Josh Groban

24:13No, he was not that guy. He was super excited to teach and still teaches. And not only did he pull me up from the back, but he knew that I liked to play piano. He knew that I was kind of gravitating towards the drum set in the back. So he's like, I'm going to leave the music room open. So just whenever you need to go in, have an escape, get in there. And having access to all that just changed absolutely everything for me. Do you have perfect pitch? Can you identify a note? Not, I don't have perfect. I can play by ear. If I listen to something, I can sit down at the piano and figure it out. I actually can't read music.

24:45Everything that I've learned how to play. No, it's true. That's the only reason you're here. What the hell? Adam. Our lesson's going to be really disappointing. This is where I push the button and you're ejected out of the Larchman office. You land in a parked car. I parachute down in front of Noah's bagels. Oh, man. Well, the good news is I can get a great lox and cream cheese. You land fracturing your pelvis, but immediately order a schmear on a poppy seed. That's right, I said schmear, Sona. They come out with pickles, Conan, huh? Yeah, you know. You probably found out you couldn't read music.

25:22Harrison Porter's here, and I found out he couldn't read music, and I ejected him. Oh, man. So you start singing, and then you have this moment, another pivotal moment is you're 17. someone introduces you to David Foster, a famous producer, arranger, and he asks you to do this thing at the Grammys. It's like you were a kid. It was so close together, like that the shy 13-year-old whose voice was on the brink of changing was 13. And then the call came in when I was 16. Right. So the time period between absolutely having no clue, wearing this coat that was so big on me, and getting this call to be part of something that was very professional.

26:02What was it? thing at the Grammys. David had heard me sing at a charity event that he asked me to do plucked out of high school. I sang a song from Phantom of the Opera. It was like the biggest day of my life, but I went back to class. I didn't think anything else would come from it. So when he called me and he said, I'm at the Grammys, I've written the song is called the prayer. It's for Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli and Bocelli is stuck on a tarmac in Germany. He can't be here in time for the rehearsals. Would you step in and would you sing this for Celine with with Celine until he shows up.

26:27Do you mind? Do you mind? That's just insane. And I, being an idiot, I mean, really, 16 years old, I did not have stars in my eyes to be a solo artist. I was like, I wanted to go to theater camp. I wanted to be, I wanted to worship the throne of Sondheim and I wanted to like, that's what I wanted to do. So the idea of like, like the music business, being a singer with those kinds of people, I was only thinking, can I do this well or not? And even though I was the hugest fan of Celine, I said to him, I don't think I'm the right person for this gig. I was so insecure. And Andrea Bocelli is like one of the great tenors of all time.

27:01And I was very much like living in my baritone world. I was not singing those very high notes. So I said, I think you can do better. I said, thank you so much for asking me. I'm really honored, but I think you can do better. And my mom yelled at me from downstairs. Of course, I'm still living at home. And she said, who is that? And I said, oh, that was David Foster. Oh, oh, what did he want? Well, well, it's this Grammy rehearsal as it happens. And, uh, Celine Dion is there and Bocelli isn't. He asked me to, to come and sing. And well, what did you say? I said, uh, well, obviously I said, I'm probably not the right person for the job.

27:32And they kind of went, oh, all right. Well, all right then. Um, and I could tell they were disappointed. David Foster called me back and he said, I don't think you understood me. Get your ass to the Shrine of Torium 3. Nobody had turned him down before. So he said, get, get over here. He barely gave me a pass. My dad shows up with me at the side door. Security's like, who are you? I said, I'm here to sing with Celine Dion. Yeah. Hi. I'm 17. I'm going to sing with Celine. And this is my dad. Yeah. And we're here for Celine Dion. Which way to the microphone? And, you know, and like, the security guard had to like walkie-talkie another guy with a walkie-talkie who, you know, and so on and so far.

28:12And again, finally, Ken Ehrlich, who produced the Grammys, came out and grabbed me. And, you know, I was so new to it that it was such another world. I didn't really permeate how important that moment was to be for me. I just wanted to do a good job. I didn't want to embarrass myself. Celine, of course, came out, and then I realized how real it was. But the thing about Celine in that moment was she knew that David Foster was doing a thing, that this wasn't just a job. She knew because she'd been there at my age that David was actually providing a door and an opportunity to prove myself. and that it was a lesson and that this was a, this was a moment.

28:47This was not just a rehearsal. And so she kind of like clocked it and she's like, Oh, Oh, got it. Josh. So nice to meet you. Kiss, kiss. Could see. I was nervous. And she made her soundcheck about making me comfortable. She grabbed my hands. She's like, we're going to do this. And when you look at me and you have the Italian, then I'll sing the English. We got this. Just look at the prompter and look at the, you know, she was like pep talking me out there. And I know now that I've done a lot of sound chicks for TV shows. I know how precious those, I mean, you know, from just doing, you always get much less, I'm sure.

