Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Bob Odenkirk Returns

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

Actor Bob Odenkirk feels chocolate chip about being Conan O’Brien’s friend. Bob sits down with Conan once more to discuss his turn as Shelley Levene in the Broadway revival of Glengarry Glen Ross, why having poor emotional boundaries translates into good acting, and developing a new outlook on life after surviving a heart attack. Later, Conan gives a temp check from his time in the Big Apple. 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.

Hi, my name is Bob Odenkirk, and I feel chocolate chip about being Conan O'Brien's friend. Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell, brand new shoes, walking loose, climb the fence, books and pens, I can tell that we are going to be friends, because I can tell that we are going to be friends. Hey there, welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, slightly different situation today. I am in New York City. I made up a name for it. I call it the Big Apple. Just came up with it yesterday. And I'm sitting here with David Hopping. How are you, David? I'm good. David, of course, grew up in a cornfield, completely unfamiliar with the city. but it's overwhelming for you.

He keeps looking up at the skyscrapers clutching his cardboard suitcase and saying gagga gaj. How did they build them? They're so tall. Yeah. Anyway, he said there are like silos with windows and I said, just take it easy, David.

You'll get used to it. And this is nice. We have a connection back to L.A. with my perpetual chum for life. My ride or die buddy, Sona, love Sessian. No goarly today because she's off at a, I think, what is he doing? He's at a, oh, it's like a festival where everyone just looks at their old 45s.

Is that what he's doing? Wait, is he at like the Renaissance Fair? No? Where is he? What do you mean he's at a fair? Is he at a fair? I'm sorry, you're probably new to me. I made something up.

Sona just to have fun. Oh, sorry. I thought like when you said fair, I thought, oh, my God, did he miss work because he's at the Renaissance Fair? You know what I'd love to do? I'd love to do improvisation with Sonam of Sessia. Like, hey, welcome to. my ice cream shop. Wait a minute. This is

an ice cream shop? I thought we were on a stage. Curtain comes down. Boo, boo. Conan was good, but who was that lady? No, they'll be like, oh, she just redefined improv. Yes. Yeah. Possible. Yeah, you could be the

Oppenheimer of improv. Oh, God. Just say, like, what are you talking about? This is not no, we're on a stage. This is not an ice cream shop. Yeah. Audience, she just blew through my mind, man. Or I could say like, Can you list all the flavors for me? And then it just derails the whole sketch because you're just like strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, Rocky Road.

Hey, you're good at this. Rainbow Sherbert. You're a good improviser. Now I'm out. Okay. Mint chocolate chip. Hazelnut. Hazelnut.

Yeah. Coffee with chocolate chip. Oh, David has one corn flavor. That good one, David. Was that your impression of the way? Corn flavor. I like corn flavor. I'm going to go see the Broadway show, Smash.

I did. I went last night. Yeah. Was it much like the TV show? It was, yeah. Okay. Wow. There's so much he's not saying.

Anyway, what's that sona? Do I work out? Yes, I work out. Oh, I didn't ask that. Are you working out when you do work out? Like, do you go to the gym when you're on the road? I've been too busy. There's been a lot to do.

And so that my schedule gets thrown off. Well, it feels like you can squeeze in like a half hour working on if you really were serious about it. What? What? What? You're right. I got to get to the gym.

People when they meet me on the street, they expect me to be jacked. Sona, we've got a big show today. Big show. We got a really big shoe. Remember, Ed Sullivan? No. Okay. Can we put crickets in?

Oh, wait. Sorry, we're improvving. Yeah, I remember when I used to watch Ed Sullivan as a kid and we had a big shoe. I remember that. Yeah. There you go. Remember the time you and Ed Sullivan went to that ice cream parlor

and you got strawberry, vanilla, coconut, pistachio, hazelnut, crem to caramel, Oreo crunch, vanilla flipple, sab dab, jab, jab, dab. Flipple.

Okay, Stanley came in. You suck at improv. What? What's that? Greatest man who ever lived? Oh, no, I said, I said you suck at improv.

You're welcome. What? I can give you notes. I'll give you notes. It's all right. You know what? My guest today. What?

What's that? My guest today. you're the worst Why are we You know what I love Whoever invented the technology That allowed us to talk in real time to Sown in Los Angeles

It leads to this They think Oh this will be amazing People will be doing surgeries From across the coast No Two idiots Two idiots are going to be talking over each other

What's that? Huh? What's that? I know you are But what am I? I'm rubber, You're glue My guest today

is a writer an actor who stars in the new movie Nobody Too. He is a very old friend of mine and it's really meaningful that I get to talk to him today. Thrilled, he's with us. Bob Odenkirk, welcome.

Last night, I'm here in New York. I went last night to see your guy's production of Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross, blown away. Really fantastic. Michael McKean. is in it with you, Bill Burr, who are we talking about here? Oh, Kieran Culkin, of course.

Yeah. Howard Overshow. I mean, really. And John Pirochella. It is just a spectacular cast. I mean, all of you were great. It was really special for me because to anyone who doesn't know listening to this, Bob and I met in 1988 when I first came to Saturday Live.

And immediately we realized you and I have a weird twin language. Yeah. We're two complete left brain. weirdos who are cartoonish and silly. And so Bob and I would just hide in an office and talk gibberish to each other. See, that was what, that's why I called your producer about today. I was like, what does he want to talk about? I know, no, no, well, I want to get to a bunch of things you're doing.

Because I thought this would just be gibberish. And I have a weird thing. I've had so much fun doing podcasts with friends, David Cross's podcast and things and letting it devolve into gibberish. Right. But there's something weird, Conan, I've been feeling about, like, not wanting to do that in public anymore. Yeah. Well, it's called you don't want to be medicated by the state, you know.

