Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend XX
[0] Hi, my name is Elle Fanning, and I feel honored about being Coded O 'Brien's, I think, pretty good friend.
[1] Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell, brand new shoes, walking loose, climb the fence, books and pens, I can tell that we are going to be friends.
[2] Yes, I can tell that we are going to be friends.
[3] Hey there Welcome to Conan O 'Brien Needs a friend That's a legitimate opening to the show That's the problem That's the that We do so much bullshit right before And they're like, okay, everybody's stop And then you're like, hello there I know we've talked about this before But it never stops being funny Well you know what Okay let's be honest with the listener That seconds before I said Hey there and welcome We were babbling back in front And Sona, you've been using a lot of Armenian words today.
[4] Yes, I have.
[5] Now, the one that you just used just seconds before we started, Matt burped.
[6] Yeah.
[7] And then you said something.
[8] What did you say?
[9] I said, Anush.
[10] Anush.
[11] What does that mean?
[12] Anush means in Armenian, it's like when someone, like especially a baby, because I'm speaking Armenian to my babies.
[13] So when they burp or, you know, fart or something, I go, Anush, which means like, I hope.
[14] you, I hope that was delicious.
[15] I hope that was delicious.
[16] I hope like whatever made you do that was delicious.
[17] Oh, I see.
[18] Oh, I see.
[19] Not, no, no, like, I hope, like, I know that you're belching because you ate something.
[20] Like, I hope it was good.
[21] Oh, I like that.
[22] That's a noosh.
[23] Okay.
[24] I'm going to use that with my daughter.
[25] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[26] It's nice.
[27] And then, yeah.
[28] The other one is I, you and I have been friends for a long time.
[29] Yeah.
[30] And when I get comfortable with people, I sometimes, when I see them, I grab them by the shoulders and I give them a little pat on the back.
[31] Then you get comfortable.
[32] Like five minutes after meeting someone, you'll do that.
[33] Six minutes.
[34] But anyway, I saw you today and sometimes you'll strike me and maybe I'll give you a little pat on the back.
[35] You grab and you shake a lot.
[36] I grab a nice shake to try and improve people's circulation.
[37] Oh, is that like?
[38] You're really dancing the line to make sure people know you're not like abusing people.
[39] But you are abusing people.
[40] You've abused Blay for a long time.
[41] Well, Blay, for a while, I was trying to teach him to be a, you know, what to do in an attack.
[42] Oh, you were so.
[43] So I would strike him occasionally.
[44] And Blay, you were fine with it, weren't you?
[45] Okay, we're good.
[46] That's all the time we have.
[47] So Sona, I was giving you like a little, oh, Sona, and I grabbed you, I was excited to see you, and I gave you a little shake on the, and you said.
[48] I said, gamats.
[49] Gammats.
[50] And I say that.
[51] to my boys who are 10 months old, one of them especially, I say to Charlie.
[52] One of them especially is 10 months old?
[53] No, one of them especially I say it more often because he's very rough, you know, he's still learning about his body.
[54] So I'm like, gummots whenever he's like petting.
[55] And what does gummots mean?
[56] It means like slowly, like gently, be gentle.
[57] And I, when you were like shaking me and, uh, you know, being Conan, I said it to you almost instinctively the way I say it to my little baby.
[58] So the relationship you have with your 10 months old, 10 month old twins is the same relationship you have with me. I'm trying to teach him how to be a human being.
[59] Yes, this makes sense.
[60] And I say the things to him that I say to you what I say to him when I'm teaching him how to be a functioning human.
[61] What's the, you're teaching, you want them to be only know Armenian or do you also want them to know English?
[62] I don't want them to know English at all.
[63] Not kidding, of course I want them.
[64] That's what I was getting to.
[65] You want them to be strangers in a strange land their whole lot.
[66] I want them to have little accents.
[67] Now, how does that work?
[68] How do you balance it between English and Armenian at home?
[69] Usually, we speak to them mostly in Armenian.
[70] Wait, but they need to know English, too.
[71] They'll learn.
[72] My first language was Armenian, and I learned English.
[73] Don't do, come on.
[74] Didn't you?
[75] Well, you have problems.
[76] What?
[77] Her G's are very hard.
[78] Her Gs are very hard.
[79] Hey, man, gamats.
[80] You're right.
[81] You know what?
[82] That's very soothing when you say gamatz.
[83] But it doesn't.
[84] It doesn't work.
[85] But yeah, I think that, like, you know, they say if one parent speaks them only in whatever language and then the other one speaks them in English, they can just grow up being bilingual, which is what we're hoping for.
[86] Or speak neither language really properly.
[87] That's another possibility.
[88] I mean, our minglish.
[89] Our minglish, yeah.
[90] That's true.
[91] I mean, it's, yeah, but gammats, I'm going to say that to you from now on.
[92] I grew up my parents who are, you know, super hardcore Irish Catholics.
[93] And my life was filled with these phrases and words that I realized later on, other people don't use every single day.
[94] What?
[95] Yeah.
[96] My mom would call, say like, you're being a bold stump.
[97] Oh, yes.
[98] I love this.
[99] You know, I told you that.
[100] But also, Jesus, Mary and Joseph was something.
[101] It was, I heard that, I heard that every three seconds.
[102] What is the other one she did that?
[103] I don't like that even fooling.
[104] I don't like that even fooling.
[105] I don't like that even fooling.
[106] But why do you speak so much nonsense?
[107] Jibberish?
[108] Yes, so much gibberish.
[109] I think it's in the blood.
[110] I mean, you know, the Irish love to invent words.
[111] After drinking.
[112] Okay, that's wow.
[113] Incredible.
[114] And again, I'm going to repeat, it's the last ethnic group.
[115] We are the last group.
[116] you can make fun of right after you just assaulted her for being an Armenian.
[117] I didn't assault her for being an Armenian.
[118] I just think you have to choose a language and stick with it.
[119] Okay, okay.
[120] No, and it's...
[121] I said that that's recorded.
[122] Yeah.
[123] You're right, there's no movement to get rid of the leprechaun from, you know, was it Lucky Charms?
[124] Yeah.
[125] Of course no. Or the changed the Norderdame mascot.
[126] Like, everyone's like, that's fine.
[127] Because where are they going to go from there?
[128] A banshee?
[129] No, it's downward.
[130] No. What?
[131] I'm Irish.
[132] I can say this.
[133] Oh, you're Irish.
[134] Oh, my God.
[135] How much Irish are you?
[136] How much do you?
[137] You're probably like one 15th Irish and the rest is...
[138] I'm Scott's Irish.
[139] Okay, that's not Irish.
[140] The longer that we do this, the more I realize you two are very similar.
[141] How dare you?
[142] I'm sorry, but if I say, oh, I went to Harry Truman's by his, you know, house the other day, you guys would be like, oh, my God, the one in...
[143] I saw you there.
[144] Yeah.
[145] I can't believe we haven't passed each other in all these different historic sites.
[146] I know.
[147] You're just a goddamn hipster.
[148] Yeah.
[149] Yeah, but I'll say growing up, they're just all these different words that I realize are just sort of in the bloodstream.
[150] But the big thing is I grew up my father invented words, his father invented words.
[151] My grandfather on my mother's side invented words.
[152] Like what?
[153] Do you remember any?
[154] Oh, my dad, when we were, he wanted us to get going, he'd say, come on, we got to flang it and swang it.
[155] We got to flang it and swang it.
[156] Let's go.
[157] Wait a minute.
[158] When you say that seems very sexual and when you say we wanted us to get going, we got to flang it and swing it?
[159] That's his dad, Matt.
[160] That's my dad, and I was a kid.
[161] Don't be a creep.
[162] But anyway, I don't think I'm the creep here.
[163] I like playing and swing it.
[164] No, no, no, no. That's like wedding night to get.
[165] For God's sake.
[166] You're gullibleing down?
[167] Gammats.
[168] Come on.
[169] You're right.
[170] Gamut.
