Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Andy Samberg
Episode Date: July 28, 2025Actor, comedian and writer Andy Samberg feels aces about being on Conan O’Brien’s friend. Andy sits down with Conan to discuss leading the cutting edge of YouTube comedy with The Lonely Island, t...he feel-good production of Brooklyn 99, following in the footsteps of Steve Martin and Adam Sandler, and employing a particularly favorite celebrity impression on the animated series Digman! For Conan videos, tour dates and more visit TeamCoco.com.Got a question for Conan? Call our voicemail: (669) 587-2847. 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.
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Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Fall is here.
Hear the yell.
Back to school.
Ring the bell.
Bend the shoes.
Walk and lose.
Climb the fence.
Books and pens.
I can tell that we are gonna be friends. Yes, I can tell that we are gonna be friends.
Yes, I can tell that we are gonna be friends.
Hey there, welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend.
I am joined by Sona Lovesessia and Matt Gorley.
My whack pack, as it were.
Oh man.
We should do the traffic in the morning and do a lot of sound effects.
We've done that a couple of times.
Sorry.
Oh no. We can done that a couple of times. Sorry. Oh no.
We can do it again.
No, I just hate when I'm reminded that it's too much.
We've had too much life.
That's a terrible thing to say.
That's wrong, I take that back.
I want much more.
No, you said it.
You said it.
I noted it down.
Let's call it.
I'm picturing Zeus on a cloud saying,
you said it.
I throw a thunderbolt at you now.
I think the Wack Pack is revisitable though.
Yeah.
That's quite a word, revisitable.
We just hit a landmark, which is yesterday,
Sona had a birthday party for her two children.
Yeah.
They're twins and Mikey and Charlie.
And this is always a moment for me
because they were born immediately
after our last late night show ever on TBS.
We did it at the old theater, the...
The Largo.
The Largo Theater.
And I remember saying farewell
on the last late night show, leaving.
There's a little rap party,
but it was this 28-year run, and then leaving, there was a little wrap party, but it was this 28 year run and then leaving
and I flew back east and when I'm,
I think I landed and I think the next day
or something you called me and said that,
I used to call them Rub and Tug when they were in utero
and you said Rub and Tug have arrived.
And that is now four years.
It's been four years.
That's unbelievable.
Yeah, and we have a lot of family.
We have a lot of people in our lives
and we have a birthday party for them every year.
And the first thing Tak did is he found my husband.
Your husband, Tak, yeah.
He found a clown and he has hired that clown
every single year we've had a birthday.
His name is Gilly the Clown and he's awesome.
Okay, what makes a good party clown, seriously?
First of all, to get the attention of all these kids
and then to hold the attention is hard.
How many kids would you say?
Oh, yesterday we invited their class too.
I would say there were like 30, 35 kids.
And what is it that Gilly does that's so great?
And by the way, shout out to Gilly the Clown.
Yeah.
Where does he, what area does he cover?
He's a Los Angeles Clown.
I think his company is called the Los Angeles Clown Company.
And I think...
Don't.
Formerly William Morris Endeavor.
Sorry guys, I had to do it.
Oh, my God.
I think...
Sorry.
Oh, that made me happy.
I think Tack is kind of living vicariously through the boys, because I don't think they
had clowns in the Soviet Union.
So he's like...
Well, they did.
They were just all in the Politburo.
Listen, that's a very funny joke.
Is it?
If it were 1986, that would kill, you know,
around a bottle of vodka.
Uh... in Minsk.
Um, so, tell me, tell me about what Gilly does that's so great.
So he comes, he does a whole thing
that's actually funny for parents and funny for the kids.
He does a whole magic thing.
And then at the end, he made swords for all the kids
with balloons.
And then they went into the bounce house
and just started fighting each other
with these balloon swords.
And he comes and every year,
it's always something a little different.
And I think we're gonna just have Gilly
until like the boys are 18.
I'm thinking about Tack when he was a kid
in the Soviet Union having to wait in a really long line
and on his birthday, just to get one second with a clown.
And it was a cut rate clown.
The clown was just had a cardboard belt,
some Soviet issued cardboard shoes.
And the clown would just bend a balloon
that he had to keep remending and then re-inflating.
And it would pop.
Former World War II sniper.
Yeah, exactly.
He's bitter now.
He's like, I defended Stalingrad.
I'm here with these fucking kids.
Frostbitten toes, they're black.
Hey, Ivan, just, you're here for the kids.
Next kid!
You didn't even do anything
that we waited for six hours and next kid!
Oh shit.
Is that what it was like?
Maybe.
He takes a picture with Gilly every year.
He loves Gilly.
I wanna see a picture of Gilly.
It's the first, I'll show you.
Yeah, and then we're gonna post this.
He's the first.
Gilly the Clown, he's from, what is it?
The Los Angeles Clown Emporium.
Oh, wow, look at that.
Oh, yeah, that's Gilly.
That's legit.
I was expecting something a little more DIY or something.
Yeah.
No, he's a clown.
Okay, we can see that.
Yeah.
This guy Denver has to say,
hey, by the way, I'm a clown.
He doesn't fuck around about clownery.
Go to the YouTube channel or at Team Coco podcasts
on Instagram to see this.
Yeah, and check out Gilly the Clown
and it looks like he's throwing a club at the viewer.
Doesn't he?
He is.
He can do it all.
He can juggle.
Wow.
He does magic.
He does like, it's very funny.
He does balloon animals.
Does he do political stuff?
What? Like what?
It's not really funny if he goes like.
Does he have other clowns under him?
I think he does.
Like sometimes you get a second rate Gilly or something?
I don't know.
Or like Gallagher too.
You know what?
If I hired Gilly and I didn't get Gilly, I'd be pissed.
Yeah.
You gotta ask for Gilly.
I agree.
I agree.
No, he's the best.
Oh, custom, he does custom characters.
Yeah.
Gilly will create a special character just for your party.
Hey, let's hire Gilly and see
if he'll do some political stuff.
Yeah, Nixon.
Yeah.
Yes, political stuff from the 70s.
Oh, you'll never get those tapes.
Cut to kids crying.
We want the Soviet clown who defended Stalingrad.
Even he's better than this piece of shit.
Not Ivan.
Nobody wants Ivan.
We'll have them both. It's detente. Even he's better than this piece of shit. Not Ivan! Nobody wants Ivan.
We'll have them both!
It's detente.
Do something about Spiro Agnew resigning.
Arrrrr.
Why did you visit China?
Arrrrr.
Weeeh.
Weeeh.
Make it stop.
Oh man.
No, but we love Gilly and we're probably gonna just,
seriously, we're gonna have him for as long as we have
for the day. I think we're getting
Gilly the Clown in here or something.
Holy shit. I'm in.
I think he'd be great.
I would love to get, now, first of all,
so your kids had a good time.
That's important. Yeah, they had a really great time.
They had a lot of fun.
That's nice. It was good.
It was really fun. Did they get any good presents?
We haven't opened them yet.
What? We're using them as-
What's your problem?
We're using them as like, you gotta be, or else we're not gonna open your presents.
I'm sorry, I have never heard of that shit before.
It's also six days past their birthday.
Well, they got their birthday presents yesterday.
And then they came home and they were all jacked up
on, like, sugar and stuff.
On rum and coke.
We were like, you gotta calm down,
we're gonna open your presents tomorrow.
Okay, so wait a minute. Wait a minute.
On your birthday, the thing that makes it special
is you get all these presents and you open them up.
