Lisa Kudrow Returns Again

Lisa Kudrow feels still really good about being Conan O’Brien’s friend. Lisa sits down with Conan once more to discuss the unrelenting optimism of her character Valerie Cherish on the newest season of The Comeback, remembering the wonderful Robert Michael Morris, the evolution of their friendship over the last forty years, and much more. Plus, David Hopping relives his experience seeing the Backstreet Boys at The Sphere. 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.

• 0:02Conan O'Brien?

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

• 0:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:05Conan O'Brien?

  Just accept the premise and we'll move ahead.

• 0:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 0:08Conan O'Brien?

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

• 0:13Speaker 01

  A vase.

• 0:15Conan O'Brien?

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

• 0:17Speaker 01

  A jacket.

• 0:19Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, nice jacket. I love a nice jacket.

• 0:20Speaker 01

  Oh yeah, that jacket. Nice jacket.

• 0:21Conan O'Brien?

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

• 0:23Speaker 01

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

• 0:25Conan O'Brien?

  Well, 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.

• 0:37Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 0:37Conan 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.

• 0:59Speaker 02

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• 1:33Speaker 03

  Hi, my name is Lisa Kudrow.

• 1:38Speaker 03

  And I feel still really good about being Conan O'Brien's friend.

• 1:42Conan O'Brien?

  Is this a day-to-day thing with you?

• 1:44Speaker 03

  Every day, I ask, I take a walk. And then I go, wait, how do you feel about being Conan O'Brien's friend?

• 2:14Conan O'Brien?

  Hey there, welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, joined by, well, no Matt Gourley right now, he's still out on paternity leave.

• 2:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:22Conan O'Brien?

  It's been six years now that he's on a paternity leave. This child just joined the army. Good to have you here, David Hopping. Great to be here. And Sona of Sessian, of course, as always. You were late today.

• 2:37Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 2:37Conan O'Brien?

  We just taped an interview that you weren't here for. What happened, was it a little bit of a snafu?

• 2:42Speaker 01

  There was a little bit of a snafu.

• 2:44Conan O'Brien?

  What happened there?

• 2:44Speaker 01

  Um, it wasn't in my calendar, so if it's not, I'm like, you know, if it's not there, I don't know it's happening.

• 2:52Conan O'Brien?

  Is this a physical thing you write in, a physical calendar?

• 2:55Speaker 01

  What do you mean? Like, I have a calendar and I write in it with my, like, a pen?

• 2:59Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it's got like, you know, a fireman with no shirt on, you know?

• 3:02Speaker 01

  Oh, like a calendar.

• 3:04Conan O'Brien?

  That's the kind of calendar I picture you having. You probably like a sexy guy calendar, right?

• 3:07Speaker 01

  Well, it's a digital one, but then there's other calendars that get sent that do have it on there, and I didn't pay attention to those.

• 3:14Conan O'Brien?

  There was a show about male dancers that you were obsessed with.

• 3:19Speaker 01

  They weren't dancers.

• 3:20Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, they were gigolos.

• 3:21Speaker 01

  They were gigolos.

• 3:21Conan O'Brien?

  You were obsessed with gigolos. Did you have a gigolo calendar back in the day?

• 3:24Speaker 01

  I did have a gigolo calendar!

• 3:26Conan O'Brien?

  And every month, and see, this is why I asked you. I picture you having like a gigolo calendar, or a shirtless fireman calendar, or now a heated rivalry calendar.

• 3:37Speaker 01

  Yes, yeah, baby!

• 3:39Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, and then the problem is you get so distracted by the hunks that you don't write things down. Every time you go, "Oh, I'll write down, I've gotta be in there for that interview for the podcast," and then you look up and it's one of the, eh, the shirtless hunks from heated rivalry. Then you go, "Ba ba ba ba, ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba." And then you forget, and you just write blither, blather, blother.

• 4:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, or I just drool all over it.

• 4:06Conan O'Brien?

  And you drop butts on the calendar?

• 4:07Speaker 01

  I draw, oh my god, I drop butts, but maybe, maybe that's my system for putting things in my calendar.

• 4:11Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, two butts means, uh, I gotta get into the podcast. Three butts means I've gotta go see my orthopedic surgeon.

• 4:20Speaker 01

  Yes, it's my butt code.

• 4:22Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 4:23Speaker 01

  It's the butt code for my calendar. Look, but then also today-

• 4:27Conan O'Brien?

  And then you use different things. There's some butts, there's some penises.

• 4:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 4:31Conan O'Brien?

  Six butts and two penises is Mikey and Charlie need to get their shots.

• 4:38Conan O'Brien?

  This is her system. The ancient Incas used knotted strings instead of recorded language, and it worked fine. Sona uses a series of butts and dicks.

• 4:51Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 4:52Conan O'Brien?

  And in a certain order, and I mean, when you published your version of King Lear, it was fantastic.

• 5:02Speaker 01

  People are gonna look at my calendars thousands of years from now.

• 5:05Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, they're like-

• 5:06Speaker 01

  And they're gonna be relics of butts and penises. And then people are going to worship-

• 5:12Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 5:12Speaker 01

  The altar of the butt penis.

• 5:14Conan O'Brien?

  It exactly explains the solar system and the movements of the sun.

• 5:18Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 5:19Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 5:19Speaker 01

  I think so. I think it's a very special system. Anyway, so I went to a workout class this morning.

• 5:25Conan O'Brien?

  Anyway, aside from my ancient Incan or Aztec calendar of butts and dicks.

• 5:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:33Conan O'Brien?

  Onward, yes.

• 5:34Speaker 01

  So butts and dicks calendar. Then I went to work out this morning, and I was driving somewhere, and then I got a text from Blay, which is one of the scary texts to get when you work. He's like, "Where are you? What's your ETA?" And I'm like, "Oh, I'm supposed to be somewhere right now." And then I called and I found out, but I look like shit.

• 5:53Conan O'Brien?

  You look like you went to the gym.

• 5:54Speaker 01

  Yes, look at me. Look at my hair.

• 5:57Conan O'Brien?

  Well, I think you were great. What's the problem?

• 5:58Speaker 01

  Shut up.

• 5:59Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, no, I mean-

• 6:00Speaker 01

  I mean, thank you. No, I feel like I'm really wishing you didn't have so many subscribers on YouTube right now.

• 6:06Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, so here's the thing. I wanna know what your workout is, because in the whole time I've known you, you've never said to me, "I'm off to the gym for my workout."

• 6:15Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 6:15Conan O'Brien?

  You've never done that.

• 6:16Speaker 01

  I don't.

• 6:17Conan O'Brien?

  So what do you do? What is a workout?

• 6:20Speaker 01

  Today was the first workout I went to.

• 6:23Conan O'Brien?

  That's, I didn't know that.

• 6:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:25Conan O'Brien?

  This is gold. I'm a prosecutor who just happened to ask a question. And you said, well, when I purchased the murder weapon and committed the murder.

• 6:35Speaker 01

  I thought today would be the day that I'm gonna go workout.

• 6:38Conan O'Brien?

  Where?

• 6:39Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 6:39Conan O'Brien?

  Where?

• 6:39Speaker 01

  I did a spin class at SoulCycle in Pasadena. Shout out, give me, no, don't give me some, I'm probably not gonna go back. I was really.

• 6:47Conan O'Brien?

  You are not going back.

• 6:48Speaker 01

  It really, I suffered throughout the entire thing.

• 6:51Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, so, also, I picture you like yelling back at any instructor. If they say, okay now ladies, let's go.

• 6:58Speaker 01

  No.

• 6:59Conan O'Brien?

  We're going up a hill now. You're like, fuck this, I'm not going up a hill.

• 7:02Speaker 01

  I was saying it under my breath. I was like, shut up bitch, shut up bitch. As she was talking and telling people what to do.

• 7:08Conan O'Brien?

  You're not allowed to yell at the instructor.

• 7:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:10Conan O'Brien?

  I'll cut a bit.

• 7:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, I, why, but I wanted to. And the whole time I was like, this is stupid, why am I doing this? I wanna watch TV. What am I doing? Why am I doing, like, I was taught, I had an internal monologue that was so not what you should have when you're in a workout class.

• 7:23Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 7:23Speaker 01

  I hated every second of it.

• 7:25Conan O'Brien?

  Did you have, were you, while you're working out, is there a big container of Red Vines in front of you? That you're eating while you're?

• 7:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, like six calories out, like 12 calories in.

• 7:35Conan O'Brien?

  Someone's feeding it to her. Yeah, yeah. You bring an assistant to feed you Red Vines. Well, I'm glad you're here and, um, yeah.

• 7:45Speaker 01

  I'm sorry I missed the interview.

• 7:46Conan O'Brien?

  Don't be sorry. I mean, yeah, you'd have had fun.

• 7:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:49Conan O'Brien?

  But, uh.

• 7:50Speaker 01

  I know. I liked who you interviewed and so I'm bummed I missed it.

• 7:53Conan O'Brien?

  No, I'm sure I'll interview, uh, you know, Barack and Michelle Obama again soon. It was Cher. Yeah, and Cher. It was Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and Cher.

• 8:01Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 8:02Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, and, oh, and the survivors of the band Queen. They, but you know what? We'll do, you'll come to the next time.

• 8:10Speaker 01

  We even got John Deacon included and he doesn't even do anything with the band anymore.

• 8:14Conan O'Brien?

  Everyone was here, it was really fun, but you wouldn't have loved it. Yeah, I took your seat. Yeah, oh, and this great hummus place sent in some food.

• 8:22Conan O'Brien?

  But next time that happens, we'll.

• 8:24Speaker 01

  Everyone's laughing it up. You have the hummus place, huh, guys? You like that one? I hate everybody in this room.

• 8:30Conan O'Brien?

  This is hilarious when I introduce this guest. It just always cracks me up.

• 8:34Speaker 01

  I know.

• 8:34Conan O'Brien?

  Because we've been friends, literally, forever.

• 8:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:37Conan O'Brien?

  And she is one of my absolute favorite people in the entire universe. She stars as Valerie Cherish in season three of the hilarious HBO series The Comeback, which people are so psyched for this. So excited. So psyched for it. She is one of my closest friends. I adore her, and I love when she comes on the podcast.

• 9:04Conan O'Brien?

  Lisa Kudrow, welcome.

• 9:10Conan O'Brien?

  I mean, we've known each other forever.

• 9:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:12Conan O'Brien?

  And got started together, as everyone knows, in improv in 86.

• 9:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:18Conan O'Brien?

  And it's still a day-to-day thing with you. I never know. I never know.

