Inside Conan: An Important Hollywood Podcast - Steven Ho Revisits Beating Up Conan (Many, Many Times)

Episode Date: March 11, 2022

Martial artist and stuntman Steven Ho joins writers Mike Sweeney and Jessie Gaskell to discuss almost breaking Conan’s leg with a wooden plank, the violent advice he received from Judd Apatow, coordinating stunts on the “Conan vs Andy: Dawn of #ComicCon” sketch, and why he was hesitant to appear on the Tonight Show with Conan.Got a question for Inside Conan? Call our voicemail: [phone] and e-mail us at [e-mail]

And now, it's time for Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast. Hi there. Welcome to Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast. We're your hosts. That's Mike Sweeney with the soft mm-hmms. Yes. Yeah. And you're Jesse Gaskell with the soft impression of me being soft. How are you, Jesse? We're doing ASMR now. Yes, we are. Yeah. We wanted to get a few more kinks involved in our podcast. Are there buried kinks in our podcast? Oh, yeah. I said bore. I don't know if that implies that there were any.

Yes. At any point. I mean, maybe it's time to pivot to all kink. We've got to be someone's kink, right? Sure. Yeah. Your mother, I think, right? Listen.

So there you go. That is kinky. Have you been? I've been okay. You look well. I look well. Oh, man. Oh, it's a slow descent. I mean, you don't look any worse. I visited a cemetery this week, Bedfield Apropos. Oh, that's why you look so rejuvenated.

Yes, exactly. I know you love cemeteries. I do. And also, you know, I'm like, well, I'm doing better than them. Yeah. It is nice to put things in perspective. It was in New Orleans. I was in New Orleans for a few days.

Oh, cool. It's called St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. And it's where Nicolas Cage bought a plot. I don't know if you've ever heard about that. Oh, I heard about this. Yeah. And built a pyramid. Oh, my God.

Like, national treasure. And he's the treasure. That was kind of cool. Because he built that in 2009. So you've got, like, all these crumbling 250-year-old graves and then Nick Cage's pyramid. Oh, and then a new one. Yeah. Oh, it's brand new.

It's barely 10 years old. And I guess he visits it when he's in town like he brings girlfriends there to like check it out like to dangle it over them like this could be yours someday like uh you know there's room for a significant other i'm just saying maybe even room for three hey there's the kink the kink is back in the podcast. A three-way burial. I love the idea of securing your own death plot at this point because we got to be running out of room. I mean, there's not that much space left, right? Oh, you mean in the world or in New Orleans?

Well, anywhere. In New Orleans, I learned that there's endless amount of room because they stuff a body in there and it bakes up to like, it gets up to 350 degrees every day. And so after a year, they open it up. So it becomes lasagna. Yes. Dried out lasagna that was put out in the desert. And you're just dust and they just push you in the back there's a big hole in the back and you drop down and then they shove in a new body and

they do a body a year oh wow okay well this yeah this is very sustainable then very sustainable they just compost you essentially it exactly it's a very slow-mo cremation. Was that romantic for you and your wife to see? It sure was. What the options are. Oh, they said you can be buried in the same box with somebody else, with a spouse. Oh, oh, nice. So that you can mix your dust together. We can barely fit in a king-size bed, so I don't know. I'm going to want my own box, honey. Cramming us into a coffin together, she would be very annoyed. For eternity.

I went to a cemetery as well. Oh, okay. But I don't know how much I can elaborate without giving it away. But it was a very big cemetery. Well, we should first say, it's been a continuing theme lately, that you're off in somewhere distant working on a movie, writing Punch-Up every day and every night. I mean, you're on the clock. I'm just always there. I'm there right now, in fact.

Right. You're in a little green room off of studio where things are being shot. I know. So we're in a really cool city to do this shoot. But we are spending most of our time at this studio that's about an hour away from the city each way. So we commute and then we are inside on a soundstage all day. It sounds sadistic. And then when we leave, it's dark.

I know. But what was the cemetery you saw was that for work were you shooting there or was that during a little down no that was just for fun that was good me oh that's good and you've been hinting where you are all the time i've been hinting i haven't given a ton of hints yet because i um i was worried that things would give it away but i guess i could give a hint related to the cemetery, which is the thing I mentioned earlier about running out of space that happened here.

So this is a place that they have run out of space to bury dead bodies. I had to come up with something creative. Yes. Oh man. Yeah. There are some cities that have done some great work when they fill up with bones. They have some real creeps on the city staff. Not a problem. Let's dig them all up. I wonder what job that is called. It's like corpse planner. Oh, I know. Corpse troller.

So that's your clue this week. so that's my clue for this week city cemeteries had at one point run out of room yes okay i like that clue how's the the uh the movie coming along it's it's great are you moving to a new location after this city uh no this is the last city we're about halfway done here i think we just ran at the halfway point. Wow. But it is like unbelievable how many huge setups there are in this movie. Every scene that we're filming is like there's either fire or there's a bunch of stunt doubles or, you know, there's like 300 extras doing a choreographed dance. It's just a lot of production. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

Wow. It's really expensive. Do they do choreographed dance. It's just a lot of production. Yeah. Wow. It's really expensive. Do they do choreographed dance? Are you there during all the rehearsal for that? Or is that all done somewhere else? And then they just show up the day of, I'm assuming. Well, yeah, they did. They've been doing rehearsals in advance, but then it still takes a while. I mean, when you have that many extras, just getting any shot is it, I mean, the setups take so long, but that's, that's been fun. Cause we've, it's at least been really joyful in the studio when there's that many people. And, and I mean, I wouldn't say that the smell is amazing. Is that another hint as to where you are? It's a city, a smelly city. Interesting.

