Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Kate Hudson

Episode Date: March 22, 2021

Actress and entrepreneur Kate Hudson feels insecure about being Conan O’Brien’s friend.Kate sits down with Conan to talk about the key to being a good salesperson, rediscovering the music of the 90s through her kids, and family lessons learned from iconic parents Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. Plus, Conan shares an urgent news update with his team.Got a question for Conan? Call our voicemail: [phone].For Conan videos, tour dates and more visit TeamCoco.com.

Hi, my name is Kate Hudson, and I feel insecure about being Conan O'Brien's friend. Wow. Hey there, welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. We are zipping along. Zipping along. We do. I really do enjoy doing this. It's a chance to let my freak flag fly, and what a freak flag. What a freak flag. It's true. What is your freak flag? Yeah, what's on your freak flag? What are you talking about?

Well, Sona, you know me to be an odd individual. I think sometimes on television, I can pull it together somewhat and come across as a semi-broadcaster. But here on the podcast, this is an unfiltered blast of Conan, tons of nicotine and tar, no filter. This is a terrible analogy. The podcast is addictive, and it's a shot of nicotine right to the brain. It comes with a warning label. The Surgeon General does not recommend this podcast because it's unfiltered Conan, which has been proven to be very dangerous to your lifespan. Don't you think that's a fine analogy? Yeah. I think we're going to have some workers' comp cases down the road, Sona and I, from

what we suffered from working on this. What about people listening to it? I'm talking about the people listening to it right now. This podcast is too new. We don't know what the long-term effects of this podcast are. In 10 years on daytime TV, there will be lawyer ads for like, did you listen to the Conan O'Brien podcast? In 2019, 2020, and 2021, were you listening to the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast? Then they'll have actors just pretending to be driving what will then be old-fashioned cars, 1990 Toyota Tacomas and listening to the podcast and pulling over to the side of the road and having a headache, you know what

I mean? Then a lot of widows saying, he listened to it all the time. I wish he was here to see his grandchildren, but he even listened to the ads. We lost him at 37. We don't know. We don't know the long-term effects. A lot of podcasts that you listen to, podcast listeners, have been vetted. Mark Marin cleared the Food and Drug Administration like 15 years ago. We don't have FDA approval? No. No, the FDA is reluctant to even sample this podcast. They haven't even legally allowed to call this a podcast. It's a podcast supplement. No. This is a podcast supplement. It is not have FDA approval. Can't get this at a pharmacy.

Most people get this podcast in the cyber equivalent of an alley. Oh no. There's dealers? I'll take this analogy as far as I need to take it. My point is, you've been warned. You have to download it from Canadian servers. Yeah. Exactly. Canadian servers. Thank you. This is punk rock podcasts. No?

No. I'm lost a little. I'm not a lot. Yeah. You're taking this analogy the wrong way. Okay. We're saying it's bad for you. It contains trace elements of asbestos and lead. And then you're saying, yeah, man, it's heavy metal. No, that's not what it is. It's punk rock. Well, I'm thinking it's cool and underground. No.

Oh no. This is just cool. This is a mesotheliomia of podcasts. Yeah. There you go. Thank you. Mine is so much cooler. Yeah. No, no.

Matt gets it. Matt gets it. Okay. It's like a boat that's off the shore. Yeah. That's not us. Okay. That's not us. You, Matt had it right. We are the mesotheliomia.

What? Mesotheliomia. The home of the Hamahimuna. Right. Mesothelioma. Mesothelioma. Yeah. Mesothelioma. Mesothelioma.

What a tragic tongue twister this is. This is a tongue twister that's incredibly depressing and dark. Just whatever. We've warned people. People have been warned. That's the important thing. We've warned people over two years into it. Well, you got to get them hooked first. You got to get them, you got to get them a taste. So we reeled you in with, oh wow, did you hear him? With, you know, like we reeled you in. Did you hear that? I'm Sandler. Oh, did you hear, you know, with Bruce Springsteen, we reeled you in and now we're lowering the boom.

But this is not the way to do it because the people who gave people mesothelioma weren't like, hey, get us off the mesotheliomia trap. Stop bringing that up. Sonia, why did you even introduce that? That was a bad improv edition by Mr. Goorley. Very dark. I don't think that people are going to like that. Some listeners are going to get upset and you keep bringing it back. I've been over three seconds since someone mentioned cancer. Take it easy, Sona. I just don't know why if we are killing people, you would go on the podcast and talk about

how we're killing people. Because I'm saying it's a disclaimer. For mesothelioma. Stop it. Sorry. I'm trying to make the point that we're in uncharted waters. People that know me well would say there's something wrong with me. Yeah.

They've said that. They've said, my father, as I've said this many times on the podcast, said to me and he wasn't trying to be funny. He's a doctor and a scientist said to me many years ago, you're making your living off of something that should be treated. And he was not kidding. He wasn't doing a joke. He was saying one plus one equals two. I understand now. Yeah. So that's what we're doing is we're exposing everybody to this. And then I have my two trusty enablers, Sona and Goorley who've enabled this whole process.

