Brian Setzer And The Songs That Inspired Him

[0] Hey, this is kind of cool.

[1] Recently, I got to sit down with one of my heroes.

[2] As you may know about me, I'm a kind of a rockabilly fanatic, and I love Brian Setzer.

[3] Turns out he was in town, and we got to sit down for an hour -long conversation, which was just a blast for me. We talked about a lot, Brian committing to always doing what he wanted to do as a musician.

[4] That guy has stuck to his guns, and it's worked out beautifully for him.

[5] Having a guitar lead, a big band was something he had never done before, which is massive.

[6] A guitarist did not lead big bands, but he did it.

[7] How Rockabilly spoke to him, as it did to me at a very young age, meeting George Harrison and Ringo, but never Paul.

[8] And Brian and I talk a little bit about living on a tour bus and how it can drive one quite insane.

[9] Anyway, it was a really fun conversation.

[10] If you want, you can listen to the episode with the songs included by searching Conan in the new Serious XM app or you can listen to the conversation here and cue up the songs on your music streaming app of choice.

[11] Check it out.

[12] Here's my conversation with Brian Setzer.

[13] Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell, brandy shoes, walking loose, climb the fence, books and books, The message of my friends, I can tell that we are going to be friends.

[14] I can tell that we are going to be friends.

[15] The message of my career is dreams do come true.

[16] And I've been a massive fan and huge admirer of a gentleman known as Brian Setzer for many years.

[17] And he's been an influence on me in all kinds of ways.

[18] And I adore him.

[19] And over the years, I've had the pleasure of, Brian coming on my shows and getting to perform live with Brian, and then we heard that there was a chance that he might be in town and might have a moment to sit down with us and appear on Conan O 'Brien words and music with my friend Jim Pitt, and so we did everything we could to get him here.

[20] We kidnapped him about an hour ago, and he's here with me now, and I could not be happier.

[21] Brian, thanks for being here.

[22] Oh, seriously.

[23] I'm just like, and I've told this to many people that I can kind of do the hair.

[24] If I could play guitar like you and sing like you, no one would ever hear me tell a joke again.

[25] I'd be gone.

[26] I'd be out on the road because you're living the life that I would like to live.

[27] So, and then to find out years ago that you're also an incredibly nice person was this nice gift.

[28] I remember being afraid the first time.

[29] he came on the show, what if he's an asshole?

[30] You never know.

[31] There's a gonna be a fight.

[32] Yeah, exactly.

[33] From your music, there's just, you know, there's a lot of people fighting and switchblades.

[34] He thought he might pull a knife on me. And then you could not have been a nicer guy.

[35] And so many of my favorite memories of doing late night show over the years was when you would come by, when you would bring the Brian Setser Orchestra.

[36] Oh, yeah.

[37] And people knew on day, when you're coming with your orchestra, don't bother me. Meaning, don't give me a lot of comedy that day that I have to rehearse.

[38] Don't try to have a lot of meetings with me. Don't have the accountants in that day.

[39] Leave me alone so I can go downstairs and sit in the audience and watch you guys do your thing.

[40] Always a joy.

[41] Oh, yeah, you loved the big band.

[42] I know you did.

[43] Yeah.

[44] And I remembered sitting, this was one of my favorite memories.

[45] I'm sitting in the audience and you play the set that you're going to play what you're going to do for the late night show and then you said hey Conan anything else you want to hear and I'm just sitting there in the audience like with Jim Pitt who's sitting with me and maybe a couple of other people and I said are you guys do the Hawaii 5 -0 theme and you went guys one two three dun dun dun dun I know you just did it and it when it was over my clothes had been blown off I was completely naked I was just it was absolutely incredible and how just I mean first of all I know this is one of the things I've heard about you and it's something I've thought about over the years which is some of the best music ever made in America's television theme songs yeah and we grew up with them we're the same vintage and we grew up with this stuff Hawaii 50 I know you're a big I've heard you talk about the Manix theme oh god I think about you know, the Wild Wild West.

[46] There are all these incredible songs.

[47] Bonanza.

[48] Great orchestration.

[49] Yeah.

[50] Great music.

[51] And it was television themes.

[52] Yeah.

[53] You know what happened?

[54] So those were jazz guys, right?

[55] That once the big band dinosaurs went away, they became extinct.

[56] They had nowhere to go.

[57] And they started doing that for TV.

[58] You know, so we need, you know, we need something big and bold that sounds out west.

[59] you know, and it was four guys in New York City in the Brill building, you know, right in about the Wild West.

[60] You know, it's the funniest thing.

[61] And it's the best stuff, you know.

[62] And, you know, and they wrote Bonanza, and they, you know, Hawaii 5 -0 and all that.

[63] Just fantastic stuff.

[64] So when I actually got the big band together, heard that back, it was my favorite stuff to play.

[65] It's amazing.

[66] I love playing that.

[67] James Bond.

[68] Who could do the James Bond theme?

[69] No, it's incredible.

[70] Like, that music is so, iconic and because it was a TV theme it was easy for people to at the time probably dismiss it like oh it's just some song on television it's not the real thing until you go back and listen to it and realize this is some of the best music recorded I was really it didn't surprise me but when I found out that because when I was a kid one of my favorite cartoons was Top Cat Top Cat Da da da da da da da da da top cat but da da da da da and it was this cartoon sort of like a sergeant bilko who's a cat and he's got his gang and they they always pull one over on somebody it was very funny i think it was a hannah barbara cartoon that the top cat theme was an inspiration for you top cat theme because it was bad ass you know they they they were mixing some you know trying to mix rock and roll but their their roots were in that in that 50s big band stuff it was just sweet nobody had hit upon it And I had the idea, why don't I lead a big band with a guitar?

[71] That's never been done.

[72] And everybody tried to talk me out of that one.

[73] And then they were saying, oh, it's going to be an embarrassment.

[74] No one's going to want to listen to this.

[75] You just won't be able to pay them.

[76] Yeah, who's going to come see that?

[77] Right.

[78] You know, they said that was rockabilly too.

[79] Yeah.

[80] But I've always just done what I've wanted to do.

[81] And that big band just kind of kept taking off, taking off.

[82] It got higher and higher and higher.

[83] you know i we did i paid the band out of pocket the first couple shows and then uh i remember all of a sudden is uh the the greek theater want you the greek we just did the house of blues it caught on and it just kind of it kind of you know stayed there at this point so a lot of people you know we ended up with the hollywood bowl but a lot of people feel the way we do you know well that's the kind of i was called the field of dreams phenomenon if you build it, they will come, which is, you know, if you, you know, my whole career I've thought, if this is something I really care about comedically, I'm just going to keep doubling down on it.

