Conan O’Brien Must Go Writers Roundtable

0:21Hello, I'm Conan O 'Brien. Today is a little unusual. Normally this is the slot where I talk to someone in the world. a fan and have a nice chat. And I really do enjoy those conversations. Today's a little different. Today is April 18th, which first of all happens to be my birthday. So far, no gifts. Oh, happy birthday. Yeah. Thanks a lot. This is your gift. Yeah. I'm very excited because today we are dropping four specials that I did for Max called Conan O 'Brien Must Go. And the format relates to this podcast. How it works is I talk to fans, sometimes the United States and often around the world who listen to the podcast.

1:03And we decided it might be fun as I'm chatting with these people in different countries to maybe drop in on them and get involved in their lives and follow up on some of the things they brought up in their podcast interview. And so that's what the show is. Conor O 'Brien Must Go is me going to four different countries, Norway, Argentina, Thailand, and Ireland, and surprising fans that talked to me on the podcast and then getting involved in their lives a little bit and then moving on and exploring the country. Interfering in their lives. Interfering, yeah. So joining me today are some of the people that were instrumental in helping me build this show.

1:44Mike Sweeney. Hello. Happy birthday. I can't believe you forced us together so we could just say happy birthday to you. Very clever. Well, anyway, thanks for your help on the show and I'm looking forward to my present. Jesse Gaskell Hi Conan Thank you for being here And Matt O 'Brien No relation And then of course Jason Chilemi We call him Chills These are the people That were sort of The nuclear core Of helping me Make this show And now I'll let you all Speak freely about What a genius I am I've written these comments For you And they're right in front of you You can read them now We'll go in order of heights Let me say up front, these are people that I've been working with for a number of years on my shows, and they've worked with me before on travel shows.

2:34And when I put this project together, I wanted them to join me, and I was very lucky that they did. We are here today to discuss the show, talk about it, give you a little insight into how this program was made. We go to four countries. The first one we went to was Norway. and then the second one we went to was Thailand. Then we went to Argentina and we finally ended up going to Ireland each time visiting a fan. And I was impressed. We did manage to surprise most of these people. They didn't know we were coming. And so there was a lot of logistics involved in that because you can't take a plane ride for 15 hours and go to a foreign country and then find out that someone's gone on vacation or moved.

3:20They're in LA. We just don't feel like being on camera. So we had to, Mike, maybe you could explain how we figured out the way to let them know that we might need them as a follow up to their podcast interview, but not let them know that I was coming. Well, Jason was kind of. Chills. Chills. Chills. I apologize. Chills would have to, each fan was different. So some were like, I'm going to be here. We would just – chills would reach out to them and say, hey. We sent out feelers, yeah. Yeah, we sent out feelers, make sure they're going to be around. Then it was – we came up with a construct that, oh, you know what?

4:01We might be doing kind of a behind the scenes of some of our fans and we would just send a cameraman there to shoot you for the day. Shoot some B-roll, yeah. We love your podcast interview with Conan. We want to shoot some B-roll. And we'd leave you out of it. Right. Right. Now, the problem is, and that worked for the most part, occasionally I would show up in a country and it would show up on their social media that I was around. Right. But then, you know, Jason would probably have to put out the word. Chills. Chills. Sorry. Wrong of me. Chills would have to get out the word that, no, no, Conan's in country, but he refuses to meet with you.

4:38Because he's an absolute prick. And that, you know, just to sort of really throw them off the trail. Yeah, he's blocks away. He's right, turn around. Hey, I'm looking out my window. He's two alleys from here. Yeah, yeah, but he wants to peek in your window, but he won't come in. He shoots the B roll himself. Yeah, yeah. People have always asked me, why do I, what is it about these travel shows I like so much? I love, we can, there's not much we can control. And I've had many people say to me, well, that must be terrifying. And I find that to be liberating and really fun. We never quite know what the gold is gonna be.

5:14and random things will happen. I'll bump into people on the street, like in Norway, who are just perfect comedy foils. We couldn't ask for better people. Or there's a scene in Norway where I'm on a boat and I'm holding something. I'm sorry, where I'm in Thailand and I'm on a river and I'm holding something that I've been handed, which is quite obscene. And just then a boatload of an American family goes by and I quickly, But if you asked the greatest comedy directors in the world to try and manufacture that moment, it wouldn't happen. Because I've looked at that scene, and you guys have looked at these things in editing a lot.