It's fun to watch. And honestly, it's great because that stuff doesn't need punching up. Right. It's hard to punch up a song and dance number. Yeah. You can sneak away and do a podcast. Yeah, exactly. I feel like right outside the wall you're doing this now. There's a giant dance number going on.

Yeah. Can you hear it through the wall? You mentioned a lot of stunt work on your movie. Yeah. Oh, the stunt people are so talented. Yeah. It's really cool to watch. Lots of insurance because so many things can go wrong.

Yeah. I mean, the literal life or death situation sometimes. Well, speaking of stunt talent, we have a really cool guest today. We do. He appeared on the show so many times once we moved out to LA on the Tonight. He started on the Tonight Show. And then also, he was just an instant hit on the show. Conan loved him and viewers loved him.

And so we had him back again and again. Mr. Stephen Ho. Stephen Ho. He's a really talented martial artist, stuntman, stunt coordinator. I don't think he had any idea when he first came on The Tonight Show that he was going to end up being a comedy staple. I don't think comedy was really his thing. Yeah. That was interesting. Yeah. It was fascinating to find out about his first appearance on the show, like ramping up to it from his point of view. Yeah, and then he, I think, became one of the only guests to sucker punch Conan live on the air. So that's an elite club to join. And another kink for our podcast. And just a heads up, you may hear a dog barking in the background, but we promise it goes away as the conversation goes on. Here's Stephen Ho.

Hi, Stephen. It's great to see you again. Long time no see. Hey, how are you? Thank you for joining us on this podcast. Yeah, you made so many appearances on Conan over the years. Do you keep a number somewhere? I did in the beginning, but I lost track. I know it's over 10. Wow. I thought you were going to say you lost interest. We did two at the Tonight Show. That I know. Right. And then at TBS, there was just a bunch. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I think they just knew immediately that it was money in the bank having you come on because you would routinely come on and teach Conan some stunts,

but then you'd sort of put them into increasingly dangerous scenarios or increasingly humiliating scenarios. I think that's why I was on because Jeff just wanted to watch Conan get pummeled. Yeah. You were being paid lavishly by the entire staff to come back. Exactly. I got tips. Yeah. Trust me. Conan healed the last time in two weeks. We're looking for maybe a one month recovery. Bring in pyro. Oh, okay. You're still available. Well, what, maybe we can start with the beginning, the first appearance that you made. How did that come about? Do you remember? Yeah, I remember very clearly because I remember saying no to it at least two or three times.

Oh, wow. Yeah. So Alison Fleur was working in the writer's department. And then she contacted my friend, Al Goto, stunt coordinator. They were looking for... This is before the Tonight Show. So they were looking for a stunt coordinator for the Tonight Show. That was his understanding. He couldn't make it. He was busy.

So he recommended me for the job. And then I met with Rachel Whitley Bernstein. She's a segment producer on the show. Well, I didn't know any of that. I just met with her and we were looking at the stage. They were still kind of building the stage. And the conversation was really more about general stunt coordinating on the show for the future. Like during comedy bits or which? I had no idea. I had never seen an episode of Conan. I never saw Conan. I had no

idea. I was just like, I'm here. What do you want? And she's asking me all these questions. And I think she brought me back at least two or three times to ask me more questions. And now looking back, it's like, oh, she was probably auditioning me or something, you know? Yeah. Maybe seeing if there was a full segment there to pitch. I have no idea. And then she just, she called one day and she says, hey, would you be interested in coming on the show? And I was like, well, I don't know the show, but in my head, I was just thinking of the Indian guys on David Letterman. And I'm like, Oh gosh, I think he's just going to goof on me. Like he's tall. I'm short. He's just going to goof on me. So I'm like, uh, I don't think I can make it. And I kept like putting it

off a little bit. And I said, but I know a lot of people that I can refer you to if you'd like. And then she said, well, why don't you just let me know when you're available? And then, um, I told my wife about it and then she kind of slapped me in the back of the head. She's like, well, why, how do you know? Why are you assuming that you've never even seen the show? Why are you, why are you assuming that you should just try it? I'm like, okay, you know, let's, let's do this right so i had no idea what i was signing up for we were talking about a segment and to me it was just more you know i'm used to being behind the scenes a lot more right so it was more about the logistics of things and how to produce it safely and what people to bring on it was really more of a behind

the scenes approach for me and then um you know i remember like the day before they're like okay we're gonna have a car pick you up and that was already on like why would a car pick up the stunt coordinator you know so i said no it's okay i'll drive myself i'll drive myself it's all good so i started driving and then we got up to universal then i see my name steven ho on there and then that's when i kind of freaked out a little bit i got really nervous because i'm like oh shit i'm a guest on the show like it just didn't click. Wow. So all that time, you were just thinking, I'm going to be creating stunts for some

segment behind the scenes. I'm not going to be on camera. Well, behind the scenes, I knew I was going to be on camera, but I just thought it was going to be a little throwaway thing. You know what I mean? Like, oh, here's Steven, let's do a bit and move on. It didn't click to me that it was a big deal. A whole segment starring you.

Yeah. Where I was like the primary guest. Right. I got kind of nervous with that. And I, uh, I had to sit in the car in the parking lot and just like talk myself down. I was like, you got this. You can do this. You know, you're a martial arts champion.

