Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend XX
[0] 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.
[1] Yes, I can tell that we are going to be friends.
[2] Hello, I'm Conan O 'Brien.
[3] Today's a little unusual.
[4] Normally, this is the slot where I talk to someone in the world, a fan, and have a nice chat, and I really do enjoy.
[5] those conversations.
[6] Today is a little different.
[7] Today is April 18th, which first of all happens to be my birthday.
[8] So far, no gifts.
[9] Oh, happy birthday.
[10] Yeah, thanks a lot.
[11] This is your gift.
[12] Yeah.
[13] I'm very excited because today, uh, we are dropping for specials that I did for Max called Conan O 'Brien Must Go.
[14] And, uh, the format relates to this podcast.
[15] How it works is I talk to fans, sometimes the United States and, uh, often around the world who listen to podcast and we decided it might be fun as I'm chatting with these people in different countries to maybe drop in on them and get involved in their lives and follow up on some of the things they brought up in their podcast interview.
[16] And so that's what the show is.
[17] Conrad O 'Brien must go is me going to four different countries, Norway, Argentina, Thailand, and Ireland, and surprising fans that talk to me on the podcast and then getting involved in their lives a little bit, And then moving on and exploring the country.
[18] Interfering.
[19] Interfering, yeah.
[20] So joining me today are some of the people that were instrumental in helping me build this show.
[21] Mike Sweeney.
[22] Hello.
[23] Happy birthday.
[24] I can't believe you forced us together so we could just say happy birthday to you.
[25] Very clever.
[26] Well, anyway, thanks for your help on the show and I'm looking forward to my present.
[27] Jesse Gaskell.
[28] Hi, Conan.
[29] Thank you for being here.
[30] And Matt O 'Brien, no relation.
[31] All right.
[32] And then, of course, Jason Chilemi, we call them Chills.
[33] These are the people that were sort of the nuclear core of helping me make this show.
[34] And now I'll let you all speak freely about what a genius I am.
[35] I've written these comments for you and they're right in front of you.
[36] You can read them now.
[37] We'll go in order of high.
[38] Let me say up front, these are people that I've been working with for a number of years on my shows.
[39] and they've worked with me before on travel shows.
[40] And when I put this project together, I wanted them to join me, and I was very lucky that they did.
[41] We are here today to discuss the show, talk about it, give you a little insight into how this program was made.
[42] We go to four countries.
[43] The first one we went to was Norway, and then the second one we went to was Thailand.
[44] Then we went to Argentina, and we finally ended up going to Ireland each time visiting a fan.
[45] And I was impressed.
[46] We did manage to surprise most these people.
[47] They didn't know we were coming.
[48] And so there was a lot of logistics involved in that because you can't take a plane ride for 15 hours and go to a foreign country and then find out that someone's gone on vacation or moved.
[49] So like they're in L .A. Yeah.
[50] We just don't feel like being on camera.
[51] Yeah.
[52] So we had to, Mike, maybe you could explain how we figured out the way to let them know that we might need them as a follow -up to their podcast interview, but not let them know that I was coming.
[53] Well, Jason was kind of...
[54] Chills.
[55] Chills.
[56] I apologize.
[57] Chills would have to...
[58] Each fan was different.
[59] So some were like, I'm going to be here.
[60] We would just...
[61] Chills would reach out to them and say, hey, hey.
[62] Yeah, we sent out feelers.
[63] Make sure they're going to be around.
[64] Then it was...
[65] We came up with a construct that, oh, you know what?
[66] we might be doing kind of a behind the scenes of some of our fans, and we would just send a cameraman there to shoot you for the day.
[67] Shoot some B -roll, yeah.
[68] We love your podcast interview with Conan, and we want to shoot some B -R -roll.
[69] And we'd leave you out of it.
[70] Right.
[71] Now, the problem is, and that worked for the most part.
[72] Occasionally, I would show up in a country, and it would show up on their social media that I was around.
[73] Right.
[74] But then, you know, Jason would probably have to put out the word.
[75] Chills.
[76] Chills.
[77] I'm wrong of me. Chills would have to get out the word that, no, no, Conan's in country, but he refuses to meet with you.
[78] Because he's an absolute prick.
[79] And that, you know, just to sort of really throw them off the trail.
[80] He's blocks away.
[81] He's right turned around.
[82] Hey, I'm looking out my window.
[83] He's two alleys from here.
[84] Yeah, yeah.
[85] But he wants to peek in your window, but he won't come in.
[86] He shoots the B -roll himself.
[87] Yeah.
[88] People have always asked me, why do I, what is it about these travel shows I like so much?
[89] I love, we can, there's not much we can control.
[90] And I've had many people say to me, well, that must be terrifying.
[91] And I find that to be liberating and really fun.
[92] We never quite know what the gold is going to be.
[93] And random things will happen.
[94] I'll bump into people on the street, like in Norway, who are just perfect comedy foils.
[95] We couldn't ask for better people.
[96] Or there's a scene in.
[97] Norway where I'm on a boat and I'm holding something, I'm sorry, where I'm in Thailand and I'm on a river and I'm holding something that I've been handed, which is quite obscene.
[98] And just then a boatload of an American family goes by.
[99] And I quickly, but you, if you asked, if you asked the greatest comedy directors in the world to try and manufacture that moment, it wouldn't happen.
[100] Because I've looked at that scene and you guys have looked at these things in editing a lot.