• 9:24Speaker 01

  I'm hot and cold.

• 9:25Conan O'Brien?

  Am I still good with?

• 9:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:26Conan O'Brien?

  There've been whole years where I've been out. But at the moment, I'm in, which is fine. And we'll see how it goes.

• 9:33Speaker 01

  That's not true.

• 9:33Conan O'Brien?

  The.

• 9:36Speaker 01

  It's the other way around.

• 9:37Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I know.

• 9:39Speaker 01

  What? Where'd that come from?

• 9:42Conan O'Brien?

  Look, in the 2000s, I just turned on you.

• 9:47Conan O'Brien?

  Now, we were just, it's funny, because, I mean, you came in here and you started being really funny, and we're just laughing, and we hadn't even, like, turned on the microphones yet. And it just always feels strange when I say, hey, my guest tonight is Lisa Kudrow, because we had dinner.

• 10:05Speaker 01

  Last week.

• 10:06Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, with my wife, Liza, and you. And Michelle could not be there, because he refuses to dine with me now.

• 10:13Speaker 01

  Right.

• 10:14Conan O'Brien?

  And.

• 10:17Conan O'Brien?

  I know, he was out of town. We're just trying to start trouble.

• 10:19Speaker 03

  No, yeah, anyway.

• 10:21Conan O'Brien?

  But, uh, yeah, we had a blast. And so it's so funny when it's formalized this way. A little bit, and it used to be worse. Not worse, because you were always great, but when I would say, when I had a band, and it was on TV, and they'd be like, "All right, here she comes."

• 10:39Conan O'Brien?

  And you'd come out, and you'd, you know, the dress, and I'm bowing to you, and then getting behind my seat.

• 10:44Speaker 03

  Hi, Conan.

• 10:45Conan O'Brien?

  I always flashback to you and I in a DuPars diner in the late 80s going, "Here's a funny idea for a skit."

• 10:51Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:52Conan O'Brien?

  Well, we both gotta get back to our day jobs.

• 10:55Conan O'Brien?

  So it's...

• 10:55Speaker 03

  Your day job was writing.

• 10:57Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, at least I had a decent, yeah, yeah. And you were slinging hash.

• 11:01Speaker 03

  At the headache clinic.

• 11:02Conan O'Brien?

  At the headache clinic, which was giving... Why were you slinging hash at a headache clinic?

• 11:07Speaker 03

  I don't know, you said slinging hash. I wanted to be a good improviser.

• 11:11Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, that was good, that was good. Now it's a very funny scene.

• 11:14Speaker 03

  A hash slinging headache clinic.

• 11:16Conan O'Brien?

  Exactly.

• 11:19Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I'm delighted that you're here. People get very excited when you come. Huge fans here. And so Paula Davis, who we were just talking about before the mics came on, who's been with me forever, who's our booker, she is vibrating for, I would say, a month now, talking to me about The Comeback and the new season of The Comeback.

• 11:46Speaker 03

  That's what she was telling me. She's doing a re-watch of seasons one and two.

• 11:49Conan O'Brien?

  But she's not the only one. I have so many friends that are telling me The Comeback, and because they know that you and I go way back, people are asking me questions about it. I don't know anything.

• 12:01Speaker 03

  A lot of people from my life couldn't watch seasons one and two. They couldn't handle it.

• 12:07Conan O'Brien?

  It was tough.

• 12:08Speaker 03

  And I think probably for you, even though you're too supportive to say it. But my husband hasn't seen them. Do you know that?

• 12:17Conan O'Brien?

  Really? I didn't know that.

• 12:18Speaker 03

  Michelle has not seen all of season one or all of season two.

• 12:22Conan O'Brien?

  I think that's really sweet. I watched both of them and thought it was brilliantly funny, but because I'm such good friends with you and care about you, it's hard.

• 12:35Speaker 03

  I just don't even know what anyone is talking about. With that, I can't.

• 12:42Conan O'Brien?

  I'll tell you specifically.

• 12:43Speaker 03

  And it makes me nervous that I'm, something's wrong with my version of reality. Because you're not the only one.

• 12:49Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 12:50Speaker 03

  Like, because they're so humiliated for her.

• 12:53Conan O'Brien?

  Well, you play it and everyone hears, you play it so brilliantly, close to the bone. And for me, anyway, there was the character of the writer, Paulie G. Who is just so mean. And that actor did such a great job.

• 13:13Speaker 03

  Lance Barber.

• 13:14Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, in season one, he was so good at being a type of writer I know.

• 13:21Speaker 03

  Right, thank you.

• 13:22Conan O'Brien?

  And it made me, but, you know, not supporting you at all, you know, making, just wearing away your confidence, uh, and so much anger and bringing so many of his own issues to that situation. That, because, I don't know, I've been in that world. It was hard. It was hard, just like, I, I told you, I wanted to like, fight him at one point.

• 13:48Speaker 03

  Right, yeah, yeah.

• 13:49Conan O'Brien?

  I said, I don't want to meet him because I think I want to hit him with a two by four.

• 13:53Speaker 03

  Right.

• 13:54Conan O'Brien?

  And, poor guy, he's a lovely guy and a terrific actor, but he needs a beating because.

• 14:00Speaker 03

  But listen, I mean, because we had a writer's room, the first season, and every one of them knew that guy.

• 14:09Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 14:10Speaker 03

  So we weren't making him up. And the thing is, is that, to me, it was really obvious that this guy thought he was having a promising career. You know, we hear that he was a Simpsons writer, he won an Emmy, and you know, and now he has this show. And then the network tells him, no, it has to be this. Oh, and by the way, just to hedge our bets, there's a companion reality show.

• 14:33Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 14:33Speaker 03

  And, and, and it's, that would be enraging.

• 14:37Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 14:37Speaker 03

  To any showrunner.

• 14:38Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 14:39Speaker 03

  And he is a particularly asshole-ish, right? And has whatever feelings he has about her. Because she is annoying. She is sort of.

• 14:49Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 14:50Speaker 03

  Phony, and what do you do with that? And just shut up.

• 14:53Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 14:53Speaker 03

  Right? Right, right.

• 14:58Speaker 03

  I've been, that's been a solid five minutes of me monologuing, by the way. But to me, it was really obvious, like, what he's pissed off about.

• 15:07Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 15:07Speaker 03

  And, okay.

• 15:08Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, that's fair. I just, uh, there's a-

• 15:12Speaker 03

  No, no, and, and he's punishing her.

• 15:14Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 15:14Speaker 03

  But did she seem punished?

• 15:16Conan O'Brien?

  Well, she's-

• 15:18Speaker 03

  Sona says no.

• 15:19Speaker 01

  No, she's, she's like blissfully, almost-

• 15:22Conan O'Brien?

  I wouldn't say blissfully. I would say-

• 15:24Speaker 03

  Maybe, okay.

• 15:24Conan O'Brien?

  Valerie Cherish is-

• 15:27Speaker 03

  Valiantly unaware.

• 15:28Speaker 01

  Yes, there you go.

• 15:30Conan O'Brien?

  But also, I think, one of the reasons she's that way is, she's not completely oblivious. She's-

• 15:39Speaker 03

  Right.

• 15:40Conan O'Brien?

  She knows that she's hanging by a thread in this business. She knows that, um, and, and you play it so well, uh, excruciatingly optimistic in a way that's so forced. Because you know that this isn't all going your way, and you're so thirsty. You really wanna win that Emmy. You really want, and what's amazing to me is that it really does capture something. You see out here.

• 16:07Speaker 03

  Right, yeah.

• 16:08Conan O'Brien?

  You see it out here all the time, is the big force smile. I can't tell you how many times I pass a billboard and I see a big smiling face-

• 16:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 16:18Conan O'Brien?

  -of someone who's saying, "It's all great."

• 16:21Speaker 03

  Right.

• 16:21Conan O'Brien?

  And I know that person's miserable. I, I know they are. I've met them. I know, you know. And I see those faces all over the place because so many people aren't happy in themselves.

• 16:33Speaker 03

  Right.

• 16:34Conan O'Brien?

  Do you know what I mean?

• 16:34Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 16:35Conan O'Brien?

  And, and so the smile gets bigger. And-

• 16:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 16:39Conan O'Brien?

  It, uh, that's what you see a lot of, and I think Valerie Cherish is like the best character, in my opinion, that captures something that exists out here. And I do have a lot of empathy for, but I also think she's not Peter Sellers as Clouseau. She's not someone who's oblivious.

• 16:57Speaker 03

  No.

• 16:58Conan O'Brien?

  Things are, fires are, you know, she knows that, oh, here's the paparazzi, they're not shooting her. They're shooting someone she used to work with. She's trying to get to her. They're stepping on her feet. She knows that it's not going her way, and she's pushing herself through the crowd.

• 17:15Speaker 03

  Yeah. I just realized, I just might be really mean. Because that just made me laugh.

• 17:23Conan O'Brien?

  Well, it's funny. No, it is.

• 17:24Speaker 03

  Not for her.

• 17:26Conan O'Brien?

  I mean.

• 17:27Speaker 03

  Not for her. She thinks it is, but it hasn't. Like, yeah, I don't.

• 17:33Conan O'Brien?

  But it's this, it's a, I don't know, it's a really fu-

• 17:36Speaker 03

  But to me, she's, what she's doing is like, that's okay. Like, that's her mantra is.

• 17:41Conan O'Brien?

  It's okay.

• 17:42Speaker 03

  It's okay. It's okay. That's what it takes. You know, like, it doesn't matter.

• 17:48Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 17:48Speaker 03

  And then, because first, I was just making fun of her. Season one, to me, yes, I am mean. And I was making fun of that. And after we were done, I had a friend, and she's smart, this woman, her name's Mairead. She's really great. And she was saying, oh, but no. And she's Irish. So, I don't know, maybe you know her.

• 18:07Conan O'Brien?

  Of course, yeah.

• 18:10Conan O'Brien?

  I see, I see her at the meetings. The community. Once we reached for the same potato at the bowl, yeah.

• 18:15Speaker 03

  Oh, my god.

• 18:16Conan O'Brien?

  It happens, yeah. Is it just a bowl of potatoes there?

• 18:20Speaker 03

  Fight over this.

• 18:21Conan O'Brien?

  There was a fight.

• 18:22Speaker 03

  But she said, no, isn't she wonderful? She's just, you know, she's so, you can't keep her down.

• 18:28Conan O'Brien?

  No, yeah.