Legally, I have no idea what we're doing. I had no idea that there were any adverse effects to this. You participated. I had absolutely no idea. You clearly do. You worked in the cigarette factory, Sona. You wrote the cigarettes. No, I had no idea that they were addicted. No, I'm a whistleblower. I'm saying this thing's bad for you, Goorley.

Goorley, I'll jump on there. Oh, you're a whistleblower now. Yeah. I'll jump on that train with you. Oh, okay. So you're both whistleblowers. Yeah. So you're the whistleblowers and I'm the carcinogen. Yes.

That's terrific. Hey, that makes Adam Sacks, the evil CEO. Yeah. He's Philip Morris. There are people behind the scenes that know I should have been put in a hospital a long time ago and treated and they were like, no, no, no, this monkey, every time this monkey starts chattering and having one of his fits, money comes underneath the door. Keep, you know, let's keep him going. Should we take him to the vet now? No, let him go another 20 minutes. Quickly. Some of those 20s are getting, you know, put him in a basket.

Yeah. So these guys, these guys, they're the ones that will stand trial. Sure. You two will be revered as whistleblowers. I will be autopsyed and my brain studied. Yeah. It is interesting how you kind of are marketed like camel cigarettes to children because you have like the kind of red hair and it's very, you're very kid friendly as an image. Yes. Yes. I modeled myself on the Bob's big boy logo because I, or Maronald McDonald

or the Wendy's girl. In fact, many people stop me on the street and say, I love your hamburgers, Wendy. And I say, I'm Conan O'Brien and I'm a man. And they say, my apologies. I mistook you for a pigtailed red haired young woman named Wendy who sells hamburgers. And I say, well, please, let us never have this misunderstanding again. That happens to me three times a day, but I intentionally made myself visibly unthreatening and friendly for the workspace and friendly to America so that it would be palatable. And then people, once they ingested, this is really getting disturbing. They ingested my humor over long periods of time, the damage. It was too late.

Yeah. Me, so the Ilioma. Improved improvising instincts. I've ever experienced. Just really, you just, you have a homing radar for the worst place to go. I'll make you pay somehow. I'll make you pay some way. Hey, my guest today is an actress and an entrepreneur or entrepreneur. Wait, that was impressive actually. Wow. We used to talk about this. This is the word I can't say. Did you talk about this? So somehow elegant. I didn't question it. I just thought, like, have I been pronouncing

it wrong all these years? No, no, no. It's one of the words that I've always hated that I have a problem with, which is. How did you say it? Well, what I said was entrepreneur. I can't breathe. But it's one of those words that just is like, I've always had a problem with it. I don't think that that's a good word. But I love this guest, a terrific actress and entrepreneur.

You know from such films is almost famous and how to lose a guy in 10 days. She also hosts her own podcast, Sibling Revelry with her brother, Oliver, and it is available wherever you get your podcasts. I'm very excited she's with us today. Hey, Hudson, welcome. How could you feel insecure about being my friend? Because we're neighbors and we don't ever see each other. Well, that's because I have tried to enter your house nine times. I've been wrestled to the ground by security and led away. I know exactly where you live. We'll just let the listeners in on this little secret, which is Kate, you have the best holiday decorations

outside your house and I walk. We have two dogs. We have a dog that's very excited and I walk very quickly with him. Then we have an older dog who walks about I think one mile every two hours and I will very slowly pass your house and it's fantastic. It is crazy. It's like it is crazy. It's a little crazy. As a matter of fact, this was the first year where I was like, I think I'm not crazy person on the block that's sort of like, you know, as I get older, it's going to get crazier. But why the lights that say, hi, I'm Kate Hudson? Why? Has anyone told you that's not a good idea? I think it's actually the opposite. Like, who wants to even get near a house that's

so happy? You know, it's like, if there's someone that's going to come around and go, you know, let's see what's in there and rob this house. It's not going to be the one that looks like, you know, everyone's just awake and jolly. Yes, you're putting out way too much bliss for anything bad to happen. But you know, I don't know about you because this podcast is called Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. There's a little bit of a truth to it, which is I don't really know in LA and Hollywood and people who are well known. I know and admire a lot of people and really like them, but I don't really know them. Does that make sense?

That's how I feel. I mean, you grew up in this, you feel that way. Well, no, I kind of feel like, you know, I have that thing where I'm the person that walks down the street and says hi to everybody, you know, and I, it's only after the fact that I think like, oh, okay, yeah, that's right. I'm famous. People don't really like approach me as much, right? And then I'll walk by your house, a couple other people's house in our neighborhood, and I want to knock on the door.

But you could. I know, but I don't because I'm insecure. And I, you go to that place, you're like, well, maybe, I don't know. I mean, just Conan really want to see me right now. Yeah. Conan wants to see you right now. You know, Conan always wants to see you. You have to remember who Conan, yeah, you're sort of like, is it, is it something that, I mean, maybe they're busy with their kids or busy with, you know, who knows that being, I'm the opposite. If someone knocked on my door, I'd be so excited to feel like I had that neighborhood connection.

