Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend XX
[0] Hi, my name is Uzo Oduba, and I feel interested in being Conan O 'Brien's friend.
[1] Huh.
[2] 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.
[3] I can tell that we are going to be friends Hey there And welcome to Conan O 'Brien needs a friend A podcast where I'm joined as always By my bosom -buddies Sonam Obsessian Matt Corley Hi Nice to see you both It's nice to see you too Yeah Let me ask you guys a quick question When you laugh When you travel Yeah Do you do things to make sure you don't get sick No No You don't really do anything right What do you mean?
[4] Like, do I wear a mask and stuff or do I take vitamin C?
[5] Do you wipe down the seat?
[6] No. Do you do all that kind of stuff?
[7] No, I don't.
[8] Because when I see people do that now, I think, I should probably be doing that too.
[9] But I don't do it.
[10] And then I go a step further.
[11] I put my mouth and my tongue on the seat.
[12] Oh, no. Yeah.
[13] Just because if it's an aisle seat, it tastes good.
[14] I don't know why.
[15] It has a cool.
[16] What?
[17] It just an aisle seat, the armrest, it has like.
[18] A sleigh of minty, but also is a little bit of, what is that?
[19] Is that pork?
[20] Oh, minty pork.
[21] Are you a seat sniffer?
[22] No, no, it's not sniffer.
[23] I won't stand for that.
[24] You're a seat liquor.
[25] I think those people are sick.
[26] I lick and slobber the armrest.
[27] Do you ever soil the seed or you're just...
[28] No, what are you talking about?
[29] Oh, I'm sorry to insult you.
[30] No, that's disgusting.
[31] No, I think what I do is very, in its own way, kind of classy.
[32] I've heard of a seat sniffer with a friend of mine.
[33] I asked this for a reason, which is that...
[34] She, like, knew someone who did it.
[35] Who did what?
[36] He sniffed seats.
[37] How did she find out she catch that person, or did they confide?
[38] They had a camera set up.
[39] What?
[40] I know.
[41] This is not...
[42] This is...
[43] What?
[44] Off somewhere.
[45] No, it's not on it.
[46] No, this is...
[47] Yeah, they, they, like, noticed something was off.
[48] This was at their house.
[49] And then they, like, left the room and they left a camera rolling.
[50] And the guy just, like, sniffed seats.
[51] Okay.
[52] When they left the room.
[53] I have like 15 questions in a row.
[54] And it's not even like a, he like dug his nose in.
[55] What?
[56] Okay.
[57] It was just like, oh.
[58] Okay.
[59] Hold on a second.
[60] A lot of questions.
[61] When they said they noticed something was off, they noticed that he had like a cushion from the couch hanging out of his nose.
[62] And he's like, yeah, so you guys might want to leave the room now.
[63] Oh my God.
[64] Why is that bolster cushion hanging out your nostril?
[65] Seriously, they noticed something was.
[66] up, you don't know what they noticed?
[67] I don't know.
[68] He was like a weird friend.
[69] And I think he was like a friend of a friend.
[70] So when they set the camera up, they didn't know what they would find.
[71] They had no idea.
[72] But like things like, chairs would have, were like weirdly placed.
[73] Things were weird.
[74] And they were like, this guy's, just guys a little off.
[75] Maybe the imprint of his face was in the couch cushion.
[76] Do you know what I mean?
[77] Yeah, upside down.
[78] Every cushion was like the shroud of turning.
[79] I was going to say it's like a Roman death mask.
[80] Yeah.
[81] Yeah.
[82] They just saw this face, this death mask, perfectly imprinted on their couch.
[83] Seat sniffing.
[84] I never even think about that.
[85] Yeah.
[86] But now that now that you hear about it.
[87] Well, now I'm like, what was I doing?
[88] Why am I licking the armrest on the aisle seats when I could be sniffing the seats?
[89] No, none of that appeals to me. No, the reason I did ask.
[90] Brave stance.
[91] The reason I did ask is that one of our guests recently.
[92] Rashida Jones.
[93] Right.
[94] I was chatting with her and she was talking to me about, we were talking about travel and I said, you know, I travel a lot for these Max travel shows and I'm always catching a bug.
[95] Yeah.
[96] I just, I get run down.
[97] The hours we shoot are really long.
[98] I'm on all these planes.
[99] I shake a lot of hands.
[100] And she gave me a list of things that I should bring with me when I travel.
[101] And it's the most comprehensive, it's a very long list of all kinds of stuff, including like a copper, a piece of copper that you put in your nose that I think kills bacteria.
[102] Oh.
[103] I don't know.
[104] And the reason I bring it up is that my wife is really into this, too.
[105] Liza's really into, she reads up about home remedies and ways that you can, you know, keep bacteria bay or boost your immune system.
[106] She's always drinking various special herbal teas at night.
[107] I don't do that.
[108] But does, like, when you go to a hotel, because I've heard the remote control is the dirtiest part of the hotel.
[109] Right.
[110] Does she, like, wipe that down before you guys use it?
[111] control to stir my cocoa.
[112] I'm like, I'm going to stir this up.
[113] I guess I'll use the old remote.
[114] They'll say there's a spoon right there.
[115] I like the remote better.
[116] Are you a remote sniffer?
[117] I'm a remote sniffer.
[118] I don't think there's enough immunity stuff in the world to stop you from getting sick.
[119] Because you've traveled with me all over.
[120] I always get a cold or something.
[121] Nothing that bad.
[122] Nothing that bad.
[123] I just get.
[124] But it's not because if your immune system, because I actually think you have a pretty good immune system it's because you're talking to everybody you're like close and everyone's like breathing on each other and then you just shoot for hours and then you like are you know you push it a little bit you push it so much any homeopathic cure for that kind of thing you're just too much in contact what's called if i had self -esteem oh i think what rachita should have done is said oh they also make self -esteem in a pill you could have that yeah but um no i appreciated a lot of her stuff looked really good i just think you're right i'm i will talk to every everybody.
[125] I'll get like two hours of sleep the whole time.
[126] I'm not licking the, uh, the aisle armrest, but I'm, I'm talking to people very close.
[127] I'm just thinking when the like apocalyptic plague finally comes, you're going to bring it to the states.
[128] I think it's going to be you.
[129] Oh, your patient zero.
[130] I'll be patient zero.
[131] Patrick Dempsey and contagion or whatever that was.
[132] Wait, what a weird reference.
[133] I know.
[134] No one really knows.
[135] Outbreak.
