Inside Conan: An Important Hollywood Podcast - Brian Stack

Episode Date: July 5, 2019

Brian Stack (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) is one of the most beloved writer/performers from the Late Night with Conan O’Brien days and one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Brian joins Conan writers Mike Sweeney and Jessie Gaskell to talk about the first sketch he ever wrote being Andy’s Little Sister featuring Amy Poehler, the special only kids in the audience episode, and some of his favorite Conan bits including Artie Kendall the Ghost Crooner, WikiBear, The Wikipedia-Powered Teddy, The Reverend Otis K. Dribbles, Bulletproof Legs, and much more. This episode is brought to you by FabFitFun (www.fabfitfun.com code: INSIDECONAN).Check out Conan Without Borders: Australia: https://teamcoco.com/australiaCheck out Conan25: The Remotes: https://conan25.teamcoco.com/Got a question for Inside Conan? Call our voicemail: [phone] and e-mail us at [e-mail] For Conan videos, tour dates and more visit TeamCoco.com

And now, it's time for Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast. It's Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast. And this week we have an interview we did when we were in New York. Wait, who's, who are we? Oh, please. Doesn't it say when you, when it comes up on your phone and who the hosts are? Maybe it doesn't. I'm Mike Sweeney. I'm Jesse Gaskell. And we're writers of The Conan Show. And this show's all about things going on behind the scenes of Conan, but also it tackles world problems in politics. So I think it's the total, it's the only podcast you need in your life. We also have a weekly cocktail recipe.

Yeah, that's right. For entertaining. No, we don't do most of those things. But we do- Why not lie? We do do have interviews with former Conan writers, such as Brian Stack. That's right. Brian Stack joined the show in 96 and has an encyclopedic memory of every experience of late night. Oh my God, he does.

And he's one of the most beloved, well-known writer performers from the late night days. Yeah, and he's truly one of the nicest people i've ever met yeah no he's great it's an act but disturbingly nice yeah on the surface incredibly wonderful no he's very very thoughtful and sweet and and just uh enemy i know every time i see him i'm like it's got to be an act, damn it. I know, I know. You almost want to throttle him and provoke him into telling you what he really thinks of you. Exactly. Maybe we do. Or maybe we don't.

Yeah, maybe we do. No, this was one of the interviews we did in New York. Yep. That's where Brian is now because he writes for The Colbert Show. Is it called that? It's The Late Show, yeah. The Late Show. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The Late Show, of course. So that's where he is now and he's in new york let's talk to him great all right i'm nervous to interview this guest you are yeah i love notorious hard ass oh man he is one false move with this guest. I know. The rage comes boiling over. You will feel his verbal stings. No, we have with us the nicest man in Hollywood. You're too kind. But we're in New York where he's a prick.

Yes, exactly. One of the meanest guys in New York City. It's coastal dependent. Exactly. We're here with Brian Stack. Brian Stack. Legendary. He's legendary. It's so great. Exactly. We're here with Brian Stack. Brian Stack. Legendary. Oh, he is legendary.

It's so great to see you both. It's been too long and I miss you. We miss you too. Oh, he's Miss Stack. But we still get to see you on TV, which is exciting. Oh, thanks. Always fun to see you too. We came all the way to New York just to talk to you.

Oh, well, it means a lot. I mean, I kind of did. Really, it's true. We're here for the upfronts. Sure. And they're like, well, why don't you interview some people? And, of course, you're at the top of everyone's list. Yes.

Well, thank you. It's great to talk to you again. But you are hard to get because you're actually, you have a job. I know. I love trying to just schedule this. Originally, it was going to be tomorrow, which is you shoot two shows on Thursday? We do. Usually, we shoot-

You work at the Colbert Report. Yes. I'm not at the Colbert Show. No, it's okay. Yeah. Yeah, we usually do two monologues at least, and sometimes the show gets pieced together in pieces. But yeah, today was a little crazy because it was the CBS, our friends, too.

Oh, today. Okay. Yeah, so I know everybody's going through that this week. Right. Were you guys involved? Do they suck you into them? Do you have to write material for it? Conan had to appear at the Turner, now the Warner Media Upfront. So I didn't know if you guys got roped into writing stuff or if Stephen had to do anything.

Some of the writers didn't. Stephen did do something over at the Upfronts, but I was kind of working on other stuff today. But it was fun to watch, you know. It's always a little strange to watch those things because... So weird. The advertisers, you don't know what kind of an audience they're going to be. No, I know. A rich audience.

Yeah. Hopefully it goes well. I remember Conan doing them, too, and when Little Jay Leno came out years ago. That was famous. We had a character, Little Jay Leno. Yeah, what? That's great.

Yeah, a little person who looked exactly like Jay. It was an Andy Blitz special. It was in one little beat of a long kind of pageant sketch that a writer, Andy Blitz, did. And the reaction to this Little jay character was so electric it was like we right afterwards in the hallway we're like uh what are you doing the next four months because we're gonna have you on all the time he was also little gene simmons in the band little kiss where they would do kiss covers but they were all little people he was great, Joe.

Joe Fatale. And so they wanted to borrow him from our show for the upfront, but they screwed it up. Well, you go ahead. I think they introduced him as Jay Leno, not as little Jay Leno. So I think the audience was very confused why this little person in a sports car was driving out onto the stage. Well, he might be short in real life. confused why this little person in a sports car was driving out onto the stage. But it was- Well, he might be short in real life. I mean, maybe the show is shot with forced perspective. Exactly.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And the car broke down. It was a toy car. And I remember- And it was Radio City Music Hall, which, I don't know, is like a football field wide, that stage. And he just, car stops, he's waving.

The audience has no idea. Like, why did they say this is Jay Leno? And then stagehands had to do that walk of shame, come out and slowly push him across. It lasted 10 minutes. Yes, it did. Great upfront moments from years past. But you have a great memory, Brian. it lasted 10 minutes yes it did great up front moments from years past

but I love you have a great memory Brian yes oh thanks I try yeah you remember that actor's name

which is incredible yes but I yeah I just remember starting at Conan and you had you always had great stories yes

oh thanks thanks I always I used to tape like all the shows and like all bits and musical guests and stuff. So I think sometimes I remember stuff just because I watched it more than when it was just on the first time. Oh, okay.