You don't want to be taken away. And I understand that completely. But you know what it triggered for me last night in a nice way was you and I had this. We just loved being weird together and we had all these adventures. We were just talking about when we were in the show, happy, happy good show together in, you know, back in the day. Yeah. At Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago, Summer of 88, Robert Smigle,

and just this really fun thing that we tried to do. And then we had some time off, and you and I drove down to Springfield. Right. And visited the house, Lincoln's house in Springfield. And then I'm the exact height that Lincoln was. And you became obsessed with, I should talk as Lincoln,

and you should talk as his law partner. Herndon. Yes. And Herndon had big mutton chops. And this is one of your specialties, is you can go into these great characters, as everyone knows. And you and I walked around Springfield together, and you were like, I tell you, Abe, I think you're going to run for president, you're going to win. Yeah, you know.

And I was going, like, well, I don't know. And it was just, why, who are we amusing? We're amusing no one. I think we're just making ourselves happy. But I think we did that for a couple of hours. Last night was special for me because you're in this. In this, I mean, I'm so glad it's been acknowledged. You got a Tony nomination playing Shelley Levine

in this classic David Mamet play, and you killed it. You absolutely killed it. And it was so, because I flashed back to, wait a minute, I remembered, I think in 1990 or 89 or 90, you did a one-man show called Half My Face is a Clown. And again, we were still writers trying to figure out, do we get to be in front of people? Should we be in front of people?

Are we too weird to be in front of people? And I went and saw you do your show. There are bits in it that are still, I have such fond memories. And I remember at the time watching you and thinking, Bob's doing it. And he's really funny. This is great. I was telling you last night, it's kind of, you didn't make a break with your past because I can see moments where you're accessing.

Oh, there's no question. There's things in Glenn, Gary, Glenn Ross that I'm doing physicalizations or to get sort of conceptualizations of a moment and of an emotion or that are, that could be in half my faces of the clown or happy, happy good show or any of those early things. Or Mr. Show. Yeah.

Like there are things you're doing that you're accessing that people would think, well, this is really funny, but it can't belong on Broadway in front of a sold-out crowd and you can't be Tony nominated for it. Yeah. Yes, you can. And also, I mean, clearly you built. up these incredible chops yeah doing saul saw yeah yeah better call saw and before that breaking

bad and you were around these masters and you you worked it and worked it and worked it and it was i mean well you know um smigel robert smigel our friend who's the reason i even got on saturday night live and yeah i think the reason i was able to stay there for any length of time was he came to the dress show, and I said to him, because I've been asking this question, am I being too silly in this role? And he said, for Glenn Gary, yeah. Glenn Gary, and he said, yes, Bob, you are.

And you've got to chill out. You've got to tone it down. And I've been waiting for someone to give me that response because that's what I felt. But our director, who was, to his great credit, let us run free, you know, I think he maybe hesitated he didn't I don't know he didn't want me to feel hemmed in

or editing yourself yeah and he was like no it's fine it's great and he very much wanted to do a humorous version of the play he wanted as much comedy to come from the play as he could he said that multiple times so but I think Robert was right so after Smigel saw the show and called me and we talked then I just kind of dialed it in more because obviously at the end of that play, Shelley asks for your empathy. Yes. You know. And if you've been too ridiculous and I get close to it, it's hard to say that to the audience and now feel some degree of impact for this guy's,

you know, destruction, self-destruction. Right. And so Robert helped me dial that in. And I think I, I'll tell you one of the things that helps me to be as fun and big as I am in this play. is the size of the room. Yeah. Like that is a big room we're in with a play of people talking. Unlike Saul, there's not, or the nobody movies, there's not a camera three inches from your face.

And so some amount of projecting and being big, but I just thought, whoever had the idea, I don't know how it happened, and particularly you and Bill Burr, you're both playing these characters that you feel like Mamet wrote them for you. That's how it felt to me.

And I was so happy because I was watching you on this huge stage on Broadway. Everyone, you know, applause when the curtain comes up. You have this scene. Your opening scene is incredible, like, nuclear energy from you that, and I'm just thinking, how did Bob remember all this? I mean, that's what I'm just amazed by it. Yeah, well, I got good at that doing Saul. I mean, Saul taught me how to learn a script.

Yeah. And I had no choice, and I was so scared. It's going to be scared. I lost my voice out of sort of stress the first week of Saul, and Ray Seahorn was so great. And we spent so much time together, she and I, and she really helped me through those early weeks. And yeah, so I learned that the ways to do that, which is essentially, I mean, if it's well written, if the thing is well written, even with the repetition that Mamet likes to use that feels like people slipping and tripping over their thoughts and even even with that it's a story it builds it has one thing goes to the next even the trips in there the vocal and the the words that repeat themselves feel like they make sense

whether the person's nervous or excited or whatever that's why there's a reason there's an emotional reason right right and so so it's really kind of it's weird Conan the first thing I did with the Saul script and really with the Breaking Bad script was I just deconstructed it like a writer. Like if we were going, if someone had said, do you rewrite this? And, you know, that's what I did as an actor. It was like, what is he trying to say? What is his subtext? What is he?

Where is he going down a dead end? And then he goes back and starts again. And so it all comes from writing. And I got good at that. And there is also a kind of a weird muscle training that your brain, it gets better at. memorization. Well, also, there's, it's music. When I'm watching, and the thing is, in comedy, we know there's a music to it. Yeah. And sometimes we have these ideas and thoughts. And it's just because you and I love music and we've always been kind of fascinated with wanting to play

music and do music. And then it's that thing that's so many comedians, we want to be a rock star. Right, right, right. And so, you know, early on in our lives, people assessed our skills and said, you should try comedy and um it was there's a music to this stuff and there's a music to yeah and if you tune into that i would think that would help because yes the patterns in in glengarry glen ross and mammott is just it is if you can hear the music in your head and i can tell that you guys all are hearing that and it is a it's a it's a you could it could be a vocal performance that's what it is it's a vocal performance yeah it and sometimes when i was learning it Actually, I would sing it into my little recorder to help memorize it.

