Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Michelle Zauner

Episode Date: March 13, 2023

Musician and author Michelle Zauner feels elated about being Conan O’Brien’s friend. Michelle sits down with Conan to talk about her book Crying in H Mart, the impact her relationship with her mo...ther had on her career and the success of her band Japanese Breakfast, drawing inspiration from video game music, and more. Later, Conan reviews fan-submitted drag name suggestions.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi, my name is Michelle Zonner, and I feel elated about being Conan O'Brien's friend. Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell, brandy shoes, walking blues, climb the fence, books and pills. I can tell that we are gonna be friends. I can tell that we are gonna be friends. Hey there, it's Conan O'Brien. Welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. I'm chilling with my best buds. Oh wait, no I'm not. I'm here with Sona and with Matt Gorley. Sorry, for a second I thought I was with my best friends ever. Sona and I are best buds. Yeah, we're besties. I can sense that. You guys have a very strong connection. Yeah, yeah. I don't get it myself. It's day one.
Starting point is 00:00:55 Really? Yeah. I mean, even before that, I think just before all space and time. Do you think you knew each other in past lives? Yeah. It's possible we ran into each other where we grew up. That's right, we grew up a city apart from each other. Yeah. No, I meant like thousands of years ago, when you guys doing the equivalent of a podcast near some ancient ruins. No, she was Cleopatra and I was Mark Antony. Yeah, I love how in past lives everyone's famous. I know. And I was not. I've looked into it. I was always a guy holding a shovel or being killed with a shovel.
Starting point is 00:01:27 Right. Throughout history. Hopefully by us. Yes, by you. I was killed by Napoleon with a shovel and I was killed by Cleopatra with a shovel. It's surprising you haven't been killed by a shovel yet in this life. I've been attacked many times with shovels, but because we're in the modern era, I'm usually able to get to my car quickly. And the blows slide ineffectually off the hood of my car. Okay. Sonia, are you comfortable tonight? Today.
Starting point is 00:01:52 I'll say today, but it could be any time of day where we are. And I said tonight just to try and throw the listener off. Oh, okay. I didn't know when. We're in a windowless room. Yeah. So it might as well be nighttime, but it is not. We just started. You were just outside and it's bright and it's sunny, but no, I'm chilly.
Starting point is 00:02:09 You're chilly. I am. Yeah, me too. Okay. I wanted to address that because I don't care. And I wanted to make that clear because just before we started to record, Sonia did this whole thing about, I'm not, I'm kind of cold. And we all said, well, do you want to go get a jacket or something? And you said, no, no, no, no, but I'm just, I'm slightly, slightly chilly, but not enough for, I'm thinking this is, this is something I'm supposed to be thinking about. I, Conan O'Brien.
Starting point is 00:02:36 And then you bring it back while we're recording. You bring the conversation back to it. I want people to know what a silly fuss budget you are. I want to talk about how it is cold in this studio, but not cold enough to like put on a jacket, but it's cold where you need some sort of layer on top of what you're wearing. How about this? Here is a tissue. Good Lord. There's some tissues right next to me. What if I just drape these?
Starting point is 00:03:01 I'm draping them onto Sonia right now. Okay, thank you. There, I just draped. That shoulder should be.04% warmer. Do you know how many times if you've said you were like cold or something? I'll be like, oh my God, I got to get a jacket because that was my job as an assistant. Yeah, as if. What do you mean?
Starting point is 00:03:18 I'm sorry. I always cared about your comfort. Even, even I'm not really buying that one. I did. You didn't. Famously didn't. I didn't always, but I did sometimes. Again, one of my favorite pictures is us somewhere and I'm taking a selfie with like 15 people,
Starting point is 00:03:39 a whole series of selfies, and in the foreground, Sonia's ignoring me and having the largest pour of white wine I've seen in North America. I'll bless you. Well, I mean, all I'm saying is there have been times when you've been like, oh, I'm, you know, chilly or I'm warm and I would have been like, oh, okay. I don't think so. I honestly don't think so. I honestly, and listen, you know, I love you, but I honestly don't think so.
Starting point is 00:04:04 That is not your instinct. Yeah, I did. Now, I've seen that it's your instinct with your children. Right. But no, it was never your instinct with me. I care about their comfort more than I've ever cared about yours. But I also, I birthed them. Yeah, I know.
Starting point is 00:04:17 You, I didn't, I worked for you, but I didn't birth you. Well, you know what? There was a huge misunderstanding here. I could have sworn that you birthed me. What are you talking about? We all know that. Was working for him as painful as birthing a child though? It was worse.
Starting point is 00:04:32 I needed an epidural every day. Yeah. Push, Sona, push! Just get through the day with Conan. Push! I have a standing appointment with an anesthesiologist just to come in here. Yeah. An anesthesiologist.
Starting point is 00:04:47 You had trouble with it, right? It was because I'm on anesthesiology. All I'm saying is I was a little chilly and no one, I mean, people just, like Matt offered me his jacket. Blay was like, I could go get yours and you didn't do anything. Or say anything. I don't have a jacket with me. But you have a comfy looking sweater.
Starting point is 00:05:06 I do. I wore a sweater. I just thought, you know what? I saw a Banshee's of Minnishirin and I've decided to wear sweaters a lot now. And I want to, I want to dress like everyone in Banshee's of Minnishirin. It's, it's Los Angeles. I know. But it's cold right now.
Starting point is 00:05:21 I'm going to commit to it. You know what I'm going to do? It's nice. I'm going to get a little stove that burns Pete. Yeah. I'm going to have it in my, in the Kona Co offices. And I'm going to burn Pete like they do in the old farm country. This is bullshit because you're turning into the caricature you paint of me.
Starting point is 00:05:35 Yeah. But okay. So what? You know, maybe secretly I'm just jealous. Really? Yeah. I think you're, you have cool stuff. What's happening?
Starting point is 00:05:44 What's happening? I'm sorry. You have your, I think your house is really cool. What is happening? And you have. I am uncomfortable by this. Shouldn't be. I'm admitting to you that sometimes when I attack somebody for something,
Starting point is 00:05:56 it's cause secretly I envy what they possess. Oh no. You have a really cool arts and crafts home in Pasadena. Oh no. Where it's 140 degrees in the summer. It's part of me that envies that. Arts and crafts home? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:10 Yeah. It's a style. Craftsmen. Yeah. I mean, they can also call it. He can also call it arts and crafts home. That's the original term. That's the original term.
Starting point is 00:06:18 Is that true? There's a movement. I didn't know that. It would also mean that his house was constructed by children. That's true. During a half hour period. Yeah. It was finger painted.
Starting point is 00:06:28 In elementary school. Elmer's glue. Elmer's glue. Yeah. It is now that Glenn's running wild. No, you have your very, yeah. You have a nice, very nice setup. Let's move on.
Starting point is 00:06:38 I didn't expect this. Didn't that make you uncomfortable? That was nice. Yeah. Yeah. You're still an incredible dork. Okay. That's better.