And then now on Twitter, you often will post some of your favorite clips. Yeah, I really geek out on Twitter with music stuff or old comedy bits. Like I'll post McCann and Matt Walsh last week I posted them doing the What Hurts More channel oh wow because Matt was

finishing up with Veep and I was just like it just made me think of the What Hurts More channel which was just McCann and Walsh being insane hitting each other

hitting themselves with stuff right right right so yeah it's fun I do I love all those old clips and I love that they're all going to be on the Kona website now. When it's not Rush Things.

Oh, yeah. Eventually. Eventually. But right now, I'm always grateful to the fans that put them on YouTube because I don't know how to put stuff on YouTube. So I'm always so grateful that a lot of our old silly bits are floating around. Do you get recognized a lot from just walking around New York City? Very rarely. Like, I think partly because I think, as you know, like a lot of the characters I did, I was buried under wigs and hats and beards.

You don't wear those costumes anymore? The interrupter? Well, it was usually, like, if I looked like myself, it was usually a bit for someone else. Because, like, if I wrote it myself, I would usually put crazy stuff on. But the Slip Nuts I did occasionally get recognized for because I looked like myself. That's true. Like an Irish bartender on 48th Street goes, you're one of the Slip Nuts. And I was like, yes, I am.

Oh, that's great. He's a nuthead. Yeah, exactly. Without the sweater. They put the Slip Nuts remote up online. I love that. That was really fun to see. When you guys opened for the actual band Slip Knot.

Oh, yeah. That was so insane. I remember just before we went on stage, you might have heard this, but the stage manager goes, be careful out there, guys. These fans throw batteries at the bands they like. Right. So Glazer's like, if I get hit with a battery, man, I'm going to be really. And Blitz, we ran out on stage and the crowd hated us just as much as we hoped they would.

They were booing and throwing beer cups and giving us the finger. And Blitz said later that we should have run out for an encore. An encore, yes. Which I really wish we had, but we'd probably be dead. Yes. He talked about that on the podcast. Yeah. That's right.

I heard that. And I could see, like, I'm sure Glazer was like, oh, no, man. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, we went on after Lamb of God and before Slipknot. Oh, you were the middle? Yeah. So Lamb of God's out there with their, like, Cookie Monster metal vocals, like, and then we'd come running out, and the audience was so confused.

Oh, I love you. I didn't realize there was a band on before you guys. Yeah. They were really intense, too. So the crowd was warmed up and ready. They were. For you three. It was so surreal to go out, because I'd been to arena shows, but I'd never gone on stage at a place that size.

Yeah. So it kind of hit us all of a sudden when we hit the stage how huge it was. Yeah. And how confused the crowd was. We've made a mistake. Right. Really, that was pretty obvious right away. It would have kept running right off the other side.

Exactly. So you're working at Colbert, and it's five days a week. It is, yeah. We don't usually tape on Fridays, but it's kind of like the old Kona days where we would have one day where we would work, but not necessarily tape. Try to get ahead on the next week. Yeah, exactly. Work on upcoming stuff. But your show's so topical, it's probably hard to bank stuff.

I mean, I don't know. Sometimes it is, because I know sometimes some of the stuff later in the week, by necessity, is a little more evergreen or something like, yeah, it's a, it's an interesting process. Cause I know in the Conan days, like a lot of the stuff we did, if it had to wait two weeks from then, it was just like Tommy Blotcha lassoing cupcakes or something. This isn't time sensitive. People know cowboys two weeks from now and rope tricks or McCandu and the world's oldest stuntman

running down the stairs and um I do love just pure silly like that yeah there's a fair amount of that

it's my favorite stuff I thought of you you a character that you did the the crooner ghost oh yeah Artie Kendall yeah

that was uh just because of the Kate Smith controversy. Oh, right. That was crazy. I was genuinely shocked that there were songs that... Yeah, we can't even talk about. That's true. But it was weird because I always was like,

Artie Kendall was a racist, misogynist monster who got murdered. But I thought his lyrics were so above and beyond in offensiveness from what really existed. And I guess they were kind of in the ballpark. Yeah, yeah. I wonder if we can put those up online now. You know? Right. Maybe you could.

It was funny because originally we had done some other bit where Gordo had someone, Michael Gordon had someone half faded in. And I was like, wait, how do they do that? And then I got the idea that, oh, what if a ghost appeared? And I started thinking, well, Rockefeller Center's been here since the 30s. There were probably old crooners like Bing Crosby singing in this very studio. And they just kind of evolved from there and got darker and darker. Right.

And you'd be like, here's a little doodad sing for the ladies out there. I remember hearing that Bing Crosby had this dark side and it always seemed very strange to me that a guy who's like, hey, Junior,

you would also have like this horrible, horrible side. Horrible dark side. Did he talk about how he had been murdered? I mean, did we know? He did, yeah.

At one point, I think it came up that he was beheaded by the League of Women Voters. I think they, yeah, I think they forced him to dig his own grave. And he deserved it. People really liked it. And then it got hard to keep.

It's like with Wicky Bear. Keep pushing the envelope. Well, it was weird, too, because I didn't think I'd be doing it more than once. Otherwise, it would have varied the song a little bit. It was always the exact same melody, it was weird too because I didn't think I'd be doing it more than once so otherwise it would have varied the song a little bit. It was always the exact same melody. It was.

It's like, wait, no one calls you out that it's the exact same melody every single time. I kind of love that about comedy bits that where they don't, like, I mean,

some people might think that's super lazy but I just kind of love it's the same melody. Yeah, there's an obvious thing that no one talks about. Yes. Yeah, I always appreciated that people didn't make a stink about that, like they just kind of roll with it. Well, the Internet was young back then.

That's true. Now. Well, and we should just, you brought up Wikibare. Yes. But that's, I think, one of my favorite bits that you've done. Yeah. I remember when that came about. It's sort of a perfect example of your talents because initially there was sort of a different joke

for Wikibare, right? There was. Yeah, Todd Levin and I were... Yeah, you and Todd would bang them out. Yeah, because it came out... There was a new toy Wikibare coming out that was using information from Wikipedia. And we started to joke that, well,

Wikipedia isn't always completely reliable. So I think it was going to be that he had a lot of misinformation. And then in rehearsal, one of the stories was a little bit dark and Conan started joking, why not just talk about the Manson family, Wikibare? And so, and I know way too much about that. And Conan does too. Yeah. So we just started riffing about the Manson family. And I remember Conan saying in the rehearsal, I think this is the bit. I think it's Wicky Bear talking about... He always goes really dark into it. Yeah.

