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Podcast Episode Notes: Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - "Get Over Myself!"
Overview In this episode of Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, Conan hosts glassblower Dan from Vacaville, California. The episode features a mix of humor, creative discussion, and the exploration of Dan's work as a glass artist, particularly focusing on his unique creations, including bongs.
Key Points
Introduction
- Host: Conan O’Brien
- Guest: Dan, a glassblower from Vacaville, CA
- Setting: Casual and humorous, with Conan’s typical playful banter.
Dan's Background and Glassblowing
- Artistic Medium: Dan creates glass items using a torch, differentiating himself from traditional methods that involve large furnaces.
- Primary Product: Specializes in making bongs, a product he started creating in high school.
- Initial Interest: Began with a desire to weld but found glassblowing more appealing.
Discussion on Glassblowing Techniques
- Tools Used:
- Torch: Dan uses a torch to heat glass tubing and rods for his creations.
- Glass Tubes: Works with four-foot lengths of glass.
- Comparison of Methods:
- Dan humorously criticizes the ease of working with a furnace compared to using a torch, implying that torch work requires more skill.
Presentation of Artwork
- Custom Bong Gift: Dan presents Conan with a custom-designed three-way bong featuring the Conan logo, demonstrating his craftsmanship.
- Design Features: The bong includes three mouthpieces for communal use and creative artistry.
- Additional Gifts: Dan also creates personalized glasses for the podcast team.
Humorous Banter and Cultural References
- Conversations about Bongs:
- Conan expresses a playful curiosity about bong culture despite admitting his inexperience.
- Light-hearted Comments:
- Discussions include joking references to a previous episode with Seth Rogen.
- Dan’s artwork elicits jokes and playful remarks regarding its design and use.
Personal Life Insights
- Conan’s Household Chores:
- Discusses how he contributes at home, particularly in setting the dinner table and loading the dishwasher.
- Uses humor to illustrate the challenges he faces with household tasks, often leading to playful exchanges with his wife.
Key Takeaways
- Art and Friendship: The episode encapsulates Conan’s aim to deepen connections with guests, showcasing Dan's artistry as a focal point for interaction.
- Creativity in Everyday Life: Dan's journey from high school to running a glassblowing business emphasizes how personal interests can evolve into creative professions.
- Humor in Craftsmanship: The interplay of humor throughout the episode highlights the playful nature of both Conan and Dan, making the artistry accessible and entertaining.
Conclusion The episode concludes with Conan expressing admiration for Dan's work and creativity, encapsulating the essence of the podcast's goal: building genuine friendships through meaningful and enjoyable conversations. Dan's artistry not only serves as a conversation starter but also as a means for deeper connection and understanding in a light-hearted format.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:13Hey Dan, welcome to Conan O 'Brien Needs a Fan. and I couldn't remember if it was friend or foe. Hey, Dan, how are you? I'm doing great. Thank you guys for having me on. Where are you coming to us from, Dan? Where are you? I'm in Vacaville, California, so near Sacramento, Napa Valley area. Oh, okay, very nice. And I'm looking at your background. It looks like you're working on a nuclear submarine. I mean, there's all kinds of machinery behind you. It's very cool looking. Are you, what are you building? I mean, it looks like you're up to something. I'm a glass blower, a glass artist. So I work with, these are glass lays.
0:56So I work with glass tubing and, you know, glass rods. And I create stuff out of glass. Okay, what kind of stuff do you create out of glass primarily? Are we talking like a vase? Are we talking like a test tube? Are we talking glasses? What are you making? My main product that I make is water pipes. So I make bongs, basically. I see them back there. Look at those. Oh, okay. Someone is salivating. Yes. You make bongs. And was that, did you start making bongs because of your personal affinity for bongs? Or you just like making them? Or you like the shape? What drew you to making bongs? I started in high school.
1:37So I feel like everyone in high school, you know, kind of wanted or needed a bong. and I like making things so that you know drew me to it I originally started what I wanted to do welding but it was a little complicated I feel like so I went into uh glassblowing which was even more complicated yeah yeah I was gonna say glassblowing feels incredibly difficult uh I mean any just the little I know about it right you have to you got to heat up the material right and get it molten and then you i watched the show on netflix yeah no way yeah blown away so i know i'm basically a glass blower okay yeah and uh is that is that an accurate representation of glass blowing the tv show blown away um yeah it is uh mine's a little different i use a torch so i don't have a big furnace of glass i have a torch that i use and then i get uh i get these glass tubes in four foot lengths and then I'll create stuff out of that.
