Conan Recaps the Oscars with Mike Sweeney

Conan, Sona, and Matt are joined by head writer Mike Sweeney for a retrospective on Conan’s experience hosting the 2025 Academy Awards. For Conan videos, tour dates and more visit TeamCoco.com. Got a question for Conan? Call our voicemail: (669) 587-2847.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:03Conan O'Brien?

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• 0:16Speaker 01

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• 0:17Conan O'Brien?

  Five, but within a couple of years, you know, they're gonna be buying heavy machinery online.

• 0:23Speaker 01

  What?

• 0:23Conan O'Brien?

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• 0:49Conan O'Brien?

  Now, Sona, clearly, I'm a very important person to you.

• 0:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:52Conan O'Brien?

  Just accept the premise and we'll move ahead.

• 0:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 0:54Conan O'Brien?

  I'm a very important person to you. What would you get me from Macy's for the holidays?

• 1:00Speaker 01

  A vase.

• 1:01Conan O'Brien?

  No, I don't want a vase. I want something better.

• 1:04Speaker 01

  A jacket.

• 1:05Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, nice jacket. I love a nice jacket.

• 1:07Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, jacket, nice jacket.

• 1:08Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, so now you have to do it, because you said you would.

• 1:09Speaker 01

  Aw, man, I didn't know you were doing that.

• 1:12Conan O'Brien?

  Well, I know the holidays... I know the holidays are months away, but it's never too early, Sona, to find gifts that I will love, gifts I will wear, and surprises that make the season unforgettable for me.

• 1:23Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:24Conan O'Brien?

  Macy's Gift Guide makes holiday shopping easy with beauty favorites, stylish fashion, jewelry, cozy essentials, must-have toys, home upgrades, and picks for every person on your list. Coach handbags, Breville appliances, Lego UG, and more, all in one place, so you can skip the scrolling and shop with confidence. Shop now in-store or online at macy's.com/giftguide.

• 1:49Conan O'Brien?

  Hey, Conan O'Brien here. Usually in this slot, we air a fan interaction episode, but we're not gonna do that. We've had a lot of requests out there from people to talk about my recent experience hosting the Oscars. It has only been about a week by the time this airs, a week or so, week and a half. Since I hosted the Oscars, we're taping this a bit earlier, several days after the show aired, so it's still fresh in our minds. And I am joined to go over this experience with my head writer of many, many, many years, some say too many years.

• 2:25Speaker 02

  Too many.

• 2:26Conan O'Brien?

  Mike Sweeney. Mike Sweeney has been with me almost since the very beginning of my late night show. He waited a little bit to see if it would survive or not. And then when he saw that, you know, it was probably gonna make it, he, he came aboard. So he is a coward.

• 2:43Speaker 02

  I am.

• 2:44Conan O'Brien?

  But Mike Sweeney.

• 2:46Speaker 02

  You should have led with the coward part.

• 2:47Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. Mike Sweeney came, has been with me for a long time.

• 2:50Speaker 02

  Thirty years.

• 2:52Conan O'Brien?

  Thirty years. Eleven of them quite pleasant. And we worked together on the Oscars along with Jeff Ross. And Mike Sweeney led the creative team. And it, people seemed very happy with how it went. I had a blast doing it. And one of the reasons I think I was able to enjoy myself so much is I knew I had, we worked very hard to get material that we liked. And I think the call came in from the Oscars in late November.

• 3:22Speaker 02

  It was the day after we got back from Spain.

• 3:25Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, shooting a travel episode in Spain. And I got a call and I called you. And I said, I'll, I'll do it, but you gotta be on board.

• 3:34Speaker 02

  I just laughed really hard.

• 3:36Conan O'Brien?

  You laughed really hard for a long time.

• 3:37Speaker 02

  When you said, they, I just got a call. They said, would you wanna host the Oscars?

• 3:44Conan O'Brien?

  Why were you laughing?

• 3:46Speaker 02

  Because the timing of it, we had just come back.

• 3:50Conan O'Brien?

  We were so busy.

• 3:51Speaker 02

  You got really sick in Spain, along with a few other people. And also, just the, it just seemed random, out of left, like not, it was not in our brain.

• 4:00Conan O'Brien?

  It was not on our radar.

• 4:02Speaker 02

  Not on the radar.

• 4:03Conan O'Brien?

  It was as if I had been, it was as if I had got a call that said, we want you to be the new Miss America.

• 4:08Speaker 02

  Right, exactly.

• 4:09Conan O'Brien?

  It was that random and from left field.

• 4:11Speaker 02

  I would have laughed less.

• 4:12Conan O'Brien?

  So.

• 4:14Conan O'Brien?

  I said yes, and then we quickly had to go and tape. HBO Max very kindly said, okay, you're supposed to finish this travel season. So yes, go host the Oscars, but can you knock this other travel show off very quickly?

• 4:30Speaker 02

  Squeeze it in.

• 4:31Conan O'Brien?

  Squeeze it in quickly. So we immediately dashed to Austria. And we're shooting a show in Austria when I get the call that my father had passed away. So I rush home and then while I'm home,

• 4:48Conan O'Brien?

  I see that my mom is going too, and she went three days later. And that was an experience that was very intense. And a bunch of you were very kindly flew out for that, which blew my mind. And I still thank you for that. That means the world to me.

• 5:05Speaker 02

  Of course.

• 5:06Conan O'Brien?

  Eduardo, a no show.

• 5:08Speaker 02

  It was duly noted, Eduardo.

• 5:10Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I called for you during the eulogy. I said, and of course Eduardo, Eduardo! Eduardo!

• 5:16Speaker 02

  I'm so sorry.

• 5:17Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, Eduardo, sure, sure, whatever.

• 5:20Speaker 02

  The funeral is not properly mic'd.

• 5:22Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, he didn't.

• 5:28Conan O'Brien?

  Well, I'm glad you can laugh at my parents' death.

• 5:30Speaker 02

  Yeah?

• 5:31Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, I'm kidding. I'm laughing too, and that's they would have wanted that. Who knows? No, I don't think so.

• 5:36Speaker 02

  You know, while you were gone, you left Austria and we were, we had to stay there another few days.

• 5:42Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, I'm so sorry. That must have been tough for you.

• 5:44Speaker 02

  Well, yeah, we had to go on to Vienna.

• 5:46Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 5:47Speaker 02

  One of the crown jewels of the.

• 5:49Conan O'Brien?

  I had to go mourn my parents while you guys went to Vienna and shot B-roll.

• 5:53Speaker 02

  A different.

• 5:54Conan O'Brien?

  And drank schnapps.

• 5:55Speaker 02

  Yeah. Just so you understand, it wasn't just you that had a difficult journey.

• 6:01Conan O'Brien?

  Exactly. So then.

• 6:03Speaker 02

  The van was kind of cramped, but we shot, we were like, what do we do? So we, I don't even know if we talked to you about this. We shot something with Jordan.

• 6:12Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 6:13Speaker 02

  That you haven't seen.

• 6:14Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 6:14Speaker 02

  That you haven't seen.

• 6:15Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I'm cutting it without even seeing it.

• 6:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:16Conan O'Brien?

