Inside Conan: An Important Hollywood Podcast - Louie Anderson

Episode Date: July 10, 2020

Comedian Louie Anderson (Baskets, Search Party) stops by to talk with writers Mike Sweeney and Jessie Gaskell about being over prepared for his late night debut on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, his special connection to the role of Zach Galifianakis’ mother Christine Baskets on the show Baskets, and the inspiration for his book “Hey Mom.” 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. Hello, and welcome back to Inside Conan. I'm Mike Sweeney, a writer at The Conan Show, and I'm joined by Jesse Gaskell. Yes, also a writer at The Conan Show. We've got so much good stuff to talk to you about today. Yes, we have a great guest, and we all got a bit carried away. I was really fanning out over this one, because I love him. Louis Anderson.

Louis Anderson's hilarious. You probably know him most recently from Baskets. He's in the latest season of Search Party. Yeah, I know. He actually didn't mention that in the interview. No. So we're mentioning it now. He's too modest. I'm gobbling down Search Party like candy. I love that show. I love it too. And he's very funny in it. Yeah, that show has the perfect intersection for me of like sort of true crime and comedy. Yes. They don't go for the laugh every single moment. No, they don't. It's dark. Yeah, it is. No, the tone is really, it's cool. It's really different.

And I can't wait for all of you to hear Louis. We talked to him about a lot of stuff. He was at his home in Vegas and here's Louis. I'm so happy to be here. Let's do it. My hair is doll hair now. I've got doll hair, if you know anything about dolls. My mom used to collect dolls, and their hair, as they got older, would toughen up. I've got doll teeth, if you notice. It's hard to see. But you do have that porcelain skin, too.

Wait, your mother collected dolls? She was an antique collector. She collected everything. Yeah. Look at this doll, Louie. Old dolls. Isn't that gorgeous, Louie? I have a whole bit about it in my special big underwear on the CW.

Wow, we already worked a plug in. That was fast. It's the first time I did the doll bit, which is about where I stayed at somebody's house. Yeah. And I, they put me in the doll room. Oh, no,

there were a hundred dolls in there. You counted. That looked just like me. That must've been comforting. So Louie, your late night debut, you did stand up on Johnny Carson in 1984. November 20th, 1984.

Oh, wow. You remember. Everybody remembers their first late night thing. You got the tattoo. A stand up. I think you do. You just, it was a hard thing for me to get. I didn't, that didn't come easy for me.

How did you get to LA already or? Yeah, I was living here. I auditioned for two years. It's kind of a weird story, but I'll tell get to L.A. already or? Yeah, I was living here. I auditioned for two years. It's kind of a weird story, but I'll tell it to you. So the guy who booked it didn't think he said kept saying to me, you're not Carson material, which infuriated me. I just kept auditioning. And then the Letterman people saw me when I was somewhere and they booked me. And then when they booked me the next day,

the Tonight Show called and said, hey, we want you on. And I- It's like dating. It really is. It's worse than dating though, because I love both people. Of course, David Letterman, I love.

So I did it and the Letterman people didn't have me on then for two or three years, two years, I think. And I apologize. I said, David, you know, even you would have made that decision when The Tonight Show was your number one thing in your life. And so he saw that and then he had me on, you know, but I always thought that was all, I guess, destiny. Don't you think something like that's destiny? When you want something for that long, when you watch The Tonight Show with your dad, who was a musician who watched Doc Severinsen. And so when you sat in that, for me, that house and the projects

on Hazelwood and thought you're going to be on that show someday, maybe, and then you got on it, you know, you knew the curtain you were going to stand behind that show someday, maybe. And then you got on it, you know, you knew the curtain you were going to stand behind. You were so familiar with the show. You knew what that curtain looked like. And that was a huge night for me. I went from earlier that week, I had applied at the AM PM mini market for a job because I couldn't pay my rent. So the day I got the Tonight Show, I also got the call from the mini market. They said, we heard about the Tonight Show. Yeah, yeah.

