Matt Damon

Actor Matt Damon feels good about being Conan O’Brien’s friend. Matt sits down with Conan to discuss sharing a bank account with Ben Affleck at the start of their careers, the key to running convincingly in movies, his latest film The Rip, and more. 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?

  Owning a car or home comes with responsibilities. Sure, it's fun, but sometimes it makes you wonder why you ever longed for adulthood in the first place. I do that all the time. I'm like, "Oh, these bills, these bills. What am I gonna do?"

• 0:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:15Conan O'Brien?

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

• 0:19Speaker 01

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

• 0:22Conan O'Brien?

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

• 0:25Speaker 01

  It's mine, dude!

• 0:27Conan O'Brien?

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

• 0:39Speaker 01

  Liberty, Liberty, Liberty.

• 0:41Conan O'Brien?

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

• 0:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, me too.

• 0:43Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. Start your quote at LibertyMutual.com.

• 0:47Speaker 02

  Monday on NBC. The wait is over for St. Dennis Medical. Strap in. The comedy about doctors.

• 0:53Speaker 01

  Woo, let's get it!

• 0:55Speaker 02

  Without boundaries.

• 0:56Speaker 03

  Healthcare is a fun, fulfilling, exciting career.

• 1:00Speaker 02

  Is it because you're getting sued and puked on all the time? And they're back for another dose.

• 1:04Speaker 04

  I want to show you the secret sauce of St. Dennis: the staff. This place is hell. Literal hell. Well, that's enough secret sauce.

• 1:12Speaker 02

  All-new St. Dennis Medical, Monday on NBC.

• 1:19Speaker 05

  Hi, my name is Matt Damon, and I feel good about being Conan O'Brien's friend.

• 1:26Conan O'Brien?

  I was encouraging you beforehand, really go after me, and you chose to be a kind man.

• 1:31Speaker 05

  The most anodyne answer in history.

• 1:57Conan O'Brien?

  Hey there. Welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. I just freaked out my coworkers.

• 2:02Speaker 05

  You okay?

• 2:03Conan O'Brien?

  I am now. Yeah, I was looking up at the light that's above us.

• 2:07Speaker 01

  Is that a bug? Is that a dead bug?

• 2:09Conan O'Brien?

  I didn't even notice that.

• 2:10Speaker 01

  Oh, okay.

• 2:11Conan O'Brien?

  I was just looking up at the light, and I went into a little bit of a trance, and all of you were staring at me. And I think, I think I left my body.

• 2:17Speaker 05

  Well, you weren't just in trance, you were making the sound of like a dripping faucet.

• 2:21Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it was going...

• 2:24Conan O'Brien?

  I don't know what I was doing there. Uh, I've been working a lot lately and I had a something I had to do last night. And so, uh, I'm not well rested and I, I feel a little high even though I've taken no substances. So just seconds ago, I was staring up at the light above us when you said, okay, Conan, do the intro. And I was going this, doing this with my mouth.

• 2:47Speaker 01

  It's good you're doing it again.

• 2:48Conan O'Brien?

  Doing a bit. I wasn't trying to be funny. I was just looking up at the light and making that noise. And then I looked down and you were all staring at me as if I were some sort of sideshow freak.

• 2:58Speaker 01

  Are you, are you okay?

• 2:59Speaker 06

  Are you okay?

• 3:00Conan O'Brien?

  I'm not. I'm not. I don't think I'm okay.

• 3:01Speaker 01

  Are you really tired? Are you tired?

• 3:03Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah, a little bit, but you never tell the audience you're tired. You've always want people thinking.

• 3:07Speaker 06

  You just prefaced it that you were tired.

• 3:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, you said you were tired because you said you did something yesterday and you slept late. So like you did that. There is no audience.

• 3:16Conan O'Brien?

  I just did what Peter Sellers does as Clouseau and it's one of my favorite things, but I wasn't doing it on purpose. He walks into an interrogation room and he says, you know, because there's been a kidnapping and he says, I'm here, you know, to just to investigate the murder. And someone goes murder? And he says, who said murder? And they said, you said murder. And he said, I don't say murder. And I've always loved that. It's such a funny thing. And I just did it for real. Uh, I don't know what's going on with me. I'm a little scrambled today, but that could be fun. Maybe that's going to loosen, uh, my brain a little bit, um, and various creative juices will flow. Who can say?

• 3:52Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 3:53Speaker 06

  I'm worried about you.

• 3:54Conan O'Brien?

  Are you really?

• 3:54Speaker 06

  Yeah. Well, also you're wearing this very cozy flannel. It almost looks like you're in PJs and that you've kind of just woken up and, you know, or you're ready for bed and that we should tuck you in or something.

• 4:03Conan O'Brien?

  I don't wear flannel a lot.

• 4:04Speaker 06

  I like it.

• 4:04Conan O'Brien?

  That is true.

• 4:05Speaker 06

  It's nice.

• 4:05Conan O'Brien?

  I should wear flannel a little more often.

• 4:07Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 4:07Conan O'Brien?

  Uh, we're in the winter months now, which in LA means it's not 72, it's 71 degrees.

• 4:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:13Conan O'Brien?

  So sometimes flannel is necessary. I do. I mean, come on. That's something I want to talk about. I want to see my breath at night.

• 4:20Speaker 01

  No.

• 4:21Conan O'Brien?

  I want it to be cold.

• 4:22Speaker 06

  I agree.

• 4:22Conan O'Brien?

  You never go with me on this, but I like to wear layers. And I was just on the East Coast recently, doing some work there and I was wearing these sweaters and I was, I was dressed. Like an adult, I was wearing a pea coat. And I was walking around in it and I had sweaters and I would sometimes wear an overcoat. And I'd look like a gentleman. And then I'd come back to LA and it's time to put on my who farted T-shirt. Look, do I think this is a great opening segment? No, I don't. I think we've lost our way. It started with.

• 4:53Speaker 01

  It's not our best.

• 4:54Conan O'Brien?

  It started with me staring at a light going.

• 4:57Speaker 06

  We started at a deficit.

• 4:59Conan O'Brien?

  You know, and, and, um, yeah, exactly. Which we inherited from the Biden administration. But to be fair.

• 5:09Conan O'Brien?

  You can't blame me, even though it's a year into my podcast administration. This is what I inherited. When I started this venture five years ago. Are you okay? What are you doing? You're doing. Now you're touching the sides of the mic and saying beep bo beep bo. Okay, I see. Okay, you think that because I set such a low bar, that now you're free to just completely go.

• 5:31Speaker 01

  Can we just do? Yeah, yeah, oh, he's using his.

• 5:34Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, the old shaving bed.

• 5:35Speaker 01

  As a shaver.

• 5:36Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 5:37Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 5:37Speaker 01

  That's cool.

• 5:38Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, no, I think we're showing such disrespect for the people who.

• 5:41Speaker 01

  Am I distorted through this glass?

• 5:44Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, you are. Yeah, it looks like a Dali sketch. Yeah.

• 5:47Speaker 01

  Look at us. We're bringing, we're bringing our A game today.

• 5:50Conan O'Brien?

  Well, I respect our audience. They pay a lot to listen to this podcast. Do they pay a lot? No, they don't pay anything. Okay. Well then, what are we worried about?

• 6:01Conan O'Brien?

  You get what you pay for, listeners. You got exactly what you pay for. No, we're using, they have precious life. Once, once again, I ran into someone on the street today here in Larchmont who said that they were just listening to the podcast. We are borrowing chunks of people's life that they will never get back.

• 6:19Speaker 06

  Also, I think this might be the last episode of the year, so it's, it's okay if our tanks are a little empty.

• 6:24Conan O'Brien?

  No, it's not. We have to, now you've put a whole new level of pressure on it.

• 6:28Speaker 01

  Go out with a bang.

• 6:29Speaker 06

  Don't blame me. You started this episode making dripping noises.

• 6:32Conan O'Brien?

  I wasn't, clearly wasn't ready and you, as the maestro behind this whole operation, should have said, he's not ready, let's wait. Or maybe we could have had a huddle or maybe you could have asked me, are you okay off mic? You said, "Are you okay on mic?" Who does that? What kind of doctor are you? I thought it made good content.

• 6:48Speaker 05

  So for some people, this is the last episode of the year. For others, it's the first episode.

• 6:52Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, no! We can't start this way?

• 6:54Speaker 01

  Oh, god. No, can we do it better?

• 6:56Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, we can do better. Let's start again.

• 6:58Speaker 01

  Say something funny.

• 6:59Conan O'Brien?

  Well, can I just say, I don't think of the, uh, the, the New Year's as the new year. I think of fall as the beginning of the year. And I think this is the midpoint of the year. That's because you're still a child.

• 7:08Speaker 01

  That's not right.

• 7:09Conan O'Brien?

  Who gets a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and puts on your short pants and goes off to school. That could be a P J's good, though. P J's good, though. Let's start again, because I think we can do better.

• 7:17Speaker 01

  I, yeah.

• 7:18Conan O'Brien?

