Eric Idle Returns

Comedian Eric Idle feels horny about being Conan O’Brien’s friend. Eric returns to sit down with Conan once more to discuss his new book The Spamalot Diaries, lessons learned from Mike Nichols and Robin Williams, and cherishing failure as a wonderful prospect. Later, Conan continues his investigation into his grandmother’s namesake. 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?

  The holidays are supposed to be about making memories, not managing the mess that comes with them. Between winter weather, road trips, shopping and family gatherings, your vehicle can take a beating. Mine sure does.

• 0:13Speaker 01

  Same.

• 0:14Conan O'Brien?

  Especially when I'm back in the Northeast, driving around. I mean, I grew up with that.

• 0:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:18Conan O'Brien?

  Cars were red, the salt on the road, people throwing rocks at me.

• 0:22Speaker 01

  Whaaat?

• 0:23Conan O'Brien?

  That's not a weather thing. That's more of a me being, making people angry problem. WeatherTech helps protect your vehicle from snow, slush, salt and seasonal messes. They also make the best gifts for automobile protection, from floor liners and cargo liner to side window deflectors, even gift cards. Great for today and to prevent future messes. Everything is built to last, easy to clean and designed for harsh winter conditions, okay? I grew up with this.

• 0:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:49Conan O'Brien?

  And the salt would eat away the car. We actually did have a Chevy, my dad had a Chevy Impala, and the floor rusted out and you could see the road going by.

• 0:56Speaker 01

  Ohhh.

• 0:57Conan O'Brien?

  Boy, we were praying for WeatherTech and we didn't even know it. That was before it existed.

• 1:02Speaker 01

  That's cool.

• 1:03Conan O'Brien?

  So get a gift today at weathertech.com.

• 1:09Conan O'Brien?

  You know, there's a kind of magic in getting just the right gift. Don't you think so?

• 1:13Speaker 01

  Oh, I love it.

• 1:14Conan O'Brien?

  The kind that makes someone smile and think, hey, you really know me. Like when I give you a really good gift, like something that just appeals to you specifically, that cotton candy machine I got you.

• 1:24Speaker 01

  Oh my god, that was my favorite present.

• 1:26Conan O'Brien?

  And Macy's has gifts for everyone on your list. Because that's what I'm really getting at here is Macy's. And that's why we're putting that to the test with a white elephant gift exchange to see how well we really know each other. With expert curation, great value and gifts across every category, Macy's makes it easier to find something that feels just right for everyone on your list. These gifts are great, okay? So whether you're shopping for someone who's impossible to buy for or just looking for a little inspiration, Macy's Gift Guide helps you find something that feels just right. You gonna get me something nice from Macy's?

• 1:56Speaker 01

  Probably just like a book.

• 1:57Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, give me some, spend more money than that. Yeah, when you find the gift that says I really know you, there's magic inside. Check out Macy's Holiday Gift Guide for even more ideas at macy's.com/giftguide. Sona, get me something good and not a book.

• 2:15Speaker 02

  Hi, my name is Eric Idle.

• 2:20Speaker 02

  And I feel horny about being Conan O'Brien.

• 2:25Conan O'Brien?

  I only laugh because I don't want to cry. You're always cornering me at some party. Grinding up against me. In front of your wife.

• 2:34Speaker 02

  That's the closest she gets to sex.

• 2:58Conan O'Brien?

  Hey there, welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. We're laughing already, and you know, when we can laugh, it means we're alive and that life is good, isn't it?

• 3:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:08Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 3:09Conan O'Brien?

  Would you like to talk about what we were laughing about?

• 3:10Speaker 03

  No.

• 3:11Speaker 01

  Absolutely not. Absolutely. Some things are meant for off-mic.

• 3:16Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 3:16Speaker 03

  Some things are meant for not even off-mic.

• 3:18Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Listen, I'm happy to be here with you guys. Just had a lovely interaction with your family.

• 3:26Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 3:26Conan O'Brien?

  Mr. Gourley.

• 3:27Speaker 03

  My daughter was here.

• 3:27Conan O'Brien?

  Your beautiful wife, your daughter. She's how old now?

• 3:30Speaker 03

  She's three.

• 3:30Conan O'Brien?

  She's three.

• 3:31Speaker 03

  Just turned three.

• 3:31Conan O'Brien?

  She's never to come here again.

• 3:33Speaker 03

  I understand.

• 3:33Conan O'Brien?

  Without my permission.

• 3:34Speaker 03

  I understand, yeah.

• 3:35Conan O'Brien?

  No, she was ha- kids love it here because we have this nice office building.

• 3:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:39Conan O'Brien?

  And it has lots of candy and treats. And, um...

• 3:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean Glenn came with a Minnie Mouse on a noose.

• 3:48Speaker 03

  Right, and there's a story behind that.

• 3:50Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, that was a little disturbing. She had Minnie Mouse, and Minnie Mouse looked like Minnie Mouse was in bondage. Your beautiful daughter. And some of it was kind of around the neck, and it looked like

• 4:01Speaker 03

  It was definitely a rope.

• 4:02Conan O'Brien?

  Looked like Frontier Justice for Minnie Mouse.

• 4:04Speaker 03

  There's an explanation.

• 4:05Speaker 01

  The Salem witch trial.

• 4:07Speaker 03

  Yeah. Minnie committed manslaughter.

• 4:09Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, I see, okay, well then, then Minnie had to pay.

• 4:12Speaker 03

  No, we had to get her to go on our bike. We had to tie Minnie onto the bike so that once Minnie was on there, Glenn would go on the bike. We don't tie Glenn to the bike, she has a seat.

• 4:23Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 4:23Speaker 03

  But if she doesn't, if she holds Minnie, Minnie will fall somewhere. So we had to tie Minnie to the bike seat. And we did it by hanging her. By the neck till she be dead.

• 4:35Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 4:35Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 4:35Conan O'Brien?

  It was disturbing.

• 4:36Speaker 03

  It was, yeah.

• 4:37Conan O'Brien?

  Cause, uh, Minnie was lifeless and your daughter didn't seem to care. Shout out to the Disney company. Does Disney have any control over how they're, if, once they've sold the doll, they have no say over?

• 4:49Speaker 03

  I don't think so.

• 4:50Speaker 01

  You can do whatever you want to it.

• 4:52Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, wow.

• 4:52Speaker 03

  Normally Glenn wears a black hood.

• 4:54Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 4:55Conan O'Brien?

  What?

• 4:56Speaker 01

  What?

• 4:56Conan O'Brien?

  No, just take it out for drinks.

• 4:57Speaker 01

  Oh, no, I wasn't saying anything like that.

• 5:00Conan O'Brien?

  Oh.

• 5:01Speaker 01

  I was saying you could like stab it or light it on fire.

• 5:03Speaker 03

  Oh, so you're both, both got it.

• 5:05Speaker 01

  Where did you go?

• 5:07Conan O'Brien?

  Drinks. What's wrong with taking Goofy out for a drink and watch the game?

• 5:11Speaker 01

  Just you and Goofy, a stuffed Goofy, sitting in a bar.

• 5:14Conan O'Brien?

  I would like to do that and see if anyone came over and said anything. Probably not.

• 5:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 5:18Speaker 01

  Wait, do you treat him, Goofy, like he's an actual person?

• 5:21Conan O'Brien?

  Sure. Someone walks by and I'm like, hey, Goofy, you know?

• 5:26Speaker 01

  What?

• 5:27Conan O'Brien?

  What?

• 5:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, what?

• 5:29Conan O'Brien?

  I don't know what I'm doing anymore.

• 5:30Speaker 03

  Goofy just sits there with a full drink and then do you try to surreptitiously drink it to seem like Goofy's drinking?

• 5:36Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, every now and then I drain a little bit of Goofy's drink.

• 5:38Speaker 01

  Oh, my god.

• 5:39Conan O'Brien?

  So that it looks like, and then I say, excuse me, hello, Goofy's, Goofy's running a little low here.

• 5:44Speaker 01

  And if there's a game playing, do you make him high five you?

• 5:48Conan O'Brien?

  I go to high five him, but he just falls off limply, he just falls off the couch. And then I go like, someone's had too much over here, Goofy's.

• 5:55Speaker 03

  Do you see Goofy back up to his room or does he come to yours?

• 5:58Conan O'Brien?

  All right, now we're not getting into that. Now you took it too far.

• 6:00Speaker 03

  I did?

• 6:01Conan O'Brien?

  You did. That was you.

• 6:02Speaker 01

  This is a classy.

• 6:03Conan O'Brien?

  I do wanna bring up, this is reminding me that, uh, that one of my sisters, I forget, was not me. It was not me, I wanna say that, but when we were really little.

• 6:13Speaker 03

  Clearly you now.

• 6:17Conan O'Brien?

  Someone went in and I, I forget which sister it was, but someone went in there, cut off all the hair on like three of their dolls and then wrote, carved their name backwards onto the skull, which is so, on the forehead.

• 6:29Speaker 03

  Your sister's name or the name of the doll?

• 6:31Conan O'Brien?

  I think it was the name of my sister backwards and, uh.

• 6:34Speaker 03

  Are you kidding me?

• 6:34Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. And, uh, and I remember that being, I don't remember who did it. It was not me, I swear it was not me, but I remembered seeing the results and thinking, this is like, we're all really young at this point and whoever did it just wrote the name backwards.

• 6:50Speaker 03

  Was the name Nanok?

• 6:51Conan O'Brien?

