Inside Conan: An Important Hollywood Podcast - Brian Stack, Andy Blitz, and Jon Glaser Revisit the Origins of Slipnutz

Episode Date: April 19, 2023

Legendary former CONAN writers Brian Stack, Andy Blitz, and Jon Glaser are re-united for an in-depth discussion of their fake comedy vocal harmony group, Slipnutz. The performers discuss their chaotic experience opening up for Slipknot live on tour, the fake tribute album that featured real covers from John Mayer, Patti Smith, and Coldplay, and much more.Got a question for Inside Conan? Call our voicemail: [phone] or e-mail us at [e-mail].

And now, it's time for Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast. Welcome to Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast. I'm Mike Sweeney, and I'm here with Jesse Gaskell. Hello, Jesse. Hello. We are writers for Conan. Yes. For television, for web. We're available for hire, it sounds like to me. It sounds like a plea for work. Yeah,

we work for Conan. And this season on Inside Conan, we're covering his Conan on the Road so anytime he left the studio that's just him driving home his commute that's right we'll talk about it

we cover traffic on the 405 to Sunset Boulevard and yeah the whole gamut just remotes

travel shows international or national like going to a city for a week, Atlanta, Chicago. Yeah. You name it. We've got it all. Oh, yes.

And we do our own bit of traveling. That's right. Yes. We don't have to be riding Conan's coattails all the time. No, no, no, no. I was just- So I prefer it. I happen to be in the city of Prague.

Yeah. We were visiting friends who were working there, and they said, oh, we were invited to a St. Patrick's Day open house. Which... It's already a great theme for a party in Prague. It is. I've never heard of a St. Patrick's event that wasn't in a pub, but there it was in this house.

And I met someone who knows you. I know. You know so many people. That's so cool. Yeah. I love the— His name is Craig. Yeah, Craig Anthony Reichel.

I only learned his first name. He works for the embassy there. He works—yes, for the U.S. embassy. Yeah. And he was a very charming— I like to get to know yes, for the U.S. Embassy. Yeah. And he was a very charming guy. I like to get to know ambassadors all over the world. Yeah. But I was talking to him for a half an hour and I didn't know that he knew you till after two days later. Someone said, oh, he went to school with Jesse.

So wait, you went to college with him? Yeah, we studied, we studied abroad together. Yeah. Where was that? We studied abroad in Chile. Wow. Yeah. In Valparaiso, Chile. Okay. And it was wonderful. I mean, I love, I love Chile and it's a gorgeous place, but it was fun. I mean, we had a very close knit little group there and we had, we already knew each other from school too. Okay. Our bonds were cemented there. Did you, so were you already pals and said, hey, why don't we study? Why don't we both apply to Chile? Yeah, we were pals because we had the same major, which was called International Development Studies. Oh. And basically, he did the only thing you can do with that major, which is go into the Foreign Service.

Go into the state, yeah, and work for the State Department. Yeah, and that was kind of my idea, too. Basically, he's living my parallel life. Right. But in both versions of my sliding doors, we meet you. Isn't that weird? Well, but you went into a job where you do a ton of travel. Yeah, so it kind of did all play out in a way. Yes, yeah, because you work on all play out in a way. Yes, yeah. Because you work on all the Conan International travel shows.

And I do think all of your travel experience kind of comes to the fore on those trips. Yeah, that put me up for those shows in the first place. And yeah, I mean, I love doing it. It's truly the thing that if I was to make a vision board, it would be doing travel and comedy together. Well, I think, yeah, I would think he'd rather be doing what you're doing. I mean, would you like looking back now? Oh, no, I have no regrets.

Okay, good. Oh, God, no. Okay, good. No, no, no. It's just, you know, at the time, I didn't know that this was an option for me. No. I definitely would have picked this was an option for me. No. I definitely would have picked this. It didn't exist.

No. We kind of had to make it up. We invented it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, it's just, you know, you never know what you're going to do with your major from college. And this was a particularly obtuse one. I know. I never heard of that.

I mean, I've heard of yeah i don't even think it exists there anymore international development oh international development okay that's nice man i never went abroad i commuted to college and then so like traveling abroad would be like and it was in new jersey so like going to passa, New Jersey for the weekend would be like. Culture shock. Oh, yes. I went over to Essex County as well. And what was your undergraduate major?

Wow. History. Oh, okay. And I minored in music and English. Yeah, cool. I minored in Spanish and music. You're fluent in Spanish. Well. Terrible languages. But you know English. I minored in Spanish and music. You're fluent in Spanish. Well.

Terrible languages. But you know English. I don't. Yeah, you've heard me on here. I don't pronounce my H's. I'm Joe Mumblebouth. It's awful. Well, I think that's interesting because people probably wonder if you needed to have studied film to do work in this business. You know, my son was thinking of majoring in film and I've heard all different types of advice on that. But the advice I've heard is, hey, undergraduate, like just learn, like do liberal arts. Learn a subject that you like.

And learn, just learn as, gather as much knowledge, diverse knowledge as you can. And then when you're 22 or 23, if you, then you still want to go into the movies. Then you could get into the nuts and bolts of making a film. And now I would even go further and say, get a different career completely.

Right. Become a lawyer or a doctor. Right, right. Specialize in that. Become a very specific kind of brain surgeon. Okay. And then in your 30s, decide to write a show and pitch a drama about your time there. Right.

And you'll be a lot more successful that way. There are so many ex-lawyers who work. Yes. On legal shows. They do. I know. David E. Kelly, right? Famously was a lawyer.

Okay. So. I know. And I know a ton too. Yeah. There's like a direct path from. from well so many people go to law school as a default like smart just people who are like I don't know

what I want to do when I grow up and their parents are like what are you doing get out of there and then they yeah they put off going into showbiz yeah I like that advice yes more brain no one can get brain surgery because everyone's writing scripts, all the surgeons.

They're all writing pilots. It's all falling apart anyway. So, speaking of. Oh, I'm excited for this segue. Speaking of brain surgery. Yeah. You know when you need brain surgery? Yeah.

It's when you fall and hit your head. Right. You could get a concussion. Yes. Right. And there's so many different ways to slip and fall. And one famously popular way to slip and fall is on spilled nuts. Peanuts.

Specifically peanuts. Right. Still in their shell. And our guest today made careers out of slipping and falling on peanuts. That was their whole career. Yes. The slip nuts are here today. I swear to God.

The slip nuts. Please remain seated at home. We gathered all three of them. We did. This is really, really fun. I know. Because they're scattered to the winds now. They are.

