Adam Scott

Actor Adam Scott feels pure joy about being Conan O’Brien’s friend. Adam sits down with Conan to discuss the hat he wore to his first background role, the off-kilter surrealism of Severance, his notorious R. E. M. fandom, and his greatest comedy misfire. Later, Conan, Matt, and Sona bring back the drawing contest in to once again test their artistic faculties. 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?

  Who do you shop for first on the holidays, Sona? Was it, do you shop for the kids or do you shop for Tac?

• 0:06Speaker 01

  My kids.

• 0:07Conan O'Brien?

  Okay.

• 0:07Speaker 01

  Or Oki.

• 0:08Conan O'Brien?

  You gotta get them your stuff.

• 0:08Speaker 01

  Or my dog.

• 0:09Conan O'Brien?

  And then your husband is last. Well, guess what? It's that time of year. You feel that, you smell that cinnamon cider in the air? Do you smell that?

• 0:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:19Conan O'Brien?

  And you see pumpkins around, people buying turkeys. A little early to buy a turkey. Doesn't matter. Holidays? I would say it's just around the corner, but that's a cliche. It's very nearby in the cupboard. Well, guess what? Amazon delivers joy with low prices on the gifts you want even this early in the season. So get ahead of the season. Shop early gifts, top picks, holiday decor, and advent calendars at low prices. Get ahead, start on holiday gifting with Amazon's low prices. Shop now at amazon.com/holiday.

• 0:55Conan 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.

• 1:05Speaker 01

  Same.

• 1:06Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:10Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:14Speaker 01

  Whaaat?

• 1:15Conan 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.

• 1:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:42Conan 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.

• 1:49Speaker 01

  Oh!

• 1:50Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:55Speaker 01

  That's cool.

• 1:56Conan O'Brien?

  So get a gift today at weathertech.com.

• 2:02Conan O'Brien?

  Hi, my name is Adam Scott.

• 2:08Conan O'Brien?

  And I feel pure joy

• 2:14Conan O'Brien?

  about being Conan O'Brien's fucking friend. Wait, what is this?

• 2:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's right, but I love that he had to think about it.

• 2:20Conan O'Brien?

  You hit pure joy and then you clearly couldn't do it like you had eaten something rotten and you couldn't keep it down. I think putrefied is the exact word. The exact feeling.

• 2:54Conan O'Brien?

  Hey there, Conan O'Brien here. Welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, and I do need a friend. Fortunately, I have 1.5 in Sona of Sesian.

• 3:04Speaker 02

  Wait a minute.

• 3:05Conan O'Brien?

  And Gourley, Matt Gourley.

• 3:07Speaker 02

  Am I 0.5 or are we both 0.75 or is it something else?

• 3:10Conan O'Brien?

  You know what? It's something you'll have to figure out on your own. That's the beauty of my mystical little quips. You never know what I really mean. This is an exciting day.

• 3:19Speaker 01

  Mystical.

• 3:20Conan O'Brien?

  Because Sona's wearing a jacket I haven't seen before.

• 3:22Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 3:23Conan O'Brien?

  And this is a woman who will wear the same jacket day in and day out. And I don't believe someone should be a clothes horse. I don't think someone should be, you know, styling it every day. You know, that's not my way.

• 3:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:35Conan O'Brien?

  But I am not a material man, but...

• 3:38Speaker 01

  But you talk about my clothes all the time.

• 3:41Conan O'Brien?

  Because for most of the many, many, many years I employed you, you wore the same jacket every day.

• 3:47Speaker 02

  And with all due respect, does that jacket exist anymore?

• 3:51Speaker 01

  Jesus, Matt.

• 3:52Speaker 02

  Sorry.

• 3:52Speaker 01

  It does not.

• 3:54Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, did that jacket go up in the fire?

• 3:55Speaker 01

  Yes, it did.

• 3:56Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, my.

• 3:57Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, so maybe you should apologize.

• 3:59Speaker 02

  Why is he saying that? I meant to defend you.

• 4:01Speaker 01

  Oh, thank you.

• 4:01Conan O'Brien?

  I just assumed it would be okay because you wear it all the time. So the one time you took it off, you left it in your house?

• 4:09Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 4:09Conan O'Brien?

  And that's when your house caught fire?

• 4:10Speaker 01

  Yes, so you should buy me a new one.

• 4:14Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, well, I could buy you 30. They don't, they don't look that expensive.

• 4:19Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 4:20Conan O'Brien?

  I'm sorry.

• 4:22Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 4:23Speaker 02

  We should also notice that this is the first recording we've done since the...

• 4:26Speaker 03

  The one recording we've done after the fires and already you're back on.

• 4:30Conan O'Brien?

  Well, all I'm saying is.

• 4:31Speaker 01

  You're back on it.

• 4:32Conan O'Brien?

  I used to give you a hard time about that jacket and I'm sure we've discussed it in different episodes. I called it the old Dr. Zayas. It was, it's a dark jacket. Dr. Zayas was kind of an orange.

• 4:44Speaker 01

  Mine is, it was black. It was a black leather jacket.

• 4:46Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it was black, but had some crenellations and folds. Had a little bit of an eighties vibe to it.

• 4:53Speaker 03

  Unbelievable.

• 4:54Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 4:54Conan O'Brien?

  But anyway, you just wore the same thing every single day and I used to say, did I not, I'll get you a jacket?

• 5:01Speaker 01

  I looked so cool in that jacket. I did. Nothing is cooler than a worn in jacket.

• 5:08Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, it was worn in all right. Yes. No, no, no. It was, it was, wow, I am shocked that jacket's gone because that is such a part of.

• 5:16Speaker 01

  It's okay. She lived a good life.

• 5:19Speaker 03

  She saw some shit.

• 5:19Conan O'Brien?

  It's a she? It's a she?

• 5:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't know.

• 5:22Speaker 03

  Your current jacket is definitely a she.

• 5:24Speaker 01

  My jacket, my current jacket, my best friend Veronica got me this one.

• 5:28Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, look at this. What is that?

• 5:29Speaker 01

  Cause I had pins all over my other denim jackets. So she got me a happy face, a popcorn, a Freddie Mercury and a vagina pin.

• 5:36Conan O'Brien?

  I love that. I just pointed to a vagina and said, what is that?

• 5:41Conan O'Brien?

  What is that? I've heard tell.

• 5:45Speaker 03

  A new discovery.

• 5:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, I know you want to, you should probably see it.

• 5:52Speaker 03

  It's not just a vagina. It's got like the fallopian tubes.

• 5:54Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it has fallopian. Fallopian tubes that are flowers. That's not, really? I mean, is that a vagina?

• 6:04Conan O'Brien?

  Sorry.

• 6:05Speaker 03

  No, it's more like a cattle head with roses for horns.

• 6:08Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, it's, I'm sorry.

• 6:10Speaker 03

  What do you guys got going on in there?

• 6:12Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 6:14Speaker 01

  What are we doing? I don't, don't make me do an anatomy lesson because to be honest, I don't even know how it works. I don't even know what's going on down there. Do you guys know what's going on?

• 6:23Conan O'Brien?

  Women are supposed to do to empower themselves where they get a mirror and they look there and they love themselves and all that whole thing.

• 6:29Speaker 01

  Why are you saying it with disdain?

• 6:30Conan O'Brien?

  That wasn't disdain. That was.

• 6:32Speaker 03

  Saying it with utter horror.

• 6:34Conan O'Brien?

  Horror.

• 6:35Speaker 01

  Have you ever closely examined yourself? Your, your penis?

• 6:40Conan O'Brien?

  Ours, you could see it all the time.

• 6:42Speaker 01

  That's true.

• 6:43Speaker 03

  And sometimes it looks right at you.

• 6:44Conan O'Brien?

  They're on the, they're on the outside.

• 6:48Speaker 01

  No, there are. There's a lot of things going on with this. And it's, you know, I don't, I never, I never really examined it, but maybe I should. And I'll learn some stuff.

• 6:57Conan O'Brien?

  Wait, the pin or your actual undercarriage?

• 6:59Speaker 01

  Don't say undercarriage. Don't say undercarriage. My vagina, you can say vagina. It's okay to say it.

• 7:06Conan O'Brien?

  Well, I think it's, I don't know. I'm not sure.

• 7:11Conan O'Brien?

  It's vagina. That's what it is.

• 7:13Speaker 03

  Why do you shrug your shoulders when you do that?

• 7:15Speaker 01

  So uncomfortable.

• 7:16Speaker 03

  Oh my god.

• 7:17Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 7:18Conan O'Brien?

  Now I'm doing it like Jeff Ross would do. Vagina.

• 7:21Speaker 01

  Do you wanna wear the vagina pin?

• 7:23Conan O'Brien?

  I'm good.

• 7:24Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 7:24Conan O'Brien?

  I'm good. People will think I just spilled some Tomatillo sauce on me.

• 7:30Conan O'Brien?

  I, I don't think I'll wear the pin. I'm good.

• 7:32Speaker 01

  Alright.

• 7:33Conan O'Brien?

  But I think, I want women to know I'm in their corner. Just... Just keep that thing away from me!

• 7:42Conan O'Brien?

  Now, would your mom be okay with you wearing that pin?

• 7:45Speaker 01

  Uh, I think at this point, they just like, don't know what to... They can't tell me not to do something.

• 7:51Speaker 03

  Would she, just looking at that, would she know it's a vagina? Cause it's not, it's not, it's weird.

• 7:57Speaker 01

  It's pretty vagy.

• 7:58Speaker 03

  You have to, you have to, yeah, I think your first instinct is vagy, but you have to like, give it a double look.

• 8:03Speaker 01

  What else could it be?

• 8:04Speaker 03

  It's got roses on it.

• 8:06Speaker 01

  This is a vagina. This is how a vagina looks. Is it?

• 8:12Speaker 01

  It's a vagina!

• 8:13Conan O'Brien?

  I think... Blay, weigh in.

• 8:14Speaker 03

  I, well...

• 8:15Conan O'Brien?

  Have a bunch of men, let's get all the men of hell.

• 8:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, the fallopian tubes are there.

• 8:19Conan O'Brien?

  Blay has seen two in his lifetime. Blay, weigh in.

• 8:21Speaker 04

  What was the one I came out of?

• 8:24Conan O'Brien?

  Passing through!

• 8:28Conan O'Brien?

  It's like when you go, when you're in a train and it's not your station.

• 8:30Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 8:33Conan O'Brien?

  There goes New Haven!

• 8:36Speaker 04

  I think, well, aren't these supposed to be the fallopian tubes of ovaries?

• 8:39Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 8:40Speaker 04

  So it's not just the vagina, it's the women's reproductive system.

• 8:42Speaker 01

  Yes. Oh, oh, you were being more like, yeah, it's the whole thing. It's all of it.

• 8:47Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, why didn't they keep going and have parts of the...

• 8:50Conan O'Brien?

  The bladder.