  No, it was not Nanok. But I just remember that being like a chilling, like, oh, this is a grisly crime scene. But it was dolls.

• 6:59Speaker 03

  But the backwards thing is what's getting me. That feels very devil-like.

• 7:03Conan O'Brien?

  No, but I think it was because they were trying to spell their sister's name, Neil, and, uh, and wrote it backwards because they were very young.

• 7:11Speaker 03

  Wait, so was someone writing someone else's name, like a frame job? This was you?

• 7:15Conan O'Brien?

  No, I didn't do this. I did lots of terrible things.

• 7:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:18Conan O'Brien?

  I did terrible, terrible things.

• 7:20Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 7:21Conan O'Brien?

  Uh, mostly to Justin. And I apologize, Justin. I've told you this, right? I would play very complicated games. He just wanted to play cops and robbers and I would immediately get lawyers involved. I would say, well, now we have to go see a lawyer because you drew your gun. He'd be like, I didn't even fire my gun. I went, you drew it. And in Massachusetts County, you know, like in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And I would make him fill out papers.

• 7:41Speaker 03

  Sufferable.

• 7:42Conan O'Brien?

  He was so bad.

• 7:44Speaker 01

  Awful person.

• 7:45Speaker 03

  The absence of fun.

• 7:46Conan O'Brien?

  No, and there was a big gap between us. So he was a very young kid and I was in my late 40s.

• 7:55Conan O'Brien?

  But he's fine now. They just released him.

• 7:58Speaker 01

  I get it. People do weird things with dolls. I used to do weird things.

• 8:01Conan O'Brien?

  But yeah, it's just, it's a, it's a time of life when, when dolls, it can be a crime scene and it's acting things out in a safe way.

• 8:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, okay, I guess. That's weird though.

• 8:10Conan O'Brien?

  Well, did your, your brother was a bully a little bit to you?

• 8:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, Danny used to beat me up a lot. And I used to always think, hey, I got a chance and I never did.

• 8:19Conan O'Brien?

  No, Danny's a strong guy. I can't take Danny.

• 8:22Speaker 01

  No, you can't. No, he was a football player in high school and he used to, he was huge and he would beat me up.

• 8:28Conan O'Brien?

  Well, now you're making me feel like I should try and fight Danny.

• 8:30Speaker 01

  Um, you would lose. He would beat you up badly.

• 8:33Conan O'Brien?

  What if, okay.

• 8:33Speaker 01

  He would badly beat you up.

• 8:34Conan O'Brien?

  I could choose my moment. What if he doesn't see me coming? I come up from behind.

• 8:37Speaker 01

  Like a sucker punch?

• 8:39Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, no, I've got, I'm holding something. I've got like a stick.

• 8:41Speaker 01

  What? That's still like, you're kind of a sucker punch, but he doesn't expect it?

• 8:45Conan O'Brien?

  I wouldn't use my real, my hands aren't very strong. So I would have like a big bat.

• 8:49Speaker 01

  Like a weapon. Yeah, you would, you would probably win, but you'd be a bitch.

• 8:55Conan O'Brien?

  But I don't care about that part.

• 8:56Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 8:57Conan O'Brien?

  You see a scenario where I could take your brother Danny?

• 8:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, if he doesn't see you coming.

• 9:00Conan O'Brien?

  Ah, Danny!

• 9:01Speaker 01

  Yeah!

• 9:02Conan O'Brien?

  I got it.

• 9:02Speaker 01

  Suck it, Danny!

• 9:03Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, take it easy.

• 9:05Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 9:06Conan O'Brien?

  Have we accomplished anything here with this opening?

• 9:08Speaker 03

  No, nothing.

• 9:09Conan O'Brien?

  This is awful.

• 9:10Speaker 03

  All we've managed to accomplish is we've killed five minutes.

• 9:13Conan O'Brien?

  Okay.

• 9:13Speaker 03

  And so it's time to start the show.

• 9:15Conan O'Brien?

  I think we start the show.

• 9:16Speaker 01

  I see.

• 9:16Conan O'Brien?

  I'm satisfied.

• 9:17Speaker 01

  Are you?

• 9:18Conan O'Brien?

  Yes. Satisfied with less. The podcast rule. My guest today is a comedy legend, one of the members of the iconic comedy group, Monty Python. His new book, The Spamalot Diaries, is out now. I can't even... There are no words. I'm, uh... To say I'm honored is just dumb, because it's a word way beyond honored.

• 9:35Speaker 01

  Mmm.

• 9:36Conan O'Brien?

  I'm elevated, enervated, filled with light.

• 9:45Conan O'Brien?

  Here with us today, Eric Idle.

• 9:50Conan O'Brien?

  I could not be happier that you're here. You've been on the podcast before. You're one of my favorite human beings on Earth. I will say that without reservation. He hates a compliment. But as you know, I've been telling you for years and years and years in my, uh... in my opinion, uh, there's Python, and then the rest of us are just dicking around. So, I mean that. And I love, I want to say this right up top, that you have brought this book in that I adore. It's called The Spamalot Diaries. And it's a joy. It's a real treat. And it's about the process. And that's one of the things that I adore about it. But first, let's talk about how much you admire me.

• 10:31Conan O'Brien?

  I've allotted forty... I've allotted forty minutes.

• 10:36Speaker 02

  Well...

• 10:39Speaker 02

  You know, you should know how I feel about you. Uh, I've... I think you're...

• 10:46Conan O'Brien?

  I can't even, don't try to take this.

• 10:47Speaker 02

  Nothing, nothing yet. I think you're one of the funniest people on the planet.

• 10:49Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, that's insanity. We're not doing that.

• 10:51Speaker 02

  No, it's his. I went, and that was a surprise to me because I always thought you were hilarious. But then I saw you do stand-up at the Lago.

• 10:58Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 10:58Speaker 02

  And you killed me.

• 10:59Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, thank you so much.

• 11:00Speaker 02

  And I've forgotten that obviously you've been doing stand-up for millions of years when you weren't around.

• 11:05Conan O'Brien?

  Not really. I had, I had, I had done, I never did classic stand-up, but I, if I'm in front of an audience, I'll try anything. And so, um.

• 11:14Speaker 02

  Well, you're like me. You're shameless in front of an audience.

• 11:16Conan O'Brien?

  I am, oh my god. Oh my god. It's, uh.

• 11:19Speaker 02

  But you're much funnier than me and I, I.

• 11:21Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, uh, nope. But anyway, let's make this about you. I'm cutting it off. I don't like this. This is about Eric Idle and one of.

• 11:28Speaker 02

  You've just invited me to say something nice about you.

• 11:30Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, but I thought you'd take that.

• 11:31Speaker 02

  You guys really are horny for each other. Get a room.

• 11:34Conan O'Brien?

  I thought you'd take that opportunity to shit on me and you fucked it up. I've had, one of, one of the best things that's happened to me in my adult life is getting to know Eric on a bunch of occasions. And then Eric, I know you've moved since then, but you would have me to your home. Your lovely wife, Tanya, would be there. Your daughter Lily would be there. My wife and I, Eliza, would go. And you'd put together this salon of really funny, cool, musical people and, but one of the things that always grabbed my attention is I'd walk in the front door and there was a poster and it was from university. It's from 1963, I think.

• 12:11Speaker 02

  It is from 1963 and it's from the Edinburgh Festival.

• 12:14Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it's from the Edinburgh Festival.

• 12:15Speaker 02

  It's my first public performance.

• 12:17Conan O'Brien?

  And it's you as a, as a, as a squeaky young lad and it's a giant photo.

• 12:22Speaker 02

  I think of a handsome young man with the world ahead of him, you know.

• 12:26Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, squeaky might not be the right. I meant you were clean, squeaky clean.

• 12:30Speaker 02

  Probably, yes.

• 12:31Conan O'Brien?

  But it's, it's this poster from 1963 and it's when you're getting started. This would be easily six years before Python, but you're just getting started. And I always looked at that. Every time you had me over, I would look at that poster and kind of time travel back to this other time when all of you guys were getting started and finding your way. It's before you all found each other and it's magical.

• 12:58Speaker 02

  That's not quite true. You see, oddly.

• 13:00Conan O'Brien?

  That's true. You had worked together, yeah.

• 13:02Speaker 02

  Quite by chance. I had already met John Cleese.

• 13:04Conan O'Brien?

  Mm-hmm.

• 13:05Speaker 02

  I'd already met Graham Chapman, who was at St. Bart's Hospital, studying to become a fully qualified alcoholic.

• 13:14Conan O'Brien?

  You know, I like a person who does their, really does their work.

• 13:16Speaker 03

  Puts the time in.

• 13:17Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, puts the time in.

• 13:18Speaker 02

  And I met in Edinburgh, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, who were doing the Oxford Review. So in 1963, we'd all met.

• 13:26Conan O'Brien?

  You'd all met.

• 13:27Speaker 02

  With the exception of Terry Gilliam.

• 13:28Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 13:29Speaker 02

  Who no one has yet met.

• 13:34Conan O'Brien?

  You can meet him, but you still haven't met him. Yeah, I would look at that and, uh, and just think about, this is a document, this is a, you know, I'm a history buff and I'm also a comedy buff. And to look at that poster was always hard to lure me away from it because I just thought, that's the year I was born and, uh, I just wanna, I wanted to put that in. Just to accentuate that, uh...

• 13:59Speaker 02

  But it's also the year of the Beatles, so that's...

• 14:01Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it's the year of the Beatles in England, not the, not the year of the Beatles. In America, we think 64, but it was 63.