Like back on late night when the Slip Nuts were on the show, they were all writers on the show. It was easy to get them in one room. They were in the same room. They were already there. Their jobs required them to be in a room together. Yeah. And now, you know. They hadn't seen each other in a room together. Yeah. And now, you know. They hadn't seen each other in a long time.

Yeah, yeah. It was fun to get the old Slipknot gang back together. Yeah. So those writers are Brian Stack, Andy Blitz, and John Glazer. And they're all here talking Slipknot's and the fake tribute album that the Slipknot's recorded with real musicians, John Mayer, Patti Smith, and Coldplay. Yep.

It's kind of unbelievable the reach that the Slipknots have. I know, I know. And the big concert they did when they actually opened for the Slipknots in New Jersey, which- Opened for Slipknot. A Slipknot. Yeah. Did I say they opened for Slipknot? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're a tribute band. Slipknot opened for the Slipknots. I wonder if there are Slipknots tribute bands out there. Oh. If you're out there

doing it, sure. I want to know how lucrative it is. So here they are. Say hello to Brian, John, and Andy.

Well, I guess we should identify who's speaking. That um was Andy Blunt. It's always. The um is always Andy Blunt. Usually, I like to say um. And this is Brian with the dorky Midwestern blend of accents. Yeah, no problem. This is how I talk thought so when you hear his voice you know it's forget it buddies or after each of you talk i can just go said john well uh for people who don't

know what slip nuts are why don't we do a quick explanation i would say just why are you listening to this podcast? That's a good question in general. That's more the question. Why are we talking about Slip Nuts? If you don't know Slip Nuts and you're listening to this podcast, you shouldn't be listening to this podcast. Right. Stop listening. Or hosting it. So Slip Nuts appeared first in 2001.

Yeah. Right. It was the most significant thing to happen in 2001, I think. Right. Yeah. In New York City. Yes. Let's be more specific.

Every year they still mark the premiere of the Slipknot's with a ceremony. Never forget. They're reading to the three names. The basic premise was Slipknot was booked on the show and Conan said he had also accidentally booked the Slipknot a comedy troupe. Yeah, I remember the night before, it was really late.

We didn't have a middle of the show bit and it came up kind of like a lot of our favorite bits, almost out of desperation and sleep deprivation. Like it was just like, I think we were looking at the board to see who was on the show the next day. And that's how I vaguely remember it. And it just being like being everybody's really tired and just like, Oh, what if there's like a group called the slip nuts? Like sort of how I remember. i don't know if you guys remember

more details i don't i've always i always draw a blank i'm like who thought of that was it so if it was that makes sense though unless i'm just not remembering correctly well i i think sweeney you told us the room don't bother pitching anything that we're not going to be talking about in 20 years. That's how I ran that room. A lot of pressure. It only happened once.

I do remember we were in your office, Mike. I remember we were sitting in your office when the idea developed. And I do remember staring at the cards on the wall to see who the guests were. And I remember thinking we just sort of started brainstorming and it was just such like a lot of my favorite stuff. It was just kind of an accident, you know? Yeah.

No, the sign of desperation would be when all the eyes in the writer's room would turn to who the guests were on the board. Because there are other bits where it's like double letter. Remember, there was like, someone noticed a lot of the guests one week had double letters. You know, Daryl Dawkins. Daryl Dawkins? Well, I don't know.

That's what I do. Was I there? He was a regular. He was the first Sir Charles Barkley. He was the regular. He was the first Sir Charles Barclay. He was the Al Roker. Dream guest. But that was born the night before, and then the next

day we're doing, you know, it's double letter week on COVID, and this was... Oh, boy, it's right. Double letter week sounds great. I love that. Jesse's right. That's our next look. Well, I think like with Slipknot or the FedEx Pope or John doing the little Clinton puppet that we had in the office, that was another thing that was literally just screwing around in Mike's office. And then we're like, let's put that on the show. People, especially after the whole Clinton scandal and around the 2000 election, you know, companies would send their comedy merchandise without anyone requesting it. Like, you know.

Exclusive access. Yeah. Right. So they sent this awful Clinton puppet that Glazer started like at 10 o'clock at night would do? He had his arms around two young women. And John would kind of turn the puppet so that it was looking at one of the women going, Hey, isn't that right, girls? Isn't that right?

It was so stupid. I love that it actually. And at 10 p.m. at night, that's what kind of went like you knew to wait till we were all yeah there was just a long lag in the meeting to whip out that puppet yeah was that before the 2000 election that you started did that change the course of history oh it may have that's what started then it was a big jump that's the whole thing is the jump from like stuff that's just inside jokes in the writer's room to like should we try to put this in the show and that was one i think you did it maybe for conan a few times in the office maybe

or had he not seen it till you i don't think he'd seen it till rehearsal yeah i don't remember but uh yeah a lot of a lot of my favorite stuff that I look back on most fondly, though, is just like late night desperation. Yeah. Flip knots, we wanted to go home. It was very late, I remember. And that's one of those things where you're like, it just might work. Everyone in the room laughed.

Yeah. And even if it doesn't, we'll have something to rehearse. So let's do it. If it had been Daryl Dawkins instead of Slipknot, we'd be talking about Daryl Pecans right now. Exactly. Less people know who

Daryl Dawkins is than Slipknot. He would have named one of his dunks Slipknot. I love that idea that was based on basically no idea at all. Later, we ended up doing a reunion show at San Francisco Sketch Fest where they wanted us to do like an hour and a half show. And we're like, you know that the whole bit is that there's no idea there. There's no bit. And it ended up being a really fun show anyway.

But I love that it was based on nothing, really. And that it ended up having that kind of longevity is really nice. I was just going to say, I was reading up about that San Francisco Sketch Fest reunion in 2014, which, you're right, was 13 years after the sketches aired, which, you know is that had to be kind of was it a little surreal for you guys to have this sketch you only did basically three times maybe four have just take off yeah i don't know what i don't know what the total count of slip nuts appearances i don't know a lot more than that i think it was more than three or four, even. Because we did, we did enough of them where so many people know about it, you know, and their fact, like,

one of my favorite things is sometimes I'll just talk about slip nuts for no reason. On the flight across the Atlantic coast. I used to be somebody. I used to be a slip nut. Recognize the sweater vest? Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking. I just wanted to let everyone know we're fortunate to have one of the slipknots on board.

But we've all been recognized as like from the slipknots. And my favorite one, right, I think i think stack after work you went to like some irish bar yeah right near 30 rock and the bartender's like looking at you right and they didn't say like a thick irish accent like i recognize you you're one of the slip nuts that's verbatim that's exactly what he said. It was great because most of the time, if I did bits on the show, I was wearing wigs and hats and crazy stuff.