[171] Ah, noosh.
[172] It was delicious, though.
[173] But I think every third world, and just in my life, I mean, I didn't do it all the years broadcasting or, and, and, and, but in my everyday life, I'm mostly speaking invented words.
[174] Yeah, you are.
[175] And, um, you know, and, uh, it's just complete nonsense.
[176] And I remember talking to my dad about it once and I was trying to come up with an intellectual cool reason why we do this.
[177] And I said, you know, and I had read this once.
[178] There's a theory that the, uh, the Irish love to destroy and bend and twist language like James Joyce.
[179] We love to do it.
[180] We love to do it because it's a, it's a rebellion against the English language that was imposed on us by, you know, the Scots -Irish.
[181] Yeah, no, that was imposed on us by the, you know, the British overlords that took over our country and enforced their language upon us.
[182] And this was our rebellion.
[183] And I had this whole articulate argument for why this was like a beautiful form of rebellion.
[184] My father cut me off and went, no, no, no, no. We do it because we can't help it.
[185] And I realized, yeah, it's right.
[186] It's just a weird compulsion we have to make up bullshit words and use them and babble away.
[187] Yeah, yeah.
[188] Anyway.
[189] Well, it was like that mug that Greg Daniels got you that was on your desk for.
[190] True story, yeah.
[191] When I started my late night show in September of 1993, just before I went on the air, my writing partner, Greg Daniels, who went on to a huge success.
[192] He did a few stuff.
[193] He did so much better without me. Once he got rid of the albatross that was going on.
[194] The dead weight.
[195] He blew up.
[196] But he gave me this mug that I kept on my, I had the Eisenhower mug that Robert Smigle gave me years ago that I had on my desk at Saturday Night Live.
[197] And I had this drinking mug.
[198] And it was one that Greg made.
[199] And he painted on it all the words that I would.
[200] babble that I had made up, gibberish and nonsense.
[201] And so I still have that mug to this day.
[202] And it was on my desk every episode of all the different shows that I had.
[203] And so this was, that memorializes that this has been a problem for me my entire life.
[204] Yeah, yeah.
[205] He did that.
[206] But, you know, we can't waste any more time.
[207] I suggest we flang it and swang it.
[208] Excuse me, human resources.
[209] My guest today is a table.
[210] talented actress who has starred in such movies and shows, is Super 8, Maleficent, and The Great.
[211] Oh my God, that's a fantastic program.
[212] Now you can see her in the new Hulu series, The Girl from Plainville.
[213] I am thrilled.
[214] She's with us today.
[215] El Fanning, welcome.
[216] I'm so happy to have you here in the studio.
[217] You have no idea how much I love what you're doing on The Great.
[218] It is the best.
[219] My wife and I watch that show.
[220] I watched it too.
[221] I love it.
[222] So I think it's just this new kind of level of TV, as far as I'm concerned, and that the acting is spectacular, the cast, and it has this amazing ability to be hilariously funny and very dark and emotionally rooted at the same time, and you're doing all that, and all I do when I watched the show as, you know, I met her when she was 13.
[223] She was on the show, and the wife was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[224] And I think I said, like, my favorite food was Cobb Salad.
[225] Like, I remember that.
[226] Yeah.
[227] I was like, Elv Anning's favorite food is Cobb Salad set on Conan O 'Brien.
[228] Yeah, yeah.
[229] Oh, that got such big pickup.
[230] It was the lead story in the New York Times for two weeks.
[231] And a lot of stuff was going on then.
[232] Yeah.
[233] But no one else, no one cared.
[234] They pushed a lot of things off the front page for that specifically.
[235] Yeah, Trump became president.
[236] No one talked about it for two weeks.
[237] because Elle loves her Cobb Salad, she tells Conan.
[238] But it's so weird.
[239] I have this weird quality where if I encountered someone when they were young, and it's happened a couple of times where someone's been on my show when they were literally a kid, they go on and accomplish great things and they're incredibly talented and really nice people.
[240] I have this weird feeling fatherly like, well, she's coming along the way.
[241] I'm proud of her.
[242] And people were like, what the hell did you do?
[243] I wondered if that's what you're insinuating.
[244] You're responsible for her success?
[245] Well, no, that's, it's, I had nothing, nothing to do with the spectacular talent and success of El Fennig.
[246] But I have this weird kind of paternal, I don't, I can't explain it, you know?
[247] It's just like, I'm proud of her.
[248] And my wife will say, shut up.
[249] But, um, I have no idea how you're able to hit all those notes as an actor on that show.
[250] So your comedy timing and your timing with Nicholas Holt is perfection.
[251] He's unreal.
[252] He's unreal.
[253] Well, the two of you together, and it's, as I said, just this couple is hilarious.
[254] You're Desi and Lucy, but you're also Romeo and Juliet, but you're also, like, he's a Manson.
[255] It just keeps whipping around.
[256] The writing is spectacular, and that cast, I'm not going to bore every.
[257] by gushing, but, uh, well, you sound like a genuine fan.
[258] Oh, no. I'm an insane fan of it.
[259] And I also love the approach, which is this is history, but we're also going to have fun with it.
[260] Yeah.
[261] It should be elastic.
[262] We should have a little fun with it.
[263] We take liberties with the history.
[264] I think, I mean, it was kind of that, what I say, kismit or like the whole of that coming together.
[265] And because Tony McNamara is the showrunner.
[266] Right.
[267] He, um, people kind of know him from of writing the favorite, which is like in a similar tone.
[268] Yep, yep.
[269] And when the script came to me, I actually, it was a play in Australia that they had put on, and the script was actually like a movie script.
[270] So it wasn't, he had an idea for it to be a series, but there was no pilot script yet.
[271] And so I read that, and I hadn't seen the favorite yet either.
[272] So I had nothing really to compare it to.
[273] But surprisingly, it is very, I mean, I don't know what people think of what my humor is, but it is very much my humor.
[274] It would be something that I would watch.
[275] Is your sense of humor sort of like, you know, 30 degrees to the left and dark?
[276] Yes, very dark and kind of the dry satire that I just, I don't know.
[277] The weirder, the better.
[278] The more bizarre, the better, the more offbeat.
[279] Like, that's what I want to watch and what I enjoy.
[280] I knew there was a reason I liked you.
[281] I'm like, I'm always telling Tony, like, go darker, do the weirder thing.
[282] I'm like, fine.
[283] Because this season, I mean, it takes, it takes so many twists and turns.
[284] And it happens so often that you fall in love with the show in the first season.
[285] And the way things work now, there's a long time before the next season comes along.
[286] And you're thinking, okay, is this probably not going to be quite as good as the first season?
[287] And I thought the second season took it up a notch.
[288] And I adored the first season.
[289] Yeah.
[290] No, I think we kind of felt that.
[291] I mean, I think because also the tightrope of the tone was so, it's so, specific because you want it to live in the truth of it, but then also it's kind of off the wall and very unbelievable things are happening that we all kind of have to be on board with and believe.
[292] And I think we really, the whole cast, like we all were really game to show up for the sexy next season and be like, okay, let's do this.
[293] And we were all like really hit the tone in the right way.
[294] But it took me a while because I'm not, I've never done comedy.
[295] So I'm like, that's unbelievable.
[296] That's unbelievable to me. That is absolutely unbelievable to me because you and Nicholas are doing, it's the best comedy duo I've seen on television in, like, in memory.
[297] And you two are just killing it.
[298] And one of the things that you do is you're so, and I am not an actor and no one wants me to be an actor.
[299] I do.
[300] No, no, you really don't.
[301] There's this nice agreement that I have with the world.
[302] The world doesn't want to see me be an actor, and I don't want to be an actor.
[303] That's the only thing the world agrees on it.
[304] It's really, that's the one way to get everyone, that could bring the country together and bring peace everywhere, is just to get everyone to say like, I don't want him to be, why?
[305] Neither do I. Ladies and gentlemen, peace has broken out across the world as people are dancing in the streets that Conan O 'Brien refuses to be an actor.