  Are we starting again for real, like we're ditching this? I don't even know what's real and what's not anymore. Oh, my god. This is just a weird... I could count on... We're in some sort of weird Bermuda Triangle.

• 7:28Speaker 01

  It could be because we were off for so long, we're having trouble finding our footing.

• 7:32Conan O'Brien?

  That could be it. But that wasn't the case yesterday. We were, we were hidden.

• 7:36Speaker 01

  Were we hidden?

• 7:37Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 7:37Speaker 01

  We were like, okay. At least I felt okay.

• 7:40Conan O'Brien?

  I thought it was yesterday. It was pretty good. We were hidden.

• 7:42Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 7:42Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yesterday was actually very good.

• 7:44Speaker 01

  Was it?

• 7:44Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 7:45Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 7:45Conan O'Brien?

  Since when do you have standards? What are you doing?

• 7:46Speaker 01

  I don't have standards. That's the problem, is even I think this is bad, and my standards are really low.

• 7:52Conan O'Brien?

  I think, uh, right now, and this, maybe this is... Yes, you do think. This is a good thing for people to hear, that their heroes struggle as well. I think only twice, twice have we ever ditched a take on something. We almost always keep things. Yeah. Yeah. No, you don't want to mention it?

• 8:11Speaker 01

  I don't, I don't know, whatever.

• 8:13Conan O'Brien?

  What, what's this now? What are you saying? Now, I'm taking it. What are you doing?

• 8:17Speaker 01

  What are you doing?

• 8:19Conan O'Brien?

  I was getting, I was pulling this whole thing to... This is awful. I woke up from my, from my primordial slumber and started to pull it back together again. And then you mutter and reference something and look at you, and you make noises with your mouth, but no words.

• 8:32Speaker 01

  I know.

• 8:33Conan O'Brien?

  Blaming us for this.

• 8:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, you're the one who started it. It trickles down.

• 8:37Conan O'Brien?

  I'm back, and I'm better than ever. Okay. Hey, welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, uh, the podcast that, uh, delivers every single time with never a false start. Never a missed opportunity. Sona Movsesian has joined me.

• 8:52Speaker 01

  Yes, hi. Hi, I'm here.

• 8:53Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, you are here.

• 8:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:55Conan O'Brien?

  And, and, and Matt Gourley, how are you? I'm, I'm well, thank you. You look fantastic. Hey, so do you, thank you. I'm doing the best I can. I'm wearing a flannel shirt today.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:03Conan O'Brien?

  It's cozy, it's very nice. Bought it just down the street. I'd say the name of the store, but maybe that's cheating, I don't know. Give them a free plug, Farady. They make a really good sweater.

• 9:11Speaker 01

  Oh, I like their stuff.

• 9:12Conan O'Brien?

  They have very good stuff, and I'm a regular customer. But that's not the point. I'm here to talk about what I think is the topic on everyone's lips right now, which is the holidays.

• 9:22Speaker 01

  Hey.

• 9:22Conan O'Brien?

  Because this is gonna air when, Adam? January 5th, for most people. Yeah, that's still the holidays.

• 9:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:27Conan O'Brien?

  Or is it? This is so confusing. It's not the holidays.

• 9:31Speaker 01

  It's okay.

• 9:31Conan O'Brien?

  Can we go back to the inept one?

• 9:33Speaker 01

  No, no, no.

• 9:36Conan O'Brien?

  You said rap? Yeah. Oh my god, I thought I had saved it, and then I said, "Let's talk about the holidays", forgetting that this comes out January 5th, when everyone's in a deep depression.

• 9:48Speaker 01

  Oh, Jesus.

• 9:48Conan O'Brien?

  And just the mere mention of holidays makes you wanna eat a gun.

• 9:53Speaker 02

  My, my, my birthday's January 7th, by the way.

• 9:56Conan O'Brien?

  Trust me, every year at your birthday, I'm excusing myself to try and end it all.

• 10:02Speaker 01

  Oh my god. Hey, it's almost the year and a half anniversary of my house burning down.

• 10:07Conan O'Brien?

  Oh my god, that's right! Oh my god.

• 10:10Speaker 01

  Let's make it worse.

• 10:11Conan O'Brien?

  And your parents, untimely passing. And my, my parents passing your anniversary? Oh my god, did you know what? We got through all of that, and then the greatest tragedy of all hit us: A very bad opening segment.

• 10:27Speaker 01

  That's worse than all of...

• 10:29Conan O'Brien?

  That was the worst than all of those things. Aw, man. And yet, we're still here.

• 10:34Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 10:34Conan O'Brien?

  And I love you, Sona, and I love you, Gourley.

• 10:37Speaker 01

  Hey, I love you too.

• 10:38Conan O'Brien?

  And together, we're gonna make this year... This is, this is a great moment.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  Let's do it.

• 10:42Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, okay. 2026, it can't get any worse. Yeah. My guest today is an actor you know from such films as Good Will Hunting, The Martian, and The Bourne Identity. Now you can see him in the new Netflix movie, The Rip. What can I say? He's a superstar.

• 10:59Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 10:59Conan O'Brien?

  He's an international megastar. He also is a lovely gentleman.

• 11:08Conan O'Brien?

  Matt Damon, welcome.

• 11:13Conan O'Brien?

  Thank you so much for being here, and we have a lot to talk about today. And I just, I wanted to start with, I think I've brought this up to you before, but not on microphone, we didn't monetize it. Those are the only conversations that are worthwhile. I want to sell some ads.

• 11:30Speaker 06

  Are you gonna talk about the new Buick? What is this?

• 11:33Conan O'Brien?

  Matt and I are very excited about the new Buick.

• 11:37Conan O'Brien?

  No, my brother took me to a bar years ago, and this was short, this isn't too long, it might have been a year or two after. Good Will Hunting. It's Good Will Hunting, or, you know, maybe early Born, it was, it was. No, it was before that. It was before Born. It was late, it was in the 90s still. Okay, it was in the 90s. Yeah. And I'm in town, we're both. Wasn't it like Christmas night or something? It was Christmas night, and my brother said, "Hey, we could hang out with our," is my brother Luke, "we could hang out with our parents, or we could blow this place and go." All they did was, you know, create us, "we could go to this really cool, cool bar I know called The B-Side, and The B-Side Lounge." And I said, "Yeah, yeah, you know, screw the elderly."

• 12:19Conan O'Brien?

  And so, we get, we go over there, and I walk into this very cool establishment, and, just like a really cool place to hang bar, and you're sitting there, and. Because Ben and I had had the exact same conversation. Get the fuck out of here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. You guys were escaping, and so I just see you sitting at the, sitting there, and I go over, and you couldn't have been nicer, we're chatting, I think we had briefly met before, but not really like talked, and within minutes, you and I are talking about Flannery O'Connor. That's what I remember, and I remember thinking, I don't know that there are many movie stars that would start talking to me about Flannery O'Connor, you know what I mean?

• 13:03Conan O'Brien?

  I thought it was very, I was like, this guy is. There are a lot of people who read books, though. No, there aren't, there aren't. I test a lot of movie stars, most of them can't read. Can't read at all. Yeah, yeah, Tom Hanks cannot read.

• 13:18Speaker 06

  He can type, but he can't read.

• 13:19Conan O'Brien?

  He can type, but it's just, it's like a monkey at a typewriter, yeah. And also, I mean, so many huge stars can't, you know, Liam Neeson can't tell time.

• 13:30Conan O'Brien?

  And I'll ask him, hey Liam, what time is it? And he shows me his watch and says, what do you think? Unbelievable.

• 13:36Speaker 05

  But you're scared to answer because of the way he says it.

• 13:40Conan O'Brien?

  You have a certain set of skills, but not telling time.

• 13:43Speaker 05

  You don't have all the skills.

• 13:44Conan O'Brien?

  You're lacking.

• 13:45Speaker 05

  By the way, Ben and I were extras in a movie called The Good Mother that Liam Neeson was was the star of in the in the 80s. And we were still in high school and and I think it still exists in the movie. They were shooting in Harvard Square and we went and we were extras and we walked by Liam Neeson. A very, like an adolescent or teenage, you know, Ben and Matt walked by a very young Liam.

• 14:08Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 14:09Speaker 05

  That was that was as close as I ever got to him, but yeah, I'm a big fan.

• 14:13Conan O'Brien?

  What you just said reminds me that you guys, you know, were good friends long before you became famous and you were working together and kind of on a mission to make it in this business. And you had a, I've read before that you had a bank account together.

• 14:28Speaker 05

  A Baybanks account.

• 14:29Conan O'Brien?

  Remember Baybanks? Of course I do.

• 14:31Speaker 05

  So we had a Baybank, a shared Baybanks account that we would put money in that we had made professionally. So if we got any part, like that extra work, for instance, you get, you know, 50 bucks or 100 bucks, depending if it was a union job, you get 100. And that money would go into the, our shared account. And that account we could only use for auditions in New York where, you know, we take the bus or or back there they had the Pan Am shuttle or whatever, the train. Get down to New York, you know, walk in, you know, which, you know, took however long, five hours to get down there. You know, you you walk into the place somewhere in Midtown and, you know, in three minutes they're like, okay, thanks. Which we we used to call it getting okay, thanksed because you go there and beat your chest and pull your hair out and sob. And they go, okay, thanks. And you and you're done. And then you go all the way back to Boston.