29:17Such little time. Allowances for Celine Dion in that moment. But I noticed that, you know, if you're doing the Oscars and it's only appropriate, like Barbra Streisand, all the rehearsal time she needs. And then I'll say, I've got a thing where I catch a fake giant bird on a mountain with Josh Groban. They're like, you've got eight seconds. Yeah, that's lunch. you have eight seconds to get it right and then get out of here who are you a host got it yeah yeah um it's it's quick and so now that i know like that and that was a big song that she was about to sing really hard and that was a big moment it was nominated for a grammy and oscar so the fact that she took her precious time when many superstars of that time would have looked at me as like stand-in singer all right do the best you can let's get through it you know i might not decided that this business was for me had she been me even though it you were for rehearsal only right yeah and so well ken erlik said to me after i rehearsed you know we're still looking to see if bocelli can make his flight so buy go buy a suit in this lunch break go buy a suit on their i mean this is this feels so old-timey like this feels so like the old but now you can tick tock yourself and get yourself on you know you can find an audience right but that idea of like you know the kid, the kid did okay.

30:31Go down to men's warehouse. There's one down the street and, you know, I've got a tailor. Here's his name. And, you know, it's, it was like, I got to get a suit. I looked at my dad and I said, I'm not like, I'm not, I can't do this on camera. Like, this is not, I'm not ready for this. Um, thankfully Bocelli showed up. I got to meet him. He wound up doing the song and I got to have a really good story. Did you get to tell Bocelli, eh, you were okay. I thought I nailed it. I was, uh, he's a notoriously bad singer. Yeah. No, I was just I was so grateful that he was going to finally go out there and nail it.

31:01My dad did have a camcorder video of it. And, you know, now, of course, you know that filming a sound check for something like the Grammys or the Oscars is just absolutely no, no. And and Celine saw that he was filming and the security said, you can't do that. And she said, no, no, let him let him film that. So that was, you know, it just was she was the absolute best that day. And, you know, but but then 10 years later, I got to sing that song on the Grammys with Bocelli. So we had like a kind of a full circle and I've sung it with Celine a few times since then. So it was just, it's wild how those things.

31:30Do you remember your 16 year old get a suit moment? Well, mine came later. Mine came when I was 48. Still involved a suit. Now, I do remember, I mean, the story I have that kind of lines up a little bit with that was obviously I had these other all these other adventures beforehand. But when I, you know, living out here in L.A. and and getting a chance to audition to possibly be considered to be a late night host replacing David Letterman, which seemed insane. But I they said, show up in Burbank at this time. And I didn't have anything to wear. So Lisa Kudrow, who's my best friend at the time, she said, hey, I'll take care of this.

32:12And she took me to Fred Siegel and picked out the worst coat. And I'm sorry, Lisa, and we've talked about this before, but I'm a very pale person. I know now that I need to wear blue. She was like, oh, this looks good. And it was this linen floppy jacket that was very like almost pure white, maybe a little off white. And so I put it in the back of my Taurus and some transmission fluid that got on it and stained it. So I like turned the, and I walk out. And I mean, people have, I think, looked up. You can look up the footage of me auditioning. I'm like, hey, everybody. And I've got the floppy hair.

32:51And then I look like I'm trying to pretend to be Don Johnson in Miami Vice after he repaired a car. Could you see the stain on the - I don't think you could, but, and so you don't just have one moment like that. Right. You have, in my case anyway, many of them and they continue. Yeah. You know, and you know, they say luck is preparation meets opportunity. And, you know, these, these moments, these points of light continue. It wasn't just that moment. It's like, it's, I can think of that was a, that was a tentpole of a moment that I didn't know then, but the domino effect happened after that. Now, most people, I'm not most, but I'll say many, many people in your situation.

33:27That's where the self-medication starts. That's where alcohol, drugs, people get into that kind of behavior for a reason, because they feel like a lobster that's been shelled but is alive, you know, and everything's too, literally too raw. You didn't have that. Right. Well, that's where my sex tourism to Japan started. I will say it's that was a somewhat less dangerous way to. Okay. This is why I'm happy. that quote, if anyone missed the top, that quote out of context is very, well, that's just bad news for you and your team. If this were in England, that would be the headline of the Guardian.

34:11The Daily Mirror. Yeah, Daily Mirror, yeah. Wait a minute. No, but I was, you know, I battled all this stuff. I had anxiety. I had depression. I had, you know, and, you know, I had certain medication medications. But you knew that you couldn't drink because of your voice. So the pressure of needing to sound really good out there, I think, kept me from getting into dangerous territory because ultimately the feeling of not doing great out there was worse than how good any of that stuff might feel in the interim. But can I just say heroin would not have affected your voice. No, no, no, no. Does it affect your voice?

