Inside Conan: An Important Hollywood Podcast - The Fixers: Lady May & Maritza Carbajol Revisit CONAN in Ghana and Mexico

Episode Date: May 17, 2023

Local producers Lady May and Maritza Carbajal join Mike and Jessie to discuss the ins and outs of producing CONAN in Ghana and Mexico. Plus, Mike and Jessie break down what goes into a writing packet and the biggest pitfalls to avoid when submitting to a Late Night show.Got a question for Inside Conan? Call our voicemail: [phone] or e-mail us at [e-mail]. 

And now, it's time for Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast. Welcome back to Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast. You're Mike Sweeney and I'm Jesse Gaskell. Yes. And we are writers for Conan. Yes. And his various pursuits. Right. And this, what is this? Season 9 of Inside Conan. And we're covering

we're just looking at Conan on the Road. Yeah, anytime Conan left the studio and got... Even commuting home after work. We're here to report it. But we're covering remotes, we're covering travel shows. And speaking of travel shows-

Yes, yes, yes. Thanks for setting me up. This is really good timing that we're covering this stuff because it was announced at the Max upfront front that Conan is doing more travel shows. Right. Yes. And we've been working on them. We have.

We haven't been able to talk about it. We haven't. And we've been dying. We just keep having to make small talk. Oh, my God. Act like we care about the birds in our backyard. Boy, oh, boy. Yeah.

We just got back actually from a trip to Thailand. We were in Thailand. It was a, we had a historic heat wave when we were there. Right, historic by Thailand's standards, which it already is super hot. It's hot and humid and

it was like 108 degrees. Right, with the humidity. Yes. With the humidity index. So we were out there just completely drenched all day. And we were making Conan do these really physical things. Torturing him. Yes. Right.

And it was, I mean, it was hard. The shoots were hard. Yeah. But he was a trooper. He was a trooper. And we tried to, some of the more physical things, we tried to spread them out, like not have them three different things in one day.

And then we'd book a Thai massage for him. That's right. Which we actually did as a shoot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But then he loved it so much, he went back. We left him there. We did. We went and got lunch.

We left him there and went to lunch, yeah. And then he met us later. So we know how to keep him happy. So it'll be fun for everyone to get to see what we did and we'll talk more about it as the weeks go on. And we also went, prior to that, we went to Norway. Yes, we also went to Norway. Where it was very snowy. It was still quite wintry there. It was a complete 180 from Thailand.

And I learned how to accept cod into my life. Always and at all times of the day. We had an all cod diet. I had all cod dreams imagery. It was just cod, cod. Yes. Cod. Cod pillow.

Oh, yeah. And speaking of travel shows, today we have two fantastic guests from two of our past travel shows. Yeah. And this is really interesting. We're talking to two fixers and we get a lot of questions about what a fixer is and what they do. These are people that are so instrumental to these travel shows. They're local producers that we hire to

basic, I mean, they do everything from pulling permits to like booking all of our ground transportation and people that we talk to and making recommendations. Or just they have local knowledge

and they can also say, oh, well, that's the only, you know, only tourists do the troll tour. Right, right, right. Or they direct us away from something that might be offensive. Yes, yes. And it's really helpful to have...

They're great sounding boards for us. So today we have two of our favorite fixers joining us at Meeting of the Minds. And we're talking about two great travel shows. Here's Lady May, our fixer from Ghana, and Maritza Carbajal, our fixer from Mexico. Well, this is an exciting day here. Yeah. Finally, an exciting day on Inside Coding. I know, I've never seen you excited before. Well, I'm excited to see two old friends.

Yes. We're here with two of our favorite fixers that we worked with on Coding Without Borders shows. We're here with Maritza Carbajal. Yes. And Lady May. Hello. Hello, welcome. Thank you.

Hi. And you two have never met, right? No, nice meeting you. No. If this goes well, you. Thank you. Hi. And you two have never met, right? No, nice meeting you. No. If this goes well, you... Nice to meet you. Maybe you two will become friends or bitter enemies. There's no in between.

We should explain what a fixer is. We should. And I don't even totally know. I mean, it's a lot of things. How would you describe your job, Maritza? For me, I think lately it's been more referred as a local producer and it kind of like makes sense. It's like they call us fixers or local producers or stringers. And it's about coordinating a shoot from another country that is coming to your country or the country where you work in your case

in my case mexico exactly and making making all the arrangements and permits and locations and and stories and and yeah getting all the production uh organized logistically to work for the ideas that the production is coming with from from other countries yeah pretty much that's it and also coming up with i mean solutions to problems that arise when the shoots are happening and you just do so many different things it's like you're constantly having to yeah so yeah we're like the ground like people we know the land so it's pretty much like anything that happens we have to fix it fix it on the ground right and you must yeah it must feel like you're dealing with a lot of these people who come from other countries they're almost like helpless

children probably like because they don't know all the local customs language and just the ins and outs and they they really become so reliant on you for for everything yeah literally everything yeah like where's the bathroom take me to the bathroom yeah yes everything yeah that's true and also um like for example a place like Ghana where it's very highly traditional, you know, we just have to kind of like make sure, you know, like some of the rules or what to do, what not to do, like kind of what Calibus mentioned. Yeah. and stuff so we kind of like tell the crew or the whole team before you even get on the ground like okay maybe avoid this or like when we were going to the um the queen mother like don't wear this that kind of stuff so we are pretty much supposed to guide you to make sure no incidents in international incidents occur right right right um yeah and so maritza did you were you familiar with conan

at all before we came to do conan made in mexico actually it's very funny that you asked no no no that's thank you for not lying yeah i don't lie i'm very bad at it. But I remember like a lot of, the thing is like, Lady May might relate and maybe a lot of you may relate that we that work in the industry, a lot of the times we don't have the time to watch TV and to entertain ourselves in the way that like people watches the things that we do.