[136] Yeah.
[137] What a weird reference.
[138] Yeah, Sona.
[139] Sona.
[140] What, I just corrected you.
[141] Wasn't that?
[142] Wasn't it outbreak?
[143] You're right.
[144] But how weird.
[145] Who else is in that?
[146] So he's patient zero.
[147] And then Dustin Hoffman was in it.
[148] Renee Russo.
[149] That movie, like, traumatized me a little bit.
[150] Morgan Freeman.
[151] Donald Sutherland.
[152] Yeah, a movie that prophesizes a worldwide outbreak.
[153] Good thing.
[154] That never happened.
[155] Happened.
[156] Happened.
[157] Happened.
[158] Happened.
[159] Happened.
[160] Happened.
[161] Happen.
[162] It's the beginning of a rock song.
[163] Oh.
[164] That's a good idea.
[165] Well, I think what we learned is that nothing I do will help me when I travel, right?
[166] Nothing will help you.
[167] Sona runs in a circle of seat sniffers.
[168] Yeah, that I want to know.
[169] I love people.
[170] That's what I want to hear more about.
[171] I've never done that.
[172] I've never set up, you know, a camera in a room because I suspected something.
[173] I should start doing that.
[174] God forbid someone does it to me. Here are some four cameras in this room right now.
[175] Wait, there are cameras in here?
[176] Yes.
[177] Oh, no. I come in here at night a lot.
[178] I mean, just the idea that, like, he's like, everyone's gone.
[179] It's time to sniff some seats.
[180] And did you guys just step out of the room for a moment?
[181] I wasn't there.
[182] This was, like, something I heard.
[183] But yeah, yeah, yeah.
[184] They, like, strategically left him alone in the room.
[185] And then what are they doing?
[186] They're just waiting while he sniffed seats?
[187] I think they're just, like, giving it a minute.
[188] And then they went back and, like, you know, he was like, everything's cool.
[189] Oh, he didn't quickly get back in position?
[190] And then it wasn't until later when they.
[191] Did I say sneet sniffing?
[192] Yeah.
[193] No, no sneak sniffing here.
[194] That's how nervous he is.
[195] No, sneet sniffing here.
[196] I'm going to say, it makes you seem a little guilty.
[197] No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no sniffing here.
[198] You never know.
[199] Someone can be sniffing these seats.
[200] You don't know.
[201] Good luck to them.
[202] Why good luck?
[203] No, not good luck to them.
[204] We two are always in the same seat.
[205] I move between these two seats.
[206] Yeah, you move between seats.
[207] But this seat right here, that's pure Conan.
[208] That territory is marked.
[209] Oh, come on.
[210] Come on.
[211] Fully spread.
[212] You know what, honestly, if I was going to sniff a seat, I'd sniff whichever one Ted Danson always sits in.
[213] Is it Conan's?
[214] Oh, never mind.
[215] I don't want to send it.
[216] Whatever cool, beautiful, amazing aura scent that he has, I've ruined it with my old potato scent.
[217] Is it weird?
[218] I just said that.
[219] No, not at all.
[220] No, not at all.
[221] I mean, if it was, genders were reversed, you'd be a creep.
[222] It's true.
[223] But you'll get.
[224] got away with murder.
[225] All right.
[226] My guest today is an Emmy award -winning actress who starred as Crazy Eyes on the hit Netflix series, Orange is the New Black.
[227] She now has a new memoir titled The Road is Good, How a Mother's Strength became a Daughter's Purpose.
[228] I am thrilled.
[229] She's here today.
[230] Uso, Aduba.
[231] Welcome.
[232] Can I just tell like a really quick story?
[233] Sure.
[234] Okay.
[235] The reason why I'm interested is being afraid is because the first time I did your show, it was the first time someone made me feel completely comfortable.
[236] I had always been so nervous.
[237] Wow.
[238] Yeah, I had always been so nervous on, like, television and, like, I don't know, just nervous.
[239] Like, it was so new to me, generally.
[240] And I just felt like relaxed.
[241] I felt like you were really listening and generally interested in what was going on.
[242] And I just felt like myself.
[243] So I'm interested in being coming over access.
[244] That's really nice.
[245] I like that.
[246] No, I mean, I'm glad.
[247] you had that experience and that was always what I was aiming for was to just tell people it's just me this isn't a big deal where we're hanging out and then there happens to be some lights and cameras here but I'm glad you you felt comfortable and you told me just now in the green room that that was there was a strange series of events because it was your first time doing my show on late night and you had to leave and go directly from there to the White House.
[248] Is that right?
[249] Yes, correct.
[250] So it was like this like crazy, you know, like mix of events coming into place.
[251] And one of them was I had the exciting experience of getting to be on a Conan show.
[252] And then the next day I'd been invited to the White House for the African, summit dinner.
[253] There'd been a summit all week there in D .C. at the White House by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, which was like massive, like mind -blowing.
[254] And both was like, and I was such a fan of your show too.
[255] I was like, oh my God, this is so wild.
[256] We're going to be on the Conan O 'Brien.
[257] You know, like it really is.
[258] No, it really is two events of equal importance.
[259] No, seriously.
[260] It's like late -night appearance with Conan and that, you know, is here and then right there on the same level.
[261] It's like you have to pay the African conference, which, by the way, I was not invited to.
[262] Again.
[263] Unbelievable.
[264] Unbelievable.
[265] Anyway.
[266] It was uncomfortable.
[267] Everyone there was like, why isn't Conan here?
[268] this isn't right.
[269] You know what's so crazy, which is...
[270] I'm just curious what your feeling was going in and meeting the Obama's at the White House because it's...
[271] They are very good at making people feel comfortable.
[272] Do you know what I mean?
[273] They'll...
[274] And especially First Lady Obama was...
[275] And since then, in the few interactions that we've had, she just calls it as she sees it.
[276] She's just very easy to talk to.
[277] A thousand percent, like, I don't know how somebody can simultaneously match the level of the office and the esteem and the elegance and the sophistication and importance of an office while simultaneously making you feel like you're just coming into their, you know, den or something, you know, and just come and pay a quick little visit.
[278] You came from around the corner, which I absolutely.
[279] did not.
[280] But it was amazing.
[281] And honestly, I think I can count it, you know, now, you know, I've had a baby and since gotten married.
[282] So those are incredible days.
[283] But I guess tied with that was like the best day of my life because I brought my mom with me. And that was like the first question.
[284] I was like, can I bring my mom?