• 18:28Speaker 03

  There's no one more resilient. No, she's wonderful. She's the strongest person I think I've ever seen. And I just went, huh? And then realized, yeah, because I don't feel bad.

• 18:40Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 18:41Speaker 03

  Playing her.

• 18:42Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 18:42Speaker 03

  I don't feel decimated.

• 18:45Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 18:45Speaker 03

  When I'm playing her.

• 18:47Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 18:47Speaker 03

  Because I am rejecting the rejection or the insult and turning it into something that she needs, that I need.

• 18:57Conan O'Brien?

  Well, she doesn't say no, ever.

• 18:59Speaker 03

  Right.

• 18:59Conan O'Brien?

  She says, if they say, okay, now you've got to, you know, for this, I'm making this up, but if in the new season, they said, okay, to promote this next project, we're gonna, you, you need to be covered in duct tape, and we're gonna put bunny ears on you, and you have to hop down Hollywood Boulevard, you'd be like, all right, well, okay, you know, I mean, you can do it. This is what we're doing. I guess this is what the kids want to see now. I don't get it.

• 19:22Speaker 03

  Right.

• 19:23Conan O'Brien?

  But you would do it in 120-degree heat.

• 19:25Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 19:26Conan O'Brien?

  And probably pass out, but she is intrepid, she's brave.

• 19:32Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 19:32Conan O'Brien?

  I don't know. And just, I, I-

• 19:34Speaker 03

  She wants what she wants, and whether you think that's a worthwhile goal.

• 19:39Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 19:39Speaker 03

  Is another issue, but, yeah, she doesn't give up, and there's something, I guess we like that.

• 19:45Conan O'Brien?

  So, here's, here's something about-

• 19:47Speaker 03

  I guess we like that. I don't know.

• 19:50Speaker 03

  All of a sudden, like, Lindsey Vonn flashed in my head. Everyone likes a come- no, but, because I was thinking, why is she doing this? You know, and then, look, well, everyone likes a comeback, and everyone likes.

• 20:02Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 20:02Speaker 03

  That's why I went, oh, I don't know, it seems dangerous, and then.

• 20:05Conan O'Brien?

  This just happened over the weekend, I don't know when this comes out, but Lindsey Vonn crashed, and I think she fractured her leg.

• 20:11Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 20:12Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. But, there is the reality to, um, you know, she was really brave to make that attempt, but you're right, there's a high level of, there's a slim chance this will work out.

• 20:26Speaker 03

  Right.

• 20:26Conan O'Brien?

  But that's what makes a comeback so incredible, the odds against it.

• 20:30Speaker 03

  And you can't have a comeback, or do that, if you're not just being optimistic and hopeful, hopeful, against all odds, against, like, what's, like, presented right in front of your face.

• 20:42Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 20:43Speaker 03

  I don't know, but, yeah, I don't know, we do this every 10 years.

• 20:45Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, this is what I wanted to talk about. This is the thing, this is what I love. What's so unique about this show, is I think, the first one is.

• 20:57Speaker 03

  2004 or 2005?

• 20:59Conan O'Brien?

  2004, and.

• 21:00Speaker 03

  Came out in 2005.

• 21:01Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, and you were kind of, I mean, it's, I think it's two years or something before Keeping It With The Kardashians. It's like, this is.

• 21:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:09Conan O'Brien?

  You were doing a satire or something that hadn't, I don't think, really formed yet.

• 21:14Speaker 03

  Right.

• 21:14Conan O'Brien?

  Then you come back 10 years later, and now, which then commented on that moment, and I think few people would have the patience or the nerve to say, these come out once every 10 years.

• 21:28Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:29Conan O'Brien?

  But it's really cool, because now, I have not seen a second of, of the third season, but the idea that you can now drop in again, a decade later, is very unusual.

• 21:42Speaker 03

  It is, isn't it?

• 21:43Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 21:43Speaker 03

  Yeah, but I'm so, it's so great that we didn't get picked up that first season, because it gets to be about something.

• 21:52Conan O'Brien?

  Right. Were you surprised when it didn't get picked up?

• 21:54Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.

• 21:55Conan O'Brien?

  I was surprised, yeah.

• 21:57Speaker 03

  Why were you surprised?

• 21:59Conan O'Brien?

  Just because it was really good.

• 22:00Speaker 03

  Thanks.

• 22:01Conan O'Brien?

  And you think, well, this will now get picked up.

• 22:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:04Conan O'Brien?

  Of course, um, I've been wrong about these things before.

• 22:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:09Conan O'Brien?

  I've had my own experiences, but, but, um...

• 22:12Speaker 03

  Wait, what do you mean?

• 22:13Conan O'Brien?

  I don't know. Um, but I, but I think, uh...

• 22:17Speaker 03

  You've only had an easy time.

• 22:18Conan O'Brien?

  You're right. Um, just...

• 22:21Speaker 03

  You and your privilege.

• 22:22Conan O'Brien?

  I know.

• 22:25Conan O'Brien?

  Never a bump in, never a bump in the road.

• 22:36Conan O'Brien?

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

• 22:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:39Conan 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.

• 22:53Speaker 03

  Nice.

• 22:54Conan 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.

• 23:02Speaker 03

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

• 23:07Conan O'Brien?

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

• 23:11Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 23:11Conan 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?

• 23:26Speaker 03

  Hello!

• 23:27Conan 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.

• 24:01Conan O'Brien?

  Did you know that one in four Americans targeted by scams end up falling for them?

• 24:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:06Conan O'Brien?

  You fell for one.

• 24:07Speaker 01

  I fell for a scam.

• 24:08Conan O'Brien?

  Now, you didn't lose too much money, but you did lose.

• 24:10Speaker 01

  I did lose, and it was very inconvenient, and now they put protections on my account like I'm, uh, dumb.

• 24:16Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I don't know where they got that impression.

• 24:20Conan O'Brien?

  Criminals are now using AI to make scams look more realistic than ever. In 2025, AI fraud spiked 1,210% and cost Americans $893 million. That's incredible. Well, with AI, it can get so smart now.

• 24:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:37Conan O'Brien?

  Do you know what I mean?

• 24:37Speaker 01

  Maybe I should start scamming.

• 24:39Conan O'Brien?

  No, that's not the point.

• 24:40Speaker 01

  Oh, no, that's not the point of this.

• 24:41Conan O'Brien?

  That's not the point.

• 24:42Speaker 01

  It's so much money.

• 24:43Conan O'Brien?

  One accidental click, Sona, can expose your information, putting you at risk of identity theft. Luckily, this is the point, not that you should start scamming, but that everyone should get LifeLock.

• 24:52Speaker 01

  Right, right, right, right, right.

• 24:53Conan O'Brien?

  LifeLock has live US-based restoration specialists who will be with you every step of the way to fix your identity theft from first alert to full restoration. This is fantastic. How do you not have this?

• 25:04Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 25:05Conan O'Brien?

  If you have expenses or money stolen due to identity theft, you're backed by the million-dollar protection package with up to $3 million coverage in some plans. Join now and save up to 30% off your first year. Go to lifelock.com/conan, that's lifelock.com/conan, to save 30%. Terms apply.

• 25:24Conan O'Brien?

  This fall, I want to try something different.

• 25:26Speaker 01

  What?

• 25:26Conan O'Brien?

  I like to change it up. I like to learn things, so I'm gonna try and make apple cider.

• 25:30Speaker 01

  Ooh.

• 25:30Conan O'Brien?

  Every morning.

• 25:31Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 25:32Conan O'Brien?

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

• 25:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:34Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, fall's the perfect season to try something new, like joining T-Mobile.

• 25:38Speaker 01

  Oh, that's good.

• 25:39Conan O'Brien?

  See what I did?

• 25:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:40Conan O'Brien?

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

• 25:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:44Conan O'Brien?

  They're America's best network.

• 25:45Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 25:46Conan 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.

• 25:53Speaker 01

  Oh, that's weird.

• 25:53Conan O'Brien?

  When I'm thinking about, like, making apple cider, and, uh, 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

• 26:03Speaker 01

  You travel a lot.

• 26:03Conan O'Brien?

  travel show that I do.

• 26:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 26:05Conan 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.

• 26:15Speaker 01

  That doesn't seem like a good idea.

• 26:16Conan O'Brien?

  It's a great idea.

• 26:17Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 26:18Conan O'Brien?

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

• 26:23Speaker 03

  My god.

• 26:24Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. Now, all these reasons make T-Mobile a great choice.

• 26:27Speaker 03

  I agree.

• 26:28Conan O'Brien?

  T-Mobile is stacking up reasons to join. Go to T-Mobile.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 T-Mobile.com, consult a physician. I just threw that in there.

• 26:52Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 26:59Conan O'Brien?

  What's nice about the world we live in now is shows used to go away all the time.

• 27:05Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:05Conan O'Brien?

  But now there's this world where shows can not get picked up, but they, they don't go away. And then you can have this audience build and people who, and if you make, I mean, I've seen it with so many, like Party Down is an example of a show that I don't think was getting a lot of attention. But you can check in on it years and years later, and it's almost like The Wire. The, you know, there are these comedy shows that, okay, didn't see it, didn't support it. You check in much later on, I wasn't aware of Party Down, and then you, you see it and you go, oh, they've really, they've made a nice little Swiss watch here.

• 27:42Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:43Conan O'Brien?

  And it's just as good now as it would have been if I had tuned in the day it came out. And definitely The Comeback had that.

• 27:50Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:50Conan O'Brien?

  Where it was building and building, and you probably experienced a lot of people when you're out at the supermarket.

• 27:56Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. The supermarket is where all the fans of The Comeback are.

• 28:01Conan O'Brien?

  They are. They are. They're there. They're there in the produce lane and you're there like, what about those melons? And you're like, I don't know. Hey, The Comeback. But I go to a lot of supermarkets. Uh, but you must have had that experience where you're hearing from people.

• 28:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:18Conan O'Brien?

  I love that. And so you didn't hear that necessarily from the, you know, the people that made the show or broadcast the show.

• 28:25Speaker 03

  Right.

• 28:26Conan O'Brien?

  But you knew, I'm hearing from way too many people.

• 28:30Speaker 03

  Well, even when it was, when we were on, we heard.

• 28:36Speaker 03

  David Bowie got in touch with HBO because he was gonna be on tour. He didn't want to miss anything, so send him.

• 28:42Conan O'Brien?

  Wow.

• 28:43Speaker 03

  Whatever, I don't, 2005 DVDs or whatever it is. Look, I'm looking like, I don't know. We don't remember, you know?

• 28:51Conan O'Brien?

  Then you find out the other shows David Bowie wanted.