And in the Slipknot, I basically looked like myself. We all did. So that was, yeah, that was one of the few times I got recognized in the city. It was really, he's like, oh, you know, you're one of the Slipknots. It was great. Exactly. I love too that it was, Slipknot's. It was great.

I love too that it was, one of my favorite bits we did was the tribute album where we had, but it took about a year. It was so fun, but it ended up taking over a year, I think, to get all the musical guests. Over a year. We got the first one, I think was like, Steve Winwood or whatever did it right away, right after being asked, I think. And then we're like, oh, this is going to be great.

We're going to get nothing but yeses on this bit. We actually got two right away. We got Steve Winwood and then Patti Smith. They were the first two people we asked. Oh, that's right. And they both said yes. So we're just like, if Steve Winwood and Patti Smith are doing it. Like who,

who is going to turn this down? Well, it's one of those things now where Jim Pitt, the music booker could use those two names to get other people to say yes. So it seemed like it'd be an, it'd just be a piece of a cake. Dunk, dunk,

dunk. When John Mayer, when John Mayer shot his version, I really briefly said, hey, thank you so much for doing this. And he said, I'll never forget this. He goes, were you in Tea Copywriter Cage Match? I said, no, I wasn't. But it's one of my favorite bits. And it was John Glazer, obviously, and Brian McCann. And I love that he remembered a bit that I love, but I love that, you know,

you're asking this musical guy to do a thing and he, and I love when, um, we've talked about this before, but I love when cool musical acts would mention really obscure bits. Like when Jack White was on the show and he saw Andy blitz in the hall and he said, you're Leonard Diesel. Andy was playing Vin Diesel's less, less intimidating, far less intimidating brother, Leonard. And I just love who's also in action, which I love. And I just love that Jack White was thrilled to see Leonard Diesel. That was a real treat. I remember hearing, I don't, Andy, I don't know if you were the one that asked Dolly Parton, but I love her response. I thought you did. I can't remember.

Or maybe we asked Debbie one. I can't remember that. Well, I love that Dolly Parton's response from what I was told was, I'm sorry, I don't understand the bit. I don't feel. And she said, I don't feel comfortable doing something I don't understand. And I was like, I thought it was so appropriate response. Yeah, it is. Like we didn't understand it.

So meanwhile, it's a ride at Dollywood. I just love how honest she was and how sweet she was in saying no. Yeah. So yeah, then it became all of a sudden a slog, right? Like, do you remember other big no? Like, I would almost love, I'd almost be more proud

of all the people who said no than the yeses in a way. You know what? Also, we had shown, I think we had a good video package that was edited

that included Steve Winwood's performance and Patti Smith's performance, which were great because they both played it straight. They both had just like great comedy instincts to just play the Flippin' on Nuts like it was a great song. Right. So the White Stripes, I was watching the video with them and they were both loving it. And Jack and Meg White were just like laughing and crying, laughing. And they were just like, yeah, no, we're not going to do this. But we really enjoyed watching it.

Really? I'm surprised. It was like, he was just like, I will do comedy bits and then I will play music, but I will not do music as comedy. Oh, interesting. I think maybe he's softened up the policy since then, but it was just like music was religion. So it's just like you can't mock it. All these years, I never knew that,

that that was his response. I remember when they were on the show. Remember they were on the show for a week? It was really fun. They were on the show every night. And they played a song. And it's just like Blitz is saying. He was like, I'm open to pitch me comedy bits.

But I remember pitching them to him. He was very... I remember thinking for such a young guy and who's a musician, he was very particular about the comedy stuff he would do i i remember being impressed by that but i remember also i asked uh neil young i pitched it to neil young right who has like a a track record of rejecting comedy. I think Smigel drove him to distraction at some point. I remember,

yes, Triumph. We went up to ask him after he rehearsed for a performance on SNL if he would do a cameo in a Triumph press conference bit. But anyway, tell us about Neil Young. No, he did do a couple, a bit or two. I remember him doing a bit in Joel's booth

where he was mouthing along with what Joel's announcement was or something. We also pitched him Celebrity Secrets, but I think there was one in there about Kent State that I think really upset him. I know what it was.

I think Michael Gordon wrote it. It was like, every time I think about Kent State, I still get so mad. How could they lose to Bowling Green when they were up four in the fourth quarter or something like that? Oh, wow. I believe it didn't even get to Neil Young.

I think his manager is just like, you're out of your fucking mind if you think I'm showing him this. That's right. That's right. They got mad on his behalf.

Speaking of people rejecting secrets, which is, Glazer, is that your, I think you picked secrets, right? I don't remember.

I mean, I can't remember. I thought it was like maybe me and Gordon or someone. I can't remember exactly how secrets came out. I don't remember. I mean, I thought it was like maybe me and Gordon or someone. I can't remember exactly how Secrets came out. I ended up doing like the Secrets voice, but I don't know if it was then it, I think it morphed into a much better idea with the, with the group kicking it around into secrets where they're willingly revealing it. But I think it was originally going to be like truth, a truth serum joke,

but it was, it turned into something so much better because it was just people, you know, sitting in a room willingly revealing the secrets. I think Gene Simmons from Kiss was on and I, I wrote one for him where he was going to say secrets. And then he would go like, I'm not related to Richard Simmons, but he is my contact person in case of emergency. And he's like, I'm not doing that. And we're like, why not?

He's like, no free rides. Oh, that's right. He's like, no free rides. That's right. He did not want to give publicity. He didn't want to mention Richard Simmons name, not enough attention to go around. No free rides. I think he only ended up doing one secret that he was willing to do. And it was a dirty one.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now, and we're no, he did a few, but they were all, they weren't good. and then i went and

talked to him i'm like this is you're like reporting back that he's saying no free rides it's like wait what so don't write billy balatino one of our ads billy balatino asked him for an autograph and he said sure five dollars and we thought it was a joke and he was serious he wanted five dollars reminds me i really wanted his photo with him and he said five bucks but then he he went on about the no free rides he goes he goes other famous people are allowed to mention me as uh much as they like that's fine that's their prerogative he goes but for me to give them free publicity no free rides well so that's the origin because i've been hearing you say no free rides in the writer's room for years sweetie that's the origin it all comes from the great yes we've now given lots of free rides on this podcast yes i think even conan told that story in his

podcast because it just kind of became our shows gene gene like if Gene Simmons' name comes up, it's the No Free Ride story. But that's... I did not know it was off of a Blitz joke. That's very... That's a fun new detail. That's what's interesting about it. I mean, it's so hard to remember the origins of things. And it's... So much of it is a nugget that someone says that someone else

runs with. There is, like, in writers... In the writers' rooms, there's so many times like one writer will come up with, you know, kind of a basic, the gist of the idea. And then someone else will do a twist on it that everyone likes. Like, oh, yes, yes, that's it. And then sometimes it's like, all right, go write it. And it's to the person who twisted it. And then I think like the person who came up with the original thing, it's just like, wait, what about it?