Starting point is 00:06:46 That's better. Terra firma. We're back where we need to be. If they need anything, please let us know. I don't like the way you, why did your voice have to change? Just to be nice. Because I'm making fun of you. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:58 You turn into Lucy Ricardo's boss. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy.
Starting point is 00:07:07 Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy.
Starting point is 00:07:15 Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Now on the next stage, I have two great performers. SLID activist. CHEERING SLID vocalists of the Alt Pop Band Japanese Breakfast. They are massive right now.
Starting point is 00:07:31 Very cool. And I got to see her at Coachella. And I was blown away. I was so excited she's here today. DI IBM Live is an insane massive fan. Interestingly, this story begins a number of months ago
Starting point is 00:07:54 when my daughter says, I want you to come with me to Coachella. And I say, sure, that's just the place for someone my age, right? So we start driving and my daughter did a really cool thing. She's just, she didn't tell me who the bands were, but she started playing me on the long drive. She started playing me all this different music and saying, you tell me who you think we should go see
Starting point is 00:08:19 when we're there. And she's playing me all different kinds of music. And I'm saying, I like this one. I like that band. Yeah, this one's pretty good. And then I singled out. She played me a couple of songs and they said, this is the band we have to see.
Starting point is 00:08:32 We have to see this band. And she said, correct. That is Japanese breakfast. That's amazing. Yeah. And she sort of said it like, there's hope for this old fool. So then we get to Coachella and she's
Starting point is 00:08:49 played me so much of your music that I'm excited to see you. And we go to your tent show and you come out and you're performing. And I think you're playing the song Paprika and there's a gong on stage, a small gong. And you know, I'm someone who loves to be on stage. And I can tell when someone else loves to be on stage, you come out, you're kicking ass, I love your music,
Starting point is 00:09:12 you're playing this on Paprika and it's so joyous. And you keep running over and hitting a gong. And I had never seen anybody do that before. And then you're back to playing a song and then you rush over and hit the gong again. And I was, I'm in the crowd and I'm yelling at my daughter, gong, that's genius. Why didn't I do that?
Starting point is 00:09:34 Years when I was doing a monologue every night at night, I should have said like, yeah, I'm on like Donald Trump and then run over and hit a gong. Why didn't I do that? I don't know. It's very cathartic. I highly recommend rating it. I want a gong.
Starting point is 00:09:47 Yeah. At the next live podcast recording, you'll just have a gong next to you. And the cool thing is it's not a giant gong, it's a smaller gong that makes like a crashing sound, right? I don't feel like it's that small. Well, it's not, the gongs I'm thinking of are the ones that are-
Starting point is 00:10:03 Oh, like behind the who or something. Yes, exactly. Like Keith Moon would get up at the end, run over and hit and it would be like, gong. Yeah. And it was kind of a joke, I guess. Yes, yeah. This was, yeah, it's not small, but-
Starting point is 00:10:19 Yeah, don't call my gongs small. Sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I- It's a sizable gong. Wow, Michelle is walking out of the interview. What happened? What did you say? I said the gong seemed kind of small to me.
Starting point is 00:10:33 You did what? You gong shamed her. I gong shamed you. It's the worst thing you can do. And then I was just talking to you, I just mentioned that and you said you saw me in the crowd. I do stick out, I guess. Yes, yes, you're very tall.
Starting point is 00:10:46 It's like Big Bird from Sesame Street. Check out your set. It was hard to not just look at you when we were playing because we were all just like, oh my God, Conan O'Brien is watching us play. And so I felt like I really had to perform for you and I feel like I was just watching you and hoping that you didn't walk away.
Starting point is 00:11:05 Right. Like you don't walk away. That was like my marker. But then looking in retrospect, I feel like that must have been uncomfortable to be like someone's focal point. You stood in the middle of the crowd? No, there's like a VIP area on the side.
Starting point is 00:11:19 But you weren't like blocking people behind because I don't want you to be the tall guy in the audience. Just like blocking everyone behind. Why do you always have to go negative on me? Why can't this just be a joyous experience? When I'm hearing tall guy in the crowd, I just think those poor people behind you. Yeah, but this is the issue, like how tall is your daughter?
Starting point is 00:11:37 My daughter is not super tall like me. Yeah, yeah. She's average height. And she would have to suffer if he, or you'd have to suffer if that's true. The other thing I regret is I tried to surf the crowd during, remember? And crushed, crushed 11 people.
Starting point is 00:11:53 I just got really excited and I jumped up and it turned out they were all about 19 and they just buckle and small. Yeah. And they all buckled. And also they were like, why you just ruined Japanese breakfast for us. We all have to go to the hospital now.
Starting point is 00:12:07 Oh no. Yeah. Did you try starting a mosh pit too? I tried that too. I threw stuff on stage and I kept hoping that Michelle would call me up on stage to sing one of my numbers. About growing up lonely and sad in Boston.
Starting point is 00:12:23 But you didn't. I know. And I had these observations I just wanted to talk to you about because I've also read your beautiful book, Crying in H Mart, which got a lot of attention and love. It's a memoir and I told you it is so well written. You are half Korean,
Starting point is 00:12:42 mom was Korean, dad's American, you're born in Seoul, but then moved to Eugene, Oregon. Yes. And live not just like in downtown Eugene, but you live in the woods. Yes, yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:55 Your last name is not Korean, but people are constantly in your life as a child trying to figure out who you are and I get the sense that you're also trying to figure out who you are as a kid. Is that fair? Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think we all are.
Starting point is 00:13:11 But yeah, it was certainly an added kind of like complication being in a very predominantly white neighborhood and feeling like I think when you're a teenager, sort of everything is embarrassing. Like you're embarrassed if you're taller than the rest of the students or yeah. And so I think that for me, that was just really mortifying
Starting point is 00:13:32 and I couldn't figure out why it felt like such a big deal for a long time. And people would come up to you, kids would come up to you and say, what are you? Right, right. They wanna know, I mean, kids need to label, not always from a bad place, they just wanna fix on who you are.
Starting point is 00:13:46 Obviously sometimes in a bad way, but I feel like, and you're very isolated because as I said, you're way out there. And so you're spending a lot of time in nature alone, but you're not always happy about it. You wanna, I think it's important, and it's another common thread for a lot of creative people is they wanna get out.
Starting point is 00:14:05 They wanna get out there and see what's going on. Which it felt like when I read your book, you were very interested in that. Like how do I get out of here and see stuff? Yeah, I mean, I think it was also partially like, both of my parents are from larger cities and like it was sort of, soul is like a huge city. And my dad is from Philadelphia and so it was,
Starting point is 00:14:24 I feel like they both just had very big personality. So I was always gonna have a very big personality. And my entire life, I've been told to like calm down or be quiet, I have like a very loud voice. Wow, you and I are kindred spirits. I'm still being told to just shut up and calm down. Yeah, and then like once I moved to New York, I was like, oh, I'm just like normal here.