We heard about the Letterman. We never want to hear from you again. All team crawling. Yeah. And that's a really good, yeah. And I said, listen, I appreciate it, but I'm doing the Tonight Show tonight. He goes, yeah, right. And they all say, I'm not giving you off. Yeah. And then the next day,

he called me and said, you were great. If you ever want a job, you just come and see me. Oh, nice. It's a great fallback position. Yeah. Good luck with your career. Stop by for a two-for-one burger anytime. Of course I did. I love you mentioning that curtain. When you were finally behind the curtain, did it feel, for the first time on The Tonight Show, were you relaxed about it? Like, oh, it's this curtain.

I'm on the other side. Or was it all of a sudden like, oh, Jesus. Oh, God, what have I done? No, i was so prepared right yeah i had nine tonight shows prepared when i did the tonight show i had already nine sets that i was gonna do oh wow for the tonight show i was very very prepared and i remember reaching out and touching that curtain yeah feel. Feel it. Yeah. Because I wanted to know, my mom would ask me, I knew that. What's that curtain? What's it made out of? Is it chintz? Is it chintz? She'd say, if you know what that is. But everything on a television set looks expensive,

but is meant to throw away. Right. Yeah. You know, it's cheap. It's cheap. It has to look good. Yeah. Yeah. And, but I was I, uh, it was behind that curtain. I remember they call you when the last guest finishes and they go, come on, let's go. And you go down this hallway and it's really like the backstage at Conan. You walk through this maid. I'm back there. And, um, I hear Johnny tapping actually his pencil on the desk. Uh, even though the band was blaring, I could hear that because his mic was live already to introduce me. And he said, a kid making his national television debut, Louie Anderson. And I walked out, looked for my mark and delivered my first line and

finished. And I left to go back to the dressing room and people said, Johnny wants you back. Get back out there. Wow. And that was, I go, where, why? I'm fake running. When you're fat, that's what you do. I'm running. You just move your arms. And I got out there. I took a bow. The crowd went crazy. I was looked over at Johnny and he got up and he shook my hand. And I have that picture. That's a really big thing for me. That was a giant acknowledgement. He goes, I would have had you, I had to have you sit down, he said, but we're running late. But, you know, you were great. And then afterwards he came by my room. You know, we always had bodyguards, so people didn't realize that.

And he goes, great set, Louis. Great set. Because people don't realize Johnny was, you know, got death threats every night. Yeah, I did not realize that. Yeah. Like that movie, King of Comedy. Yeah.

They wanted him to play the part because they tried to kidnap him once, I heard. Oh, wow. I don't know if it's true, but it's a good story. And he didn't want to, I guess, reinforce that by doing that kind of thing. But they had the right people do the movie because it was a fabulous movie.

Yeah. Yeah. Ma! I'm sorry, Liza. I heard that movie still holds up. It still holds up. People just saw it for the first time. Yeah.

They're like, oh, that movie's great. That's a beautiful movie. In fact, The Joker's very nice, similar, similar-ish. Yeah. Similar-ish, that's all. But you know, everything's an homage, isn't it? I mean, I'm out there at the Tonight Show my first time doing Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Jonathan Winters, Richard Pryor,

all these people, Jackie Vernon, all these people, Jackie Vernon, all these people, you know, Marty Allen. These are all people who I saw and said, well, this is, if they could be on it, you know, Bob Hope had a huge influence on my comedy and so did Jack Benny and so did Johnny Carson, really. Also, you mentioned when you were a kid watching that show, like, when did you start having that dream that, hey, you know what? Someday I'm going to be on that show. one time I was at a club in 1978 that they had a comedy night and they had comedians. I go, these guys are terrible, aren't they, to my friend? And he goes, you think you're funnier? I go, I think I might

be. And he said, well, why don't you try it if you think you're so funny? And I said, I will. And I signed up for the next week, October 10th, 1978. Had all my friends down. My mom and dad were there, my sister and brother. And you invited everyone for your first time.