2:34So I don't have a big furnace that I pull globs of glass out of. Well, you know what? I think I have more respect for you because I think anybody can do it with a big furnace. I do. I think anybody could do it with a big furnace. Oh, oh, big furnace. Yawn. Oh, look, I have a big furnace and I accidentally made 900 glasses today. But if you're using a torch and that takes real skill, I think that takes a real artist. And I I know I'm probably throwing shade on a huge part of the glass making community, but fuck those guys. I'm with you, man. I'm with you, Dan. And I say it's torch or nothing. And I'm going to start saying that to people who say they're a glass blower.
3:13I'm going to say furnace or torch. And if they say furnace, I'm out. I'm just going to walk away. And then I'm going to smash all the glass. I appreciate that. Yeah, yeah. And I'm going to drive by later and throw stones through their window. And go like, you should get a torch! And peel out. Really took a turn. I'm sorry. If you use a furnace out there and you make glass, you know where to find me. I'm not afraid of you with your furnace. Dan, I don't know what happened right there. A neurologist would say it's a brain bleed, possibly. I don't know. I'm getting faint. But this is cool. What's the name of your company?
3:53It's called Apex Design Glass. So I made that name when I was in high school for a web design business I was doing. And then I just kept I kept it through my glassblowing business as well. OK. And is it easy for people to find you if they want some of your custom made torch, torch hewn bongs? Yeah. If you look up Apix Design, then, yeah, I got a website. I got an Instagram. I have a good little following of people who, you know, like my glass. So it's easy to find it. When someone buys a bong, how long does that bong last? And do they then come back for more bongs? Does a person buy multiple bongs in a year?
4:35How does it all work? What's a bong life? Such a square. Well, I'm sorry. I want to know more of this bong culture. I took an aspirin once in 1992 and I was taken to the hospital. So I don't know a lot about bongs, but I've seen them portrayed in film. Um, can you, can you, do you have some bongs there you could show us? I mean, I just want to see some of these bongs. And I want to keep saying bongs. I actually sent you guys a gift. What? Let me see. Oh my God. Oh my God. This thing is, I didn't know about this. Look at this. Sir, I'm not, all joking aside, you are an artist. Truly. That is gorgeous.
5:21Look, he's done. I mean, yes. You've got the Conan logo. You've got, oh my God, he's got the late night moon. And we're burying the lead. There's three mouthpieces here. This is like the equivalent of sharing a milkshake except for a thruple at a Grateful Dead show. It's a chill chums bong so you all can take a hit at the same time. It's for when the cast of Challengers wants to use a bong together. This is beautiful. I mean, look at the design is gorgeous. and then it's got this stopper has kind of a pompadour. It's the bowl. What's that? It's the bowl, right? It's not a stopper. That is the bowl, yeah.
6:03I don't know the official. I don't know what the name is. This isn't the stopper. This is the cap. That's where you put the weed. You put the weed in there. No, I know the weed goes in here, he said, lying. No, the weed goes into the thing you're holding. It goes into this bowl. Right, so this, oh, I see. This is the bowl. Yeah. Yeah, okay, all right, okay Spicoli, take it easy. But go ahead and show us where the stopper is. I know. So what you do is you, and then when it's heated up, you drink. No! Oh God. Do you remember when we had Seth Rogen on the last Conan O 'Brien episode and he on camera offered me one of his marijuana cigarettes.
6:47And do you remember this? I do. I put the wrong end in my mouth and people thought, oh, Conan's doing a bit. I wasn't doing a bit. It's okay. I just didn't know. I know. It's okay. It's not okay. I know. I've got to start doing a lot of drugs quickly and catch up. There's so much going on here. It's beautiful. Is this a gerbil? What? Those are gerbils, yeah. You put Charles in there. Let's talk of gerbils. This is incredible. This thing is, we need to take Bley. Is that a butt plug? What? What? What are you doing? What are you doing? How does this get in your butt with these three things in the way?