Yeah, so then it would end up being the Donner Party and the Black Plague and all that horrible thing. But it would always be... There was an endless well of... So that's why it's sort of the perfect use of your really upbeat character. But then, yeah, always. Hey, kids.

Exactly. I think someone pointed out that was a recurring theme in a lot of stuff I did. Even when I would write stuff for Joel, our old announcer, it was positivity. Yes. But really dark stuff being presented in a really positive way. Yes, yes. And I think I've always been a sucker for that. Stuff that freaks me out or scares me in real life, it's my way of kind of dealing with it.

Right. Or it's a cathartic kind of thing to write about it. I think I told you this. I think I saw you angry once. Oh, I remember that. I think you were coming around the corner. You remember the one time you were angry. Oh, I remember the one time it made an impression on Mike because my shoulder was really bothering me or I'd hurt my back or something.

And there was another time, though, too, where Glazer saw me. It's scary. Yeah, it kind of freaks people out. Sticks with you. Like, oh, Jack McBrayer saw me get really mad once. Glazer was doing a bit that wasn't even my bit, but it was really funny. And it was with a wireless mic. And it started failing on him.

And it had, for some reason, the bit had to be done that day. So it got ruined by the mic not working, and I was so frustrated with it. I was in Conan's dressing room with McBrayer. This was long before he did 30 Rock. It was when he used to do bits for us. I just was like, what the fuck? And I threw my script down, and Jack said later,

that was like watching your dad cry. Because he was like, he'd never seen me get mad. But it was like, it was just, I saw Glazer's bit get ruined. And once in a while it just, and I cleared my desk once. Glazer was walking into my office and I was on the phone, really frustrated about something. And I was late for rehearsal or something. And I just literally took my arm and sweep cleared my whole desk in one motion.

As Glazer walked into my office. Wow. And he just stared at me like, I think if I learned to express anger He stared my whole desk in one motion as Glazer walked into my office. Wow. And he just stared at me like, I think if I learned to express anger in a healthier way, those things wouldn't happen. Every seven years. Yeah, yeah. Like a comet. I think that's what I learned from my family.

Yeah. Bury it. Save it up. Repress it. Explode. Yes. Then it comes out in an irrational outburst. Oh, man. I wish I had seen you.

I'd like to put stuff on this desk and have you sweep it off. That's a final moment today. Were some of those things that you swept off plates with peanut butter on them? I always had so much crap and soda drink cans. And I saw an old photo of my office in 30 Rock. It was just covered. You couldn't even see the desk. It's just so covered with crap.

Levi, who took over your office, says he'll occasionally find peanut butter or something somewhere on the desk. Oh, man. I've always been classy. Well, no, but you, I mean, for the most part, you're known for being just one of the most cheerful people. Yes. Oh, thank you. To the point that I sometimes, when I first was getting to know you, I was like, is he making fun of me? Seriously?

It's like, he's just so nice, or he'll say good job on something, and I'm like, I know it wasn't that good of a job, so he's got to be sarcastic. Well, I think it's hard for people in comedy. I struggle with this too because a lot of times we're coming, like what got us into comedy was all this like insecurity about, are we doing a good job? And I get the same way when people are positive. I'm like, are they just?

No, that is not a comfortable place to be. You just show me the, like avoid eye contact with me. Then I relax. I'm like, like okay I get this yes they didn't like what I did

yeah I remember Conan saw me pacing in the airlock outside Studio 6A once in my early days at late night and he said Stack you know what you are

you're one of those playwrights in the 30s pacing in front of the theater in his tuxedo waiting for the morning papers to arrive and I was like he always had the perfect

metaphor for things yeah he used to say And I was like, he always had the perfect metaphor for things. Yeah. He used to say Dorff was like a 19th century construction worker or gang member. He goes, Dorff, shouldn't you be off throwing cabbages at Lincoln's inaugural train? That's right. So he would always have these riffs where he would sum us up with historical references. Specific historical, yeah. Dorff wouldn't fight in the Civil War.

Exactly. Still mad at Lincoln. No, he had a, what was his basic riff for you? Oh, God, I'm trying to remember. He used to sometimes jokingly come up with nicknames. Like he'd go, stack you alabaster ape. Because I'm so pale. Oh, right, you were the alabaster ape.

He yelled that at me once. And it was always, the funny thing was with Conan, it's always with total affection, but I always wondered when people would come in from outside the office, they would sometimes think, like when he was making fun of Jack from being from the South or something, he was doing it with nothing but love and affection, and he would only do that to people he liked. But sometimes I would like,

do outsiders know this is a bit? Right. Because he would sometimes walk in there before of us on a couch and be like, hmm, Mount Rushmore of incompetence or something like that. And I'd be like,

we all know he's just, that's just him joking around. Yeah, part of you wonders. Is he really a joke? It's in the back of my mind. joke well he went after jack and a long riff in that uh conan o'brien can't stop that documentary and i know people who said to me like oh i really yeah and i was so used to that i didn't i just like oh there's some really funny lines in there. And Jack's clearly, it's back and forth. Right. But people are like,

oh, I like the documentary except that part where, I don't know why he went after that poor Jack McBrayer like that. And Jack's such a good improviser that he would roll with it and look hurt. Right, right.

He'd be like, oh, that's not how I talk. His acting is too good. Exactly. Well, he would play it very realistically, like his feelings were being hurt, even though he knew it was a joke. But sometimes the crew guys would even think Conan was being mean to him. Yeah.

And it was understandable if you watched it. It was very realistic. I remember Jack's first time on the show in a sketch, and he was so funny. It was all the writers were just like, oh, my. I remember that bit. Was that your bit? It was my bit because I had done. It was so funny.

Well, I had done that in an ASCAT. It was the overconfident prison inmate, and it was just I had come into a scene in ASCAT, and I thought, oh, Jack's so much better for this than me because he's just got that cheerful. So we had him in a really pressed prison shirt, and he came in, and there were two huge guys with tattoos lifting weights. And he goes, hi, guys.

I'm new here, and I'm taking over. And they just immediately kill him with the weights. This guy just plonks him in the face with a barbell. He goes right down. He was absolutely perfect for it. He was great. I think you could tell Conan loved him immediately. Just like with Amy, when Amy would come in and do weights, Absolutely perfect for it. He was great. I think I could tell Conan loved him immediately. Yes.

