Points of Vibration (with Conan O'Brien and Allen Stare)

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Speaker 2 Hey, I'm Ben Stiller.

Speaker 1 I'm Adam Scott.

Speaker 2 And this is the Severance Podcast with Ben and Adam.

Speaker 1 Now, we recorded our last podcast episode when the season two finale aired a few months ago, and there was so much more we wanted to talk about. And we're still getting new questions from the hotline.

Speaker 1 So we figured, why not start the podcast back up? So starting today, we've got new episodes for you coming out every Thursday for the next five weeks.

Speaker 2 Yeah, and in each episode, we'll be talking about the movies and TV shows that have influenced us while making the show. And we'll bring on severance super fans, which I'm excited about.

Speaker 2 Like today's guests, we've got a big Severn Super fan, like physically big, big in stature and import and show business too.

Speaker 1 Physical mass.

Speaker 2 Yeah, physical mass and height. We're talking about Conan O'Brien.
Conan's on the show. Oh my God.

Speaker 1 Conan O'Brien, the best.

Speaker 2 And he has this new show, this new new travel show.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Conan O'Brien Must Go.

Speaker 2 Yes, which I haven't seen yet, but you've seen it. You said it's great.

Speaker 1 It's so good.

Speaker 1 It's hilarious.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's interesting to me that Conan can't go through life without being recognized. And I'm going to ask him about it.

Speaker 1 What's like that? Yeah, he can't like hide in a crowd because he sticks up because he's nine feet tall.

Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 So after all that, we're also going to be joined by another Severance super fan, Alan Stare, who hosts Severed, the ultimate Severance podcast.

Speaker 2 I'm going to ask him how tall he is, also.

Speaker 1 I'm gonna ask if he likes staring at things.

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah, good.

Speaker 2 All right, so here's the spoiler warning. In this episode, anything and everything from the entire first two seasons of Severance is on the table.

Speaker 2 So, I don't know why you're listening to this at this point, unless you just stumbled on it. But if you aren't caught up yet, you know, just go do that.

Speaker 2 And then this podcast episode will always be here waiting for you.

Speaker 1 Yeah, we're just waiting for you. Like, if you, I think it's good that we be clear, like both seasons in their entirety are up for grabs spoiler-wise.

Speaker 1 Like if you watched all of season one and the second half of season two, you're out of luck because the first half of season two,

Speaker 1 we may be talking about that.

Speaker 2 Right. And I feel like if you had done that, you should listen to the podcast episodes in order.
Yeah. Right.
Yeah. So

Speaker 2 probably if you're hearing this, this is not an issue for you.

Speaker 1 So how have you been? It's been a few months since we've been doing this. So how have your few months been, Ben Stiller?

Speaker 2 You know, honestly, it doesn't it feel like a lot longer than a few months ago? It does.

Speaker 2 It feels to me like a really long time since we did a podcast and since the show stopped, you know, like we had the last episode. And it seems like a, I don't know, it just seems like forever ago.

Speaker 1 Yeah, the finale feels like a year ago. Yeah.
Like when the finale came out and we had that big screening, which was so much fun watching the show with a theater full of fans.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that was literally one of my favorite experiences in life of screening something was to be in that theater, the Dolby theater, and with all those fans.

Speaker 2 And I felt like everybody who was watching it had sort of watched it already. They might have watched it the night before.
Yep. So they kind of knew what was going on.
And it was just so much fun.

Speaker 2 And then the crazy USC marching band coming in at the end.

Speaker 1 Incredible. And Trammell marching in with them.
And the crowd just went bonkers.

Speaker 2 And that was Trummel just freestyling totally.

Speaker 1 Yeah, afterwards, I was like, how long did you guys rehearse that? And he was like, we did not.

Speaker 1 We kind of just did that, which is crazy.

Speaker 2 It was great.

Speaker 1 So how are you doing as far as the Knicks go?

Speaker 2 Well, you know, look,

Speaker 2 it was a really, really good season. I don't want to make people have to deal with my Knicks stuff if they're not interested in it.

Speaker 2 Just suffice it to say, the Knicks had a, you know, went to the Eastern Conference Finals, which is a huge, huge thing for them. First time in 25 years.

Speaker 2 And then they proceeded to let go of Tom Thibodeau, the coach, which was kind of a rough thing.

Speaker 2 And as of this recording, we're still in process with that. So there's a lot of mixed emotions, but it was a great run.
I had so much fun. Never been more invested.

Speaker 2 And, you know, you have to have a few weeks maybe at the end of it because it always ends badly, you know? Right.

Speaker 2 It's like always not, unless you win the championship, there's always going to be be some sort of frustration. But it was fun in terms of severance.

Speaker 2 It was cool because we had like a little Carl Anthony Towns Severance crossover for one of his hype videos for the first round of playoffs.

Speaker 1 And wouldn't they play the theme too during games sometimes?

Speaker 2 Yeah, they would play it when, like, sometimes when someone goes to the foul line, which is pretty cool. It's amazing.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 I have to say, when the Severance theme played at Madison Square Garden, that was sort of like all the elements of my life coming together. Yeah, I mean, that

Speaker 1 has to be, that's like REM going on stage and playing the the Severance theme song or something. Yeah.
I have a question, though.

Speaker 1 I went to two Knicks games this season, and as you pointed out, both games I'd been to, they lost. Correct.

Speaker 1 So I was just wondering your feelings generally about that, and if you think I'm some sort of a curse on the New York Knicks.

Speaker 2 I don't think you're a curse. I think you might be just not, you know, it might be bad luck.

Speaker 2 Just bad luck. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think.

Speaker 2 Look, this happens with anybody who shows up at a game, who doesn't usually show up at a game, at an important game, and

Speaker 2 it throws off the energy. Yeah.
It's like, you just look at the data. It's like, okay, you know, Adam shows up, loss.
Adam shows up, loss.

Speaker 2 So I'm just saying no, not necessarily a curse, but are you going to be first in line for, you know, to go watch a game with next season, maybe early in the season, but come playoff time?

Speaker 2 I think we have to, you know, think long and hard about that.

Speaker 1 Like when it really matters,

Speaker 1 you would go out of your way to make sure I am not allowed in the doors at Madison Square Gardens.

Speaker 2 No, no, no, no, no. I would never do that.

Speaker 2 I just would make it difficult. Whatever strings I could pull.

Speaker 1 Maybe throw an obstacle or two in my way.

Speaker 2 I have one question for you. When the Knicks lost and you went to that game, did you feel anything? Did you care at all?

Speaker 2 Did it bother you at all?

Speaker 1 I was sad for the city of New York because I love New York City so much

Speaker 1 so much.

Speaker 2 I don't feel like I don't buy any of that.

Speaker 1 You don't care about that. You don't care about New York as much as I do.

Speaker 1 What I felt, though, mostly because a few minutes beforehand, you had yelled quite loudly, hey, Adam, last time you came to a game, they lost two, because I was a few seats over from you.

Speaker 1 So you had to project. And there were a lot of people around.

Speaker 1 So when they did, in fact, lose, While being sad for the city of New York and the incredible team members of the New York Knickerbuckers, I was happy how sad you were.

Speaker 2 Cool. All right.
Can you name two team members from the New York Knicks?

Speaker 1 Of course I can.

Speaker 1 So is Conan is he

Speaker 2 Conan's here. Conan O'Brien is here.
Let's bring him in. Let's bring him in.

Speaker 1 We're going to take a break. We'll be right back.

Speaker 2 With Conan O'Brien.

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Speaker 2 Hey, everyone, I'm Josh Radner, and I am so excited to tell you about how we made Your Mother, a rewatch podcast looking back at how I met your mother.

Speaker 2 And I'm here with Craig Thomas, who co-created the show along with Carter Bays.

Speaker 3 Hi, Craig. Hey, Josh.
Somehow, it has been 20 years since the show premiered. That's you, I'm going to check the math on that.
10 years since it went off the air.

Speaker 3 And we thought that made this a perfect time to look back, see what the hell we did, and why the show still seems to resonate with fans around the world today.

Speaker 2 Follow and listen to How We Made Your Mother, wherever you get your podcasts. Adam.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 4 I want you to close your eyes and imagine you're working in Lumen's HR department.