I kind of got the ball rolling. But usually I think it would be like, okay, both of you. Yeah. Or I was going to say the opposite where someone would make it funny and then you'd still have to write it. Right. And it's like, well, no, I'm not the one that pitched the funny part. Right. Exactly. Right. Right. And it's like, well, no, that's, I'm not the one that pitched the funny part. Right. Exactly.

Right. Right. I remember, uh, with, um, there's that outtake too of Trump doing secrets where he couldn't help, but do his little Trumpy additions to it.

Like where he poured the water on the table. And, uh, then he said, what do you think? I thought that was very funny. What do you think? It's just like,

I was there and I was there and you know thought that was very funny. What do you think? I was there, and I was there, and you know what? It was funny. He's got the goods. Listen, he's a fucking scumbag. I hope he goes to jail. But what he did back then, listen, that was funny. The guy was spinning gold. You're gold. And I love the writer in the background who he's accosting

is Andrew Weinberg. If you know Andrew, it's just he's just so deadpan. He's just like he's like, hey, Trump goes you didn't think of that one, did you? And he's like, no, sir, we did not. And then that ended up, we

watched it in rehearsal and put it in the credit bed of the show that night. That's great. Because it was so, it was just so preposterous. And it was our warning to anyone who stayed up for the credits to say, is this guy presidential material? Going back to Slipknot.

Oh, yeah, right. Oh, yes, the purpose of today's show. Well, I loved, we haven't talked about when you guys opened for Slipknot at the Continental Arena. I think that's amazing. How did that come about? That was so surreal. Well, it was weird because, like because I remember it got pitched to the band, and at the time, I didn't know what the band thought of our bit.

So I didn't know until years later. John sent me a link where an interview with the lead singer of Slipknot where he said how funny he thought the bit was. But I didn't know that until years after we did open for them at the show. So it was so nice to hear that they thought the bit was funny because I didn't honestly know what the band thought of it. Oh, they didn't say anything that night? No, they were in their masks and they walked past us and they were going on stage and kind of in their persona and I was like, I don't know if they want us here or if this was their manager's idea, but I'm glad to hear that they liked it.

I do remember right before we ran on stage, one of the stage managers saying, okay, guys, be careful out there. These fans throw batteries at the bands they like. Yeah. He's like, just be up, just keep moving. Be a hard target. I remember we went on right after that. I was like, I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose an eye tonight and it's going to be worth it

yeah we could edit around it yeah we were I remember we went on after the opening act which was Lamb of God who were these like had these very Cookie Monster type vocals like you know that kind of thing

and then we go running out there with the fans, and we were kind of half afraid that they were going to find it funny and kind of laugh and enjoy it. And luckily, they hated us just as much as we hoped they would. Right. I just wondered that because in the piece that aired, you know, they're booing, and they're flipping you off. And I didn't know, you know, sometimes we kind of fudge that in editing, like, oh, maybe they were laughing and we had to I didn't know, you know, sometimes we kind of fudge that in editing, like, oh, maybe they were laughing and we had to insert the boos,

but they really were booing. That's how I remember it. And I remember Andy saying, I wish we'd done this, but Andy said we should have run out for an encore. And I really wish we had. What would we have performed for the encore though? Good question.

Same song. On macadamia nuts. It was funny, too, because I remember Max coming by backstage for the show, and he brought his son, Jay, who was a big Slipknot fan. Max Weinberg. Yeah, sorry, Max Weinberg. And his son, Jay, they came by to see the show, like unironically, just as fans. And I don't know if a lot of people know this, but Jay later became the drummer for Slipknot.

That's amazing. Which is amazing. But he was a teenage fan at the time. And they were, I remember they were raving about the Slipknot drummer, Joey Jordison, who passed away a few years ago, sadly. But he was just, Max was saying he thought Jody Jordison was one of the best drummers in the world.

And they were, they put on an amazing show. I got to say, like, I'm not even a metal guy. And I, we watched part of the show that night when we opened for them and they were, they put on an amazing show. I got to say, like I'm not even a metal guy. And I, we watched part of the show that night when we opened for them and they were fantastic. They were really, really fun. That was the sort of the price for letting us open for them. As they said, we get one of your first born. Exactly.

And we're like, well, kids with us. Our colleague Max is here with his son. They took him and they raised him to be in the band. Does he still play with them? I think so,

but I could be wrong. But I think he's still their drummer. You should have had Lamb of God open for you at the... That would have been great. I didn't realize a band opened the I didn't realize a band open I didn't realize a band went

on before you guys came wow that was what made it even crazier was they were waiting for it they were really expecting Slipknot to come out like right so that that's out of the way and now the now Slipknot wow that's great yeah it was crazy because I've been to arena shows but I'd

never I could never imagine what the perspective was from the stage. And to run out onto a stage that size and look out at a room that huge was just, it kind of blew my mind when I hit the stage with you guys. And I thought, like, is it going to be like 40% Slipknot fans? 30%. So I was a little disappointed by the ratio. Yeah. Turns out it was

0%. I think we should have done like the Billy Joel, Elton John did their co-headlining tour. Oh, yeah. We should have done that for a tour. Two slippers or something.

Well, you could do that now. Couldn't you, if Slipknot went on tour now, couldn't you reach out to them and say, we're willing to open for you? Or vice versa. They could open for you. Or it could even be like a super group. Yeah.

Like where you could merge. Yeah. Slipknot. With a Z at the end well when you got when you guys did the sketch fest that

that was the entire crowd were you just doing a show of the Slipknot's so the whole crowd was Slipknot's fans what was great about that was yeah

it was just a Slip Nuts show. And when we were trying to come up with a show, we were trying to figure out what the hook was. And the premise, I don't know, I'll say the premise of that show was going to be that we were going to come out and perform

Slippin' on Nuts and thank everyone and say goodnight. And then we were going to get in a big dust up because we were contractually obligated to do like 90 minutes, which none of us had noticed. So we were just going to be stuck. Like how now, or how are we going to fill 90,

89 minutes and 45 seconds. But the funny thing about it is we were, we were coming up with a few things, you know, that we were going to call on to fill the show. But when we were, uh, we were in San Francisco,

you know, they, they put us up there and then they loaded us up into the van to take us to the venue, this nice theater, which I don't know how many people were there. It was like 300 people or something like that. And I remember Stack and I were like going down the rundown for what we're

going to do. And we realized that we didn't really have enough to actually fill 90 minutes. Not even close. I mean, the song is 30 seconds long. And Stack, Glazer and I, we were just kind of like, oh, life had imitated art.

