Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Al Pacino

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

Actor Al Pacino feels hopeful about being Conan O’Brien’s friend. Al sits down with Conan to discuss his new memoir Sonny Boy, developing his iconic onscreen portrayals of Michael Corleone and Tony Montana, the last piece of advice he got from Marlon Brando, and much more. Later, Conan revolutionizes the podcast industry once again with an innovative new piece of gear. For Conan videos, tour dates and more visit TeamCoco.com.Got a question for Conan? Call our voicemail: [phone]. Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link: https://siriusxm.com/conan.

I am Al Pacino. And I'm hopeful about being about being Conan O'Brien's friend. It's really nice. You want a friend of Studdard's? Yeah, I think I'm out by the way. Fall is here, hear the yell. Back to school, ring the bell. Hey there, welcome. Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, the podcast that casts that pod like no one else. Doesn't mean anything, but if I say it with authority,

we'll get away with it. Joined by Sonam Avsesyan, loves to keep telling people she's from Armenia. And Matt Gourley, Matt, how are you? I'm fine, but she is from Armenia. I know. I'm not from Armenia. Oh, right, sorry. Oh my God, I was born in Man? I'm fine, but she is from Armenia. I'm not from Armenia. Oh, right, sorry.

Oh my God, I was born in Manabelo. Wait, you had me believing it. Manabelo is in Armenia. No, it's not. It's off the 60 freeway in Los Angeles. The 60 freeway goes that far? It crosses the oceans? You had me believing it.

Oh no, it's, no, I mean, whatever. Okay, change your story, whatever you wanna do. Okay, I'm changing it. Have you guys watching? It's very popular these days, this Chimp Crazy documentary. I actually have it. Okay, it's this documentary that's on Netflix and it's by the same filmmaker that did Tiger King.

And now it's about, basically it's about women that become enthralled with chimps and form these really strong relationships with them and co-exist with them and in some cases, love them even more than their own children. They say as much. What's that? They say it.

They say it. It's crazy. No, no, no, don't take us down that road. No, no. I mean, there's a point where you kind of go, is it? No, no, no, it's, listen, that's probably where your mind goes anytime you see a person and an animal.

But I, what I will say is that it's just about this incredible attachment they have to chimps. And, um, so I watched the whole series with my wife, Lies, and she went, oh, that's like me. And I said, what? Oh, it's true. And she said, you're basically a chimpanzee. And I'm like, what?

And then she sent to my kids, she sent like the, there's the picture of the woman and the chimp. And there's the poster of the woman and the chimp. And she sent it to the kids and she went, look, it's me and your dad. The kids are like, yes! Oh.

And there's this total agreement that life with me is like life with a chimp, except the chimps show more self-control. Yeah. Although that explains why I do kind of fear my face and genitals being ripped off every time I'm with you. I have taken a swipe.

Oh, my god. I've tried to swing at your genitals several times, but no, it's funny. She said it and I immediately thought, oh my God, she's not wrong. Yeah. I'm constantly skimpering and skimpering around the house, making noise.

I do throw feces occasionally for fun and when I'm angry. Not mine, I have it shipped in. Yeah, you, not mine. I have it shipped, shipped in. Yeah. You can have it. They are going to do a documentary on, on you at some point. But they did.

Like as in, as in like- Oh, at home, not on tour. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like what went wrong kind of thing? Yes, sort of like that. Or it's going to be a snapped maybe. Yeah.

One of those things where I'm just, but you'll see lots of footage of me going around the house. Waaah! Yeah. Waaah! And Liza going, come on, let's go, let's go, get your diaper on. Yeah.

We gotta go. You know, but anyway, that was, that's the lens through which my wife viewed Chimp Crazy. She saw it as the depiction of our marriage. It's perfect. Well, there you go. Oh, wow. Oh, what's this? Are you giving me, like a... We gotta do this.

You just... I'm gonna talk about this. I thought I just said, you know, having a conversation, and Matt Gourley just, his face just suddenly died. Well, because you put a pot, you put a big... Did he not lull? Did it not lull? No, no, it lulled for a second, but I saw your face go,

all animation left your face, it went blank, and you went, do this. And you handed me the introduction to Al Pacino, which I'm thrilled to do, I'm glad he's here, but it was just chewing. You were like, yeah. If you look this up on, look up the video of this, all animation left.

And you stared at me and you went, do this. And handed me a paper, no joy. Really? And no even attempt to go, ha ha ha ha. Okay, well moving on. No, you could have done that, but you didn't. I think because I thought we were cut. No, no, no, no.

And then people can see behind the scenes that I just turned into a bowl of sadness. Yeah, guess what? We're gonna keep that in, and people are gonna know. What it's like to work here. You're just a robot. You know, you might as well just be one of those things that cleans the bottom of a pool.

Just, you know what I mean? You said we're gonna keep that in, he edits it. He could take it out and change it. And there's nothing you can really do about it. Oh, I'm very much involved in the editing process in this show. You don't know what any of the final product is in this thing.

You are cut from every episode. Hey, name a time I haven't met you when it's time for the audio editing of this podcast. A time when I haven't driven out to your studio at your home and sat there with you as we painstakingly make small audio trims and fix little audio bumps. That is hard to receive. Yeah, I'm there too, remember?

We're all doing it together. You're there because you take the freeway from Armenia every day. Okay. All right. Conan went too far. You should read that intro. I should probably do it.

And what an intro this is. This is a huge one for me. And me. Well, no, more for me. I idolize this man. I idolize him, I guess today, as a Hollywood legend. Sometimes people, you say that about people and you go, yeah, maybe I guess.

No, no, this is maybe the Hollywood legend. He starred in movies like The Godfather and Scarface. Just even mentioning his movies is insane. It's crazy. He now has a new memoir, which I've read, and it is absolutely fantastic. Read this. It's entitled Sunny Boy, Honor of a Lifetime, to be in a room with this gentleman. He's here today. Al Pacino, welcome.

All right, I gotta tell you something. I've never said this before on the podcast. I've talked to everybody, I've talked to presidents. You, sir. Yes. You, sir, put your phone away for this. I'm the writer. I'm the writer. Put your phone away for this,

because this is a huge honor for you, what I'm about to say. Tell me, tell me what to do. It is no. Yeah, this is no higher honor than what I'm about to say to you. You are my favorite actor, and this is the most excited I've been

to talk to anybody. This is a big fucking deal for me, Al Pacino, I'm blessed that you are here. Oh, well, wow, thank you for that. I'm taking my sunglasses off now. You did. That one got them off. Thank you so much.

And I want to say this. So you've written this book, Sunny Boy. It is your story, your autobiography. And they got me an advance copy. I hold myself up in my room and I read this thing and it is a spectacular book. This is the best biography I can remember reading. It is such an amazing story.

I thought I knew everything about you. It's an incredible book. Congratulations. Oh, thank you. That's a wonderful compliment. Thank you. Yeah, and that's all the time we have. Yes.

It's been nice having you here. I'm not having that kind of luck today. Let me tell you something. I'm hard pressed to think of anyone who's had more iconic performances than you. It's just such elite company of actors, 20th century, 21st century actors, and I read this story and there's so much despair in it.