34:48Because if not, this is something we should explore. Yeah, no, no, no. No, you should not advocate for heroin. Is that what you're doing? Well, I'm just saying. Okay. I'm a little shocked that that wasn't proposed to you by your team. Just to take the edge off. My team, Adam Sachs over there, is constantly saying, you know, I don't think your comedy timing would be hurt by some of these, like a fentanyl or something. And I'm like, I'm telling you, Adam, there's not a day that goes by. Adam, what the fuck? Why? Come on. Oh, he's not going on mic now. The mic is staying so far away from it. He just took the mic and buried a hole, dug a hole and buried it.

35:30I'm very glad you didn't get any of those drugs, which, by the way, I think are very bad. Oh, good, good, good, good. Did I fix that? Yeah, you did. You fixed it. My genre of music, though, was not like, I did not have that crew around me. Like, it was, you know, like, you know. What about your roadies? Yeah, it's like, hey, man, you gotta bump a line. Man, hey, man, your Ave Maria was really killer, but you seem a little tense. I was with Van Halen, but now, Groban, this is what I think you should do. Yeah, yeah. Musical theater's fine, but heroin's better. You know, it's like an episode of, like, remember Cop Rock?

36:03Sure, I remember Cop Rock. Everything I relate back to Cop Rock, just everything's a musical. I imagine, like, a guy in a trench coat going, you sang the high note, but here's some meth. Yeah. I did not have that singing guy in the trench coat, like, after my classical scales, sang, like, you know. It's fascinating to me that, I'm glad you brought this up because I have gone, no, we're going to get off the drugs, but more specifically into musical theater and musicals that I've always, to this day, I can never reconcile. I couldn't as a kid and I can't now as an old man. I can't reconcile the, what do you think we ought to do?

36:39I don't know. It's kind of tricky. Yeah, sure. But maybe we should. I'm always like, what the hell happened? What is it? Takes you out of it. Yeah. And I'm always, I would love to be in a musical where someone does that and other people are, you know, what are you doing? Yeah, record scratch. Yeah, exactly. Well, there's two camps of people. There's those that just think it's absolutely ridiculous and don't get it at all. You, perhaps Chalamet. I'm not putting you both in the same, you know. Well, you know, I too am with one of the Kardashians as well. Why is that clown singing in a high level?

37:16I know, ridiculous. And then those that are totally swept away. I was one of those kids that was totally swept, just totally swept away by it. And the combination of music and story and that you could break into a song and that the singing of that song would somehow tap into some deeper way of expressing the story. I just, I suspended that disbelief. I do make an exception for the, I'm obsessed with the Music Man and I'm obsessed with the You Got Trouble song. And I feel like I was put on this earth to do that. And someday in my life, I need to do it. Cause I, you know, and I wrote a Simpsons episode about it.

37:52And it's just something that I just, and then later was asked, cause I know you've worked with the Hollywood men's gay choir. Yes, that's right. Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles. That's right. Gay Men's Chorus. And what did I say? You butchered the name of it. The Hollywood gay. The Hollywood foreign choir. What did you do? I think there, believe me, I've worked with them and their name is the Gay Hollywood. That's right. Choir that men frequent. That's what it's called. Frequent. And guys, hello. But I got to work with them. Speaking directly to them. I know, wait, that's your camera. There you go.

38:30Look it right in the camera. Gay Hollywood. Hello, it's me. David, I'm an ally. I'm so out of control. You're unstoppable. What do I say to you every day? He called me once. He'll always just text me ally. And once I was in the car with my boyfriend and he called me because he knew we were in the car and I answered and he just screams ally. Because then I can say later on, I went on record. I'm just, I need to be stopped. I'm an ass, but they, I performed the Troubles, not the Trouble song, the Monorail song, which was my version of it at the Hollywood Bowl for this Simpsons anniversary, which was one of my all-time favorite moments in show business.

39:15And they were absolutely fantastic and really funny. So I've always thought, oh my God, okay, I need to figure out a way where I get airlifted into a version of Music Man and I just get to do that song and then I'm airlifted out. I mean, I don't know. After the beef you clearly have with musicals, I don't know if that's going to happen. I'm distancing myself also from Chalamet. My beef is always just ballet. Yeah, that's it. I'm down with musicals. I do love musicals. I just, not a beef. It's just that I could never make the logical leap. Right. But the music man is where the line is okay. Yeah.