You're disciplined. You're, I was like, was pepping myself up. And then that was it people are walking by the car why is that guy talking to himself yeah in that guest parking spot yeah i was so nervous because that was my biggest fear at that time was was to do a you know stand-up not that that was stand-up but stand-up had always been like something that i aspired to try that uh i was afraid of oh wow. Yeah. Had you watched the show at all before you went on just to see what it was like? Or did you have a better sense of like what you

were getting yourself into once you realized you were a guest on the show? No, I didn't do my homework, which I should have. But I did call I called a couple people who had been on a bunch of, you know, guest on shows before to ask their just general opinions what to do. James Franco gave me really good advice and he's like if you're nervous don't be too cool like don't be unaffected just even if you're nervous put it out there that you're excited to be there

and I thought that was really good advice like be in the moment kind of yeah exactly and be yourself then Judd Apatow actually gave me advice to slap Conan on the back of the head at some point and kind of sucker punch him people had a wish list for what they wanted you to do to him well I didn't do that obviously but I did sucker punch him on the stomach in the stomach uh-huh and

that's where that whole thing let stemmed from I love the friends you had to call for advice about it's like well you know that called Judd Apatow and then James Franco. And George Clooney was in Italy. I couldn't get him on the phone. Yeah. Wow. So then what happened? You go into the building and how did your first appearance unfold?

Went into the building, you know, Rachel talked me down and calmed me down. She was an amazing producer. I mean, she really like she really knows what she's doing. Yes. And we just started the show. And I was surprised at the lack of rehearsal. That really surprised me. It was shocking to me.

The rehearsal was more for a camera and for the director. But I assumed that we were going to rehearse. And people were going to show me the ropes and tell me what to do. And if you do this, you do this, whatever. And it was really just, I, you know, it's the magic of the show is just the ad lib, you know, part of it. Right. And if things go wrong, it's almost a gift. Right. Yeah. I was going to say, you're probably used to the exact opposite of that,

which is rigorous rehearsal. Safety. Safety. Yeah. And then it was just like, okay, you two are going to go out and mess around. Do you remember what you did on that first episode? Like you came on, he presented you as a stunt coordinator in films and television. And then what was the segment? What did it consist of just for our listeners who might not be familiar the segment was was teaching him basic stunt reactions and i remember when we started he was conan you know he just started his whole bit and he started going off and all these tangents about you know he's a nerd you know that whole

thing that he does and then oh yeah that whole act yeah and i just remember in my head going oh my god this is gonna like this, it's going away from me. Right. If I don't take charge of this, it's just going to go in a different direction because we need to get back to the action. Like to me, I was kind of producing it in my head. Like, no, we have to get to the next beat.

Right. And then that's when I did the sucker punch on him. And I just, I hit him in the stomach pretty hard, like really, really hard. And then I, and then I remember his face, like, wow, you can watch the tape. He just kind of froze for a second and looked at me and I was like, oh shit, was that a mistake? You know? Right. And then it just got a million laughs and that was it. And then from there, everything was gold.

Wow. And he realized who was boss and he had to be the submissive after that. Yeah. And that was my approach from every show after that, because for the first minute of that show, I felt useless. I felt like I couldn't do my thing because he was Conan and I was like, looking at him like Conan. And after that, I would tell myself, it's not his show. It's my show. He's a guest on my show. I'm 100% in charge. And I just kept telling myself that until I believed it. Oh, that's great. You got that first big laugh.

That must have relaxed you and made you feel like, okay. It's intoxicating. It really is. It was so empowering. It's like, oh, okay, this is working. Right. Well, yeah. Was that your first time really doing comedy?

Yeah. First time doing comedy, a live event. Yeah. The Tonight Show. So you were like, oh, people are laughing and that's intentional. That's good. Yeah. No, it was awesome. And then the next morning, Rachel called and said, wow, Conan called me immediately this morning and said to book you again as soon as possible. Yay. Oh, that's a rave. That's great. That is a rave. And you know know what you always seem so large and in charge when you'd appear on the show so you know you always forget people get nervous about these things because

it's such a personal private hell yeah that everyone's going through and you'd never know it from watching you you're just that's great to hear but also you had all these tasks to perform which probably helped you know what i mean like you, oh, I have to get back to the next beat. Like you had to get from A to B to C to D and E to F, you know, within five minutes. So you kind of had a program in your head. With Jeff in the background. Right. Looking at the watch and everyone doing this.

Jeff Ross. And the stage manager, you know, holds up those little cards. Would you see those little, yeah know, like two minutes left? Yeah. 60 seconds. Yeah. It's like, ugh. Yeah.

But usually if something's going great, they just kind of let it go long usually. And then, you know, either let it run long or cut it down. Yeah. I realized that after, in the beginning when they were saying, keep it to four minutes, I was like diligently trying to keep it to four. And then after that, I realized, oh, they don't really mean that. So I assume the initial one you were teaching them basic stuff like fake punching. And then all of a sudden, like, oh, we want you right back right away.

Were you kind of under the gun as to like, oh, shoot, what do I do now with him? Like, was that a big challenge for you? Not for the second one. Um, because keep in mind, we were, we were still at the tonight show back then. Right.

So I could have said, can I have an elephant? And they'd say, what color, what size? It's basically the sky was the limit. Right. There are different color elephants.

So we were doing, you know, we were doing pyro glass breaking wire work. I mean, we were doing pyro, glass breaking, wire work. I mean, we were just doing everything during the Tonight Show. Yeah, I remember, was it the second appearance? He was wired from behind and... I think that was the first, believe it or not. That was the first, yeah.

Oh, and he went flying backwards through windows. Yeah. The second one, he was jumping through the burning building, right? With the baby. Right. Oh, right, right, right. He was wearing a fireproof suit. And sometimes we would do those things and there would be some mechanical issues. And then they would just tell me, well, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, then it'll be funny. Yeah. So it'd be great if everything was like that. Like, hey, if the building you're building collapses, it'll be funny.

Right. That must have been different for you coming from film too, where it's like, no, we're going to do it until we get the shot and the pyrotechnics go off correctly. This was like, no, no. There's no take two. You got one take. Yeah, exactly. Your rehearsal is the take basically.

