Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Bill Burr Live From The Fonda Theater In Hollywood

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

Bill Burr joins Conan live at the Fonda Theater in Los Angles to discuss the Riyadh Comedy Festival and performing on Broadway in the revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, thank you to Hyundai for sponsoring this event. The all-new Hyundai Palisade hybrid is more than just another SUV. It's still the Palisade, but with so much more. Learn more about the Hyundai Palisade at Hyundai USA.com. Fallers here, hear the yell back to school, bring the bell, brand new shoes, walking blues, Climb the fence, books and pens I can tell that we are going to be friends I can tell that we are going to be friends

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Conan O'Brien Hey! How are you? Thank you very much, thank you! Thank you very much. What lovely looking people. Please have a seat. Everybody have a seat.

Come on, you just wasted a standing ovation. Thanks for being here. We're very excited to be doing. Cota Bryan needs a friend to hear at the beautiful Fonda Theater. Yeah? Yeah. I had never played this theater before.

This is my first... Who's been here before? Have you been here at Fonda? Is it mostly music here? comedy as well, mostly music. Okay, so this is terrible what we're doing. Okay. No, I asked a friend of mine who knows all the theaters. I said, where is the Fonda Theater? And he said, it's kind of at the end of Hollywood Boulevard where all the stars from the Hollywood Walk of Fame kind of peter out. And I thought, that is perfect for us. There's hardly any stars left when you come down here,

but the ones there are like for associate producers. Bill Mechnick, Stas, Bologna. Four years ago, I wrapped up the late-night show. I did 28 years, and I loved it. I loved every second of it, but I thought, I've done this, I've done everything I think I can do with this. It's a great format, but I'm tired of it.

It's time to go before someone asked me to go. I turned out to be very wise. And I'll just go now. Leave the party before you're tossed out. And so I did that. And I started saying, I love this podcast thing. It's so informal. I'm just in a little room.

I'm with Matt. I'm with Sona. We're goofing around. There's no makeup. There's no falderall in pageantry. I love this. This is great. And then we start doing the podcast,

and it grows, and it grows. And people like you were listening to it. It's very exciting. It's growing. And people say, you know, we should do it. We should get some big. bigger and bigger advertisers.

People really want to buy in. We buy in, okay? Then they say, you know what we should do? We should get it on camera. It's okay, let's get it on camera. And then a little more time goes by, and people are like, you know what you should do. You should get multiple cameras on it. Okay, you know what you should do.

You should do it live in front of a theater. Get a lot of people here. You know what you should do. You know what you should do. You know what you should do. If you're going to have cameras and you'd be in front of a theater, you need makeup. You know what you should do if you're going to be in front of people

when you're wearing makeup and you've got a whole bunch of people in the theater and you got cameras, you should get a band. I am right back where I started. Welcome to Late Night with Conan O'Brien. This was not the plan.

This is not what I wanted. You did this. You're all to blame. We have a wonderful show tonight. I just mentioned the band, and I want to give them a shout out, because my good friend of 32 years, this man auditioned for the original band, he put it all together.

He's a genius. Jimmy Vavino! My good man, he was also there on that first show, September 13, 1993, Seth Healy! Then we get to the scum. that came late to the party. They waited until they saw it

was this. This guy right here, Andy Sancessi, said, I'm going to wait 32 years to make sure it really works out. Andy Sancese on drums. Terrific. And Jennifer, Jay Joe, Oberley, on bass.

My first major crush, bass player with that color hair, just knocked me out. Thank you so much for being here. I love this place already. You're an incredible crowd, very excited. And I want to start the show by bringing out two people

who are essential to the goings-on. I love them. I also slash loathe them. No, we're family. We get along like family, and I adore them, and I wouldn't have a podcast without them. Let's bring them out right now.

Sona, Mofsessian, and Matt Gourley. Yay! Love us and loathe us. So, first of all... What's up, H.H? No one ever calls it H.H. He gave a shout out for Hacienda Heights. Yes.

Tell us about Hacienda Heights. Hacienda Heights is a town in L.A. County. We are listened to all across the world, and people need to be informed. Yes. It's a kind of place where you would never go unless you had to go there. The fanciest restaurant, I think, was the claim jumper when I was growing up there.

And the mall, here's what it is. I'm sorry, can I say one thing? This guy shouted out with great enthusiasm. Hacianthe Heights. And you proceeded to say, it's the kind of place you go that you don't really want to go to and we'll never go to again.

Well, here's the two things about Hacian Heights you guys need to know. One, Fergie went to my high school. The Duchess Fergie? Yeah, that Fergie. And then the second one is the Pointe Hills Mall is where they shot the back to the future, where the DeLorean goes back and forth from the past. The third thing you need to know is I grew up in Whittier,

which is next door to Hacienda Heights, and we never went there. Yay! You live next door to Hacienda Heights, and you never went there. We never went. You know what I love about this conversation? It's pleasing next to no one. That guy's pleased. This guy's over the moon.

He's going to go back to Hacienda Heights tonight and go, I talked about us. And they picked it up and talked for 40 minutes about Hacienda Heights. How are you guys? Everything good? Yeah. Yeah. That's terrific.

I just talked about how you bring so much to the podcast. And I got him going. I had some good stuff. And then I threw to you guys, and I get, yeah, it's good. Did you? You know, I'm not going to lie. I think I listened to, like, nothing you said when we were back there. Because Matt and I were just chatting.

Yeah. And then at one point, everybody started clapping. I was like, oh, shit, were we supposed to go out there? And luckily, there's people paying attention. Incredible. Incredible story. Dying here where the stars just eb out on Hollywood Boulevard. Are there even stars on the ground outside the theater here?

I saw some. I saw a star and someone had written on it. So we could just go write your name. This is the part of Hollywood Boulevard where you can write in your own name. Yeah. This is also not the Henry Fonda Theater. It's the Bruce Fonda Theater.

Peter. He was a sound editor. Yeah. You guys are probably curious about my life lately. Actually, no. It's such a simple thing. Backstage, I told them, why don't you ask me about what I'm up to

and they can't even do that? No. Well, I was just noticing how this audience is bathed in this beautiful blue. blue light, you guys look amazing. Look at this. You know what I noticed? There's a bar.