[285] You know, and they're like, yes, you can bring it.
[286] I was like, that's happening.
[287] And my mom who was just, that was her practice.
[288] She can always be like, my president, my president, Obama.
[289] That's how she would always say, you know.
[290] And she loved them, and I did too.
[291] That was the first president that I'd ever, like, stumped for and camus for and gave, like, the $10 I had, you know, like, struggling actor, you know, whatever.
[292] And I just remember walking up to meet them, and I'm going to do a terrible President Obama, but he's like, hello.
[293] And I was like, hi, how are you?
[294] I was like, my name is Uza.
[295] He's like, I know who you are.
[296] And I was like, uh, what?
[297] And then he was like, who's this?
[298] You owe the federal government.
[299] $30 ,000 in back, Texas.
[300] That's why you're here today.
[301] That's where he's focused on.
[302] Yeah, exactly.
[303] And then he was like, who's this?
[304] It was my mom.
[305] And it was just wild because I was like, my mom shaking his hand.
[306] And honestly, you guys, I was like, my family's from Nigeria.
[307] Both my parents immigrated, you know.
[308] Tough stories, some humble, humble beginnings.
[309] And I was just like, looking at my mom, I was like, this woman from Obusi in Anambra state in the country of Nigeria is now in the White House in a single generation of living in this country.
[310] And I was like, this is the time.
[311] I don't think it gets better than that.
[312] That's what, that's the American story at its best.
[313] You know, there are many American stories, but at its best, it's someone can come from Nigeria and in their lifetime have children and then go with one of those children's invited as an honored guest of the president because of what they've made happen on their own with the help with their family, whatever.
[314] But in the arts, whatever, that's the idea.
[315] Yeah.
[316] That's funny because we are talking today about your book, which is about to come out, and it's called The Road is Good.
[317] And the road is good is the translation of what your name means in Nigerian.
[318] Is that right?
[319] Yes.
[320] So my tribe, Anibo, my tribe, it means the road is good.
[321] And what it really even more like nuanced means, it means the journey was hard, but it was worth it.
[322] Yeah, that's cool.
[323] So, yeah, and it's like, you would say that, Oza, Makka, like, say you were coming to visit my house, and, you know, you're running late, and then you're stopped in traffic, and then there's rain all over the road, and, you know, there's a pile up, and, you know, what was snow suddenly here in Los Angeles, I know, like, all of it.
[324] And then you get there, like, tired and wet and drained, and, like, I opened the door, and I'm like, Kama, Oza, how was the journey?
[325] And you'd say, Ozaama, you know, it was, hard, but it was worth it because I'm here now.
[326] And that's what...
[327] That's beautiful that your name means that.
[328] You know?
[329] Conan is Gaelic for the face is wide.
[330] Well, both of those are very true.
[331] Both contain a beautiful truth.
[332] I've got a fat Irish face.
[333] But we both come from...
[334] You're from Medfield, Massachusetts.
[335] And I was telling you, I was in Massachusetts yesterday.
[336] I came back last night.
[337] I had a gig, a performance that I did in Rhode Island.
[338] And then I went up north to see my parents and my brothers and my sister.
[339] And they're in Massachusetts.
[340] So I was just there.
[341] And I'm thinking we probably have similarities in the way that we grew up in Massachusetts.
[342] And I'm also imagining.
[343] big differences.
[344] And you talk about this in your book.
[345] You're growing up in Medfield, Mass. Yes.
[346] And are you the only black student in your area?
[347] Or did you feel like you were an alien that had dropped onto another planet?
[348] Or did you feel comfortable?
[349] At times, an alien and then at times comfortable.
[350] I mean, first of all, A, yes.
[351] Outside of my siblings, yes.
[352] I was like the only one, you know.
[353] there were two others in my entire school, you know.
[354] So there's a level of it that was comfortable because that's all I knew having grown up there, you know, it was used to it.
[355] But then there's moments that happen as you mature and you grow and you start to notice like the absence of you that you're wondering why am I the only person here.
[356] Like where is everybody else?
[357] You know, like how come I only see them on the weekends when I go to these EBO meetings with my family.
[358] Or just even, like, in smaller things, you know, I would watch.
[359] I remember there was one year, Disney, you know, the Wonder World World of Disney, like on Sundays would do their movies.
[360] And they had done an adaptation of Pollyanna, an all -black adaptation called Polly and was with Felicia Rashad.
[361] It's amazing, by the way.
[362] If you've never seen it, I love it on DVD to this day.
[363] It's called Polly with Felicia Rashad, Kish and I Pulliam.
[364] And Brian Adams.
[365] who was like my first, like, crush.
[366] And I remember getting excited because my friends at school, we'd always watch all the, like, movies, whatever.
[367] Sure, yeah.
[368] And then I came one day ready to talk about Polly and nobody had seen it.
[369] Yeah.
[370] And I was like, how did you miss this genius work that just came out, you know?
[371] But that just wasn't on the radar.
[372] So those were the moments where you started to notice the gaps.
[373] I noticed the gaps, you know, or like talking about hair or braids or moments where people, You know, I'd have, like, my hair out and then have braids the next day.
[374] And they'd be like, how did your hair grow so fast?
[375] And I was like, I don't know how, you know, I just realized that there was a different understanding of culture.
[376] Sure.
[377] I would think, because you talk in the book, which congratulations, by the way, it's an amazing story.
[378] Thank you.
[379] And it's a beautiful story because you're really writing this.
[380] It's your story, but it's also a tribute to your mom who passed in 2020.
[381] Yes.
[382] You know, one of the first things that I clocked when I was reading the book is, um your mom she died too early but she got to see all your success that's right and to me that's the big blessing yes she got to see your your crazy success because it was a long road for you and um but i was i was watching or noticing in the early part of the book you're talking about how you really didn't you're uncomfortable with your name because people had a hard time pronouncing it, so you told your mom you were thinking of changing it to Zoe?
[383] Zoe.
[384] Yeah, and your mom had this genius response.
[385] She had, and she was ready.
[386] You know, it was in the kitchen.
[387] I had a teacher and frat, you know, who just would never say it right.
[388] And it was like so tough.
[389] And you just want to blend in when you're a kid.
[390] You don't want to like stand out for anything.
[391] I didn't anyway.
[392] When I was little.
[393] And I remember coming home and she's in the kitchen and I was like, Mommy, and she's like, eh?
[394] And I was like, can you call me Zoe?
[395] And she was cooking, and she stopped.
[396] And she was like, why?