And that's it, you know, and it's funny no matter what. Yeah. We'll make it funny. He'll make fun of you if it doesn't work right then you you know you went on to many many appearances on the tbs show in all your appearances do you have a favorite memory of you know your experience like a stunt or a moment that you thought was just like oh my god that that's my favorite moment yeah i wouldn't say it was my favorite moment or at least favorite now i can say it's my favorite moment. Yeah. I wouldn't say it was my favorite moment or at least favorite. Now I can say it's my favorite moment,

but at that time it was like, it was horrific. Do you remember when I hit him with the two by four and the two by four didn't break? Yes. Oh no. So there was a scene where we were doing, I forgot what it was, but we were doing like a,

a fake cheap power thing, you know, like how you can get an internal energy and you know, a lot of, we were just goofing. Wait, that's fake there was one part where i took a two by four yeah and i had him stand in a four stand so his legs are apart he's bent down low like he's sitting on a horse and then i jumped up in the air and i smacked the two by four across his thigh and it was supposed to break oh wow and props did score it it was scored i don't

know what happened i went for it and i went all the way through like you can see the footage it went all the way through it didn't bounce off like i hit as hard as i oh and it didn't break oh man i mean i thought that i fractured his femur or something it was hard oh boy he paused and i thought he was going to stop the show like for me and I thought he was going to stop the show. For me, it was like he was going to stop the show. Stephen Ho is like canceled forever before there was even cancellations. I would be the first person to ever get canceled.

Rachel's fired. Everybody's gone. I thought that was it. He just composed himself for a little bit, came back, finished the show. I tried to see him but then he was off to the next one. I stayed after because I just needed to talk to him. I mean, I felt so bad and I wanted to make sure he was okay. So the lights were low. Everyone was already gone. I was just like waiting for him

to come down. He finally comes downstairs and he was terrified to see you like, Oh no, he's here to finish me off. I thought he was going to lay into me, but then instead he like gave me a hug and he's like, that was the best show ever. We got to do it again. Yeah. You know, I'll put a bullet in my head as long as the cameras are on. Don't worry about it. That was awesome.

Right. And then he went on and talked about it on the George Lopez show. Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. So that was definitely the most memorable for me. how is it teaching conan to do martial arts because that in itself was its own challenge too i'm just gonna project this but he seems like not the most athletic person on earth wow you really put me on a spot here huh he's actually quite athletic, believe it or not.

The issue is that there's no rehearsal time. Right. By design. Yeah. So it's hard to come up with bits because you're, you know, and coming up with bits was, was the hardest part of the show. Right. It was the shooting back and forth with, with Rachel and then my wife. And then, you know, annoyingly my wife and Rachel always agreed. I'd come up with ideas that I thought were funny. I'd run it by my wife and she says, that's really stupid. And then run it by Rachel and Rachel would say, that's really stupid. And they would always agree. They would always agree. Rachel would shoot back an idea. And I'm thinking, that's not that great. I would tell my wife and she'd say, oh no, that's perfect. Did they ever meet each other?

Oh yeah, yeah. They're buddies. Oh, good, good. Yeah, they're buddies. Sure. They were always texting about you behind your back. Yeah, exactly. They're the real brains.

They're the brains behind it all. So would you actually choreograph things at home with your wife then too? Do you ever use her to stand in for Conan? No, I don't. I think she draws the line there. Okay. She's six foot four. Towards the end, I use my kids all the time.

Oh, nice. Yeah, they were healthy with me. So that was fun. Oh, I love that. Yeah. Did they ever get to come to the show? Yeah, they went a bunch of times. That's great.

Are they interested in that line of work, do you think? They did an Olympic special with Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg. It's a good bit. It was almost an eight-minute bit, but we basically took one of our Conan bits, the same philosophy, and then applied it to Kevin Hart, and it worked clockwork. It was perfect.

Yeah, those two are interchangeable. Did you choreograph... There's a very popular clip with Claude Van Damme on it. Yeah, I worked on that. Oh, okay. That clip is still insanely popular. Yeah. He recreated a scene.

It was a Todd Levin bit. It was based on a famous fight scene in a movie. From Bloodsport. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Where he's doing a dance. So he started to do the dance and then all of a sudden these toughs in our, in our studio attack him and it turns into a big fight. Was that fun working with him or like, yeah,

it was amazing. Cause I'd never met him. Always. Well, of course you always want to meet chunk club at damn, you know? So that was incredible. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, throughout the years I got to do, you know, meet a bunch of people and do some behind the scenes as well. Oh,

we did a bit with Andy and and conan fighting each other in the rain yes right you worked on comic-con because every year we were at comic-con we'd always for the first show or even the second show we'd have these big cold open video pieces that we would shoot in the a week or two prior to getting down to san diego One year, you were a big part of Batman versus Superman was a big movie that year. And we did a parody called Conan versus Andy. We'd love it if you could talk about that a bit. Yeah, that one was fun.

I coordinated that and then helped with some of the shots and worked super closely with Todd, the writer. Todd Levin. And Seth, you know, DP. And so the process was we had doubles for both of them first. And with just the three of us, the doubles and myself, we choreographed the scene. And just to interrupt, the scene is a big nighttime fight in the pouring rain between Conan and Andy. Exactly.

And they're both dressed in their show clothes and suits. Exactly. Uh-huh. The process was fairly simple and Andy. And they're both dressed in their show clothes and suits. Exactly. The process was fairly simple and smooth. We choreographed moves and then Todd would come and then throw in his opinions and what he liked, what he didn't like about it. He gave us great feedback. And then we adjusted off that feedback until we were all happy with something. The shoot started at night in the dark. did you work this stuff out a day or two in advance or was it all like done right before the shoot no i think it was like two days before okay oh great i mean just short period of time like two or maybe the day before so it was it was about i would say maybe five hours of work on it uh-huh you know of prepping it yeah and it was storyboarded too

we don't normally storyboard bits but todd had this bit storyboarded out yeah yeah so it's very meticulous i kept a copy of it because i enjoyed that so much i have it i have that storyboard actually yeah oh cool yeah so we we basically would just we choreographed it and then we went back and forth then when it came down to shoot we just shot we didn't really have much time to work with andy and conan you know because they were they were they were shooting right so a show right yeah so typically how you do it and how how we did with this is we would shoot out the stunts first you know so you get your basic geography and you know where everyone is so you shoot a master shot of the stunt action. And then from there, you go in and you start breaking up little segments that make sense.