And this is, and I don't know if this is a sign that things are going well in my career or poorly, but there's a bar in the theater that we are performing in right now. Yeah. I say that as, I say that's a positive. I think so too. I think we should take advantage of it, to be honest with you. Can we? Yeah, there's a bar right back there.

Are we able to get any, I know the audience. is the audience is not getting drinks because we're told you're all terrible alcoholics would you guys like anything would you like anything sona would you like anything mad the answer is always yes yeah me too same I'm on the wagon because I'm driving this bus tonight but what do you guys want I

okay well my my my my uh what distracted you I don't know there's nothing happening have you are weird you went I I short-circuiting. I mean, at least a cat or a puppy is looking at a fly. You glitched.

You had nothing. Listen, my usual drink is a dirty martini. Extra olives. And if they have the cheese olives, those are my favorite olives. If not, I'll take the garlic olives. If not those olives, then I'll just take regular olives. But that, and then I figure if I only get one drink, I should like really. maybe go for it.

So should I, I mean, I haven't had one of these in a long time, but should I just do like a Long Island iced tea? Whoa. I meant like, do you want a beer or not? What about you? I want something special. Okay. Can you do a paper plane?

Oh, course. There's not even stairs at the theater. Don't hurt yourself. Don't hurt yourself. I'll get these. You guys settle down. Hi. I'll high-five you. Yeah. I didn't know you were going to go I'll high five you. I'll high five you. I'm sorry, sir.

I missed the high five. This guy held his hand up for a high five and dropped it before I got to him. That is the most humiliating. Even you didn't have the energy for a whole full high five. Yes. Oh, the bar is back this way.

Okay, hello. Where do I do? Where do I go? Okay, this is great. You're actually making these drinks. You are very good. What is your name? This is Chris.

Chris. It's so nice to meet you. How are you? Nice to hug you. I think it's wise. to drink because I am the host, and then I'm taking all of these drinks back up. This guy is good.

Okay. Oh, I want a vodka martini. Hi, how are you? I can't high-five you now. Is it a vodka martini? I'm going to try to high-fiver. Hold on. Can you hold my mic, please?

Yes. We did it. Impressive. You're an asshole, man. The last thing I'll see before I go to sleep is that guy's hand drop. as I approach him. Here are your drinks, guys.

Okay, now I have to gracefully get back on stage. It's a good thing I work out so much. But you knew that because of the shape of my body. Cheers. What's that? Cheers, friend. Nice? Thank you.

Cheers. Thanks, everybody. Okay, well, now we're Bill Maher's podcast. In all the best ways. Now it's going to get interesting. Yeah, no, it won't. You'll just get kind of sloppy, as always. It doesn't get more interesting.

You were distracted before by nothing, and now you're drinking. This is the arc we are on at the moment. I just got back from New York. Oh. Okay. Yeah, and you're not asking me, so I'm just going to plow ahead. Hi, hey, what have you been up to? Thanks a lot for doing that one thing.

Did you just get back from anywhere? Did you do, did you fly? You guys suck. Cheers. I say that with love. I just brought you drinks and you won't even do the one thing you're supposed to do. Yeah, I was in New York. Thanks for asking.

And people in the crowd are shouting it out because you won't do your job. I was in New York because I'm in a movie. I'm in a movie. And I was doing something I've never done before, which is promote a movie. And it's weird because I realize that it's a completely different animal than anything I've done in my entire career. Did you have to do red carpet interviews and things like that? I did some red carpet interviews

where people actually asked me, what are you wearing? Yeah. I probably said pants. No, they say, who are you wearing? And I honestly don't know. I just say Sears every time. But the one thing I had to do,

which was so strange, is there's a screening. You go to these, like, Link, there's New York Film Festival, and there's a big screening, and you go and you get ready, And there's a whole crowd there at Lincoln Center, and everyone's excited, and you say, okay, and here's the movie. And then everybody walks out.

At a bunch of these screenings, they do this, the cast walks out, and they go and they sit down and have dinner while people watch the movie. That is the opposite of everything I've been trained to do. So my heart was getting, you know, racing more and more as I got close. I was stretching. I got ready. And the same mentality of, I'm going to go out there and do a show for close to two hours. Then I remember we shot this two years ago.

And I don't do anything now. And so I just walk out and people are just eating their chicken going, mm, good chicken. And I'm just, I'm obsessed with what's happening with the crowd. Do I need to run out there and go, come on, what do we think? You know, and give them a boost again. Do I need to rush out there? I mean, I have all the wrong instincts.

I should never be in film. It's a terrible mistake. No, but you know, I saw your movie, and we should say the name of it. it's, if I had legs, I'd kick you. And it's... With Roseburn. Are you complaining about having dinner with Roseburn? She wouldn't sit with me.

Oh, no. That's in Roseburn's contract. She's lovely and she loves everyone. She's kind to everyone, but she will not sit with me. Do they pay you at a table? And I thought, well, she's probably sitting with someone really important. And then I saw she was sitting next to a CPR dummy. She thought it was you.

She thought it was me. Yeah. I love everybody having dinner and then you're at a table by yourself. Yeah. That's kind of what happened. Oh, that's sad. Are you okay watching yourself in a movie and acting? How does it feel?

I shouted out, he's hot. Did you disguise your voice? I didn't. I forgot to. And then I shouted out, not Conan speaking. That fooled nobody. Oh, man. I was okay with it.

It's so clear that this is not something that's so much in my world. Don't say that. I saw it, and I thought you were great. The movie is amazing. The movie's amazing. I'm very proud to be in the movie. I think the movie's amazing. Mary Bronstine did this incredible job.

She wrote it. She directed it. She's a badass. Rose Byrne, I think, is one of the best actors working anywhere in the world today. I thought she gave the performance of a lifetime and I'm okay with what I did. I think it was fine and I'm very excited for the movie.

It was very good. Thank you for saying that. It was very, very good. You were fishing. And I just caught one. Okay. Hey, Sona, I heard you got a new car. Yeah.