[397] And I was like, because they can't say ozamaika.
[398] And without skipping a beat, my mother was like, you think can learn to say Tchaikoski, and Dostoyevsky, and Michelangelo.
[399] And they can learn to say Ozomaka.
[400] And she just went back to cooking.
[401] And it was like the end of it.
[402] Yeah.
[403] You know?
[404] Mike drop.
[405] A total mic drop.
[406] And she had been through it before I have an older sibling, my older sister.
[407] Her name is Oni.
[408] She wanted to be called Tony, you know.
[409] Well, that's just confusing.
[410] The same.
[411] Hey, Tony!
[412] And she'd already said the same thing to her.
[413] And what she was really just like establishing right there at the door was who you are, is okay, is enough, and everybody better get used to it.
[414] Good.
[415] God bless.
[416] You were good student, great athlete.
[417] You were, I mean, very serious figure skater for years and years.
[418] And you were interested in going to the Olympics and you had a lot of ability.
[419] And then your parents come to you and say, we can't afford this anymore.
[420] Yeah.
[421] You know, I'm one of five kids.
[422] And, you know, we had a pretty humble upbringing.
[423] and ready there were two of my siblings were in college.
[424] And it was just, figure skating is a very, very expensive sport for people who don't know.
[425] You know, there's skates and ice time and coaches fees, choreography, costumes, travel.
[426] Adds up.
[427] My parents were doing the best they could, you know, to keep up.
[428] But as the hours were growing, and just in that year, when I had to stop, my coach at the time had said, you know, she actually needs to skate more.
[429] put in more hours, and, you know, we can see where this goes.
[430] And at that point, my parents were already, you know, pretty stretched thin.
[431] And they were like, my mom sat me down at a competition.
[432] And she was like, this is going to be the last one.
[433] This will be the last one.
[434] She's like, we can't afford it anymore.
[435] This is like a college education, you know.
[436] We don't have it.
[437] And it was tough at the time, you know, as a kid, you don't have that same understanding.
[438] And I didn't have the level of understanding or maybe even the appreciation in some level of what had already been expensed and sacrificed for me. But when I look back on it now and think about it, I'm like, wow, you know, there was skating, there was violin, there was cello, there was ballet, there was hockey, there were so many things that my parents saw when they came to this America, as my mom would always say, that as opportunities and exposures and experiences that just did not exist.
[439] holiest, holy did not exist for them as kids, that it was like, wow, they did everything they could.
[440] They stretched it to the line to try and make it happen for their kids and just give them a taste, even if they had to, they couldn't serve you the whole meal.
[441] You know, they wanted to give you just a taste of what this, the possibility of America.
[442] Also, I have this theory that good work is never wasted.
[443] So if you, at a young age for many years, work very hard on figure skating and the training and the dedication and repetitive honing of a certain skill over and over and over again is an amazing thing to learn and that's going to be with you.
[444] Clearly, you take that because that doesn't work out but then you get interested in theater and you apply that to acting.
[445] And so all hard work is preparation for something else.
[446] People get too literal and think, oh, that was all wasted because you're not a professional, You're not an Olympic figure skating champion.
[447] No, that all went into something else.
[448] A hundred thousand percent, like having played done track and field as well and figure skated like for so long, which are individual sports for the most part, you know, like self -motivating is something that I've learned since I'm five, you know what I mean?
[449] Good head talk, being able to like talk my head into doing something that I want to achieve because you have to do that.
[450] that for the three and a half, four minutes on the ice.
[451] You know, you have to develop a good head talk.
[452] You have to develop a good head talk when you're on the blocks running track to get your mind in the place it needs to be to achieve.
[453] And listen, guess what?
[454] If that's not true for me, I have a daughter now, I can shove these dreams under her.
[455] Joking.
[456] I'm joking.
[457] Kidding, sort of.
[458] No. Not really.
[459] You just be a total tiger mom.
[460] You know, it's crazy, and it's this part of the book that is hard to believe, but you're doing theater and you're auditioning, auditioning, auditioning, trying to get these different roles.
[461] And you're getting by, but a huge part of auditioning is disappointment, disappointment.
[462] So you audition for Orange is the New Black, haven't heard back yet, and you decide, I think I'm out.
[463] I think I'm done.
[464] So you decided more or less to quit.
[465] Yes.
[466] Then you get the phone call.
[467] Is that correct?
[468] That is 100 % correct.
[469] And it was also, by the way, the first time I'd ever quit.
[470] I have never quit anything before.
[471] And I was, and I'd never quit this more specifically acting.
[472] I had, you know, doubted.
[473] I have questioned.
[474] I have been exhausted.
[475] But I've never in my mind been like, I'm done.
[476] And it was a Friday.
[477] And I was just wasted, you know.
[478] I had been auditioning for film and television the whole summer, exclusively.
[479] I saw my bank account, like, disappearing gone pretty much, and just kept hearing no after no, after no. And I had made it up in my mind.
[480] I was on Monday going to call my agent and call my manager and tell them that I was going to go go to law school.
[481] I'm good.
[482] The ultimate humiliation.
[483] And cheap.
[484] But I know, yeah, I was like.
[485] Can you imagine there are lawyers listening right now?
[486] They're like, damn it!
[487] I hung you in another day.
[488] Yeah, right?
[489] But I did.
[490] I was like, legit.
[491] That was what I was going to do.
[492] I called my sister, Chi -Chi.
[493] I ordered someone.
[494] I ordered some sushi, and we were going to be like an I'm out party.
[495] And then 5 .45 p .m. on the nose.
[496] Oh, and my phone rang, and it was my team saying, hi, how are you?
[497] I was like, I'm good.
[498] How are you?
[499] And they're like, remember that audition you went on for that show Orange is a New Black?
[500] And I was like, yeah, and I remember the part you went out for?
[501] Because it was a different part.
[502] I was like, yeah, I remember.
[503] And I were like, well, you didn't get it.
[504] I was like, I'm leaving at the right time.
[505] now that agents are calling you to tell you when you don't get jobs.
[506] This is a new part of our service, but you failed.
[507] And we want to talk about it for like 40 minutes.
[508] And I was like, okay, they were like, but they'd like to offer you another role.
[509] And I was like, wow.
[510] And it was, I'd never done anything on TV.
[511] It was wild.
[512] And I was just like, this is crazy.
[513] And I definitely did not know at all, for real, for real, for real, for real, for real, that that was going to change my life in anyway.