This was like, wouldn't this be hilarious if the Slipknots were so incompetent that they didn't plan for their 90-minute show? And then we're like, oh, that's actually, that happens sometimes in life. Yeah, luckily we had some good friends to help us out, like Maria Thayer, who sang a song that, Andy, you wrote it, right? The, We're the Nuts You Slip On.

And it was a song from the point of view of the nuts. Right. Wow. It was a protest song. And then we had some great comedians like Jackie Cashin and Steve Agee and Ron Funches. And Andy Richter came by as a fourth honorary Slipknot to run out with us. And that was really fun. And so that really helped.

We had having friends there to kind of provide some actual comedic entertainment in between. The nuts slipping was really, really fun. I think Andy Richter was like, he was sort of like a Pete Best of the group. Or he was like, he had been one of those Slipknuts who left us before we got big. That's right. I think so. Sort of. We had him come out.

And then I also had a tell-all memoir that I read. I did a reading excerpt. That's right. And I made the video. I had opened a Slip Nuts, like, institute or something like that. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's right. Teaching kids how to slip on nuts.

John got a bunch of great celebrity cameos for that video, too. Like, before the, that was before the show, right, John? Didn't you get, like, some amazing people? Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman and Paul Rudd and these people that John just, yeah, just some amazing people that were nice enough to do little silly, little, a quick little cameo video.

It's also fascinating because it's a fake comedy group that then got booked and did real comedy shows. And at what point does it become a real comedy group what's the difference i was we we had that idea because when i was doing a search in my email for like this thread you know a bunch of old slipknot emails came up we had that cartoon idea oh that's right oh yeah like a kid it's a kid like a harlem globetrotters type, that's right. Like a kid show. Yeah, like a Harlem Globetrotters type cartoon. Oh, that's right.

Which I still think would be really funny to make. Consider this the pitch. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for bringing that up again, Jeff. Yeah. If the fans made enough noise.

Interesting. You have to send nuts to Warner Brothers. Yeah. I would love a whole full-length movie at this point. I mean, if you did a 90-minute live show. I will say, as corny as it sounds, I was so touched by the fans that came to that show and how nice they were and how enthusiastic they were for this silly bit. I have a logistical question. What kind of nuts did you use?

Was it specifically peanuts? Was it a mixed nut? Shelled peanuts. Shelled peanuts. Yeah. They oftentimes were in the shell, if I remember right. They would break and you'd see the shell on the stage. But I think it probably varied.

But I remember them being- It was always shelled peanuts. Yes, shelled. That was part of it. Yes. With the shell. Yeah. People all the time that it,

you know, they, cause they don't understand the shell. The peanut has like a natural kind of webbing pattern. So they're just like, they should give you extra traction. So I call bullshit on slipping on nuts. And I say,

you're, you're a truth. You're truly a fucking conspiracy theorist. Well, they're very, yeah. I mean, and these guys are just exhausting,

you know? Um, but, but a shell of a nut is of course very fragile and inside it is the nut itself, which is extremely slippery. Exactly. You guys,

I think could get together and like you could do maybe PSAs or corporate gigs for the peanut industry. Let's do it. Or maybe for President Carter's birthday. We usually don't do political stuff. We've turned down a few inaugurations. Yeah. Carter's 100th, we would do. Yes, absolutely.

That's just being patriotic one thing I noticed when watching some of the old clips was that John's hair like I love in like a few of them your hair was absolutely enormous John like it was just other times it would be nicely close and cropped like it is now but like I remember a few of them I was like

wow it was really big gigantic yeah that was at its height I don't know if you peeked at the chat of them, I was like, wow, it was really big. Gigantic. Yeah, that was at its height. I don't know if you peeked at the chat, but we have a list of all your appearances. Without peeking, do you want to guess how many times? I didn't look. I'm going to guess

six appearances. Okay, somebody looked. I didn't look. No, I'm joking. Six. Was it. I didn't look. Yeah. No, I'm joking. Six.

Was it really? Wow. I thought it would have been a little more, but no, that's what you want. Well, there was one. There was like,

uh, I think the followup was when they might be giants was on. That might've been the second. Right. And we were, they might be slip nuts. Cause we were, we were so traumatized by the accident by accidental booking that we changed our name to avoid that right and then by coincidence um and there's another where we had like

gone our solo projects and then reunited and if if you watch that, we actually, it's the one we don't have our real names. I hadn't seen that in years. Somebody posted and I watched it. And I was like, oh, we just all had Flipknot George, Flipknot William. Oh, wow. Oh. Wow, I don't remember

that. Yeah. I don't remember that either. I think it's on YouTube or something. And then my favorite in that is Glazer is... One of his solo projects or what he did while the band had broken up a little bit is he went to outer space with Russian cosmonauts, maybe the space station. And somebody tells a joke in Russian and they all laugh. Glazer's cracking

up with them. That's good. Oh, I remember that. And then I don't remember. Well, then there was an opening for Slipknot and then the tribute. I don't know what the sixth one was. The Best for Slipknot and then the tribute.

I don't know what the sixth one was. The Best of Slipknot's DVD. Oh, yes. I'm just looking at the chat. Okay. I've had, ever since it came up, I just had the Steve Winwood version in my head since we talked about that. Because his is really good. Oh, boy.

We'll slip up, slam it on up. Plannin' around and slippin' on up. All right, right. We'll slip up, slam it on up. Just the end, like, you know,

the bass plays. Oh, God damn it. I love that Los Lobos did a Spanish language version too, because they basically said, we'll just play it to the tune of Don't Worry Baby, and we're like, do whatever you want. We're just glad you're here. Somos los libnos.

Just a little bit. I just, man, was, I mean, that was one of the highlights of my career. Pretty cool. I was just, Debbie, I think Debbie Wonder was it just called like, hey, Patty, can you come into Patty's dressing room for a minute on the sixth floor? And I walked in and it was just me and her and her guitar. And she just played me her cover of the song.

Singing the Slipknot song right to me and i was just thinking like is this what it was for like springsteen to hear her do her version of because then well it was i mean uh we kind of like we're trying you know there's always time pressure on the show but she had this she added the lyrics and stuff like that. And it was like, we are the Slipknot's. We're slipping on nuts. And it was like, we clown around the grounds. Something like that.