You don't have to learn the lessons.
That's the fun of it.
You don't say, okay, these are your presents now.
They're going into storage.
They're going into a storage facility.
And-
You're off to boarding school.
Yeah, we use anything we can to use as like a carrot
for the boys.
Like be good, don't fight, don't wrestle.
If you want nutrition and food, you better be good.
If you want to get a full night's sleep,
you better be good.
It's hard, we're just saying, like last night we came home
and we're like, you guys have to sleep and behave
or else you don't get to open presents tomorrow.
And we mean it.
And it works?
Yeah, no.
Ah!
It doesn't work, it doesn't even work a little bit.
Whoa!
Yeah, no, it doesn't work at all.
It doesn't work at all.
You don't get that antibiotic until you're good.
Whoa!
Oh!
A fever at 106!
Ah!
Better be good!
Or no acetylomycin for you. Jesus, I don't like this.
Again, this is tax Soviet upbringing.
All joy must be withheld.
Yeah.
In order for you to be good,
fall into line.
Big Brother is watching.
Right?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Okay.
I don't know.
Sometimes it works, but it didn't work yesterday.
Of course it doesn't work. No. It doesn't know. I don't know. Okay. I don't know. Sometimes it works, but it didn't work yesterday.
Of course it doesn't work.
No.
It doesn't work.
Happy birthday to the boys.
Hey, happy birthday to the boys.
That's the important thing.
And Gilly the Clown, wherever you are,
you're apparently very good at what you do.
Yeah, he is.
And I hope to meet him because he and I
have something in common.
We're both entertainers.
And I was a clown at a birthday party once
with my good friend who has since passed away, a guy that I did a lot
of improv with back in the olden times, Mike Castagnola.
Someone saw us perform together at a Groundlink show
and said, we wanna hire you.
And they hired us to play a birthday party.
Maybe you could team up with Gillian.
Oh, I'll tell you what happened.
What?
We didn't know what it was.
They said, we wanna hire you. And we said, we. What? We didn't know what it was. They said, we want to hire you.
And we said, we're in.
And then it turned out it was in the park,
like in Santa Monica, and it was a kid's birthday.
And these were little kids.
And we showed up and we bombed.
We brought our guitars.
We were trying to be- What were you dressed like?
We, I don't remember us even, we weren't dressed as clowns.
Oof, big mistake.
Yeah, I know. That's the first mistake. Yeah. But we, I don't think we appreciated, we weren't dressed as clowns. Oof. Big mistake. Yeah, I know, that's the first mistake.
Yeah.
But we, I don't think we appreciated,
oh, these are little kids.
I think we thought, oh, we can improvise our way
out of anything.
No, these were little kids.
We didn't know what we were doing.
Mike Castagnol and I bombed.
And if he were still with us on this earth,
Mike would share the story of how we got nothing
and we walked away gutted.
We walked away gutted and I-
This is your origin story.
This is my origin story.
Years later, you did a late night show
with an all child children audience.
Do you think that was to make up for this clown party?
Possibly it was another masochistic need
to return to my old feral pain.
But no, so I know how hard Gilly's job is.
And so I'd like to meet the man.
Yeah, he's awesome.
He did not bomb, crushed it.
Okay, well now you're just rubbing it in.
Yeah, he crushed it.
Little kids, bigger kids.
Good for Gilly.
Crushed it.
Okay, well it's not the least.
I bet he'd be even better at podcasting.
Oh yeah.
What if Gilly then gets a podcast and destroy,
eats our lunch, and then he's on Sirius,
and his channel is the next channel over,
and destroys us.
Just has a podcast called Gilly Doesn't Need a Friend
because I have a ton of friends.
Yeah, Gilly is over to my Donahue.
Just totally, no one's heard of me again afterwards.
Just disappear. All right, no one's heard of me again afterwards. Just disappear.
All right, my guest today was a cast member
on Saturday Night Live and starred in the hit series,
Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Now you can see him in the new movie, The Roses
and in the Comedy Central animated series, Dig Man.
Very excited, he's here today.
Andy Samberg, welcome.
Andy Samberg, welcome. You're a laid back dude.
That's what I love about you.
By the way, sorry I didn't shave, fellas.
I'm preparing for a role.
Oh yeah?
Yeah.
As lazy guy.
As lazy guy.
And then after that I'm doing beard dude.
So I walk in to the dressing room,
we call it the dressing room, it's not really a dressing room.
I think that's a fair set of names.
It's just an office.
But anyway, I walk in and you greet me
and you're wearing like a nice shirt, a button up shirt.
But down below you've got the sloppiest sweatpants
I've seen in a long time.
Wow.
And you were like, I'm sorry, this is the harshest I've ever been to anybody.
But and I said, hey man, come on.
You got to dress up for, I think you called them the Cone Meister.
And I said, you got to, you know, put a little effort in.
You said, hey, they don't shoot from the waist down.
I did say it in that exact voice.
Yeah.
You went, hey, hey man, man." -"Hey, man."
And then you said,
-"When's 420?" -"Yeah."
But you're obsessive compulsive about it.
You like, let me know when it's 419.
Yeah, because I got to have my toke at Dreaddy.
Yeah.
And then when I toke,
I got to have Easy Rider playing.
Yeah.
I love an obsessive compulsive 420 guy.
But...
I gotta have everything...
All my stuff has to be lined up.
All my shit has to be lined up.
And the right song has to be playing.
Set the alarm for 418.
Oh, my God. I used to do a bit about a Rasta who, um...
who's like, you know,
smoke the marijuana, smoke the herb.
None for me, though. My wife's pregnant. She could, smoke deeper at the marijuana, smoke the air, none for me though, my wife's pregnant.
She could go into labor at any moment.
But everyone else, don't be gawged.
But obviously I must refrain tonight.
She could go into labor at any moment.
I've gotta be responsible.
I gotta be totally focused if that happens.
I gotta be with her, we're on this journey together.
I was thinking about this today,
and this is totally random, which means I'm as comfortable
as with this chap as I am with anyone,
this incredible Andy Samberg.
I was thinking about this this morning on a run.
Yeah, you gotta get this, gotta work out to get this bod.
I exercised this morning also, so.
Well, not like me.
Anywho, I hired nine guys to attack me with hammers.
That's what I did.
Yeah, throughout the day.
And my doctor has said this is not contributing
at all to your physical health.
That's funny, I hired nine guys to attack you with hammers too. That's funny, today, 18, throughout the day. And my doctor has said this is not contributing at all to physical hurt.
That's funny, I hired nine guys
to attack you with hammers too.
That's funny, today 18 guys attack you with hammers.
Mine were for a different reason.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
Because it's just hard math.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was running and it started to occur to me
that the Roxy music song, Let's Stick Together,
is the craziest rock song ever
because it's one of the coolest, sexiest,
Brian Ferry vocalists of all time.
Wow, that was quick.
What the hell? What was that?
What the fuck did you just do?
That was very sad. What did you just do?
Let's call out Eduardo.
Eduardo, what's going on?
Maybe someone else's 420 started.
I was getting ready to cue up the song
just in case somebody here hasn't heard it before.
And I accidentally pressed play on the last song
that I had going on.
And it was Harry Belafonte.
It was I, Quebec.
It was some jazz.
Oh, shit.
I like it when I come in here
and you've got a little jazz club going.
Always puts me in a bad mood right away.
Apologies, didn't mean to interrupt your story.
But I'm running and I'm thinking about, I liked it.