39:50I love that, like, that's the one where you're like, but that guy. You know why? With his little traveling salesman box, when he breaks into song, I believe it. You know why? Why? Because it's that Rex Harrison thing of he's kind of talk singing. Ah, okay. You know, now listen, my friend. Yeah. You know, it's all that kind of thing that makes more sense to me because I often start talking to people in that musical rhythm and yelling at them. I mean, I do. You could see why I would want to do a song where it's like, now gather around everyone and I'll tell you what, you have to know. Oh, you got to, you know, that as opposed to, I wish to have a mayonnaise sandwich.

40:26Well, it's not trying to be real. Why can't you take a second and go, Conan, you have a beautiful voice. I've given him every fucking opportunity. I wish to have a mayonnaise and... I mean, come on. That was... You know what's crazy? He's wiping blood from his eyes. The blood that comes out of Josh's eyes when he hears music being butchered. That was hairs on the back of my neck. Fantastic. What a beautiful Irish tenor you have. Their hairs on the back of your neck. That was stunning. Not your hair. It's just other hairs on the back of your neck. They go all the way down. I'm kidding. Stop it back there.

41:05All of you cackling. We should address, I want to address the Timmy Chalamet thing for just a second, because he was right there in the first row when we were at the Oscars. And I think, I do, I think he's an amazing actor. And I actually have met him a bit and know him. I really don't know him that well, but I think he is a really good guy. I really do. He got piled on. It became a hat on the head. Yeah, I'm going to take a second. And I've, of course, I thought that was okay. hey, maybe that wasn't a great thing to say, but, you know, I - It ultimately helped. Yeah. Ticket sales skyrocketed.

41:40I mean, like, the thing I took from it is like, all right, people are going to have their hot takes, their opinions, as people should. And then you can disagree with it or not. But ultimately, like, if what he said meant that everybody went, yeah, stinks, uncool, whatever it is, and then sales dropped, well, then that would be one thing. But no, like, ballet companies were saying, use promo code Chalamet. Yeah. To like, if you want two for one tickets, everybody was, you know, sometimes you need a heel for everybody to go, now, wait a minute. Yeah. And he actually, he elevated it. And then he had, and then Misty Copeland came on the show.

42:12Our bit was written before he said those things. Yes, right. So we, you know, people were asking me, did you do that? You were right in front of him. Did you do that? And I said, no, we wanted to do it anyway. No, we came up with that before that whole thing. But anyway, just, you know. Just a moment to say, he's all right. also and i think he's an incredible act incredible actor incredible very very incredible and talented actor and uh and who amongst us hasn't said things i mean truly um did this interview i think this interview alone you've said a lot of things can i just say i want to double down on this i believe when at the beginning of time everyone spoke american Oh, there it is.

42:51Okay, there we go. Oh, my God. And I think American is a language. And also, what's wrong with fentanyl? And also... Use promo code Conan for your black tar heroin needs, let me tell you. Hey, so let's talk about this. You were always interested in comedy. That's always been an interest of yours. I know you're a talented mimic. At some point, because you are a renowned singer, you get this opportunity to be in the office, voice on The Simpsons. You get to start playing on those little playing fields of comedy, and you have a facility for it, and you really enjoy it. And that must have just been—I mean, you have fans who are comedy fans of yours— Don't know that I sing.

43:38Who don't know you sing. Right, that's very true. And if they're just tuning in right now, they think, oh, they have the comedian Josh Groban on. And then they're like, oh, wow, he sings. Yeah. In fact, thank you for that opportunity on the Oscars to present my singing voice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought you should finally be heard out. Done wonders for my streaming. Yeah. So I talked about those first years of my career where I just felt like a shell of myself. Part of that was because I felt like a huge part of my brain was just going untapped. And, you know, in high school, I got to work with that choir teacher.

44:12But then I also got to start an improv troupe. I had a free period. And we had a black box theater. And when everybody else was just having snacks and, you know, what do kids do? Rolling the dice. And I don't know. Wow. You really had no social life. You really had no social life. You really had no childhood. You know, when you run down the street in your buckle shoes. Smoking cloves. And, you know, I don't know what they were doing. Yeah. Like one of those wheat rims that goes down the street. That's it. Yeah, I was playing Hoop and Stick all the way home. Hoop and Stick already had a butter churn.

44:46And so they said, you got anything you want to do. We got an hour free period. And I asked my theater teacher, I said, can we do improv? Can I do improv? I'd taken some classes. This is actually a very funny side quest, is that in the Valley, there's a theater called LA Connection Comedy Theater. That's it, in the Valley. and I was one of the youngest people they had, they had their taking classes there. They now have a very strange painting of me on their wall. If you drive down, I think it's victory or one of the streets in Burbank. Uh, I think it's next to like, there's a trophy shop on one side and a gun store on the other.