[101] The timing is perfect because it's an accident.
[102] Yes.
[103] Well, you lose your luggage.
[104] I mean, that was just something that made everything, you know.
[105] Yeah, I lost my luggage on one of the trips and had to go and I went across the street and this is, I needed to buy some clothes.
[106] And right across the street, there was an absurd shop that only specialized in making traditional costumes, Norwegian costumes that people wore like 200 years ago.
[107] And so I don't ever bought one until that day.
[108] They were so delighted.
[109] So I couldn't believe someone came into their shop.
[110] Really?
[111] No. And so I bought one and then I walk out on the street and the first guy I run into is just so happy to talk to me and tell me what an idiot I am.
[112] And not to be mean, but just to be very honest in a very, I'm guessing, Norwegian way.
[113] Yes.
[114] But it was.
[115] Everyone there was very straightforward.
[116] Very straightforward.
[117] Refreshingly matter of fact.
[118] Yes.
[119] Yeah.
[120] Not hamming it up.
[121] And we had a really good time.
[122] The fans to a one were great.
[123] The fans were, because one of the things that I've noticed, too, is there's that second where they're happy, excited to see you.
[124] Like, oh, Conan, you're here.
[125] That's cool.
[126] But then they very quickly are just themselves.
[127] Right.
[128] Which I like because then they start giving me shit.
[129] They're not afraid to point out when I've made a mistake.
[130] And again, they're just hanging out.
[131] Yeah, they're just hanging out.
[132] And that was...
[133] They were all funny.
[134] They were all and smart.
[135] Yeah.
[136] They were just great to play with.
[137] And I think meeting them on their turf makes them feel a little more comfortable.
[138] Well, often go, I mean, I think almost every time I go into their homes with one or two exceptions, I surprise them.
[139] And then I go right into their homes and start finding...
[140] And start finding things.
[141] And again, it's real and it's in the moment and it was really fun.
[142] And but I have to say, you know, we've all, you know, worked, done these remote shoots before.
[143] All of us have worked on them for years.
[144] One of the nice things now is we're working with Max and they told us, we want this to look really great.
[145] Yeah.
[146] We got this incredible unit.
[147] We have these women are spectacular.
[148] Emily Topper.
[149] Is our director of photography.
[150] Yeah, and she's fantastic.
[151] And Emily Strong's doing sound.
[152] And Brenda.
[153] Zinaiga.
[154] Brenda in, when we were in Argentina, at one point I'm on a horse and we needed a shot.
[155] And Brenda grabs a camera and jumps onto a horse facing backwards with the camera.
[156] Completely unfazed.
[157] Completely unfazed and gets the shot.
[158] And I thought, who is?
[159] These three Amazon She was unbelievable We're kicking ass She's like I've done this before She goes, I'll just sit backwards And follow the lead horse I'll just ride the horse backwards And shoot you with no hands And we're all like Because we're like Do we need a truck, a flatbed And meanwhile she's on the horse Yeah she's already up there Youhoo Yeah I'm over here Solving the problem You idiots Yeah it's a great look I mean the drones Drones I mean We've never had We've never had we've never had we sometimes we messed around with drones but we got these really good drone operators in every country and uh you know my thought was a really good travel show should look absolutely gorgeous and then all of the other ones teach you about the country and it's very important to me that you learn nothing about the country that's that's your guarantee it removes knowledge yes if you had knowledge about the country beforehand and you watch my show I do think you'll laugh, but it will erase any useful real knowledge about the country.
[160] I love the drone operators in Norway.
[161] It was two guys.
[162] Oh my God, they were great.
[163] And they're like, they just did Succession and we're like, wow.
[164] Because a lot of Succession.
[165] One of them is in Succession.
[166] That's what I was getting.
[167] Well, when we came back in.
[168] Just remind people the last season of Succession, half the season takes place when they go and Scars Gards character.
[169] Yeah, Scars Gards character.
[170] I meet with him and they were in Norway so they shot there and they had just worked on that when we worked with them and these guys Ben, we were, I was like, oh my God, you just worked on Succession and now you're with Conan O 'Brien like how the mighty have fallen but they were great.
[171] But there's this climactic scene and big scene in succession in this big yard, this giant party by a river and I'm watching it and then I see the drone guy And we're like, oh, my God, they made it in.
[172] And they're playing drone guys in the show.
[173] But you know what's great is that they were salivating for us to come up with comedy ideas where they could pull off something really amazing.
[174] And so that was a joy.
[175] There was just a lot.
[176] I have to say it could be very tiring.
[177] It's a lot of work to go to fly so far.
[178] And then we usually have to hit the ground running right away.
[179] but the minute we get out there and start talking to people, I mean, Ireland, we went to Ireland to visit a fan, just anyone you bump into in Ireland is a professional comedian.
[180] It's not their profession, but they could be.
[181] There's just something in the water.
[182] In the bones, yeah.
[183] Oh, yes, there are some hilarious people you spoke to in Ireland.
[184] The other cool thing in Ireland was you were walking down the street and people were just like stunned it was you.
[185] and then they took their their earbuds out and said, I'm listening to your podcast right now.
[186] Yeah, people, I ran into people in Ireland who were listening to the podcast as I ran into them.
[187] And then this made me really happy.
[188] We were shooting something on the River Liffey, which is the river that bisects Dublin.
[189] It cuts it in two, Matt.
[190] And, but anyway, and so.
[191] Can we take that out?
