Inside Conan: An Important Hollywood Podcast - Will Forte Revisits His Buffalo-Riding Ted Turner Appearances

Episode Date: April 1, 2022

Will Forte joins writers Mike Sweeney and Jessie Gaskell to discuss playing TBS founder Ted Turner on CONAN, making his first ever talk show appearance on Late Night, and why he felt such a connection with Conan’s comedy from the very beginning.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. Welcome to Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast. Yes, recording the week after Hollywood's biggest night. Literally days after the biggest night. Hours. And we're talking about, of course, the Producers Guild Awards. No, we're talking about Oscar.

But we should say who we are. We should. I'm Jesse Gaskell and you're Mike Sweeney. Yes, correct. And we're writers on The Conan Show and I guess Jesse Gaskell, and you're Mike Sweeney. Yes, correct. And we're writers on The Conan Show, and I guess other Conan endeavors, whatever those may be. Yes. Conan's corporate gigs. Right, yes. Take a look behind the scenes of Conan's late-night career. His storied late-night career. Yes, in television. And yet you have the temerity

to bring up the Oscars. That is film. I know. It's a lesser medium. That is film. Yes. Oh, but you're working on a movie right now, so you have every right. I am. I'm playing both sides. Yeah. I may be at the Oscars next year. You don't know. I expect it. You could be hosting. I might be the only one willing to do it.

You're still far away. So how did you take in the Oscars and things that may have happened within those Oscars? I'm on another continent right now. So I woke up to the news of the Oscars and many texts from friendsing me to watch a certain clip. Yes, yes. Best costume. So that's an interesting way to see what happened. That was how I woke up.

Specifically, I was actually getting my boyfriend ready to go to the airport. Uh-huh. And so we had to wake up early. You have to get him ready. Here's your lunch for the trip. But we were up early and then I was getting very distracted by watching. And I was trying to explain to him what had happened with the slap. And somehow then we started talking about Scientology.

I mean, somehow, you know how. Sure. I understand. But we were sort of equating it to Tom Cruise jumping on the couch about Katie Holmes. And then he was doing an impression for me of Tom Cruise jumping on the couch and he split his pants. Oh, my God. That's fantastic. And I couldn't stop laughing. His travel pants?

His travel pants. And he had already packed everything else. And we had barely gotten his suitcase closed the night before. And so we had to open. It was actually kind of a disaster. And he was running late. And it was just like, oh, my God, are we going to be late? Because he was doing a Tom Cruise impression.

You can tell the people at the gate. At the airport? Yeah, explain that. They'll hold the plane for you. He was doing Tom Cruise on the couch. The Oprah jump. I was wondering, was there a part of you

that was really sad that we weren't on the air when that happened? I mean, immediately, the writers all got on an email chain and we were joking about bringing the show back just for one day.

Right, right. Conan had a tweet about that too. Conan had a tweet about it that people loved, yes. Because it did seem very ripe for late night. Oh my God, it's such a giant, crazy story that literally all anyone was thinking about for a day. So yeah, were you like, oh, it's too bad that we're not on the air?

I honestly felt a little bit relieved because I just knew, well, everything's, every joke's going to be made. Exactly. By tomorrow. And there's going to be all these other takes on it. And it's almost annoying when it's literally a legal obligation that you have to address a story. Yeah. I used to like on our show when we'd kind of go after things that weren't the most obvious first choice for a target. We did a great job of avoiding the big story that all the other late night shows were hitting and instead targeting something about like an iguana

turned a hundred in Duluth. With a story that big, everyone has to address it the next night. But it is fun to try to come up with your own original take on it that fits your show. Yeah, that's so many times removed from the story that you know no one else is going to do it. Right, right, right.

I mentioned earlier that I'm in a distant land. Right. And it's actually, it's my last week here. So I'm going to get to reveal my location soon. I know. I'm so looking forward to being back

in the same time zone as you. Okay. So you're allowed to reveal where you were once you're gone from there. I think so. That's what I've decided. Sure.

You're your own lawyer. Okay. However you want to do it? I've been very forthright about where I am. You have. That's true. But I was going to give one final clue. Okay. For those still playing along, if anyone is. Oh, here's some guesses. Oh, yes. That weren't correct. Some guesses we've seen that weren't correct. Cyprus, Malta, New Zealand, Iceland, Greece. Someone on Twitter thought I was in the outback of Australia. Okay.

Which means maybe my connection doesn't sound very good. Oh, that might be it. But I have one final hint. And this hint is the name of the city that I'm in is actually the name of 23 towns in the United States. Wow, that's great. That's a great hint. Isn't that crazy? Yes.