• 15:17Speaker 05

  But but we had this account, we could use the money for that. Or we could use the money for video games at 1001, which was the arcade on Mass Ave.

• 15:25Conan O'Brien?

  Yep, yep.

• 15:26Speaker 05

  Or, you know, when we got older, if we could find anyone to buy us beer.

• 15:31Speaker 05

  So those were the three uses for the account.

• 15:33Conan O'Brien?

  You were a very responsible young man.

• 15:35Speaker 05

  But the, you know, talk about like intentionality, the account, the code to the account was River P. Because River Phoenix was an actor that we really admired. He was our age and he was getting the kind of parts that we wanted to play.

• 15:48Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 15:48Speaker 05

  And so that was our secret code to get into our shared bank account.

• 15:51Conan O'Brien?

  Cool. Uh, it's interesting. I don't know about you, but I think about a lot and I have wistfully about early experiences. Before anybody knows who I am, you know, I'm, I'm headed to something to audition and someone says, well, you should have makeup. Cause it might be a camera test. And so I went to a drugstore and purchased makeup at a counter. And the woman said, well, what is it you're trying to do? And I said, they said I need makeup. And then sitting in my, this is out here in LA, sitting in my 1977 beat up Isuzu Opal. And putting it on myself with a rear view mirror and then going in and being terrible.

• 16:30Speaker 05

  But she told you lipstick and blush?

• 16:32Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 16:34Speaker 05

  Yeah, they were like, that Kabuki guy was awful.

• 16:38Speaker 05

  Did you see Divine?

• 16:41Speaker 05

  He looked like Marlon Brando in the Island of Doctor Moreau.

• 16:45Speaker 05

  What is up with that kid?

• 16:50Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 16:52Conan O'Brien?

  It was a taco commercial. Why, why was he doing?

• 16:55Speaker 05

  Why was he?

• 16:57Conan O'Brien?

  But I think about those things all the time and I kind of, it's funny, I have an affection for that whippersnapper. And, and I don't know if you, I mean, you and, and Ben must have so many memories of being an extra. And they're telling you, um, chew more slowly or whatever. You're, you have no lines.

• 17:15Speaker 05

  Get the fuck away from the craft service.

• 17:17Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, get away.

• 17:18Speaker 05

  You know, that's not, that's not extras, you know, it's like, it's, it's, it's, it's, you know, can be demeaning work. Um, but we were interested in it and we loved being on sets and it was like, we were thrilled to be there and, um, and, and yeah, I mean, it was a lot of, I mean, you know, the, the, starting out in the business is, I think it's, I think, you know, my nephew's an actor. That it's different now in the sense that they, they're, they're allowed to put themselves on tape now. You know, it was a different auditioning was like, you had to go, show up at the appointed time. You walked into the room and you had one shot at it and, and that was it. And, and now, you know, the younger actors are allowed to kind of. Or all actors allowed to video themselves and work on it.

• 17:56Conan O'Brien?

  And they can curate it.

• 17:57Speaker 05

  Get it just right. Get it to and say, this is the best representation of me for this part, which is a very different thing. And, you know, there's a lot of humiliation in the starting out, as you know, like those, those.

• 18:09Conan O'Brien?

  I find I'm continually humiliated now.

• 18:11Speaker 05

  Well, there's a lot of humiliation in general. It's a very, hey, it's a very vulnerable thing to do. You know.

• 18:16Conan O'Brien?

  I discovered early I was being humiliated and then I kind of liked it. And then I turned it into a career.

• 18:20Speaker 05

  Yeah. When I did The Rainmaker with Coppola like 30 years ago, he did this amazing thing every morning. You know, when a new actor would come, he would, he would go down to the base camp where, where everybody gets ready in the morning. And in the parking lot, like right in the, you know, where all the kind of trailers are, he would gather all of the actors and he would play theater games. Right?

• 18:40Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 18:40Speaker 05

  Like Soundball, for instance, and Soundball is this game you play in kind of acting school where, where I throw a ball to you and I have to make a noise. Like bloop or whatever. And when you, and it's an invisible ball, obviously. It's not a real ball. It's, it's, it's that.

• 18:54Conan O'Brien?

  A space ball.

• 18:54Speaker 05

  It's a, it's an air ball and you catch it and you have to make my sound bloop. And then you have to make a new sound bleep and you throw it to someone else. And it is the dumbest thing in the world, but Francis would do this with all the, I'm talking like Mickey Rourke. I'm talking about hardcore, like very serious people.

• 19:11Conan O'Brien?

  I'm picturing the cast of The Godfather now.

• 19:13Speaker 05

  No, it was, it was.

• 19:14Conan O'Brien?

  James Conan.

• 19:15Speaker 05

  It was, I know, I know, but it was John Voight. It was like these wonderful actors, right? And, and, and the idea, and Francis would do it and he would start and he was this, you know, iconic.

• 19:26Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, of course.

• 19:26Speaker 05

  You know, we, The Godfathers, then Apocalypse Now, I mean, you know, the conversation, on and on and on. All of these brilliant movies. And the whole point was to kind of level set everybody at this is a place where you can be completely foolish and vulnerable.

• 19:39Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 19:40Speaker 05

  And I'm going to do it too. Right? And, and because that's a part of it. It's like, you really got to put yourself out there if you're doing it right. Um, and, and so there are the requisite amount of humiliations that come along that accompany that even as you get successful like, like, you know, if you're doing a tough scene, you might have to break a lot of eggs to get the omelet, you know what I mean?

• 19:59Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 20:00Speaker 05

  And, and you have to do that in front of everybody.

• 20:03Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. I, uh, I'm thinking about the list of people, directors that you've worked with, and it's an insane, it's Coppola, Scorsese, um, help me out here.

• 20:13Speaker 05

  There's a lot, there's, uh,

• 20:15Conan O'Brien?

  Eastwood, Eastwood, Spielberg.

• 20:17Speaker 05

  Uh, Chris Nolan.

• 20:18Conan O'Brien?

  And you know, the one I'm most interested in kind of is, I mean, they're all iconic directors and, and amazing, but I don't have a sense of what Eastwood would be like as a director. I've always heard it was like one take or he's, he's quick.

• 20:33Speaker 05

  Yeah. The very first day, so I, the first time, I worked with him twice and the first time was, um, Invictus. So I was playing a South African rugby player.

• 20:42Conan O'Brien?

  Yep.

• 20:42Speaker 05

  And that's a really tough accent to do. So I spent six months, there's this great dialect coach named Tim Monik, very famous in our world, um, and he's wonderful and I've known him for a very long time. And Tim would come, I was living in Miami at the time and he would come and I had a little office over the garage and he would come in from nine to five, Monday through Friday, we would work on this accent because South Africans speak English, it's like their tongue does the exact opposite thing that ours, like if I say, I'll be right back. If you say it and you think about what your tongue's doing, they say, obi dok bick.

• 21:14Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, yeah.

• 21:15Speaker 05

  And you go, what the fuck just happened in my mouth, right? So it was very hard to do.

• 21:18Conan O'Brien?

  This is why you're an actor and I am not.

• 21:19Speaker 05

  But we took like, you know, it was a long, it was a lot of work and, and, and, and fun and, and great. And, and I showed up and, and I'm, I'm ready. It's like my chance to work with, you know, one of my heroes. And the very first take, um, you know, I, I did it and meanwhile, I've done this so many thousands of times, I have, you know, a number of different ways that I'm thinking of maybe doing the scene. So he goes, cut, print, move on.

• 21:46Speaker 05

  And I go, I go, hang on, hang on, hang on. Uh, boss, you know, I, uh, you wanna, you know, I wanna do another one. I wasn't even in costume. That was like, that was the first one, like you wanna do it. And he goes, why? You wanna waste everybody's time?

• 22:01Speaker 06

  Oh, my God.

• 22:03Speaker 05

  And I went, no, I guess we're moving on. And, and it was one take.

• 22:06Conan O'Brien?

  He was holding a gun.

• 22:08Speaker 05

  No, no, but, but, but there was a kindness in it too.

• 22:11Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, I, I get that.

• 22:12Speaker 05

  He wasn't, he wasn't, he was a lovely guy. And, and what was really interesting is the second movie I did with him. There was this, the kind of, it, it builds to a head with this, uh, a scene with me and this nine year old kid. And the nine year old kid was a non actor. And, and we had done one take for everybody all through Invictus, Morgan Freeman, you know, all, everybody gets one take. We must have done forty takes with this little boy because, because he, we were trying to get this, it was this kind of huge moment in the film and, and we were trying to get this stuff out of him. And Clint was right next to me in, you know, like we were right next to the camera together, just, just working with this boy. And so it was like his, and his whole mentality was you, your crew will, will, will go to the ends of the earth for you.