Speaker 1 Okay, give me a second. It takes me 10 minutes to close my eyes.
Oh, wait. I did it right away.

Speaker 4 Okay, keep them close. If our partner, ZipRecruiter, was helping Lumen hire for various roles, how do you think HR would feel about ZipRecruiter's ability to search resumes quickly via keywords?

Speaker 1 Let me get into character hair.

Speaker 1 I think they'd love it. It's efficient.
It's targeted. We can search words like cure lover and affinity for long hallways.

Speaker 4 Okay, you can open your eyes now. Oh, thank you.
So if you were actually a business owner and not an actor who plays a guy who works at a weird company, like you do in the show. Hey, wait a second.

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Speaker 1 You know what? Lumen should make ZipRecruiter a perk. It's way more fun than a finger trap.

Speaker 4 Finger traps are not even fun.

Speaker 1 No, I actually get legitimately claustrophobic when I use a finger trap. Yes.

Speaker 4 I know. Even the prop ones.
Totally. Because the finger traps are real.

Speaker 1 It freaks me out when I use it.

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That's right.

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Speaker 1 I love doing Conan's show.

Speaker 2 I mean, he's sort of the man in terms of podcasting. Oh, yeah.
It's probably the easiest show to do because you just get into a conversation and you forget that you're being recorded.

Speaker 2 And also, Conan has no, hi, Conan.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I'm here. You're talking about me.
It's rude. It's rude.
I've been listening to you guys for 40 minutes.

Speaker 2 Cool. We were just watching your Zoom screen that just had your name, but then there was like a mute thing.

Speaker 2 And so we were just sort of doing what they call tap dancing or, you know, in showbiz when you got to do filler.

Speaker 4 Yeah, filler. My whole life has been filler.

Speaker 4 It's been, I was once in front of a huge, giant crowd at Bonnaroo, and I did whatever short thing I was going to do because comedy doesn't play in a venue like that. So I did my short, quick thing.

Speaker 4 Crowd seemed happy. And then I was about to get off.
And I looked at the guy on the side, was doing this stretch because Stevie Wonder still wasn't out of his trailer. And

Speaker 4 I said, Okay, Stevie Wonder's coming. He'll be here sometime soon.
And just walked off. And the guy was like, Hey, man, I told you to do this.
And I was like, Yeah, fuck you.

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 4 I'm not going to get shooed up because Stevie Wonder is getting a foot massage.

Speaker 1 That's actually a great, that's a great. I have to remember that for when someone tells me, hey, you didn't do this thing that I asked you to do.
Just say, hey, fuck you. Yeah.

Speaker 4 I started doing that with my wife recently. How'd that go? She's like, I told you, I thought I told you to pick up our son at the airport.
I'm like, fuck you.

Speaker 4 I'm on television. And then she says, no, you're not really.
It's a podcast. And then it's sad.

Speaker 2 That's the beauty of a long-term relationship. Exactly.
That's sort of like those shortcuts.

Speaker 4 Yeah, she's packing right now. So

Speaker 2 by the way, what we didn't mention in your introduction, I think I I just talked about your your immense height and how like kind of slightly jealous I am of it.

Speaker 2 And I that was one of my questions I wrote down. What's it like being tall that I was going to ask you at some point, but later in the interview? But maybe you want to think about that.

Speaker 4 Well, I'll tell you this. There are downsides.
You cannot hide.

Speaker 4 And it's really funny because when I put on like sunglasses and a baseball cap, it looks like Big Bird from Sesame Street is wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap.

Speaker 2 That's what we said. We said that in your intro, that you cannot hide.
As a famous person, what is it like in life for you to walk down the street? You can't hide.

Speaker 1 People are just like, hey, Conan.

Speaker 4 Well, have you guys watched? If you've watched the movie King of Comedy, there's a great sequence where Scorsese just shoots Jerry Lewis walking down the street and very smart.

Speaker 4 He had Jerry Lewis play Jerry Langford.

Speaker 4 And he records everyone on the street shouting, Jerry, Jerry. And this sounds like I'm humble bragging or something.
I'm not.

Speaker 4 People between my hair and my height and a certain kooky face, people just shout. And so I kind of act like I'm an elected official and I just, I'm like, yeah, buddy, right back at you.

Speaker 4 Oh, look out for him. Hey, you, that's some salami sandwich.
I'll join you in an hour. I just, I'm constantly just shouting stuff at people.
And, um, and they love it.

Speaker 4 I don't know what they do, but I,

Speaker 4 I, I, I mix it up with people. Like, I just use, there's an Irish politician side of me that's just, I act like I'm running for something.

Speaker 4 And I don't know, I'm sure a really good, either a CAT scan or a good therapist would trace it back to some incredible deficit inside.

Speaker 2 But then we wouldn't have that career that you've had if you had gotten the CAT scan back in the day and figured it out.

Speaker 4 Yes, yes. As my father once said, I've repeated this many times, but it bears repeating.
My father was a scientist and he once looked at me and he wasn't kidding.

Speaker 4 He looked at me and he went, I think I understand. You're making your living off of something that should be treated.

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 4 It's like, I love you too. I love you too, dad.

Speaker 2 Wow. And Conan, by the way, congrats on the Mark Twain Prize for humor.
Thank you. Yeah, man.
Thank you. Yeah.
And I saw recently that, yeah, they had a whole event at the Kennedy Center.

Speaker 2 I missed it because I was, I guess, not invited or we or my publicists. Something I got caught up.

Speaker 4 What happened was you called me early on and said, I'd like to be there. And I said, we're good.
Right. We're good.
Good.

Speaker 2 I thought you meant we're good. Like, we're great.
Let's do it.

Speaker 4 I know, but I was really trying to communicate we are good. And I was under the mistaken impression that since, you know, the Ben Stiller show, you hadn't done much.

Speaker 4 And I, I said, look, that's nostalgia. And that was cool.
And you guys won that Emmy and you and Odenkirk. And what a great team.
And then I was horrified to learn that you have had this just

Speaker 4 explosive,

Speaker 4 incredible dominance in film.

Speaker 4 And I was embarrassed. That's on me.

Speaker 2 That's cool. That's cool.
It's weird because I was at Sandler's Mark Twain Prize thing,

Speaker 2 which I think you were at, too.

Speaker 4 I thought you were a caterer. I thought you were catering.

Speaker 2 No, no, no.

Speaker 2 I did a tribute to.

Speaker 4 I thought they let the caterer have a shot.

Speaker 2 That was part of my bit. That was part of my bit.
But I thought I, honestly, I thought I killed. I thought I killed.
I had like a really good thing. Yeah.
You did.

Speaker 2 And afterwards, there was like a lot of talk amongst the group. It was like Dana Carr and people.
And they were talking about who's going to get the next one, who's going to get the next one.

Speaker 2 And I thought that like, okay, they just did a Jewish guy,

Speaker 2 probably not me next year. But I thought I was like, I thought I was rising into, and Chris Rock killed too, even though Rock didn't even prepare, but he's still killed.

Speaker 2 And I thought, okay, you know, I feel like my name's going to be in the Mark Twain people's consciousness because they saw how good I did at Sandler's.

Speaker 2 And not only have I not gotten, this was years ago now, like three years ago, I didn't even get called for your thing.

Speaker 4 Yeah. You know what's interesting? This is true, all joking aside.
They wouldn't tell me anything. No one told me anything about who's coming.

Speaker 4 They don't tell you they don't tell you they don't tell you anything which is really nerve-wracking and of course the predominant feeling i had was i'm embarrassed that anyone's going to be put out you know like i don't want of course of course and then i had some people apologize like they contacted me and you know i can't do it and i'm really sorry and i go no no no no i don't know anything about it you know and they're like no no i'm really sorry conan i know you asked and i'm like no i didn't

Speaker 4 and then they would say i'm in washington dc next door that night and I don't have much to do, but I still won't do it.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 1 That's wow. Yeah.
Isn't there an event the night before as well?

Speaker 4 Yeah. And that was fantastic.
Everyone was great. I mean, the craziest thing is, you know, I use my assistant on my podcast.
We put her in the podcast and then she's just, she's so great.

Speaker 4 And she's done so many great remotes with me.