45:20And then there's this improv building and it's got like me and Will Ferrell, who I guess went there and, uh, uh, Matthew Perry's face is on there. And, but, but we all look like bizarro versions of ourselves. Any tribute painting of someone is by definition weird. The faces are kind of bent and weird, you know. There are no paintings of me anywhere as a singer. But for some reason, LA Connection was like, this guy, this improv master, we must have him on there. But improv was like an escape for me. So I started there. And then, you know, for the vast majority of the beginning of my career, the label and everybody else was like, you have to be the guy who's on the billboard all the time.

45:59You, you cannot stray from the brand of singing these serious songs and being the serious guy on the pedestal because people are getting an emotion from the songs and you don't want to ruin that. Um, honestly, it started with Kimmel. He gave me, uh, he, he said, you know, cause I wasn't getting couch time and you giving me couch time, like being allowed to talk and show my personality was not something as a singer you normally get to do. right Kimmel said we've got a panda that is not mating right now uh I think it's Ling Ling the panda yeah would you do a skit where you sing a ballad trying to make the pandas horny right and I was like here we go and away we go and so that was the first thing work that's the only important yes there's a little little Josh the panda it's uh it's uh no there was I think I think that worked I don't know but he then he had me back to sing Kanye West tweets right and then he had me back to seeing Trump's tweets back when we could laugh.

46:50And those were good times. And so just, I think, and then friends that I knew that did these shows said, we've got a funny little thing, or we want you to play yourself in a bizarro way. And I just always said yes. I said yes to all of them because for me, it was my way of just kind of exercising some of that stuff that I felt I wasn't able to be myself. It's freeing. It's fun. So yeah, that's important. Do you have, this just fascinates me, but let's say you're singing something like, you know, Unchained melody or some song that where you have to hit these heights and you know, those notes are coming.

47:21Do you ever get in your head about that? Or are you just at this point? No. Oh, I, I know exactly what to do there, which I'm sure you do, but when you have to take it up several octaves, you might be training for a long time. You might technically know that the notes are in your range, but, uh, it's, it's takes a lot of kind of practice mentally to get yourself to a place where you just decide to say, and it's not because you don't care, but there has to be a certain amount of fuck it. Because if you care that much, oftentimes the mind and the voice are connected and you're going to get tense.

47:56And then the more you say, God, I hope it comes out, the sick thing about it is the more you're going to regret how it came out. I don't know if you're aware of this, but you sometimes say fuck it out loud. Oh, did I? No, no, no, no. What I'm saying is I watched you do the national anthem once. And when it came to Rockets Red Glare, And this was in front of a huge stadium filled with children. You said, fuck it. And the rocket's red. And it's like, don't do that. When you're timing the jets, sometimes you have to vamp. And it's just, I tried to stretch. You know, you see the camera guy is going, you know, doing this.

48:33And it's like, fuck it. All right. I think you should start when you're going to hit a really great, impressive note saying, watch this. Just before you do it. It just, you break out of the song and go, watch this. You know, there was a singer, I won't name him, but there was a singer kind of, there was a tenor that I used to see that was kind of coming up around the same time. And he used to do something before he did high notes where he, like, he'd be about to sing the high note and he'd go. Yeah. And I just would go, get this. Here we, watch this. And I'm like, I don't like that at all. Yeah.

49:07I just, yeah. Yeah. Check me out. If I did that, if I went, it definitely wouldn't come out. Like that's a surefire way to jinx a high note. I would completely go this other guy's way. Yes, you would. I would go the other way and glorify. My favorite thing is to say, check this out and then fail. I think it's the funniest, the funniest thing in the world to me is watch this and then wipe out. And then completely wipe out. I think that's very funny. Yeah, you don't start your Oscar monologue with, check this out. All right, here we go. All right, watch this. Hey, you ready to laugh? Watch this.

49:40Oh, God. Yeah, did you see that that movie is so-and-so? Yeah, so-and-so. You know, boy, that would be awful. That's a good joke, by the way. I did have one performance where I was kind of sick. I was with David Foster. By the way, I should preface by saying he's been the most supportive and he's been a great mentor. But there was one time where I think he knew that I should just buckle up and sing the note. And I was being kind of a baby about it. I had a cold and I said to David, this song, please, will you just make sure I don't sing? Can I just not sing the note tonight? Can I sing around it?

