Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Kurt and Wyatt Russell Live from SiriusXM Miami Studios

Episode Date: January 8, 2024

Kurt Russell feels totally justified about being Conan O’Brien’s friend; Wyatt Russell feels a strong sense of impending doom about being Conan O’Brien’s friend.Kurt and Wyatt sit down with Conan live in Miami to discuss switching from baseball and ice hockey to acting, tracking their family back to the Revolutionary War, and working together to portray two versions of the same character in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Plus, Conan takes audience questions about defusing tense situations while traveling, writing advice, and ruining James Bond. For Conan videos, tour dates and more visit TeamCoco.com.Got a question for Conan? Call our voicemail: [phone]. Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link: https://siriusxm.com/conan. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Fawn is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell, brand new shoes, walking blues, climb the fence, books and pens, I can tell that we are gonna be friends yes, I can tell that we are gonna be friends. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Conan O'Brien. How you all doing? Are you all from Miami or people from Miami? Yes. Okay, come on, you can say yes? Don't be ashamed.

I'll tell you why I'm thrilled to be here. The humidity. I got off the plane and my hair expanded. Fantastic. It comes to life in humidity. In L.A., it's always dying. My hair is always like, I will kill myself.

And I got off the plane here, and it's just fantastic. I've never seen it this high. I woke up this morning. It's super high. I don't know why. I honestly don't know why I'm doing this movement. Miami Conan.

This isn't helping anything at all. Anyone going to be hitting the clubs tonight because I hear that's what you're supposed to do in Miami? Are we hitting the clubs? What the hell is wrong with you? I'm in Miami and it's Art Basil and I get the library crowd. No, we'll be reading and I tell you.

Did you say it's Tuesday? That's why you can't... I thought people went to the clubs no matter if you're like someone who goes to the clubs don't you go on Tuesday also? I've never been to the clubs. When I say go to the clubs, I don't know what I'm talking about. Is it clear that I've never been to the clubs?

Thank you. Thank you for your sad, embarrassed silence. Nothing says, I don't know. I just think we have to do something tonight. I don't know what I'm going to do. Because we're here through tomorrow night. So I'm going to have to do something. So maybe if we all got together as a group, we could hit the clubs, you know?

Make our own club. Make our own club. Is this, these movements I'm doing now, this isn't going to go not so good. You're in the front row. You're sitting next to this gentleman in a, orange wig, and you're just looking very sad when I dance like this. Come on, if you were in the clubs and you didn't know me, I wasn't famous, but you saw this guy in the corner doing this, intrigued or horrified?

A little bit of both. Yes. That's what I was going for. That's exactly what I was going for. God bless you. All right. We're going to get started here. I'm going to bring out my assistant, Mr. David Hopping.

Let's get David Hopping out here. David Hopping. You joining me up here? We go up here. Now, let me explain. Usually Sonam of Sassian assists me. She has little twins. She does.

And I said, she said she can't come to Miami. But my real assistant now is David Hopping. Because Sona doesn't do shit. She never did shit. And now that she has babies, she really doesn't do anything. She still does some stuff. No, she does absolutely nothing. She does absolutely nothing except, say,

where's my check? And then you just keep giving it. I keep paying her. I pay her and I pay her and I pay her because I love her. I'm trying to figure out how to get to that level of your assistant. Yeah. Yeah. So can we hire another assistant? Yeah.

If you had an assistant, if you hire an assistant, then you could goof off. Great. Yeah. Who wants to be Conan's assistant? Yeah. Wow. That's a lot of hands going up. Now, that means you'd be subject to a lot of passive aggression.

Yeah. Well, they can probably include. Do you guys listen to the podcast fairly regularly, or have you heard of the podcast? Okay, so then you know that, yeah, I'm no treat to work for. Because I'm a very needy person. I think I have a good soul, but I'm a needy person.

Yeah. But then on trips like this, Conan pays for everything. So that part's really nice. Yeah, that wasn't clear to me until we got here. I thought this was like paid by serious. And they said, no, Conan, you're paying for this. Yeah, you're just.

Let's visit the fact that we're here in Miami. We came from L. It's, and I'm wearing I'm wearing denim. I'm wearing a denim jacket. And I don't think that's the right clothing to be wearing in this temperature. And you are wearing like an LL bean.

It's a very thick shirt. Yeah. You look like you're headed out in November in Maine. Yeah. So why are you dressed that way? I just liked this shirt. Yeah. But Blay's ready.

Look at him over there. Let's get here for Blay. Who actually is like ready for Miami. If you cross your eyes, you could see a sailboat. We should go get matching shirts. Yeah. Did you wear that shirt? Because you rarely wear any shirt with a button. You usually wear a really stupid t-shirt.

No, and I meant that in a nice way. That wasn't an insult. Well, I will say last night, you know, we got in late and we grabbed some food. And I made the mistake, you know, when you're on the plane, you want to be comfortable. And I made the mistake of wearing a t-shirt and had a dinosaur reading a book. And I will never hear the end of it for the rest of my life. Well, you always dress that way. and you're 72 years old. I'm very old.

And you clean up nice. You're a good looking 72 year old. It's this generation that refuses to ever dress like an adult. So I think when I go and I have my funeral, you're going to show up in a who farted t-shirt. And like a hat with like a propeller on it because it's ironic. Possibly. Quite possibly.

Yeah. Yeah. I just think, you know, we're down in Miami. I wanted to look nice and sew flowers. Now, I've asked these people. and I think they're a very attractive crowd. There's a very good looking group, and I just assumed they'd be hitting the clubs.

And when I said, hey, I guess I'll see you all in the clubs tonight, I got nothing because this is a group that I think just doesn't go out. Well, if I may be so bold, maybe they are going to hit the clubs, but they don't want you to know that they're going to hit the clubs. I think that's a terrible assumption. Okay, sorry. This young woman here saw me dance.