5:53The timing is perfect because it's an accident. Yes. You lose your luggage. I mean, that was just something that made everything. Yeah, I lost my luggage on one of the trips and had to go. And I went across the street, and I needed to buy some clothes. And right across the street, there was an absurd shop that only specialized in making traditional costumes, Norwegian costumes that people wore like 200 years ago. And no one's ever bought one. No one. No one. So I couldn't believe someone came into their shop. Really? No. And so I bought one and then I walk out on the street and the first guy I run into is just so happy to talk to me and tell me what an idiot I am.

6:36And not to be mean, but just to be very honest in a very, I'm guessing, Norwegian way. Yes. But it was... Everyone there was very straightforward. Very straightforward. Refreshingly matter of fact. Yes. Yeah, not hamming it up. And we had a really good time. The fans, 201, were great. The fans were... Yes. Because one of the things that I've noticed, too, is there's that second where they're happy, excited to see you. Like, oh, Conan, you're here. that's cool but then they very quickly are just themselves right which i like because then they start giving me shit uh they're not afraid to point out when i've made a mistake uh and again hanging out yeah they're just hanging out and um that was they were all funny they were all fine and smart yeah they were they were just great and i think meeting them meeting them on their turf makes them feel a little more comfortable well often go i mean i think almost every time i go into their homes with one or two exceptions i i i surprise them and then i go right into their homes and start finding and start finding things and again it's real and uh it's uh it's in the moment and it was really fun and um but i have to say you know we've all you know worked uh done these remote shoots before all of us have worked on them for years one of the nice things now is we're working with max and they told us we want this to look really great yeah we got this incredible unit uh we have these these women are spectacular emily emily topper is our director of photography yeah and and she's fantastic and emily strong's doing sound right and brenda brenda Yes.

8:29Ziniga. Brenda, when we were in Argentina, at one point I'm on a horse and we needed a shot. And Brenda grabs a camera and jumps onto a horse facing backwards at the camera. Completely unfazed. Completely unfazed and gets the shot. And I thought, who are these three Amazons? She was unbelievable. Were kicking ass. She's like, I've done this before. She goes, I'll just sit backwards and follow the lead horse. I'll just ride the horse backwards and shoot you with no hands. And we're all like, because we're like, do we need a truck, a flatbed? And meanwhile, she's on the horse. Yeah, she's already up there.

9:08Yoo-hoo. Yeah, I'm over here solving the problem, you idiots. Yeah, and it's a great look. I mean, the... The drones. Drones. Oh, yeah. I mean, we've never had... Drones were new. We've never had... Sometimes we messed around with drones, but we got these really good drone operators in every country. And, you know, my thought was a really good travel show should look absolutely gorgeous. And then all of the other ones teach you about the country. And it's very important to me that you learn nothing about the country. That's your guarantee. It removes knowledge. Yes. If you had knowledge about the country beforehand and you watch my show, I do think you'll laugh.

9:50but it will erase any useful real knowledge about the country. I love the drone operators in Norway. It was two guys. Oh my God, they were great. And they're like, they just did succession and we're like, wow. Because a lot of succession. Because succession loves to shot in Norway. That's what I was getting. When we came back. Just to remind people, the last season of succession, half the season takes place when they go and... Skarsgård's character. Yeah, Skarsgård's character. I meet with him and they're in Norway. So they shot there and they had just worked on that when we worked with them. And these guys, then we were, I was like, oh my God, you just worked on Succession and now you're with Conan O 'Brien.

10:33Like how the mighty have fallen. But they were great. But there's this climactic scene and big scene in Succession in this big yard, this giant party by a river. And I'm watching it. And then I see the drone guys and we're like, oh my God. They made it in. And they're playing drone guys in the show. But you know what's great is that they were salivating for us to come up with comedy ideas where they could pull off something really amazing. Right. And so that was a joy. There was just a lot. I have to say that it can be very tiring. It's a lot of work to go to fly so far. And then we usually have to hit the ground running right away.

11:16but um the minute we get out there and start talking to people i mean ireland we went to ireland to visit a fan just anyone you bump into in ireland is a professional comedian it's not their profession right but they could be yeah if there's just something in the water yeah oh man yes there are some uh hilarious people you spoke to in ireland the other cool thing in ireland was you you're walking down the street and and people were just like stunned it was you and then they they took their their earbuds out and said i'm listening to your podcast yeah yeah people i ran into people in ireland who were listening to the podcast as i ran into them and then this made me really happy we were shooting something on the river liffey which is the river that bisects uh dublin it means cuts it in two man and um but anyway he and so can we take that out Can you actually make it play twice?

