Jim Gaffigan Returns Again

HBO's biggest series The Last of Us returns with a new season on Mac starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey the show picks up five years after the events of the first season as Joel and Ellie are drawn into conflict with each other in a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind CNN calls The Last of Us exquisite fully realized and of the hype. And The Daily Beast calls it a riveting

and suspenseful triumph.

I did really like

the first season.

Based on the

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the Emmy-winning

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The Last of Us

premieres Sunday,

April 13th

at 9 p.m.

on Max.

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My name is Jim Gaffigan, and I feel...

I told myself I wasn't going to cry I feel like they're going to edit this I feel privileged, Breen. That's so nice.
Yeah. Fall is winter.
Hear the yell. Back to school.
Ring the bell. Brand new shoes.
Walking blues. Climb the fence.
Books and pens. I can tell that we are going to be friends.
Yes, I can tell that we are are gonna be friends. Hey there.
Welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. I am the aforementioned COB joined by Sonam Ovcesian.
SM. And, uh, MJG.
I'll just, I don't want to know your middle name. The less I know about you at this point, the better.
You don't want to know an animal too well before you put it down. Any hoots? What's up, gang? What's happening? What's the haps? Yeah, you tell us.
Yeah, big news. Yep, yep.
It was announced. Was it Friday, I guess it was announced? It was this evergreen.
Oh, that's right. Sorry.
Yes, there is some big news out there. Would you like to tell us what it is, Sona? Well, you've been tapped to host the Oscars in 2025, which is a really big deal.
It's really cool. That's cool.
Oh, why are you guys silently applauding? Oh. Wow.
Guess what? That is the amount of applause I'll get when I walk out on stage. I think there's also partially a reason.
The sound of two hands clapping. America's wanting to know, because, you know, Sona and I are essentially your co-hosts on this podcast.
Why aren't we co-hosting the Oscars with you? Yes, I know. Can I, can I, I have to mention this Vulture article real quick.
Okay. Because Vulture is my favorite entertainment article and it said Conan O'Brien will host the 2025 Academy Awards.
And at the end, it says, now that O'Brien is our official host, we got to ask, will his assistant Sona Mofsessian be there? Will she get to be on stage? What happens with Sona Mofsessian in all of this? So it's not just us asking. Wait, nothing about Matthew James Burley? You know what? After I said it, I was like, oh shit, he didn't mention anything about it.
Oh, quit. I know there's another article.
It's in the Pasadena Post. Well, it's actually it's not it's more of a supermarket circular.
How do we fit in? What do we do? It said it said 89 cent sale on roast beef, pre-sliced and Matt J. Gorley.
And it definitively says should not be should not be in any way. Sona, Sona.
Where do we go?

What do you want us to do, boss?

Okay.

Sona.

It's the Oscars.

Yeah, I know.

They made him,

they let me in,

which was probably a mistake,

but I don't know.

Sona,

that's a big night.

Come on.

I know so much about movies.

You only know about Bond films.

That's not true.

That's true.

That's not true. The movies you know about are not in the Criterion collection.
Let's put it that way. You don't know about the classics.
Are you kidding me? Yeah. See, this is the type of shit you can have at the Oscars.
Yeah, this is a great top to the show right here. What about you, Sona? What have you got to say for yourself? Pitch yourself.
Pitch yourself. I am the only person in this among the three of us who knows new things, including new movies.
New movies like after 1991. Yes, exactly.
So I think it's a natural fit. Name one new movie.
Yeah. That came out this year.
Now I'm on the spot and I'm really nervous. I'm Nora Conclave.
I know. Heretic with my boy Hugh.
I mean, there's just... Look, I can't keep you guys hit.
I'm a millennial. Okay, but you're pitching yourself and I think Vulture is pitching you.
Yes. And shout out to Vulture.
I think they do amazing work. I love Vulture.
iced by vulture god damn gourlay uh but listen um pitch yourself for what you would do on air okay you're a millennial and stuff but seriously what are you gonna do okay i can't sing right sold i can't dance and you have and you have hard g's i'm terrible yeah i'm terrible with like if you have hard Gs. I'm terrible.

Yeah, I'm terrible with,

like, if you have prepared material for me. Oh, yes, yes.

Anything that requires, yeah.

I can do any accent.

Okay, let's hear it.

Oh, my God.

Give me an accent.

French.

South African.

French.

French is like this.

I can do French.

It's easy.

South African.

South African.

I'm South African.

No, you're on South African.

I'm South African. Hey, that's not bad.
South African. No.
Yes. No.
District 9. No.
District 9. Yes.
No. Yes.
Very good. Wait a minute.
South African. Okay.
Okay. Austrian.
Austrian. Christoph Waltz.
He's Austrian. What? You just say the names of people? Oh, my God.
In your impressions? Oh, my God. Vulture, are you listening? Yeah.
It's like a German accent. No, fuck.
I don't know what that was. Shut up.
There's too much. You're sweetest now.
Scheitze. Scheitze.
What? Scheitze is shit in German. You said scheitze.
I thought that was another thing you wanted me to do in action. Scheitze.
I crush it with action. No, no.
Can I just say something? I was skeptical. You're out, Gourley.
And listen. No, no.
I'm hosting the Golden Globes. Yeah, sure.
Yeah. But Sona, I am impressed.
Yeah. Because now I'm thinking of all these really funny bits I could do where I'd say, everyone settle down.
And then I hear a French person in the crowd. French person comes in.
I'm ready to get an Oscar. And the crowd says.
Oh, Conan O'Brien. The Oscars are my Super Bowl.
You guys have sports. I don't have sports.
Listen, Matt, you are so not a part of this conversation that I can't even hear you right now. Okay? And I guess it's a silent J, because I can't hear you.
Now, Sona, Sona. Yeah.
I think you have a good chance of being in the Oscars somehow.

Thank you.

Scottish.

I could do Scottish. And guess what? I'm pretty sure I don't have to clear this with anybody at the Academy.
Yeah. I mean, my feeling is they gave me the keys to the whole show.
That's my guess. Yeah, I think so.
And so I guess what I say goes. So you're going to be the first 40 minutes.
and I'm gonna say I'm gonna say

listen

the Oscars

is all about

it's not just about the United States. It's about the world of film.
Here now is everyone in the world representing all nations. You come out in a combination of 15 different national costumes.
Easy. And you welcome everybody in different accents.
Yes. Go.
Give me an accent. Just start going, going.
And then we go, oh, I'm Scottish. I'm a Scottish person.
I'm Scottish. Oh, God.
Merida, you got to get married. You can't do archery, Merida.
I'm doing brave. And then...
Hey, hey, guess what? Guess what? Gurley, I've never agreed with Sona before, but you've got to shut the fuck up. I can't just like think of accent.
Can you just tell me accent? Mexican. Yeah, Mexican.
Do Mexican, Sona. Yeah.
Yeah. Do it.
Do Mexican in front of Eduardo. Yeah.
Uh of Eduardo. Can I be honest? Look into his eyes and do a Mexican accent.
I'll do it like Conan. That's not what I do.
That's it. We're killing time here.
Listen, yeah, and the well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well think I'm being given, I think I get probably a total of 48 seconds total on them. Okay.
If they're smart, that's what they'll do. Anyway, yes, I will be hosting the 2025 Oscars, apparently, with Sonam Avsessian, Woman of a Thous a thousand voices.
Yes. And with,

I'm going to be nice here,

the backstage behind the scenes help.