And I have to admit, you didn't seem thrilled about, it, but I think over time that dance would start to seem cool to you. She's trying to leave. She's actually trying to leave right now. She's desperate to get out of here. Now, those of you who didn't wear a Conan wig today, do you feel a little shame?

I mean, this guy went all the way with the Conan wig, and the rest of you probably have to feel right now like, man, I thought I was a Conan fan, and this guy, where did you get that wig, by the way? What grave did you dig up? You got it on Amazon?

They didn't have, I couldn't get my hair like the poof. So I bought a wig. But I lost a bet against my late brother. So whoever gets to see you first in person, where's a dumb wig? Oh my God. That's incredible. Wait, this was a, and your brother passed? Yeah, two years ago.

I'm very sorry about that. Yeah. And was he a fan as well? Yeah, we both saw him like almost 20 years ago. My mom would come to my room like at midnight. Yeah. What are you guys doing? you doing, are you like smoking pot?

And we're like, no, we're watching Conan. Which is worse. Way worse. It's so much worse. It's so much more mind-altering. She thought you were the guy from the Lucky Charms commercial. What was your late brother's name? Christopher.

All right, Christopher. I'll be thinking about Christopher today. He's here in spirit. And I'm so glad that you were able to be here. Thank you so much. That's really beautiful. And I'm glad that I ruined your minds. When you were children, parents hated me

because kids would stay up and say, we've got to watch Conan, and it ruined everything. My mom still doesn't understand you at all. Your mother still doesn't understand? No, she's like, what do you see in him? It's like... Well, thank you. Thank you for that.

Thank you for that kick to the stomach. You know what? I have to say, that's what my father says. My father doesn't get it. He's like, what are you talking about? But, you know, over time, over time, I'll get to your mom as well. Yeah, my, after he passed, I couldn't watch Conan for a while because there was a lot to me. Oh, I can see that.

And my mom, I woke up one day and she was watching your show. She was trying to understand it. So I sat next to her. It's not. I love that it's like, I'm going to try one more time to see why anyone likes this idiot. So this is fantastic. So I sat next to her. She was watching the baseball one, which is my favorite.

The old-timey baseball one is a classic, yeah. And she looks at me at the end, and she's like, why? Why? All right, I'm going to call your mom. Are you sure? I'll call your mom. Maybe after the show, I'll call your mom, okay? And we'll have a conversation.

What's her first name? Lesbia. Lesbia. Okay, I'm going to call her, and I'm going to convince her that I'm the greatest comedian that ever lived. Please do. There's going to be some money exchanged, so. We need it.

All right. Well, we should get on with the show. We have a terrific show. today. I just go right into it, right? I think I do. Oh, wait, these are not my cards. These are my cards. Ah, there we go. You get on the plane, you do a lot of cocaine.

Come on. We've all done it. What the hell was that? I hated that. Nixon, yeah. That's Nixon on cocaine. Let's do another line. Line it up, Paul. I love these guys.

my guest today are a father-son duo who are currently starring in the new Apple TV series. Monarch Legacy of Monsters. I am thrilled they are here today. Ladies and gentlemen, Kurt and Wyatt Russell. Let's get him out here. Hi, my name is Kurt Russell. Yeah, so far so good.

And I feel, I feel totally justified about being Conan. Hey, I like that. You like that. It was like it was in question. Yes. But you stuck with it over the years. We just talked to an audience member who said his mom just doesn't get it.

Now your turn. Hi, my name is Wyatt Russell And I feel a strong sense of impending doom Nobody's making out of this wrong It's actually an escape room You guys are fuck This should be an escape room That'd be actually fun

We've already had like three audience members Try to get out Try to get out of here And it's like I just And you're like, did you know what's? No, no, I just want a one. from this man. I hope you like this room

so we're going to be here for a week. We have a fan here who's wearing a tribute Conan wig right there. Boy, that's close. It's very close. Thanks a lot, Kurt. Hey, hey, I want to meet up with Kurt Russell in Miami

and have him insult me. That's one of my lifelong dreams. You know, I have to say you have this incredible movie career. You've made so many different types of movie. Like, you've inhabited more genres than just about anyone I can think of. There's no clear

like pathline in your career, is there? It's just, you've made all these iconic movies. It's amazing. Keep going. You're doing. And that's all our time. No, I, you know, I've always been thrilled to talk to you because... I've always enjoyed you. We were just talking outside. You're actually funny and you're fun and you're nice.

I don't know, you're a really good guy. You're actually funny. And a really good guy. I want that on my gravestone. Actually funny. Actually funny. But you know, what's amazing is that I was introduced to your son a couple of years ago. I didn't even realize it was your son. I'm watching one of my favorite shows is Black Mirror. And I'm watching this Black Mirror episode starring this young actor who I didn't recognize, big beard. And it is a acting tour to force.

And I watched it. I was like, who is that guy? That guy is absolutely fantastic. And then I find out it's Wyatt. It's your boy. And I'm like, that guy killed me. it. You absolutely killed it. And I thought, and what's interesting is neither one of you started out thinking you'd be an actor. You both started out as athletes who got injured and then,

and it started with you. You played baseball. You were a child actor and then you said, no, it's going to be baseball, right? Well, the only reason I got into acting was because my dad wasn't, I did everything my dad did. My dad was an actor. He looked like he was having a fun life. And I wanted to get some bicycles for my sister and myself and I had a paper route. And then I started like, thank you. Listening, see? He does everything. Could you adjust my lighting as well?

Absolutely. Anyway, I had the opportunity to like, you know, going on some interviews and stuff. And I got a job and the minimum pay scale was enough to pay for those two bicycles. So I asked him, I said, was this pretty much it? And he said, yeah. I said, well, you want to do it? Call up. Call held up.