• 14:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, very much so. At the Edinburgh Festival was the first time all, all the galleries were playing all their records. And we go, what's all this about? What's all this about? So...

• 14:15Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, these, these guys with this weird hair that are living, from Liverpool.

• 14:18Speaker 02

  Absolutely. And then they came through Cambridge the year after and everybody changed. The whole world changed. That we used to wear little old tweed jackets with leather pads.

• 14:27Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 14:27Speaker 02

  Suddenly we were wearing Beatle jackets and saying, who's your favorite Beatle?

• 14:31Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 14:32Speaker 02

  You know, and it's, so they, they actually did literally change the world after that Edinburgh Festival.

• 14:36Conan O'Brien?

  You know, it's funny, you can look at, uh, high, uh, college yearbooks and high school yearbooks from 1963. You could, in this, in the United States, if you look at a high school yearbook from 1964, everyone's got buzz cuts and horn rim glasses, everybody. And they all look kind of the same. And then you look at the high school yearbook from 1965. There's still the occasional guy with a crew cut who just can't get the message. But everybody else has that hair. It changed everything, but we'll talk about the Beatles another time. I want to talk about...

• 15:10Speaker 03

  The Rolling Stones.

• 15:11Conan O'Brien?

  The Rolling Stones. They took the blues.

• 15:18Conan O'Brien?

  Which is deceptively simple form and they transformed it.

• 15:21Speaker 02

  I have a theory, you see, that Python, because this was all rock and roll, came in just in those years. And everybody's, the band used to be in the pit and then they came up on the stage, put on tight trousers, started to play loud music and all the girls chased them. And the comedians had to wait in the wings for a while.

• 15:38Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 15:39Speaker 02

  But my theory is that Monty Python became the first mock and roll group.

• 15:43Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 15:44Speaker 02

  Because we did stadiums, we ended up playing the Hollywood Bowl, we did O2. We were, we were the first ones and, and the second was of course, Saturday Night Live.

• 15:54Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 15:54Speaker 02

  Because they had all, they brought rock and roll into it.

• 15:57Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 15:57Speaker 02

  So the comedians were all fighting back then.

• 15:59Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, it was, um, it's funny you say that because, uh, and then, yeah, I guess I'd be third in that line.

• 16:07Speaker 03

  Wait, what?

• 16:08Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I came along and people were like, you know, women were like, I gotta fuck that guy.

• 16:12Speaker 03

  No, no. They were just saying fuck that guy.

• 16:14Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, yeah. Oh, oh, I misheard it.

• 16:15Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 16:16Conan O'Brien?

  I misheard it.

• 16:20Conan O'Brien?

  The, now, you're right. Okay, I gotta get the hearing checked.

• 16:23Speaker 02

  Oddly, quite oddly, no, when I first did SNL, the first time I did it, my first guest was Joe Cocker.

• 16:30Conan O'Brien?

  Mm-hmm.

• 16:31Speaker 02

  And Belushi came on and mocked him.

• 16:32Conan O'Brien?

  Mm-hmm.

• 16:33Speaker 02

  So that was actually really mock and roll.

• 16:37Conan O'Brien?

  But you're, this is an interesting trajectory because your good, uh, dear departed friend George Harrison famously said he felt the Beatles break up, sort of, I think technically in 69, uh, at beginning of 1970. That's right when Python is hitting the air and George Harrison said he really felt the spirit of the Beatles was passed on and went into Python. And I thought, did you guys ever talk about that? Did you talk about that with George?

• 17:10Speaker 02

  We talked about almost everything because we, when we met, we just talked all night and we just talked and talked for about two or three weeks. But, you know, what was it like being in your group? What was your group like?

• 17:21Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 17:21Speaker 02

  Was your John like? But I, I think that the, the secret of it was that America-

• 17:27Conan O'Brien?

  Your John. Everyone's gotta have a John.

• 17:31Speaker 02

  But what was America, what happened in America was when the Beatles first arrived in America, what made everybody love them was they were funny.

• 17:38Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 17:38Speaker 02

  And there was this guy called Ringo with a big nose, a funny name, the funny haircuts, and everybody knew Ringo first. That's the first name they knew. But it was their humor at the airport conference that broke them in America. I'm convinced of it.

• 17:52Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 17:53Speaker 02

  And so, in a way, they were just as funny as we were. They just were all Liverpool comedians, really.

• 18:02Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 18:03Speaker 02

  But they, you know, they went the wrong way.

• 18:04Conan O'Brien?

  They went the wrong way.

• 18:05Speaker 02

  They went on the dark side.

• 18:08Conan O'Brien?

  They wasted their time in music when they really could have been a sketch, a sketch troupe. They really could have been a sketch troupe. And it's sad when people take the wrong turn, but what are you gonna do? What I really wanted to start with, because sometimes people bring their project along, and I think, okay, we'll get to that. The thing that's special about Spamalot Diaries is when you were putting Spamalot together, and this is 2004, 2003, 2004, you kept a diary of the entire process of putting it together. You then set the diary aside, and I remember going to your house when you and Tanya were packing it up to leave,

• 18:49Conan O'Brien?

  to move to a different house, and you were packing everything up. In that process, you find the diary that you had forgotten.

• 18:57Speaker 02

  I had completely forgotten I'd written it. I completely forgot I kept it. And I read it and I gave it to actually Puddles, you know, Puddles, his wife, to read. And she said, "This is great."

• 19:08Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 19:08Speaker 02

  And I gave it to my wife, and she said, "Oh, this is fantastic, because what's interesting about a diary is you don't know what's gonna happen. You don't know it's going to be that thing, and it's gonna be successful." And so it's full of anxieties and arguments and rows, and it's the process.

• 19:24Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, this is what I love.

• 19:26Speaker 02

  Saying about it, it's a process, not a miracle.

• 19:28Conan O'Brien?

  There's this misconception, and maybe it's appropriate, it should be this way. People love to think they're gonna come in and they see something miraculous. That it just happened and maybe that's the way an audience should look at it. But what's amazing is you read through this diary because I think, well, oh yeah, spam a lot. Massive hit, sold out forever. So of course, it just happened. You read this and you you see how much work anxiety rewrites and the creative wrestling between you and the director, Mike Nichols, the famous Mike Nichols.

• 20:07Conan O'Brien?

  You have emails in here, you have notes back and forth, there's disagreements with other, you know, or sometimes friction with other pythons. And you're you're just like Job, you're just going ahead, trying to make this thing happen.

• 20:22Speaker 02

  And I think that's what's interesting because I and I'd forgotten about it. I I was just writing every few days, what I was feeling. And so it's this kind of direct form of honesty. And I kept in the rows because I thought, no, no, people mustn't believe that the artistic process is just, we'll have a cup of tea and we'll we'll make this thing. There are conflicts, people need to be angry. We used to row in Python about what sort of chair it should be. That's not a funny chair. This is a funny chair.

• 20:53Conan O'Brien?

  Right, right.

• 20:54Speaker 02

  No, no, this is a funny chair, you know. So I I think those those are important. And so I kept in particularly the row early on with Mike because I thought it was very important for people to understand that you must maintain your vision of something if you're a writer and you're doing a play and the director doesn't have every say. And fortunately for us, we'd been friends for 15 years.

• 21:18Conan O'Brien?

  You and Mike Nichols had met.

• 21:20Speaker 02

  We'd just been pals, we'd been on holidays, we'd had the best of times, been to the theater, been to places all overseas, and we had never had a crossword. And then suddenly we're working together and it's a completely different relationship, obviously.

• 21:34Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 21:34Speaker 02

  Now you're the real, you're that person, he's that person. And I I thought, well, I'm going to leave that because I think it's important to know that people establish who they are and then they can move forward.

• 21:46Conan O'Brien?

  I guess the part that is most fascinating. To me is the statement that one of the themes that comes through in the Spamalot Diaries, and this applies not just to Spamalot, but to Python and I think just to comedy and and all work, is that fighting, arguing, is an essential part of the process. Turmoil, anxiety is part of the process, and I cannot tell you how many. When someone tells me, "Oh, I love to write. I just love writing." I think you must be a terrible writer. Because I don't, that's not my my process, and my wife is a very good writer, and she will tell me, "Oh, I'm just, I'm, I hate it, it's miserable."

• 22:28Conan O'Brien?

  And I'll say, "Right, exactly. Yes, that's what it is. That's, you know, keep going, but that's what it is."

• 22:35Speaker 02

  I think if you're content with what you're writing and not very good, I, I, I, almost all great writers, you know, I think Graham Greene said he'd written one or two sentences he was quite proud of.

• 22:45Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 22:46Speaker 02

  Sentences.

• 22:47Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 22:47Speaker 02

  You know, I, I think, I think all writing is like that because you're trying to capture flies in Aspic. I mean, you, it's, it's really a very difficult thing you're doing. You're putting down life

• 22:58Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 22:58Speaker 02

  in this code, 26-letter code.

• 23:01Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 23:01Speaker 02

  How does that possibly even work?

• 23:03Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 23:03Speaker 02

  And you, and how some people have the gift of making you just read any sentence about anything, and you just pick up a book and you just read them all the way through because of the way they write. I find that fascinating, but.

• 23:17Conan O'Brien?

  Well, it's, it's also, um, I read a biography recently, there's a wonderful biography of Mike Nichols, and you find out, I mean, his childhood, and his experience, re, uh, fleeing Nazi Germany, coming to America, re, kind of remaking himself. He had famously had alopecia, he lost all of his hair, all that, having to wear a wig.