So I remember receiving the email from Chilemi asking me if I would be interested in doing this. That's Jason Chilemi. Yes, exactly. And I have my geek TV friend that I always consult in these cases. To ask like, is this a good show or not? And I'm like, dude. Who's Chilemi? What show does he host?

I just got contacted by these people, Conan O'Brien. He's like, is this a good show or not? And I'm like, dude. Who's Jalemi? What show does he host? I just got contacted by these people, Conan O'Brien. He's like, do it. Say yes. Oh. Immediately. And yeah, basically I said yes immediately. Oh, good. Yeah.

So we have, I have my friend Hector. We have him to thank. To thank for it. What about you, Lady May? Had you seen any conan i'm a huge i'm a huge conan fan okay so yeah so i actually pitched um right yeah to come to donna because it was the year of return and um yeah and i was working really closely with the gana embassy and the gana ambassador so i I emailed the Conan team pretty much almost every email I could find.

And Jason replied and he was like, you know, we may be interested, but then you guys were going to Australia. So I didn't hear from you for like a minute. And I was just like, oh my gosh, this needs to happen. And then he's like, yes, we think we're going to come. And I was like, I'm a huge Conan fan, like seriously. So yeah, it was a huge deal for my family. But that's a great story. Cause you know, it was someone you were a fan of and you were like, I'm just going to ask,

I'm going to send the email and I'm going to tell them that this should happen. And it worked. Yeah. I love you. Drummed up your own business. Yeah. And then, and then Jason is like, cause that was the first time I was locally producing actually. And Jason is like, do you know any local producers? I'm like, do I know? Yeah. You think I'm going to give this opportunity? That is so great. That is so smart. I always tell people in show business, like, yeah, you just say yes, that you do it, you know, like, and then you figure it out. Exactly. So that's what I was like, yeah, I can do this. It's kind of like that with every job, right? Like there's so many jobs, like the food industry. They're like, do you have experience?

And like our son was looking for, you know, just like a waitering job when he moved to New York. And he had to just lie eventually. Right. And figure it out. You pick it up on the job. You pick it up. Yeah. That's pretty terrifying though for that to be your first gig officially.

It was kind of scary. Yeah. But I mean, your team is so great to work with that. Keep going. That's why. No, like, no, seriously.

Because I do, I mean, I don't do producer work, but I curate like experiences in Ghana. And this was like the first team. And I kept telling like Ruthie and even Jason on the ground, like you guys are great because it was like serious work, but not serious work, you know?

So it was, it was, you made it. Right. Seamless. Yeah. Jason and Ruthie, they both keep it fun the whole time.

I know they have really good attitudes. A lot of times I'll run up to Jason and I'm, they both keep it fun the whole time. I know, they have really good attitudes. A lot of times I'll run up to Jason and I'm just really tense or stressed about something. And he's just so calm and cool, I relax 10%. Yeah, how stressful was the Conan process in Mexico, Maritza? I mean, did you feel like, okay, it was a normal amount of last minute requests or how did it compare to other things you've worked on?

No, I think what Lady May is saying is totally accurate. The demands are high. Yeah, the demands are high. At least in Mexico, the stakes were high. The amount of things that we were trying to accomplish required some difficulty. And can I say one thing just about our show Mexico was different than any other travel show we did. Because that one, A, it was in response to Trump, you know, doing some Joe, his usual shtick about other countries.

So we went down to Mexico to respond to that. And then also we decided part of it was the name of the show was really made in Mexico. And so the idea was Conan was going to do the show in Mexico in front of a live Mexican audience and a studio audience with an all Mexican crew working in the studio, which is a travel show we never did before. We usually just go shoot things and bring them back and build them here. There, we shot, went out and shot stuff and had to edit it in time to show it to that live audience in Mexico City. At the end. At the end of the week. Yes. So that you did get handed.

I mean, we had never done anything that ambitious so what was that what was that like yeah I think I think all the challenges are pretty accomplishable because like it's not that hard once you have all the people

being like super supportive honestly that's number one number two Conan's name is so like once you know it besides me me everybody knows him in mexico so people were very happy to open the doors uh for him and for his team right and i think that helped very very much okay to get to get things to get yeses yes exactly To get yeses. And once we got the positive answer,

it was about just like putting the one-on-one together and making it happen. But yeah, everything was accomplishable. And the things that weren't, the things that I found like very difficult, like the pyramids, you guys wanted to film in. And I know that it's impossible in mexico to film with actors or presenters in front of camera and i like i i i said it like this is going to be like

very hard we're going to try but this is going to be very hard one of the many good things about your production team is that there's always an understanding on where the limitations can be right and that was one very difficult thing to say right this is impossible like the government didn't take didn't give us a yes but also we probably heard it was an hour away and we're like okay that's fine we don't want to drive an hour and a half. That too. Then we're like, we dodged that bullet. Yeah, but I think the fact that you guys are relaxed and understanding on what are the limitations is amazing because for other shows,

like I've had crews that are completely different. It's like, you make it happen because you have to make it happen. Oh, wow. And that's when the complications escalate. But in your case, we never. So we should start acting like that. Like pricks. Do they all get yeses? Yes, like pricks.