Yes. I think we have to start that because it doesn't exist in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has this weird thing where you live near people, but no one ever goes and talks to those people. Like, Sony, you grew up here and it's a little, it's a little weird that way, isn't it? It is weird that way. Yeah, you're right. I mean, when I grew up right outside Boston, Massachusetts, I knew who everybody was in the neighborhood and I would go over to friends' houses and play. That's the way it was in the 1930s. Now, I live in LA and it's very different where you might not know the person who lives diagonally across the street from you. You might not know them.

It's the one thing I love about living in New York, like, because I lived in New York most of my young adult life. Where am I in my life? How do I categorize where I'm at? Trust me. I'm going to still categorize you as quite young. You're still quite young. Yes. But like in my 20s, when I was living in New York, I had a very different neighborhood experience. Like friends would call and be like, where are you? And you'd be like, I'm home. They just come over. There was no like, or someone would be walking down, knock on the door and I'd be there and they'd come in and you'd spend dinner together. Here, it's just the total opposite. Where did you go to school?

For college, I went to USC. But you're from LA? Yeah, I'm from LA. I went to a public school in Hacienda Heights. Oh, okay. So you're a born and raised? Yeah. And I grew up at a very dangerous section of Boston called Brookline Mass. No, you didn't. And well, I did grow up in Brookline Mass. It's just, you know, it's a very dangerous tough area where John F. Kennedy was born. Yeah, you know, really, you just had to learn quickly or you weren't going to survive in my suburb. But no, it is a strange thing of you don't quite know where you stand with other people, which is

sort of how this podcast started. That's what this search sort of, it started kind of as a joke, but it's also trying to find out there are these people, and I'll talk about you specifically who I've encountered many times over the years while we're doing a show or just out in the world. And I do get a very positive, real vibe if people still use that word from you. I use that word. You're a very authentic person and you're a very nice person. And I've always feel better after I talk to you. And I thought, okay, Kate Hudson, this is someone I need to explore. I need to find out, does Kate Hudson, how does she really feel? And now I find you're

insecure about the whole matter. I'm insecure about all kinds of things. I mean, I grew up, I really grew up in this town, right? So like, I grew up in a world where I was sort of an observer of this town, you know, being young and little and seeing your parents are larger than life and then seeing all of these larger than life characters come into the room, whether it be at a party, a Christmas party or whatever it is, and you're kind of the little girl looking and watching all these incredibly attractive people interact. And then also seeing sort of how really like deep and connected those friendships really

are and what relationships like go beyond kind of the smoke and mirrors and the show. And I think that there's really not that many of them, at least growing up watching it, I think we're living in a little bit of a different time in our community. But back when I was little, it was like my parents best friends, they had great friendships inside of this business, but their good close friends were always existed outside of the business. So I don't think I actually had, there's a part of me that feels like there's people in our industry that I want to be close to. But for some reason, I think like, oh, they've lived the big life and they're doing a bunch of things and I don't want to bother them

or, you know, I don't want to make them feel like I want, you know what I mean? I just have a little bit of that insecure thing where you go, I'll just leave them to it. Yeah. And I will say that that is how every, I think a lot of people feel. And I think if you didn't feel that way, you would be a phony. I mean, I think actually, I think it's, it's healthy to feel that way. And this is the part of your story that I find so incredible. You know, you grow up with your mom, Goldie Han, and then your stepdad, Kurt Russell. These are two of the coolest people in the world. Somehow, and I'm going to give them credit for this, you've grown up to be a very real person when you have every excuse not

to be. Do you know what I mean? You've got these iconic parents, like the Hamburglar, and you know, one of the cabbage patch dolls, or like your parents. And then suddenly, and trust me, I just threw that out there and Kurt Russell's going to kick the shit out of me now when I see him hiking on a mantra. He doesn't live far away from you either, Conan. No, he doesn't. And I, and it's so funny when I see them in real life, like they just, they take hikes a lot together and I'll be walking around and I'll come around a corner and then, and they're there. And instead of playing it cool, I'm always saying, Goldie Han, Kurt Russell. It's just like I can't play it cool.

