Lisa Kudrow Returns Again

26:00What's nice about the world we live in now is shows used to go away all the time. Yeah. But now there's this world where shows can not get picked up, but they don't go away. And then you can have this audience build. Yeah. And people who, and if you make, I mean, I've seen it with so many like Party Downs, an example of a show that I don't think was getting a lot of attention, but you can check in on it years and years later. And it's almost like The Wire. You know, there are these comedy shows that, okay, didn't see it, didn't support it. You check in much later on. I wasn't aware of Party Down.

26:39And then you see it and you go, oh, they've really, they've made a nice little Swiss watch here. Yeah. And it's just as good now as it would have been if I had tuned in the day it came out. And definitely the comeback had that. Yeah. Where it was building and building. And you probably experienced a lot of people when you're out at the supermarket. Oh, yeah. The supermarket is where all the fans of the comeback are. They are. They are. They're there. They're there in the produce lane. And you're there like, what about those melons? And you're like, I don't know. Hey, the comeback. But I go to a lot of supermarkets.

27:16But you must have had that experience where you're hearing from people. Yeah. I love that. And so you didn't hear that necessarily from the people that made the show or broadcast the show. Right. But you knew, I'm hearing from way too many people. well even when it was when we were on we heard David Bowie got in touch with HBO because he was going to be on tour he didn't want to miss anything so send him wow 2005 DVDs or whatever it is I'm looking we don't remember then you find out the other shows David Bowie wanted

27:59I didn't get the latest fear factor where they eat shit. Can you have that one, please? You're like, David. But and then we felt like, oh, OK, yeah, that's right. HBO, that's all they need to hear, probably. And, you know, we had a lot of bad reviews because people didn't understand what they were seeing. Right. And then by the time halfway through, there were revised reviews, like retractions and and went wow when does that happen my god so we and also our ratings we were doing as well if not better than Entourage when its first season was just the year before and went alright so great and who else has shows that you don't you've not seen this before you don't really understand and then you get to know what it is and embrace it and it's great HBO except they kept telling us yeah We're not, HBO is not HBO anymore.

29:00So I don't know. It's really got to, I don't know. We'll see. I don't know. And then it turns out, I only found out a couple years ago, there was one guy at HBO that I don't know if I ever even met him in charge, who was just like, we're not going to pick that up, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, well, but I have to say, yes, it was a surprise that we didn't get picked up, but I didn't feel bad. Right. And I was in shock that I didn't feel bad because I thought, well, look, this is about the best I can do. And I think we did it about the best that it could be done. So I've got nothing to feel bad about.

29:42It's not my mistake. Yeah. So I don't know. I didn't feel bad. Well, I'm glad. Yeah. You should have felt a little bad. I'm just sorry. I felt bad later. Yeah. As long as you felt bad at some point. No, I did. Good, good. Oh, no, don't worry. Good. Oh, I felt bad. No, no, like gut-wrenching. Yes. Like a hole in my inside. In your soul. In my soul. Yeah. Good. And my soul's inside. That's necessary for good work. It is? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You'll have it one day, Sona. I don't know. But it wasn't. Will I? But here's the thing. It wasn't because it was canceled. It was because someone else, it was Bill Maher talking about something and jokes that don't land because like one joke and it was famous.

30:25I don't remember. someone making fun of someone who's marginalized or, you know, like a victim or. And he was saying, look, you want to make fun of white men, you can make fun of white men all you want. OK, because they've got the power. But don't make fun of that person or that thing. And I went. Women are still, you know, you can't make fun of women in that way, like you can't. Oh, no, they're just it's too they're too easily recognized. recognized as victims if they're and i went no i never thought of it that way idiot oh i mean because so much great comedy i mean yeah women lucille ball you know tina fey so many great uh on and on and on have made fun of themselves as women and it's brilliant you know yes but Val, this wasn't the same.

31:23This was like a man being cruel to her. And I thought, no, it's a writer, you know, giving a hard time to an actress. Like, why is that a big shock and horror? I mean, that's one. What do you think? What do you think actors and especially actresses have put up with forever, you know, and haven't? I don't know. I don't know. Anyway. I agree. No, but you proved me wrong. I take it back. I'll never say it again. I get it. I get it. I get what she's saying. What do you, give us your input here, Sona. I just think, I actually think it's part of the reason why she was so just kind of like, okay, just taking it is because she's used to it.