Starting point is 00:14:44 This is great. But yeah, I come from, so like for people who don't know, like Eugene is like a real like hippie-dippy kind of town. Like it's very granola. So yeah, it was just kind of like a weird, I had a very beautiful childhood, but it was a weird sort of environment. And I think that that was a big part of why
Starting point is 00:15:02 I became a very creative person, cause I was just bored. Cause there was like no kids around. There was like no neighbors. I didn't have any siblings. I was an only child. And so I think I just got used to like spending a lot of time thinking about things. I think you just mentioned the word bored.
Starting point is 00:15:17 And I remember telling my wife early on when our daughter was born, because we have, there's such a culture now of kids must be constantly stimulated, you know? They're like listening to Beethoven in the womb. Then what the minute they, they're born. The iPad babies. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:15:33 They're constantly stimulated. And I remember saying to my wife and she agreed. I said, we have to leave room for boredom because boredom is where the good stuff comes from. It's, you know, whether it's guys in Liverpool's in the late fifties, like there's nothing to do. Let's make a band because there's nothing to do. And it's raining out.
Starting point is 00:15:53 And I think especially at a place like Eugene, Oregon, you know, you can't go outside and play every day. And it's raining most of the time. It's raining most of the time. And I think another thing that's really interesting is obviously you talk a lot in your book, it's very powerful about your connection with your mother and how complicated it is.
Starting point is 00:16:17 And how there were periods where you were really at odds. You cling to her as a child and then there's adolescence and you're really fighting her. And you talk about this relationship and it feels like it was, some of that was the catalyst I have to think for some of the creativity possibly, this turbulence. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:16:40 I mean, I think if anything, it just made me realize like how like it really affirmed how badly I wanted it, you know, because I think that it's almost like if your parents are like, Oh, great. Like, yeah, go be an artist. You almost like don't want it anymore. And so I think that like her being so adverse to like me being following that path or just having so much concern
Starting point is 00:17:02 about it made me so much more drawn to it. And so sure that that was the path I needed to take because there was just nothing else for me in a way. Well, it's also, I mean, it took the wind out of me when I read it because when you play one of your first gigs you are sort of teaching yourself guitar and you take like this. You find the right, a pretty good teacher at a school
Starting point is 00:17:25 that teaches a lot of people how to play guitar. The lesson factory. The lesson, literally the lesson factory, which isn't a good name. You feel like what great art is gonna come out of the lesson factory. It was like literally attached to a guitar center like we were from Bazaar.
Starting point is 00:17:44 Right. And everyone teaching you is enraged that their band didn't take off. No. Yeah. They're all like failed cards. Yeah. And so you, so, but you have this first gig
Starting point is 00:17:59 and you play and your parents come and see you and you so much want your mother's approval and you keep sort of bringing up the show and then you get to this part in the book where you sort of say like, well, what'd you think? And she said, I'm just waiting for you to quit this. Yeah. Which that's gotta be devastating to hear.
Starting point is 00:18:23 Yeah, but I mean, I think that, I mean, I think that that's a big reason of why I am still doing it in a way. I've been, I was sort of like told no many, many times for many years and just had a very like embarrassing career for like 10 years sleeping on like floors strewn with like cat poop and, you know, trying to sleep on like a party. Did you put the cat poop there
Starting point is 00:18:44 or was it there naturally? Was there naturally. Well, I didn't know if you laid it out. You think she laid out cat poop and then slept on it? Just cause she thought that I've got to live the artist's life. Yeah, I know, I definitely know. I used to do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:18:55 It's very romantic. But yeah, I think that, I don't know. Now, like when I look back at that, I'm like, that's exactly why you are the way that you are. Because like, I don't know. I mean, she was like kind of setting me up for the rest of the world to do that. And so I kind of appreciate that now.
Starting point is 00:19:12 Yeah, you respond well to rejection and you're, you know, feels to me like you, you're very strong person. And when you were told no, you doubled down. Is that right? Yeah, I mean, but when you're a teenager, you're just like, I am like the next Paul McCartney or whatever, you know?
Starting point is 00:19:29 So I think that you, I had like the, you have like that kind of like teenage like courage and ego, but I don't know. I think that I came, I was always like kind of a ham. So I think that that kind of came naturally to me. What's funny because I have, you know, in our offices here, I have this office that has next to nothing in it.
Starting point is 00:19:45 Yeah. Is there a ham? There is a ham. It's hanging from a rope. And every now and then I just stand up and I take a chomp. What? It's just hanging there and you eat it? Yeah, I don't even have to use my hands.
Starting point is 00:20:00 I just chomp at it. But you got to refrigerate it, don't you? No, it's cured. Okay. Yeah, it's been there for four years. Man, we get off on these tangents and I, and I, I know I throw it. I have a picture in my office
Starting point is 00:20:12 when the only pictures I have. And someone took a picture of both my parents. I was doing some event. It was at the Kennedy Library. Library. And you were there too. It was the Kennedy Library. And I was doing some event and my parents were in the crowd
Starting point is 00:20:27 and this is maybe nine years ago. And someone took a picture of both of them laughing at something I said and they gave it to me. So I framed it and I have it on my desk because, I have it on my desk because as a reminder that that's the only reason I do, I do this. I honestly think that. I mean, people have this idea that,
Starting point is 00:20:47 oh, you want to make a lot of money and you wanted, you know, you wanted to have, and it's like, well, it's, these other things come along that are really nice, but initially so many of us are just trying to make both or one of those two people laugh or proud. I know that that's been, was he, it's a big theme in your book
Starting point is 00:21:05 because the book is about you losing your mother who got cancer at a fairly young age and you spending a lot of time with her and processing all of this. There's a part in the book where you say, I don't know once she's gone. I mean, this all happened before Japanese breakfast. Who am I doing this for?
Starting point is 00:21:26 If not for my mom. It raises the question of how do you negotiate that? You know, how did you, when did you come to a point where you realized, well, somewhere, is somewhere in my mom seeing this or? Yeah, I mean, I think about that all the time as like a secular person of just, you know, I don't believe in an afterlife of any kind,
Starting point is 00:21:44 but there's something like so magical about the way that things happened for me. You know, I've been playing music since I was 16 years old and, you know, it took, I played house shows and, you know, no one cared about my band for a very long time. And after she died, I was like, I'm gonna, you know, record one more record
Starting point is 00:22:04 about this experience and then, you know, I don't care what happens, I'll like press 500 copies and, you know, sell it out of like my basement over the course of like the next 10 years. And that, of course, was the record that kind of took off and really resonated with people and it was like, oh, this is just like not quite the time to hang up my hat. And then after that, it was just like every,
Starting point is 00:22:23 everything that happened just like felt like there was this like weird force that was kind of like looking out for me. And it's both like, it's very bittersweet because my mom never got to see me experience any kind of success and was like, so worried about living the life of an artist, but now it just kind of has to feel like she,
Starting point is 00:22:40 she knows somehow or is like responsible for it. So you put this together, your mom passes away and you decided, well, I'm gonna go into advertising. Which, you know, you don't hear of a lot. You don't hear of like Keith Richards saying, I'm gonna do some advertising for a while. Yeah, I mean, His ads would be awful, by the way.