  So then there's a real role here because that rolled right into, right into Christmas.

• 6:23Conan O'Brien?

  Like days after, which rolled right into January, which rolled right into the fires. Uh, I've been living in a hotel since then.

• 6:33Speaker 02

  Right.

• 6:33Conan O'Brien?

  And so I remembered us noticing that the Oscars are getting closer and closer. And because of all this madness, we haven't been able to get together in a room and get going. And so, um, you were instrumental in putting together, uh, we, I mean, some of the names were obvious because it's people you and I had worked with for a long time. But I think we put together a murderer's row of writers.

• 7:00Speaker 02

  Amazing.

• 7:00Conan O'Brien?

  Amazing writers.

• 7:01Speaker 02

  We just laughed. I missed being in a room with this crew.

• 7:06Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, man.

• 7:07Speaker 02

  And we were, we all stumbled downstairs in this very, in this building. It's a big conference room there and we just would laugh.

• 7:14Conan O'Brien?

  And I would come in, I would come in and it was therapy for me because I would come in and anyone who knows me knows that I, I'm like a fish in water, in tropical water. When I'm in a writer's room, I'm just so happy to be around writers and, uh, to be joking around. Usually riffing on things that could never make it into an Oscar show. And there was plenty of that.

• 7:38Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 7:38Conan O'Brien?

  But, uh.

• 7:40Speaker 02

  And that was a good shorthand to bring this crew back that had already written for you so that.

• 7:44Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, they knew, they knew my style.

• 7:46Speaker 02

  And also just goofing around, like, you know, it was just an instant.

• 7:50Conan O'Brien?

  But, I mean, we should do it. Brian Kylie, uh, Laurie, Matt O'Brien, Laurie Kill Martin, uh.

• 7:58Speaker 02

  Dan Conan.

• 7:59Conan O'Brien?

  Dan Conan.

• 8:00Speaker 02

  Jesse Gaskell and Jose Arroyo, who also work on the travel shows.

• 8:03Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 8:04Speaker 02

  Skylar, uh, Higley.

• 8:05Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 8:06Speaker 02

  And, uh, did we mention Brian Kylie?

• 8:08Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, and by the way, yeah, yes, twice.

• 8:11Speaker 02

  Brian Kylie was also.

• 8:12Conan O'Brien?

  And then also Brian Kylie.

• 8:14Speaker 02

  Kylie comma.

• 8:15Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, and, uh, Scott Gardner came in to help shoot some of the amazing, uh, he, he's amazing. And he helped give a great look to some of the things.

• 8:23Speaker 02

  Scott Gardner was a writer, yeah, on the TBS show.

• 8:25Conan O'Brien?

  Josh Comer.

• 8:26Speaker 02

  Josh Comer's fantastic.

• 8:28Conan O'Brien?

  Do we mention Kylie, Brian Kylie?

• 8:30Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 8:31Conan O'Brien?

  Uh, but also, um.

• 8:33Speaker 03

  Berkeley Johnson.

• 8:33Conan O'Brien?

  Berkeley Johnson. And you should see Berkeley's Johnson. A joke I've been doing for 15 years and it's always better. Um, I was.

• 8:42Conan O'Brien?

  It's so satisfying, but we have to tell this story. Skylar Higley wrote the Drake joke.

• 8:54Speaker 02

  Halftime.

• 8:55Conan O'Brien?

  The halftime.

• 8:56Speaker 02

  You're halfway through the Oscars.

• 8:58Conan O'Brien?

  We're halfway through the Oscars, which means it's time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile. And he wrote that joke and today I was, I mean, this has happened to me a couple of times, but I walked to some store this morning to get a cup of coffee. And this young black gentleman came up to me and went, "Conan, I gotta ask you, did you write that? That joke about Drake?" And I said, "I did not. That is the handiwork of Skylar Higley and I gotta give it up."

• 9:30Conan O'Brien?

  I'm not that well-versed in the rap battles, but I got major props from this gentleman.

• 9:37Speaker 02

  Excellent.

• 9:38Conan O'Brien?

  And, but we started working and then just generating ideas. And it's the same, it's the same thing we've done back when we would do Emmy shows or any kind of Comic Con shows, which is just generate thousands of ideas and throw most of them out.

• 9:54Speaker 02

  We had so many ideas that, like, you can't get too attached to any idea because you just know that things are going to get cut. For example, we had a whole big cold open that we loved.

• 10:11Conan O'Brien?

  It was not the substance cold open that we ended up going with.

• 10:14Speaker 02

  It was a different one and it was basically hammered out before the fires, the idea of it before the fires happened. And then even after that, we kind of honed it and it would have been like three or four minutes long. And it was you.

• 10:30Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 10:31Speaker 02

  It'd be starting out in Wicked, so you're in a scene.

• 10:33Conan O'Brien?

  It was, it was, well, it was the idea that I'm gonna, oh, Conan's now gonna goof on all the movies.

• 10:37Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 10:37Conan O'Brien?

  And so it starts with me and I'm all green in Wicked, finishing Defying Gravity or one of those songs. And I finish it and then you see you cut to the next thing, which is Gladiator.

• 10:49Speaker 02

  Right.

• 10:49Conan O'Brien?

  And clang, clang, clang with swords. And then you see that I'm a gladiator, but then you notice that I'm still green. And then you go on to

• 10:57Speaker 02

  Conclave.

• 10:58Conan O'Brien?

  Conclave and you see people voting with their ballots and then one of the hands is still green. And then peep and then you cut to me in Dune and uh um, one of the

• 11:09Speaker 02

  Javier.

• 11:09Conan O'Brien?

  Javier Bardem is saying, I can't hear you, take, cause they all wear those

• 11:14Speaker 02

  Right.

• 11:14Conan O'Brien?

  masks in the sand. Take it off, take it off. And I finally take it, what's your problem, man? And I take it off and I'm green. And he's like, what the hell, man? Did you start this with Wicked? And I went, yeah, we, and this stuff doesn't come off. And the whole thing is that the dye wouldn't come off.

• 11:29Speaker 02

  Right, right.

• 11:30Conan O'Brien?

  And we had to shoot it all in one day. And it was kind of a conceptual idea, which we were, but we thought, oh, this is, we can carry this through the whole thing where then all the characters in every movie that I've inhabited are laughing at me and giving me a hard time because I started out as green.

• 11:44Speaker 02

  Including Nosferatu. They're all

• 11:46Conan O'Brien?

  Nosferatu, they're all piling on me like, you don't start with green. Everyone knows that stuff doesn't you, everyone knows that stuff doesn't come off. You shoot, you will shoot the wicked at the end. I know, but we had one day and no one told me.

• 11:59Speaker 02

  That's a good Bill Skarsgård.

• 12:01Conan O'Brien?

  Thank you. So we thought, um, so we thought, uh, that that was, um, we were like, oh yeah, this is the idea.

• 12:09Speaker 02

  Right.

• 12:09Conan O'Brien?

  And then we realized this is so complicated to shoot and it takes so many different setups and started to kind of fall out of

• 12:18Speaker 02

  Well, it was more, but also then the Oscars said, we're opening because of the fires with this big

• 12:25Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, that's true.