[84] And if no one else cares, at least I did what I wanted to do, but I think other people are going to care.

[85] Right.

[86] And if you just keep putting that signal out, and it's a little bit of almost a religious thing, spiritual, like I'm going to double down on this and put this signal out here.

[87] And I'll show them.

[88] Yeah.

[89] Yeah.

[90] And going back, like, is interesting because it's hard to explain.

[91] Time goes by and then people lose the context.

[92] But when Stray Cat's first comes around, when you're first playing this music, 1980, 81, it is the exact opposite.

[93] Late 70s, early 80s, it's the exact opposite of what the music scene is, completely.

[94] It's diametrically opposed.

[95] Nobody's got a three -piece playing, stripped down, rockableness.

[96] Billy, stand -up bass, snare drum, 61 -20, Gretsch guitar.

[97] No one's piling their hair up like that.

[98] It's the cars.

[99] I mean, we could go on and on about what it was, but it was not that.

[100] No. And, but I think it was just musically, so undeniably amazing that it cut through and became a sensation.

[101] And I think a lot of people were hungry for it when it came.

[102] Yes, we found that out.

[103] But when we first started, first of all, the band was right.

[104] You know, me, Jim, and Lee, we had a chemistry.

[105] You know, we're just three guys from almost the same block on Long Island.

[106] And we just believed in this sound because, oh, without mentioning other band's names, we'd had enough of the big pompous bands with the gongs and all that stuff.

[107] And I said, you don't need all this stuff, you know?

[108] Right.

[109] You don't need the half a million dollar less Paul.

[110] You don't need that, man. I'm picturing the stray cats going at with just you guys and a guy.

[111] gong and i'm on gong and every now and then you signal me and a dong and a g -strike i'd do it i'd do it um but yeah so you were you were it was a reaction to what was happening and you did that and then of course later in your career when you did the big band that's a reaction because i think when you came out with the big band it was grunge was what everybody wanted that's right absolutely uh i've got i've got this massive orchestra and I'm going to do Louis Prima and it's going to be huge and it was.

[112] It did become huge.

[113] The idea for the big band, you know, I learned how to read and write music and Johnny Carson asked and he didn't have rock bands on yet if we wanted to be on the show.

[114] We're like, what?

[115] Who just kids?

[116] And then he said, do you want these Doc's big band?

[117] And that's where the idea started.

[118] Did you do it?

[119] They didn't have a song.

[120] No, it didn't work out.

[121] Johnny did that a lot, invite people on, they'd show up, and he wouldn't let them in.

[122] It was an old Johnny trick.

[123] That's pretty much how it happened.

[124] We didn't get the show, but they were talking about it, but that idea remained.

[125] What if I put that big band behind the stray cats since I could write all that stuff?

[126] I just, I wanted to hear, because the two had never met.

[127] A guitar player had never led a big band.

[128] And like you said, we were influenced by all that 50s and that.

[129] 60s television theme stuff.

[130] So I at least had to try it.

[131] And believe me, it was hard to get 17 guys, you know, to do this, to write all that music out, you know.

[132] People would yell out songs and I would say, well, but we don't have the, we don't have the charts.

[133] What?

[134] Play, you know, rock this town.

[135] Well, I didn't have a written out yet for the big man. I hadn't reimagined it yet.

[136] Right, right.

[137] You know, so it was just, it was an idea that I had to follow through with.

[138] But from the very first one, it was like, wait, this is not like Sinatra.

[139] This is something different, you know, this is...

[140] It's a hybrid.

[141] Yeah, yeah.

[142] It was my idea of like, of rock and roll with like, but not a swing band.

[143] People thought we were swing as well.

[144] And the swing bands had three or four horns.

[145] This was a full big band, you know.

[146] Right.

[147] So that's what started that idea.

[148] And then it caught fire pretty quick.

[149] So I have to say, for me personally, I think one of the reasons, like, I grabbed on to you and what you were doing immediately is I had this experience.

[150] I was born in 63.

[151] So I'm in college, and everyone's listening to what people are listening to in the 80s.

[152] And, you know, softs, I mean, a freshman year, soft sell is really big and tainted love.

[153] And you've got all this stuff happening in the 80s.

[154] And I remember it was fine, but I wasn't grabbed by any of it.

[155] then i think they did some reissue of the sun session albums or i started to hear early elvis because i had only known sure i had only known um the elvis hits that we were all the stuff that your mom played right exactly the stuff that was on rca or or especially the stuff that came later on in the you know 70s late 60s 70s and so i start to hear like i hear baby let's play house and I can just feel something happened to me. It's so primal.

[156] You know, babe, babe, babe.

[157] And I'm just, I'm listening to it, and it's, you might go to college, you might go to school, you might drive a pink Cadillac, but you'd be nobody's.

[158] And there's a real passion behind it.

[159] It's very simple.

[160] And then obviously that's all right, Mama, and I'm listening to all this stuff.

[161] And the next thing I know, my dorm room, I have an early Elvis poster, but I also have Jerry Lee Lewis, from high school confidential on the back of the truck playing the piano he's on the back of like a pickup truck it was a still from the movie high school confidential and i'm listening to jerry lee lewis and then i'm listening to and that's the stuff i'm listening to and my friends don't get it like what are you doing why are you doing this and of course you guys come around and then suddenly it's it's cool it feels like it's you know you know i mean it's uh i could understand it because to me it was was, I still explain it as this is the music that still like reaches right into my chest and grabs me. And for me, it's like for Buddy Holly, it's Ravon, like the kind of insistence of it, you know, that and it's driving and it's very simple.

[162] But that was why what you were doing and everything that you've done throughout your career has always kind of made perfect sense to me. because other stuff I don't know I love and admire a lot of the other stuff but there's something so like I would just go back to primal about I know you either get that or you don't I feel the same exact way I went through the same thing and I think the first I heard any of that real stuff was my dad was in Korea and he came back with some records this is what the guy were listening to you know i like it and i put on you know carl perkins and i couldn't tell him i liked it but to me it rivaled it was it rivaled that energy that punk rock was just starting with but but the guys could really play yeah you know and it just spoke right to me you know that's the hardest thing to write is the the the simplest stuff you know with the direct lyrics the direct chords i mean because it's all been written You know, that's the hardest stuff to come up with.