So let's say the first segment is the first three hits or whatever it is, right? So then from there, we just do the old switcheroo. You'd have Conan say his dialogue, Andy say his dialogue. And then when it came down to do a stunt, we would just go in sequential order, put in the stunt guy, make sure the camera isn't tight enough where you don't see you know the stunt performers faces where you should shoot behind from a different angle you know whatever

you need to do right yeah how much do you have to match the stunt people i mean are they similar height and build or is it does it not matter that much long as it's for actions, that's a great question. But as long as it's close for action stuff, it doesn't matter as much as you think it would matter. Okay. For body doubling, it matters a lot. When you're moving around, you're in low stances,

you're getting thrown, you can be off by like three to four inches even. Oh, wow. And it's not an issue. Yeah. Well, especially if the two stunt doubles are the same size, then you're not really thinking about that there's a difference. A disparity.

Exactly. And that's what we did in this case. Because to get a double for Conan, 6'4", it's difficult with this build. So I think the person we had was around 6'0", maybe 6'1". So he was shorter. But then the double for Andy was also shorter. Yeah. Andy's like 6'2". He's six over six six two i think yeah yeah they're almost the same yeah i i'm pretty sure the double was like 5 11 or something right you know so um and i i love that

you worked it out with seth the dp slash cameraman like so you would while working out the punches and everything would he say oh what if i shoot it this way or is that how that stuff yeah it's about it's working out is getting you know first it's just getting your shot list together and then second getting the proper angles but i think for seth it was a lot of fun and for me it was a lot of fun because it felt for me this was my this was my jam you know it's like we're doing movie style fighting now right And for Seth, I think it was like a fun change even for the whole crew, whereas you're doing a night show and all of a sudden, like, no, now we're shooting a movie.

Right. We're shooting a movie. Now we have rain effects. We have special effects. It's like we're shooting just like a movie. Yeah. You know, so I think it was kind of refreshing for everyone. Yeah, definitely.

That was a really fun shoot. It's so time-consuming. I mean, we started, I think, maybe around 9 p.m. and went right up till... Till sunrise. Dawn. Yeah. Yeah.

Anytime you have the rain machine comes out. Yes. You just add on six hours, no matter what, you know? Yeah. Because you remember, it's freezing, right? Your night, it's freezing. I was going to ask about the props, too. There's a bunch of breakaway props in that piece especially the the big sink when they're smashing

props on each other is that usually the stunt double that's getting it or was conan actually the one getting smashed i don't think conan was getting smashed yeah right but i think he has no problem getting smashed he's got smashed a bunch of times you would always use a lot of props in your segments too yeah conan's the tom cruise of late night getting smashed yeah and bill and john are great i don't know where they get their props you know but it's like they pull out anything do you have a rubber toilet sure our prop master bill tall and john rau yeah we had those all sculpted. We literally... No, seriously. Like our set department. Yeah. They sculpted this end, like that Hello Kitty. Yeah. All those things

were made by our set department. Do those hurt at all when you get hit with them? No, those don't. I mean, some do. Like some of the wood stuff, as we know, if it's not scored perfectly, you know. You just have to be afraid of, worried about debris getting in your eyes.

That's all. Do you remember how they did that breaking through the wall bit? Yeah. So Seth was the master of mine behind that because it played like the wall was 300 feet. He just kept going, going. But it was really just a segment that was probably 20 20 feet and they just kept looping it over and over yeah there's like two walls and that was todd's idea to just loop it oh todd yeah and just have it go way too long in the edit room i remember he came

up with that and then go away to something else like the title card and then come back to him still going through the wall which is which is great. That really elevated everything. You know what I love about seeing a rain machine in action is once you see that, whenever I see a movie where it's supposed to be raining, it always takes me right out of the movie because you look through the rain and you see it's perfectly sunny. On the other side. Just on the other side of the lawn.

And you're like, ah, rain machine. And now I want to ruin movies for everyone else too. By telling them that. Well done. Steven, did people ever recognize you after you started doing appearances on Conan? Like would people see you on the street? Yeah, they still do. I would say at least a few times a month.

Oh, wow. Someone will say something. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, wow. That's great. Do they try to pull your moves on you? No, it's always the same thing.

Like, you're the guy that beats up Cohen, and you're the guy that beats up Cohen. Oh. Usually that's it. That's an interesting question. Do people who know what you do, do they ever, like, try to challenge you to a fight? They want to fight you, yeah.

Yeah. No, it's not the 70s. I mean, I've never had that, thankfully. Yeah, you don't want to live through the 70s. Did you ever go for a job opportunity where you had to lie about certain skill sets?

Have you ever said, oh, I know how to do, you know, I know how to ride that. And then you go home and quickly learn. Like, oh, I've got to figure this out. No, I've never. I mean, you can die that way, I know how to ride that. And then you go home and quickly learn. Like, oh, I've got to figure this out. Yeah. No, I've never. I mean, you can die that way. You know, it's like. Yeah.

Well, yeah. No, I'm always upfront about everything. Good. Most stuntmen should be. I believe that they are. Yeah. But either way, the coordinator really wouldn't hire someone unless they knew what they could do. They check them out first.