32:06I mean, that's how it's always been for her. Right. It's not going to change. Exactly. So you've got to, like, here are the boundaries. Yeah. And so you just work within them, around them. You know, that's all. And I mean, look, I don't know if it's because I've, I don't know if it's, I never felt like, oh, I'm a woman. And so, you know, I don't get to, I don't know. I mean, on some level, yes. Especially with this, it just didn't occur to me. It's like, this isn't gender specific ambition or hopes and dreams. So it didn't occur to me that it would be an issue at all. And I think it kind of was that it was a woman.

32:48Now, when you come back 10 years later and you do the second season, did you feel more assured that I know, I really know who this character is? I know there's a lot of fans. People are excited for us to return. Did it feel different? Kind of. I mean, it's a little scarier because then there's expectations. And what Michael Patrick King and I knew was it's 10 years later, she's 10 years older, and it's going to be different. It has to be different. And, you know, and then I just thought it was great that we had her win the Emmy for a performance she couldn't even appreciate in herself because she was stuck on how tired she looked in the scene.

33:34And I liked that a lot for her. And then, of course, the huge thing is that she, you know, leaves the Emmys that you hosted. Thank you. I got paid. Oh, you did? I told them you didn't have to get paid. That makes me mad. It was validated parking. That was my payment. I'm kidding. I needed to say I'm kidding.

34:08it's disturbing when you'll say something like yeah and i hope something horrible happens to you conan i'm kidding that i'm kidding chills me more oh okay well because it could be real it could be true uh i'm explaining in the joke so i don't know i was really to yourself i was really sad about um the character of mickey yes the actor who plays your actor mickey Robert Michael Morris. Yeah. And he was such a so terrific. And he completely nailed this kind of person that we all know, especially in this business. Someone who's been with you a long time is in your corner. And it's just all you were getting was, you know, undiluted support from him.

34:59Um, but, uh, and of course he's not perfect, but I just, I was very obviously sad, you know, that, that he had passed and that character is just kind of note perfect. Right. Yes, he is. And also biting his tongue. Like we had so many takes. He was sort of a little bit of a reality check sometimes when she's saying something and you're wondering like, that's stupid. Right. And then you switch over to Mickey, who's looking confused. Yeah. Why'd she say that? Yeah. Yeah, he was great. Yeah, and that was a horrible loss. I mean, I couldn't even think about doing more for a really long time. Because we'd been talking about it and knew that it might be possible to do more.

35:50But no, it took me a really long time to get over Mickey. Mickey. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, he was great. And, you know, he wasn't, he was sick when we were shooting that season. And when our first day, we were, we had to walk back and forth a lot somewhere, I don't know. And he had to sit down. He said, I don't know if I can do this. And Michael Patrick King, you know, who knew him from college, that was his college acting teacher. And he came over and he just said, you can do it. Of course you can do it. And I said, yeah, whatever you need. And he got, over the course of shooting, he got better and better and better.

36:39And his doctors said, what are you doing? Because everything's good. The disease is not progressing. Yeah. Whoa. What are you doing? So I don't, it's that stuff. I love hearing stories about that. Yeah. Happening, which. Because we don't understand it, but it makes 100%. We believe it. I believe there have been times where I haven't felt well. And then I've gone out and done a show for a really big audience, you know, at a theater or something. And I feel great afterwards. And you think, okay, this is adrenaline, but it's also community. I got my people around me. I'm getting all this positivity.

37:29You're getting this bath that is very, you know, life-saving. Right. So I totally understand that. Yeah. Right. I mean, look, if COVID taught us anything, well, it taught us a lot of things. But to me, one of them was, boy, our immune systems are everyone's is different. And wow, it seems like what activates it and what, you know, what helps it along and how much of wellness is immune system and then other things. And we don't know. To me, it just meant, oh, that's right. We don't know most everything about our bodies and our universe and we don't know a lot. Well, I get most of it. but okay I'm sorry I just do you understand that stuff yeah I do oh okay yeah can you explain anything about the immune system I don't think you would understand oh okay okay I'm sorry but you know what I mean it's just the level do I know what you mean yeah I'm just thinking on like I'm thinking in like the ninth dimension you know so there's only so much I can do for you people that's true you know what's interesting that's true I just I'm sorry I'm a little bit honest and then oh it's all this by the way I mean I think Conan is so smart that he could explain physics.

