The Mothman Cometh

0:03Conan O 'Brien needs a fan. Want to talk to Conan? Visit teamcoco.com slash call Conan. Okay, let's get started. Hi, Sam. Welcome to Conan O 'Brien Needs a Fan. Hey, how are you there? Hey, Sam. How are you? I'm doing really good. How are you doing? Doing great. First of all, loving the hair, Sam. Thank you. I thought it was inspired. I love, I'm not egotistical enough to say it's the Conan swoop because, you know, I didn't invent it. I think Bob's big boy invented it, but looks very cool. So I'm loving that. Tell us a little bit about yourself, Sam. So my name's Sam and I live in Chicago and, you know, been a big fan of yours since, you know, forever.

0:51Thank you. Actually, with my first paychecks, I actually bought a TV. Like it was like back in like 2003, a little tiny LCD TV that I could watch Conan. like your guys' show in my room right before I went to bed. So I wouldn't keep everyone else in the house up. Wow. So you have excellent comedy taste and you're considerate. That's a great combination. Yeah, I try. I try to be. And my brother, whose name is also Matt, also loves, has always loved you too. He's about as tall as you too. Oh, wow. Okay. I would have been as tall as you if I had a Y chromosome. but I am a trans guy. Okay. Which means that I started life as a girl and when I was 33, I transitioned to being a guy.

1:43Okay. Yeah. And tell us, so how old are you now? How long ago did you transition? So I transitioned when I was 33 years old. I started and I'm going to be 39 next month. So. You look fantastic, by the way. I was going to say, you look like you're like 22 years old. Yeah, I know. Well, that's kind of like one of the perks of like, you know, transitioning a little bit later is, you know, you look you always look a little bit younger, like when you're transitioning from female to male. But like for me, like for some people, like in their early 20s, like that's not so great. But like when you're in your 30s, you know, I'll take it.

2:22I'll look younger. I was going to say I was thinking I want to transition from a man my age to a man who's much younger. Someone figured out. Don't we all, though? Yeah, I got to figure I got to figure that one out, too. If I could figure out how to transition my joints and all of my problems. They're going to figure it all out. Have you watched The Substance? They're working out. Demi Moore is working very hard on this. It worked out great for her, too. Yeah, it looked like it did to me. So, Sam, what do you what's your what's your what's your gig? What's your job? What do you do? So pretty much I run my own business.

2:58I actually make adult toys. OK. And we, when I, I've actually been in the industry since 2008. But when I started transitioning, which was, I think it was that was like 2019. I kind of noticed that there wasn't toys on the market that like were super compatible with like trans anatomy. And like the changes that your body goes through. Oh, that would be true. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, hey, I've got these skills from working in the industry. Can I translate that into something that works? good for, you know, for a variety of different body types. So, uh, and that's what I've been doing, uh, pretty much since then it's, it's mostly just been me, um, my designer who lives in Denmark.

3:43And then just recently, one of my partners started helping me make toys, like just, you know, to keep up on orders. So I'm curious. So you were, uh, in the adult toy business before you transitioned. Is that right? I see. Okay. That, okay. And then realize that, Hey, wait a minute um there needs there's a market here that's not being taken care of yeah exactly and it was like i i mean there was definitely stuff out there um and i swear i probably bought like one of everything uh just to see and then it's taken um you know it's taken a while but like we've we've like one of our toys took like four years to finally design so it would be combat compatible and then another thing we completely came up with that nobody else has done is we came up with what's called a grindable which is like halfway between like a like a like a sleeve and like a grind pad which is something that like some people use like you know like cis women will generally use to like grind up against so we kind of invented something that was halfway but between that me and my designer and then uh when it's when it's ready for market how do you get the word out So one of the things, like, so our toys are cryptid themed.

4:59So they're basically like fantasy toys themed. So that was like what my old business did. So I kind of just kept going with that. But mine are cryptid based. Meaning like monsters and stuff like that. Yeah. So they're based on like monsters and folklore. We have like a Mothman. We have Minotaur. You know, we've got the Jersey Devil. uh you know we're trying to come up with more stuff what's the mothman you know like uh so i think you have a customer yeah so this is our mothman oh wait a minute yeah so this is our yeah this is our medium um no we have two sizes that's a medium yeah we have two sizes smaller and two sizes bigger um but yeah and then these are all made of platinum cure um medical grade silicone so these are not like the toys that you just buy like you know online that are just made of unknown materials you know right you want to make sure you're using medical grade safe yeah yeah so um yeah we uh you know that and then we and then we make these we we can say i i like one of the cool things that i can do is i can fade the silicone to yeah like this is this is you start with one it's one bucket and you fade all the way down to a different color so it's so it's fun i I mean, like I have a background in art too, so that's, that helps.