He said, my dad's agent. Call her up and tell her up. you want to, you know, keep doing it. So I did. And that was, you know, that was why I got into it. I was playing baseball. And then, yeah, I mean, that was sort of what I thought I was going to do for sure and didn't really think about acting as something that I was going to continue with. I did like writing a lot. I liked acting. It was really fun. And the money in it was just sort of unbelievable for what you're doing. You're having fun. You're, you know, just having a good time. And then I guess I was when I got hurt out of baseball, I played three years of pro ball.

And I was doing well. So I was a big surprise to me. And then I, you know, I said, well, what am I going to do, really? You know, after crying for three days. And I said, you know, I guess, well, maybe I'll, you know, stick with that. I can always do that. And then I realized, you know, if I'm going to do this, I've got to be really interesting. And I'm going to have to do this my way.

And my way was to try to create characters, you know, memorable characters. Where you said, I remember that, that character or that character in really fun stories or great stories. And then I had the, I just got lucky, had the opportunity. had the opportunity to work with some really great directors and some great material and then still doing it. Who's the one, do you think that, is Snake Pliskin the one that follows you around the most? Or is it, you've done so many different things that you've never know when you bump into someone, is it going to be one of the Tarantino movies?

Is it going to be Snake Pliskin? Is it going to be? It just changes. And the biggest one I've ever had is Santa Claus. I mean, that was Santa Claus on Netflix was just, everybody saw it. It was like, it was really fun to do. It was something I always wanted to do. Kind of fun to go from Snake to Santa Claus, you know, over your,

career. They're basically the same character. I've always thought of them is. What is interesting about it is living in the family that we live in, obviously, you know, Goldie's an icon, and Kate, you know, nominated for an Academy Award, like second crack out of the box, and Oliver Hudson's done more work than all of us combined. Right. And always, there was this thing that, well, we used to, not kiddingly, I was serious about it. It's one of the best actor in a family is a hockey player. So, and along came the hockey player. Okay. So you, you grow up and you think, I'm not going to be, an actor, right? You weren't, you were interested in that. You were interested in hockey. Yeah. Well, it's like you've, you've, you've got your kids, like, do they don't want anything to do with the show business?

It's so funny that you say that because my boy, Beckett, when he was about six, because I was trying to keep, kept them away from what I did, because I was deeply ashamed of it. And, I mean, this guy's cool. What am I doing? But my son came and saw me do a big show like at the Beacon Theater. I mean, I don't know, 2,500 or 3,000 people, you know, crowd going wild, really good hot show. My wife took my son was about six and he saw it. And then they're leaving the theater and she's holding his hand. And she said, what do you think?

And he said, when I grow up, I want to do something where there's no stage and no audience. And he was basically saying what that guy is doing, I want to do the exact opposite. Yeah. So he's really into computers. He's a really smart kid. He's going to have, I think he's a, he's a brilliant guy. He's going to have a great life. Yeah. And he's not. He's, he appreciates what I do, but he's like, uh-huh, no, not me. Right. So when you were a kid, that's what it was, because I, you know, you see what it is on screen and it's fun and whatever, but when you're like six years old and you go to a Kings game and that energy is directed towards your parents who are just your parents, it's like, really off-putting and scary in a way. You're six or five or whatever it is. And I grew up with that and I was like, I just want to watch a Kings game with my dad, but you can't. And so that really seeped in and I was like, well, I just don't want to do that. It doesn't, it's not something that interests me. At that time, also, you don't understand like what an artistic avenue can give you when you get older. And so I was focusing on hockey. He took me to my first rank in Toronto. I was

three years old and mom was doing a movie and I can swear to God to you as cheesy as it sounds it's like my first real memory where I'm I was on an ice rink outdoors in Toronto I would skate from like bench to bench and it stuck with me in this way that I was like this is what I want to do and I swear from four years old I was like I'm going to be a hockey player it also differentiated myself from what they did and from a very early age it's important to have your own thing especially when your parents are so dominant in a field you you want to find your own way yeah it's really you you're really important and and also they never brought work home like ever so it was just having fun sports playing hockey baseball whatever it was so that was like they didn't act like celebrities around the

house like movie stars like we normally do like yeah i mean yeah i did because i do when i come home when i come home i'm in full makeup yeah and i'm like you have any idea who and what i am a little applause would be nice to come home too we have an applause we have an applause light at our table and I'm always leaning on it. That's how to have a little bit of a pause. I had to learn how to do my dad's hair from a very early age. You don't get your egg or waffle until I get three minutes of applause. But yeah, so I did that.

And then when came time to be, he was really good. A sports parent, obviously playing sports. And when I was about 10, he said, look, you're good at this. And if you're still wanting to do this when you're like 12, 13, then it gets real. And it's not as fun. anymore, but it becomes a different thing. And if you do, I'll always support it. And I did.

And I told them, yeah, this is what I want to do. And then we ended up moving to Vancouver for me to play junior hockey. And that was my career path. And that's how I gained all of my, that's where I learned to do everything in my life. And you were, I mean, you were playing professional hockey, like in Germany and had fans hanging outside your house.

You would wake up in the morning and there's just fans. I mean, this is, you had real success. Well, it was so, I mean, it was a small town. I would, I would, I would, I would, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, the real success is a big stretch. But it was pro hockey. Let's just say compared to my athletic career. You killed it. You killed it. But like, I don't know what the, the guy who ran the social media for the team was a bit of an idiot. and he like put my address on like Facebook on my like Facebook profile and one day after we won the championship I woke up to fans outside my door like wanting to get in so at like 7.30 in the morning I was drinking vice beer and pretzels with like because it felt it felt like safer to let them in somehow. Yeah.

Yeah. I always let fans into the house. I don't see any reason not to. Yeah. So that went well. And then I played in Holland for a little while. And then I got hurt. I tore my hip apart. And that's when I really was like, look, I mean, I don't want to say I shouldn't do film because I really think it's great.