7:24What's your butt like? There's no butt plug on it. Can I just say, this is a Rorschach blot you've given us. Everyone sees what they want to see. I just see a bong, you two are insane. This thing, Blek, you have to take multiple - We will, yes. Detailed photographs of this that capture - We shall. Dan, you are, you're an artist. This thing is, and all, I mean, this is just as a work of sculpture. Sure. We have, we have Conan's doodle on there. We've got the old, we've got the late night moon and stars, team cocoa branding, Conan on TBS branding. It's got a big cockatoo kind of glass. It could be a pompadour.
8:01It could be a pompadour. Yeah. And it's a three way glass bong. So again, all three. The real question. Do you think we'll ever actually three? Yes, we will. Yeah. I think we will. Does it work? You know what? Our faces are going to have to get this close. I know. For the next summer s'mores. No, no. Guess what? I will. We'll do it. Really? We'll do it. Yeah. I'll get over myself. Sure. You said that to me like, get over myself. I want to drink anything. There's no drinking when it comes to Boggs. There's no drinking. You said, oh, you take a sip here. There's no. Can I just say one thing? It also looks like it would make great coffee.
8:38And you know what? I think it would make great coffee because I see where the little creamer would go in. This is incredible. It is absolutely. Really beautiful. It makes me want to relive some old days. Yeah. Flashback to last week. Last week in Pasadena. I was talking about the gerbil. The gerbil filed papers, by the way.
9:11so uh dan my favorite thing is when we meet fans that are so creative we have a lot of creative fans and man you have just rocketed way to the top he's also he's also made some glasses here we have some glasses these are these are beautiful and then he made he made special drinking glasses for each one of you. This is really, God. Sona, this is yours here. Gorgeous. And this is for Conan. It's obviously the biggest one. Okay. Oh my God. And then Matt here. The smallest one. These are beautiful. These are, and what kind of glass? Is this glass? Is it a type of glass? Tell us what this is. Yeah, this is scientific glassware.
9:58So, like, you'd find in really nice, you know, Pyrex glass, basically. Yeah. So this can be used for, you know, it can go in the dishwasher. It's not sensitive to heat, so you can put hot stuff in there, no problem. This is extraordinary. Oh, my God. What's this? It's like a Sherlock Holmes pint. That is really sweet, Dan. Thank you so much. And so he made a special extra gift for Sona. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, that is so, that really means a lot. Thank you very much. Which is a blue. No problem. I'm glad I could get you guys some stuff. Once I heard I was going to be on here, I really wanted to get something made for you guys.
10:33This is, well, I'm just, I just almost said it and then realized people think I'm trying to make a lame joke, but I am blown away. I really, I wasn't trying to make a joke. I just started to say it. You should wash it first, because the way they finish it is in cyanide powder. Is this safe to drink out of? Dan, can I drink out of this? Okay. Yeah, you can drink out of it. How long does it take you to build that bong? Well, I mean, I got told on Thursday that you guys wanted me to be on here. And then by Saturday, I was finishing it up. And then Sunday, I did the sandblasting and I sent it out on Monday.
11:09So if I'm really, you know, really want to get something done, I can do it. I can't believe you put this in the mail because the guy who delivers my boxes shucks them over the fence. Yeah, that's incredible. You know, I'm amazed this made it in one piece. It's incredible. It's so beautiful. I'm using my glasses right now. I'm glad I made it to you guys. Wow. Did you have any question for me, Dan? Other than, I mean, look at this. I think it should be a requirement now. I was just going to say. Yes. More fans. More fans that send wonderful gifts. And I mean, they didn't even have to have made it, but like, oh, I went to a store and I bought you this Patek Philippe watch.
11:46And I'm like, hmm, yes. Add it to the pile. This made me cry a little. It's beautiful. It's really sweet. It is. And also, Sona's been through a really rough time lately. And that's just, it's nice. And the no was very sweet, Dan. And things are coming your way now. Yes, yes. Yes, they are. This is beautiful. Yes, they are. I'm glad you guys like it. Mom's going to be happy tonight. It's all fixed. Why is mommy asleep? It's four in the afternoon. Quiet, Charlie. Quiet, Mikey. Why is stepbrothers on all day? On a loop. Wow, Dan, I cannot thank you enough. this is absolutely beautiful really really great and we're going to find a hallowed space for this because we have little spaces here that are like that are becoming installations like this is our Pee Wee's Playhouse and this is going to have a prominent space here and we're very proud of this and we're proud of you proud to have you as a fan really hey thank you very much and yeah I had one quick question I was curious you know as a celebrity I'll handle this
12:59like when I get home, I like to do stuff around the house. So like I'll help my wife doing stuff or I'll, you know, work on the backyard. Yep. And I was curious as a celebrity, is there something that you go home and your wife's like, I want these photos hung up on the wall. Like, what do you do when you get home and you're asked to do something? Do you just call someone or I immediately pull rank? I say, do you realize who I am? and what I've accomplished. Then I start to show her like a montage of things I've worked on over the years. No, there are a big thing for my wife, Liza, is she's very good cook and she does the cooking and I'm not good at cooking.