Wow. Yeah. My only time. I was just a dare. It was just it wasn't good. It wasn't like that didn't necessarily mean I was going to be a comedian because I tried it. And then I felt so comfortable up there and did so good.

And of course, because I had all my supporters there, I just went, oh, this is cool. This is good. I'm going to try this again. And then 42 years later, here we are. Here we are. And then that Tonight Show, I don't mean to go on about it, but this was how significant the Tonight Show was. The next day, I was opening at the Comedy store at the Dunes Hotel with Jim Carrey and Blake Clark and Harry Basil. And I think even, I don't know if Roseanne was on that show, but it was five or six of us. And then the week after, I was opening at Bally's for the Commodores. Oh, wow. And I had an NBC holding deal and my whole life changed.

My whole life changed. Back then you would hear just because The Tonight Show was the 1130 show, the next day you're just recognized everywhere you go. And millions of people would have seen you. I guess it was like two or three TV sets, something like that. They have all these statistics, but it was like that. And it was a really wonderful thing. And it's one of those things where you go, that was a perfect setup.

And you realize I've been working on those jokes since 1978. Right. Yeah. I did in 84. Those jokes were ready. Right. To go. There was no way I was going to mess those jokes up.

Right, right. And then I didn't add Lib from Johnny's monologue. Oh, that's great. Because I said, this will really piss off the guy who, Jim McCauley, who booked me. Right. Who's a talent coordinator. Right. Did he say something about afterwards? He said, you did a joke. You can't do those. I go, it worked though, didn't that? And he goes, yeah, but don't ever do that again. And every, every Tonight Show I did a joke. You can't do those. I go to work, though, didn't I? And he goes, yeah, but don't ever do that again. And every every tonight show I did a joke he didn't approve. Did he ever cop? Never.

To the fact that he never the day after Letterman's. Never. Oh, wow. But then, you know, could he really? No. And he didn't know. If you could cop, I'm the person to cop to. Right. Because I'm not going to beat you up about it. Right, right, right, right. I'm going to forgive you.

I'm going to forgive you. Yeah, of course. You know, he's no longer with us. So it's, you know, I'm not going to give him a hard time. But he didn't just do it to me. He did it to probably hundreds of comics, to be honest with you. You know, those people get those jobs, you know. From his point of view, he's probably was, you know,

nervous about someone going on and in any way, you know, displeasing Johnny Carson. So he might've been second guessing himself a lot. I don't think he liked fat people. You hardly ever saw any fat comics on there. On Carson? And I did it. And then there were fat comics.

Listen, I was talking about butter, you know, my jokes were not the type of jokes that probably everybody was doing. I, I don't think I never felt like I was competing with other comics. I thought I was just doing my thing, which is great. When you said you had like eight tonight show sets ready. Yeah. Is that because you were trying different sets out on Jim McCauley? No, I said, I'm going to do all these sets on the Tonight Show. Okay. And I did six, I think, the first year.

Wow. No, I'm prepared. I've always believed, I always try to tell comics, you can't be too prepared to become famous. Yeah, because when you get the opportunity, you have to have the material to back it up. I think a lot of people with writing too, you think, oh, I'll wait until I get asked to do this and then I'm going to write something great. But you can't wait for that.

I always say, like, what are you doing? What's your material all about? Right. What are you thinking? Why are you doing this? Well, where is it coming from? And does it mean anything to you? Because if it doesn't mean anything to you, it's not going to mean anything to me.