• 23:41Speaker 02

  Not speaking English.

• 23:42Conan O'Brien?

  Not speaking English, and he completely remade himself into the coolest, smartest, most urbane guy doing comedy, along with Elaine May.

• 23:53Conan O'Brien?

  The sheer, not just talent, but will to and the amount of struggle and pain you have to go through to remake yourself as Mike Nichols into that. And then I think you, we've talked about it before in the previous podcast and you've been very open about it. You had, you have a very difficult childhood in many ways.

• 24:14Speaker 02

  Yes, yes. I think that's an advantage in our hearts. I think, but nobody had a more difficult childhood as Mike. And for me, there's a new book about the making of Virginia Woolf and which he's in. And I'm amazed, it's his first film.

• 24:34Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 24:35Speaker 02

  And he's standing up to Harry Warner and saying, no, it's going to be in black and white.

• 24:39Conan O'Brien?

  Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? He wanted to shoot it in black and white. He's got the two biggest stars on earth, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. And he's a young punk who's never directed anything in his life. And he's telling the biggest man in show business to fuck off. And so the ball's on that guy. Absolutely incredible.

• 24:59Speaker 02

  Unbelievable. But it's based on some kind of, his perception of what should be was really, was really pure.

• 25:08Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 25:09Speaker 02

  If Mike said something and you thought it wasn't quite right, you go, oh, it's not quite right. I never had any doubt that some, you know, sometimes he would, he was, he was the most fabulous friend of hell. He didn't write, but he wrote with you in a sense that he'd say, well, we need somebody to say, say this. And then I say this is meh. Then, and he would encourage it out of you so that you wrote better, always with him.

• 25:33Conan O'Brien?

  Well, there's a line in the Spamalot Diaries, you and Mike Nichols, there's a lot of correspondence back and forth between you two. And at one point, Mike Nichols writes you and he says, I've given, I've been thinking a lot about you, Eric, and your childhood. And he's talking about, he acknowledges that he had a crazy, insane childhood. He's talking about how your childhood was so difficult. And he said this line that really stuck with me, which is, I guess we all inoculate ourselves against our own childhood. And that really stuck with me. That whatever happens to us individually, and this in close to anyone listening, it happens to you, you tend to dismiss it like, well, no, I was fine. Oh, my God, what this other person went through. You know what I mean? And, and, and when Mike Nichols says that line, he said, hey,

• 26:18Conan O'Brien?

  because you're so good. I don't know how much of it is being English and how much of it is your own character as Eric Idle, your own personality. But I could just see how you have a stiff upper lip. You could be very dismissive of any kind of pain in your life. I'm fine. Oh, this poor other person. But how much is that? How much of that is English? How much of that is you? And you're going to be charged for therapy when this is over.

• 26:46Speaker 02

  I don't know. I mean, I, I think you learn empathy. I mean, you start by being an egotistical shit by going into show business. Look at me, I'm in show business.

• 26:56Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 26:56Speaker 02

  And then you can behave very badly. And I learned from lots of very good people, like Robin Williams taught me how to be nice to fans. I would just tell them to fuck off and they would laugh and go away, you know? But that was good enough for them because they, oh, you told me to fuck off.

• 27:14Conan O'Brien?

  I just was told to fuck off by Eric Idle.

• 27:17Speaker 02

  And that became a thing. And then I thought, and then I watched Robin and, and his empathy. And remembering that this is somebody's moment in their life and it's a big moment in their life because they've, they've waited, they love you, they want this moment. So if you are a shit or dismissive, it's, it's, it's a nasty memory. So what I always do is I always say, oh, I'm Eric and I get their name.

• 27:43Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 27:44Speaker 02

  And then you're on a one to one human basis with them.

• 27:47Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 27:48Speaker 02

  And you're not some kind of God and they're not some object fan. So I, I, I try and, and I think, I think that works in all sorts of situations where you remind people that they're people.

• 27:58Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 27:59Speaker 02

  And we're just here at this moment.

• 28:08Conan O'Brien?

  Sona, have you heard of these full-body scans?

• 28:11Speaker 01

  I have, yes.

• 28:12Conan O'Brien?

  Did you do one?

• 28:13Speaker 01

  I just did one recently.

• 28:14Conan O'Brien?

  And?

• 28:15Speaker 01

  So I did one with this company we're talking about.

• 28:17Conan O'Brien?

  Prenewvo.

• 28:18Speaker 01

  Prenewvo.

• 28:18Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 28:19Speaker 01

  It was awesome.

• 28:20Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 28:20Speaker 01

  I mean, it's like, I was really nervous about going into an MRI machine, but the hole is a little bigger.

• 28:25Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 28:25Speaker 01

  And then you could put something over your face where you could watch a Netflix show.

• 28:30Conan O'Brien?

  And then you were in there for 15 hours, it says. They're like, "You can go now, Ms. One's asking." "I want more!"

• 28:38Speaker 01

  It was great. I watched a whole, like, two and a half episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine while I was getting scanned.

• 28:43Conan O'Brien?

  Well, that's maybe the only reason you went in. But here we go. Prenewvo's Whole Body Scan is a radiation-free MRI designed to help provide a detailed, non-invasive look at your body in under an hour.

• 28:54Speaker 01

  I found out some of the discs in my spine are a little compressed, which explains the tingling I have in my hands and my feet. And I didn't know why that was. I just was like, "Oh, my..."

• 29:02Conan O'Brien?

  I thought you were just starstruck around me.

• 29:03Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 29:05Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, it's going to the brine. Tingly, tingly.

• 29:08Speaker 01

  Definitely not. But then that made me realize, so now I can, you know, do whatever I need to do to treat that.

• 29:14Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, knowledge is power. It's just good to have knowledge.

• 29:16Speaker 01

  It is, it is.

• 29:17Conan O'Brien?

  And if there is something there, you might see it very early on, and your chances are much better of getting adequate treatment. So this just makes sense.

• 29:25Speaker 01

  I was born without an artery in my brain.

• 29:28Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, well, I don't trust anything you say, because your brain's getting no blood. Anyway, to learn more about Prenewvo and get $300 off your whole-body MRI, go to prenewvo.com/conan and use code Conan. That's P-R-E-N-U-V-O dot com slash Conan. Terms and conditions apply.

• 29:46Speaker 04

  Receive $300 off Prenewvo Whole Body Scans and executive and comprehensive memberships through January 31st. For full details, visit Prenewvo's website to read their terms and conditions and privacy notice. Prenewvo gifted me a whole-body scan. Prenewvo Scan is a screening service, not diagnostic.

• 30:02Conan O'Brien?

  Diagnosis and treatment are determined by your healthcare provider.

• 30:08Conan O'Brien?

  This fall, I want to try something different.

• 30:10Speaker 01

  What?

• 30:10Conan O'Brien?

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

• 30:14Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 30:14Conan O'Brien?

  Every morning.

• 30:15Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 30:15Conan O'Brien?

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

• 30:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:18Conan O'Brien?

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

• 30:22Speaker 01

  Oh, that's good.

• 30:23Conan O'Brien?

  See what I did?

• 30:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:24Conan O'Brien?

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

• 30:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:28Conan O'Brien?

  They're America's best network.

• 30:29Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 30:30Conan 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.

• 30:37Speaker 01

  Oh, that's weird.

• 30:37Conan O'Brien?

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

• 30:39Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 30:39Conan O'Brien?

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

• 30:46Speaker 01

  You travel a lot.

• 30:47Conan O'Brien?

  Travel show that I do.

• 30:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:49Conan 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.

• 30:59Speaker 01

  That doesn't seem like a good idea.

• 31:00Conan O'Brien?

  It's a great idea.

• 31:01Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 31:02Conan O'Brien?

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

• 31:07Speaker 01

  My god.

• 31:08Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 31:08Speaker 01

  What?

• 31:09Conan O'Brien?

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

• 31:11Speaker 01

  I agree.

• 31:12Conan O'Brien?

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

• 31:36Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 31:37Speaker 04

  This is the story of the one. As a shipping manager, he's running the dock, stocking supplies, and making sure every order goes out on time. And Granger helps him stay prepared. From shipping supplies to PPE to hand tools, he counts on Granger to keep products moving and trucks rolling, so his operation runs smoothly, no matter the shift. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Granger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done.

• 32:13Conan O'Brien?

  It's funny you mention Robin because I didn't realize how close you guys were. You guys were very close. And I was lucky enough to have some great interactions with Robin Williams before he passed. One of the most memorable examples to me of his kindness is when I went through my whole Tonight Show debacle and finally I'm, the show is done and I don't know if I have a career anymore, what am I gonna do next? You remember this, this part very well, Sona, because Sona was with me during all that. And I'm lying on the floor in the living room of my house and my phone rings and I pick it up and it's Robin Williams. I don't even know how he got my phone number. I'll never forget, he goes like, "How you holding up, chief?" And I said, "Oh, Robin, thanks so much for calling."

• 32:57Conan O'Brien?

  And he said, "You know, listen, you know, you're gonna be fine, you're gonna be great. I know you like to ride bikes." Because he was really into bicycling and he said, "I know you like riding bikes. Go down to this, the bike shop down in Santa Monica. I want you to go down there and I've set up a bike for you." And I said, "What?" And he said, "No, no, just, just head on down there and so, and ride around, you'll feel better." And I went down and it was a Colgana, which is a very nice bike. And he said, "I told them to paint it in all these crazy Irish colors." And I get down there and it's the most, it's the ugliest.

• 33:37Conan O'Brien?