38:48No, not physics. Physics, I don't understand. You don't? No, I really don't. Did you ever take physics? No, I mean, I did in high school, but I, you know, when they start saying, oh, time is a - Relative. Well, of course I understand that. I didn't. I'm the one who explained it to Einstein. Oh, okay. But no, there's so much I don't understand. If I believed that. Oh, okay. Very humbling. So that was you. Yeah. Went back in time And he was like Who's this man What are you doing In my patent office Hey E equals MC squared Buddy And grow out a mustache Oh wow And I zip out the mustache Back to the future Yeah Anyway That was Conan you guys Yeah Your accent was spot on That was Einstein Can I hear it again I'm trying to work In the patent office There we go Okay And I think Who's this Irish lady I'm a dude man You look like Jane Lynch Shut up He knew James Lynch.

39:48Time is relative. Yeah. He just tried to explain it to you. I don't even know. So here's an interesting thing about you is that you've experienced this real victory in this space with the comeback, but you also got to experience that. Failure. Oh, no, no. But if that's where you were going, that would be great. Yes, yes. I don't know what you were doing before the comeback. It just didn't pop, whatever it was. No, my point being that you, with Friends, you could arguably say you got to be in the last giant communal TV, you know, mega hit that no one at the time realized this is maybe the last of these where everyone's going to watch this show and it's a cultural touchstone and this is where we all are watching these people go through this life.

40:57That was such a phenomenon. Yeah. And very few people get to be in the nose cone of that rocket. And you've had both these, both very different experiences, but the success you're having now is the success of this new way of experiencing TV as opposed to the massive, you know, it's cheers level, happy days, massive. And I'm just curious, like you've experienced them both and I don't think a lot of people have. That's gotta be unusual to have both of those. Okay. That's all, you don't need to comment. I don't know, I don't know. Don't you agree? It's like a cult hit, because that's what I feel like.

41:42Right. But also it's a different, it's a very, it's, it's, it's a very, it's a great piece of work that is, that fits this new medium really well, in my opinion, which is. Okay. I'm just trying to understand. Because what do you mean time's relative? Yeah. All right. Yeah. See, a guy's on a train and he's passing a station. Now, what if someone on the station throws an orange? See, that's what I'm hearing simultaneously while you're talking about the other thing, because time folds. Because you're existing. Yeah, you're on both folds of the time. Oh, right. And it's 1986. And hi, I'm Lisa. Yeah.

42:24Yeah. I mean, I'm also at that point in my life now, too. I'm traveling. I'm existing on this plane in 2026, but I'm also right now in 1986 and I'm buying tons of Lisa Kudrow stock. And now I'm rich. It was exciting when I went public. I made a killing. Some of you started buying Lisa when friends hit the air, but not me. I was there in the olden days when we were in a weird basement doing improv. Is that right? For absolutely nobody. I think that one night we had one person in the... It was a rat. There were rats. They applauded and they had good suggestions. But they were the same suggestions.

43:16Virulent disease. Rat, you said that already.

43:22You were so mad at me. It felt like there were days we were doing this. You were just looking at me like, why are we doing this? What did you make me do? I was. performing in a theater that was at the bottom of the Scientology Center and no one would come in. And there was one person, I think one night there was one or two people in a theater that, and we did our show anyway. We were like, we're gonna, the real pro is perform even when there's one or two people, let's go. And then afterwards I was just embittered. Oh, yeah, you were bad. That's rough though. And she was my, you know, so honest.

43:58Elise is always super honest with me and I just, she would when I would be down or if someone was doing performances that were hacky I would put my head in my hands like this and she'd say they can see you you're being a dick and I'm like oh right you're right you're right I forgot that's subtle compared to what you were doing you know what you were doing what were you what was he doing I don't know I can't oh pulling my hair out what the fuck you know that bit that funny bit when he's like in so much and he's pulling his hair out. And so it's a little more than just fair. I'm saying I, I'm saying you're a terrible person.

44:41That's not nice. Yeah. That's not a nice thing. I wore my, I wore my heart on my sleeve. I know when it came to comedy. Yeah. And I, that was not always a good thing. And I needed to just felt like it's good. You just need to put a sheet over me. You just need to put a sheet over me when someone went up to do a nerd character and had tape around the middle of their glasses and was going, I've been working on a new formula and I like computers. And Lisa just needed to have, you need to have a tarp that they put over a barbecue outdoors. You just need to have one that you put over me so that they couldn't see that I wanted to die.