Speaker 4 And the trick with her, I found is, as you guys know, most people who are, I'm just going to use the term civilians because it's so derogatory towards non-performers, but most people,

Speaker 4 if you just put a camera on them, they change. Everyone changes when you put a camera on them.
Sona does not.

Speaker 4 So we would bring her out on the late night show and she would destroy and then it was over and she would say, okay, I'm going to get a sandwich. And then I'm going to go home now.
Bye.

Speaker 4 So they asked her to speak. And she followed a bunch of really professionally funny people.
And she got up there like she had been playing the Catskills for 700 years. Wow.

Speaker 4 And she just, you know, and in the audience i mean david letterman came to the dinner the night before and so dave's in the audience and she just destroyed and had this casual and then i went up to her afterwards and i said sona i hired you to be my assistant there was never any indication that you'd ever become a known person

Speaker 4 And you just got up there and she was like, oh, yeah, I know, I think it went well. Anyway, you know, I'm going to go.

Speaker 4 I want to get some, there's a chicken salad sandwich in room service and then I got to get to sleep and and I'm going to call my kids. And you're just, I mean, she's really remarkable.

Speaker 1 I wonder if Sona has that deficiency, that fear deficiency, that that guy that freaks solo, free solo guy, is missing something in his amygdala.

Speaker 4 He has no fear. I don't know, but it is quite remarkable.

Speaker 2 Does Sona, does she like to free?

Speaker 4 She also, yes. Oftentimes when she's on the podcast, she's not there in studio.
She's hanging off a cliff.

Speaker 2 That's incredible. Conan, thank you for being on our podcast.
I honestly, I was saying it before, but you are like, we've known each other for a long time. I'm a huge fan of yours.

Speaker 2 You're amazing as a comedic writer. That's when I first met you at SNSNL.

Speaker 2 86, I think.

Speaker 2 You are like one of the best podcast people. So

Speaker 2 I appreciate you. Yeah, you really are.
And we'll get into severance and just like what you love about severance in a second.

Speaker 2 But I just want to say, like, when you do your podcast, I'm curious how you prep for it. Because when I sat across from you the last time I did, I've done it a couple of times.

Speaker 2 You don't really have notes. You kind of have a little notebook or something, but it just, it just goes, it just flows.
And is there like some sort of prep you do? Or do you just kind of?

Speaker 4 Yeah, I think about the person and I think about how do I connect with this person? And I'm very sentimental.

Speaker 4 So if I'm talking, you know, to you, Ben, I think about knowing about your parents, because I was a fan of theirs and meeting you at SNL, but knowing that, you know, still are Amira.

Speaker 4 That's still Ramira's kid. That's been, and then just the different ways we've crossed paths and also what it is that you do that has resonated with me.

Speaker 4 Like, where are our points of vibration that I feel?

Speaker 4 And so I'm really just thinking about whoever I'm talking to. Adam, when I talk to Adam, it's just, it's hard to access anything.

Speaker 2 Yeah. So cold.
Yeah, well, that's just, that's just Adam.

Speaker 1 So cold. Nothing to connect with.

Speaker 4 But I write myself little notes. What's really funny is I was talking to Harrison Ford once and sometimes I just write a bunch of different things.

Speaker 4 And I hadn't written much about Harrison Ford on my notepad because you don't need to, but there was a point I wanted to make about Han Solo. So I just wrote Han Solo and I'm talking to him.

Speaker 4 And he looks at my pad and he just is like, what the fuck? And he grabs my pad and he goes, Han Solo, you had to fucking write the name Han Solo. And he's screaming at me in the podcast.

Speaker 4 I think people know Han Solo. And I'm like, no, it's not to remember.

Speaker 4 And it was too late. He had won the comedy battle.

Speaker 4 He was screaming at me for,

Speaker 4 bring up this, what's that name again? Was he Luke or Han?

Speaker 4 So,

Speaker 4 yeah, I just try and find things that, you know, if Adam's coming on, I'll want to talk about. Yes, there's so many things that people know about Adam's career that are no-brainers.

Speaker 4 And we're going to talk about those, but I also want to make sure I mention the time my whole family and I were in Seattle and we stayed up all night to watch his crazy recreations of classic, was it 80s and 90s television shows?

Speaker 1 Yeah, the opening credits. Yeah.

Speaker 4 You go to this insane length to, it's, it's hilarious.

Speaker 2 They're amazing. I've seen them.
What's it called? The greatest of television event in history or something?

Speaker 1 Greatest event in television history.

Speaker 4 Look, go look at the greatest event in television history that Adam made.

Speaker 4 And so what I have to remind him of is that we were, my family and I went to Seattle because my wife's from there and we're staying at this hotel and we'd stayed up quite a while watching all of them and just howling.

Speaker 4 And then in in the morning, we go downstairs to get breakfast.

Speaker 4 And while we're eating breakfast, we finished breakfast and we're headed to the elevators and the elevator doors open and Adam walks out with his son.

Speaker 4 And my kids thought that I had ordered him online or something. Like,

Speaker 4 if you liked greatest, you know, event in television history, click here and Adam will step off an elevator tomorrow, wherever you live. That's what it was like.

Speaker 4 And so there are things like that that I know are just going to be hot points and then something will spin off of that.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Well, I love that you go from your just sort of your gut and sort of like just sort of like you said, like vibe with like those what resonates with me.

Speaker 1 And after so many years of doing your TV show, is it almost like doing the podcast and getting to talk to people on the podcast for large chunks of time without commercial breaks and everything?

Speaker 1 Is it everything you kind of always wanted to do interview-wise?

Speaker 4 You know what's interesting?

Speaker 4 It would be a mistake for me to say I prefer this. What I would say is I prefer this now.
Right. You know, no one knows more than Ben because Ben was, we had trouble early on.

Speaker 4 We were, the word was we were going to get canceled and we'll be gone soon. And Ben would show up and roll up his sleeves and say, I have this crazy, insane idea.

Speaker 4 And Ben was a known quantity much more than I was. So that was a great gift.
That was what my people call a mitzvah. And Ben would show up and he would do these things.

Speaker 2 And I've never heard that word. What is that? I'll tell you later.
Mitzvah.

Speaker 4 Yeah, please. There isn't time right now.
But over the years, all the different things that Ben did, he was nice enough to come on the show just regularly to talk about it.

Speaker 4 I liked the ladies and gentlemen, Ben Stiller. Crowd goes crazy.
Ben comes out.

Speaker 4 I'm like, Ben. And then I know what to talk about.
And I know that I have five minutes, get out on a laugh, commercial, band.

Speaker 4 It's a very unnatural environment, but I kind of loved being in that crazy, insane world. Yeah.

Speaker 4 But now I love that if you and Ben come on, we can talk for literally 50 minutes and we can go down weird roads and there's no harm, no foul.

Speaker 4 I mean, I always tell my guests, this is not a gotcha podcast. This is for you.
You're here because I admire you. And so this is, you know, this is as much for them as it is for me.

Speaker 4 So I love the spontaneity of it, but I think it's this time of my life that I like it. I really love that I got to do the other thing for 28 years.
I loved it, but I'm very also happy that it's over.

Speaker 4 I pretty much knew this has got to stop.

Speaker 2 I can only imagine what that is. By the way, here's a question severance related.

Speaker 2 Why do you think late night hosts love severance? Because you love severance. Jimmy Kimmel loves severance.
Colbert loves severance. Fallon, I don't know.
And I know Jimmy pretty well.

Speaker 2 And I feel like I don't know if he's really, I don't know if he likes it.

Speaker 1 I think he hates it.

Speaker 4 He's told me he hates it. Really? In song.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Oh, in like a funny song.

Speaker 4 And it's really fun and it's trending. But

Speaker 2 that's cool. Another one of viral videos.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 So, what is it, Conan? Seriously, like, you know, you're busy. You're living your life.
You're doing all your stuff. Like, do you watch a lot of television?

Speaker 2 What is it like that connected you with this show?

Speaker 4 I think that I can't speak for the others, but what I can say is, and I don't know if there's anything particular to late night hosts, but I know that myself, my whole day is comedy.

Speaker 4 And when I get home, I do not want to watch a standard sitcom where someone enters and there's laughter. I don't usually want to watch a comedy.