[163] Yeah.

[164] But I had the same exact feeling as you did.

[165] Isn't that funny?

[166] I didn't know everybody's going to do their hair like me. I thought that was for stage.

[167] Yeah.

[168] But I stuck with it for the longest period.

[169] And people were, when I was this writer...

[170] Oh, you still got a good head of hair there.

[171] When I was on the, when I was a writer on the Simpsons, I had this giant pile on my head.

[172] And, you know, I had sideburns.

[173] And people were just like, you're a comedy writer.

[174] Why?

[175] Yeah, but that...

[176] But that's how you feel comfortable, you know?

[177] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[178] You showed up earlier than I thought you were coming in, and I wander around my, because it's my building, I get to wander around with a guitar around me all the time.

[179] You will attest that this is true.

[180] It goes back a long way.

[181] That goes back a long way, and I always have a guitar.

[182] Yeah, you always have a guitar.

[183] So I heard all this commotion downstairs because they were having a birthday party for Sarah, Federovich.

[184] And I come down just to join in.

[185] And of course, I just have a Gretsch, a duo jet around my neck.

[186] And who do I, the first person I run into is you, Ryan, and I'm, and I feel like an ass because it's like walking up to Tiger Woods holding a golf club.

[187] I feel stupid now.

[188] Look what I've got.

[189] I know how to play.

[190] Coincidence.

[191] Yeah, exactly.

[192] Who knew?

[193] But I'm glad it made it into the, to the studio.

[194] So, you know, we were going to, one of the things we like to do occasionally on this show is we ask our guest to pick a couple of songs.

[195] And the first one you picked is something else by Eddie Cochran, which is 1958.

[196] And I got into Eddie Cochran.

[197] I think after college, I'm out here in L .A. And I'm really trying to start to learn.

[198] I had been a shitty drummer, and I decided it's time to be a shitty guitar player.

[199] and I, a friend of mine, Randy Klempert and I, who we were in improv class together, he could play serious rockabilly licks, and that's what I wanted to do.

[200] And he said, you got to know about Eddie Cochran.

[201] So he was the one that got me into Eddie Cochran.

[202] And Eddie Cochran was the guy who had a big orange, Gretsch, 6120.

[203] Yeah.

[204] And that was the guitar that you had to have.

[205] Yeah.

[206] If you were going to do what you wanted to do.

[207] Well, can I tell you how, I discovered him.

[208] There's no time.

[209] We're out.

[210] All right, goodbye, everybody.

[211] No, I'm kidding.

[212] I'll see you then.

[213] Go ahead.

[214] Yes, that's why you're here.

[215] But the funny thing about Eddie was, nobody knew who, like, you know, my folks didn't know who Eddie Cochran was.

[216] He had summertime blues.

[217] But we had a record store called Whirling Disc.

[218] And it was a cheap little place.

[219] And the guy had the album covers hanging from Fishin Line.

[220] I don't know how old I was.

[221] well early 70s right you know just just you know tees early teens 14 and i didn't like anything i was hearing and i banged into this one record i go who's this guy i didn't know what he sounded like i go this guy just looks cool i just uh that look made me feel right too you know that i couldn't relate to the 70s kind of rock and roll look but i was a rock and roller yeah so i saw a picture with the baggy pants to slick back out this cat's cool you know he could be in a motorcycle gang he could be a guitar player and then when i went home and put the record on it was all over why doesn't everybody know who he is yeah they do in england and places like that but i remember we opened up for for the stones here in uh in 1980 and uh i'm you know i'm just glad we didn't get boot off but we came up on stage and i said hey hello minnesota to home of Eddie Cochran.

[222] People just gave me a what quizzical look.

[223] You know, they didn't know who he was.

[224] What second in time I came back, they had signs saying, home of Eddie Cochran.

[225] You know, well, tragically, for the listeners that don't know, Eddie Cochran, brilliant, fantastic.

[226] He wrote and he sang and he looked like a million bucks, but he could also play.

[227] He was a real player.

[228] Yes.

[229] And, you know, not everybody, not everybody was, some guys just thunked out rhythm, but Eddie Cochran could really play, and his trademark was 6120, which you all know it when you see it.

[230] It's big orange guitar that was kind of a country -western theme guitar, and they would put a cattle brand on it of the G. And some of the ones, I've never had one, but some of them have all this inlay of like little cactus and little, and I remember when you first started playing seeing that you had a 60 -120 but you would put like dice on for the knobs and i thought that was the coolest thing i still think it's the coolest thing i've ever seen you know i'm seeing a lot of cool stuff but i've not i still think that is the guitar you know um but he went to england and was touring and was in a a car accident was killed yeah and um i've always heard that George Harrison, this is pre -Beatles, followed that tour.

[231] George Harrison, of course, was like a young kid.

[232] Yeah.

[233] Teenager who loved Eddie Cochran.

[234] They didn't get access to these stars because very few of them came over.

[235] But that George was really interested in following that concert and trying to get a chance to look at Eddie Cochran and see him.

[236] And tragically, he passed away on that tour.

[237] He was killed.

[238] On that tour, yeah.

[239] Yeah, yeah.

[240] So we have a song, because we asked you to supply three songs.

[241] And the first you said was something else by Eddie Cochran.

[242] And I love that song.

[243] He goes, what's all this?

[244] What's all this?

[245] It's just all swagger.

[246] Oh, it's all swagger.

[247] But you know, it's also nice.

[248] There's a sweetness to it, which is, you know, the punk or version you'd think would be, you know, I want that girl.

[249] I got to get that car.

[250] I'm going to go fucking steal that car.

[251] Yeah.

[252] No. He's working.

[253] I'm going to work real hard and save my dough.

[254] I never thought of that.

[255] And it's kind of like, it's nice.

[256] There's almost this, there's this almost like work ethic message in there about, I never thought of that.

[257] I'm not going to go steal it.

[258] But you can tell he's, he's got swagger and everything, but he's going to do this the legit way.

[259] How did they get that sound?

[260] What is happening there?

[261] Do you know, do you have any idea?

[262] Good gosh.

[263] We have tried to capture all those sounds.

[264] And it's, I'm telling you, it's in the air because even if you use the old flat wound strings, even if you go back and use all the tube stuff, you can't catch it.

[265] It was just in the air.

[266] I was going to say it's funny when I was living back in the UK.

[267] You know, there was a big division amongst groups, right?