And I started watching movies. I had had a hip injury prior to this. And it started to be like, well, maybe I won't do this forever, you know. Like, I got to figure out something else. And I started watching movies. I started with like the AFI 100. And I love movies. I went to USC film school in the summertime, made friends that weren't hockey players and just realized like how much fun the entertainment.

in the same industry can be if you do it on your own terms. I always felt like having that, you know, your son probably feels the same. Like it's like directed at you towards you. There's nothing you can do about it. It feels helpless and get a little older and you're like, well, actually, I can kind of do it my own way, which has been great. And it was like, I'll go down swinging in a ball of fire. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

Yeah, but he also had worked. You know, he had played, he did a little moment in a picture, John Carpenter movie that I did with John Escape from Illinois. And then he did... That's right. You had a scene where you're supposed to kick snake in the shin, is that right?

Or no, no, no, I'm sorry. You're supposed to sneer at him. You're supposed to... It's funny. You combined two stories. He kicked Elvis in the shin. That's right. See, I thought that was funny,

but it was just mistaken. Well, most of my big laughs are me just miss speaking. But yeah, that's right. You as a child actor, were in an Elvis movie. And you got to... kick Elvis in the shin.

But I mean, he was there and he had this small thing to do. I said, well, you're a kid in prison, but you're the only guy in here who's not afraid of Snake Bliskin. So when I look at you, you look back at me, like, you know, what are you looking at, buddy? And so then we found this tape or somebody sent it recently or it's on the internet or whatever. And somebody did a little thing. And he said, yeah, what are you in for? He said, I'm in for, what was it, eating a hamburger, which you know red meat.

And it was the deal. I'm in for eating a hamburger and I'm selling cigarettes. And so when he looked at me and came around, John came over and he went, that kid's not afraid of you, man. That's really great. Right. And then I did a movie called Soldier where the whole beginning of the movie is about these kids who are really, they're brought up to be soldiers because they show aggression or they show this or they show that.

Character I was playing was the one you're going to follow later on. And he played him. And he's really the bad. He's like one of the best things or if not the best thing in the movie. And the director once again said, man, he's really good. And I said, yeah. And he had actually pointed something out to me where he thought it was a mistake. I went down and talked to the director about it.

We looked at the video. He was on top of it. It was very clear that this was going to be something. And then I directed the soldier. And never got paid for it. Yeah. Now, to me, what I'm hearing is you both grew up with this sense that it's a craft. You got to work hard.

Obviously, athletes know there's a lot of preparation. There's a lot of hard work. And that that all informs the fact that it doesn't seem like there's no entitlement. And I've always had that sense because I've been around you a bunch of times that you are a guy who likes to work hard. You see this as a craft. You see this as something that's a job. And that was kind of the way you grew up. And clearly you have that too, Wyatt.

Yeah, I mean, look, growing up where we live, you see entitlement all around you, and it's like, I don't know why the fuck you'd ever look at that and be like, that's what I want to be. I want to be an entitled asshole. Here's where you and I different. It's all I've ever wanted, but no one lets me get away with this. I desperately want to be entitled. But yeah, so I always, I was in Lakewood in Culver City and hockey is played in places in California where they're not in the greatest areas. Like Norwalk, we had to be walked to the rink from the car by parents because they were driving by shootings in the 90s. And you saw a different side of the world.

And then when I went to go play in different you bill it, you don't like live with your family. Always after they left Vancouver when I was like 16, 17. I lived with different families in Chicago and Toronto. And you just live with other people. so you get to see a real sense of like what the world is like, obviously, it's not a real sense of the world is like in, you know, in Los Angeles where we live.

So, yeah, that's like, it's like my greatest fear in the world is somebody being like, what an entitled thing. You're making me think about it. You're making me think about Norwalk. It was like, of course, I was probably the only parent that said, no, go ahead, you'll be fine. Right.

If you get shot, just walk it off. Hey, it's hockey, Wyatt. Come on, let's go. You're a kid. You're supposed to get shot every now and then. What are you talking about? You're an awful dad, turns out. Terrible, terrible father. I love Tarantino's movies, and I know that you've been in a couple.

And what's interesting as I read this interview with Tarantino where he said, Kurt's one of the only guys I can talk to because he's making a movie about L.A. and 68, 69. Kurt knew all these people. You experienced that world. and he said, you informed so much of, like he picked your brain about what was L.A. like back then because you started out doing, you know, Disney films early on. And television, did a lot of television.

Yeah, well, you were just working, you know, working actors. My brother, Neil is a TV head, and I swear to God, I wake up this morning. He's like, ask him about being on Lost in Space. And I'm like, no. You should because it's a good one for your world. My character's name was Guano. Yeah.

You know what? But they finally figured out after the show. You know what guano means? Yeah. Bad shit. I play Michael Ansara's kid. That was one of the first experiences I ever had where I was kind of like, yeah, I know what I want to do here. And I, because Michael Ansar was bald.

Yeah. And we were, you know, it was lost in space. You're not on Earth. You're somewhere out there. And I went, oh, great. I know, I know what I want to do. And I don't know how. I don't remember how I convinced that.

I said, I want to be bald too. Right. So I got to be, I got to play a character that was, you know, looked I looked like that. We were clearly not from Pequema, you know? From a different planet. But Big Paw, Big Paw knew all those, wasn't a lot of that based on Big Fun? Your dad had worked in early, what, in film, but he had he done television as well?

No, my dad, my dad, you know, worked for a long time. He put, you know, shoes on his kids' feet and food on the table by being an actor and he did everything. It worked for a long time. But he was, you know, we kind of looked at each other as plumber actors, you know. I mean, does it take your work, pale and go to work? you know but with quentin we talked a lot about stuff he's very he loves he loves the history of hollywood and yeah he probably knows it as well as anybody and so he does it's more than picking your brain it's where you're going to go out and have a good time and he used a lot of the conversation i think the things that he has learned over the years from many different people and

it was it was very nice he made a dedication in the book that he wrote about once upon a time in Hollywood and he did have me come over to his house to read it and it was really interesting because I think he wanted me to read it in the lair, you know, and it was right in the heart. He loves living where he lives in the heart of Hollywood as it were. And, you know, it was a great feeling. And I must say, I said to him, I said, I don't know if there's anybody alive who can appreciate this as much as me because it was my, it was like, it was like, my life, you know, it was like completely. I understand everything about it, you know. I have a fascination with that era.