• 28:57Speaker 03

  No, he wanted-

• 28:57Conan O'Brien?

  I didn't get the latest Fear Factor.

• 29:01Conan O'Brien?

  Where they eat shit. Can you have that one, please? Um, you're like, David.

• 29:06Speaker 03

  But to, and then we felt like, oh, okay. Yeah, that's right, HBO. That's all they need to hear, probably. And, you know, we had a lot of bad reviews because people didn't understand what they were seeing.

• 29:19Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 29:19Speaker 03

  And then, uh, by the time, halfway through, there were revised reviews, like retractions and, and went, wow, when does that happen?

• 29:30Conan O'Brien?

  Which is pretty rare.

• 29:31Speaker 03

  So we, and also our ratings, we were doing as well, if not better than Entourage, when its first season was just the year before. And went, alright, so, great. And who else has shows that you don't, you've not seen this before? You don't really understand, and then you get to know what it is and embrace it, and it's great. HBO, except they kept telling us, yeah, we're not, HBO's not HBO anymore, so. I don't know, it's really gotta, I don't know, we'll see. I don't know. And then it turns out, I only found out a couple of years ago, there was one guy at HBO that I don't know if I ever even met him in charge, who was just like, we're not gonna pick that up, right?

• 30:16Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 30:17Speaker 03

  So, well, but I have to say, yes, it was a surprise that we didn't get picked up, but I didn't feel bad.

• 30:25Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 30:26Speaker 03

  I, and I was in shock that I didn't feel bad, because I thought, well, look, this is about the best I can do. And I think we did it about the best that it could be done, so. I've got nothing to feel bad about. It's not my mistake.

• 30:41Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 30:42Speaker 03

  So, I don't know. I didn't feel bad.

• 30:45Conan O'Brien?

  Well, that's, I'm glad.

• 30:46Speaker 03

  Um, yeah.

• 30:48Conan O'Brien?

  You should have felt a little bad.

• 30:49Speaker 03

  Oh, Conan.

• 30:50Conan O'Brien?

  I'm just sorry.

• 30:51Speaker 03

  I felt bad later.

• 30:52Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 30:53Speaker 03

  When I-

• 30:53Conan O'Brien?

  As long as you felt bad at some point, I'm happy.

• 30:55Speaker 03

  No, I did.

• 30:55Conan O'Brien?

  Good, good.

• 30:56Speaker 03

  Oh, no, don't worry.

• 30:57Conan O'Brien?

  Good.

• 30:58Speaker 03

  Oh, good. Oh, I felt bad. No, no, like gut-wrenching.

• 31:00Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 31:01Speaker 03

  Like a hole in my-

• 31:03Conan O'Brien?

  In your soul.

• 31:04Speaker 03

  Inside, in my soul.

• 31:04Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah. Good.

• 31:05Speaker 03

  And my soul's inside.

• 31:06Conan O'Brien?

  That's necessary for good work.

• 31:08Speaker 03

  It is.

• 31:08Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 31:09Speaker 03

  I, okay.

• 31:09Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, you'll, you'll have it one day, so.

• 31:11Speaker 03

  Well, I don't know. Will I? But here's the thing. It wasn't because it was canceled. It was because someone else, it was Bill Maher talking about something and jokes that don't land because of like one joke, and it was famous, I don't remember, um, someone making fun of someone who's marginalized or, you know, like a victim or, and he was saying, "Look, you wanna make fun of white men? You can make fun of white men all you want, okay? Because they've got the power."

• 31:39Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 31:39Speaker 03

  "But don't make fun of that person or that thing." And I went, "Ugh." Women are still, you know, you can't make fun of women in that way. Like, you can't, oh, no. They're just, it's too, they're too easily recognized as victims if they're, and I went, "No."

• 31:59Conan O'Brien?

  I never thought of it that way.

• 32:00Speaker 03

  I'm such an idiot. Oh.

• 32:01Conan O'Brien?

  I mean, I, I, because so much great comedy, I mean-

• 32:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, women do-

• 32:05Conan O'Brien?

  Lucille Ball, you know, Tina Fey, so many great, uh, on and on and on have made fun of themselves as women, and it's brilliant, you know?

• 32:17Speaker 03

  Yes, but Val, well, this wasn't the same. This was-

• 32:21Conan O'Brien?

  Right, right.

• 32:22Speaker 03

  Like, a man being cruel to her, and I thought, "No, it's a writer."

• 32:27Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 32:28Speaker 03

  You know, have, giving a hard time to an actress. Like, why is that a big shock and horror? I mean, that's what, what do you think, what do you think actors and especially actresses have put up with forever?

• 32:44Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 32:44Speaker 03

  You know, and haven't, I don't know. I don't know.

• 32:48Speaker 01

  No.

• 32:48Speaker 03

  Anyway.

• 32:48Speaker 01

  I agree.

• 32:49Speaker 03

  You proved me wrong.

• 32:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:50Speaker 03

  I take it back, I'll never say it again.

• 32:52Speaker 01

  I get it, no, I get it. I get what she's saying.

• 32:55Conan O'Brien?

  What do you, what do you, give us your input here, Sona.

• 32:56Speaker 01

  I just think, I actually think it's part of the reason why she was so just kind of like, okay, just taking it is because she's used, used to it. I mean, that's how it's always been for her.

• 33:06Speaker 03

  Right, it's not going to change.

• 33:07Speaker 01

  Exactly, yeah.

• 33:08Speaker 03

  So you've got to, like, here is, here are the boundaries.

• 33:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:12Speaker 03

  And so you just work within them, around them, you know, that's all.

• 33:18Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 33:19Speaker 03

  And I mean, look, I don't know if it's because I've, I don't know if it's, I never felt like, oh, I'm a woman and so, you know, I don't get to, I don't know. I mean, on some level, yes. Especially with this, it just didn't occur to me. It's like, this isn't gender-specific ambition or hopes and dreams. So it didn't occur to me that it would be an issue at all. And I think it kind of was, that it was a woman, but, um...

• 33:46Conan O'Brien?

  Now, when you come back 10 years later and you do the second season.

• 33:49Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:50Conan O'Brien?

  You, did you feel more assured that I know, I really know who this character is, I know there's a lot of fans, people are excited for us to return? Did it feel different?

• 34:03Speaker 03

  Kind of. I mean, it's a little scarier because then there's expectations. And, and what Michael Patrick King and I knew was it's 10 years later, she's 10 years older and it's going to be different. It has to be different. And, um, you know, and then I just thought it was great that we had her win the Emmy.

• 34:24Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 34:24Speaker 03

  For a performance she couldn't even appreciate in herself because she was stuck on how tired she looked.

• 34:31Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 34:32Speaker 03

  In the scene, and, um, and I liked, I liked that a lot for her. And then, of course, the huge thing is that she, you know, leaves the Emmys that you hosted, thank you.

• 34:43Conan O'Brien?

  Mm-hmm.

• 34:46Conan O'Brien?

  I got paid.

• 34:48Speaker 03

  Oh, you did? I told them you didn't have to get paid. That's...

• 34:52Conan O'Brien?

  It was...

• 34:52Speaker 03

  That makes me mad.

• 34:55Conan O'Brien?

  It was validated parking. That was my payment, yeah. But, um...

• 34:59Speaker 03

  I needed to say I'm kidding.

• 35:06Conan O'Brien?

  It's disturbing when you'll say something like, "Yeah, and I hope something horrible happens to you, Conan." I'm kidding. That... I'm kidding chills me more. Oh, okay.

• 35:16Speaker 03

  Well, because it could be real.

• 35:17Conan O'Brien?

  It could be true.

• 35:19Speaker 03

  I'm explaining the joke.

• 35:20Conan O'Brien?

  So, I don't know. I was really... To yourself. I was really sad about, um, the character of Mickey.

• 35:29Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 35:29Conan O'Brien?

  The actor who plays your...

• 35:31Speaker 03

  And the actor, Mickey, Robert Michael Morris.

• 35:33Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, and he was such a... So terrific, and he completely nailed this kind of person that we all know, especially in this business. Someone who's been with you a long time, is in your corner, and it's just, all you were getting was, you know, undiluted support

• 35:55Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 35:56Conan O'Brien?

  from him. But, uh... And of course, he's not perfect, but I just, I was very, obviously sad, you know, that, that he had passed, and that character is just kind of note perfect, I think.

• 36:13Speaker 03

  Yes, he is, and also biting his tongue. Like, we had so many takes, he was sort of a little bit of a reality check sometimes, when she's saying something and you're wondering like, "That's stupid, right?" And then you, like, they switch over to Mickey who's looking confused, or

• 36:30Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 36:31Speaker 03

  "Why'd she say that?"

• 36:32Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 36:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, he was great, yeah, and that was a horrible loss. I mean, I, I couldn't even think about...

• 36:40Speaker 03

  Doing more.

• 36:40Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 36:41Speaker 03

  For a really long time because we'd been talking about it and, you know, knew that it would, it might be possible, you know, to do more. But no, it took me a really long time to get over Mickey. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, he was great. And, you know, he wasn't, he was sick when we were shooting that season. And when our first day, we were, we had to walk back and forth a lot somewhere. I don't know. And he had to sit down. He said, I don't know if I can do this. And Michael Patrick King, you know, who knew him and from college, that was his college acting teacher. And, um, and he came over and he,

• 37:26Speaker 03

  and he just said, you can do it. Of course you can do it. And I said, yeah, whatever you need. And he got, as over the course of shooting, he got better and better and better. And his doctors said, what are you doing? Because everything's good. Like, the disease is not progressing.

• 37:46Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 37:47Speaker 03

  Whoa, we don't, what are you doing? So I don't, it's that stuff. I, I love hearing stories about that.

• 37:56Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 37:56Speaker 03

  Happening, which.

• 37:58Conan O'Brien?

  Because we don't understand it, but it makes 100%.

• 38:00Speaker 03

  We believe it.

• 38:01Conan O'Brien?

  I, I believe there have been times where I haven't felt well. And then I've gone out and done a show for a really big audience, you know, at a theater or something. And I, I, I feel great afterwards.

• 38:17Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 38:17Conan O'Brien?

  And you think, okay, this is adrenaline, but it's also community. I got my people around me. Um, I'm getting all this positivity.

• 38:27Speaker 03

  Right, right.

• 38:28Conan O'Brien?

  You're getting this bath that is, uh, very, um, you know, life-saving.

• 38:34Speaker 03

  Right.

• 38:34Conan O'Brien?

  It's, it's, so I totally understand that.