You know, David usually gives me a ride to work, but I'd love it if you... No, no, no, you're not... I'm sorry, you're not allowed in my new car. My Palisade is my oasis. It's my happy place. So you're not allowed in because you're not... Wait a minute. What are you talking about?

I made you. When I found you, you were wandering the streets with a bucket on your head. What? And now you're Sonam obsession and you're driving around the Palisade. You won't give me a ride? This is why I don't let you in my happy place. Because you talk about me walking around with a bucket on my head. Why would I let you into my personal oasis if this is the way you're going to talk?

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Call 562-314-4603 for complete details. I think we should move on. It's a big event. Yeah. We have a special surprise guest here. We're going to dim the light. and have a little bit of an introduction and here we go.

Let's do it. Do I do it now? Hi, I'm Bill Burr. And I feel wonderful about being Conan O'Brien's friend. Bill Burr, ladies and gentlemen, Bill. How are you?

How's it going? It's going okay for me. How's it going with you? Oh, it's been a great week. It's been fucking fantastic. Yeah. Jesus Christ. You've been in the news.

Yeah. I think the general consensus is... How dare you go to that place and make those oppressed people laugh, you fucking piece of shit? I can't believe you went to that place I can't find on a map. And this bot said I was upset about it.

So now I am. Now, let's paint a picture here. It's one thing to wear clothes made by sweatshop labor. It's quite another to go to the factory and make them laugh. I can't believe how much anger I had about this issue after it went viral. So you're here to apologize. No. Not at all.

It was one of the most amazing experiences I've had as a comedian. It was incredible. And what was the best part is my whole life is I've been paranoid about the news. Like, I watched the news and it always go, like this doesn't feel, feels like they're, you know, they're moving stuff around, they're shifting it. So to actually kind of be in the middle of one of those stories and actually confirm it and watching them lying their ass off saying there was no women there, which was a lie. It was just great to be at home.

Like I'm like, I fucking knew it. I knew they were lying. All right. It's not all right. It's really fucked up that they do that. You sound like anyone's uncle. yelling at the TV. But in the best way.

Let me lay this out. Let's lay it out for anyone who isn't initiated. Let's lay it out, man. Let's lay it out, man. We got fucking A-track tape here. Why did you turn into some A&R guy from the 1970s?

Well, I just want to lay it out. I never like to assume everybody's on the same page, you know. Yeah, we'll do a bump on the console. You went to Riyadh. It's a comedy festival they had in Riyadh, and you went with a bunch of other people. Yes, a bunch of a comedians.

Yes, we went there. And I was scared shitless. Were you scared before? you weren't? 100%. Because I had the same idea that part of the world as everybody else. I thought I was going to go there. There was going to be a bunch of people dressed like Yasser Arafat, shooting machine guns in the air going, death to America! There's one! Cut his fucking head off! Oh my God! So I land in Bahrain and I'm going through customs and the dude standing there. He goes, what are you doing over here? I'm a comedian. We went to Bahrain first. And I go, yeah, I'm a comedian from America.

He goes, oh yeah, he goes, you think we're all over here waiting to cut your head off. He literally said that. And I had to be like, no, no, no, I didn't. If I was more comfortable, that would have been. And you thought I would be 600 pounds with camouflage crocks coming in here, wait to eat or I don't know what. So we're going into Saudi Arabia. Now we're flying over there. And all I'm seeing is sand and like the highways.

It literally looks like the footage whenever they show right before a military strike. Yeah, I'm fucking nervous, right? So we go there and everybody's like, cool, right? how you doing talking into just fucking normal sort of right and uh we was standing we was in the round first of all the great thing about the uh the festival was the people that put it together when they first said that they wanted a comedy festival over there they said okay what is your your restrictions with speech and they had this whole long list and the promoters was just like all right well we can't you guys aren't ready for stand-up comedy yet and to their credit they said

all right what are we got to do and they basically whittled it all the way down to You couldn't talk about any religion. There's, yours, anybody else's, and you couldn't make fun of the royals. That was it. And I know a lot of people that, well, that's fucked up, man. It's like, well, they just progress the ball

like 10 yards, and it was amazing. And we get there. It's like in the round, and I'm waiting to go on, and everybody in the crowd is dressed like fucking Yassereraphat, right? I'm sitting, they're going, like, am I going to, and they go,

just let you know, the front row is diplomats. And I'm like, well, what the fuck are they doing? I already have dry mouth. going, why did I say yes to this? And then the royals were like up in the box, but everybody else was like regular. So I'm waiting to go on. It was in the round.

It was like 8,000 people. And I was like nervous and shit. And right before I went on, this guy yells out, dressed in that whole dish-d-ass thing. He goes, hey, Bill Burr, I love you. Kick-ass, man. And I was just like, what? I can't believe this guy knows who I am.

And I went on stage. And like, I just, I don't know, I just started doing my shit. And they were laughing. And I was doing stuff about relationships. And they were laughing. I said, you know, I kind of noticed the chicks over here, the hot ones, they wear the veil a little bit lower. And that got a huge laugh.

They're laughing at it. They are laughing. And then I said, fuck it. I'm going to do the joining a gay gym joke with the dudes sucking each other's dicks in the steam room. So I get halfway through it and the monitor goes out. And I'm like, oh, fuck. I'm like, got to get arrested. And it ended up coming and back on.

But, like, I really have to tell you. Were they trying to edit you in that moment? Or do you think it was just an accident? No, they didn't. No, it was just, you know, I just. I love how you say the gay gym joke, like, you all know. Oh, yeah, no, what was so great about it was the people there. You could feel it, like they needed it, they wanted it, and they wanted you to push.

And that's what the comics did. And, like, your job was to just, okay, we've gotten them to here, you know, you can move them to there. And it's like, as much as people don't like what's going on over there, it's like, they're not going to progress with isolation. So if you go over there and you just sort of, like, move them a little bit towards us, you know, I don't know. I feel like we're moving towards them in a lot of ways over here, you know? Yeah, I mean, Jesus Christ,

we're fucking grabbing moms and dads and sticking them in a van for making illegally made fucking tacos to go to alligator alcatraz. Yeah, it's fucking insane. It's insane. And, you know, someday they're going to be out of brown people to put in those vans.