I'm the only one

that would truly,

truly appreciate this.

No, you're going to freeloader.

No, you're just a goddamn

cocktail riding hack.

I'm the only one

that loves these guys.

I said you're going to be there.

I don't want to be backstage.

I want to be in the lights.

I wanna be rubbing elbows with Nicholson.

Nicholson?

Nicholson?

You'll have to go to his,

he's at home in his basement.

I don't think he's been to the last like 15 Oscars.

He's living in another time.

Oh, fuck you.

Anyway, let's get to it.

We got a lot of show today.

My guest today is a hilarious comedian whose latest comedy special, Jim Gaffigan. This skinny is now available to stream on Hulu.
Jim Gaffigan, welcome. I'm thrilled that you are here because I was curious today and I thought, how many times did Jim come on my late night show over the years because you were a regular fixture? 30 times.
You came on, you do stand up, you could also do hilarious panel, you could do everything. And I'll just say this up front, every time with a completely new set of material, you are, for my money, the most prolific comedy mind that I can think of.
Oh, well, thank you. That's it.
Gotta go. Yeah.
No, but it is, it is. I mean, that's what's so rewarding is the coming up with the material, right? Yeah.
That's the whole lesson that I want to share with Evelyn. It's enjoying the process no but there is something yeah like whenever i get frustrated i lose sight the fact that it is really rewarding to kind of come up with material and and be able to do it it's one of the reasons why you're one of the biggest comedy stars out there oh thank you and i say one of like there's like 35.
I mean, there's like 35. I'm sorry, 135.
135. Of the 2,000 top

of the top

of the biggest comedy stars out there now. Oh, thank you.
And I say one of, like, there's like 35. No, there's, I mean, there's like 35.

I'm sorry, 135.

135.

Of the 2,000 top comedy people.

Of the people in the Los Angeles County,

you are 8,000.

No, no, I mean, the other nice thing too

is I've seen people ride this crazy wave

and then that kind of can peter out.

And you have consistently, over the years, you're always really funny. It just kept building and building and building and building.
And now your level of success is mind boggling. And I look at your whole career and I go, oh, you just, it was all earned in this very like, I say that in Catholic way, but you, it was all built.
You've built this thing and now you're, I'm hard pressed to think of anyone else who could tour with Jerry Seinfeld, you know? And it's crazy. Yeah, no, it's, I mean, I'm very grateful.
And it's a weird thing. You know, there is nothing normal about going on stage and trying to make strangers laugh.

So that's whenever, like, comedians are like, yeah, these weird people.

I'm like, there's nothing weirder than going on stage and trying to get the approval of a room full of strangers.

Right.

Who sometimes are hostile to begin with.

And also, it's like, it is a conversation, but it's very, you know, it is very one-sided.

It's like, I'm the only one with a microphone, and if they responded verbally, I'd have them removed. It is a unique conversation, but it is the perfect type of conversation where they can respond with hee, hee, hee, or silence.
That's one of their options. Did you ever have this? I have found, for some sick reason,

there's always part of me that enjoys the silence. Okay, get a laugh, get a laugh.
And then nothing. I enjoyed in some sick way.
I enjoyed that. And it's hard to explain to people that you want laughs.
But what I really want is some laughs. And then I want a big dead spot where we can all sit down as a group and wonder what just happened.
Well, you want to relieve the tension, right? Yeah. You know, you can identify that in comedians.
Like Bill Burr will say a statement where people are like, come on, don't say that. And then he will win you over it and you're like, all right, yeah, I guess you have a point there.
You mean, I don't know if I'd say it, I'd phrase it the way you're saying, but yeah, you make a point. But a lot of comedians love that tension.
When you relieve it or release it, it's more rewarding. You know what is what I've been dying to talk to you about ever since we did that benefit with God's love delivered.
Yes, we did a benefit together. I'll just set it up.
We did a benefit together in New York City

at the Beacon Theater. It was God's Love We Deliver.

It's an incredible organization. We visited the day before.

It's a giant kitchen where they make food.

For people that are ill and then also for their caretakers. It's the whole package.

I think it really kind of kicked off during the AIDS epidemic. But it's like been going strong.
It's expanded. It's this amazing organization.
And one of the things they asked is, could you guys come down who are who are part of the show? Can you come down to meet all the workers and sort of participate and work in the kitchen, which we all did, which was fascinating? Yeah, it was amazing. Oh, but so then we, so we're figuring out what we're going to do for this.
And then there's also these elements where they're like, I think it was that event where they're like, Bill Murray might show up, Martin Short might show up. And here's what I'm getting to.
Like there is, because there's this ongoing kind of, you show affection by criticizing someone. And then how that overlaps with roast comedy.
And here's my point. My point is, I believe the most powerful roaster or roast comic that's ever existed, and this includes Don Rickles, I think Martin Short.
Yeah, I'm totally with you. is beyond a doubt the quickest, meanest.
Yes. So funny.
Yes. And he does the Jiminy Glick because he's a sweet guy.
And he can hide in the fat suit. Yes.
And say things like, your career never quite took off, never did it, you know. And so he's stating the obvious.
Yes. Oh, sorry, I cut you off.
No, no, no, go ahead. I just think it's so fascinating.
He came out. I was out.
You were out. And then he came out.
And I think he went after both of us. And of course, you and I are like kids in a candy shop.
The artistry of what he does it and compared to like roasting where you see someone, you know, even the Tom Brady roasts or you think of Don Rickles, who is obviously magical. But what Marty does is he does it in such.
And by the way, none of it's scripted. I think he's just he just does it.
I know. I think he had.
I do think he thinks. Really? I think he thinks ahead of time.
Not to take anything away from him. Maybe some of the Jiminy Glick.
Because the writing is I mean, it so sharp but i think some of them no he can do it he can do it ad lib but i think he also has when we did the god's love delivered he literally walked out stole the whole show just dressing us down yes for five minutes and left yeah he was shooting the next day he's 75 years old walked out ripped into us everyone's like, well, that's the best part of the show. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Do you know what I mean? And these two pale, these two skeletons are standing there. We're like, anyway, maybe Marty will come back.
Stay in your seats. That was a joy.
And he's also a sweet guy. Oh, he's the real deal, yeah.
When he's not performing, you're like, it's, I don't know, maybe he's got a split personality. And he was also great on that.
He's a great actor, too. Yeah.
He was great. Now it's like I'm trying to win him over for some job.
Well, it's a good guy. He's riding high.
He's riding high. I think he controls some purse strings.
I want to ask you about, you know, you've been in comedy for so long, but you never, your DNA never merged with Saturday Night Live. And then you get this gig to play Tim Waltz during the run up to the election.
So suddenly you're in the world of SNL. It was kind of interesting to me because I thought, oh, I want to get Jim's take on SNL because he's a really smart, funny guy.
And I know that that was something that would, you know, everyone wants to check that bucket list off. So what was that like for you? It was really interesting because that is one of the questions that, you know, I've been doing stand up or in the comedy thing for 35 years, and I never auditioned for SNL.