12:13Yeah, loop it. So anyway. Loop reverb. Yeah. So anyway, I'm standing there by the River Liffey and this cab drives by and someone rolls down the window and goes, there was talk of gerbils. One of the catchphrases from the podcast. And I was so happy that my people left this country. I go back to the actual plot of land that my people had, that my great-grandfather had. We left in 1871 because, you know, we couldn't make it there anymore and went to the United States. And all these years later, I've come back and my legacy is this obscene story about Mickey Rooney talking about Richard Gere having gerbils in his ass.

13:02It lives on. Ah, the O 'Briens come back. There's talk of gerbils, I tell you. believe it or not that came for full circle yeah it really did i can't go to detail it was um it was fantastic and the other thing that um i think was an elevation i hope people i think people will like these but because we got to up the ante a little bit with these have this uh nice budget we could do these set pieces with real costumes and go to real locations so there's a lot of improvisation and me walking around in my regular street clothes being me. But then there are these set pieces that we wanted them, and we really wanted them to look like this could be from a movie.

13:48It's very cinematic. And of course, because we have Topper and her team, they were able to pull off the look and we had costumes. I mean, Shills, you were a part of that, getting me, making sure that we had everything we needed in the country. Fake mustache. Yeah, fake mustache. I mean, I carry some with me, but the TSA is always - A pipe, a pipe for every occasion. The TSA is always really suspicious when a guy comes through with 35 mustaches. None of your business, let me through. In Ireland, we had a lot of facial hair, a lot of hair. A lot of, yeah. Oh, we were smuggling it. There was a lot of fake facial hair we shipped in and costumes.

14:33And what's really fun is Scott Cronick, who gets the wardrobe together, always comes to my house. Fitting perfect. Like two days before I leave for the country, wherever it is. And he'll come in with all this insane stuff. Options, yeah. Options where I'm a Viking or a lighthouse keeper, or I'm a, you know. A soccer goalie. I'm a soccer goalie, I'm a gaucho. And you know, all these insane looks, and I'm a leprechaun and whatever. He's bringing all this stuff in and dressing me up in them. and invariably my wife will walk in not knowing that this was going on and I'm standing there and she's just like, oh Jesus.

15:11Turns right around. Role play. This is what I'm married. Yeah, exactly. Every woman dreams of a sexy lighthouse keeper. But... What a tower. No, but just getting to recreate some of those, do those cinematic moments, which we haven't really had a chance to do fully before. You get to do some acting. I don't know if that's what it's called. Different forms of shouting. I remember the Viking makeup woman. It's like a two-hour drive to this Viking reenactment. Oh, my God. And so I'm just thinking, like, well, you know, she can maybe start stuff on the bus. And she's like, no, no, no. We need to be in a separate room.

15:58I need to plug in for the lights. I need all this space. And she was a real professional. She was like, get away from me. I'll make it happen. Let me do my job. I'll tell you something. It's the difference between all those years when we would do remotes and run and gun quickly. And it was, I would be, the mustache would be in my back pocket. And I'd be in a van. And then I'd like slap it on and get out there. And, you know, makeup was done very quickly, if at all. And so this was different because we went into these travel shows sometimes with that attitude of, ah, we can just slap it out on the bus.

16:38And these look good for a reason because they're saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is, you asked for something good. You're going to get something good. Sit down and shut up. And you know what? It's going to take 50 minutes to an hour to do it. But then when you got out of that chair, it was like, oh, my God. Yes. Oh, yeah. So worth it. Fantastic. I know. that was a big swing that whole day because we had really insisted. We always worry when we've insisted on driving for two hours to get somewhere. To make it worthwhile. Yeah. Yeah, there's always the pressure every mile. There's a pressure odometer.

17:11Oh, the pressure's going up. There's always the fear. And it's also freezing cold. Right. Well, it's the same adage of the longer the story, the more pressure on the punchline. Right. And if someone's telling a really long story, or sometimes one can get caught and you realize, this story I'm telling is really going on. God damn it. This punch line better. And that's exactly how it works when you're shooting a remote. If you have to drive for three hours, it basically is how much in Europe, how much petrol did you burn? How much gas did you burn to get here? What was your carbon footprint getting to this place?