Speaker 4 What I want to watch is something that's highly well done. And if it has great comedic moments, terrific.
But I love any work.

Speaker 4 I mean, sometimes I come home and I watch very depressing things, but what I know that I love about Severance is that my work philosophy has always been God is in the details.

Speaker 4 I used to watch SCTV and I used to love that they're putting so much thought into this and they have a religious belief that other people are going to see what they're doing.

Speaker 4 They're putting so much work into their comedy. What I found about Severance right away is the aesthetic, the set design, the look.

Speaker 4 There's a mix of so many different textures. I just found myself falling in love with the care, the craftsmanship that went into it.
And so, for all those reasons, I know the work has been done.

Speaker 4 It's been done beautifully. And I find myself am really pulled into it.
It's something I, it's a connection point between my son and I because he loves it. He's a very smart kid.
And we talk about it.

Speaker 4 And then my wife will get into the conversation and we'll really drill down in it and discuss things. And

Speaker 4 that is my favorite thing: shows that invite discussion, debate afterwards. When someone else makes a world that I believe is real, I'm taken for this great ride and I am invited to be part of it.

Speaker 4 And it's just, you know, joyous. It's great.
You guys built a world.

Speaker 1 And is part of it too, like mired in comedy all day?

Speaker 1 And kind of, I mean, whether you like to admit it or not, you're one of the people who have modern American comedy is the way it is largely because of you.

Speaker 1 Are you a person that, like, one of the reasons the last thing you want to do is turn on comedy is because whether it be a sitcom or another late night show or whatever it is, you know exactly what's around every corner.

Speaker 1 You can predict absolutely every

Speaker 1 item that's coming up.

Speaker 4 And if not, you just find yourself in the rhythm of even if I can't, if I don't quite know what's going to happen, you spent your day making donuts and then you come home and

Speaker 4 your partner says, we're going to make donuts tonight for fun. That's kind of how it can feel sometimes.
And I also like the format in Severance is something very serious is happening.

Speaker 4 And Mark has, we know that he's widowed, believes he's widowed. He's gone through a terrible tragedy.
He wants to escape. It's very dark.

Speaker 4 There's some truly dark moments. But then Trammell will, as Seth, Milchik, will go into that dance.
And I laughed. I mean, I was stood on my feet when that happened.

Speaker 4 I just, I, and because when you set up a world like Severance, when the comedy does come in, or not even comedy, just this, something comes in at an odd angle.

Speaker 4 And there's so many very funny moments, but it can come 30 seconds after someone really believes that the love of their life is gone forever. And so I'm at the mercy of the show, which I really like.

Speaker 4 I'm not, I'm just there to witness this world. I also have to say, I love the way the computers look, the way there's this kind of mid-80s, late 80s design ethic.

Speaker 4 And so the cars are very generic and square. And all of the stuff, I just, I find myself looking at the stuff and the way it's lit and the way the shots are composed.

Speaker 4 And, you know, we live in this world now where people say, was it a TV show or is it a movie?

Speaker 4 I think, well, I think we're beyond that now because yes, this is technically a television show, but as someone who has hosted the Oscars, I don't really see the difference anymore.

Speaker 4 You know, you string all of Severance together with different edits and you make some cuts here and there, and you make something that's three and a half hours long.

Speaker 4 And I don't see why that's not an Oscar-worthy film.

Speaker 2 That's actually what we're doing. We're about to do that.

Speaker 4 I think it's a little, I think it's late. I mean, I'm sorry.
It's a good idea, though.

Speaker 1 No, we're going to submit it as a movie next year.

Speaker 2 The same material. Okay, cool.

Speaker 4 Same material. And all it has to do is, I think, is play in a movie theater for 11 minutes.

Speaker 2 That's the tool.

Speaker 4 I ran into a movie theater and projected my HBO travel show onto a screen in Westwood, onto the screen illegally. And I was arrested and taken away.
But I know that that's now an Oscar.

Speaker 2 It's a movie. It's a movie.

Speaker 4 Right, absolutely.

Speaker 2 So you do what you have to do.

Speaker 4 You do what you have to do. That's the thing.

Speaker 4 When I first met Ben, he said he was so, he remembered he took me to son. He said, hey, you do what you have to do.
And I was like, why is he saying?

Speaker 2 You do what you got to do.

Speaker 4 And you were dressed as Eddie Munster in shorts. You were like, you do, and you were smoking.
You do what you got to do.

Speaker 4 So weird.

Speaker 2 And my father was standing behind you.

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Speaker 2 Okay, I have to ask, I have one question I have for you, and then I want to ask you if you have any burning questions about the show. Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 But my question for you is, when I came on your podcast, I said to you, there's a scene in the last episode of season two that I think you will appreciate.

Speaker 4 There are so many scenes. I mean, that's why.

Speaker 2 But there was one specific scene.

Speaker 4 You're asking me, what's the best sandwich I had in the last two years? I'm like, wait a minute.

Speaker 2 There was like a weird scene in the last episode that involved Tramel Tillman

Speaker 2 and it involved the Keir Egan statue.

Speaker 4 Oh, my God.

Speaker 2 The comedy routine. Yes.
I just thought of you when I was making that because I thought, oh, really? This thing is so weird.

Speaker 2 And the first edit of it, there were like two more jokes between the statue and Trummel that didn't go well.

Speaker 2 And I was, honestly, when we cut it together, I was like, this might be my favorite scene I've ever been a part of.

Speaker 2 And then everybody, when they got the first cut of the episode, I was like, hey, that the scene with Trummel and Kier, the statue thing, it's really great.

Speaker 2 Maybe we could, you know, cut it down a little bit. It goes on for a little bit.
45 minutes.

Speaker 4 Well, that's what always fascinates me: is what did it start as? Do you know what I mean? What was the original conception of it?

Speaker 2 The idea of bad jokes,

Speaker 2 of doing this comedy routine with a, with a mannequin and somehow bombing, but then also like him going off script.

Speaker 2 I just thought, I thought that would be like something somebody might do on your show back in the day.

Speaker 4 Yes, back in the day, we would have done that.

Speaker 4 We actually used to do a thing where we'd pretend that a guest had canceled and I would go to a big glass box that said in case of emergency and it was called emergency guests and I'd break it and I would put the guest in the a dummy in the chair.

Speaker 4 And my favorite thing is that it was just a crash test dummy in a tuxedo.

Speaker 4 And then the last one we did, the dummy threw to a clip that we spent a fortune on, where the dummy is riding.

Speaker 4 It's a crash test dummy in a tux that doesn't speak, riding on a horse, having a shootout with some. It was insane.
We didn't, we blew our budget for the year on the.

Speaker 4 But yeah, I love the, I mean, I love that. I love when Milchik gets the drawings throughout the years, the paintings.

Speaker 4 There's, there's a, what I like is that some people say, oh, yeah, that's great because it's weird. And I think, no, it's exquisitely weird, which is the term I would use.

Speaker 4 I always think there are comedy writers that say, oh, I, I get it. Arbitrary.
I like things that are just arbitrary. And I think there's good arbitrary, which is hard to find.

Speaker 4 And then there's just arbitrary, which is not that interesting to me. So when someone says a guy comes out in a gorilla suit and throws a pie in the air and it comes down, it's not a pie anymore.

Speaker 4 It's a balloon. I go, I'm not laughing.
But if someone changes the equation a little bit and some different things happen, there's a little bit of backstory. I'm laughing really hard.

Speaker 4 So I think that, you know, Milchik is someone who has so bought into this completely. He's deified Kira and now.

Speaker 2 Yeah, and he's also having to deal with the reality of where he, you know, how the company's treating him at that point.

Speaker 2 And he is, he's wrestling with that. And it's in a weird, you know, comedy routine.

Speaker 4 Also, I have to say, you did this. It was an episode where we see Milchik leave, and he puts on a motorcycle jacket and a helmet and gets on this motorcycle.
And he's got a tie.

Speaker 4 And I watched it, and it was aspirational for me because I thought, that's how I want to go through the world. I want to, I want, I've always loved like a really good, cool leather jacket.

Speaker 4 To ride a motorcycle like that with a tie, I thought he was, I just wanted that to be my life.