[192] Can you actually make it play twice?
[193] Yeah, loop it.
[194] So anyway.
[195] Anyway, I'm standing there by the River Liffey, and this cab drives by, and someone rolls down the window and goes, there was talk of gerbils!
[196] One of the catchphrases from the podcast, and I was so happy that my people left this country.
[197] I go back to the actual plot of land that my people had, that my great -grandfather had.
[198] We left in 1871 because, you know, we couldn't make it there anymore and went to the United States.
[199] And all these years later, I've come back.
[200] And my legacy is this obscene story about Mickey Rooney talking about Richard Gere having gerbils in his ass.
[201] It lives on.
[202] Ah, the O 'Brien's come back.
[203] There's talk of gerbils, I tell you.
[204] Believe it or not, that came full circle.
[205] Yeah, it really did.
[206] I can't go to details.
[207] It was fantastic.
[208] And the other thing that I think was an elevation, I hope.
[209] I think people will like these, but because we got to up the ante a little bit with these, have this nice budget, we could do these set pieces with real costumes and go to real location.
[210] So there's a lot of improvisation and me walking around in my regular street clothes being me. But then there are these set pieces that we wanted them and we really wanted them to look like this could be from a movie.
[211] It's very cinematic.
[212] And of course, because we have Topper and her team, they were able to pull off the look and we had costumes.
[213] I mean, Shills, you were a part of that getting me making sure that we had everything we needed in the country.
[214] Right, fake mustache.
[215] Yeah, fake mustache.
[216] I mean, I carry some with me, but the TSA is always.
[217] A pipe, a pipe for every occasion.
[218] The TSA is always really suspicious when a guy comes through with 35 mustaches.
[219] I'm not in your business.
[220] Let me throw.
[221] Ireland, we had a lot of facial hair, a lot of hair.
[222] Oh.
[223] We were smuggling it.
[224] There was a lot of fake facial hair we shipped in and costumes.
[225] And what's really fun is Scott Cronick, who gets the wardrobe together, always comes to my house like two days before I leave for the country, wherever it is.
[226] And he'll come in with all this insane stuff, options where I'm a Viking or a lighthouse keeper or I'm a, you know, I'm a soccer goalie, I'm a gaucho out of them.
[227] And, you know, all these insane looks and I'm a leprechaun and whatever.
[228] He's bringing all this stuff in and dressing me up in them.
[229] And invariably, my wife will walk in, not knowing if this was going on.
[230] And I'm standing there and she's just like, oh, Jesus.
[231] Turns right around.
[232] Role play.
[233] This is what I'm there.
[234] Yeah, exactly.
[235] Every woman dreams of a sexy lighthouse keeper.
[236] What a tower.
[237] No, but just getting to recreate some of those, do those cinematic moments, which we haven't really had a chance to do fully before.
[238] You get to do some acting.
[239] I don't know if that's what it's called.
[240] Different forms of shouting.
[241] I remember the Viking makeup woman.
[242] It's like a two -hour drive to this Viking reenactment.
[243] Oh, my God.
[244] And so I'm just thinking like, well, you know, she can maybe start stuff on the bus.
[245] And she's like, no, no, no. I need to be in a separate room.
[246] I need all this space.
[247] And she was a real professional.
[248] She was like, get away for me. I'll make it happen.
[249] Also, let me do my job.
[250] I'll say something.
[251] It's the difference between all those years when we would do remotes and run and gun quickly.
[252] And it was, I would be, the mustache would be in my back pocket.
[253] And I'd be in a van.
[254] And then I'd like slap it on and get out there.
[255] And, you know, makeup was done very quickly, if at all.
[256] And so this was different because we went into these travel shows sometimes with that attitude of, wow, we can just slap it on on the bus.
[257] And these are, these look good for a reason because they're saying, no, no, no, no, no. No, no. This is, you asked for something good.
[258] You're going to get something good.
[259] Sit out and shut out.
[260] And it's, you know what?
[261] It's going to take 50 minutes to an hour to do it.
[262] But then when you got out of that chair, it's like, oh, my God.
[263] Yes.
[264] Oh, yeah.
[265] So worth it.
[266] Fantastic.
[267] I know.
[268] That was a big swing that whole day.
[269] because we had really insisted.
[270] We always worry when we've insisted on driving for two hours to get somewhere.
[271] To make it worthwhile.
[272] Yeah, there's always the pressure every mile.
[273] There's a pressure odometer.
[274] Oh, the pressure's going up.
[275] There's always the fear.
[276] And it's also freezing cold.
[277] Right.
[278] Well, it's the same adage of the longer the story, the more pressure on the punchline.
[279] Right.
[280] And if someone's telling a really long story or sometimes one can get caught and you realize, this story I'm telling is really going on.
[281] God damn it, this punchline better.
[282] And that's exactly how it works when you're shooting a remote.
[283] If you have to drive for three hours, it basically is how much in Europe, how much petrol did you burn?
[284] How much gas did you burn to get here?
[285] What was your carbon footprint getting to this place?
[286] And then it better really be funny.
[287] And so sometimes we have lost that bet.
[288] Sometimes we've won.
[289] Ooh, but especially, sometimes you roll out of your hotel with a crew and you're grabbing all, getting all this great stuff on the street.
[290] And then it's like, all of a sudden, you're in a band for two hours.
[291] It's like, wait a minute, why are we doing this again?
[292] Your muscles are cooling.