Well, the good thing is, they're in there like 70s now. They can't see you. So, so, it's fine. They just wave and like keep going, you know. Kurt has said to me several times, you seem like a pretty cool gray blob. You're all right with me. You know, it's funny. They are cool. They're, you know, the thing is, is that we grew up, and I've said this throughout, you know, because it always is a question that everybody asks and I get it, you know, because they're, they're iconic, you know, actors and, and, but I think it's almost like why they're still together is because their great sort of focus in life was creating a good family. Like, I think that's really why they've made it through all of their ship and every

relationship has that. So, you know, they, we, we left LA when we were kids. We moved to Colorado and, and they almost like made sure that, that we knew that we didn't deserve any of what we grew up with. That it wasn't about our like that they worked for the privilege. Yes. And almost to the point where it was like too much at times, but, but, but it was ingrained in us that everything that we had in our life was because they worked their butts off. So it's sort of this, it's their value system of it being all about family. Both of them grew up with very close families. They met and they both had that one thing, even though they were bigger than life in their businesses or in Hollywood. Like it was all about, it was all about the family. And, and, and so when you

grow up with that, it's like you, I don't know, I guess we just honor it. And we know that that's kind of what like none of it matters except if we're good, you know. It's that famous, there's that famous saying that Jackie Kennedy had, which is they, she said, no matter what you have in life, if you failed at raising your children, you have nothing. Like she, she just said, if you don't have that, you don't have anything. And I always thought that's a pretty cool. It's true. It's like the only thing you can fail at, right? Right. And that's why I've really made sure that the people who are raising my children are really all over it. You know, I have an agent, a manager, and a nutritionist who are raising my, my children and they, I see to it twice a year, I get a report

and it better be top notch. My mom always said, which I agree with is you're only as happy as your most unhappy child. Wow. That's rough. But it's true, isn't it? Because, you know, your, your happiness really is in, I mean, hopefully it is in your child's happiness. Like if they're unhappy, you know, there's just, you can't, how do you, like that has to be your number one focus. Right. You just have to double up on the meds, I think. Are we, am I saying inappropriate things? This is what you're best at. No, I hear that and I think unhappy child. It's called Prozac and you just keep doubling the dose with or without a doctor's suggestions. 20 milligrams, it looks like 40 to me. No, no, I'm kidding. And these are all horrible things I'm saying. And what are

you drinking? I'm sorry, I'm just going to tell the, the, tell our listeners that the beautiful and really like just radiant, Kate Hudson just lifted a glass of some kind of potion that you're drinking and I know it's very healthy. It's very healthy. It's, and you know, this wasn't to talk about my products, I promise. But I had no idea. It has no label on it. You just held up a glass jar with this liquid in it and I'm like, okay, what is that? So it's, it's called, it's brain, it's called brain flow. And it's basically this product that I made that wakes you up without caffeine and it makes you, it's like, it literally wakes your brain up. So there's no caffeine, but a lot of cocaine. Basically. It's like a, it's like a good natural eight ball. Yes. Yes. All natural cocaine. No,

I'm, I'm obviously again saying terrible things, but terrible. Now here, here's something, Kate, that you've been this extremely successful and influential entrepreneur. And this is, we're going to jump all around because there's so much stuff to talk about with you, but you've been very successful. And I think you have this, this unfair advantage over someone like me, for example, which is people want to look like you. People want to do what you're doing. And so when you say, this is what I like to wear when I work out, or this is what I like to drink, people say, yes, I want that because that's what Kate's using. I don't have that. No one's saying, what's Conan eating? What's Conan drinking? I want that Conan look. Conan. No one is,

no one is saying. The Conan seat you on a bike, you know, you got to let him in. You got to let him see you on that bike. Would you please, you saw me on a bike and what did you think? Be honest. It's like, you know. Oh, this big, very bad. All right. All right. No, speak freely. Speak freely. Let's just say, let's just say that you can see you from very far away. There's that. Like, I know when you're coming from about two blocks. First of all, you have to admit the leg to torso ratio is off the charts. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying, I mean, it's impressive. Have you seen the original Muppet movie where Kermit's riding a bike and he has this little green body and then they, they had his legs and his legs are like these long green pipe stems and it's

turning the pedals of the bike and it looks hilarious. Yeah. Go and rent that movie. Yes, that's me. You're like Kermit with a wig. Thank you. Thank you for not editing your thoughts about what I look like out in the wild. But I feel like you could sell a lot of bike gear. I could sell sunscreen. We know that. And the key to being a sort of a good at selling product is it as authenticity and humor. Oh, well, that first of all, I'll tell you, I have no product. There's no Conan product other than, you know, me just babbling. There's nothing Conan ask that you can buy. And I do, this is a true story. My manager called me up a couple of years ago and he's always thinking, he's always thinking, he's always thinking and he was like, I've got it.

Pa maid. Conan, Pa maid. So you can get the Conan updo. And I'm like, what are you talking about? I can't, I can't be marketing a Pa maid. And I swear to God, my, my, this guy calls me, it's his name's Gavin and he's very intense and he'll call me up and you'll say, Pa maid, where are you on the pomade? Like, where am I? And he said, are you, are you mixing up any pomade at home? Are you experimenting with different pomades? We've got to get the Conan pomade out there. And then he'll say, this is going to be like a 50 cents vitamin water. What was it? Yeah, who had someone had a fortune 50 cent 50 cent came out with vitamin water and made, I think, I think half the world's money now belongs to 50 cent. He made a fortune. And so