• 12:26Speaker 02

  Musical tribute and that, we were like, wait, you

• 12:29Conan O'Brien?

  You can't go

• 12:30Speaker 02

  Five minute musical tribute and then go into a five or four minute

• 12:34Conan O'Brien?

  So we needed something quick. We needed something quick.

• 12:37Speaker 02

  So we

• 12:37Conan O'Brien?

  I was obsessed.

• 12:39Speaker 02

  Right.

• 12:39Conan O'Brien?

  Always obsessed with coming out of Demi Moore's back.

• 12:42Speaker 02

  Right.

• 12:43Conan O'Brien?

  Since I was a child. No.

• 12:46Conan O'Brien?

  I just, I mean, that visual of my hair coming out of my head was something I was obsessed with and that ended up being, uh,

• 12:52Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 12:53Conan O'Brien?

  But it's one of the things you learn, which is that you constantly, it's not just, it's with monologue jokes and it's also with bits. And this is, this is more about the process. Don't fall in love with anything because Because also, the times change. You know, if something is eight weeks out or nine weeks out, what's funny now isn't the story four weeks later. So so many of the narratives kept changing with the Oscars race that and and things would seem funny now, but then not later. And then we got a lot of clarity because I started going out to different clubs.

• 13:25Speaker 02

  Right.

• 13:26Conan O'Brien?

  And doing jokes and I could see which ones consistently work well.

• 13:31Speaker 02

  That was incredibly helpful. And and I think also just, you know, for for just confidence in that. Oh, no, these these jokes are good.

• 13:46Conan O'Brien?

  You know, winning an award, that's a big achievement, right?

• 13:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:49Conan O'Brien?

  Every now and then in life, maybe something nice like that comes your way. Winning them consistently is almost impossible. It just doesn't happen, you know? Well, guess what? Winning five times in six years? You know what that sounds like to me? Sustained excellence.

• 14:03Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 14:04Conan O'Brien?

  Hyundai has done just that, earning the title of America's best SUV brand for 2026 from U S News and World Report. You are a very happy Hyundai driver.

• 14:12Speaker 01

  I drive a Hyundai Palisade and I love my car. I love it. I love driving it around.

• 14:17Conan O'Brien?

  I've been tooling around in an Ioniq 5 N, which I love. Beautiful car. Well, listen, whether you need an SUV for everyday life, your next big adventure or extra room for family and friends, Hyundai has an option for you. The Tucson Hybrid is loaded with technology and built for everyday life. The Santa Fe Hybrid is fully capable and ready for adventure. The Palisade, that's yours, right?

• 14:36Speaker 01

  Hello.

• 14:37Conan O'Brien?

  They're gonna rename that the Sona. The Palisade Hybrid, yeah, delivers premium capability and class-leading interior space. With available, I had this memorized, H-Track all-wheel drive, up to an EPA estimated 619 miles of range on vehicles like the Palisade Hybrid and Hyundai's industry-leading warranty. It's easy to see why Hyundai continues to deliver the quality, innovation, technology, and value drivers expect from an award-winning brand. View U S News Best Cars at cars.usnews.com and call 562-314-4603 for complete details.

• 15:12Conan O'Brien?

  This fall, I want to try something different.

• 15:13Speaker 01

  What?

• 15:14Conan O'Brien?

  I like to change it up. I like to learn things. So I'm going to try and make apple cider.

• 15:17Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 15:18Conan O'Brien?

  Every morning.

• 15:19Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 15:19Conan O'Brien?

  This fall, just to see if I can do it.

• 15:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:21Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, fall is the perfect season to try something new, like joining T-Mobile.

• 15:25Speaker 01

  Oh, that's good.

• 15:26Conan O'Brien?

  See what I did?

• 15:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:27Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, there are 250 reasons to join T-Mobile right now. You want to hear what they are?

• 15:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:31Conan O'Brien?

  They're America's best network.

• 15:33Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 15:33Conan O'Brien?

  True story. Plus, T-Mobile has got off-grid satellite coverage. That comes in really handy. I like to just wander in the woods sometimes.

• 15:40Speaker 01

  Oh, that's weird.

• 15:41Conan O'Brien?

  When I'm thinking about, like, making apple cider.

• 15:43Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 15:43Conan O'Brien?

  And that's when it comes in handy. Here's another reason. High-speed data in over 215 countries and destinations. I travel a lot for the

• 15:50Speaker 01

  You travel a lot.

• 15:51Conan O'Brien?

  travel show that I do.

• 15:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:52Conan O'Brien?

  Stream this podcast while ignoring local landmarks. That's always fun to do. Like, oh, look, there's the Mona Lisa. Yeah, check it out. I'm in the Louvre. I should, but I'm listening to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend.

• 16:02Speaker 01

  That doesn't seem like a good idea.

• 16:04Conan O'Brien?

  It's a great idea.

• 16:05Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 16:05Conan O'Brien?

  You know, you can see art anytime. But how often can you listen to this podcast?

• 16:10Speaker 01

  Oh, my god.

• 16:11Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 16:12Speaker 01

  What?

• 16:13Conan O'Brien?

  No, all these reasons make T-Mobile a great choice.

• 16:15Speaker 01

  I agree.

• 16:16Conan O'Brien?

  T-Mobile is stacking up reasons to join. Go to tmobile.com and find yours best, based on analysis by Ookla of speed test intelligence data first half of 2026. Can't believe I read that. T-satellite with capable devices in most outdoor areas in the US, where you can see the sky. High-speed international data with qualifying plan. Visit tmobile.com, consult a physician. I just threw that in there.

• 16:40Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 16:47Conan O'Brien?

  The audiences were very nice because I would go out and say, I mean, I know Nikki Glaser does this as well, but it's a very good tool to go out and try things out with an audience. But I would say, please don't record this, and they wouldn't.

• 16:57Speaker 02

  Right, right.

• 16:58Conan O'Brien?

  Which was really nice, because all they'd have, someone would have to do is put that online, and you're completely screwed.

• 17:03Speaker 02

  Well, the other landmine, which I didn't think about, I wasn't really aware of, is, like, I've heard the term "award season", but it never, I was like, "award season"? There was a different award show. So, once we were going to go to a club, and they're like, "Oh, sure, you're going after..." So and so who's hosting the, you know, Judd Apatow's hosting the DJ Awards. He's gonna do his monologue first and you're just like, wow, there's so many award shows.

• 17:29Conan O'Brien?

  We can't even be there when he does his because we don't wanna hear something like we can't be influenced. We don't, we wanna make sure there's no overlap. So you get into this thing where then you say, okay, that show's over. I know, but uh, this, this comic's out hosting the Spirit Awards. And um, they're doing the circuit and trying jokes about, so you have to wait till, and if anyone does any joke, you can't do that joke then, obviously, it's gone, so.

• 18:00Speaker 02

  We had a couple of areas where we're just like, ah, no, we can't do that.

• 18:05Conan O'Brien?

  We can, it's gone now because someone else did it. So the whole thing was fascinating, but I have to say the, the real education, uh, the real behind the scenes education was, you know, the academy of motion pictures.

• 18:18Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 18:18Conan O'Brien?