[514] It knew that it kept me in, you know, like, but I had no idea that it was going to do anything.
[515] You talk about this in the book, so you get their role of crazy eyes, and the time between you getting that role, I think it's within a year.
[516] maybe less, between getting that role and sitting at the Emmys nominated when you hear your name as the winner.
[517] Yes.
[518] That's crazy.
[519] Yeah, that's fantastic.
[520] And who gives you the Emmy?
[521] Morgan Freeman.
[522] Morgan Freeman.
[523] It was wild.
[524] I was like walking up there and I was like, for some reason, listing his resume and I was like, glory, Bruce Almighty.
[525] It's a driving mistake.
[526] Shoshing redemption, a favorite.
[527] Going.
[528] This guy's amazing.
[529] Yeah.
[530] And he was just handing it to you.
[531] We started talking about the life cycle of the penguin.
[532] No, Morgan, no. Yeah, but I mean, it's such a funny thing about this business, but talk about famine and then feast.
[533] It's just there are long periods or stretches of disappointment and misery and then, yeah.
[534] I'm always reminded of there's this movie that was made, I believe, in the 1950s, and it's one of the later Humphrey Bogart movies.
[535] Humphrey Bogart, Catherine Hepburn.
[536] It's a great movie called The African Queen, and it's about the, basically, it takes place in the beginning of World War I, and they're trying to make their way down this river because they have this idea to accomplish this mission together, and they're in this tiny little boat, and it's impossible odds, and they're going, and they're going, and they're going, and then finally, and John Houston directed this movie, it's brilliant, and there's this scene that just resonates with me so many times where the river has gotten really low, and so Humphrey Bogart is pulling them through the river, and he's covered in leeches, and then finally the weeds just get too thick, and they feel like we'll never get to the main river.
[537] We're going to die here, and they resign that it's over, and they get back in the boat, and he takes the leeches off of them, peels them off, and then they just cover under a blanket, and they've lost, and the camera pans up, and you can see that they're about 20 feet from the river.
[538] That always hits me. That's happened to me so many times in my life, where I didn't know how close I was, and what happens is overnight it rains and their boat just floats onto the river.
[539] But I think about that, just that image a lot, which is you got close to saying, well, this isn't going to happen.
[540] And if you could pan up, you'd say like, no, no, no, you are seconds from being there.
[541] You just didn't know.
[542] I needed that message.
[543] B, thank you.
[544] Yes, like, I didn't.
[545] I really didn't.
[546] Like, I felt like all the time that I had put into this thing that I loved, and I love it, you know, like, I really love it.
[547] I love it still, you know, and to not feel like I could, like, would get, was getting to do it, you know what I mean, was really tough to wrestle with and make pace with.
[548] And I didn't want my, and I've said this since the beginning.
[549] I'm like, the minute, and I do mean the exact minute that I no longer enjoy this, I will go find something else to do.
[550] And I was just feeling like this sear and this, this worry, really, that I was not going, I couldn't love this, this idea of just trying to make something happen that maybe God, the universe, or energy, whatever we're calling it.
[551] was telling me very clearly, like, no, this is not for me. And then, you know, when that happened, it made me think of that quote from the Godfather.
[552] It's like, just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in, you know?
[553] And I tried to get out, and it was like, no, you're supposed to be doing this.
[554] It came, like, right in the minute that I needed it to happen.
[555] Like I said, and it gave, it was not something that I had any expectation of other than the two to three episodes that I was asked to come on to do.
[556] And that felt like enough when I got them too.
[557] Like when I did two episodes, I was like, that was enough.
[558] And they're like, we're going to see you back.
[559] I was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to get to do that third episode.
[560] Awesome.
[561] You know what I mean?
[562] And I was cool with that.
[563] You know, it was like it was totally enough.
[564] And then it became more than enough.
[565] And I was like, wow.
[566] Like just blown away.
[567] Then what really happens in the showbiz cycle is then nothing becomes enough.
[568] What?
[569] You call this first class?
[570] I can't lie down completely.
[571] It is, there is a sick thing.
[572] I've witnessed.
[573] God bless it, and it's never happened to me. Sona, more tea, please.
[574] And then later you get to, you play Shirley Chisholm, just this great historic character, and you get an Emmy for that as well.
[575] Wild.
[576] And it's just, And like I say, it's when it starts to rain, it really pours.
[577] I mean, to me, because so much of this book is about your mom and getting strength from your mom and perspective from your mom and reading your mom's journals and going back and reading after she passed her journals and there's a part where you're reading her journal and she's writing in her journal.
[578] You didn't know this at the time, but, man, I'm really worried about who so.
[579] I don't know that she's going to make it.
[580] And she would, you know, leave food and put food in.
[581] your refrigerator?
[582] Yeah, like she, after I moved, you know, I'm reading these true story, like reading these journals and it's like she's in, in there just like constantly, you know, like this path that I've chosen, she's like praying.
[583] The thing I think she's prayed every night.
[584] Like she's like, I pray every night.
[585] Ending your journal, it's like, that Uzo, OOZO, I'm worried about OOZo.
[586] She never calls me if she needs money.
[587] She called today and I gave her what I had, you know, and it's like she stressed out.
[588] She would come up the first time she came when I moved to New York.
[589] and I didn't have anything I was waiting tables I didn't have anything in my fridge and she was like where is your food and I was like you know I just eat at work it's fine you know like they give a pre meal you don't know if any of you guys waited tables you know like pre meal they give you pre mail there I was like they give me pre meal there and so I eat that and you know in the morning I just have like a little oatmeal or like some couple of hard boiled eggs that's fine and right before she's leaving she took me to the stop and shop and so I was in Queens she took me to the stop and shop over there in Sunnyside, a store, on the Astoria line, which is a big grocery store.
[590] And she was like, get whatever you want.
[591] And I was like, no, I'm fine.
[592] And she's like, whatever you want.
[593] And she, like, would come and either bring food from home or, like, help me stock up my fridge because she was like, I can't do much, but I can do this, you know, and would just, like, you know, contribute in that way.
[594] And I'm forever grateful.
[595] My mom was an amazing lady.
[596] I just need to go on record as having said that she was not a good mother.
[597] She was an excellent mother.
[598] Well, I mean, that's such a big part of this book talking about that.
[599] You said your mom was very, not a tall woman.
[600] She's like five feet tall.
[601] Yeah.
[602] But she seemed really tall to you.
[603] Huge.
[604] She was a giant to me. My whole life, in my child memory, and probably because I'm like two feet, but I'm like looking up at her, you know what I mean?