So there's a clip you can see online. I guess someone in, like, 1966 just drove along Sunset Boulevard. Now, today, everyone has a phone, but back then it was very rare for people to have a color film camera and someone just shot out their windshield driving along the sunset strip in 1966. And it's a different world. And I've looked at that thing so many times. I love time travel. And that's just an amazing, you look at that L.A. And we don't live in that L.A. anymore.

It's gone, but it's so strange and so different. I love watching those videos. It is an sense of nostalgia that you're like, oh, wow. And you're living back in that time. I'm sure you go back in that time. And you're like, this is a fucking nightmare. Get me back in 2023. But I love, yeah, I know those ones where you kind of like, they put it on the hood of a car and they just kind of drift through loss.

Yeah, and they drive through L.A. And you see what the cars look like, how the people dress, what. It is strange to me to live long enough to see that there really is a difference as time goes by. Because it always kind of feels the same to me, you know. But you're, why I was telling me, this is cool, because we have something fun for you. But you're a pretty serious history buff. Yes. You like, love, I love reading history.

Yeah. This is cool. I gotta get a good. It could be totally false. No, I don't think it is, though. I don't think it is. No, I think this one's pretty bear. So, um, uh, there was a time where I wasn't working very much.

And, um, I subscribed to Ancestry.com. Mm-hmm. Um, like a 75-year-old grandmother. Yeah. Uh, and so I got obsessed with, uh, like, following the history of our family. Yeah. It was like, oh, you know, our history of family is cool. And so you go back a couple generations,

keeps going back and it gives you these like heat leaf hints, right? Yeah. This is also, I'm getting paid by Ancestry.com right now. And I enjoy driving a Porsche. Never works. And so it just kept going back and kept going back. And it was like, to the Gackenbacks and all these different people that we were in. And then it always shows war records, right?

It traces your family history through war records. Goes all the way back to the Revolutionary War. Everybody in our family for whatever reason has fought in a war. This is the Russell side. The Russell side of the family. We get to 10 generations back from me. His name is Jason Russell, Jr. On the first day of the Revolutionary War,

shot heard around the world at Lexington and Concord. When the Minutemen retreated, there was a house and they took refuge in the house they sheltered in the house the red coat surrounded the house went in shot everybody in the house banetted the owner of the house

11 times and it turns out that the owner of that house was Jason Russell Jr. who is our direct lineage great-grandfather that's insane on that day it was the bloodiest day of fighting on the first day of Revolutionary War in the house if only it had a ring camera

ding dong hello you want to come in nobody here well the joke is the joke is like that you know it's this patriotic story

and he got ban at his door and the story is he came back from his family sent his family way and he came back and you know the red coats came in and stabbed him and I was like

well how do you know he wasn't going to the door and being like they're in here there no not me I love the king. Yeah, exactly.

Lisa Kudrow has a lineage show, and she approached me a number of years ago, and she said, we find prominent people, and we do their lineage, and she and I've been friends for a long time, and she said, would you take a swab and we'll find your lineage?

And I said, I promise you, you're not going to find anything. And she said, Conan, everyone says that, but we always find, know you're related to Winston, Churchill you're related to it's so cool you're gonna see and I said you'll see didn't hear from her for six months and then I call her and I go Lisa I never heard back for you when she went there's nothing She said what I'll tell you is you're and she said we've never seen this before you're 100

100 100.0.0% Irish and I got really like wow That's and she said that never happened so I called my doctor who knows stuff some stuff about genealogy and gene science and I said, I'm 100.0 % Irish, isn't that great? And he went, no, it means you're inbred. You idiot! It means your sister's been marrying

your brother. And then it's true. Like, we came over from Ireland, both sides of the family, moved to this tiny little town in central Massachusetts, and people are like, you're pretty. You're my brother. I don't care. If you don't care.

So that's, there's a reason why I've got all these problems. Maybe we, there could be something there for us. We're from Massachusetts. Our history is now. Oh, is that true? You guys. You know, I'll look into it. It was my chance to maybe hook up with a Russell at some point or someone.

We could have been so much cooler. I could have had a film career. Well, if you go to Rangely, Maine, where we're sort of from, you go to the town. We went for my grandmother's 100th birthday, and you literally go around to every house, and it's like, on front of the house, it's like, Russell, Phil Brub. Russell, Philbrick, Russell, Philbrick. And I'm like, is everybody in this town a rustler of Philbrick? So last night, I was watching this project that you did together.

And this fascinates me because, first of all, this thing looks, it's beautifully done this project. Yeah. It's funny because you probably grew up in an area where they're in an era, Kurt, where there's, there's TV and then there's film. And I think we're in this world now where stuff that comes out on TV streaming Apple, you look at it and you think this is cinema. This is, it's so beautifully done. It's just a different world.

Well, that's what, you know, when this, this came to us to look at it. Monarch, a legacy of monsters, yeah. And it was Godzilla. It's all, you know, first of all, you know, Godzilla or, you know. It's like, you know, it's the French Godzilla? No, no. The refined Godzilla. And that's what we were.