And it was like, we are the Slipknot's. Is that so fucking wrong? And I was just like, that's very good. I like that. Yeah. She was what blew me away. Most was like, she, I always had this image of her as being this very intimidating, you know, kind of rock goddess, you know, just like real street tough and everything. And she was walking around so sweet to everyone that she was almost like someone who's, whose dad had brought his daughter

to work. She looked kind of shy and sweet. And she was like, can I sit at the desk? Can I sit down at the desk and stuff? And she was just so shy and sweet. It was just a reminder that a lot of times people are so different from their stage persona. She couldn't have been sweeter. And I was not expecting that at all. The day that I had stacked with coffee, which was before the pandemic.

Wait, I had coffee with stacked. No, sorry, I'm coffee. That would be crazy. I was going for my coffee. I was like, maybe I'll have some stacked with my coffee. Yeah, I'm like the biscotti of... I saw Patti Smith later that day in the village. Oh my God. Just ran into

her? Yeah, and then I was going to... I was actually going to see Glazer doing a show in Brooklyn that I was going to see. So I was like, oh, I'm going to see both Flipnuts, both Flipnuts, on the same day. And then in the middle of it, I saw Patti Smith. But

I was too shy. I was going to go like, you sang my song. You sang our song. Maybe she was too shy to go up to you. It sounds like it. She's like, oh my God. Do you think he remembers me? One of the Slipknots.

Do you think he remembers me? Oh my gosh. There he is. If only I was as forward as an Irishman. How did I recognize you. Yes, if or not. You sang this. You threw in that, is that so fucking wrong?

You turned it into a protest gem. Oh, but I also asked Joel to do it. Billy Joel? Billy Joel, yeah. He's like, should I do this? I don't know. asked Joel to do it. Billy Joel? Billy Joel, yeah. He's like, should I do this? I don't know. Maybe I'll do it. And it's one of the only times a publicist has been helpful.

And she was just like, this is really funny. You should do it. Because he didn't quite understand it like Dolly Parton. But his publicist, I think, was lobbying him. And then he's just like, I'm not going to do it. And then the only other time in my life I saw Billy Joel in person was two days later. After that, I went, I ran into him literally in an Italian restaurant. And he had just rejected me for something else.

I'm like, hey, hello again. And no idea who I was. Two ideas, two days later. I don't know. I reject all kinds of comedy bets. Oh, did you pitch it to him? Yeah. Was he on the show?

I don't remember him being on the show. I don't remember that. So you went in and pitched that to him in person? I pitched it to him in person. Okay. For you2, I had Jim Pitt do it. I wanted U2...

U2 was playing Madison Square Garden and then they did an entire show, a Conan show. And I had asked Pitt to pitch them to sing the Slipknot song at the Garden for their fans. Just like Bono, like winging into

it, melodramatic and everything. Oh my God, that would have been fucking incredible. Oh my God. And they did it, right? We looked at it and we're just like, it's cleaner without it. It was garbage.

Pitching something and having someone shoot you down. There's so many different ways people say no. There's so many polite ways and then I love when they just go, no. I remember Ringo was on the TBS show

and there was an idea and Conan really liked it. I think it was that Ringo was going to sit in with the band and then you cut to Ringo trying to play trumpet. And he pitched it. He's like, you know, let me pitch it to Ringo. And it was fun to be in the room and see Conan being... You can tell he was a little nervous.

Because here was somebody with higher nervous, you know, it's like because here was somebody with a much higher, you know, with higher status, you could say being a Beatle. And Ringo was just like the second Conan barely got the pitch out and Ringo goes, I'm not going to do it. I think Conan said he saw

Ringo in the hallway too and someone walked up either asking for an autograph or a photo. And he said, I hate to do this. And he said, Ringo said, no, you don't. Let's just be honest. You don't hate to do this. It happens to Ringo so often. I'm sure that he's like, no, you don't.

Ringo is totally jovial too. Like he had a smile on his face before the pitch. Like, yes, like he he gets he might get 20 comedy pitches a day that's what it seemed like he was just like nope i'm not doing this one either i turned down the trombone i'm not gonna do the trumpet either i think i remember hearing that wasn't cheryl crow pitch the slip nuts song too and there was some the first they thought she was gonna do it and then that got turned down. I don't know if you remember that, Andy.

That sounds right, yeah. You might have been there when Danny Harrison was on the show. I remember he was on... He was a giant... Speaking of musicians who are giant comedy nerds, oh my God, he was quoting Conan Hicks'

chapter verse. George Harrison's son yeah I think you mentioned that he liked him the guys in his band like inappropriate or something like I don't remember but that was always that was old satellite TV show that you did

it's a classic inappropriate sorry I just wanted to say it once. Yeah, Tommy. I remember Tommy coming in with the concept for that, and then we were kicking around ideas for beats for it in John and Tommy's office. And I remember just hearing the way Tommy said inappropriate on the recording. It just sounded so funny.

Inappropriate. It's so weird. You never know what's going to catch on with anybody. What was uh it's so weird you never know what's gonna catch on with anybody and that was the guy's name well the funny thing was i originally was thinking we'd get like a real skinny like steve vi type poison guitar player and tommy goes no you're doing it and i said uh but i'm so like i'm so white and pasty, it's going to be, then we'll make them British. It's the Clive Clemons. I was like, okay. But God bless Tommy

for insisting that I be there. Because I thought it was going to be kind of a metal, a cool looking guy. And he's like, no, not cool. It's the real true Brian Stack. Yeah. I got loose. Let my true insanity Stack. Yeah, I cut loose. Let my true insanity out.

What I was going to ask, just because we have the three of you guys together, do you each, maybe this is a horrible question, but do you each have a favorite bit that one of the other of you guys did, apart from Slipknot, back on late night?

This is like at a political debate when they ask you to say something nice. That's right. You each have 30 seconds. You're saying our favorite bit of the other guys? Yeah. I always loved...

I don't know if you ever do this in the show, Blitz. The... How to be a millionaire? Who wants to be a millionaire whatever you know how the idea that were you knew the answer because you knew the answer you're meandering way around it would be just insane right yes that was a stand-up bit that was um it was about like because they they they encouraged them to talk through when they're trying to figure out the answers but uh what i loved is that if you get the answer right you you get it correct and you keep going and you could say anything and i can't remember exactly what it was just sort of like somebody you could you could do whatever so you could

tell let's say like it was who was the American president during world war two. And it was like Lincoln FDR Truman or Nixon just being like, well, no, because I know Nixon was the first black president. That wasn't, there weren't, that happened after world war two. I actually really wanted to try to go on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? And then just do that. And force Regis to react to my doing.