It's rock and roll and it reminded me of a bit
I used to do for Odenkirk, which is it's's rock and roll and it reminded me of a bit I used to do for Odin Kirk,
which is it's a rock and roll song that is all about being responsible.
Yes.
And it cracks me up because the song is all about,
we should stick together,
it will be good for the children.
For tax reasons, it makes sense to expect too much excitement.
This part of our life is overreaching.
Let's stick together.
And it's crazy to me and it reminded me of this thing
I used to do for Odenkirk, which was sort of a Robert Plant
singer.
And he's singing about, get eight hours of sleep.
Don't cheat yourself with sex, get your protein in many forms.
And all the songs have like sick,
you know, leads and stuff like that.
And it sounds very crunchy,
but it's incredibly responsible.
And I realized, oh, it's,
Brian Ferry did that with Let's Stick Together.
Hit it.
You prick!
Hey!
Hey!
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you got this great thing going.
Yeah.
And then he's like,
in the long run, it makes sense.
I've talked to my accountant.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah.
Anyway.
Tax breaks and whatnot.
Yeah.
Let's talk about you and then more about stuff I thought about on my run today. Anyway. Tax breaks and whatnot. Yeah. Let's talk about you and then more about
stuff I thought about on my run today.
Okay.
You run through the neighborhood?
Do you go to a place?
No, I run through my neighborhood, often screaming.
I was gonna say, I imagine,
immediately imagine it like the beginning of the movie
about your life where everyone's like,
hey, how you doing, Conan?
Hey, Conan, hiya, pal.
I do this when I see people, when I'm driving around LA
and I see people jogging, I always pretend they're fleeing.
It makes it much really fun.
I do, I always imagine-
What are they running from?
Yeah, I just imagine them running really hard
and they've been running really hard for hours
from like a monster.
Well, I don't wanna talk about you.
Because Andy Samberg, I've been thinking about you today.
Is that on your run?
No, I think about important stuff on the run.
Oh, sorry.
I was thinking about you because I think you are
this comedic linchpin between one era and another
in comedy that's crucial.
I think you were doing YouTube internet comedy before such a thing really existed.
Sure.
And I think you and your lonely island chums had, and I'm going to call you chums.
We're unequivocally chums.
No one's ever said chums with unequivocally.
But you guys were working on this thing and perfecting it.
And before there was the delivery system.
Right.
And then the delivery system, so comes along.
You said you, I think you formed Lonely Island in 2001?
Yeah, 2000, 2001.
We moved to LA from Berkeley where we grew up together.
Okay. Yeah.
All grown up in Berkeley, laid back dude.
Oh yeah.
You were a skateboarder.
Yeah, I was terrible though.
They were both pretty good skaters though.
You were a 90s kid who was obsessed with 70s music.
Yes. Which is really interesting to me
cause I was a, you know, 80s guy
who was obsessed with 60s music.
Yes.
I went back 20 years, so I was not listening to,
whenever people say, oh my God,
so you graduate high school in the early 80s,
and you head off to college, you must be listening to,
and they come up with all these amazing early REM
and all that, and I'm like, no, I wasn't listening to that.
I was listening to all British Invasion stuff. stuff. And then I drifted before that,
and I went into Sun Session Elvis and all that.
And, but you were out of time a little bit.
I mean, I think for kids that are into music,
you go back, right?
I mean, you know what's going on at present,
but like now kids are listening to the 90s.
It's all 90s.
I've had a couple of depressing moments with this recently.
I have Apple Music, and there's a section in it called Dad Rock.
Uh-oh. Yeah.
And it's like bands where I'm like,
-"They just came out!" -"Yeah."
-"Yeah." -"I know those guys!"
And then I'm like, oh, right, I'm in my 40s and a dad.
-♪ It's not a hurt." -"No, they're the fucking coolest!"
-♪ Yeah." -♪ Yeah." -♪ Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah're the fucking coolest. You gotta check them out.
Oh man, what?
Dad Rock?
Nah, this dad.
You, Yorma, Akiva, you guys know each other from Berkeley.
You, Yorma, Akiva, you guys know each other from Berkeley,
and you put together this thing, I'm gonna say 2001. You say 2000, 2001, no, fuck you, 2001.
You guys put this, start working on this comedy,
and it's fascinating to me because I don't know
when YouTube came along officially,
but it's a huge event because I remember it immediately.
The day someone came into my office, I think it was Frank Smiley, he's a producer.
He came into my office, and I'm sure he produced all your segments on,
when you came on the show over the years.
But he came in and he said, it's insane.
Whatever you want, just type it into this site.
And so you would, you'd say, I don't know,
I remembered seeing a thing on Green Acres once
where suddenly he's in Paris, it's like this,
he's upside down and he's in Paris for no reason.
And there it is.
And it broke my brain.
But you were crafting this comedy
that I believe kind of changed
many things and I'm not a scholar,
so I can't say you alone did this,
but you guys had a huge impact because Lazy Sunday,
Dick in a Box, I'm on a Boat,
the stuff that you guys were churning out,
I think was the essential DNA
of what everybody's been chasing.
Does that feel to you fair?
I mean, it feels great to hear.
Yeah.
I've always thought of it this way,
which is like I heard of YouTube
the morning after Lazy Sunday aired.
I didn't know that it even existed yet.
And then there was this big wave of like press. Also it was the Christmas show,
so it like took it into the holidays.
Which is great because it marinates.
Yes, and everyone's like,
we're all at home watching your video
over the holidays over and over again.
And there's no like new S&L episode
to wipe it clean or whatever.
Right, right, right.
But it became this wave of press,
not about us, but about the existence of YouTube
and about streaming video and how it was here.
It's been this thing everyone had been talking about.
Like before, when we lived in LA, we were making videos.
We were just like trying to get people
that had bandwidth and websites to upload our stuff.
Be like, oh man, we might get like posted on heavy.com
or you know, like stuff like that.
And you like have to submit it.
You send like a VHS tape in and they're like,
maybe we'll upload it.
And then all of a sudden it was like, here's YouTube.
Anyone can do it immediately.
It's easy, it's free.
And here's the video that's like the crest of the wave.
I think the first time I heard it's gone viral
was Lazy Sunday.
Me, I mean, I'm sure other people had heard the term,
but people were telling me this thing's a monster
and I watched it and I was like, what?
I don't get it.
No, I-
I was like, I'm gonna have him on
what's called a podcast somewhere
and I'm gonna tell him I don't get it.
Fair enough.
Yeah, I could always see the future very well.
Couldn't see the present.
Couldn't see that that was really funny.
I say that to myself all the time when I watch new things.
I'm like, I don't like this, but eventually I will.
In time, I'll love it.
Those videos were events and made so many of them.
And that felt to me as a person at that time,
I had was doing my own show, but had written for SNL.
And I remember when I was at SNL,
always thinking short films are the way to go.
And SNL had always done them a little bit,
but I was always a little frustrated by live
in some ways.
And I thought, why don't we just get it?
I mean, because all my heroes were, it's Monty Python,
it's all this amazing sketch comedy that has been,
it's SCTV where they've got it just right.
And there was part of me that really wanted to do that.
And yes, there had been short films on SNL,
but when you guys started putting those out,
it felt like you were doing the thing
that I had been kind of daydreaming about
in some weird way.
Why doesn't someone do that?
Oh well, I'll go back to bed.
I mean, it was also because digital video at that moment,
I just think about how lucky we were on so many fronts.