17:48And then it better really be funny. And so sometimes we have lost that bet. And sometimes we've won. Oh, it's a but especially sometimes you roll out of your hotel with a crew and you're grabbing all getting all this great stuff on the street. And then it's like all of a sudden you're in a van for two hours. It's like, wait a minute. Why are we doing this again? Your muscles are cooling. Right, right. Well, you need I like one of the things I'm proud of is the the team that we assembled. People have done such a good job. I mean, you know, unsung heroes like, and I know this, people say, you know, we're listening to you guys right now.

18:27You don't, it isn't like, you don't need to give a speech about everybody, but there are people like Matt Shaw who did such an incredible job. So many people have worked really hard. The graphics look amazing. Matt Shaw was our head editor. And basically he had one other editor working with him, which is, I think is very unusual for something of this scale. It looks unbelievable. Yes. Brad Rowland. with brad roland and then um i was we were i was thrilled uh about uh the mystery narrator we got for the show uh who uh we have a gentleman's agreement not to discuss um but most people that work with me don't want it mentioned he was insistent on that yeah yeah yeah but anyway i love I love it.

19:14I've drawn up a contract. Maybe it's AI. Who can say? No one knows. But I'm very happy. And I just basically, I always love those travel shows that we did in the past. And it felt like we had unfinished business there. And then when we had the notion that, well, what I'm really passionate about now is this podcast. I absolutely adore doing it. It's really fun and it feels like the natural evolution of what I was doing before or de-evolution, whatever you want. But the idea that we married the two, meaning it starts from the podcast and then takes off into this world that I've explored before. But now there's a reason to go in country.

20:05I'm showing up and I'm visiting a pen pal. I don't know. The whole thing has been really fun to make. Well, yeah, and there's often a mission there, too, because people have been sharing things about their lives with you on the podcast. And then you show up and it's like, oh, I'm going to help you achieve this goal or fix this problem for you. And then you maybe don't. Or just waste time with you.

20:36do you remember that dinner we had where you could choose from a prefix menu and it was all appetizer was cod and then they have a lot of there's a lot of cod in norway they're Very, very proud of it. And you specifically have to ask them not to put cod on your ice cream cone. You have a cod allergy. Yeah. Is this an allergy? Okay. So what kind of cod can we use? No, no cod. We have hypoallergenic cod. Yeah. I have to say, Argentina, the man, something happened in Argentina. I don't want to give away too much, but we visited our fan, who's a terrific artist. and one thing led to another and it led to kind of a happening which since then has gotten some traction online.

21:28And that's one of the aspects of the show that I really enjoy is these little Easter eggs. We don't even intend them always, but in Ireland and in Argentina, we helped make something happen that ended up later on getting noticed by people who didn't know anything about the show. And then suddenly it's online and people are saying, why does this exist? And anyway, I just love the idea of traveling the globe and confusing people. People who are really... But you know, I did. This is a true story because the thing we did in Argentina, which the artist helped us create, we left behind. And then I think it got picked up and then it landed on some very prominent soccer blog.

22:23And it got a lot of traction. And it started to pop up everywhere online. And people were sending it to me saying, what's going on? What's going on? Did you approve this? And I was kind of playing. We were in Ireland. It was while we were in Ireland. We were in Ireland when it was blowing up in Argentina. And so with my friends, I was just saying, well, I guess you never know. I just was, I was playing it. So then I get a call and it's Jake Tapper. Oh. Who I know, it's Jake Tapper, but he's, and I'm thinking, oh, he's, you know, I know Jake Tapper and he calls me sometimes. And we both love Eisenhower trivia and shit like that.

22:59He's calling me and I go, what's up? And he goes like, this thing in Argentina, what's going on? And so like any of my friends, I just played it off as well. I guess you never quite know. And he went, no, cut it out. Really? What is it? And I forgot. Oh, I'm talking to you. I'm talking to a journalist. And he was like, what is that? And I went, okay. And I explained and he went, got it. And then hung up. It's like you're Banksy. Yeah. I'm the Banksy of comedy. Only it's not worth anything. And we had something made in Ireland that I just saw turn up this week in social media. That's awesome. And there's a sequence in Thailand that I really love where I'm roaming the streets at night that was a very cinematic sequence where I've ingested some street food and then I have a fever dream.