Just like with Amy, when Amy would come in and do great. It's like Amy Poehler, you know, in the early days. The UCB was like a rep company for us early on. Yes. It was amazing. They were on all the time. And they elevated everything. They did.

They always made everything better. Amy and Matt Walsh did a satellite channel that I remember one of the first times I saw them. And I was like, holy cow. It was, I think, a simple idea. It was a husband and wife news anchor team. Oh, yeah. And they started doing the news, but then they started sniping at each other. Oh, bickering, yeah.

And it elevated to Matt Walsh just going, grrr, and just overturning the desk and storming out. Fantastic. Yeah, they were great and everything. Yeah, first sketch I ever wrote was Andy's Little Sister and everything. Yeah, the first sketch I ever wrote was Andy's Little Sister and Amy. Was that the first one you wrote? It was. Amy Poehler was in your first sketch ever. It's been all downhill.

It was, kind of. We knew her in Chicago. I was originally going to get a real 13 year old girl for it. Then we were like, could Amy look 13? And when they put her in the pigtails and the headgear and the performance was just. Right.

And I felt so bad afterwards because I thought I was so new that I didn't know that the audience doesn't really read along with the cue cards. They're looking at the monitors. Right. So I was like, hey, can we do it without cue cards? Right. And they won't see it. So she memorized.

Oh, you're kidding. Oh, so you, they actually went along with that. They didn't use cue cards. She didn't use cue cards because they won't see it. So she memorized. Oh, you're kidding. So they actually went along with that. They didn't use cue cards. She didn't use cue cards at least the first time we did it. And I felt so bad later on because I had never done a bit in the audience. I didn't know how hard that would be. And she nailed it. And she's always fantastic, obviously.

I always worried about that with anything with the audience. Just reading. Yeah. That was my fear. And reading along. Because they do like to. And getting to the joke. I used to go to the cue card guys like, you're putting up the punchline too soon.

Oh, yeah. But none of that matters. I realized later most people are just watching the monitors to see the sketches. They're watching TV so they don't have to read. Yeah, exactly. That's right. Exactly. I don't want to read

your stupid cue cards in different colors. I didn't know that was your first sketch. That must have felt fantastic. Yeah, no kidding. Well, I think in some ways, I think that might have been

one of the reasons I was kept on too because I was originally, I don't know if you remember this, I was supposed to be there for 13 weeks. I don't remember that. Because I was filling in for Tommy Blotch who broke his leg.

Right. And I thought I was going back to Chicago and it turned into 18 years. Oh my gosh. And I sometimes wonder if that was one of the, at least part of the picture. Because you had a home run right away. Well, and she made it, it was such a simple idea and she's the one that kicked it into this memorable sketch because it was a very simple, simple idea and she just made it. It was such a simple idea. And she's the one that kicked it into this memorable sketch because it was a very simple, simple idea. And she just nailed it.

And I don't know for sure if that's the case, but I think it definitely helped. You were hilarious and prolific. Yeah, I'm sure that you won performance of yours and that would have kept you around too. I don't remember doing stuff early on though. Did you not? I did a little bit. I remember I would come in as like a doctor and just hand a clipboard to somebody or something. That's so beneath you.

Yeah, I think that was. But it was always fun. And I remember actual items being one of my favorite things to write early on. Actual items was great. Yeah. Those were fun. Everybody loved those. We would make a pile of them.

There'd be like 30 or 40 of them. And it was fun to just rehearse all. And a lot of times we do ones that we know, oh, there's no way this is going to go on. Just for Conan. Yes, yes.

Just for him to get mad. Or ones that are so dark. Like I remember one for an ad for Knives. I think it was Tommy's and it just said, Knives are quiet. So sometimes they were dark

but they were acceptable. Right, right, right. Then other times, one was for an oven and I remember it said, Startle the natives with your firebox. Oh my gosh. So sometimes they were dark, but they were acceptable. Right, right, right. Then other times, one was for an oven. And I remember it said, startle the natives with your firebox. Oh, my gosh. So they were all insane. Right.

They were always. Well, let's go back. So you said you came out from Chicago just to do this 13-week gig. Yeah, I was so thrilled. And how did they find you? Was it through Andy? I mean, who were your sort of connections at the show? I think it was partly Brian McCann and Greg Cohen and Tommy and Andy knew who I was.

And I think they recommended me to send in some ideas. And luckily, they liked them enough to, I don't know if I would have gotten hired as a full-time writer from the packet I sent in, but they liked it enough to bring me out for the 13 weeks. And then luckily, they liked the stuff I was doing after that. But I'll always be grateful that I got to work there so long. And for the 13 weeks alone, I would have been grateful. But to stay 18 years with so many great people. That's amazing.

It was just. And what were you doing in Chicago at the time? Like, were you auditioning for things or were you just enjoying doing, were you doing Second City? I'd been working at Second City for the previous four years, and it was kind of feeling like, even though I loved it there, it was kind of feeling like I was feeling kind of an itch to try something new anyway, so the timing just ended up being kind of perfect. Wow.

But I loved working there, but I had known McCann and Andy from the old improv scene there and all the UCB people. And Colbert and Carell and all them were heroes to us watching them on the main stage. I still remember Conan coming to town in the summer of 93 with Smigel. They were looking for I think they were still staffing up. And they came to one of our improv shows and I still remember that.

And so there's still, like, this small part of me that thinks of Conan as a new guy. Right. Which is insane, because that was 26 years ago. Right, right. But there's still this part of my brain that thinks of him as the new guy. Who's the kid? Yeah. Right.

Because he was, like, 28 or something. So were you guys all like, who's this guy? Because I know stand-up comics were, you know, that guy's not a comedian. He can't take over for Letterman. Well, I had heard how hilarious he was from my friend Claire, who used to date Bob Odenkirk, said, there's this guy who works with Bob at SNL who's just, everybody says he's the funniest guy in the room. And I remember the name Conan because it was an unusual name.

And then when he got the show, I go, oh, that must be the guy. It turns out it was a different Conan. I know. Exactly. That would have been nice if it was more common. Why didn't they get the other one? But I had heard how hilarious he was. Oh, wow.

And I always heard he was like one of the funniest writers. Yeah. And there was always a part of me knowing that he'd come out of improv and everything. Right. I always know that maybe it's just a prejudice I have coming out of improv. But I was like, I wasn't really surprised when it worked at all. Right. You know, even though he might have been really nervous early on, who wouldn't be, you know.