[268] The punks didn't like the rockers and they didn't like the mods and they didn't like, all that stuff.

[269] They all agreed on Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent.

[270] Yes.

[271] Oh, Gene Vincent, all right.

[272] I remember Lemmy said, oh, Gene Vincent, you know, it takes 10 of you to make one of him, you know?

[273] Yeah.

[274] Everybody agreed that those were the guys who was no fighting amongst that.

[275] Here's a weird thing, too, again, not to be morbid, but I think Gene Vincent was in the car.

[276] Gene Vincent was in the cab.

[277] Yes.

[278] With Eddie Cochran and Eddie Cochran's girlfriend when the car crashed in England when they were doing that tour.

[279] and as a side note, Gene Vincent was injured, Eddie Cochran was killed, but his girlfriend, Sharon Shealy, right.

[280] Co -wrote something else with him.

[281] Yeah.

[282] Yeah, she was a writer, and they were a great, I've heard her interview, talking about Eddie and talking about them working together.

[283] Have you?

[284] Yeah.

[285] Now, I've been on that little curve where they smashed.

[286] It's pretty wicked, even on a nice night.

[287] Yeah.

[288] It was raining and all sorts of, you know, come on, we want to go home, that kind of jazz.

[289] It's the, it's the, I had a chance because I'm a buddy Holly fanatic.

[290] We had, the crickets came by once and they performed on late night.

[291] Right.

[292] And afterwards we're just hanging out and I couldn't believe I was getting to talk to the crickets.

[293] And then I just said, you know, I kind of just said, I don't know where like, why did buddy get on that plane?

[294] It's snowing and why do you do that?

[295] And I think it was the Jerry Allison or someone said, ah, buddy, he had get there, I always did.

[296] You know, like he just, I got to get there.

[297] You know, I'm sick of this bus.

[298] Oh, I'll go ahead, I'll take the laundry with me, we'll take this little plane, and I always think about that, because every now and then I'm in a situation, if I'm doing a travel show somewhere, I'm doing something, people say, you know, this guy can take you in a helicopter and we'll get there a little faster.

[299] And I always say, I'm all right.

[300] That helicopter doesn't, looks like it was built in World War I as an experiment.

[301] I think I'm good.

[302] I'll just be a little late.

[303] It's okay to be late.

[304] I'm getting worse that, too, as I get older because we, you know, I live in Minnesota in the tundra, and we took a 25 -hour bus ride, even though we have the dogs and, you know, we want to come like that.

[305] Yeah.

[306] But I took that over a flight because I just, I just got to go my way at this point, you know.

[307] Can you sleep on a bus?

[308] Because I did some bus time, couldn't, could never sleep on a bus.

[309] And so what I would do is I'd be too wound up from the show, so I would sit up front with the bus driver.

[310] and jabber while everyone else was sleeping and just talk and talk and talk.

[311] That's the thing.

[312] People who never been on one of those things, I can, yeah.

[313] But people who never been on those things, think that any time off is just like, you know, no big deal, you can go do this and go do that, you know?

[314] You know, when they said, well, Conan wants you to come on, I said, Conan I'll make time for.

[315] But, you know, I was told you got on a bus and it was 25 hours just for this interview.

[316] and you're turning around and coming and you're going straight back.

[317] That might have been an exaggeration.

[318] I'm going to stick with my story.

[319] Conan walks me, get up the bus.

[320] Get out that bus.

[321] Yeah, Gene Vincent was a guy that I got really into also around the same time as Eddie Cochran.

[322] And what I knew about Gene Vincent was, obviously, you know, he had great style and he had a great voice.

[323] But he had this guitar player, and at the time, when I first heard it, I thought, is that Gene Vincent playing that?

[324] I didn't know anything.

[325] Right.

[326] And it turned out to be kids' guitar players, one of the great guitar players in rock and roll history.

[327] I know.

[328] Maybe one of the all -time, you know, like if you're going to make a list of 10, but Cliff Gallup.

[329] Everybody has to agree on Cliff Gallup.

[330] I heard Cliff Gallup for the first time.

[331] Again, you know, we're about the same age.

[332] How would you hear that?

[333] And I was in Maxis, Kansas City in Manhattan.

[334] and shoot and pool and all the punk was on there, you know, la la da da da da da da screaming out of the jukebox and all of a sudden we'll be babelula and it was like a hand came across the pool table and pulled me into that jukebox and that guitar solo came on and it was the sexiest thing I'd ever heard I go what's this guy doing really that's how I started using a pick and my fingers He, uh, uh, Gallup used finger picks and a thumb pick.

[335] I just use my fingers and a guitar pick, but I, I pick like that and then I go back down with the pick.

[336] And I just did it because I, I wasn't getting, I wanted to finger pick.

[337] You know, I wanted to, you know, do some stuff that Scotty Moore did.

[338] Yeah.

[339] So I just invented that.

[340] I never saw anyone do it.

[341] But when I heard that song, I just went, wow.

[342] It was, it was sexy.

[343] Yeah, just had it.

[344] We had Scotty Moore.

[345] it in Scotty and DJ and DJ Fontana, his drummer, they sat him with Max Weinberg.

[346] I mean, I used that late night show so much of it was Conan works out his quiet perversions and America has to come along whether they want to or not.

[347] But he came and then the show was over and I asked him, could you just, Scotty, I can play the solo to that's all right, mama.

[348] I can do it, kind of.

[349] But I can do it.

[350] Kind of.

[351] But any, went oh no it's not that hard let me show you son and then he did it in front of me and to see the hands this is where it gets weird you see the hands make the shapes and do it and you realize these are the same hands that did it in 1954 in sun studio and that changed the world and i'm looking at the same fingers i know and then i think okay it's time for me to you'll have a drink take a pill something you got to get out of that head but it's interesting to go there for a lot of people i think that way yeah but so jean vincent he comes along and what's interesting about jean vincent is Elvis hits and he's huge and it's a phenomenon so everyone's looking for the next Elvis we got to get one of those rca has Elvis they buy the colonel's contract so capital record says we got to find someone and I had always heard that Gene Vincent had won, like a contest.

[352] Right.

[353] Like Sound like Elvis contest.

[354] Sure.

[355] And so Capital signed him because they thought this guy will be the next, he'll be our Elvis.

[356] Right.

[357] Which kind of makes sense because he's, you know.

[358] Every guy from down south was trying to be the next Elvis.

[359] Yeah.