• 8:51Speaker 04

  Why not just keep going at that point? Why'd they put the fallopian tubes in there?

• 8:55Speaker 01

  I don't know. They probably wanna celebrate that we have the ability to create life. And that makes us special, unlike men who just like, don't do anything.

• 9:03Speaker 03

  Where's the tattoo that says do not enter?

• 9:05Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, we have, no, but listen, we have a, we do something.

• 9:09Speaker 01

  What do you, what do you do?

• 9:11Conan O'Brien?

  We carry the sacred seed.

• 9:13Speaker 01

  Okay, don't say sacred.

• 9:14Conan O'Brien?

  We do. Don't stop saying, don't say this and don't say that.

• 9:17Speaker 01

  I don't know, but the way you approach this is very awkward.

• 9:21Conan O'Brien?

  To say that we do nothing, I think is absurd. It takes two to tango, as they say, and we do.

• 9:25Speaker 01

  Biologically, yes.

• 9:26Conan O'Brien?

  Biologically, I think we are, for now, a necessity.

• 9:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, okay, you're right. I do think, obviously, yes, biologically, yes, but then we have to do everything after that, and that's a lot.

• 9:40Conan O'Brien?

  Well, we do things too. We're like, honey, can I get you some tea?

• 9:45Conan O'Brien?

  Before I go out to the strip club with my pals?

• 9:50Conan O'Brien?

  Honey, can I prop your feet up? Before I head out and ogle the ladies on the boulevard and eat ham sandwiches with my chums? Yes, sorry.

• 9:59Speaker 04

  I was just gonna say one thing, which is, I think it kind of says everything that someone, you know, that you have a beautiful pen, celebrating women's reproductive organs, and we have truck nuts.

• 10:11Speaker 01

  That's true. That is true.

• 10:13Conan O'Brien?

  I don't, I don't put them on my.

• 10:14Speaker 03

  Well, in your case, you biologically have truck nuts, right?

• 10:17Conan O'Brien?

  I do, yeah, yeah. That was just a gift from God and General Motors.

• 10:23Speaker 03

  I have 1963 sob nuts.

• 10:28Conan O'Brien?

  They're a little different. Those are cold, those are cold weather nuts.

• 10:33Conan O'Brien?

  Those are four-wheel-drive, cold-weather, European-designed nuts.

• 10:37Speaker 03

  They're attractive in a vintage way.

• 10:38Conan O'Brien?

  Sure, yeah, yeah. If you can see these nuts, you're way too close, buddy. Back up.

• 10:45Speaker 03

  And they drive on the wrong side of the road, if you know what I mean.

• 10:48Conan O'Brien?

  What else nuts doing over there? This is America.

• 10:52Speaker 03

  I don't want to be here.

• 10:53Conan O'Brien?

  Listen, I'm sorry. Yes, I am sorry for the loss of that jacket. I really am.

• 10:59Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 10:59Conan O'Brien?

  I really am.

• 11:00Speaker 01

  I don't think you are.

• 11:01Conan O'Brien?

  No, I am, I am. I mean, you went through a terrible thing, and I'm, I do, it was fun making fun of that jacket, and now that it's gone, and the way that it went, I'm sad.

• 11:11Speaker 03

  So you're sad that you don't really get to make fun of it anymore?

• 11:13Speaker 01

  That's what it is.

• 11:14Conan O'Brien?

  I have lost. One of the arrows in my quiver. I now have one less thing to attack Sona with.

• 11:20Speaker 01

  Oh, Katie.

• 11:21Conan O'Brien?

  And I think that's the greatest tragedy here.

• 11:23Speaker 01

  I have so many arrows.

• 11:24Conan O'Brien?

  Let's wrap it up.

• 11:25Speaker 01

  It's an endless supply of arrows. Like, another one just popped up, and I don't know for what, but it's there. So don't worry about it. You'll be OK.

• 11:33Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, I'll get you to the end of time. Uh, sorry about your loss.

• 11:38Conan O'Brien?

  My guest today starred in shows like Parks and Recreation and Party Down. Now you can see him in the second season. I am so excited about this. I'm loving the second season. And I do honestly think this is one of the most beautifully crafted things on television. The hit Apple TV series Severance. So excited he's here today.

• 12:06Conan O'Brien?

  I celebrate this gentleman. Adam Scott, welcome.

• 12:12Conan O'Brien?

  Very excited to have you here.

• 12:14Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 12:14Conan O'Brien?

  Because you know I'm...

• 12:15Speaker 02

  I'm so excited to be here.

• 12:16Conan O'Brien?

  I'm a massive fan of your work, but also you as a person. And we've had the joy of hanging out a little bit. And I'm just, I could not be happier for you.

• 12:31Speaker 02

  Oh, thanks.

• 12:31Conan O'Brien?

  That you are, right now, at the center of the coolest show on television. Universal acclaim. Everyone's been waiting on the second season. It shows up. It was appointment television for my son, my wife and I. We just like, we sat down, loving it. We debate it. It is beautifully made. You're killing it. And I'm just, I'm happy for you.

• 12:57Speaker 02

  Thank you, Conan.

• 12:58Conan O'Brien?

  Do I wish it were me? Yes, I do.

• 13:01Speaker 02

  Sure, I understand.

• 13:02Conan O'Brien?

  Do I feel that maybe there was a chance that I'd get that part?

• 13:07Speaker 02

  There was a mix up of some sort?

• 13:08Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, Siller, I know Siller called me at one point. And I didn't get the call, I couldn't quite pick it up, but, no, I'm just, I'm, I'm-

• 13:17Speaker 02

  That's show business.

• 13:18Conan O'Brien?

  That's, yeah. And then he had to go with his second choice.

• 13:21Speaker 02

  That's right. Adam Scott.

• 13:23Conan O'Brien?

  That's right.

• 13:23Speaker 02

  What the fuck?

• 13:25Conan O'Brien?

  Well, whatever. You know what? It ended up working out. And, um, no, it is just so artfully done, so beautifully done, so much thought has gone into this. And, um, I watched the opening shot of the second season several times.

• 13:41Speaker 02

  Oh, really?

• 13:42Conan O'Brien?

  Because you're, I'm not giving anything away, but the opening shot of the second season, you are running down this hallway that just doesn't end.

• 13:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 13:52Conan O'Brien?

  And there's something about the way it's shot, I don't know what it is, I've watched a lot of film, I've watched a lot of television, uh, and I have never seen anything quite like it. And I can't put my finger on what's happening there.

• 14:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:06Conan O'Brien?

  But it is, it is a absolutely incredible piece of filmmaking that's the start of a television show.

• 14:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's all, all Ben, he really, first of all, thank you for having me, I'm so excited to be here. I listen to the show all the time. And Conan, you are one of those people who, you know, as you move through show business, you get to know people that you know their work, and I'm a fan, you are a fan before you get to know them. You are definitely one of those people, I still can't believe that I actually know you. And I know there are a lot of us who feel that way.

• 14:40Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, that's-

• 14:40Speaker 02

  Uh, so, thank you and thanks for having me.

• 14:43Conan O'Brien?

  It may not last.

• 14:44Speaker 02

  No, no, no, I, I can already tell it's fading.

• 14:47Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 14:50Conan O'Brien?

  I'm starting to forget your name right now.

• 14:52Speaker 02

  That's right, that's right, which I totally expect based on, uh, previous experience.

• 14:59Conan O'Brien?

  Every time I've seen you out on the street, I usually ask you, "Oh, waiter?"

• 15:02Speaker 02

  Yes. Can I get some more ice water?

• 15:05Conan O'Brien?

  It's a party down in Confusion.

• 15:07Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 15:08Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, but anyway, I know that Ben, Ben takes this really seriously. And it's not just making a TV show. This is a whole other thing.

• 15:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, and that's part of what I love about it is that he's someone who, you know him, he's thinking about all of it. He's thinking about the whole grid at all times. And for me, that's, that lets me relax and the rest of the cast as well. And we can just focus on, because if you're worried about like, what it, yeah, but if you're asking me to do this, but is it gonna feel ridiculous? Because that thing's happening and we're going 40 miles an hour. If that guy's right here and I'm reacting this way, like, and sometimes you say that and the director looks at you and it's clear that they haven't thought about any of this,

• 15:57Speaker 02

  which is fine too. It's, it's a matter of experience or how different people make different things. But with Ben, you know, he's thinking about the entire thing. He's considered every detail. So we, we can all just focus on the task at hand.

• 16:11Conan O'Brien?

  The sense I get is that Ben is playing three dimensional chess.

• 16:14Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 16:15Conan O'Brien?

  And, you know.

• 16:17Speaker 02

  And we're playing Connect Four.

• 16:18Conan O'Brien?

  Exactly.

• 16:23Conan O'Brien?

  And you'll ask him a question, you'll be like, do not worry. He's seeing like his nine dimensional chessboard. But looking at the whole span of your career, this is quite a different gig.

• 16:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:36Conan O'Brien?

  First of all, I know it, it took you a while. You paid, talk about paying your dues. You paid your dues for a long time. It took you a long time to, to find your, find your footing, catch your break. And then it was really in, I mean, starting out in like background work. Aren't you doing background work?

• 16:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, for a Tia Carrer music video. That was one of my many background gigs.

• 17:03Conan O'Brien?

  That was you?

• 17:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:05Conan O'Brien?

  You were the best part.

• 17:06Speaker 02

  You guys probably all recognized me when I walked in.

• 17:09Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 17:10Speaker 02

  Guy with beret, I believe is how they referred to me.

• 17:13Conan O'Brien?

  For real?

• 17:15Speaker 01

  You were wearing a beret, for real?

• 17:16Speaker 02

  My own.

• 17:19Speaker 02

  I can't find it anywhere. I really have looked. It was fall of 93 and I had a beret and I thought it was great. And I wore it all the time. And I definitely wore it to the filming of the Tia Carrer video. So I would love to try and find it. I don't even know if I appear.

• 17:41Conan O'Brien?

  I have to say, I don't know if you guys do this, and you might do it because this used to be your profession. I look at background people sometimes in scenes. And if I don't find the scene particularly riveting, I really do look at the background people. And I'm usually impressed. Like they're in it. They're both not talking at the same time, even though. And then every now and then, there's someone who's just too happy about having a cup of coffee.

• 18:10Speaker 02

  Or having a conversation where they're like, you know.

• 18:13Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, yes. Take it down a notch. Yeah. Or wearing a beret.

• 18:18Speaker 02

  Or wearing a beret.

• 18:19Conan O'Brien?

  Anything to get noticed. But you know, then when your breaks start to come, it's very much ensemble work. And you are in an ensemble now, but you are the face of the show. So this is, I mean, there must be something kind of comforting about ensemble work. Clearly, I mean, working on something like Party Down, you're just working with these wonderful improvisers. I mean, what a cast.