I've never hosted, never.

And it's just, it never lined up where it was a possibility.

I think there was talk of me auditioning to be a writer,

but at that time I was like, no, I want to be an actor.

I want to be on the West Wing.

And so I, I mean, I'll just, no, but I was.

You have terrible instincts.

Why Rob Lowe?

What's he got that I don't got?

No, it's the ultimate graduate school of comedy, right?

To go there, there's nothing that is unique

to the comedy business.

I mean, it's a unique television show in that they,

you know, outside of Living Color and Mad TV,

no one's even come close to replicating it.

Thank you. the comedy business.
I mean, it's a unique television show in that they, you know, outside of living color and mad TV, no one's even come close to replicating it. Probably financially doesn't make sense.
And it's the impact on the zeitgeist. So it was a huge thing.
There is, I've always been aware that it's something that you don't campaign for. And so I'm respectful of the boundaries and kind of the cultural phenomenon that it is.
So when she picked Tim Walls as her running mate, and then Steve Martin turned it down, you know, the internet was bringing up like every doughy white Midwestern guy. And I was like interested, but I was like, well, I'm not, you know, you can't can't campaign for it.
You can't get the call or, you know, you can't be like, Hey, you know what I'm going to do is I'm going to go on Howard Stern and do my Tim Wallace. You can't do that.
Right. And so I very much stood back.
Uh, and then I would check in with, uh, my manager who would say, you know, here's what they're thinking. Uh, you know,'re supposedly on a list.
And again, there's nothing you can do on it. And so then I was in, you know, I get one acting job a year.
So I was in England doing this acting job. And then, and at night, I'm walking back to my hotel and I get a call from my manager and he's like, hey, so we've been telling people at the booker at SNL that you've been sending us little videos where you're pretending to be Tim Walz.
And I'm like, oh, that's interesting. And he goes, yeah.
And you weren't. And I wasn't.
And so he was on with my manager and my agent. And I'm like, oh, well, that's an interesting approach.
But, you know, this is what you guys do. And they're like, yeah, now they want to see those.
And I'm like, so what do you mean they want to see them? I'm like, well, we brought it up. And now they're like, why don't you send them out? I'd be mad at this management team.
And so then I spent the next hour kind of in my hotel room taking off a jacket, putting on a thing, doing different. And I had kind of been, you know, checking out Tim Walls and looking at speeches.
And then I just, in that moment, I just did an impression of my brother, Mitch, who is this, similar to Tim Walls, a very sincere, enthusiastic, Midwestern guy who's kind of got a little bit of that golly gee. And so I essentially did an impression of my brother, Mitch, in the different settings in this England hotel, sent him off.
And then, you know, I don't know what happened, but it worked. They hired your brother, Mitch.
So when people are like, how do you do that impression? I'm like, well, just don't meet my brother, Mitch, and we should be fine. Yeah.
Grow up in Indiana. Yeah.
Grow up in Indiana. Surround yourself with very sincere Midwestern people that have that optimism that Tim Walls has, you know.
Which is like, we can do this. Yeah.
You know what I mean? I mean, geez, come on, Jimmy. You know, like that's my brother Mitch.
I mean, geez, Jimmy. I mean, Jimmy, you're a bad driver.
Like my brother, Mitch would just get so angry when he's even sweet when he's telling you bad things about yourself. Yes.
He's like a great guy. So it's that's that's what happened.
But it was absurd because not only was I so this opportunity to be on SNL and it was just for five weeks. But I then they in all these all-stars, right? So they bring in Maya, who I had worked with before, Dana and Andy.
And I'm like, so not only am I doing this guest star, but the MVP from every decade for the last 40 years. So it was stressful in an unnecessary way, where it's like, you know,

I go on stage in front of huge rooms,

but I was like, I have two lines.

How do I do it?

So I was definitely a little nervous.

Blay, I understand you're taking a trip pretty soon.

Where are you going?

I'm going to the mountains.

I'm going to Idlewild.

The mayor's a dog.