And while you're singing it, it's not the most melodic thing you've ever heard. But it's got a, it's got this like lyrical rhythm and kind of like melody that you find that helps you to memorize it. Yeah. Yeah. And I also would say Kieran of all the people is the one that most. think about when I think about that kind of a sing-song version of his words and how he does it. By the way, Kieran never saw the film, never saw the play. So his performance is purely...

He's lazy. He's lazy. You're putting him up on a pedestal, but Kieran is famously just doesn't prepare. Well, he's sleepy. It's not the same. I also loved, I said to him once, it was on this podcast, that I was talking about him on succession, his character on succession, and I noticed that I said, am I wrong? or is your character just completely unable to sit? He can't sit on a couch.

He can't sit for a minute. And he was like, no, no, no, that's it. That's it. He, you know, not that it's all of it. But I noticed a lot that he's constantly squirming and constantly. And he uses his body so well. And last night in the play, there's a really funny moment where he's trying to get away from someone.

He's headed for the door. And then finally he gets to the door and the person says something that stops him. And he just slumps. And it's, I mean, it's like a buster key. Charlie Chaplin thing. It's really funny. We, you know, there's, we get so many laughs with this thing. Yeah.

And a lot of it, I give a lot of credits of Bill Burr because, and that's first scene with Bill and Michael. Yeah. So my scene comes on and there's laughs in there, but it's desperate, desperation. Yeah. And then you get Bill Burr and Michael McKeon and great laughs. Yeah. Written in.

Mammitt wrote these jokes. Yeah. in and these guys are nailing every single one not to mention you know finding other moments along the way and the audience because it's bill especially know like oh well he's a comic i i think this is pretty damn funny well that's definitely funny i'm allowed to laugh yeah and so from that point on they're looking for us to provide some comedy and it's it's been so much fun and i don't think you'd ever see a funer version of this play but at the same time i think we're We're getting at the core of what it's about, you know?

I don't think we're dropping the meat of it just because we're finding all the humor within it, yeah. It's funny because, just as we were talking about music and stuff, I remember one of the first things I heard you do when we were first meeting each other and we're in our early 20s was used to do this character called rocker. And he was a heavy metal rocker. And it was such, it was so, I don't forget what he did,

but he'd be like, no, he'd be like, because he sang sort of like he talked sort of like Axel Rose sings and I always wanted you to do rocker and he'd be like ha ha ha hae rock and roll and I just delight I mean every time I see a guy

the other day I saw a guy walking down the street in Greenwich Village and he just looked like an old English rocker and all I could think in his mind all day long he's just saying rock and roll man all day long That's the only thing going through his head.

You also did a guy. But Smigl used to do old people. Oh, yes. I'm old. I'm old. And now we're getting old. And now we're getting old. It's not so funny anymore, is it?

I'm old. Yeah, there are so many little things that we would go into. So mean to people. Yeah. But comedy should have a little bit of cruelty. I do a thing where I'll be driving around. David, you've seen me do. I'm in a car and I'm driving around and they're just people.

You're in Manhattan. and you're in an Uber and people are all over the place and I'll be like, better than him, I'll be in a car, and it's a guy who just is constantly making sure that he's better than everyone and someone, better than him and then they're pushing a baby carriage and I'll go like, better than the kid, better than, yep, yep, still good. Better than, better than, and like, literally, you know.

If anyone else heard it out of context, you'd be a monster. No, no, there's so much stuff I do, which is my take on a monster and then sometimes you can think, is he a monster or is he doing his, I hope he's doing his take on a monster And I think I am, but who sits in a car and goes better than him? And the one thing I did that only you tuned into was the miso soup horse. I used to go, one of my characters was the miso soup horse.

And it was a horse that just went, Miso, miso soup. And you would laugh. And like, every other writer was like, what do you fucking shut up? Miso. Miso soup. And Bob would get that, had that great laugh. And I'd be like, well, at least he'll be my friend, whether this is all over.

I got to watch you came out with nobody. And one thing I would not have guessed, if you had told me, okay, meet this guy, Bob Odenkirk, and future man came to me and said, let me tell you about Bob in the future. He's going to be on Broadway. He's going to be Tony nominated.

I'd be like, yeah, that tracks. I can see all of that happening. He's going to have a sketch comedy show that becomes the formative sketch comedy show for a lot of people along with David Cross called Mr. Show. I'd say, like, yep, tracks, he's going to be an action star.

I would say, you know, I like you, future man. But clearly you have a brain tumor. Because, you know, and when nobody came out, I was like, oh, I got to, because you told me about nobody before it came out. And he said, there's something I want you to see. There's something I want you to see. And you said, there's something I'm doing now that I think is going to surprise you. And I was like, whatever.

I didn't know what you were talking about. And nobody came out. And when it came out, I was just. Oh, he's so good at this. And the bus scene was this thing that really got me where you get beat up and thrown off the bus. And then I think you, I don't know if you take a belt off and you tie it around.

And you get back on the bus. And I thought, this is tapping into something that's always in Bob. Yeah, rage. There's a rage. There's a determination. We were all at one point, low men on the totem pole at SNL. And there was a, and feeling like we don't belong or maybe feeling like we're not going to last.

A chip on my shoulder. Yeah. And chocolate chip. And, but I see it. And then I think, you know, but what's amazing is you, this role came along when you're completely established as a great actor. So you've got that part. And then you're kicking ass and there's a rage. And the, the, I saw a nobody too.

and really loved it. I saw it. Yeah. How did you see it? Because I was sure they've been very protective of it. Oh, they are really protective. They sent me a link.

