Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Cōnānus et Jordānēs Show - Luke Ranieri

Episode Date: June 13, 2025

 On this episode of “The Conan and Jordan Show”, Conan challenges Jordan's pronunciation obsession with help from a special guest who knows his ancient Latin and Greek. 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.

Alright, well, if we're listening to a hyperactive version of what are we listening to here Jordan? Explain what this is. I'm going to say that I hear nothing. There's apparently a technical problem. Turn the knob on your headphone. Oh my god, what an idiot. Okay, well... What an audio idiot. Sorry, I shouldn't have explained that.

Apologies, Jordan, that's my fault. Okay, all right, now let's take a listen. ["Darann Dharan"] Is this like a Dharan, Dharan 12-inch, like a night version? Well... Oh, I see. You know what it is?

Yeah, this is a souped-up version of Tom Sawyer, by Rush. Yes. Let's kill it now, because I think the idea is to get listeners, not drive them deep into the woods where they commit suicide. What's the name of that band? Mindless Self Indulgence is the name of it. Yeah, which is maybe the correct title for this episode. Welcome to the Conan and Jordan show.

And we usually begin with the Rush song, Tom Sawyer, which is, that's your favorite band and maybe your favorite song of theirs. And then this was a hyped up version by the band Mindless Self Indulgence. And that was a surprise for both of us. I didn't know that was gonna play. Well, I'm saying is we've had a bit of time off

and there's been a lot of time to think of ideas. And that's what you guys came up with. Don't include me in this. Oh, okay. I am, what you did, imagine a Soviet era space capsule, and they put two chimps inside. Now the scientists, the Russian scientists have been working hard on blasting the chimps into space,

but you and I are the chimps. So I was unaware that that was gonna happen. And I've done no preparation for this podcast. Yeah, likewise. Now, is that the sense, do all your podcasts involve the same lack of preparation or do you somehow devalue this one with respect to some of the others?

Conan O'Brien needs a friend. I actually, I care about those people. We're talking about big stars like Al Pacino. I'll read his book. I'll think about all the things I wanna talk to Al Pacino people. I see. We're talking about big stars like Al Pacino. I'll read his book. I'll think about all the things I wanna talk to Al Pacino about. Makes sense. Or if I'm talking to President Barack Obama,

I really put a lot of thought into it. When they say, when I call in, as I do in the morning, and say, who am I talking to today? And they say, it's you and Jordan. I actually stop off at UCLA and have a portion of my brain removed. I see. And destroyed. You know, I've heard you talk about when you have a portion of my brain removed. I see. And destroyed.

You know, I've heard you talk about when you have a big guest like Harrison Ford, that there were some extra people out there in the waiting room. You know, the whole staff shows up, people that don't need to be here. People are excited. Yeah, I couldn't help but notice,

I walked in, it is empty out there. There is no one there. That's not true. There's one tumbleweed. Ha ha ha ha. And then the tumbleweed left. Listen, we have a lot to talk about. And Jordan, you know, I do treasure our friendship, if you can call it that. I don't know what it is, but we have some kind

of chemical bond which needs to be eradicated, like smallpox. But people are fascinated. They like to listen to us. They like to watch us travel the world. You've come with me on some of my adventures. And we have this show that we do, which people do enjoy, believe it or not.

There's been great. I haven't seen the metrics. There are none. Okay. There are no metrics. No one even cares to measure. No, who would measure that? Right.

But I wanna start today with some, I think good news for you. Oh. You have many pet peeves. No, who would measure that? Right. But I wanna start today with some, I think good news for you. Oh. You have many pet peeves. Okay. You have many sort of causes that you champion. All right. Which are a waste of time.

One is food coloring. You've been bothered about food coloring. Do you wanna take us, give us just a quick tour of what you think about food coloring? Well, it becomes most apparent when you compare some American food products to their foreign equivalents, things like M&Ms, where if you get them in the United Kingdom, the colors come from things like vegetable juice.

And the colors are a bit muted, I guess, compared to America's artificial color. Like the British themselves, kind of washed out. Yeah. Well, they'll live a bit longer because they have a healthy- Will they though? I think they all have massive heart attacks in their 50s. Cause of all the pints they've been having.