Did you know that? Okay. Mayor Max.
Way too much information. I'm just saying it's Mayor Max.
He's a dog. That's okay.
Well, that's nice you're going to Idlewild. It's great.
And you know what? I'm thinking about hosting an Airbnb while I'm gone to help offset some of the cost of the trip. That's smart.
Hosting is a pretty cool and unique way to make some money back. That's right.
And people can stay in my awesome apartment, which is full of great comic books. I have a lot of cool figurines.
It's really, it's a great place to stay also. Have you seen the movie 40-Year-Old Virgin? No.
I should check it out sometime. Okay.
Sounds fun. But you know what? If you've got 2025 goals of like travel and stuff like that, this would fit very nicely into those goals, which is using Airbnb.
That's right. Because it's more relaxing to take a trip when you know that you're making some cash on the other end.
Exactly. And it might make you a little more, I don't know, prone to spend a little more on your trip on yourself because you know that you're being responsible.
That's right. So don't leave money on the table when you travel.
Your home might be worth more than you think it is. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host.
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Did you like the machinery of it being around? There's nothing else like it. Yeah.
And I've always thought there is the carnival atmosphere of it, the machine aspect of it being around there's nothing else like it yeah and i've always thought there is the the carnival atmosphere of it the the machine aspect of it it's willy wonka's factory it's all these things that you grew up watching and then suddenly you're inside it and then there's the the build up to the show yeah there's the meeting between dress and air and then after the show there's a party party. It's this whole Roman kind of crazy.
It's like the Colosseum followed by the orgy. You're just, what's happening? This is madness.
It is. It's insane every step of the way.
So I remember I did the table read the first week. I guess that's on Tuesday.
And then I was like, all right, I know what I'm, and I know that there's going to be a lot of changes. And then by the end, I would be like calling my point person at like 10, you know, eight o'clock on Friday.
I'm like, do we know what we're doing? And they're like, oh, I'm going to send it. You know, it's just because it's the cold open and it was the election.
So there were kind of, you know, what, and so like, yeah, there were things where if you have an idea, you're looking at a writer who's been up for four days, who's also realizing there's, there's, there's the element of serving everyone in the, the cold open. There's also Lauren stuff.
So it's, it's a very complicated thing. So you're like, I don't want to be a pain in the ass.
Like one of the things I kind of pride myself on is hopefully being a good soldier when I'm in a situation like that. Cause having.
Do your part well, don't let anybody down. Yeah.
And, and not be the pain in the ass. So I kind of want to do that, but yeah.
So that whole process of the bureaucracy, and maybe that's not the right term, but it's the process is so bananas that you also have to just go with the flow. And then the meeting in between the dress where Lauren would go up there and be like, don't touch your ear.
And you're like, okay, all right, I won't touch. I didn't know I was touching my ear, but okay.
And some of it is he's giving his notes. He's also this icon who obviously, you know, like I realize now that he is the modern day equivalent of P.T.
Barnum, right? Like the impact he has on the zeitgeist is so enormous. So he sits there and he goes, yeah, we're not going to do that.
Or like things that you, I think people could judge as bizarre, but if you consider the history and the on base percentage, the batting average, it's, it's pure genius. Yeah.
If someone could watch the process of how a sketch gets written and then it's read through, I do think it's Wednesday as it gets read through on Wednesday and then it gets to rehearsal. Then it gets to the, the dress show.
Then there's that meeting beforehand. And then they select, you know, they select the sketches.
Finally, they reorder it. And then there's the air show that happens.
I think watching that process would make less sense than how they pick a Pope at the Vatican. I think there's this, there's more mystery, smoke signals, craziness, you know, cardinals making crazy deals behind ancient walls.
That would seem more normal than what happens at Cernet Live. And I think there is also something of the resiliency that you need to process.
I mean, you went through it, but the resiliency that these creative types, these people that are creative because they know how to react, listen to their emotions or keep in touch with their point of view. But because even the so like I only did one table read.
So like I don't even know what day that is. And then also like the the moving parts like I think on the last episode, they dress they they did cuts.
And then I think they had to cut a sketch mid show. Yeah, they do.
All which is just like, how do you, yeah, not happening. No, I, back in my day, I authored several of those sketches where you're, I've called my parents and I've said it's about two, you know, coal miners and their, and their, you know, their little bird that's with them.
And, and then look for me. Cause that, I mean, that's my sketch and it's going to be on at 1255.
And my parents would would be like, well, we're going to watch. Yay.
My father was Ronald Reagan. Well, well, well.
Well, I was a Democrat with a taxi. We could use you up on Capitol Hill.
And then at 12.48, I'd see my card come off because other stuff went long. So my card would come off the board and go to the side of the board, which means there's this side of the board that's outside the grid where literally you see your card slipping beneath the waves.
And so suddenly my parents the next day, well, we thought it was terrific. It wasn't on.
They. They are lying.
Oh, no. They went to bed at nine.
They went to bed at nine. And so anyway, I was just, I'm so happy that you got to have that experience.
And I'll just put it out there. You'd be the perfect host for that show.
And you are in the zeitgeist now. And they'd be lucky to have you.
So from my lips to Lauren's ears. Well, I am standing back.
I have no opinion on that. I have all respect.
If nominated, I will not serve you. I have all respect for the process.
The convention. I will do as I'm told.
I was going to ask you about, because there's something about, I'm just always trying to figure out, especially comedic minds I really admire. I want to get into a little bit of the workings of where they're from.
I know you went to an insanely small high school in Indiana. Like, how small are we talking? There were 105 kids in the entire school, but there were 25 in my graduating class.
There were five girls.

Oh my God. And 20 guys.
Jesus. But Chief Justice John Roberts went there.
Oh, really? But it was kind of, yeah. So now I think it's 150 students.
It's just blown up. Seven girls.
Now it's huge. Now it's six girls.
But it was a great experience. And, you know, there's a delusion in those smaller schools where you're like, you know what? Yeah.
And so, like, I didn't have that John Hughes experience where there were the potheads and the jocks and the beautiful people. It's like everyone was everything.
So I think that kind of had an impact where I didn't necessarily, I wasn't. So when I got to college, I wasn't swayed by I shouldn't, I should only hang around football players or I should only do this or that.
Somewhere you got this ability. There are a lot of comedians I admire, but I know, well, they can kill in front of this crowd, but they should probably stay away from that kind of crowd or vice versa.
They have their areas. I feel like I can't imagine a crowd that you wouldn't kill in front of.
You do feel like someone who talks to everybody. Oh, well, thanks.
Yeah. No, it is weird because having done corporates, you've done corporates.
I've done some corporate, but really not much. Sometimes the assignment is just like, you know, make sure you mention.
And, you know, whatever. The CEO, you make sure you mention, you know, really get him.
And it's something just, I don't know. I get very depressed.
And then you look at the CEO and they're like, don't do that. But I used to always.
I hear he's a real shithead. That was my go-to line.
And they'd be like, hey, we thought you had a joke or something. Yeah.
Well, sometimes they're like, you can make fun of it. Make fun of know mindy she's in charge of marketing go after her and then you look at mindy i don't do that stuff anyway but then you look at mindy and she's like what are you doing yeah it was just in charge of marketing it was just that one person's bad idea do you know? And so, but the corporate setting is such a,

like there is part of me that,

because I feel like I can work in those corporate settings where that means that it might be all over.

Because like I would do a corporate show,

I would bomb and then you get off

and they were like, you were great.

And I was like, no one laughed.

They're like, we're too rich to laugh.