[293] Right, right.
[294] Well, you need, I like, one of the things I'm proud of is the team that we assembled.
[295] People have done such a good job.
[296] I mean, you know, unsung heroes like, and I know this, people say, you know, we're, we're.
[297] listening to you guys right now.
[298] You don't, it isn't like, you don't need to give a speech about everybody, but there are people like Matt Shaw who did such an incredible job.
[299] So many people have worked really hard.
[300] The graphics look amazing.
[301] Matt Shaw was our head editor.
[302] And basically, he had one other editor working with him, which is, I think is very unusual for something this scale.
[303] It looks unbelievable.
[304] Yeah.
[305] Yeah.
[306] Yeah.
[307] Brad Roland.
[308] And then I was, I was thrilled about the mystery narrator we got for the show who we have a gentleman's agreement not to discuss but most people that work with me don't want it mentioned that he was insistent on that yeah yeah but anyway I love it I've drawn up a contract maybe it's a I who can say but I'm very happy and I just basically, I always love those travel shows that we did in the past, and it felt like we had unfinished business there.
[309] And then when we had the notion that, well, what I'm really passionate about now is this podcast.
[310] I absolutely adore doing it.
[311] It's really fun, and it feels like the natural evolution of what I was doing before, or de -evolution, whatever you want.
[312] But the idea that we married the two, meaning it really, it starts from the podcast and then takes off into this world that I've explored before.
[313] But now there's a reason to go in country.
[314] I'm showing up and I'm visiting a pen pal.
[315] I don't know.
[316] The whole thing has been really fun to make.
[317] Well, you know, and there's often a mission there too because people have been sharing things about their lives with you on the podcast.
[318] And then you show up and it's like, oh, I'm going to help you achieve this goal.
[319] or fix this problem for you and then you maybe don't yeah or just waste time with you do you remember that dinner we had where you could choose from a prefix menu and it was like the appetizer was cod and then the entree was caught they have a lot of there's a lot of cod In Norway, they're very, very proud of it.
[320] And you specifically have to ask them not to put cod on your ice cream cone.
[321] You have a cod allergy.
[322] Is this an allergy?
[323] Okay.
[324] So what kind of cod can we use?
[325] No, no cod.
[326] We have hypoallergenic cod.
[327] Yeah.
[328] I have to say Argentina, the man, something happened in Argentina.
[329] I don't want to give away too much, but we visited our fan, who's a terrific.
[330] artist and one thing led to another and it led to kind of a happening which since then has gotten some traction online and that's that's one of the aspects of the show that I really enjoy is these little Easter eggs.
[331] We don't even intend them always but in Ireland and in Argentina we helped make something happen that ended up later on getting noticed by people who didn't know anything about the show.
[332] And then suddenly it's online and people are saying, why is this exist?
[333] And anyway, there's, that's, that's, I just love the idea of traveling the globe and confusing people.
[334] People who were really.
[335] But you know, I did.
[336] This is a true story because the thing we did in Argentina, which the artist helped us create, we left behind.
[337] And then I think a, it got picked.
[338] up and then it landed on some very prominent soccer blog and it got a lot of traction and it started to pop up everywhere online and people were sending it to me saying what's going on what's going on and I just did you approve this and I was I was kind of playing we were in Ireland like it was while we were in Ireland we were in Ireland when it was blowing up in Argentina and so with my friends I was just saying well I guess you never know I just was I was playing it so then I got a call and it's Jake Tapper.
[339] Oh.
[340] Who I know.
[341] It's Jake Tapper, but he's, and I'm thinking, oh, he's, you know, I know Jake Tapper.
[342] And he calls me sometimes and we both love Eisenhower trivia and shit like that.
[343] He's calling me and I go, what's up?
[344] And he goes like, this thing in Argentina.
[345] What's going on?
[346] And so like any of my friends, I just played it off as well.
[347] I guess you never quite know.
[348] And he went, no, cut it out.
[349] Really?
[350] What is it?
[351] And I forgot.
[352] Oh, I'm talking to you're behind.
[353] I'm talking to a journalist.
[354] And he was like, what is it?
[355] And I went, okay.
[356] And I explained.
[357] Got it, and then hung up.
[358] It's like you're Banksy.
[359] Yeah, I'm the Banksy of comedy, only it's not worth anything.
[360] And we had something made in Ireland that I just saw turn up this week in social media.
[361] That's awesome.
[362] And there's a sequence in Thailand that I really love where I'm roaming the streets at night.
[363] That was a very cinematic sequence where I've ingested some street food.
[364] and then I have a fever dream.
[365] And that I'm not giving anything away because you need to see that.
[366] It's quite strange.
[367] It feels like a weird foreign film.
[368] Yeah.
[369] Well, in that one, my favorite part of that shoot was that we were going against Jeff's wishes because he wanted us to get back.
[370] Oh, Jeff Ross.
[371] Jeff Ross, yes.
[372] We had a dinner reservation.
[373] He's like, you'll be out there for like five hours.
[374] Yeah, there was this one thing we wanted to get.
[375] He was like, we have a dinner reservation.
[376] I'm like, Jeff, Jeff, we'll go and grab it, and then we'll go to dinner.
[377] The dinner reservation's at 6 .30.
[378] It took a long time to get.
[379] And Matt, Matt's very commonly.
[380] He's like, we'll be done in 25 minutes.
[381] Yeah.
[382] He's like, oh, okay.