Yeah, we were like, well, you know, but what, you know, so we started talking about it because it was, it was obviously, it could be epic. It could be cool. I'd seen Godzilla when I was probably eight or nine years old and never forgot him. But it just became, you know, the movies are about the monsters. Do you see them? That's what it is. And it's fantastic, you know, in a certain way for a certain audience. They love it. But we also, you know, when it came to us, we started talking about him. He said, I mean, that's not something we would probably want to be interested in doing because it's just not, I don't know, it's not, doesn't hit us. But that was not what they were wanting to do. They were wanted to

look at this thing and take the human condition that was living with it and do a real true sci-fi where it's a relatable human experience and there are people who are dealing with this and that was very interesting to us and so yeah we started talking about it and and ended up you know ended up doing and loving that we did it because it really the fact that apple would put this kind of effort into it the fact that the showrunner and the head writer were as invested in it as they were the fact that that they really went out to get really good, good actors to do it. It made us feel like, yeah, this is something that maybe we should seriously take a look at and we'd have the opportunity to do something nobody had ever done that with two known

actors, father and son, playing the same person. That's the part that blows me away is you are the younger self. You are the more mature self. Yeah, slightly older. I say more mature. Wiser. Well. No, no.

somehow less wise. But it's really cool that you're both playing the same character. And so I would think if you're preparing for a role like that, you're kind of going to be eyeing each other. You don't have scenes together because that's not possible, obviously, but you're going to be trying to figure out each other's physicality. I mean, I'm guessing that might be part of it. That was sort of the unspoken thing that was in the back of our heads the whole time.

Right. The thing that was fascinating for me, because Wyatts was going to be different, was first of all the opportunity to watch him work and how he worked. And the things that it would remind me of or things that I would learn from him, watching him. But I've never done a character where somebody else was starting it out. Yeah. It's like, wait a minute, we talked about this with the guy not having a big limp. And now I see you limping around. I don't have a limp.

Or whatever, right? That's true. And so whatever he lays out there, that's it. Because it's you, it's you in the 1950s. Whatever he lays out there, you have to pick up on. So just to be mean to you, he could drool a lot. That's what I mean. That's exactly what I mean.

Just cruel all the time. It's like, scratch his face like this. And it's like, pick up on that, old man. I better see that in your role. That's exactly right. I mean, it's funny, but it's also like, well, okay, I'm going to have to do what, you know. And so we, the thing. The thing about it is that I don't know why I talked to it because he really, you know, he's absolutely fantastic in the show.

And I love seeing the reaction to him in it. He was going to establish these things that we were going to do. So we had to be in line. His rhythm, his, we have idiosyncrasies that are the same, you know, familial things. We knew that those would be there. And then we'd work on the look and kind of this and that. But it was really the fact that we have different rhythms. That was something we were.

It's going to have to deal with, you know, and find, and then what you find yourself in doing that is finding a character that you really want to play. But I mean, it was fun to go down to his set, watch him work. Do you get intimidated at all if you're, I mean, first of all, you know, my dad's a microbiologist, so it's not like he would, you know, but I would still, if I knew my dad was in the audience when I was doing a show, it felt like more pressure. You know, even if there's 7,000 people in the crowd, if I know my dad's there too, because it's my dad, It felt like a level of, but I don't know if you had that when your dad's watching you. I think early on there was a sense of like, yeah, I want my dad to think that I'm good, you know, like I'm a good actor or whatever.

And then there'd be things he'd see or that I'd write and he'd be like, no, no, that's okay. Like in the beginning. And so, yeah, you always want that to be part of it. But I learned, I think, beyond my dad and getting a little bit of success and film. And also in hockey, it was the same thing. like you just can't do it for that otherwise like you will sink yourself your whole life it just will suck you dry like you'll never that's an insatiable desire that you cannot um quench and so i really started going down the road of like well i really am just going to do what i want to do

and if it like i said earlier if it doesn't work it doesn't work and if my dad doesn't like it like that doesn't mean that it doesn't work it's just you know but he's been always so supportive it wasn't ever something that like he that that they were just great parents I mean they were they always wanted us to do well they were always supportive and then they also disassociated from it enough to where it was like hey it's great work if you can get it but I'm not going to be in your hair about this stuff all the time cool and we never talk talk about it you know this was the most we'd ever talked about film outside of, you know, being on a movie set. It was like we had to talk about it a lot because he had to like make sure the character was

congruent and point A to point B and even arc and you got to like hit those spots and stuff like that. So it was really fun to work with them off camera. Seeing how he, I'd seen how he'd worked all the time when people would come over to the house and I'd be playing a video game or watching SportsCenter or something and you'd hear meetings, right? And then all he ever did in those meetings was try and make the movie. better. Never was it about me, me, me. It was just not the way he is. It wasn't the way. And it seemed like a good way to do it because his movies were always cool and people loved

them and they were always good. You're the movie's good. You're going to be good. And so I took that approach. And then as I moved on in my career, that's been good for me and worked for me. And now we were able to do it together. And it was awesome. You know, it was really fun to be able to do. Funny story about getting cast as Godzilla though. Our doula, who, dula, for those or you don't know, they'd help you deliver your child. She was with my wife, and we were getting the offer to do Godzilla. And I have, like, a relatively large jaw. You can't see it without my beard.

Ever since Jason Russell. And so, yeah. And my wife goes, yeah, he's going to do Godzilla. And I'm and Kirk going to do Godzilla. Why it's going to be in Godzilla? And the dealer goes, oh, my God, he's going to be so great as Godzilla. that, I always pictured him with that shaw.

And I'm like, I'm not playing. He's such a radioactive lizard. Yeah, I was like, oh, no. That would be great if, if you agreed to it thinking it was this other thing. And it's your dad doing all this complex acting and you in a rubber suit going,

yeah. Yeah. Your dad's like, you're killing it. You're doing a really good day. Way to go, son. I'm proud of you. Well, this is, man, this is extremely cool for me because this is a double treat. I've, as you know, long been a huge fan of yours, and we've talked about it many times.

Even some of the movies that people don't all know, I've watched those movies like Bone Tomahawk. Yeah, that's a good thing. man, I will go see, if you're in it, I go see it and I never regret it. And then as a, to get to meet you, because I really love your work. I love what you're doing. And I also, you are so much your own person. And it's very, it's very satisfying for me to like get to meet your, your son. I keep wandering around the neighborhood because I know you live nearby. And I always see this bearded guy kind of see me and then, behind a head. Well, next time, next time I'll wear bells and you can hear me. Good. It's like a bear. You're like a bear.