[306] But, yeah, I can't believe you're not doing comedy.
[307] And what comes to my mind is you are so, effing present in every scene and alive.
[308] Like, I can see, like, the blood's going through your cheeks, you know, and you're so there and lights coming off you.
[309] And I do a lot of acid before I watch your show.
[310] Your head's a little distorted.
[311] Yeah, yeah.
[312] The part where you're turning to a lizard is really great.
[313] People are listening to it going, what is Kohn is doing when he watches the great?
[314] We also have a malfunctioning flat screen.
[315] And a lot of light just comes out of the screen.
[316] Right under my eye.
[317] But, yeah, but man, I can't believe, I mean, a lot of playing comedy is playing the truth of the scene.
[318] Completely.
[319] And that's what you're doing.
[320] Yeah.
[321] And I mean, as an actor, that's what I always, you know, try to do is you're being in the moment and just be present.
[322] I think with the actors around me, like you were saying, the ensemble cast, everyone also, they mostly except for Nick come from theater.
[323] So that's, especially with the language of our show, Tony, we are not allowed.
[324] to ad lib or make up anything.
[325] We have to be word perfect with the dialogue.
[326] So it's very rigid in that sense, which I, you know, it frees you up in another way to, like you can bring any physicality you want to it, like the - As long as you hit those words.
[327] Yes, you have to hit those words, kind of in that specific, there's a very specific rhythm to it.
[328] And obviously it's in an English accent, so that adds to like the juiciness of the words.
[329] You have to say those, the dialogue in that accent.
[330] It doesn't, you know.
[331] Oh, I can't tell you how many people I know.
[332] just now say, huzzah, about everything.
[333] And, you know, they'll watch an auto accident in the street and go, huzzah.
[334] Well, you hang out with a lot of people from rent -fares, though.
[335] Yeah, I do.
[336] I'm a Renaissance fair guy, and so I was always doing it, but...
[337] Yeah, it can really mean anything.
[338] But I think, I mean, Nick, he was in the favorite, Nicholas Holt.
[339] And so he was very used to the rhythm of it, and he's a very natural...
[340] He's just a naturally, really funny guy, and he was in a batter -boy with Hugh Grant.
[341] I think he's so, too, grantee, in a way.
[342] You know what's so funny to me, when I realized that he was the boy and about a boy, my mind split open and my brain fell out and then it split open.
[343] And both parts started.
[344] This is, we're discovering a lot.
[345] You know, I thought I was microdosing and it turns out I was doing a lot of microdosing at the same time.
[346] Oh, no. What it turns out is not microdosing.
[347] It's not.
[348] Yeah.
[349] You were just microdosing and setting those aside and then taking the rest.
[350] I'd microdose, then I'd have a full dose, then have some more microdose.
[351] It's the way you eat potato chips.
[352] I feel like the way that you watch this show is exactly how Tony intended it for it to be watched.
[353] Well, you should do a viewer, you should do a little disclaimer up front.
[354] You know, the way they'll put, like, there'll be some flashing lights in this episode.
[355] Also, much better if you've done an incredible amount of microdosing.
[356] Yeah.
[357] Which is called macrodosing.
[358] So, you know, one of the reasons that, I mean, obviously you have a great natural gift, but you have been doing this, you were acting in the womb, I believe.
[359] That was your first role.
[360] In the sonogram.
[361] In the sonogram.
[362] You actually.
[363] They saw me. You were doing this, I think, when you were two, weren't you?
[364] I was just method acting.
[365] You were doing a lot of space work, you know, in the placenta.
[366] And people were like, take it easy.
[367] Mime hands.
[368] Yeah, yeah, mine hands.
[369] I remember the doctor was like, she's good.
[370] Yeah.
[371] She's very, she's really good.
[372] Very convincing.
[373] Yeah.
[374] You started so young.
[375] Yes, I did.
[376] Well, obviously, my sister started, you know, she's four years older than me. And, you know, this was not the plan.
[377] Like, I, my whole family is all from, has a sports background.
[378] My mom played tennis.
[379] My dad played professional baseball.
[380] My mom's dad was a quarterback in the NFL for the east.
[381] Eagles, like everyone was sports.
[382] And my sister and I were supposed to play tennis.
[383] Like, we were supposed to be tennis sisters, like Venus and Serena.
[384] And it just, my sister was older, so she kind of tried out all the activities, and she didn't like tennis.
[385] She didn't like it.
[386] We were also, we're very, you can, you know, you're pale.
[387] And so.
[388] I'm sorry.
[389] You know, you know what?
[390] This is how white I am.
[391] L. Fanning just pointed at me and said, you're really white.
[392] That's as white as it gets.
[393] When I see Kabuki Theater, the performers are like, oh my God, look.
[394] Look.
[395] One of us.
[396] One of us.
[397] I've had ghosts, real ghosts, stop me on the street and say, sunscreen.
[398] You're a ghost.
[399] Oh my God.
[400] But anyway, yes, you and I have a similar.
[401] We have very pink undertones, I would say, to our skin.
[402] Yeah.
[403] And we sunburned very easily.
[404] And my sister does as well.
[405] Like my mom is very tan.
[406] So her out in the sun playing tennis, it doesn't affect her as much as it did my sister.
[407] You and your sister cannot be playing tennis out in the sun.
[408] You can play it in an arena that's closed, but you cannot play outside.
[409] Yeah.
[410] Just when she was, you know, three or four are out there.
[411] I mean, my mom had her out there young.
[412] Maybe she was probably too young.
[413] But she was like, she just hated it because she was just baking.
[414] And so my mom then put her into this theater group.
[415] And she.
[416] She has a photographic memory.
[417] So she was five and she could memorize all the lines and she got the lead in the play.
[418] It was called Blue Fish and she was the Blue Fish in the play.
[419] And she was five and very young to be doing that.
[420] But they were like, you should go to L .A. or New York.
[421] And I stayed in Georgia because we were born in Georgia.
[422] I stayed there with my dad and my mom and my sister flew out to L .A. for pilot season.
[423] Oh, wow.
[424] And she got 10 commercials in one week.
[425] Oh, my God.
[426] And then got I Am Sam the first film that she did when she was six with Sean Penn. And my mom's like, okay, I guess we're not coming home because all this work is like, she's not coming home.
[427] She calls home from a mansion.
[428] I know we've only even gone a few days, but we have a mansion on a large hill above Beverly Hills.
[429] So we flew over.
[430] Yeah, I would think so.
[431] Yeah.
[432] We're not leaving Georgia.
[433] And, like, we just never went back.
[434] And then obviously, like, seeing, you know, a big sister, whatever she did, I wanted to do.
[435] And so I kind of was tagging along.
[436] And I played her and I am Sam younger.
[437] Oh.
[438] I was my first thing because I was just on, I was on set.
[439] Like, my mom was holding me. And the director was like, they needed someone for a flashback sequence for my sister.
[440] And she's like, well, obviously, you know, you look like her.
[441] So they threw me in to, we went, I had to swing on a swing.
[442] with Sean Penn and sleep in the grass.
[443] That was my first thing.
[444] Right.
[445] You know, it's so funny you say that because I'm thinking it just gave me the idea that I should find someone who can play me younger.
[446] You know, because I'm getting old fast.
[447] When you were on the show and you were 13, I was like in my 40s.
[448] I'm 77 now.
[449] I don't know what happened.
[450] And you look exactly the same.
[451] You're a little older, but I am rotting quickly.
[452] And so I should find someone who can play me younger.
[453] Like in life?
[454] voice?
[455] What's that?
[456] Will you still do the voice?
[457] I want someone who just take over.
[458] And be Conan O 'Brien and I'll be at home getting the checks.
[459] Okay.
[460] You know what I mean?
[461] But it'll be a younger, acceptable Conan O 'Brien.
[462] That seems like abuse.
[463] Yeah.
[464] You can't do that.
[465] They get no money.