Speaker 4 I wanted my life he looked incredible he looked fantastic yeah and i just thought yeah that's the way why would you ever not dress like that and drive around on a motorcycle at night 100

Speaker 4 and i want to i want to be him i want to i want that for myself i don't want to get into my car and drive slowly down the 405 to go do a podcast i want to be darting through the night to accomplish something but it's very important that my white shirt is perfect.

Speaker 4 My black tie is perfect.

Speaker 2 I love it.

Speaker 1 I think that comedy routine thing, that Trammell and the mannequin, it feels like a old Conan bit.

Speaker 1 But the thing about it, as far as where it occurs in the show, it's we're also getting essential information about Milchik.

Speaker 1 It's not just like you were saying, Conan, like, oh, it's cool because it's weird. Yeah, maybe it's weird, but it's also, we have to learn this information about this character.

Speaker 1 It's essential to get from A to B, this little bridge right here.

Speaker 4 And this this is the thing that invites re-watching, which I think there are many shows below deck that don't merit rewatching.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I don't know about that.

Speaker 4 I'm sorry. That was a crazy thing to say.

Speaker 2 And I've brought

Speaker 2 Real Housewives of Beverly Hills merits re-watching. Okay, for sure.

Speaker 4 You're in a bunch of those.

Speaker 2 I know. I am not in any of the budgets.
You're in the background.

Speaker 2 They do recaps within the show because something will happen, they go to commercial and then they come back and they recap what you're doing.

Speaker 4 I always wanted to do 15 minutes. I thought of this bit a long time ago, and maybe someone's done it, but I thought of it, I had this idea, which is a show that recaps so much that it goes backwards.

Speaker 4 So you never, they just keep saying, is you remember on last episode and they, it goes for 15, 10 minutes about the last episode.

Speaker 4 And then they say, they open on the new one and someone just drives up and opens the door. And then they start

Speaker 4 recap. They go to commercial and recap.

Speaker 2 It starts going into the past.

Speaker 4 And yeah, and then it just starts before you know it, like Lincoln's there. And it's just,

Speaker 4 you're being pulled backwards. It's like the last line in Greg Gatsby, just pulled backwards, fighting the tide.
Oh, my goodness. But anyway, that's something for you guys to make happen.

Speaker 2 Great. We're going to work on that.
We should do that. Do you have any burning questions about the show?

Speaker 2 Before we're going to have a couple of questions from Colin people, but yeah, any burning questions?

Speaker 4 Well, burning questions, and I don't want to, obviously, you can't tell me a lot of things, but I love Gwendolyn Christie. I also think she's absolutely hilarious and divine.
And I

Speaker 2 am amazing. Amazing.

Speaker 4 And when we did the panel, I was so happy that she was there. I hadn't seen her in a couple of years.
And she was so, she's so funny and vibrant. That was a delight.
I want more of her.

Speaker 4 But one of the things that is,

Speaker 4 you know, Britt has this challenge as Helly and Helena, which is, I feel like I've had to go back and try and figure out when Helena is pretending to be Helie.

Speaker 4 It gets.

Speaker 4 so nuanced, but trying to,

Speaker 4 this is so nerdy, but trying to figure out, well, first of all, I was obsessed with, is it cheating, you know, for Adam's character, for Mark, is it cheating?

Speaker 4 And basically, that's just me trying to find loopholes wherever I can.

Speaker 4 I was severed, Liza.

Speaker 2 Would you want to be severed, Conan, ever?

Speaker 1 For the sole purpose of cheating.

Speaker 4 Yes, because then I can say, yeah, it wasn't me.

Speaker 4 You know, there is something.

Speaker 4 I've thought about this. There is a reason why people drink and do drugs.
They want to sever.

Speaker 2 100%.

Speaker 2 I think that there's a lot of metaphors within the idea of severing.

Speaker 4 Yeah. And people who are going through grief, the classic thing for them to do would be drugs and alcohol repeatedly over and over and over again because they need to sever.

Speaker 4 So yeah, there have been obviously times in my life where I've thought, I'll just have a couple of glasses of wine after that show or after that disappointment because I will

Speaker 4 I never got into drugs, but I'll, I just want to numb that. And oh, this, now I'm not, I'm not worried anymore.
But of course, it doesn't work in the long run. Um, people learn that.

Speaker 2 No, but, but it's part of human nature, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 4 Yeah, yeah. But I, so I'm, I, I want, I'm just, I don't know, my burning question would be,

Speaker 4 where does helly stop and helena start? Where does hell in a start and heli start? But there's not really an answer to it.

Speaker 4 It's just something that kind of fascinates me, you know, for good reason, I think.

Speaker 2 For sure.

Speaker 2 I mean, that's to me what's so interesting about the whole premise of the show is like how much of Mark is, you know, that he's cutting off from is integral to who he is, no matter any or outie, you know, besides what memories they share, just like, just general, like the makeup of what makes a person a person.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I, when you say any burning questions, there are too many.

Speaker 4 And almost in a way, I want to let my mind play a lot with a lot of this stuff and rather than be told, no, you're wrong, which I don't think you would do anyway.

Speaker 2 Yeah. No, no, I agree, honestly, because we get asked it all the time, you know, what is this about? What does that mean?

Speaker 2 And it's like, of course, you don't really want to tell people because you want them to have the experience of, you know, their own, their own interpretation.

Speaker 2 I think people just want to know that you have a plan.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I don't think anyone actually wants to know the answers to any of the questions. It's just fun to think about.

Speaker 4 I'll say this, that. There have been shows with this kind of power before and this kind of, you know, attention

Speaker 4 and that have drawn people in and everyone can talk about it and make their cut down videos and give their theories. There have been these kinds of shows before.

Speaker 4 I use that broadly because I think this show is exceptional in its execution, but there have been this kind of thing before.

Speaker 4 And then the television audience at some point starts to get the feeling that the people driving the boat don't really know where they're going. Right.
But that has not happened with Severance.

Speaker 4 And I feel like I'm in good hands.

Speaker 2 Well, I'm glad you feel that way.

Speaker 4 You don't know what you're doing, do you?

Speaker 4 I see you're writing. I see you're randomly.

Speaker 4 What if you ask me, how do you think it should end?

Speaker 4 Why? Just what would you do if you didn't have an ending? I mean, I do, but what would you do?

Speaker 2 All right, we have a couple of hotline questions. Adam?

Speaker 1 Yeah. Conan, while the second season was airing, we asked fans to call in with questions and reactions and stuff.
And we got so many voicemails. People are still calling in.

Speaker 1 We'd love to have you help us answer a few of them them if you're in.

Speaker 2 Sure.

Speaker 1 Yes, I will. The first one comes from Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard, who they've been fucking harassing me throughout season one and two.

Speaker 4 Look,

Speaker 4 these are terrible people.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 4 And really within the business, reviled.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no one likes it. That's for sure.

Speaker 2 I know. Please continue.

Speaker 2 Nobody wants to hang with me.

Speaker 1 So this one they sent after receiving screeners through episode six, but before the rest of the season had aired, so they were stuck in that limbo, having seen six episodes and then having to wait so we can play that one.

Speaker 5 Well, here we are again. You've led us to the slaughter once again, you selfish

Speaker 5 prick.

Speaker 6 Only thinking about yourself and your craft.

Speaker 5 Let Dick move. Give us six and then shut off the floodgates.

Speaker 6 It's unconscionable.

Speaker 5 You should be ashamed of yourself and then even worse to say that you are delivering the next four and here we are sitting with our dicks in our hands looking like fools with our family in town you embarrass me in front of my father-in-law

Speaker 5 you

Speaker 4 i'm glad that someone else had their dick in their hand while they were watching severance

Speaker 4 i don't feel like a perv anymore that's our goal um again i cannot stress enough i know that these you know i like their commercials as much as anyone else, but they are within the industry, and Adam and Ben agree, they are reviled.

Speaker 4 Dexter, Kristen.

Speaker 1 Very cute, both of them.

Speaker 4 I didn't say they weren't maybe two of the most attractive people I've ever seen, but reviled. That's right.

Speaker 2 It's the contrast, but how attractive they are, but yet

Speaker 4 it's the devil. The devil will come to you as a very good-looking, successful businessman or actor.
But

Speaker 4 I see where they're coming from, which is they're living in there. I don't, I'm not in the bubble, the Hollywood bubble.
I've just was never invited.