I have to make noise around you so you don't attack me. Do you ever see Sandler? Adam Sandler lives in our neighborhood. Adam bought our old house. That's right. And this is what Adam does. You know, it's L.A. So people are supposed to, you know, you call first.

You send a text. Maybe we'll get together at a neutral. It's not like, that's a weird thing about L.A. people just don't go over to other people's houses and ring the bell, except for Sandler. Sandlin will come and stand outside my house and go, Cody! Cody!

It's like streetcar named Desire. He's yelling. And I'll open the door like, what? He's like, how's it going, buddy? And then he says, everything's the best. How's it goes? Ah, it's the best. It's the best.

Did you know that Kurt Russell and Goldie live, yeah, they're the best. You've seen Wyatt? He's the best. best. You ever had botulism? It's the best. The best of the diseases, buddy. And then he takes off again, yeah. But thanks for saying that. I know how hard it is for you to be earnest. I appreciate it. I do not have an earnest bone in my body, but I earnestly am thrilled that you guys, I know you're super busy and to make the time to do this in Miami just makes it's a makes my day.

Makes my week. So thank you so much for doing it here. Let's hear it for these gentlemen right now. Kurt and Wyatt Russell. Thank you. What happens now, Blake? I'm so confused. I was so late cardying.

I drank the stuff that was in the glow stick. Yeah, you don't drink that. You're not supposed to do. It doesn't open for a reason. Now we're going to take some questions from the audience with your... Fantastic assistant. These people sound insane. I don't want to talk to these people.

All that stuff they said about entitlement. I don't buy that at all. You can see you glazing over. Yeah. Where's my butler? Exactly. So, yeah, so if anybody has a question for Conan, raise your hand. Yeah, be, don't be shy.

Don't be shy. Just don't be. What the hell? I'm all hanging out here in Miami. That's right. Hi, I'm a teacher. I'm a middle school teacher. What is your name?

Tyler. Hey, Tyler. How are you? I'm very good. How are you? You don't pretty good, thank you. Good, good. Thanks a lot.

Next question. You're a middle school teacher. Good for you. I love teachers. There is currently a substitute teacher in my classroom. And if you were the substitute teacher, I want to know what sort of lesson you would do. How would you entertain the children? How would he spend the day?

Okay. I get this rap. It's like, oh, he's so needy and he needs to try and make everybody laugh. And it's absolutely true. When my kids were little, there was this thing, and you've probably seen this where they get the parents to come in and read to the class. And so they give you the book. You can't choose the book. So I came in one day and my daughter's like six. And I'm just going to read this very normal, unfunny children's book. And I'm reading the book. And then I realize that there's like a little stuffed animal behind my head. And then if I push my head back, the little bunny. head will flip forward and so I start working the head and then whipping around like the bunny is and the

kids start laughing really hard and I then I start doing stuff with more animals and then I stopped reading the book and I'm doing bits for the kids with the animals and the teacher look came over to me and whispered in my ear just read the book and I got home and I told my wife I was killing I was destroying and she was like, they're six. What the fuck is your problem? I think the problem would be, I've always thought that would be a detriment to me, my being a teacher is that I might need to get some laughs

would start to interfere with the fact that I'm supposed to be teaching them about safe sex or something. Or whatever, some important thing they need to know, that would get clouded over. and maybe the children would get in the way. I might alter if I was teaching history. I might alter history, so it was a little funnier. Maybe Lincoln's chasing booth up the street, you know.

I would just do these things that I think would probably get me in trouble. So I think it's probably a good thing that I'm not teaching at your school. But I do applaud that you're doing it. I think it's good. And I think that would be a disaster. If I was a substitute teacher, maybe just for one day. and then kids would leave and say, what a sad, lonely old woman that was.

Please, never have that thing come back. Thank you. So, yeah. You're doing a good job, David. Hello. Hello. I'm Alex. I'm from Venezuela.

You're from Venezuela? Yeah. Oh, very good. Which part of Venezuela? Maracaque. It's near to Caracas. Okay. So you recently visit Argentina?

Yes, I did. You did a great work with your Spanish. I tried. Yeah. I'm taping a show for HBO Max. Some of you might know in the past, I've done some travel shows, and I've always loved going to other countries where they don't even know who I am

and behaving in a way where they laugh at me. I've always thought that was kind of a weird, sort of a kind of diplomacy, if they see an American who comes over and the joke is on me, you know, and naturally it always is. So we shot, we've shot a few countries and then we just shot in Argentina. And yeah, I did try to use my Spanish here and there.

And I think it got a little better. I learned some Spanish a bunch of years ago and it's fun. I always try to bring it out. And I've noticed that most people who are Spanish speaking, whether it's from South America or Central, America. They're just, they mostly appreciate that someone's trying. I think it's, it's nice to try, even if I'm butchering the language. But I also think it's very beautiful. I think I, I sometimes

watch telenovelas. And I don't even, they're speaking so quickly, I don't know what they're saying, but I'm listening to it. And I think this language is so beautiful. It's like music. The way French and Spanish are very, they're musical. And then, uh, I think, English just must sound terrible compared to English and, of course, German, you know, is a nightmare. You know, if you're ordering a sausage and a beer, it sounds like you're declaring war. So, but yeah, beautiful language. Yeah, but my question is, you know, the big news in Argentina is the new president. Yeah, that was that election happened while it was there.

But the dead dog is called Conan and the news is he talked with. dead dog? Yes. Let me explain to the audience just so they know because if anyone's listening right now and doesn't know that sounds just like babble.

What? There's a guy who's running far right. He was running for president. He's pretty out there. He's pretty crazy. He ended up winning. Good thing that could never happen here.