Yeah. Springfield? Springfield, Estonia. I got it. I wonder how many towns have that name in the country you're in. Oh. Probably just one. Maybe just the one.

Well, hey, let's get into today's episode. Let's do it. We have a great guest. Oh, my God. I love this guest. He is so talented. Truly a sweetheart. Really nice guy.

Such a wonderful guy. And I had no idea that until I was learning about him, some details about him for this podcast, that he started out as a late night writer, which I think is so fascinating. He's had such an interesting career trajectory. I think it's fascinating to hear about. I know. It really gave me hope that maybe someday I'll be a mega TV star. A SNL cast member for starters. And movie star, yeah.

And go off from there. We're talking, of course, about Will Forte, who some of you probably know that at the beginning of Conan's TBS run, he was a recurring sketch player on Conan playing TBS founder Ted Turner. And he would come in writing on a stuffed buffalo. Called Teddy Jr. Called Teddy Jr., yes. It became a go-to bit on the show. And we became so popular, he would travel with us when we did travel shows in different cities.

We'd have Ted Turner show up. And so it really became a kind of a tentpole of the show. Yes, a staple. And then you also know him, of course, from Saturday Night Live, The Last Man on Earth, MacGruber, The Lego Movie,

and much more to come, I'm sure. Oh, and heads up, Will's dogs really wanted to be part of this interview. So you might hear them a little bit, just in case that's triggering for you. If there are any mailmen listening, you may be triggered by some barking. We see you. We hear you. We make space for you.

And now here's Will Forte. These dogs, they're already going crazy, so. Oh, yeah. They know that you're recording audio right now. They always know. Just go somewhere else. Okay. They literally waited patiently until Jesse said, welcome, Will.

Go. Go. Oh, wow. They listened. Well, so we just started talking about the TBS years of Conan. And so we thought, who better than to help us with that transition than the man who played Ted Turner on so many Conan sketches? Oh, yeah. That was a fun experience. You forgot you played the character. I feel like we just reminded you. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I feel like the first time I did it was one of the first shows, right? It was, I think, the first week. I think so. Pretty early on. Yes. I found out. I talked to Matt O'Brien, who created, you know, the Ted Turner character with you. Oh, yeah. He was amazing.

Yeah, he was great. I didn't do anything. I would just come in and say the words. He was great. Collaborative process. But yeah, he reminded me. I forgot that we rehearsed it. He had went out and hired somebody to give it a try and it didn't go that well in rehearsal.

And then I think he had seen you in a sketch on SNL playing Zell Miller. And he thought, oh, you'd be great playing this kind of Southern sassy guy. That makes sense. We were so excited when you said yes, because we're like, oh, he's not going to. We just thought you'd be too busy to do it. So we were very excited. Was it the buffalo that convinced you? That certainly had something to do with it.

No, if I remember correctly, the timeline, this was in the period right after I had left SNL, the first couple of years after that. And so I didn't really have a lot going on. I was just hanging around, not really doing anything. You were just at Warner Brothers wandering around. Yeah. Yeah.

Hey, Matt did a, you, you. Yeah. And then off and on again for a couple of years. There's a compilation of you and all the times you did it. And it's like 45 minutes long.

So you did it many, many times. Oh really? Oh my God. Yeah. Oh man. I times you did it and it's like 45 minutes long so you did it many many times oh really oh my god yeah oh man i know i did it i did it in a couple different locations i remember new york very specifically and i feel like i did it in atlanta also right were you guys yes yeah you were great you flew in from la to new york to do it at the beacon theater that was the most fun now that one was that was exciting That was exciting. People went nuts. People were going nuts over everything. Those audiences...

Yes. For the entire shows were just like super energized from start to finish. Yeah. When we go to other cities, I think also as our first time back in New York, since he had stopped doing late night. So I think the New York crowd was kind of extra excited. Yeah. And then when you you came

down that long aisle on the on the buffalo yeah the place went insane and you participated in the first gay wedding on ever done on television i forgot about that so did i matt reminded me of that too i totally forgot about that that's right okay well i'm happy about that. Yeah. Conan performed a wedding for our costume designer, Scott. It was a real ceremony. Conan became a... Oh my God, there's ants crawling up the wall in my... Oh my God, this is horrible. Wow, this is an animal-heavy episode. Salvador Dali. Segway. Conan became an online minister, officiated this wedding on the air, and then they left the theater on your the back of your buffalo with you

oh that's great oh okay i do remember that yeah i love that that's like oh right right what a fun experience just every step of the way was always just you guys made it so easy for me i mean matt matt o'brien he he just was so good at writing those things. It was just always fun to come in and then I didn't have to be super... I get very nervous about stuff. So this was one of the rare times I could come in and just be pretty relaxed and know I was going to have fun. Oh, good. Yeah, well, it's a fun person to do an impression of

because it's not someone I think people... It doesn't have to be spot on. Yes. You can kind of just... Those are the only impersonations I know how to do. Non-spot on. Because no one really knows that much about what Ted Turner sounds like. Right.