[605] And I don't think it was until well, well, well, adult.
[606] that I realized I was like, you're, like, not only are you not tall, you're actually short.
[607] Like, you know, you're small.
[608] But she had...
[609] She was wearing incredibly, high platform.
[610] She got these Elton John shoes.
[611] That's right.
[612] The Elton John estate sale.
[613] That's right.
[614] She wore them to intimidate.
[615] Took them off when we were all...
[616] You know, like, yeah, she was that.
[617] And, like, but she was, like, spunky.
[618] And, like, had such a big personality.
[619] And, like, you know, I was trying to be, I'm the big, big personality, too, in my house and, like, you know, would talk and be like, no, we need to do it this way.
[620] My mom's, like, number one comment to me all the time was, also, there's only one captain on this ship.
[621] And you're looking at her.
[622] That's like her go -to life.
[623] But it's interesting because you talk about so much, people always think they need to change.
[624] or mold themselves to make it when sometimes, for example, you know, like the way that you said I wanted, I was interested in, you were interested in changing your name when you were younger, you were interested or you had people tell you early on in acting, you've got this gap in your teeth, you should probably do something about that.
[625] And there are a lot of people who go through these cosmetic changes to try and fit into something that someone else.
[626] else thinks they should fit into, but now that whole idea just seems crazy.
[627] It does, and I can't imagine if I had done that.
[628] You know, frankly, for me, you know, there were so many pictures of me when I look at myself as a small kid, I just did not smile because I was so conscious of my gap.
[629] I'd do this, like, you know, close -mouth smile.
[630] My mom would always be like, smile, smile, smile.
[631] And then my senior year, I had a photographer for my senior yearbook portrait.
[632] You know, you get your senior pictures, it's like the fancy one.
[633] Yeah, yep.
[634] Right?
[635] So we had, like, the outside guy come and, like, do the, like, yearbook picture.
[636] And, you know, like, every time we'd be talking, I'd be smiling.
[637] And then as soon as he picked up the camera to shoot, I'd close my mouth and not smiling.
[638] He's like, why do you keep doing that?
[639] You know, what's that about?
[640] And I was like, I don't like my smile.
[641] And he was like, really, I think you have a beautiful smile.
[642] And I didn't smile in that picture.
[643] sure, but I did immediately the rest of that school year start smiling.
[644] And even now, when I walk on carpets and I'm supposed to give, you know, like face or whatever, I find myself wanting to smile and it's because I want to make up for these lost smiles, you know?
[645] And I feel like it's such an identifier for who I am.
[646] And, you know, like, if I change that, you know, like, that's so much of my ancestry in this space between my teeth, it's who I am, it's the smile my aunt has, it's the smile my great aunt had, you know, it's a smile so many of my cousins have.
[647] We call it my mother's maiden name, Aniou Gap, you know, and I would have taken a piece of myself away, you know, and now I just wear it proudly, and when asked to take it out, in the beginning of my career, I had a choice, and there was an early, part of my life when I wanted to really fit in and thought taking away the parts of me that made me unique would make me better.
[648] And at this stage of my life, when I was approached with this idea of closing my gap, I really understood that the parts of myself that made me unique are actually what make me better.
[649] Yeah.
[650] Yeah.
[651] It's just...
[652] It takes a little bit of living to figure that out.
[653] For sure.
[654] Especially when you're...
[655] I had this experience where Mike Wallace, the great, you know, like journalist and host of 60, kind of one of the lead hosts of 60 Minutes.
[656] He was on our show once, and this has been much commented on, I'm not just white, I'm translucent.
[657] I go beyond white.
[658] I'm a whole other thing.
[659] And a side effect of one of that is that I have this vein underneath my eye that you can kind of see.
[660] And I remember I was doing a, you know, talking to the great Mike Wallace and we're having this interview.
[661] And then I say, okay, well, you know, we'll take a break.
[662] We have more with Mike Wallace right after this band.
[663] And Mike Wallace just takes his finger and he reaches over and he puts it on the vein underneath my eye.
[664] And he said, what are you going to do about that?
[665] And the thing is, he wasn't being.
[666] mean he was well no i i have a lot of respect for mike wallace and and he was very nice to me what he was kind of doing was just saying like as a guy who'd been in broadcasting since the 1940s or 50s he was kind of just saying oh yeah that's something you're gonna you know you're because i was early in my career he was probably saying like oh yeah so what's uh what do we do about that is there a kind of makeup you can put on or something or can you get get rid of it and i thought well it is I think it's supplying blood to my brain.
[667] So I could just see going to a surgeon and having it removed and I'm just like, welcome to the whole section of the speaking part of my occipital lobe is gone.
[668] But man, his eyes look good.
[669] But yeah, I just remember thinking, there are all these things about me. I was, you know, I had a weird name growing up and looked a little different.
[670] and wasn't sure where I fit in.
[671] I'm like an Irish Catholic kid, but I don't really like sports.
[672] And I like to read.
[673] And I have a weird brain.
[674] And I remember just thinking, like, I don't know where I fit into the whole thing.
[675] But then later on, those things become, oh, thank God.
[676] I mean, I'd still like to fix the vein.
[677] But what are you going to do about that?
[678] I'm having it removed tomorrow.
[679] But I know it's interesting that there are many different, forms that can take for lots of different people who are listening that if you can write it out, those things.
[680] And I think unfortunately, you know, social media and also the rise of all these different cosmetic surgeries or injections people can get has, I see so many people that have clearly like injected their lips, injected their faces, done things.
[681] And they just look like everybody else now.
[682] And I think, well, that's too bad, you know.
[683] I love character.
[684] Yeah.
[685] I really do.
[686] Like, I love those little touches, whether it's in the face and the hair, in the mouth, whatever, that just makes you look stand in a different way.
[687] And I actually think those things make you more interesting.
[688] Oh, yeah.
[689] In a beautiful way, you know, personally.
[690] That's my my thoughts on it but well I disagree I think you're out of your mind you in the book you mentioned that as you you know as the years go by you think more and more about maybe would you visit or would you maybe move back to Nigeria yeah when I say move back to I mean you're not you're born here but you think about maybe going back to that country for a while I do think about that like repatriate there yeah I do think I do I do I really do I do and and it was something I used to sort of say like back here behind the back of my head you know abstractly that I wanted to do for you know like with my kids you know when I have them and now that my daughter is here I do think about that because I think about the line of connection for me to the country was direct from my parents and who lived there the whole lives and then immigrated to the U .S. And then when I think about her, for just a section of time, I would like to because it's like she's now once more removed, you know?