[466] No, I would give them like, I would pay them hundreds of dollars a week.
[467] What are you talking about?
[468] They would get the fame, though.
[469] You know what we'll do?
[470] We'll have you play me younger.
[471] Great.
[472] When there's a movie about my life, you'll play.
[473] There'll be a theory of time.
[474] Called Pink Undertone.
[475] So you got started doing this, and obviously it becomes, you must have realized really quickly, like, this is it.
[476] This is what I want to do.
[477] Yeah, I mean, I was, you can see from, like, home videos and things, like, I was just such a ham.
[478] Like, my sister and I would put on these elaborate, we would just, we would play together, but we didn't want to perform it for anyone.
[479] Right.
[480] But we would.
[481] do scenes with each other kind of in secret and, like, you know, we would set design it and, like, move all the chairs around and make the scene and then just we wouldn't write it down or anything, but we would just take on these characters.
[482] Like, I was always the assistant to her, you know.
[483] I was always like the sidekick in the, in the scenarios, but that was just, that was the most fun.
[484] We just wanted to get home so we could play.
[485] And obviously, she had, you know, she had been on sets, like, from a young age and stuff.
[486] I remember, I think it was a huge deal.
[487] was a guest star on ER once and she all she wanted was the um doctor like they had real i mean not with syringes and stuff like the needles weren't in there but like all the doctor stuff and she wanted the real stuff so she could bring it home and we could play doctor with the real stuff so they gave the ER said they have some serious stuff there yeah they had a lot of things she came home with a defibrillator yeah my teddy bear had a heart attack clear We just, you know, we wanted to make it real, right, from the beginning.
[488] The first time you were in my show, I remembered you were, I think almost asking me for advice because you had just gone through a crazy growth spurt.
[489] Yes.
[490] And you looked at me as someone who clearly something terrible had happened to.
[491] And you were like, sir, can you help me?
[492] My body is, you know, stretched out and strange at the moment.
[493] What happens next?
[494] And I was like, okay, thanks a lot.
[495] But so I remember giving you some advice.
[496] Because I grew seven inches in one year around when I was 12, 13.
[497] Wow.
[498] And I physically hurt.
[499] And you said the same.
[500] I was like, I'm writhing in pain on my, you know.
[501] I used to roll out of my bed.
[502] I was up in the, lived up in the attic.
[503] They put me in the attic, which tells you a lot.
[504] I'm wrong with my brother Neil.
[505] They were like, you're going, you two are up in the attic.
[506] And don't come down.
[507] But I would roll my, what would happen is I get those, my calf muscles would just, My bones were growing faster than my muscle And so I would just I would roll out of the bed screaming in the morning And like hit the floor And be like, ah, because I was growing like the Hulk You know, not muscle Just straight up And it was a freak show It's a terrible freak show But I grew into my body I think when I turned 50 You feel good So you're getting used to it You right away grew into yourself It took me about 40 years to do it Yeah, I mean, I enjoy, I know I'm not like freakishly, freakishly tall.
[508] But I also, I did enjoy being, I always saw it as a good thing.
[509] Like, even though all the, you know, in school the boys were so much shorter than a lot of the girls, you know, during, you know, in like elementary school.
[510] But what's tougher for, I mean, I meet a lot of women who are tall who say that they used to hate it.
[511] Yeah.
[512] But then they grow to love it.
[513] Yeah.
[514] They grow to really like it, the sense of power.
[515] I do.
[516] And it's cool.
[517] I like the confidence.
[518] And I'm not afraid to, like, wear heels and.
[519] You know, just...
[520] I wear heels, and I love it.
[521] Right.
[522] I look fantastic.
[523] I think we have something else in common, which is I heard you say in an interview once that you almost feel like you're out of time, like that you were born at the wrong time, which is something I've always felt about myself.
[524] In what way do you mean it?
[525] I have always felt like, and I'm like, is this sound like pretentious?
[526] And I'm like, do I like it?
[527] Do I like those people that say, oh, I was born in the wrong era, you know?
[528] It's like, well, they're like strumming a guitar.
[529] Like, that's the way I say it.
[530] I'm like, oh, that's kind of, we're hearing it back now.
[531] I'm very pretentious when I say it, yeah.
[532] But I do feel it.
[533] And I've talked to a psychic.
[534] And they said that I have come from the past to tell people how good it used to be, which is really interesting because I'm someone that I've always loved vintage clothes and like antique stores and like wandering in there.
[535] Like, I just feel something about it.
[536] And I just, I feel like I'm nostalgic for something that I never experienced.
[537] You never experienced.
[538] You weren't there for it.
[539] I was like, I wasn't there.
[540] So why am I so drawn to old photographs or seeing, like, just, there's something about it.
[541] It's hard to explain.
[542] And people also tell me that I have a very period looking face.
[543] Yes.
[544] In a, you know, like, it's a compliment, but it does.
[545] Not the menstrual cycle way, but the, you know.
[546] Oh, oh, I didn't even think of that.
[547] Oh, what a Conan very uncomfortable.
[548] What a horrible triple events.
[549] Well, we're out of time.
[550] I'm going to wrap this up.
[551] Lovely having you, and you're never to come back here again.
[552] Your whole demeanor changed.
[553] Your whole body.
[554] I went inside myself.
[555] No, but.
[556] I mean, obviously, like playing Catherine, they're great.
[557] Like, I just, I've been cast for a lot of old -timey roles because I think my face can suit different eras.
[558] I don't know if it's the nose.
[559] It's true that you look like, you know, John Singer -Sargent could have done a portrait of you.
[560] You have that kind of, and every now and then you'll meet people that have that sort of, there's a classic quality to their face and the way they carry themselves.
[561] Is there a certain era?
[562] Because I know with me, I'm always sort of drawn to like turn of the century or 1920s when technology.
[563] I'm terrible at technology, but I love Bakelite phones, like kooky phones and old typewriters.
[564] And I love all that stuff.
[565] and I love, like, rubber stamps.
[566] When I was a kid, I just always wanted to have an office with a rubber stamp.
[567] And I wanted to stamp things and then say, here you're your papers, you know, and I always wanted to answer a big, heavy phone, you know, Riggley, 255, you know, and that was what I wanted.
[568] And I was sort of disappointed to be living at a time when people were, you know, with their boy bands and stuff.
[569] I know, I'm not someone that I definitely really was, like that.
[570] I, like, I wanted, I, I think mine was the 50s.
[571] Like, that's my kind of era.
[572] And I, um, I've talked, said this before, but like I, I, I, Merrill Monroe, I was very grab, like, a lot of people are.
[573] But when I was young, like, I was like seven years old and I saw a photo of her and I just was like, who is that?
[574] Who is this?
[575] And I went to, I don't know why I had to go, I went to a DVD store to buy it.
[576] And I, to buy, like a, would you get one of her like the seven year itch yeah I mean now I'm like oh you could just find it on the internet but I guess I don't know I went there and like scoured and it was like a mission to get the seven year it which I was probably I was way too young to see but I did not understand the subject matter at all and then but I wanted to watch it and then there was an auction that was that came out of it was like one of the bigger last auctions of like her one of her storage units and I had seen that it was like advertised and so my grandmother and my mom took took me and I dressed up as her and was trying on her bras.
[577] People were like, who is this child, like, in the, because you could, like, you were trying on Marilyn Monroe's, because you could go.
[578] It was, what do they have?
[579] See, when I did that, they asked me to leave.
[580] I was like, I just want to know what it's, you know, before I buy something at auction.
[581] I know, I think they let me kind of explore, but I do have her from that auction, like, the only thing that you could, you know, that was not too expensive was her.
[582] face cream and face powder like oh okay sure so I do have that still is it usable not that you'd ever use it but like on a special occasion would you?
[583] I think I tried to use it but my mom was like absolutely don't do that but the cream is like glued shut and the powder's still in there though there's still a little bit like orangy powder chalky powder yeah I don't know do you what about Grace Kelly love Grace Kelly I was going to say that there's yes that is my dream part to play if they ever did, I would have to be older, but if they ever did a movie, I think they have before, but if they ever wanted to do another one, like, yeah.