Gavin will say things like, this, this is your vitamin water. And I'm like, no, it's not. No, it's not. 50 cent is really cool. And he sold water, which everyone is made of 98% of the human body is water. No, people are not, you're not going to see people. You know what? It would be the great stocking stuffer. So you could just launch it for like the holiday season. You know what I do? I would get you involved. I really would. I know where you live. You're easy to find. I would get you involved. And I would say, if you could put some of your magic fairy dust on this somehow, you don't even like give it that patina of Kate Hudson, cool beauty product. And it's like an off off offline of yours. So that when people are clicking to get your stuff,

if they go way over to the right and then way down, there's the Conan pomade. I just want you to think about that. I'm going to think about it. It might not be a bad idea. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, like, you know, more in depth, I think, like, look at your hair as it stands with headphones on. Like it's, it's your, it is your trademark. So I think Gavin's onto something. Right. He might not be wrong. But well, I'll, on the subject of hair, I have to bring up something with you, which is, I think I met you for the first time in 2000. And you were promoting almost famous, of course, this amazing, you know, sort of breakout moment. And you were brilliant in the movie. And you came on the show. And you said to me, I think you're

doing your hair wrong. I think you need to part it the other way. And here we are over 20 years later. And I'm still, it bugs me. And I think about it sometimes. And I'm telling you, I've actually stood in front of my mirror. And my wife's, you know, asleep. And I'm in the, I'm looking in the mirror at night. And I'll start to go, my hair has always been, my part's always been on the left side of my head. I'll actually go to the right side of my head and start to push it over. And I'm like, this is what Kate will think this is handsome. And then my wife would be like, what? And I'd be like, nothing. Come back to sleep. It was so strange. You had this like thing and you said it to me and it really got to me. It really has, you know, you know, what's

funny about that interview is that I actually watched it not that long ago. I was going through, I forget what I was, I was looking for something and I came across it and I watched it. I realized that we both sounded like we were in like a, like a movie from the 40s. Like it felt vintage. I was listening to it and we both had like a different cadence to our voice. It was higher. You know, when you watch old movies and you're like, wow, they talked so differently. And then I was watching that and I was like, I mean, is it crazy? It sounds like it's an old movie. I don't know. I've always was sort of fascinated with that era of like old, old-timey, you know, entertainment. And I think sometimes that's who I, I've always wanted to be in the

show business of the 1940s and 50s. So I think that would come out sometimes. And so I may have been channeling that and you being a nice person and an impact probably said, all right, you know, and I'm like, hey there, doll. And I was like, oh, darling, this picture almost famous is really off the charts. You've got legs that go on for days and days. All right, Mr. I look at these things now. My kids are very uninterested in my career. And I think that's appropriate. They really have no time for it. But every now and then they'll come across something on online, which is like a clip from me in 1993. And I'm realizing enough time has gone by that that would be the equivalent of me looking at something from like the early 1950s

when I was their age or the late 1940s. So of course it looks crazy. It might as well be in black and white. And it's, it was 1993. But now you look at that stuff and you think, what's happening? Who is that? How old are your kids? My daughter is 17 and my son is 15. Okay. That's what I thought. So writer writer 17. Right. And he's really into music. I mean, go figure. And he's discovering all of the nineties. I'll hear him listening to everything from the nineties. And that's like my high school years. So it's like me rediscovering the music that was really intrinsically a part of my the foundation of why I love music. And now my son is going back. And his whole thing is like, you had the bet. Like that was the best era of music. It's, it's kind of weird because it

does go so fast. I mean, granted, I was a young, I'm a young mom. So, but, but still to sort of look back and rediscover the nineties, it was a long time ago now. It is. I think that's what I'm always forgetting is that it doesn't, I mean, this happens to everybody, but it doesn't seem like it should be that long ago to someone like me, who's the age. It just, it just doesn't feel that way. But it, it really was. And I'm curious how much, and you don't have to answer this, if you don't know if it's too personal, but how much, how much is he really into his dad, Chris's music like black crows? Does he really, does he get into that stuff or is he wary of getting into that? Oh, no, not at all. I mean, and I'm happy to talk about Chris and be worse. We're so good. So,

um, no, he, he's really in to his dad's music. You know, the other day, like Uncle Rich, Rich, who's the guitar, the, my, my ex's brother, who's the guitarist in the black crows is, um, you know, helping him set up his pedals and his rider plays the guitar. And it's all about, you know, that era for, for rider right now. I'm honestly discovering his dad, which is terrifying. No, but I wonderful, you know, at the same time, you know, rider, I have this, I have a video of rider imitating his dad, rider's very funny, like, like stand up type funny, um, something that he's kind of playing with right now is like stand up type stuff as well as music. And, um, and he was imitating his dad and I was on the floor and he's watching all these old videos of his dad from the

nineties, like talking about how he's like, I don't speak banker man and riders like making fun of his dad. It's so great. He's like, I speak like human being, man. And the rider is like a very good perception of what his dad used to be. You know, Chris is just a pot smoking hippie now, you know? Um, I mean, he was then, but, but that kind of punk, punky era for Chris is, is, has, has gone. So, so it's fun for rider to see that. And yeah, he's identifying with, he's 17. That's, that's where he wants to identify. Well, I'm glad he's listening to their music. I'm, uh, I don't think you and I have talked about this, uh, but I am a huge Black Rose fan. So, uh, I have music that I run to and then there's certain songs that when they come on, I actually run in our neighborhood.