There are highs, but there are lows. To people like me, to think about Al Pacino, I just think, oh, it's just Ben. What a miraculous, never-ending series of successes. But your childhood in the South Bronx. I'm reading about it, and it could have been the 1890s. I mean, I know it's the 1940s, early 50s, but you're running around like one of the dead-end kids

with a gang. Do you know what I mean? It's absolutely incredible. And you're constantly almost getting killed. I mean, what... Well, it still goes on, you know? On the way up here, you know? Yeah, it's a tough part of Central Hollywood right here.

You know, Beverly Hills, there are some sections, but- Oh, you're gonna dodge those lattes. But no, I mean, you're talking about this period of your life and it is, it feels like it could be a hundred years ago. It's such a crazy experience. And what you went through, your father leaves when you're two years old. Oh, no, yeah, a little, yeah, two. Let's just go with two. Let's just go with little, yeah, two. Let's just go with two.

Let's just go with two, please. Okay, let's just go with two. It's even number, you know. You were 1.9, your father left and your mom has mental health issues and then she passes away when you're still a very young man and you live kind of a chaotic young life. It was a real surprise to me. I didn't know that.

Really? Yeah. Had you ever heard of any part of my life at all? I knew that you had been in theater. It always felt to me that the Al Pacino story was young guy doing theater, gets the Godfather, hits it out of the park, and then the rest is spectacular.

I read this story and it's almost miraculous that you get out of childhood. Do you know what I mean? That's the feeling I had. Yeah, that's good. I didn't mean that for you to have that feeling, but it's great you had a feeling, you know. I haven't had a feeling in a very long time.

There it is. I know, I'm trying reading the first two chapters of my book. I'm doing the audio of it now. And it's really a knockout. It really knocks you out. I mean, you start seeing your life. And in order to read a book, you have to act the parts, because you just read a monotone. Some of the monotone readers are wonderful.

I mean, I really get the great Sean Penn reads Bob Dylan. I read that. Did anybody hear that book? Or read it? No, I haven't heard that one. I've heard Sean Penn sings Bob Dylan. I don't recommend it. I don't recommend it.

He ends up punching the microphone. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. No, I've heard Sean Penn sings Bob Dylan. I don't recommend it. I don't recommend it. He ends up punching the microphone. Oh my God. Well, he got Bob Dylan. He really got his tone. And so I'm reading these stories, and of course, I lived through them. So I was sort of reliving them. And it's tough.

I would think it's tough because you run around with this gang of kids, South Bronx, and you point out that your mom did keep an eye on you. You did feel that you were more supervised than some. A lot of your friends don't make it. They die. They die, they get into heroin. And it's very poignant because you start the book with them and then at the end of the book,

after this incredible career, you go back and kind of dedicate it to these guys that didn't get out of the South Bronx, which is very powerful. Yeah. I don't know if you felt like, and I might be reaching here, but was there a little bit of survivor's guilt there?

Like, how did I get out and they didn't get out? Well, I always thought about that, yeah. The thing that was so interesting to me that I recalled was one of my friends dying and being buried and around it were these just, you remember the one I say about this sort of cold January morning or something?

Yeah, yeah. Bleak, bleak. Bleak. And Bruce is lowered and the mother's crying, who I knew, of course, and this aunt or somebody I never saw starts to relate her feelings about Bruce and what she thought happened to him. Yeah. And it was so profound. And this is someone I knew.

I did comedy routines with him. We used to do that stuff. And she's so out of nowhere. I just read him so wonderfully. And I learned about him and it was, that was shocking to me. You talk about it in the book and it's interesting because obviously so many people are gonna pick up

this book and say I wanna hear about, and these are things, you know, I wanna hear about the Godfather movies, I wanna hear about all these iconic roles, all the people you knew, all the people you met, but to me, in a way, the most fascinating aspect of it is that you start with these people, you get out.

And when I say you get out, you are... None of us understands why. I mean, I've had some crazy good fortune in my life, and I don't understand why. And I stopped trying to figure it out a while ago. I was driving here today. I have a ritual with my brothers where we watch the Godfather movies religiously.

We can quote them from beginning to end. We always quote them to each other. And I'm talking to my brother, Luke, and I said, guess where I'm going? I'm going to work today, and I'm gonna talk to an interviewer, Al Pacino. And my brother said, I'm guess where I'm going. I'm going to work today and I'm going to talk to an interview Al Pacino. And my brother said, I'm very proud of you, but who the fuck are you to talk to Al Pacino?

Why you? And I said, Luke, I don't know, but I'm just going to go with it. Well, I think he should be here. Let's bring him in. He's a criminal. He's welcome. He's in prison right now. Luke, we're thinking of a Let's bring him in. Yeah. He's a criminal. Oh, he's welcome. He's in prison right now.

Luke, we're thinking of you. You know, it's interesting because you're grabbed by the theater. You're this kid, as I said, who you start reading checkoff. You start reading the classics and it grabs you and you start seeing some productions. You get into theater. You have so many go-nowhere jobs just to stay alive.

I mean, you're delivering papers, you're... You're, uh... I'm trying to think. You're building superintendent for a while, but not a good one, I don't think. Never, never. The guy came out and started talking about me a few years back Yeah saying he was a terrible super or something like that

Why why would he say that yeah, who's a terrible super? There's a lot around I mean, you know No, I saw that it's a really old man who was like I remember him. It was a terrible super I'm like, okay, take his Oscar back. Take away. Fine actor, terrible super. Christopher Walken, bad mechanic. Robert De Niro, just awful substitute teacher.

You know, it's like, what the fuck? What are you talking about? These are... So you come along, you're doing theater, and then this thing that people dream about happens, which is you get noticed. Francis Ford Coppola is gonna make The Godfather, and he says, I want this guy, Al Pacino.

And the studio says, fuck you. Of course. We want Robert Redford. We want someone who's been a success. We want someone who looks a certain way. We want someone probably blonde hair, blue eyed, whatever. Sorry. Yeah, exactly. I'm looking at you when I say it, I'm sorry.

They wanted me, actually. You know, my grandmother. I was eight at the time, exactly. I'm looking at you and I say it, I'm sorry. Yeah. They wanted me, actually. You know, my grandmother... I was eight at the time, yeah. My grandmother on my mother's side has blonde hair and blue eyes. So, just to note that. Yep, it's in there. It's in you somewhere. Yeah, it is. I had to put it in. But what I'm saying is, they don't want you,

but I've seen the screen test where they're saying, okay, well, how about Jimmy Khan as Michael Koppel? How about, they're trying everybody, they're throwing everybody in there. But, Francisco Koppel sticks with you, they start shooting, and you can tell, you read in the book, and it's riveting on the set, people are like, I don't know about this guy.

I don't know about this guy. I don't know about this guy. I don't know what, and you can feel it. Yeah, well, they were giggling. You heard giggling. Yes. So here's what's amazing to me. These scenes that I've watched and that everyone's watched in this room 100,000 times

that are now iconic master classes in how you play a character, you're doing it and people are going, oh man, let's hope they get a real actor in here soon. Which is unbelievable to me. Was it that severe, Conan? Oh my God. I was an eight year old kid, but I was there. Like, and I had a lot of pull with the studio.