Speaker 2 Like I wasn't invited to

Speaker 2 Mark Twain thing. Okay.
No.

Speaker 4 No, no, you're in the bubble.

Speaker 2 You're so in the bubble that no one had the guts to call you.

Speaker 2 Right. That's what I've heard, too.
No, no, you're like a director.

Speaker 1 You're in the bubble, you are.

Speaker 4 Yeah, you're so in the bubble. You're in like three bubbles.
Adam's in and out of the bubble. He, you know, he came to the bubble late.

Speaker 4 He's not, he's still trying to find where things are in the bubble. He's on the bubble.
He's on the bubble, inside a bubble.

Speaker 1 I'm still getting used to.

Speaker 4 Yeah, you're still acclimating.

Speaker 2 Where is michael boble is he where is he he's in the boobla okay he's in the boobla okay

Speaker 4 so stupid but it's making me happy um but i think that's a common thing celebrities like that who've been in the bubble so long think i get to watch they think they're the president and that Ben Stiller is going to come and screen all of severance at the Oval Office, you know?

Speaker 1 Right. Yeah, they get to watch whatever they want whenever they want.

Speaker 4 Yeah, and that's the kind of arrogance, if they're listening, yeah, um,

Speaker 4 entitlement, uh, yeah, Dax, and I'm just, I don't even think Dax is his real name. I don't think that's that's some kind of

Speaker 4 gigabyte or something. I, I, I don't, it's probably Richard.

Speaker 2 Yes, his real last name is Shmulevitz. That's Dax Shmulevitz.
I knew it. Yeah.
Okay, here's question, another question, question two.

Speaker 7 Hi, my name is Vanessa,

Speaker 7 and my question is:

Speaker 7 what do you think the cast

Speaker 7 for severance would be in the Muppet remake of the show, A la Muppet Treasure Island, or Muppet Christmas Carol?

Speaker 7 I play this with my husband and the rules are everyone is a Muppet except for one person who is a human. So just curious what your thoughts might be.
Thanks so much. We're enjoying the show.
Bye.

Speaker 1 Okay, so these are people who think about the Muppets quite a bit.

Speaker 4 I have to say, this is tricky for me because I haven't watched a Muppet Venture in quite some time. I know Jason Siegel did a very good Muppet

Speaker 4 that was very good.

Speaker 1 That was awesome.

Speaker 4 It was really good. And I remember watching it and loving it.
And he actually invited me on set. I've never been invited on set anywhere, Ben.

Speaker 2 Were you on? Oh, sorry. Were you on Sesame Street ever?

Speaker 4 I think I was on. Yes, I was on Sesame Street and had one of the most horrifying experiences of my life, which is they invited me to that

Speaker 4 studio, that iconic studio. And I walked in and I was going to shoot my thing on Sesame Street.
And I looked up and Snuffalufagus was being stored. So Snuffalufagus was lashed to the ceiling.

Speaker 4 And it looked like Anthony Hopkins from Silence of the Lambs had gutted him and flayed him out. the way he does with the security, the policeman in

Speaker 4 the guard in Silence of the Lambs. Yes, exactly.
And it just looked like he was the victim of a cruel, sick, mass murderer.

Speaker 4 And I just thought, if you're going to store him, put a tarp over that because it's upsetting.

Speaker 4 That's a really good question. I don't, I think Michael Chernis, who plays Ricken, I think he's the Swedish chef.

Speaker 1 Oh, 100%.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Perfect.
That is perfect. This is interesting.
I have to think about this too, because also there's the other layer of the Muppet Treasure Island or Muppet Christmas.

Speaker 2 So then there's like a Muppet character, and then there's another character on top of it.

Speaker 1 Oh, you're like Muppet characters playing.

Speaker 2 It's even more confusing, right? Yeah. Like, if they're just a Muppet, there's one thing.
But then if it's like Ebenezer Scrooge, who was the Muppet Scrooge? Was it, I guess it must have been

Speaker 2 Kermit. Kermit, I guess he got all the leads.

Speaker 1 Michael Caine played Scrooge in the Muppet Christmas game.

Speaker 2 Oh, wow. Oh, not Kermit.
It was Michael.

Speaker 2 He was another amazing actor. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So maybe Michael Caine would play Mark.

Speaker 2 I think Kermit would be Mark, right? Yeah, probably. Yeah.
Yeah. How many female Muppets are there?

Speaker 4 I just realized there aren't nearly as many.

Speaker 4 You know what? Muppets, now we're realizing Boys Club.

Speaker 2 Yeah, right? That's right.

Speaker 4 I hope I didn't just say something that topples an empire, but if I did, you know, my apologies to Lisa Henson and the Henson gang.

Speaker 2 Okay, let's do one last question. One last question.

Speaker 9 Hello, Ben, and I assume, Adam. I'm just calling because I'm wondering if you guys can discuss some of the inspirations that went into Severance.

Speaker 9 You know, movies, TV shows, books, that kind of thing. It's such a cool and unique concept.
I guess I'm just wondering what,

Speaker 9 you know,

Speaker 4 brought together.

Speaker 9 Anyways, great tier. Lots of love, Mark.
Talk to you soon.

Speaker 1 First of all, what does he mean? Hello, Ben, and I assume, Adam.

Speaker 2 I guess he just assumes that you're on the podcast, too. Pretty rated sometimes.

Speaker 4 No, I think, yeah, it's kind of sad. Like, look, we know, yeah, Ben's there, and I guess Adam's probably wormed his his way in, you know?

Speaker 1 Yeah, he's, he might be there somewhere.

Speaker 2 Who cares? Cowering, cowering. Can you tell us what our inspirations were?

Speaker 4 Yes, I think I'm going to take this question. This will enrage this fan that I don't let you guys talk about what the inspirations were.

Speaker 4 There's so much I could say, but it feels stupid for me to talk at all during this. I think you guys have the mic and you should go.

Speaker 2 Go.

Speaker 2 You know, what I would just say to that, going back to what you're like, when I asked you about you doing your interviews for your podcast, how you said you kind of like go from like, this is what resonates or whatever.

Speaker 2 I feel like, because I've been asked that question a lot, we've been asked about like, what are the influences, but at this point in our lives, when you've been like doing this stuff for a long time, I feel like a lot of the influences of things are just sort of the things that are in you and that you're in tune with.

Speaker 2 Right. Yes.

Speaker 2 And that you resonate with, like you were saying, and you kind of go to an image or to, you know, of course we like pull out photographs and talk about movies and things like that, but ultimately it's something that just resonates within you that feels familiar, but its own thing.

Speaker 2 And I try to go off of that as much as possible because, you know, it's getting back to the thing of like, okay, what are you interested in when you're talking to somebody?

Speaker 2 It's the same thing when we're making something. It's like, what am I interested in seeing?

Speaker 4 What would I want to see? Also, what comes to mind and feels right in this moment. And that's at this point for all of us.
It's not a choice.

Speaker 4 I could spend my life's dream to recreate the war room in Doctor Strangelove. That's what I want to do.
No, I always think of it because it's the same thing in music.

Speaker 4 imagine you're a blender and since you were born people have been throwing stuff in there or you've been adding things things have been going in there that resonate with you so i'm a blender that's got warner brothers cartoons the marks brothers but it also has for better or worse

Speaker 4 insane 70s television but also sctv but also watching Johnny Carson with my dad and Johnny Carson's a blender that watched a lot of Jack Benny. So I've picked up stuff from people I don't even know.

Speaker 4 And so a good musician, they're supposed to have big ears, which is be listening to everything. And then they're channeling.
They might be channeling something they're not even aware of.

Speaker 4 And so I think I agree with what you're saying, that you're not consciously coming in saying, okay, last night I watched.

Speaker 4 Bridget Jones' diary and that I want that to be the aesthetic for the show, which is.

Speaker 2 But that was actually the original.

Speaker 4 I know, but you failed. But that's, I can just see that we're making decisions that we're not even aware where they're coming from.

Speaker 2 But maybe maybe at this point, if, you know, like at least knowing enough to try to trust a little bit to take, right, to sometimes take those chances and just go, okay, at this point, like, if it fails, yeah, it sucks.