Yeah. His story is about the early time where like, oh, wow, we had to learn how to perform in television. Cole, like there was no warm up. There's no like, oh, well, you'll have your a little show on, you know, Comedy Central. I just jump right into these big show. No, Comedy Central wasn't as big as it is now. Or I know people who started hosting little kind of interstitial shows and kind of got their sea legs that way. Yeah. There was none of that for him. It was just get out there.

Trial by fire, absolutely. Terrifying. It must have been. I give him credit just for having the courage to do it. I've always admired the fact that you all have done stand-up and came out of stand-up. I could never imagine doing stand-up. I always needed to be on stage with other people in an ensemble.

Oh, improv is so much scarier. Yes, to me, improv is, the few times I would do it, I'd be like, ooh. I need to go write stuff down first. Can I be a bystander on this sketch? It's so funny to me that I've heard that from a lot of my stand-up friends, and I always feel the exact opposite. I'm always like, no, you're up there by yourself and you're being yourself.

You're not like playing a character. You're, I mean, you can, I suppose, play a persona. Right, right.

But I always was, like at Second City they used to even make fun of me if I had to go out and stall and talk to the crowd by myself.

I'd be like, oh, please don't, please don't make me go. Please, please, I'll do anything else. Why would you do that? Anything other than that. I would watch you

do the warm-ups for the crowd or McCann doing the warm-ups, and I'd be like, I could never, never do that. And so I had so much respect for it. That's crazy. I could never do what either of you do. Yeah. No, I'm serious. Now it's going to be really bad.

So, Brian, when you moved to New York, then did you get involved with UCB here? Or when did you start performing there? When I first got to town, we had known the UCB people, as I said, in Chicago. And so when I got here, it was so nice to know a few people. Like when Amy and Matt Walsh and Matt Besser and Ian Roberts left Chicago. It wasn't competitive because it was like, oh, the two long form improv schools. Oh, well, actually, because there was no Second City here in New York. Yeah. Like, and Amy, all of them, most of them had worked in the touring company at Second City, too.

But they had when it was so nice when we got to New York to have this little community on Sunday night to go do the ASCAT show because it was like a Chicago reunion every week. And it felt like you were going bowling with your friends or something. Right, right, right. So it was just, we would cling to that.

And the early days, they didn't even have their own space at the time. It was this rented space on 17th Street, Solo Arts. But I could tell right away that people started getting interested

in them teaching classes. And I don't think they'd come here with the idea of teaching classes, but that kind of just all evolved. And then I just,

it's amazing how much it's grown. Yeah. Because it was so small. Same thing happened in Chicago with ImprovOlympic and now called IO.

Oh, right. Everything just exploded. And the LA, as you know, the UCB in LA is huge now. Oh, yeah. Right. It's mandatory. Do you know when they came to New York, UCB? 96, I think.

Okay. So it was right a few months or a year before you came. I got here in April of 97. And they had already kind of established ASCOT as a Sunday night thing but it was, and they were getting small kind of loyal followings

and a lot of, a lot of people who later ended up becoming UCB regulars like John Ross Bowie and Rob Riggle and Brian Husky and all them

used to just come and see the shows and then they got involved and it was, it just couldn't believe how fast it grew. Yeah. Well, there really was a lack of improv. Weirdly, or maybe not so weirdly,

there weren't a lot of improv groups in New York City, so there was a real fertile ground. That's true. Andy Daly said there was like Chicago City Limits, but I don't know exactly what they were doing, but Andy Daly and some of those other people were doing stuff there. But they said, as far as improv goes, there wasn't much. No, there wasn't.

It was mostly like there's a lot of too many stand-up clubs. Oh, that was when you were doing it pretty regularly. Yeah. That's how you know there were too many clubs. But you worked regularly. But you were awesome. Yeah. Everybody knows that. No. Yeah, that's how you know there were too many clubs. But you worked regularly. But you were awesome. Yeah, no, please. Everybody knows that. No.

Yeah, they do. Drummed out of the business. I remember you guys always talking about Catch Rising Star and everything. Yeah, Catch Rising Star was great. It was fun. Do you feel like improv has really helped your sketch writing? I mean, do you get a lot of... Over the years, have you gotten a lot of ideas for characters from improv shows?

Well, I was consistently amazed how often just us screwing around in the office... Oh, yeah. Which the office always felt very... Would get on air. Yeah, it often felt very improvisational. Like the bulletproof legs thing that McCann did. That was from us just screwing around in the office or... In the room, in the writer's room.

Yeah, or McCann doing the FedEx Pope. I remember him putting the FedEx, he put a FedEx box on his head and was just blessing us. He'd go around and tell the writers, I bless you, I bless you. And yeah, especially in the environment where we have no show the next day. Oh, yeah. It's like, you're going to wear that hat on the air. Well, that's how Slipknot's, you know, it was probably 1 a.m. the night before, and we noticed the band Slipknot was on the show, and we had no comedy.

Yes. And a lot of the best stuff was just from desperation and sleep deprivation. Absolutely. And pizza. Yes. A lot of pizza. A lot of pizza. I remember we had mice running through the halls in the early days.

That's right. A lot of pizza. I remember we had mice running through the halls in the early days. Tommy Blotcha would throw cornbread at them and go, get out of here, mouse. And he would throw exactly what the mice wanted at them. And then more mice would come. Exactly. And he'd have to throw more cornbread. Jesse, they would seriously be just running down the hall. It was awful.

I remember the exterminator coming and going like, do you guys know you have mice? Yes, we're feeding them. Yeah. Tommy put sandwiches in the ceiling tile. Yeah. That is true. Over many, many months. I think when they redid that floor, I was like, I don't want to be around when they

pull down the tiles in the conference room. Yeah. After that, I don't want to be around when they pull down the tiles in the conference room yeah after that I don't remember seeing it anymore yes you know it's funny

we're talking about giving people their kind of like using Jack McBrayer and other people you know I was thinking of Paula Pell recently

because we used to use her she's awesome and we loved she was a writer on SNL and I don't know I don't know, I don't know whose idea it was to start using her.

Did you know her? I did not know Paula, but I had seen her in like opening bits at SNL and didn't know her name, but I thought she was very natural and real

and very funny. And she always would deliver. She just, you could always tell she was a really great actress. Great. We started using her a lot. Yeah she always would deliver. She just, you could always tell she was a really great actress. Great. We started using her a lot. Yeah, she was great.