I called Paramount and I was like, I don't think he's got it. Who is this? Eight year old Coder O'Brien. What are you? It'll be a big deal someday, you'll see. We're not choosing a real phone. Why are you mining them with your hands?

Oh my God, that's funny. But no, and the thing is, which is, to me, I look at that performance, and as you say in the book, your concept, which was clearly the right one, which is you gotta slowly see Michael come to this position, and then there's the iconic scene where they're all trying to figure out,

after Vito's been shot, what to do, and you are sitting there with your broken jaw and you say, okay, we arranged a meeting and the camera's pushing in. I can't watch that and I can't talk about it without tingling because I think it is a beautiful way to tell a story through acting, but it takes patience. And the studio was saying.

Well, they wanted to see something else, I guess. And both Francis and I, I think, felt that way about... But we were unable, or at least I was unable, to articulate what I was doing. But I was doing that. I thought about it on my long walks in Manhattan. You talk about it, you would take long walks, you'd get the film, but it hasn't started shooting yet,

you took long walks. Yeah, I would go all the way from 91st to the village and back, 91st and Broadway, and I'd just think about the part. Think about it. I still do that with roles. I just think about them. And it's fun. It gets me through the walk.

Yeah. You get your step. I'm glad to know that in coming up with who Michael Corleone was, you got your steps in. Gets me through the walk. Yeah. You get your step. Yeah. I'm glad to know that in coming up with who Michael Corleone was, you got your steps in. Yeah, there it is. I managed not to get hit by a car. And I think that's, in those days.

They should make a Fitbit that tells you, you have achieved the character. 10,000 steps. Stop, stop walking. He's stopped, stop now. You've nailed Michael Corleone. You've got it. I love it. But you know what's passing to me that I didn't know is that Coppola wants to show the studio,

so it wasn't supposed to shoot yet, but he moves up the famous scene in the Italian restaurant. I think he said he didn't do that. So I corrected in the book a little bit. But it's a good story. Let's go with it. I think it's true. I think he was sensing it. But the conversation in the ginger man, do you remember the ginger man in Manhattan 64th? Yeah.

That's where he called me in and he was sitting there with his family and eating. And it's a bar and grill that I frequented and a lot of people did, it was beautiful. Did you ever go there? I didn't go there, but you talk about it, it's kind of very well known, it's kind of iconic place, it was a hangout, a watering hole. I mean, you know, Bernstein would go in there and great music. Because Lincoln Center was across the street from it. So you'd see people who, you know, collaborated with on things. So I walked in there again.

That was a big thing for me to walk into Gingeman because, you know, I didn't go there because I didn't have money to buy the drinks. So I went in there and Francis was eating with his family and I was standing there and he says, we had a talk. So I thought, well, where are we going to go? We're not going to go anywhere. He didn't say that, but he's... The thing is, you're standing, he's sitting and he doesn't invite you to sit.

Oh, no. That's the first sign. This is important, you're standing there, and you've been shooting for, I mean, a couple of weeks now, and he tells you. Well, he tells me, you know, I had faith in you. I believed in you. I said, yeah, I know.

He says, well, you're not cuttin' it. I thought, oh, what do I do now? What do I say now? I said, well, I guess that would be a problem, I guess. I mean, so tell me, what do you mean? He says, I want to show you the rushes, meaning the footage that we had shot already and that I was going to see something. I said, well, can I have some of that hamburger?

I had a disrespect, you know. I love to think what I would have, might have done or wanted to do. So I went to the Paramount Theater that they had this screening, and I sat there. I wasn't used to looking at myself on screen. I just didn't want to do that. I had done Panic! in Needle Park already,

so I was, I don't know if you've seen that film. And you'd had a little bit of experience, but not much. Not much at all, that was my first film. Or a Patty Duke film, I had a couple of lines. But I went, saw the rushes, and I'm looking at the screen, and I'm seeing the takes of different things. I'm thinking, well, that is not spectacular, but why should it be?

Because I'm trying to see, I was hoping that I could blend in with the scenery and not be seen specifically or, you know, spotted and wow, you know. I just wanted to just blend and just be natural. And I thought, well, I know that's the way it looks now, but that's part of what is going to turn into Michael Corleone. And that's going to be the impact because where did this guy what where did this guy come from?

And he's an enigmatic kind of character anyway throughout the Godfathers, one and two especially. So I thought that was the way I was going to go. So of course I said to Francis, naturally the actor's instinct, I just said, yeah, I see what you mean. Yeah, yeah. That always quiets everybody down. I see, I see what you're saying. Yes. Then I thought I was out, and I sort of wanted to be out in a way. Oh my God.

Yeah, I did. I thought, what am I doing in this place? And those guys in the restaurant with me, the great Sterling Hayden. Sterling Hayden, yeah. And little Al LeTure. I mean, they were amazing. Salazzo. Yeah.

Salazzo. And then the thing is, you shoot that scene, which is, you know, to this day, I can't watch that scene and not have my eyeballs fall out. You're sitting across from him like Salazzo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And don't let this man go to the bathroom. I know. We have an old chain flusher, too.

This is bad. You'll kind of, when you pull the chain. So I, um... I don't like repeats. Yeah. Yeah. And you're safe. You're all right. So, uh, so...

You shoot that scene, they send that scene... Yeah. ...to Paramount, to the suits back in L.A., and they go... Oh. Okay. Well, you have to understand one thing, because after I shoot these two guys, who I really love, by the way, and I shoot them and I'm running out,

and I sort of drop the gun and I go into the street and jump in the moving car. So they didn't have a stuntman for me there, or they didn't, they didn't want want me to maybe they assumed that I would jump And get hurt and I'd be out of the film Just coming to me now Put me in a film it wasn't working out and they threw me out of a car that's that's gotta go into the box of resentment But anyway, I did miss the car.

What? Yeah. And I fell. It's in the book. We forget to restate it. No, I saw that. Yeah. So I fell and I was hurt. Kind of my ankle was hurt somehow. It slipped. The car had one of those side things that you could jump on and then jump in so i i was just looking up at the sky asset thank you god this is my thought i actually said

thank you god you're gonna get me out of this film and we've got how much i want to leave it i said this is from heaven and uh... people just swung got around said, this is from heaven. And people just swirled, got around me, and they said, he's hurt, yeah. So I said, oh yeah. And then they put one of these big, fat needles in my ankle

so I could finish the day. And they kept me. They kept me because they saw the rushes of that event. And they knew, and what's so amazing is, movie comes out, and this surprised me, movie comes out, it's a phenomenon, I remember it, I was 1972, I would have been nine years old at the time.