[360] But Gene had, I think Gene lived those lyrics.

[361] You know, he was a bad boy.

[362] But he had that sweet.

[363] what is it, Ian Dorey said, sweet Virginia whisper, right?

[364] He, he had that thing, and he had the band, right?

[365] You know that, that when they came into record, they had, Chad Atkins was there in case the band wasn't any good.

[366] They heard the band, they went, oh, well, we could send them a studio guys home.

[367] Right.

[368] Band's amazing.

[369] These guys are great.

[370] Yeah.

[371] Gene Vincent and the blue caps.

[372] And the studio photos have always seen all his amazing band, they're all wearing blue bluecaps, and Gene always has this archtop guitar that looks like it has a hole in it, you know, like this beat -up.

[373] The big hole.

[374] Bubba told me they used to light off cherry bombs on stage to get the audience going.

[375] I could have used that.

[376] There are plenty of times I could have.

[377] Yeah, me too.

[378] All of us.

[379] Plenty of nights we had a flat crowd.

[380] He told me they used to throw cherry bombs around and blew up on the Gene's guitar.

[381] That's what he told me about that hole.

[382] So Gene Vincent, he really shoots to the top because he does a song called Bebapalula.

[383] And that was the second song that you chose.

[384] It's from 1956, I believe.

[385] So this is around the time the Elvis fuse gets lit in 54.

[386] It's really started to burn in 55.

[387] And then 56 is when Elvis just becomes, you know, he's everywhere.

[388] And he is the king of show business.

[389] And it's a huge revolution.

[390] king of rock and roll and then Gene Vincent comes up with B. Babalula, which is a massive hit.

[391] And so let's give that a listen.

[392] And then we can discuss.

[393] Yeah, spin it.

[394] Or push the button.

[395] Spin it sounds better.

[396] I know.

[397] You know, it's interesting because the guitar is amazing, but you pointed out something about Gene Vincent's voice, which is it sounds like it does sound like cool spring water.

[398] There's something very liquid about it.

[399] Do you know what I mean?

[400] Oh, man, yeah.

[401] It's just kind of perfect, and you can't...

[402] It's sexy.

[403] Yeah, it's very, yeah, very sexy.

[404] Yeah.

[405] And what is Cliff Gallup playing there?

[406] Is he playing a telecaster?

[407] He's playing the guitar in the corner there.

[408] Is he playing a duo jet?

[409] Mm -hmm.

[410] Okay, so he's playing a Gretch.

[411] All right.

[412] Gretch duo jet, yeah.

[413] It is so funny because Gretches, which...

[414] It's funny, you single -handedly drove up the price of Gretches, you asshole.

[415] But when you come along and you're playing the 61, Gretches weren't thought of, they weren't valued that way, especially 6120s duo jets.

[416] And then you come along and after the strait hats, there were thousands and thousands of dollars and you can't have one.

[417] My first ever electric guitar was a Tennessean.

[418] with the single cutaway and it had the painted F -holes which I didn't really know why would you paint F -holes on I didn't understand why and someone explained to me it's because of the feedback, you know, that they hadn't quite figured out yet how to keep guitars from feeding back through the F -hole.

[419] Yeah, that's pretty much it.

[420] Yeah.

[421] You know, I'm convinced, you know, after all these years of playing, if one person says something, they'll change it.

[422] Like, I just bought this new guitar from Gretchen.

[423] And my son is having problems.

[424] And I had to save up a lot of money.

[425] Oh, we'd better change it.

[426] And then they'll do something like that.

[427] Yeah.

[428] You know?

[429] Honestly, I use the feedback.

[430] That's why I need.

[431] Yeah.

[432] Right?

[433] So people that don't play guitar, I'll explain to them, like a solid body guitar, doesn't feed back because there's nothing coming out of the guitar, except the pickups are pulling the sound from the strings.

[434] But when you play an archtop guitar.

[435] Which is more like, if you imagine, a violin or an acoustic guitar, It's hollow, it's got big holes for the sound to, it resonates.

[436] Yeah.

[437] It's not a solid block of wood.

[438] Picture me playing a cello with pickups.

[439] Yeah.

[440] If you stand in the right spot, it doesn't go, because we rock them.

[441] Those guys in the 50s, you know, Chad Atkins, he sat down and played it like a gentleman, country gentleman.

[442] We started just rocking out with them, you know.

[443] So we had to figure out how to get him to play right, you know.

[444] We had Chet Atkins come by the show.

[445] Yeah, we did.

[446] Yep.

[447] And then so, of course, being the nerd I am, you guys had everybody.

[448] We had everybody.

[449] Les Paul was on like the first week.

[450] Les Paul came on the first week.

[451] Gave me a Les Paul and signed it to me. Oh, yeah.

[452] Yeah, I wish I hadn't thrown it out.

[453] But, you know, I don't want to be a hoarder.

[454] But, no, Chet Atkins came by.

[455] And so I showed him my Chet Atkins, Gretsch, 6120.

[456] And he takes that out of my hand and he looks at it.

[457] But he looks at it.

[458] But he looked.

[459] looks at it very technically, like, well, let's see.

[460] Because it's his, it's one that was put up with his name on it.

[461] So he's looking at it and he goes like, hmm, yes, well, they did a good job with this.

[462] And then he did a really cool thing.

[463] He just put his initials on the back of the headstock.

[464] Rather than sign a big thing up front, he was like, well, that would mar the guitar.

[465] So I'll just do it with a little Sharpie.

[466] And you, I mean, I have that guitar.

[467] You can't even see it barely.

[468] Right.

[469] But it's back there.

[470] And it was his way of saying, like, well, we mustn't damage the product.

[471] Right.

[472] You know, it's kind of as cool.

[473] Yeah, I only met him once, too, and he invited me over, and he goes, why don't you look me up before, boy?

[474] And I said, I thought it'd be like meeting the Pope.

[475] I didn't think I could just come in and meet you.

[476] So we sat down and played, and hold on one second.

[477] Let me show you something cool.

[478] So I don't know how well you can hear it.

[479] So he goes, can I show you something?

[480] And I go, yeah.

[481] Yes, you can, shed at you.

[482] Yes, you can.

[483] Exactly.

[484] He goes, what are you want to know?

[485] I go, do you have?

[486] anything in B -flat and he goes what are you doing up there son I go I got this big bear with all these horns so he gave me this really cool riff and it's cool that's beautiful I love that and it's not what is it I mean it's not blues it's not what is that it's kind of it almost sounds a little like Dixieland or so I don't know it does it does it sounds like rat da da da da da da yeah yes that da da da da da da You know, it's something you had to have like a, you could have like a strawboat or hat on playing that.