Uh, and I, there's certain songs that really make me go all out because they have a great build. So thorn in my pride is one of the, that's I think one of my all time favorite Black Rose songs. And when it, when I start to hear the opening notes of that song, I keep running faster and faster till it gets to the crescendo at the end. Uh, and then I'm going, you know, like 60 miles an hour and I've had four, four heart attacks and the police are there. You know what you should listen to, which if you like that song, like it's, it's, it's a song. It's kind of like a, it's kind of like a fan favorite is title song. Like you will love that. You're in this interesting situation that is hard to fathom where you have a 17 year old son,

Ryder. You have a nine year old son and you have a two year old daughter. I mean, to have three children of such different ages has got to be fascinating. Yeah. It's also mentally exhausting. It's like, it's like everything that you would think it is honestly, you know, one it's, I can look back at my adulthood and, and look at it and go, I've been a mom pretty much my entire adult life, you know, right? Like not long after we had our first interview, I was pregnant. And so, well, that sounds like I was responsible. Well, remember when I remember when I brought the picture of Ryder and I was like, Conan, are you sure we didn't have like a, do you remember that? Because it was a picture of him.

He looks like you. He's got red. He had red hair. He went from having black hair to red hair and he had the full like Conan. But then, then we, we, you know, we did tests and I was clear. So we're good. I don't know. I look at it. It's a little bit challenging because they're all in different phases that need different things from me as a mom. Yeah. It's very different stages. Like I've seen that with my kids that, and it's strange, you know, 17 year old still wants something from you that sometimes you wouldn't even expect. Do you know what I mean? They, they can regress sometimes and our kids sometimes want to get into bed with us and lie there. And I'm, I'm like, you're six, six. Get out of my bed. Ryder still likes to snuggle, you know,

he'll get into, he'll come in and I'll be like, Hey honey, what's up? And I'll be like, nothing. And then he'll just like get into bed and watch some TV with me for like two minutes and then he'll leave. And I'll be like, okay, that was fun. I feel really grateful Ryder being my first teen is the kind of human being that he is. Like he's, he is such a lovely boy. Like I, I couldn't have, there's no like desire for him to super party. He's just like really into his music, really into the family. He's such a good, he's such a good kid. And so I feel really lucky. I'm, it'll be the middle one. It'll be the middle one that I'm going to be as a middle child. As a middle child, I will tell you that we're a, we're a strange freaky breed and we sow destruction wherever we

go. You know, I, I was wondering, you had this experience of growing up with, and I'm not going to say that they're so much famous because they are super famous, but they're very cool. They are very cool parents that are sort of part of the culture. And I was wondering, and I also grew up in a household where things were not discussed. Many things were not discussed. And I'm assuming that in your family, you could talk about say sex, you know, that that was an open topic. Yeah, we were very, they were very open, you know, still to this day, sometimes my mom will share something with me and I'll be like, mom, that's just like, just, I mean, I, I love it. And I'm here for you, but like, that's not what I was expecting this conversation to go.

What is she sharing with you? I mean, everything. And, and you know, I think too, the thing that I love most about my parents is that they, they never hid their issues. You know, Oliver and I kind of joke about it a lot that we, we sometimes think like, well, maybe they were too open. Right. But at the same time, we always knew where they stood. We never felt like we knew that people make mistakes. They, they, they would never, their, the expectation for, for who you had to be as a couple for us was never like, they just never hid their issues. If they were having a fight or something or they were disagreeing on something, we knew it, you know, we, we knew they were going through something or we knew that they needed to talk something out. And it became a family discussion

versus a private, we don't know what's going on in the house. Like everything was just very open. I remember one time we had a party. Now, granted, we were older and Oliver walked in, me and mom, like we have, we have epic parties. Like we've always had really fun parties. People always know that when they come to our party, like they can put their feet up and be stupid and nobody's judging them. And, and so, and we love entertaining and being social. So, but we, we had this one party. We were a lot younger, but out of, out of the house, like early 20s. And my mom and I, and Kurt went upstairs to just sort of rest. There must have been like 300 people in their house at the time. Where Oliver came, we didn't see Oliver all night. And Oliver came upstairs and he's like,

and I looked at Ollie, I'm like, what is wrong with you? And he's like, I took a quailude. And my mom's response was a quailude. I haven't heard that since the 70s. Like it was like, my family, meaning Oliver, it's like, he's so nuts. But he did, he took a quailude and he, it was like he couldn't, he had, we had to put him to sleep. But I think he put himself. But our family, there was never any kind of like, you know, oh, we're so worried, you know, it was, it was always like, you know what, okay, we'll just go to bed. You can laugh at these things. And it kind of never created like, no, I, any real issues. If I mean, I know that like sound to a lot of people like an issue. No, no, no, but you had me sold instantly on this idea, which is,