And she was hilarious. She was great. Yeah, I remember seeing her a few years ago in Birdman in a small part as just a Midwestern mom. And I was like, oh, that's great. And, you know, it was always obvious she should be doing more acting. Right, right. And J.B. Smoove. Yes.

Oh, yeah. He was a writer at SNL. And I was always obvious she should be doing more acting. Right, right. And J.B. Smoove. Yes. Oh, yeah. He was a writer at SNL. And I was always amazed, why isn't he on camera? Because, like, I think Michael Komen might have discovered, be the one that brought him in. He brought him in for a sketch and was, well, he's J.B. Smoove. But we had never, no, we hadn't seen him before. And we're like, oh, my, we can't believe this guy's up at SNL. And we start, they started getting mad at us

because we started using them. Well, yeah. Like two or three times a week. I never, I wasn't seeing them on camera on SNL. And I was like, another case where you weren't surprised that they went on to do other stuff. I think that's very common though, where you're working at one place

and in one capacity and maybe it's not- They don't think of you that way. They don't think of you that way. And so then, but someone else coming from the outside, like grabs you. I mean, yeah, like Tim Robinson, you know, who has that hilarious new sketch show, I guess he was mainly writing at SNL. And I mean, this is another thing. It's like the people who have been on camera on SNL because there's been so many great people, but sometimes some great people kind of get a little

underused you know right well it's I mean it's so hard there there's so much so many talented people it's gotta be yeah it sounds like

such a you're playing like 12 dimensional chess yes politically I'm sure when I hear stories about SNL

just yes that 12 dimensional chess aspect it's all like Game of Thrones oh man it is that is that is a tough environment because I know people yeah writers there and they you know they were like I would go home every night and cry oh yeah it was always a dream job you know for so many of us in Chicago but looking I was like, I don't really know if I could have handled it, like handled that kind of intensity. Like Late Night had such a nice – it was high profile enough that you were getting your stuff out there on television.

But I never felt like we were under that kind of scrutiny and intensity. Exactly. It was the – yeah, it just seemed like a lot more pressure. And also for us, one fun thing was we were so desperate to fill the show every day that every, you know, everyone was just like kind of collaborating and trying to help each other get stuff on, you know, which was great. Yeah. Because you felt like, well, if it doesn't get on today, if we like it, it could be on tomorrow. We'll have time to fill tomorrow, too. Exactly. Lassoing cupcakes.

Exactly. Yeah, because it didn't feel like it was your bit or my bit. It was like, hey, if we like them both, they'll both get on. Right, right, right. Which is always really nice. sort of that time early on when you started, Brian, was you were sort of under the radar still enough that people could kind of, there was experimenting happening. And did it feel that way when you started there? It even felt like that at the TBS show too.

Like I've always felt. It's always felt under the radar. I mean that in the best way, like not under the radar, but there was always a sense of play and experimentation and a kind of, what the hell, let's try it atmosphere. And I always really appreciated

that because we could really take some big swings. And sometimes you'd completely miss, like I always remember. And sometimes it would be stuff that would make us cry laughing, like Glazer did this character, the Reverend Otis K. Dribbles. John Glazer. Yeah, who was just wearing a hound dog mask, dribbling.

I can't possibly translate this over a podcast. No. But I was literally in tears, crying, laughing, watching it. And there was no response from the audience. And the only reason it stayed in was because when they cut to Conan, he just said, There is no more. That's it. And that got a laugh. Yeah, yeah.

But so often, a lot of our favorite stuff was felt like it was more we loved it and we're like we hope the audience would love it and sometimes they

when they did it was the perfect storm you know but he'd refer to it sometimes as not comedy right but I still argue with him about

we had an argument about Otis K. Dribbles a few weeks ago yeah he brings that up. That's his example of, you know, the writers just going off. Up their own asses. Yeah.

Exactly. And I'm like, I still think that's hilarious. And we're working on the archive to put online, some old. And I looked at it alphabetically. We did it five times. Oh, really? Oh, that's great. Which I kind of love because I remember he hated it the first time we did it.

But we still forced it four more times. Yeah. That's a recurring fit. Well, those would often be the things that other comedy writers would bring up. Yeah. Or people that later became comedy writers. Because I felt like that about when I would watch SCTV. Right.

I remember Rick Moranis, Conan said at the Aspen Comedy Festival, Rick Moranis said to him, if we'd had a live audience, we might have cut a lot of the stuff people love the most. Right. Because it wouldn't have gotten a big audience response, but it was stuff that comedians at home and future comedy writers found so inspiring. Right. Because it was like, wow, that was kind of like just for me or something.

Yeah. It was kind of like just for me or something. Yeah, yeah. It was kind of like this precious little secret thing you found. I remember discovering that show in college, like coming home

and it was on some weird station down on the dial and just like, oh my God, I have to watch this now every week. I was the same way. It wasn't promoted

or anything. It came on after SNL and I was like, what is this? And it was like stumbling onto this pile of gold. And I think before it was on after SNL, I think it was just syndicated. I could be wrong. Like it was before Martin Short was on it. Yeah, this was the syndicated one with Harold Ramis. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And the really early low-budget ones where it was just done up in Edmonton in a little studio, and they had no audience, and they were just doing what made them laugh. Oh, man. It was great. And that's how our working with you, we were always really trying to make ourselves laugh first. And that's why I think I have so many great memories of working there, was just because it was always fun to just try to, it would be like, I really want Sweeney to laugh at this or Jesse, you know, just to, and if the audience doesn't go for it, as long as the crew is laughing. A room of comedy writers, it's much harder to get on board than.

Unless sometimes it's late and everyone wants to go home. Yeah, yeah. All of a sudden, everything's funny. I know. So we got something for tomorrow? We're good? Okay, good. Let's get out of here.

Well, you learn, I remember early on, I said, I think that'll work. And John Groff said, okay, you've figured out the difference between what will work and what you like. There are times where you're like, okay, it's 2 a.m., this will probably work, and we'll try to come up with something we like better, but sometimes it's a volume business.

It is, yeah. The other late night, like a lot of times at 10 p.m., it'd be like, this isn't that funny, but is Abe Vigoda around? I know. Because at least the crowd will just cheer seeing Abe. It was awful we used to bring Oldie Olsen in a lot sometimes it felt

because Oldie was so reliably funny they'll be like and then Oldie will come in and do something but half of the thing with him was

him going off the rails so exactly there's certain times you just kind of felt dirty like

yeah we're putting Oldieie in his last beat. We'll figure out what he does later. Right, right, right. If it's available, we'll figure it. We'll reverse engineer it. Exactly. I always knew we were trying to make it the best we could. Right.