Starting point is 00:23:07 They would. Boy of Volkswagen, fucking great car. Keith, over here, it's not a Volkswagen, it's a Buick. Ah, fuck, sort of, you fucking. He's just napping. Yeah. I love the trail off at the end. Oh, I've experienced it with him.
Starting point is 00:23:34 We'll get back to it, but I was in an SNL sketch once when I was super young, I was in my 20s and Keith Richards was the musical guest and it was live and he was in the sketch also and we're waiting for Tom Hanks to come around to us for our part of the sketch. Keith Richards, we're in the middle of a sketch, that's live, he starts talking to me
Starting point is 00:23:53 and I'm holding a horse, which is important to know. And he thought that rather than me being a comedian who's supposed to say a line, I'm a comedy writer holding a horse. Wait, was it a real horse? It was a real horse. No, it wasn't. Yeah, yeah, it's a long, you can look it up online.
Starting point is 00:24:07 Did they take it up an elevator? No, yeah. There's plenty of- I guess there's like a freight elevator. There's a massive elevator at SNL that brings everything up. The whole of the horses, yeah. No, I mean, they could get an elephant up there.
Starting point is 00:24:18 I mean, I'm not kidding. They can, it was made to get incredible stuff up there, but I had a real horse and I'm holding it and Keith Richards thought that I was the owner of the horse. And I'm- Like the handler. Like the handler.
Starting point is 00:24:32 And that it was my horse and he starts going, oh, this is man, they did it all. And I was like, please, please don't, okay. Tom Hanks is headed this way and we've got to say a line live on TV. I've got to say my line, my line is please don't Mr. Hanks, don't touch him, that horse bites everyone.
Starting point is 00:24:52 And I'm so young, I'm like 23, I'm going over the lines in my head. He's like, ah, horses, without them we wouldn't have built civilization. And I keep going like, yes. Now normally you'd think you'd be in a situation where you're talking to Keith Richards. You would hang on every word.
Starting point is 00:25:10 Yeah, yeah. And I'm a huge Rolling Stones fan and said I'm like, shut up. Shut up Keith Richards. Shut up, shut up, shut up. I got to say my line. Okay, Mr. Hanks, don't touch that horse. He bites everyone.
Starting point is 00:25:21 Oh, I mean, you think about it, horses are the ones. You wanted Keith Richards to stop talking to you. Oh my God. Well, I still, he still sometimes, yeah. He's got to learn to shut up that guy. There's certain themes that I've seen in my life and sometimes it's almost when you give up
Starting point is 00:25:46 and you're not trying anymore and you get to a place of, okay, I made this, I put it out there. It's a message in a bottle, but I don't really need it to blow up. I don't need it to become this seminal record for me. And of course it does. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:01 Isn't that weird? Yeah, I mean, I think in a way you just like, when you let everything go and you have no ambitions or hopes for anything, you like almost find this like real version of yourself. And that's like what people cling to or like they can feel it in this way. I feel like when people are trying to like put on airs
Starting point is 00:26:20 in a way, you can just like smell it from a mile away when something is like not. Like I always feel like I know when people aren't singing in their real voice. And I feel like I kind of finally found that with that record. Because yes, when something's forced, what I love is that audiences know it.
Starting point is 00:26:36 Yeah. When I saw you perform, you just had this real joy of being out there. And the music is great, but that's also part of it, is I feel like this is therapeutic for you or life-giving to you. Yeah, I mean, I've wanted it for so long. And so it feels so great to get to do it,
Starting point is 00:26:53 you know, with your friends and a bunch of people wearing flower crowns. I didn't have a flower crown. I was amazed at how people were, I saw many people wearing very little clothing there. It's very hot. You weren't wearing like your Daisy Dukes and like that woven vest or anything.
Starting point is 00:27:13 I was wearing a thong. Oh, come on. What's, oh, come on. I'm trying to eat here. That's disgusting. I think my body's beautiful, Sona. I'm sorry. As the nine isn't, 11 people buckle below.
Starting point is 00:27:29 His thong ass trying to lift you up in your thong. Don't touch the thong. But pass me towards the stage. You gotta hit that medium-sized gong. That gong, it's not quite to my size expectations. Maybe it just looks small to you because you're very large. Yes, it's true. It's true, yes, I know.
Starting point is 00:27:54 I know, we're back on that. I was amazed that your influences are, I mean, it doesn't amaze me because there's so many influences, but I love how music, again, like so many other art forms, it's this, you put a bunch of stuff in the blender. So here you are, your very unique special talent. And what are you listening to?
Starting point is 00:28:11 You're listening to Motown. You're listening to Fleetwood Mac. You like the ya, ya, ya as your, there's all this stuff coming at you. And then when you come out with your music, it doesn't sound like that music. I know that it's, can be inspired by that music, but it's yours.
Starting point is 00:28:28 Yeah, how did that happen? How did that happen? Explain that. It's magical to me. Did you ask him how it happened? Kind of sounded like you were asking Coe. Yeah, I'll tell you how it happened. I have to do both sides of this?
Starting point is 00:28:45 Well, it's all because I spent so much time in Korea. Making kimchi. I did go to Seoul. Yeah, oh, I watched the, I feel like I've watched that episode. Yeah. You had like a very unenthused like tutor or something. Yes, I had a,
Starting point is 00:29:03 She was like, not. Oh, well, that's my specialty is finding people. I love finding people who are not having it with me. Yeah, yeah. Um, but, uh, Steven Young came with me and we made a K-pop video. Wait, I didn't see that part. Oh, you gotta see the K-pop video.
Starting point is 00:29:20 You gotta see the K-pop video. And Sue was in that, do you remember who was in the K-pop video? There was some band that since has like completely blown up. There was a girl group called Twice. Oh, yeah, yeah. So we got a great picture with you and Steven and like a million K-pop girls.
Starting point is 00:29:36 Yeah. Wow. There was like an airplane set where you get thrown out of an airplane. You're not leaving this until I'm gonna make you watch. It's gonna be three minutes. You're gonna have to watch my K-pop video. No, I think we lip sync.
Starting point is 00:29:53 Oh, no, they did have me. Yes, when we recorded the track, they did make me sing something and they basically said it fanatically. And I did my best, whatever it was into the mic. Pretty well, I think. I can carry a tune, you know. No, I meant in terms of saying,
Starting point is 00:30:11 I mean, you can carry a tune. I was talking about your Korean. You did okay. I tried, but as you know, the culture is, I was fascinated. I was fascinated by Seoul. Really fascinated. You're right.
Starting point is 00:30:23 It is so much bigger than you would ever expect. And I was also fascinated by people knew that I was there. And so these young, very shy, it's very Korean, I think to put your hand over your mouth, these young women would come up and they'd have their hand in front of their mouth. It would be very shy and very giggly and say, could they have a selfie?
Starting point is 00:30:45 And I'd say, sure. And they're very like, oh, thank you, thank you. And then they'd lean in for the selfie and suddenly their whole body would change and they'd go from this to like that. And then they're back to and I would say to them, which is the real you? And they think they both are.