  They're very serious about certain things and we had the, this real lesson in, and again, I don't fault them, I'm just, this is what they do. They, the, the Oscar, the Oscar, the image of Oscar is very important to them. And there'd be times where we'd be shooting bits to promote the Oscars.

• 18:38Speaker 02

  Promos.

• 18:39Conan O'Brien?

  Promos.

• 18:39Speaker 02

  To run on ABC.

• 18:40Conan O'Brien?

  Promos to run on ABC or to go on the internet that would, you know, promote the Oscar. And I remember there was a giant Oscar statue and I shot something with it. It was really fun and at one point I, I said, it'll be really funny. It was about Oscar and I, the Oscar and I sharing an apartment and we don't get along. Our marriage is crumbling and um, this was actually out there. They ended up releasing it and I ended, thought it came out pretty well. But it's just a nine foot Oscar and I bickering. And he has, of course, the Oscar's not doing anything. It's just standing there like a statue and I'm saying, what happened to our marriage? And we're fighting about things that couples fight about. But at one point I thought, oh, this'll be really great if the Oscar was just on the couch.

• 19:22Conan O'Brien?

  Let's lay it on a really big couch and I'll, I'll be vacuuming and say, could you at least? Lift your feet, or could you at least get up and help load the dishwasher? And we wanted to do it and they just said, no, no, no, that can't happen.

• 19:35Speaker 02

  There was whispering.

• 19:36Conan O'Brien?

  There was whispering in this big room and then one of the people from the academy came forward and said, Oscar can never be horizontal. And that blew my mind. Like, wow. This is like the thigh bone of St. Peter.

• 19:52Conan O'Brien?

  This is a religious icon, but um.

• 19:55Speaker 02

  And we tried to put an apron when it was serving you leftovers and they're like, uh, no clothing on Oscar.

• 20:01Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 20:02Speaker 02

  Oscar's always naked.

• 20:03Speaker 03

  So he's always naked, but he won't lie down. Yeah.

• 20:05Speaker 01

  There's rules. I didn't know.

• 20:07Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, no, there's just rules. There's a lot of rules with Oscar and then you realize, oh, this has been around. This award ceremony has been around since 1929.

• 20:15Speaker 02

  Right.

• 20:16Conan O'Brien?

  There's a lot of different sort of shorthand for what can and can't happen, but they ended up being very helpful. I want to stress that they uh, they let us.

• 20:26Speaker 02

  Everyone was great.

• 20:27Conan O'Brien?

  They were great and the ABC people were fantastic. Um, and the producers we worked with, Raj and Katie.

• 20:34Speaker 02

  They were amazing.

• 20:34Conan O'Brien?

  They would just make anything happen. They would just, anything we said, they would say, yes, let's, that sounds funny, let's make it happen. So.

• 20:41Speaker 02

  The day we met them, they were so nice. I was like, oh, this is the classic.

• 20:45Conan O'Brien?

  Rope a dope.

• 20:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:46Conan O'Brien?

  This is a trick.

• 20:48Speaker 02

  The first time we asked for some, you know, and I, they were amazing, right?

• 20:52Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 20:53Speaker 02

  Every step of the way.

• 20:54Conan O'Brien?

  But it's uh, it just kept getting, my experience of it was once I said yes, I would always wake up at three in the morning and look at the ceiling and go, what? That's a, what, what, I said yes to what? And then it takes about an hour and a half to get back to sleep. And that's just the deal. That's just what it's like.

• 21:20Speaker 02

  Wait, I, I talked to a few others, some of the writers and I was waking up at three, thinking of things that either were still up in the air or that I forgot to do that day. They, my, came to me at three in the morning. I was like, just, and then I couldn't go back to sleep until this week.

• 21:38Speaker 01

  Ugh.

• 21:39Conan O'Brien?

  It was.

• 21:40Speaker 02

  I'm joined this week.

• 21:41Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, no, I have been, I have been, I refuse to, I mean, we finished, it's now Friday. We did, Sunday night was the show and it's been. My wife is just, I'm, I am horizontal.

• 21:57Speaker 02

  Right, right, right.

• 21:58Conan O'Brien?

  All the time. I'm glad, I know Oscar can't be, but I-

• 22:00Speaker 02

  She doesn't like you horizontal.

• 22:01Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I, it never has.

• 22:05Conan O'Brien?

  Doon doon. Um, the, um, the response was really lovely and then, just, but the thing I keep going back to is, is the lighting. The lighting is insane. It's the best lighting I've ever had. It's the best lighting I ever will have. Um, and it's Bobby Dickinson-

• 22:23Speaker 02

  Right.

• 22:24Conan O'Brien?

  And Noah Mintz, and they kept, they were like, looking at my face and touching little dials and adjusting things during the rehearsals. And they also adjusted my face, um, manually. But- I swear to God, I looked at myself in a monitor at one point in rehearsal and I'm like, who's that guy? It's not me. And I'm, I know online people were speculating, uh, you know, did Conan get some work done or something? It's like, it's called lighting. It's called lighting, which by the way, if you've checked out the podcast, this is not Oscar lighting.

• 23:01Speaker 02

  It's pretty good.

• 23:02Conan O'Brien?

  And also, we do these travel shows and I'm always, I'm always, my brand of comedy has always been, hey, this, this could be really funny. Let's just go do it.

• 23:10Speaker 02

  Right.

• 23:10Conan O'Brien?

  And we shoot it with no thought towards lighting, or I'll run into a 7-Eleven and do something.

• 23:15Speaker 02

  It's a documentary cruise style.

• 23:16Conan O'Brien?

  It's a documentary cruise style, as if it were a war zone.

• 23:19Speaker 02

  Right.

• 23:20Conan O'Brien?

  So, I always look like, I always look like, uh, you know, a toy that a dog got a hold of and chewed up. And then, suddenly, I step out there and hit my mark, and, uh, I'm a nineteen-year-old-

• 23:37Speaker 02

  You looked great.

• 23:39Conan O'Brien?

  And then I step, and then I step-

• 23:40Speaker 01

  You did.

• 23:41Conan O'Brien?

  Then I step out of it. And it's like, oh, oh, the old pumpkin's back. Oh, boo.

• 23:47Speaker 01

  That's an intimidating room. To be up on that stage and looking at all those people must have been-

• 23:52Speaker 02

  You were in the audience, so what was that like?

• 23:54Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, what was it like in the audience? Were you scared for me?

• 23:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, I, you know, I was really, um-

• 24:00Conan O'Brien?

  You can say it.

• 24:00Speaker 01

  I know, I was a little nervous for you. And it was weird not to work it. It's one of, you know, those big events that I would normally have worked. I didn't work at the event.

• 24:09Conan O'Brien?

  You brought TAC?

• 24:10Speaker 01

  I brought TAC and we were, uh, sitting next to Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.

• 24:14Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, wow.

• 24:16Conan O'Brien?

  Wow.

• 24:17Speaker 01

  I know, we were behind the complete unknown cast.

• 24:20Conan O'Brien?

  They are so much fun.

• 24:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, we were in the fourth row. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Revo were just a few rows ahead of us.

• 24:26Conan O'Brien?

  Wait, your seats were much better than I said they should. These are not the seats.