I was trying and trying and trying and trying to watch the link. It wasn't letting me and clicking on it. And there's all these codes you have to put in. And it's like getting into the Pentagon. I feel like I'm trying to access nuclear weapons. But anyway, long story short, I finally get in with a lot of help from young people who know how the Internet works and how computers work.

Yeah. And they know the whole alphabet. Oh, that was low. Just because I'm an ape, I don't know the alpha, an Irish ape. When Bob sees me, he sees me, he sees one of those immigrant cartoons of a dirty Irishman from 1870 who looks like a giant gorilla but has like red mutton chops. This is why I was nervous about the podcast is because I thought, you just make me laugh for an hour. And I would, that's all that people would see is Bob.

Bob is a gibbering, giddly, giddling fool. Is that a word gibling? It is now. I'm a givling fool. You're a givling fool. But I honestly, you, Conan, you make me laugh so hard, and it's such silly stuff. And I have to say the thing that I'll never forget laughing so hard at is the impersonation of the alien from the movie, enemy mind.

Enemy mind. Yes, and you're just 2 a.m. I probably ate too much, you know, Thai food, so I had some kind of sugar rush. 2 a.m., 3 a.m. Lou Gossett Jr's in the movie along with... This had nothing to do with Dennis Quaid. And Dennis Quaid. This had nothing to do with who was hosting the show. No, it wasn't doing anything to do with anything at all. In fact, the movie wasn't even recent.

Yeah. And you started doing the alien. The pregnant, Lou Gossett, Jr. And he's an alien who you've seen is evil, but then you realize that his species can have a baby, which comes late in the thing. This is real, because I never saw the movie. This is real.

And then there's this part where he's become, he's gone from like vicious monster. And he's gone from like the, you know, the monster in Terminator, and not Terminator, but a predator, to suddenly it's as if at the end of Predator, the monster is like, and rubbing it's very precious.

belly and making very maternal faces and it blew my brain and all I could do was I mean we had work to do and you and I are howling because I'm rubbing my belly and making I'm with child I'm with child and which may not even be a I don't think it's even in the movie I'm with child because no alien would know that saying that was in the movie that would be I don't know but anyway to fans of enemy line I'm sorry and then people being like this one line. I think we might be pushing it. We got to tweak it. I'm with child. Does he need to keep saying that? He says it 12 times. Yeah, I mean, this vicious, this really cool, vicious alien is like, I'm doing kegles. I'm, uh, I have a cream I rub for stretch marks. I'm eating for two. I'm eating for two. I have to eat two human skulls. Um, burp. Hmm. Um, um, The point I want to make about, which is really fun, is I love the nobody movies. I love the second one. Or the rage?

Well, I'd like, when you access, but you know what? You're able to access that it's your nuclear. It's the only gift my father gave me. Is that true? At some level, yeah. Well, my dad was funny, but not in the way I am. He was funny in a, he was good with a line, like a jokey line. But you had a complicated relationship with him.

Well, we had a distant relationship. It was more like a pen pal who never wrote to me and I never wrote back. Seriously, he was able to go from zero to 80 in like two seconds. And I think I can do that and it actually lends itself to acting and all kinds of things. It's kind of a, I said to Dave. David Carr, the great journalist, once he had come to see Better Call Saul, and he was watching a scene. And afterwards, he said to me, I don't know how you do that. I said, I know how I do it?

He goes, oh, yeah, how do you do it? And I go, I have poor emotional boundaries. You're being honest, but it's funny, too. Yeah, but it's kind of true. And it is actually kind of true of not all actors, but a lot of actors who are able to can't help. slip between sort of emotional responses that are maybe a little too intense. And you could say that that's a wonderful skill that they're putting on display and it's shocking and surprising and it grabs you and it involves you and it. And then of course in real life, it can be very bad and and not

healthy and really be a sign of poor health, mental health. But I have to go from that to this, which is in 2021, I remember where I was, but I suddenly, someone came in the room and they said Bob Odenkirk had a heart attack. And I mean, I'm always hearing about people I know tangentially through this business who have fallen sick or something, but I had a real response of, I know Bob. This is really upsetting and horrifying.

And initially, I couldn't get a read on, are you gone? I started to hear this is really serious. And then I know your brother Bill, who's hilarious. And Bill, love you, and shout out to Bill, Odenkirk. And I got in touch with Bill, and he told me, we think he's going to be okay, but it was bad. And I turned out that you were completely out. You were out. Yeah, yeah.

It's a weird thing that happened. And so one of the tributaries to the Widowmaker got completely blocked. And I went out. Were you in the middle of a scene? No, we were in a break. And it was during COVID shooting. So we were separate from the crew. And luckily, I didn't go to my trailer.

If I'd gone to my trailer, I wouldn't be here because they don't bother you. When they knock, they wait for up to an hour. Right. You know, who takes an hour to masturbate? you know when i've had my heart attacks it was just masturbating it was that that's what i was doing yeah all my heart attacks happened while masturbating uh but uh i i sat you know where we were sitting ray and patrick were right there i've told the story too many times yeah but's okay um and this thing happened and i went down i turned gray right away and did worse what your body does when it stops

going, oh, nothing matters anymore. Yeah, wow. Yeah, and I was just gone. And Ray held my head up off the cement, and they started screaming, but people were far away because of COVID. So the crew later told me, you know, we thought they were laughing. We thought, oh, they're laughing very loudly at something. It took a few seconds to realize people were screaming.

And luckily, we were at the studio, and our men, medical officer was there, Rosa Estrada, and she came out of her office. She'd done two tours with the Army. She immediately did CPR properly, really well, broke my ribs. And the medical officer of the show, the medic, was there too, but he kind of froze up. He was very freaked out and later apologized to me. But he then also helped out. and they all switched off. Essentially, they weren't able to get an AED for 15 minutes. So because CPR was done so well

and because they also had that breathing mask, you know, those two things, as well as my training for nobody, which made some of the other veins to my heart larger, sort of enlarged, like bigger than you would normally see because I did so much training. That meant that blood was able to get to my heart. You're getting oxenated blood to your heart. to your brain and my heart.