50:05Yeah, yeah, no problem, no problem. We get out there, gets up to the note. He's got a mic at the piano, right? And he goes, here comes the money note. Right before. And that was a lesson learned. That was like, and by the way, because I was so surprised that he said it, popped right out. Sure. And it was like, you know, tough love. Yeah. Oh, what? Yeah. A lot of phlegm got spit out in that moment. Yeah. Batang. Yeah. Okay, there's another question. So I'm driving around listening to cinematic and, you know, the Breakfast at Tiffany's theme. Moon River. moon river which that's what you do with your dad and then it it evolves into bickering at one point it does you apparently left the milk out and it was overnight those dishes will never get done river there's no duet with me and my dad yeah the fuck it in that one is very faint it's uh it comes after the jazzy key change a little off mic how cool to get to do that with your dad he's amazing one of one experience yeah I, um, great, great musical arranger, Vince Mendoza gave us that beautiful arrangement.

51:12And there was always a moment in the song for an instrumental. And I had great trumpet players that I'd kind of reached out to get feelers. I talked to Wynton Marsalis and Terrence Blanchard, my heroes to say, Hey, I'm doing this song. Would you, would you be interested? And they both said, send me in. And then I said to myself, you know, my favorite trumpet player is also my favorite person. And my dad is turning 80 this summer. He hasn't played the trumpet anyway, in any way professionally since the sixties. Right. And I asked him, I said, if I, I know you played Moon River as a kid. If I got you to rehearse, you had two weeks notice.

51:42Do you think you could get the lip? And do you think you could do it? And he says, well, let me see. And he unzipped his, his trumpet, you know, case that had Dizzy Gillespie for president on it. And it hadn't, it was dusty, hadn't been open since like the seventies. And, you know, every time I'd call the house, I'd say, mom, how's he doing? I'd be, you know, in the background, he's rehearsing. And I said, how's it going, dad? He's good, good. You know, I actually think I might be able to do this. So Greg Wells, our producer set it up. I said, look, this is going to be my dad. I want this to be special and we need to have some patience.

52:09He hasn't played in a while. So Greg's credit. He said, we got to do this at Sunset Sound, which was Louis Armstrong's favorite studio in LA. And then he called and they said, you know, we actually still have Louis stool. So if you want, we could set out the stool for your dad to sit on. And we got the old mics he used to record into. And I'm going, this is just turning into not just a song, but like a core memory family moment. My whole family showed up and my brother and my sister-in-law, my two-year-old nephew who's walking around and, you know, I got pictures of my dad playing the trumpet for him.

52:36And it was just, you know, and he crushed it. He totally crushed it. So I got my musicality from him. He went into business. His mom said, that's no way to make a living. And to have a song that is a tribute and a thank you for what he put in my DNA is just, it's the best. It's the best thing I've ever recorded. My father-in-law is an incredibly talented musician. And, you know, great. You know, he can play jazz guitar and, you know, that kind of Dixieland style. And he's just, I mean, he can play like Django Reinhardt stuff. Oh, great. And he's really terrific. And he would always sit in with other bands and stuff.

53:15And he played at our wedding. And he's someone who, that's what was his real love. But he thought, well, you know, I'm married, I'm getting married, and I'm going to have kids, and I must be responsible. so he you know worked in insurance and there's so many people who are great artists i think we live in a culture now of this is my dream and i must do it there's so many people who make decisions that this is what i want i want a stable income for my family and they do that so people like your like your dad and he could really well we have one recording of a live performance he had in the 60s and he was i mean truly phenomenal and you know he became an executive recruiter you know he's a headhunter.

53:58You know, he goes out and finds jobs for people and he's brilliant at it. And he's got, luckily, I don't have that side of the brain. If I wasn't doing this, I'd be lost. But he has also the business. He, he can focus, like really focus and he can do that. And he's great at it. But for him to watch me do it for a living, my brother's a director to kind of watch our artistic endeavors blossom. Right. Uh, has I think been, but also, uh, and, and you're able to do that because, well, yeah, he was responsible and did what he had to do. That's exactly right. Is that He went into to do what he did to make sure that we were able to say, hey, I liked going to the theater.

54:33Can I join the theater camp? You know, can I get it? Can I get a, you know, an instrument to play myself? And that is the greatest the greatest service he could have possibly done for us. Yeah, I think our final message here is don't pursue your dreams. You know what I mean? Don't speak English. Yeah, do heroin. I call it American. Oh, sorry. Speak American. Do heroin. Deny your dreams. Deny your dreams. Yeah. Yeah, I call old English original American.

55:031100 AD English to me is like, yeah, that was American. And then they made it English. Yep, I'm a moron that just doesn't quit. Well, latest album, cinematic. It's really, it's amazing. And also, I mean, I was thinking, do you ever just drive around and listen to yourself and enjoy it or is that impossible? Well, there's so much of that that happens when you're doing mixes. And you got to make sure you're listening with a critical lens because you just want to make sure that everything is balanced right. So, I mean, yes, you accidentally get chills sometimes. You say, well, I sounded good. Well, that really sounds great.