• 24:29Speaker 01

  I know, I think you made a mistake.

• 24:31Conan O'Brien?

  I think I did.

• 24:31Speaker 01

  I do, I really think you made a mistake.

• 24:33Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 24:34Speaker 01

  And I just didn't move the whole time because I was like, I can't draw attention.

• 24:38Conan O'Brien?

  And also, if you leave this seat, someone's gonna take it from you.

• 24:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, and also every time you would come up, Tac would be like, "Yeah, Coonsy." And I'd be like, "Stop talking." You can't do that here, it's the Oscars.

• 24:50Conan O'Brien?

  Who sat behind you?

• 24:51Speaker 01

  Uh, behind, Oprah.

• 24:53Conan O'Brien?

  Oprah sat.

• 24:54Speaker 01

  Fucking Oprah.

• 24:55Conan O'Brien?

  Oprah.

• 24:56Speaker 01

  Better seats than Oprah. That is a row behind us.

• 24:59Speaker 02

  Better seats than Oprah.

• 24:59Conan O'Brien?

  Oprah.

• 25:00Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 25:01Conan O'Brien?

  Oprah Winfrey had to look through your big hair to try and see who had won an Oscar.

• 25:08Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 25:09Conan O'Brien?

  How did that happen?

• 25:10Speaker 01

  So, you know, Erica Brown was there as well, who works on the show. And I was like, "We have to get you to meet Oprah." So we were following her.

• 25:17Conan O'Brien?

  And we have, I've introduced Erica Brown to former First Lady Michelle Obama twice.

• 25:23Speaker 01

  Twice, twice, yeah. And you know, she's from Jackson, Mississippi. Everybody back, everybody back home is just like, "Oh my god." And so, you know, I was like, "We'll just walk by her and I'll like, push you into her." You know, like, just like.

• 25:36Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, that's a good idea.

• 25:37Speaker 01

  Shove you into her.

• 25:38Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 25:39Speaker 03

  And you were telling Tac to be quiet.

• 25:42Conan O'Brien?

  So what did you do? So what happened?

• 25:43Speaker 01

  So we were following Oprah, and then she just disappeared.

• 25:45Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, she's.

• 25:46Speaker 01

  And I think she went out like a special exit, you know.

• 25:48Conan O'Brien?

  Well, she has trap doors installed, yes. Before she goes, people show up and install trap doors.

• 25:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:55Speaker 02

  She helped design it.

• 25:56Speaker 01

  But it was really exciting to just be there in the audience, watching you and just like, hearing the jokes for the first time. You know, I mean, it was, it was awesome. It was really, really cool. And everybody around was talking about how great you were doing.

• 26:09Conan O'Brien?

  It was fun, it was a lot of fun. It was to have, um, also to have an orchestra.

• 26:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, they were amazing.

• 26:17Conan O'Brien?

  You get spoiled between the lighting and an orchestra.

• 26:19Speaker 03

  And a high, that's the first time they put the orchestra that high, right?

• 26:22Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, wasn't that a great idea?

• 26:23Speaker 01

  That was so cool, it was really cool.

• 26:25Speaker 02

  And they had a trap door, an Oculus had opened to reveal the orchestra up on the. It was very, it was neat.

• 26:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 26:31Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, kind of.

• 26:33Speaker 02

  And they had a Bond tribute for no good reason, other than I assume it was for you?

• 26:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 26:37Speaker 02

  Matt Gourley?

• 26:38Speaker 03

  I have some notes.

• 26:41Conan O'Brien?

  Let's hear it.

• 26:42Speaker 03

  No.

• 26:43Speaker 01

  How much of the show do you guys write?

• 26:45Conan O'Brien?

  That is the joke. That is the joke. Well, no, anything I'm doing, we wrote.

• 26:50Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, but like the rest of the Oscars have a different writing.

• 26:53Conan O'Brien?

  They have a very good team.

• 26:54Speaker 02

  Right.

• 26:55Conan O'Brien?

  Headed up by John Max.

• 26:57Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 26:57Speaker 02

  Who works on, man, he's, he work on every award show.

• 27:00Conan O'Brien?

  He's working on one right now, I'm sure.

• 27:02Speaker 02

  He is, he is.

• 27:03Conan O'Brien?

  The Soul Train Awards.

• 27:04Speaker 02

  He's working on the Mark Twain Awards.

• 27:06Conan O'Brien?

  Um, I said Soul Train.

• 27:07Speaker 02

  Okay, but I'm just, I'm a stickler for actors.

• 27:11Conan O'Brien?

  So.

• 27:13Speaker 03

  The Soul Twain.

• 27:14Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, and so, um.

• 27:17Conan O'Brien?

  Uh, Zach Galifianakis did that very joke in one of the clubs I was in.

• 27:21Speaker 03

  Oh, sorry.

• 27:22Conan O'Brien?

  It's okay, it's okay. I just want to make sure that he doesn't think we ripped him off. Uh, the, um, yeah, I have to say the, that was a, that was a, of all, that was a highlight, probably, in a long career. That was just so.

• 27:36Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 27:37Conan O'Brien?

  And so fun and, and then, but I just was thinking, light it, the lighting is amazing. There's this orchestra, everyone in the crowd's wearing a tuxedo and, um.

• 27:47Speaker 02

  I mean, you hosted the Emmys twice.

• 27:49Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, that's true.

• 27:50Speaker 02

  Right, but, but, yes, this, so it was like, oh, well, okay, you know how to do that. But then, I don't know, they're just, it was a different level of getting scared before something.

• 28:03Conan O'Brien?

  You get intense, you get intense beforehand.

• 28:06Speaker 01

  It's a big gig.

• 28:07Conan O'Brien?

  Cause then you know people are watching, like, whatever, around the world or something.

• 28:10Speaker 02

  Well, I, I wondered, I'm like, why are you so out of your mind and waking up at 3am? And then afterwards, you're like, oh, that's why, cause it really is highly scrutinized.

• 28:21Speaker 03

  What's it like backstage?

• 28:23Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, that's interesting.

• 28:24Speaker 03

  Is it chaos? Is it controlled?

• 28:26Conan O'Brien?