The heart starts to die right away, right? It starts to scar up and die. But because those other veins were feeding blood through my heart, the heart didn't scar up. So my heart has almost no scarring at all. That's fantastic, yeah. For 15 minutes of just people doing this. And then they had the AED,

and it took three hits for the AED to work, which is a lot. It's kind of super scary. And that's where some of the fear, and the real, well, everything about it was really scary. And in fact, Tony Dalton, who played Lalo and his good friend, he was there. They were all there. Everybody gathered around and he said, I saw a guy die from a heart attack. He had an airport and you, same exact thing is what you, I saw it again.

I'm like, well, he's dead. This guy's over. And so it was the three AED hits that also super freak people out. Because that AED device does a thing, it talks. It says, no heartbeat detected, step away from the body, 10, 9, 8, 7, down to 1. And then it shoots, and then your body jumps off the ground. And then there's like some recoup moment. And then it goes, no heartbeat detected.

And so they also check you. Then it's a step away from the body because you can't be near it, right? You can't be touching it or you'll get shocked. And so the fact that that had to be done three times made everyone feel that this thing was maybe just... Not working. Yeah. And so then we were very far from a fire station.

I'm going to tell this story. I've told it too many times. I apologize. Just go to the next clip. No one heard the other times. This is the first time. We're the first time. It took 25 minutes for the ambulance to get there.

And then, well, they were far. And then they took me to a great hospital, Presbyterian in Albuquerque, and then at 5 a.m. in the next morning, I think they put me in a coma, you know, I think they put me in a stasis state. Then at 5 a.m. they went in through here, which you can't even see that scar anymore. They went through your wrist. And yeah, they went in, pushed it out, cleaned it out, put in two stents. They used just a bristle brush. They got to the hardware store. And they don't clean it. They don't clean it between procedures. I told them, you know, it's just sitting on the shelf for months.

There's dust on it. Did you wash it? Did you rinse it? Nothing. They keep it in their glove compartment. They said, we were in a hurry. Yeah. I said, why, you were worried about me?

And they, no, we had other projects. They call us projects. There's a toilet that needed work. You say that you... Look, everybody was really scared for all legitimate reasons. Yep. I'm super lucky Conan. CPR was done really well.

Three people switched off because you can't do it for, if you're doing it well, you can't do it for more than two and a half minutes, three minutes, because you're exhausted. Right. So you need someone to hand it off to. So there's three people who switched off. And then this AED device, which every studio there has now, but at the time there was none in any of the studio buildings on the whole lot. but our Rosa had one in the trunk of her car

that she had been trying to return to her friend. She had borrowed it and she had tried to return it and her friend wasn't home or it wouldn't have been in her car. And her car was parked, you know, as those lots are huge and she had to run and go get it. So it's just so many things happened that were lucky. I have the stories that my friends told me, Ray, of course, Patrick, Vince,

the degree to which I could see how shaken they were. from having been there, I kept asking them, tell me the story, because I had no memory at all, nothing. It was just a blank. It was just wake up and I'm leaving the hospital a week later. That's my first memory is talking to the doctor on my exit interview. So I was there for a week. I was awake the next day at one o'clock, but groggy, but I don't have any memory of any of the hospital at all. And I don't have any memory of the day, the whole day that we shot. So we had shot all day. One of the gifts that it gave me, this is so weird, is for the next couple weeks, I had memory challenges and a lot at first. Like, I didn't know where I was.

I would not be scared at all. I would wake up and be like, wow. I mean, honestly, Conan, it was like, if I, it's like, look at this world. Yeah. This place is fucking amazing. Well, this is Sirius XM in New York. And it really isn't. And so, I mean, you know, you're talking about a blade of grass, sunlight.

Yeah. You know, just life, butterflies. But serious, like some New York, no. No. I don't care if you just came out of a death coma. It really was, and this happened, and my memory came back a little, a little bit more every day. But I didn't wake up the way we, I do normally, which is whatever I went to bed, afraid of, scared about. concerned about with you right away right there not to mention my own brain's natural

fallback position what should I be worried about what should I be worried about yeah literally going down the list I think this is something I got from my mom how is this person doing how is that person doing what can I do to help this person what can I do to help somebody in my life who I'm concerned about and just who should I be worried about right now yeah you know and and what should I be worried about and I just didn't have any of that. The world was a wonderful place. I had people I loved around me. I had a job that I can't believe a magically wonderful job that I get to do. And that carried with me for months, for months. Here's the question I have, because I've noticed this. You know, I lived in

New York on 9-11, and everybody was on their best behavior after 9-11 in New York City, and it was just a beautiful thing and yeah you know you're you'd go to a restaurant people said you've got to go out you've got to keep the city going you'd go places and the person would come over to take your order and you'd ask them how they're doing where do they live and then you'd make them sit down and they'd join i mean it was just this happening yeah and it i think it lasted five six weeks and then people started bickering and and i and i just thought oh i see this is what humans revert are you able to still access the gratitude the feeling of I'm sucking. Good. Yes, I am. I mean, I think I have to make an effort. But it definitely,

especially as my memory came back, because of course, the first thing you're concerned is, well, maybe I'm not going to get it all back and then I can't act and stuff. But I, you know, I was getting it back a little at a time every day and I could sense it, I'll be okay. You know, but I've got to remember what this state is like. I've got to remember the value of this. This is, this should be a part of your day, every day. Yes. You should feel this every day at some point, somehow you should get yourself here because this is true too.

It's true that our world is filled with concern and worry and danger and things you should pay attention and be concerned about. But this also should be something you touch base with as often as you can. Yeah, I've said, I've realized this a bunch of years ago that humility, gratitude, These words get thrown around a lot, but it's not something you achieve. It's stomach crunches. You've got to, or stretching.