  I mean, it was just, you know, greens and shamrocks and everything and I couldn't believe... And he was like, "Oh, you're gonna like that bike, chief, don't worry about it." And I just thought, I, uh, I thanked him many, many times. I just couldn't believe that he was thinking about me. You know how we are in life.

• 34:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, but that's how he was.

• 34:01Conan O'Brien?

  You think about someone, "Oh, that's too bad what happened to him." Oh, whatever. Anyway, I'm gonna go get a sandwich.

• 34:06Speaker 02

  No, no, he reached out. He thought, "What might please you?" He went and got to the shop and chose, I mean, he would put a lot of effort into making you feel better, which I thought, that's very, very Robin. That's fantastically typical Robin. Robin and that generosity and kindness is a is something with combined with the width on the man is is is not a common combination.

• 34:29Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 34:30Speaker 02

  You know, I don't think Dr. Johnson was busy sending people, maybe I don't know, but I think.

• 34:35Conan O'Brien?

  He had Boswell do it.

• 34:36Speaker 02

  He had Boswell.

• 34:37Conan O'Brien?

  Boswell, send that fucker a bike.

• 34:43Conan O'Brien?

  There's so much in the book that I want to make sure I weave in because you hit on so many themes I love. As you're approaching the premiere, of course, now we all know how the story turns out, but when you're reading through the book, it is very much what you say, you're reading these texts, these messages, these diary entries, day by day, you don't know what's going to happen. And you can feel the anxiety, you can feel the self-loathing, you can feel the gloom. And at one point you say, I think the English, there's an English tendency to prefer failure. And I thought that is so fantastic because in a strange way, I understand how failure can feel more comfortable. And a big hit, it's the tall poppy syndrome, which is very Irish, it's very United Kingdom, it's.

• 35:27Conan O'Brien?

  What do you do with a big hit? And everywhere you went, people were congratulating you and you, you're uneasy with it.

• 35:34Speaker 02

  I wasn't used to it. But also I didn't quite expect it and it's, it takes a while to know why what to do with that.

• 35:42Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 35:42Speaker 02

  Because you're still trying to understand how we fixed it, is it, did it really work? And Mike would always keep on making it better and better, he cut little bits and and keep improving it, but. But I think there is a thing in England that um that that failure is is a noble and a wonderful thing. And if you look at like Dunkirk and some of their great victories.

• 36:05Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 36:06Speaker 02

  Uh, the English ran away quite a lot.

• 36:09Conan O'Brien?

  Which is often a wise choice.

• 36:11Speaker 02

  Maybe a good choice.

• 36:12Conan O'Brien?

  If the, if the English don't run away in nineteen forty, they don't, they are not there to fight Hitler in nineteen forty two, so yeah.

• 36:20Speaker 02

  No, I mean, I, I think there are many reasons for it, but, but also I think the tall poppy, which is what the Australians also call it. It is also that when you. On a small island, people are envious of people's success. And so it's people trying to either play it down a bit, or, oh yeah, I did happen to climb Everest last week. But I'm, I'm also working on some Latin thesis, you know? I mean, people, they tend to try and diminish.

• 36:46Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 36:46Speaker 02

  It's, it's not a, uh, America's great because there's, you, let's, let's all try and be successful.

• 36:52Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 36:53Speaker 02

  That's the, that's the starting point.

• 36:55Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 36:55Speaker 02

  And it's fine.

• 36:56Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 36:56Speaker 02

  When in England, if you've been successful, you got a car, people will scrape the car with their, you know, as they go by, you bastard. Whereas in America, the reaction will be, one day I'll have one of those. And I think it's completely different attitude.

• 37:10Conan O'Brien?

  This is something Bono said, uh, uh, Bono said that, you know, in America, if you see a house on a hill and you walk by and you see a mansion on a hill, you think, someday I'm gonna have that mansion. He said, in Ireland, if you see a big mansion on a hill, you think, I'm gonna burn that fucking down.

• 37:31Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I understand that. I don't want it for myself. I just don't want that asshole to have it.

• 37:37Conan O'Brien?

  It's funny because this leads into my next question, which is that, uh, you bring up that you had this realization at one point that the Holy Grail, which is spam a lot, the, you know, that, that it's really about Python and the members of Python. And when, and this resonated with me right now because all you do, you just said it right now is, you know, there's this tendency to wanna run away all throughout Holy Grail. One of the reasons Sir Robin is able to, his only strategy is to run away. Run away, run away. And I've, you know, always.

• 38:14Speaker 02

  King Arthur says run away.

• 38:16Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 38:16Speaker 02

  It's a command.

• 38:17Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it's a command. Yes, yes.

• 38:18Speaker 02

  Robin does.

• 38:19Conan O'Brien?

  You're quite happy.

• 38:21Speaker 02

  Robin denies he's running away.

• 38:23Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 38:23Speaker 02

  He's pissing off and buggering off. No, no, no, no.

• 38:28Conan O'Brien?

  Brave, brave Sir Robin. Yeah, yeah. But, uh, but you talk about, and you go through and you talk about the different members of Python and how they kind of fit their role in the Holy Grail, whether it was intentional or not.

• 38:40Speaker 02

  Because I had to, I had to bring, I mean, there were ninety-eight characters in The Holy Grail.

• 38:45Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 38:45Speaker 02

  So I put that on stage. So what I did was I collapsed as many as I could of the characters played by Michael Palin into one character, aspects of that character.

• 38:54Conan O'Brien?

  Mm-hmm.

• 38:55Speaker 02

  And the same with me, and the same with Lancelot, Jean Cleege, you know. So that, so that then, when you do that, you do find more of Michael, who's always like, you know, which he really wants a bit of temptation, but he better have it. Oh, and he... No, no, I gotta go, I gotta go.

• 39:13Conan O'Brien?

  No, yeah, one of my...

• 39:17Conan O'Brien?

  Being rescued from all the...

• 39:19Speaker 02

  From all the girlies.

• 39:20Conan O'Brien?

  All the girls who are horny.

• 39:22Speaker 02

  Oh, William!

• 39:24Conan O'Brien?

  Oh! And you could tell, he's, yeah, it's so lovely.

• 39:28Speaker 02

  He made two films about that, too.

• 39:30Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, yeah.

• 39:30Speaker 02

  Of his own, which, that's basically the same theme. He, he's, perhaps not, no, better not, no.

• 39:40Speaker 02

  I think he's very significant about Michael.

• 39:42Conan O'Brien?

  It's so funny because I relate to both your character, I relate to running away and, you know, oh, there's some temptation, oh, well, I... I should probably go watch my class draw. I'll just be over here, but I'm gonna think about it a lot, and I'm gonna hate myself a little bit. But, uh, yeah, you go through, it's, it's very convincing that, whether it was intentional or not.

• 40:06Speaker 02

  I think that often, writing reveals yourself. I mean, I think, good writing, it's definitely all about yourself in some really bizarre way. And, uh, and if, when you're adapting something, a piece of work, it's very nice to come across themes that are just in there. There's one scene when Michael is being led away from Castle Anthrax. You know, and Cleege is getting him out, "Come on, let's go." He said, "No, can I have a bit of temptation?" "No, no, no, no temptation at all, no temptation at all." And just as in a frame, you hear Michael say, "Ooh, I bet you're gay."

• 40:45Speaker 02

  And we use that for a whole scene.

• 40:47Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 40:47Speaker 02

  Where Lancelot's whole rage and anger is explained by the fact he's repressing, you know, he really is.

• 40:54Conan O'Brien?

  He's repressing something, yeah.

• 40:55Speaker 02

  He's repressing it all and out he comes. And he dances, his song came, "His name is Lancelot, he likes to dance a lot." There's a huge Peter Allen number. And I, I find that, that's really the most exciting thing about adapting work is finding little things in there which will make it work on stage. Cause, cause Mike and Casey there, there was a whole scene, we, we kept trying to write this spanking song. And you know, because the, the girls say, "Oh, spanking, spanking tonight." And we keep writing, "Spanking, spanking, there's going to be a spanking." And they said, "No, no, no." And they would not have it. So the way out was this, just this hint in the, in the script.

• 41:37Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 41:37Speaker 02

  Uh, which I improvised and it was just, it was fabulous to find. Cause it, it, it makes Lancelot's character very much more, he's not just angry, he's angry because he had an angry father. And he stands up for Herbert saying, "This man is your son." And he comes up with the most wonderful, like it could be Arthur Miller.

• 41:57Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 41:58Speaker 02

  And he comes out and, and stands up for him. And it's a very nice dramatic twist in act two, which I like.

• 42:04Conan O'Brien?

  You said in Python, there were disagreements. I, I know in my comedy career, I, I just, just became with all my different collaborators and creative partners, arguments and fights. And you'd come down to, if someone else was listening to it, they'd think you were insane. You talked about how you'd all argue in Python about, "Is this the right chair?" "No, this isn't the right chair." "No, the dead parrot should look like this, it shouldn't be, look like that, cause that's not funny, but this is." And I remembered Robert Smigel, you know, one of the just genius people I've, I've been fortunate to work with over the years. I remembered once us going back and forth, arguing about something forever. And this is maybe 30 years ago. And I said, "No, but it got a big laugh."

• 42:45Conan O'Brien?

  And he went, "Yes, but that's not the kind of laugh we want at that point."

• 42:52Conan O'Brien?

  And I was thinking, it's a goddamn laugh.

• 42:55Conan O'Brien?