Right. But it took me a long time to figure those words out. That's a big lesson to learn, I think, especially just starting out. You're just like... Being able to get up on stage and do it is a big learning curve. A lot of times you're doing an impression of your idol on some level or the people who influenced you, which can take you down the wrong road because you might not have any of the instincts that your idol has. You know what I mean? You know, you could see in comics who they were influenced by. You know, I could anyways. And I always say, just get down into your stuff

because it's a bottomless pit you can just keep pulling stuff up from there yeah it's like therapy i've seen comics i've seen comics get influenced by other super strong comics who are working at the same club over a long period of time like you come back a few months later and like oh my gosh they're starting to kind of imitate subconsciously or consciously you know and sometimes they become famous i won't point them out no but they become but you you know you can there's two or three you can point out yeah you know who carlin influenced to dennis miller influenced to you know uh conan Dennis Miller influence to Conan, Johnny, all these people who you see a lot, people will try to influence. Bill Hicks was a comedian I saw a lot. And he moved to New York for a few years.

Six months after he was there, half the comics were picking up little subtle markers of his. Hicks, Hicks. Devotees, right? picking up little subtle markers of his, but he was so, right. Yeah. And I think a lot of it was subconscious cause he was so kind of overpowering in a way in terms of. I, yeah,

I don't think comics pick it up on purpose. I don't, I don't think, you know, cause I have found myself going, that sounds like someone else's bit. And you just, cause your ego will just say, just do it.

Right. Doesn't matter whose it is. Your ego will definitely say that to you because you think you've invented it because your, you know, comics are egomaniacal. Right, right, right. Aren't they? I mean, I don't know a comic is not egomaniacal. Yeah, they're all very self-absorbed in a way.

Yeah. But I think some, like, especially- I'm absorbent. And absorbent. I know, I just wanted to make, yeah, like, I just feel like I, that's it. But like on our show, in the writer's room, a lot of times, sometimes writers will be like, oh, you know what? This idea came to me too quickly.

It just kind of came like a lightning bolt. They almost got suspicious that, oh, did I what? This idea came to me too quickly. It just kind of came like a lightning bolt. They almost got suspicious that, oh, did I think of this on my own? But sometimes it is just that that was the idea that no one had said yet, but that was the one. Well, writing room is almost just a big cloud of intoxication that people have to get out of to get some, catch their breath and find kind of like a touchstone. They need a touchstone to get, Jesus, I had to get out of there. I was really, I was becoming so insecure, you know. I had to pretend I had to go to the bathroom. Right. I know you created some shows. Did you spend time a lot in the writer's room or were you kind of away from that? In life with Louis, I would come in

and say, what about this? Louis's dad is a prick. No, but Louis and his dad don't get along because of this or Louis's mom does this or Louis's grandma died and he was supposed to write her a thank you note for a sweater and she died before and he doesn't know where to send the note. go with that. And then I remember I was always in the bathtub reading the scripts they would do. I don't know why I ended up there, but I ended up in the bathtub. That's a nice ritual. Yeah. There was something, I love a bathtub. You're either a bath person or you're not. That's tough when you're absorbent. Yeah. So I would do that. And then I would call someone during it. This is wrong. This is right. This is wrong. This is right. In the nicest way. You got to realize I wasn't, you know,

I was just saying, what about this and add this and that. I'm really good. That's my best strength is add-ons. Like I've tried to write scripts, but you know, I was never a very good student and the computer is, you know, like elusive to me and I could write it and then go, where is that? It's hard to use in the bathtub. Yeah, that's true. Like I wrote my last book in my memo section. Oh.

That's impressive. How did you used to come up with material when you were starting out in stand-up? Would you take a notepad with you throughout the day? I would just did fat jokes. I did these, yeah, like I had a little pad, you know, or something, probably just, yeah, like a pad. And I'd write fat Olympics, right? I'd write butter. I'd write fat Olympics, right? I'd write butter. I'd write dad, gun.

I always did fat jokes. And then one day a guy was doing, was there with his father in the front row and I always talked to the crowd. I always would work the crowd. And he go, hey, look, is that your dad? He goes, yeah. He goes, it looks like you guys get along.