13:43She really wants me to set the table and that's important to her that I set the table. And sometimes I kind of set the table, but she'll make a passive aggressive comment. Like usually people use napkins and, and then I'll go, Oh, right. And then I'll go and get the net, you know, the net, go to the napkin drawer and get those. And, um, you know, did you put trivets down? Cause I got to put something, this is hot and okay. All right. Cause sometimes I try to go real minimal, like setting the table means just there's two or three or four. If my kids are around plates. Um, but I, it's important for her that I do that.
14:23And then a big knock on me is that I've gotten much better at loading the dishwasher. I've gotten much better. But I think for a long time, and this goes back to childhood, I had this, I just, it was a problem for me loading the dishwasher. The way you do it or just doing it in general? When I do it, it's doing it in general. And then when I do it, it's awful. Like I'll try and jam a large plate into the silverware tray. And my wife usually ends up redoing it. And so there's twice as many calories burned. So pity this woman because it's like asking an ape to help you with brain surgery. Yeah. And then I just go rushing around the operating room, smashing into things.
15:10So, yeah, I would say it all. It's most of my chores revolve around dinner, ways that I can help complement and facilitate the serving of dinner. And so that's a little peek into my life. Okay, awesome. Yeah, that's what I wanted to hear. I was curious what you, you know, if you called like a butler to come help you or something. Yeah, we had a butler once. Blay, how did you like it? Still waiting for payment. Yeah, yeah. No, no butler. Not yet. That's one of those things from from just old movies that I have to say, it always fascinated me. It was an idea from that if someone had means, they would have a butler.
15:57Even if it was just a bachelor, there would be like a gentleman. Oh yeah, a gentleman there who, this is my man. Yeah. You know, his name's Gordon. He'll take care of everything. And he's in the corner, usually polishing a glass behind like a little cool mini bar. Yeah.
16:13No, also a valet. I always thought, wow. You know, someone who you wake up in the morning and your clothes are all laid out and then you have to go. We travel so much for the travel shows. I'm always running around cramming things into bags and going, where's my extra special sunblock? What's special about it? It was made by the government. Anyway, that's what I do. I would say it's a fascination. No, no butler and still no valet. But one day it'll all come my way. But now I've got the world's only triple bong with my name on it. I can't believe there might be a point in the future where the three of us are faces that close together.
17:01We're going to. That's where you're going to see me up close and fall in love. Oh my God. Sweet. All right, well, Dan, thank you so much. I salute you. and I love, I mean, you're an artist. You really are. You are. You're a terrific artist. And even though we are not related, you're a young lad. So I'm allowed to say I'm proud of you. I really am. I'm glad when I see, I really do get energized when I meet all these young people that can kick ass and do all these amazing things. You're a craftsman. You're out there killing it. So thank you so much and best of luck with your company, Apex. Apex.
17:38Yeah, Apex Design, yeah. Apex. A-P-I-X. It's right here. Cheers, Dan. Oh, there it is. I was distracted by my own face. Thank you guys so much. Thank you. All right, shout out to Apex. I can't wait to see you guys use that. You will. You will. All right, take care, Dan. All right, thank you guys. Conan O 'Brien Needs a Fan with Conan O 'Brien, Sonam Ovcesian, and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Nick Liao. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Take it away, Jimmy. Supervising producer Aaron Blair, associate talent producer Jennifer Samples, associate producers Sean Doherty and Lisa Berm.
18:20Engineering by Eduardo Perez. Get three free months of Sirius XM when you sign up at SiriusXM.com slash Conan. Please rate, review, and subscribe to Conan O 'Brien Needs a Fan wherever fine podcasts are down.
From the publisher
Conan chats with glassblower Dan from Vacaville, CA about his most elaborate glass creations and how Conan pulls his own weight around the household.
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