45:18No, it was, it was just like, wait, who's going? Oh, you're going up? Okay. Give me a second. Conan, we're going to put the tarp on now. Yeah. Then you just see a quivering tarp with steam coming off of it. With fists coming out of it. Okay. Listen, what is this? Beat up Conan Day? Sona's not going to stand for that. Yeah, I am. I am. Oh, okay. You're going to encourage it. No, I am. I'm going to encourage it. I'm going to laugh and I'm going to enjoy it. Yeah. But to me, it's not beating up on you. It's just you had a highly attuned antenna for subpar comedy. And that's the whole thing about classes.

45:58Everyone's learning what their clown is. Don't you hate that expression? Find your clown. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Anyway, that's a grounding thing. Teachers are like, you know, you just got to find your clown. And I get really mad. The one thing I still can't do to this day is improv warm-up exercises. And there have been, I didn't like them back in the 80s. And I just wanted to go out there and do the thing. and I didn't want to play these games backstage to have us all get in the mood or something. Right, me neither. Not in the mood. And then, yeah, and it's these games like, blip, blop, blip. I'll look at you and go, blip.

46:33And you'll look at me and go, blip. And blip, blop, blip. And you're always in an alley somewhere in Hollywood and it smells like urine. And you're going, blip, blip, blip, blip, blip, blip, blip. And I would say, can we just not do this? I will pay you. I will pay you if we don't have to do this. and be like, you have to do it, man. It's really good. We had to do that recently. We did. A few years ago. We did a show for charity and backstage, again, in an alley in Culver City, I think. And someone said, okay, everybody, let's warm up. Let's play Skiddly-daddly-dee. I know. What is that? Skiddly-doo, skiddly-dee, skiddly-daddly.

47:10What is that really? And I don't know what it is. You know? No, I didn't know what the thing was. They were even telling the game. I didn't know either. And I said. But it was an involved thing. But first you had to like skidoo-ba-do. Like just like, no. And I was begging. I was saying, can I just not do this? Yeah, why did you do it? No, I think we did it a little bit. We did it. And then just went, all right. Okay. Moving on. Is it time? I think it's time. I think we should go. I made the sound of a siren. I said, oh, I think someone got hurt somewhere. We better go inside. Oh, the cops are coming.

47:45We better clear out. Is that a gunshot? Yeah. Kapow! That's not a gun, Conan. That's a terrible gun. Now get back to your blip. I said blipped. You got to say blipped. Anyway, that's just me. I wasn't built for that. No, I didn't like it either. I almost quit because I didn't like what I saw in the first improv class where it's like, throw a space ball. And be angry. And they're just like, grr. I just went, that's what I have to do. Maybe I'm not. This isn't for me. You know, it's interesting. the I've always thought and this is something that's true of legitimate acting which is not what I do but the the line between it being great and you absolutely humiliating yourself is so razor thin and you know a lot of acting classes kind of you need to just put that stuff all aside and strip yourself of all your, and I think of your defenses and then sob or roll around on the floor or pretend you're a jelly bean or all that kind of stuff.

48:56And I thought, yeah, did you go, mm, like good jelly bean? Mm, that was you being a jelly bean? I was like, mm, yeah, yummy, yum. I love jelly beans. I go, okay. Good jelly bean every day, though. Yeah. But I don't know, I always thought, oh, no, all I am is if I weigh 190 pounds, 185 of it are defense mechanisms. And then some hair and maybe some teeth. So I can't, I'm not going to get rid of all that stuff. I can't do it. I mean, I have my hats off to people that can do it. I have a lot of respect for actors. But you still use so much improv. You learned something. Both of you did learn a lot, I'm guessing, unless you already were just natural improvisers.

49:42I think both of us brought some of our own way we think to it. And then, yes, you learn great tools. About listening. Listening, talking, responding, and then just, and committing. And that was the first thing I learned. Watching him, he was really committed to throwing a ball. And you didn't look, no, no, no. But there was no ball. He was pretending there was a ball, and it looked like he was throwing a ball, and he looked like a little angry, but not over the top. No, you did it. And that's what acting is, which is why you can act. I let you say all that, you know, because I felt like you really wanted to.