Yeah. You got to do it every day or every other day or it doesn't. There's no like I am, I feel gratitude, check that off. You've got to just keep going back at it because human nature and also modern media is, isn't, I mean, you pick up any device, you turn on the TV, and we are programmed to receive back. bad news all the time. So yeah, you're absolutely right, but I mean, talk about you do have a lot

to be grateful for in addition to your career, but just if you were looking at your career, I would say, I said this, I heard that people were giving blurbs for your book, your autobiography, which I really loved. And so I wrote on it. I'm hard pressed to think of anyone who's had a more fascinating, unpredictable, like a great career arc than Bob Odenkirk. And I meant it because I knew you, like, when you were, you know, you had one jacket. Yeah. You had that leather jacket and your glasses and you were very intense. I was really proud of myself that I could put everything I owned in one bag.

Yes. Well, I remember going to your apartment. We went to your apartment once, and it was super small as all of our apartments were. And just, you could, like, touch all the walls, you know, you didn't have to move. But you had a, I can remember. Remember your brown leather jacket, you know, your jeans, your sneakers, your glasses, and I think that's everything you had. And we were hobos. And but I look at you now and I was like, I was watching the choreograph fight scenes, which are so great in nobody. It's fun to do. And I'm going

to tell you, it's the closest to a comedy writer's room. Yes. Is doing a stunt fight and any of the stunt fights I've done. It's the most like, oh, this is what we did it. 2 a.m. First of all, you train the fight, you choreograph the fight. And I did contribute to all these fights. And in fact, the bus fight, so much of that I pitched to start, which is he bangs his head. I hit my head in the first three moves. I hit my head. I miss. I have to miss somebody, punch and miss. Because you're also, your character has been out of it for a little bit. Right. Yeah. And I have to degrade. as the fight goes, I have to get slower and weaker, not stronger, and I get thrown out

of the bus, and I go back in. Yeah. I have an opportunity to leave. I could walk away, and I don't. Okay, and I'm not going to give anything away, but in nobody, too, I don't think I'm giving anything away because I've also seen the trailer, but for reasons it'll become clear when you see the movie, it's organic, but you end up at kind of like an amusement part. this kind of place.

And what's fun is that that's where you are, you're with your family, and so all the fights are happening in this environment. I mean, there's a scene, you incorporate whack-a-mole into a, you know, Jean-Claude Van Damme fight scene. And it's, so it's two things. It's really good fight choreography.

It's really fun to watch. It's satisfying because the biggest, most important element to me of a fight scene is you really want to hate the dick who's getting beaten up. Yeah. But part of that was, and it's in the trailer, so I don't think this is a spoiler, when the guy waxed the girl in the back of the head, I said, can you make that just as small as, like he, even the guy who, let's say the real guy who does that is like, why did I do that? That was dumb. What an asshole. I didn't need to do that. Like, he didn't even think about it. He wasn't thinking. He just went. He swats her on the back of the head. He's like, get out of here, you guys. And it's the smallest thing. Even he probably thinks I shouldn't have done that. That was a. dick move but he also it wasn't i didn't hurt anyone nobody got hurt her hat went like but that was but you go fuck no you know because little things like that do happen in your life and you can't do

anything about them you have to walk away from them but i know but what was so smart about that is it's your daughter yeah and i think what's really smart about that is it taps into something if you have kids, I don't care how old your kids are. They can be little. They can be, you know, 25. If someone's mean to your kid or shoves your kid or does anything to your kid, it awakens something in you, you want to kill that person. And so you're trying to leave. It's a small thing. You're de-escalating, which you use a lot. Let's de-escalate. You've clearly like, I don't want to have any trouble. You're leaving, swats your daughter. And it's just a great moment because you're walking out and your wife saying,

And I leave. You leave as, you know, like, it's your opportunity. I could leave. You could leave. And then your wife says, there's a look in your eye, which is, I've seen that look back at S&L when they didn't put your sketch on.

And you're, I'm going to try and let, and you can see he's not going to let this go. They just, it's your daughter. And you go back in and clean house. And it's, but using all the stuff that's in an arcade Right, right. Which is really fun. That guy who gets it with the claw and I've got to, these stunt actors are so great.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see how real he makes that? And the punch. If you watch how he takes that punch, first of all, there's a thing about, like, he doesn't just clear off. He, like, goes, pung. Yeah. He's like, like he's got some strength. He's not just here to take a punch.

He's a guy who's like, watch us happen. Right. You know, like, he, those guys are so good. Is it as much fun to do that as I think it is? It is. You laugh your ass off. Damn it. They say cut, everyone laughs.

And it goes, I can't fucking believe that. All right, I got to call you on something because you were on the pod. You were on the pod. Let me say one thing. You were on the pod for now I feel like I'm in because your character, Shirley Levine, talks over people. And I'm doing that to you right now. But it's because it's important.

After when nobody one came, when the first nobody came out, I had you on. I loved it. We had a great interview. And I said at the end, if you ever make another one, and you got to put me in it. You went, yeah, yeah. I'm not in it. And that's a,

don't be, what? Don't be needy. But I just want to be beaten. I want someone to beat the shit out of me. We'll do one. Just, can you do a third? Yes. I don't even have to be me.

Just, just, I know. But I mean, when there's nobody three comes out, I just want to be, put me in clown makeup. It won't be me. And I'll be a small, but I just want someone to beat me to death. We'll make it happen. The last thing I'll say about the nobody franchise

that I appreciate is that there are Like James Bond beats a bunch of people up in a room and then walks into the next scene looking like a million bucks. You are a real human who's just fought 10 guys and you've been hit as often as much as you've hit someone. You've taken as many hits as you've given. And you can tell progressively as it goes through. I mean, Wiley Coyote gets a reset after every scene.