Starting point is 00:31:01 Yeah, I find myself doing that too. I think I'm just like afraid of like accidentally spitting on some, you know, it's like when you're really excited, when you're really excited, you're like, I hope that I like don't lose control of like my faculties. And so I feel like it's a protective shield. I mean, I think you were way ahead of the curve, COVID. Very, you are not from that culture, Sona.
Starting point is 00:31:27 And neither am I. No, no, no. We don't care if we're spitting all over people. Spitting, yeah, yeah, yeah. I lose my faculties all the time. And I'm loud too, so yeah, we have that in common. In the book, you talk about it so much and I mentioned it, you talk about food
Starting point is 00:31:45 and I'm wondering and I put down your book and as moved as I was, I also wanted to fly to Seoul and have all of this food. Yeah, did you enjoy it? I loved the food there, but you were describing so many dishes that I don't think I tried. And I'm curious, have you,
Starting point is 00:32:04 because that was such an important part of your growing up and your bond with your mother and H Mart was where you could get all this incredible food. I think I went to the big market you mentioned. Yeah, probably, yeah. I went there and that's where I bought a squid that I was supposed to eat. Samuel the octopus.
Starting point is 00:32:20 Oh, the octopus. Was it moving? It was moving and I bought it and instead tweeted out that I was gonna keep it alive and people in Seoul got really behind, like he's gonna save the octopus. I've like never gotten more shit for eating that in the book.
Starting point is 00:32:36 Like I did like an interview and so many people got really upset. Why? About, I don't know, because they watched that like octopus documentary and now I'm like a monster. Right. But it's so good.
Starting point is 00:32:50 Yeah, and I just like, I really don't think it's that different from any other, you know, products that we, like meats that we eat, you know. But yeah, I feel like that octopus documentary came out and everyone, you know, became a crusader. Yeah. I hope there's not a hamburger documentary.
Starting point is 00:33:05 Or a ham documentary. Or a ham documentary. You know, pigs often write diaries. What? They track all of their thoughts. Some of them have even written pretty good physics equations. Damn it.
Starting point is 00:33:24 I'm still gonna eat that ham. Yeah, well, if they were really that smart, they wouldn't be getting eaten. Oh, for God's sake. Sona. So you're a defense for the octopus. You're saying to the octopus, hey, if you're so smart,
Starting point is 00:33:39 Yeah. Avoid that octopus trap. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why are you walking into that trap, octopus? You walk in there, I'm gonna eat you. Okay. Well, here's the good thing is Sona's gonna take the heat now.
Starting point is 00:33:52 Yeah, take the pit of heat. You know, I love that you're inspired by sort of sci-fi. There's like sci-fi, you know, mood. And also video game music, which I think is really cool because I didn't ever think of video game music as being sort of a genre or an inspiration. Of course, I grew up at a time
Starting point is 00:34:16 when video game music was just goop, goop, goop, goop. Wham! What game is that? It was a very early game. Yeah. Like Ms. Pac-Man was like, oh, oh, wham! I was getting a lot of disappointing noises because I wasn't good.
Starting point is 00:34:35 Nice try, loser! That was your inner monologue. Oh, that wasn't even, come to think of it, I wasn't playing a game. That was just- His inner monologue is just Ms. Pac-Man melting. Yeah. That's why I've never been able to be intimate with anyone.
Starting point is 00:34:52 Oh, I really like you, let's get down. Yeah, loser! What? Ms. Pac-Man, get out of my head! Trying to get it on! This is such a stupid interview, I apologize. You're such a talented person. I'm sorry.
Starting point is 00:35:08 You deserve better. You do deserve a real interviewer. But recently, my son, who's 17, started listening to all this music and I said, where does this come from? And he said, it's gaming music, but I was listening to it and it's really good. So where did that, when did you start to notice?
Starting point is 00:35:26 Was this something that was always happening where you're noticing different sounds that you liked? I guess so, I mean, I was such an indoor kid that I just really enjoyed playing video games and was gifted like a Super Nintendo when I was five and I always really enjoyed it. And I think it's really, I'm gonna do a really bad job of expressing this,
Starting point is 00:35:45 but I think it's a really interesting art form to interact with because there are games that like sort of force you to make these kind of like moral decisions. And it's like the only time that you're like actively a part of like the medium in that way that makes you kind of like question your morality. So for instance, there's this game called Stardew Valley.
Starting point is 00:36:03 Have you heard of it? It's like a forming game. And I think it's really interesting that like, you can play games that like, have you like kill someone, which you would never do in real life. But there is like a, there's this thing called JoJo March
Starting point is 00:36:19 where it's like the corporation and you can choose whether or not you wanna like, go to the local seed. That's just good, I like this. Go to the local seed shop or like go to a cheaper corporation. And somehow like I've never gone to the corporation like in the game and because that's like crossing
Starting point is 00:36:37 a moral line within the game, but you can like, in other games you like stab someone and it's fine. But I think it's really interesting to like interact with games this way. But it's interesting that, I mean, I find it fascinating that you can, games are getting so sophisticated
Starting point is 00:36:54 that you're making moral choices. And what's really interesting is like first person shooter games, you're basically killing people left and right, but somehow we've been inculcated that there's this, it's not real, you know, it's not real. And I have no- There's certain things that are like more triggering than others. Like I think it was my husband was playing
Starting point is 00:37:13 like Red Dead Redemption or something or like some game where like you had, oh, oh. If you know the game, Chime In Blade. Maybe it's like, it's not Skyrim, but it's like a similar game to that. And like he had to like kill a couple of like dogs that were like attacking him or whatever. And for some reason, like all of the people that he had
Starting point is 00:37:30 to like fight was okay, but like when you hit the dog and it makes a sound, it's like there's something like really horrifying about that. I completely understand. I was watching a movie last week and people are getting, humans are getting off left and right. And then someone like kicked a small bear. And the bear went like, ooh.
Starting point is 00:37:48 And I couldn't, I left the room. I couldn't handle it. Yeah, I think that that's really interesting. I think there's like a Bartleme short story called like the gerbil. And it's all of these like terrible things happen in the class. Like, you know, first it's like the gerbil dies
Starting point is 00:38:03 and then it's like a kid like falls off of, you know, a play thing or whatever. And then they get a puppy. And when the puppy dies, that's the moment like that really, that's like the height of a tragedy, not like this kid, like a child that fell in the story. Yeah, but why do kids suck, you know? I mean, they do.
Starting point is 00:38:21 They're just such asshole. I want my chocolate milk. You know, I usually applaud when a child falls. This is our last podcast. This is a successful podcast. And you're a very lovely, talented person. You've done nothing wrong, but somehow you've brought it out of us.
Starting point is 00:38:41 Yeah, I'm sorry. It's your fault. No, that's hilarious to me. I don't know. I was thinking about, cause I can't remember where we were. Where were we? I just had a really good laugh.
Starting point is 00:38:52 And Sonia, you don't pay attention. Oh, video games. Oh yeah. And the morality of video games. I know that it feels to me like when I listen to your music, one of the things, and I think I even heard you say this, that you like this kind of heroes versus villains dichotomy between good, evil, but how the line is blurred.
