The Mothman Cometh

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Conan O'Brien needs a fan.

Want to talk to Conan?

Visit teamcoco.com slash call Conan.

Okay, let's get started.

Hi, Sam.

Welcome to Conan O'Brien needs a fan.

Hey, how are you there?

Hey, Sam. How are you? I'm doing really good.
How are you doing? Doing great. First of all, loving the hair, Sam.
Thank you. I thought it was inspired.
I love, I'm not egotistical enough to say it's the Conan swoop, because, you know, I didn't invent it. I think Bob's big boy invented it, but looks very cool.
So I'm loving that. Tell us a little bit about yourself, Sam.
So my name's Sam and I live in Chicago and, you know, been a big fan of yours since, you know, forever. Thank you.
Actually, with my first paychecks, I actually bought a TV. It was back in 2003, a little tiny LCD TV that I could watch Conan, like your guys' show, in my room right before I went to bed, so I wouldn't keep everyone else in the house up.
Wow. So you have excellent comedy taste and you're considerate.
That's a great combination. Yeah, I try to be and uh my brother whose whose name is also matt also loves uh has always loved uh you too he's about as tall as you too oh wow okay um i would have been as tall as you if i uh had uh if i had a if i had a y chromosome uh but uh i am a trans guy okay which means that i started life as a girl and and when i was 33, I transitioned to a trans guy.
Okay. Which means that I started life as a girl.

And when I was 33, I transitioned to being a guy.

Okay.

Yeah.

And tell us.

And I'm still.

So how old are you now?

How long ago did you transition?

So I transitioned when I was 33 years old.

I started.

And I'm going to be 39 next month.

So.

You look fantastic, by the way. Thank you.
I was going to say, you look like you're like 22 years old. Yeah, I know.
Well, that's kind of like one of the perks of like, you know, transitioning a little bit later is, you know, you look you always look a little bit younger, like when you're transitioning from female to male. But like for me, like for some people, like in their early 20s, like that's not so so great but like when you're in your 30s you know i'll take it i'll look younger i was gonna say i was thinking i want to transition from a man my age to a man who's much younger someone figured out don't we all though yeah yeah i gotta figure i gotta figure that one out too if i could figure out how to transition my joints and all of my problems oh they, they're going to figure it all out.
Have you watched The Substance? Yeah, we'll figure it out. They're working out.
Demi Moore is working very hard on this. Yeah, it worked out great for her, too.
Yeah, it looked like it did to me. So, Sam, what's your gig? What's your job? What do you do? So, pretty uh i i run my own business i actually uh make adult toys okay um and uh we uh when i i've actually been in the industry since 2008 um but when i started transitioning which was i think it was that was like 2019 um i kind of noticed that there wasn't toys on the market that like were super compatible with like trans anatomy and like the changes that your body.
Oh, that would be true. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
So I was like, hey, I've got these skills from working in the industry. Can I translate that into something that works good for, you know, for a variety of different body types? So, and that's what I've been doing pretty much since then.

It's mostly just been me, my designer who lives in Denmark.

And then just recently, one of my partners started helping me make toys, like just, you

know, to keep up on orders.

Now, I'm curious.

So you were in the adult toy business before you transitioned.

Is that right?

I see.

Okay.

Okay.

And then realized that, hey, wait a minute. there needs, there's a market here that's not being taken care of.
Yeah, exactly. And it was like, I mean, there was definitely stuff out there.
Um, and I swear I probably bought like one of everything, uh, just to see. And then it's taken, um, you know, it's taken a while, but like we've, we've,

like one of our toys took like four years to finally design. So it would be combat compatible.

Um, and then another thing we completely came up with, uh, that nobody else has done is, uh, we

came up with what's called a grindable, which is like halfway between, uh, like a, like a, like a

sleeve and like a grind pad, which is something that like some people use, like, you know, like

Thank you. which is like halfway between like a sleeve and like a grind pad,

which is something that like some people use,

like cis women will generally use to like grind up against.

So we kind of invented something that was halfway between that, me and my designer.

