] Oh, yeah.

[214] And take it easy.

[215] And it's a really deep shaft.

[216] Do you ever get down there and there's just, and there's just nothing?

[217] Don't stop.

[218] You know what I mean?

[219] A little bit more.

[220] Too much, Matt, too much.

[221] Do you ever get down and you've spent a lot of money and you went two miles down and there's nothing?

[222] Yeah.

[223] And you think to yourself, whose fucking idea was it to dig a mine here?

[224] And then everyone looks at you because you were the one that said, I'm pretty sure.

[225] There's going to be some good copper down there.

[226] Let's go for it, fellas.

[227] Has that ever happened?

[228] There's certainly cases where it hasn't happened to that degree.

[229] where the amount of war is not as much as they thought.

[230] So they drill a bunch of holes in the ground before they would do that.

[231] But, yeah, there's cases where a mine that they thought was going to happen economically couldn't make it work.

[232] It's just a stinker.

[233] Now, are you the one that takes the heat for that?

[234] Or can you...

[235] Oh, definitely not.

[236] Definitely not.

[237] Oh, good, good.

[238] Well, I bring it up for a reason.

[239] I bring it up for a reason, which is this happens in comedy, too, where I'll think there's a funny area.

[240] And I'll convince some of my friends over the years.

[241] We should write a sketch about this.

[242] And we really spend a lot of time digging down, mining this area.

[243] And then we read it at Readthrough at Saturday Night Live or The Simpsons or whatever or my show.

[244] And it just doesn't work.

[245] This feels to me like you and I understand what that's like, meaning I know what it's like to be a manly miner.

[246] No, a manly minor.

[247] You don't.

[248] You know what it's like to be in a superfluous career.

[249] It's not superfluous.

[250] I have found many a magic coin in my comedy diggings.

[251] That's all I'm going to say right now.

[252] Does it smell bad down there?

[253] It does near the washroom, but for the most part, it's...

[254] What do you mean?

[255] So there's no odor.

[256] There's no, there's no odor down towards the center of the earth, right?

[257] There's no, you don't smell sulfur or anything like that.

[258] Not in a hard rock mine.

[259] If you're in coal mines, there might be, you know, you know, gases that you would smell.

[260] But for nickel and copper mines, it's pretty standard.

[261] Yeah, we pump air underground, so it's constantly circulating from underground back up to surface.

[262] I'm learning a lot about mining.

[263] You design mines.

[264] I have helped design them, yes.

[265] But I don't understand.

[266] What's the, don't you just go straight down and then you have some shafts that come off the side, or is it more complicated than that?

[267] It's pretty complex.

[268] You spend years going through different standards.

[269] stages to figure out the best paths to access to yours.

[270] So lots of people involved.

[271] It takes probably about 10 years to build a mind.

[272] What?

[273] Before you even...

[274] I didn't realize there was how much thought that went into it.

[275] Hey.

[276] It's just like a sketch.

[277] What is like a sketch?

[278] I've spent 10 years on a sketch.

[279] Oh, God.

[280] I've spent 10 years on a sketch, son.

[281] Oh, okay.

[282] Listen, don't belittle what I do.

[283] I think what I do and what Brad does is exactly the same.

[284] They both risk our lives.

[285] digging deep to try and find something of value.

[286] And so I often get quite dusty.

[287] Yeah.

[288] I'll say.

[289] Criticizing the dirt on his.

[290] I wasn't criticizing.

[291] I'm just saying aesthetically, you know, before you go to a cocktail party, you got the little washeroom.

[292] Hey, hey, Brad, do you have a question?

[293] Oh, no, no, no. You're not getting me off this quickly.

[294] Brad, I have a question for you, which is I, just at this idea just occurred to me, it's standard for people to be buried six feet underground.

[295] Is it possible?

[296] Is it legal?

[297] And could you see to it that when my time comes, and I hope that's not for at least three years, is it possible that I could be buried 1 .6 miles underground?

[298] I technically, yeah.

[299] Thank you.

[300] Thank you.

[301] I accept your offer.

[302] Like for a cave -in or something?

[303] No, I just want me to be, they take me down in the cage, and they dig out a little area, and they put me there.

[304] And then I'm 1 .6 miles underground.

[305] They're not going to build a cage.

[306] Like, they're just going to dig a hole and then throw your body in there.