They're still going to have the vans, so you shouldn't be feeling comfortable about it thinking that you're not going to be in it. Yeah, it's fucking. up. It's really fucked up. And I will say this. I do have to say this because one of the people that got the most amount of shit, and I'm not going to say any comedians' names

because of all of these sanctimonious cunts out there that are just who don't really sincerely give a shit. I don't know what it is. Their parents didn't hug them. It's bots. I have no idea. Like, they go after your wife. It's like, she didn't open for me. Like, I don't understand.

You're talking about online hate. Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah. Do you read that stuff? Dude, I haven't been online for like a month. I finally viewed the internet the way I viewed drinking towards the end where I was just like, I don't want to be doing this, but I'm doing it every day. And this doesn't feel good. Right, right. So, but what sucks is you can't be off the internet because people just keep texting you.

Hey, just checking in to see how you're doing. I'm like, kind of doing fine, man. I'm sitting here eating a sandwich. So, no, but one of the comics over there openly gay went over there and just did her fucking act. and she was in the middle of her act and two of the diplomats got up and she said to him, what are you guys going to go

get on Grindr? Dude, 33 years of comedy, that's the biggest balls of anything I've ever seen. Yeah, dude, and her own fucking people were like, not all of them, but like hardcore, psycho gays would take, going after a fucking lunatics, man.

It was, listen, what went up going on over there was a super positive thing. if you actually give a fuck about those people and how they're living over there, there's going to have to be these types of things to kind of pull them in. And I will tell you,

the Cheesecake Factory in Riyadh, man, it's incredible. It's right next to the Pizza Hut and the KFC, and if you want a pair of Timberlins, it's across the street next to the Marriott, catty corner, to the fucking Hilton. But that's all fine.

That's all fine. I love how there was no outrage, too, the week before, the Canelo Alvarez fight, The fucking head dude is sitting right there But everybody wet their beak on that one So nobody was upset And that's the thing about being a comedian

As you're an independent contractor There's no ad money tied to you So everybody can just You know, they release the bots So they can just keep it going And uh... Did you know? I am happy that that I have an inkling

Before you went to Riyadh Did you or the other comedians Have any sense that there'd be this kind of response When you got back? No, I had no fucking idea Because I, you know what was funny One time I did Abu Dhabi and somebody, one person texts me,

oh, you're going over there to get that blood money, right? And I go, hey, you know, just for the record, I'm also doing London, England on that tour, you know, which is arguably the bloodiest fucking money out there. So there's like that element of racism to it where if brown people are doing it, it's fucked up. If white people are doing,

what are you talking about? You know, almost like sports. Yeah, my team doesn't cheat. You're a fucking team cheat. So, I mean, if we're going to do the blood money game, I think the only places, countries I've ever played in that is clean money was in New Zealand and I think

Iceland. But then Iceland is weird where over there they have an app, a dating app that doesn't say, you know, if you're related it's how. Because they're all part of the same thing over there. Wait, that's not a joke. That's not a joke. It's fucking true. Yeah.

Look at you guys. Oh, now he's going after Iceland. Now I'm really upset with that place. I don't really quite know where it is. That's to England. Is that it? No, that's Ireland.

That's Ireland, man. That's fucking Iceland. So, no, I'm part of the, I don't give a fuck what all these phony fucking people is saying. My thing is, is I go out to perform in front of fucking people. And, like, as I've been traveling the world, I want to see more of it. And the thing that I loved about going to these Arab countries is that their sense of humor, they're silly. They're really silly. And I'm a silly person and like Anchorman type of shit.

And but like they, yeah, they don't fucking show that over here. So it's kind of fun to get a worldview by going, like a little more of an informed worldview than, you know, if you sit on your couch and let some talking head, you know, then you just think it's machine guns and people say and all of that stuff. And it's like, I don't know. I was a really like, I was like buzzing after the show. That's, that's what a good time it was. And all of these fucking assholes that didn't go and never will go,

all they're ever going to see is, you know, the machine guns. And, you know, if that's how you want to live, that's how you want to live. I really, I don't give a fuck, Conan. And if it affects my career, you know, I've been to LAX enough in my life. You know, I'll fucking sit home for a little bit. I will actually tell you LAX is slightly sadder than Saudi Arabia. Now, there's something everyone can agree on. You just brought us all together.

That's what comedians do. They bring a crowd together. You're supposed to, yeah. I will say this. I'll say, I have devoted a chunk of my life to trying to go to countries all around the world. I don't always love what's happening in that country, but I go, and my goal is always... Why didn't you change it when you were there for eight days? You should have walked in.

But the thing that I've always wanted to do is try and find real people and make them. laugh, and it gives me a kind of joy that is very hard to describe. It's unbelievable. You know, when I did a gig in India one time, and I didn't realize, like, they're, like, ridiculous, like, ballbreakers, which I just didn't expect that from them. And I was doing this podcast before I went over to, like, promote my show. And they were going like, hey, man, when you come over here, what are you going to talk about?

And I sort of said some of things. They go, oh, yeah, they go, you should talk about this, you know, this subject. I go, why don't you talk about this? They kept throwing out subjects. And then I finally just go, wait a minute, do you guys talk about these subjects in your country? And they just laughed at me. Like they were trying to get me in trouble. They were trying to set you up.

So then I was like, all right, I like these guys. It's that same Boston mentality. And guess what? I got there. And it was a wild place and the sense of humor was great. But then, you know, you did see fucked up stuff when you were there. You know, I saw a T-shirt said, real men don't rape. And I was like, wow.

Like, where am I? That's a real T-shirt. That is a real T-shirt. you know, John 316, it's... Their version, yeah. Someone holds that up at a football game. Right, play the goal post. Yeah, during a soccer game.

They put that up. Have you talked to the other comics that you went over there with and compared notes on the reaction since you got back? Yeah, we all had like a great time over there and then everybody else is just going like, dude, what the fuck?