[584] Well, I was going to, just looking at you and thinking, you are the person to play Grace Kelly and you would kill it.
[585] You would, you would just absolutely nail it.
[586] And, uh, wouldn't I mean, so yeah, I'll start writing it.
[587] Right.
[588] Great.
[589] Oh, no. I know, no, no. I know you were hinting.
[590] No, no. Grace Kelly falls into a time machine.
[591] She gets one shot at this.
[592] How embarrassing would it be if I now submitted a script to you and just kept I kept calling your people and you were like oh my God I mean he seemed like a nice guy but it's, have you read it?
[593] It's terrible.
[594] Grace Kelly, she goes back to the time of the dinosaurs Wait, now I'm interested.
[595] It's so weird it might work.
[596] Yeah, but I keep I don't know, I'm blobbing and I'm getting money together and you're like, oh my God, what do I do?
[597] He keeps coming by the house.
[598] I would be polite.
[599] I know.
[600] You're very nice person.
[601] You'd be very polite.
[602] But I just love, because you're so nice.
[603] There are plenty of people who would have no problem just telling me to buzz off.
[604] So anyway, did you get it?
[605] Because I sent it, and then I dropped off a copy.
[606] And I thought I'd play Carrie Grant.
[607] Yeah.
[608] I just looked at Carrie Grant and I thought, well, we could draw the dimple on.
[609] And then if you draw on the dimple, you've got Carrie Grant.
[610] Judy, Judy, Judy, Judy, Judy.
[611] Oh, no. Oh, my God.
[612] Oh, my God.
[613] Oh, no. I've got all the money lined up.
[614] This is great.
[615] I have my next gig lined up.
[616] Yeah, that's really good.
[617] You know what's great?
[618] You have very good people around you.
[619] They'll stop it.
[620] My public isn't.
[621] It's just like, oh.
[622] She's passed out.
[623] She's, now, I did something recently, and then I found out that you did the same thing.
[624] I did a DNA test to find out about who I'm related to.
[625] Well, this is even funny.
[626] So I actually did not do this.
[627] This was a fan.
[628] Oh, this is fake news.
[629] Well, it is.
[630] But now I'm like, how did they get DNA?
[631] I mean, I guess they didn't get DNA, though.
[632] No, I'm thinking back.
[633] They did.
[634] I thought, wait, now I'm like creeped out by this.
[635] No, I was like reading through research and then it said that you and your sister are related to someone.
[636] Yes, we are because this person did this.
[637] But they don't need DNA to find that.
[638] Okay.
[639] Yeah, you could.
[640] Yes.
[641] Yeah, no one snuck into the barbershop and stole your hair.
[642] That's right, you go to a barber shop.
[643] I love that you sit in a barbershop.
[644] Hey, Lou.
[645] Just two old -timey people.
[646] Why did I say you go to a barbershop?
[647] This beautiful A -list actress.
[648] I'm like, when you're at the barbershop, hey, Lou, a little off the top.
[649] What's that thing called with the red and white thing?
[650] The barbershop, the whole.
[651] Yeah.
[652] And people are, other super famous actresses are in the corner, and they're just reading like Life Magazine from the 1960s.
[653] But this is true.
[654] I mean, this is true.
[655] Someone did it without DNA, I guess.
[656] Yeah, they just looked into your family lineage.
[657] And we have a lot of English.
[658] Of course, yeah.
[659] And a little bit of Irish, but really mostly English.
[660] And then German.
[661] My dad's side's German.
[662] Right.
[663] Yeah, I think we're related to like King.
[664] Edward III.
[665] Edward III.
[666] Yeah.
[667] That's, wow.
[668] Yeah.
[669] This is crazy.
[670] I'm related to King Edward the second.
[671] I'm like, hey, wow.
[672] But you guys just high -fived.
[673] Conan's so angry right now.
[674] I'm so mad right now because, oh, you guess who I'm related to?
[675] Nobody.
[676] Oh, my God.
[677] Absolutely nobody.
[678] We've looked and looked and looked.
[679] Lisa Kud.
[680] I've mentioned this before, but Lisa Kudrow does this show called Who Do You Think You Are?
[681] And we've been friends forever.
[682] And she said, Conan, you've got to do my show.
[683] And I said, Lisa, you're not going to find anything.
[684] where I'm 100 % Irish.
[685] Oh, you've never done it?
[686] And no, she said, no, no, please, we're going to find such great stuff.
[687] So I, like, spit into a vial and sent it off.
[688] And they actually got me for an old crime.
[689] You had COVID.
[690] Turns out it's a sting operation.
[691] There was a guy that was spitting a lot in the 70s and they caught him.
[692] No, I didn't hear back from her.
[693] And she was like, oh, they're going to find something.
[694] Everyone says they're not going to find anything.
[695] And this star said they wouldn't.
[696] find anything in this star and we, but we find out this, we find out that, don't you worry.
[697] And then I didn't hear from her, I didn't hear from her, and then I called her up and she was like, yeah, there's nothing.
[698] Wow.
[699] Just a bunch of people that stood in a field with potatoes throwing them to each other.
[700] But she found out you were 100 % Irish.
[701] I did find out, yeah, and I've talked about this, but I found out that I'm 100, 100 ,000 .0 .0 % Irish.
[702] Which is rare, which is rare.
[703] And I at first was excited, like, oh, that must mean simply really cool.
[704] and the person I was talking to said, the specialist said, no, it means you're inbred.
[705] Oh, my God.
[706] Oh, my God.
[707] Oh, my God.
[708] Which explains so much.
[709] It's just a matter of how far back you're inbred or?
[710] Right.
[711] Well, let's not get too much into it.
[712] He knows.
[713] He just doesn't want to say.
[714] Let's just not get that input.
[715] No, it basically means it's a, you know, it's a small island and 100 % Irish people came over here and then moved into one house in central Massachusetts.
[716] Oh, no. I lived there for 200 years.
[717] And, yeah, but I can smell colors.
[718] I have all kinds of superpowers.
[719] I can climb a wall like a spider.
[720] Wow.
[721] So that's, but yeah, you must have all kinds of, because when people have English heritage and German heritage, then you just find out all kinds of amazing stuff.
[722] It would be cool to go on that show.
[723] I do have that 23 and Me kit that I could do.
[724] Oh, yeah.
[725] You know, they can buy those.
[726] Yeah.
[727] The names of some of the people in your lineage here, Thurza, Absalom.
[728] These are first names, by the This is what I'm going to name my kids Like 100 % Absalom.
[729] Absalom.
[730] Absalom.
[731] No Thursday.
[732] You are not going to go see the Doolipa show.
[733] Absalom.
[734] This is my son Lionel of Antwerp.
[735] Oh, God.
[736] I do not know any of this.
[737] This is all here, Googlable.
[738] Googleable.
[739] That's one of your lineage.
[740] people, Googlable.
[741] I mean, you just mentioned...
[742] Your ancestors.
[743] Google!
[744] Google, come here!
[745] You mentioned that, you know, kids and it brought me back to how you had to play being pregnant this season.
[746] And one of the things it was so...
[747] I mean, first of all, you did an amazing job of it, but also this whole side of your character, Catherine, needing to eat dirt, get, you know, this craving for iron.
[748] Yeah, what is that?
[749] That's called something.
[750] an iron deficiency pregnancy pregnancy anemia no they call it something else did you have it I had iron deficiency is that so maybe that was it yeah yeah well yeah anemia but I thought there was something when you like actually eat the rusty oh because you're pika craving yeah yeah but you because probably and Catherine your character so you looks like you're like sucking on iron nails but I'm guessing they give you something else well it was interesting for, so the dirt was just, you know, crushed up Oreos, like, you know, chocolate.
[751] I can tell you're enjoying it way too much.