[307] Why would they put that much work into your - Take the cage that exists down, go down 1 .6 miles, and then, hey, over there to the left, there's a nice spot.

[308] Dig, dig, dig, dig.

[309] They shove my...

[310] You want to be buried in a mind that already exists?

[311] One that's going to fry your body?

[312] Yeah.

[313] It'll cook it slowly over time.

[314] Oh, no, that'll smell not...

[315] No, it'll smell like roasting ham, trust me. That's what happens when I go to the beach.

[316] People say, who's cooking bacon?

[317] See, Brad, I dug a shaft and I hit gold.

[318] Did you have a question for me, Brad?

[319] Yes.

[320] If you worked in mining, what mining position would you work in?

[321] And these are real names.

[322] What do you mean?

[323] A shaft miner.

[324] Clam operator.

[325] Oh, boy.

[326] Oh, boy.

[327] A scoop operator.

[328] Boom truck.

[329] driver.

[330] That's the stuff.

[331] Jack leg driller.

[332] Oh, my God.

[333] Or a jumbo driller.

[334] Well, okay.

[335] All right.

[336] I'm a jackleg driller, if anything.

[337] I would like to be known like, hey, what's going to do?

[338] He's a jackleg driller.

[339] I'd like to say that in a bar.

[340] Hey, friend, what do you do in the mind?

[341] Jackleg driller.

[342] I think it sounds cool.

[343] I don't know what it does.

[344] What does you mean?

[345] That's probably the toughest job in the mind, jacked drilling.

[346] Yeah, it's probably why I'm drawn to it.

[347] I'm not afraid of a little hard work.

[348] So what does a jackleg driller do?

[349] Jackleg is a handheld drill.

[350] It's about 100 pounds.

[351] There's metal.

[352] And you're drilling holes about eight feet long into the rock to either blast or putting ground supports in the rock doesn't collapse.

[353] Hey, who's the guy that blows stuff up?

[354] Ralph.

[355] Yeah.

[356] What does Ralph?

[357] There would be a loader, a loader blaster.

[358] I would love to blow stuff up.

[359] And I would love to be the guy that likes the fuse and then starts running, but trips and then notices that my leg is stuck and I'm looking back and I'm going trying to blow the fuse out but it's getting closer and closer.

[360] Does that ever happen or is that just something I saw in a cartoon?

[361] Definitely more cartoon than real life.

[362] Yeah, I prefer cartoons.

[363] Hey, Brad, it was nice talking to you.

[364] You are the first minor that I've spoken to, I believe.

[365] And I'm glad you're doing that work.

[366] That's good work.

[367] You're bringing us the precious metals.

[368] you're bringing us everything we need to build a better tomorrow and I thank you for it well thank you if it's not grown it's mine so there's lots that mining contributes and I also want to I know you don't like compliments no no no I'm dying for one right now thank you such an honor to speak to a comedic legend Mr. Gourley direct and Sona and Sona that's great you have a Brad, you hit the mother load.

[369] So congratulations.

[370] Yeah.

[371] Well, thank you so much.

[372] And I'm sure they thank you as well.

[373] They don't get a lot of compliments.

[374] So that's a huge thing for them.

[375] That's true.

[376] You know, really it's few and far between, I suppose.

[377] Get a lot.

[378] Not sure why.

[379] I don't.

[380] I often listen to the podcast driving to Sudbury, get up early.

[381] So it brings a lot of laughs, a lot of joy.

[382] So thanks for everyone that's involved.

[383] Well, Brad, we're happy to be a part of your life.

[384] and thank you very much for contacting us.

[385] It was cool talking to you.

[386] Great to meet you all.

[387] Take care.

[388] Thanks so much.

[389] Be safe.

[390] Conan O 'Brien needs a friend.

[391] With Conan O 'Brien, Sonam of Sessian, and Matt Gourley.

[392] Produced by me, Matt Gourley.

[393] Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Nick Liao, and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf.

[394] Theme song by The White Stripes.

[395] Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino.

[396] Take it away, Jimmy.

[397] Our supervising producer is Aaron Blasie.

[398] and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples.

[399] Engineering by Eduardo Perez.

[400] Additional production support by Mars Melnick.

[401] Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Britt Kahn.

[402] You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode.

[403] Got a question for Conan?

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[407] This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.