You know what I love? that a bunch of people went over, but because of your success, you're one of the main names that gets mentioned over and over again. So congratulations. Oh, yeah, well, I mean, you know, I haven't literally watched any of it. I don't care about all of that performative shit. And it's like if someone actually wanted to have a real conversation and stuff like that, you know, I mean, I could get all the way into, like, as far, you know, as like a performer, you know,

one of my favorite things is this this scumbag club owner texted my tour manager because he heard I was over there and he goes yeah he goes bring back a burka and a sweatshirt in size oppression like that was his joke so I wrote back to him

I go why don't you start but I go why don't you concentrate on not ripping off comedians you fucking piece of shit and he never wrote back yeah because he's a fucking wasn't he going to give it a thumbs up no but that's like ha ha no but that's like

Like, no, he didn't even defend his position. Right, right. He knows. Yeah. He's like, that fucking guy. Oh, my God. Yeah, no. And you know what's funny?

He's just a typical club owner. So that's like I'm saying with people where they, you know, I, listen, I could say so much fucking more about, about some of the stuff. But I don't want to, um, everything that you say, they twist it around. It's just another log to throw on the fire. And all of these, just none of them really give a fuck. Like, things like this have to happen in order to grab. gradually like progress and then you know it's just it just it was necessary it felt it didn't

it felt right afterward like i i really and it really was like the people and i vibe with them and they were funny fuck you know they were funny fucking people so i don't know what to tell you i had a good time all right um on a more personal note uh-huh um you've come on this podcast uh many many times I think you have the record for being on this podcast the most because you and I are friends. Do I get the jacket? I spent that money on the drinks for those two idiots. I love it.

All right. I just want you to know that in all the times you've done it, you started out saying you felt honored to be on the podcast. Then you said great. Then the next time you're on, you said good. And then the last time you said, all right. I was losing you. You had an iron deficiency or something.

Why can't you ask me what's going on in my life that I'm slowly slipping into the abyss? Why does it have to be about you? Maybe I'm slipping into a depression you could fucking check in on me instead of being like, the compliments I'm graphing that my friends have. Like, how insecure are you

about your friendships with people that you have a record on April of 2021? I'd like to point out. I'd like to point out. I let you talk for quite a while about issues in your life I wasn't listening

because I was busy monitoring the different responses you've had to I feel blank about being Conan O'Brien's friend and I made that tally I get it no I get it and I notice that when we hang out we both check out every once in a while

think of our own bullshit but somehow we sort of spin oh yeah that's right I'm hanging out with Conan how you doing man how you've been for the last seven minutes I've been thinking about myself. I went and saw you in New York and I watched you do Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross on Broadway and you were spectacular. I don't know if anybody

here saw it. Finance by Saudi money. All right. No, I wasn't. I was kidding. Possibly. I don't know. I don't know. I just learned my lines. You did more than learn your lines. You were spectacular. You were great. I talked about at the top of the show, but I've

dabbled a little bit with this acting thing and I have a lot of respect for, because I know you've been working at it for a while. You've done a lot of different acting gigs and you've been terrific. And when I was watching this, I kind of thought, I think, I felt like David Mamet wrote this part for you.

That's how it felt, because it's so fit your rhythm. Did it feel right the first time you got into it? I played this guy, David Moss. He talked like how everybody talked where we, growing up. He talked super fast. he interrupted people he didn't listen i'm like i know this guy

but um what was fun was that first scene i would do with michael mckee and and the when you finally get it going and when it kind of like locks in with his because we talk over each other and everything and um yeah michael was like um like probably the greatest listener i'd ever work like because i swear to god you know you do it every night and like you know sometimes you're doing the line and it just would come out just a little bit different to the left and he just would always just catch it no matter what and he would give me

something different like 128 shows he surprised me every time and um it was it was very very easy to do that scene with him he's an incredible and everybody knows that but like to actually get to do it there was so many nights when I would be doing it

then I would actually be out of this scene being like I'm on Broadway and doing a scene with Michael McKin this is fucking crazy then I'm like, oh, he stopped talking. What do I say now? But it took a while to kind of get over. Was it terrifying the first night you went out and you know the curtains coming up Broadway and you've got a

seven-page monologue you've got to do? I would run away. I would get on an e-bite and take off. It was weird. It was like waiting to go on was nervous but like the live crowd actually made me feel comfortable because

this is what I've been doing my whole career so it just I had to do like a this new thing where it's just like rather than doing this I'm kind of doing this to get to that but um the thing I was most nervous about is like what if I forget my lines like like I can't like if I forget a joke I can just say to hell with it go to another joke when I'm doing stand-up so to do that they call going into the white room and I was so afraid that that was going to happen and that's what happened because the way Mamet wrote it he kind of like the the monologue repeats itself twice so I would joke it was like he did two donuts in the parking lot and then you drove out so two times they say you know we killed

the goose or he fucking killed the goose and I would get lost like where the hell am I so one night I was doing it early and I and I went into the white room and I couldn't fucking remember anything there was a line that that it had was like you know what the hell was it was something like oh that's the God's truth and it gets me depressed I swear it does it my age to see a God damn, that was like the line. So I went into the white room, like, a page before that. And me and Michael just start improv and, like, I got to set him up for the next thing. So, but he knew where I was.

So he just out of nowhere just looks at me and improv's the line. He just goes, does it make you depressed? And I'm like, as a matter of fact, it does. All I want. At my age, oh, my God. All I wanted these idiots to do earlier was say, so what did you do in New York? And they wouldn't do that. And does that make you depressed?

yeah so he did that and then we got through it and there was like an elevator ride down and we laughed the whole way down like so many nights we would laugh about something and then he saved me so many times and then only once i had to save him but i was so psyched you know what i mean that i that i knew where we were and that because he you know he helped me out so much so like the fact that one night in all of those times um and it was just also you know to work with a legend like him. And then, of course, all the other guys, like, oh, my God,

Bob Orden Kirk and, uh, yeah, Kieran Kalkin, what they were doing, you know, once they really, you know, got comfortable with it. Like, I just wish I was in the second scene longer. Um, now I gotta say, I mean, uh, Donald Weber Jr., uh, John Pirichello and, uh, Howard Overshown.