He can blow up and then he walks back in the next scene and it's a fresh Wiley Coyote opening the Acme rocket boot Acme rocket boot box but you you can tell like you

just take a lot of punishment because you're a real person who's fighting all these people and I want to do a scene

in the next movie if there is another where he goes through a metal detector and his body pins all pins

and then you fight all the TSA people all right I'm going to have to wrap this up because we have talked and talked and talked

And this will be heavily edited. You know, I just got to say one other thing, when I was training for nobody, and I trained for probably, you could say, three years. And when I would go do Better Call Saul, I would train for twice a week. But when I was in L.A., I would train three times a week at the actual stunt gym. And I didn't think the movie was going to get made. But they were offering me free training with this great guy, Daniel Bernhard, who trained me. And it was like free, you know, I learn about exercise.

I didn't know shit about it. And so I'll take that, you know? And then you can call me and say, we're not making the movie, and I'll go, all right, thanks for the free gym hours. And the whole time I'm doing it, I'm thinking about you and Smygel and Sandler and everybody I knew from comedy.

And if I were to get to make this movie and you were to go see it in Spade, I kept thinking about Spade, I don't know why. he would go see it and go like what the fuck yep that's exactly and you know what i had that feeling of um it was such a mindblower because it was as if you heard there's this incredibly sensual movie out uh it's got really heavy sex scenes and all the women are losing their mind because the guy's so incredible and you're like who you know who is it it's conan o'brien

what what you're he was he's 62 or his eyes still kind of creepy and his His lips still think? Yes. How's his skin? It's okay. Wait a minute. What? Are his legs disproportionately long?

Yeah. But man, the way he goes at it, when he takes his shirt off. But only the difference was you completely owned it and it was great. And there's no like, good for Bob when people are buying movie tickets, especially worldwide. So I just, I promise you, I thought of you guys often. Keep us in your head all the time. and thinking, that's just a reason to be doing this, is if I could pull it off, that would blow my friend's minds.

Here's how I'll lend this. You are a really, you loom large in my early career as one of the funniest people I ever got to work with. And it was really meaningful to me back then because I was sometimes doing stuff on this frequency that you really appreciated. And I felt like this guy, gets it. And I felt like you were doing the same thing. And I've told you, I've memorized moves of

yours from your first one-man show. But, Bob, I'm so happy for you. Thanks for all you. Also, weirdly, even though I'm proud of you, I know that can sound condescending, but I'm really, I'm like, I know him, and he's killing it. And just seeing you on that Broadway stage last night, watching your movies, watching your stuff. So go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Have a nice day. Have a nice week. Thank you, buddy. Bob Odenkirk. Tupac. Peace. Sona, Sona, are you there? Yeah, I'm here. I'm here.

Okay, listen, there's a reason I'm talking to you right now, okay? Oh, God. Which is, I am in New York, working hard while you're hardly working. Not funny. And interviewing people, just interviewed Bob Odenkirk, you know. I love Bob Odenkirk. Okay. say it like you don't like me and take your hands away from your mouth what are you doing what you

feel like your mom sit up straight okay you can see me yes i can see me okay and um hello first of all how are you sona nice to see you thank you second of all second of all what's not waste time on that second of all uh i'm here in new york and i'm working hard you know supposed to hardly working funny joke and uh funny i am talking to you because i worry that when i'm away that you're from our home base, when I'm away from the Larchmont, California studios, that you guys are goofing around and you're not towing the line.

And so this is a little drop-in to make sure that you're making it happen. But you're still there. Do you think you keep people in line here? You think that you're like, people get stuff done here in spite of you. I mean, you come in, everyone's like working, you come in,

and then you just start, like, saying all these jokes and doing all these bits and everybody has to just stop working and watch you. Yeah. Yeah, it must be tough when the master of his craft comes in the room and delights a crowd with his magical skills. Must be awful.

Oh, shit, here comes Beethoven. Fuck. Oh, no, he's got his piano. What's this? A symphony that will endure for all time? Oh, God. When can I get back on Etsy so I can buy that little leather pouch? No, I'm going to say morale is high here. People just seem to be in really good spirits.

Eduardo, we're hanging out. Super productive today. Since you're not here, can I sit in your chair? Sure. Okay. Wait a minute. Hold on. Okay, she can. Sure.

All right. Now we're talking. Okay. That's cool. Now, what does it feel like to be, I mean, in a sense, you know, you're now Conan O'Brien. What's it like? I don't know. I feel a lot more anxious and needy.

Your skin's breaking out. I'm suddenly filled with self-hate. I don't know what happened to my skin. I just have a hankering for potatoes. Okay. I think you went too far. This is now hate speech. But hate speech everyone's okay with

People are fine with you going after the Irish No one cares if you go after the Irish Not even the Irish But you guys did that Like why is the mascot for Norda Dame like this Like boo, I'll get you And then there's lucky terms I gotcha

How didn't punch you Yeah we're ridiculous people And we know it Whereas you are proud Armenian Yes I am And how are your boys doing I want to ask about them Mikey and Charlie

Boys are good You know, we moved into a new place and they're adjusting. There's a park. There's a pool. They just want to do things. Yeah. So we let them do things. Are you adjusting to your new place?

I am. I like it. It's cool. I know I know I talked a lot about my parents and how hard it was to live with them. But, you know, they let us live with them for over four months. And all I did was complain about them. So it was very like. What?

You're a very ungrateful person. And I say that out of love. I mean, that's one of your better qualities, but you are ungrateful, you're not gracious, and you take things for granted. There's a lot of G's going on here, you know? Are you having fun in New York? I miss the trips that I used to take. This is great. I'm really, I'm, man, I'm slamming you left and right.

All these missiles are landing. I'm ecstatic. I will say I've been having a good time. You've been walking around with me. I have. Talk about Conan in Manhattan. Yeah, you thrive here. And people come up to you left and right.