• 38:36Speaker 03

  Yeah. I, I, right. I mean, we, look, if COVID. Taught us anything. Well, taught us a lot of things, but to me, one of them was, boy, our immune systems. Our, everyone's is different and wow, it seems like. What activates it and what, you know, what helps it along and how much of wellness is immune system and then other things and we don't know. To me, it just meant, oh, that's right. We don't know most everything about our bodies and our universe and every, we don't know a lot.

• 39:12Conan O'Brien?

  Well, I get most of it, but. Okay. I'm sorry, I just do.

• 39:16Speaker 01

  You understand that stuff?

• 39:17Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I do.

• 39:18Speaker 01

  Oh, okay.

• 39:19Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 39:19Speaker 01

  Can you explain anything about the immune?

• 39:21Conan O'Brien?

  I don't think you would understand.

• 39:22Speaker 01

  Oh, okay.

• 39:23Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, I'm sorry, but you know what I mean? It's just the.

• 39:28Speaker 01

  Do I know what you mean?

• 39:29Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I'm just thinking on like, I'm thinking in like the ninth dimension, you know? So there's only so much I can do for you people.

• 39:35Speaker 03

  That's true.

• 39:35Conan O'Brien?

  You know what's interesting?

• 39:36Speaker 03

  That's true.

• 39:37Conan O'Brien?

  I just, I'm sorry. I'm a little bit honest and then, oh, it's all this.

• 39:42Speaker 03

  By the way, I mean, I think Conan is so smart that he could explain physics.

• 39:46Conan O'Brien?

  No, not physics. Physics I don't understand.

• 39:49Speaker 03

  You don't?

• 39:49Conan O'Brien?

  No, I really don't.

• 39:50Speaker 03

  Did you ever take physics?

• 39:51Conan O'Brien?

  No, I mean, I did in like high school, but I, I, you know, when they start saying, oh, time is a.

• 39:58Speaker 03

  Relative.

• 39:59Conan O'Brien?

  Well, of course, I understand that. I'm the one who explained it to Einstein.

• 40:05Speaker 03

  Oh, okay.

• 40:07Conan O'Brien?

  But no, there's so much I don't understand, uh, that it's.

• 40:10Speaker 03

  If I believed that, oh, okay.

• 40:11Conan O'Brien?

  Very humbly.

• 40:12Speaker 03

  So that was you.

• 40:12Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 40:15Conan O'Brien?

  Went back in time and he was like, who's this man? What are you doing in my patent office? Hey, equals MC squared, buddy, and grow out a mustache.

• 40:23Speaker 03

  Oh, wow.

• 40:24Conan O'Brien?

  And then I zip back to the future, yeah.

• 40:25Speaker 03

  That was Conan, you guys.

• 40:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, your accent was spot on.

• 40:28Conan O'Brien?

  Well, that was Einstein, yeah.

• 40:30Speaker 01

  Can I hear it again?

• 40:31Conan O'Brien?

  I'm trying to work in the patent office.

• 40:33Speaker 01

  There we go, okay.

• 40:34Conan O'Brien?

  And I think, oh, who's this Irish lady? I'm a dude, man.

• 40:41Conan O'Brien?

  You look like Jane Lynch, shut up. He knew Jane Lynch?

• 40:46Speaker 03

  Time is relative.

• 40:49Speaker 03

  He just tried to explain it to you.

• 40:52Conan O'Brien?

  I don't even know. So, here's an interesting thing about you is that you've experienced this real, uh, this real victory in this space with the comeback, but you also got to experience that.

• 41:11Speaker 03

  Failure, oh.

• 41:12Conan O'Brien?

  No, no.

• 41:14Speaker 03

  What if that's where you were going? That would be great.

• 41:16Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, yes, you, I don't know, I don't know what you were doing before the comeback. It just didn't pop, whatever it was. No, my point being that you, with Friends, you could arguably say you got to be in the last giant communal TV.

• 41:32Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 41:33Conan O'Brien?

  You know, mega hit that no one at the time realized this is maybe the last of these, where everyone's gonna watch this show and it's a cultural, cultural touchstone and, this is where we all are, watching these people go through this, this life. That was such a phenomenon.

• 41:57Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 41:58Conan O'Brien?

  And very few people get to be in the nose cone of that rocket. And you've had both these, both very different experiences, but the success you're having now is, is the success of this new way of experiencing TV as opposed to the massive, you know, uh, it's Cheers level, Happy Days, massive, uh, and I'm just curious, like you've experienced them both and I don't think a lot of people have. It's gotta be unusual to have both of those.

• 42:31Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 42:34Conan O'Brien?

  I wasn't, that's all, you don't need to comment.

• 42:36Speaker 03

  I don't know, I don't know what to say.

• 42:37Speaker 01

  To be like a cult hit, cuz that's what I feel like.

• 42:40Conan O'Brien?

  But also, it's a different, it's a very, um, it's, it's, it's a very, it's a great piece of work that is, uh, that fits this new medium.

• 42:52Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 42:53Conan O'Brien?

  Really well, in my opinion, which is, um, and then the-

• 42:57Speaker 03

  Okay, I'm just trying to understand. Cuz what do you mean, times relative?

• 43:01Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 43:01Speaker 03

  Alright, yeah.

• 43:03Conan O'Brien?

  See, a guy's on a train. And he's passing a station. Now, what if someone on the station throws an orange?

• 43:10Speaker 03

  See, that's what I'm hearing simultaneously while you're talking about the other thing, cuz time folds.

• 43:16Conan O'Brien?

  Cuz you're existing, yeah, you're on both folds at the same time.

• 43:18Speaker 01

  Oh, right, okay.

• 43:19Conan O'Brien?

  You get what I'm saying.

• 43:21Speaker 03

  And hi, I'm Lisa.

• 43:22Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm also at that point in my life now, too. I'm traveling, I'm existing on this plane.

• 43:28Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 43:29Conan O'Brien?

  In 2026, but I'm also right now in, uh, 1986, and I'm buying tons of Lisa Kudrow stock. And now I'm rich.

• 43:43Speaker 03

  It was exciting when I went public.

• 43:47Conan O'Brien?

  I made a killing. You know, some of you started buying Lisa when Friends hit the air, but not me. I was there in the olden days when we were in a weird basement doing improv.

• 44:00Speaker 03

  Oh, right.

• 44:01Conan O'Brien?

  For absolutely nobody. I think that one night, we had one person in the, it was a rat. But they applauded, and they had good, they had good suggestions. But they, they were the same suggestions. Virulent disease, rat, you said that already.

• 44:21Speaker 03

  You were so mad at me. It felt like there were days we were doing this, and you were just looking, and you're like, why are we doing this? Like, why, what did you make me do?

• 44:30Conan O'Brien?

  We were in a, performing in a theater that was at the bottom of the Scientology Center, and no one would come in. And there was one person, I think one night, there was one or two people in-

• 44:40Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 44:41Conan O'Brien?

  A theater that, and we did our show anyway. We were like, we're gonna, the real pros perform even when there's one or two people. Let's go. And then afterwards, I was just embittered.

• 44:50Speaker 01

  Oh. Yeah, you were mad. That's rough, though.

• 44:53Conan O'Brien?

  And she was my, you know, so honest. Elisa's always super honest with me and I just, she would, when I would be down, or if someone was doing performances that were hacky, I would put my head in my hands like this, and she'd say, "They can see you."

• 45:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:08Conan O'Brien?

  "You're being a dick." And I'm like, "All right, you're right, you're right, I forgot."

• 45:11Speaker 03

  That's subtle compared to what you were doing. You know what you were doing.

• 45:16Speaker 01

  What were you, what was you doing?

• 45:18Conan O'Brien?

  I don't know, I can't, oh, pulling my hair out, yeah.

• 45:21Speaker 01

  What the fuck?

• 45:22Speaker 03

  You know that bit, that funny bit, when he's like, in so much pain, and he's pulling his hair out? And, so it's a little more than just that.

• 45:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, okay. I know. What?

• 45:34Conan O'Brien?

  I'm saying, I...

• 45:35Speaker 03

  I'm saying you're a terrible person, basically, I guess. Wow, that's not nice.

• 45:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:41Speaker 03

  That's not a nice thing for a guest to do.

• 45:43Conan O'Brien?

  I wore my, I wore my heart on my sleeve.

• 45:46Speaker 03

  I know.

• 45:46Conan O'Brien?

  When it came to comedy.

• 45:48Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 45:48Conan O'Brien?

  And that was not always a good thing.

• 45:50Speaker 03

  Mm.

• 45:51Conan O'Brien?

  And I needed to just be...

• 45:51Speaker 03

  I just felt like it's good for us to get some...

• 45:55Conan O'Brien?

  You just needed to put a sheet over me when someone went up to do a nerd character and had tape around the middle of their glasses, going, "Hmm, I've been working on a new formula, and I like computers." And Lisa just needed to have, you need to have a tarp that they put over a barbecue outdoors. You just need to have one that you put over me so that they couldn't see that I wanted to die.

• 46:17Speaker 03

  Wait, who's going, oh, you're going up? Okay.

• 46:21Speaker 03

  Give me a second.

• 46:24Conan O'Brien?

  Conan, we're gonna put the tarp on now.

• 46:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 46:26Conan O'Brien?

  Then you just see a quivering tarp with steam coming off of it.

• 46:29Speaker 03

  With fists coming out.

• 46:31Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, listen, what is this, beat up Conan day? Sona's not gonna stand for that.

• 46:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, I am, I am.

• 46:37Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, okay.

• 46:38Speaker 01

  No, yeah, yeah.

• 46:38Conan O'Brien?

  You're gonna encourage it.

• 46:39Speaker 01

  No, I am, I'm gonna encourage you, I'm gonna laugh, and I'm gonna enjoy it.

• 46:42Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, good.

• 46:43Speaker 03

  But to me, it's not beating up on you, it's just, you are, we had a highly attuned...

• 46:50Speaker 03

  Antenna for subpar comedy. And that's the whole thing about classes. Everyone's learning what their clown is. Don't you hate that expression? Find your clown.

• 47:01Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 47:01Speaker 03

  I mean, yeah, anyway.

• 47:03Conan O'Brien?

  Who's your clown?

• 47:03Speaker 03

  Groundling thing. Teachers like, you know, you just gotta find your clown. And I get really mad.

• 47:08Conan O'Brien?

  The one thing I still can't do to this day is improv warm up exercises. And there have been, I didn't like them back in the eighties. And I just wanted to go out there and do the thing. And I didn't wanna play these games backstage to have us all get in the mood or something.