Not in a long time. Yes. You're in the area. Hey, did Ted, did you ever hear anything about like Ted Turner ever seen it and getting back to you in any way about it? Never heard anything. Once he sold TBS, he was like, I'm done with television.

Well, TBS never really seemed to have any notes. I mean, I don't know if that was part of Conan's deal coming onto it, but there were never network notes. No, none that I ever heard. Well, could we go back to, because you've had a long experience with late night TV.

I know that you were a big david letterman fan yes did you watch conan's late night at all was that a show that you watched as well or oh yeah yeah and in fact i got to work at letterman i was only there for about nine months and the i remember coming in the very first the first first night that I had come, they were doing this unusual thing. I guess they didn't usually have table reads at Letterman, but they said, we're going to try something new. Let's have a table read tonight. So we went around reading different sketches. And at the end of the first night of reading sketches, I got pulled aside because I was the new guy.

And the guy said, because I wrote some pretty weird, absurd things. And they said, that's good, but that seems a little more like Conan. Oh, funny. And I was intrigued because I was like, to me, that was a huge compliment. I think to them it was a compliment, too. I think they all loved what you were doing. But it always seemed to me like Conan was such a logical heir to the, to what Letterman was doing and kind of, you know,

the older he got, he would, the less likely he would go and participate in, in. Remotes. Yeah. Remotes away from the set, stuff like that.

Yeah. I'm not trying to slag on him. I think he would. No, no. Admit that that happened. But as that was happening, I was able to get my fix on that fun,

weird stuff that made me fall in love with Letterman through Conan, who like, you know, took the baton and really, you know, continued making crazy strides forward. So I, you know, huge love for David Letterman, huge love for Conan. They were always doing it right. Yeah. What do you think it was about their style that you just felt really vibed with your comedy? You just never knew what you're going to get. There was always something crazy and it didn't seem like it was trying to appeal to everybody. It was like, oh, they don't care if only a very small sliver of people are going to respond to this. And usually because they made that decision, more people would respond to it than they thought just because they weren't like trying to,

oh, but are people going to get that? Whatever. They just made a lot of good, strong, fun choices. And they made those choices with such confidence, even when they were not the best ideas, they went in with such confidence that they turned into the best ideas. But I mean, usually, I mean, that what a writing staff you guys have had pretty much the whole way through like those. I just remember those early days. That was when I was, you know, I had been at Letterman. And so I was buddies with John Glazer and I would meet people during that period. And then when I came to SNL, I kind of kept in touch with people. And you're like the New York Yankees with writers.

I love you call it confidence. I think born from having to put a show on every night. So it was just like, all right, I guess we're going with this. This is all we have. Right. No, it was so delightful. It was just so absurd. And it just was exactly what I wanted in a show.

So it was... Well, you mentioned Saturday Night Live. And of course, you started there, I think, in 2002. And did your Letterman experience working there help you assimilate at Saturday Night Live? Did it kind of, do you feel like it was good? I know you also worked on some sitcoms as well after you left Letterman, which I didn't know as a writer, which is amazing too. Did all that, did you bring that all to the fore when you went to SNL or was SNL such a different? That's an interesting question. Basically, I had come up through the Groundlings

and the Groundlings prepares you for that type of writing. Like every week you got to come in with new stuff, that kind of experience, which I think people who did stuff at Second City would probably have a similar mindset that you seemed kind of prepared for that type of weekly creative thing that you just had to constantly be churning out new material. That said, Letterman was so terrifying for me because I'd only had one job before Letterman.