50:18But no, you can. You can act. You can act because you know how to listen and respond. Isn't that all it is? I guess. I don't know what it is. I don't either. Yeah. It's not going to stay. Whatever you're doing, keep doing it. All right. That's what I'll tell you. You. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, maybe you have questions for Lisa because, you know, I know Lisa so well. We're done. We're done. Yeah. But I know Lisa so well that these are interesting interviews for me always because sometimes I think, well, we just talked about that at dinner. Right. So then I think, oh, I want to make sure that the people listening get some stuff that isn't just me because I know Lisa so well, you know?

51:06I mean. Does that make sense? Yeah, I totally get it. I think that I do have a lot of questions about you guys starting off together in terms of, are you both kind of the same people as you were back then, you think? Yes, you are. I am. You don't think you are? I think I'm very much the same. I will tell you, we both had not great cars. So you have better cars now. That was, no, I'm just talking about like, we got to start somewhere that people can understand. What was my car? How do you remember? Datsun Z. Yeah. And it was fine. A 280Z? You had a 280Z. That's a nice. No, it was a fine car. I'm just saying it was.

51:46It was a great. It wasn't always clean. Sports car. And then. Get a little. Oh, no. My cars were never clean and I smoked. Yeah. Yeah. You did? Yeah. What? I don't know. I did. Of course I did. Yeah. For 20 years. Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. Okay. Pack a day. No, Lisa. What? I did it just part-time, poorly.

52:12And I used to say, you could do better at smoking. You could, I would get mad. You'd be smoking, but not enough. And I'd be like, come on! You could do better. Are you in or you're out? Are you in or you're out? You gotta be a three pack a day smoker, Lisa. Did you ever smoke? No. No, if I smoked, I would look, I was very aware that if I smoked, I would look like a kid who got into a pack of cigarettes. And like the teacher came by and went, put those down, Augie. I'm picturing you next to Lisa with those candy cigarettes. Yeah. Yeah. Puffing little powdered sugar. Oh, and I started smoking this summer.

52:47I was at Harvard. We were there at the same time because you went, you were there in the summer. We were there at the same time. And I used to work on the lampoon in the summers there. So I never missed a summer there. And I was there one summer. And that's when I started smoking because those fucking bugs, those flying water bugs is big as your fist. What does that have to do with you needing to smoke? Who says there's too many bugs? I need to smoke. Why? Because it terrified me. It stressed me out so much. And I didn't tell you the part that made it so bad as I'm sleeping. And I hear a jet has flown into my room.

53:25Okay. Because it's these old crappy buildings next to the river and there's no screens on them, But there's no air conditioning because, you know, it's the East Coast. And, well, that's how it goes. Take that, East Coast. East Coast in the 80s. And it was an old charming dorm building. And so the windows were open. And I went, what? Like something mechanical flew into the room. It was the loudest. And there was a giant water flying cockroach water bug. Like this big. You're looking like, I don't know what she's talking about. No, no, no, I'm not. The whole time I was there, I didn't see a bug.

54:09No, there can be some big bugs, but it never made me think, I need a smoke. Okay. And then it was on my, and it was just like on my wall. So now it's this big. On my wall. And I went, okay. And I grabbed my shoe, dumbass, throwing a tennis shoe. That's way too slow. Yep. As I throw it, it's flying toward my head. and then I couldn't sleep and you know there were cigarettes somewhere and I just started smoking and it calmed me down because nicotine is wonderful oh it's really good good stuff it's good stuff never had it yeah and then another one flew in and they became pets there was no getting them out and there was no choice you got them little toys figured out their favorite food you had them for 14 years you know what Robert Smigel said to me once He looked at me when I was being insane about something and tightly wound.

55:04And he said, you're the only person I know who would be healthier if he smoked. Oh, that smoking and the breathing and the nicotine, it would extend your he said, Conan, it would extend your life. It's bad for everyone else. But you and I think about that sometimes because Robert's been right about a lot of things. and now I think at my age, if I started now, I'm like, come on, how much damage could I do? No, but this has nicotine in it, so. Oh, nicotine gum. Yeah. Look, I didn't even take one, but I have it. This is turning into an ad for starting to smoke, which I don't want it to be, although I'm a little intrigued.