[487] Yeah, I said, so I wrote a song around that, you know, let's live it up, let's live it up.

[488] I wrote a song.

[489] And I said, can I give you credit for that or something?

[490] He goes, oh, hell, I just stole it from Jerry Reed.

[491] Everybody stole from somebody.

[492] That's true.

[493] Or they nicked.

[494] They nicked it.

[495] Yeah.

[496] As the Beatles would say.

[497] I'm curious, you said like you didn't think you could.

[498] just go talk to Chet Atkins and I love that attitude I've always had that attitude like I don't want to bother people and who am I to, I don't know I'm always, I think it's probably better to go at it from that angle than this person is going to love meeting me you know what I mean?

[499] Yeah, I mean, do I look you up in the phone book?

[500] I would have no idea and I wouldn't even pursue it, right?

[501] Because he's Chad Atkins, but he put it, you know, he reached out.

[502] He had the whole building there in Music Row.

[503] He was, why don't you call me, boy?

[504] Why don't you look me up?

[505] I thought it'd be like calling up the Pope.

[506] Yeah.

[507] And then he was just happy to sit down and just play, you do.

[508] Why is B -flat so cool?

[509] B -flat is a cool key.

[510] You like B -flat?

[511] Well, okay, the other day, I know you're coming on and you're on my rat.

[512] I think one of the things I listen to that you've done the most is your version of jump -jiving whale, you know?

[513] And I'm listening to it, and I get out my guitar and I'm guessing, and I'm like, yes.

[514] Yep, that's B -flat going up into B, you know.

[515] But I'm just like, what, why?

[516] So many cool things are in B -flat, and I don't know what that's all about.

[517] It's cool on guitar when you play in a horn key.

[518] That's a horn key.

[519] That's a horn key, okay.

[520] Yeah, because it has three flats.

[521] And Chuck Barry's a lot of times.

[522] Is it three flats, Julie?

[523] B -flat?

[524] Oh, it is two flats.

[525] Yeah.

[526] But it's...

[527] B and E. They're both flat.

[528] Anyway, so it sounds better for those guys when you play in those keys.

[529] Yeah.

[530] So there's a lot of tricks on guitar that you wouldn't normally do in that key.

[531] And once you discover them, you're one of the few people that do them.

[532] Because everybody that does the A and G and C, but B flat is something a little different.

[533] Yeah.

[534] Isn't Chuck Berry in sort of B -flat territory a lot, I think?

[535] I don't know.

[536] If you got a sax player in those days, you probably converted to their key.

[537] You had to know those keys.

[538] Yeah.

[539] And then it changed some time when, oh, you're going to play guitar keys now, A, D, you know, G. Right.

[540] It's what comes across to me when you look at all of your work is that you're interested in all music.

[541] You're not thinking, nope, I'm rockabilly or, you know, nope, I'm just going to do big band now.

[542] It's you appreciate everything.

[543] Like you have big years for country.

[544] I mean, if there's, you just like music.

[545] And then what can I do?

[546] Thanks.

[547] I do.

[548] And so many people, they're just down.

[549] They've got those blinders on, you know.

[550] It's like, do you only have one.

[551] record in your collection.

[552] I do like all different types of music, you know.

[553] That's why I kind of mix it all up.

[554] That's why it's not pure rockability what I play or it's not pure big band.

[555] I just, that's what sounds good in my head.

[556] And that's what comes out.

[557] The third song, this is a little bit of a departure, which I didn't expect, by the way, but thrilled that it's on the list, because I'm a Beatles fanatic as well.

[558] She loves you, 1963, The Beatles.

[559] How did this make it on your, Brian sets her pick three songs and something else, be Bopalula, and then she loves you.

[560] What's going on here?

[561] What's going on is that was so influential and just me liking music.

[562] It was so early.

[563] And shall I talk about it after we spin it?

[564] Sure.

[565] Yeah.

[566] Let's get these Beatles a chance.

[567] We're going to hear from that group again.

[568] I know.

[569] So what was it about that song that made it onto your list?

[570] So that song, you have to understand when I was, well, I don't know how old I was.

[571] Maybe it was just when I heard it.

[572] You would have been, I mean, you would have been, I think, five when it came out.

[573] I was born in 59.

[574] Okay, so I probably heard it later, right?

[575] But you had to go grocery shopping, we called it back east, grocery shopping.

[576] I don't think they'd do all over with mom.

[577] And there was a little pizza place across the way.

[578] and that came out of the jukebox you know it's like yesterday and I walked up to the pizza guy who's that on the jukebox I don't know that's those girls so I went up to these girls who's that she goes oh it's a new band called the Beatles right and the only thing in my young ears was that guitar I heard the guitar right and it was just new and fresh I mean I couldn't have heard something like Eddie Cochran yet right and that's where you have to be open -minded when people like different sorts of music then we went across the street and in another record store it was a picture of the Beatles and George had the neck of his guitar like goofing around across the other Beatles necks like that yeah and I go the guitar is what makes that sound it's the guitar I wanted that sound cool you know yeah and that's why they I couldn't get it out of my head you know I didn't want you know a BB gun I wanted a guitar You know, and what?

[579] A guitar, nobody plays guitar.

[580] We don't know anybody who plays guitar.

[581] That's what I wanted, you know.

[582] And wasn't your first instrument, was it, the guitar?

[583] Well, in school, they stuck me with this thing called the euphonium.

[584] Sounds like an iron lung.

[585] Poor Brian.

[586] Can't breathe on his own.

[587] We got him a euphonium.

[588] Yeah.

[589] Oh, geez, you're right.

[590] It does.

[591] So picture this skinny little kid from Long Island with the euphonium, which is like a mini tuba.

[592] You're right.

[593] Yeah.

[594] But that's what they had in school.

[595] My parents had never do money.

[596] Yeah.

[597] You know, and actually I learned how to read the bass cleft with that thing.

[598] But I really wanted the guitar to play.

[599] Yeah.

[600] But that's what I played in the school band.

[601] Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

[602] Boom, boom.

[603] Like, you know, that kind of music.

[604] And then my brothers, then I were cadets, you know, and we had the hats.

[605] And we could march with that thing.

[606] Sure, yeah.

[607] That was in B -flat, the euphonium.