But anyway, you're saying that the UK, they use natural food coloring. They have more stringent requirements about limiting the types of artificial coloring that's used in our food. And when you talk about artificial flavor, I guess I could see the appeal in it because you want something to taste a certain one,

you can't achieve it otherwise. But when you talk about artificial color, I mean, how shallow are we that we just need something to look a certain way, you know? Yeah, well, you've made the same point many times How shallow are we that we just need something to look a certain way? Yeah. You know? Yeah. Well, you've made the same point many times that you think the Europeans do things better than we do.

Sometimes, yeah. Well, you tend to mostly lean that way. You seem a little anti-American to me. I wanna tell you that you should be quite happy. Robert Kennedy Jr., who is now the health czar of America, he's in charge of, and rightfully so, given his medical background and his knowledge and his years and years of study.

I think he has a medical degree. Does he have a medical degree? Does anyone know? You looking it up right now? You don't have to, he does not. It's not important. Anyway, Robert Kennedy Jr., RFK Jr., has decided to ban the artificial colors and dyes that are used in the United States.

He wants to get rid of them. And this is one of those instances where what the government's doing aligns with what you believe in. And he is getting rid of those colors. And so probably one of the places you're gonna see this most clearly is Fruit Loops. Yeah.

Now, do you enjoy Fruit Loops, the cereal? They're not the ideal breakfast cereal, but yeah, I've been known to. Ideal in what way? Well, I did a deep comparison of different breakfast cereals recently, and Fruit Loops, while they have a lot of sweetness, which is enticing, the texture is a little bit too airy.

I like a little bit more substance, like a Golden Grahams is a little more fulfilling in experience. Yeah, I love Fruit Loops. Okay. I have long been a Fruit Loops fan. Do you know, I love Fruit Loops. Okay. I have long been a Fruit Loops fan. Do you know how to spell Fruit Loops? What are you talking about?

Do you know how to spell Fruit Loops? F-R-O-O-T-L-O-O-P-S. Just checking. Good job, good job. I went to Harvard. Yeah. You don't think I know how to spell Fruit Loops? Right, okay.

So Fruit Loops in the future, very soon, they have fluorescent colors now, which I love, by the way. Those are going to be gone and they'll have a more muted, muted tones. You may call it muted, I call it natural. The way colors occur in nature. Yeah, but I think that man's job on earth

is to improve upon nature. They will taste the same. And I don't know what pleasure you derive in looking at that like bright blue color. And I like the way the colors change the milk. Okay. The great thing about Froot Loops with all of the radioactive dyes

that we use in the United States is that you can turn off the lights and like an alarm clock, you can see, you can turn off the lights, and like an alarm clock, you can see, you can still see the little, the, that's lit up. That's what I love about Froot Loops. I don't even eat cereal in milk. You know what's amazing?

What's that? Fruity Pebbles. Have you had Fruity Pebbles? Yeah, they're a little, their texture is a little bit too slight for me. I love that texture. I love how small they are. And there's so many of them.

No, that's the, I specifically dislike that. They're like slivers. Okay, well this is why you and I should never occupy a cell in a prison together. Yeah. Because we just don't get along on some of the major life issues. But the colors in Fruity Pebbles are insane. I've never done LSD.

Okay. And I don't have to. Sure. Because I've had Fruity Pebbles. Sure. Well, you better stock up now, apparently. Well, the nice thing is I better stock up now, apparently. Um, well, the nice thing is I can stock up and they'll never go bad because of the dyes.

Okay. Uh, there's it's true that, uh, any box of fruit loops you buy today will exist in its intact form 10,000 years from now and will be edible. Okay. Um, great improv by the way. Okay. I love that we're discussing current events. I like that, that this has Great improv, by the way. Okay. I love that we're discussing current events. I like that this has become the format of the show. What else is in the news?

And we'll weigh in on it. Robert Kennedy. Just inform me in advance if we're gonna be changing the format of the show. No, no. I mean, we spoke for an hour about breakfast cereal like two weeks ago. If you wanna continue, we can. I'm assuming this is leading to something.