That would be legendary. Legendary. I always loved... I think so many bits of these guys killed me. But one thing that always comes to mind is Andy doing the apartment remote with conan where he went looking for an apartment uh i also always love the chanting guy you know who had really long-winded chants that couldn't possibly catch on with people

and i feel like i showed that to my son recently i love that and john i so many classic bits but i a tea copy art of Cage Match, which John Mayer mentioned I said earlier, was one of my favorites. But I also love some of the dumb one-off ones, like Wrist Hulk, when John did Wrist Hulk, where he just, only his wrist was green like Hulk. And he was saying like, wrist match, wrist match.

Just sometimes those are the things that tickle me the most oh you know what i i thought of the other day that glazer did the guy he it was just a parody of people climbing everest but he was a guy who was climbing up the stairs in our studio oh that was a coleman michael coleman's bit oh i thought that was yours. I think that was his idea. And I was just the guy because my beard was so crazy thick at the time. Right. Unless he and I came up with it together.

But I thought that was Komen. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. But maybe, I don't know. Maybe we were just talking about it together. I can't remember. No, I think I just assumed because I didn't remember the origin

story of it. It was fun to do. It was so stupid. Like a Glazer-esque bit. I just remembered another dumb bit that John and McCann did where they were the Grammy winners for Yazz and Woes. So they were the guys who were sitting with the band and they were the guys who won

Grammys for going, yeah, a little bit of yeah, and a whole lot of whoa. So they were the guys who won the Grammy for yeahs and woes. I don't know if you'd have to kind of see it. Stack, didn't we, I mean, just the Ringo sitting with the band, didn't we do a thing where we played tiny instruments? Yeah, you did a guy. Was that sitting in with the band? Like, didn't we have, weren't you a tiny instruments? Yeah. Was that sitting in with the band? Like, weren't you a tiny drummer? I know we had you as a guy playing.

One time you had a really super small guitar that was incredibly tiny. And there was another one where you had a bent guitar where it was curved. And one of my favorite things with these Sean bits would be when he'd be called on it, when Conan would be like, how, how are you possibly playing a guitar that's curved like that? And he would just run rather than explain that he would just run away. And we also had John as a guy in a mariachi kind of sleeves playing maracas with like, and he's out there with the band the whole time. And it's like two thirds through the show. And Conan's like, Max, you can introduce the guy who's been sitting with the band all night. And it's like two-thirds through the show and Conan's like Max, you gonna introduce the guy who's been sitting

with the band all night? And he's like, oh, I thought you knew him, Conan. And again, I was like, wait, sir, if I didn't invite you and the band didn't invite you, who are you? And he just runs again. Those are my favorite bits that

can span through the whole show. Oh, well, Conan was talking about a glazer bit where you sat in with a real band with flaming lips, flaming lips, and you didn't really play. You pretended to be playing the bass, but you just tuned it the whole time.

It was the thing, the way, yeah, the way that came about was, you know, it was, I had this idea about a bass player that just tries to be in the band. And we did a few of them. We recorded ones with, up like, all right, you guys, let's do this. And they're like, who are you? Like, I'm just a bass player. Just a guy trying to ingress me in the band.

And they're like, the fuck are you up to here? And then from there, when the Flaming Lips were playing, they're like, oh, come be that bass guy. Just, you know, stand there. There's going to be all these people in costumes. So it just became a thing where I'm just tuning it and just chewing my gum. And it was really fucking stupid.

And if you watch the clip on YouTube, you can hear Conan go, you're an asshole at the end. I love that. Yeah, that was Halloween. I remember. That was Halloween. Oh, wow. So what happened was, you know, that was when, so Flaming Lips, they were Beck's opening band and then his band on that tour. Okay.

And I went just to say hi after and say, oh, thanks. That was really fun. They said, oh, man, you should come to the show tonight. They were playing at the Beacon Theater that night. Oh, wow. They said, you should come to the show and do that thing. But they were saying it very conspiratorial, like it was going to be a prank on Beck. I'm glad they didn't.

I love they didn't know what tuning a guitar was. That thing you do. Well, I'm sure. But it was one of these things where I said, of course, it sounded really fun. So, you know, they got us on the guest list to get in. Was it the Beacon or was it Radio City? It was The Beacon. It was The Beacon.

And so Leslie and I, my wife, we went to see the show. We're watching The Flaming Lips from the house. And then someone comes to get us when Beck starts. So we watched the whole Beck show from the wings. And then they come off. And it was going to be for the whole Beck show from the wings. And then they come off. And it was going to be for the encore. And that was it. So the band comes off.

I'm kind of like off to the side. So Beck doesn't see me, I guess. And then they go running out. And then they just hand me a guitar. And the drummer says, just come stand right next to me. I was like, all right. So they go out. It's for the encore encore which is devil's

haircut and we go out they go out and then i go out and i'm right next to the drummer just like doing the thing tuning the guitar just like i did on conan and then at some point wayne coin the lead singer of the flaming lips he's up at the front of the stage with beck and he's like looking back at me and he's up at the front of the stage with beck and he's like looking back at me and he's like going like come stand next to him now i'm doing the bill like i don't know how i feel about this because i feel like they haven't told him about this clearly oh and it's one of these things where i feel like i don't know him i don't know if they're fucking with him and he's gonna be pissed and i don't want to upstage his show like i'm really feeling super fucking nervous about it because i don't want if

he's pissed off i'm like ah yeah it wasn't my idea i didn't know like i just felt really uncomfortable but i'm like all right so i start like inching my way up and he just keeps so now i'm like next to wayne coin and i'm just right like in the middle of a fucking stage like what you were saying stack it's just this bizarre experience to feel like this is what it's like to be a rock star it's just it's it's pretty insane and on top of it i'm just scared i'm like how's he gonna react so he finally he's like playing and he looks and he sees me and he comes over and he's like yeah back comes over and he's clearly into it he was totally he like he does like we're standing back to back awesome so he's doing that and i'm just doing

my thing pretending to tune it and uh how cool i know speak of like i wish there was video of that wow but this is you know this is before smartphones and shit so but it was and then as soon as that was it the stage manager comes and grabs me and whisks me off that was it violent it was so it was he kind of did i'm like oh was that part of it to look like it was supposed to be a thing or did he not know about it like i couldn't tell like did because it seemed like he was there and they all knew about it except beck so it was a really mildly weird thing even at the end but it was super fun that's so cool gary you guys know gary wills right? Do you remember Gary? He has like, he brought, because he was in a werewolf costume that day

the Flaming Lips played. And... Of course. And then they had all those people go to the show, the Flaming Lips show. So he was there with the costume and then he brought like one of those Kodak disposable cameras. So I do have some really grainy picture

somewhere in storage oh that's cool up on stage next to beck i have to find it it's such a good that's great they yeah that was pretty fun i would have been were you like kind of looking at the audience to see if anyone was laughing no i was too deep into character. Yeah. Chewing my gum, tuning my guitar. It was so fucking fun. Or booing again. Remember Glazer? They've got the batteries out. Yeah, just getting nailed.