Starting point is 00:39:11 And I always find that fascinating because I love movies. Occasionally I'll love a movie where there's, you know, you watch Die Hard and you know who the good guy is and the bad guy is Hans Gruber. And there's no mistake in that. But I'm more drawn to the movies that I think I have more of a European bent where, I don't know, it's interesting.
Starting point is 00:39:29 There are people who are, seem like the bad guy and people who seem like the good guy, but the lines get blurred. And you feel like everybody's just trying to do their own thing and have it can seize. I mean, I think that's like the purpose of art really is to just like find humanity and people, you know? I mean, I think my favorite shows are,
Starting point is 00:39:51 shows like the Sopranos or like where, you know, you're rooting, you feel conflicted because you're rooting for a murderer. And I think it puts everything into perspective. You know? I mean, I've got, I'm like- You obviously watched, you must have watched Sopranos on the second go-around, right?
Starting point is 00:40:07 Cause you seem, or no, you seem young to have watched the Sopranos. I remember when it was coming out, my parents would like, I think, I wonder how old I was. I feel like, I was definitely too young to watch the Sopranos, but my parents like loved the show so much.
Starting point is 00:40:22 And I remember like getting sent out of the room every time like Bada Bing scene came out. Oh, right, right, right. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I've rewatched it many times since and I feel like that's that element of that show. And I feel the same way about Game of Thrones too, where you're just like,
Starting point is 00:40:37 I love like being manipulated to like hate someone and then in the next scene, like kind of like really fall for them. And I think that that's a great art should do. Well, it's funny you say that because I just rewatched all the Sopranos. I made it a mission and I watched all of them in like a month on my own.
Starting point is 00:40:53 And there's a terrific book about Sopranos by two writers, I think, from the Star Ledger, I want to say. And it's just a great essay about each episode. So I would watch the episode, then read this essay. And I just got so much meaning out of rewatching it. And I'm just starting to, my son's never seen Game of Thrones,
Starting point is 00:41:15 so we're just starting to watch it. Although that's difficult because there's full on crazy nude sex sometimes. And when you're a dad sitting in the room with your son, both of us want to die. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Both of us just want to make our heart stop through sheer force of will and die.
Starting point is 00:41:34 Because it's not, you can't even pretend it's not happening. And you're not like, oh, this is cool sex. I'm cool, you know, about sex. Oh, no, no. You can just do what my parents did and like send him out of the room. You know, in the sixth sense, you knew a ghost was in the room
Starting point is 00:41:49 because they could see their breath. When I'm watching television and sex is, and anyone else is in the room and sex is graphically depicted, suddenly I can see my breath. Suddenly it's like this vapor coming out of my mouth. And it always happens just beforehand. I know it's coming.
Starting point is 00:42:07 And then sure enough, swang, da-ba-da-da-da-da-da, you know. That is the worst sound for any sexual scene I've ever heard of. You don't think that's an accurate. Swang, da-ba-da-da-da-da-da. We have a professional music company
Starting point is 00:42:28 ecologist artist here who will vouch that that is the exact way it sounds. You're gonna rip me off too. I know in your next album, you're gonna have a huge hit with swang, da-ba-da-da-da-da-da. And the Grammy for best single. Japanese breakfast with swang, da-ba-da-da-da-da-da.
Starting point is 00:42:55 And I'll be like, I know I'm gonna get mentioned. Nope. You mentioned all your friends, all your cool pals, and not one word for me. What's your process? How do you, I don't, I don't. I know from that to what's your process. Well, I wanna know, I've never written a song.
Starting point is 00:43:12 I play guitar, I often have a guitar with me. I play guitar all the time. I love it. I'm always playing other people's music. I've never tried to write a song and I think I have a block against it. I don't know, I don't think I could be emotionally vulnerable and write a song.
Starting point is 00:43:28 If I wrote a song, it would be it. There's a lot of people that aren't emotionally vulnerable in their songs. Oh, that's true. So you're meaning? I feel like twang, da-ba-da, da-ba-da-da-da. Like a chumba-wamba-hiss song. Oh, I get knocked down.
Starting point is 00:43:43 Yeah, I mean like, I don't, I don't, I guess like it has vulnerability in it. No, no, no, I think about it. Well, I don't know. I mean, I've talked to. Like do you think WAP has a lot of vulnerability? Like you could have like a hype anthem. Like maybe that's more of your description.
Starting point is 00:43:57 Maybe that more like a bragging, I'm all that. Right. No one wants to probably hear me open up about my inner hurt. No. I mean maybe they do. No, they don't. But there are many ins.
Starting point is 00:44:09 Oh my God, you know what I also saw? I mean, I know this has probably been commented on a lot, but we went and saw, we went over and saw Megan Thee Stallion perform. And there's a person, a woman doing sign language. Oh yeah. And people must, I'm sure they all notice this and it's been talked about in their videos.
Starting point is 00:44:27 But I was in the crowd watching this woman, she's singing the lyrics. She's singing the lyrics and it is hardcore. And this woman who looks like she would, you know, break into a telethon on PBS and say, if you'd like to get your tote bag, the number is 132344. This woman's there and she's acting out with her hands.
Starting point is 00:44:50 Yeah. The most graphic stuff with no expression on her face. Oh no. Some of them are really like stoked though. Like they have like their own performance style. Right. That's a whole other. And they like dance along with it.
Starting point is 00:45:03 I've seen those. Those are fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Especially at rap shows, they're amazing. Cause they know all the stuff beforehand and then get really into it. I mean, you could go down a YouTube rabbit hole of sign language interpreter.
Starting point is 00:45:15 I was blown away by that. I mean, I couldn't, I had a hard time paying attention to Megan Thee Stallion. I just, cause my eyes were riveted on this woman. I was just amazed by what she was. Her deadpan like. Yeah, I mean, she wasn't exactly deadpan, but also she also looked like
Starting point is 00:45:30 I might have to leave soon to close the library. No, it's, but I don't know how you, do you consciously sit down to write a song or does something come to you? Yeah, I'm feel like very, when I was younger, I feel like I was like waiting for the spirit to possess me or something. But now I feel like it's more of like a faucet.
Starting point is 00:45:48 You know, like I feel like I, I put myself in an environment that I know is going to be conducive to like writing. Like I go into like a forest or something, like a cottage in the woods. And you write on the guitar? I do usually write on the guitar. For the last record, I kind of tried to like find new ways
Starting point is 00:46:05 to push myself out of my comfort zone and write on piano or, you know, sometimes I actually just draw like on a MIDI board of like, cause I don't have like a very strong theory knowledge. So if I like hear the chord I want, it's actually really helpful. I can like drag a bar of like a, do you know what MIDI is? I don't.
Starting point is 00:46:23 It's, I don't, I don't know if I can, it's just like a, like a, I don't know. Like you can like drag a note sort of like on a graph and like it'll make a sound. Is it a program? Can you please explain that? It's a language. So it's like a computer language
Starting point is 00:46:39 that allows you to write music. You can transpose every note or chord via this MIDI language and it'll spit out the note and you can make chords. And it's the way all modern music is now mostly made, you know, via computers. So you could say if, if you knew, okay, it's, it's a G but it's not a G.