Speaker 2 If it fails, it doesn't feel good, but it's not the end of the world. And so you just kind of go for it.

Speaker 1 Yeah. There's also that like almost sixth sense that you have to have of this thing will work or this thing works and this does not.
Yes.

Speaker 1 And that sort of fine line between something working and not working is an educated guess based on all of the things we've absorbed over the years.

Speaker 4 And it's a guess. It's always a guess.

Speaker 4 And that's when I talk to young people, I say, that's the bad news is I always think I'm maybe 30 seconds away from making a very bad choice or making something that's not good.

Speaker 4 And you need that little frison of fear of.

Speaker 4 I'm afraid. I'm afraid this might not work out.
And I think that's the secret sauce.

Speaker 4 I hate to say it be nice if yeah you know we were just happy go lucky chaps making stuff and it was all great but that's not how it is so you can mostly trust your instincts but then you have to ask people around you did we overdo it with the ochre color that we're using did we is this ceiling too low in the shot is this you know there's always got to be self-doubt yeah for sure making stuff means there's a risk.

Speaker 4 There's a risk. And even though you guys have had great success with all kinds of stuff, I'm sure you're like me in that it doesn't matter.
When something doesn't work, it really hurts.

Speaker 4 It's still painful.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 4 Not for me. I figured that out.

Speaker 2 Conan, thank you for coming on our podcast. Well,

Speaker 4 this was not a chore. This is like, hey, do you want to hang with these two people you really love and admire and talk about? your favorite show and i go yeah

Speaker 4 i'll do that that's nice man thank you man yeah i really am very excited for what comes next and happy for both of you that the show has been recognized and hailed and it means so much to so many people.

Speaker 4 This is great.

Speaker 2 It's great. Thanks, man.
Thank you. And I'm happy for you.
You just killed on the Oscars and you're hosting next year. And I think that's incredible.

Speaker 4 You know what I could do on the Oscars next time around is just announce quickly, I'll just bring an envelope out and say in the winner is Severance.

Speaker 1 Yeah. See, I was going to say, thank you

Speaker 2 great if you could.

Speaker 4 Thank you.

Speaker 4 $75, Venmo. If you each Venmo meet that.
$75. $75 from each of you.

Speaker 2 We could figure that out.

Speaker 1 That comes to over $150.

Speaker 4 I think that's $300. It's been a while.

Speaker 2 We could actually put that on the budget of the podcast. Sure.
We could do that. Thanks, Conan.
Thank you, guys.

Speaker 1 Take care. Thank you, Conan.
Thanks, man.

Speaker 2 Take it easy, man.

Speaker 1 Oh, that was great. Conan's the best.

Speaker 2 He is. He is really

Speaker 2 so friggin' funny. Yeah.
It's annoying, right?

Speaker 1 It is annoying. And

Speaker 1 I'm glad you said that because I also wanted to talk about just aside from how annoyingly funny he is, also just annoying generally.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I know. He's always on.
And

Speaker 2 I love him, but I wish there was an off switch. You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 Me too.

Speaker 2 Me too.

Speaker 1 I love that you were able to articulate it.

Speaker 2 Yeah, thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Well, our next guest we are not going to talk about after they're off the show.
Not at all.

Speaker 2 This is exciting, though, because we have an expert severance podcaster. He's the host of Severed, the ultimate severance podcast.
He stole our name because that's what we wanted.

Speaker 1 I know, we did.

Speaker 2 Yeah. So we should talk to him about that.
His name is Alan Stair, also known as Alan S.

Speaker 2 Alan S. Welcome.
Thank you for being with us.

Speaker 1 Hey, Alan S.

Speaker 2 How you guys?

Speaker 4 Oh my goodness. I feel like I know you guys.
I've been talking about you for so long. It is so wonderful to meet you.

Speaker 2 Thank you. Alan, you have a great voice.

Speaker 2 Do you have a radio background?

Speaker 4 I started in radio in 1980 at 15 years old. Three months before my 16th birthday, I walked into a radio station.
They were looking for somebody and I got a job.

Speaker 2 You obviously have the more professional radio voice. And thank you for devoting your this time to the show and creating this podcast, which is incredible and goes so deep.
I mean, how did this begin?

Speaker 4 Well, this is my retirement hobby, basically, this, this podcast thing. Wow.
During the pandemic, my business, I had an advertising and marketing little company that I ran out of my house.

Speaker 4 I had a couple dozen clients. Most of them closed because they were retail.
So the pandemic shut them down. So it was kind of a situation where I'm closing in.
I'm 59 years old.

Speaker 4 It's like I can go out and try and build the business back up. Or what if I just quit? So I retired.
And I still had all this audio production equipment.

Speaker 4 So we're bopping around the house, just looking for something to do. I'm a huge fan of WKRP in Cincinnati.
It was the reason I got into radio from 1978 to 82, the sitcom.

Speaker 1 That's great.

Speaker 4 Yeah. So great show.

Speaker 2 I love that show.

Speaker 4 So we did this 90-episode WKRP podcast, and my wife did it with me. And we just had a blast.

Speaker 4 So when it was all done, I was looking for another podcast project, and I was seeing Seth Meyers talking about this incredible show he'd watched called Severance and then Stephen Colbert is talking about Severance and I thought, oh, to check those guys out.

Speaker 4 And I knew Adam Scott was involved with it, who I always, you know, I'm a big fan of yours going back years and years. I was a big Parks and Rec fan.
Thank you.

Speaker 4 So I binged it that summer after it came out, a summer of 22, and I watched the entire thing in one night. Did all episodes.
I was so drawn into it.

Speaker 4 And the first thing I did was go look for a podcast talking about the show. I wanted to know who wrote it, where did you shoot it? What are the motivations for it? Who directed it?

Speaker 4 You know, just everything. And there were at the time only like four or five podcasts out there.

Speaker 4 So I got on a couple of them and listened and they were people sitting around a microphone going, wasn't that cool? That was amazing. Can you believe they did that?

Speaker 4 And I'm like, where did they shoot it? I want to know what that building is where they show up in that first episode. That was the first piece of information I looked up about the show.

Speaker 4 I googled where did they shoot those scenes and I found the Holmedell complex and that kind of launched me into it.

Speaker 4 And it was six months of writing and research and finding articles and finding interviews and working on scripts.

Speaker 4 And it was not until the following January of 23 that I dropped the first episodes covering the first season.

Speaker 2 Oh, my goodness. So you actually prepared for this.
Oh, and you wrote. Wow, you wrote stuff.

Speaker 4 Well, I'm in advertising, man. You don't say anything off the top of your head in advertising.
Every word is written out. So I just don't do that.
I'm not much of an extemporaneous kind of guy.

Speaker 4 So I do write out all the scripts. And that also, I'm concerned about getting the info and the details right.

Speaker 4 As this is going on, I search out interviews and I'm looking for interviews with people who are actually involved with the show.

Speaker 4 You guys, your crew, the cast, you know, anybody who's directly involved with the show is going to know the most about what's going on.

Speaker 4 For the first season, I bookmarked about 100 articles that contained information about the first season and, you know, were interviews and type things.

Speaker 4 We're currently at over 600 articles about season two

Speaker 4 research that is going on going into this, these podcasts I'm creating for season two. So it's taking a lot longer and it's winding up.

Speaker 4 I'm doing two to two and a half hours on a single episode of the show because we've got so much more information out there.

Speaker 4 And I'm taking a couple of weeks off because I need to kind of catch up.

Speaker 2 I was going to say, Alan, I think you should take a vacation.

Speaker 2 You deserve a break.

Speaker 4 This is, like I said, this is my hobby. My wife in retirement is painting and needle pointing.
I'm making podcasts. I get up every day looking forward to it.

Speaker 4 It's like, ooh, I'm scripting this or I'm going to edit this. I'm, you know, working, working on something new here.

Speaker 2 I mean, what a treat for us, you know, to be able to have this conversation with you and really feel how passionate you are and also how much attention you pay.

Speaker 2 I know it's there, but like, it's honestly, like, I've never, I've been doing this for a long time.

Speaker 2 It's like very rare that people pay this much attention and care this much about something to analyze it and to, you know, kind of ask the question.

Speaker 2 So it's, I just want to say, really, I really appreciate it. And it's really cool for us.
So let me ask: what's your favorite part of the show?