Like it was right when YouTube was becoming a thing that people are talking about.
It was right when digital video could be made affordably and look good.
It also looks different from the live show,
so it was a nice way to step out and be like,
hey, this is our thing that looks different and feels different.
The same way the very first episode had an Albert Brooks film or something.
We were like, whoa, what was that? That was on film.
Like in the beginning, we just, Shoemaker and Higgins, who, you know, Higgins is still a producer there and now Shoemaker runs Sess Show.
They knew we had made videos.
Keev and Yorman made a video while we were working there just for fun.
And they were like, if you guys could do more of these for basically nothing, which is what we had been doing, and use the cast, like, we're always looking for things
to change over sets, basically.
Yeah.
So it kind of happened very fortuitously
and kind of under the radar.
And we did one with Forte called Lettuce,
where we were eating heads of lettuce,
and then we tried another one that didn't air till later.
And then the third one we shot for SNL was Lazy Sunday.
And then it was like, oh, that went better
than we were expecting.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's the Oppenheimer white flash.
You know, kind of.
But I mean, I think that specific kind of comedy,
to me anyway, starts with you guys.
Well, certainly on SNL,
I think the pace that we kept in our editing and stuff,
you can see that now influencing the stuff being done,
which makes me so happy because I'm very antsy about my comedy.
I want it to just be like,
but we're all children of Monty Python.
Yes.
That's what you're saying.
An Mel Brooks.
When I was a kid,
PB's Big Adventure, those things turned into Spongebob,
and they turned into us, and they turned into, you know,
Mr. Show and Stella, and all the things that influenced us.
Of like, what if it was real life,
but really it's just a cartoon?
And anything can happen, and the world is spongy,
and that's what, when I was a kid, made my brain go crazy.
Like, Billy Madison, Tommy Boy, things like that,
where you're just like, I can't feel happier
about watching something, because it just allows me
to disappear into it.
Right.
And there's, I mean, music also an important part.
Yeah, I mean.
Because you're a huge music guy
and so obviously, Dick in the Box.
Yes.
There's a strong musical component to this stuff.
Yes, and we also, again, got really lucky
where it was like Timberlake,
like hottest thing in the game being like,
I wanna do one with you guys.
And us being like, use all of your powers, Justin.
You know what I mean?
And him literally being like,
all right, here's how we're gonna do it.
I'm gonna stack all my vocals.
These are all harmonies. These are split to the left.
These are split to the right.
And we were just like, oh my God.
This is like how he's making the biggest songs in the world right now.
And he's applying it to our song we're writing
about sticking your dick in a box at Christmas.
You know what I mean?
It's like you're in a room with Mozart.
And he's like, what do you gentlemen have?
Yeah, yeah.
All right, you ever see the movie Diner?
He's like, I love it!
Oh, so we do this?
A dick in the box. Yes, so we'll do this.
A dick in the box. Yes, yes.
And I'm also here.
When you were in college, you did stand up,
I think for seven years, which I didn't know.
Yeah.
And I'm trying to imagine you doing standup
because I was in, I never thought about doing stand-up.
I always thought, no, that's not me.
I was wondering if you did,
because I think you would destroy.
Well, I later on went and did it in different ways.
And of course you build that muscle
doing a late night show every night
where you're standing in front of an audience.
And yeah, the thing that got me into it
was I wanted to do very silly things in a late night show.
And I wanted to create an insane world
that was sort of in the spirit of what Dave had done,
but very different, which was cartoons.
Very cartoony, like you were saying.
And I've always thought of myself as,
I'm a cartoon character.
The hair, the name, I like to be thrown around
like a cartoon character.
I like to throw people around like they're cartoon characters.
So you can attest to that.
Yeah, no, it's very true.
Okay, that's enough out of you.
Okay, happy to be here.
You signed a waiver.
So many NDAs?
Like terms and conditions.
Yeah.
You want a timeshare.
Yeah.
Oh yay.
Um.
It's not a good one.
And you're way behind in things.
Yeah, it's a lot of bad news here.
It's like a timeshare in Baltimore.
It's in Baltimore.
Yeah.
Yeah, but it's built in kind of a-
Hey, no shade, no shade.
We love Baltimore.
Shout out to Baltimore.
Hey, Baltimore. And you to Baltimore! Hey Baltimore!
And you have to stay there 50 weeks out of the year.
I'm so behind.
But it's also built as a Mediterranean bungalow.
Wow.
So it's very cold in the winter.
I have to go.
But it's in the middle of the road.
Yeah.
It was nice knowing you.
Trunks comes through all the time.
Open the door again, why?
Wah!
Such your sucks!
Thank you, sir. It's time to go down. It's time to go down. It's time to go down. It's time to go down. It's time to go down.
It is a scam.
So you find your people first, which you did,
I think I did, I found my people and then like a Robin Hood,
I was like, okay, I got my gang together.
Now we're gonna head off on this adventure.
Then you find your, you know, I'm gonna go on my trip now with my gang and we're gonna try off on this adventure. Then you find you're, you know,
I'm gonna go on my trip now with my gang
and we're gonna try and accomplish this goal.
Go through Sherwood forest and do something.
And, but you gotta get the people first.
And that was crucial.
And I think that kind of has to happen in your early 20s.
A lot of times if you're lucky, but-
If you're lucky, yeah.
I mean, and before you have kids,
cause it gets way more complicated obviously. For kids that you're willing to If you're lucky, yeah. I mean, and before you have kids, because it gets way more complicated obviously.
There are kids that you're willing to acknowledge legally.
Yeah.
Well, I had all kinds of kids in the eighties.
And like, what are they up to now?
So David is one of them.
I'm right here.
Oh, shit!
Yeah, he's, that's hella awkward.
She contacted me and said,
you do something with him.
You hire him?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, so he's been here and we fired Sona
and put him on mic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But then after this, after I leave,
you're gonna like hug him like too tight
and be like, I fucking love you so fucking much.
Like Conan.
You've been drinking?
No.
Maybe I've mentioned this,
but it's one of my favorite things for the wrong reasons,
but the Green Lantern movie that Ryan Reynolds made. Yeah. Maybe I've mentioned this, but it's one of my favorite things for the wrong reasons,
but the Green Lantern movie that Ryan Reynolds made.
Yeah.
There's a moment where the scientist who ends up being the bad guy in that Green Lantern
movie.
Spoiler.
Thank you.
He has the ability to read minds and his father's a tough general and the father comes over
him at one point,
and he praises Ryan Reynolds.
You're a great guy.
And then you can hear his voice thinking like, yeah,
he's really great.
And then whatever.
And he says goodbye to him.
Then he turns to his son, and the son says, mm, father,
well, I've been working on these experiments.
And he gives him a hug, or shakes his hand
and goes, good job, son.
And then you hear him, you hear some think,
what a disappointment.
It's literally like the Joe Montana sketch.
Yeah, but it was for real.
Then they all bother me, I'm masturbating.
It's not supposed to be a laugh line.
I laughed, I laughed, I saw it in the theater.
I think some was coming on from the late night show and I saw it in the theater. I think some was coming on from the late night show
and I saw it in the theater and the general hugs.
Son played by a famous actor.
Anyway.
Brad Pitt.
No!
Ryan Reynolds.
Clark Cable.
The Little Tramp himself, Charlie Chaplin.
Well, I was gonna say no, but because you said the Little Tramp himself, Charlie Chaplin. Well, I was gonna say no, but because you said
the little tramp himself, Charlie Chaplin,
it was Charlie Chaplin.