He goes, yeah, we really do. I go, ah, not my dad. Although he never hit us, he just carried a gun. And we really do. I go, ah, not my dad. Although he never hit us. He just carried a gun. And then they laughed. And I go, oh, they laughed at that. I go, he never shot us. He just go.

That resonated a different laugh than I can't stay long. I'm in between meals. So even though that one covered the whole gambit, I can't stay long. I'm in between meals. So even though that one covered the whole gambit, I can't stay long in between meals. That covered a whole gambit of the audience. The other one, that was a self-depreciating joke, but the father joke, or my mom loved butter, you know, first words out of her mouth at the restaurant, could we get some extra butter? And the maitre d' would go, well, let us seat your party first. Right? So that was a difference in jokes and response. Fat joke, I knew what response I was going to get. And it was strong. It was killer. Don't get me wrong. But the other jokes, the reservoir, they became Life with Louie. They became my books.

They became the pilots I made. They became Christine Baskets. That well, that well has served me well. Yes. It's a deeper way. It's deeper. So it probably becomes more relatable for everybody. Yeah.

Yeah. Like I didn't know other people had screwed up families when I relatable for everybody. Yeah. Yeah. Like I didn't know other people had screwed up families when I, you know, right. You don't grow up knowing that how screwed up someone's families are. You don't really see it. Yeah. Because everybody puts on this.

White people are good at hiding. Yes. Yeah. Well, they put on the outside family face. And you grew up in Minnesota, right? Where I imagine it's,

it's even more, possibly more extreme. Don't talk about it. How long have you lived in Las Vegas? I guess now 13, coming up on 13 years. I had a show. I had shows here for like 10 years on the strip-ish. Oh, wow.

And one downtown and one at the Pal and six years at the Catch a Rising Star showroom in the Excalibur. Oh, wow. What is that like? How many shows a week would you have to do? Five or six. Okay.

You know, it's just like what you do. It's the same thing. It's a very similar thing if you're working in a writer's room and you're doing a show right there's a you know like okay well it's like if you were doing the finished product every night you're going to shoot a show right and the only thing is that there is an audience there for me the same and there are no cameras that's the only difference right does that make sense yeah absolutely so and it you know it wears on you like you know it's a tuesday night yeah because tuesday nights actually mondays and tuesdays were like my favorite nights

because somehow they were the the brighter crowds oh wednesday wednesday was good thursday real conservative group of people i don't know who they were, but very conservative. Always there for an NRA convention. Friday, nightmare, you know Friday. Let's go see a show after we worked all week. Let's get drunk. Yeah, exactly. And then

Saturday, easy money. Because they're all drunk. No, they're your biggest you know they're like they are not going to be denied a good time right they're in a good they're with you they're with you yeah they're with you they're saturdays they worked all week to go out saturday night and they're rooting for you so it does wear on you because you have to make you know like i just try to do new stuff all the time. I just said, you got to do new stuff or else you're just going to be the worst comedian in the world.

Right. That's hard, though. And you're just an actor. Yeah. That's a big discipline to be, you know, to go, OK, I'm not going to coast. And I'm guessing Vegas is a hard place. Maybe you tell me I have no idea to try out new material. Certainly not on the Wednesday crowds. I mean, I used to do it on the Tonight Show.

So if it's, yeah, I used to say you have, I tell every, I go, why aren't you trying out? They go, I want to do some new stuff, but I want to do it on an open mic. I go, no, do it on your most important show. Find out if it's really in there. They'll be with you on it and just say, hey, I wanted to try this new stuff and it doesn't work. Go, well, I'll never do that again. You know, the audience is for you and they want to be a part of your process, believe it or not. Right. When Conan screws up, that could be even better than anything's expected.

Yes. It usually is. And that's so expected. Yes. It usually is. Yeah. And that's so real. Right. And if you ad-lib your way out of it, yes, it's usually a bigger laugh than what you were going to do anyway. And it's much more memorable.