Yeah, well, we were golfing all day. So, but you were much better than the guy before who made fun of Mindy.
Yeah, yeah. This was one, as I say, I've tried to not do it too much, but there was one, it was, I think, an integration, maybe with the Turner Show.
I can't say the name of the company, but it was a telecommunications company. And we had to do this.
They said, hey, Conan, they're buying time on the show and they really want you to go. So I remember I got on a plane and flew somewhere.
And they say they're in there. It's the top.
It wasn't an, and I come out, I had wrote jokes because you can't do standard stuff it's got to be for them yeah and it's got to be about this company and stuff like that so a lot of work went into it i walked out there i want to say it was about maybe 12 i think all guys and they were in big leather chairs that reclined slightly and i looked looked out, there was a big window behind them and they had projected the famous logo of the company onto a mountain that you could see in the night through the window. So I walked out there and it was these, and I started doing my, and I thought, oh, this is, I've never felt more like a pathetic, you know, bring the clown in.
Yeah. Bring the clown.
We're ready for the clown. And I could see some of the- Did I challenge the king too much? Yeah.
And I could see they weren't really laughing, but they had wry smiles. And occasionally I could see one of them adjust his recliner a little more.
And I started to make fun of the fact that the logo was projected onto a mountain out like this all felt evil. And I'm sort of started to go off on that.
And they, one of them deigned to crane his neck to see, oh yes, it is. Isn't it? What is wrong with that? That's as it should be as it always is.
And I, I just left shivering and i was it was i don't know i was a terrible experience yeah have you done a birthday party that's pretty weird i did a very famous person's birthday party for no money oh really i did it uh as a favor went well if there was no money that means it's pure death it was for the birthday person themselves or one of

their children no it was for the person it was a famous person who and uh and and it was a personal favor because they they had done the show a bunch of times and they one of their their management said hey conan would you stop by and just do and i remember it again feeling like bring him in yeah You know, it was just, let's see if he amuses us.

And I didn it again, feeling like, bring him in. You know, it was just, let's see if he amuses us.
And I didn't like it. It's fun to perform for real people.
But there are people like Regis Feldman would love that. People listening are like, who's Regis Feldman? But there are some people, it is kind of in their DNA.
People love doing it or love being the recipient?

What do you mean?

I think someone like, not that I know Regis or knew him,

but there's some people that are like showmen

that would be relish the opportunity.

It's kind of, even when we did that Pope thing.

Oh, we got to talk.

Well, let's back it up quickly.

Five months ago, something like that,

you contacted me out of the blue and said, would you be willing to go to Rome and meet the Pope? Which is the weirdest to this day. I think it's the third weirdest text I've ever had.
The other two I can't say on the air. This text came in and I thought, are you kidding me? And so I contacted you back and then it turned out insane as if some higher power was at work that my wife my son and i were going to be in italy at lake como that week so literally all we had to do was get on a train and go down and and be part of this because they were inviting comedians so it's you me chris rock jimmy fallon stephen colbert julia louise julia difus uh i mean the list goes on david sedaris take take notaro yeah just uh rami just but you know just really interesting i mean it's such a surreal experience but like in that setting like i don't know if you remember because we we all went in there.
It was like every... First of all, I think they told us to be outside the Vatican at the gates at 6.50 in the morning or something.
I mean, the sun is just coming up in Rome. And I thought, doesn't the Pope...
He's the Pope. He should be asleep.
I would be like hitting the... If I was the Pope, I would hit my snooze alarm constantly.
I would just sleep as late as possible. Yeah, he's like in his 80s.
They told us that we were like his third thing of the day, that he gets up at like five in the morning. And so we got there and then they bring us into the Vatican and they sit us down this surreal room.
Yeah, and there's comedians from every country. There's probably a humorous take on where there was a meeting and someone was like, well, why don't we bring in the comedians from throughout the world? But the Pope was, you know, it was about humor, how we could help.
I don't know. No, it was actually he gave his speech.
His speech was in Italian. Yes.
So we couldn't understand it but they gave us the printout of what of the speech his speech was in italian yes so we couldn't understand it but they

gave us the printout of what of the speech and it was actually very beautiful it was very beautiful you know it was a very nice unifying idea about comedy and how it relates to bringing people together and i thought well that's and humor is a level of honesty and all that yeah but he didn't have an ender uh And we were owing in. I did notes on the thing and I handed it out.
Here's my rewrite. Yeah, but here's the thing.
You did it while he was doing it, which was very rude. Just some punch-ups.
You know what I mean? Some punch-ups, you know? Yeah, so that was a very surreal experience. Yeah, so we are in this room in the Vatican and and there's comedians from all the different countries, like Stephen Merchant.
There were some countries where you're like, well, shouldn't they have more people from, like there was no one from the Philippines. I was like, I've been to the Philippines.
That's a pretty Catholic country. And there were a couple of people I quizzed and they were like, I'm more of a weatherman.
A lighthearted weatherman i'm like well you're not a comedian sometimes i say low pressure front more like high pressure front okay but yeah it was just a little i'm a cartoonist yeah and there was so there's 300 i don't know how many all All over the world, yeah. All over the world, sitting in this room.

It was everyone that couldn't behave in church or synagogue or in the mosque was in this room.

And then there would be, because it was his third meeting, there'd be these people that would walk by.

The Swiss guards came out.

Yes.

The Swiss guards came out and did this whole, they're wearing the outfit of the Swiss guard, which is the most, which was designed by... Leonardo DiCaprio, right.
Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci designed it.
And if Leonardo da Vinci hadn't designed it, they would have changed it a long time ago. Because it looks like a cross between a clown costume and someone who's working at, you round.
I don't know. It just looks insane.
They come out with pikes. They do a whole thing.
And then the Pope came out. And they're walking by.
So there's people you feel like you're just sitting in the room waiting. And there's people, these characters that go by that are from medieval times.
You're like, what is it? It was a medieval fair.

It's like, what is going on? So you think, oh, the Pope's coming. But in that setting, do you remember Jimmy Fallon stood up and did bits? And I was like, he's the king of the clowns.
Well, the rest of us were like, well, we got to kind of be respectful. The rest of us are being kind of respectful.
He did like an eight minute Mr. Bean bit where he can't find his chair and he keeps flopping down and falling down.
And he's like, wow, close. And then he gets up and turns the chair around, but it's going the wrong way.
And he's like, who's a hubba hoobaoba? But it was very funny. But it was also, it was, it was this meeting of everyone who couldn't behave, who was at one point in eighth grade sent to the principal's office.
It was fascinating. My favorite was the part where we're all going up, they line us up and we all go up to shake hands with the Pope.
Because that was also fun seeing people's different reactions. Everyone was different.
I mean, Stephen Colbert,

very,

I mean,

it was,

he's very pious

and devout

and,

you know,

he probably knows more

about Catholicism

than the Pope.

Oh.

Right?

And also,

he asked me the night before,

like,

I think in front of everybody

was,

we all went out to dinner

and he said,

Conan,

do you think the,

do you think the Pope

is aware of your work?

And I said,

abso-fucking-lutely not. He's an Argentinian man in his eighties.
And you're like, no, there's no way he knows me. I think, I think Stephen was hoping that the Pope was big fans of all of ours.
Oh, really? Well, I know that. He knows you, I think.
No. Well, I mean, I met him but I don't think that— Well, he went to your high school.
He went to the Pope. It's you, Roberts, and the Pope.
But Stephen did—I think he does the audible or the audio of all the Pope's books. Yes, and he told that to the Pope when he was up there.
And the Pope just probably gave him like, get out of here. I asked him, I could see him.
If you see the videotape, Stephen's talking to him for a little bit. The rest of us are just going like, hello, your eminence, and you're getting a nice place again here.
And then we move on. And nice job plundering the world's gold over an 800 year period.