We cast such a wide net of things that we ask you to look into. You know, initially when we're kind of like generating ideas, there's just so many ideas and we know we won't have time for everything. So it's almost probably the opposite with us where we're having to then cancel things as we go along. And then we always feel so bad and guilty because we have to cancel on people constantly. Did you, did we make you cancel on anybody? Not me. Okay.

Yes, yes. We canceled on the commercial that we were going to do. I don't know if you that we were going to do I don't know if you remember we were going to do the for the Casa Perco yes exactly that we were going to do but it was just too much the McBrown's kitchen like was just way too long

and it was the first day and everyone was tired and we also cut short the studio session with pami eugen because that was supposed to be on film but then we made it like very short and then it was just straight to the music video right so that was because we still had to film an entire music that's the other thing sometimes we'll be like yeah we'll just film a music video a thing that normally normally takes weeks. And we're like, we'll do it in an afternoon on the way to something else.

Well, Lady May, I was wondering, because Maritza mentioned that the Conan name opened some doors in Mexico. Was that at all true in Ghana? Did people know about Conan or did you have to explain who he was and what we were doing? So some people knew about him, but the thing is with Ghana

at that time, the year of return, we were getting a lot of media coverage from like black networks from like, you know, so, so in this way, it almost seemed like a new opportunity to open it up to an audience that wouldn't necessarily always like you know come to Ghana or see what Ghana is about so that's the government was excited about that oh yeah they were like let's get the TBS audience yeah like and um yeah but the ambassador oh my gosh he was so happy um he was so happy because he he knew because obviously we had the letter that Conan showed on screen but he didn't know that it was going to be a whole thing with his photo and his so he called me he's like why didn't you tell me everybody's calling me saying

yeah it was it was pretty yeah so that was in that case though but then after it aired then forget it like every conan everywhere conan conan conan especially like with the with the papaya stuff that was huge that went viral actually that clip of you talking about taking the shit. Yes. Really? On Ghana Twitter. Oh my God. Yes. Can I tell you, I just finished my last packet of Cheeto sauce.

I know. I was like, I probably shouldn't be keeping it this long. I had it in the fridge. Cause I, I smuggled home so many packets. It's the best. I still haven't found, Yeah, we love that sauce. I still haven't found,

like I know that there are some I can buy on Amazon, but I don't think it's going to be the same. So I have to find a source. I'll send you more. Oh, that would make me so happy. And the podcast just paid off. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's all worth it.

That's the whole reason I do this. Going back to, I guess, before that, Lady Meg, I mean, we heard about how you got into fixing, that it was a little bit through us, but what kind of work were you doing before that that gave you the experience? So I have like my little boutique agency where I am a connector.

So I was kind of doing fixing, but not fixing. So, for example, mostly like focusing on Ghana. Before the year of return, Ghana wasn't that much of a hotspot. And I was one of the few Ghanaians known in the the industry like mostly in music entertainment so when people like celebrities wanted to go to ghana they would reach out to my agency and we will curate the whole experience for them so that would include so not necessarily for tv this is like personal trips for example like we worked with um Solange when she was recording her album. She came to record it in Ghana, but she just wanted to be in Ghana.

So we did everything like from flights, accommodation, just like making sure that everything was was great. And then Year of Return came and now Ghana is its own like thing. Like now Ghana is just, everyone is in Ghana. Kamala just came back from Ghana. Yep. And also Sam Richardson, who is Ghanaian descent. I think that was a big deal for him to go. He hadn't been back in a few years.

Yeah, that was very emotional. To see family that he lived there. His family, yeah. Right, yeah. His segment at the castle was very emotional because he was like very emotional so watching that because i'm obviously from ghana but i grew up in ghana so seeing him from ghana but then you know growing up here and just knowing what other like African-Americans feel like he has a closer relationship to that than I do. So seeing it through his eyes, I was like, whoa, that that's deep. So, yeah, that was great having him there.

Yeah. Yeah. Because it really was. I mean, that kind of encapsulated the year of return and and what that was all about. And yeah, put it into focus for me too yeah and honestly your show brought a different audience because they're like they're a group of people that say oh you know we watched the conan show and like we had no idea about god yeah that's exactly what like the government was excited about because it's like, it's just, I mean, if you, you do,

you know, maybe go on like other black networks, Ghana pops up, but then it's like for this one, it was, it was new. So that was great. So,

yeah, it's so funny. Like now I love God so much. Like I was watching last season of Ted Lasso and one of the players was like he gets visited oh I think

yeah yeah Sam Richards plays someone from from Ghana oh I haven't seen that season yet oh sorry

yeah yeah and I just got I got super excited seeing him always but also just like I'm like oh he's from Ghana yeah I've been there I think that's a very amazing thing that these kind of shows do.

And people like, don't necessarily see like deep into, and I, and I really adore like when you have some celebrity, like Conan coming to a place that is regarded as dangerous or in the case when like when you guys came to Mexico it was being like fully seen by a group of people in not only America but in other parts of the world yeah yeah unfortunately not just one a bunch of people that listen to him but yeah when you have when you have these bad reputation in a country

and you have someone traveling, someone like Conan, someone so big traveling and being safe and having fun and meeting the people, the actual people, building connections, seeing the humanity behind the reputation, it has a beautiful effect on the reputation of the country and like tourism peaks after that, like I can see it and like sometimes when a segment on a show goes like very big, I can see like a wave of replication like coming from other shows I want to do something similar

to what this show did like after you guys left I had this Australian show contacting me to work with Cassandro oh really? and we did a whole thing with Cassandro well I just was reading there's like a movie right?

yeah yeah Gael Garcia just came out with a movie. He's a lucha libre. Yes, yes. Haven't watched it, but they say that Gael did amazing. And Cassandro is such an amazing human being. Yeah, with a really cool story. So, yeah, I think that's something that as a national, I have to thank amazing shows like yours for what you do for the country that I come from.