55:36You prick. Yeah, it's true. It's true. Ah, here comes the high note. Ah, yeah. I'm going to rent you a convertible and we're going to get a bumped up sound system and you're going to listen to cinematic driving around L.A. And people are going to see you listening to yourself and pointing at yourself at stoplights. I'm going to point at you. Yeah. What a voice, eh? Yeah. Josh, this has been a real delight. Same here. Thank you so much. You were a teenager, I believe, when I met you. And you were, again, really sweet, really funny. Thank you. And I thought, and now here you are, and you're an incredibly, incredibly good guy and a terrific artist.

56:19So glad to know you. And thanks again for your help. Listen, thank you for the opportunity Thank you for being an inspiration for so many years. You make it look easy. I know how hard it is, and you're just such a beacon of light for so many. So this is the one. I'm going to stick the landing here with some take it, take it. Well, you heard it here. I'm a huge influence musically. You are. I'm Josh Groban. You are hearing your Danny Boy really. Oh, Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes. Maybe I can do this for a living. Tony O 'Brien goes broke in one month. Josh, thank you.

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59:14In celebration of your upcoming appearance in the new Toy Story movie. Toy Story 5. Yeah. Yeah. The new one. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We have something special to show you. Oh my God, it's out. Oh, how cool. Look at that. Silly sound maker. This is my character. His name is Smarty Pants. It's a toy for the listener. It's a toy for, well, basically my character in Toy Story 5 is a potty training device. And so I think this must be my voice, right? Say hello there. Pick a number. I mean, that could be me. Yeah, I think it's you. No, it's... I mean, I recorded these. You recorded specifically for the toy or did they take the sound bits from the movie?

59:59No, they had me do it for the toy. Do it here. And you know what I was like? I was like, you know what? I'm never... Wait a minute, wait a minute. This is in the bathroom. That's you. That is you. That's me. You did that here. So, what's that? You did it here in this studio. Yeah, I did it. Yes! It doesn't shut up. It must be you. It won't shut up. Oh, no. You know what I did? I decided, you're like... You know what's so weird? I'm being interrupted by myself. Finally, there's karma. Oh, my God. I can't get him to shut up. It's motion activated. Dude, are you done? Oh, he's motion activated. That's what the problem is.

1:00:37Yeah, it is. It is motion activated. Oh, it does say it right around the box. Can you turn it upside down? I'm just going to put it on the floor for a second. And then can you yourself go on the floor too? and can I be boxed and put into storage by a collector yeah they said oh do you want to you know I guess they can use a different voice but they said do you want to do your voice for the toy and I remember thinking I'm never going to be a toy again yeah I want to be a toy I want to be the voice of a toy you get a little extra they negotiated I do not think so no no this is this is the opposite of a cash grab this is Disney Pixar yeah this is not that this is I mean And I don't care because to be part of the Toy Story saga was just a delight.

1:01:23And to be in the same company of these amazingly creative people and these huge stars. So I was just super happy to do it. But yeah, so now it's a toy. I wonder when my youngest daughter gets potty trained if we'll use that. I think your wife will nix that. But what if you find out people are using it and children all over the world are getting constipated? An epic, there's an epidemic of constipation among children. We think we found the kids just seize up when they hear my voice. I love that the time you're in a Pixar movie, it's when you're a roll of toilet paper. Well, that's how the toy looks, but I'm not a roll of toilet paper.

1:02:05I know, but that's what it's modeled after. It's a roll of toilet paper. Yeah, you look like a roll of toilet paper. No, you're looking at it the wrong way. It's literally a roll of toilet paper. It actually is like just a bowl. No, no. Oh my God, your eyes light up. Okay. You just talked over my toy, which is so you. My toy was trying to talk, and you in typical Sona fashion. They should make a Sona toy. Okay, I'm glad I didn't talk over that.

1:02:33Let me see this thing. Oh, look, now, I like it when you put it face down, and he's just talking into the table. Alone again. Wow. Wait a minute, wait a minute. This is the bathroom. That's Smarty Pants when he's low on battery and he sounds drunk. Oh. That's my method as an actor. Oh, that's good. I am fat. That's great. Now, I have to be honest. As we record this, I've not seen the movie yet. So I don't know what's going to happen. This could be the end of me. Really? What? Are you joking? You just never know. No, you're joking. It's going to be great. I do not want to be the guy that fucks up Toy Story 5.

1:03:13Oh, you're stupid. Don't say that. Maybe you'll get a spinoff. What if I leave the podcast to go double down on my smarty pants? What if I start touring and I'm in a smarty pants? You go to conventions. I go to conventions and I have, you know, I'm one of those. I just do this a lot and take pictures with people. Yeah. I think that's a good idea. That'll work. Anyway, so that's it. I am the voice of a toilet training toy. This is exciting. Are you excited? Now, this is a big deal for you. Animation and Disney and all that, right? Well, I'm not like one way or the other on Disney cartoons, but Toy Story and Pixar, they're pretty amazing.