All anybody did was talk about that movie, people quoted it, it was, I mean, it just, it's hard to describe today what a huge cultural moment it was. And you, in the book, talk about how uncomfortable you were. You know, it's the thing, we live in this society now where everybody wants to be famous, and people would think, oh my God,

if I could be a young Al Pacino who's just done The Godfather, oh my God, would I tear up a town? You hide. You don't love it. You don it, and you're drinking a lot. I think it was that period, that time of life when this wasn't in our social understanding. We didn't care about fame, and as a matter of fact,

it was somewhat in the,, somewhat was frowned upon in the theater, by the way. And they gave us this great entertainment, these great actors on the screen. But it was a kind of folklore for us. If you go to Hollywood, you lose your talent and something like that. That spread around. But also, I was extremely, I was a bit embarrassed because I heard something like, Karoak, you know, Jack Karoak,

on the road, so he goes and he drinks his life away because he felt this embarrassment. I don't know where that comes from, self-esteem, whatever, but I felt I didn't want to be noticed. Part of my thing was I just wanted to creep around, just do my thing. And so one time I'm at a light, actually, and I'm at a traffic light,

and I'm standing there across the street and this kind of gorgeous redhead. I'm sorry, it wasn't you, Conan, but it was gorgeous redhead. I'm sorry, it wasn't you throwing him, but it was another redhead. I'm a man, excuse me. I'm about as much man as it gets. You're still a gorgeous redhead. I'm a gorgeous redhead.

Yeah, she didn't look like you. I'd just be straight with you. It ruins the story. It ruins the story if it looks like me. So she says hello to me. She says hi. I thought, oh, wow. I said, wow, hi. It was a story if it looks like me. Yeah. So she says, she says hello to me. She says, hi. I thought, oh, wow.

I said, wow, hi. She says, hi, Michael. And it was as though I said, this is crazy. She's calling me Michael because she knows me. She knows me from the film. And I just retreated. I couldn't understand that. Nobody did that to me from the film. And I just retreated. I just, I couldn't understand that. Nobody did that to me my entire life.

Nobody responded. Oh, Al. They, you know, they never said that. They didn't know they said get away, you know. Yeah. So I was kind of, I was kind of shocked. And I retreated. And then I start seeing it happen throughout you know in

these various pockets. There's people, a woman kissing my hand, people treating me and and my friend Charlie's there and the woman comes up to me says, is that Al Pacino? He says yeah yeah. She says, is that Al Pacino? He says, well somebody's gotta be, you know. Yeah, fame, it freaked you out. It freaked you out. You're Al Pacino? I said, yeah. She says, congratulations, you look like your order.

Oh, what? What? You do look very Al Pacino-y. I look today like you do. I thought so today, I was like, that guy's reeks of Al Pacino. Oh, wow. You know, it's funny because then you have what I think is any actor would give their

left arm for this string of, you know, it's Serpico, it's Dog Day Afternoon, those performances, I watched those performances and they're so electric and you had this energy, there's this energy that comes off of you, which still, it still does by the way, but there's almost electrical manic energy that comes out of you, out of your eyes, out of your, I mean, I was watching Dog Day Afternoon the other day and just your, you're, you can tell that you're so inhabited by that role and by that moment. And after all these years, it's still spectacular. But you have this string, this string

that's just unprecedented. And I'm reading about it in the book. And the whole time you're, you feel very detached from it. Like you're not reveling and going, yup. I mean, I'd be out on the street going, yup, that's me. See that guy up there? That's me. Frequently are.

Frequently am. And the sad going, yup, that's me. See that guy up there? That's me. Frequently are. Frequently are. And the sad thing is I'm pointing at you. I don't care. So, I'm like, Al Pacino, that's me! See? And then I go to the hospital and I get treatment. But you have this string and it leads to more drinking, more drugs, more unhappiness,

more feeling of being disconnected. Isn't that, which I have to say surprised me. I wasn't aware. Yeah. Well, it hit me. It just did. I felt the kind of isolation from it. You know, I often talked about it as something like one has to earn one's relationships with friends and stuff. You're with people because you like being with them. You know, you enjoy, you share the same thoughts about things. But if I entered a room and all of a sudden what I had to say became important or, you know, they all were looking and letting me talk.

And I sort of never had that experience, and it was uncomfortable. And I thought, well, we don't even know each other yet. And so to adjust to that, I've heard it said before, people adjusting to being famous and being accepted wherever you go. And so I remember that I don't know if I told the story about Marty Bregman, of course, was my producer. He produced everything. You guys did so much together.

Yeah, we did. And so, oh my god, I'm sorry about this. That's OK. That might be for me. This seems to. No, it's not. Yes, this is so. Hi, honey. Hi, baby is... So, hi honey. Hi baby.

I can't talk now. I'm with Conan O'Brien. Yes! You hear it? Yes! I'll be finished in a minute. Sorry, Conan. No, I'm just joking.

I can't believe you called Coppola honey. This is my daughter. Oh, that's your daughter. My youngest daughter. Okay, okay. I'm glad. She's in a new apartment. You're not the superintendent, are you?

No, I'm the superintendent. I'm the superintendent. I'm the superintendent. I'm the superintendent. I'm the superintendent daughter. Okay, okay. I'm glad. She's in a new apartment. She's... You're not the superintendent, are you? Yeah.

I fixed the pipe. I could be. Oh, no. I gotta talk to her first. I love it. There's still a couple of people in that building who still think Al is the superintendent. I'll be there.

I'll be there. Oh, my. I'll fix it. It's steam heat, it takes a while. Give it a second. You know what's crazy to me is, and again, I was unaware of this, but you have this scarface. You make scarface and it is, at the time,

critics are savage about it. And it has since become, in a lot of ways, I mean, financially, your biggest movie. It's huge, and it has this kind of enduring place in the culture, which nobody could have seen at the time. Is that fair to say? That's fair to say, true. It seems like it is always there. Is that fair to say? That's fair to say. True.

It seems like it is always there. There's a guy who wrote the Scarface papers. I don't know if you've ever heard of that book, but it explains some of the stuff about its consistency and why it's still around. And we got a lot of help from hip hop and from the rappers early on and the college kids and then other things started happening. And then we went into that VH, that started to catch the VHS and that's what blew it up. And then it went across, you know, went over the ocean into Europe and Asia and everywhere.

And so it's like this thing. It's fascinating because it's so- You know, Oliver Stone wrote this script. Yeah. Brian De Palma directed it, and they hit something. Nobody could be more different than the three of us. And Bregman, we were just three different planets.

And there we were, and somehow it just made it work for some reason. You know, Brian De Palma threw Oliver Stone off the set. He couldn't be there, you know. And having it was that kind of thing. But it's a beautiful script when you read it and when you see what Brian has done with it, so. You know, it's what's amazing is, because I didn't know this, so this was in the book,

one of your big contributions was you knew that Tony has to have, he's scar face, he's gotta have a scar, and you said, you thought of the idea that it should come across the eyebrow. And you said in the book, you did that because you thought that that showed chaos. Yes. And I thought, I read that and I thought, yes, it

does, that's fantastic. You don't know what you're going to get. This is chaos. It's disconcerting. I don't know how you thought of that, but the fact that an eyebrow is cut in two is on a level very disconcerting. Yes. In a subtle way that you didn't get a giant, you know,

you didn't do that, and it led me back to it's a theme in your book. I don't know if this is conscious or unconscious. I know you've done a lot of therapy, but it does feel to me like there's some part of you that likes chaos. I mean, theater... Oh, come on, of course. I mean, without chaos, where are we?