Like, we just, you know, we vibe. There was no egos. We all knew that Michael was the guy. Um, we all had respect for him. And we just, we just, we had a great time. We had a great time. I did have one, I noticed one thing,

which is I went back. and I said, I've known Bob Odenkirk, we wrote on Saturday Night Live together when we got started back in the day. So I was visiting friends backstage, saying hi to everybody, and I got to you, I could tell you really missed,

because you're in New York, but you missed your family a lot. And you, it just felt like you were hurting a little bit. Like you missed, you missed, Nia, you missed your family. Yeah, that's the thing that we didn't take into consideration. Like, Neil was, and I were just going like, all right, well, you know, it's like a, you know,

four-month gig, you know, we'll come out, you know, 10 days a month and blah, blah, but we didn't realize we were instantly going to be in, like, this long-distance relationship. So it was one of the hardest times of my marriage because it was like I was lonely and she was swamped with the kids. So we both needed help.

You know, usually in a relationship, one person's starting to go down, the other person pulls them up. We were both kind of going, we were both sort of sinking there for a minute, but we always turn it around because, you know, we're meant to be together. So it worked out,

but it was definitely, it was definitely hard. Yeah. I have my agency look after the kids. True story. Yeah. William Morris and Devere,

they're fantastic. Yeah. Yes, they are. Yeah. I'm going to see them for the first time in three years. Looking forward to that.

They have a script pitch. Oh, yeah. And I've been going through this bullshit the whole week. My agent never even called me. He's been under his fucking desk. Is that true? Or during this whole controversy

you haven't heard from. No, no. Your people? No, you know what it was? Was he heard me on the podcast, you know, saying what I said here, that I had a good time and it was, you know, a positive thing or whatever. So he thought that that was the mindset that I was into the week. And as the week went on and more things happened and then like, you know, I don't want to get into it. But like some of, you know, some of the people that spoke up that was, you know, all right, you know, I don't know how to say to somebody, hey, man, can you check in with me? I don't know how to do that.

So, you know, it wasn't until the weekend. I was like, dude, are you going to fucking, like, call me? And then he was just, I, I didn't know, you know, but, you know, we're cool, we're cool. So the important thing is when all the people that are angry with you hear what you had to say tonight, they're just going to calm down. Absolutely. Well, I'm not really true. I heard you out and I stand corrected. No.

You're going to get, you're going to see a lot of that online. A lot of I stand corrected. Well, I got to be honest, what I was trying to do here tonight was, was not connect with the people. I'm trying to connect with the bots. Because they're the ones that really seem to control the narrative. Yeah. So if I can just get the bots to stop telling the mouth breathers what to be, what to look at. Look at that speaker.

It's going to take over there. Fucking. All right. Time for your medication. Morons. Bill. You and I have. been in it together for a long... Are you breaking up with me? That was like the most fucking...

I never want to see you again. I never want to see you again. You've presented your argument and I don't buy it? Yep. Um, you've been a good friend. I love it when you come on the podcast and I always will. I love doing the podcast, man. And I appreciate you having me on, especially during all of this bullshit. You're a real friend, dude. All right. Well, listen, Bill Burr, you're a man among men. And I don't know what that means. I don't know what it means either. You know what? David Letterman said to me once, I did something that, I said something he liked or something. He went, well, Conan, you're a man among men. And for the rest of the weekend, I realized that means absolutely nothing. Nothing. Nothing. I love the guy. He's a hero of mine. But that means nothing.

I didn't notice it the first time. The second time you said it, I was just, oh, fuck. Yeah. Yeah. Among other men, you are in fact a man. Yes. Bill Burr. Thank you so much. No worries. Thank you, guys. All right. All right, we're back. Matt, I have no idea what's going on anymore. How much of the drink have you had? I'm almost done with her, actually.

Is that one? Have you having both or are you just having the one? I just am finishing her up and then she's on deck. Oh, okay. All right. Okay. Do you want an olive? No, I don't like olives.

I hate olives. I love olive oil. Love it. Don't like an olive. Okay. A little fun fact about me, and that's going to light up the internet. Wow.

Don't ever say I never set you up for anything. You like an olive? Drives home. Oh, I earn my money tonight. Comedy, gold mine. Back to H-Syenda Heights. Hey. H-squared, baby.

H-squared, baby, out of the way. H-squared. Where do you live now? Pasadena. Okay, give an address. Pasadena, what? I'm just saying. My address?

Yeah, people like to visit you. I'm not going to give you my address. Very cold. Oh, you've gone, become one of those, huh? All right. People who like their privacy? Yeah. Uh-huh.

Yeah. That's all I got. Okay. Yeah. A little wasted. Yeah, Matt, what you got? Well, we have some questions from the audience that have been pre-selected. Do you want to go to those?

Sure. I'll take any questions. Okay. We're going to bring those people up right now here to the front mic. Usually on the show, sometimes we take questions off of a voicemail, but since we have a live audience, we thought, let's cut through the middleman. That's right. This is Catherine, correct? Hi, Catherine. What is your name? Catherine. Catherine. And where are you from, Catherine?

I'm from Canada. Oh, well, that's a pretty big place. Which part of Canada? Small town called Maple Ridge, near Vancouver. Let's just say Canada. Oh, Canada. Okay. That's all I know. That's great, Sona. Native land Stand beside it

And guided How's it go? You're saying they ripped them off? I'm so sorry I tried to let you have the floor And then they took over How can I help you? That's okay.

It's a very serious question If you could switch legs With any animal What would it be in why? I'm sorry, switch legs With any animal? That's my best question We've ever gotten

That is a spectacular question. That is great. Did you ask that because of my leg to torso ratio which is famously way off no okay

what animals on your shirt because I feel like you're trying to direct us in it I'm not but I think it's a snake or a dragon oh it's okay again helpful you already have animal

legs kind of I know I feel like I already do I feel like I have like ostrich legs that's what I was thinking I have very long legs I think if I could switch, I would go for even longer

legs. You know what I mean? Like, what would that be? I don't know. What's got the longest legs in nature? Girap? A giraffe has long legs. I might just go for even longer to make my human body even more of a parody. So I might go for that.