Speaker 2 What is it that you love about the show the most in terms of like what pulls you into it and really draws you in?

Speaker 4 It's the overall conceit of the severance theory, of the severance procedure.

Speaker 4 The idea of that.

Speaker 4 And I remember in the second episode, when we saw what was happening through the portal, the doorway portal with Heli, and how things were happening on the other side, that's when it dawned on me.

Speaker 4 And when we had Mark coming down in the elevator again and again and again, and then that relentless repetition of being an any,

Speaker 4 it just bowled me over. I thought, this is so cool.
That so intrigued me. And I got it.
Like, you know, the first time it was presented, I'm like, ooh, I understand that.

Speaker 4 And wow, that would be a weird existence. And that is really what drew me into it was that central conceit of the severance procedure.

Speaker 1 That is so cool, Alan, because that is exactly what drew me in the first time Ben just sort of told me the idea over the phone before I had ever even read a script or anything.

Speaker 1 He just told me the central conceit. And I was like,

Speaker 2 that is cool. That's it.

Speaker 1 That's cool. And it's something you can just keep turning over in your mind and start kind of thinking about and considering all of the potential of this idea.

Speaker 1 That's really, really so much fun that that's the thing that triggered your interest.

Speaker 4 It was so different, so unique, so, you know, so out there, but then also so incredibly relatable as someone who spent 12 years out at an advertising agency in cubicle land.

Speaker 4 Yeah, if you could switch your brain off for eight or 10 hours a day, that might be cool sometimes. Not always, but you know, some days it just might be a really good thing to do.

Speaker 4 But yeah, that was the thing that really drew me in. And then the performances are fantastic.

Speaker 4 The writing is so tight and so, there's, there, there's rarely a clunky scene where you feel like, you know, it didn't feel natural or the text didn't come off very well there.

Speaker 4 You guys really, you know, really, the writing is so great. So just a lot of that came together to draw me into it.
But I think that just that being severed.

Speaker 4 And right now I'm working on the rewatch episodes for season two, going back through and ripping those all apart in great detail.

Speaker 4 And I'm right now working with the scenes actually where you're talking to Heli in the hallways after it's been revealed that she was the imposter for four episodes.

Speaker 4 And she's trying to convince you she's really Heli R. And you're very hesitant to believe that.
And that added another layer onto it.

Speaker 4 It's like, wow, not only are you, you know, potentially this any, but now you could maybe not not be the any. And that even adds another level of intrigue to it.
And you know, now looking

Speaker 4 the way I am going back through starting this rewatch and really ripping apart every detail and looking at every scene very, very closely, there's so much foreshadowing.

Speaker 2 By the way, I have to say, that's a director's dream to have somebody.

Speaker 4 Oh, to rip it apart frame by frame, cut by cut.

Speaker 2 Yeah. I mean,

Speaker 2 that's amazing that you actually are spending the time doing that, but it actually is appreciated as, you know, when you're making this stuff, that somebody cares enough to spend the time watching stuff like that.

Speaker 4 It is that good.

Speaker 2 What's like the biggest sort of interaction you have with people in terms of like what they ask you about or what people are interested in in discussing? Because there's so many different things.

Speaker 2 Is there like one area or one question that comes up a lot, or anything that even thoughts, questions that you have about the show?

Speaker 4 I have sitting in front of me here some notes that I've been putting together.

Speaker 4 One of them, and I base this, okay, now I've got a very strong theory on this, and I firmly believe one way versus versus the other.

Speaker 4 But when we saw the elevator panel in the security office, I identified that as being the severed floor is 13 levels below Judd's desk. You are down 130 feet plus when you're on the severed floor.

Speaker 4 And there are all these floors in between that are listed there on that panel that show you, you know, there's IT, I think, and, you know, there are a couple of executive suites.

Speaker 4 There are so many folks that believe that window in Cobel's office has natural light coming from like 20 feet above it, that you're just a level or two below the main building, where I believe we're 13 floors below ground, and that is entirely artificial light outside of Cobel's floor.

Speaker 4 So that is my question, and that is, that is a debate that I could throw that out right now and have 50 people jump on it on Reddit and tell you, you'd have 50 different explanations of what's going on.

Speaker 4 So are they really 13 13 floors below ground?

Speaker 2 We can neither confirm nor deny any of these things.

Speaker 4 All right, so that, okay, so that's one. Well, that's a good one.

Speaker 2 What's the other one? What's the other one? Okay. Yeah.

Speaker 4 This is a big one. And I've also got a very strong belief one way or the other on this.
Is the severance chip a switch or is it a storage device?

Speaker 4 I've always believed it's a switch and it uses the storage capacity of the brain by partitioning the brain like it's a hard drive. So one hard drive is your innie, one hard drive is your Audi.

Speaker 4 You might have multiple, like we find out with Gemma, she has multiple hard drives. She's been partitioned into, you know, 25 different rooms.

Speaker 4 So there's a big faction out there that believes the chip is a storage device that we're actually loading the entire innie's personality onto that chip, which then means that chip could be moved from one person to another and carry an innie personality to another

Speaker 4 or to a goat. You know, that's also out there.

Speaker 4 So that is another one of those huge questions. Is it a switch or is it a storage device?

Speaker 2 Well, my background in neuroscience speaks for itself.

Speaker 4 Yes, you're ears and ears.

Speaker 2 I know you're we know we did, you know, look, I'm not going to say anything either way on this at all, but

Speaker 2 I feel personally that I have a clear sense of what it is too. And I think at the end of the day, we're trying to like just be true to the rules of what we've established.

Speaker 2 And you don't want to have any things that feel like, oh, this was created for convenience or things like that.

Speaker 4 Or you're changing the rules down the line.

Speaker 4 Exactly. You don't

Speaker 2 allow to change the rules down the line.

Speaker 1 That's not happening. But Alan, can I just say these are such excellent questions and observations.
I know.

Speaker 2 Oh, goodness.

Speaker 1 And all I'll say about that one, the storage device versus a switch. Those are two vastly different things.

Speaker 2 That's all I would say about it.

Speaker 1 Well, we can't thank you enough, Alan. We hope you cover this podcast appearance on your podcast.
Everybody listen to Severed, the ultimate severance podcast with Alan S., Alan Stare, our buddy. Yeah,

Speaker 2 appreciate you keeping the word alive in between seasons, too.

Speaker 4 Thank you so much, guys, for letting me be on the show. This is amazing.

Speaker 2 So great. All right, man.
WKRP in Cincinnati. Yes.
Yes.

Speaker 1 All right. That's it for this episode.
We are so happy to be back.

Speaker 1 And the Severance podcast with Ben and Adam will be back next week to talk more about the movies and TV shows that have influenced us.

Speaker 2 And you can stream every episode of Severance on Apple TV Plus.

Speaker 1 The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller and Adam Scott is a presentation of Odyssey, Red Hour Productions, and Great Scott.

Speaker 2 If you like the show, be sure to rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your other podcast platform of choice. It really makes a difference.

Speaker 1 If you've got a question about Severance, call our hotline, 212-830-3816.

Speaker 1 We just might play your voicemail and answer your question on the podcast.

Speaker 2 Our executive producers are Barry Finkel, Gabrielle Lewis, Naomi Scott, and Leah Rhys-Dennis. This show is produced by Ben Goldberg.
It's mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.

Speaker 2 We have additional engineering from Hobby Cruces.

Speaker 1 Show clips are courtesy of fifth season. Music by Theodore Shapiro.

Speaker 1 Special thanks to the team at Odyssey, Maura Curran, Eric Donnelly, Michael LeVey, Melissa Wester, Kate Rose, Kurt Courtney, and Hilary Schuff.

Speaker 2 And the team at Red Hour, John Lescher, Carolina Pesakov, Jean-Pablo Antonetti, Martin Balderutin, Ashwin Ramesh, Maria Noto, John Baker, and Sam Lyon.

Speaker 1 And at Great Scott, Kevin Cotter, Josh Martin, and Christy Smith at Rise Management.

Speaker 2 Thanks again to our good friend, Conan O'Brien, for joining us on the podcast.

Speaker 1 I'm Ben Stiller. And I'm Adam Scott.

Speaker 2 Thank you for listening.