Anyway, the idea that I would hug my son and go,
good to see you, son.
What a disappointment.
So I told my son this and I do it with him all the time.
I hug him and I go, I love you.
What a disappointment.
Like it is here.
Anywho, Eduardo, why don't you just miscue another track?
Oh, she's fucking shot fired.
I'm fucking sorry, shots fired.
Yeah, left and right.
What a disappointment.
Peter Skarsgard?
Peter Skarsgard?
No.
Damn it.
That's why I didn't say anything.
Anywho, doesn't matter.
Doesn't matter.
We'll edit this out.
We'll be chopped together.
You'll do a nice little,
you know who it could have been, Blake Lively.
She was in that.
Oh, that's right.
That's where they got together and met,
something like that.
I don't speak on things like that.
Wow, you're principled.
Oh yeah, yeah.
That's their private life.
Whoa, and I think you're a little gassy too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know when you zip your lip
but then immediately you gotta fart?
Yeah, sure.
Yeah, because it's trapped.
You're where to go but out.
Yeah, that's a good character,
the mime who keeps zipping his lip and then.
Brrrr.
You're like, oh.
All right.
Normally I love mimes.
You're on SNL and you worked very hard for seven years,
I think. Yes.
Just in fact.
And it took a toll.
Because the kind of work you were doing
is very labor intensive.
The shorts.
The shorts were really labor intensive.
And then I imagine there's all kinds of pressure.
Give us another one of those, it becomes viral the next day.
Yeah.
I mean, just be that hit.
I mean, yes.
For the first five years, we couldn't believe our luck.
You know, they're like, they're just asking for them now.
We have like a spot on the show every week.
Uh, but not coincidentally, after five seasons,
Keev and Yoram both kind of left not coincidentally, after five seasons,
Keev and Yoram both left and were half working there, half not.
Keev went and made a movie,
Yoram went and made a movie,
and it started getting a lot more difficult physically and creatively.
So by the end of the seventh season,
I was like, I don't think I can do it anymore, basically.
So I went back for the 50th,
when I was in the audience and really enjoying the show.
And then I think the three of you did a short
about anxiety at SNL.
Oh yes, yes, yes.
And I did it with Mike DeVitts,
who's the director there now.
And it is about how many people talk about the anxiety
of working on SNL.
Yes, yes.
And it's funny because you're kind of taking a piss
out of that old saw that, you know,
it's like going into battle doing SNL,
the anxiety involved, but also at the same time,
you're honoring that it is true.
And it was really funny, I loved it.
Thanks, thank you.
Yeah, there's a whole section of it
where I start singing if these pipes could talk
because talking about how everyone who ever worked there gets IBS,
basically, from stress.
And that video that night,
everyone that works there at some point went out of their way to be like,
that was really like.
That nailed how it feels basically in a fun, hopefully way.
Also at a great moment because the 50th,
it came out beautifully, I thought.
But of course, part of the process was a mad scramble
because things have to be,
I think there might be some part of Lauren that likes that.
Of course, also it's stressful to be at the 50th,
make no mistake. Like you love it, you wouldn't miss it, but you. Also, it's stressful to be at the 50th. Make no mistake. Like, you love it, you wouldn't miss it,
but you're like, it's fucking everyone who's ever worked here
is all here. And like, who's gonna say hi to me?
Who's not gonna say hi to me? Who do I say hi to?
Am I gonna be in the show? If I'm in the show too much,
do I like what I'm doing? Am I pissed about that?
If I'm not in the show, are they ignoring me?
Like, there's no winning when you go back into that,
because it's such a vortex of everything
that's ever happened there.
So I was kind of hoping it would sort of be
in the spirit of that also.
Yeah, I think you touched on something
that anyone who's worked there has felt.
And it's so strange because people that,
so many people enjoy SNL, as they should,
they should enjoy it without knowing
what goes into the sausage.
Of course.
So they're not supposed to know.
No one's supposed to know
that the level of anxiety that some people,
some people manage to do it and not feel that.
Yeah.
That's not how I'm built.
I always felt, and I was a writer.
I was not a performer, but just as a writer I I felt
Like there was a gun against my head all the time. It's designed that way. Yeah, it's it's a pressure cooker
but also like I
Personally went through that process and I still love it the same as when I before I worked there
Yeah, because it gave me everything I had hoped it would ever give me, and I loved doing it.
And so, you have to recognize when it's time for you to leave,
because you can't physically do it anymore.
And if you can do that, I think it's fine.
I mean, every job is hard.
Like, you go to your doctor, and they're all cheery, hopefully,
but like, they went to med school for like 70 years or something. So, like it's a job and it's work and you do that work
and your job is to make it seem like it's fun
and just let the fun part filter through onto the show.
Right?
Yes, I disagree.
No, I disagree, but...
You disagree and then, but say more about that.
Mmm... I just think you're wrong.
And you think I'm stupid and ugly?
Stupid and ugly, yes.
But I hope that was implied.
Yeah.
Uh.
Ha ha ha.
Ha ha ha.
It's interesting, cause when you went on to do
the very funny, long running Brooklyn Nine-Nine,
you're working in this format that,
I think you and I are similar, you mentioned it earlier,
you kinda wanna make something
and have it be out there pretty soon.
And if you're making a short film
or if you're in a sketch or I've always loved the world
of think of it and then it happens pretty soon
after you think of it.
And I struggle in the format of,
I mean, I don't even know how people make movies.
What little I've seen of it,
the idea that you would spend years of your life
and not know, you would drop a nickel and not into a well
and not hear it splash for seven years
and then get a critique.
And it splashes when you're busy doing six other things.
That feels very strange to me.
And even the rhythm of doing a Brooklyn Nine-Nine
would be very different than...
What you got, what you got, kid?
What you got, what you got?
Yes.
We got to a point, I mean, in our first five
or six seasons or something,
we had like over 20 episodes a season.
It's like that old school series order.
So we would reach a point where they were being written
and we were shooting them
after the season had started airing.
And when you get into that rhythm,
it's a little more stressful, but you can be like,
hey, if I think of this joke today,
it'll be on the air in like a month, two months,
which for a TV show is pretty good.
The thing about making Brooklyn that I loved,
I mean, there were a million things I loved about it,
but to your point earlier about doing the digital shorts at SNL is controlling the
edit.
Yeah.
And just being like, if a joke is a dud, it's gone.
Like the freedom of that feeling of knowing we're not going to expose anyone in our cast,
we're not going to embarrass ourselves, and we're going to make it as tight as it needs
to be or as slow as it needs to be for that thing.
But something I was really proud of about Brooklyn Nine-Nine
is that it flies.
It really just goes and goes and goes.
And that's something I really love personally.
Yeah, pacing.
And I think of all the great clips that I watch
over and over and over again
from some of my favorite comedy movies,
whether it's the Marx Brothers or W.C. Fields or whether it's Peter Sellers' Clouseau.
Dude, Who's on First?
I showed my daughter Who's on First
because I was like, you should know what this is.
They are flying.
Yeah, Abbot and Costello's famous Who's on First routine.
And the other thing you realize about that
to be a total comedy nerd for a second
is what a great straight man means.
You always think of Abbott and Costello.
It's Costello who's the big clown.
And you sometimes think,
what's this straight man really doing?
He's just saying, now wait a minute.
Oh, it's the whole thing.
But he's fantastic.
Fantastic, yeah.