6:24It is beautiful. Art and comedy. So, I mean, you have to have a sense of humor to do this. Oh, you do comedy as well? Yeah. So, you know, all throughout high school, I did improv and theater and all of that. And then when I got out of high school, I was like, man, I really miss this. So I ended up starting a, we go to furry conventions, which is another way that we market because there's a big market for like mythology. And explain for anyone who's listening who doesn't know, including me, exactly. What is the furry world is? So the furry fandom is just like a group of people that enjoy anthropomorphic animals.

7:02So we're talking stuff like, you know, as you know, like like like Bugs Bunny all the way up to like Zootopia. Sure. Things like that. People just enjoy that. And for the most part, it's you know, it's very just like family friendly. But there is a like a not safe for work kind of side of the fandom. there's a not safe for work echelon of every of every fandom including probably Team Coco this work is not safe for work I did hear those someone was reading those I think it was Sona had the fan fictions that no no there's that echelon in every world if you're a geologist there's a not safe for work fandom oh yeah 100 % and the same goes for like the cryptozoology stuff and that's why there's like a whole monster lover community things like that but when I first started going to these because you have all these different worlds there's that you're exploring or that you're part of and you said that you're also in the comedy world but in the furry world as well so do those cross over do you do comedy at furry conventions yeah so uh i i really missed uh doing um i really missed doing improv specifically so one year uh i asked a convention if i could host like an improv panel um and we just called it who's lion so it was like an animal pun on whose line is it anyway i don't know why but i think that's a very marketable idea who's lion it's really funny I like that.

8:43And we ended up, our first show had like 60 people. And like what we ended up doing was we just kind of let the audience come up and participate. Like I would, you know, work and play the games. I was just basically like running like, hey, we're playing this game now. And, you know, we've had like up to 500 people at one show. I mean, obviously not everybody can participate at that point when there's like that many people. But we do try to get as many people up as possible to play in these games so we can just share. And everyone's dressed as animals. Not everybody. So I would say like 10 % of a furry convention actually has like costumes.

9:23But then these are just people who are, you know, we're coming to hang out and we have like a common interest. And they want to come up on stage and, you know, have a good time. And some of them are in suit. Like I've done it in suit. Like when we do a charity version of Who's Lion, I'll generally be in my fursuit. And what's your fursuit? So my fursuit's an African wild dog. I've had like a bunch of different fursuits throughout the years, but my current one is an African wild dog. So you're on stage doing comedy dressed as an African wild dog. Yes. Okay. There's so many, I mean, my mind is expanding in so many amazing ways.

9:59I'm still on that Mothman schlong. Yeah, the Mothman schlong.

10:15you just had that ready to go that was right off camera yeah what else i have a ton right off do a parade come on let's do a parade so first of all um remember i talked about like the grindable whoa so this is like our invention we actually have the provisional patent on these we have two of them. We have the serpent interface and the Zeno interface. That must have been a fun day at the patent office. I'm just picturing a really nerdy guy. Tell me what you have. I have these. Me! Well, thankfully, my business lawyer is a patent lawyer, and he's just like, he's so cool about it. He's like, whatever.

10:50And then, you know, another thing that we did was we actually ended up scaling it up. Oh! So cis men could use it as like a masturbatory. Wait, is that just friction-based, or is it electronic? Professor. So you do, it's all silicone. I've never seen you this involved in the engineering of anything. You use it like you would a fleshlight. What? You use it like you would a fleshlight. Oh, a fleshlight. And it's all textured on the inside and everything. It's like a tube that you stick your dick into. It's a flashlight that you fuck. Yeah, you fuck a flashlight. Yeah. But it's like, inside is not like electronics.

11:25That's what a paper towel tube is for. My wife's always like, where's the tube? Why is a paper towel just everywhere? Stuff that lasts a little bit longer than that though. Oh, I can make them last. You just gotta shellac them first and fake them in the sun. Oh God. My wife, why are all these towels just all over the place? Oh God. Sorry dear, I was fashioning a fleshlight. Oh my God. Wow, my marriage is over now. You're just gonna see me walking alone down the highway with a suitcase. And a paper towel. No, no, no. You open the suitcase and 15 paper towel holders fall out. Oh my God. This thing is broken.

12:12This thing is broken. So, all right. I'm picturing you doing improv or stand up on stage dressed as an African wild dog. That must be a little challenging because it's hard enough to do improv. But when you're dressed as a furry animal, that's got to be really challenging. Yeah. I mean, like we have microphones on stage. So one of the funny things about it is that like when you do have like a fursuit and you are on stage and especially like, even if it's like a smaller crowd, like we still have to get the microphones on the, on the fursuiters. Um, uh, you know, normally I have no problem projecting.

12:45Um, but even in suit, like I have issues with it. Um, so, uh, you have to like put the microphone like all the way in the fursuit mouth. So it's up against your mouth in the head. So it kind of It just like looks like you're, well, deep throating a microphone when you're doing that. Well, I'd hate for something untoward to happen. Yeah. So, but yeah, no, we always have like a really good time. I love how delicate you were about, oh, and it's, I don't know how else to say this. You just showed us nine different products. It would get me arrested in any airport. I just saw a purple spiked clam that was a sex toy.