55:47Well, I don't, wait, but I do want to say something because you said, are you different? And here's, you are a little different. How? I mean, we should be, shouldn't we? Don't you think? Sure. Okay. But you had told, like, when we met and we were talking. Different from when I was in 1986. Well, yeah. I mean, I should hope so. I don't think you're as tightly wound. No, I'm not. Okay, good. He was worse than this. The end. Okay. No, she's absolutely right. I will make my time working for you. You have gotten a lot more chill. Yeah. Yeah, I see that too. But he told me that he would be so tightly wound, like something I can't, either I don't remember.

56:23I just don't want to say. No, because you were telling me something happened at college and it upset you. And you sat and you quietly just like took apart a chair. Yeah. Really just like quietly. Yeah. Patiently. Yeah. With rage. Wow. Yeah. Something in the comedy realm hadn't gone my way. And I went back to my room and there was a very sturdy wooden chair that they have at Harvard that has like the Harvard insignia on it. And I quietly was pulling out all of the pieces of the chair. Yeah, I had that in me. There's a guy in here who scares me. Is that scary? Because maybe this is scary. You told me that story and I went, yeah.

57:12Right. Because you can't actually get violent in front of anybody. No, no, I would never turn that on anyone. The person I beat up on mostly is me. and writers who need a physical beating every now and then. Sure. Well. No, I, yeah. But I mean, of course we both change. I think having kids changes you too. Yeah. Yeah. Like I love, and I said this recently on someone else's podcast, but so much of being young is being narcissistic. So it's necessary. You kind of have to be a narcissist when you're young and it's got to be all about you and your problems have to be the biggest thing in the world because you are going through life and the stakes are big.

57:56And then once my daughter showed up and then later my son, I remember instantly knowing, oh, yeah, I don't count anymore. I'm not, I get it. And liking it, like it's about them. Yeah, takes the load off. I've got to be here for them. And just even thinking about it, I'm much calmer. Yeah. So I, yeah, needed to be having kids when I was 15. That's what you were built for. Yeah, exactly. All of us. Hi, kids, settle down. Dad, why do you have acne? Shut up. I got to go to high school now. Well, not yet, but next year. You guys settle down. I'm gonna go watch Star Trek reruns well I am I think we're all thrilled anytime you drop in thanks and so excited for the new season of the comeback which is a jewel it's just so beautifully made and really looking forward to it and I love you you're one of my favorite people in the history of the world oh come on seriously yeah you are mine too you just did a me too yeah Okay I mean come on I don't think you gushed enough Yeah It wasn't enough Thank you for your thank you Mail it Oh shit Here comes a bird with it If you'd give me your address I would Yay let's play Gotta warm up for improv Lisa Kudrow Peace out Tupac

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1:01:38Okay, I'm going to break into this programming now with urgent, urgent news update. David Hopping just saw the Backstreet Boys at the Sphere. And whatever you're doing, if you're driving right now, I want you to pull over to the side of the road. If you're listening, cooking dinner, dinner, I mean, just order, order out. Because this is just too important. David, what was this experience like? Backstreet Boys, the Sphere. Paint the picture because America wants to know. Okay. Hi, America. America just hung up. It's just one person named America. Yeah, it's America Ferrara. She does not want to hear this story.

1:02:21It was on my birthday. We drove to Vegas. Got there with no traffic. We got there under four hours, which. That's nice. Oh, when. People love that part of the story. And then. Whenever you hear about seeing an iconic band at the Sphere. You said paint the picture. People's favorite story is about the commute. Okay, I love that you consider the Backstreet Boys iconic. This is nice. Please, you didn't see my, I put little quotes around it. Okay. No, come on, they're a big deal. I love the Backstreet Boys. I'm not going to shit on the Backstreet Boys. I'm not going to, I just didn't, I didn't know they were your cup of tea.

1:02:52I'm just saying this is a huge band. Whether or not I know all their songs, I know a few of them, let's get to the place. Do it before it's not done doing. Which goes. Yeah. Do it for it's not done. Hey, hey, do it. She's all that and a corn sandwich. They have some great songs that are part of the American experience. Yeah. But anyway, just get to the good part of the sphere. Good. Then we stopped and we got canned peaches. Sorry. Go ahead. I got a drink and a souvenir cup that has all their faces on it. Then we walked. We had standing on the floor. So have you been to this fear? I haven't been to this.