Where's the payoff coming? I'm just telling you that we like to occasionally, we can. I'm assuming this is leading to something. Where's the payoff coming? I'm just telling you that we like to occasionally cover current events. Okay. This is a current event. It's in the news today. Okay. That Robert Kennedy Jr.

the very well qualified government official in charge Yeah. In the cabinet, in the Trump cabinet, who's in charge of our health and our welfare, who's done, I'm assuming, just years and years and years of hardcore research and study has decided that this is the best course of action. Okay.

And I'm assuming it's a good idea. And I think you agree. If you're looking for a political opinion, I have none to offer. I am happy to hear that the United States is moving in the right direction with respect to artificial colors. Now, do you hate bright colors in general?

No, I have no problems with bright colors, but I have a problem with artificial colors. Okay, but when you see a movie, you know that they're doing, sometimes there's gonna be some enhancement to the colors and things like that. when you see your beloved Star Wars. When you call it an enhancement, I call it like an HDR color grade

in the HDR 10 color space or perhaps the Dolby Vision color space, maybe even HDR 10 plus. Of course I understand that movies are graded. You're talking to an expert here. You come in there talking about enhancement. Do you wanna apologize? Yeah.

I could tell you the IRE level 400 nits. You're coming to me, you're coming to me like I'm a chimp explaining to me that movies are colors. You asked me to spell fruit loops. Yeah, I like pleasing colors. You thought I was going to think it was F-R-U-I-T? Yeah, and let's not pretend that everyone knows that it's F-R-R-O-T. Of course they know it's that.

Are you kidding me? You wouldn't call them real fruit loops? No, that's not self-evident. No one would do that. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No one would do that. No, no, no, no. No, no one asks for, I would like the loops that are made of fruit. How do you spell fruity pebbles? Fruity pebbles is actually F-R-U-I-T-Y. Very good, just testing you again. No, these are- You did well. This is what I majored in in college.

I wrote a thesis on fruity pebbles versus fruit loops. Guess what? Summa cum laude. Okay. Yeah, I actually went to Oxford and was given several prizes for this dissertation, if you will. Okay.

Well, we're gonna move on, but I- I hope so. I thought this was going somewhere. That was it. That was the climax of that particular hunk? You should be pleased with how that went. All right. Because I have great,

I've listened to some of our last conversations. Okay. This is a home run listened to some of our last conversations. This is a home run compared to some of them. Good stuff. Okay? Yeah. And I just want you to know that that's what's happening in the news

and I'm glad you're happy. Right. Your choice. Okay. Your choice for the person who would lead this nation on health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is in full agreement with you on most everything. Maybe we could talk about interest rates next.

No, no, no. Yeah. You're also an anti-vaxxer, I believe. Just going to get that out there. Anti-vaxxer. And a flat-earther, I believe, as well. You think if you go too far in Europe looking for a cappuccino, you'll fall off the edge of the earth?

Is that true? And then a dinosaur will eat you. Jordan, you and I have spent a lot of time together. Yes. And you have certain obsessions. One of them is pronunciation. It's important to you. Yeah. And sometimes your pronunciation of words is quite different than not just me, but what most people would think is the correct pronunciation. Oh, okay. That may be the case. I can't speak for how people interpret the things

I say. When you and I were doing the travel show for Max. And we were in Argentina. I said, it would be good idea if we took lessons and learned how to dance the tango. You corrected me and said, it's the tango. That's the closest I've ever come to hitting you. I've slapped you before, but I never struck you with a closed fist. That's the closest I ever came to striking you You insisted was the tango

And it was an insane moment. Okay, and I think if you go online people will realize that you are in the wrong. Well You're constantly correcting my pronunciation and I think you're errant I decided to bring somebody in who actually knows about linguistics and I believe you're a big fan of his YouTube channel. I'm talking about Luke Ranieri. Oh yes, excellent man. Luke Ranieri is here and he's gonna come in now. I think he's being probably, oh here he is. Hello Luke, how are you?