[608] I'm glad you gave it up.

[609] I think he went Rockabilly euphonium Yeah exactly Well if it was up to my dad I'd be in the Coast Guard playing euphonium So You of the Beatles You kind of got to meet George a few times Yeah Can you talk about that at all a little bit Because he would have I imagine loved What you were doing He told me he did Yeah he was very dry You know very sarcastic, you know, like, no, no bullshit way, you know, but yeah, what can I say about him really?

[610] He was to, you're always in such awe when you meet someone like that, you know, when you met Paul or what I met George, but that's, that's, that's the stuff they all love.

[611] They all love the Rockabilly stuff.

[612] Like I said, you know, the biggest stars that people that I grew up with, they wanted to meet, you know, Freddie Mercury or, you know, the latest, you know, Jeff Rott's Hall and all that, you know, and all these guys wanted to meet the stray cats.

[613] Isn't that cool?

[614] Yeah, oh, it was unbelievable, you know.

[615] He must have.

[616] And I didn't know many of those band's songs because I listened to Rockabilly music, you know.

[617] Right, right.

[618] When we open for the Stones, I could have sung maybe satisfaction and a couple.

[619] I didn't know their music.

[620] Right.

[621] Because I was listening to Carl Perkins, you know.

[622] Which, by the way, strangely enough, they had been listening to.

[623] or they had been listening to, you know, earlier, and then they had gone on to that stuff.

[624] You know, what's so fascinating is that I have found this to be true.

[625] People you idolize, it's the stuff that you heard when you were a kid.

[626] So it's just you talking about hearing some of this music when you were much younger, and that's what grabbed hold of you.

[627] I'm that way about comedians.

[628] I idolized the people that were on TV when I was a kid.

[629] Those are the ones that later on when I got to meet them, when I got to meet Don Nott's, I couldn't believe I was meeting Don Nott's.

[630] Yeah, right.

[631] Now, you know, so many incredibly talented genius performers today who were in their 30s and 40s, when I meet them, they're younger than me, I'm really excited to meet them, and I really love their work, and I think they're brilliant, but it's never going to have the same effect on me as seeing those people that came through my TV set or on my record player when I was a kid.

[632] Like, it's just, you can't get, no one can get to you the same way.

[633] I never thought of that, but it's, yes.

[634] Yeah, and it's because that's what you're growing up with, you know?

[635] That's what shaped you.

[636] Yeah.

[637] You know, you get older, I guess, and it doesn't have that same effect.

[638] Did you get to play at all with George or just chat?

[639] I don't think I did.

[640] Yeah.

[641] I played with Keith and with, with Bill a lot, Bill Wyman.

[642] Yep.

[643] But I don't think I ever know.

[644] He didn't last too long, the poor guy.

[645] No. But he said, oh, just a quick, funny story.

[646] Yeah.

[647] We went to a party and there was George.

[648] And my brother did, you know, have you ever brought a family member to meet somebody that they're going to flip out over?

[649] Sure.

[650] Okay.

[651] So he does the thing.

[652] Oh, don't do this, you know.

[653] He goes, oh, hi, Mr. Harrison.

[654] I've got a band.

[655] We're on the Deca label.

[656] I'm going to do this, and I'll be doing that.

[657] And so George is so excited, he goes, well, see you on the telly then.

[658] And he walked away.

[659] I can just see him doing that, too.

[660] And I always just wanted you do that.

[661] Yeah.

[662] We were just kids.

[663] And if somebody did that to me, I'd be understanding, you know.

[664] Yeah.

[665] It was so funny because we had Ringo on the show once.

[666] And I'll never forget.

[667] It was the first time Ringo was on the show.

[668] I play with Ringo.

[669] Yeah.

[670] Yeah, and Ringo's such a lovely guy, but I remember it was the first time he was on the show and he's back, he's out in the hall outside 6A and iconic 6A studio.

[671] And he, he's outside and someone comes up and says the line that people always says, which is, I'm so sorry to bother you.

[672] You know, if they want to, they want you to sign something.

[673] I'm going to bother you.

[674] Yeah.

[675] And what they always say is, I'm so sorry to bother you.

[676] And Ringo with, just matter of fact, like he's been saying it since 1960.

[677] was one of the like cameramen said so sorry to bother and he went no you're not but then but then signed it anyway but as he was signing it just saying if you were really sorry you wouldn't do it i just thought like oh that's kind of a these liverpool guys you know how to give it they're not to dish it out each city seems to have that wise guy thing going you know yeah well i uh i'm glad i it's and you said you haven't met paul which i find hard to believe no yeah well he just call him up he's not the pope actually he's kind of the pope I guess isn't he yeah I want to make sure I mention a couple things your latest album which I've been listening to the devil always collects from 2003 I love it you're playing and singing as well as ever and this is something that Jim and I were talking about earlier that it's crazy we've talked this much about your playing you're a great fucking singer and you just it's when did you know that you could sing like that.

[678] You're a crooner.

[679] You can really belt.

[680] I never wanted to sing.

[681] I just wanted to be Scotty Moore.

[682] Yeah.

[683] And I think I just maybe got better.

[684] For me, being a singer, I just had to you know, you got to let all your inhibitions go.

[685] It's hard.

[686] You know, it's hard for me to do that, just to let it all out.

[687] Because sometimes you feel like you're being a fool, you know.

[688] What don't I just sing?

[689] But that's what really it takes to be, for me to be a good singer.

[690] The guitar thing I know what I want to do, you know, I know what I want to play, I know where I want to do it, I haven't figured out.

[691] The singing, the singing thing is, it takes longer.

[692] But I'm glad you liked the new record.

[693] I used a Gretsch Duo Jet on most of it, which I never used, and it just seemed to fit for, it just cut through.

[694] And again, this is the Gretch Duo Jet for you, real freaks out there, uh, who care.

[695] It's kind of like Gretch's answer to a Les Paul, sort of.

[696] It's a solid body, and we were talking about how there's the 6120s and everything else we were talking about are these hollow bodies, but that's the guitar that George played in the cavern with the Beatles.

[697] That was his first real guitar.

[698] Oh, that's right.

[699] It was a Grech Duo Jet.

[700] And Danny let me hold it once.

[701] Danny Harrison had it and...

[702] Danny's got it.

[703] And yeah, Danny has, he has all the guitars.

[704] And Danny handed it to me. I'm glad they're not in some showcase somewhere.

[705] No, no, no. Danny has them all.