[383] Oh, sure.
[384] Oh, yeah.
[385] I've never seen that before.
[386] Anyway, he was disappointed when we walked into the restaurant on time.
[387] You could see him deflate.
[388] The restaurant hadn't opened yet.
[389] Yeah.
[390] They're not open for four hours She was like, it's nice to sit here It's a nice place, they have a conditioning It was, I think we were We were shooting sadly with global warming This record will probably be broken soon But it was like the hottest It had ever been in Thailand And we were shooting And we were out on the street And there's a part where I'm kickboxing And we're not inside in an air air -conditioned gym, we're in an outdoor facility with no air -conditioning.
[391] I'm no spring chicken, and it's my birthday today, so let me tell you, I'm only getting older, and I am throwing kicks, punches, I'm going as hard as I can, and at one point I stopped, and I asked Jeff Ross, do we have a defibrillator?
[392] And he was like, what do you mean?
[393] What do we need a defibrillator for?
[394] I'm getting a restaurant reservation.
[395] And I'm like, because I know I could go down.
[396] I'll make sure the restaurant has one.
[397] I was sweating so much during that segment.
[398] I'll make it a smaller reservation.
[399] And, uh, yeah.
[400] Well, that works.
[401] Let me know.
[402] They don't have a table for five, but they have a table for four.
[403] That works out great.
[404] You guys happily eating.
[405] Well, I'm in the morgue.
[406] More family style for each of us.
[407] Yeah.
[408] He's gone.
[409] We might as well enjoy.
[410] We got enough of the boxing, right, to at least...
[411] Oh, my God, that's...
[412] The funniest thing is when...
[413] Because writers always want...
[414] Can you do something again?
[415] They always want it again.
[416] Can you give it another shot?
[417] What if we do it from another angle?
[418] Because...
[419] You mean professionals.
[420] Sure.
[421] Yeah, professionals.
[422] Obsessive, compulsive, professionals.
[423] But if you're doing something, it's always cracked me up when I'm doing something, especially at my vintage, and I'm just wailing and kicking and punching, and it's 108 degrees, and I've been, you know, I'm jet -lagged and I'm wet.
[424] And people are like, ha -ha, that's great.
[425] Okay, let's do another one where we put more, we put more lead on your boots.
[426] There are a few times, too, where it's like, no one's yelling cut.
[427] No one's, and it's just kind of, you know.
[428] He's just going through a training session.
[429] And you finally just go, okay, I think we got it.
[430] Yeah, that was.
[431] We put you through the physical ringer.
[432] Thailand.
[433] Thailand was a workout, but I do, I have to say I do come home from all these countries, well, specifically Thailand with, because in some of the, in some of the setups, I'm getting, you know, I'll go to someone who makes great, you know, original Thai costumes, custom, and they're gorgeous.
[434] Yeah.
[435] And I put them on and they're in the show.
[436] and then I they come home with me and they're mine yeah and then I'm thinking I'll sometimes look in my closet and I have like two pairs of chinos two pairs of jeans some t -shirts some of the nicest and the silk suits and I don't know where to where can I wear these I don't know where to dress like a Viking today yeah I remember you bought those um knit pajamas in Norway it was like a full body oh I've worn those have you worn those it got because it does get cold in L .A and I put them on once and I came downstairs and I, it's so funny, I just look like a giant stuffed, like a giant stuffed animal.
[437] It was, boy, those.
[438] Yeah, they're beautiful.
[439] They were hand -knit.
[440] They were hand -knit and they're the warmest, most comfortable things I've worn in my life.
[441] But you know, you know what, those sock monkeys?
[442] You know, those, I look like a sock monkey when I put them on with a red pompadour.
[443] Not even because there's actually a cap you can put on, too, that just isolates.
[444] your face.
[445] I should just wear that and walk around L .A. until someone photographs me. Yeah, they'll think that you're...
[446] I'd lost my mind.
[447] Kanye, yeah.
[448] Do you?
[449] Exactly.
[450] I should wear that and then go up when Kanye's next out with what's his lady.
[451] Right.
[452] What's her name?
[453] She dresses in a very provocative manner.
[454] Anyway, the next time those two are out together and she's, you know, wearing something with with no butt on it.
[455] and he's just wearing an R -E -I tent.
[456] I'm going to run up along.
[457] I'm going to photo -bomb them, dressed as a giant sock monkey, and put my arm around both of them and see if I can get that photo out there.
[458] Kanye's taking a second, bro.
[459] That'd be a great promo for this show.
[460] Yes, we've got to get the word out.
[461] We need stunts, publicity stunts.
[462] Conan, what are you going to do?
[463] Oh, I've got this knit thing I can wear, and I'll find Kanye.
[464] You already have all of Kanye's fans in your pocket.
[465] You're right.
[466] Talk about redundancy.
[467] Total overlap.
[468] You like Kanye?
[469] You love this show.
[470] Do you get to enjoy yourself on these trips?
[471] Oh, great question.
[472] Hey, thanks for finally.
[473] Someone asked me a question, which makes my job a lot easier.
[474] Thank you.
[475] Happy birthday.
[476] I wanted to give you a chance to talk.
[477] That was my gift.
[478] Yes, here you go.
[479] No, but seriously, because it is, you know, we let, we, like you said before, we hit the ground running, and then it's nonstop till, boom, we're back to the airport.
[480] If I think that what we're making is funny, I am like a kid at Christmas, and I'm very happy.