His job is to keep the line tight,
so that the other person hanging on doesn't sag.
And he, what are you doing?
What are you talking about?
You know, it's just that, it's so fast.
The ball is just in the air.
The whole time.
It's incredible.
And you know, you can tell they've done it
a million times and that's,
back then it was much more like,
you work your act across the country
and then you put it on tape, you know,
which maybe we should be doing more of.
It's pretty incredible when you see those performances.
It's just a whole different skill set.
Yeah, it was a different era
when people would have an act for a lifetime.
Right, yeah.
So you would have your act
and you think about what's happened because of technology
is you can work on an act for 25 years.
And then they say, congratulations,
you've got an HBO Max standup special.
And you do it, and they go, great,
you're nominated for an Emmy, but you didn't get it.
But anyway.
Really?
Who are we talking about?
No, not me, not me.
No, I know.
But what I'm saying is that it's a quick hit,
the rush is over, it's a very noisy world out there,
and you just did something you've been thinking about
for whatever 15 years that you've tested and tested
and tested and now what else you got?
Yeah, it's tonnage now.
It really is.
I mean, comedy has always been that a little bit.
You're only as funny as the last thing you did.
What if we did have that principle on this podcast,
but it was about the last thing you just said?
Right. Well, the last thing you just said? Right.
Well, the last thing I said was pretty serious.
I know, that's what I'm saying.
You're not funny right now.
Ironically not funny.
Yeah, so in this second, you're not funny.
And so you're saying-
Until you say the last thing.
Right.
Tomatoes, now I'm funny.
Now you're really funny.
Yeah.
I'm almost like scared by how funny you just got.
Yeah, you're now still not funny
because you're still speaking seriously. If I'm being serious and it's not funny got. Yeah, you're now still not funny because you're still speaking seriously.
If I'm being serious and it's not funny,
trigger warning, I have to kill myself.
Yeah.
That's the rule of your podcast.
There's a little room we have in the back.
Well, yeah.
Like a- The glass room?
Glass room, so that we can watch you do it.
Right, and there's a samurai sword in there?
No, it's auto-ironic.
Oh damn!
Yeah.
See now this I could get into.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Are you a happy chap now?
You seem like a very happy fellow.
I'm pretty happy.
Were you always pretty happy?
Always pretty happy.
Damn it.
I know.
It's annoying. Are you a happy chap now? You seem like a very happy fellow. I'm pretty happy. Were you always pretty happy?
Always pretty happy.
Damn it.
I know.
It's annoying.
It's a struggle to work in comedy as a happy chap,
which I will now only refer to myself as that.
You're a real happy chappy.
I feel like your SNL generation was the last one
that was kind of like, it was still kind of intense and gritty, am I wrong?
It's possible, I don't know.
The stories I hear, both firsthand from people
and like on things like podcasts and stuff, documentaries,
which I have watched all.
Yeah.
It seems like it was a little more like competitive
and kind of grimy.
Yeah, yeah, it was definitely that when I was there.
And then I have to credit Sandler for,
I'll never forget, we were, you know,
I gotta think of something, is this good enough?
I had something last week,
but I don't know if I have anything this week.
It's late.
I don't think I can write comedy.
I don't think I have,
I used to call my girlfriend at the time and say,
I think I can't do this.
Yeah, the spiral.
And she'd be like, well, you know, quit then.
That was fun.
Anyway, I was dating the Tasmanian devil.
I was like, where'd you go, Cody?
Sorry, passed out for a second.
You're a terrible lover.
What?
Does it ever get erect?
What?
Please, those are just made up quips. Does it ever get erect? What? Please.
Those are just made up quips.
But I was in that state of mind,
and I think, you know, Smygo and Odenkirk
and Greg Daniels were like,
it's life or death, and it feels like
that's kind of how everyone feels.
And then this guy named Adam Sandler
showed up one day, and he was like,
oh, bye-bye, dude!
And he kept talking about, let's go get a milkshake.
Oh, milkshakes are good.
And he went, oh, I had strawberry, it was very good.
And I just thought, what?
And he was like, this is so much fun to be at SNL.
Oh, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it.
Yippee!
And he had that, I'm gonna do Opera Man.
I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that.
This is great, guys.
And then I remember he came out with a movie
and when the movie was premiering,
he rented a big bus with all of his friends
that made the movie and they drove around
and they got little shakes.
And then they went to the premiere
and people recognized Adam and he was really happy.
And you're just, this is a possibility.
You can like this. I mean, it was really happy. And you're just, this is how it's... This is a possibility? You can like this?
I mean, it's...
Why not?
It's just your childhood, right?
Like, he...
I guess so, yeah.
I think he just came out that way.
And by the way, obviously, he's a huge inspiration to me.
And when I saw him on SNL, it was him on SNL
and Jim Carrey on A Living Color
were the first times when I was younger
where I was like, oh, maybe I could do comedy.
Oh, yeah. Like, not to take away from how incredible they both are.
I'm not talented specifically how they are at all,
but it felt so like for me, your show as well, frankly,
where I was like, oh, it's coming now
that what I really specifically like is successful.
And perhaps now there's a path for me.
Like I think it is that one-to-one.
I think sometimes real silliness
used to be discounted somewhat.
But then I've always had that theory that,
no, no, I just love things that are incredibly silly.
Yeah.
I'll use the word stupid,
but then if it's really good, it's because there's some little piece of intelligence
and there's somewhere that I can't explain,
or maybe not, I don't know.
Imagine me explaining to my parents why like,
I'm under the table guy is like genius, right?
Because it is, because he's fucking off
the whole enterprise.
Right.
Like he's continuing like Steve Martin
and Monty Python we keep talking about,
but like the whole feeling of like, like, and Monty Python we keep talking about.
But like, the whole feeling of like,
I think certain people who love comedy
are born into this world and we were like,
I have a question, none of it makes sense though, right?
Like, it's all a weird cosmic joke cartoon, right?
And I'm not like alone in that, right?
And then when you find other people
that share that feeling and funnel it into laughing
and enjoying themselves.
It feels like a gift from God.
You're like, you made it to Hogwarts.
Yes, exactly how it feels.
By the way, the most irresponsible school
to send your children to is Hogwarts.
Say more.
Well, thank you.
I had a mic and a podcast.
Can you imagine sending your kids to Hogwarts and they're killed in a massive battle?
Also like-
That happens all the time.
Yeah, I'd be like,
I don't know if we should send them back next year.
Yeah.
Did you know that 11 kids died playing Quidditch this year?
People are constantly imperiled and dying,
and I think the school has to publish these facts.
They do have to put it out there.
I'm just saying, I watch that all the time.
This is stand-up.
Imagine getting the email from Hogwarts
in the summertime.
We promise, Voldemort's not gonna be there next year.
I know some of the parents were concerned.
Voldemort showed up, killed hella kids.
We have taken care of it, we assure you.
Our school counselor has talked to them.
He's just like, oh man.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, he did come back.
This time he's like a squishy little widget
underneath a bench.
400 kids died in a great battle
that destroyed most of the school
and puts any mass shooting to shame
by its sheer scale.
But anyway, we could use money this year
for our library.
We heard there was a Dementor in your child's dorm room.
That's a, we're gonna give you a 20% discount on that. Right, that's a bit.
Should we do a standup special together?
I think you and I should do a standup special.
We'll talk about the money.
Okay, I assume 90-10 split, you take the 90.
I get the 90.
Yeah, cause seniority.
Well, it's not just seniority.