• 47:25Speaker 03

  Me neither, not in the mood.

• 47:26Conan O'Brien?

  And then, um, yeah. And it's these games like bleep, bloop, bloop. I'll look at you and go bleep. And you'll look at me and go bloop. And bleep, bloop, bloop. And you're always in an alley somewhere in Hollywood. And it smells like urine and you're going bloop, bloop, bloopity bloop, bloop, bloop, bloopity bloop. And I would say, can we just not do this? I will pay you. I will pay you if we don't have to do this. And be like, you have to do it, man. It's really good.

• 47:51Speaker 03

  We had to do that recently.

• 47:52Conan O'Brien?

  We did, we.

• 47:53Speaker 03

  A few years ago.

• 47:54Conan O'Brien?

  We did a, we did a show for charity and backstage, again, in an alley in Culver City, I think. And someone said, okay, everybody, let's warm up. Let's play, let's play skiddly daddly dee.

• 48:06Speaker 03

  I know.

• 48:06Conan O'Brien?

  You go skiddly doo, skiddly dee, skiddly daddly. What is that really?

• 48:09Speaker 03

  And I don't know what it is.

• 48:11Conan O'Brien?

  What's, you know?

• 48:12Speaker 03

  No, I didn't know what the thing was. They were even telling the game.

• 48:15Conan O'Brien?

  And I said.

• 48:16Speaker 03

  But it was an involved thing. But first you had to like, skidoo, like just like, no.

• 48:22Conan O'Brien?

  And I was begging, I was saying, can I just not do this?

• 48:26Speaker 03

  Yeah, why did you do it? No, I think we did it a little bit and then just went, all right. Okay.

• 48:30Conan O'Brien?

  Moving on.

• 48:31Speaker 03

  Is it time? I think it's time. I think, I don't know that we have time for this.

• 48:35Conan O'Brien?

  I made, I made the sound of a siren. I said, oh, I think someone, I think that someone got hurt somewhere. We better go inside. Oh, cops are coming. We better clear out.

• 48:45Speaker 03

  Is that a gunshot?

• 48:45Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. Kapow. That's not a gun coming. That's a terrible gun. Now get back to your bloop. I said blipped. You gotta say bloop. Anyway, that's just me. I wasn't built for that.

• 48:59Speaker 03

  No, I didn't like it either.

• 49:00Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 49:00Speaker 03

  I almost quit because I didn't like what I saw in the first improv class, where it's like, throw a space ball and they're just, and, and be angry. And they're just like, grr. What, I couldn't, I just went, that's what I have to do? Maybe I'm not, this isn't for me.

• 49:16Conan O'Brien?

  You know what's interesting?

• 49:17Speaker 03

  It's not for me.

• 49:18Conan O'Brien?

  I've always thought, and this is something that's true of legitimate acting, which is not what I do, but the, the line between it being great and you absolutely humiliating yourself is so razor thin. And, you know, a lot of acting classes, kind of, you need to just put that stuff all aside and strip yourself of all your, and I, I think of, of your defenses and then sob or roll around on the floor or pretend you're a jelly bean or all that kind of stuff. And I thought, yeah, did you go, mm, like, good jelly bean?

• 49:58Speaker 03

  Mm, that was, that was you being a jelly bean? I was like, mm, yeah, yum yum, I love jelly beans.

• 50:02Conan O'Brien?

  I go, okay.

• 50:03Speaker 03

  Oh, I want to eat it every day though.

• 50:04Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 50:06Speaker 03

  He's a good jelly bean.

• 50:07Conan O'Brien?

  But I don't know, I always thought, oh, no, all I am is if I weigh 100, you know, 90 pounds, 185 of it are defense mechanisms.

• 50:19Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 50:21Conan O'Brien?

  And then some hair and maybe some teeth. So I can't, I'm not going to get rid of all that stuff. I can't do it. I mean, I have, my hat's off to people that can do it. I have a lot of respect for actors.

• 50:32Speaker 03

  But you still use so much improv. You learned something.

• 50:35Conan O'Brien?

  No.

• 50:35Speaker 03

  Both of you did learn a lot, I'm guessing, unless you already were just natural improvisers.

• 50:40Conan O'Brien?

  I think both of us brought some of our own way we think to it. And then, yes, you learn great rules.

• 50:48Speaker 03

  Tools, about listening. Listening, talking, responding, and then just, and committing. And that was the first thing I learned. Watching him, he was really committed to throwing a ball. And you didn't look, no, no, no. But there was no ball.

• 51:02Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 51:02Speaker 03

  He was pretending there was a ball and it looked like he was throwing a ball and he looked like a little angry, but not over the top. No, you did it. And that's what acting is, which is why you can act. I let you say all that, you know, because I felt like you really wanted to.

• 51:18Speaker 03

  No, you can, you can act. You can act because you know how to listen and respond. Isn't that all it is?

• 51:24Conan O'Brien?

  I guess. I don't know what it is.

• 51:26Speaker 03

  I don't either.

• 51:27Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 51:30Speaker 03

  It's not gonna study.

• 51:31Conan O'Brien?

  Whatever you're doing, keep doing it.

• 51:32Speaker 03

  All right.

• 51:33Conan O'Brien?

  That's what I'll tell you.

• 51:36Speaker 03

  You?

• 51:39Conan O'Brien?

  I don't know. I don't know. I mean, maybe you have questions for Lisa, because, you know, I know Lisa so well.

• 51:45Speaker 03

  Out, we're done. Yeah.

• 51:46Conan O'Brien?

  But I, I know Lisa so well that some, these are interesting interviews for me always because sometimes I think, well, we just talked about that at dinner.

• 51:54Speaker 03

  Right.

• 51:55Conan O'Brien?

  So then I think, oh, I want to make sure that the, the people listening get some stuff that isn't just me, because I know Lisa so well, you know?

• 52:04Speaker 03

  I mean.

• 52:04Conan O'Brien?

  Does that make sense?

• 52:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, I totally get it. I think that I do have a lot of questions about you guys starting off together in terms of, are you both kind of the same people as you were back then, you think?

• 52:16Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, you are. I am. I think you are. I think I'm very much the same. I will tell you, we both had not great cars.

• 52:25Speaker 03

  So you have better cars now?

• 52:28Conan O'Brien?

  That was, no, I'm just talking about, like, we gotta start somewhere that people can understand.

• 52:32Speaker 03

  What was my car?

• 52:34Conan O'Brien?

  You had a Datsun Z, yeah. And it was fine.

• 52:37Speaker 03

  A 280Z?

• 52:38Conan O'Brien?

  You had a 280Z.

• 52:39Speaker 03

  My dad's, that's a nice.

• 52:41Conan O'Brien?

  No, it was a fine car. I'm just saying it was, um.

• 52:45Speaker 03

  It was a, it's a great, it was a great?

• 52:47Conan O'Brien?

  Wasn't always clean.

• 52:47Speaker 03

  Sports car.

• 52:48Conan O'Brien?

  And then, get a little.

• 52:50Speaker 03

  Oh, no, my cars were never clean and I smoked, so, yeah, no. You did?

• 52:55Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 52:55Speaker 03

  What? I don't know, I can't, of course I did.

• 52:58Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 52:59Speaker 03

  For 20 years.

• 53:00Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 53:00Speaker 03

  Oh, my God. Okay. Pack a day. No, Lisa! What? I did it just part-time poorly.

• 53:10Conan O'Brien?

  And I used to say, "You could do better at smoking." You could, I would get mad. You'd be smoking, but not enough. And I'd be like, "Come on!"

• 53:19Speaker 03

  Are you in or you're out?

• 53:21Conan O'Brien?

  Are you in or you're out?

• 53:21Speaker 03

  In or out?

• 53:22Conan O'Brien?

  You gotta be a three-pack-a-day smoker, Lisa.

• 53:24Speaker 03

  Did you ever smoke?

• 53:25Conan O'Brien?

  No.

• 53:26Speaker 03

  To keep up?

• 53:26Conan O'Brien?

  If I, no, if I smoked, I would look... I was very aware that if I smoked, I would look like a kid who got into a pack of cigarettes. And like, the teacher came by and went, "Put those down, Augie."

• 53:38Speaker 04

  I'm picturing you next to Lisa with those candy cigarettes.

• 53:40Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, puffing little powdered sugar.

• 53:43Speaker 03

  Oh, and I started smoking this summer. I was at Harvard.

• 53:46Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, that's, you were, we were there at the same time, because you went, you were there in the summer.

• 53:50Speaker 03

  We were there at the same time.

• 53:51Conan O'Brien?

  And I used to work on the lampoon in the summers there. So I never missed a summer there.

• 53:55Speaker 03

  And I was...

• 53:56Conan O'Brien?

  So I was there.

• 53:57Speaker 03

  There one summer. And that's when I started smoking, because those fucking bugs. Those flying water bugs, as big as your fist.

• 54:04Conan O'Brien?

  How does that, what does that have to do with you needing to smoke? Who says there's too many bugs? I need to smoke. Why?

• 54:12Speaker 03

  Because it terrified me. It stressed me out so much, and I didn't tell you the part. That made it so bad, as I'm sleeping, and I hear a jet has flown into my room. Oh, God. Okay? Because it's these old crappy buildings next to the river, and there's no screens on them. But there's no air conditioning, because, you know, it's the East Coast. And, well, that's how it goes.

• 54:36Conan O'Brien?

  Take that, East Coast.

• 54:37Speaker 03

  East you, East Coast, in the 80s.

• 54:42Speaker 03

  And it was an old, an old charming dorm building, and so the windows were open. And I went, "What?" Like, something mechanical flew into the room. It was the loudest. And there was a giant water, flying cockroach water bug, this big. Don't, you were looking like, "I don't know what she's talking about."

• 55:04Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, no, I'm not, I'm not.

• 55:05Speaker 03

  The whole time I was there. Yeah. No, I didn't see a bug.

• 55:07Conan O'Brien?

  No, there's, there can be some big bugs, but it never made me think, "I need to smoke."

• 55:11Speaker 03

  Okay. And then it was on my, and it was just like, on my wall. So now, it's this big. On my wall, and I went, "Ugh, okay." And I grabbed my shoe, dumbass, throwing a tennis shoe. That's way too slow.

• 55:25Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 55:25Speaker 03

  As I throw it, it's... Flying toward my head and, and then I couldn't sleep. And, you know, there were cigarettes somewhere and I just started smoking and it calmed me down because nicotine is wonderful.

• 55:38Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 55:39Speaker 03

  It's really good.