Yeah. If it's a dangerous spot because now you know it's because you can it's it's just like a night show right you have a you have a plan but then at the last minute the director often will change the plan right you know and say okay well i know that the driver was just supposed to do this but instead can he do this yeah you know who'd lie all the time? Animal handlers. Oh, yeah. Oh my God. They're all pathological liars.

Like simple things like, can the dog bark on command? Of course. And is the one mute dog. With the aid of a ventriloquist, of course. Yeah. I'm like, I never, this never happened before. Yeah, he can do it, just not on camera.

I had a bad experience with the dog. Oh, did you? I had to fight a dog once when I first started. Oh, no. You had to fight a dog? Someone called me and was like, hey, Steven, I heard you're a good fighter. And I said, oh, I'm okay. Like, you ever fight a dog?

I'm like, no. Like, would you like to? So I went to Puerto Rico and there was a German shepherd that was supposed to attack. Yeah. And, um, so the German shepherd was on set and I was like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to be nice to this guy. Hey buddy. Hey buddy.

You know what I'm thinking? I'm like food and stuff like that. And the handler got pissed. He's like, don't do that. Cause if you do that, then he's not going to attack you. Exactly. I'm like yeah exactly right you're like yeah so then i continued when the handler wasn't looking continued being

nice to the dog right whole thing and then meanwhile there's another dog that's in a cage and i said what is that dog and he goes that dog doesn't even speak english he's like he's from germany the only reason he's on set the only reason he's on set is to acclimate. He's an actual guard dog. So the actual, the only reason he's on set is to acclimate him to being around a set environment. But he's never been on set. He's not ready to be on set. You know, we're not going to use him.

It's not safe to use him. So I'm like, okay, great. That was a German, German shepherd. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Probably the scariest of all. So then the scene happens. shepherd. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Probably the scariest of all. So then the scene happens. Yeah.

Action. You know, I have my safety arm on and my only job is to make sure the dog is going to jump up in the air and open his mouth and he's going to bite whatever's in front of him first. So my only job is to make sure

my arm is in front of him first and not my head. So just let my arm go. So the dog comes at me. I put my arm up. He lightly bites it. His tail is wagging. He's like, he loves me because I'm his buddy.

Director's pissed. And then he says, use the other dog. And I'm waiting and I know that the handler is going to say, no, we can't use the other dog. It's not safe. And I was like, yes, sir. So then he pulls the other dog out. Switcheroo. He puts him on his leash.

They pulled the switcheroo. And he tells me to tease him. Oh. To anger him. Germans don't like sarcasm. Yeah. Notoriously. So I'm, now I'm figuring, well, I can't let the dog see that I'm afraid, right? Yeah. So I'm

just in his face, yelling, slapping his nose, showing him who's boss, but it's pissing the dog off more. You sucker punched him. Then we go for the scene. The dog comes at me. Yeah. I put the thing on. I'm terrified.

He grips me, and then he's just like, and everything seems fine, but truthfully, I'm pissing my pants. I'm a little scared. Yeah, because is he going a bite through the suit? Yeah. And I just instinctively started pressing my forearm into his mouth, like the first bit. Uh-huh.

And he starts yelping. Oh. And so they tell me to go easy on the dog. But there was a good lesson. Like, okay, if a dog ever bites you, just wrap your jacket. Yeah. And just stick your forearm into his neck. Go with it. Yeah. dog ever bites you, just wrap your jacket. Yeah. And just stick something. Stick it further in. Go with it.

Yeah. Yeah. Just stick your hand all the way in there. Yeah. But I'm with you on animal handlers. That was the purpose of that story. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Well, he was mad at you for feeding the other one. And he's like, oh, yeah, let's get the German German shepherd out here. Teach him a lesson. Oh, it is terrifying, though because that sort of, yeah, I mean, that guy was just out to protect his own job. Right. And didn't really care what happened to you. Yes, he was ordered.

It's true. The director's like, get the killer dog. Yes, sir. Yeah. Just following orders. Exactly. Turn the dial up all the way. On Conan, it was the exact opposite. Every time I wanted to do something, it would be

usually Jeff or the safety people. I remember at Warner Brothers, it was a big deal. The Conan handlers. Yeah. They almost didn't let us do everything on the first episode. Oh. Because at Warner Brothers, the insurance people were there and the safety people were

there and they were like, no, no. And they were like negotiating with me. I'm like, why are you negotiating with me? I don't, I don't, you know, I'm just, it's already written. Like we're going to do it. And then Conan had to show up to that, to a meeting with them. And he said, listen, guys, if I break a finger, I'm good with it. We can take it all the way up to a broken finger. Oh my God. I love they negotiated. That was the negotiation. And then that was it.

Ever since then, it was done. What did you, like a forefinger, pinky? Yeah. Metatarsal. That's pretty extreme, you know, to break a finger. So I was like, okay, we can do a lot here. You know, Conan's been roughed up a lot on the show i was in a bit with him and frank smiley like in 1995 or 6 where we're fighting on the staircase and we all lost our balance and

fell down the stairs together and he jammed his thumb it was it was screwed up for six months and then oh it was another time he slipped on water on the floor and i was not there you were not there no that was it universal nothing to do with me it wasn't thought of as a stunt yeah and but he slipped and had a concussion overnight and that was gnarly that wasn't that was intense that was intense you know what i think happened was because i watched that tape so many times it looked like he was gonna dive like going for a dive and then he changed his mind midstream like he started to go like this and then he changed his mind and he put on the brakes and then that's when he fell back he kind of skied or slid yeah then he just yeah well that's

probably an important part of stunts is committing to it too, right? It's like that's always... Yeah. When things are the most dangerous is when you sort of half-ass it. You got to just go with it and just be relaxed at that point. Speaking of falls, do you ever use any of your stunts in real life just to entertain? Like just a pratfall or something like that? I used to all the time.