And then when it's ready for market, how do you get the word out?

So one of the things, like so our toys are cryptid themed so they're basically like fantasy toy themed. So that was like what my old business did so I kind of just kept going with that but mine are cryptid based.
Meaning like monsters and stuff like that? Yeah so they're based on like monsters and you know folklore. We have like a Mothman.
We have Minotaur. We've got the Jersey Devil.
We're trying to come up with more stuff. What's the Mothman one like? I think you have a customer here.
I'm going to show you. Yeah.
So this is our Mothman. Oh, wait a minute.
Yeah. So this is our medium.
No, we have two sizes. That's a medium? Yeah.
We have two sizes smaller. What are you talking about? What's the big deal? And two sizes bigger.
Wow. But yeah.
And then these are all made of platinum cure medical grade silicone. So these are not like the toys that you just buy online that are just made of unknown you know right right you want to make sure you're using medical grade safe yeah yeah so um yeah we uh you know that and then we and then we make these we we can say i i like one of the cool things that i can do is i can fade the silicone to yeah like this is this is you start with one it's one bucket and you fade all the way down to a different color so it's so much it's fun I mean like I have a background in art too so that's oh that helps it is beautiful art and comedy so I mean you have to have a sense you do comedy as well yeah so uh you know all throughout high school I did improv and theater and all of that and then when I got out of high high school, I was like, man, I really miss this.
So I ended up starting a we go to furry conventions, which is another way that we market because there's a big market for like. And explain for anyone who's listening who doesn't know, including me.
Exactly. The fur what is the the furry world is.
So the furry fandom is just like a group of people that enjoy anthropomorphic animals so we're talking stuff like you know as you know like like like bugs bunny all the way up to like zootopia sure things like that people just enjoy that and uh for the most part it's you know it's it's very just like family friendly but there is a like a not safe for work kind of side of the fandom um there's a there's a not safe for work uh echelon of every of every fandom yeah including probably team coco yeah this work is not i did i did hear those uh those uh someone was reading those fan i think it was sona had the fan fictions that uh yes yeah no no there's that echon of uh in in every world you can't go if you're a geologist there's a not safe for work fandom oh yeah 100 and that and the same goes for like the cryptozoology stuff and that's why there's like a whole monster lover community things like that but when you do comedy these you're because because you have all these different worlds there's um that you're that you're exploring or that you're part of and you said that you're also in the in the in the comedy world but in the furry world as well so do those crossover do you do comedy in the furry at furry conventions yeah so. So I really missed doing improv specifically.
So one year I asked a convention if I could host like an improv panel. And we just called it Who's Lion? So it was like an animal pun on whose line is it anyway.
I don't know why, but I think that's a very marketable idea. Who's lying? It's really funny.
It was. I like that.
And we ended up, our first show had like 60 people. And like what we ended up doing was we just kind of let the audience come up and participate.
Like I would, you know, work and play the games. I was just basically like running like, hey, we're playing this game now.
And, you know, we've had like up to 500 people at one show i mean obviously not everybody can participate at that point when there's like that many people um but we do try to get as many people up as possible to play in these games so we can just share and they're everyone's dressed as animals not everybody uh so i would say 10% of a furry convention actually like, actually has like costumes. Um, but then these are just people who are, you know, we're coming to hang out and we have like a common interest and, uh, they, you know, they want to come up on stage and, you know, have a good time.
And some of them are in suit. Um, like I've done it in suit.
Like when we do a charity version of who's lion, I'll generally be in my fursuit. And what's your fursuit? So my fursuit's an African wild dog.
I've had like a bunch of different fursuits throughout the years, but my current one is an African wild dog. So you're on stage doing comedy dressed as an African wild dog.
Yes. Okay.
There's so many. I mean, my mind is expanding in so many amazing ways.
I'm still on that Mothman schlong. Yeah, the Mothman schlong.
Oh, man. I do a lot of traveling.
You know that I do the travel shows. Nothing quite like the feeling of an upgrade when you're traveling.
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Yeah. You go in a plane and then you stream your podcast? If I'm anxious about a flight, the thing that calms me is seeing myself.
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Terms and conditions apply. Hey, Sona.
Pretty recently I got together with a bunch of my chums. Yeah.
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Sorry. Yeah.
It was one of those little table games of football. It's actually a video game.
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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Thanks, Sonia. Sorry, that was my contribution to this.