I'm working on doing an album, Christine Baskett's album. Oh, that's a great idea. Oh, my God. Yeah. On the A side is Christine, On the B side is me. Oh, I love that. Because I've been watching Baskets again on Hulu because I never watched it while I was making it. There's something about not really because that can just I didn't want to get in my head.

You would get in your head. You know, you know, I'm pleasantly surprised and horrified at the same time because that's just the human nature of a comic, don't you think? Yeah, sure. Why did I let them shoot like that? Why did they use that take? I did three other better takes. Yeah.

That's Jonathan. You know, he was just the greatest guy to work with. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's pure love. Did they approach you about playing Christine or was that kind of your idea? Oh, no.

I got a call from Louis CK and he said, Louis, I go, hi, Louis. And, because you hardly ever hear Louis as a name calling here.

Yeah. And he goes, I'm doing a sitcom with Zach Alphanakis and wonder if you'd play a character for us. I go, yeah. And he goes, I'm doing a sitcom with Zach Alphanakis. I wonder if you'd play a character for us. I go, yeah. And he goes, we want you to play his mother. I go, yes. I knew right away that this was something bigger than, I go, this is good when comics who are really popular from another era lean on you to do something. This is big. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I do. Yeah. Like, this is big. Here are people who, they would not necessarily be in my wheelhouse. Yeah, they wouldn't be in my wheelhouse. But I bring them something that they don't have, you know, and that they want to remember that. But it worked out perfect, obviously. But I remember going to Sylmar at 530 in the morning.

It was all hush hush because nobody knew that I was playing the mom. Oh, wow. And I picked out the clothes that I thought my mom and sister would wear. The wig was too small, so they had to cut it. And I had one scene and it would wear. The wig was too small, so they had to cut it. And I had one scene, and it was with all the Costco stuff, with Martha and Zach, and that was it. And I just went to Jonathan right before we shot it,

and I go, hey, I'm not going to change my voice. I'm not going to cartoon this up. I'm not going to change who I am to play this character. Then we shot this scene and I had this thing where I tried to drink down a whole thing of Kirkland, right? Those bottles of things they sell. And I said, oh my God, I'm not going to make it. And I did a spit take. I knew instinctively to save that. I go, that was, that hit the spotter. That was refreshing. Something like that. It was so good.

It was really true to the character. And then I just talked kind of like my mom would talk about Kirkland products and how much my son Chip disappointed me. And you know how parents shame their kids in front of their friends? Yes. Yeah. And then he went to school in France, clown school in France. You know how much that costs? I had to pay in euros, so I'm not sure. But there was a lot of euros, a lot of euros in that number. And I just had fun. And Jonathan was so great to to us and was it a lot of improvising yeah you can yes there was tons of it I opened my heart wide as could be and dismissed Louie Anderson as

quickly as possible I said you got to get out of here there can't be this cannot be any kind of corny silly it has to be real right this has to be as real as you've ever been. And this is not a man. People say, you're a man playing a woman. I go, I'm a woman. I'm not a man playing a woman. I know that sounds weird. I told people to call me Christine, not Louie. I knew I was doing something special, at least for me. You're digging deep. dug so deep that you know this is how the book was started i came home one day from the set still emotional for him um and i said oh was my mom ever as happy as christine you know? And I started writing her this letter, which became, you know, the essence of the book.

But two days later, somehow somebody sent a photo of my mom or posted it from the family of her as a young girl. She was like a teenager, early 20s. It's on my Instagram. And Christine is on the other side. And my mom was so happy. So I knew that at some point she was really happy. It was just such a weird thing.

And probably, you know, I am always looking for signs and everything. It was probably like having a dialogue with her doing this part, right? Where you kind of felt like you were having an ongoing, it's almost a way to still stay connected to her and have this ongoing relationship in a way. And I think, you know, what you're saying is, and as soon as I opened that question up, was my mom ever as happy as me?