My favorite thing was to run into stop signs you know like i would i would pretend to run and i would pretend to run and jump smack it and then just fall down wow i still do that with doors all the time i'll wait in front of like that's how you met your wife yeah did you do that when you were dating so i met your mother yeah yeah when someone goes into a restroom yeah i'll wait for them to come out and then when the door opens i'll smack it really hard and fall down oh that's such a good prank oh my god i'm sure restaurants loved having you around yeah and they yeah they're like oh we'll comp your bill exactly yeah steven what was your proudest stunt scene? I mean, maybe on Conan or just out in film.

Do you have something that you are particularly proud of? I mean, I could say, I confidently say that all my work with Conan has been my proudest moments. What? Come on. And the most fun. Yeah, really. That's great. Because it wasn't, it was just so different for me and it was tackling a different

a different uh a different animal it was a whole different deal like i i feel like i got my mba in comedy you know in improv from just being on the show and hanging out and actually you know i told you that it was my my fear was to do improv right Right. So I, I mentioned that and I talked to, uh, I was talking to Adam Yenser. Yeah. And Doug Caro. Yeah.

Yeah. Two funny writers. Yes. Yeah. Adam left our show. Uh, he, he was in production,

but then he went to be a writer in Ellen and Doug Caro, uh, has worked on a lot of different shows as a writer. He's terrific. So I told them that and they both helped me write a standup bit. Oh, nice. And then I did stand up at this AIP thing with like,

you know, it was at least 2000 people. Wait for 2000 people. Yeah. Oh yeah. It was your first set. That's, that's unbelievable.

Really intense. Yeah. No, that was it. One and done. One and done. So it's like, it's just something i

wanted to do it's like skydiving it's like just something i wanted to try so yeah in many ways more terrifying than skydiving that sounds for me yeah absolutely terrifying yeah but you know the first i'd say four or five episodes of conan i was i was completely terrified every time i'd have to go through a ritual i'd have to make sure that i i could see my wife in the audience so i wouldn't have to be self-conscious of where she was right so yeah I'd have to see her first I put out my clothes a certain way had extra underwear in case I had diarrhea I had a whole thing that's like what Conan does before every show too changes underwear then after that I was just completely relaxed to the point where remember the last couple episodes I'm like oh like, oh my God, get nervous.

Like, get nervous. Oh, yeah. You're too relaxed. Because I wasn't feeling any energy. I wasn't feeling it. Yeah. Whereas before, it'd be like, you know, when you get that countdown. Right.

Three, two, one. It's like, ah! Right, yes. And that red, I always find the red light scary. Yeah. When the red light on the camera comes on, it's just like, ooh! Yeah. Yeah. When the red light on the camera comes on, it's just like, oh! Yeah. Yeah.

So that's why I loved it because after doing Conan, I was like, I don't get nervous now for anything. Oh. Oh, that's great. Nothing really makes me nervous

as far as like, you know, public stuff, so. Yeah, yeah. Besides the stand-up, has the Conan, have the Conan appearances led to any other comedy work

that you've done? Yeah, there was a bunch of stuff for a while. I was doing like a bunch of Bachelor episodes. Oh, right. Oh, wait. Oh, yeah. What'd you do in the Bachelor? I was like the date.

Yeah. You know, like they'd go on an action date. Oh, wow. Oh, you're kidding me. Yeah. And so they'd learn how to do combat. Yeah. Reality shows are fake.

No, I think that was part of the, part of the premise probably was that you were, they were learning to do combat, right? Yeah. One of them, it was like an audition where I would audition all the women. And then whoever I thought was the best one could do the final action scene with the bachelor.

Oh yeah. Oh wow. But a bunch of little things like that. Yeah. But now, after my boys did the Kevin Hart thing, now we're starting to get offers for shows like that, which is interesting.

Oh, as a family? Yeah. I mean, a lot of the ideas that have come to us so far haven't been a good fit. You know? Right. But they're still coming. So, you know, maybe one day something will fit. Steven, we sometimes like to ask people, do you have any favorite off-camera moments with Conan? He's such a nice guy.

You know, one year we were, you know, invited to his house for Christmas, right, for a Christmas party. And the day after we were planning a family trip or we had a family trip planned, you know, out of the country. So we had to leave at like three o'clock in the morning or four o'clock in the morning or something like that. And my wife didn't want to go to Conan's party because she's like, you know, got to get some sleep. I'm like, but it's Conan. We got to go, you know, it's going to be fun. I love that she's just totally unfazed by all of the Hollywood stuff.

Yes. Oh no, trust me. She does not care, right? So she wouldn't go. So I'm like, okay, well I'll just go by myself. And let's say the party started at eight or seven or something like that. Right. So I said,

okay, well I'll show up at eight. I'll come up for, I'll show an hour later and then I'll hang out for an hour and then I can just, you know, kind of leave and that's it. Just go pay my respects.

Hello. Seems like a good plan. Right. So I get there, I show up an hour later. The valet guy tells me that I'm the first one there. So now I'm already mortified. What am I going to do?

I'm not going to go back in my car and wait in my car, right? Oh, I would have. So I go inside and no one's really dressed or anything. Oh, what? And Conan sits with me and Lza's like getting dressed and eating dinner and i'm just feeling so mortified and i tell him i'm like just it's cool just go you know i'm fine i'm fine right and he's that guy sat with me for 45 minutes oh but i wonder why were they running so late is my question maybe i got the wrong time it

could have happened i don't know but he sat with me the entire time until the next guest came wow and i was like what a nice guy i would not have done that yeah i know in those social situations he's so unbelievably you can see all this, like the training from his parents, you know, right. You do not. Someone's a guest in your home.