Oh, wow. I worked at the Jenny McCarthy sketch show with John Glazer and John Benjamin. Oh, people. We were the writers on that show with, with some other people. But so to go into this experience where I'm getting to work for one of my comedy heroes, basically, you know,

and then flaming out, not doing a good job. Like I, it was just not a, you talk about Jenny McCarthy. Yes, exactly. flaming out not doing a good job like i it was just not a you talk about jenny mccarthy yes exactly my comedy and vaccine knowledge heroes it was just terrifying to think like when i went back to snl or got that opportunity to not go oh

my god there's another one of my to get in Right, right. Am I going to just flame out like I did at Letterman? Oh man, that's such a nightmare. Oh yeah, it was crazy. In the time between Letterman and getting the opportunity to audition at SNL, like you said, I did a couple sitcoms and they were such good experiences. Third Rock from the Sun and that 70s show were the...

Well, those were huge sitcoms. The last one. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was the first time that I had been at a sitcom that was successful and going to stick around for a while. So I'm like, oh, my God, am I going to give up this delightful experience where I've finally gotten on a show where it doesn't go just like 13 and out. So that was terrifying too. Yeah. So there was a lot kind of floating around in my head when I had to make that SNL decision. The first year I said no,

the first year I said no, I wasn't going to do it because I think I just pussed out. And then the second year they think I'd asked me back. Well, I'm glad they kept after you. Yes. I am too. Jeez. Also, saying no can be very powerful if you do it the right time. That's true. Maybe that's what made them want you more. What do you mean no? We must get forte.

I think that they thought it was like this, you know, power move. For me, it was just, you know, and I was trying to portray it like, I'm not sure, you know, I'm going to do this and that. Like, ooh, this elusive forte. And it's like, no, it's just like, oh, I don't want to fuck it up. I don't want to fuck it up. Well, I get that completely. Because, I mean, sometimes if you are successful too soon, that happens where it's like, oh, you know, you had this dream and then the dream comes true, but you haven't... Like you said, when you got Letterman,

you hadn't been at a daily show writing that rigorously before. I mean, I'm sure that that was a huge... That was just a shock for your system to have to write that much. Yeah, it's almost a curse for something that good to happen that soon. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, the one thing about Saturday Night Live that I had not really thought about was the fact that at Letterman, you just would,

you know, usually turn stuff into an inbox somewhere, you know, you'd go and walk it down and then somebody would read it later. At SNL, the stuff that I would write, you'd be writing to perform at the table. So I could actually, it would have its day in court and I would get to be in the court. Right. Well, I was, I guess I was one of the lawyers, but over there, you just kind of turn, you turn it in, right. You turn it in. You don't really get to hear it except for that very first night where, where they actually had a table read, which where then they didn't ever do that again. No, but that makes sense to you. As opposed to being funny on paper, you got to give it life.

Your ideas came to life at SNL. Yeah, because I would have no idea. When I would turn this stuff in at Letterman, you know, all the time I would look in, there were these boxes on the door, at least back when I was there, you know, little files that people would stick their assignments in. And I would go through people's things and read them and just read so much funny stuff. And then it wasn't always the stuff that I found the funniest to be the stuff making it onto the show,

which was always interesting. And, you know, and maybe, maybe I was making the wrong decisions in my head as to what was funny, but. That sounds like a hard, where you're not really getting communal feedback. It sounds a little disorienting and kind of almost like keeping you at an arm's distance in a way. You know, some of that stuff happens at SNL too. Like you will do a table read and something will go very, very well and won't make it into the show and you just kind of won't know why.

And you'll hear an excuse at some point later about why it didn't make it, which doesn't really make sense. And you're like, all right, all right. And then you have in your head though, how it went at the table read and you're like, all right, well, I know that was good. I wasn't crazy because it was getting good laughs, but then it's, it is also funny how when it's your thing, who knows how messed up your barometer is, you know? Like I could think

something went great. and then something else. If I was just an observer back that didn't have any connection to any of the sketches, it's like, what is it? Confirmation bias or... Right, right. You'd be rolling your eyes. Yeah. Maybe.

Yeah. Like I heard once there were all these wine-ophiles or whatever they're called. Oonophiles? What are wine? Oonophiles? Was I close? Oh, man. And they were, this was like a taste test thing. They were supposed to decide what was the best of these white wines, and they served them all red wines, but they were blindfolded.