[752] Let's shoot this, let's shoot the dirt eating scene again.
[753] Yeah.
[754] Oh, I messed up my line.
[755] Oops, I messed up.
[756] Hell, we have it.
[757] We have it 10 different ways.
[758] I just think we need it again.
[759] We're out of dirt.
[760] Put it in a baggie.
[761] Yeah, exactly.
[762] Like, can you wrap that up for me and take home?
[763] You're supposed to eat some and then say your line, but you just kept eating for 40 minutes.
[764] So that's what they did for them.
[765] So what do they do for the nail?
[766] For the nail, it was, they made it out of chocolate and kind of put cocoa powder on it.
[767] But then when we did the close -ups, it kind of, it was getting all over my mouth, like melted chocolate.
[768] So I was like just, they had a real one.
[769] And so I was like, let's just, I'll do the real one.
[770] I mean, they cleaned it off as good as they could.
[771] But I did for, you know, that was fine.
[772] And then you got a tie shot.
[773] Yeah, exactly.
[774] And then rose petals as well.
[775] She craves.
[776] And those were made out of fondant.
[777] Yeah.
[778] Oh, wow.
[779] Yeah.
[780] Very interesting.
[781] Yes, very.
[782] I love to hang around the craft service table on that.
[783] On the Catherine sheet.
[784] The food on that show is really incredible, the food.
[785] But also, they really take it quite literally, like, in a beautiful way, like our, because all of that is, they're all sets.
[786] We film on location for the exteriors and occasionally sometimes in some homes, but everything else is built, like all the bedrooms.
[787] It's literally in East London next to a McDonald's.
[788] is our, you know, is our Russia.
[789] So we, yeah, we...
[790] But how do you do those palaces?
[791] I mean, you can't fake that?
[792] No, the outside, we go to, you know, homes on the countryside.
[793] Or Italy, the first season, we went to Italy.
[794] We couldn't the second because it was during the pandemic.
[795] But, yeah, the food there, I was saying, it's like, they really are, like, if it's, you know, Tony is a big foodie.
[796] So if he writes something in, like, it's a liver heart patte with, you know, they really do that.
[797] Oh, wow.
[798] Yeah.
[799] Oh, my God.
[800] Okay.
[801] Yes.
[802] And then we didn't realize that the first season.
[803] And Nick and I, we had to, like, eat something and take a shoot of vodka.
[804] And like, vodka's not real, though.
[805] I was like, but we, we bit into it.
[806] We were like, what is this?
[807] And then the props guys, oh, it's chicken heart.
[808] We're like, oh, my God, no. Like, we can't have this repeatedly.
[809] He's like, oh, we did have a mushroom version, but we didn't think we're like, yeah, we'll take that one.
[810] Yeah, so, but it is quite, it's beautiful because it's very accurate and like it's done so well, but sometimes not the...
[811] Well, I just love also that the one of the reasons, or maybe the main reason that Peter abdicates is because he's hungry.
[812] Totally.
[813] He's trapped on this island and he could, he doesn't have to, but you guys start cooking really good food with his favorite chef.
[814] Right.
[815] And then he's just too hungry.
[816] He's too hungry.
[817] So he gives up the throne.
[818] Even in that.
[819] Which is so great.
[820] Because it's so believable, you know.
[821] It's totally his character, you know, completely.
[822] But he also, when Nick had to eat that squirrel, it was real squirrel.
[823] No. Jesus.
[824] I know.
[825] I know everything got really, like, severe.
[826] I didn't know that because I wasn't there that day.
[827] And when we were doing interviews and press, he told me he started saying that.
[828] I'm like, oh, my God.
[829] Like, you agreed to this, but he said, you know, tastes like chicken.
[830] He might just like squirrel.
[831] Yeah.
[832] I know.
[833] That's his pregnancy craving.
[834] Oh, no. Now the press is going to pick that up.
[835] Oh, sorry, Nick.
[836] He's going to sorry, Nick.
[837] You know, I wanted to talk about this new project.
[838] Yes.
[839] One of the things I love about this series, and I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but I've started it, is it's a true story, the girl from Plainville.
[840] And it is such a hard turn from what you're doing in The Great, and no surprise.
[841] You're excellent in this.
[842] it's a heartbreaking story.
[843] It's a real story.
[844] It is, yes.
[845] People may remember this case.
[846] Yeah, it kind of was a case that riveted everyone while it was happening and was kind of splashed across all of our TV screens.
[847] It's something that could, I think, only happen in this new crazy world we're in.
[848] Completely.
[849] And I think that's what makes it such a compelling and sad story is, you know, Michelle Carter pretty much over texts, convinces, or helps encourage her friend who's talked about suicide into doing it.
[850] And I have to say it's a true story, so you know this really happened.
[851] And you kind of wish it wasn't a true story, but it is.
[852] And it's so bizarre, but the turn that your character takes and the acting that you do to really show both sides of it, which is that, yes, you did this, but you're also an emotional wreck when this person goes through with it and commit suicide, but then you're also kind of looking at yourself, as you can see so many kids doing in this world today, observing yourself, how you're reacting, how you're reacting, and kind of enjoying that.
[853] And the attention, you know.
[854] Yes, what am I going to wear to the funeral?
[855] Yeah.
[856] And it's, it just hits on about 75 things that are new to our world in, in the last 10 years.
[857] and it's very, it's very strong.
[858] It's very, but as I said, as I told you when I saw you, you know, anything where someone loses a child, it's just like, oh my God, this is, it really, it tears your lungs out to see it.
[859] Difficult.
[860] I know.
[861] I think, I think that was something that, like, weighed heavy on all of us.
[862] I mean, when the project came to me, I was aware of the case, but I was aware of very much what everyone else was where it's like a very, the media kind of portrayed this case in one way.
[863] And it was very black and white.
[864] And they portrayed her as this kind of manipulating black widow.
[865] And then he was her victim, which he very much was a victim in this and ended in, you know, the worst way and this ultimate tragedy.
[866] But we also didn't get to know him at all.
[867] He was very much just labeled as that he committed suicide.
[868] And that's all that was right, you know, suicide was right next to this young boy's name who had so much more in his life.
[869] It wasn't until there's an HBO documentary called I Love You Now Die and an Esquire article that Jesse Barron wrote where those two things really dig deeper in the case.
[870] And it wasn't until they approached me to possibly do this that I kind of not saw it from another side, but maybe saw it from an unbiased perspective.
[871] There was a bit...
[872] It's more complicated.
[873] It's more complicated.
[874] But it wasn't necessarily like a...
[875] automatic, yes, I'm going to do this.
[876] I really had to think about it because there is, these people are obviously alive.
[877] The life was lost.
[878] There's like a real responsibility here.
[879] And I think the story could easily have been very, like the series at least could have been very sensationalized and romanticized.
[880] And that just wasn't what I was interested in doing.
[881] Well, it is not, it's not a hallmark movie.
[882] And it's not a movie of the week.
[883] And I think what's, you have these emotional.
[884] scenes where you're just devastated and I'm watching it and you're just, you are that.
[885] I know that I'm going to be talking to you.
[886] I watched yesterday and I was like, I know I'm going to be talking to you today.
[887] And I have no idea how you do a scene like that.
[888] And then they yell, they say cut.
[889] And you, how do you get back to you from that?
[890] Do you know what I mean?
[891] That just feels like.
[892] It's a strange thing that because obviously, I don't know, in every, part that you play, there's always, you know, a couple of those scenes, you know, throughout a film or there's the big, okay, that's the big old crying scene or that's the big old emotional scene that you're like, either there's a sense of dread or just anticipation or like that day of just trying to get in the zone.
[893] I think weirdly because even though, I mean, I did play sports in school, but the way that my family kind of works is we are very like a sports mentality.
[894] and so I kind of go into it like I was gearing up for a game or something and it's very much blinders on and it's a weird sensation you have to block things out but you also have to be very aware of your surroundings like you have to actually make yourself incredibly open like incredibly open to everything and almost like it's very important to laugh or like almost feel opposite feelings to kind of get you in that space It's really psychological and strange, but I can come out of it pretty easily.