• 18:48Speaker 02

  It's incredible. Yeah, I'm feeling like you're just ensconced in this. And Parks and Rec too, just being part of this crew. That Amy was really leading, but yeah, comforting is a perfect word for it. And it's part of why I was so freaked out when Severance first came out a few years ago. It's like suddenly the billboards went up and it was my face around town. And it really, it should have been like this big, happy, you know, monumental moment that I've been waiting for for 30 years. But it just freaked me out and Ben sort of talked me down because he's certainly been through it.

• 19:28Speaker 02

  At that point, we made the show in a bubble and no one had seen it and we loved it. But had no clue if anyone would like it or if the people would just make fun of us like you just don't know.

• 19:42Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 19:42Speaker 02

  At all, other than your own barometer and we thought it was cool, but man, you just have, you have zero sense of how it's going to be received. So it could have been this big embarrassing thing. Anyway, um, yeah, when you're kind of out front, it is, it's, it's frightening. And then also rewarding, um, when you're doing something that you feel good about.

• 20:02Conan O'Brien?

  Yes. I've said this for many years and I don't think most people would understand it. I think the assumption is if you're working on something cool, that's going to be iconic. Everyone knows it as they're working on it and that is not the case.

• 20:17Speaker 02

  No.

• 20:17Conan O'Brien?

  And I've always said it takes a lot of very talented people working very hard to make something terrible.

• 20:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:24Conan O'Brien?

  You know, it's why I get very impatient around Oscar season. There are all these reviews of movies and a lot of them are really brilliant movies. And they'll say, yeah, but then they really blew it in that one part.

• 20:36Speaker 02

  Right.

• 20:37Conan O'Brien?

  And I'll be thinking, do you know how hard it is just to make a movie?

• 20:40Speaker 02

  I know.

• 20:41Conan O'Brien?

  Let alone a great movie.

• 20:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:43Conan O'Brien?

  But um, there's that one part in The Brutalist where they kind of missed the mark a little bit.

• 20:50Speaker 02

  People become just film historians when Oscar season comes around. They get very, very persnickety. Yeah. And also all the time it takes, I think that was part of why we were also afraid of it landing with a thud. Is that it was so hard to make and took so long that it, it, uh, it would have been a bummer. But anything that comes out and doesn't quite work, people were working on it for a few years. It's, it's always.

• 21:15Conan O'Brien?

  One thing geeking out about Severance, the visuals.

• 21:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:20Conan O'Brien?

  The way it shot, the colors, there's all this thought going into stuff. The, the machines they use are oddly out of time.

• 21:28Speaker 02

  The cars and stuff.

• 21:29Conan O'Brien?

  The cars are, are out of time, um, which, you know, leads to all different kinds of theories, but the choices. Directing and creating a lot of the time is about choice. And just, everything is just a little off in this weird way that I can't quite put my finger on. And I find I could watch it, you know, watch it with the sound on and then you could watch it again with the sound off and just look at the colors and what people are wearing and how things are framed in the shots.

• 21:59Speaker 02

  And I think how Ben and Jessica Lee Gagne, the director of photography, and Jeremy, our production designer, and Kat, our props master, I think the way they visually tell the story too, you could watch it with the sound off and get the story too emotionally. And maybe some of the more kind of mind twisty details wouldn't be there, but you would emotionally get the story. And I think that's really important too. When you can make something where you can turn the sound off, like, it's like if you listen to your podcast with the sound off, you get.

• 22:36Speaker 02

  You get it.

• 22:37Conan O'Brien?

  You know, I'm gonna tell you something.

• 22:38Speaker 03

  You get a little bit more than if you do listen to it with the sound, right?

• 22:41Conan O'Brien?

  We, we recommend that people, when they're driving, turn the sound off.

• 22:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:47Conan O'Brien?

  And you'll have a completely superior experience.

• 22:49Speaker 03

  I recommend you put on a different podcast.

• 22:51Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 22:53Speaker 02

  But keep the sound off on this one. Concurrently play another one. That's the experience.

• 23:06Conan O'Brien?

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

• 23:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, I love awards.

• 23:10Conan 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.

• 23:23Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 23:24Conan O'Brien?

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

• 23:32Speaker 01

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

• 23:37Conan 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 is fully capable and ready for adventure. The Palisade, that's yours, right?

• 23:56Speaker 01

  Hello!

• 23:57Conan 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.

• 24:30Conan O'Brien?

  Who do you shop for first on the holiday, Sona? Was it, do you shop for the kids or do you shop for Tac?

• 24:35Speaker 01

  My kids.

• 24:35Conan O'Brien?

  Okay.

• 24:36Speaker 01

  Or Oki.

• 24:36Conan O'Brien?

  You gotta get them your stuff.

• 24:37Speaker 01

  Or my dog.

• 24:38Conan O'Brien?

  And then your husband is last. Well, guess what? It's that time of year. You feel that, you smell that, uh, that cinnamon cider in the air? Do you smell that?

• 24:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:48Conan O'Brien?

  And you see pumpkins around, people buying turkeys. A little early to buy a turkey. Doesn't matter. Holidays? I would say it's just around the corner, but that's a cliche. It's, uh, very nearby in the cupboard. Well, guess what? Amazon delivers joy with low prices on the gifts you want, even this early in the season. So get ahead of the season. Shop early gifts, top picks, holiday decor, and advent calendars at low prices. Get a head start on holiday gifting with Amazon's low prices. Shop now at amazon.com/holiday.

• 25:25Conan O'Brien?

  This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp therapists can help you figure out what rules or traditions aren't serving you and how to rewrite them. And with insurance, many members pay $15 or less. Some pay $0. BetterHelp, they do a great job. You're in good hands. BetterHelp therapists are fully licensed in the United States 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. And if you're not happy with your match, this is the best part. A lot of people think, oh, my God, this is the person I've signed up with. I need to make this work. That's not the case. If it's not a good match, you switch to a different therapist at any time from BetterHelp's tailored recommendations.

• 26:11Conan O'Brien?

  BetterHelp is now in network with more than 125 health plans 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. Sign up and get 20% off at betterhelp.com/Conan. That's better H E L P dot com slash Conan.

• 26:36Conan O'Brien?

  It's funny because you've had one of those careers too where you've you popped in different things over the years. Sona, you're a, we all love Step Brothers. You're a Step Brothers. I love Step Brothers. You're a Step Brothers fanatic. I do love it so much. And so, the way you popped in that must have, you know, Oh, yeah.

• 26:55Speaker 02

  Never had one carb.

• 26:56Conan O'Brien?

  That's right.

• 26:57Speaker 02

  I always, that's the thing I remember most about that movie.

• 27:01Conan O'Brien?

  But, and I, and I know that your arc in Parks and Rec was a little strange, right? You, when, when the show started,

• 27:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:13Conan O'Brien?

  There's, there's a story to it.

• 27:14Speaker 02

  Well, I started at the end of season two. I mean, I had an audition for the show originally, but it wasn't even really for a specific role. It was so early that Mike was still, me and Rashida read together and blew it and was bummed. And then Party Down came along. So in a way, it sort of worked out well. I was able to do that because I didn't get the, the Parks pilot. And I'm so glad I was able to do Party Down. And then weirdly, Mike loved Party Down and from that asked me to come and, and join Parks. So it all sort of came around.

• 27:51Conan O'Brien?

  Now, this is the inevitable question. Did you ever get to ask Mike, hey, man?

• 27:55Speaker 02

  What the fuck?

• 27:57Conan O'Brien?

  What the fuck? I was here, remember? When I auditioned for you?

• 28:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:01Conan O'Brien?

  That's just something that, and it's so funny because I've had, we've had this experience here on this podcast where we're talking to iconic legendary actors.

• 28:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:11Conan O'Brien?

  And when they bring up the guy who snubbed them,

• 28:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:15Conan O'Brien?

  The casting director, Harrison Ford did it on this, on this podcast. And he was like, you know, the year was 1967.

• 28:21Speaker 02

  Still like pissed about it.

• 28:22Conan O'Brien?

  And he's pissed.

• 28:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:23Conan O'Brien?

  Jerry Tukowski.

• 28:24Speaker 01

  Jerry Tukowski.

• 28:25Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, and also, you know, famously, famously, Michael Jordan, when he was accepted into like the, you know, Basketball Hall of Fame, his speech was all a list.

• 28:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:37Conan O'Brien?

  He started listing people who, yeah, this guy benched me in fifth grade, remember that? Josh Kellaway.

• 28:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:45Conan O'Brien?

  You know, and, um.

• 28:47Speaker 02

  It's his fuel, like that documentary, he's constantly bringing it, yeah.

• 28:50Conan O'Brien?

  It's his fuel, but it does bring up the idea, you're working with someone who, um.

• 28:56Speaker 02

  Rejected me.

• 28:56Conan O'Brien?

  I had this with.

• 28:57Speaker 01

  I know, wait, what are you saying? He should be pissed at Mike Schur?

• 29:00Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, no, you know what? You're right. Yes!

• 29:03Speaker 02

  God damn it.

• 29:06Conan O'Brien?

  This is the goal of this, my podcast.

• 29:09Speaker 02

  To dig up old animosities.

• 29:11Conan O'Brien?

  Here's a very well-liked, Adam is a very well-liked actor, celebrity, critically acclaimed. His, you know, his wonderful family, he's happy, he's having this big moment that will keep going, and all I want to do is get him mad.

• 29:30Speaker 01

  I know.

• 29:32Speaker 02

  I'm going straight to Mike's house after this.

• 29:35Conan O'Brien?

  Ding dong. Hey, Adam, bang, asshole.

• 29:41Speaker 02

  Fuck you, and then we never speak again.

• 29:43Conan O'Brien?

  Then later, he hears the podcast, oh, I see. Then he rings my bell. Oh, hi, Mike, bang.

• 29:51Conan O'Brien?

  Soon, just a cavalcade of people punching each other.

• 29:55Speaker 02

  And just lawsuits for years.

• 29:57Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, lawsuits for years, we're all tied up in the courts.

• 29:59Speaker 02

  Um, I never asked him, I think because I was just 100% sure why, which was, I blew the, I sucked at auditioning, I hated it, it was embarrassing, and I was just never very good at it. So I didn't walk out of there thinking I was gonna get the job, anyway.

• 30:17Conan O'Brien?

  I had this with Ray Romano, Ray Romano, who we didn't, he wanted to be a monologue writer for my show. Great comedian, great joke writer. We didn't have a slot, but he had a good packet and people knew him, so I met with him.

• 30:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:33Conan O'Brien?

  And sat across, he came into my office and, you know, at the time I'm like 32 years old.

• 30:37Speaker 02

  Do you remember meeting him?

• 30:39Conan O'Brien?

  Vaguely. And he was sitting there and he was real nervous and I just kinda said that your stuff is great.

• 30:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:44Conan O'Brien?

  But we didn't have an opening. So he goes from that experience to maybe a year later.

• 30:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:51Conan O'Brien?