  No, it is a machine. I, that, my experience of it was that the way they have it set up is. The winners drift off stage right and that they're taken into a whole, you know, it's like a digestive system. It's like they're taken through, they're taken through the winners walk, then they're taken right into a press. There's a quick, I think glam shots, then they're taken into the press room, then they're going, taken this way. And I'm on the other side mostly. I'm either going to set, but I'm always coming off from, from stage left. So I'm coming out to either my mark on stage left or to the center. So there's not a lot of interaction, but every now and then you'd have

• 29:11Conan O'Brien?

  this amazing moment. And the one for me was I'm backstage and I'm watching the monitor because you're, you're just watching the monitor in between. I'll, I'll go and talk to the writers and we'll think what could be a funny idea, what could be a funny thing we could say here. We were constantly trying to think of what's something that could come up. What's happening in the show and what can we comment on? But every now and then, there's not much to do. We know what's the next joke is. It's not for 10 more minutes. So I'm sitting there, stage left, and I'm looking at my monitor and I'm just aware of like a presence to my left. And I kind of just look over

• 29:50Conan O'Brien?

  and it's this guy and I, I immediately see that it's Mick Jagger and who I've never met. And Mick Jagger looks at me and he starts nudging me and in kind of a comic American voice, he's like, hey, hey, how's the crowd? How's the crowd? How's the crowd? How's the crowd out there? How's the crowd doing? How's the crowd doing? How are they? How are they? And I said, uh, crowd's really good because they were. I said, it's a, it's a good crowd. And I said, but you don't have to worry about that because you're Mick Jagger. And he went, oh, no, no. And I'm not going to try and do a Mick Jagger. But he said, I always worry about the crowd. And I said, wait a minute. So you're with the Rolling Stones and you're in Buenos Aires and you're getting ready

• 30:34Conan O'Brien?

  to come out and start the show and you're going to start off with satisfaction. Uh, and you're anxious that the crowd isn't going to be good? And he said, I, he said, oh, no, definitely. I wear an airpiece and I listen to the crowd and sometimes I can tell the crowd isn't quite there yet and I have to give it a little extra upfront. And I was so relieved because I realized obviously he's

• 31:01Conan O'Brien?

  Thirty-five levels beyond me, but nothing ever goes away. Meaning, I've had many people give me a hard time because I'm at a small gathering and I'm supposed to get up and give a toast, and Liza can tell I'm anxious, and I'm getting worked up, and I'm looking around the room to see, is this a good room? And she's like, "It's a dinner party, what are you doing?" And I'm like, "It's just, never goes away." You're always worried about that stuff. And to hear that Mick Jagger, who's, I believe, 81, the front man for the Rolling Stones, is asking people, "How's the..." Asking me, "How's the crowd?" "You think I'll be alright out there?" "I don't know, it's gonna be touch and go for you, Mick."

• 31:44Speaker 02

  "Sliding."

• 31:45Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 31:48Conan O'Brien?

  But he, I mean, I was kind of intimidated because I didn't know what he would be like. He was incredibly nice. He said to me at one point, "Oh, and by the way, we've never met." And I'm like, "He? How do you know you've never met me? Isn't your life just a blur of occasionally an orange person comes by?" He was lovely. He was great, and funny, and thoughtful, and I had a great exchange with him, and then I knew, I need to end this. Like, don't hang on too long. So I said, "Well, anyway, wonderful, lovely..." "It was very nice to meet you too." And I walk away, and I think Ruthie has me walking away from him. And I saw that Ruthie was filming it, and I just walk up and go like, "Okay, that just fucking blew my mind."

• 32:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's pretty crazy.

• 32:34Speaker 02

  Back into the tent with the writers.

• 32:44Conan O'Brien?

  You know, winning an award, that's a big achievement, right? Yeah, I love awards. Every now and then, in life, maybe something nice like that comes your way. Winning them consistently is almost impossible. It just doesn't happen, you know? Well, guess what? Winning five times in six years? You know what that sounds like to me? Sustained excellence.

• 33:01Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 33:01Conan O'Brien?

  Hyundai has done just that, earning the title of America's best SUV brand for 2026 from U.S. News and World Report. You are a very happy Hyundai driver.

• 33:10Speaker 01

  I drive a Hyundai Palisade and I love my car. I love it. I love driving it around.

• 33:14Conan O'Brien?

  I've been tooling around in an Ioniq 5 N, which I love.

• 33:18Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 33:19Conan O'Brien?

  Beautiful car. Well, listen, whether you need an SUV for everyday life, your next big adventure, or extra room for family and friends, Hyundai has an option for you. The Tucson Hybrid is loaded with technology and built for everyday life. The Santa Fe Hybrid's fully capable and ready for adventure. The Palisade, that's yours, right?

• 33:34Speaker 01

  Hello.

• 33:34Conan O'Brien?

  They're gonna rename that the Sona. The Palisade Hybrid, yeah, delivers premium capability and class-leading interior space. With available, I have this memorized, H-Track all-wheel drive, up to an EPA-estimated 619 miles of range on vehicles like the Palisade Hybrid and Hyundai's industry-leading warranty, it's easy to see why Hyundai continues to deliver the quality, innovation, technology, and value drivers expect from an award-winning brand. View U.S. News Best Cars at cars.usnews.com and call 562-314-4603 for complete details.

• 34:10Conan O'Brien?

  Earth can be a lot. There's gravity, there's mosquitoes.

• 34:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:13Conan O'Brien?

  And a sun that will gulf us in about 5 billion years, give or take.

• 34:17Speaker 01

  Oh, good.

• 34:17Conan O'Brien?

  It is going to eventually incinerate us, the sun, but we've got 5 billion years.

• 34:21Speaker 01

  Okay, that's fine.

• 34:22Conan O'Brien?

  Cosmically speaking, you earned a break, so escape to Pluto TV.

• 34:25Speaker 01

  That's where this was going.

• 34:26Conan O'Brien?

  Yep, I knew the second I saw, the minute I saw the sun exploding and incinerating us, I knew this was going to Pluto TV. Turn off your earthly problems and turn on the movies and shows you already love. From Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgundy, to Dirty Dancing, from Alias to The X-Files, no subscription, no fees, $0. When that sun's pulsating and burning you up, you've got the best thing on TV. And the best things on TV are free. Escape to Pluto TV. Stream now, pay never.

• 35:30Speaker 01

  Were you guys in a tent?

• 35:31Speaker 02

  We were. It's kind of a black duveteen, kind of roped off area. And we had monitors and we had a, you know, we had the scroll of the script. And so we would, like after Flow One, Brian Colley had a joke about, you know, it's the first one for Latvia.

• 35:48Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. It's your move Estonia.

• 35:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:51Speaker 01

  So you guys are on the fly, just like coming to everything.

• 35:54Speaker 03

  What's the process of you doing that and then getting that into the teleprompter for him in time? Like, how much time was there?

• 36:01Speaker 02

  There is this producer named Rachel was right in the room with us and she really helped with the script along the way.

• 36:09Conan O'Brien?

  She was great.

• 36:09Speaker 02

  During the show, we, our script guy, John Crotto, who we could not have done any of this without.

• 36:15Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, he's a hero.

• 36:16Speaker 02

  He came out from New York just to work on the show, which was amazing because he worked on the whole show.

• 36:20Conan O'Brien?

  He walked the whole way.

• 36:21Speaker 02

  He walked the whole way.

• 36:22Conan O'Brien?

  Because we wouldn't give him bus there.

• 36:23Speaker 02

  Right. And he's, he's right now only in Iowa. He's still on his way back home. But she, so we'd tell Jot, you know, okay, let's do this. And then she'd talk to the prompter person and it would come right up and he'd read it and be like, get it. Okay, you've got 10 seconds to get out there.

• 36:41Conan O'Brien?

  There was one.

• 36:41Speaker 02

  A couple of times, yeah.

• 36:43Conan O'Brien?

  There was a moment that I was happy about, which is we're, I don't know if we're backstage, but we're, it's very just before the show. And we see Timmy Chalamet coming in.

• 36:54Speaker 02

  Right.

• 36:55Conan O'Brien?

  And he's wearing a bright, bright yellow outfit.