[706] And, I mean, he's got the 12 -string Rickenbocker from Hard Day's Night.

[707] He's got...

[708] He's got the acoustic.

[709] He's got all of them.

[710] Yeah, he's got all of them.

[711] He's got all of them.

[712] He's got Rocky, which is the, the one that George hand -painted psychedelics.

[713] But he handed that one to me, and I'm, that was the only one I wanted to hold because I knew that, first of all, it's a Gretch.

[714] Second of all, it's the one that I knew they were playing when they played on that first album right because there was blood sweat and tears on that guitar yes yeah exactly so uh and that was didn't he buy that guitar from like an american navy guy who was visiting like maybe possibly stationed in liverpool and they they couldn't afford american guitars there's a great story that no one's adequately told yet to my anyway as far as i know maybe they have and i just haven't seen it but everyone thinks that the beetles coming to America for the first time in February of 64 and getting off the plane and doing Sullivan.

[715] There was three of them.

[716] It was their first time in America.

[717] George had been the previous winter because his sister was living out in like the Midwest, like Minnesota, Minneapolis, someplace like that.

[718] Oh, she married an American guy.

[719] She married an American guy and they were living out there.

[720] George visits her.

[721] Oh, really?

[722] And the Beatles are starting to click in England, but no one knows who they are in America.

[723] He comes out and he visits, and he's this, there are pictures of him visiting New York.

[724] I think he's in New York, maybe first, and he's just kind of wandering around on his own.

[725] But then he goes to the Midwest.

[726] He's hanging out with his older sister.

[727] And then they go and they see a local rock and roll band play.

[728] And the sister says, you know, my brother's pretty good.

[729] Yeah.

[730] And they're like, where's he from?

[731] He sounds funny.

[732] Oh, he's from Liverpool, England.

[733] All right.

[734] And then he gets up and he plays with this like local band in a dance hall somewhere in the Midwest and they like other kids are like, yeah, he's pretty good.

[735] And then he says, well, you know, he'll be seeing you.

[736] It's nice to see you all.

[737] You know, goodbye sister.

[738] And he gets back on the plane and goes and then returns and like with his friends and conquers America.

[739] Oh, really?

[740] So I would always thinking there's somewhere there's a great documentary of what was that like, you know?

[741] Yeah, that's a great idea.

[742] So, I don't know.

[743] But maybe it already exists.

[744] And if it does, I got to see it.

[745] It's a funny place that Midwest.

[746] People think I'm English there because I don't sound like them.

[747] I go, I'm from New York.

[748] How could you think of English?

[749] Oh, maybe you're, I thought you were Welsh or something.

[750] Welsh.

[751] What does a Welshman even sound like?

[752] Yeah, I'm from Boston.

[753] God knows what they think I am.

[754] Yeah, the devil always.

[755] collects is fantastic and as good as anything you've ever done and it is it's got a and it's got a different guitar sound that I love because you're I think you're playing not just this different guitar but you're you're playing it is it you're using like a different amp or you're using a different setup or is it the same setup it's the same setup I got to bring my guitars to that amp yeah he's a fender basement amp if I trade the amp because it has reverb or something I lose the sound right but isn't it funny like I really appreciate that, of course, but everyone's telling me, you know, this is one of the best ones you've ever made.

[756] Why is it?

[757] I have absolutely no idea.

[758] I don't know.

[759] I wrote the songs.

[760] I recorded them.

[761] I changed the guitar on some of them, but it's just what comes out.

[762] Well, I think it's not your job to know.

[763] Like, your job is to, it's serious, it's your job is to make it.

[764] And then let other people ponder what it means.

[765] You know what I mean?

[766] I really believe that.

[767] This has been, like, again, this is a holiday for me. I said when you came in the door, I always suspect when, like, a Brian Setzer walks in and he's here to talk to me, I think it's a make -a -wish and no one's told me that I'm dying.

[768] And they're like, Conan, he's very gravely ill, but we can't tell him.

[769] Get Brian in.

[770] Have Brian talk to him and tell him.

[771] He's a good guy, you know.

[772] Tell him some stories.

[773] But it's a huge deal for me. And I'm so glad that you were able to do this.

[774] And what I want you to do is go sleep because you've got a huge.

[775] huge you really give it everything you have when you perform so you need to go sleep it's those buses i tell you it's those buses those goddamn buses yeah i did see in my brief time on a bus why someone would start taking recreational things to sleep i did completely understand there's a reason if you give if you go insane on a stage for two hours or something or hour and 45 minutes, and then you get on a bus and someone says, go to sleep.

[776] No, fuck you.

[777] I'm not going to sleep.

[778] I know.

[779] Unless you have, you know, a giant rhino tranquilizer, I'm not going to sleep.

[780] I know, it's tough.

[781] I got almost 13 years, no beers.

[782] And it's, it doesn't make it easier on the bus, you know?

[783] Right, right.

[784] It's just, yeah, it's that's the hardest part.

[785] The hardest part is the travel.

[786] I think Joe Walsh said the gig is free.

[787] You're paying me to get there.

[788] Right.

[789] Oh, that's true.

[790] That's a good way to look at it.

[791] But I've noticed something different this tour, which is funny.

[792] It's like I've got the guitar guys out now listening to the solos and getting applause after the solos.

[793] Yeah, like, yeah, like a jazz room.

[794] Sure, yeah.

[795] Wow, look at that.

[796] You know, so that was kind of different.

[797] I remember it being, I think it was stray cat strut, but you were playing on the video.

[798] This is, you know, you're like you're just a child, but you're playing and it's this very 80s video that was hugely.

[799] popular but being mad that they kept cutting away to the cat and stuff when you're playing solo oh really i'm like i want to see what his hands are doing i don't want to see a fucking cat or a lady looking out a window throwing a bucket you're like where's his hands you know anyway uh brian god bless thank you so much for being here and i'll see you with the show tomorrow night make it a good one or i'm walking out all right all right with Conan O 'Brien, Sonam of Sessian, and Matt Goorley.

[800] Produced by me, Matt Goorley.

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

[802] Theme song by The White Stripes.

[803] Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino.

[804] Take it away, Jimmy.

[805] Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples.

[806] Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns.

[807] Additional production support by Mars Melnick.

[808] Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Britt Con. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode.

[809] Got a question for Conan?

[810] Call the Team Coco hotline at 669 -587 -2847 and leave a message.

[811] It too could be featured on a future episode.

[812] And if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O 'Brien needs a friend wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.