1:03:51And plus now that I have a daughter that I go to the movies with, this is going to be amazing. Will you take her to see Toy Story 5? Absolutely. We go see a lot. We love going to movies. So, I mean, this would be, sometimes we're stretching to find a decent movie. The only thing I've seen, I go to the premiere tomorrow and I will see the movie for the first time. And there are whole chunks of the movie I don't know because they only give you your part. but um one of the things that they did let me see was the opening of the movie uh and it's just stunning do you have are you in that or do you have a i'm not in it i'm not give a grand entrance of it no i mean i don't know i have not seen anything to do with my part i'm totally in the dark so uh but they show the opening of the movie which is quite cinematic and amazing and i just uh they are because david hopping and i got to go to pixar yeah to record my parts and it is, they're formidable, these people.

1:04:46They're just really amazing. Are you going to take the boys? I am. Yeah. And when he comes on screen, are you going to whisper to them, I have complicated feelings about that character? I think, no, they know that Uncle Conan's in the next Toy Story movie. They don't know which part I am. They have no idea which part you're in. Just tell them I'm Woody. Oh my God. That's blasphemy. Absolutely not. No way. Do you get to go to Disneyland for free? That's one of the perks of being like a Disney employee. Do you have a badge? No. Oh, okay. So you're not like, you were just like temporarily there. If you wanted to go to Disneyland for free or get tickets for somebody who wants to go to Disneyland for free.

1:05:25I think they got what they needed from me. Okay. And I will be, and even if I try to purchase a legitimate ticket to Disneyland, they will probably tell me I can't have it. You know, we floated the idea of the three of us going to Disneyland and recording there. I think we should do that. I do that. I do that. Yeah. Yeah. I love Disney. I took a date to Disneyland once, years ago. How old were you? I was when I was first living out here. So it would have been like 1986. I would have been 23. How was the date? It was a good date. That's a great date. It was a good date. Yeah. It takes a lot of the awkwardness out of it because there's so much to do.

1:06:03Why would there be awkwardness with me? What are you talking about? Did you make her go to like the Hall of Presidents? It gets worse. I took her to the Hall of Presidents and then made her, we stayed. Because I wanted to see each president talk multiple times. And then she got upset when I said, I told her, she started to say something. I said, quiet, it's Martin Van Buren coming up. He was the sage, I said, he was the sage of Kinderhook. And she went, what? And I said, old Kinderhook, upstate New York. Martin Van Buren, his lineage was, they were Dutch. and then I snapped at her and I never saw her again.

1:06:43She left in tears. And then Martin Van Buren looked at me and went, you are a dick, sir. You know so much about Martin Van Buren. He said, you know more about me than I do. And then Martin Van Buren said, she looked hot. And then Lincoln said, sure did. You fucked up, son. You cock-blocked yourself, young man. You cock-blocked yourself and that's hard to do. And then all the presidents just spent like 40 minutes telling me what an absolute - They had a roast? They just went after me. I would watch the Hall of Presidents roast. Yeah, and then there was a Kevin Hart robot came out and he said, I'm not a president, but I want in on this.

1:07:27And then he went after me. And so it was all the presidents and Kevin Hart roasting me for making my girlfriend go see the Hall of Presidents. Anyway, she fled, never to return again. Anyway, Toy Story 5 Do it, man

1:07:45I don't know My brain doesn't work today Conan O 'Brien Needs a Friend With Conan O 'Brien, Sonam of Sessian And Matt Gourley Produced by me, Matt Gourley Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross And Nick Liao Theme song by The White Stripes Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino Take it away, Jimmy

1:08:10Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples. Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns. Additional production support by Mars Melnick. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Britt Kahn. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It, too, could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of SiriusXM when you sign up at SiriusXM.com slash Conan.

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1:09:41Pettivity is an ecosystem of smart devices and at-home health tests that help pet owners provide a new standard of care to the pets they love. You have a dog, Sona. I do. She's very special. I have two dogs and three cats, so this could be interesting for me. These products transform your pet's most important data into real insights about their well-being, giving you the peace of mind that you're doing all you can to provide the best care possible. Proactively monitor your pets with PetTivity. Does this make sense? Yeah, it does. You don't want to wait until your pet has a problem. You want to be proactive.

1:10:12Yeah, you want them to live forever. Visit PetTivity.com, P-E-T-I-V-I-T-Y.com to learn more about all the PetTivity smart devices and at-home health tests.