Wow. I wasn't sure 5 million people globally was a lot of people until you chimed in.
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You just had that ready to go that was right off camera yeah what else i have a ton right off do a parade come on let's do a parade so first of all um remember i talked about like the grindable whoa so this is like our invention we actually have the provisional patent on these we have two of them. We have the serpent interface that must have been a fun day at the patent office i can't just picture a really nerdy guy and tell me what you have i have these me well thankfully my business lawyer is a patent lawyer and he's just like he's so cool about it he's like whatever and you know, another thing that we did was we actually ended up scaling it up.
Oh! So cis men could use it as like a masturbatory. Wait, is that just friction based or is it electronic? Yeah.
No, so you do. It's all silicone.
I've never seen you this involved in the engineering of anything. You use it like you would like a fleshlight.
What? You use it like you would a fleshlight. Oh, a fleshlight.
And it's all textured on the inside and everything. It's like a tube that you stick your dick into.
It's a flashlight that you fuck. Yeah, you fuck a flashlight.
But it's like, inside is not like electronics. That's what a paper towel tube is for.
My wife's always like, where's the tube? Why isn't paper towels just everywhere? We want stuff that lasts a little bit longer than that, though. Oh, I can make them last.
You just got to shellac them first and bake them in the sun. Oh, God.
My wife, why are all these towels just all over the place? Oh, God. Sorry, dear.
I was fashioning a flashlight. Oh my God.
Wow, my marriage is over now. You're gonna see me walking alone down the highway with a suitcase.
And a paper towel. No, no, no, you open the suitcase and 15 paper towel holders fall out.
Oh my God, this thing is broken. This thing is broken.
Uh, so, uh, all right. I'm picturing you doing improv or stand up on stage dressed as an African wild dog.
That must be a little challenging because it's hard enough to do improv, but when you're dressed as a, as a furry animal, that's gotta be really challenging. Yeah.
I mean, like we have microphones on stage. So one of the funny things about it is that like when you do have like a fursuit and you are on stage and especially like, even if it's like a smaller crowd, like we still have to get the microphones on the, on the fursuiters.
Um, uh, you know, normally I have no problem projecting. Um, but even in suit, like I have issues with it.
Um, so, uh, you have to like put the microphone like all the way in the fursuit mouth so it's up against your mouth in the head so it kind of just like looks like you're uh well deep throating a microphone uh when you're doing that um but uh well i'd hate for something untoward to happen yeah so uh but yeah no we always have like a really good time i love how how delicate you were about, oh, and it's, I don't know how else to say this. You just showed us nine different products.
It would get me arrested in any airport. I just saw a purple spiked clam that was a sex toy.
A clam. Well, I mean, like I go through the airports all the time with these in my carry on.
Right. Well, they don't keep.
Because I want to have, I want to make sure that they don't get lost because we've had, like, because we go to conventions to sell. And I've had, like, packages get lost.
Like, there's, in Boston, specifically, there are two boxes of my toys that just never showed up to a convention in Boston that we were at. So those are just somewhere.
Yeah. No, they got delivered to the hotel and someone signed for them, but nobody could find them.
Right. So I don't know where they are.
They knew what they had there. So now we put air tags in all of our boxes.
They probably think they're staplers or something. Exotic staplers.
Sit at a desk. Katinka, Katinka, Katinka.
Hey, I got this new paperweight. You mean the Mothman? I have a paperweight and look, I have a stapler that looks like...
As you would call it, a clam. Yes.
A clam. Listen, you've expanded my mind in wonderful ways.
And this is an impressive. This is an impressive business that you've got going here.
And it means a lot. Do you have a factory? Where is that? Where's the actual production done? So it's done right here at my house.
My entire basement is finished. And like, it's a finished basement that we've like completely uh set up to do all the uh we have um we have seven 3d printers wow um we have um we have a couple of vacuum chambers uh you know because we have to take all the air out of the silicone before we pour it um so there's no bubbles in the toy.
And yeah, we just do everything here, like just locally, you know, and I get all my supplies locally. I mean, I'm thinking there's chemicals then in your basement.
You would hate there for there to be, there's never could be an explosion or anything because you don't want these things raining down in the neighborhood. Silicone's not flammable.
Look out, Put up your umbrellas! Like a meth lab? We do have a... Kablam! And I'm just picturing them coming down like missiles.
All the dildos just raining from the sky. Yeah.
But no, there's... Someone looks up and goes, oh, no! Gloop.
Out of control. This is an out of control interview.
Oh, my God. I blame you, Sam.
This is your fault. You know, you took a very serious sober podcast.
Oh, yeah. Very serious.
We're very dramatic. Did Sam have a question for me? You have a question, Sam? Yeah.
So one of the things that I always wondered is, do you ever wish that they still made the O Taco at Taco Bell?