• 55:40Conan O'Brien?

  Good stuff.

• 55:40Speaker 03

  It's good stuff.

• 55:41Conan O'Brien?

  Never had it.

• 55:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, and then another one flew in and they became pets. There was no getting them out and there was no choice.

• 55:48Conan O'Brien?

  You've got them little toys.

• 55:51Speaker 03

  Figured out their favorite food.

• 55:53Conan O'Brien?

  You've had them for 14 years.

• 55:56Conan O'Brien?

  You know what Robert Smigel said to me once? He looked at me when I was being insane about something and tightly wound and he said, "You're the only person I know who would be healthier if he smoked."

• 56:07Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 56:08Conan O'Brien?

  That, that smoking and the breathing and the nicotine, you, it would extend your, he said, "Conan, it would extend your life." It's bad for everyone else, but you, and I was sometimes, I'd think about that sometimes because Robert's been right about a lot of things.

• 56:23Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 56:23Conan O'Brien?

  And now I think at my age, if I started now, I'm like, "Come on, how much damage could I do?"

• 56:29Speaker 03

  No, but this has nicotine in it, so.

• 56:32Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, nicotine gum?

• 56:33Speaker 03

  Yeah. Look, I didn't even take one, but I have it.

• 56:35Conan O'Brien?

  This is turning into an ad for starting to smoke. Which I don't want it to be, although I'm a little intrigued.

• 56:45Speaker 03

  Wow, I don't, wait, but I do want to say something because you said, "Are you different?" And here's, you are a little different.

• 56:52Conan O'Brien?

  How?

• 56:52Speaker 03

  I mean, we should be, shouldn't we?

• 56:54Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 56:54Speaker 03

  Don't you think?

• 56:55Conan O'Brien?

  Sure.

• 56:55Speaker 03

  Okay, but you had told, like, when we met and we were talking.

• 56:58Conan O'Brien?

  Different from, from when I was in 1986.

• 57:00Speaker 03

  Well, yeah, I mean, I should hope so. I don't think you're as tightly wound.

• 57:03Conan O'Brien?

  No, I'm not.

• 57:04Speaker 03

  Okay, good.

• 57:05Speaker 01

  He was worse, he was worse than the, this, okay.

• 57:08Conan O'Brien?

  No, she's absolutely right.

• 57:10Speaker 01

  I will say, he was, while working for you, you have been, gotten a lot more chill.

• 57:13Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 57:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, I see that too.

• 57:15Speaker 03

  But he told me that he would be so tightly wound, like something I can't, I, either I don't remember, I just don't want to say. Um, no, because you were telling me something happened at college and it upset you and you sat and you quietly just like. Took apart a chair.

• 57:32Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 57:32Speaker 03

  Really, just like quietly.

• 57:34Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 57:35Speaker 03

  Patiently.

• 57:36Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 57:36Speaker 03

  With rage. Wow.

• 57:38Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, something in the comedy realm hadn't gone my way and I went back to my room and there was a very sturdy wooden chair that they have at Harvard that has like the Harvard insignia on it and I quietly was pulling out all of the pieces of the chair.

• 57:55Speaker 03

  Oh, boy.

• 57:55Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I had that in me. I have, there's a, there's a guy in here, um, who, uh, scares me, but, um.

• 58:04Speaker 03

  Is that scary? Cause maybe this is scary. You told me that story and I went, yeah.

• 58:10Speaker 03

  Right.

• 58:11Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 58:11Speaker 03

  Cause you can't actually.

• 58:12Conan O'Brien?

  He doesn't, yeah.

• 58:13Speaker 03

  Get violent in front of anybody.

• 58:14Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, I would never turn that on anyone. Uh, the person I beat up on mostly is me and writers who need a physical beating every now and then.

• 58:23Speaker 03

  Sure, well.

• 58:26Conan O'Brien?

  No, I, yeah, but I mean, uh, I think we, of course, we both change. I think having kids changes you too.

• 58:33Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 58:34Conan O'Brien?

  Like, I love, and I said this recently on someone else's podcast, but so much of being young is being narcissistic.

• 58:41Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 58:42Conan O'Brien?

  So it's necessary. You kinda have to be a narcissist when you're young and it's gotta be all about you and your problems have to be the biggest thing in the world because you are going through life and it's, the stakes are big. And then, once my daughter showed up and then later my son, I remember instantly knowing, oh yeah, I don't count anymore. It, I'm not, I get it.

• 59:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 59:07Conan O'Brien?

  And, and liking it, like, it's about them.

• 59:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 59:11Conan O'Brien?

  I've gotta be here for them. Ah, and just even thinking about it, I'm much calmer.

• 59:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 59:19Conan O'Brien?

  So, I, yeah, needed to be having kids when I was 15.

• 59:25Speaker 03

  That's what you were built for.

• 59:27Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 59:28Speaker 03

  So are all of us.

• 59:29Conan O'Brien?

  Hi, kids, settle down. Dad, why do you have acne? Shut up. I gotta go to high school now. Well, not yet, but next year. You guys settle down. I'm gonna go watch Star Trek reruns. Well, I think we're all thrilled. Anytime you drop in.

• 59:50Speaker 03

  Thanks.

• 59:51Conan O'Brien?

  And so excited for the new season of The Comeback, which is a jewel. It's just so beautifully made and really looking forward to it. And I love you. You're one of my favorite people in the history of the world.

• 1:00:05Speaker 03

  Oh, come on.

• 1:00:06Conan O'Brien?

  Seriously.

• 1:00:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, you are mine, too.

• 1:00:08Conan O'Brien?

  You just did a me too, yeah.

• 1:00:10Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:00:11Conan O'Brien?

  I mean, come on.

• 1:00:12Speaker 03

  I don't think you gushed enough.

• 1:00:13Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it wasn't enough.

• 1:00:14Speaker 03

  Thank you for your thank you.

• 1:00:18Conan O'Brien?

  Mail it. Here comes a bird with a.

• 1:00:22Speaker 03

  If you'd give me your address, I would.

• 1:00:27Conan O'Brien?

  Yay, let's play.

• 1:00:30Conan O'Brien?

  Gotta warm up for improv.

• 1:00:35Conan O'Brien?

  Lisa Kudrow, peace out, Tupac.

• 1:00:44Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:00:46Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:00:46Conan 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.

• 1:01:01Speaker 03

  Nice.

• 1:01:01Conan 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.

• 1:01:10Speaker 03

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

• 1:01:14Conan O'Brien?

  I've been tooling around in an Ioniq 5N, 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's fully capable and ready for adventure. The Palisade, that's yours, right?

• 1:01:34Speaker 03

  Hello.

• 1:01:34Conan 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. Owning a car or home comes with responsibilities. Sure, it's fun, but sometimes it makes you wonder why you ever longed for adulthood in the first place. I do that all the time. I'm like, oh, these bills, these bills.

• 1:02:19Conan O'Brien?

  What am I gonna do?

• 1:02:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:21Conan O'Brien?

  You know, when you own a house, you gotta fix it yourself. Sona, you, you see this to be true, right?

• 1:02:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, your garage door breaks and you're like, well, I have to fix it.

• 1:02:29Conan O'Brien?

  Probably at first you said, hey, I'll get the super to fix it. It's your house, dude.

• 1:02:32Speaker 01

  It's mine, dude.

• 1:02:33Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. Liberty Mutual customizes your car and home insurance to save you money. In fact, they work overtime to tailor your insurance policy around what you actually need. The only thing they can't do is get that Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty jingle out of your head.

• 1:02:46Speaker 01

  Liberty, Liberty, Liberty.

• 1:02:47Conan O'Brien?

  Liberty, Liberty. It's in my head all the time.

• 1:02:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, me too.

• 1:02:50Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. Start your quote at libertymutual.com. Coca-Cola Zero Sugar is so good, it's almost impossible not to finish it before the meal arrives. It's just too good to wait. That happens to me sometimes.

• 1:03:04Speaker 01

  Me too.

• 1:03:05Conan O'Brien?

  You can try rules like no sipping until the appetizer arrives, or you tell your friend, don't let me touch my glass, but every time you're staring at an empty glass. So if you've ever finished your Coke Zero before the first fry hits the table, you're among friends. It happens. Occupational hazard with Coke Zero.

• 1:03:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:03:23Conan O'Brien?

  Real Coca-Cola taste, zero sugar, too good to wait. Enjoy an ice-cold Coca-Cola Zero Sugar today.

• 1:03:35Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, I'm gonna break into this programming now with urgent, urgent news update. David Hopping just saw the Backstreet Boys at the Sphere. And whatever you're doing, if you're driving right now, I want you to pull over to the side of the road. If you're listening, cooking dinner, dinner, I mean, just order, order out, because this is just too important. Yeah. David, what was this experience like? Backstreet Boys, the Sphere. Paint the picture, because America wants to know.

• 1:04:06Speaker 04

  Okay, hi, America. It was on my-

• 1:04:09Conan O'Brien?

  America just hung up.

• 1:04:12Speaker 04

  It's just one person named America?

• 1:04:13Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it's America Ferrera. She does not want to hear this story.

• 1:04:17Speaker 04

  Oh. It was on my birthday. We drove to Vegas. Got there with no traffic. We got there under four hours, which-

• 1:04:23Speaker 01

  That's nice.

• 1:04:24Speaker 04

  A win.

• 1:04:24Conan O'Brien?

  People love that part of the story.

• 1:04:27Speaker 04

  And then-

• 1:04:27Conan O'Brien?

  Whenever you hear about seeing an iconic band at the Sphere-

• 1:04:30Speaker 04

  You said, "Paint the picture."

• 1:04:31Conan O'Brien?

  People's favorite story is about the commute.

• 1:04:33Speaker 01

  Okay, I love, I love that you consider the Backstreet Boys iconic. This is nice.

• 1:04:39Conan O'Brien?

  Please. You didn't see my, I put little quotes around it.

• 1:04:42Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:04:42Conan O'Brien?

  No, they, come on, they're a big deal.

• 1:04:44Speaker 01

  I love, I love the Backstreet Boys.

• 1:04:45Conan O'Brien?

  I'm not, I'm not gonna shit on the Backstreet Boys.

• 1:04:46Speaker 01

  I'm not gonna, I just didn't, I didn't know they were your cup of tea.

• 1:04:49Conan O'Brien?

  I'm just saying, this is a huge band, whether or not I know all their songs. I know a few of them, "Let's Get to the Place," "Do It Before It's Not Done Doing."