Starting point is 00:47:01 I want it to have something. I want it to have a slightly different, you could on MIDI maybe play with the G and get a G suspended seventh, ninth without knowing that that's what you're getting. Okay, that's cool. Yeah, yeah. So you can like have the G on the bass
Starting point is 00:47:16 and then like with another note, like drag it until it makes the sound. You're like, oh, it's that chord. And that sometimes that would take me a much longer time to find on the guitar with my personal. Do you, do you think that it might learning theory might actually get in the way of your creative process ever? Yeah, I mean, I started taking some lessons.
Starting point is 00:47:37 I mean, I hear that like, but in my experience, like even just like learning a very, very small amount of theory has been really helpful for me. So you're just like, oh, I can't believe I got this far without like knowing what makes certain songs. I'm just curious, cause I've never had any of that. And I'm, I'm now even at this stage in life thinking, I think I need a teacher now.
Starting point is 00:47:58 I mean, you know, it's been years and years and years of me having people kind of show me songs I want to play or riffs I want to play. And so I, I think I have a jukebox in my, when I pick up a guitar, there's a lot of songs I can play. But I don't know what, how the hell it all works. Right, right. And maybe knowing how it worked would be fun
Starting point is 00:48:17 for me at this stage. I think so. And I think that like, even if you learn too much in a way that inhibits you, there's always ways to like kind of unlearn it. Like I found that I took, you know, some more guitar lessons and found that was helpful. And then when it was no longer helpful,
Starting point is 00:48:31 then you can just like put a capo on or change the tuning. And then you just, you don't know anymore what you're doing. So I feel like there are weird tricks to like get, to protect yourself from, from that ruining something. But for me, I found it to be really helpful. And I feel like when you listen to music, I mean, there's a way to interact with music that's like, oh, that's like haunting
Starting point is 00:48:48 or that's interesting or then, you know, or that's just like a minor third, you know? Yeah. And I feel like you're all like chasing, there are just like different ways to like chase a feeling. All I ever heard when I was first playing guitar, some, some guy told me minor chords are the ones
Starting point is 00:49:03 that make girls fall in love with you. And I was like, really? And then sure enough, you play an A minor and you're like, well, I did and nothing happened. No one was interested. But, but you could kind of see like, oh, I see how what minor chords do. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:49:18 You know, E is like, yeah, but E minor, he's kind of dreamy. Said, said no one. Well, this has been a joy. It's been an absolute joy. Thank you so much. Thank you for giving me street cred with my daughter. Oh, I'm so.
Starting point is 00:49:36 Neve is, you know, I'm going to lord this over her. And she actually last night, so I had read your book and had been listening a lot to your music. And then she called me last night to just make sure that I didn't screw things up today. She sounds so cool. I'm very, she's very indebted to her. She's very cool.
Starting point is 00:49:58 And, but I'm indebted to her for, for bringing me to Coachella so that I got to see you do your thing. And I love that you came in and talked to me. This is amazing. Thank you for having me. Thank you all. Well, don't thank them.
Starting point is 00:50:12 I don't really do much. He's, he's just defined midi, which was incredible. Yeah. But he's basically, he's been watching. I had my own like Miss Pac-Man just like melting down. Midi, it's kind of a. You idiot. And we gotta write that song.
Starting point is 00:50:29 What is it? Thwang, thubba da, thubba da, thubba da, thubba da, thubba da. I'm telling you, that's going to be huge. Yeah. You can come out in your song when you perform it. That's going to be right up there with. What is it? Jump around?
Starting point is 00:50:42 Yeah. No. I'm going to wear a Celtics jersey and jump around in my video. Thwang, thubba da, thubba da. You know, white guys jumping around. Yeah. That sounds like a good plan.
Starting point is 00:50:51 Wearing a Boston shirt. Yeah. That could be your thing. Sure. Yeah. It's so lovable. Michelle, thank you so much. Thank you. Very cool.
Starting point is 00:51:00 Thank you. Not too long ago on a Conan O'Brien needs a fan episode. We spoke to Carlos, who does a drag act. And his drag character's name was Red Velvet. And we workshopped trying to come up with a drag character named for you. Which is interesting because in a recent episode,
Starting point is 00:51:21 Cherry Stag came up, which is pretty good. Well, Cherry Stag, yeah, we were talking to a gentleman in England. He lives in a very old town in England. And I noticed he was drinking something as we were having the interview. And he said, it's a Red Stag. Cherry Stag.
Starting point is 00:51:39 Right. Which I didn't know. Do you know that drink? I don't know. No, I've never heard of that. Sounds good. Yeah. I don't know what he said it was, but.
Starting point is 00:51:47 And then it came up that that would be a good drag name for me. Well, some fans have written in with a wonderful list of some possible drag names for you. Okay. This is good. I have very creative fans and I'm sure these are top notch.
Starting point is 00:52:02 Yeah. They are. Anna suggests Conan the Barbara. Oh, okay. That's pretty good. Yeah, that's not bad. This is one I thought of myself too when I was editing the episode.
Starting point is 00:52:13 I was going to title it this, The Red Menace. That's pretty good. Oh, that's not bad. Okay. Because I am kind of a menace. Yeah. I mean. But that doesn't feel draggy to me.
Starting point is 00:52:24 The red, yeah. The Red Menace. That's just kind of what you are in real life. Yes, yes. That's more of my real name. It should be the Red Menace. I'm going to call you that. That was Philip Spiegel who sent that in.
Starting point is 00:52:33 Okay. Jonathan V suggested Translucent Longstocking. Yeah. Translucent Longstocking. You know, I like it. I like it. Lily says, Pomp Adore.
Starting point is 00:52:49 Eh, that one's my favorite. That's pretty good. Pomp Adore. I mean, I like Translucent Longstocking too, but that's a mouthful. Yeah. You know, that's for an MC to go and airs. Translucent Longstock, you know,
Starting point is 00:52:59 that's a lot to get out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Pomp Adore. Yeah, two words. Yeah. Pomp. Pomp. No, Pomp.
Starting point is 00:53:07 It is Pomp, but I get what you're telling me. Oh, I thought it was Pomp Adore. No, but Pomp Adore is good too. Oh, I like Pomp. It's Pomp Adore. Okay. It's Pomp Adore. I know, I know the word is Pomp Adore,
Starting point is 00:53:18 but I'm saying, I thought she was doing Pomp. Like two puns. Yes. What's Pomp? Like, you know, when you're like, you know, Pomp. Oh, I thought you meant, I need a Pomp. Oh God. A Pomp, what are you gonna pump?
Starting point is 00:53:33 Well, oh, you have to pump it up like a basketball? Like you have to hide the peepee when you're doing drag. Yeah. You don't pump it. Oh, trust me, I've been tucking for a long time. You gotta let the air out. In just regular life? Just, my jeans fit better.