Are we floating? That's the thing. Where are we? Yeah. No, in, but the kind of chaos, you know, is, that's why I always ride the 5 PM subway in New York. Yeah. I like to rush out. I sit around, here they go, you know? That's why I always ride the 5 PM subway in New York.

I like to rush out. I sit around, here they go. The door's open. It sort of gives you a lift. You just feel, oh, I'm alive and it's coming. I don't have anywhere to go, though. I shouldn't be doing this. I don't want you on the five o'clock subway anymore.

I'm gonna come with you. Al Pacino's with that gorgeous redhead. You know, it's funny, you know what shocked me is again, and I think I speak for a lot of us when I think, Type Up, put your name in and you're just gonna see one of the great, if not the most influential actors, blah, blah, blah, blah. You, in the 80s, hit a cold spot,

and you talk about it in the book, and you think, well, my movie career is over. And you are kind of out of it for a little bit. You're trying to do some theater and stuff, but that's shocking to me now, because that wasn't something, you felt it, you lived it. Well, I thought, I don't know what's going on. I thought, I don't want to be doing this anymore.

There's something going on, things are not working. Scarface was such a disaster, and when I thought it was, you know, it was a good film. I mean, it was gonna work, but it didn't, and it made, actually made money. It was the critics sort of took a dislike to it. But at the same time, I just didn't know, I didn't want to do it anymore.

I thought, well, let's refresh and let's go back and do some of the things that I started with. That fed you, things like theater, getting there, being connected to people, get away from this stuff. Exactly. Talking through things, pieces of work, whether it's Oedipus or whatever. Because when you do those kind of plays, they're always in translation, of course. Translation means everything.

Who's the translator? And so spending time with that stuff, whether you're doing Chekhov or Strindberg, or some of the great plays, American plays, you know. So I like getting involved, and that's what happens at the actors' studio. That's what we do there. And so I did a movie called Looking for Richard after that. I was gonna bring this, this is what I was gonna bring up. And I was gonna bring this up for a reason. You did this project called Looking for Richard. And it's about Richard III and it's so many things.

It's a fascinating movie because you see different performances for Richard III, interpretations of it throughout the film. But you do something that I have some familiarity with, which is a big part of my career has been leaving the studio, getting a camera, finding real people and trying to make something happen. Yeah. And I love that part. It terrifies me, but I love it. And it's been, I don't know, maybe 70% of the work that I've done that people really like is that kind of work where I'm out there doing this stuff and things are happening in real time.

A big part of looking for Richard, there's a thread that runs through it where it's you on the street talking to people about what does Shakespeare mean to you. And you are so quick and funny and vulnerable. And I was watching that part going like, damn it, he's good at that. You know, I mean, that's the one thing

that I can relate to of all of your work is going out there with a camera. And I was blown away. You're talking to people, you're getting them to talk about Shakespeare. You're on the streets of New York. You talk to some young kid and you say, what do you think of Hamlet? And he goes, Hamlet sucks. You're on the streets in New York. You talk to some young kid and you say,

what do you think of Hamlet? He goes, Hamlet sucks. You go, Hamlet sucks. But it's wonderful. It's fantastic. It's you out there. And what I love is you keep stripping it all away and saying, let's lose all this.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oscar, iconic films. Let's lose all that. I'm gonna put on a baseball cap backwards and I'm gonna walk through the streets all this, yeah, yeah, yeah, Oscar iconic films. Let's lose all that. I'm going to put on a baseball cap backwards and I'm going to walk through the streets and talk to people about Shakespeare and we're going to get our hands dirty. And that, I mean, I know that that project meant a lot to you. I was sort of driven to that by having what you had just said, that you want to have a

piece of yourself in this. You want to, you're tired of just doing stuff that's not giving you what you need in your creative, that creative gene we have. And it's just not being supplied with stuff because it happens to everybody. So other actors too. That's why some actors, I talk about that in the book, will repeat roles because they scored in them

and they did well in them and they continue to do well in it, but they're capable of doing much more. And it's hard to grow if you don't keep challenging yourself. You gotta challenge yourself. That's why I like chaos. Yeah, well you're in the right place. I certainly am. And that's why I looked at you when I said that too.

I, the other day, I wanted my son, who's 18, to see, I wanted him to see real acting, real writing. So I said, come with me. My wife was out of town. It sounds like I'm gonna show them pornography, but that was... I know. But no. But no.

She's out of town. She's out of town. This is an old, this is a movie. Jesus. This is called, Debbie Does Dallas. No. No.

I showed him the movie, Glengarry, Glenn Ross. And he's riveted, I'm riveted, such an incredible cast, the whole thing. And the next morning I go and he's blown away. And I'm like, okay, you get it? That's, that's, that's, and he loved it. And the next morning I go to get breakfast

and I run smack into David Mamet. And, yeah. And I said, hey, last night, and he was like, please leave me alone. No, no, he's always been very wonderful when I run into him, but I could just tell, all of you were so great in that film, but your character so intimidates me. He's charming, but he's intimidating at the same time.

You know? And it's, you've got this, I don't know. That's one of my favorite performances too. Absolutely incredible performance. I thought Jack Lemmon, as time goes on, he really steps out in that part. Jack Lemmon. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, my, it's, I tried doing that part in New York on Broadway, doing Jack's part. Yeah. Because they did a production. You were Richie Roma. I was Richie Roma. Yeah. In the film, but then you switched and you did his part on Broadway.

On Broadway. And I did his part, and I thought I could do his part somewhat as a good part. Let me try that. It's so totally different than Richie Roma. So I started it, but I didn't realize this is mammoth and you have to have time to, you know, acquire the taste and be able to live through this part. And we had three weeks rehearsal and I didn't have any lines that I was able to say, you know. So, but at the same time I realized how great Jack Lemmon was in this role and I thought wow, I should have watched it before I did it,

but I didn't know where I was on Broadway and that's a tough thing to go through. But I did remember that I said, look, I don't know what to do here because there's times I don't know what the lines are. This is Mammoth now. It's like rewriting Shakespeare. But I did, I started saying things that came to me. That's my new thing which, you know, we go through various phases where we go a little nuts and then we start doing nutty things. And sometimes things come out of that.

You know? Oh, I'm familiar. You get a little cherry, you know? So, but you start ad-libbing Mammoth. Mammoth. Yeah. So now, I thought, I don't know why I can't get this monologue at all. I can't get it.

And it's, I don't know what, how it's written in a certain way. So I said, I'm going gonna start saying my own words here. Say the model, the actors with me was so great. I mean, they were right with it. And I didn't even say things on the sneak. Then I started dancing on the street. Yeah, yeah. You started doing soft shoe.

Soft shoe in the middle of the play. And then I, because I'm a real believer in we have things with acting that all of a sudden the unconscious comes out. You free yourself so your unconscious starts to, you know, express itself. And I was walking down the street after I realized that I did what I did, I said, what, why did I do that?