well, first of all, I desperately want a quailude now. I want to try it. But I know what I'm saying is, and I've talked about this a lot, but I come from really old school Irish Catholic, you don't talk about things. There's a lot of tension. I think it's why I got into comedy, because joking was the one way you could communicate and say the thing you really wanted to say. But if it's wrapped in a joke and everyone's laughing, it's okay. Do you know what I mean? But if my brother had wandered into a room with my mother and said, I just took, you know, a prescription medication at a party. Oh, Jesus, Mary and Joseph. And she, you know, I mean, she would call the police. My father would come crashing into the room. They'd be a lot of,

and then the crazy thing is it'd be a lot of panicking and people freaking out. But then no one would ever, the next day, it's never to be spoken about again, which is the opposite in our family. Yeah. It becomes a whole family discussion. Oliver, let's sit down and talk about the quailude last night. That was funny. But should we be worried? And Kurt's like, now, where'd you get this quailude? I'm very envious, I guess. I mean, don't get me wrong. Like, our parents are open, but they're not like crap. I mean, you know, they're classy open. You know, it wasn't like, the juxtaposition of our life is that they're also were, they were very strict parents. So, we had this sort of like openness of you're going to make mistakes. Love can be hard, allowing us

to kind of discover who we were as our own people. But that being said, then there was the other side of it, which is, which they were quite strict about, which is, you know, how we treated people, what the manners, right? So there was things that they definitely knew how to draw boundaries as parents. It wasn't like some hippie. I mean, Kurt is our dad. He's tough. He's not, it's not like, he's not a hippie type of parent. He's a pick up your bootstraps kind of parent, right? So, there was sort of an interesting juxtaposition of freedom. And, you know, this is, this is who we are as a family. And these are the morals we stand by and the ethics we stand by. And if cross that boundary, watch out. But they're, they are cool. It's interesting that my assistant,

Sona, is sitting in on this conversation because she is pregnant with twin boys. And so I'm thinking like, wondering, listening to this, now Sona comes from, I'll just say, old school, Armenian immigrant culture. And so I'm wondering, are you going to, are you being influenced by what Kate's saying? Are you thinking, yeah, this more openness, or do you think it's going to go the other way? And it's, it's going to be more like the way you were raised? No, I think it's, I think it's definitely how Kate was raised. I mean, when I told my parents I smoke pot, they had an intervention the next day, just like very serious conversation. It was... How old were you?

Like 29. Oh my God. What? 29. 29. That's so funny. That's great. I'm actually more like you. You know, it's funny. People have this weird idea, or like a kind of a sense that I was this sort of young party girl. And I was super straight. Like I didn't, I didn't try weed until I was like 19, 20 years old. You know, I was actually quite like a very like worker bee as a kid. So yeah.

Yeah. I also, I also, my read on you was not hardcore party girl. I've thought of you as a, like, was a wholesomeness to it. I think you've always been kind of interested in like taking care of yourself. Yeah. Yeah. And it was the irony of marrying Chris Robinson at 21, I think was shocking to a lot of people. But, but yeah, I mean, I've always been, I've always been, yeah, I was just always focused on something. But when you said 29, well, I had smoked pot before then, but they asked me at that age. I mean, I wasn't a pothead. You know, I told them I just do it. I do it sometimes. How many months are you? Five and a half months.

That's so exciting. Congrats. Yeah. Thank you. Yes. They're going to be named Conan and Conan. Just to make a life with you. Well, come on. I've employed you for 10 years. No. It would be a little confusing at bath time. Conan, you're first. Then you're Conan.

And Brian, and then the girl will be Oh. You talk about coming to things later on. You've always really loved music, but it feels like you waited for a while to sort of let your love of singing sort of come more to the fore. Is that is that true? Yeah, I think also I was just scared of it for a long time. Like I still have stage fright, but I have terrible stage fright, like really, really bad stage fright when it comes to singing. I didn't know where I didn't used to when I was younger. I didn't have it. But when I got older, I did. And I didn't understand where that really came from.