  What do you mean it's not the laugh we want at that point? But I also understand what he's saying, you know, and so, um, but anyone else listening outside the door would think these two idiots, what is their problem? But I think that is the common thread, just in this process, if, I think if you're trying to do it right, which is-

• 43:14Speaker 02

  I think it's a fascinating process and I, I, I always had some very good mentors. We used to write for jokes for David Frost and I had, you know, Baricrotic Voss, for people who taught me how to be, you know, what to do and how the ropes and then you become, you find your own compa-, you know, companions who, who then become argumentative. It's really was very argumentative. I mean, sometimes rows, huge blazing rows would break out. Um, but, but I, again, I think that's because if you, if you don't care, it's not important.

• 43:48Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 43:48Speaker 02

  And, and, and, and I think I only was not be good at standing up because I was a solo writer in that group. And I remember, and then that's why I think I got on with George. He was a solo between two big forces of Lennon and McCartney.

• 44:04Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 44:05Speaker 02

  And I was between, you know, Mike and Terry, and John and Graham wrote. And I remember when George came out to the filming of, uh, The Life of Brian, he paid for, he said, "How's it going?" He said, "Well, it's all right. Um, it's hard to get on screen, you know, with Michael Palin and, and John Cleese." He said, "Imagine how I was trying to get into the studio with Lennon and McCartney."

• 44:29Conan O'Brien?

  Mic drop.

• 44:30Speaker 02

  Okay, you got it. I got it.

• 44:34Conan O'Brien?

  You think you have problems.

• 44:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly.

• 44:36Conan O'Brien?

  Cry me a river. Um, this is, and we don't have to talk about this, but it's something that as a lifelong, someone who's been so influenced and odd by Python, I think of it as sort of Santa Claus, like, like a child, I just want to believe that everyone's getting along. And you and Cleese famously lately have had your disagreements and that have come out in public. And I know, I'll think, oh, I don't want mommy and daddy to fight. But that's childlike of me because you're human beings that disagree and you've known each other a long time.

• 45:12Speaker 02

  We don't disagree about comedy. This is only about money.

• 45:16Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 45:16Speaker 02

  This is only about business.

• 45:18Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 45:19Speaker 02

  And, and there's no reason, I mean, a fool and his money are easy parted, you know, six of us, you know, much more quickly. I mean, I think, I think there's, there's no right or wrong way to deal with business. And if somebody has one view of it and somebody doesn't, and somebody has another, those can lead to very bad arguments.

• 45:38Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 45:38Speaker 02

  And unfortunately, we don't see each other enough. I haven't seen them in ten years.

• 45:43Conan O'Brien?

  It's been ten years since you saw John?

• 45:46Speaker 02

  Uh, nine since John, ten since Mike. If you don't sit across the table and know that person and what, what decade they're in, I think there's, there's a, there's a lot of room for disagreement and, you know, it, we're just old. And it's like, we never disagreed on the very important things on what was funny.

• 46:06Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 46:06Speaker 02

  Really. And, but that was a while ago.

• 46:08Conan O'Brien?

  You know, there's also, there's a, there's a misconception that anyone could have, which is, wait a minute. Monty Python, the most, in my opinion, influential show of, of all time. And then that led to these movies, which are, uh, in my opinion, flawless and beautiful and fantastic. And that you, you've all gone on to these things. And then of course, Spamalot, a huge hit. And you talk about how there's this perception that, well, everyone in Python must be driving around in Bentleys with cash. You know, in convertibles with cash just flying out. And that, uh, you, you say, you know, we're all touring to keep, you know, at this age to keep it going. And that's,

• 46:54Conan O'Brien?

  I think that's a misconception that people can have.

• 46:56Speaker 02

  I think so because, um, you know, it sort of depends what sort of deals you, you have. And, and, and nowadays residuals are becoming a thing of the past, you know, they got, they got rid of all the music residuals. You know, you've got Spotify and YouTube, everything takes everything, you know, I mean, I think it's very difficult. I don't mind it because I quite like doing what I do. I quite like going out there and making people laugh. See if I can still make them laugh. Because I think that's the sort of little joy that we get. I think it's a secret little, secret little joy. We're all comedy junkies, laugh junkies. And I, and so I'm about to go and do a tour of Australia, New Zealand. And I've got some really wonderful surprises. I like surprising people.

• 47:40Speaker 02

  I like, I like making my shows about something. So there's sort of like a through line. I was with Professor Brian Cox last week and he said, he's doing a show. And I thought, he said, what's yours about? And I said, mine's about the meaning of life. And he said, well, so is mine. I said, yeah, but mine will be deep.

• 48:02Conan O'Brien?

  You, uh, you introduced me. You introduced me to him at a, at a part. I mean, again, this is one of the gifts of getting to go to Eric Idle's home is you said, oh, here's Brian Cox. And we chatted and he's this brilliant mind. And the next thing you know, he's, I've become somewhat, you know, friendly with him. And I think this is, you have salons. You have, it's nice what you do. You get really smart. It's not just funny people. It's, it, it's music people. It's people from science. It's people from astrology. It's people who are historians. And I can just see that you have this endless joy for trying to figure it all out.

• 48:40Speaker 02

  I like putting people together. I like conversation, but I love, love at the end of the evening is a ding dong. We have a play. And so I love musicians. And so I've always got musicians. And anybody like Brian Cox, if he's going to tell you about quantum. And that's very nice over dinner, you know? But, and he also plays a piano. So we, we have gigs. He, his son George plays guitar. And I've, I've been playing with this group who have been playing with the monkeys and they're really great. And we just sit around and play hit after hit. It's just, that's my hap, that's when I'm happiest. After dinner, out come the guitars. We'll just sing for hours.

• 49:18Conan O'Brien?

  It's funny you say this because like, what is it about? I've loved playing guitar. Um, I could never make a dime off of it. Uh, but it's, it's, it just, it's my hobby and I really love doing it. And I got to do the, um, Newport Folk Festival a month or two ago. And there's, there's footage of it and I'm up there playing with all these amazing people. And Jack White came. But the comment that shows up every time I'm up there is, Conan seems, this is the most joyous I've ever seen Conan, he seems so much happier doing this than comedy. I thought, I love comedy, but they're not wrong. I love that.

• 49:58Speaker 02

  Me too. And just playing and gigging with people and having fun and listening, because it's a different part of your brain. You're not thinking, you're not obsessive. And where's the next laugh? You know, you're just feeling the next chord. I love that. And I'm doing a show now, which is really a one man musical.

• 50:17Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 50:18Speaker 02

  And I do a couple of songs. So one's a tribute to George Harrison I wrote, which I really like, because I miss him a lot. And one's for Robin, which I wrote for his memorial. And it's a very sweet song. And I put up pictures of them. And it's kind of a nice way of recognizing that people have moved on and gone. And say for one, this isn't all like, you know, this isn't all maudlin. I mean, there's a lot of, there's some good jokes, but.

• 50:44Conan O'Brien?

  Well, you've written, first of all, it's the, it's the most requested song at funerals. I think in, certainly in the, in the UK, maybe in the world.

• 50:55Speaker 02

  And what's the second?

• 51:01Conan O'Brien?

  That's a really good question.

• 51:02Speaker 02

  Actually, it was "My Way" replaced, which is really a terrible song for when you're dying, isn't it?

• 51:08Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 51:08Speaker 02

  I did it my way.

• 51:12Conan O'Brien?

  I smoked, I smoked and smoked. They said I shouldn't, but I did. I ate fatty foods. They said I shouldn't, but I did. The, you wrote, "Always look on the bright side of life." And it is, it's such a great song. It's amazing scene in "Life of Brian."

• 51:37Conan O'Brien?

  And at the time, I remember it extremely controversial because, you know, people are being, they're on, they're dying, they're on a crucifix and singing Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. And I think it's everything, it is the perspective that I completely 100% agree with, which is, this is terrible and ridiculous and silly at the same time. That is sometimes the only way we can go, we can move on. And it's just, and it's got my, one of my life's got a funny plot, you're here and then you're not like it's, that's all there is to it, I think.

• 52:10Speaker 02

  Yes, I, I, I mean, what's really funny about Always Look on the Bright Side of Life is you are being crucified. There's very little to look forward to at that point. Let's face it, if there's any point in life.

• 52:25Conan O'Brien?

  I think Eric, Eric, I think you're being overly negative. Yeah, you're giving it a bad rap. You're getting a good stretch in the low back. Who you are.

• 52:35Speaker 01

  Oh, man.

• 52:36Conan O'Brien?

  Between the L4 and L5, you got, gravity is giving you a little pull.

• 52:41Speaker 02

  But it is an ironic song, and I think it's a war song, and I think it comes from my father. My, their generation, their songs was like, oh, always look on the bright, the blue skies will open, you know, bluebirds over the bright. They were always about future optimism because they're in a war. So I think that that's what that sort of song is, it's just like a war song.

• 53:03Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 53:03Speaker 02

  And it was played on the, in the Falklands when HMS Sheffield was hit by an exasette. And they had to wait for rescue for three hours. They sang that for three hours. And so I think there's, there is something recognizing that it is a ridiculous thing. And, and teams, you know, seeing it when they're losing at football, I mean, they, they move, look on the bright side, you know, there's nothing to look forward to at that point.

• 53:28Conan O'Brien?

  Right, right. We're down.

• 53:31Conan O'Brien?

  It's over, there's not enough time left. I have to ask you this because I know that you've, you talk about playing guitar with these iconic musicians. You played for hours and probably thousands of hours with George Harrison. You also stayed up all night once in Rome, playing with Keith Richards. And I'm just curious how you can, don't you leave your body at some point and say?