Oh, that's right.

I think I did a remote once.

Did I do a remote once? Yeah, you did a remote.

It's one of my favorites.

And I went with, who did I get?

Hayes.

I went with Chris Hayes.

Yeah.

That was a fun remote.

Yeah, it was.

I have to say, and we are not sponsored by Taco Bell or anything, but man, that was delicious. What was in it? Do you remember? I'm trying to remember.
It was delicious. It was like corned beef hash, potatoes.
Yeah, I was going to get it. And then I believe you dumped a Guinness on it.
Yes. Well, you can't go wrong dumping a Guinness on anything.

But yes, I remember Taco Bell,

they asked me to design something.

And so I went all Irish on them.

And I think I had one bite and then had a massive heart attack.

Yeah, I'm shocked it's not like in every Taco Bell.

I guess Taco Bell decided not to go wide with it.

But if you're ever at the Dublin Taco Bell, it's their biggest seller. Yes.
But yeah, like ever since then, anytime I can get potatoes and tacos, like there's like a couple of places. I mean, like Taco Bell does do that, but like there's like other places that like sell mashed potatoes and tacos and stuff like that.
I always have to get it because I always think of, well, they rip me off, man. They rip me off.
You've got to make sure no one's ripping you off too. Hey, that's a good question.
Cause I'm sure it sounds like you're onto a market. There might be people out there that are like, Hey, wait a minute.
I'm glad you got the patents. That's the important thing, especially on the moth.
Yeah. For the, for that one.
Yeah. Especially.
Yeah. It's, it's still, yeah, it's still provisional patents, so it's, you know, rest assured that's the important thing especially on the moth yeah for the for that one yeah especially yeah it's it's still yeah it's still provisional patents so it's you know rest assured that's sitting on some government office somewhere waiting to get approved um so it's right on their desk yeah it's right there yeah it was very cool talking to you you're very funny and uh best of luck with your business and uh we're very lucky to have you as a fan.
Yeah, I'm lucky to have you guys to listen to because you guys are always on when I'm working on stuff. So I say I always save the podcast for when I have like, you know, long days to to get through orders.
That's very cool. We inspire the dildos.
We do. Yeah, you do.
There's a little bit of us in that thing. Yes.
In every single toy. And then my, my one partner wanted me to show you this.
He made a team cocoa colored. Look at that.
This is a biomech. Actually, that's exactly what mine looks like.
Oh my God. Well, I'm sorry, but I was in an industrial accident when I was nine.
I was in a pumpkin patch that exploded. All right, Sam, we're going to take off, but thank you so much.
Take care. Yeah, it was nice meeting you all.
Really cool meeting you, Sam. Bye-bye.
Bye-bye. Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan with Conan O'Brien, Sonam Ovcesian, and Matt Gourley.
Produced by me, Matt Gourley.

Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Nick Leow.

Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino.

Take it away, Jimmy.

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