[481] And I really do love the camaraderie.
[482] I like, I have to say, Jeff Ross is not wrong.
[483] When we have worked hard all day and I think we have good stuff in the can and then we go out to dinner, I love that.
[484] I love that feeling of, I think we've found something today, and I'm happy with it.
[485] And now we can debrief and we can sit and we're in this exotic country.
[486] We're eating Italian food.
[487] No matter where we are.
[488] Remember, we went to Armenia once for a travel show for a travel show years ago.
[489] And Armenian food's really good.
[490] But it's, you know, there's a lot of like, it's a lot of chicken.
[491] It's very good, but it's we kept going.
[492] grape leaves.
[493] Yeah, things like that.
[494] And so we kept having that over and over and over again, and it was really good.
[495] But then I remember there was one night where I was like, well, we got to break this up.
[496] And we found out there was like a small mall in Yerevan and an Italian restaurant.
[497] There was basically the grove.
[498] Yeah.
[499] We went to the grove in Yeravan, Glendale.
[500] Yeah.
[501] And then ordered pizzas and we were, and we were like, oh, this is, we're being the ugly American.
[502] But for the most part, when we're in country, I have to say, talk about we shot something in Dublin where I go looking for Bono.
[503] I'll just tell you that.
[504] It's called searching for Bono and I go looking for him in a park and it's a, I don't think I'm giving way too much, but it's basically a wildlife section of the documentary.
[505] And we had so much fun shooting that.
[506] I was giggling the whole time.
[507] And then everyone had great ideas.
[508] And Jesse, you were an impetus behind this.
[509] Jesse Gaskell.
[510] And then we all started thinking of different.
[511] And I, just kept thinking of fun ways to make it sillier and stupider.
[512] And I was, I was just in heaven the whole time we were doing that.
[513] And so to answer your question, I have a lot of fun doing these.
[514] There are times when I get run down or there were times where we're someplace and I think we're not getting it.
[515] This isn't it.
[516] This is going to show up on the edit, on the edit room floor and those can be dispiriting and long van rides can be dispiriting I think I have a hard time in a van because I'm very kinetic right and when someone says okay that was great now get into this very small space and sit in the back and don't and sit in traffic and sit in traffic and dark and we'll poke you in four hours and you need to be at hit the ground running I have a hard time with that I think you have...
[517] Matt has some great photos.
[518] Matt has photos of me having a nervous...
[519] You're just losing your mind.
[520] I lost my mind in the back and I'm doing crazy bits, faces.
[521] I'm just basically having a complete psychological meltdown.
[522] The courts are going to want those for me. Yes, that's fine.
[523] And it's in this very...
[524] No, the New England Journal of Medicine wants them.
[525] But we had such a good time for the most part on these that it...
[526] I find those moments just drift away.
[527] I completely forget those moments.
[528] And what I remember is the fun.
[529] And I remember the fun of, of, and everywhere we go, I mean, the people in each country were uniformly just so much, such a great sense of they seem to be happy with what we were doing.
[530] Yeah, that's my favorite thing.
[531] And they seem to like that, I don't know, the joke is usually on me and they're cool with that.
[532] And they seem to understand.
[533] they it's fun to just go and explore the comedic rhythm in each country and it's different in each country but they're all funny in their own way right and they're not afraid to give me a hard time uh which i love it's amazing that you can go outside of los angeles and there's just hilarious people everywhere i mean working at more guess what they're they're not in l .a that's why you go on these trips there are other places and they have normal jobs.
[534] And they're just, you know, happy to meet somebody, meet a stranger and have a nice interaction or maybe they know you from TV.
[535] They're very...
[536] They're kind of unfazed by the camera.
[537] I know.
[538] They're very unfazed by the camera and they're just so happy to go with it.
[539] And they all seem to pick up right away on, oh, I get it.
[540] Yeah.
[541] Something's wrong with this man. Yeah, something's wrong with this man, but he seems harmless.
[542] It is amazing how everyone...
[543] I think I could take him.
[544] Yeah.
[545] And that was an old lady.
[546] It was an old lady in a wheelchair.
[547] I could take him.
[548] Will me overdo them.
[549] Yeah.
[550] It was really fun to make.
[551] And it's an interesting process because we go and we shoot them.
[552] Then we come back.
[553] You guys do these rough assemblies.
[554] You know, Matt Shaw does like these rough assemblies.
[555] And then you guys go in and it's...
[556] I've always said the way we approach these, whether it was a remote for the...
[557] old late night show or the TBS show or travel shows it's like a chef doing a sauce cook it down get the reduction add some more broth cook it down cook it down cook it down cook it down just we just keep cutting and cutting and cutting and cutting and having different screenings and reducing it and then you get to this final part and you look at it and there they it's all flavor oh it's burned at the bar yeah well I didn't say it was a good sauce.
[558] All I meant was that it was short.
[559] In my analogy, it's just that they're shorter.
[560] It's broader.
[561] It's still broth.
[562] It's still dense.
[563] Very salty.
[564] Your doctor recommends you don't have it.
[565] It ruins the taste of the food you're eating.
[566] It is fun to see the number of hours you start with of footage and then know that you're cutting it down to under an hour.
[567] And then even when you think you can't cut anymore, there's still something you can cut.
[568] And yeah, it was even in the finishing room when we were.
[569] would watch the final finished cut.