[691] And I want her to be steeped.
[692] It's more about like I don't want to, I don't want to lose the culture for her, but then I also don't want to lose it for me. Yeah.
[693] Like, and I think especially now that both my parents are gone, it's a way, like almost like a socket of like plugging in for a little bit and getting a charge that maybe will be enough to last me the rest of my life.
[694] But I also do know in having something that I'm learning right now in real time, especially with motherhood, is that they're with me still.
[695] Like my mom, I was so nervous, you know, when I was pregnant, there were times where I was wondering, you know, how am I going to do this?
[696] am I going to know what to do?
[697] My mom's not here.
[698] Like, who's going to show me how to do this?
[699] And the reality is that I've come to learn is that she soaked me in who she is and put so deeply into each of us, my siblings and I, so much of her belief system, her values, foundation, how to mother, that a lot of it does come out, even if she's not here.
[700] So, yes, I want to go back.
[701] This is like a super long answer, but it's like, yes, I want to go back.
[702] But if I don't, I also do simultaneously know that I'm, like, soaked in it still, you know?
[703] Yeah.
[704] I had a experience not too long ago where I was shooting this travel show for Max, and we went back to Ireland and my brother, through the help of my brother, Justin, and we also used this really good.
[705] genealogist in Ireland, and between the two of them, they figured out exactly where my town was that my great -grandfather came from.
[706] And I was thinking, you know, I'm not going to feel, you know, much.
[707] We're going to go and we're going to see a field where, you know, and my people, you know, had no money, and they were tenant farmers, and they worked on this tenant farm in Galbally.
[708] And so I was just not expecting to feel anything.
[709] And I've been to Ireland a bunch of times, but I thought, okay, I'm just going to see a piece of land that I don't really have any connection to.
[710] And they took me there, and we have it on camera, but I was blown away by how powerful it was.
[711] To stand and think, oh, they were here.
[712] And then in one day, this Thomas O 'Brien, I think, just looked out and said, We got to get out of here.
[713] And like an idiot, I was looking at the gorgeous mountains and everything saying, why did they leave?
[714] And this woman said, you can't eat the view.
[715] They didn't have any food.
[716] They had to go.
[717] And so he just struck out.
[718] And so that's the reason.
[719] And now I'm back.
[720] And I've got a camera crew, drones, producers standing around.
[721] I flew here on a, you know, it's insane that I'm coming back in this way.
[722] Yes.
[723] And I was surprised because I'm, I was, the sentimentality of it and the power of it was a bit of a shock to me. I didn't think that was going to happen.
[724] And it does.
[725] See, and I believe that.
[726] And like, do you?
[727] And I think you're going to feel that way when you come with me to Ireland.
[728] And look at that piece of dirt.
[729] Okay.
[730] It's going to be very powerful for you.
[731] Almost like the African summit.
[732] I love a. where I take Uzo to my town in Ireland and try and, like, a lot of probing, like, how do you feel?
[733] Is it hitting you?
[734] I know.
[735] I mean, it's a feel, but no, this isn't, this is in Nigeria.
[736] Yeah, but isn't it kind of the same?
[737] No. Not at all.
[738] Couldn't you just eat the view?
[739] Wouldn't your mom be proud that you came back to Galbally, Ireland?
[740] No. Who is this idiot?
[741] No. Wow.
[742] Well, I'm, first of all, blown away that you wrote this beautiful book and shared because it's a gift to people.
[743] There are a lot of people out there who don't understand.
[744] They look at what you've accomplished and they think, well, you know, she caught her break or they don't see the whole arc. And I think it's really a big part of this podcast is, I want people to understand how much all of us have in common and that you just, there's a lot of insecurity, a lot of frustration, there's a lot of ups, there's a lot of downs, and your book chronicles so much of that.
[745] And I think it's going to be a tonic for a lot of people out there.
[746] So good for you.
[747] Thank you very much.
[748] Thank you very much for that.
[749] Thank you for having me today, too.
[750] Well, I just thought I'd probably get a free book.
[751] That's where you did this?
[752] That's the only reason I heard.
[753] I only book people if they're going to bring me free.
[754] You took your watch off.
[755] I could take that watch.
[756] She gave us books.
[757] What's that?
[758] She gave Sona and I free books.
[759] Yeah, we saw that.
[760] We got books.
[761] Yeah.
[762] Plus beautiful jewelry and watches.
[763] So much jewelry.
[764] Free trips to places.
[765] We're going to Nigeria with you.
[766] You're going from here to visit the Obama.
[767] It said, don't tell Conan.
[768] Actually, the three of us are going to Ireland without me. We're going to Gaubley.
[769] They're going to Hawaii to visit the Obama's the Obama.
[770] But Conan's not coming, right?
[771] No, he's not coming.
[772] Okay, fine, fine.
[773] Well, Uzo, thank you so much for being here.
[774] The book is The Road is Good.
[775] And it's fantastic and it's out in just a few days and do yourself a favor and grab it because it's a terrific story and it's, it made me feel really.
[776] good reading it.
[777] And thanks for being here.
[778] Thank you.
[779] This was awesome.
[780] It's only awesome when an awesome person comes.
[781] That's true.
[782] It is true.
[783] Thank you.
[784] I can't take non -awesome and get it to awesome.
[785] I just can't.
[786] I don't have that power.
[787] I do not have that power.
[788] Okay, it's time to do a segment here on the podcast.
[789] And do you know what a segment is?
[790] Usually we have an idea of what it's going to be.
[791] It's like, oh, let's review the reviewers or, you know, yeah, one of your little trickeroos, one of your, some category, if you will.
[792] But today we really don't have an idea.
[793] There was nothing loaded up.
[794] And so Sona had the idea, let's just do some verbal jazz.
[795] Let's just start riffing, talking.
[796] And the three of us, because we're such great verbal tacticians, musicians, will find it just in the groove.
[797] So this is verbal jazz with Conan, Sona, and Matt.
[798] And we're just going to start talking about things.
[799] And do, do, do, do, da, da, da.
[800] And we're going to find it.
[801] And we're going to find a great rhythm.
[802] And people are going to say, hey, I love that.
[803] These guys can take empty air and turn it into atonal jazz.
[804] As you can tell, I don't love jazz.
[805] But we're just talking here.
[806] We're just talking about what's going on in our lives.