And there were just times where. But I loved that we would just take some swings, you know. Oh, yeah. That was the most fun thing about working there was just like. A lot of swings. Let's see what they think. Yeah. Well, and it is.

I mean, it's sort of, that's what I think is the blessing and curse of writing that type of, for that type of shows. That you, I mean, it is what it is. Like the final product, sometimes it's great. Sometimes it's just the best thing that you could do in the time you had. Exactly. But, you know, you can't dwell on it too long. Right, right. You have to do something else for the next day anyway.

Yeah, we had one sketch Tommy and I worked on once. It was just this passable thing. And I remember he came by my office and he goes, slot filled. Like, we filled a slot. Like, he said it with great pride. Like, we Like we filled a slot. He said it with great pride. We basically just filled a slot. Yes. No, everyone gets very cynical about it.

Quickly. You're always trying to do something really memorable. Yeah. And sometimes you do. That was the magic of it. You're always shooting for that. You know, it's funny. Did you have a preference for pre-taped things

versus doing live? There's a real excitement to doing live sketches on the show, obviously, of the crowd there and the stakes are high. I used to enjoy this almost like safety,

hiding out, doing a pre-tape because you get to edit it and kind of control it. It's a different kind of energy to putting it together and everything. It is. And I love them both for different reasons. And I was always amazed, though, how much could be added in editing.

Right. Like when we did the inappropriate, Clive Clemons' inappropriate response channel. Right. Like Tommy put in a lot of effects in the editing room that made it much funnier than it was just, than it would have been doing live. Right. But there was an excitement to doing stuff live

because it felt, with the size of the theater being kind of small, it felt like you were in a live theater, like in a kind of a black box theater in Chelsea or something. Yeah. So sometimes I would forget that it was going out into the airwaves. Like, you felt like you were doing it for the people in that room. And sometimes I think that was a self-preservation thing in your head. You're like, it's just for these people.

Right, right. Yeah. Oh, that's the only way to think about it. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I never thought about it being on TV. I didn't either. Yeah. And I think that was probably healthy, you know. Sure. To just kind of kind of just say, okay, we're going to do it for these people.

No, but Jesse's right. You were always like money in the bank. I don't remember you ever making a single flub ever. I know. Thank you so much. I always tried. It's like you're more comfortable in front of an audience than even just one-on-one, I think. I definitely am.

I've always been more comfortable performing than I am at a party or something. Yeah, yeah. And it was funny. Sometimes when things would go wrong, though, it could be really fun. I remember once I stumbled during a wiki bear line, and Conan called me out on it. And it ended up, we ended up having fun with the fact. Oh, right. Or I came down the stairs once as God and that ended up in a blooper reel. And I slipped because I'm clumsy.

I'm clumsy in the best of circumstances. And with sandals on, I'm really hopeless. And I was coming down the stairs and I slipped a little. And he's like, God, have you been drinking? And it ended up being this conversation about. And I was like, yes. So sometimes, or like when McCann's wig fell off, he shot himself once and his wig fell off. And he's just laying there supposedly dead, but he's laughing.

And those. That sketch we watched. We definitely have to get that online. I don't know if it is. I think that was, I saw it recently. It was part of a Super Bowl preview. I was like, what did that have to do of a Super Bowl preview I was like what did that have to do

with the Super Bowl but and Andy blitzes in it he hits blitz with a bottle and then shoots himself right like it made no sense

and they were just a couple of wild men crazy sports fans and yeah a lot of times those were my favorite moments

physical but yeah we used to have a lot of guns on the show yeah I think sometimes I know yeah, we used to have a lot of guns on the show. Yeah. Yeah. I think sometimes, I know we would fall back on that. A lot of suicide.

That's another, that was a, Avogoda's not available or Oldie. Okay, just shoot someone at the end. I know. And throw it a commercial. And I remember when we did Bulletproof Legs, McCann kept asking for more and more blood. And I think the censors ended up complaining. They're like, you can't have that much blood. We, yes, we used to. You should explain bulletproof legs.

Oh yeah. Well, it started, I was sitting next to McCann in a writer's meeting. We were just waiting for it to start. And I pretended to shoot him in the leg and he started singing a song about having bulletproof legs. And so I shot him in the chest and he fell off the chair dead. And we're like, oh, just the legs are bulletproof. And we're like, that could go on the show tomorrow. Oh, yeah. And it was literally a complete accident

and I remember the guy who was protected from two-inch bees or three-inch bees. Yeah, that was from just McCann having a letter tray over his face. So a lot of the times, and it was like, it looked like a beekeeper's thing

but it had big gaps so it was like, it looked like a beekeeper's thing, but it had big gaps. So it was like certain size bees could get through it easily. And so it was a long sketch where- It was. It was a lot of McCann putting male paraphernalia on his head. Yes, it's true. And it becoming a sketch.

Yeah, there were so many wonderful little accidents, you know, like that. There's a question from a can. Preparation H. Raymond. I have no idea. It was originally a can. That started in the room, too, I think. I remember the first time he appeared, he was in that sketch where he was originally called the Seeker. Right.

Because he was a guy who was always showing up when he was looking for some big answer to something. That was the Be Yourself Gang. That was looking for some big answer to something. And then he... That was the Be Yourself Gang. The Be... That was another... What was the name of the sketch? 2 a.m. Desperation.

2 a.m. Hail Mary Pass. Yeah, that was insane. And I remember McCann added in the Preparation H part later and I don't know why, but it stuck real nicely. Do you have a character you

loved that you wish you could do more? I know after a while you did God a lot. When you played God on Colbert also, right? Oh, in The Ceiling it's more of an animated puppet. It's like an animated puppet thing. I always

enjoy doing it, but I know sometimes we can push something a little too far and it can get a little stale sometimes. I always enjoyed doing it, but I know sometimes we can push something a little too far and it can get a little stale sometimes. I know with some characters at late night, we tried to do a second inappropriate sketch a little too fast because the response was so great to the first one, and I felt like

we rushed it. We tried to squeeze too much juice out. Yeah, we did it. We tried rushing it, and it wasn't part of a satellite batch the second time, so it wasn't really protected. Yeah. And it was okay, but I kind of wish we'd left it alone as the one. So sometimes I feel like I've been guilty of pushing stuff a little too far. No.