Anyway, he loved his dog and so he had his dog cloned like seven times. But his beloved dogs name is Conan. So everyone in Argentina thought that I was there to, you know, to do something about the fact that that his dog was named Conan and I had to break it to them, that no, I didn't fly for 15 hours just to walk around and say I have the same name as your new president's dead dog.

So, but yeah, it was, it was a big story there. Well, I'm with my wife and our dogs, our dog is called Conan for you. So that's. You named your dog after me? Yeah. Well, thank you. That's fantastic. Next to this man wearing a mop on his head, this is the greatest day of my life. He said York King had a great hair like you. And do you yell at Conan ever?

Like, Conan, you know, I mean, that would be triggering for me. Conan, why did you shit there? That's what I used to hear all the time until four years ago. It's great to talk to you. Welcome to Miami. Nice to talk to you, sir. Hi. Hi, Conan.

How are you? Good, how are you? I'm good. What's your name? Melissa. Hi, Melissa. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you as well.

My question, sort of in relation to the travel shows, is what is sort of your approach on diffusing some of the more tense situations you get in? You know, there's been some episodes where people were not as excited. You were there initially. And I feel like you do such a great job of getting everyone on your side and just diffusing that tension. And really, you know, everyone ends up loving you. Well, I don't know if they kind of end up loving me, but they, one of the things, that I like is to be real about the situation I'm in. So clearly, I like there to be a lot of comedy,

but I don't want to be, I want to deal with the reality of the situation. One of the things that really comes to mind is we went to Haiti a bunch of years ago after President Trump's had some very negative things about Haiti. And we were there and we were shooting. And it was really lovely because I went to a schoolroom. And these kids didn't know who I was, but I was acting very silly and they were laughing. And then I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt. and all these kids gathered around

and they were just like, oh my God. Like this poor man is dying. And I went, they're freckles, you know. But like I say, it's nice to have the shoe be on the other foot. You know, I'm the odd person out. But there was a moment we were shooting in Port of Prince and there was a group that just saw this tall, white guy with a camera crew

and they assumed I was there to make fun of them. And they were getting really mad. So I went over. and I was showing them footage of what I do. And they were clearly, you could see, they turned and realized, oh, he's like a clown. I mean, in a good way, I was explaining to them that, and I was showing them the work,

and they were understanding, and you could see in that moment, it kind of changed. And I thought, yeah, I really liked that. And clearly, without getting too heavy, there's a lot of people were in a time of a lot of division, a lot of anger, and I'm much more interested in trying to find out what I have in common with other people. And I try not to, you know, if I hear how somebody voted or if I hear something they, about something they tweeted, I tried not to go right to. I completely disagree with that person. And instead, I try to figure out what do we have in common, which I think would be, we could

all stand to do that a little bit more. So just take a deep breath and try and think about what do I have in common with this other person because we've just, you know, we're all on this thing together. We're not, there's no other place to go yet until Elon Musk finds another planet. There's no other where to go. So we might as well try and make that happen. Yeah, thank you. Hi, Conan.

Hey, how are you? I'm good. What's your name? Calvin. Hey, Calvin. You and my brother loved you growing up, so thank you for kind of shaping our weird comic. If you could talk to his mother. I figured.

Yeah. Because she just... My mother enjoyed you just fine. I don't know. I've got to talk to this woman. But my question is you were a writer for The Simpsons. Yeah. Way back.

Big fan of The Simpsons as well. But what is like advice you usually give to becoming, especially comedy writers? Write what you would want to see. Do you know what I mean? Just be. aspirational about it. This is a sketch that would really make me laugh if someone saw it. This is an episode of a TV show that would really make me howl if I saw it. Write that, write for yourself, make yourself happy. And chances are that's going to make someone else happy. Don't change yourself

too much to try and fit another show. This guy didn't get a chance. Let's give him a chance right there. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Because I know he's going to give me money at the end. Of course, of course. Conan, Bobby, have a question for you. That's very professional. Look at the way he did that, everybody. You call into radio shows a lot, don't you? Of course. Hey, Conan, Bobby, question. My name is Link, by the way. Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you, too. I'm trying to be as crisp and efficient as you. Bobby, what's you got? Let's go. On the podcast, Matt Gurley has stated that he loves the James Bond and Indiana Jones franchise. Yeah. If you could ruin one for him, which one would it be and why? If I could, what? If you could ruin one of them for him.

Ruin? Yeah. Which would it be and how? Wow, that's really good. Oh, I know what I would do. I would ruin James Bond for him because I think he truly loves Bond the most. And I would ruin it by becoming the next James Bond. And I would wear that wig over my hair

and totally ruin the franchise. I'd just, you know what I mean? I'd say my name's Bond. James Bond. And I'd turn the Nixon. Everything that would just make. him not sexy, not cool. My fights would be a lot of slapping and shrieking. Then it would just end the franchise. They would never make another James Bond after that. And that would destroy it

for Gorley. And also radioactively destroy all the ones that came before it. And I would make sure that I was put into scenes in the previous James Bond, where I just lean in and go, how's it going? Just totally take you out of the movie. I want to destroy Gorley's life. Thank you. I would watch that. Thank you for that idea. Thank you. All right. Well, you guys have been nice. Is that it?

That's it. You guys have been fantastic. You guys have been, and I'll see you in the clubs later. Which club are we going to? What's that? Someone in the airport was like, Conan, you've got to go to 11. Well, wait, what's the deal with 11? I don't go to clubs.

That's not going to happen. But what happens at 11? It's a strip club? I'll see you all there. What time does it open? 24 7 strip club oh my god 8 a.m?

Oh my god. And 8 a.m. in a strip club? The sipper's just like All right. Sipers holding a cup of coffee. All right. I'll see you all. Thank you.

Conan O'Brien needs a friend. With Conan O'Brien, Sonam of Sessian, and Matt Goy. Produced by me, Matt Goorley. Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Nick Leow, and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf. 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 Melnick. 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. It too could be featured on a future episode.

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