• 36:57Speaker 02

  It was a red carpet coverage.

• 36:58Conan O'Brien?

  Red carpet coverage.

• 36:59Speaker 02

  In their dressing room.

• 36:59Conan O'Brien?

  And he's wearing this suit that's just bright, bright.

• 37:03Speaker 02

  Like creamsicle.

• 37:04Conan O'Brien?

  Creamsicle yellow. And I said, well, he won't get hit driving his bike at night. And people around me were like, that's funny. And so I just kept it in my head and I walked out there and it was one of the first things I said, like, hey, it's Timmy Chalamet. Hey, you won't get hit on your bike. And people were like, ah, ah, ah. And I'm like, that's not even on a prompter.

• 37:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:22Conan O'Brien?

  But it was just kind of, it was a nice feeling to feel like it is the same thing as you can just think of something and say it. And this giant important room, if it's, if it's okay, they'll laugh at it. It doesn't, not all have to come through this, this huge process of agony.

• 37:40Speaker 02

  You were very, I mean, you were very loose, you know.

• 37:43Conan O'Brien?

  I had a few pills in me.

• 37:45Speaker 02

  Well, whatever. They worked.

• 37:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:48Speaker 02

  Because you were as loose as a goose and it.

• 37:51Conan O'Brien?

  Well, it was a, it was a, it was a really, uh, fun night and, um, I have to say, uh, lots of thanks and gratitude to ABC Academy. They, they really did, and the producers, Raj and Katie, they, they made, they took really good care of us and they seemed to know that, yeah, Conan, this needs to be what Conan wants it to be. It's gotta be his, in his voice. They were very good about that. And-

• 38:19Speaker 02

  Everyone was very supportive. Michael Bearden, the, the conductor, the musical director-

• 38:24Conan O'Brien?

  Great, who worked out the, uh, the song with me-

• 38:27Speaker 02

  With you.

• 38:28Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, he was great.

• 38:29Speaker 02

  He was a great collaborator, right?

• 38:30Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, Michael Bearden was great and that's, that's a guy that-

• 38:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:33Conan O'Brien?

  -worked with Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson. And I mean, the list of people he's worked with is insane. So, I, I had huge moments of inadequacy saying, "Yeah, I wanna sing this song." And he would sit down at the piano and-

• 38:44Speaker 02

  Just bang it out.

• 38:45Conan O'Brien?

  And start, and we'd be like, making it up and thinking, "I'd rather be working with a real musician."

• 38:51Speaker 02

  Right. He would transpose the key on the spot. Like, "Oh, okay, let's try D-flat."

• 38:55Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, D-flat. Yeah, it sounds like you're a D-flat. And, um, so, uh, but there were so many fun things, like, the sensibility has always been, we love puppets and silliness. So, we got obsessed with Sandworm.

• 39:08Speaker 02

  We, early on-

• 39:10Conan O'Brien?

  Being part of the show.

• 39:11Speaker 02

  I kept putting off ordering it up. I'm like, I'm like, "Is this, we're gonna have a Sandworm?" First, the Sandworm was sitting in the audience and I'm like, "Uh, all right, a Sandworm."

• 39:22Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, oh, and then there was one idea where the Sandworm comes out-

• 39:25Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 39:26Conan O'Brien?

  -with an envelope. And we're like, "No, how are we, how are we gonna get, it's not gonna move." And then we realized that-

• 39:34Speaker 02

  Then it was gonna come down upside down and talk to you.

• 39:37Conan O'Brien?

  And, and it was gonna have, it was gonna have lines. And so, there was just, there's a whole, there's a, there's a whole lifeline to these things. There's a whole evolution. And then finally, it became clear, um, Sandworm needs to be, uh, in the orchestra, uh, and needs to have gone to the Berklee School of Music.

• 39:55Speaker 03

  Who played the Sandworm?

• 39:56Speaker 02

  Uh, we, it was a guy who does, uh, creature acting.

• 40:01Conan O'Brien?

  But, but also, crucially, from our team, uh, the gentleman, the artist who, who dresses me and who, uh, Scott Chronic, who's been with me for years, um, who I married.

• 40:15Speaker 02

  You married on television?

• 40:17Conan O'Brien?

  On television.

• 40:18Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 40:18Speaker 01

  In New York.

• 40:19Conan O'Brien?

  He and his partner in New York.

• 40:20Speaker 03

  You officiated the wedding.

• 40:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, right. You're not married to him.

• 40:23Conan O'Brien?

  But I also was married to him for a while. And then Liza found out and the whole thing went south.

• 40:28Speaker 02

  That enhanced your own marriage.

• 40:29Conan O'Brien?

  Exactly. But he built the sandworm and...

• 40:35Speaker 02

  In three days.

• 40:36Conan O'Brien?

  He built it in three days. And so it was behind the harp, but then we had different ideas for who should be behind the piano and it wasn't quite working out. We couldn't quite figure it out. And then finally it occurred to us the sandworm should be the person on the piano. And then if the sandworm can show up again on the harp as a callback, that happened. We came, that happened like the day before the Oscars, we realized. I think it was the day before.

• 40:59Speaker 02

  It was that Friday.

• 41:00Conan O'Brien?

  It was that Friday that, yes, sandworm should come out on the piano first and then show up later on on the harp because he's a multi-instrumentalist.

• 41:08Speaker 01

  Important.

• 41:09Conan O'Brien?

  And...

• 41:10Speaker 02

  But when he came out, the first time we rehearsed that song, rolled out on the piano, it was such a great reveal, such a great, almost as dramatic as you coming out of Demi Moore's back. It was just like, whoa, that's a great tableau because you're singing in the foreground and there's this...

• 41:28Conan O'Brien?

  A worm is pounding away at the keys.

• 41:30Speaker 02

  It's like, okay.

• 41:32Conan O'Brien?

  But Scott Chronic designed the costume and then at the end of the show, before the show was even over, I think someone from the Academy said, "We'd like to keep the sandworm." Like, because they have a museum.

• 41:45Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. Great.

• 41:46Conan O'Brien?

  So I don't know if it's ever gonna happen, but if you go to the Academy Museum, you can see the shark from Jaws. You know, you can see the, the, the snow globe from, from Citizen Kane. And, oh, there's sandworm. There's sandworm from the 97th Oscars ruining the museum, dragging it all down.

• 42:07Speaker 02

  I heard they had to get rid of the shark from Jaws to make room for the sandworm. It's priorities, but I, I think they have the right.

• 42:14Conan O'Brien?

  The sandworm ate the shark because he's above it in the food chain.

• 42:18Speaker 02

  We mentioned Scott Gardner. He, he directed The Substance. He also, we did an ad parody, Cinema Streams.

• 42:25Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 42:25Speaker 02

  Did a great job with that. And then he shot our two Jeff Bezos arriving at the Oscars.

• 42:31Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. And a reason I'll never get a, a package again.

• 42:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 42:37Conan O'Brien?

  Bezos is probably like, ha, ha, ha, see to it he never gets a package again. He's petting a white cat.

• 42:43Speaker 02

  And yeah, Matt Shaw, our travel show editor.