Because it's like elevating. Like you don't notice that you're just having fun and doing things that are fun and entertaining. But at the same time, you're creating something very positive that sometimes is overseen. I'm going to replay the clip of you saying that as I go to bed. Be like, okay, I'm doing to replay the clip of you saying that as I go to bed. Okay, I'm doing something okay with my life. That was a special week because we really were working

with, like I mentioned before, the Mexican television studio crew. So you really did feel like it was this larger scale joint effort than we're normally used to when we travel. Like when we're in Ghana, we're literally, it's just our crew and then Lady May coordinating everything. So it's a very, you know, it was different in Mexico with just, yeah, a big,

a big group of people we got to work with. It was very special. Well, I was wondering, I mean, you kind of bring up a point, how much pressure do you feel as like, um, sort of ambassadors to your countries to like, oh, I, I want to make sure that the best version of things get shown and, and like, and, and also, and I mean, you know, we wanted this feedback, but I don't know if every production does, but if we don't want to do something that's going to look ignorant on our part and like it's probably a little difficult to step up and say something if you're like um yeah

I don't think that is coming off the way you think it is or you know Maritza doesn't have a problem I just like say it straight forward that's a really good skill though that is good skill I was talking to a girl that does

some stuff for me in Mexico still and she was telling me, oh, this crew wants to come and film with the zonkies in Tijuana, which are these donkies that are painted like zebras. And it's been very like, a lot of people from the city are fighting

these horrible traditions because it's a lot of animal exploitation there. And I was like, let's try to have them avoid filming them because it's not the kind of representation that we want to have. Yes, we know it exists. Yeah. And you can talk about it, but talk about it in the light of, like like the way the majority of the people in the city sees them like yeah don't like right that it's exploitative and not be like part of the exploitation exactly exactly don't don't help more exploitation come right by just showing it

straight up uh i had a crew i'm not gonna say from or what, but the producer was asking me, I saw the script and we were filming in a beautiful location in the jungle in Mexico. And the script said, and that the presenter goes through some like areas of bandidos. I'm like, is that in the jungle? Well, yes, he's going to go through some areas that are not very safe of Mexico. But is that really the sensationalism that you want to put in the project? Or can you elevate it a little bit? Because when you reach the location where you're filming, that people leaves out of the tourism. Yeah.

And if you're going to say like, oh oh we're going to a very dangerous place who's gonna try to come right instead of saying like be be safe if you ever visit this amazing place with amazing people be safe on the way there but once you make it it's nice or something yeah don't make up a story just to make the show more interesting yeah exactly. We had a similar thing when we were planning. I think Bono or something had like his organization or something that he

was working with in Ghana and he wanted us to do something about it and it's a great organization but I think it's owned by americans so i was a little bit worried about that like just how that will come off because you also don't want it to have that like savior mentality that you know you came all the way to ghana to highlight an american company and when and i was a little bit nervous obviously Obviously, it was my first time. I want

the team to be happy and I'm dealing with my own imposter syndrome. So I was like, I went to Jason and I'm like, I don't think this is the move. You had to trust your instincts. And you guys handled it. You're just like, okay, cool.

Maybe we'll do something separate. We were so grateful to you. Yes. Because we don't want to look so stupid. Just, and it's like, oh, it's based in Illinois. Right, right. Okay, well, I got the word out. And Bono wasn't even going to be there.

So who cares? Yeah. Not even the edge or Larry Mullins Jr. Yeah. So no, that, and that's the kind of, you know, the local knowledge is so helpful. Yeah, and those can be really subtle distinctions too. Like you say, Lady May, it can, you know,

it's just a little, it's a little bit off and you just want to know like, okay, this is just, this might play in the US, but it's not going to play well in Ghana. Right. Yeah. You do kind of, US, but it's not going to play well in Ghana. Right. Yeah. You do kind of, I mean, it's a stretch, but you do kind of want people who are watching it,

if they're watching that country, not be like, oh my God. Yeah. Eye roll. Yes. At least not more than eight times. Right. I think in that aspect,

because I was suggested to watch some of the clips of the show before coming here just to have it fresh in my mind. I was also reading some of the emails just to remember a little bit of the planning that we were doing. And at least in 10 emails, I have the question, is this okay, Maritza? Is this going to come across rude? Is this going to be funny yeah and I think honestly that's that's a god that's a god Sam but that's so amazing because you guys are respectful you you were like honestly like we had a round, right? But then it's like, people thought it was a joke.

They're like, no, for real. Like, this is a gift for the royal family. Like, we're not joking. It's like legit. That's what they wanted. And alcohol and liquor. So yeah, that's what it is. So yeah.

That was our only time meeting royalty was in Ghana. And we flew up with Lady May to the palace. In Kamasi. In Kamasi and met the queen mother. Yes. Which was exciting. I know that was, I was nervous about it. I was terrified.

Because we were getting called up individually. I know that was interesting because was nervous about it because we were getting called up individually. I know that was interesting because when we went inside the room, they were all just sitting down and watching TV. So they were watching some show and then we come in and they're like, okay, you know, we presented what we had to do, all the gifts. And then we had to go one by one. And the TVs were still on, I think. They were still on. It was very hot in there too. Right.