Nice conquest of South America.

No one advertises like you guys, you know, whatever.

But Stephen's talking to him for a bit.

And I asked Stephen what he talked about.

And he said, I told him, you know, your holiness, I do your audio book and I narrate it and blah, blah, blah.

And he said, the Pope used his hand to push him. Used his hand to push him down the line.
That's a nice thing. Now get the fuck away from me.
Did you bring gold? No, we didn't bring gold. Then I steal your gold.
No, you can't do that anymore. I'll get your gold.
He's a leprechaun. He's a leprechaun now.
I'll get your gold. I'll get your gold.
You'll see. That's a spicy meatball.
I'll send a conquistador. I'll get your gold.
No, you can't really do that anymore. You want to taste the pizza pie? I've got a pizza pie.
Wow. I'm glad they didn't let me perform at that thing.
That would have gone badly. But it was crazy.
And then they said at the end that we got to, I thought we were getting a, I sound like a real dick now, but I thought, well, you've come all this way. Well, for me, I pretended that I flew all the way from LA when I just literally got an Uber from Lake Como and then demanded pay for my airfare back.
I didn't do that, but I thought they, then they said like, and then you may tour the Vatican. But basically, they just shoved us through a door and then we were in with all the tourists.
You know? And tourists were like, what are you doing here? It was weird. After that event, they led us into this room and there was this red carpet, like, media.
And I was like, oh, now I know why we're here. But it was kind of...
It's what they do in an award show. It's also.
Everyone's there to get their media. And I, that's.
And also get their, get the message out. Yeah.
You know what I mean? And which, and as you said, it was a very sincere message. It was beautiful.
It was a really nice, it was a nice message. My golden conquistador riff aside.
800 years of plundering still. Yeah, it was a lovely message.
Great example of something that's cool, complicated. Like you've been talking to Julia Louise Dreyfus.
There's some complexity. Like at the dinner, she's like, I don't know how I feel about some of this.
I'm like, that's why it's interesting because it's complex yes not we're we

all went in there i think for the most part with complex feelings about this institution and its place in the modern world and uh and and of course uh the women who were present had very complicated feelings and uh it was really nice to talk about all that yeah i love doing events like that where It's a little bit, you're gonna anger some people.

Like I did the Al smith dinner which is with trump there trump was there kamala harris did not go she did not go and there was because there was part of me that's like that was uh you know i'm not a trump guy but like there was part of me and there were plenty of people that were invited. They're like, I'm not even going to sit in the same room as him.
Do you know what I mean? And so there is something where, and so I, when I did that, I knew there were going to be people on the left and on the right that were going to be angry, which almost kind of ties back to like, you know, that moment of disc where people are uncomfortable that it's kind of, relish it yeah and the challenge which kind of the the no-win situation of the al smith dinner but i love history and yeah the association i usually i i'm a usually if there's a chance to i have a list of my life will is finite i was told recently no we're only here for a certain amount of time. And I do, I, and I'm a history buff.
And when I see an opportunity to be, whether it's a white house correspondence dinner or something, even when I know it's going to be tough, it's a tough room. I think you got to go and be part of that.
So it's the Al Smith dinner. Yeah.
Yeah. And there are people today that on my Twitter X or whatever it's called, will be like, I can't believe you were in the same room with him.
And I'm like, well, I don't know. I feel like that's kind of the opposite of discourse.
Like you shouldn't. So anyway, that's why I'm running for senator.
as Tim Walsh who's as your brother

Jim Gaffigan

the skinny this is again

to your being prolific

you've got another special. They have been stunningly successful.
You've won countless awards. I think you have every award one can have.
I think it's too many, and you should give me some. But The Skinny, you're addressing weight loss.
You're addressing people's obsession and weird feelings about weight loss and food, which is sort of a huge topic right now. Yeah, I think it's really peculiar how people are secretive about taking an appetite suppressant.
Or maybe they aren't secretive. I mean, there's people that walk around with their hair dyed a different color.
And we all know that, but nobody would think it was that weird. You've talked about how there is kind of a shaming of people that have a food issue.
And then somehow there are other areas where we have a completely different, like drinking can be seen as very cool. Romantic.
It's romantic. And the ad.
I can't put the bottle down. Yeah.
Sounds much cooler than I can't put the cream pie. I love donuts.
I want a donut. Yeah.
I think there is. I think that's what this drug.
I mean, this is not humorous, but like I think that that's what this drug proves is that like some people, the it's it's might not be psychological. It's it's a chemical thing because it's fixed by chemical that they have a chemical compulsion.
I mean, I come from a family that is like big eaters, like, you know, and that's a good sound effect. But I think the way you did that looks like it would be Cookie Monster where most of it doesn't go in.
The cookies are just such cookies are just bouncing off. That's why you're so hungry.
You're not getting much in the mouth. Such waste, that Cookie Monster.
Cookie Monster never actually tasted a cookie. It just, he just turned off the felt backstop of his mouth.
It's like he wasn't even really eating it. But this is, but you know, there is a cultural part of it too, which is you talk about it from a Midwestern point of view.
I've seen the Boston Irish side of it, which is, it is the way in my family that we showed love was eating because it wasn't hugging and saying, I love you. And I love my parents, love my family.
It was just cultural. It wasn't about that.
We didn't drink. It was a dry house.
And so no one could talk about sex in a million years. I still don't understand how it works.
And then what do you have? You have, we're going to cook a giant meal and I'll eat it together, which is we're going to eat tons of ham and potato and all the butter in the world. And that is going to be how we show our affection and love for each other and have a