  Getting Everybody Loves Raymond.

• 30:53Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 30:53Conan O'Brien?

  And then becoming this monolithic TV star.

• 30:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:59Conan O'Brien?

  And I remember later on running in and saying, ah, so, I was really bummed I didn't get that job, you know?

• 31:07Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 31:08Conan O'Brien?

  What are you talking about? Do you realize what we pay monologue writers? Ah, was it me? There wasn't an opening. Ray, Ray, hello, Ray!

• 31:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:18Conan O'Brien?

  You're Ray Romano. That doesn't happen if you're with me, writing, oh, you know?

• 31:23Speaker 02

  You are profoundly wealthy.

• 31:25Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 31:26Speaker 02

  Because of your greatness.

• 31:27Conan O'Brien?

  You can buy and sell me 35, I know, but ah, I think I could have done this job.

• 31:32Speaker 03

  Are you sure you weren't talking to Bobcat Goldthwait?

• 31:34Conan O'Brien?

  No, I was talking to Cookie Monster.

• 31:37Speaker 02

  Ah, cookies?

• 31:39Conan O'Brien?

  Anyway, you know, it's just, I don't, I love people that just get stuck on something like that and I'm trying to get you stuck on it, but it didn't work out.

• 31:47Speaker 02

  Well, I am now, I'm obsessed. Al Pacino too, did he say something about that? You guys had Al Pacino on?

• 31:55Conan O'Brien?

  And he sat right where you're sitting and he's one of my all time.

• 31:58Speaker 02

  That was a great interview.

• 31:58Conan O'Brien?

  And talk about, you can't believe, I couldn't believe that I'm in, you know, I mean, I bumped into him a couple of times. He'd always been very sweet to me. Knew who I was, would like, call me, called me over to his table once or, I mean, just, I couldn't, I couldn't believe that this guy.

• 32:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:16Conan O'Brien?

  There's, of all the space in his brain, there's one cell that knows about me. Like, I couldn't, I couldn't believe it because I'm such a massive fan, but he, um, he was sitting here and yeah, he was very in touch with no bitterness at all, but very much in touch with the fact that, um, you know, Coppola and the studio really didn't want him.

• 32:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:37Conan O'Brien?

  I mean, Coppola wanted him to, to, to, uh, to, to be, uh, have the role in The Godfather. But studio didn't want him.

• 32:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:45Conan O'Brien?

  And then for maybe half the shoot of the movie.

• 32:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:49Conan O'Brien?

  They, they're, they don't like, the studio doesn't like him. And Coppola is like, ah, yeah, I know, he's not bringing it.

• 32:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:56Conan O'Brien?

  Not bringing it and tells him that.

• 32:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:58Conan O'Brien?

  And he remembered being called over to Coppola's table at a restaurant and Coppola didn't even stand up.

• 33:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, you didn't ask him to sit down.

• 33:04Conan O'Brien?

  Didn't ask him to sit down. And so he was very much in touch with that and still is. And I remembered him saying to me like, you know, Conan, they didn't want me, they didn't want me. And I'm like, yes, but then you did get it and you became the face.

• 33:16Speaker 02

  Michael Corleone.

• 33:18Conan O'Brien?

  Yes. For not one, but two of the greatest films ever made. And then you go on to do all this other iconic work.

• 33:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 33:24Conan O'Brien?

  And it's like, I know, but they didn't want me. And, um, it's just incredible, you know?

• 33:30Speaker 02

  Al Pacino.

• 33:31Conan O'Brien?

  Al Pacino is sweating stuff out.

• 33:33Speaker 02

  I listened to his book that he was promoting here and, um, and just him talking about like scenes in The Godfather and how he finally convinced them he was, he, he was right for the role. From doing the scene where he shoots the two guys in the restaurant.

• 33:48Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 33:48Speaker 02

  But just thinking about, at one point, there were people just like working on that scene and trying to figure out like how to do, it's just so weird to think that there was a time before that scene existed. And that that scene.

• 34:00Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 34:01Speaker 02

  Is because of some decisions that people kind of guessed at and were just figuring it out.

• 34:05Conan O'Brien?

  Also, I love, and this has happened before too. I, I love the concept that there are crew people going, who the fuck is this guy?

• 34:12Speaker 02

  I know.

• 34:13Conan O'Brien?

  And when they were shooting, uh, The God, the big, you know, the opening of The Godfather and takes place at the, at the big wedding at Marlon Brando's estate. And everyone's, uh, you know, dancing and having fun. And they cut over to, uh, Michael and Kay. He's really underplaying it.

• 34:30Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:30Conan O'Brien?

  He's just, uh, he's just out of the army and he's explaining who people are. He's, oh, that's Luca Brasi, he works for my father, he takes care of us. So what does your father do, Michael? But, um, apparently those dailies came back and the, the people at, I guess it was Paramount, maybe were like, what, who is this droopy noodle of a guy in a big army hat? He's terrible.

• 34:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:52Conan O'Brien?

  Um, and.

• 34:53Speaker 02

  Like zero charisma.

• 34:54Conan O'Brien?

  Zero charisma. And he's not being, and. And the crew, the crew is like, who wants to watch this guy? And apparently, the other time that happened, you're graduate. Yeah. So Dustin Hoffman is, you know, the, in the book, The Graduate, the graduate is blond haired, blue eyed, and so they wanted like Robert Redford. That was just who it was supposed to be. And the big brave decision was, no, it's going to be this little known actor, Yeah. theater actor Dustin Hoffman. Yeah. Who's not a blond haired, blue eyed kid. And the crew and everyone is like, what the? Yeah. This guy's mumbling?

• 35:33Speaker 03

  Is this the same crew? What a bunch of assholes?

• 35:35Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, I know. Hey, trust me, this is the, hey, trust me.

• 35:38Speaker 02

  They didn't believe in what they were working on.

• 35:41Conan O'Brien?

  This is the crew I had at late night in 93, 94, 95.

• 35:45Speaker 02

  Right.

• 35:46Conan O'Brien?

  Because we inherited Dave's, and I swear to God, people were, I don't blame them, but they were like, you know, they had just had David Letterman. Wait, you had Dave's crew? I had a third, yeah, his corp, I had his camera, some of his camera, because they stayed behind. Sure. Dave went to CBS and took some people, but there was a corp, and I don't blame them. There was like cable pullers and stuff. And David Letterman, after 11 years of, you know, reinventing the format and dominating, has now gone on to greater heights. And they're like, they got this new kid, here he comes. And I, and I, and I come in and I, I'm like, hi, everybody.

• 36:25Conan O'Brien?

  My name's Conan, I know. Ah, anyway, I like improv, we're gonna try some weird stuff. I don't know, I think it's gonna be okay. Hey, does anybody, what dries up acne? Does anybody know? Like, I still had acne break out occasionally. And I'd be like, does anyone, because I use this stuff, is there something better? And these hard, and, and.

• 36:47Speaker 01

  Why are you asking the crew about your acne?

• 36:50Conan O'Brien?

  I don't know, and these guys.

• 36:51Speaker 02

  Just out to everyone asking if anyone has any recommendations.

• 36:54Conan O'Brien?

  I opened the shows with it often. Hi, if anyone's out there watching. It's, it just keeps, I think it's, it might be cystic, I don't know, it comes back. But, um. But that was the thing that blew my mind was the uh, that, and I didn't blame them, but there were just, I mean, there were guys on my crew that had worked on Sullivan when the Beatles played there.

• 37:15Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 37:15Conan O'Brien?

  And I would ask them like, what was that like? And they were guys from Long Island.

• 37:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:19Conan O'Brien?

  You know, and uh, they'd say stuff like, uh, I don't know. I was mad because I was, it's a Sunday night, I'm not supposed to work Sunday night, I'm on my, and then they call me because Steve got, I gotta come in and I saw him up in there and I, but it was the Beatles. It was the Beatles and I'm like, that's a lot of, I don't know, that fucking hair, I don't know. And then I'm on the way home and then the carburetor blows out, so fuck that shit, you know, and I don't get paid overtime. And you're like, that's their memory of.

• 37:47Speaker 02

  Yeah. You're like, great, this was a really special talk that we just had. Thank you very much.

• 37:53Conan O'Brien?

  On this subject, on the subject of music, I know that you have done many podcasts, uh, music centric podcasts. You have your obsessions, R E M.

• 38:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:02Conan O'Brien?

  You love R E M.

• 38:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, I, yeah, because I'm, you know, that generation that kind of grew up with that, that music. Like they got huge around eighty seven, like with the, their first big hit. And I was like fourteen, so it was kind of perfect.

• 38:17Conan O'Brien?

  My, my college girlfriend, when I was, I think a senior, she was so cool. She knew about music.

• 38:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:23Conan O'Brien?

  She knew bands before they broke.

• 38:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:26Conan O'Brien?

  But I remember her being very cool and saying, yeah, R E M. I'm like, R E M?

• 38:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:32Conan O'Brien?

  What is that?

• 38:33Speaker 02

  Right.

• 38:33Conan O'Brien?

  That sounds, I don't, is that a, that's a band?

• 38:37Speaker 02

  Right.

• 38:37Conan O'Brien?

  And kind of thinking, great, you like your niche little band that's not going anywhere.

• 38:42Speaker 01

  Why did she break up with you?

• 38:43Conan O'Brien?

  I know. You seemed really cool.

• 38:46Speaker 02

  I have no idea about anything you're talking about.

• 38:50Conan O'Brien?

  Nothing.

• 38:50Speaker 02

  I'm interested.

• 38:51Conan O'Brien?

  I think I said to her, nothing you say is of value to me. And then she walks out on me. What's that all about?

• 38:59Speaker 02

  So weird that that didn't work.

• 39:01Conan O'Brien?

  Women.

• 39:04Speaker 02

  No, there was something mysterious about their name and the way they looked in the music videos they weren't in. It was just all cool.

• 39:12Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, yeah. And, uh, and, uh, to this day, uh, a lot of great music.

• 39:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:18Conan O'Brien?

  So it's, it's, what are your bands? Your bands are R E M, U2?

• 39:22Speaker 02

  Yeah, those were like my Beatles, Beatles and Stones, kind of for, I don't know, I, for my age group or generation or whatever. Those were the two big.

• 39:31Conan O'Brien?

  I'm seeing here that you're 77 years old.

• 39:32Speaker 02

  Seventy seven years old.

• 39:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, those were the two big ones and they were very, now looking back, it's like, well, of course, they were both very mainstream, like arena rock bands. Um, and I think that's part of what I liked about it too, to sort of the grandness of it.

• 39:49Conan O'Brien?

  What are you, what are you watching when you're a kid? What are the shows that mean something to you on TV?

• 39:53Speaker 02

  Letterman was a huge one.