[570] It was like, we all had like, oh, just one little second here, you know.
[571] But I think that's normal.
[572] Oh, I was showing a clip.
[573] I went to South by Southwest.
[574] I went to South by Southwest and I showed a clip from a segment in Ireland in the gas station that was got this big laugh in this giant room and I was very happy.
[575] And then I just saw it.
[576] The clip went on for a couple of, a couple of, a couple of, a couple of, a couple of, a couple.
[577] A couple.
[578] A couple of seconds afterwards and the crowd was like, mm -hmm, okay.
[579] And I'm up on stage.
[580] I'm up on stage thinking, why is that still in there?
[581] That's like, no, no one was thinking about it.
[582] It was a second for someone to just take an inhale, but I was like, why is that there?
[583] It's a pallet cleanser for the home viewer before they jump into the next sentence.
[584] We want people to be laughing continuously with no pause.
[585] You know what I love?
[586] So they can hear the show over themselves life.
[587] Exactly.
[588] I love to.
[589] Anyone listening to this who checks them out and goes, This is nothing but fat These guys are like These people are like patting themselves on the back We reduced and reduced and reduced Till and then they're watching it And it's just Was the stove on?
[590] This should be four minutes There was no heat Oh yes Leave it on another ten hours Just Because there are comedic Let me shut the gas off six months ago There are bits where the joke Is that I'm There are bits where The joke, wherever a country I'm in, is that I just keep going and I refuse to stop.
[591] Yeah.
[592] And I could see anyone listening to this or any reviewer saying, what are they talking about?
[593] I saw some trips.
[594] That idiot.
[595] Anyway, it was.
[596] Well, I was, I mean, I think people might want to know how we landed on the countries that we went to.
[597] Oh, okay.
[598] Yeah.
[599] It's interesting.
[600] It's like you're looking for it's like these two circles and you're trying to see where it's, what's the place where they intersect, meaning talk to people around the world, and some people seem like, oh, I got to talk to this person.
[601] Like, for example, Yarlah in Bergen, Norway, who just, he's this sweet kid, to me anyway, he's a kid.
[602] He's like 22 years old.
[603] And he's telling me, and he's the whitest kid I've ever seen, and he's telling me he's got a hip -hop duo with his friend in Bergen, Norway.
[604] And so I'm, there's part of me that's naturally curious.
[605] And then it's, you know, if he had been in Trenton, New Jersey, I would have said, okay, I don't think that's a show, but he's in Norway.
[606] And I think, yeah, Norway.
[607] I want to go there.
[608] So basically, if it's, is the fan interesting and seem fun?
[609] And am I intrigued?
[610] And is it a country I'd like to go see?
[611] And so if you can satisfy both of those, then I'm on my way.
[612] But, and we've had some other fans, too, that we just, you know, we, We, they, they asked for four specials, so we did four.
[613] But there are other fans around the world who've got some very intriguing stories.
[614] So, you know, if.
[615] Well, and there's a lot of other criteria.
[616] I mean, just in terms of what is it like to get film permits there.
[617] And can you quickly, you know, can you quickly film things?
[618] Yeah, there are, exactly.
[619] There are countries where it's more difficult to get permission.
[620] Also, another thing, we've just learned things over time, but sometimes we're more ambitious about traveling within a country.
[621] And then you realize you do want to do that, but if it's a vast country, and let's say you went to Australia and you wanted to make sure that you did Sydney and Perth, but you also wanted to go up to the barrier reef and you also wanted to get into the outback, you realize that breaking down camera equipment.
[622] And shipping it around, you're burning time.
[623] Yeah.
[624] And so you want to make sure that you make the right calculations.
[625] So yes, get on a plane and travel within country or get on a train if you really think you're going to get something good.
[626] But if you're zipping around too much within a country, you risk, you just lose days.
[627] Yeah.
[628] So you really, it's a cost.
[629] It's just figuring these things out.
[630] And one of the things that is fun.
[631] It's fun and interesting is we sit around and Jason's a big part of this, but we'll sit with and, you know, we'll talk to chills and we'll say this is what we're interested in.
[632] And then we have these conversations where we have a map of the country and we have lists of comedy ideas we could do.
[633] And itineraries.
[634] Literally like a yarn going from one pin to another.
[635] I'm like, okay, so we'd have to go, you know, 210 miles to get this.
[636] gag.
[637] How much do we love it?
[638] And then we all get into it.
[639] And then sometimes we say, you know what, it's not that funny.
[640] It's not 210 miles funny.
[641] And sometimes you think, I think it is 210 miles funny.
[642] And you are on to me. You know I lie.
[643] I always am like, I think it's a 50 minute drive.
[644] And you're just like, fuck you.
[645] Yeah.
[646] That's my commute home.
[647] It's my commute back to Brentwood, asshole.
[648] Oh, two hours and 50 minutes.
[649] But I love, it's the making of these things.
[650] I like to make things.
[651] I like to make things with smart, funny people.
[652] And I've enjoyed working with you guys as well.
[653] Happy birthday indeed.
[654] And he wonders why he got no gifts.
[655] No, I, sincerely, just we have a great crew.
[656] Chills, we've been doing this together.
[657] Chills has been with me on every adventure going back to Finland.
[658] And Mike.
[659] And Mike.
[660] You've been with me since the beginning.
[661] Before that, because the first one was really Ireland, a million 98, or 99.
[662] I was there for that too.
[663] And you were there for that too.