No AC. Yeah. And then it's, yeah. So that was, that was interesting. They were saying thank you while still looking up at the TV screen. Like, oh yeah, this is great. Like, I don't want to miss this plot point.

Just put that over there. Right. Lady May, earlier you were talking about that you were curating experiences for some American music celebrities. And that brought up an interesting thing that I wanted to talk to both of you about, which is the sort of off-duty aspect of your job where it's, maybe we're not, it's not for the show that we're filming, but

you often do get a lot of questions about like, oh, we need to now book a reservation for dinner for 20 people. And you're having to coordinate like lunches. And sometimes people even have individual needs that they're like, oh, I need to go buy a gift for my wife or something and it's like help me with this so i never i just want to go on the record i wasn't looking at you i have never asked i don't even ask to be fed no you don't that that that was actually like some of my favorite parts of the trip was like especially um the camera crew they didn't have a lot of opportunity to go out and change money you remember so it's like i had unis my right hand girl oh i love just like collect collect dollars from everyone and then we'll

just go and change money and then um i remember when we went to Kumasi after like the golden tulip segment, we went to the market and I was just like helping everyone buy stuff for their kids. And I was just like, this is, this is the best. Like it's because I know, I mean, I'm a woman, I kind of know, but then also I know how to haggle.. That's so nice to have a personal haggler on hand. Yeah. But I almost got in trouble. I don't know. I don't think you guys know this,

but when we were doing on Oxford street, remember when Conan was dancing with the passion fruit lady? Okay. So then after I had to pay her. Yeah. Yes. He put them in down his pants. If I lady. Yeah. Okay. So then after I had to pay her. Yeah. Yes. Cause he put them in down his pants. If I recall.

Yes. And then we took them. So I had to go and pay for them. And they, the prices that they were saying were just ridiculous. And I was like, no, but she's like,

but I danced with him. I danced and all that. I was like, okay, it's fine. But then it's like, that was like almost a mob that came like, Hey, why are you trying to like, you know, stop all money? I was like, okay, it's fine. But then it's like, there was like almost a mob that came like,

hey, why are you trying to like, you know, stop our money? I was like, okay, okay. Oh, really? It's fine. Yeah. You guys had already gone down. We're long gone.

Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. You had to kind of play both sides on that one. Right, exactly. Yeah. Man, just fork the money over. Yeah.

Maritza, do you remember any do you have any memories from us asking for weird requests not weird requests what happened dentist

remember Conan needed a dentist he got right so something happened to him and well he at the end he

got a recommendation for a very good one and yeah and we got that sorted out and just shopping.

I think we went shopping. It was fun. We all went together. I didn't go shopping. You didn't come. Now I remember. I did a lot of shopping. You got?

Yeah. In every country. I was on like a different trip. Shopping, haggling for shopping. You were probably swimming. Changing lucky dollars to the local currency. I missed all that action. Do you have any like really, either with us or other anonymous, like just dramatic or just moments where you were like, oh my God, is this going to backfire? Or will this thing

that's planned, is it going to go off as planned or just kind of near disasters or disasters that come to mind? No. I remember like, yeah, near disasters, I've had like a few. I think one of the most challenging was filming for an Australian show that we were doing a cooking show

throughout the country. And we were going to this ghost town in San Luis Potosi State. And to get there, you're going through the desert and it's a very steep road, dirt road. And we're going, you know, in like these 15 passenger vans loaded with gear, two 15 pass vans loaded with gear 15 pass vans loaded with gear and people and all of a sudden the transmission breaks and we're like in the absolute middle of the desert nowhere and yeah that was like what am i gonna do here i climb on top of one of the vans and got one little bar of signal and uh in this in this town they have these like

old willies you know the kind of like jeeps oh and by chance because we were we wanted to film with one of them i had the number so i was able to call them and and like five willies came and we loaded the willies with like all the gear and stuff. Oh, wow. Like, yeah, fun, fun things. Like the end result ends up being funny. Right. But, but in the moment there's like, yeah, there's a lot of pressure. Did they film the breakdown or no?

Yeah, I think at the end we got a lot of pictures. Yes. But also. The first day of filming in Ghana, we went to Makala Market. And I don't know if you remember, but then they were like booing us when we were walking through.

And I'm like, oh my, like, what is this trip about? Like, I was just so, I was like, oh my God, I was so nervous. But then when we were coming back, they were cheering and then they were dancing with Conan. So word got around that we were good people. Like it wasn't like we're just coming to

exploit or what? Cause it's like, they see a bunch of people with big cameras. They're like, what now? And then after when they found out that we were like with the Makala queen and everything, and that was, that also went a little bit wrong. I don't know if you remember, like she was trying to like do something about like building. She wanted us to like raise money to build something. And she took us somewhere for a while. So that, that whole Makala thing was a little bit of a nightmare in its own, but then, yeah, it ended up, ended up you know coming together and the booing

i'm so used to booing i don't even hear it but the cheering part great noise well yeah that must have been you must have thought like oh is this was this a bad idea or you know like is this house gonna be everywhere yeah exactly i was just so like what is going on did you either of you have to deal with because um one thing we've talked to jason to let me about is that especially if conan does a market segment like he'll pick things up and then you know and and he'll want to buy things and we kind of have to go along behind like paying paying and sweeping up. Do you have any memories of us doing that? I don't think we went together to a market. We went together in downtown

and that was my first day. And I think because of my ignorance on like the fame of Conan, I was not aware or I never imagined the amount of people we were going to have on that con and on the street. By the plaza and by the time we, yeah.