• 39:55Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 39:55Speaker 02

  Um, we didn't have, you know, I grew up in Santa Cruz, California, which is this little hip, kind of hippie beach town. And so we didn't have a TV in our house. I lived with my mom for, um, for a majority of the time and then went back and forth. But for, while I was living there, my dad got me this little five inch black and white TV that I just kept in my room and I was just glued to it. Uh, you know, without cable television, you have three, three stations. So I would just watch whatever was on.

• 40:24Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 40:25Speaker 02

  From 7:00 PM or whenever till they went off the air at, what was it? 1:30 or 2:00 or whatever. Anyway, uh, Letterman, you know, and Different Strokes and whatever network comedies were on.

• 40:37Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 40:37Speaker 02

  Hour long dramas always felt like too grown up and boring until I got older. And, and now you go back and look at hour long dramas when, you know, we were coming of age and they're just like pornography bad, you know?

• 40:54Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 40:55Speaker 02

  Not only are they just weirdly bad, but they show there's so much shoe leather just because they're trying to fill up the 42 minutes.

• 41:04Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, I'm obsessed with, I've had huge fights. I had a huge fight with Bill Burr, who loves Chips.

• 41:09Speaker 02

  Uh huh.

• 41:09Conan O'Brien?

  And I went after Bill and said Chips is a piece of shit. And he's like, what are you talking about? He's getting crazy on me about, about how much he loves Chips and how much it meant to him. But if you watch those shows now.

• 41:23Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 41:23Conan O'Brien?

  The editing, they'll, I don't know if everyone's on coke that's making them.

• 41:27Speaker 02

  Right.

• 41:28Conan O'Brien?

  But the shots are lazy. It's so, the whole point of the show is there's gonna be this big meeting.

• 41:34Speaker 02

  Right.

• 41:34Conan O'Brien?

  You know, and so a guy's gonna pull up in his car and go talk to someone who's in another car. The car will pull up in some big parking lot, 30 feet away, the guy will get out and shut the door and walk 30 feet to the other guy.

• 41:47Speaker 02

  Totally.

• 41:47Conan O'Brien?

  No cutting.

• 41:48Speaker 02

  No.

• 41:49Conan O'Brien?

  No editing because they're like, yeah, we can kill some time walking from that giant, bad, late 70s American car to this one.

• 41:56Speaker 02

  That's right. That's right. Like, people have no idea how lucky they are with Breaking Bad and the surprise, you know, whatever, you know, modern television.

• 42:05Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 42:05Speaker 02

  We did those credit sequence things, the greatest event. So we had to go and watch.

• 42:11Conan O'Brien?

  So hilarious, yeah.

• 42:11Speaker 02

  Like Simon and Simon episodes to find these certain scenes to get context on some of them. And like Bill Burr, like my memories of Simon and Simon are one thing. Like it meant so much to me as a kid, but then kind of diving in and really watching, it's just a whole different, like I would challenge Bill Burr to binge Chips right now. Like really see if he can hang in there.

• 42:34Conan O'Brien?

  Well, I'm sure I'll be getting a call from him very soon. I just saw him the other day. We had a lovely meal and now he's gonna feel like I betrayed him. But I think we are in TV's golden age. I keep saying that clearly the whole business changed, but we, but what you're describing and now we sound like, you know, the two old men on The Muppet Show in the balcony, but you watched what was on.

• 42:56Speaker 02

  Right.

• 42:57Conan O'Brien?

  And you had an awareness sometimes, this doesn't seem that good.

• 43:01Speaker 02

  Right.

• 43:02Conan O'Brien?

  But it was all there was.

• 43:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:04Conan O'Brien?

  There's three networks. And also, there's what can, what comes in, meaning what will, what will my reception capture?

• 43:12Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 43:12Conan O'Brien?

  Because sometimes there's a good show and you'd go to turn it on and the antenna, I keep moving the antenna around.

• 43:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's right.

• 43:19Conan O'Brien?

  And so, just this, I don't know.

• 43:20Speaker 02

  And it was inconsistent. Some nights CBS would come in great and some nights it was just garbage.

• 43:26Conan O'Brien?

  Right. And so, now there's the other problem of I have 7,000 options.

• 43:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:33Conan O'Brien?

  And yes, there are some very obvious choices I can make.

• 43:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:37Conan O'Brien?

  When I know there's a really good documentary out, or hey Severance is back, I know what I'm doing, it's appointment television. But then there's so much.

• 43:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:46Conan O'Brien?

  Where people have told me, you've gotta watch Gub Gub Nation. And I'm like, what is it?

• 43:51Speaker 02

  I love Gub Gub.

• 43:52Speaker 03

  You're surrounded by people that love Gub Gub Nation.

• 43:55Conan O'Brien?

  And I'm just like, what's Gub Gub Nation?

• 43:56Speaker 02

  We're Gub Gubbers.

• 43:57Conan O'Brien?

  What's up?

• 43:58Speaker 02

  We're just from way back.

• 43:59Conan O'Brien?

  What's up, everybody?

• 44:00Speaker 03

  Season one, Gubheads.

• 44:01Speaker 02

  Oh, fuck.

• 44:02Speaker 03

  Oh, my god.

• 44:03Conan O'Brien?

  And I'll say, what is it? And they'll be like, oh, it takes place at an advertising agency. It's British, but you're gonna really, and then I'll watch like two episodes.

• 44:12Speaker 02

  Oh, you gotta hang in for seven, bro.

• 44:14Conan O'Brien?

  Seven, get to seven.

• 44:15Speaker 03

  No, you have to.

• 44:16Conan O'Brien?

  Get to seven, because that's when the Gub Gubbers show up.

• 44:20Speaker 02

  And those Gub Gubbers walk in, lights out. Yeah, and we could like, because now kids, it's all dependent on, they can watch whatever they want, so it just depends on their taste.

• 44:32Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 44:33Speaker 02

  What they're gonna watch. Back then, like you said, we just watched whatever was on, and that's how we came up with our taste, was by watching everything.

• 44:41Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 44:42Speaker 02

  So it's just a completely, I have no idea what I'm talking about. Never mind, never mind, never mind.

• 44:48Conan O'Brien?

  The, I remember my, my writing partner, when I came out to LA for the first time, Greg Daniels.

• 44:54Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 44:54Conan O'Brien?

  Of course, the great Greg Daniels. He and I came out here and we're both 22 years old. And there wasn't that much television. There was just, as I said, a couple of networks and a couple of big sitcoms and so, and some dramas. And so, you, you'd seen everything. There was no such thing as a show that you had never heard of. Because there aren't that many shows.

• 45:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:14Conan O'Brien?

  So remember? Once Greg and I are working late and I think we were over at Sunset Gower Studios, which isn't too far from where we are now. And we're these like wide eyed 22 year old guys right out of college. And we're working on this show called Not Necessarily the News. And but then we're also wandering around because we're like, wow, this is where they make television. And we wandered on to, oh, my God, this is the set where they make Benson.

• 45:36Speaker 02

  Whoa.

• 45:37Conan O'Brien?

  And Benson with Robert Guillaume.

• 45:39Speaker 02

  They were still making it?

• 45:40Conan O'Brien?

  I think they were still making it and this would be 1985.

• 45:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 45:45Conan O'Brien?

  I'm seeing an actual, this is the governor's mansion where Benson lives. What? This is it? And it's, all the lights are kind of down. There's a couple of lights on, but there's like cloth over things.

• 45:58Speaker 02

  They put the things, the sheets over the furniture?

• 46:02Conan O'Brien?

  And we're wandering in and Greg and I, I mean, it's so funny now Greg has made so much iconic TV, but I remember very clearly him being like, wow.

• 46:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:10Conan O'Brien?

  And I'm like, yeah. And then we walk in and we get up close.

• 46:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:13Conan O'Brien?

  And we look and we're looking at the actual like vase and table.

• 46:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:18Conan O'Brien?

  That, and it's supposed to be a rich like governor's mansion.

• 46:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:21Conan O'Brien?

  And it looks like shit.

• 46:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:23Conan O'Brien?

  It's like, because.

• 46:25Speaker 02

  Fake.

• 46:26Conan O'Brien?

  It's, it's all fake and it's all slapped on kind of fake gold paint and that's how. The vase looks like it cost $2 and I remembered having this revelation of, it's all a lie, man.

• 46:38Speaker 02

  Totally.

• 46:38Conan O'Brien?

  Benson's mansion sucks.

• 46:40Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:41Conan O'Brien?

  What is this? You know, and then, and then having that realization over and over and over again, whenever I was on a set and sitting down and like, this is the chair?

• 46:50Speaker 02

  Right.

• 46:51Conan O'Brien?

  Where the girls on Facts of Life sit?

• 46:54Speaker 02

  Wow, how much time did you get to spend on the Facts of Life set?

• 46:57Conan O'Brien?

  I know, I know. I used to go over there a lot. Hang out in the chair. That sounds so creepy.

• 47:02Speaker 02

  The chair.

• 47:03Conan O'Brien?

  And do you know where the chair is from Facts of Life? Where the ladies sit?

• 47:09Speaker 01

  All of them at the same time?

• 47:11Conan O'Brien?

  There's that one scene. No, I don't.

• 47:12Speaker 02

  Which one does Mrs. Garrett sit in?

• 47:14Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 47:14Speaker 02

  Point me in the general direction.

• 47:17Conan O'Brien?

  No, but I mean, it's just so, uh, such a revelation when you got to see.

• 47:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 47:23Conan O'Brien?

  Um, and it would be. I mean, it's it's never really changed, you know, when you're on a set.

• 47:29Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 47:29Conan O'Brien?

  The first time that I saw Letterman's show, which so weirdly, but I was in college and I went to New York and saw a live taping of Late Night with David Letterman. Having no idea that I would take over that show.

• 47:43Speaker 02

  That's wild.

• 47:43Conan O'Brien?

  And in that studio and that some of those crew members would be my crew members. And I'm so I remembered sitting what being led in by NBC pages and sitting down and thinking, what's going on?

• 47:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 47:57Conan O'Brien?

  This is really small.

• 47:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 47:58Conan O'Brien?

  Because on television, the perspective is widened and and things look big.

• 48:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 48:04Conan O'Brien?

  And realizing, wait a minute, what the fuck? Like, where David's standing doing his monologue, he can reach over and touch, you know, Paul Schaffer.

• 48:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 48:13Conan O'Brien?

  He could touch him, whereas on TV, the way they shoot it, it doesn't look that way at all.

• 48:18Speaker 02

  Looks huge.

• 48:18Conan O'Brien?

  Studio 6A is notoriously, it's a small, it's built for radio.

• 48:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 48:23Conan O'Brien?

  It wasn't built for television. And that's the that's the magic of it.

• 48:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 48:27Conan O'Brien?

  Is that it's small.

• 48:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 48:28Conan O'Brien?

  So comedy rockets around the room and bounces off the walls.

• 48:31Speaker 02

  And it felt like there was something, it felt exclusive and small. It felt like a like the audience, they didn't sweeten the audience either, which I don't know if late night shows do that at all. But but they.