• 1:04:59Speaker 04

  Which, which goes-

• 1:05:01Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. "Do It Before It's Not Done," "Hey, Hey, Do It," "She's All That," and "A Corn Sandwich." They have some great songs that are part of the American experience.

• 1:05:12Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:05:13Conan O'Brien?

  But anyway, just get to the good part.

• 1:05:15Speaker 04

  We got to the Sphere. We had-

• 1:05:17Conan O'Brien?

  Then we stopped and we got canned peaches.

• 1:05:21Conan O'Brien?

  Sorry, go ahead.

• 1:05:22Speaker 04

  I got a drink and a souvenir cup that has all their faces on it. Then we walked, we had "Standing on the Floor." So, have you been to the Sphere?

• 1:05:28Speaker 01

  I haven't been to the Sphere yet.

• 1:05:30Speaker 04

  Because like, Sona and I get excited about like, the little things in life.

• 1:05:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:34Speaker 04

  Walking into this, seeing the huge screen was everything. And then, everyone stuck to, you were supposed to wear all white to the concert.

• 1:05:43Conan O'Brien?

  Why?

• 1:05:43Speaker 04

  Everyone, because it's like their Millennium album cover, they're all wearing white.

• 1:05:47Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, I thought they were all saving themselves for marriage.

• 1:05:52Conan O'Brien?

  Which I admire.

• 1:05:54Speaker 01

  Like a virginal thing.

• 1:05:55Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, they're virginal, yeah.

• 1:05:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:56Conan O'Brien?

  They're all like pushing 60.

• 1:05:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:59Speaker 05

  When the time comes, I want it to be special.

• 1:06:02Conan O'Brien?

  And now for my next hit, gotta get going to the place where we go.

• 1:06:07Speaker 04

  Yeah, that's a big one. Everyone stuck to the theme, though. Everyone wore white.

• 1:06:12Conan O'Brien?

  That's great.

• 1:06:12Speaker 04

  And then they came out, and I've never seen anything like this. Like, it was like space themed, so there's like a spaceship above you. And it's like, everyone's like looking up. I missed them even coming out on the stage because the visuals were just so cool.

• 1:06:25Conan O'Brien?

  So I'm getting the sense they didn't need to be there.

• 1:06:27Speaker 04

  They did. Their music was everything.

• 1:06:29Conan O'Brien?

  Well, they could play the music, and then you could look at your spaceships, and then, you know, whatever. They could have anybody get up there and wear a white shirt.

• 1:06:36Speaker 04

  No, they needed to be there.

• 1:06:37Conan O'Brien?

  Okay.

• 1:06:38Speaker 04

  Eduardo's going soon.

• 1:06:39Conan O'Brien?

  Are you going to the Backstreet Boys?

• 1:06:40Speaker 05

  No, no, no, I'm going to catch, uh, No Doubt.

• 1:06:44Speaker 01

  Oh, that's cool.

• 1:06:46Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:46Speaker 05

  Taking my wife and my niece, my granddaughter, yeah.

• 1:06:49Speaker 04

  I don't know if they've ever had a comedy show, though. You should try to be like the first person.

• 1:06:53Conan O'Brien?

  You know how I prefer to watch No Doubt? When they premiere on my show in New York. Oh, what a flex. In 1993. What a flex. Mic drop! Uh, so, the Sphere.

• 1:07:06Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:07:07Conan O'Brien?

  I wanna go to, here's what I wanna do. I wanna go to the Sphere when they're featuring something that in no way is enhanced or benefited by the Sphere.

• 1:07:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:07:16Conan O'Brien?

  Do you know what I mean? I wanna go when all they're doing is someone's playing a banjo, and they're rebroadcasting Walter Cronkite's last episode of the news. And it's just a regular news program where at the end he's, and they just run that a couple of times, and someone plays a banjo. And it's all around you on the Sphere. No special effects.

• 1:07:36Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 1:07:37Conan O'Brien?

  It's just Walter Cronkite saying, "It's been an honor and a pleasure, and, uh, you know, take care and, uh, be well."

• 1:07:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:07:45Conan O'Brien?

  Good night, you know?

• 1:07:45Speaker 01

  Or something that doesn't even use the screen at all. It's like two people having a guest lecture on like AI, and they're not even turning the sphere on.

• 1:07:55Conan O'Brien?

  Cause at one point, the two people giving a lecture mention, um, I'll be talking about this at a separate conference. Which is on March 3rd and just the date, March 3rd comes up.

• 1:08:05Speaker 04

  In tiny font.

• 1:08:05Conan O'Brien?

  In small font on one part of the sphere. Those are the things I want to go see at the sphere. I want, my dream is to misuse the sphere. Let me be very clear. I will go and do something at the sphere that completely misuses that amazing technology.

• 1:08:24Speaker 01

  Do a PowerPoint presentation on like a time share in Vegas.

• 1:08:27Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:28Speaker 01

  And then you're just like holding a thing.

• 1:08:29Conan O'Brien?

  And it's just one little part. It's one little square.

• 1:08:32Speaker 04

  No one can even see it.

• 1:08:34Conan O'Brien?

  People know, here's the thing. You can kinda see it. That's important to me. You can kinda see it. And I go on and on.

• 1:08:42Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 1:08:43Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, that's how I want to use the sphere. But anyway, so you had a good time?

• 1:08:46Speaker 04

  Had a great time. It was, yeah, and then at the end, I was actually texting Sona after because it's just a bunch of drunk Backstreet Boys fans all walking in some hallways, singing their songs together.

• 1:08:55Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:56Speaker 04

  And what else could you want?

• 1:08:57Conan O'Brien?

  Some of the Backstreet Boys are in with them.

• 1:09:04Conan O'Brien?

  Hey, wait a minute, isn't that Jub Jub? What's, what are their names?

• 1:09:07Speaker 04

  Uh, well, there's Nick, there's AJ.

• 1:09:09Conan O'Brien?

  Why you, there's Nick?

• 1:09:11Speaker 01

  Oh, there's Nick?

• 1:09:12Conan O'Brien?

  I don't know, is there a Nick?

• 1:09:13Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:09:13Conan O'Brien?

  Okay.

• 1:09:14Speaker 04

  I want to just make that up.

• 1:09:15Conan O'Brien?

  Is everyone okay? Everyone's healthy?

• 1:09:17Speaker 04

  Everyone's healthy.

• 1:09:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:18Speaker 04

  They're all there.

• 1:09:18Conan O'Brien?

  Okay.

• 1:09:19Speaker 04

  It's like the, um, New Kids on the Block also are in Vegas. They're all there, aren't they?

• 1:09:23Speaker 01

  Oh, I know, they're there. I'm trying to pick a date to go see them.

• 1:09:26Conan O'Brien?

  You need to. Do those guys ever join forces, you know?

• 1:09:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:30Conan O'Brien?

  Or is it like Marvel in DC where that's not allowed?

• 1:09:32Speaker 01

  No, they've, they've done, they've toured together before.

• 1:09:35Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, they all get together?

• 1:09:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:36Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, I just thought I had this cool idea.

• 1:09:38Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 1:09:39Speaker 04

  Now we just.

• 1:09:40Conan O'Brien?

  And can they then join up with another group like, you know, Menudo or is, can, can you ever get another group that joins them? So those two united, Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block, but then who else could join them?

• 1:09:54Speaker 04

  We need an N'Sync reunion.

• 1:09:56Conan O'Brien?

  Oh.

• 1:09:56Speaker 01

  N'Sync, I mean, it could be 98 Degrees. It could be O-Town.

• 1:10:00Conan O'Brien?

  Where'd you got them all together?

• 1:10:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:10:02Conan O'Brien?

  I mean, all together and then, um, didn't let them perform.

• 1:10:06Speaker 01

  Wait, what do they do? They're giving the PowerPoint presentation?

• 1:10:10Conan O'Brien?

  No.

• 1:10:12Conan O'Brien?

  You get them all together backstage and then you lock the door. And then I go out and I show, I show a little time share lecture. It's projected on one small part and they have to watch it and they can't get out. They can't get out.

• 1:10:29Speaker 01

  The ultimate bait and switch.

• 1:10:30Conan O'Brien?

  I love it.

• 1:10:31Speaker 01

  You'll be murdered by a lot of older women.

• 1:10:35Conan O'Brien?

  Hey, a lot of people have tried. A lot of people have tried. Old women are taking a swing at me every day. All right, there's my pitch, Sphere. Call me. Peace out. Tupac.

• 1:10:47Speaker 06

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

• 1:11:08Speaker 06

  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.

• 1:11:57Conan O'Brien?

  Technology can generate salary recommendations in seconds, but building an offer that lands skilled talent? That takes more than just an estimate you came up with.

• 1:12:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, you're right.

• 1:12:07Conan O'Brien?

  That's where Robert Half's new 2027 Salary Guide can help.

• 1:12:11Speaker 01

  That's good.

• 1:12:11Conan O'Brien?

  Did we use a salary guide with you, Sona?

• 1:12:13Speaker 01

  Uh, no, but maybe-

• 1:12:15Conan O'Brien?

  For several years, I just gave you groceries, remember?

• 1:12:17Speaker 01

  I know, yeah, I remember that. That was not good.

• 1:12:19Conan O'Brien?

  Uh, well, anyway, now you got Robert Half's new 2027 Salary Guide. As a staffing firm placing talent every day, Robert Half combines compensation data with the experience of local recruiters. You can hire with the confidence that comes from experience. The new Robert Half Salary Guide is here. Visit roberthalf.com/salaryguide.

• 1:12:41Conan O'Brien?

  When you hear Alka-Seltzer, you probably think heartburn, right?

• 1:12:43Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 1:12:44Conan O'Brien?

  Well, did you know Alka-Seltzer has a line of cold and flu medications known as Alka-Seltzer Cold? Did you know that, David?

• 1:12:52Speaker 04

  No, but I feel like we need it.

• 1:12:53Conan O'Brien?

  Why didn't you know that, David?

• 1:12:54Speaker 04

  I know, you expect me to know everything.

• 1:12:56Conan O'Brien?

  I knew this because I- Yeah, I've tried it, it's really good. And I like that fizzy, fizzy, fizzy when you drop the Alka-Seltzer Cold into the water. Alka-Seltzer Cold: Fast Dissolves Tablets are designed to deliver cold and flu relief fast. Just drop the two tablets in water and hear those bubbles bursting into action. Ready to work faster than pills. Bubbles faster than pills. Pills take time to dissolve, not bubbles. Next time a cold or flu strikes, quick! Alka-Seltzer Cold: Nothing works faster for cold and flu symptom relief. Among oral products used as directed.