I'm not saying, why, and then I said, wait a minute, my dad had, who I didn't know much, you know that, I think. He left early. But he was a salesman. He was a salesman and he was a great ballroom dancer. So you think you maybe channeled him a little bit. I channeled him, of course I did. Don't yell at me.

Yeah. How come you don't know that? You see what I mean? You gotta get out there, Colin. Express yourself. No, but it was interesting. You know, there's another thing I'm doing, a play, a Shakespeare play at the Public Theater, and I'm tired. And, you know, all of a sudden you're doing eight performances a week. Who invented that? That's the worst thing that could ever happen to anybody. It ruins all actors.

And I'm doing eight performances. And I'm not doing really well. So I'm doing it, but I'm getting through it. And with me, everything is time. I believe that's why I love the theater so much, because it's time. I mean, I did American Buffalo over four years I did movies in between but by the fourth year I'd have to do anything when I went on stage. It was it

It was in your bones. It was in your bones. It had entered the bones. But I'm doing Shakespeare and I'm doing this have this huge monologue talking to a lot of people and I'm tired, but it's maybe a matinee on Saturday or Sunday, I don't know, and I'm talking and I'm talking and I start thinking, wait a minute, I'm repeating myself. Every line I'm saying I've said right before, so I'm saying it twice. And I said, oh my God. And I'm saying the lines.

To me, I'm saying them twice. And I'm thinking the audience is being friendly. They're sort of scared because they think, I think this actor is losing it. I think we're going to have to carry him somewhere and take him to a hospital afterwards. He's crazy. And I got really scared. And then it took me a while to recover. I don't know if I ever did, but at the end of the show, I didn't, I wasn't doing that, but it felt like it. This is what exhaustion on the stage means. I mean, it really is, especially with

the big roles. So I just refused to do that. And then I just said, don't pay me. Don't pay me and I'll do six a week. Right. I can now I do like three. Right. I just don't tell anyone. You know, one of the things, uh, there is a thing that happened where because

Robert De Niro came along at the same time and he's in Godfather 2 and you talk about it in the book, there was always this Pacino, De Niro, Pacino, and you said you guys were always friendly. You admired each other's work. You boosted each other. But of course the media likes to try and make it something. And you say in the book, I think it's just because both of our names

ended in a vowel that they... That would help. They should throw in Dustin Hoffman, but his name didn't ring about. Well, they changed it at Ellis Island from Hoffman-O. Oh, yeah. Yeah, but I'm just curious, like, you finally, first time you work together, you have it,

is in Heat, and you have that scene, and I, God, that's another movie I've seen a thousand times, and we'll see a thousand more, but you have that scene in The Diner, which is such a great idea, where you just pull over De Niro, he's the bad guy, you're the good guy, you're the cop, he's the robber, let's talk.

And the two of you sit down, and it's such a spectacular scene, and in the book you reveal that De Niro said, let's not rehearse it, let's just do it. No rehearsal. And it's one of my favorite scenes. Wow. No, he was right thinking that way.

It was perfect, I mean, to right thinking that way. It was perfect. I mean, to do it that way, these guys, yeah. And what a great idea to have the two characters, let's take a second. Let's sit down and tell each other who we are. And then we will shake hands and go back to trying to kill each other. Which is a beautiful idea, you know what I mean? It's a beautiful idea that I thought was just, and the fact that you just did it, is that the one take or you did it many times?

Oh, many times. This is Michael Mann directing it. Oh, okay. All right. You get to do it many times. Yeah. You were there for six years. Yeah.

You had long beards at the end. They're doing a take later. I'd like to do this again. When I come in, can I do it? What's that? As Michael Chekhov said, the great acting and, sorry, he was, the actress comes in the door and says, oh, Dr. Maestro, I really want to be an actress.

I really want it. I want it so much. He says, yes. Go outside, come in again and do the same thing and I'll tell you if you could be an actress. Wow. Can you do it? Yeah.

I wanted to slap him in the face for doing that. That is so pompous and assholy. I don't do that. But somehow. I was thinking, yeah. Yeah, I mean, somehow. But I'm kind of an asshole. No, somehow it works.

Asshole just came in my head just now while I was saying it. I said, it sounds, when I first heard it, I thought, a lot of truth in that. But now I'm an old fella. And I think it's disconcerting, to be honest with you. Well, you... I've gone so far in my brain. Are you able, after writing this book now...

To write another? No. I am really ready. It'll be about this show. How could I not? Yeah. I'm just curious if you are able to now look back. This process had, you have to be able to look back now and go, Jesus Christ, what a ride.

I mean, and I'm Al Pacino. I'll tell you the truth. I was doing it, doing it, working on it, working with some good people, and they devoted myself to whatever I did. But as soon as I finished it, I didn't want to look at it anymore. I thought it was done, it was over.

I said, you know, it's like when I did looking for Richard, I would sit in, they had these audiences would come in, you know, I don't know what you call them again. Test audiences. Test audiences. Yeah. And they would write it. And I'd be sitting there, and I was thinking,

I don't want them to come. I don't them, we're not ready. The film was at the editing room by the way. I thought somehow from the editing room to the theater where it was gonna play, someone would change it and make it better, you know. And then I wanted to tell them, remember that in the book? I wanted to tell them, you know, I was just, listen, don't take this seriously. I was just trying to put something together. I mean, it's fine. It fine. I'm just trying. You don't have to stay.

You don't have to go. You don't have to stay. I was that nervous. You don't say that to a test audience. You don't. You shouldn't probably see this. This was a mistake. You should go now.

I don't think this is for you. There's a nugget in this book that is so, it's such a great visual, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so, it's so? There's a nugget in this book that is so, it's such a great visual that I just had to bring it up to you, which is the moment where you're making the Godfather and Coppola says, you should talk to Brando, you know,

you guys should get to know each other a little bit. And you're shooting the scene in the hospital where you go and you end up saving Vito's life. But he says, you should go talk to him. So they arrange for you guys to have lunch together in one of those hospital rooms. And you said, it's such a great picture. You're not saying much.

Brando's talking to you. And the whole time he's talking, he's eating chicken cacciatore with a lot of sauce. With his hands. What? With his hands. And he's talking to you, and you... And then at the end, he says like, kid, I think you're gonna be okay.

I think you're gonna be all right. And then you describe what he... You're wondering the whole time, he doesn't have a napkin, his hands are covered... I'm wondering what I should do with that chicken ketchup. I got mesmerized. Yeah. But...

Didn't hear anything he said. Yeah, yeah. But he's probably giving you the greatest acting advice ever. Of course he is. And you're like, whoa. He is? That looks like it's got extra parmesan. But then you describe what he does.

His hands are covered in sauce and you're like, he doesn't have a napkin. Yeah, so he doesn't have a napkin so he he puts his hands on the bedsheet of the hospital, wipe bedsheet, and wipes them on that. Oh, my God. I mean, it's such a bad thing. No, no, no, but it's funny. You had to be there. I would do it too today, you know?