• 48:42Conan O'Brien?

  I wish we did.

• 48:45Conan O'Brien?

  We'd never thought of that.

• 48:46Speaker 02

  By the way, I have a story relating to that, wishing your audience was sweetened with a terrible, terrible bit I brought on your show. But as far as the Letterman show goes, there was something just as a fan that felt really, it felt like a clubhouse or something.

• 49:02Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 49:02Speaker 02

  Like it was an excuse. So did they find you in the audience? Did they go back ever and find you on that episode?

• 49:09Conan O'Brien?

  Pretty far back and I would have to, I know one of.

• 49:12Speaker 02

  That's incredible.

• 49:12Conan O'Brien?

  I gotta find that episode, actually.

• 49:14Speaker 02

  Who was the guest, do you remember?

• 49:15Conan O'Brien?

  I it's it's a blur. I have a memory of one bit and I'm gonna really have to think about it. But a door slides open and a boxer comes out of the wall. But I bet I could figure out what the episode is. I don't think there's a shot of me in in the audience of sitting pretty far back with my friend. Maya Williams and uh and afterwards Maya knew one of the writers on the show Steve O'Donnell.

• 49:42Speaker 02

  Oh yeah.

• 49:43Conan O'Brien?

  And Steve brought us up to the offices.

• 49:46Speaker 02

  Whoa.

• 49:47Conan O'Brien?

  And we're sitting in Steve O'Donnell's tiny office and I'm sitting there with Maya talking to Steve and Merrill Marco walks by. And a guy in a leather jacket walks by with her carrying a box and it's Dave Letterman.

• 49:58Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 49:59Conan O'Brien?

  He kinda just nods at us and keeps moving and I it was well, there's no. If I was a kid, I'd say it was like the president of the United States walked by, but that no longer works.

• 50:10Speaker 02

  Right.

• 50:13Speaker 02

  That was the president.

• 50:14Conan O'Brien?

  Now, I'm sorry, I don't care who's president now in this world. It would be like, oh, it's a president.

• 50:18Speaker 02

  It's been so demystified.

• 50:22Conan O'Brien?

  So, but I'll never forget. I remember the jacket he was wearing. I remembered and remembered thinking, wow.

• 50:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 50:29Conan O'Brien?

  He gets to have this this show and then the idea that what is that? That's probably nineteen eighty-three.

• 50:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 50:37Conan O'Brien?

  The idea that ten years later, I'm hosting that show to this day makes no sense to me. And I think was a mistake. I really do in my heart think it was a.

• 50:46Speaker 02

  No way.

• 50:48Conan O'Brien?

  No, I mean, I'm I'm I'm taking it all in and whatever. I'm saying it it's it's a beautiful thing, but.

• 50:54Speaker 02

  Did you ever tell Dave that?

• 50:59Conan O'Brien?

  It's funny. I I don't know that I have. I don't know that I have because I don't know. I mean, not that Dave and I talk that much. Only because we don't cross paths much. When we do, I treasure those moments.

• 51:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 51:12Conan O'Brien?

  Uh, but from his perspective, it's a story of I saw you once and you were wearing a leather jacket in a hallway.

• 51:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 51:18Conan O'Brien?

  And I I had acne.

• 51:21Speaker 02

  And I asked you, do you have anything I can clear this up?

• 51:26Conan O'Brien?

  And will your crew hate me as much as I think they will?

• 51:30Speaker 02

  And do you wanna spend your moments with Dave recalling that particular?

• 51:34Conan O'Brien?

  I think I will next time.

• 51:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, you should. I I bet he would get a kick out of it.

• 51:37Conan O'Brien?

  He might. I don't know. Or he might uh have me taken away by his retinue of goons.

• 51:44Speaker 03

  What was the story when you were on the bit?

• 51:46Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, yeah, you didn't tell us you were a... You did a bit. What happened?

• 51:49Speaker 02

  Okay, so it was, this is, it ended up being-

• 51:53Conan O'Brien?

  I know. Go ahead, go ahead.

• 51:56Speaker 02

  It ended up being one of the most deeply embarrassing moments I've had. And it's also confounding to me from beginning to end, why I did this. I just had this confidence in this bit and didn't really slow down to think about it before I... Okay, I was promoting Big Little Lies, right? The second season of Big Little Lies. And so the bit that I came up with, it's also interesting because it's so bad from so many different angles. And there's nothing about it that works. Nothing.

• 52:30Conan O'Brien?

  You know what I love? You so don't want to tell us what it is.

• 52:32Speaker 02

  I know.

• 52:33Conan O'Brien?

  That you keep qualifying it.

• 52:34Speaker 02

  I know.

• 52:35Conan O'Brien?

  And another thing you should know is that the Roman Empire did not have movable type.

• 52:41Speaker 02

  When I tell you the basic premise, you're gonna be like, why would you do that? Okay, so Big Little Lies, the way I saw it going is like us talking and you being like, wow, Big Little- The cast is amazing. It's like, yeah, no, it's, yeah, it's all like legendary actresses. It's like the traveling Wilburys of legendary actresses, you know, it's like... So what I had done is I thought that that, saying the traveling Wilburys of actresses and equating Big Little Lies with the traveling Wilburys would be this like comedy explosion.

• 53:22Speaker 03

  It is funny.

• 53:23Speaker 02

  That would, well-

• 53:25Conan O'Brien?

  But then, and then you start to go through like, for example-

• 53:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:28Conan O'Brien?

  Reese is like-

• 53:30Speaker 02

  Go ahead. I had mocked up the album cover-

• 53:33Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, wow.

• 53:34Speaker 02

  With, instead of the traveling Wilburys, the actresses' faces on their bodies.

• 53:39Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 53:40Speaker 02

  And also had gone through for each Traveling Wilbury and switched them out for like, Reese is Bob Dylan, Shailene, you know, Nicole Kidman is, uh, is George Harrison, whatever. I don't remember what it was. So.

• 53:56Conan O'Brien?

  And you had reasons why.

• 53:57Speaker 02

  I had reasons why, but the, first of all, nobody under 50 knows who the fuck the Traveling Wilburys are.

• 54:05Conan O'Brien?

  This was immediately apparent.

• 54:07Speaker 02

  When I said the first line, "It's like the Traveling Wilburys," it was silence.

• 54:12Conan O'Brien?

  Silence.

• 54:13Speaker 02

  Silence.

• 54:14Conan O'Brien?

  You could hear the air condenser.

• 54:16Speaker 02

  Literally.

• 54:17Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 54:18Speaker 02

  But also I came to learn that those over 50 who do remember the Traveling Wilburys don't give a fuck.

• 54:27Speaker 02

  About.

• 54:27Speaker 03

  I may be your one demographic for this.

• 54:30Speaker 02

  Why weren't you there?

• 54:33Speaker 03

  I was at a Traveling Wilburys concert.

• 54:36Speaker 02

  So I say it, silence, show the record cover, silence.

• 54:41Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 54:42Speaker 02

  And then I start going through each member of the band.

• 54:46Conan O'Brien?

  Yep, you sure did.

• 54:48Speaker 02

  The crazy thing is, is I was so sure that this was gonna create a tidal wave of comedy that you and I would just be able to surf through each, each member of the band, that I never came up with actual jokes for each one.

• 55:06Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 55:07Speaker 02

  I just had these little like, "Oh, she was in Days of Thunder, so she's Bob Dylan," thinking it would just be so like, Crackley and you and Andy would be like, "Oh."

• 55:16Conan O'Brien?

  It would take on this life of its own.

• 55:18Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 55:19Conan O'Brien?

  And it's like nuclear fission or fusion. It's just gonna.

• 55:22Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 55:23Conan O'Brien?

  Molecules are gonna be bouncing off each other and the rest will take care of itself.

• 55:25Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 55:26Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 55:26Speaker 02

  And we'll be fine.

• 55:27Speaker 03

  But like you in the Letterman Theater, here we are 10 years later and look at the gold it's giving us.

• 55:33Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, and this is the perfect place to discuss this, cause it's anatomy of a, you are not alone. I've, I've had many prominent people come up to me over the years and say, "I just wanna say I'm sorry." And I'll say, "What?" And they'll say, "Oh, in 1998,

• 55:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 55:50Conan O'Brien?

  I came on and I tried this thing and I bombed so hard and I don't remember."

• 55:54Speaker 02

  Right.

• 55:54Conan O'Brien?

  Yours, I remember.

• 55:58Conan O'Brien?

  I woke up this, I wake up every morning thinking about it and my wife is like, "What happened? Is it the Wilburys?"

• 56:06Conan O'Brien?

  Is it the Adam Scott Wilbur's bed? And I'm like, it is, it is. And she's like, you're not there anymore. It's over, it's over. You're safe, you're with me. And we get a cold cloth and we, but uh.

• 56:16Speaker 02

  It was so long.

• 56:18Conan O'Brien?

  And so, but what I remember about that moment is you, a lot of other people would have bailed. And you clearly were like, no, I made my bed. And I'm seeing this through to the end. And I think at the end, you say something like, and that is why. People can look it up now, which is the beauty, but.

• 56:36Speaker 02

  No.

• 56:37Conan O'Brien?

  No.

• 56:38Speaker 02

  Because after the show, I remember talking to Andy backstage and being like, how could I have thought that was something? That was not, and we begged you guys not to air it. And I think the reaction was like, oh, please, can we? Oh, no. Of course, we're not gonna air that. So I don't think it aired.

• 57:00Conan O'Brien?

  It exists somewhere and I've got to find it.

• 57:02Speaker 01

  Did you help him out at all? Or were you just standing, sitting there, just watching?

• 57:07Speaker 02

  I, you did.

• 57:08Conan O'Brien?

  I think I tried.

• 57:10Speaker 02

  You tried.

• 57:10Conan O'Brien?

  I do have the reputation of trying to help.

• 57:13Speaker 01

  I know, that's why I'm asking.

• 57:15Conan O'Brien?

  But at a certain point, I saw nine sharks chomping away at Adam Scott and blood just, and gore filling the water. And I decided to get back on the boat.

• 57:26Speaker 02

  That sounds like you.

• 57:27Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. I removed my foot from the water and got into the boat. And then, because I saw, like, he's lost too much, it's, it's, it's over, you know?

• 57:36Speaker 02

  I had no legs. Like, what are you gonna do? I can't swim with you to the boat.

• 57:41Conan O'Brien?

  At the end of the episode, we did cut it out. But at the end of the episode, you went from telling a good story to just being a head.

• 57:47Speaker 02

  That's right, just floating like, where are you going?

• 57:50Conan O'Brien?

  A head sitting on a chair.

• 57:51Speaker 02

  I still haven't done Roy Orbison.

• 57:57Conan O'Brien?

  We never did get to Roy Orbison.