communal moment. Celebrate or, you know, lick your wounds by overeating.
Yeah. Like my brother and I was like, oh, I could throw up.
That's what, you know, like when you've eaten so much, you're like, oh, oh, I could throw up. I feel great.
You know what I mean? we did it we We did it. Yeah.
So, so, uh, you talk about that and you talk about obviously how the drug has changed your life. Yeah.
And. But I also think it's temporary, meaning we're eventually going to find out that it makes people grow tails or something like that.
Right. So I, I view this weight loss as completely, I don't think I'm going to be, not that I'm even super thin, but I imagine it's an ongoing battle, my weight, right? But it's also, I mean, over the years, it was such a part of your comedy too.
Yeah, I was just like... Because that's, you know, you do this, you write the stand up and then kind of the theme, you see the theme when you look at the material.
And some of the special is about parenting teenagers. Like I had no idea how difficult it was going to be to parent teenagers because they, and I say that with empathy and also exhaustion and part of I don't want to do it anymore is because it's so difficult.
And I think because I think adult humans, we have a built-in forgetter of the anxiety and the stress of being a teenager because it's painful for them. So when they're going through it and you're this parent, it's not an easy road, even for the best kids.
And so that's some of, so I complain about my kids, but I do that in every special too. But it's a different type of complaining.
But then you get to pay that, then you can say, my bitching about you paid for your tuition, paid for this roof. And since they're teenagers, I know they'll never watch the special, so it doesn't matter.
They're not your demo. Yes.
Well, Jim Gaffigan, the skinny is now available to stream on Hulu. And Jim, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for lending your comedic genius to my show for over a 30-year period and then continuing to come back and do the podcast.
I love talking to you. Thanks.
And I'm kind of in awe of just, you're so talented and so funny. And I just, when you're around, I'm in a good mood.
Oh, well, thank you. So you can't leave.
That's very nice. Yeah, I can tell I'm really getting to you when your mouth gets very small.
You went, oh, thank you. I don't know what to do.
I'm not comfortable with the compliments. Well, then you like this part.
Very weird. You're a real shitty guy, Jim.
Yeah, that's more like it. I don't like the compliments.
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Pretty recently I got together with a bunch of my chums. Yeah.
What did you guys do? Guys I went to college with. We all played football together.
Yeah. Don't laugh at that.
That's real. Sorry.
Yeah. It was one of those little table games of football.
It's actually a video game, a simulated football and it was the 80s. So it wasn't a very good game.
Anyway, it was a good time. We got together.
We had a good time. It's really nice to get together with people.
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Hey guys, we're coming up on the sixth anniversary of this podcast. That's unbelievable.
I know. six years.
Yeah. So we're going to do a state of the podcast.
Yes, remember, we haven't done one of these in a while. This is because, you know me, I'm more of an artistic type.
I paint what I see, and I'm removed from, of course, the commerce of it all. I'm above that, high up in the clouds.
So you don't get paid? No, I get paid and I'm removed from, of course, the commerce of it all. I'm above that, high up in the clouds.

So you don't get paid?

No, I get paid and I'm in,

if they miss my payment by a day.

And if it's one penny off,

I'm just a dog with a bone.

I'm all over it.

But again, then I go up in the clouds.

Well, as always, we like to bring Adam in.

Adam Sachs.

Adam Sachs, the guru, the genius.

Thank you. I'm all over it but again then I go up in the clouds well as always we like to bring Adam in Adam Sachs the guru the genius the high muckety muck who makes it all run I call you you pull the strings I'm about a puppet you guys are sort of like hand puppets but I'm more of a marionette oh and what I'm just curious how it's all going it's going really well I feel like I start every state of the podcast like that, but we've been lucky in knocking on wood.
We've been lucky enough to have a really good run here. Six years in the audience is as strong as ever.
And I'll get into in a second about where we're expanding our audience. You prepared a whole outline.
Well, I mean, mostly I wanted to, first of all, talk about the big guests we've had. Cause we've had, we've been on a run with guests that is just like unbelievable.
The show has always had great guests, but most recently we've had, I just wanted to highlight a few, Tom Hanks, Al Pacino, Jon Stewart, Goldie Hawn, David Oyelowo, Jeff Bridges, Quinta Brunson, Don Cheadle, The Beastie Boys, Ron Howard, Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson. I mean, this is a crazy list of guests.
Big names, but also, I thought, great conversations. Everyone came to play.
Yeah, totally. And these types of names are not, you know, even a few years ago, maybe four or five years ago, six years ago, these were not people you would ever even like hear on a podcast.
It's pretty amazing. Al Pacino, I don't know.
He doesn't do a lot of podcasts. It's pretty, pretty amazing.
Right. Either things are going very well for us or very badly for Al Pacino.
And you'd have to decide what that means. And then I think the biggest update that I think, you know, a lot of it is pretty status quo based on last year, but the biggest update that we've done is we're experimenting.
Conan, you probably don't even know this. Oh, I love that you put in there that I'm 1987 Reagan.
You may not know that we're experimenting with putting full-length video episodes up. And it's only just been an experiment so far.
That are like an hour long? Yeah, we've done two of them so far. And people watch them? Well, that was the thing.
We wanted to see would people watch them. We put up Larry David and Harrison Ford.
We put up those full episodes. And yeah, it was an experiment to see would people watch them.
Also, I'm waiting with bated breath for the answer. The answer is yes.
I mean, we were curious, would it be like something where it was a substitute audience, you know, where it was like cannibalizing the podcast audience? People would instead listen or watch it on video. But instead, it looks like it's really incremental.
Like there's more people. We have a huge YouTube audience and we had been getting tons of fan requests.
Yeah, people were clamoring. Constantly.
We put out clips now for a few years obviously video clips they want to watch i know but they like okay i do think i understand because harrison ford he was he's so funny in a different way that people aren't always accustomed to but also to be able to see when you see harrison ford when his the his expressions and his deadpan that's true does add something to it. I'm glad.
I mean, first of all, I love this medium. And I was at first skeptical because I love the purity of, no, you just hear the voices.
But once I started seeing some of the video with some of these people, I thought, no, I like that too. I was skeptical too.
I was the same way. I liked the purity of audio.
And, you know, I've been in the space. Matt the space matt's been in space forever and it was always very pure audio only but the truth is people want to see the video youtube is the number one like media consumption platform in the world you know more than any streamer and people are consuming podcasts now it's now become the number one platform for podcast consumption that's weird yes so that is part of the bigger macro trend is that like people are expecting now that there's going to be a video component to podcasts.
Interesting. I'm just glad you said macro trend.
I knew there was something that I would say that would just come out that would... Yeah, sure.
No, that's what this podcast is all about. Bringing business speak into your ear.
So we're going to be on camera more. Well, this brings up an interesting thing.
None of us are, well, Sonya, you might be wearing makeup. I do.
I wear makeup because of the YouTube component. I'm not wearing anything.
I think that's clear to the viewers. Have there been comments about my ghastly appearance? I haven't seen any.
Visible eye vein? No. He wouldn't tell you if there was.
I wouldn't tell you if there was. Yeah.
So I'm looking at you. You're staring back at me with your Michael Cera eyes.
And I have no idea if you're lying to me or not. I honestly have not seen any comments.
Somebody, Chalemi would have come in and dusted your vein if there were comments. Dusted my vein.
I don't know what you do to a vein. I also left Chalemi coming in.
Oh my God. Oh, he would be the one.
I love, wait, let's sit with this for a second. Dusted my vein.
Chills, we need a vein dusting. Hey, Conan, Conan, you seem like you're in a pretty good mood today.
Let's just say I got my vein dusted last night. Uh oh, we got a shiny vein, Chills.
That just sounds like a euphemism. Yeah.
Oh, someone looks, someone's in a good mood. Yeah, I got my vein dusted.
Woo! A couple of tequilas, got my vein dusted. Oh my God.
Yeah, I mean, that's a question is, A, it starts with just some light makeup, which I'm still not doing. Sorry, YouTube.
But then it's gonna get into me having radical facial surgery if I wanna stay in the podcast game. And I fled fled to podcast like a vampire fleeing the sun to get back to his crypt.
I fled to podcast because I knew this Irish melon was rotting fast in the autumn heat. And here I am now on camera.
Well, you joked that you tried to like you were, it was something different from the late night show. And then little by little, it's sort of, Oh yeah.
You keep adding things and soon it's going to be. Yeah.
We're bringing Andy in and a band. Yeah.
You want me to get rid of these microphones? And I'm like, what do you want? Lav mics? Yeah. No, I like the mics.
I like the mics. When you talk about your face, should we be like, oh, no, you look great.
No, you don't have to do that because I get it. Whenever I talk about my face in these terms, everybody just quietly nods.
No, I think you look great. I really do.
And I think that I do. I do get self-conscious about like, should I be dressing different? I mean, makeup is a thing.
How many people watch these videos? Like 30,000? Hundreds of thousands. Hundreds of thousands? I know.
Hundreds of thousands approaching millions. Approaching millions.
But also, Sona, can I say something? This is, and this is a compliment. You have beautiful skin.
You have skin that has some melanin in it. You have, right? I do, yeah.
You can get a tan. I am Armenian and Greek.
You are Armenian and Greek. Both of those come with some color.
Yeah, Gourley and I look like we were just, they found us. Hey, don't take me down with you.'m sorry no it's fair i'm bringing you with me but we were trapped in a cave for a couple of years and then they rescued us and when we went into the cave we had a bone marrow disorder so you are very fortunate that i don't i you always look very beautiful you always look like you're wearing makeup even when you're not wearing makeup.
Well, that's nice. Thank you.
I do get self-conscious about my hair. Don't you? I mean, you have- Oh, your hair is a mess.
Oh, yeah, it is. It is.
But you have iconic hair. Don't you want to like, don't you worry about your poof? I got over that.
I got this headset on. Do this, agree to just give up? Because that's what I've done.
That's why I'm always just wearing a ball cap. No, I don't.
You know what? I have an idea. A guy who fell off a truck.
I have an idea. Let's make a headset that has a Conan pompadour attached.
A fake one. So when I put my headset on, a Conan pompadour, so the iconic swoop that some of the old fans want to see is there in coif.
But we don't have to wear those. No.
I think we should sell those in the merch store. What? Headset? Yeah, with the poof.
Kind of like the Groucho Marx. Yes, yes.
And if you put it, let's say you're listening to your favorite tunes. I know how kids talk.
You're putting on, you listen to your favorite beats. Bandittis.
And, or whatever. Nice.
Or you're gaming and you want to put your headset on. You're playing Glip Glorp.
You put the headset on and the hair comes right down with it. Yeah, I'll work on the prototype.
Seriously. Those will sell like hotcakes, boss.
You did it. That was great.
Or we could do one with the Sona too, where your hair comes down on top of it. All 90 pounds.
Okay. You know what? How about, so the state of the podcast.
State of the podcast, good. Well, I have a good question.
question you remember last time we did state of the podcast and you had run a study on all brand safety yeah brand safety and i remember asking at that time because there was like some things that were ticking on the chart about like profanity yeah and sexual conversations and stuff but then yeah on that episode we ended up using so much profanity talking about profanity did that up our profanity what has happened in the world of brand safety is the pendulum has swung back swung back to be a little more sane it was getting so crazy if you remember some of the we were not rated well on brand safety and part of it was like we were talking about war do you remember and it was like if you talk about if you talk about war you get like a you know a red mark. And then obviously all the sex and profanity stuff.
But now the war. And of course, the nonstop sex and profanity.
We did not change anything after we had that conversation. No, but brands changed.
I think brands realized we're being too conservative and we're missing out on. It didn't even have to do with our show, but we're missing out on a lot of good content.
The Church of Latter Day Saints is back on as an advertisement. Absolutely.