• 53:55Conan O'Brien?

  That's Keith Richards I'm playing guitar with, or that's George Harrison I'm playing guitar with? How do you get over that?

• 53:59Speaker 02

  Oh, I, I think pretty quickly, cause you, you're playing along, you know? So you're in the moment if you're playing with somebody. And luckily, I, I had a pretty good back, I had a jazz guitar background. So I, I knew better chords than they did often. But, but with Keith, you know, I mean Keith is like the most extraordinary. He's like Noel Coward, you know? He'd be like, "Oh dear boy, do come up and have a, what can I get you?" I mean, he's like wearing, you know, dressing gowns and very calm. And he's like, he's the lunatic, you know?

• 54:28Conan O'Brien?

  That's hilarious. "Oh, come in, please, please do come in." And he's wearing like a caft, he's wearing a caftan?

• 54:36Speaker 02

  Not a caftan, dressing gown.

• 54:38Conan O'Brien?

  Dressing gown.

• 54:38Speaker 02

  And a little, you know, a little schmooch.

• 54:40Conan O'Brien?

  Fancy a biscuit?

• 54:41Speaker 02

  "Oh dear boy, can I get you a glass of brandy? What would you like? What can you take?" You know, I mean, quite, quite a, a different world of, uh, that you'd expect. And what, we did sing all night that night and, um, you know, it was in Rome and, um...

• 54:56Conan O'Brien?

  And went in Rome?

• 54:57Speaker 02

  Went in Rome. So I was, then the next, I turned up at the set and Chevy, I hadn't got any words left. It was my last scene.

• 55:03Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 55:03Speaker 02

  And then Chevy comes up to me, says, "I've written this big new scene for us."

• 55:07Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, was this for European vacation?

• 55:08Speaker 02

  Yeah. And I went, "I've got, I've got, I've got, I've got..." And he's all, "Fuck."

• 55:14Conan O'Brien?

  So you had to lose a scene?

• 55:15Speaker 02

  I lost a scene.

• 55:16Conan O'Brien?

  In European vacation, cause you were up all night playing and singing with Keith Richards?

• 55:20Speaker 02

  I'm sorry, yes.

• 55:22Conan O'Brien?

  Well, that's probably as good an excuse as anybody. Yeah.

• 55:26Speaker 01

  I think it's worth it.

• 55:27Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. I'm gonna miss the next podcast. "I'm sorry." "I was singing all night with Keith Richards." No, no, no, he's in, he's in London. What are you talking about? You're in the Pacific Palisades. You were with Richard Keats. Yeah.

• 55:41Conan O'Brien?

  Um, yes, we got on this very dark topic of death and everything. You have one of the funniest ideas ever I've heard for an inscription on your tombstone, which I really like. I'll tell you what it is, because you've clearly forgotten. Eric Idle, see Google.

• 55:59Speaker 02

  I'm glad to know that still stands up.

• 56:03Conan O'Brien?

  I, why? Why not? I mean, why are we getting into here? Exactly. The rest is nonsense. Yeah. Well, I, uh, I want to thank you. Um, it's a great day for me when I get to spend any time with you. Uh, you're one of my all-time heroes and you've changed my, you've changed my life in so many ways with your work. When I was a young lad and you guys completely, uh, I think reordered the universe and showed us all what could be done. And I, I still think you're, you're far ahead of everyone else. Uh, my love to your family, uh, Tanya, and, and of course Lily, who, who I adore. The book is The Spamalot Diaries.

• 56:48Conan O'Brien?

  And it is a joyous read. It's a little harrowing at times, but it's great. And it's a great book for anyone to read who's in the process of trying to make something happen. It doesn't ha, it could be a Broadway play. It could be anything you're trying to do. It's very inspirational.

• 57:04Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 57:05Conan O'Brien?

  And so you've given people a real gift here.

• 57:07Speaker 02

  Oh, that, that's very kind. I, I like that. I'm glad that that's so because I, I do think it's a process, not a miracle.

• 57:14Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. And let's end with just explaining our shirts.

• 57:17Speaker 02

  Indeed.

• 57:18Conan O'Brien?

  You want to explain these?

• 57:19Speaker 02

  Well, this, this shirt, so to raise money for a statue, uh, for Terry Jones.

• 57:25Conan O'Brien?

  Mm-hmm.

• 57:25Speaker 02

  Uh, and they're gonna build a statue for him on the promenade uh, in Wales, um, where he comes from Colwyn Bay. And they're raising money on a GoFundMe basis. And so we're here promoting.

• 57:40Conan O'Brien?

  I think there should be a statue to Terry Jones. I think this is a lovely idea and, um...

• 57:45Speaker 02

  We are hoping it will be the nude organist, but we're not sure.

• 57:51Speaker 03

  And you said it was a GoFundMe, is that correct? It's a GoFundMe, yes, it is. So people can just, well, they can see Google.

• 57:58Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 58:02Conan O'Brien?

  Very nicely done, sir. Uh, Eric Idle, uh, go, go forth and do good works.

• 58:08Speaker 02

  Thank you. Always a joy to talk to you.

• 58:18Conan O'Brien?

  Your name represents everything you've built, okay? Everything, like, I feel that way about my name.

• 58:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:23Conan O'Brien?

  It stands for all of the work good and not so good in my life. But guess what? Your children's names represent their whole futures.

• 58:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:31Conan O'Brien?

  Your children haven't even started building their futures, but their identities are already valuable. Your child's clean credit history can make them a target for identity thieves. Never thought of it that way, but it's true. Identity thieves can open loans and credit cards using your child's social security number, racking up debt and ruining their credit. And you may not notice until they try and get their first credit card. So it could be a long time.

• 58:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:54Conan O'Brien?

  Well, guess what? With LifeLock, you can add family members to your plan, giving you the power to block identity threats targeting your children. Now, Sony, your kids are pretty young still.

• 59:02Speaker 01

  They are.

• 59:03Conan O'Brien?

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

• 59:09Speaker 01

  What?

• 59:09Conan O'Brien?

  They're gonna be, become tractor fanatics. They're gonna be buying tractors online. So 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. So join now, save up to 30% off your first year. Go to lifelock.com/conan. That's lifelock.com/conan to save 30%. Terms apply.

• 59:34Conan O'Brien?

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

• 59:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:38Conan O'Brien?

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

• 59:41Speaker 01

  Oh, good.

• 59:42Conan O'Brien?

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

• 59:45Speaker 01

  Okay, that's fine.

• 59:46Conan O'Brien?

  Cosmically speaking, you're under break, so escape to Pluto TV.

• 59:49Speaker 01

  That's where this was going.

• 59:51Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:00:22Conan O'Brien?

  This message is brought to you by BetterHelp. We all have those moments that pop up in our brain every now and then and we think, "If I could just delete that from my brain, I would be happy." Yeah. I think for me, it would be when I was a kid in Rhode Island and I was running around showing off in front of all my brothers and sisters and then I said, "Check me out!" And I did a funny fall and I fell into dog poop.

• 1:00:44Conan O'Brien?

  It was so embarrassing. And whenever you say, "Hey, look at me!", and then fall into excrement, it's the worst thing ever, okay?

• 1:00:55Conan O'Brien?

  Well, guess what? And here's, this is an ad. That's rough. Yeah, that's rough, right? And then my, my parents made me sit in the way back of the station wagon. Because I, I smelled like, like dog poop.

• 1:01:10Conan O'Brien?

  Anyway,

• 1:01:12Conan O'Brien?

  I wish I could get rid of that memory. Well, BetterHelp therapists can help you clear the thoughts that are taking up way too much mental space. Now, I'm not saying I think about this all the time, but I'd say seven times a day.

• 1:01:25Conan O'Brien?

  And with insurance, many members pay $15 or less. Some pay $0. You know how much $0 is? How much? It's zero.

• 1:01:34Conan O'Brien?

  You're in good hands, too. BetterHelp therapists are fully licensed in the US with at least three years and 1,000 hours of hands-on experience. When it comes to matching with a therapist, BetterHelp does the initial work for you. Just take a short questionnaire to help identify your needs, like, "Did you fall into dog poop?" after saying, "Hey, everybody, look at me." Check. Hey, and let's say you're not happy with your match. Let's say you get a therapist who's very judgmental about you falling into dog poop after saying, "Hey, everybody, look at me." You switch very easily to a different therapist, who maybe also has fallen into dog poop after saying, "Hey, look at me." I'm saying BetterHelp- Is a great answer. BetterHelp is now a network with more than 125 health plans,

• 1:02:18Conan O'Brien?

  with many copays as low as $15 for eligible members. And if you don't have eligible insurance or live outside the US, you can still get 20% off your first month. And hey, maybe you didn't say, "Hey, everyone, look at me," and fall into dog poop. Maybe you have some other unpleasant memory you want to explore and excavate. That's your business. I'm just telling you, I was in Watshe, Rhode Island. I said, "Hey, everybody, look at me." And I did a funny fall and landed right into dog poop. And then had to sit in the wayback of a 1970 Pontiac Bonneville, all the way home to my grandfather's house, where I still smelled like dog poop. Sign up and get 20% off, betterhelp.com/conan. That's better H-E-O-P dot com slash Conan.

• 1:03:09Speaker 03

  On an episode not too long ago, we talked about your grandma Maude, Maude, right?