23:48Fugue steak. And I'm not giving anything away because you need to see that. It's quite strange. It feels like a weird foreign film. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that one, my favorite part of that shoot was that we were going against Jeff's wishes because he wanted us to get back. Oh, Jeff Ross. Jeff Ross. Yes. We had a dinner. We had a dinner. We had a dinner reservation. He's like, you'll be out there for like five hours. Yeah. And there was this one thing we wanted to get. Five hours. And he was like, we have a dinner reservation. I'm like, Jeff, Jeff will go and grab it and then we'll go to dinner.

24:24The dinner reservation's at 630. It took a long time to get. And Matt's very calm. He's like, we'll be done in 25 minutes. Yeah. He's like, oh, okay. I'll set my watch. Oh, yeah. I've never seen that before. Anyway, he was disappointed when we walked into the restaurant on time. You could see him deflate. The restaurant hadn't opened yet. Yeah.

24:45We're not open for four hours. It was like, it's nice to sit here. It's a nice place. They have air conditioning. It was, I think we were, we were shooting, sadly, with global warming, this record will probably be broken soon, but it was like the hottest it had ever been in Thailand. And we were shooting and we were out on the street and there's a part where I'm kickboxing and we're not inside in an air conditioned gym. We're in an outdoor facility with no air conditioning. I'm no spring chicken and it's my birthday today. So let me tell you, I'm only getting older and I am throwing kicks, punches.

25:28I'm going as hard as I can. And at one point I stopped and I asked Jeff Ross, do we have a defibrillator? And he was like, what do you mean? What do we need a defibrillator for? I'm getting a restaurant reservation. And I'm like, because I know I could go down. I'll make sure the restaurant has one. I was sweating so much during that segment. I'll make it a smaller reservation. And yeah. Oh, that works. Let me know. They don't have a table for five, but they have a table for four. That works out great. You guys happily eating. Well, I'm in the morgue. More family style for each of us. Yeah. He's gone.

26:09We might as well enjoy. We got enough of the boxing, right? To at least. Oh, my God. The funniest thing is when, because writers always want, can you do something again? They always want it again. Can you give it another shot? What if we do it from another angle? Because - You mean professionals. Sure, yeah, professionals. Obsessive, compulsive professionals. But if you're doing something, it's always cracked me up when I'm doing something, especially at my vintage, and I'm just wailing and kicking and punching, and it's 108 degrees, and I've been, you know, I'm jet-lagged, and I'm, and people are like, ha, ha, that's great.

26:48Okay, let's do another one where we put more - Good rehearsal. We put more lead on your boots. There are a few times, too, where it's like, no one's yelling cut. No one's. I know. And it's just kind of, you know. He's just going through a training session. And you finally just go, okay, I think we got it. Yeah. That was. We put you through the physical ringer in Thailand. Thailand was. Thailand was a workout. But I do, I have to say, I do come home from all these countries. Well, specifically Thailand with because in some of the in some of the setups I'm getting, you know, I'll go to someone who makes great, you know, original Thai costumes, custom and they're gorgeous.

27:36Yeah. And I put them on and they're in the show. And then I they come home with me and they're mine. Yeah. And then I'm thinking, I'll sometimes look in my closet and I have like two pairs of chinos, two pairs of jeans, some T-shirts, some of the nicest tie. And the silk suits. Silk suits. And I don't know where to, where can I wear these? I don't know where to wear them. I'm going to dress like a Viking today. Oh, yeah. I remember you bought those knit pajamas in Norway. It was like a full body. Oh, I've worn those. Have you worn those? It got, because it does get cold in LA and I put them on once and I came downstairs and it's so funny.

28:10I just look like a giant stuffed animal. But it was, boy, those. Yeah, they're beautiful. They're hand-knit. They were hand-knit and they're the warmest, most comfortable things I've worn in my life. But you know what those sock monkeys, you know those? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I look like a sock monkey when I put them on with a red pompadour. Not even because there's actually a cap you can put on too that just isolates your face. I should just wear that. and walk around LA until someone photographs me. Yeah, they'll think that you're - I've lost my mind. Kanye, yeah. Do you? Yeah, exactly. I should wear that and then go up when Kanye's next out with what's his lady?

28:55Right, what's her name? She dresses in a very provocative manner. Anyway, the next time - I haven't Googled it. The next time those two are out together and she's wearing something with no butt on it and he's just wearing an REI tent, I'm going to run up along - I'm going to photobomb them dressed as a giant sock monkey and put my arm around both of them and see if I can get that photo out there. Kanye's taking a second, bro.