No, no, but you know what's so funny? I mean, they send me to lunch, and you don't give me napkins? That's just that simple. But you know what's so funny, Al? What's so funny is, in the book, you were like, you see him and he finishes and he sees he's on this white bed and he does that

and you went, that's a movie star. Exactly. That's a movie star. I was like, well this will work. Is that what movie stars do? I'm gonna be one, man, baby. Yeah, I gotta be one of those. No, he was the greatest person you ever wanted to know.

Did you get to know him well? Oh, well of course, I was with him a lot. You know, just being around him, there's such warmth to him. And he's so sensitive, how he sees you, especially other actors, he was so wonderful to me and everybody and funny, but he was particularly funny with Jimmy Khan because the two of them had done films together, so he was...

Comfortable with Jimmy Khan. Yeah, yeah, yeah, much more. And I was always sort of sulking somewhere. I never knew if I was coming or going. I was always just like there somehow saying, okay, I got away with that. Now what's next? But I remember one of the last things he said to me, I was

on 79th Street outside in the summertime, wherever it was, along Columbus Avenue, I don't remember the restaurant, whatever, but I was out there by myself and he called me and I said, oh, he wanted something. I said, sure. I and I said, oh, you know, he wanted something I said sure and then he said Al, you know Al Stay out of court He knew me I I can't go to court I can't go to court now I'm gonna go to court I'm sure just cut this He meant divorce court I'm gonna go to court, I'm sure. Just cut this out. Stay out of court, what are you talking about? That was his advice to you, stay out of court.

He meant divorce court. Oh, I see. See, that's what he meant. I see, yes, yes. Well, that's a good idea. I think it's a good idea. I love that, here's the big tip from Marlon Brando. I could, unfortunately for you,

talk to you for 40 hours and never be happy, but I wanna let you go because- Oh, you're throwing me out, man. No, no, I'm not throwing you out. This reminds me actually of, I said at the beginning, I don't really get starstruck. I've met everybody. Not long ago, I'm in New York on business.

Someone says, hey, come with me, go to dinner. I think we go to Polo Bar. And I'm walking out and I see, I, out of the corner of my eye, an iconic figure. And I look and you are sitting in a big banquet and you by yourself, I think you had worked with people, but they had just used the bathroom or something. And you're just sitting there and you point.

And I think he's pointing at someone. And I do the classic thing of I look behind me and you go, you, you, and you go, come here, and I go, me? Yeah. So I go over and you go, Conan, how are you? I won't do you. I want to tell you how much I love you. I really do.

You know, it's so crazy. So I'm talking to you and I'm just thinking the whole time, cause you talk about this a lot in your book, how you're always think, I gotta get out of here and no one really wants to see me. So you're talking to me and you're telling me, you know, about you're gonna show the Godfather, you're gonna show it up at somewhere in Northern Manhattan, you're gonna have a big screening of it and you're talking to me and I said, that's such an honor to see you, such an honor to see you and I... You're talking too much, Al.

Yeah. No, no, no, you weren't. I was just taught, Conan, don't overstay your welcome. He just wanted to say hi, get out. So I say, such an honor, you take care, Al, and I leave. The next day, by pure coincidence, I run into one of the people who had just joined you at the table and they said, I just got there and you were walking away,

and Al went, what happened? He fled. And I was just thinking, I don't, it's Al Pacino. Don't fuck this up. Get away. But the next time I see you, and I'm gonna follow you and see you,

and I'm gonna haunt you, I'm gonna sit down, okay? Okay. You don't seem thrilled about it. No, you're going too far. Yeah. You're gonna get salazzoed. I gotta use the bathroom, we'll be back with a gun.

The book is Sunny Boy, it's the best thing I've read in a long time, everyone's gonna read it, everyone's gonna buy it, and I'm blessed to know you. I really am, thank you for being here. Oh, me too, you, I tell you, I'm so happy I did know you. I really am. Thank you for being here. God bless. I'm so happy I did your show. I really am. Thank you.

Oh, this is, I mean, I'm done now. This is my last podcast. Thank you. Oh, no, don't go that far. Okay. Please. Thank you, sir. ["Sweet Home Alone"]

Well, Al Pacino was just here. Let's just. That was incredible. Yeah. He's my favorite actor. Oh, he's an actor. Oh my God. Who is this man? Oh, he's this guy.

No, he is my favorite actor of all time. And I was just so electrified that he came in and he was so fantastic. It was so much fun. And I remembered just before the interview, we had this big talk, because I think people were a little on edge today. Yeah.

Well, it's a big day. It's a big day. You don't know what you're getting. Aaron Blair wore a blazer. Whoa. And look at him. Thank you. Which is, and listen, to be fair, I read his book and loved it.

I was rewatching movies. I was thinking a lot about Mr. Pacino, Al. I was really preparing for this. And yeah, it's called preparing summer. I was gonna say, I am preparing. You familiar? Okay. You didn't just walk in here and just wing it?

Okay. It depends. I'm Conan, I like to be prepared. It depends, you know, who it is. You know, when it's the cast of Selling the OC, maybe I wing it. Shocked. But, can't wait for that.

Shocked you know that. Oh my God, you have no idea what I know. But when it's Al Pacino, I don't need to prepare because I feel like I know his career cold, but I really wanted to read the book and think about it. And everyone was a little, everybody was in a slightly different mode today, I could tell.

There's also 40 more people than is ever here too. Yes, yeah. It was really something. Suddenly people are here who've never heard before, like, I'm here to fix the cigarette machine. We don't have a cigarette machine. And that was De Niro. Yeah, yeah, it was De Niro. And so we, but then we get in here

and we start talking about like, let's not make him wear a head, you know, a headset, like we always do with people. Let's just, but then we get into this classic conversation that we've had many times with Eduardo, because these are directional mics. Eduardo, I give it up for you. You're a brilliant guy. people, what's just, but then we get into this classic conversation that we've had many times with Eduardo because these are directional mics. Eduardo, I give it up for you.

You're a brilliant guy. You built this place. You did a wonderful job. Sometimes you're a little, and for a reason, these are directional mics, but you want everyone's lips to be on mic. He just wants people to be on mic. Yeah, he just wants people to talk into the microphones. No, no, I understand, I understand, but.

Thank you guys. When the police are trying to bug an apartment, they put a little bug, you know, up in the lamp, and then they hear them saying, yeah, yeah, we'll kill him, yeah, and then they arrest them. That's why it's never admissible in court, because it's like.

Well, they put plenty of mobsters away using the same technology anyway. We have these microphones that you really need to be close to them. And the fear is that maybe, you know, any of these actors that we have on or anybody might just be talking and they may lean back. They may drift from the mic.

Billie Eilish. And Billie Eilish. It's happened plenty of times. So you were saying that if they wear the headsets, they know when they're wandering away from the mic. But I didn't want that. So I was trying to think of a way that we cannot wear headsets.

Cause I don't wanna talk to Al Pacino while he's wearing what like a submarine sonar guy would have in a World War II movie. I wanna talk to Al Pacino. So I was hoping, let's not do that. Let's just not do that. And then I came up with an idea for a fix. Which we thought was a real idea when you referred to it.

And I told these guys. You set this up so early. I set it up so well, I say, guys, guys, I have a way to fix this. It's a technological fix. And you guys were actually looking at me like, well, he probably does have something. I knew you were.