13:28A clam. Well, I mean, like, I go through the airports all the time with these in my carry-on. Right. Well, they don't beep. Because I want to have, I want to make sure that they don't get lost because we've had, like, because we go to conventions to sell. And I've had, like, packages get lost. Like there's in Boston specifically, there are two boxes of my toys that just never showed up to a convention in Boston that we were at. So those are just somewhere. Yeah. No, they got delivered to the hotel and someone signed for them, but nobody could find them. Right. So I don't know where they are. So now we put air tags in all of our boxes.

14:08They probably think there are staplers or something. Exotic staplers. I'm just, Katinka, Katinka, Katinka. Hey, I got this new paperweight. Yeah. You mean the Mothman? Yeah. I have a paperweight and look, I have a stapler that looks like,

14:25as you would call it a clam. Yes. A clam. Listen, you've expanded my mind in wonderful ways. And this is an impressive business that you've got going here. Thank you. It means a lot. Do you have a factory? Where is the actual production done? So it's done right here at my house. My entire basement is finished. And like, it's a finished basement that we've like completely set up to do all the, we have, we have seven 3D printers. Wow. We have, we have a couple of vacuum chambers, you know, because we have to take all the air out of the silicone before we pour it. So there's no bubbles in the toy.

15:14And yeah, we just do everything here, like just locally, you know, and I get all my supplies locally. I mean, I'm thinking there's chemicals then in your basement. You would hate there for there to be, there's never could be an explosion or anything because you don't want these things raining down in the neighborhood. Silvone's not flammable. Look out, put up your umbrellas. Like a meth lab? Kablam! And I'm just picturing them coming down like missiles. All the dildos just raining from the sky. Yeah. But no, there's... Someone looks up and goes, oh, no! Gloop. Out of control. This is an out of control interview.

15:49Oh, my God. I blame you, Sam. This is your fault. You know? Yeah. You took a very serious sober podcast. Mm-hmm. Yes. Oh, yeah. Uh-huh. Very serious. We're very dramatic, serious podcast. Did Sam have a question for me? You have a question, Sam? Yeah. So one of the things that I always wondered is, do you ever wish that they still made the old taco at Taco Bell? Oh, that's right. I think I did a remote once. Did I do a remote once? Yeah, you did a remote. It's one of my favorites. And I went with, who did I do? Hayes. I went with Chris Hayes. Yeah. That was a fun remote. Yeah, it was. I have to say, and we are not sponsored by Taco Bell or anything, but man, that was delicious.

16:37What was in it? Do you remember? I'm trying to remember. It was delicious. It was like corned beef hash, potatoes. Yeah, I was going to get it. And then I believe you dumped a Guinness on it. Yes. Well, you can't go wrong dumping a Guinness on anything. But yes, I remember Taco Bell, they asked me to design something. And so I went all Irish on them. And I think I had one bite and then had a massive heart attack. Yeah, I'm shocked it's not like in every Taco Bell. I guess Taco Bell decided not to go wide with it. But if you're ever at the Dublin Taco Bell, it's their biggest seller. Yes. But yeah, like ever since then, anytime I can get potatoes and tacos, like there's like a couple places.

17:27I mean, like Taco Bell does do that. But like there's like other places that like sell mashed potatoes and tacos and stuff like that. I always have to get it because I always think of, well, they rip me off, man. They rip me off. You've got to make sure no one's ripping you off too. Hey, that's a good question. Cause I'm sure it sounds like you're onto a market. There might be people out there that are like, Hey, wait a minute. I'm glad you got the patents. That's the important thing, especially on the moth. Yeah. For the, for that one. Yeah. Especially. Yeah. It's, it's still, yeah, it's still provisional patents.

17:56So it's, you know, rest assured that's sitting on some government office somewhere waiting to get approved. right on their desk yeah it was very cool talking to you you're very funny and best of luck with your business and we're very lucky to have you as a fan I'm lucky to have you guys to listen to because you guys are always on when I'm working on stuff so I always save the podcast for when I have long days to get through orders we inspire the dildos We do. Yeah. You do. There's a little bit of us in that thing. Yes, in every single toy. And then my one partner wanted me to show you this. He made a Team Coco colored.

18:40Look at that. This is a biomech. Actually, that's exactly what mine looks like. Oh, my God. Well, I'm sorry, but I was in an industrial accident when I was nine. I was in a pumpkin patch that exploded. All right, Sam, we're going to take off, but thank you so much. Take care. Yeah, it was nice meeting you all. Really cool meeting you, Sam. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. 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.

19:22Supervising producer, Aaron Blaird. Associate talent producer, Jennifer Samples. Associate Producers Sean Doherty and Lisa Berm. Engineering by Eduardo Perez. Get three free months of SiriusXM 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.