It's selfie central. It is, I think I've taken 3,000 selfies. And I'm, but I don't, you know, as I've always said, I like talking to people. I'm cool with it. Yeah. But it gets very silly because we went and saw Bob Odenkirk's Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross last night with Bill Burr. And it was just fantastic production, really great. And then in intermission, there's just this line form to get selfies.

And I'm standing there doing selfies for everyone And I thought I should start Even if I just got a dollar for each one Is that a bad thing to put out there? I feel like people would talk I don't think it would go over well And no one had to have one of those little old time Changemakers on me

That the ice cream man had in the 60s Yeah, that's what I want to do I want to monetize it That's the kind of spirit I'm bringing to selfies A dollar? You think a selfie with you Is only worth a dollar? I think it may

I think that's optimistic I think that's optimistic. If you could put any price on taking a selfie with you. I think a dollar is aiming high. You put a dollar. You can do a bogo, buy one, get one free? Yeah, yeah. Did you say, there's a term for that, bogo?

Bogo? Yeah. Buy one get one. I love what the kids are doing. The kids are amazing. Bogo, Etsy. What's that new thing? Internet?

It's crazy what's happening. Yolo. Yeah. I know about it. And FOMO. Yolo. So Fomo, Bogo. Yolo, go-go.

Yeah. Jub, jub, jip, flip, flap, chip, chop. Yeah. How are you, Sona? I'm glad to see you. I do miss you. You know, that. I miss you, too.

When I see you in New York, I really miss. You know, I think I had like a, when I kept, when we kept going to New York, I started getting very like, oh, New York. And now I'm kind of craving it. I miss it a lot. You freaked out. The first. Yeah.

When you were my assistant before. I'm freaked out. I saw the light and got David involved. Oh, my God. No, no, he just knows. He just gets things done. But anyway. I had my babies.

When I, first time I took. to New York, you flipped out. You hated it. And you, because you just weren't used to New York City, you're very uncomfortable there because you're such an L.A. person. But the one thing I remember very clearly, you needed to go somewhere. And I said, well, just take a cab. And you said, I can't take a cab. I'll be sitting on a seat that other people have sat on. And I thought, what? What? What is talking about? What is this narrative you've weaved in your mind? I sit on so many seats. I've interacted indirectly with so many butts in my life that you think I'm... This is a clear memory I have.

Don't say this didn't happen. I'm not saying... You didn't want to take a cab. It didn't happen the way you... First of all, cabs aren't gross. Like, they're gross. But I also, I take, like, lifts all the time, and I don't have a problem with that. I think that the city...

So what was your beef with New York cabs? I mean, they're gross. They're, like, dirty. But at the same time, I think that you're making it seem like I'm, like, like prissy like oh i can't sit there it's i mean yeah i guess to a certain extent there was a lot of like i don't like cabs uh but i think that uh i think there was like you say that's improved now you're better you're over it you're kind of yeah but i also i think that i got overwhelmed when i would go to new york like it was overwhelming it's an overwhelming city and then

when you're like me and you just want to go out and do stuff and you don't know what to do and you decide to just stay in your hotel, you feel like you're missing out on everything. And it just... I think also, not only in New York, which is an overwhelming city, but you're with Conan O'Brien, a beloved figure.

And I think that was overwhelming for you as well. I mean, oh, Conan, I want to sleep with you. Oh, there he is. Remember? You think, wait, do I remember random people coming to you and just saying like, Oh, Conan, I want to sleep with you?

time and they're like oh my god i can't believe it and you know i had a sex dream about you just an hour ago and it's four o'clock in the afternoon you know yeah that kind of thing whatever never heard anyone say that people like i want to give you money or you're a christ-like figure it's more like can we take a picture and you'd be like yeah sure and then you'd be like do you need anything else they're like no i got a go that is so me is there anything i can do for you um i could write you a chat why don't you join me let's sit down and have a drink and they're like i just I just wanted a picture. Okay. Now you're making me seem needy, and that's as crazy as you being someone who's a germaphobe.

Okay. Sona, I checked in on you. I miss you. I know. I miss you, too. Give my love to Tack and your lovely boys. Are they still like their Uncle Coco? They love Uncle Coco.

They talk about you all the time. Did I ever tell you I showed them like, oh, you, I sent you a video. You sent them a video back, which I had to play with that for them, like, 150 times. And after I did it, one of them, I think it was Mikey went. Uncle Coco is kind of funny, huh? And I was like, yeah, he is kind of funny. Like, I don't, you know, in their mind, you're just like this funny guy,

but they don't realize you're, you've been working in comedy. I was taking a ride. I was back from my college reunion, and I was in Boston. And I was in a, I was taking, I think, an Uber and somewhere. And the driver is just driving me, not really paying attention. And I was chat with the people.

So I'm chatting back and forth. And then I made kind of a joke. And the guy laughed. And he said, You have a sense of humor. He did, you know, from another country, he's learning the language. You have a sense of humor. And I was like, whoa, still got it.

All right, Sona, be well. And I'll be checking in with you in about 20 minutes. Okay, I'm excited. I like sitting in your chair. Maybe you can sit in my chair from now on and I'll just sit in yours. It's like first chair. Getting used to other people's chairs. I like it.

Yeah. All right. Your fear. Okay, don't say butts. Oh, sorry. Buds, lots butts sat in all these chairs. And I'm fine sitting in them. So, you know, I guess I proved you wrong.

I got to go. Beethoven out. I got to get my piano out of here. Not Beethoven. You'll see. Beethoven, the dog from the movies. All right, I'll talk to you later, Sona. Bye.

Bye. Conan O'Brien needs a friend with Conan O'Brien, Sonam of Sessian, and Matt Goreley. Produced by me, Matt Goreley. Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Jeff Ross, and Nick Lee, 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 Batista, and Britt Kahn. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message.

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