Yeah. But 45 minutes and you, and he was like genuinely into the conversation. Yeah. Oh yeah. You appear to be, you know, it was like,

yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Meanwhile, he was like, I really need to go shower. Oh yeah. He loves you. Yeah. Yeah. It's not just for show. Yeah. Meanwhile, he was like, I really need to go shower. Right, exactly. Oh yeah, he loves you. Yeah.

Yeah. It's not just for show. Yeah, no. Well, this has been so great, Stephen. Thank you so much. Yeah, it was really fun. Oh yeah, so much fun. I hope we'll get to work with you again. Maybe you'll coordinate some stunts for our podcast. Oh, I can't wait. Anytime. Thank you, Stephen, for joining us. That was fun to catch

up with him. Yeah. He had some wild stories too. I know he's really been through the rare. Yeah. And you know, it's, it's about time we macho up this podcast a little bit. That's right. With a man of action. With some testosterone. Instead of a pencil pusher. What am I saying? We have too much testosterone on this show. But hey, if you like our show and the current testosterone levels, you can support us by rating

Inside Conan an important Hollywood podcast on iTunes and leaving us a review. Was that weird? Yeah, what she said. No, I thought that was great. I thought that really needed to be said. And also, we love getting listener questions, of course. We do. Because that's, you know, less thinking of ideas for us about what to talk about. We make you do the work. So this is exciting. We have a voicemail, listener voicemail today that we're going to

answer. Oh, I love voices. Hi, Mike and Jesse. My name is Steven, a huge fan of the podcast. And my question is, I was watching Vanilla Sky on HBO the other night, and I forgot about the scene where Tom Cruise's character watches Conan and talks about it. When a movie wants to use your show as part of its story, how does that happen? And who does it involve? And do you all get to be part of its story. How does that happen? And who does it involve? And you all get to be part of that process. Anyway, keep up the great work

and looking forward to it. Thank you. All right, Stephen. Thank you. Yeah, thanks, Stephen. We're a big fan of you. Yeah, I like Stephen. Well, yeah.

So his question is, when a movie or a show uses Conan, or I mean, I'm assuming that it's probably a similar process for other shows right who do they come to and how does that process happen right well with um vanilla sky cameron crowe who i think wrote or at least directed that movie reached out to the show i that's what people usually do They'll either write to our executive producer, Jeff Ross, or Conan's manager or agent. They formally kind of send in the request.

And then, you know, it's availability and all that stuff as to whether Conan can do it or not. Yeah, sometimes it's Conan doing a cameo in a movie or on a TV show. Or sometimes the movie or TV show wants to have like a talk show appearance within their movie. That was the case with Vanilla Sky. Yeah. And then the whole movie team comes to our TV show. Yeah. To the set. And we usually do it after the night of a regular shoot. So, do a show and then this movie crew moves in uh but a lot of time they'll use our cameras to shoot it since it's you know a television it doesn't need to be shot with film cameras right i know that's convenient for them yeah and so it usually goes kind of quickly

but yeah yeah so conan's done a lot of fun little cameos over the years i know i remember when i yeah in the last few years that i was there uh that jim carrey showtime show yeah came to do that right kidding right about stand-up comedy and jim carrey appeared on conan within the show yeah and it happens quickly like if you if you went out to the commissary or something and came back you'd miss it and they'd be like well it's all done and um yeah they shot him for that Michael Caine movie, the magic movie. I forget the name of it, where Michael Caine played a magician.

Now you see me? Ah, there you go. Anything you said, I'd say yes, that's it. But I think his greatest cameo in a film was being in Sharktopus versus Terracuda. Oh, of course, yes. And he appears as himself, right? He plays himself as a rich, like, pompous...

A rich asshole. Dressed like a yacht owner at a beach, and then he gets attacked by Sharktopus. And he gets beheaded, right? Yeah. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. Right. But the exciting thing about it was it was directed by Roger Corman.

Right. Who's the legendary film director who, you know, so many film directors started and actors started their career with him. Going back to, I think, the early 60s, like he directed the original Little Shop of Horrors. Oh, wow. And Jack Nicholson had one of his first appearances in that movie. He's still directing movies. He's in his 90s. Yeah, what was he like? Was he a nice guy? He was this avuncular,

just a charming, gentlemanly... I think he's originally from the Midwest. He still kind of had that Midwestern, down-to-earth charm about him. You would not peg him as a man who's directed over 400 movies. But my favorite thing about Conan being in that movie was when it came out on TV, I'm calling it a movie loosely, when it came out on like whatever channel it was on. It was film length.

Right. It met that requirement. We decided to go nuts to promote Conan's appearance on it. Like, it was a big deal. So we got a giant billboard in Midtown Manhattan. And we hired, you know, like, airplanes to pull banners at the beach. That's great. And I think we got a full-page ad in Variety. So we played it. Like like for your consideration yes as if he was in you know dune um yeah it took it very seriously so that that made me really happy i think that made us really happy yeah did people did anybody reach out to you

about it like oh i thought no not even ro saw it. No. Not even Roger Corman. He'd probably be like, what are they advertising this for? This piece of shit. Number 489. Even I didn't watch it. Right. Did he have direction for Conan?

How was Conan's acting? Conan was great. Or did he just nail it on the first take? He really did. He had to yell at some guys to stop playing volleyball. Yeah. Yeah, that was in his wheelhouse. It went really well. Well, I hope we answered your question, Stephen. And then some. Thanks for listening. And then some. Yeah. Thank you. And thanks for leaving a voicemail. Yeah. If you're out there listening,

don't be shy. You can call us too. Leave us voicemail with your question at 323-209-5303, or you can email it to us at insideconanpod at gmail.com. Yeah, the longer the better, like Sweeney said. It's all content. That's right. We read every syllable out loud slowly. We do in slow motion. Just like these three syllables. We love you. Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast, is hosted by Mike Sweeney and me, Jessie Gaskell.

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