[664] So that was two days.
[665] We were in there for two days.
[666] We shot everything in two days.
[667] We have a good crew here and we get a lot of help in each country.
[668] And that's important too.
[669] Yal and Jennifer and Maritzza and Marcella.
[670] All their teams is phenomenal.
[671] That is worth mentioning.
[672] is that we need to, when we go to another country, we can only do so much.
[673] And then we have to find what's called fixers, people in country who say, you don't want to go here, but you do want to go there.
[674] And, yeah, people say that that's funny, but it's really, that's going to offend people.
[675] Don't do that.
[676] That's actually against the law.
[677] You can't urinate in that rare book library.
[678] Conan P's in a rare book library.
[679] was a natural so so but you can't do anything on this list we hit one in every country right yeah but it's uh those people are invaluable and what's funny is we meet them we always meet them at the airport or right when we get to the hotel and then there's this second of how are we all going to get along and then very quickly they're just you can see that they they take our temperature we take their temperature and then uh we're off yeah and they we get really close to the these people.
[680] And we owe them a lot.
[681] I mean, they're a huge part of how these shows work.
[682] Well, Chills picks on it.
[683] And you, you get it.
[684] You'll say, I do a vibe check.
[685] I have a feeling.
[686] I get a few.
[687] I talk to three people.
[688] I think it's, I think this is the one.
[689] And then you make best friends.
[690] I mean, you stand touch with people.
[691] Well, he also has affairs with them.
[692] All of them.
[693] Chills has children in every country.
[694] Whatever it takes.
[695] I know why he picks these people.
[696] I like this one.
[697] She didn't seem that great.
[698] Oh, shut up!
[699] She's never worked in showgirls.
[700] And they're all women.
[701] She doesn't speak English.
[702] No, anyway, it was, I enjoy the doing of it.
[703] And then it's just extra sweet that we get these shows out of it.
[704] And I'm excited for people to see them.
[705] Me too.
[706] Me too.
[707] I think, yeah.
[708] And we have shown them to a bunch of people we really trust who like them, who are, who are, have.
[709] full permission to tell us this is shit.
[710] And have in the past told me I'm shit, but they were getting, I have a good feeling about it.
[711] I left so hard during editing that I went into labor.
[712] That's true.
[713] That's true.
[714] Yeah, and you weren't even pregnant.
[715] That's the crazy part.
[716] A baby came out.
[717] You made a baby you laugh so hard.
[718] That was my favorite behind the scene story.
[719] Yeah, behind the scene story is we're all hanging out in the conference room one night.
[720] Yeah.
[721] You, during the making of these shows, you I got pregnant which I think involved sex and then and then we'll explain it to you later yeah and then so that was part of it's crazy that that was part of this process is that is no it was it was happening alongside as we were making the shows because the shows were delayed by the writer's strike so otherwise we would have made these a lot sooner but you would have never even known I was pregnant exactly I was like, but you, what was really crazy is at one point we're in editing and you're...
[722] I was 37 weeks pregnant.
[723] Yeah.
[724] And we were, you were laughing really hard in the edit and we were joking that this laughing would induce...
[725] I was peeing my pants laughing.
[726] Would induce pregnancy as a joke.
[727] And then we all get a photograph in the morning of you...
[728] 7 a .m. in the morning of you holding Doddy.
[729] Yeah.
[730] Not your baby.
[731] Another baby.
[732] No. Of you holding Dottie?
[733] And it was like the joke the night before.
[734] I was like, they're not going to believe that this is real.
[735] I thought it was a prop baby.
[736] Yeah.
[737] Well, I really was like, oh, I'm peeing my pants laughing.
[738] And actually my water had broken.
[739] Right.
[740] At work while we were there.
[741] Oh, wow.
[742] But you've been using that excuse for years.
[743] I need to step away.
[744] I just want myself.
[745] Yes.
[746] And then she disappeared for two months.
[747] yeah um no that was uh oh that made me so happy well you yeah doddy's the doddy's the we got four shows and a baby yeah we got four specials and dotty out of this we got we actually got another baby from a fan oh my god yeah yeah well that's part of the show too yeah so look for that um anyway uh conan o 'brien must go um we like them We've clicked them down.
[748] Yeah, they're coming out, dropping right now on Max.
[749] Go watch now.
[750] Plus, this is something cool.
[751] The good people at Samsung TV Plus, they air a Conan O 'Brien show, basically, Conno O 'Brien TV channel, and they put together our best stuff.
[752] They've put together a bunch of glorious moments from my.
[753] career.
[754] And in there, they've also put an exclusive 10 -minute sneak peek of the new Conan O 'Brien Must Go series, and it's for free.
[755] So you can see that if you check out Conan O 'Brien TV channel exclusively on Samsung TV Plus.
[756] So we'll see you there.
[757] Conan O 'Brien needs a friend with Conan O 'Brien, Sonam of Sessian and Matt Goorley.
[758] Produced by me, Matt Goreley.
[759] Adam Sacks, Nick Leow, and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf.
[760] Theme song by The White Stripes.
[761] Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino.
[762] Take it away, Jimmy.
[763] Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples.
[764] Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns.
[765] Additional production support by Mars Melnick.
[766] 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.
[767] Got a question for Conan?
[768] Call the Team Coco hotline at 669 -587 -2847 and leave a message.
[769] It too could be featured on a future episode.
[770] And if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O 'Brien needs a friend wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.