• 58:00Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, well, um, you know why it's funny now? Because, it's funny now because uh, you're, you're just, you could not, things could not be going better for you. And um, you're in this show uh, where you get to, in every way, show the power you have and the range you have. And yes, they could have found someone else to do it, and I think I could have done it.

• 58:28Speaker 02

  That much is clear.

• 58:29Conan O'Brien?

  I think that's, if you take one thing from this episode is I know how to have my face change a little bit in an elevator, I've done it before. And they wouldn't need special effects, I can just do it.

• 58:40Speaker 02

  Right.

• 58:41Conan O'Brien?

  And that saves $600.

• 58:43Speaker 02

  Well, we don't use special effects, but fine, yes, no, you can do it.

• 58:47Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, I know you guys do something. No, I just, I couldn't be happier for you because you're, you're just a great guy and you deserve all this.

• 58:55Speaker 02

  Well, I, it means so much, so thank you very much. You're, you have incredible taste, obviously, and it just means everything.

• 59:02Conan O'Brien?

  Well, no, clearly look around you.

• 59:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 59:04Conan O'Brien?

  I mean, look at these people. Gorgeous. And hilarious.

• 59:09Speaker 01

  Aww.

• 59:11Conan O'Brien?

  Um, I know you're a busy guy and thank you so much for being here.

• 59:15Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 59:15Conan O'Brien?

  And I, let's, uh, let's break bread someday soon and we'll get, you know what I want? I wanna get Bill Burr involved and then you and I both go at him about chips.

• 59:23Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 59:24Conan O'Brien?

  Okay?

• 59:24Speaker 02

  I, I, I promise you, he hasn't seen it since 1987. There's no way. He's just saying he loves chips.

• 59:33Conan O'Brien?

  All right, take care.

• 59:34Speaker 02

  All right, thanks, everybody.

• 59:42Conan O'Brien?

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

• 59:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:47Conan O'Brien?

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

• 59:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:56Conan 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.

• 1:00:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:18Conan 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.

• 1:00:27Speaker 01

  They are.

• 1:00:28Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:00:33Speaker 01

  What?

• 1:00:34Conan 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.

• 1:00:58Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:01:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:01:01Conan O'Brien?

  Just accept the premise and we'll move ahead.

• 1:01:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:01:03Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:01:09Speaker 01

  A vase.

• 1:01:10Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:01:12Speaker 01

  A jacket.

• 1:01:14Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, nice jacket. I love a nice jacket.

• 1:01:16Speaker 01

  Oh yeah, that jacket. Nice jacket.

• 1:01:17Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:01:18Speaker 01

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

• 1:01:20Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:01:32Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:01:33Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:01:58Conan O'Brien?

  Sona, you have to admit, the holidays, it's really about hanging with the people you love.

• 1:02:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:04Conan O'Brien?

  And getting to be yourself. Not going to some stuffy holiday party where you need to conform to what the man wants you to think about the holidays.

• 1:02:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:13Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it's about being yourself. Turn your holiday time into Miller time by enjoying a Miller Lite in a place where you're free to enjoy yourself on a walk with a cousin. With a cousin? Why are they getting all specific about it?

• 1:02:24Speaker 01

  Because it's family.

• 1:02:25Conan O'Brien?

  But what about a niece or a nephew?

• 1:02:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:29Conan O'Brien?

  Like a walk with an ex-wife? I don't know. I mean, they're just throwing, that's a weird, they just made a very specific choice.

• 1:02:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:36Conan O'Brien?

  Now's the time for those unexpected holiday side guests and enjoy a great tasting light beer. 'Tis Miller time, as Dickens wrote. Miller Lite is brewed for taste, the taste you can depend on. The original light beer since 1975 and still iconic more than 50 years later. I like to be with my bros, my chums, my posse. Crack open a Miller Lite, take a swig, a sip, look around and see my friends. We've known each other forever and we're just hanging out.

• 1:03:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, you guys are just doing chest bumps and high-fiving.

• 1:03:06Conan O'Brien?

  Miller Lite is great taste done right. Go to millerlite.com/conan to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. 'Tis Miller time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

• 1:03:28Speaker 03

  You guys remember back in the early days of this podcast, we did a few drawing contests?

• 1:03:32Conan O'Brien?

  I do.

• 1:03:33Speaker 01

  The ones where I won.

• 1:03:34Speaker 03

  What?

• 1:03:35Speaker 01

  I won.

• 1:03:36Speaker 03

  Did you win both? We did at least two.

• 1:03:38Speaker 01

  No, I really lost both of them.

• 1:03:39Speaker 03

  Did you?

• 1:03:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did.

• 1:03:41Speaker 03

  Okay, well, I went back and I found, you guys might remember this from your childhoods, I think especially you will. Do you remember these advertisements?

• 1:03:49Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 1:03:50Speaker 03

  For drawing contests?

• 1:03:50Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 1:03:51Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:03:51Conan O'Brien?

  They were on the back of, I think they were on the back of matchbooks.

• 1:03:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, and comic books, and they were also, I think, TV commercials, and basically, you would draw one of these, send it in, and they would assess if you had any talent, and then you could take their trade school. It was all a scam, basically.

• 1:04:05Conan O'Brien?

  Was it a scam?

• 1:04:06Speaker 03

  I think it was. I think it was like the barbers on modeling schools, you know, like, they'll take anybody just to get the money out of them.

• 1:04:12Conan O'Brien?

  There used to be these ads, speaking of scams, on the back of comic books, that would say things akin to, "If you clip this out and you include a dollar fifty, we'll send you a hovercraft to your home."

• 1:04:23Speaker 03

  Yes, I heard that.

• 1:04:24Conan O'Brien?

  Or there was one that was a submarine.

• 1:04:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:04:26Conan O'Brien?

  A working submarine, "So send us a dollar fifty," and I always was curious, do you get something in the mail?

• 1:04:32Speaker 03

  That's a good question.

• 1:04:33Conan O'Brien?

  And what is it, and how could it be anything close to a submarine? I mean, I would love someone out there to find out, what did you actually get in the late 60s and early 70s, if you cut out the coupon that said you get a submarine?

• 1:04:47Speaker 03

  Wasn't it a kit, though? I thought it was like, they send you a fan with a motor, and then you have to build like an inner tube around it or something.

• 1:04:54Conan O'Brien?

  Maybe, but still, I remember the price being absurdly low.

• 1:04:58Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:04:58Conan O'Brien?

  And the drawing was very deceptive. It showed like, basically, a German U-boat prowling the North Atlantic. So I would love to know, what did you get? I'm sure it would be very disappointing, but the fact that you got anything that might approximate the foundation of a submarine for a dollar fifty?

• 1:05:18Speaker 03

  Our guys are on it. Let's do this drawing contest, and maybe by the end, we'll have an answer.

• 1:05:21Conan O'Brien?

  All right, what's the plan here?

• 1:05:22Speaker 03

  Okay, so you get to choose one, and I'm gonna give you guys five minutes in real time. It'll be edited down by the time we listen.

• 1:05:28Speaker 01

  Do we each choose a different character?

• 1:05:30Speaker 03

  I guess you should choose separately.

• 1:05:32Conan O'Brien?

  There's Tippy, who looks to be a tortoise in a turtleneck, well, that makes sense, turtleneck sweater, right?

• 1:05:38Speaker 01

  Oh, that's cute.

• 1:05:38Speaker 03

  It's just a neck sweater to him.

• 1:05:41Conan O'Brien?

  Exactly. He just calls it, "This is my sweater."

• 1:05:43Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:05:45Conan O'Brien?

  This is my me sweater, my me neck, um, as opposed to a v-neck. And then there's a pirate, clearly. No idea why pirates always have an eye patch. Um, that'll get worked out later on.

• 1:05:57Speaker 03

  I can tell you.

• 1:05:58Conan O'Brien?

  Oh yeah? What's that?

• 1:05:58Speaker 03

  They always say it's because, "Oh, they lost an eye." But it's because they'd be below deck and they have to, when they're above deck in the sun and they have to go below deck, they don't need time to adjust their sight. So they open their eye patch and they can see it.

• 1:06:10Conan O'Brien?

  Very good. Very nice.

• 1:06:11Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:06:11Conan O'Brien?

  That's good to know. And then there's Tiny, who is either, now this is a little confusing, could be a little kitten.

• 1:06:18Speaker 03

  I think it's a mouse.

• 1:06:19Conan O'Brien?

  It's a mouse. You're right, it's a mouse because of the ears.

• 1:06:21Speaker 03

  And he's wearing a party hat.

• 1:06:22Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:22Speaker 01

  They have both eyes.

• 1:06:24Speaker 03

  What?

• 1:06:25Speaker 01

  The pirates have both eyes and they're both functioning?

• 1:06:28Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:06:28Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 1:06:28Speaker 01

  That is crazy.

• 1:06:30Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, they wear the eye patch so that they can...

• 1:06:33Speaker 01

  Why are you saying this like you knew it this whole time?

• 1:06:36Speaker 03

  And also, I don't even know if that's true.

• 1:06:39Conan O'Brien?

  I'm telling you, I heard it from a guy.

• 1:06:42Conan O'Brien?

  I heard it from a guy, and not too long ago.

• 1:06:44Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:06:45Conan O'Brien?

  All right.

• 1:06:46Speaker 03

  Somebody pick a number between 1 and 10, Conan.

• 1:06:48Conan O'Brien?

  Oh my god, why does everything have to be complicated? 5.

• 1:06:50Speaker 03

  Sona.

• 1:06:51Speaker 01

  6.

• 1:06:51Speaker 03

  Uh, the number was 4, so Conan, you get to pick first.

• 1:06:54Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, well, uh, I guess there's no getting around it. I'm gonna be the pirate.

• 1:06:58Speaker 03

  Okay, Sona, what would you like?

• 1:07:00Speaker 01

  I'll do Tippy, the turtle.

• 1:07:02Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:07:02Conan O'Brien?

  All right.

• 1:07:03Speaker 01

  Mine's gonna be awful.

• 1:07:05Conan O'Brien?

  Let's get to it.

• 1:07:05Speaker 01

  Okay, all right, let's do it.

• 1:07:07Speaker 03

  1, 2, 3, go.

• 1:07:11Speaker 03

  5 minutes. We'll make it 3 minutes. You have 3 minutes.

• 1:07:14Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:07:15Speaker 03

  Oh my god. Sona, that's an abomination.

• 1:07:18Speaker 01

  Shut your stupid mouth!

• 1:07:22Conan O'Brien?

  I can tell you're concentrating because your lips are moving.

• 1:07:24Speaker 03

  1 minute has lapsed. You have 2 minutes left. And you're actually done, so I don't know if I got the time right on this.

• 1:07:34Speaker 01

  It's so bad.

• 1:07:36Conan O'Brien?

  You're not giving us a lot of time for this, so I'll tell you that much.

• 1:07:39Speaker 03

  Well, that's the point. It's the pressure.

• 1:07:41Conan O'Brien?

  How much time do I have left?