Height. Height.
Height, but also.
Quality.
Quality.
I'm Catholic.
More famous.
I don't think that.
I do.
But anyway, what I'm happy for you about is that
I did all these things that I'm very happy about.
And then I find these things that I don't even know
what they mean to people anymore, but I enjoy doing them. It's fun.
And I love that.
And as long as the rent's paid, I'll do the fun stuff now.
And I really do look at these younger generation
of comedians and I'm just delighted.
This stuff, when I see good stuff, it makes me very happy.
I don't feel good, damn it.
Agreed.
They were sucking the lifeblood from me.
You get to do these things now,
like this animated series, Digman.
Yes.
Which is a really funny idea,
because you grew up on.
Indiana Jones.
Indiana Jones.
Yeah, and the mummy and you know,
this notion that archeologists are like the-
National treasure.
Yeah, like the coolest people in the world.
And it's just a universe where you're just,
you are told to accept that.
Yes.
Where you're like archeologists, whoa.
Yeah.
So yeah, me and my friend Neil Campbell wrote a whole show
where that's basically the world where like archeologists
are the biggest celebrities.
And you know what I love is that we all accepted it.
I mean, when, you know, I'm quite a bit older than you,
I got two decades on you.
And I remember when Indiana Jones came out
and never for a second thought,
not for a split second did I think,
wait a minute, archaeologists,
they would show him teaching at school
and then going out around the world.
And it was the most exciting thing in the world.
And when I knew that you were coming on,
I thought, and we're gonna talk about Digman,
I thought it's just so funny to me the idea of
you could take footage of real archeologists
doing what they really do,
but put the Indiana Jones theme to it.
Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.
And it's people just looking at geological maps
for years to try and look
where maybe the fault came together
and there used to be a river.
And then slowly digging, but being very careful.
Little brushes.
Yeah, little brushes.
Dusty causes.
The local government has asked you to do a stay
because they want to examine what you're doing more carefully.
So they shut down the site.
Ba-dum-ba-dum.
Ba-dum-ba-dum. Ba-dum-ba-dum. You respond with legal letters. Ba-dum-ba-dum. Ba-dum-ba-dum.
You respond with legal letters.
Da-da-da-da-da.
Now the site's been reopened.
Just more slow, dusty.
Da-da-da-da-da.
Da-da-da-da.
And then lifetime over, never really found anything.
Da-da-da-da-da.
Da-da-da-da-da.
Da-da-da-da-da.
Roll credits.
Ha-ha-ha.
Credits.
Really long credits.
Da-da-da-da-da-da.
Like there were tons of stunts.
Just lots of stunt men that you never saw proof of
in any way.
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.
Andy died.
It's real, it's real.
I mean, some of them, I'm sure,
are swashbuckling and adventury.
Your character.
Yes.
The voice.
Rip Diggman, the voice.
Yeah.
Yeah, it might sound familiar to some.
I'd like to hear a little.
Well, it sounds a little like this.
Ha ha ha, yay!
I'm happy.
Ha ha ha.
My favorite impressions of all time.
Oh, you're the best.
No, no, seriously.
You're, first of all, I love him.
I adore him.
Oh, he's the coolest.
And I say this, if this gets back I love him, I adore him. Oh, he's the coolest. And I say this, if this gets back to Nicholas Cage,
I adore him, my eyes are never off him
when he does anything, which I think is proof
that he's doing something right.
But that voice, your impression is fantastic.
Thank you.
He came on SNL and did it with me,
which I know is like an SNL move.
But if I really had to think about one moment
that I had live during that show,
that was my favorite moment of the whole time
was probably when he came and did that with me.
And were you at all self-conscious about doing it with him
or did it immediately just turn into
we're playing together, it's fun?
Kind of the latter.
I mean, I obviously didn't want him to hate me
because I respect his work so much.
And like the reason I have an impression
is because I've watched a thousand hours of Nick Cage.
You know, it's like embedded in me somewhere.
But I didn't even think to do it.
It was like, I think like Emily Spivey or someone
wrote me into a sketch as Nick Cage
and she's like, you know, Sam Barrett,
can you do Nick Cage?
And I was like, I don't think so.
But then I tried it and I was like,
I guess I can kinda do it.
And then I kept doing it on up and it was just so fun.
And he was the nicest when he came and he went so fucking ham live.
Like of course we did it in a dress and he was like good.
And we were like, this is gonna work.
And then on air, he just like went all in
and like did the nice thing of like,
I'm gonna do how you do the impression.
Yes.
You know, so it like feels crackly and fun.
Like, yeah, it was just a joy.
We used to do a horse on our late night show called Cloppy.
And Cloppy was a horse.
The conceit was I'd go like,
hey, it's time to visit our friend Cloppy.
And then there was like a children's theme
and this horse with a big fake head
would look through the window and go,
oh, I'm Cloppy.
And I would talk to Cloppy
and Cloppy would always say very depressing things
and then wander off
and you hear a gunshot and a fall.
And I go, oh no, Cloppy killed himself
and Cloppy would come back and no, I didn't.
And then there was always a very tortured explanation
for what the gunshot and the fall was all about.
And he kept doing that and that was Cloppy.
And we go out with the song too.
And then I had Nick Cage on once, completely unrelated.
We had him on as a guest and he's talking
and he just said at one point, I like Cloppy.
And with his Nick, I mean, you can do it better than I can
but he said, I like you, I like Cloppy,
you can do it for me.
I really like Cloppy.
And he did it with a big smile.
And I became obsessed when the interview was over.
I said, the next time we do Cloppy,
I want the, when we play the song,
it's Cloppy.
I want a little circle wipe to come up
of Nick Cage's head going, how like Cloppy.
For no reason and then go away.
And that was the magic of doing that kind of comedy was
they went,
okay, and then the next time we did Cloppy,
they had a Nicolas Cage entorcement.
So rad.
Just as a little head.
But of course he got it immediately because he
liked Cloppy because he's the best.
Yes. He's the best.
I like the horse that comes in with a happy song and then you
think maybe he killed himself.
Because that's fucking funny.
You know, he was like, yeah man, it is.
That's good stuff.
I also want to give a shout out to the Roses,
which is, I mean, talk about this cast.
You're in this movie with Benedict Cumberbatch
and Olivia Colman.
Yeah, yeah.
This is one of those things that you have to have
a moment of, I'm sorry, I was doing really weird shit
on the internet.
Yes.
25 years ago. And now I'm with two of the best actors
in the world.
Truly.
In a film?
Yeah, in a movie.
Jay Roach directed it, me and Kate McKinnon play
a married couple who are friends with them.
It's a remake of War of the Roses,
but really more of a re-imagining.
Yep.
And it's written by Tony McNamara,
who wrote like the great and the favorite and poor things and stuff.
So it's crazy.
Is there an intimidation factor there?
And it's okay if there isn't, you don't have to say there is.
I'll say this, SNL breaks you of it a little
because you deal with everyone and you realize like,
oh right, everyone's just people.
It's just, are you that crazy of a fan
that you get a little nervous?
Which I did.
I did a movie a couple of years ago with Kate Winslet,
and it was a straight drama.
And after going through that, I was like,
well, at least this, The Roses, is comedic,
and I'm supposed to be funny in it.
So I was relaxing in that way.
I was also paired with Kate,
and that was very comfortable for me.
But I'm not unaware that I'm like in...
I'm in a scene at one point with Cumberbatch, Olivia,
and Allison Janney.