I love that for the Halloween show, I remember they showed up and I was playing a big furry monster with big ram horns and claws. And they said, you just scratch, just come out and scratch on a washboard. And then they told Gary to play a gong. So he was a werewolf playing a gong. And then when John came out,

I love that you weren't even in any kind of costume. You were just dressed like a regular guy. I was just the, I was the base guy. I actually think I had a mustache like this. You did. I recall think I had a mustache like this. You did. I recall correctly. Yes, indeed. I was wearing this knit cap.

Oh, God. So annoying. It was fantastic. Yeah, the Beck thing was pretty fucking fun. That's surreal. I can't believe nobody mentioned Reverend Otis K. Dribbles talking about

comedy. One of our favorites. I was actually, Reverend Otis K. Dribbles is one of the... That's one of the bits that actually had me crying, laughing, tears rolling down my face every time we did it.

We did it at least a couple times, right? I know we did it more than once, two or three times. Like that's one of those bits where it's just, you know, if you try to talk about why the job is so good, that's, that's why. Cause you know, cause people who think that's funny can now have a, have a job. There's a job for people to come up with that idea good to live and those are the bits that you'll hit like eight years later someone who's a young

comedy writer who's like two years into a job on a staff will come up and go and those are the bits they always mention are just like those those really obscure weird little things like that well that makes me think of something where I remember I just started in response to hating all the celebrity-driven bits. I just started submitting Gary Busey big teeth jokes. I remember that. Just for the fuck of it. But then they all made the show. They started getting on.

Some of them got on. And then, Stack, you found this because you would look at those message boards and there was something like... And then one of the jokes was about how Gary Busey has big teeth, comma, or so the writers think.

Gary Busey, close friend of Ringo Starr, who was just like, I'm not going to do your bit after you made fun of my friends. That's why he says don't everything. Take your trumpet and shove it up your own teeth. They made fun of my friend, Gary Busey. Not just Gary, but his teeth.

His teeth are off limits. His teeth are normal. That's correct. They're on the line at teeth. They would have to recept him. Not even that big. It was great to talk to you all. That was really funny. Thank you. Great to see everyone.

Take care. See you for the next one. Sean and Joanna, thank you for your help. Thank you to Brian Stack, Andy Blitz, and John Glazer, a.k.a. The Slipknots, for joining us. Thank you, guys. And now it's time for a listener question. Yeah. Hey there, Jesse and Mike.

This is Paul Bryan, tuning in from upstate New York. My question is about one of my favorite bits from the show, WikiBear. How difficult was it to get the various horrifying facts about the murderers and genocide through standards and practices? Also, what poor soul was responsible for the research required to ensure that those macabre facts were accurate. I have really enjoyed the podcast over the past few years. I hope you both return to contribute to whatever madness Conan has in store for us next. We hope so too, Paul. Yes.

Thank you, Paul Bryan. Wiki Bear, that was, I mean, it was a toy product that came out around, I guess, 10 years ago. Yeah. Real product. It's kind of a Teddy Ruxpin. Right. But you could ask it questions and it would, it would. Was it a real product?

It was. It was. I believe it was. Okay. And, um, and then, uh, we just kind of had it go off on its own. It was kind of AI, a little ahead of AI, if AI was only a homicidal, thought a homicidal murderous thought. So, Wikibare was, it was cooked up by Brian Stack

and Todd Levin, and they wrote all of them together. And, you know, it became an instant hit, which, you know, the downside to that is like more wiki bear so well i remember the first time they rehearsed it i i think it they kind of because brian stack would often improvise with conan yes he's such a good improviser he would do the voice he would be in he would be outside the building in the um booth, which was in our director's truck. So he wasn't even in the same room with Conan, but they were still improvising scenes together. Right.

And I think that they really kind of landed on the murderous, dark side of- In the rehearsal. In rehearsal. Yes. Yeah. And that was really just based on Brian Stack and Conan's personal knowledge of murder facts. Yes. Yeah. And so, and that was really just based on Brian Stack and Conan's personal knowledge of murder facts. Right. Because then Conan, yes, Conan started suggesting stuff. I think it was almost like, oh, hey, this isn't getting dark enough. And maybe Conan went to the

Manson murders or I'm not sure. It might be, you know what? It might be a scraps clip. Oh, it's probably a scrap, yeah. And then after that, kind of that was the template for it. Then they knew what it was, yeah. And then they, Todd, I'm assuming, and Brian would do the research Right.

to write it in advance. Right. So to answer Paul's question on that, the writers would have the responsibility to kind of vet the real facts. Through Wikipedia. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

And I don't think standards and practices— They don't care. They just care about sex. Yeah. I know. Isn't that so strange? Yeah. That's always the thing is you can't show a woman's nipple, but you can talk about violence all day long.

Violence all day long here in the United States. So yeah, that wasn't a big issue. The big thing was coming up with one wiki bear after another because it became so popular. And that's hard to vary it, but still have it, you know, have the same- Have the same darkness. Exactly, exactly.

And another big treat to all of them was, as you point out, the fact Brian Stack was doing it live. And he's one of the great master improvers you'll ever see. And it's almost, I mean, I'm sure Conan would try to get him off the rails. Yes, yes. He would. Yes, Conan would like, you know, maybe like at the end like kind of look doubtful or something or just like really and just knowing that would prod stack to kind of go off script and

then yeah be off to the races but I do I also just love that it um because Brian's such a cheerful guy right but then you know it is he's also kind of got that dichotomy in him. He's the darkest. He's like, hey. Yeah, yeah. I know. So it is almost a personification of Brian himself. It is. It is. Wicky bear. I know. You kind of feel like he's getting to leech out all the dark side. Yeah. Doing it. Okay. I should be good for another month because I did a wiki bear and you won't have to kill right well thanks for the question Paul

yeah thanks Paul and you know if you have other listener questions we'd love to get them you can call us leave a voicemail

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