I might go for really long. Did you have any thoughts in this area? Feel free to jump in. I did think you might say Flamingo because it's kind of similar to the... They have very thin legs. I think they would snap very quickly. Do I mean? I'm very athletic. I run around a lot. I perform a lot of athletic maneuvers, and I think...

No one who does any sport ever says athletic maneuvers. I am quite... I do a lot of athletic maneuvers. And I think it would be dangerous for me to have flaminga legs. I need... A giraffe has stronger legs worthy of me. And also spotted, and I am spotted. So my body is...

No one wants to hear about this, but my nude body is covered in freckles. Oh, come on. Even parts that never see the sun riddled with freckles, which have been told by my dermatologist, who has since retired at 35, because didn't want to see me naked anymore, that my nude body was a horror show. So I'm going to say, yes, it will match the rest of me. Entire body, naked, freckled.

Perfect. Thank you. Thank you, Catherine. Well, she cannot wait to get out of here. Look at her. She's hailing a cab right now. Next up is Nora. Hi, Nora. Hi, how are you?

Hi. My question for you is, when it comes to friendships, what is a green flag and what is a red flag? Very nice. Okay. Green flag is they've seen my work. Oh, man. They're familiar with it. They know the whole oeuvre. So, yes, of course, they know the late night show. They're familiar with the Simpsons episodes. They even know some of my sketches on Saturday Night Live. But they also followed me through the Turner years and they're a fan of the podcast. a red flag would be not really knowing the whole uvra maybe just being a fan of late night but then losing touch or just knowing the HBO Max show but not really knowing this stuff before that how do you have any friends

I don't have any friends the name of this podcast is Conan O'Brien needs a friend I have since learned that it's real I have driven people away would you like to add anything because I always like to find out more did you have any thoughts on this issue What are your red flags? What are your green flags?

Well, green flags, I would say, you know, if a friend, because I know this is a debate, especially in Los Angeles, if a friend picks you up at LAX, that is a green flag. You know, as we learned tonight from Bill Burr, it's way too depressing at L.A.S. We would not be friends. But don't you also think if you ask a friend to pick you up at L.A.X, that's a red flag?

Yes. I mean, it depends on the friends. I think picking someone up at L. It depends on how long you've been friends. What? It depends on how long you've been. been friends, I think. If it's someone you just met

and we're like, oh, hey. In an era of Uber, and there's just so many ways to get from the airport putting that on someone saying, can you, it's up there with, I have a wet couch that I want removed from my

ninth floor apartment. Did you say wet? Yeah, it's wet. It's soaking wet. And I need you to help me move it. That's so specific, I'm worried that that's happened to me. It happened two weeks ago. And we still don't know why it was wet. No, it's just, it just sounds very unpleasant.

No, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't even pick tack up from the airport. And what's your... What's my husband? I love him. So that's a green flag. What's a red flag? And don't say not be willing to take you to the...

Good, get your... Maybe, like, leaving you on red for text, like never hearing back from them. Oh, ghosting you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. See, I knew the term. Ghosting. Yeah, yeah. That's impressive.

I'm proud of you. You're doing it. Yeah, we're doing it. Yeah, wherever since Benny Blanco slid into my DMs, that's Don't do that. Don't do that. I learned that phrase so I could sound cool. Benny Blanco has never slid into my DMs, and I don't know how he would. He's never going to.

No, he's never going to, but I'm going to keep saying it until people think that I know what's going on in the world. Yeah, I don't know about that. Yeah, ghosting people was... But the other thing, too, is when someone sends you a text, there's this immediate expectation that you're going to respond right away, and I don't like that. I don't like that. I like the olden days. the olden times when a letter would arrive and I would open it with my letter opener

and I would read it to my wife who's suffering with cholera and the fog is rolling in and there's a little peat fire and I read the letter and then I think I shall respond but first a trip a trip down to the waters and then maybe a couple of weeks later I write back

I'm from another time I'm from a time when people responded and this thing now where someone just text you at 4 in the morning, like, yeah, and then you're supposed to text right back, yeah, and you don't? Criminal, criminal. I won't participate in this new world we're in.

I object. I object. I object. I object. I object. And you're with me, aren't you? Well, I didn't say a time frame. As long as you respond at some point,

it's just when you don't hear anything. I lost track of what you were talking about. Like, were you saying? You just had two cocktails. No, no. Were you saying that ghosting is wrong or people don't respond quickly enough? I think you should have a seven-month period

to respond to a text. And until that seven months has elapsed, you have not ghosted them. Not at all. I don't know if it's a time-sensitive text, though. Like, your eggs are ready? Sure. Your poached eggs are ready.

A wonderful example, yes. My wife, this is true. She does it all the time. she'll text me in the house like dinners. I don't keep my phone on me. I wander the house like a nomad. A man free of his phone. And she'll see, I sent you

a text that dinner was ready. What is this? You must shout up the stairs the way my mother did in our house. I was going to say, I feel like you guys are different because you're probably like, oh, I was always shouting in the house, and she was like a lot more sophisticated.

When she shouts in the house, I also complain. I complain no matter what she does. Oh, good. Okay, that's good. It's a no-win situation for any wife of mine. Yeah. Well, glad I got that off my chest. Thank you for your question.

Thank you, Nora. Red flag and green flag. Red flag. Welcome, John. Hello. Thank you. I was going to say welcome back. That's not right.

It's like when you're at the drive-thru line. I shouldn't do that. Hello, Conan. You've got a tight ten minutes you're going to do right now. I know, I'm so sorry. Who are all these people? It's a low walk. I was getting worried.

No, no. How are you? What is your name? Good. I'm John. Nice to see you all. It's good to see you, too. You're very performative. I like that. You have almost a Shakespearean vibe about you, and I love it. You just entered. This is the scene where... I'm always envisioning a skull in my hand while I speak. Okay, now I'm scared. Yeah, but probably smart. So, yeah, I have a question.

You're waving at us as if you're angry. As if this question wasn't even one you wrote. I did write it. um thankfully i think so johnny you okay i'm okay i was totally fine and then something about the past few steps i was like oh god i'm walking up to speak with

conan and sona and matt and jimmy volino in the band but you know what you shouldn't feel that way they're just people and he's a monster but an elevated monster on an ivory throne please uh fire away so conan you've become I'm a magnet for cameo appearances in movies.