And it's just the four of us.
And it's like a big scene.
And the ghost of Laurence Olivier.
Yeah, seriously.
Boo, boo!
Yeah, yeah, like, yes, honestly, like, Daniel Day Lewis
is like, mind if I pop in?
Oh, get the fuck outta here!
Oh, my god!
I'm just trying to memorize my oh, get the fuck outta here! Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh I do. I'm like, all I can think is like, this is so fun and this is so cool. And they're
all so nice. Like Olivia came from comedy, Benedict's hilarious. Janie is a legend and
so funny. So everybody's nice. They're all like lying and saying they're nervous too,
to make me feel better. It was very warm and very fun.
I remembered rewatching Hot Fuzz recently, Olivia Colman's in it.
And her name is like 15th in the credits.
She's hilarious and she kills it,
but I think total she maybe has nine lines or something.
Oh yeah, I mean she was banging around,
doing stuff and being really funny.
And then everyone was like,
what if we let her do drama too?
And it was like, oh, I see you're like one of the best.
You're one of the best ever.
Yeah, and Cumberbatch was funny because I played a detective on Brooklyn Nine-Nine obviously, And it was like, oh, I see, you're like one of the best. You're one of the best ever. Yeah.
And Cumberbatch was funny because I played a detective
on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, obviously,
co-created by Dan Gore.
And Dan Gore, a former writer of mine,
that's why I bring it up.
He betrayed me and fled.
In the foolish thought that he could have his own hit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, it never happened for you, did it, Dan? Conan, Brooklyn Nine-Nine was a huge hit.
People love that show.
Shut up. Sorry.
I'll do all the voices if I have to.
That's fine. It's like a radio play. It's good.
But anyway, when I would have a big case
solve monologue on Brooklyn Nine-Nine,
I would often say, everybody stand back.
I'm about to start cummerbatching.
ALL LAUGHING
Because of Sherlock.
Yeah, yeah.
And no one, speaking of speed,
which is my fave thing I keep telling,
doing like fast dialogue, perfect diction,
tons of thought going into every line,
taking you through this journey of like Sherlock Holmes
is solving this crazy intricate thing.
He was like, when it came to the detective stuff,
that was my North Star.
Where I was like, the look and feel
should be McNulty from The Wire,
and the speed of the solves should be Sherlock.
Yes.
So it was cool to get to work with him
and see him like do that in person.
Well, you're living the dream.
I am. I feel a little bit., you're living the dream. I am.
I feel a little bit.
Because you're here with me.
Bam!
I made it about me again.
Bam and bingo.
Podcast!
Yes.
Podcast.
The best thing anyone could ever do.
When they're bad, it's okay.
When they're good, it's okay.
Everything's okay.
It's a podcast, podcast.
I've noticed that. I'm like, anytime we do anything,
and people are like, I don't know about that one.
It was great!
Blaze always like, it was great!
It was great! It is always great.
Now it's not always good!
When you get a guy like Andy Samberg in here,
oh, man, is it good.
Oh, shit. But then some piece of crud
like Harrison Ford did.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And if you're listening, Harrison,
I'm coming for you.
That'll scare him.
I want to thank you for being here.
I also want to thank you for always
being one of the nicest, just most relaxed, hilariously funny people I've ever known.
Seriously, you're a ray of sunshine.
Seriously, and you make me, and when you show up
in your goddamn baggy pants.
What did you say you say?
Quick, the quick Lauren story at Wimbledon.
Oh, yeah.
So-
Cause I brought that up and you brought up something
and I said, let's do it on the pod.
Yes, you said you're wearing sweatpants. What the fuck, basically. So I brought that up and you brought up something and I said, let's do it on the pod. Yes. You said you're wearing sweatpants.
What the fuck basically.
In a bit voice.
Bit voice.
I wasn't hostile.
Yeah. No clickbait.
Conan O'Brien thrashes Andy Saban for
wearing sweatpants piece of shit, fucking slacker. All right.
All right.
All right.
Long headline.
Oh, no.
Oh, no.
Oh, no.
Oh, no.
Oh, no.
Do you, internet?
So yes, and I said, do you want me to change pants?
And then I said, oh, that actually really happened to me.
I went to Wimbledon with Lauren last summer
and we were gonna sit in the Royal Box,
which is she, she as fuck, obviously.
And I got an email being like dress code, this and that.
I was there shooting the roses
and I didn't have any like nice pants with me.
So I was like, I got black jeans, that's gotta fly.
Black jeans are not like normal jeans.
I would wear black jeans to a funeral and I have.
Exactly, exactly. I would wear them to my a funeral and I have. Exactly, exactly.
I would wear them to my own funeral. Okay, that's just stupid.
Why?
You went too far.
I got a, I got a bird.
Let's get a rewrite on that.
Uh, uh, uh, uh.
Uh, uh, uh, uh.
Uh, uh, uh, uh.
Uh, uh, uh, uh.
Uh, uh, uh, uh.
Uh, uh, uh.
Uh, uh, uh.
I wish I had done it on purpose.
It was just like, I couldn't hold it anymore.
It's okay.
You did what you had to do.
So, I was like, black jeans, the queen's box,
they're not gonna care. Like also like, black jeans, the Queen's box,
they're not gonna care.
Like also like...
Little A. Sandberg here, hello.
I'm not like unknown in the UK.
So...
You're a huge star in the UK.
So I'm full Jack Black.
Yeah, okay.
I'm not an unknown.
Uh...
So we show up, walk in, immediately.
You can't wear those pants.
That's just like, oh no, fuck, I fucked Lauren,
I ruined his vacation.
And they were like, no, no, it's fine.
You just have to put on some of our Wimbledon brand khakis.
Oh, of course.
So they take me into a building,
into a giant conference room,
empty, with like five pairs of Wimbledon brand
khakis on the table.
And they're like, yeah, I wish everyone's fit.
And then left and I was like,
I guess I'll get into my underwear.
So I change out of my jeans, into the Wimbledon khakis.
They're not a nice fit.
No, not flattering fit.
Not flattering, I'm not a khaki guy at this point.
No.
And, you know, hugging in all the wrong places,
but I'm like, you know, it's for Lauren.
Yep.
So come back out there like, oh, thank you so much.
Sorry about that. Sorry.
I'm like, yeah, it's fine.
Walk out to the Queen's box, sit down, and as we sit,
there's like, ladies and gentlemen,
the person's hurt and then retired,
the match is canceled, enjoy mixed doubles!
And everyone in the Royal Box stands up and leaves.
And we're just like, should we get some tea?
So your autobiography will be entitled,
Cackies for No Reason.
Cackies for No Reason, or like,
Piece of shit.
What? I of shit.
I don't like that punitive inner voice you have.
He was a fucking piece of shit.
No.
But like little font.
So ellipse, ellipses.
No.
Little tiny font, he was a piece of shit.
No Andy, the point is you were a piece of shit.
In the past, but now.
In the past, but that was six months ago.
But then what? I was gonna ask you the timeline.
Super late.
I was like, give me the timeline.
You pulled it out.
Andy Samberg, I'm gonna let you go.
Congratulations on everything.
And this has been, I don't know, someone,
I need to pay someone, because this was so much fun.
So just name your amount and we'll... Yeah, exactly.
Box.
Wow, that got up easy.
Okay. All right.
I do have funds, you know.
Andy Samberg, God bless you.
Thank you, Conan.
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.
Additional production support by Mars Melnik.
Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Battista, and Brit Kahn.
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