[895] This one, I think this whole, the series was a little harder.
[896] I think a real testament to your ability and what you're able to do is to go from the great to then the girl from Plainville, hit all the right notes in both, but you're, they're so 90 degree in opposition to each other, you know, and that's, that's pretty amazing.
[897] Thanks.
[898] I think it, but I think that that actually helps.
[899] It's odd.
[900] If I tried to go from, you know, a comedy to a comedy, I feel like the second one would probably be worse.
[901] I mean, that's not necessarily true, but if you're trying to recreate something, it's almost like you need some breathing room to just, when picking roles and stuff, I really like just kind of veering off and not doing the expected thing or, you know.
[902] Well, when you do play the young Conan O 'Brien, Oh, boy.
[903] That'll be...
[904] I will coach you through.
[905] Oh, geez.
[906] And when you get my script, for you as Grace Kelly.
[907] I'm sorry, time -traveling, Grace Kelly.
[908] And by the way, I'm putting the finishing touches on that thing as we speak.
[909] So sorry.
[910] I'm going to be up all night, right?
[911] You're really sorry.
[912] We're sorry.
[913] All they do is apologize.
[914] That's our job.
[915] Yeah, that's right.
[916] I brought two people in to just apologize for my behavior.
[917] I just do damage control.
[918] No, Elle, I'm just in absolute awe of what you can do, And like I say, my wife and I just sit there and watch your performance on The Great.
[919] And we're just completely blown away.
[920] And I am.
[921] I'm just going to start saying, as if I had anything to do with it, I'm really proud of El Fanning.
[922] I really feel like you've come a long way under my tutelage.
[923] Oh, my God.
[924] I remember, like, it's so funny one because when they asked me to come on this, I was like, it was automatic.
[925] I was just like, oh, yeah.
[926] Like, I feel like I know you.
[927] Maybe we knew each other past it.
[928] There is something weird.
[929] In a past life, I think I threw a potato at you.
[930] And also my sight.
[931] I remember a carriage going by and this very regal woman.
[932] And that's how I died.
[933] And it's my favorite.
[934] You're here for revenge.
[935] You're here for revenge.
[936] Who gets killed by getting hit by a potato?
[937] That's on you.
[938] You had a very soft skull in that life.
[939] That's why I, like, french fries aren't my favorite.
[940] No, they shouldn't.
[941] This is why.
[942] No, L, seriously, anything I can ever do for you in any capacity, let me know because you're the best.
[943] You really are.
[944] You're the best.
[945] And you're a lovely person.
[946] So, Elle Fanning, come on.
[947] Every once in a while we like to do a very official state of the podcast just to make sure that the state of the podcast is in fact strong.
[948] Well, what can you tell us about the podcast?
[949] How is it?
[950] It's strong.
[951] That's good.
[952] Well, I guess that's the end of the segment.
[953] Good night.
[954] We did it.
[955] Okay.
[956] No, it's, I think it's right and proper that occasionally we check in and see how we're doing, how we feel about what we're doing.
[957] Because as I've said before, we sort of started this thing on a whim and it has grown and continues to grow.
[958] And I think that to be responsible, we should check in and think, are we still sticking with our core values of what this podcast should be like a shareholder call where we need to be accountable to the listeners that we are doing our due diligence yeah now now yeah what are the core values I don't know what that means this podcast has values at all oh yeah I wrote out I wrote out a very explicit almost constitution for this show when it started this podcast and it's all about how all power flows from me you know I'm sort of like the president of and Congress and the Supreme Court.
[959] And the Pharaoh and your Picasso.
[960] Yeah, okay, well, whatever.
[961] No, no, no, no. It's a very intricate chart that I worked out.
[962] And I, no, I do think that we have, my biggest fear is that success can corrupt any enterprise.
[963] And the podcast has been, you know, I like to be modest, but it has been quite successful and continues to grow.
[964] And quite corrupted.
[965] and also simultaneously corrupted, which defeats my theory.
[966] No, it actually improves my theory.
[967] No, it is, it's important to me that we haven't changed in any way.
[968] I became, at the risk of being immodest, acclimated to success.
[969] Oh, God.
[970] So many years ago, really in my teens, when I was part of a boy band.
[971] What band was that?
[972] Doing it right.
[973] Oh.
[974] I wasn't doing it right I'm trying to think if I remember Yeah I wasn't doing it right We came out of It's true story We were the only boy band To come out of suburban Boston What are you doing right?
[975] Doing it right Yeah I'm sure you weren't a failed sitcom pilot No no no no We were doing it right And it was me And a bunch of other guys Miles Elliot And You couldn't remember the other one The other guys weren't Great.
[976] Miles and Elliot were terrific.
[977] So you were the Justin Timberlake.
[978] Oh, I was definitely the Timberlake.
[979] And we toured.
[980] So a lot of people don't know that.
[981] I was successful long before you ever saw me on late night or I was a writer.
[982] So how did people not know that if you were successful?
[983] Well, it's interesting.
[984] We were niche.
[985] I see.
[986] Nech success.
[987] Meaning, yeah, we had four real groupies, people that followed us and came and saw us perform.
[988] So you were like an indie boy band with CRED that wouldn't sell out to the limelight?
[989] No, no. We were an indie boy band with no creed.
[990] People, the reviews were atrocious.
[991] But we mostly, we played shopping malls.
[992] And we never got out of the shopping mall stage.
[993] I see.
[994] And you're supposed to start there and get a few videos and then hit it big.
[995] But we did have a couple of great songs.
[996] Any, any.
[997] Which ones?
[998] We be who we be.
[999] It's a pirate song.
[1000] Yeah.
[1001] And then.
[1002] We be who we be By doing it right Yeah Sex with me, yes please Was one Is a question and an answer?
[1003] Featuring Yoda Sex with me, yes please And we played along And Miles and Elliot The three of us were in sync And then there are these other two assholes I don't remember their names What do you mean you were in sync?
[1004] What?
[1005] We were in sync Not like the band Oh I see We were just we We understood each other We were in a good groove Yeah Yeah The point I was trying to make as long before I was a writer or anything like that or anyone knew me before I even went to college when I was a teenager I was in this band The hot years and we toured a little bit so I had some acclaim anyway I have been you know inured to getting a swelled head I have I can't get a big ego just because I'm sorry your ego is so big it can't get any big no that's not the point I'm making it's just that I'm acclimated to success now you two there's a danger There's a danger that you would change.
[1006] And I have to say, in my opinion, that is the biggest danger to the podcast is that Gorley would start to, I don't know, get a little full of himself or that Sona, you would start to think, oh, wow, you know, this podcast is nothing without me. I'm really the one that they tune in for.
[1007] And then the problem is, then the whole thing can go awry.
[1008] Right, right.
[1009] So when we discuss the state of the podcast, to me that means not, yeah, I know the numbers are great.
[1010] and it's growing all the time and it's, you know, whatever, I guess some people would refer to what is a sensation.
[1011] That's not important.
[1012] There's no danger of your head getting any bigger.
[1013] A sensation.
[1014] I'm just reading whatever, the trade press.
[1015] But anyway, the big danger to me, I read all the podcast journals.
[1016] There's a lot of them.
[1017] Really?
[1018] Yeah, podcast.
[1019] I've worked in podcasts for a long time.
[1020] I've never seen any of these journals.
[1021] You don't read podcasts weekly?
[1022] Mm -hmm.
[1023] Mm -mm.
[1024] Huh.
[1025] This is a print publication?
[1026] Well, they make a few of them.
[1027] They usually get stolen.
[1028] It's more of a flyer they hand out.
[1029] If you go to Trader Joe's and you hang out by the salsas, eventually someone's going to hand you a podcast weekly.
[1030] That's probably true.
[1031] Yeah.
[1032] You'll get one.