• 1:07:42Speaker 03

  You got plenty of time.

• 1:07:44Conan O'Brien?

  Good, because I need more time.

• 1:07:45Speaker 03

  We're gonna, we're gonna knock a minute off. You've got 30 seconds.

• 1:07:48Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that.

• 1:07:50Speaker 01

  I'm almost done.

• 1:07:51Conan O'Brien?

  That's not, I want it to be somewhat.

• 1:07:53Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, this has got to be above board.

• 1:07:55Conan O'Brien?

  No, I want it to be somewhat decent. I take some pride in my drawing.

• 1:08:00Speaker 01

  I don't. I'm okay with it being done now.

• 1:08:02Speaker 03

  But keep in mind, it's not just technical ability. It's, it's that certain aspect of life, the je ne sais quoi.

• 1:08:10Conan O'Brien?

  It's the je ne sais quoi.

• 1:08:10Speaker 03

  So Sona, you could take it on just having more life. You know, Jackson Pollock, he did his paintings, it was about the experience, not the result.

• 1:08:17Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, he died in a drunk driving crash.

• 1:08:19Speaker 01

  Look at Tippy's head is real flat.

• 1:08:22Speaker 05

  Matt, why aren't you drawing?

• 1:08:24Speaker 03

  I just didn't, I assumed it was down to them. All right, I'll get in there.

• 1:08:27Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, no.

• 1:08:27Speaker 01

  Well, it's too late.

• 1:08:28Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, we're not waiting for that shit.

• 1:08:30Speaker 01

  These aren't the pens I like using.

• 1:08:32Speaker 03

  It's the pen's fault, huh?

• 1:08:35Speaker 01

  I'll sign mine. I'm obsessed, Ian. She's done.

• 1:08:39Conan O'Brien?

  Why is everything a she?

• 1:08:40Speaker 01

  Just give me the money.

• 1:08:42Conan O'Brien?

  Giving you a jacket. You don't deserve any more than that. I can't believe that jacket went up. I can't believe the fire didn't recoil when it saw the fire.

• 1:08:50Speaker 01

  The fire would recoil.

• 1:08:52Speaker 03

  Nah, let's get out of here, guys. That thing's ugly. Three, two, hold it, one.

• 1:09:00Conan O'Brien?

  All right, what do we do? We show our?

• 1:09:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, put them in the center here. And then Adam, Eduardo, Blay, get to adjudicate.

• 1:09:09Speaker 01

  I think you guys should give some points for speed, because I did it, I did mine really fast.

• 1:09:14Speaker 03

  Well, I'll just say I did mine in like a quarter of the time of anybody else, if we're doing speed.

• 1:09:19Speaker 01

  You go and you illustrate with your mom. Mine's also the biggest.

• 1:09:24Conan O'Brien?

  Now, is this American Idol style, where we each go through and say what we thought of each one?

• 1:09:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, but make it brief, because we don't have a lot of time.

• 1:09:30Conan O'Brien?

  Make it brief. Okay, great.

• 1:09:31Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:09:32Conan O'Brien?

  Adam, you want to start?

• 1:09:33Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:09:33Speaker 05

  I think the pirate is fantastic, actually. It's really accurate. Nose is maybe a bit off, but otherwise, it's, it's really pretty good.

• 1:09:42Speaker 03

  I like to improve people as I go. Pirate looks like Randy Macho Man Savage.

• 1:09:49Speaker 01

  It does.

• 1:09:50Conan O'Brien?

  That's why I was drawing.

• 1:09:53Speaker 05

  Little small for my liking. Ratio to the page here, but otherwise, very well.

• 1:09:59Speaker 03

  I like that. You're a firm judge.

• 1:10:02Speaker 04

  I think this is fantastic. I think the earring is a little too prominent here, but otherwise, otherwise, great. You know, it's, it evokes the same emotion I feel when I look at the original drawing of the pirate. Isn't that what art's all about?

• 1:10:16Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:10:17Speaker 05

  The turtle, Sona, that's you. I actually, I love the scale. Things went awry with the eye area.

• 1:10:25Speaker 05

  But I actually liked, I think you, it was, it's more interpretive, which I like. You're not just trying to do, you know, a perfect facsimile. It's a nice interpretation and I like it. I think it's.

• 1:10:35Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, mine, I think my true, I'm like a forger. I'm trying to pass this off, you know, as a forgery.

• 1:10:41Speaker 05

  I really like this one here. I feel like I want to color it in.

• 1:10:45Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:10:46Speaker 05

  So I really appreciate, yeah, it's, I would be proud to put this on a refrigerator, you know, so, yeah.

• 1:10:52Speaker 03

  It's going your way.

• 1:10:53Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:10:54Speaker 04

  I agree. Simple, clean lines, excellent execution. I think it's fantastic. Also, I don't know, is the, was the pirate signed? Was there a signature on that one?

• 1:11:04Conan O'Brien?

  No.

• 1:11:04Speaker 04

  No signature, although a signature here, so the artist clearly stands behind their work.

• 1:11:08Speaker 01

  Shows pride.

• 1:11:08Speaker 04

  Yeah. The artist stands behind their work.

• 1:11:10Conan O'Brien?

  Well, also, I was copying something else. I didn't want to get the reputation of someone who steals, so I didn't want to do it.

• 1:11:19Conan O'Brien?

  The original artist, whoever they are, it's really their work and I give it up for them.

• 1:11:23Speaker 01

  This is Mippi, my turtle. He's different than Tippi.

• 1:11:27Speaker 03

  I think you've got Tipsy, the turtle.

• 1:11:29Speaker 05

  All right, and then the mouse. I would say, Matt, you get credit because you were handicapped with time. You rushed it and considering the rush, it's really, really nice. It looks a little stretched, I would say, like it's kind of like horizontally stretched.

• 1:11:42Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it looks like it was put on a projector at a different angle.

• 1:11:45Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:11:46Speaker 03

  That's true. It's just, this tiny has a really large brain.

• 1:11:51Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 1:11:52Speaker 05

  Yeah, but really, really good, especially considering how quickly you did it.

• 1:11:56Conan O'Brien?

  I mean, I don't know, they're all very different. I don't know how you choose a winner. Who's the winner?

• 1:12:00Speaker 03

  He's already angling for defeat, you know?

• 1:12:02Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, no, not, not. I mean, I know who the winner should be.

• 1:12:06Speaker 05

  I'm just impressed with how quickly you did this.

• 1:12:09Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 1:12:09Speaker 05

  This was like 60 seconds worth of, uh... Just a mouse with a hat. Yeah, I like it.

• 1:12:14Conan O'Brien?

  Let's not get crazy. Can you believe he rendered a mouse with a hat in 60 seconds?

• 1:12:19Speaker 04

  Honestly...

• 1:12:20Conan O'Brien?

  Never in the annals of man.

• 1:12:22Speaker 04

  Less time and effortless lines looks, has a kind of spin on it.

• 1:12:28Conan O'Brien?

  So he gets points for forgetting to do the assignment.

• 1:12:30Speaker 03

  Well, I didn't think I was gonna do it. I was just giving it to you guys.

• 1:12:34Conan O'Brien?

  I don't think that should factor in. If I enter a marathon late, you know what I mean? And manage to get a mile in, I don't think you guys would be, "Whoa!"

• 1:12:42Speaker 04

  But he finished!

• 1:12:42Conan O'Brien?

  He showed up late in a cab!

• 1:12:44Speaker 04

  He finished, but I will say it does look a little squashed, but, uh, but yeah, a lot of personality here.

• 1:12:51Conan O'Brien?

  Lot of personality. Well, who's the... So now we have...

• 1:12:55Speaker 03

  So now you guys get to vote.

• 1:12:56Speaker 05

  Can we just leave it up to the fans to vote?

• 1:12:57Conan O'Brien?

  I guess the fans will vote.

• 1:12:58Speaker 05

  Let's put it on social media. Yeah, why don't we put it on Instagram?

• 1:13:01Conan O'Brien?

  Social media!

• 1:13:02Speaker 03

  Go to Team Coco Podcast on Instagram. And are we still on the vast hellscape of Twitter X?

• 1:13:10Speaker 05

  Let's just send people to Instagram.

• 1:13:13Speaker 03

  Let's do that. Yeah, that's good. All right, we'll see what happens.

• 1:13:16Conan O'Brien?

  This is pretty exciting.

• 1:13:18Speaker 03

  It wouldn't be a drawing contest without abject hatred for the game.

• 1:13:23Speaker 05

  Oh, I did find the summary just for...

• 1:13:25Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, good, good, good. Let's see it. I wanna see this... Look at that!

• 1:13:28Speaker 03

  $6.98.

• 1:13:30Conan O'Brien?

  $6.98 and it says fires, rockets, and torpedoes over seven feet long, big enough for two kids. Now, that's what they're showing. Now, when I was a kid, I lost my shit over this thing. I was like, "Wait a minute, this is incredible." And I wanna know, what was the company? Did anyone in America purchase this thing? And what did you in fact get?

• 1:13:54Speaker 03

  Cause down on the side, they're showing people inside the cockpit of this thing.

• 1:13:58Conan O'Brien?

  And it says, "Over seven feet long, seats two kids, controls that work..."

• 1:14:03Speaker 03

  Oh, wait, I think I remember what it is.

• 1:14:05Conan O'Brien?

  Rockets that fire, real periscope, fire periscope.

• 1:14:07Speaker 03

  To hit the hovercraft, it's a manual on how to build it, if I'm not mistaken. And there's somewhere in the fine print...

• 1:14:13Conan O'Brien?

  You know what? We need to find out. We need to find out because this is, this haunted my childhood. This is up there with the Uncle Sam Halloween mask. I must find out. Someone, please out there, the Polaris nuclear sub for $6.98.

• 1:14:28Speaker 03

  Plus 75 cents shipping charges.

• 1:14:30Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, we gotta find out more about this. Okay, to be continued.

• 1:14:35Conan O'Brien?

  All right.

• 1:14:38Speaker 03

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

• 1:14:58Speaker 03

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

• 1:15:48Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:15:51Speaker 06

  Yep.

• 1:15:51Conan 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?

• 1:15:59Speaker 06

  No, but I feel like we need it.

• 1:16:00Conan O'Brien?

  Why didn't you know that, David?

• 1:16:01Speaker 06

  I know you expect me to know everything.

• 1:16:03Conan O'Brien?

  I knew this because I've...

• 1:16:04Speaker 06

  Did you?

• 1:16:04Conan O'Brien?

  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.

• 1:16:37Speaker 05

  Time for a quick break to talk about McDonald's. Start your morning with the $6.00 McRiddle's Extra Value Meal, featuring your choice of a sausage, egg, and cheese McRiddle's or bacon, egg, and cheese McRiddle's, plus crispy hash browns and a small premium roast coffee. Sweet, savory, crispy, and caffeinated, it's everything your morning ordered, all for just $6.00. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing at participating McDonald's.