Starting point is 00:53:48 Right now? Yeah. Oh, I'm tucked. Yeah, way back. I just find it's a, the jeans fit, everything just fits better. Yeah. Are you tucking it behind on the outside
Starting point is 00:54:00 or are you tucking it in a little pocket somewhere? We don't, we don't need, we don't need that. Well, I'm glad you have to, but we want to know. Oh no, we don't. I tuck straight back. And then I use, it's electrician's tape to just hold everything sort of where it needs to be. So if you didn't tape it, there'd be like,
Starting point is 00:54:19 almost like a little lever coming about the back, like a little cracker? I think that's enough. I just say a little lever. I think that's enough. No, I look like, from the behind, I look like a slot machine. I think that's enough.
Starting point is 00:54:29 Yeah, you just pull that crank and you see what comes out. Oh God. Was it Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs who was also doing that? Yeah. That's where I got, that's where I learned how to do it. Okay.
Starting point is 00:54:42 I was like, oh, okay, that might help. That just might be a good idea. I'm more aerodynamic. This is back when I ran track. So I learned. So you tucked and ran? Oh, you tucked and run. That seems virtually impossible
Starting point is 00:54:53 because you have to use the friction of your legs to keep it in. Well, listen, I don't know how you run, but I'm gonna tell you that when, I'm just, if anyone out there is a sprinter or even if you're doing distance, a tuck and run. And you go, I mean, there's so much less wind resistance.
Starting point is 00:55:09 You really move fast. You just, you fly through the air. It's incredible. Okay. What a stupid and awful conversation. I would love if the topic changed right now. What's the next name? Can we please stop talking?
Starting point is 00:55:21 Isn't this a pump, by the way? That's a pump. That's why I thought you were saying from a pump. Oh, I thought, see, I was thinking, that's why I thought it was like punful because it's a shoe, it's pumped. I don't think you thought of the shoe, to be honest with you.
Starting point is 00:55:34 You know why I did think of the shoe, but that's not a drag shoe. Well, a pump is not a drag shoe. Yeah. These stilettos are drag shoes, I think. Okay. Have you ever worn heels? I'm not, I have in sketches.
Starting point is 00:55:45 I've had to wear heels in sketches sometimes in the past and don't understand how anybody does that for eight seconds, more than eight seconds. It is horrific. Yeah, it is. It is. I don't know how women do it. Me either.
Starting point is 00:56:01 Makes our legs look good. Does it? Yeah, it does. It just does, but it is horrible. I hate heels. Yeah. Have you worn heels and tucked? Oh, well, yeah, if I'm gonna.
Starting point is 00:56:13 Matt. If I'm gonna tuck, I might as well wear heels as well. Matt, why are we doing this? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. If you're gonna do one, you might as well do the other. You're halfway there, go for it. Okay. Let's not have there be a whole thing about,
Starting point is 00:56:24 you know, I am, whatever, I am a straight male, but I like to tuck. Okay. All right, let's move past it. All right, the next one's from Matt Gorley. Friar tuck. Friar tuck. I like Friar tuck.
Starting point is 00:56:40 And I would get the, oh, the monk's haircut. You know, it's bald on top and there's a fringe. And I would be Friar. I like Friar tuck. Have you been to a drag show ever? You know what drag is? No, for someone who tucks constantly and likes to wear heels,
Starting point is 00:56:55 I'm shocked that I haven't been to a drag show. Oh my God. Shocked. Magnolia suggests strawberry tall cake. Oh, okay. I see that. Seth Moore suggests Lady Fred von Richthofen, who of course you would know is the red baron.
Starting point is 00:57:12 Of course, yeah. Of course. Paul Heronimus suggests the ginger ninja by Paul Heronimus. That's not bad. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I like Friar tuck a lot. Ginger ninja.
Starting point is 00:57:24 You know Friar tuck is a joke one that Matt just did. I know. Oh, okay. Oh, but you like it. I do. If someone had called in, why do we disqualify that? Yeah. Just because he said Friar tuck and I liked it.
Starting point is 00:57:38 Okay, all right. I got royalties on that too. Okay. Okay. Oh yeah, we'll make a lot of money. Yeah, that's gonna be so much windfall right there. And that's essentially the long and short of it. There's some really good ones in there.
Starting point is 00:57:51 Yeah, a lot to think about here. Ginger ninja is very good. I don't know, you know, Friar tuck. You might have it, Matt. Wow. Okay, there it is. But I think, you know, I don't know a lot about drag. Like I don't know that I would be a good performer in drag.
Starting point is 00:58:08 I think you're a great performer as yourself. I don't think you have the chops for drag. No, what is it you think? Honest, be honest. What am I lacking? There is a level of showmanship that I think goes beyond what you've been trained to do. And that is a lot of letting go
Starting point is 00:58:25 and a lot of, you know, just enjoying it. Plus like a certain amount of elegance and kind of technique. So there aren't any drag queens whose character is very uptight, self-loathing. That's not like a way to go. Yeah, no, that doesn't seem to draw a lot of crowds in. But maybe you can be groundbreaking in that sense.
Starting point is 00:58:49 Be the first drag queen that people are gonna be depressed when they go see that. What is RuPaul's show? Is it RuPaul's Drag Race? Drag Race. Yeah. If you can get on RuPaul's Drag Race. Well, you said you're aerodynamic and it's a race.
Starting point is 00:59:00 That's true. But I mean, I'm halfway there. I know how to do some of it. You're way less than halfway there. Way, way less than halfway there. You have so much work to do. Do you want to be on RuPaul's Drag Race as like a contestant?
Starting point is 00:59:14 I think I should just be there to, you know, consult on lighting. I don't think I should have anything to do with gaming drag because I think I would be absolutely terrible. Yeah, you know you would. I'm not saying anything that's hurting your feelings. You know you wouldn't be good at drag. No, I wouldn't be good at drag.
Starting point is 00:59:30 All right, well, we learned a lot here and we also learned nothing. Yeah. Which is really the formula of this program. Once again, we broke even. So much conversation about tucking though that I just want to forget. So you keep it going?
Starting point is 00:59:43 No, no, no, we're good. I think that's wrap it up. All right. Sometimes you have to wrap it up to tuck it. Okay. Jesus, it's a little mummy. Mummify it. Okay, stop.
Starting point is 00:59:53 Especially if you're not going to use it. Mummify it? Why the fuck are you mummifying it? Well, you gotta kind of let it shrink a little and then get it up. What are you talking about? You've thought about this a lot. I don't even have a penis
Starting point is 01:00:04 and I know that doesn't make sense. Come on, I would be so much better at tucking than the two of you. Ooh, that sounds like a challenge. Go. Go, you two. Someone, give me a penis. Well, I left mine at home.
Starting point is 01:00:18 My wife took mine in 2009. All right, let's wrap it up. Yeah, please God. Bye. Bye. Conan O'Brien needs a friend with Conan O'Brien, Sonam of Sessian and Matt Gorely. Produced by me, Matt Gorely.
Starting point is 01:00:34 Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Joanna Solotarov and Jeff Ross at Team Coco and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Year Wolf. 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.
Starting point is 01:00:54 Engineering by Eduardo Perez. 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 323-451-2821 and leave a message.
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