It was the nature of doing five shows a week, and if something's popular, it only makes sense to do it again. There was one bit that we did called Destructo that was about – Destructo. I don't remember Destructo. Tommy was an alien who'd been sent to Earth to destroy Conan, and his finger had been genetically designed just to push a button to destroy Conan, but he kept getting distracted by mundane things. I remember now.

His girlfriend's like like why don't you have Billy to karate practice and he's like and he would get telemarketer phone calls but he's like prepare for your

destruction and I remember Liz and everybody in the crew Liz Plunk our old director everybody was like you guys will be

doing a lot of these ones because everybody was like this is really funny we were crying it was a turn of force

it was really funny and it got I remember you could tell from the first time we did it that the audience Like, this is really funny. We were crying. It was a turn of force. It was really funny. And it got, I remember you could tell from the first time we did it that the audience did not share our enthusiasm. I blame the audience. It was one of those things where I was like, well, I can't say they're wrong, but we really did love it. And that was one where I was like, oh, we were just a little off from what they wanted. But I like to think people at home enjoyed it more than people in the room. Yeah, yeah. I know.

Sometimes you go, okay, the studio hated it, but what's the phrase? It'll play well at home. That happened with the kids show. It'll play well at home. With the all kids audience? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember watching that at home that night, and I was just rolling on the floor laughing at how hilarious it was. And because it was an all-kids audience, the whole premise was that we were bringing guests that they wouldn't be interested in, like Myron Kandel.

Right. We had an economist. Yeah, an economist and all this stuff. We really leaned into pissing off our audience of nine-year-old children. And your gut instinct as a performer is when you're hearing silence that it's failure. Yeah. But then I watched it at home later and I'm like, oh, yeah, most of the people watching at home aren't little kids and they're really enjoying this insanity. That show when we try to walk the balance of stuff that children would hate.

And so, you know, grown-ups would find that funny to watch. But at the same time, we were like, well, maybe we gotta occasionally try to make them laugh. Pander sometimes. Yes, exactly. And we thought we had pander stuff that would get us, like, almost all the way through the show, but within like four minutes, we're like,

oh, no. Well, they didn't even like the pander stuff. You just started running out of steam. They were on to us. They were just like. You remember the boredom monster? Yes. There was a monster coming down the hall that could sense kids' boredom

and was going to come in and eat everyone. Right. And so he's coming down the hall and the kids are like, boo. We're going to put that whole show up online soon. Oh, that'd be fun. I remember it ended with Silly String and everything. So the children in that audience who are now grown with families can... Yeah.

Now they'll finally find it funny. I'll occasionally bump into old interns of ours, like just at Grand Central or something, and they have kids now. It's very strange. Oh, wow. That is strange. I realize now I started at Conan 22 years ago and I'm like, oh yeah, there's

kids who are all older than I was when they were interns. It's even stranger when they come back as guests like Ellie Kemper, former interns. They come back as guests. It's always John Krasinski. Ellie, I remember, They come back as guests. It's always, or John Krasinski. John Krasinski's everyone.

Ellie, I remember, and she met her husband. Yeah, Michael. Michael Komen, who's a writer. And when the iPhone came out, they did that great sketch. That was great, yeah. About all the different things you could do with it. And it's really crazy to watch that sketch because one of the scenarios is they're using the iPhone as a baby monitor. Oh, that's right. And she's pregnant and they're looking they're having a baby together.

Yeah, now they have one. That was before they were even dating. They weren't dating yet. As far as we know. As far as I know, they weren't. We'll never know. There's no way we can find that information

all right Brian thank you so much thank you for having me it's so great to see you both again and really miss you and it's great to talk to you again

this is great it's great to catch up I know and I know our listeners are gonna I mean you're just you're one of the greats you are

thanks Jessie so such a big part of the show throughout its many incarnations yep well I'm very grateful to have been a part of the show throughout its many incarnations. Well, I'm very grateful to have been a part of it, especially since I wasn't supposed to be there very long. I forgot that.

I love that. I know. I did, too. That's great. Yeah, I was so grateful to have the years that I had there. It would have been neater if you were supposed to do 13 weeks, and you ended up staying 13 years. Exactly. 18 years, it doesn't line up quite right. It doesn't. It's to do 13 weeks and you ended up staying 13 years. Exactly.

18 years, it doesn't line up quite right. It doesn't. It's not as poetic. I would shorten it to 13 years. I will. For future stories. Well, we can edit that. Yeah.

All right. Well, thanks a lot. Thanks so much. Okay. Hope to see you soon. You too. Bye. All right.

That was it. That was our show. And can't wait to see you guys next week. Have a happy and safe 5th of July. Yes. I know some of you celebrate that. I think that's the Canadian 4th of July. And we're working.

We're trying to get Robert Mueller on the show because I think he's a big Conan fan. We're trying to scoop Congress. So we'll try to have him on before the 17th. Yeah. So tune in next week to see if we got lulzy. I mean, we sent an email to his office.

Muller at Gmail. I haven't heard back yet. We will have an episode next week. I don't know if it will be Robert Muller. But don't worry about it. It's going to be great.

Why are you acting like it's not going to be good? I don't know why you're so negative about Robert Muller. I think we can get him. Yeah, we'll probably get him. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We'll lure him in with our erectile dysfunction. You know who we probably could actually get is James Comey. That is absolutely true. We're the only show of any kind that hasn't had him. It's true. All right. So Comey, Mueller. If not Mueller, Comey.

Great. We'll see you next week. It's true. All right. Well, so Comey, Mueller, if not Mueller, Comey. Great. We'll see you next week. We like you. Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast is hosted by Mike Sweeney and me, Jesse Gaskell.

Produced by Kevin Bartelt. Engineered by Will Becton. Mixed by Ryan Conner. Supervising producer is Aaron Blair. Associate producer, Jen Samples. Executive produced by Adam Sachs and

Jeff Ross. Jeff Ross. Jeff Ross. And Team Coco. And Colin Anderson and Chris Bannon at Earwolf. Thanks to Jimmy Vivino for our theme music and interstitials. You can rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. And of course, please subscribe and tell a can rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. And of course, please subscribe and tell a friend

to listen to Inside Conan on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or whatever platform you like best. Ta-da! This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.