I'm great Conan, how you doing? Tell me a little bit about yourself because I'm not knowledgeable about your YouTube channel but thank you so much for joining us. Tell us a little bit about how you became fascinated with pronunciation, linguistics. Oh, thanks for having me, yeah. I just fell in love with Italian and then later Latin,

and for whatever reason, I wanted to speak Latin. I would just, for no reason, I was just a weirdo like that. And so wanting to speak an ancient language, I wanted to figure out how it's actually pronounced. And thankfully lots of people smarter than me wrote lots of books about that. And so I studied that and then eventually I started

talking about that on YouTube, how to pronounce Latin and ancient Greek in ancient pronunciations. Well, I don't know how familiar you are with my dynamic with Jordan Schlansky, but for many years now, he and I have sort of like the coyote and the road runner. We've been at war and we disagree about a lot of things. Jordan is constantly correcting my pronunciation of certain words. There are times where I'm convinced he's wrong. He thought instead of tango, the word was tango.

I don't know where you weigh in on that one, whether it's tango or tango. Well, in Spanish it's tango, but so that's a short a sound and a short a can go either towards a, depending on- Oh, I know. I know it could be tango, but it's not, he was saying tongo, the way Tarzan would name a fellow ape.

Hey, tongo, come here. Would you agree that tongo would be incorrect? It could be tango, a quicker a, I accept that, but I will not accept tango. I like your Spanish pronunciation when you said tango, that sounded good to me. Tango, yes, but it's important that not everyone... Of course, of course.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God, yes, oh. Yeah, and yes. But, okay. As for English, I think you go a lot of ways. Okay, would you just please agree with me before we proceed that tango, T-O-N-G-O, with a long O.

No, I never spelled it T-O-N-G-O, it's El Tongo. It's El Tongo. I didn't make the word up, I'm only reciting it. Luke. There's no shortage of Spanish speaking people in this town. Luke. You've got a celebrity here, you've got one of the few men on earth

that can currently speak Latin, both classical and ecclesiastical, and you're asking about Spanish. We have 10 people in the building that speak fluent Spanish. Luke? You're wasting this man's time. Would you say tango or would you say tongo?

Tongo sounds too much like the friendly game from Star Trek, Deep Space, man. Thank you so much. Now, before we continue, I'd like to know how to pronounce your name. Is it Luke Ranieri or is it Ranieri? What do you prefer? So in English Is it Luke Ranieri or is it Ranieri? What do you prefer? So in English I do Ranieri.

Boom. And in Italian it's Ranieri. I think Ranieri sounds better. I like it fine. Yeah, okay. And how do you go with Luke? Are you Luke? Like Luke, I am your father.

That would please my compatriot here who's a big Star Wars fan. It's his religion. Me too. Do you go with Luke or just Luke? I have a brother and I call him Luke. Okay. Yeah.

You're not going to divide us. We have a preexisting relationship. Do you understand? You're the odd, I see where you're trying to go with this. I'm gonna, spoiler alert right now, he and I are aligned. Oh really? Have you ever, you guys are aligned? We may have small differences like any human can do.

Have you ever danced the tango together? Yeah. Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe. You'll often give me what you say is the correct Latin pronunciation of certain words. I do the best I can. Or names like Julius Caesar. We say Julius Caesar. And what do you say Jordan?

Gaius Julius Geyser. He says Gaius Julius Geyser. No, that's not what I said. What did you say? No, I said Gaius Julius Geyser. Okay. Is that correct, Luke? For classical Latin pronunciation, I think that's very good.

Now, do you think... You're not gonna win here. I see why you're trying to go. Keep trying. No, but... No, is it perfect? No, of course not. Is it better than what you throwing out of that pie hole?

Of course it is. So my speaking is hurling things out of a pie hole. So what you're saying, Jordan, do you say Jordan? How do you pronounce it? Jordan. Jordan? Yeah.

Oh, I say, Yuriyan. Gaius. And what do you say for Caesar? Julius. Oh, Geys say for Caesar? Julius. Geyser. Geyser. Well, that's the classical Latin, of course. It's Caesar and the ecclesiastical Latin. You should know that you're a Roman Catholic.