• 22:56Speaker 05

  If, as long as you're not taxing them on every shot.

• 22:59Speaker 06

  Right.

• 22:59Speaker 05

  Right? When, when we need to get in there, we get in there. Um, but you know, for the most part, we can, you know, professional actors are gonna show up with something good. And we, we keep the, keep the momentum.

• 23:16Conan O'Brien?

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

• 23:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, I love awards.

• 23:19Conan 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.

• 23:33Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 23:33Conan 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.

• 23:42Speaker 01

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

• 23:46Conan O'Brien?

  I've been tooling around in a Ioniq five N, which I love.

• 23:50Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 23:51Conan O'Brien?

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

• 24:06Speaker 01

  Hello.

• 24:06Conan 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. Coca-Cola Zero Sugar is so good, it's almost impossible not to finish it before the meal arrives. It's just too good to wait. That happens to me sometimes. Me, too.

• 24:50Conan O'Brien?

  You can try rules like no sipping until the appetizer arrives, or you tell your friend, "Don't let me touch my glass," but every time you're staring at an empty glass. So if you've ever finished your Coke Zero before the first fry hits the table, you're among friends. It happens. Occupational hazard with Coke Zero. Real Coca-Cola taste, zero sugar, too good to wait. Enjoy an ice-cold Coca-Cola Zero Sugar today.

• 25:18Conan O'Brien?

  So, you have to admit, the holidays, it's really about hanging with the people you love. Yeah. 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. Yeah. 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? Because it's family. But what about a niece or a nephew? Yeah.

• 25:50Conan 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. Yeah. 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.

• 26:24Speaker 01

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

• 26:26Conan 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.

• 26:49Conan O'Brien?

  I had a chat with Clint Eastwood once briefly and I told him how much Unforgiven meant to me. It's an American movie that was a huge hit, box office hit. And it's a very European film. And he just sort of asked me, what do you mean? And I said, um, because it's, everyone's trying to do the right thing and making it worse, which is very much life. And that is not a, a, a kind of classic American movie formula. That movie is magical to me. And, uh, and he hit me. Now he's a-

• 27:20Speaker 05

  Want to hear a good Unforgiven story?

• 27:21Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 27:22Speaker 05

  That you can cut out if it's too boring for people, but I, I thought it was really interesting. There was a scene in Invictus, I think I had to give a speech or something to the, to the, uh, guys in the locker room or something like that. And we were shooting it the following Tuesday or whatever. And I, and I said to him, hey, boss, you know, that scene on Tuesday, do you mind if I tinker with the dialogue? I've been working on it, but I, I think I, I can figure out a kind of a better way to say it. And, and he goes, yeah, sure, go ahead. And so I came back and on Tuesday we shot the scene and we did one take and, and he printed it and moved on.

• 27:53Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 27:54Speaker 05

  But he came up to me and said, I- I thought you were gonna change it and I said, yeah, it's a funny story. I go, I wrote it and I rewrote it all weekend. I wrote probably 27 drafts and then I got it perfect. And I looked back and it was exactly the same as it was. And he laughed and he goes, yeah. He goes, you know, that happened to me once. And I go, really? He goes, I had a script and I loved it and I, you know, I had it. And I goes, I worked for five years on this thing. And he goes, it wasn't getting better and I couldn't figure it out. And he goes, and then I went back and to the original script that I had, I pulled it out of the drawer and I read it. And I called the writer that day and said, I'm making your script exactly as you wrote it. And I said, no way. What movie? And he said, Unforgiven.

• 28:34Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, wow. Yeah. Well, it is, it's all there on the page. I mean, I've looked at the script. It's all there on the page and.

• 28:40Speaker 05

  But it's, but it's sometimes we get in that headspace where we go, I bet I could, you know, it would be, you know what I mean?

• 28:46Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, of course.

• 28:47Speaker 05

  But it was a great lesson in kind of returning to what attracted you to it in the first place. Right? Like the elemental aspect, the thing that really pulled you in, like, you know, is the reason you're doing it. And so too much tinkering, you can, you can kind of get away from that.

• 29:02Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, you can. Yeah. It's, uh, this is really stupid, but you're saying very well spoken, intelligent things I'm gonna come in with. But for years on the Late Night Talk Show, people would have a good idea and then they'd bring it down to the floor and it would be different from what they told me. And they would say, yeah, I started thinking about it. And I would always say, when you overthink, you start to stink.

• 29:26Speaker 05

  And actually, that's great. That's, you know, it's kind of a Dr. Seuss. No, it's not, Matt. It's not great.

• 29:33Conan O'Brien?

  But couldn't I have? I would do it in that, in like, I have a really smart thing to say, but I intentionally, I think, said it in the stupidest way possible. But then it became a thing that the writers would chant sometimes.

• 29:46Speaker 05

  They would chant it.

• 29:47Conan O'Brien?

  No, I made that up. Imagine Clint Eastwood saying that.

• 29:52Conan O'Brien?

  That's actually great.

• 29:55Speaker 05

  It'd be nice to see.

• 29:57Conan O'Brien?

  I think about one of your movies a lot. It's more than one movie. It's a series, but Born Identity, because I do a lot of international travel for work and I'm constantly going through airports now, where you don't even have to show.

• 30:10Speaker 05

  Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

• 30:11Conan O'Brien?

  Listen.

• 30:12Speaker 01

  You're comparing yourself to Jason Bourne.

• 30:14Conan O'Brien?

  I get it a lot. People in airports internationally say you're very Jason Bourne-esque. And then they see me run and they go, "Forget what I just said." And then they put on their glasses and look at my face and go, "Really? Forget it." No, what I've noticed is that I'll go through airports now and you don't even have to show your passport. It's all your eye scan and I think Jason Bourne is fucked now. Because a big thing with you, with your character was a major fight, throwdown, shootout in the streets of Paris and then instantly you're in Cairo and everyone's looking for you.

• 30:49Speaker 05

  He's a ghost, yeah.

• 30:49Conan O'Brien?

  He's a ghost and you reappeared in Cairo and I'm thinking now it's just, eh eh. You know, your iris.

• 30:55Speaker 05

  Yeah, it was kind of a couple of years ago that that started where I came back from somewhere and I had the global entry, you know, and that was already pretty easy. You go to the kiosk and you put your passport in and it reads it and takes a picture and goes, "Yeah, that's you." Now it's like you don't even need to pull your passport out. It's, um, it is. And so, yeah, he would be totally screwed. Like, the whole point was he had, you know, six passports and they all had different identities and he could speak all those languages and he could just become one of those guys.

• 31:22Speaker 06

  Now his safety deposit box has six eyes.

• 31:26Speaker 05

  Yeah, exactly.

• 31:27Conan O'Brien?

  Eyeballs you put on, contact lenses. No, I was, uh, and also I remembered, I was talking to, I think we were interviewing Emily Blunt once and she was talking to us about a movie you guys made together where she had to run in one scene.

• 31:39Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 31:40Conan O'Brien?

  And you said, it was her first scene where she had to run and that you called, you, you very kindly said, "Emily, um, just take a look. Uh, look at yourself running and here's how you want to, because you think you're running well, but there's a way, when you think you're running well on camera, but then you look back at it, it can be tragically wrong."

• 32:01Speaker 05

  You know, you know who told me that?

• 32:02Conan O'Brien?

  No.

• 32:03Speaker 05

  Was Franca Patente, who was my co-star in Born, had starred in this great, uh, German movie called Run Lola Run.

• 32:09Conan O'Brien?

  Mm-hmm.

• 32:09Speaker 05

  And she runs in that movie through the whole movie. She's Lola.

• 32:15Speaker 05

  And she's so badass for the whole movie. She's in these Doc Martens and she's, it's just an awesome movie. And we were on set of Born and I had to do a running scene and she said, Thomas, the guy who directed Run Laila Run, she, they, they had been a couple for a while. And she said, Thomas told me before I started doing it to go out and, and he videotaped me running and we looked at it because she said, you don't, you know, the only running that we see, you know, is, you know, we see Usain Bolt. We see, you know, the people who can really run and we go, that's, I must look like that. Right? When you start to run, you're, you're, like, you just look ridiculous.

• 32:54Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, yes.

• 32:54Speaker 05

  And I thought I ran great. And then I looked and I was like, oh my God.

• 33:01Conan O'Brien?

  It's Jerry Lewis.

• 33:03Speaker 05

  It really is, like every, like the ball, everything. And so you start to practice like, you know, high knees and by, you know.

• 33:10Conan O'Brien?

  High knees and keep the arms in the opposite, yeah.

• 33:13Speaker 05

  And it really, uh, and so I, I did say that to Emily, I'm sure because it, because it really helped me.

• 33:17Conan O'Brien?

  No, she said you saved her. It was great. Then did she, uh, she, but it's one of those things that, um, you know, I just, all of us in our mind, if I'm running hard, which I don't do much anymore, but if for some reason I had to run quickly, in my mind, I'm, I'm, I'm Matt Damon or I'm Tom Cruise. But I know I really am, you know, one of the big balloons that they have in front of a, a used car lot. It's flopping around and I shriek too as I run, which isn't helping.