• 1:03:14Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, Maude, yes, this would be my mother's mother, Ruth Reardon. And yet, for reasons we didn't know when we were kids, everyone, we all called her Maude. And then I asked her once, "Why do we call you Maude?" And she said that there was a cartoon strip back, maybe even before the turn of the century or at the turn of the century. I believe she was born in 1890. And she was on a playground, and some kids were harassing her, teasing her, and so she kicked at them. And they started calling her Maude, Maude, because there was a well-known cartoon at the time about a, I don't know if it's a mule or a horse that kicked people. Oh, my God!

• 1:03:57Speaker 03

  Here it is. And this is the mule or the horse kicking someone right there. And her name was Maude.

• 1:04:03Conan O'Brien?

  And her name was Maude. This is it. Oh my god, I'm trying to see what the date is on this. That would be cool to know. I can't see. I can't make out the date.

• 1:04:13Speaker 05

  I thought it said 1904 somewhere. Would that be too late?

• 1:04:16Conan O'Brien?

  No, I don't think so. You can still kick people when you're 14. Uh, this is really cool. This is...

• 1:04:23Speaker 01

  Her classmates sound like dicks.

• 1:04:25Conan O'Brien?

  Well...

• 1:04:26Speaker 01

  Don't they? I mean...

• 1:04:27Conan O'Brien?

  Kids don't change.

• 1:04:29Speaker 01

  I know, but they were bugging her so much that she needed to kick them and then they started calling her a kicking mule.

• 1:04:36Conan O'Brien?

  Well, yeah, but it's not like the name stuck and her grandchildren ended up using it. Oh no, this is so cool. This is a good... Uh, there's a guy who gets kicked by a mule. He's angry, so he takes the mule. He says, "I'll fix this pesky critter." He ties the mule up. The mule kicks some more people. It's kicking automobiles. It's kicking everybody. And then the people realize that the owner's the one that caused all this problem, so they go and they kick him.

• 1:05:03Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:05:04Conan O'Brien?

  And the mule then gets to laugh at the owner who just got kicked.

• 1:05:08Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:05:08Conan O'Brien?

  Hee-haw.

• 1:05:09Speaker 03

  Oh, and by the way, you can see this. Just go to @TeamCocoPodcasts on Instagram.

• 1:05:15Conan O'Brien?

  My question is, did they do the same bit every week?

• 1:05:18Speaker 03

  I don't know.

• 1:05:19Conan O'Brien?

  How many of these cartoon strips, uh, did they do? At least this is a cartoon strip that's acceptable today. If you look at a lot of cartoon strips from the turn of the century, they would not pass muster anymore. They're incredibly...

• 1:05:34Speaker 03

  No, but wait till you find out that mule's politics.

• 1:05:40Conan O'Brien?

  Wow, this is an America First mule. He wants closed... This is a closed border mule. Uh, this is so cool to see this, to think that my grandmother would have seen this, uh...

• 1:05:53Speaker 01

  It does say "to be continued next Sunday."

• 1:05:56Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 1:05:57Speaker 01

  So I bet there's a whole story.

• 1:05:58Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I think this... My guess is this mule just keeps on kicking people.

• 1:06:02Speaker 05

  I have a little info about it. And her name was Maud, is the name of the strip. It's a comic strip by Frederick Burr Opper. It first appeared in the Hearst newspapers on July 24th, 1904. Uh, that's it. The rest of the stuff is...

• 1:06:15Conan O'Brien?

  Wait, can I just say, Adam, you approached the mic like, "I've just got some news." "The Hindenburg has exploded at Lake Hurst, New Jersey. All souls have been lost."

• 1:06:26Speaker 03

  Even you seem surprised by your own lack of information.

• 1:06:29Conan O'Brien?

  This is less interesting than I thought it would be. Her name is Maude, in 1904, in newspapers.

• 1:06:33Speaker 03

  Yeah. Although Hearst Papers, though, it probably does have some politics.

• 1:06:36Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, well, this is, I mean, I love that kind of connection to just, I mean, first of all, this is, as I've spoken about before, I loved my grandmother. And after my grandfather passed, she lived with us for a while and she, yeah, she was this amazing link to the late 19th, early 20th century. And I remembered her telling me, it was once New Year's Day, and she told me she had a very clear memory of New York City, because she was staying with relatives in New York City in 1900 on New Year's Day. And she was describing it. She was describing the carriages going by, how cold it was, the snow. She said, I can see it right now, like perfectly. And I thought, I, I'm always fascinated by time travel.

• 1:07:20Conan O'Brien?

  That concept that you can have a human connection to somebody. I don't know if you had this with, because I know, Sonya, you lived with.

• 1:07:27Speaker 01

  Oh, my, yeah.

• 1:07:28Conan O'Brien?

  Your grandparents.

• 1:07:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, and they both lived into their 90s.

• 1:07:31Conan O'Brien?

  Into their 90s?

• 1:07:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:07:33Conan O'Brien?

  And they came from?

• 1:07:34Speaker 01

  They came from Istanbul.

• 1:07:36Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 1:07:36Speaker 01

  And, I mean, my, my grandpa started, he was a butcher when he was 12. Like, they just put him to work really early.

• 1:07:43Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 1:07:43Speaker 01

  So it's like, the idea that you are trusting a 12-year-old with slaughtering animals is, just feels like a completely different world.

• 1:07:51Conan O'Brien?

  But also, just the fact that then they come to this country and they're living with you.

• 1:07:57Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:07:57Conan O'Brien?

  And it's, you're going out to In-N-Out to grab a burger.

• 1:08:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:08:02Conan O'Brien?

  And whatever else you're up to. It's just this amazing clash of cultures. I, I find that stuff fascinating.

• 1:08:07Speaker 01

  Well, my great-grandma also lived with us, and she was old as shit. She was really old.

• 1:08:12Conan O'Brien?

  You don't say old as shit.

• 1:08:13Speaker 01

  She was really, really old. And I remember, she was this old wrinkly lady, and I was really young. I was maybe like 10. And my mom's like, she's gonna sleep in your room. And I, that, it, from then on, I was terrified of the dark, because I thought she was like a old witch lady. And she was just like-

• 1:08:30Conan O'Brien?

  Wait, when you say she was, what did you say, old as shit?

• 1:08:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:08:33Conan O'Brien?

  How old is old as shit?

• 1:08:34Speaker 01

  She was, I mean, when I was 10, she was like 95.

• 1:08:38Conan O'Brien?

  Because there are young comedians out there that now see me and go, you're old as shit. So it's all, it's all relative.

• 1:08:44Speaker 01

  That's right. I was 10 and she was 60.

• 1:08:47Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, seriously, how old do you think she was?

• 1:08:48Speaker 01

  She was 95, yeah. But she was like an old wrinkly lady and I was young and I was like, "Why is this old person in my room?" And I got terrified of the dark.

• 1:08:57Conan O'Brien?

  You're like an awful grandchild.

• 1:08:58Speaker 01

  I was really bad.

• 1:08:59Conan O'Brien?

  I love this, like, "Oh, old and wrinkled? Why is that in my room?"

• 1:09:03Speaker 01

  I have, we did something else. I don't want to, I shouldn't bring it up.

• 1:09:07Conan O'Brien?

  Well, you got to now.

• 1:09:08Speaker 01

  This is really bad. So she had a son who passed away that no one told her passed away. And then my uncle, who was still in Istanbul, and we'd hold up two fingers and be like, "Mentzi, you know, touch one of them." And we would, she would touch him and be like, "Oh, that's, you know, Bedjo Dadi, who was my uncle." And she'd just instantly start crying. And we thought it was so funny.

• 1:09:30Conan O'Brien?

  I don't understand what was happening here.

• 1:09:30Speaker 01

  Because we kept reminding her of these people she hadn't seen in a long time. And we'd instantly make her cry. And Danny and I were like, "Let's go make Mentzi cry."

• 1:09:38Conan O'Brien?

  Whoa. Oh my God, you're a, you're a monster. You're a sociopath. How is that?

• 1:09:44Speaker 01

  We were just fascinated with her instant, like, sadness.

• 1:09:47Speaker 03

  I thought you were the true sociopath, but it's you all over.

• 1:09:51Speaker 01

  It really was messed up.

• 1:09:52Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, no, to be fair, I did it to my grandmother, Mahdi, too. I used to go, "Remember that, that beloved one that perished?" It was fun. We used to call it, it was the old fun, we called it the Parish Game. "Hey, let's go play Parish." And we'd go into Mahdi's room. "Remember the one you loved who perished?"

• 1:10:14Conan O'Brien?

  "Look at them waterworks." You're an awful, awful person.

• 1:10:18Speaker 01

  No, no joke, that was really bad.

• 1:10:20Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, you're a bad person.

• 1:10:21Speaker 01

  It was bad. We would make her laugh just for fun.

• 1:10:22Conan O'Brien?

  All right, well, listen, let's have some good come from this.

• 1:10:24Speaker 03

  You don't need to clarify no joke. We know that it's bad.

• 1:10:27Speaker 01

  We would make her cry just for fun.

• 1:10:27Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah, I know.

• 1:10:28Speaker 01

  Because we were terrible people.

• 1:10:29Conan O'Brien?

  Let's have some good come out of this. If you're listening right now and you're tempted to go mock a very, very old relative by reminding them of someone they lost long ago, think twice.

• 1:10:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:10:42Conan O'Brien?

  That's a little word from Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend.

• 1:10:49Speaker 03

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• 1:11:09Speaker 03

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• 1:11:59Conan O'Brien?

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• 1:12:39Speaker 03

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