1:03:33Because Sona and I get excited about like the little things in life. Yeah. Walking into this, seeing the huge screen was everything. And then everyone stuck to you were supposed to wear all white to the concert. Why? Everyone, because it's like their Millennium album cover. They're all wearing white. Oh, I thought they were all saving themselves for marriage. Which I admire. Like a virginal thing. Yeah, they're virginal, yeah. They're all like pushing 60. They're like, when the time comes, I want it to be special. And now for my next hit, gotta get going to the place where we go. That's a big one.

1:04:12Everyone stuck to the theme, though. Everyone wore white. That's great. And then they came out and I've never seen anything like this. Like it was like space theme. So there's like a spaceship above you. And it's like everyone's like looking up. I miss them even coming out on the stage because the visuals were just so cool. So I'm getting the sense they didn't need to be there. They did. Their music was everything. Well, they could play the music and then you could look at your spaceships and then, you know, whatever. They could have anybody get up there wearing a white shirt. No, they needed to be there.

1:04:41Okay. Eduardo's going soon. Are you going to the Backstreet Boys? No, no, no. I'm going to catch. What's that? No Doubt. Okay. That's cool. Yeah. Taking my wife and my niece. Yeah. I don't know if they've ever had a comedy show, though. You should try to be like the first person. You know how I prefer to watch No Doubt? When they premiere on my show in New York. Oh, what a flex. In 1993. What a flex. Mic drop. So, The Sphere. Yeah. I want to go to, here's what I want to do. I want to go to the sphere when they're featuring something that in no way is enhanced or benefited by the sphere. Yeah. Do you know what I mean?

1:05:20I want to go when all they're doing is someone's playing a banjo and they're rebroadcasting Walter Cronkite's last episode of the news. And it's just a regular news program where at the end he's and they just run that a couple of times and someone plays a banjo and it's all around you on the sphere. No special effects. It's just Walter Cronkite saying it's been an honor and a pleasure. And, you know, take care and be well. Yeah. Good night. You know, or something that doesn't even use the screen at all. It's like two people having a guest lecture on like AI. And they're not even. No, no. You use the screen because at one point the two people giving a lecture mention.

1:06:01I'll be talking about this at a separate conference, which is on March 3rd. And just the date March 3rd comes up. In tiny font. In small font on one part of the sphere. Those are the things I want to go see at the sphere. I want, my dream is to misuse the sphere. Let me be very clear. I will go and do something at the sphere that completely misuses that amazing technology. Do a PowerPoint presentation on like a timeshare in Vegas. Yeah. And then you're just like holding a thing. And it's just one little part. It's one little square. No one can even see it. People know, here's the thing. You can kind of see it.

1:06:41That's important to me. You can kind of see it. And I go on and on. Yeah, that's how I want to use the sphere. But anyway, so you had a good time? Had a great time. It was, yeah. And then at the end, I was actually texting Sona after because it's just a bunch of drunk Backstreet Boys fans all walking in some hallways singing their songs together. Yeah. And what else could you want? And if you look closely, some of the Backstreet Boys are in with them.

1:07:07hey wait a minute isn't that Jub Jub what are their names well there's Nick there's AJ there's Nick I don't know is there a Nick I want to just make that up is everyone okay everyone's healthy they're all there it's like the new kids on the block also are in Vegas they're all there I'm trying to pick a date to go see them do those guys ever join forces, you know? Or is it like Marvel and DC where that's not allowed? No, they've toured together before. Oh, they all get together? Yeah. Oh, I just thought I had this cool idea. Oh, no. And can they then join up with another group like, you know, Menudo?

1:07:47Can you ever get another group that joins them? So those two united, Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block, but then who else could join them? We need an NSYNC reunion. Oh. NSYNC. I mean, it can be 98 degrees. It could be O-Town. What if you got them all together? I mean, all together. And then didn't let them perform. Wait, what do they do? They're giving the PowerPoint presentation? No, you get them all together backstage and then you lock the door. And then I go out and I show a little timeshare lecture. It's projected on one small part and they have to watch it and they can't get out. They can't get out.

1:08:32The ultimate bait and switch. I love it. You'll be murdered by a lot of older women. Hey, a lot of people have tried. A lot of people have tried. Old women are taking a swing at me every day. All right. There's my pitch sphere. Call me. Peace out. Tupac. 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

1:09:10Our 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. And if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O 'Brien Needs a Friend wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.

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