• 33:49Speaker 05

  Cruise figured it out early. I remember there's that great scene in Born on the Fourth of July where he runs through the rain back, you know, before he goes off to war and like.

• 33:56Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 33:57Speaker 05

  He must've figured it out in like the eighties. He was ahead of everybody.

• 34:00Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah. He probably has a, yeah, scientific formula, aerodynamic flow chart.

• 34:05Speaker 05

  He runs perfectly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 34:09Conan O'Brien?

  I I wanted to talk to you because about this current movie, The Rip, which is fascinating to me. First of all, I knew nothing about the movie when I watched it. I watched it last night. And one of the things that I didn't realize is that, oh, you're in this with, I knew nothing, which is not the way you usually experience a movie these days. But someone arranged, oh, Conan can watch the movie. If you log into this, you can watch it. So I knew absolutely nothing. I knew you were in it and that's it. And it's a movie that you have made with Ben. You and Ben are in it together. And that was a surprise to me. And I thought, this is interesting. This is such a loaded situation for you guys now, because in a very nice way, in a complimentary

• 34:52Conan O'Brien?

  way, it's it's this dynamic duo getting back together. But I don't know if you feel the weight of that at all, and you guys work together.

• 34:59Speaker 05

  We did the movie Air together a few years ago, that Ben directed, and he's also, he's, we're both in it together. You know, and we started this little studio together a few years ago. And one of the, one of the reasons that we started it, like, I was watching that Beatles documentary, the Peter Jackson one.

• 35:16Conan O'Brien?

  Get Back.

• 35:17Speaker 05

  Get Back. At the end of that documentary, there's this incredible scene when they, when they play on the roof, right, together. And it's just, it's pure joy. You see them, you know, the cops show up and McCartney turns around, he's like, what the fuck, you know, and they're, and it's like, the most joyful thing. They're all in their twenties. And then Peter Jackson put this chyron up, and it said, this is the last time the Beatles played live together.

• 35:39Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 35:40Speaker 05

  And I was watching it, my, my youngest was, I think, 11 at the time. And she just goes, Dad, why are you crying? And tears were just pouring down my face, because it was like, what, it made me so sad that these guys who were just, you know, this was it, that, that, they, they didn't, they couldn't get past whatever it was that wouldn't allow them to kind of keep doing it together. And, and, and I called Ben, and I was like, man, because I think, you know, this was our dream, and our lives from the time we were teenagers, and, and, and it was something we did together. And, and we wanted to do movies together. And we, we, we wrote Good Will Hunting together, and, and starred in it together. And, you

• 36:21Speaker 05

  know, all of that. And I think after that, I think we, we were like, oh, well, we should try to, you know, make names for ourselves individually.

• 36:30Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 36:30Speaker 05

  So I think we were a little allergic to working together for a while. I mean, we were still very connected and, and. Uh, you know, saw each other all the time.

• 36:39Conan O'Brien?

  But after a success of that magnitude, you don't want to get locked in.

• 36:43Speaker 05

  Exactly.

• 36:44Conan O'Brien?

  Great, we'll do the movie. Is Ben in? Or, okay, Ben, but where's Matt? You don't want to get locked into that.

• 36:49Speaker 05

  Exactly. And we had done, you know, Kevin Smith's movie Dogma together right after that. So we were kind of like, all right, we should chill. And then suddenly a couple of decades went by and it was like, now we're in our 50s. We're starting this company and it's kind of like, I don't, I don't care. It doesn't have to be a thing. It doesn't have to be a stop the presses there together. It's like, we just like working together.

• 37:08Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. And also what's evident in the movie is you guys have a connection. When, when you have scenes together, there's a connection that you can't manufacture. It's very clear that you two really love, I don't know, you, you're on the same wavelength. You're on the same, you're clicked in and you're two characters in this, uh, in this movie. There's a lot of tension between you. There are times where you just want to kill each other. And then as you go on, many things are revealed and you understand what their true dynamic is. But I don't know, it's just, it was something you can't, you couldn't have figured that out with an acting coach. If you didn't know each other, I don't think.

• 37:46Speaker 05

  It helps to have that kind of, you know, we also did, by the way, The Last Duel, another movie that we wrote with, you know. So we were trying, we, you know, we're, um, but yeah, no, I think that, that connection definitely, uh, uh, obviously it kind of loads every scene in a different way.

• 38:01Conan O'Brien?

  I think here's the thing that happens. I know in my twenties, thirties, forty, I was very intense all the time. Thinking about every move and as I've gotten older, I am much more interested in being with people that I really like. That I love, making things with them and enjoying myself because I, and it comes a little bit from a place of, oh, who cares? You know, I mean, um, I, I just want to do this. I don't want to overthink it.

• 38:30Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 38:31Conan O'Brien?

  I just want to be with.

• 38:32Speaker 05

  I think you see that you start to see the, you know, you're, you're in the second half, right?

• 38:36Conan O'Brien?

  And you. I had planned to live to 150.

• 38:38Speaker 05

  I hope you do. I hope we both do. So we're still in.

• 38:43Conan O'Brien?

  I really don't want to live to 150.

• 38:45Speaker 05

  Well, if you could stay healthy, I don't know. Might be, might be great.

• 38:48Conan O'Brien?

  I'll be in constant pain.

• 38:50Speaker 05

  But, um, but yeah, you, that, that's literally the, you know, we, the whole point of this company is to, you know, work with great people that we really want to be with and, you know.

• 38:59Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 39:00Speaker 05

  And every movie that we make through our studio is, you know, even if Ben and I aren't in it, or he's directing and I'm not in it, or he, you know.

• 39:06Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 39:06Speaker 05

  You know, we're, we're, we're connected around the work when, and trying to facilitate whoever's coming in and, and, and kind of.

• 39:13Conan O'Brien?

  Do you guys give each other shit on set? Or in a professional environment, uh, do you give each other a teasing, like brotherly kind of relationship?

• 39:22Speaker 05

  Sure, sometimes.

• 39:23Conan O'Brien?

  Like, you want another take? Cause you might want another take, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah. That's what I would do.

• 39:27Speaker 07

  I know you would.

• 39:28Conan O'Brien?

  I would, that's what I would do.

• 39:29Speaker 07

  You would.

• 39:30Speaker 05

  Yeah, I think you're gonna want another take. But, but look, the good thing is, you know, I think it really helped with our writing, you know, 30 years ago, Jesus, 35 years ago, when it, when we started, um, you know, Ben said this great thing, which was, judge me for how good my good ideas are, not how bad my bad ideas are. And it was, it's a very profound thing for a 20 year old to say, um, because he wanted the, you know, he, he recognized that we needed the freedom to kind of barf out all those ideas, you know, and so often, as you know, when you're writing, it's not, you, you write down the bad idea because it's iterating, right? That it's like, if that can build into a good idea, right? And so, um, so he was basically giving both of us the permission to just keep, keep the

• 40:15Speaker 05

  window as wide open as we could.

• 40:17Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 40:17Speaker 05

  And, um, um, and, uh, yeah, I mean, that, uh, I forget why I started that story, but.

• 40:24Conan O'Brien?

  Um, well, it does.

• 40:26Speaker 05

  I haven't had enough coffee. This coffee is terrific, by the way.

• 40:29Conan O'Brien?

  If you want more, we can get you some. They say whenever someone writes their big, great American novel, uh, and it's a big smash and everyone thinks it's genius, they have nine other ones in their drawer that they wrote before that. And I'm a big believer in you just have to do time. To me, the process doesn't change. Like you could look at your career or. Or bends and say like, oh, you've clicked off, you guys have clicked off every single box that you would want to check. But still, when you show up, there's work to be done. And you have to be a little scared. And there are scenes where you think, I didn't get this. I gotta try it again. And time in the edit room and all of that stuff. It's if they're paying you, it's work.

• 41:11Speaker 05

  Yeah, and it's and and and we want to, we want to love everything we work on from now on, you know, it's kind of going back to your point. And and yeah, it's where it's a hugely labor intensive thing to do. No matter what, you know, I mean, it's it's if you sign up for it, that that's that means that you're you're willing to. You know, you can't phone it in.

• 41:31Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 41:31Speaker 05

  Nor nor would I want to, you know, take a job for money that I was phoning like I never did that. I never. I always thought whatever I was working on had a chance to be great.

• 41:41Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 41:41Speaker 05

  I was wrong most of the time. But but but it but I was working with the intention of it being something really wonderful.

• 41:49Conan O'Brien?

  But also, people don't, the nice thing I have found. This very smart Simpsons writer, George Meyer, told me this a long time ago. Early in my career, when things were not going well, he said, people will remember you for your good work.

• 42:02Speaker 05

  Right.

• 42:03Conan O'Brien?