So Caesar Romero is your favorite joker. Sure. Okay. How about Socrates? What do you, first of all, what do you say? Socrates. Socrates. And what do you say, Luke? Socrates is the modern Greek pronunciation, Jordan did it perfectly. Socrates, and what do you say, Luke? Socrates is the modern Greek pronunciation, Jordan did it perfectly. Ancient pronunciation,

it's a classical Attic pronunciation, Socrates. Oh, you never did that one. That actually sounds like if I was getting directions in my car, do you know what I mean, from a GPS. And it said that I had to take a left on Socrates Boulevard. It would go, take a left on Socrates Boulevard. Do you know what I mean?

That's what a little bit what sounds like. I think most GPS voices are probably programmed to speak in the correct ancient Latin. And that's why it sounds so weird to us. Do you agree with that? I have a real agenda with this man. If we have his time, I have questions, okay? I know you have bits that you have planned. I'm not doing bits.

I'd like him to rattle off every astrological sign in Latin. I'd like you to tell me how to pronounce Tyrannosaurus Rex in Latin. I want to know how to say Brontosaurus. I want to know... Okay, all right. Yeah. Okay. I'll take care of you.

I have real questions here. Okay. All right? I think our viewers would... I'm going to blow past the astrological signs because that's just cheesy and you're probably gonna use that on some dating website. Tyrannosaurus rex, what would be the correct way to say Tyrannosaurus rex?

Tyrannosaurus rex with a classical Latin pronunciation. Wow, that's a real deal breaker for me. I mean, you're talking to a kid, let's say you're talking to a kid and you just want to say, oh, and let's go to the museum. I don't want to go, I don't want to go. No, come on, it's really cool. They have a T-Rex there.

Oh, cool, I will go to the museum. I love a T-Rex. Jordan, when he's talking to his kids, he's going to say, do you want to come see a T-Rex? And the kid's going to go, no, I don't. he's gonna say, do you wanna come see a tyrannosaurus? And the kid's gonna go, no, I don't. And so your kids are never gonna see a natural history museum in their lives, because you're such a freak. Okay.

Brontosaurus, how do you say it? Brontosaurus, from the word bronte, meaning thunder in Greek, and of course the saurus means a lizard or a reptile. Of course. Yeah. Now caveat, we have all these Latin words. Is caveat the way to say it? Or is it caveat?

Oh, I say caveat. Cawiat means may he or she be careful. Watch out, caveat. But the caveat I would bring up is the fact that we have these names from Latin, ancient Greek, other languages, and we've anglicized them like Caesar. And we can say, if we're speaking in Latin, we'll say Caesar or jazz art potentially, but English, we have these English pronunciations like Caesar and Tyrannosaurus Rex. I mean, I would like to see you go, you know,

to an Olive Garden and ask for a Geyser salad and see what you get. You know what I mean? It's not gonna happen. So I think sometimes it's off-putting. I guess that's what I would say to you, Luke. I appreciate your knowledge and I appreciate that someone is making sure they understand

the long dead pronunciation of these names. But when Jordan does it in real life, it can feel like a put down and it can be socially a little awkward. Could you see how that would be? Having done that for a long time and then changing my own behavior, yes, I can understand that.

So you modified your behavior because you realize I'm not gonna say Geyser, I'm gonna say, yeah, well, Caesar was stabbed in the eyes of March by his felt by the senators. That's what you would say. You wouldn't say Geyser, right? Usually talking about history, yes. Caesar was stabbed by Brutus and Cassius

and the rest of the conspirators. So you learn that Luke, because he's a human and has lived among humans, has altered his behavior somewhat, even though he is an expert, far more than you at all these pronunciations, he has altered his behavior somewhat in order to fit in society better.

He has a forum to disperse his knowledge. He has an excellent- It's called Forum. That's close. He has a couple of YouTube channels where he can talk about these things. This is my forum, do you understand? This is my chance. Do you know what I've done here?