And they had already been told they were white wines, so they were just, their minds convinced themselves that they were white wines, and these were all wine connoisseurs of the highest levels. I drank a pot drink last night, but I think something's still floating around in my head. Coming down from it. Yeah. I would think the table read and getting that acceptance or laughs from your peers, to me, if I was getting laughs at table reads, I wouldn't even care if it got on the show i think i'd be like well i'd care a little bit but but i i think that would sustain me for a long time i'd be like well they yeah it's almost better because then you don't have to see it potentially fail that's right

in the show for sure yeah for sure you're you're exactly right but at a certain point it starts to weigh on you a little bit right you know oh what, what, why, why didn't that make it on the show? What? Right. Yeah. Cause I would always be told in the beginnings, okay, look, you're, you know, the older people are, are going to get looked after the, you know, the people who were here. And it makes sense. You know, you people put your time in, you should, you should get looked after more. And, but I was told, Oh, your time will come when that's you. And so I would keep just churning out stuff. And this isn't just me. This is everyone. But specifically in my case,

it felt like I never then, after seven or eight years, was the one looked after. Then they were looking after the... Hey, I'm a senior. Yeah. But I was what what a place it was it was what an experience yeah uh one of a kind experience another reason why doing

your show was so right so fun and really nice at the time because i i didn't have any kind of outlet for for that kind of live interaction with an audience. So to get to come and just not have to break myself emotionally each week with that crazy SNL style. I just come in. Right. Matt O'Brien has written me this just real winner. And then I just get to go out and, yeah,

like go in front of this fun, energetic audience who was always, I don't know, those Conan audiences are the best. They're just always just so pumped. Yeah, we give them cocaine before the show. Yeah. Well, Will, you appeared as a couch guest on on late night as well um before you played ted turner oh yeah way back on late night what was that like for you to be a late night guest that

was terrifying it was in fact tonin was the very first one i ever i ever did oh wow we were wondering so it was i still remember i had worked out in my head exactly how i was going to tell every story down to the word like and then it was like uh-huh am i going to forget any of that like you know and and i remember going on and it was terrified and time kind of slowed down and you're like oh i everything. But there were like several sleepless nights beforehand. And it's, and I still get nervous before doing shows, but it's just, you get a little more used to it. It's, see, I remember Rachel Dratt saying at some point, like, oh, you know, some guests had fallen through

and she was going to come and she said, I'm going to go do Conan because they needed somebody to do something last minute. And I was like, Oh my God, I had so much respect for her to like going. It was, it was maybe even the day. I'm like, Oh yeah. You're going to know what to say. What do you hit it? We'd like, right. And then you just realize, Oh, that's right. You can just like talk like, like she's such a funny person anyway, that she could just go in with no material and, and just, you know, the audience would love her. Yeah, I think most people think that that's how all late night appearances are.

But actually, most people prepare like you were preparing. Yeah. That's rare to just show up. That's the one bright side of if you do something really stupid. You go, okay, well, at least I can, you well, at least I'll get to talk about this. I have one less thing to think about for a talk show because this will be a good story. Yeah, that's true.

Since you were used to playing characters all the time, was this one of the first times where you kind of had to be yourself? Like, I imagine that might be scary too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's weird because people would say, yeah, so just be yourself, but like a fun version of yourself,

like an exaggerated version of yourself. And you're like, what the fuck does that mean? Because you kind of come out and you don't really know until you get out there. And then you are whatever version of yourself that appears. And it's very weird to talk in front of an audience of people, but be talking as if it's just kind of a ho-hum conversation. Yeah, in a conversation.

But be yourself, but also make people laugh. Right. You know, it's just, it's a weird thing that took me a while to get used to. And I'm still, to a degree, getting used to it. Sure. You always have to prepare. But there's probably an evolution to late-night appearances for you, too, where you were a guest. As you became more well-known, did it get easier?

The more well-known, the more famous you got, did those late late night appearances become easier because the crowd was excited to see you? Or did you feel... Right, they already knew you were going to be funny. Right. I mean, it's still scary because you just, you know, it's not like I'm a, you know, a 100% of people like me type of guy. It's far lower percentages than that.

Who doesn't like you? You're very popular. I'm not weighing into this. I'm just saying I am somewhere below 100% on the likability range. You read one tweet, one negative tweet.

You just never know. First of all, I have had wonderful experiences where you definitely feel like, oh, this audience likes me and they're excited to see me. And that's a very good feeling to have. But then if you get one of those and then you get one which is like a very tepid response and you're like, oh, these guys don't like me. They hate me.

But it could just be like a different audience who doesn't get as excited for anything. Like, you know, but you just don't know you're sitting up there and I twist those things around a little bit in my head. And, and the more you do it, the more you just let it go and go, oh, this was, you know, it's somewhere on the spectrum of the things you've done. Some have gone really well. some haven't gone as well. And it's like, Michael is always just,

don't do the very, don't do the one that people talk about for years and years because of how shitty it was. And so I've been bad, but I haven't been like memorably bad. Yeah. You haven't gotten memed out for anything. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I wanted to ask about one story that you told in one of your late night appearances,

which was... What? About Max Weinberg in the locker room. Oh, yes. That... So, yeah, I used to go to the... Well, I don't know. 8H was the studio.