[807] Sona, how are you?
[808] Yeah, I'm cool, man. You were in the same old quarteroid show.
[809] shirt you wear all the time?
[810] Well, it's denim.
[811] It's not close to quarter of it.
[812] Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about.
[813] I just said something.
[814] It's verbal jazz.
[815] It's chilly in this studio.
[816] Very cold.
[817] It's very hot outside.
[818] It's hot as balls outside.
[819] But I think they overdid it on the air conditioning in here.
[820] I disagree.
[821] It's so hot that I'm still burning from having been out there an hour ago.
[822] It's so nice and cool in here.
[823] Well, it's got really hot where you live, I have to say, in Pasadena.
[824] Yeah.
[825] And you, of course, you live in Altadena.
[826] And you're at a higher altitude.
[827] It might be a little cooler for you, but Pasadena.
[828] Oh, that's a, frying pan over here.
[829] You're not kidding?
[830] No, I'm not kidding.
[831] This isn't a joke.
[832] This is just verbal jazz.
[833] We're just really hot out there.
[834] If you cracked an egg on the sidewalk right now, it would scream.
[835] Oh, that's it.
[836] I see what you did.
[837] That's an egg?
[838] Yeah, it was verbal jazz.
[839] Sizzling.
[840] Okay.
[841] Yeah.
[842] How come you didn't get it?
[843] I don't know.
[844] I did.
[845] Yeah.
[846] What's this?
[847] The bass.
[848] Here, I'll do a transition from Seinfeld.
[849] B 'all -d -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -b -bown.
[850] This is terrible.
[851] I was going to say we're doing so well so far.
[852] Can I say something?
[853] I think the minute I misidentified, misgendered your shirt, and said...
[854] Which is male?
[855] I said corduroy instead of denim.
[856] And they're just...
[857] I don't know my cheap materials that well.
[858] Wow.
[859] And so, you know, I know all my silks.
[860] In a threadbare tini.
[861] T -shirt.
[862] Oh, please.
[863] I know, what are your cotton shirt?
[864] This isn't a T -shirt.
[865] I just painted my bare chest.
[866] Jazz.
[867] Verbal jazz.
[868] Not as good as having something worked out ahead of time.
[869] Were you doing a boom -mo -boom -boom bass?
[870] But isn't it a boom -boom -boom -boom -boom bass?
[871] Yeah.
[872] Depends, man, not if you're Chaco Pistoris.
[873] Yeah, that's right.
[874] Oscar Pistoris.
[875] No. Oscar Pistorius.
[876] What about the Olympics?
[877] The former...
[878] Yeah, the Blade Runner.
[879] Killed us.
[880] Went to prison for...
[881] Killed this.
[882] Murder.
[883] Bubble jazz.
[884] Hey, you don't know what...
[885] Hey, we're on the weather one minute.
[886] Then it's Oscar Pistorius.
[887] You never know, man. Who's thinking about that guy?
[888] Let's get back to Patrick Dempsey in...
[889] Outbreak.
[890] That was...
[891] Wasn't that in the intro?
[892] Yeah, that was in a different intro.
[893] I know, but same episode.
[894] You know what?
[895] It's the same episode.
[896] I don't know.
[897] Yes.
[898] Oh, I just called back a riff from the beginning of the show.
[899] You know what I realized.
[900] You know, I realized he's really the intro.
[901] only professional.
[902] He was working in podcasts for a long time before us.
[903] He's the guy that puts all these things together.
[904] You're constantly fucking up.
[905] Yeah.
[906] Calling back references that are from an episode that we take from the same day.
[907] Are you saying the segment got fucked up somehow?
[908] So what about that's.
[909] Also, he's not the only professional.
[910] You were in broadcasting for 30 years.
[911] Have you seen what I did?
[912] Does anyone think I was a professional?
[913] No. Not once.
[914] Has anyone said, hey, you're that professional from the.
[915] television.
[916] That's never happened.
[917] Everyone, I just, I look like someone, yeah.
[918] Exactly.
[919] I kind of am.
[920] You are.
[921] I refuse.
[922] I refuse to be a professional.
[923] Jazz, verbal jazz.
[924] I think, you know, I'm, look, like jazz itself, I don't know if this is good or bad what we're doing.
[925] I know that I've been charged a cover fee to be in here.
[926] I'm having a drink.
[927] I don't understand it, but I see a lot of people around me snapping their fingers.
[928] So maybe it's good.
[929] Blay, how do you feel this is going so far?
[930] Well, you know what?
[931] I think Miles Davis once said there's no wrong notes.
[932] It's, you know, like there's no wrong notes in jazz.
[933] It's more what comes after it.
[934] It's context, man. Yeah, I guess it's kind of, I mean, do you want my honest opinion?
[935] Yeah, no. This is unusable.
[936] It's terrible.
[937] It's terrible.
[938] It's terrible.
[939] But you do, you do have the riff going of you say, then it's jazz, so it's kind of on life support.
[940] I don't think we've really hit the point of which it's a real segment yet.
[941] Are you serious?
[942] This feels all like, That's the thing about jazz.
[943] There's not a hook.
[944] There's not a melody per se.
[945] There's nothing that would make you want to listen to it.
[946] No, there's hooks in jazz.
[947] Eduardo is upset because he actually likes jazz.
[948] And you're shitting on jazz.
[949] Yeah.
[950] I cannot take this slander anymore.
[951] I can't even.
[952] Wait a minute.
[953] I'm talking about the basketball team.
[954] Oh, Utah Jazz.
[955] Okay.
[956] I just am not a fan.
[957] All right.
[958] Yeah.
[959] That's what I've been meaning my whole time.
[960] As a music.
[961] Form jazz?
[962] Fantastic.
[963] My favorite.
[964] You can't name a jazz song or performer I don't love.
[965] Utah Jazz?
[966] Don't get me started.
[967] They're atonal, arithmic, and hard to listen to.
[968] Okay, fair.
[969] Jazz.
[970] Jazz.
[971] We'll be right now.
[972] Wow.
[973] Unusable.
[974] Conan O 'Brien needs a friend with Conan O 'Brien, Sonam of Sessian, and Matt Goreley.
[975] Produced by me, Matt Goreley.
[976] Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Jeff Ross, and Nick Leo.
[977] Theme song by the White Stripes.
[978] Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino.
[979] Take it away, Jimmy.
[980] Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples.
[981] Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns.
[982] Additional production support by Mars Melnick.
[983] Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Brick Con. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode.
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