I've started a dialogue. There are millions of people listening right now that now know how to pronounce Geysa. I don't know about that. And it never even occurred to them before. Right. And they know how to pronounce the real names of dinosaurs. I'd like to cover Greek gods. I wanna talk about things like habeas corpus and eploribus unum.

We say these words every day, but we don't know where they come from. You're providing a service. So many dates aren't gonna happen because you've provided this knowledge. So many guys are gonna be at bars and they're gonna say, by the way, it's not Caesar, it's Geyser.

And then they're gonna go to say something else and the girl is gone. In fairness, my fiance liked me because I was talking about those things. That's how we met. I think she's Italian. He has a beautiful fiance. She is. This man is, I just want you to respect who you're speaking to right now, okay? Can I just say one thing, Luke?

I have no proof, there's no proof here that your fiance, it could be the old girlfriend in Canada bit. We have no proof that this girlfriend's real. She's probably in the next room. The pictures are right here. Oh yeah, oh, I've got a picture too. Do you wanna see the picture of my girlfriend? Yeah, I've got lots of pictures of my girlfriends from the past.

Now they're gonna look a little like supermodels that you've seen, but they were really my girlfriends. Do you know that you're not an Aries, you're an Adidas? Uh-huh. I didn't know that. Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah. Well, now you learned something new. And you could, for the rest of your life,

you'll know that you're an odd-ie. And you are, what is your son? I'm an odd-ies too. Yeah. Well, you're April 18th. You should know my birthday. It's five days before yours. I shared with Max Weinberg.

I don't know your birthday. Okay. Because I don't wanna know your birthday. Maybe after 30 years, it's time that you learn these things. You could have wished me well. Happy belated birthdays. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much.

We, well, how would you say, are you familiar with the Karate Kid movies? Absolutely. You know who they starred? They starred Ralph Macchio. How would you pronounce his name? I remember it's M-A-C-C-H-I-O, right? Yeah. Macchio. How would you pronounce his name? I remember it's M-A-C-C-H-I-O, right? Yeah.

Macchio. In Italian, it's Macchio. Yeah. Ralph Macchio, Luforigno. Luforigno, the Hulk? Luforigno, the Hulk. But here's what we get into an interesting thing. There is how they're known, meaning how they are known throughout the world. So you could be a huge fan of Ralph Macchio. I'm sure even if you pulled, Ralph, if a state trooper pulled over a sports car

and the plate said Karate Kid 1, Karate Kid 2, whatever, it was a vanity license plate. And the thing went down and he said, license and registration, what's your name, sir? And it was Ralph, the star of those films. And he said, he would say, I'm Ralph Macchio. He wouldn't say I'm Ralph Macchio. So this is important to me that you're saying

what you think it should have been 10,000 years ago, but no one calls it that. I mean, my name is Conan O'Brien. What would my name have been 800 years ago in Ireland? I assume it was something like Conan, because I think that's what it is in Irish, Conan. But yeah, that's a good point. But O'Brien would be like O'Breen, it'd be Gaelic, I don't know.

But that is not my name. My name is Conan O'Brien. That's true. Though if we Latinize your name, it would be Conanus Briennius or something like that, which would, which would sound cool. We like to Latinize our names when we, when we speak because it makes it easier for different parts of the grammar.

So we have Conanus Briennius and Jordanus Lanskius. You like that? Jordanus Lanskius. Do you wish that I called you that? No, I like to, I appreciate all these factoids. Many people spend time on the internet watching various things. I appreciate spending a couple hours watching Luke and his excellent dissertations about any number of subjects. However, I believe in staying true to one's background, so to speak. So I would wanna know more of the Polish, Russian origins

of my name and Irish for yours. But yeah, there are so many things I have to ask Luke, but I'll have to save them for another time because it appears you have an agenda of jokes and quips. So I'll let you take the lead. I'll let you take the lead and we'll converse offline. Because- Why don't you test us, Luke, why don't you test us on the pronunciations of historical Greek and

Roman names? You think that's maybe a good test for the both of us and we'll see? I think that's a great idea. Let's try that. And let's start with what we're going to do. We're going to play a little game. You'll both get the chance to steal. Now let's start with speaking of the assassination of, uh, of Julius Kayser. Here was one of the men behind it. Now, Conan, we're going to start with you.