You probably knew. I knew you were not serious. Okay, but I think Eduardo. I was intrigued. Blay? A thousand percent I thought it was real. And what about you? I just wasn't listening. Okay. So anyway, I said, no, was intrigued. Blai? Yeah. 1000% of that was me. And what about you?

I just wasn't listening. Okay. So anyway, I said, no, no, I'm really serious guys, this is what we should do. We should get a little, just like a little clip and we have, it's tied to a nylon cord and we clip it to them and it's got to, it's really secure.

And you guys were still looking at me like, uh-huh, where's he going with this? And then the clip attaches to like like, a little wheel right here, and then it runs underneath the table, and, um, Eduardo has it. If someone starts to drift off mic, he can pull on it, and they're like, anyway, I just think...

And suddenly... We should do that with him. So Al Pacino would be like, and then I was saying, you know, I was talking to him when we shot the Godfather Part II. I go, oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! And then Edwarda would slowly let it out. Oh! Oh! Oh! Anyway, I said to Coppola, I hope it works, because I'm a little worried.

Now, the funny thing you've got to remember about Dianne Keaton is, oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! And! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

And then I'd worry to let it out just a little bit, but then her tug reminded him who's boss. I love the idea. So I think we do this idea. Can you do that, but it actually pulls him away from the mic? Oh, that's even better. You know what, I'll have, so great.

You all have wires. Yes. So I'll start. Yes! So I have no wires, but I'll have, so great, you all have wires? Yes. So I'll start, so, I have no wires, but I'll be like, yeah, another thing, Sona. Whee! Yay! Oh, well, gorely, I think.

Whee! I love it. I'm just kidding. You guys are just yanking me around. Oh my God. And all the people here is... Whizz! Whing! Whee! Hoo-woo! Hoo-wah! Zing!

Can we just talk about how personable he was, too, and how he would talk and, you know, listeners don't know this, but there are two types of guests on this show. Those that just kind of come in and they're tunnel vision, they look at you, and then those that are like, really talk to everyone in the room. And he was one of those people that just make eye contact with people. I don't know if you could tell, but I started to build a brick wall so that he couldn't

see you guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have, because I keep bricks here. Yes, I know that. And I have a lathe and I was just quickly as a, no, he was honestly comes from the fact that when you read his book, yes, he's an iconic film star, but in his heart, he's a guy who wants to go to the theater and work with everybody and figure it out. You can tell that's what he loves is he loves this communal.

I think that's his instinct is he's not here just to talk to me, he's here to have an experience with us. Well, you know how you can tell he's a man of the people. When his phone rang in that interview, I looked over and his phone case is all Shrek heads. It's just printed, multiple-sized Shrek heads all over his face. Yeah.

He's a dad with some kids. I love it. And he's got Shrek heads. He's a new dad. Yeah. Yeah, unbelievable. Yeah, and then his phone went off. Yeah.

Midway through the interview. Is that a, that's happened before maybe? I don't know, but when it rang, my heart dropped because I was like, please don't let it be my phone. The phone went off? Yeah. Midway through the interview? Is that a, that's happened before maybe? I don't know if it, but when it rang, my heart dropped because I was like, please don't let it be my phone. It's usually Sona when it's happened. What the fuck? No, no, to be fair, it was Al Pacino's phone,

but it was Sona calling. Yeah. Asking, who are you? Who are you? Can you just tell me who you are real quick? What did you act in? Which reality show were you in? Keep at it, buddy.

I'm sure you'll make it. I definitely had a minor panic attack when a phone went off because that's always something I'm constantly worried about or whatever. And then as soon as it was his phone, relief. Yes, I'm the same. I love when it goes off and it's your phone. That's hardly ever happened.

That's how, and then you get mad. My phone is always on, but no one ever calls me. You also had these glasses on the table, just like Mo Green in The Godfather. And I kept expecting you to put them back on and. Yeah, it's so, those movies are so seared into my brain and not just those, so many of his movies. And you know, I...

I'm serious, I know who he is. You guys are making this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because Matt looked at me like, Sona, do you know what the Godfather is? No, it was your, it was your, mm-hmm. It wasn't me being kind of sending you. I can't hear me, I don't have headphones on.

But I will say he's multi-generational. Like it doesn't, because Eduardo, you were saying for you it's Scarface. Scarface for me. Yeah. And, you know, I remembered when I was in college, yeah, The Godfather one and two was a big thing, but Scarface was huge.

Michelle Pfeiffer. Best friends were, friendships were formed over that movie. Really? Yeah, it was special. Some of my best friends were, friendships were formed over that movie. Really? Yeah, it was special. Oh, I thought some of your best friends were dealing cocaine in Miami and shooting each other with machine guns.

He did not say that. Yeah, no, but it was, and then it just keeps going because I was talking to a friend of mine who was like a workout fanatic and he'd be in his thirties and he was just saying like, I said that as I was talking to Al Pacino,

he said that's speech he gives in any given Sunday. And I thought, oh my God, you can, it just goes and goes and goes. It's incredible. And then into the current day with the Irishman and once upon a time in Hollywood. Yeah, yeah. And he's the voice of the new Shrek.

That makes sense. Yeah, yeah. Donkey, what are you fucking doing? And he's the voice of the new Shrek. That makes sense. Yeah. Donkey, what are you fucking doing? Hey Donkey, why don't you go out on the rowboat and say a Hail Mary? I killed the fucking Donkey! I've lost my soul! That's a Shrek turn I haven't seen. Oh my God.

All right, well, that was really, wow, that was fun. That's a high. It is pretty surreal. That was nice to experience that. I hesitate to do this, but I have to thank you for bringing these kind of crazy experiences into my life. I mean, it's amazing to be able to sit by and watch this happen. Well, I think he was here to see all of us.

That's absolutely not true. No, I know. We were waiting for the... I was waiting for you to finish. I was gonna slam you at the end, but he didn't give me a chance. Yeah, oh yeah. It's bullshit. He wasn't there.

I think I wanted to cut it off before. No, it almost makes me... He outside was saying like, I don't want anyone else in the room. And I said, it's kind of how we do it. And he went, I don't like Coralie. I room. And I said, it's kinda how we do anyone. Well, I don't like Gorley. I've heard his other podcasts. He does something with him about Bonanza.

And I was like, no, no, no, no. I love. It's too niche. It's too niche what he does. Who wants to listen to him and Andy Daley just pout along. And I said, Al, Al, just come on in. And Sona, what's that all about? I mean, did she land her ass in butter or what?

She's a bad assistant and now she gets a job for life? And I said, Al, Al, just come on in. Then why is Blay wearing the blazer? That's not who Blay is. Everyone turns into Nixon, too. That's amazing. I'll tell you something else. Let's get Haldeman and Ehrlichman,

and let's start a mob, and we'll take over the five families. Everything is Nixon Settlers! Whee! Whee! Whee! Conan O'Brien needs a friend with Conan O'Brien, Sonam Avsesian, and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley.

Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Jeff Ross, and Nick Leow. Theme song by The White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Take it away, Jimmy. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples. Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns.

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