Yeah. Thinking throughout history, if you could slot yourself into any movie, which would you choose and why? Wow, that's very good. That's an excellent question. Thank you so much. Yeah.

What? Wow. Soda. Not me. It's paying off. The drinks are paying off. Yeah. You're answering for me.

Deep throat. You know, I'm going to go with that. Because you would be so uncomfortable. And it would be really funny. Or I'd get into it. No, you don't think you'd be, you'd be really uncomfortable. You'd be like, oh, guys. What do you mean?

What would I be doing? You'd be like, oh, guys, do you know her name? Are you okay? Ma'am, are you okay? Can I get you any water? That's what you would be doing. I'd be offering her water? Wait, but is he not playing deep throat?

What? You think I'm the one who's... Well, that you said deep throat. No, she meant the movie. Oh, not the character? No, John's saying what you have him. But you immediately put me as the one who's on the receiving end. Yes, I did.

Good Lord. But I meant deep throat. But yes to that, too. I'll do whatever it takes to make it in this business. I got to get to the top. And I don't care what I do. I got to put money in the bank. Food on the table.

No, sorry. I didn't mean to. No, I can't think of anything else now. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm obsessed. I'm sorry. you meant like a cameo like what movie would you

want to be it oh man wow that's a really good question you could play deep throat in all the president's men where you're in the you know the Hal Holbrook in the parking lot

yeah how Holbrook in the parking lot yeah no that's terrible you just lost the crowd you can't see this at home and maybe you can they're filing out wow that's a really good question I would love to be

you know what one of my favorite scenes of all time is one of the Pink Panther movies with Peter Sellers and I just watched it again the other night where, and I can't remember there are so many Pink Panther movies, but he is getting ready to interrogate the staff

of an English manner and he's upstairs and he jumps on the parallel bars and then he dismounts and falls down a flight of stairs completely humiliates himself but shoots up and then starts interrogating the entire staff and there's like a police, there's a buttle

who's just there watching it all realizing what a fool Clouseau is and I would just love to be that guy. I would love to have been in a scene with Peter Sellers as Cluoso. That would be my dream and just be the straight man watching Cluzo completely humiliate himself.

It's one of my favorite scenes in any comedy of all time. So I'll say that. And then deep throat. Yeah. And I'll do whatever it takes. I just want to work in the business. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. We have time for one last question. Jasmine.

Hi, Jasmine. Hi. How are you? I'm good. That's my husband. Hey. Oh, really? Wait a minute.

Did you know that he was going to go up first? Yeah. Okay. Did you ever say, like, let me go first or something like that? I tried. He wouldn't let me. Interesting. Wow.

Okay, I don't like that. I think you should have a little couples counseling with me sometime. Okay? So I'm a middle school, six to eighth grade history teacher. Oh, good for you. I love teachers. I love it. And I'm always looking for ways to make history fun and engaging for the kids.

And I know that you're a big history buff as well. So my question is, if you were to take over my job for a day, what fun and exciting things would you do with the kids to get them also excited about history? Oh. Well, knowing me, I would probably dress as a historical figure. Yes, I've done that. Just for my own amusement.

And I'd come in and I'd want to be that character and inhabit that character and answer questions. I would need to turn it into an over-the-top performance. And maybe I'd have several costume changes where I'm different characters. They might hate it. They probably would, but I would just do that. I would do that, and there's no stopping me from doing that.

And I would make it, I would be asking afterwards, how many laughs did I get? And you'd be saying, that's not important. They really needed to learn about, you know, what happened at the Battle of Trafalgar. And I'd say, but how many laughs did I get? Oh, my God. And so it would probably be detrimental to the class.

I would recommend to them what I think is the best podcast in the world, which is the rest is history. It's a podcast that's made in London, and it's with these two amazing hosts, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, and they talk about history and they're really funny, and they tell you these stories. And there's like 800 episodes,

and I may have listened to half of them. it's everything a podcast should be or also included it is informative but also really funny and it's stories and that's all history is and so i'm very passionate about it and i think um some people tune out when you say oh let's talk about history or you should study history there are stories they're the best stories i'm sorry i just felt like the right time i'm sorry i hate it here i really hate it here i blame the fonda those pathetic stars out on the sidewalk. They're like post-its.

They peel them up at night. That's what I would do. But anyway, yeah, I mean, I'll give it a shot with your students someday. Maybe we could try it. How old are they? Sixth grade. Oh, they're like, 10 to 13. That's tough.

Yeah, that's a tough age. That's a tough age. They're probably going to, I'm going to do my bit, and then as I'm dressed as Napoleon, they're going to beat the shit out of me in the parking lot. They're just going to wail on me. You're just going to see a guy in a paper hat getting wailed on, his long giraffe. legs, fluttering

in the breeze. You're going to get cyber bullied. I'll be cyber bullied. I don't even know. Yeah. I'll have to, my wife will help me get online so I can be cyber bullied. I'm one of those guys that needs help getting cyberbullied. Can someone assist? My manhood is going to be questioned

but I can't get online. Well, it was very nice to meet you. Thank you. I like you. You're a nice person and you're doing great work. Thank you for doing that. Thank you, Jasmine. Sorry, I didn't mean to History is important. You stink.

You're a terrible person. You know I really don't love you. No, no. Sona, what we have should be bottled and sold as some sort of... Poison. Exactly. That was really nice.

I've had a really good time tonight. I did, too. Have you guys had a good time? Quite a ride. What's that? Wasn't that quite a ride? Yeah, quite a ride. Yeah.

What do you mean? It's a roller coaster. Yes. Yeah. Lots of different emotions. How was in New York? Yeah. Good night, everybody.

Sonom of Sessian, Matt Gourley. I love him. You know it. I know it. No matter what I say. Conan O'Brien needs a friend. With Conan O'Brien, Sonam of Sessian, and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley.

Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Jeff Ross, and Nick Leow. Theme song by The White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vovina. 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 Batista, and Brick Con. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline at 660. 69-587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of SiriusXM when you sign up at

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