What you can, you can pronounce his whole name or just that, uh, we'll call it last name. Well, he was stabbed by Brutus. And so I'm just going to say it was Brutus. And, and, and now you got to try to do it in a classical Latin pronunciation best you can. Marcus Junius Brutus. Is that it?

Not bad, not bad. Yeah, I just did it the worst way. I did it the stupidest way I could think of and you said that was pretty close. Now you go for it there, Chimpy. I would go with Marcus Junius Brutus. Okay, I'm gonna give that point to Jordan. Okay.

Okay. So when he said, you too Brutus, he was saying et tu Brutus? Brute. Brute. Et tu Brute. So you too Brutus, okay. Yeah, like Shakespeare wrote him Brute. That's a lot to get out while you're,

I mean, he was bleeding out of, I think, maybe 35 different knife wounds and he had to get all that out. Some historians say he didn't say anything. Others said he in fact said, he said in Greek and you my child and you my son. And others, Etubrute is a- There's one and also this one account where he just went,

what the fuck? What the fuck? Can you imagine if you can go back in time and a time machine and hear everyone, how beautiful is that? Even when he says something like et tu brutte, can you imagine hearing everyone speaking like that, dressed in their togas?

I can imagine the togas. Yeah. I do that a lot. Yeah. Okay, continue, sir. Oh, right. So speaking of a Brutus, this was his wife. How is this pronounced in Latin?

Jordan, we're gonna start with you. Classical Latin. Classical Latin, Porchia. And I'd go Ecclesiastical, I'd go Porchia. I'm gonna go Porchia. Very nice. I'm gonna go Porchia. Not bad, but I think I'm gonna have to give that point to Jordan.

And yeah, we call her Porchia. You know, she's slow with it. I see the fix is in. She's in English. Okay. Yeah, it means means little piglet. Oh, that's a nice, that's great. That's great.

That's some real misogyny there from Brutus. Hey, hey, little piglet, come here. That's nice. Women love it when you call them little piglet. I'm gonna go home tonight and my wife and say, hey there, little piglet. You know, it's even worse because in a way women in ancient Rome

didn't get their own names. The usual name that they were called was just the feminine version of their father's family tribe name. Yep. They wonder why that empire fell and is no more. When you don't treat the women right, the empire crumbles. A word of warning. Well, how about a poet or two? Let's start with this one. First, Conan, can you guess what we call a poet or two? Let's start with this one first. Conan, can you guess what we call this poet in English?

Cause it's a little bit different. I'm gonna say in English, it's Virgilius. Oh, that's right. Yeah, Virgil, very good. And what can you do your best classical Latin pronunciation Conan? Virgilius. Not bad, not bad.

You know what, because you guessed it was Virgil and the vergilius sounded pretty good. We used, we pronounced the V as a W. I was gonna go that way. I could have gone that way, but I knew that it was a fork in the road and I could take either one. I liked that, that was good.

I think I get that point. We don't even have to try Jordan. I'm giving that point. Just so you know, we're keeping score. This is a free and fair game show. So this is all correct and above board. Of the game shows that have existed in the world this might be the worst but and I say that with kindness but let's continue. And that may be well let's take this one Jordan what poet is this in? What do we call him in English? Horatio in English?

Not usually. It's Horus. That's right, Reconan is correct. And how would we pronounce this in classical Latin, Jordan? Horatius. Horatius, yeah. I had it first. Very good.

I'm sorry. You gotta give me both of those points because I knew it was Horace. He didn't even know who it was. Well, how many points do we have now? We have three to two Jordans in the lead. Okay, let's go one more time. And you have to ask me first.

Okay, let's do a Greek one. This is a mythological figure. Of course, well, we would know him as Odysseus. Right, very good. But in the Greek, it would be Odysseus, Odysseus, Odysseus, Odysseus, get to the chopper. It's not a tumor.