  And he's absolutely right. I think about that all the time. He said, you're just laying tile individually, and it's going to make a bigger mosaic, which is what you did with your life. And he was right that the the work you made later on that didn't quite click with people. What they do is they seek out all these things you've made that are great. And then they almost rule the other ones out. So in your mind, you're saying, oh, man, so many times I've been wrong, and that's not what anyone else would say. That's just what you would say.

• 42:32Speaker 05

  Yeah, exactly. I was just, it just made me think of someone like Shohei Ohtani, where they go like, whatever his career batting average ends up being, if it's 350 or whatever, 320. People aren't going to say, well, you know, he he missed 680.

• 42:45Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 42:48Conan O'Brien?

  You know what I mean? I did go to the game and shout that at him.

• 42:52Conan O'Brien?

  Because even when the Red Sox are out of it, I still go to games and wear a Red Sox hat.

• 42:57Speaker 05

  Good for you, by the way. I do the same thing. I do do the same.

• 42:59Conan O'Brien?

  I did have an experience once where Lorne Michael, sorry, I had an experience. I do that when I think my story is really good.

• 43:08Conan O'Brien?

  No, Lorne Michaels, years ago, this is a very name-droppy story, but he, it was that iconic, it's 2004, and the Red Sox are playing the Yankees, and the Red Sox are way down. And Lorne invited me to a Yankee game, and he said, "We're gonna pick up a friend on the way," and he didn't tell me who, and I'm sitting in the front of an SUV, because he wanted me to make friend, room for the friend, and we pull up, and leaning against a street lamp is Jack Nicholson. And I'm, to this day, if I rented Jack Nicholson, I can't be cool about it, but I just was like, just chill, and he, Jack Nicholson gets in the back, and he's just like, "Jack, you know Conan?" And I'm up in front in that awkward, like, and I lean through the, just a little slit of headrest.

• 43:49Conan O'Brien?

  And I'm like, "Hiya, Jack," you know, "Hey, Conan," and then we go off to the game. And what I remember is sitting with him and Lorne at this game, and Lorne had told me beforehand, "Don't wear a Red Sox cap," because Lorne had these amazing seats. And he pretty much put all this pressure on me, so I went and I got a hat that had like the Swiss flat. No, just like a black cap. I had to get a neutral cap, because I thought, it's Lorne's seats. Jack's a big Yankee fan, if I'm wearing a Red Sox cap next to them, this is rude. It was this very hard thing to do, so I just wore a neutral cap.

• 44:20Speaker 05

  What happened to you, man?

• 44:21Conan O'Brien?

  I know, I know. I know, I know. It's Jack Nicholson, and I buckled. So, but I remembered him, Pedro Martinez was pitching, and it's a game that the Red Sox lost, just before they had this amazing comeback, and ended up winning the World Series and breaking the curse. And Jack Nicholson was taunting Pedro Martinez, and he was shouting at him, because it was getting a little later in the game, and he went, "Arms getting heavy, Pedro. Arms getting heavy." And I'm like, "Fuck, that's good. That is so good."

• 44:56Speaker 01

  What a dick.

• 44:57Conan O'Brien?

  It's Jack Nicholson.

• 44:58Speaker 01

  It's baseball.

• 44:59Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it's baseball.

• 45:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:01Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, and then I got a nice moment with him on the, when we got home and got out of the car. He, he got out, and I got out too, to just say, "It was really nice hanging with you, Jack, tonight." And he went, he's, I guess his son was a big fan of the show. I didn't think Jack knew nothing about what I was doing, but he went, uh, he was like, "Son's crazy about you, Conan." He said, I said, "Nice to meet you, James." "Nice to meet you too, Conan. Son's crazy about you. It's Conan this, Conan that, driving me fucking crazy."

• 45:34Speaker 05

  That's great.

• 45:34Conan O'Brien?

  I was so happy. I like got back in the car.

• 45:37Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 45:38Conan O'Brien?

  And I sat back with Lauren. I didn't get in the front seat this time. I'm like, I'm back here where Jack Nicholson's at. He'll forget you tomorrow.

• 45:46Conan O'Brien?

  But it is, you know, I love to time travel. I love to go back to the guy in the crappy used car that I bought for literally a couple hundred bucks at the airport from a rent-a-rack and put on counter makeup and then think about the things I get to do now or the things I've been able to do or had the good fortune to do. And I just love time traveling back and forth to visit that guy and go, isn't this crazy? I mean, if you, if you showed up to the you who's a teenager and really into acting and said, this is what's gonna happen.

• 46:21Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 46:22Conan O'Brien?

  What a delight.

• 46:22Speaker 05

  Well, and also to, to have kind of feel like you won the lottery, but your, your, your best friend won it too. You know what I mean?

• 46:29Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 46:29Speaker 05

  So for like, we've talked about that, Ben and I, you know, and also just the fact that it's, it didn't seem weird to us in the 1980s that we were 14 and 16 years old and 15 and 16 and going to New York by ourselves.

• 46:46Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 46:47Speaker 05

  You know, to audition for things like.

• 46:49Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 46:50Speaker 05

  Until we had kids, I think, that were that age. And we were like, can you fucking believe that we would just go, would you just let this kid go to San Francisco for the day by themselves?

• 47:00Conan O'Brien?

  Right.

• 47:00Speaker 05

  Just, you know, but it seemed totally normal to us. You know, we didn't have families that were in the business. You know, Boston, there's nobody in the entertainment business up there.

• 47:11Conan O'Brien?

  I'm telling you, my, I think your parents were not in the business. My parent, my dad was a, you know, microbiologist.

• 47:20Speaker 05

  Right.

• 47:21Conan O'Brien?

  And my mom's a, you know, estate lawyer. Um, and I never saw anything. There was a local show called Zoom.

• 47:29Speaker 05

  Yeah, of course.

• 47:29Conan O'Brien?

  And Zoom had kid actors in it and it was made in Boston. And at the end it'd say, you know, made at the studio in Boston. And I, I just couldn't believe someone was making something for television that was in Boston. And so those Zoom kids were like the Beatles to me. I just couldn't believe. But I didn't see anybody. I just didn't see anyone. And then, uh, Robert Urick made Spencer for Hire, which took place in Boston. That was a big deal.

• 47:56Speaker 05

  Huge deal. Yeah, we used to watch it every week. Just, you know, it was, you know, and then sometimes you'd go and you'd see trucks and you were like, oh my God, I think they're shooting here.

• 48:03Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, for hire. Well, I remember they shot an episode and they used my high school. This is long after I've left high school. I'm a writer at Saturday Night Live at this point and I'm in my early twenties and I'm at Saturday Night Live in this episode. And we were just hanging around the offices, flipping channels at night. And there was Spencer for Hire and he's, they shot it at my high school. And I became that dick who sat there. I was like, wow, that's my high school. And then Robert Urick's running through the hallways and he went, "You can't get from the science wing to the gym using the A level stairs." What are they thinking? What an idiot.

• 48:41Speaker 05

  Right.

• 48:42Conan O'Brien?

  Uh, but, you know, a huge, and I believe your mom was, was she into child psychology?

• 48:47Speaker 05

  She was a professor of early childhood education. Yeah.

• 48:50Conan O'Brien?

  I, my wife's mother, uh, who passed recently, lovely woman Pam. She had done a lot of work, I think, learning about kids and development. And, uh, also as a, as a therapist. And so when I would talk to her, sometimes I'd be reminded, oh no, I'm just telling her the problems with my day. And then I realized that she's, has this incredible intelligence and knowledge that she would apply to it. And she's, I realized, oh, she's psychoanalyzing.

• 49:19Conan O'Brien?

  Did you have that from your mom?

• 49:20Speaker 05

  Uh, no, I think in the sense that she understood the stages of development, of child development and, and gave my brother and me a, um, kind of everything we needed to, to, for our brains to develop the way they were supposed to develop.

• 49:35Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, that's good.

• 49:36Speaker 05

  In the sense that, you know, I mean, back then, her, her big bugaboo was like, screens was, was television.

• 49:41Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 49:43Speaker 05

  How much TV do you watch? What are you watching? And now it's just the, you know, completely just jumped the shark with, with screens and, and, and, you know, the ubiquity of them and what that means for kids and brain development and stuff like that. And we're basically, you know, this is, you know, a species-wide experiment at this point.

• 50:01Conan O'Brien?

  Exactly, yeah.

• 50:02Speaker 05

  Because there are these natural things that have to happen for, you know, and it's like open-ended play and things like that for kids that really just help them figure out all the strategies to kind of figure out the world.

• 50:12Conan O'Brien?

  And boredom. You need boredom.

• 50:15Speaker 05

  Boredom is, was great. I mean, remember how bored you'd be as a kid? And then you'd figure something out, you know, you'd, you'd figure out a way to entertain yourself.

• 50:21Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 50:22Speaker 05

  Or you'd go make something up, or you'd, you know.

• 50:24Conan O'Brien?

  No, I would always say to my wife, early on, we gotta leave plenty of room for them to be bored. And she said, don't you worry. Just tell more of your, when I was a kid stories.

• 50:36Conan O'Brien?