It opened up a reservoir of questions I had for my mom. And that changed everything. In fact, my book, Hey Mom, which is a book that I think people sometimes give to their mom. I always tell them, you should write your letter to your mom when you give them that book or just write a letter to your mom and send it or put it in a drawer, whatever you want, but get that letter out. Everybody's got a letter to their mom or not, even if she's not, but yes, why she's still alive. Cause you could become friends with your mom. I always tell people, if you could become friends with your mom, which I wish I would have done more. I was friends with her,. I always tell people, if you could become friends with your mom, which I

wish I would have done more. I was friends with her, but not like I should have been. I wish I could have got by my stupidness. Is that a word? But it says no, anyway. It's just like stubborn, stupid, you know, stupidness. And if I could have got through that, what would I have discovered? And could we become friends? And could both of our lives been completely enriched from that experience? Now, that all sounds silly and simple and everything, but it's really important. If this pandemic has taught us one thing, it's what's important. The important stuff. Yes, it's good to wash your clothes and to do the dishes and be nice to yourself and all that. But wait a minute. What are the things you always wanted to do? So I said to myself, I'm going to do that album.

I'm going to learn how to sing a little. I'm going to do the stuff that I want to do. I'm going to learn how to paint. I started painting once and I'm going to go back to that. We rob ourselves from the TV and from the phone and, you know, from the podcast. We rob ourselves. But it's true. We do. We should be painting right now. Yeah.

But podcasts have given me so much joy and comfort during this. Yeah. This pandemic. No, but I think you're right that it's really cleared the dead weight off of my consciousness because there was a lot of stuff that was on my to-do list that just immediately seemed so frivolous. It was like, I don't have to get this stuff done. We're living out a pathology that was set a long time ago.

And this gives us this pandemic. I think, you know, last night was a good example. I said, you are the luckiest guy in the world and you got to stop worrying about anything. And you got to reach out to people who you love and who you care about, but you're mad at. And so I've done that for the most part. And that was a really, really big thing for me. I've been working on it, but it's a really big last night. I called a few people and just said, Hey, I'm really sorry. I'm such a jerk sometimes. And they go and sometimes, yeah. Yeah. They said, what are you talking about? A couple of them. I go, well, I thought I was all in your head. Yeah.

No, I don't think it was, but you know, that's a number was all in your head. Yeah. No, I don't think it was. But, you know, that's a wrong number. That's a common. Yeah. That's a common response, isn't that? Sure. Where you they let you off the hook, but they shouldn't. I didn't want to get let off the hook. I wanted to say this is what I think I did.

Right. And I'm sorry I did that. And it's part of my nature. My dad was a prick and I can be a prick sometime. I come from a long line of prick. It's hard, though, because it doesn't mean that I'm going to be their friend anymore than I was. So it doesn't mean that that's going to blossom because comics, you know, we're all people in show business are self-centered from what I can tell. Comics are bad. Comics are bad.

Comics are the worst. Narcissist in the way that it doesn't mean that you think you're great. It means that you're just. Oh, we think we're great. No, but I get what you mean. Some people hate themselves too, but they're still. Oh yeah. A lot of self-loathing.

The self-loathing, I try to get out of the way near bedtime so I can't sleep. And the self-loathing is tied in with the worrying and all that keeps you from being, like you're saying, be present in the moment and realize, like you're saying, how lucky you are and all the great things that you tend to go, oh, well, that doesn't count. None of that counts. And it does. So you brought up something. So self-loathing, like I wish I would have been nicer to my mom in certain circumstances. I couldn't, I didn't have what it took or didn't want to. And I got to own that. So self-loathing, you got to own. It doesn't, it's not real. It's just a time in