Odysseus, Odysseus, Odysseus, Odysseus. What do you think? We get it in there? Aeo barbari. Yes, you are, yeah, definitely getting there. I enjoyed it. Well, first of all, we know Odysseus was Ulysses in Rome and despite the pronunciation, which I'm not familiar with, I will tell you that a lot of people know about the Iliad, but

they also know about the Odyssey. People know that nobody could string Odysseus' bow except his son Telemachus, or is it Telemachus? And he had all these suitors coming after his wife, and he had a dog, and the dog was the only one that recognized. They thought he was dead, and he comes back, and the dog is the only one that recognizes him. And all these suitors are trying to string this bow, but they can't string the bow. And then Odysseus gets up there in disguise and he strings the bow and he executes the suitors

and everyone lives happily ever after. If you were on the street in say San Diego and it was two o'clock in the morning and you said all of that, the police would put a blanket around you and then they would take you to a shelter and you'd be medicated. Right.

And the body cam footage would totally exonerate those policemen. I understand. You just raved like an absolute fucking lunatic. Yeah. And even, I mean, you have the safety of being on a Zoom, Luke, but even you retreated somewhat from the camera. Wasn't that a little bit frightening,

the intensity of that speech? Well, it's kind of like a tower of terror. Sometimes frightening is enjoyable. There are people out there that appreciate me. You need to understand that. I just haven't met them. I'm a polarizing individual. Yeah, there's a Yeti.

There's a Yeti out there and I haven't met it. I've heard tell, but no one has footage. I have never seen even a photograph of someone who enjoys what you're saying. What I'm saying is, I know, I am polarizing. I understand that there are people- No, polarizing means half are with you, half are against you. That's right.

You aren't polarizing. You are completely alienating. Okay. No one is in your corner. I've never met anybody who's in your corner. Okay. Ever. All right.

Ever. I understand. Ever. The people that dislike me, I get it. I really do. That's called humanity. That's called humanity. Okay. That's the population of Earth. Ever. The people that dislike me, I get it. I really do. That's called humanity. That's called humanity. Okay, okay.

That's the population of Earth. Yeah. But the people that can't tolerate me, I get you too. I'd like to meet them. Yeah. All right, well, I wanna thank you, Luke. It's been lovely talking to you. And I do appreciate what you do.

You seem like a lovely person. I am gonna check out your YouTube channel. I wanna give you a shout out, Luke Ranieri, or you would say Rainieri. No, he wouldn't, he'd say Ranieri. Don't argue, the man who actually, it's his name. Yeah, well, you don't know, he knows, I know. How can they access your YouTube channel?

What's the best way to find it? Well, yeah, if you search for Luke Ranieri, you'll find both of them really easily. Great. And otherwise, the main channel is called Polymathy. It's like polymath with a Y at the end, Polymathy. And you can find a lot of my videos that way. Well, I am a fan of people who know their stuff.

You seem to know your stuff and you seem like a very affable fellow. And so I wish you all the best. And it really has been nice talking to you. Thank you for intervening here because this was an intervention. And Jordan, I do think now you may know some of what you're talking about.

I still think you're completely wrong on Tongo. And I know that Luke agreed with me on that. And that'll wrap this section up. Okay, for better or worse, and I, well, I'm gonna say worse, this was the Conan and Jordan show. And Jordan, once again, I wouldn't say it's a pleasure, but it certainly is an experience.

Okay. You are so additive to the process. Your sullen okays really take us out. If I have nothing to contribute, I'm not gonna pretend to contribute. Okay. But you know when I do say something, it means something. Okay.

Are you about to snap? I have nothing to say right now. Okay. Well, for a guy with nothing to say, you are very animated and you seem furious. So we're gonna go to take this out. This has been our episode of the Conan and Jordan show. We hope you enjoyed it.

We certainly have an interesting time making these. We hope you find value in this process. I'm just going to mutter on my way out. Jordan? I have nothing to mutter. The Conan and Jordan show with Conan O'Brien and Jordan Schlansky is produced by me, Frank Smiley. Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Jim McClure.

Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez. Our supervising producer is Andrew Groose. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Battista, and Rick Khan. The theme song is Tom Sawyer by Rush. 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 and Jordan? Call the Team Coco Hotline, 669-587-2847,

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