  Tell your Nicholson story again. Kids, kids, he's a big deal. But no, I mean, that, you're exactly right. It's exactly right. You have to, you have to leave room for all of that. And then, um, I, I do worry about it. I think it's a scary thing.

• 50:52Speaker 05

  Yeah, me too, me too.

• 50:53Conan O'Brien?

  When I walk through airports, and I've just thought of this when I was in Hong Kong just recently, everyone was on their screen. And sometimes people would just click, I mean, and they're not even kids anymore, it's everybody.

• 51:04Speaker 05

  And you just feel like. I see it for, with myself, like I, how quickly I, then my, I'll allow my attention to kind of get colonized by these devices, this device where I'll just sit there and disappear down a rabbit hole and watch a bunch of, and then an hour goes by and you go, well, wait a minute, like that. Like Chris Nolan's very famously doesn't have a smartphone and, and I think he said kind of publicly, it's just, he, he, he, he wants to preserve that time, that the exact time we're talking about, where he can think about things more deeply.

• 51:33Conan O'Brien?

  Let your mind wander.

• 51:34Speaker 05

  Let your mind wander, rather than just instantly give it the, you know, the dopamine hit of, of, of, you know, Candy Crush.

• 51:43Speaker 06

  That's what you're doing for an hour?

• 51:44Speaker 05

  No, no. No, I play backgammon on my phone. I'm like, "Oh, I've got a quick game of backgammon." And it's like, "How do I do it?" You know?

• 51:53Conan O'Brien?

  They should do, you should do one more Bourne movie where you're just, where you're just on your phone. Jason's on his phone the whole time, alone.

• 52:00Speaker 05

  And then cut back to the CIA and everyone's just on their phone.

• 52:04Conan O'Brien?

  And the bad guys, too. They're not looking for him, really. They're not looking for you. You're not running from them. Nothing's getting done.

• 52:11Speaker 05

  And then the tech overlords are making trillions of dollars. That's the movie, yeah.

• 52:21Conan O'Brien?

  You know, I, uh, I really enjoyed The Rip. I want to make sure I get it out there that Steven Yeun's in this. You have a great cast.

• 52:27Speaker 05

  It's a great cast. Teyana Taylor, Steven Yeun, I mean, it's, uh, Kyle Chandler's in it. Uh, there's just a wonderful group of actors.

• 52:33Conan O'Brien?

  There was one moment where, when I was watching it, and I think I heard him before I saw him, but I heard Kyle Chandler's voice, and he said something a little like, you know, "Now what are we doing here?" And I just heard the coach, you know? And I'm like, "It's coach!" You know? Uh, but again, he plays someone completely different.

• 52:48Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah.

• 52:49Conan O'Brien?

  Because you're all really good actors. Uh, Steven Yeun, I've done, he's a friend, and we've done a lot of stuff together, and, uh...

• 52:58Speaker 05

  He's a phenomenal actor.

• 52:59Conan O'Brien?

  I just adore him.

• 53:00Speaker 05

  So do I, and he, he actually just, he went from doing that to, Ben directed another movie that's gonna come out next year that Steven's in, uh, he's in that as well. He's just, we, we love him.

• 53:08Conan O'Brien?

  Also, I want to point out the, the story here is a really interesting one because, and I'm not gonna give anything away, but The Rip refers to money that I guess has been seized, uh, in, in illegal activity. And you guys, there's so much great lingo in this movie.

• 53:25Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's all real cop lingo. It's all based on, uh, you know, Joe Carnahan wrote it and directed it, and, uh, and it's, it's based on the experiences of, of, loosely based on the experience of this kind of unit down in, in Miami that, you know, they go to, uh, you know, they have, uh, units that go looking for, for drugs, and then they have units that go looking for money, for, for drug money, basically, and, and, and dogs, literally, that sniff for drugs, and dogs that sniff for cash.

• 53:50Conan O'Brien?

  That's, that I didn't know. When I saw the movie, you, you get to this one house, and the dog is sniffing, and you know that there's cash inside. And I thought, "I've never heard of that, a dog that knows there's cash..."

• 54:01Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 54:02Conan O'Brien?

  "...in there." You know, they'll soon have one that can detect Bitcoin, you know?

• 54:05Speaker 05

  Right, right.

• 54:06Conan O'Brien?

  "Rrrr, that server, rrrr!" But it was... It spoke a little bit, it just no server.

• 54:17Speaker 06

  Wait, the dog speaks and it's looking for Bitcoin? We're skipping past the fact that the dog speaks.

• 54:24Conan O'Brien?

  I think it's more impressive that it can smell.

• 54:26Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 54:27Conan O'Brien?

  You know, various, uh, various chips.

• 54:32Conan O'Brien?

  Matt's writing now, "Don't do this podcast again."

• 54:36Speaker 05

  No, no, no, I'm just on the thought experiment of this.

• 54:39Conan O'Brien?

  Both Matts are writing now. I always like it that the least impressive thing an animal does is speak. And it's more like, "How did he know which door to go in? Go in the right one." Wow, he seems to know which door to go in. He did speak, um, but one of the things the film does is you have to try and figure out who's playing what angle and, uh, you know, who's, who's right, who isn't right, who's a good person, who's a bad person, and I was calling it. I was being that wise ass. It's like, "All right, this..." and I got it wrong.

• 55:06Speaker 05

  Yeah, you don't know who's who, really. And it's these guys, they hit this house, they think there's gonna be, you know, seventy-five thousand or a hundred fifty thousand dollars in the house, and suddenly they find twenty million dollars in the wall. And they know that that means it's cartel money, which means that they're probably gonna come try to get it, they know, you know, so it suddenly becomes this kind of, they're stuck in this house because they have to count the money on site, uh, which is, which is a rule, because it's a kind of...

• 55:29Conan O'Brien?

  I didn't know that either.

• 55:30Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 55:31Conan O'Brien?

  Before they can bring it in.

• 55:32Speaker 05

  At least in Miami, that's the...

• 55:34Conan O'Brien?

  You have to count it all on the site because it's too easy for someone, if it's an amount of money like that, someone could take six hundred thousand dollars and put it in their pocket, and then that's just what the count was. So you have to count it there.

• 55:45Speaker 05

  So you have to count it together and, and make sure that everybody agrees what the count is, and then you go and you, and you deposit, you know, you drop it off and they count it, and it's gotta match the number that you report and all of that, so. So that's, but meanwhile, you have these, these cops who are, who are, you know, their captain has just been killed, um, you know, before, at the start of the movie, and so you're, you're kinda going, "Something's going on with these guys, is there corruption within this unit?"

• 56:09Conan O'Brien?

  Are these people corrupt?

• 56:10Speaker 05

  Are, yeah, are they corrupt?

• 56:11Conan O'Brien?

  Are these supposed heroes of the movie corrupt?

• 56:12Speaker 05

  Are the heroes, yeah, can we trust the heroes of the movie? Um, and you don't know, and that's kinda the fun of the movie.

• 56:18Conan O'Brien?

  And I do love the jargon. And afterwards, I was walking around the house, saying, "Someone jacked my rib." And Liza was like, "Shut up."

• 56:26Conan O'Brien?

  I enjoyed it too, but shut up. Um, well, I really enjoyed it and I think I've interviewed you a number of times over the years, but I love it when you stop by and check in because I'm a huge fan of you and your career and your work and you're a very, you're a very nice, thoughtful, funny guy. So I love to hang with you. Back at you, man. I'll come back next time. I'm not sure we have a space. Yeah, exactly. Look, I'm sorry. Hey, okay, thanks.

• 56:56Conan O'Brien?

  Well, yeah.

• 56:58Conan O'Brien?

  Do you realize? I haven't heard that in a while. Yeah. Matt, this was an audition to get on the podcast. Did you know that? Yeah, I'm at a practice. Yeah, we'll let you know. Thank you so much. You do have my contact information, right? That's how big this podcast has become is Matt has to come in and audition. But yeah, thank you so much for doing this. Thanks for having me. Yeah, appreciate it. Yeah, appreciate it, guys. Thank you.

• 57:27Conan O'Brien?

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

• 57:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, I love awards.

• 57:30Conan 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.

• 57:44Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 57:45Conan 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.

• 57:53Speaker 01

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

• 57:58Conan O'Brien?

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

• 58:17Speaker 01

  Hello.

• 58:18Conan O'Brien?

  You'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 US News Best Cars at cars.usnews.com and call 562-314-4603 for complete details.

• 58:52Conan O'Brien?

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

• 58:55Speaker 06

  Yep.

• 58:55Conan O'Brien?

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

• 59:01Speaker 06

  Ooh.

• 59:02Conan O'Brien?

  Did you know that, David?

• 59:03Speaker 06

  No, but I feel like we need it.

• 59:04Conan O'Brien?

  Why didn't you know that, David?

• 59:05Speaker 06

  I know, you expect me to know everything.

• 59:07Conan O'Brien?

  I knew this.

• 59:08Speaker 06

  Did you?

• 59:08Conan 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.