[1033] So, yeah, that would be the big concern to me. And I have to say, I think the podcast is strong because neither one of you has changed.
[1034] Gorely, you are still goarly in all your goarliness.
[1035] And Sona, you are still loud, belligerent.
[1036] and I think a part of that is I had no idea anyone was listening to this podcast I'm so sorry You know how I know people are listening to it Everywhere I go people shout stuff from the podcast at me which is nice, I like it The funniest thing is they'll bring up stuff from the interviews and I won't remember what they're talking about If you ever need to say something to a podcast you must provide context That's true, that's very true Because it's such a volume of babble and talking.
[1037] And often some of the things you're just hearing might have been recorded weeks, if not months.
[1038] Exactly.
[1039] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1040] Exactly.
[1041] Yeah.
[1042] So, I don't know.
[1043] I think you, because I always am in awe of how grounded you are, even though you've had a lot of success.
[1044] I know, it pains me to say this.
[1045] But I think a lot of it is, even though you get like all this, you know, love and adoration when you're out, when you go home, you, you know, your family is just like, oh, it's.
[1046] It, like, Liza's like, oh, it's Conan.
[1047] And your kids are like, oh, it's dad.
[1048] It's like, no one, no one cares.
[1049] Trust me, nothing, nothing, nothing has saved me more from, nothing has saved my life more than the total disinterest and disdain I get.
[1050] Not just at my family at home, but from my family back in Massachusetts, you know.
[1051] Yeah, yeah.
[1052] They aren't having it.
[1053] They've never been having it.
[1054] No one cares.
[1055] No, they don't care.
[1056] No, I did a show the other night They went really well And my wife and my daughter came to it And then when I get home By the time I got home, it's like I never had done anything I get in there and you take the trash out It literally is Did you put the dog?
[1057] Did you put the dog Make sure that he peed?
[1058] Well, but remember that show I just did And the whole crowd was laughing And you said I did it Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was 20 minutes ago Did you put the almond milk away?
[1059] You'll leave it out.
[1060] sometimes.
[1061] Put the fucking om and look away!
[1062] Shut the fuck up and go to sleep.
[1063] And that's my daughter talking to me and she's smoking a cigar.
[1064] Oh my God.
[1065] I never find myself on your side but that seems borderline abusive.
[1066] They are very abusive people.
[1067] Right, right.
[1068] I'm terribly abused at home.
[1069] Yeah, yeah.
[1070] So, but anyway, I have to say that I am very fortunate that we randomly all found each other and started this podcast and it has been successful but the nicest thing is that I think you guys are always the same you're always going to be the same you will never change for better or worse you're trapped with the personalities you've been given started off as a compliment and then it went down but we knew that I wish you'd just insult us straight away no growth and do the preamble no evolution and then I'm like oh my God sincerity and then it doesn't you're all joking aside you guys are the best Blah, blah, blah.
[1071] Oh, no, that's not.
[1072] I'm just reading what Gourley just slipped me here.
[1073] Now there's video.
[1074] You guys are the best.
[1075] I truly love both of you, and you're the reason the podcast works.
[1076] I donate my salary to your child's college fund.
[1077] I donate my salary to your child's college fund.
[1078] Yeah.
[1079] And my kids.
[1080] Lots of them matched.
[1081] Oh, to both of us?
[1082] The plural of child, is it children's?
[1083] Why are you guys looking at me?
[1084] The possessive plural.
[1085] I don't know.
[1086] The children's television workshop.
[1087] And that's possessive as well as plural.
[1088] Well, I find you're getting very possessive right now with your knowledge of.
[1089] Oh, God.
[1090] That was not good.
[1091] I'm so sorry.
[1092] That was terrible.
[1093] We should have gotten out minutes ago.
[1094] That was so, where this was going was so bad.
[1095] You didn't let me finish.
[1096] I was going to take it someplace brilliant, but now there isn't time.
[1097] Let's hear it.
[1098] No, no, there's no time.
[1099] No, let's go back to it.
[1100] We literally don't have.
[1101] No, we gotta go.
[1102] Say it.
[1103] A possessive thing again.
[1104] Wait, getting a phone call.
[1105] No, you're not.
[1106] Hello, is it?
[1107] There's no one I'm here, is it?
[1108] Proof there's no. Oh, okay, both Obamas.
[1109] I'll come meet you now.
[1110] Both Obamas.
[1111] That's a weird thing to say to the Obama's, but...
[1112] Oh, it's all four Obamas, including Bo the dog.
[1113] You want Combs read it?
[1114] Seven Obamas, some Obamas we haven't heard of yet?
[1115] Oh yeah, I can be there in a second.
[1116] 20 Obama's possessive plural?
[1117] Where does the apostrophe go?
[1118] Nine hundred Obama.
[1119] Thomas.
[1120] Incredible.
[1121] Had no idea.
[1122] Yes.
[1123] I'll come to your Hawaiian compound right away.
[1124] I'd love to be there.
[1125] One Trump?
[1126] No, not interested.
[1127] Oh, what did you do that for?
[1128] Oh, no. We don't do that here.
[1129] We can't in that case.
[1130] I think we can.
[1131] Sure.
[1132] It would have been good to see where the Obama's rift went.
[1133] Yeah, well, we'll never know now.
[1134] I was riveted.
[1135] This guy took it to obvious town.
[1136] 7 .3 million obamas?
[1137] My God.
[1138] That's it Oh, there's just all speaking at once I can't make it.
[1139] It's very hard.
[1140] It's very hard.
[1141] And you know, the cell signal when you get 700 people calling you at once.
[1142] All right.
[1143] I think we had this a while ago.
[1144] This is so, I don't know why we didn't land this plane.
[1145] I'm just landing it.
[1146] I'm landing it.
[1147] I just ding.
[1148] Sully Sullenberger this.
[1149] No, I'm going to do better than that.
[1150] I'm putting it on a tarmac.
[1151] You know?
[1152] Oh, my God.
[1153] Well, I'm sorry.
[1154] The guy landed it in a river.
[1155] He had no choice.
[1156] Yeah.
[1157] He saved hundreds of people.
[1158] If he had looked a little.
[1159] You know what, I'm sick of this, all hail Sullenberg or shit.
[1160] I agree.
[1161] If he had looked a little harder, he'd have found a tarmac.
[1162] Yeah.
[1163] Tarmac much?
[1164] Yeah.
[1165] Oh, my God.
[1166] No, I'm sorry.
[1167] When I went to piloting school, they didn't say, if you put it in a river, it's just as good.
[1168] And we'll call you a hero.
[1169] Precision to get it to land without it.
[1170] Didn't Harrison Ford land one on a golf course once?
[1171] Oh, yeah, sure.
[1172] What's his way of playing golf?
[1173] Hasn't he crash?
[1174] He has a golf ball strapped to the landing gear.
[1175] Oh, my gosh.
[1176] Put it right in the hole.
[1177] All right, whatever.
[1178] What have we learned?
[1179] What have we learned?
[1180] We have a great podcast.
[1181] No one's personalities have changed.
[1182] The Obama's call me regularly.
[1183] And there are more of them than you think.
[1184] And I think Sullenberger gets too much credit.
[1185] I'm sorry.
[1186] The state of the podcast is strong.
[1187] Conan O 'Brien needs a friend.
[1188] With Conan O 'Brien, Sonam of Sessian, and Matt Gourley.
[1189] Produced by me, Matt Gourley.
[1190] Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Joanna Solitaroff, and Jeff Ross at Team Koko and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf.
[1191] Theme song by The White Stripes.
[1192] Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino.
[1193] Take it away, Jimmy.
[1194] Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples.
[1195] Engineering by Will Bechtin, additional production support by Mars Melnick, talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Brick Kahn.
[1196] You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode.
[1197] Got a question for Conan?
[1198] Call the Team Coco hotline at 323 -451 -2821 and leave a message.
[1199] It too could be featured on a future episode.
[1200] And if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O 'Brien needs a friend on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.
[1201] This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.