By the time we were like the very last area where he stationed and started trying to ask for money the amount of people we had around, I was like getting a bit nervous and I was I kept looking at James, our security guy.

We were just like, just keep your eyes like open. getting a bit nervous and I was, I kept looking at James, our safe security guy. Oh yeah. We just like, just keep your eyes like open. Yeah. And yeah. It's part of your job. Keep those eyes open. It was that day anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it was also social media cause, uh, Aaron was, you know, posting where he was. And then there were people who were like, I traveled. I saw it and I just got in my car and drove here. I killed three pedestrians getting here.

Five pigeons. Would that drive both of you crazy the way, because we tend to shoot stuff. We're out shooting all day. We got X, Y, Z today. What do we want to do tomorrow? And sometimes we change everything around would that was that kind of a nightmare like just having to move everything around i just remember that at some point every time i saw you walking towards me i was just like that happens here in america too it happened to my house hi honey I'm home what is it I hear the booing

what is it now welcome to the family I do have a great story about that you went one of the nights the night before we went to Kumasi you guys went out to a club

like a nightclub or something. And you met like some expats and stuff like that. But I didn't go. Eunice and I and my crew, we didn't go. So then at the, yeah, at the airport,

when we were waiting to get on the plane to go to Kumasi, I see you and Jose walking towards me. I'm like, oh boy. So then you guys, so Jose comes to me and then you're like, Jose's one of the writers.

Yes. And then he was like, you know, we met up with some expats yesterday and we just think it will be so cool to do a segment with like American, like black Americans living in Ghana and just their experience

or maybe some people visiting and I was just like okay we can make that happen and I'm just like so then I call Eunice I'm like how are we going to do this like what like where can we get people and it was just by luck that when we went to Kumasi at Golden Tulip all these people were there there was was like a whole school from Chicago. It was a church group. I think, yeah, that was visiting. And I was just like, so I was sitting by Jose

I'm like, do you see what I see? This is a prayer answered and we were able because I don't, honestly, I don't know how we were going to make that happen but it happened yeah so oh that's great and that segment was one of my favorite things yeah honestly it was good yeah yeah and golden tulip almost made us not like record they're like yeah

no you can't film here oh that was resort right? Oh, yeah. So we kind of went outside and did it. Exactly. So we had to do it at the gazebo. So me walking toward you isn't always bad. Sometimes it turns out okay. You just hold your breath, hold your nose, hope it works out. Until the tall, skinny, creepy guy goes away.

And I always do I always leave do you have any memories Maritza of last minute changes we made or

that we no honestly I don't think you did anything we didn't do anything wrong like that in Mexico how do you like that

so when I walked toward you that was it wasn't pleasant it was pleasant yeah I think we had to be

more scheduled there because of having to finish the segments and edit them and the many like I think because some things

were so planned yeah like the lucha libre we had to like request the gym and the and the wrestlers and like everything

had to be together. Yes. The quinceanera, we couldn't move it, right? Because it was, that was done by the family. That was, that was surreal going to a family's quinceanera. And they were so kind. They were.

They were. And that was such a cool party. Into their, this personal party. As a family. Yes. Yeah. Well. Yeah.

I know I remember the cake being really good that's kind of my only memory and they gave Conan these like table of honor

like next to the quinceanera yeah that was amazing that was crazy just saying these things out loud I'm like what a life we've had

it's pretty cool how do you guys not laugh that's like one thing that i always i would be losing especially the cali boss one yeah i was dying yeah no i had to go to the back because i was laughing so hard and i would look at you and jesse and you're just like looking at the screen like nothing. Wait, are we seeing the screen? Well, we're trying to not laugh because we always have to edit ourselves out of it

when we laugh. So we know by now, yeah. Conan, if you don't, he kind of- He wants you to laugh a little. You're kind of his audience a bit. So if we're just looking grim, then he thinks, uh-oh, this isn't going well. He's not good.

I know, we have to sort of master the silent laugh. It's just with your shoulders. Yeah. But right behind camera, so he feels it. Right, exactly. No, but I mean, I'm always laughing. I always think it's really funny. You have to stifle the laughter, almost like a sneeze.

You have to keep it inside. Yeah. I'm fascinated. You both live in the United States now. Right. So I, you Maritza, you live in here in Los Angeles, which is why you're here. Yes. And Lady May, you're up in Portland, Oregon.

How long have you been up there? Yeah, I live in Portland since 2021. So right. Well, yeah. So I was in Ghana. So during COVID, I got stuck in Ghana because they closed the borders. So I left from Japan just to go to Ghana for just like, you know, I was going to see my parents have fun a little bit. And then COVID came and they closed the borders. So I was there for like eight months. And after I thought the world was coming to an end and Portland was always on my bucket list, I said, you know what? I'm moving to Portland.

So I just went straight from Ghana to Portland. I got an Airbnb for like three months. And then after I just got my own place. So I've been here since then. Oh, wow. Wow. So are you a fixer in Portland now? You're inviting people to invite us to do a show. So the main reason I was telling Jesse, the main reason I came here was because obviously I'm obsessed with Fred Armisen and Portlandia. Obviously. Of course. Obviously. So that was the main reason I moved here.

But then I also wanted to get into the cannabis industry. So then I came here and I'm just doing a lot of research so that once it is legal in Ghana, I will have to go. Oh, you'll be there on the ground floor. I know. How do I invest in your company? Maritza, did you move here because of the marijuana industry? Not entirely. Just partially.