• 59:15Speaker 06

  You do, yeah.

• 59:15Conan O'Brien?

  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.

• 59:44Conan O'Brien?

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

• 59:52Speaker 01

  Me too.

• 59:53Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:00:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:11Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:00:24Speaker 06

  I was sitting around the other day and my buddy Matt Myra texted me a picture that you might be interested in. If we could throw it up on the...

• 1:00:30Conan O'Brien?

  Sure. Oh my god, what is that?

• 1:00:32Speaker 06

  This is a sign that's posted outside one of your former residences, the Cochran Avenue apartment. Did you know about this?

• 1:00:38Conan O'Brien?

  I didn't.

• 1:00:39Speaker 01

  Where is this?

• 1:00:40Speaker 06

  It's in LA, right?

• 1:00:41Speaker 01

  Oh, LA?

• 1:00:42Speaker 06

  Do you remember this apartment?

• 1:00:43Conan O'Brien?

  Of course I do, this was a formative part of my life. When I was first getting started in LA, Greg Daniels and I, our first place, he was my writing partner. He's gone on to many great things. He and I shared an apartment in Brentwood first, then... We realized we need to move out of the West Side and be with the young people because both of us were just desperate to meet anyone our age and have social lives. So we both moved into Hollywood and I found an apartment. A friend of mine, Cynthia Stevenson, actress, a very talented, incredible woman. She said, hey, Conan, I'm leaving my apartment. Do you want to take it over?

• 1:01:27Conan O'Brien?

  And it was on Cochrane Avenue. So I moved into, it was a first floor apartment. This would have been 1986, I think. I think I lived there 86, 87, 88. I didn't go out and shop for any furniture. The only thing-

• 1:01:40Speaker 06

  It says that in the sign.

• 1:01:41Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, it does?

• 1:01:42Speaker 06

  And for the listener, they can see this on at Team Coco Podcast on Instagram, as well as our YouTube channel. And here's what the sign says. Conan O'Brien, former Cochrane Avenue resident. There's a picture of you as kind of like a bronze bust.

• 1:01:54Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:54Speaker 06

  Conan Christopher O'Brien is an Emmy winning writer, comedian and host who redefined late night television. From Saturday Night Live to The Simpsons to his own groundbreaking shows, he has brought laughter to millions.

• 1:02:05Conan O'Brien?

  Whoa.

• 1:02:05Speaker 06

  I'd like to fact check on that.

• 1:02:08Conan O'Brien?

  Hundreds, hundreds.

• 1:02:09Speaker 06

  In 2025, he added another milestone, hosting the Academy Awards. In the 1980s, Conan lived right here on Cochrane Avenue, finishing his apartment with street fines and surviving on ramen noodles and tuna mixed with Miracle Whip.

• 1:02:22Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, yes.

• 1:02:23Speaker 01

  Oh, God.

• 1:02:24Speaker 06

  It was a time of struggle, ingenuity and questionable mayonnaise based decisions. From these humble beginnings, this street witnessed the rise of a comedy icon.

• 1:02:33Conan O'Brien?

  Wow.

• 1:02:34Speaker 06

  May this moment, parentheses, a poster affixed with zip ties, inspire Cochrane Avenue residents to chase their dreams, enhance their originality and one day upgrade to a home with more than one bathroom. So this is temporary. I didn't realize this. It's phone call poster boy.

• 1:02:51Conan O'Brien?

  We have to, I mean, my God, we've got to, wow, look at this.

• 1:02:56Speaker 06

  Dedicated February 27th, 2025 by the Cochrane Committee of Conan Connoisseurs. Actually, just one guy who lives on Cochrane Avenue, occasionally listens to Conan's podcast-

• 1:03:05Speaker 01

  Occasionally.

• 1:03:05Speaker 06

  -had some free time and no real authority to put up a monument, but did it anyway.

• 1:03:10Speaker 01

  Who is this guy?

• 1:03:12Conan O'Brien?

  Or a girl.

• 1:03:12Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:03:13Conan O'Brien?

  You mean, what?

• 1:03:14Speaker 01

  It says, actually, just one guy.

• 1:03:16Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, sorry. I was trying to accuse you of being sexist-

• 1:03:18Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:03:18Conan O'Brien?

  -when actually you're just guilty of paying attention.

• 1:03:23Conan O'Brien?

  It could be a, no, oh. Well, first of all, I want to thank this guy, uh, because that's really funny. And, um, old me, I always think of Ghost Me, the, the 160-pound Conan, who lived at Cochrane Avenue, uh, and furnished his apartment with all stuff I found on Cochrane Avenue.

• 1:03:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:03:44Speaker 06

  Oh, God. It was just flea-ridden?

• 1:03:45Conan O'Brien?

  Uh, I mean, it's just like tables. People used to just put furniture out.

• 1:03:49Speaker 01

  I've done that.

• 1:03:50Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, lamps, everything. And one of my friends gave me a cutout of the Miss America winner that he had, a life-size cutout of her, you know, in a gown, holding, you know, with her sash.

• 1:04:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, your friend gave it to you. You bought it and it was your girlfriend.

• 1:04:08Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, and yes. No, shout out to Randy Clempert, who gave it to me. And I had it in my apartment along with furniture I found, and I thought everything was just fine. And lived off of that diet of ramen noodles.

• 1:04:22Speaker 06

  Tuna mixed with Miracle Whip?

• 1:04:23Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:23Speaker 06

  Wait, did you come up with this?

• 1:04:25Conan O'Brien?

  No.

• 1:04:25Speaker 06

  That's an abomination.

• 1:04:27Conan O'Brien?

  I, I know. I think it was something that happened back at Cochrane. I think the crime started in, in Brookline, Massachusetts, and then I brought it with me.

• 1:04:34Speaker 06

  That's listed with shellfish in the Bible as an abomination.

• 1:04:37Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, yes. And so am I, by the way. Um, and so, yeah, I lived on Cochrane and now someone, this is the part of this culture that I find endlessly fun, is someone made that and then put these, all these self-deprecating disclaimers at the bottom, uh, and it's really fun. I just love that. And I love that someone is memorializing my life on Cochrane Avenue. Back in the day, yeah, I would say 86 to 88, and then I left that apartment to go to, um, I believe, Saturday Night Live.

• 1:05:10Speaker 06

  Did Miss America come with you?

• 1:05:11Conan O'Brien?

  She did. And I was married to her for a while. I was married to a cardboard cutout for five years, and then she left me. Yeah, she said emotional cruelty.

• 1:05:22Speaker 01

  You left her out in the rain.

• 1:05:24Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah, I was crying. Um, she was with Bezos for a while. Anyway. Yeah, he built a yacht for her made of cardboard.

• 1:05:35Conan O'Brien?

  They sailed the seven seas until the boat fell apart.

• 1:05:38Speaker 06

  Recycled into some Amazon packaging.

• 1:05:42Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, she's now a packing tube. Anyway.

• 1:05:45Speaker 01

  That's really cute that a fan did that for you.

• 1:05:47Conan O'Brien?

  What's this?

• 1:05:47Speaker 01

  That's really cool and cute that a fan did that for you.

• 1:05:50Conan O'Brien?

  Shout out to that fan. That was a very fun, cool, uh, happening to create. Yeah, whatever gender he is. I love that. You know what? Occasionally, I, I, I pass that apartment. Not too long ago, I, I passed that apartment because when I'm driving from my house to our studio, um, I get off the 10 and it depends on what exit I take. And I start cutting north to our Hollywood Larchmont, um, you know, recording studio. And, uh, sometimes I'll find myself on Cochrane and I always pause and just look at that apartment and go, oh, yeah. Uh, that kid's, that kid did okay. Did alright. And then a policeman always says, move it along. Nothing to see here. He's a 1920s.

• 1:06:34Speaker 01

  He's got that little bat.

• 1:06:35Conan O'Brien?

  He's got the nightstick.

• 1:06:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, the nightstick.

• 1:06:37Conan O'Brien?

  Baton. Alright, move it along, move it along there. No more visiting ghost you of 1986. Move it. He always knows exactly what I'm doing. That's just a trick of the mind. Move it along. No more ghost you. Those days are past. There's only now. There's no future. There's no past. I'm like, wow, he's done a lot of work. Oh, no, it's a Buddhist mantra. He's the ghost. Alright, well, anyway, uh, thank you, random fan who occasionally listens, whoever you are. That was a cool thing to do.

• 1:07:07Speaker 06

  Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend with Conan O'Brien, Sonam of Sessiun, 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.

• 1:07:28Speaker 06

  Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples. Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns. Additional production support by Mars Melnick. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Britt Kahn. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline at 669- 587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of Sirius XM 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.

• 1:08:18Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:08:21Speaker 08

  Yep.

• 1:08:21Conan 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?

• 1:08:29Speaker 08

  No, but I feel like we need it.

• 1:08:30Conan O'Brien?

  Why didn't you know that, David?

• 1:08:31Speaker 08

  I know, you expect me to know everything.

• 1:08:33Conan O'Brien?

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

• 1:09:07Speaker 09

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