your life when you made stupid decisions or made mistakes or hurt somebody or did something. You've got to clear that slate. Resentment and all those kinds of things, they weigh so much, like a ton. Resentment, that will eat its own container. That's bad acid. But you can take this thing that you did or I wasn't nice to my mom. Okay, here it is. I'm sorry, mom. I just was stupid. I was inconsiderate and it is no reflection about how much you mean to me. I love you. I hope you can forgive me. Done. I mean, done in some sense, but it's hard to do that. It's silly. I'm talking to a decaf cappuccino. I can't even get a real cappuccino because I won't go. Yeah. Because you're afraid. I won't sleep. Yeah. I guess I

won't sleep. And then that's simplifying that. Right. I don't mean to simplify it, but I really want to make a point. The torture that we do for ourselves has to be undone. Yeah. We're actually, we have to wrap up with you, Louis. I think this- I have to deal with loss again. You know, losses are a big deal. You have your coffee cup. I do. That's right. But I've had a really wonderful time. Yeah. Thank you for being so open with us. Yes. It's been a really great conversation. So my piece of advice is

that you're perfect. Everyone's perfect. It's who they are. Just try to, you know, not torture yourself about the things that you'd like to change. It's a waste of time. And why do you want to change them? They must be okay. All right. Great. Love you guys.

Thank you. I'm leaving now bye so that was louis anderson you can see him on this season of baskets and search party yeah you can see him on search party currently streaming on hbo max you know what else is streaming on hbo max conan without borders oh that's right yeah just thought i'd throw that in there hey we have a search party currently streaming on HBO Max. You know what else is streaming on HBO Max? Conan Without Borders. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Just thought I'd throw that in there. Hey, we have a fan question. It says, hi, Mike and Jesse. I would really like to know about Carl Oldie Olsen and how he became a reoccurring character on Late Night. Love, Ray. Thank you, Ray. Carl Oldie Olsen, he would appear in sketches, I guess, the mid-90s. His nickname kind of tells it all.

He was really old. Was he old? Oh, boy. One of the original writers on the show, Michael Gordon, I think. They were doing a sketch. It was a Little League team, like a kid's Little League team versus a senior citizen's Little League team. It might have been during the Major League Baseball baseball strike kind of filling the void i think and um michael gordon auditioned a lot of senior citizen actors to play baseball and he once he showed me his note he had notes meticulous notes

next to all of them and can be tricky with senior actors so very tricky. Some of them. Seniors and kids. Oh, yes. And animals. And animals. And he had notes like, you know, too hammy, too big, you know, too quiet. And next, he showed me his note next to Carl Olde Olsen. It just was like really, really old. So he was cast immediately. How old do you think he was?

You know what? 68. No. I think it was sort of like that, but he looked much, much older and he had long white hair and he had a long white beard. So he looked like he was just beamed in. Yeah, like Gandalf. Yes. He was kind of Gandalf's more emaciated older brother. We started doing Halloween

big sketches where he'd play like a vampire. And then another time he played Frankenstein and they were these giant elaborate sketches built in. But he had background as a Shakespearean actor, which we didn't even know. Yeah. We learned. Oh, so he was probably really slumming it. Yeah, exactly. And we thought we were doing this guy a favor, you know, like, hey, we're putting you on a show at 1 a.m. He was also in Waterworld. And, you know, who's going to know if I'm lying? No one's seen that movie.

So you just have to accept that he was above Kevin Costner. Don't look it up. Wow. Back then, people were obsessed with Carl O. D. Olsen. He was kind of one of the big... Yeah, recurring players. And I love when a writer will fixate on an actor like that. And it becomes their muse almost.

Yes, yes, yes. Anyway, that's our show for the week. That's our show. But we'll be back next week with more great content. Is that vague enough? You can email us insideconanpod at gmail.com or you can leave

a voicemail at 323-209-5303. Or you can just call and breathe heavily. Yes. For a few minutes. So stay safe out there. Yes.

We like you. Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast is hosted by Mike Sweeney Yes. We like you. Sacks and Jeff Ross at 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 friend to listen to Inside Conan on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or whatever platform you like best. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.