Just as a hobby? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maritza, are you still coordinating production in Mexico? Not as much. Not as much. I do like every now and then some jobs come from Mexico. And if I like the subject, I will take it. But I'm trying to dedicate my life more to like line producing here. Okay.

And yeah, I've been doing stuff here for American audiences. Many years. Well, I came here like right before the pandemic. Uh-huh. And I was like actually in touch with Jason because we were prepping for something different. Uh-huh. And I was like actually in touch with Jason because we were prepping for something different. Uh-huh. And it was, I moved here in 2018, I think.

Yeah. No, 19 in November, right before the pandemic. And then they closed the border in March. So I was stuck here. We were prepping to go to Argentina. Right. Yes, exactly. We were prepping. We were supposed to to go to Argentina. Yes, exactly. We were prepping.

We were supposed to go the week after everything shut down. Exactly. And then I was stuck here because Mexico also closed the borders and I couldn't go to Mexico even when it's like two hours away from here. Because it was only, they were only allowing

how you call them? The essential workers to go across the border, the land border. Right, right, right. So I was stuck here for like a year. Wow. Wow. So the pandemic, it seems like really affected both of your careers.

In different ways. Yeah. Well, we have to wrap up. Yeah. You've both been amazing. And it's so good to see. I know it went by really fast. And I really truly

hope we get to work with you again on something. Likewise. A tour of Portland. A tour of where you live in LA. Any kind of cannabis venture. That's right. Good luck with taking over the cannabis market.

The community got very excited when one of the last episodes when Conan actually smoked a joint. Oh, right. That was exciting for me too. Because we've been trying to do that for a long time. It was his next to last show, I think,

with Seth Rogen on the TBS show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so Cannabis Twitter went off for that. Yeah, we were... I'm acting like a weed head, but I yeah. Yes. Yeah. That was exciting. So cannabis Twitter went off for that. Yeah, we were. I'm actually like a weed head, but I'm not really. But yeah, we were just like, hey. Yeah.

No, you're an investor. You're a weed business head, which is totally different. Yes. Weed business head. Yeah. Well, Maritza and Lady Mae, thank you so much. Oh, thank you. Thank you.

What a pleasure. Thank you too. Great to see you guys. Yeah, this was great. Thank you to Lady May and Maritza for joining us. It was great talking to them. It was. I know. It was cool to see them really connect over the job.

Yes. And maybe they'll join forces. I know. I wonder if they texted each other afterwards and were like, oh, those two. When are we going to be free? We should mention what's going on in the Team Coco universe. We should. I'm so glad you brought that up. Well, yeah, it's just something that crossed my mind.

Yeah. While reading this piece of paper in front of me. Perusing it. Well, hit me with it. Well, no, the Team Coco podcast, Parks and Rec Collection. I'm familiar, yeah. It's back for season two.

Basically us, but for Parks and Rec. Right. And they have new hosts, Jim O'Hare, who played Jerry on the show. Oh yeah, of course, Jerry. And one of the show writers, Greg Levine. Cool. And you know how wonderful they are as hosts. I yeah, of course, Jerry. And one of the show writers, Greg Levine. Cool. And you know how wonderful they are as hosts.

I know, I love when writers- Show writers, come on. Get them in front of the mic. Well, and I'm now gonna jump on board with this paper in front of me and say that this season, they're gonna continue to recap the popular comedy series, Parks and Rec,

with guests like Jason Matsoukas, Chelsea Peretti, and Rob Lowe himself. Be sure to check it out. I will. Oh, hey, guess what? We have a listener question. Hi, Mike and Jesse. I love your podcast and I was fortunate enough to see a live taping of Late Night on December

12th, 2008. Wow. Don Rickles was the guest. Oh, wow. I still have my tickets done. I think he was only on Late Night twice, Don Rickles was the guest. Oh, wow. I still have my tickets done. I think he was only on Late Night twice, Don Rickles. Oh, my gosh. That was a special...

It was very special news there. Oh, my God. All the writers poured into his dressing room. Oh, yeah. I bet. And just praying for an insult. Yes. And he knows...

Did he distribute them? Okay. He's like... He knows why people are there. He knows what tricks he has to do. It's like, look at you, look at, and it was literally like getting a treat. And then after each insult, you'd like turn and walk out. Thank you, sir.

Yes, thank you, thank you, thank you. Yeah, yeah. That's so great. Oh, sorry. There's more to this. Oh, okay. That wasn't the question. There's more to this email.

Here we go. On your podcast and others, I frequently hear you mention submitting a writing packet to a show when you were trying to get hired. Yes, we have mentioned that. I was curious to find out what exactly is in a writing packet. Is it just a bunch of scripts or ideas for bits or a list of characters? How long are they? Is there a standard format or does it vary from show to show? These are all really good questions. Yes. And I don't think we've talked about this in a very long time.

Yeah. Submissions. Thanks and keep up the great work. And five exclamation marks. Oh my God. Don Kukazela. Kukazela. Oh, thank you.

Don Kukazela from Burlington, New Jersey, home of the Burlington Coat Factory. Is it? Oh yeah. I believe so. Leather Coat Factory used to be there. Wow. I grew up there in New Jersey.

Send us some coats, Don. Yeah. Yeah, Don, get busy with the coats and we'll answer your question in return. Yeah, no, this is a great question. And I mean, it's been a while since I submitted a late night packet, but I did submit a lot of them back in the day. To a lot of different shows? I did, yeah.