And so it was really a confidence thing. And then as I started getting older, it kind of made me angry, made me mad that I wasn't singing and mad at myself. And so I had to kind of figure out where that was coming from. And then this opportunity to work with Sia, I mean, she gave me so much confidence. She really was like, what are you doing? You need to be singing. And so that really kind of made me feel like working with all of the producers and being able to sing with her and sing all those songs. And then then now I feel very comfortable and much more confident. But singing's always been my first love. Like that's that that was always,

I thought when I was little that I would be a singer. You know, really? Yeah, like when I got into when I got into acting, to me, it was acting, dancing, singing, like that's just what you did. And when I was a little girl, though, I mean, I was, I lived most of my childhood years, like believing I was Paula Abdul and believing that I was, you know, Madonna. And like that was my calling. And I would, I mean, that's all I did when I dreamed about things. It was always on stage singing. And then there were opportunities that I had where people would come to me and say, I want you to make an album when I was younger. I just was worried that it would take away from what I was doing as an actor at the time,

because at the time, there was no such thing as like, like, if you are an actor and you then tried to sing, it was not not a good idea. Well, it kind of became a little bit of a cliche, you know, and then there were some examples that became over the top crazy, like David Hasselhoff, you know, live in concert and all props to David Hasselhoff. But yes, it was, it was something that it wasn't a good look for a while. It wasn't. And it sort of meant, I don't know, I think people felt like it didn't mean that you were really serious about acting or that, you know, and it was much easier for a singer who's already established as a singer to act. It hadn't really gone the other way yet. In a therapeutic sense and psychologically, it was just like, it's like

too close. And my security might, again, going back to insecurity, I felt like I didn't feel good enough. Right. This is what it is. If you're not struggling on some level, and if you're not feeling moments of insecurity, then you're dead. That's so true. Fundamentally wrong with you. Well, here's my plan. I do live in your neighborhood, and I'm going to come over some day and full, you know, wearing really tight bike outfit. Yes. No, it's not good. No one likes it. No one recommends it. It's not good. If I snap a picture of you one day, do I have your permission to, because I see, I do see you bike a lot, do I have your permission to snap a picture of you and put it on my Instagram? I thought for a second, you were going to say, sell it to the tabloids. And

I was going to say, good luck. This has been delightful. Thank you so much for doing this, really. It's really lovely talking to you. Thank you for having me. And I do think we should become friends. I'm going to come over. I'm literally going to come over. I'm not kidding. Okay. Come over. And listen, I do want you, I want to sell Conan Pomade under your brand. I will. And guess what? I will single-handedly take your brand down. You're going to get a call like three weeks later. Kate, it's all going under. Everything. Your wellness brand in bloom. Everything. It's all cratering. Why? The Pomade. The Pomade. It's made of asbestos, Kate. You idiot. What have you done? All right. Well, thank you so much, Kate, for doing this. And my love to your,

my love to your family and to everybody. And tell Kurt, I want to strip to the waist and fight him bare-chested someday. I love it. I love it. I will let him know. That'll be a very short fight. I don't know. I don't know. We'll have some very urgent news to report. You guys ready? Yeah. You got your urgent news hats on because this is big stuff. This must be so important. It is important. Sounds serious. Yeah. Last week, I was in the Larchmont area of Los Angeles with our producing deity, the man behind the scenes who pulls the strings, Mr. Adam Sacks. We were at this meeting in a building. And it was a very, listen, this is going somewhere important. I'm sorry. We were in this meeting.

Meeting in a building in Larchmont. And of course, everyone's socially distancing. There's not that many people there. We've got our masks on. It's all very safe. And then we realized there's a balcony. So we go out on the balcony and we're on the third floor, not that high up on a balcony. And I look down and there's a young couple. I want to say a man and a woman. I'm going to say in their late 20s maybe, 25, 28, 29. And they've been standing there and they're just looking up. And I walk out on the balcony and just as they see me, the guy says, Katakai, as God made her. Oh, this makes me so happy. And I was on top of this balcony like Mussolini. And I was like, yes. And they were like, yay. And then I went, Katakai. And they said, Katakai. And I'm like,

I don't know. It's nothing expresses the power of a podcast more than that insane moment. I mean, we're in a pain. This country has so many problems, so many things to deal with. You can use this for good. And instead, you use it so people yell this thing at you. I could be distributing valuable information on how you can go to certain websites to get the vaccine, where you can go, how many times you should wash your hands. There's all kinds of good I could be doing. Instead, I've spread this foolishness across where once the dean of the actors studio, Mr. James Lipton, I was at a dinner with him and he pointed up to a painting of his wife in the nude and wrote, Katakai, as God made her. And I've said that and I'm obsessed with it.

And then I sort of challenged people and I've had people since come up to me and yell it at me once at the Largo Theater through a gate. And they yell it as if they've come up with the secret word that will save the earth. That's how they say it. These people were, I think had seen me go into the building and I think they waited. Oh, that's good. I think they waited. And they were like, he might come out at some point and we've been told we have to do this. That's dedication. I applaud you. I don't know who you people are. You were in the Larchmont area, but God bless you. You filled my head with delusions and you're keeping me going for another year. There is good in the world. It was really a nice moment. Yes.

Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend with Sonam Obsession and Conan O'Brien as himself. Produced by me, Matt Gorley, executive produced by Adam Sacks, Joanna Salotaroff and Jeff Ross at Team Coco and Colin Anderson and Chris Bannon at Earwolf. Theme song by the White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples. The show is engineered by Will Bekton. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and you might find your review featured on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco Hotline at 323-451-2821 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode. And if you haven't already, please subscribe to

Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever fine podcasts are downloaded. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.