That's good. Glad they're back.

Just for a trial because one of us always has to

use one of the products. I had to join the Mormon

Church just for that. Had to.

Had to. They saw you

and assumed that you were there to talk.

I really can see you in that white

fog down. Come in brother.

You're very Mormon-y. You are so Mormon-y.
Really? Yeah. You think so? You're very Mormon-y.
You got a Mormon vibe. You got an LDS vibe.
Ah, really? Yeah. And you have several wives.
That's true. One thing I will say, though, just in the state of the podcast is this is, I would say this is open-ended.
Like, we should check back in in a year and see what the future looks like with video. Because we are, there's a blurring of lines happening in general, where there's, you know, YouTube creators have been out there for years doing their YouTube shows.
Podcasters have been out there for years doing just audio shows. And there's a blurring of lines where now there's not as much of a differentiation between these different digital content creators.
I don't want this to become a TV show. I fled television.
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, it did. It kind of did.

But it's not in content because it's casual conversation.

It's off the cuff and we don't have a plan.

But when you say TV show, you're talking about where it's distributed mostly.

Because it's a video show now.

I mean, again, we're just experimenting with it.

When I said I don't want it to become a TV show, what I meant was unless there's money in that.

Okay. Well, yeah, this is the worst of both worlds because there's not TV money and yet it's on video.
All right, well, I was glad. I think this is mostly good news.
I think it's all good news. No, it's all good news.
It's all good news. And it's fun to still experiment and see where this is all going.
Oh, you know, I'll say again, I've said it many times but i have more fun doing this than than just about anything i can think of and i'm and i've had a lot of fun in my career i've had i thoroughly enjoyed doing the the late night show but this is uh so fun and so loose so um you're welcome let it become what it's going to become you You're welcome. Oh, thanks.
We got you.

You're welcome.

Yeah, don't worry about a thing.

Keep doing it.

And I'll hold your hand.

Let's hold hands.

My hands are a little clammy.

Is there anything that are clammy too?

Oil on these?

Yeah, I lotion up a lot.

You're warm.

You're very warm.

You are very warm.

Yeah, well, talent burns hot.

I said you were warm, not hot.

I have a lukewarm

talent. Alright,

peace out, Tupac.

Conan O'Brien

Needs a Friend, with Conan O'Brien,

Sonam of Sessian, and Matt Gourley.

Produced by me, Matt Gourley.

Executive produced by Adam

Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Nick Leow.

Theme song by The White Stripes.

Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Take it away, Jimmy.
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.
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