Yeah. And they were all different requirements. I think that's interesting. The doing multiple submissions. So what's your advice in terms of doing it for more than one show? Oh, wow. Well, I mean, you have to really get to know the show. And so that is hard if you're not already a fan.

Right. So the shows that you already watch and you're a fan of are probably the ones you're most likely to get hired on. That's true. Because obviously there's already a natural affinity there. Yeah. And so you know the tone and you know some of the inside jokes. But the requirements are always different. I mean, I remember one of the hardest packets I ever put together was The Daily Show. And it was, and I think it may have changed now, but you had to not only write punchlines, but you also had to craft the whole news story

and find clips to go along. Find clips? Find news clips to back up your sort of narrative. What? Yeah. This sounds like a college exam. It was really hard. It was, you know,

you had to screen a lot of different news. And so you had to send links and everything? Yeah, with links and time codes. I know. Wow. And then also,

it had to be funny. Right. So they may now provide those links. I think that that is something that has changed. And ask you to work something up around those links. Yes. Oh, I think I'd like that better. Yeah, I know that that is something that has changed. And ask you to work something up around those links.

Yes. Well, I think I'd like that better. Yeah, I know. Because I spent so long doing the research that I was like, oh my God. And I was like, I'm a real journalist. Right. But I forgot how to be funny. I like when someone gives you an assignment and kind of gives you some parameters to go

off of. Otherwise- There's just too many options and it's hard to know how to dig in. Yeah. Wow. And then I've done other shows where they do like a whole week of submission where you have to submit monologue jokes every day for a week. Right. That is exhausting. The whole world of writing monologue jokes, I don't think people like viewers necessarily realize, like I would just love to tell them that like, oh yeah, our four monologue writers

would total around 150 jokes a day. Yes. And they're- To get five. Five to 10, yeah. Yeah. And I think that blew my mind when I first learned about that.

And it's just a little mind boggling. Yeah, I remember I had sent some monologue jokes to one of your former monologue writers, Berklee Johnson. Uh-huh, Berklee, yeah. And I said, you know, I needed to have like 50 and I think I sent him exactly 50 and he circled maybe 15. Right. That's fantastic.

Yeah. But at the time I was devastated because I thought, oh God. Right. And now I have to write 35 more. Right. But not 35 more. I'd have to write 600 more to get 35. Yes.

Yes. I know. And I think it's something you have to do every day, even in anticipation of a packet submission. You should just be writing jokes every day if that's what you want to do. Yes, it's a muscle. It's a muscle.

And then you also are, maybe out of the jokes you write every day, you're going to have a handful that you can then use for the packet. But then you need the voice. As you mentioned, you need that host's voice. And man, oh man, oh man, oh man. No, but you really do need to watch the show

and get the sense of the rhythm and get that voice because having read like hundreds of submissions, you just know right away whether someone's kind of hitting the voice right or not. Yeah, and I'm sure you can speak to that and we've talked before on the show about people that would have the wrong name left in yes that's my favorite submission yeah so it would say jimmy yeah they did the yeah it was always jimmy always jimmy jimmy yeah like and and they'd be all the conans but they'd they'd be all the Conans, but they'd miss one Jimmy. Mm-hmm. One Jimmy. It just, it only takes one Jimmy.

One control F. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And for our packet, when I, I mean, I don't know. At Conan. At Conan. Yeah. When I submitted, I submitted some monologue jokes and sketch pitches.

Uh-huh. And they were not supposed to be full sketch scripts, but it was a pitch. It was always just, I'm sure every show is different, but we were always just like, send two, 10 new ideas for the show in paragraph form. Yes.

And with, you know, like a few sentences to help sell it. So like you'd give the premise and maybe one or two jokes. Some beats. Yeah. Yes.

Some people would just write like two sentences and with nothing really to support it. Without the comedy, yeah. Without the comedy part. Or people would try to show off that they knew the show really well by like referring to like writers we used in sketches by first name.

And they were overly familiar in a way where it's like i don't know like you're using the personal two form but but you it's just a little it's it was just a little off-putting yeah it's very subtle yeah or it would be like conan's wife's name or something yes yes something something a little invasive or almost not star-kish. Too big of a fan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, you've got to tone that down a bit too. Yeah, it's a fine line.

Right. And you better hurry because there won't be late night shows in like three years. I know, I know. Will there be? There aren't now. I don't know. I don't know. But also we've been talking about how late night was going to die for, I think, the entirety of this podcast.

Yes. It hasn't. Damn it. Yeah. Yeah. I guess it'll gone forever, Dan. We'll see. Don.

Get those packets in. Get them in. And hey, if you have a question for us, like Don or, just compliments we'll accept those give us a call at 323-209-1079 you just have to leave a voicemail no one's going to answer or email us at inside conanpod at gmail.com and if you like the show you can support us by rating inside conan an important hollywood podcast on itunes and leaving us a review. Ah, I guess that's it. Well, no, I can talk about submissions more. Okay.

No, no, no, no. We love you. What? We love you. Okay. Goodbye. Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast is hosted by Mike Sweeney and me, Jesse Gaskell. Our producer is Lisa Burr.

Team Coco's executive producers are Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Nick Liao. Engineered and mixed by Joanna Samuel. Our talent bookers are Gina Batista and Paula Davis with assistance from Maddie Ogden. 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 or an enemy on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts,

or whatever platform you like best. I'm not going to tell you what to do. hat it's the conan show try on some spats you're gonna have a laugh give birth to a calf it's conan this has been a team coco production