• 42:47Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, if we're just gonna list names, I can do that too.

• 42:49Speaker 02

  We were working on the travel shows during, well, like, we had to come in on the weekend and edit, and I didn't even tell you, because I thought you'd be like, what are you do, why are you working on anything?

• 42:58Conan O'Brien?

  I was so enraged when people would-

• 42:59Speaker 02

  Other than the Oscars.

• 43:00Conan O'Brien?

  When people would try to talk to me about the travel shows. Every now and then Jeff Ross would say something like, so anyway, you know, if we do end up going to India, I'd be like, it's not about the Oscars! If it's about the Oscars, I don't wanna talk about it!

• 43:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:11Conan O'Brien?

  I'm a real pleasant chap.

• 43:13Speaker 01

  You know what? Yeah, we were real pleasant leading up. Your mind works constantly when you're focused on something. And, you know, I feel like a lot of times when you're getting your creative energy out, you're just making fun of us more than you normally would.

• 43:26Speaker 02

  No, no, no, no.

• 43:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:27Conan O'Brien?

  No, that's in your-

• 43:28Speaker 01

  I'm gonna say so.

• 43:28Conan O'Brien?

  That's in your head.

• 43:29Speaker 01

  Do you feel that way too, Matt? I felt like it was just, it was, uh-

• 43:33Speaker 02

  No.

• 43:34Speaker 01

  It was just elevated. So it was a real joy for all of us who work for you.

• 43:39Conan O'Brien?

  It wasn't always easy to be around Picasso.

• 43:42Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 43:42Conan O'Brien?

  But, boy, did he fill a lot of museums with wonderful work. Two, three, four. Picasso and sandworms.

• 43:51Conan O'Brien?

  Those are my muses.

• 43:53Speaker 04

  But also, Sweeney, weren't you, we were in Austria, and weren't you trying to then pull together this writers' room-

• 43:59Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 44:00Speaker 04

  From across the world as well as-

• 44:01Speaker 02

  In Austria.

• 44:02Speaker 04

  During the day, you would be directing the Austria show, and then at night, you would come back to the hotel, and then we would all chill, and you would be going and trying to pull together a show.

• 44:11Speaker 02

  I was on the phone with different writers' managers, because initially it was like-

• 44:16Conan O'Brien?

  Who are often funnier than the writers.

• 44:17Speaker 02

  Yes, the managers were very entertaining.

• 44:20Conan O'Brien?

  They got great ideas.

• 44:21Speaker 02

  They're great to chat with in Salzburg. Yeah, and that was all coming together over there, yeah. But then we ended up, you know, we reassembled our old team, and it's the best move. They're the funniest.

• 44:38Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it was so much fun. It was great.

• 44:40Speaker 02

  Incredible.

• 44:41Conan O'Brien?

  Great to have that room, that writer's room.

• 44:42Speaker 01

  Good to see them all again.

• 44:44Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 44:44Speaker 01

  It was a nice reunion. It was really, really nice to see everybody.

• 44:46Conan O'Brien?

  Also to have everything humming where there's a writer's room downstairs working on the Oscars. I'd be in there joking around. Then I'd come up here.

• 44:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:53Conan O'Brien?

  And we would do a podcast.

• 44:55Speaker 02

  Abuse these people.

• 44:56Conan O'Brien?

  Abuse you guys.

• 44:57Speaker 04

  You can abuse people on multiple levels.

• 44:58Speaker 01

  I know, you're really good. You had rooms set up just to make fun of people.

• 45:02Conan O'Brien?

  People are gonna get the wrong idea about me from these jokes you're making.

• 45:05Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 45:06Conan O'Brien?

  Anywho.

• 45:07Speaker 04

  Can I also ask, you went on Kimmel, which was really funny, and he gave you advice to sit down. Did you sit down by yourself?

• 45:13Conan O'Brien?

  No, not that much.

• 45:14Speaker 02

  No, you were on your feet the whole time.

• 45:15Conan O'Brien?

  I was on my feet the whole time, because I'm very hyperactive. Yeah, Jimmy's advice was sit as much as possible, because it's a lot of standing, and I can't sit still. And so there's footage, I mean, I gotta give a shout out, since you're naming everyone you've ever met.

• 45:33Conan O'Brien?

  Hey, doing an amazing job. I'm gonna list the people that served in the Korean War now on the American side. No, but Ruthie and Samantha, who are on the, who handle the social media, they did this amazing thing where they were shooting video all the time, sort of day in the life video and posting it. But there's, not only am I not sitting down, but at one point I'm doing a Russian dance while the writers around me are chanting. Come on, and I'm, the show is only half over. And I'm expending energy and doing that leg kick dance.

• 46:16Conan O'Brien?

  It's madness, absolute madness, but that's the world I like to live in. Anyway, it was a, it was an honor, it was a privilege, it was a thrill, and Mike Sweeney would not have happened without this man. He has to proper do. No, we'd have found someone else.

• 46:31Speaker 02

  Sure, of course.

• 46:32Conan O'Brien?

  Very quickly.

• 46:32Speaker 02

  So the first thing I learned about is everyone's replaceable.

• 46:36Speaker 01

  What's next?

• 46:37Speaker 02

  So you better show up to work.

• 46:38Speaker 01

  What's, I mean, you've hosted the Emmys, you've hosted the...

• 46:41Conan O'Brien?

  Latin Grammys! No go. Latin Grammys!

• 46:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 46:44Conan O'Brien?

  Come on, Eduardo.

• 46:45Speaker 01

  You're a real fit.

• 46:46Conan O'Brien?

  What do you think?

• 46:47Speaker 04

  I think you're a perfect fit.

• 46:48Speaker 02

  I think you'd be, I think you'd be great.

• 46:49Speaker 04

  You're Spanish killed during the...

• 46:51Conan O'Brien?

  Es verdad.

• 46:53Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 46:55Conan O'Brien?

  We, that was, yeah.

• 46:56Speaker 02

  And you're Hindi and you're Chinese, you're Mandarin.

• 47:00Conan O'Brien?

  The key to the Mandarin was they were laughing, so they couldn't hear the Mandarin. But anyway, it was a real highlight, but it's also, man, it's nice to have that behind us.

• 47:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 47:12Conan O'Brien?

  I gotta say.

• 47:12Speaker 02

  Well, great job. I know I haven't said that till now. No, you really nailed it. Fantastic.

• 47:18Conan O'Brien?

  Well, we can't just be patting ourselves on the back here. There's work to be done. There's work to be done. Yeah. So, uh...

• 47:25Speaker 02

  This man, can I talk to you for a minute about you? What you do and what you did.

• 47:31Conan O'Brien?

  Now I'll be Sebastian Maniscalco. This guy, this fucking guy. This fucking guy. All right. That was our Oscars podcast, Talk Down.

• 47:46Speaker 03

  Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend with Conan O'Brien, Sona of Sessian, and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Jeff Ross, and Nick Liao. Theme song by The White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Take it away, Jimmy.

• 48:06Speaker 03

  Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples. Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns. Additional production support by Mars Melnick. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Britt Kahn. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of SiriusXM when you sign up at siriusxm.com/conan. And if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.

• 48:54Speaker 05

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