So on the eighth floor, there was an NBC gym. And I would... And this was when you were at snl i'm assuming it was when i was at snl yeah and i would go into the gym and then when i'd go into the uh locker room after my my workout you know you'd be going in and take a shower and and i would several times i i kind of went max post-shower and he was like some degree of getting ready. Like sometimes he was still just in his towel. But several times he was like, you know, he'd like, from what I remember, the part I really remember was just kind of.

From what I remember. It's burned into your brain. Blowing himself dry and blowing his body dry also. And then other people had told me that he would blow dry his butt and presumably his butthole, I believe. I can't remember. I would have to watch the story because it's been so long that my memories kind of fade away. Well, you said balls.

Definitely balls, yes. Definitely his testicles. Yeah, I had heard balls, so now I'm assuming it was the entire taint. Yeah, you gotta, you know, you're gonna get some freaking collateral. Yeah, you wanna work the whole area. Air puff in your, in your butthole also, so that is not

completely a lie. Yeah, I've heard that confirmed from people. So I was so surprised because I told that story to, uh, it might have been Dan. Yeah, Dan Ferg, probably Dan or Frank Smiley story to, it might have been Dan. Yeah, Dan, probably Dan or Frank Smiley. You know what, I think it was Dan on this one. Oh, right. I'm pretty sure it was Dan.

And, God, they're both so wonderful. They were always so great at, like, putting, helping put together your appearances. Yes, segment producers. Insider lingo, insider lingo. This is a very insider podcast. That's why you listen to the podcast.

Yeah. And I told him the story, and it was like, well, we can't just bring it on him. We have to ask him. I'm like, oh, there it goes. Oh. Oh, yeah. Not going to be able to do this story. I was wondering about that.

And they asked him, and he was like, totally cool with it. What? And it was so. Oh. I mean, I have so much respect for Max, because what a frickin'... Yeah. I mean, it's just...

Well, he was like, it's more airtime. Yeah. Exactly. I think he was dry-blowing his genitalia specifically to try to get mentioned on the show. He was playing the long game. That's the thing. It's like...

Yeah. He was doing it in front of every SNL cast member. That's how I go through life. If I was in Max's situation, I would go, I'm going to blow dry my balls in here. And on the positive side, it feels good. It dries my balls. And it's

great. And on the negative side, if anybody says anything, it's a fun story to tell on TV. It's win-win. Exactly. And it gets people thinking about my balls. Yeah.

Which is the goal. I was very excited that he said that he would let us talk about it. Yeah, give you his blessing. Because that was what a fun story. And Conan, obviously, with that kind of information just was so good at fielding that information. Well, you drained a giant blister that like for a couple of years, we had heard these stories. And then I think Colin Quinn came on the show and told the story, but without naming who it was. And then you came on and it was just, it was really cathartic to just have it all out there.

Because we had heard repeatedly, like every month or so, they'd be like, he did it again. We're hearing he dried them again up on the eighth floor. So thank you very much. I think that Dan had said that that particular day, they had had some really good E Street band news, like something, maybe it was like their first rehearsal for a tour and it went really well, or something really

good happened, so he was in a good mood and that was maybe why he was more likely to say yes to it. That's great. I think he's proud of his body. That's the takeaway. Not ashamed. It's a good bod. Keeps it tight. Will, do you have any off-screen Conan memories?

I mean, did you two chat when you'd come on and what was your relationship with him like? Not was. He's not dead. He was always so busy because he was running around. So I would usually chat a little bit more with Andy and love Andy too.

I mean, they're both fantastic. But other than that, like I, I, I ran into, uh, Martin Short had a, uh, a cocktail party and I somehow got invited to this and Conan was there. So I got to talk to him, but it was, it was just fun because it was, you know, a lot of different, I remember Conan was there and Kimmel and everyone's talking to, you know, everyone's, everyone's all friends, but you know, getting to see all these comedy legends and, and, uh,

just a bunch of people that I, that I have so much respect for, uh, was, was really, really fun. But that was one of the rare outside of work experiences I had seeing Conan, you know, he's's like it's like spotting a albino rhinoceros yes exactly i was trying to look oh a kiwi bird spotting a kiwi bird in the day i just spent some time in new zealand so i was curious are you doing a live action version of you mentioned acme oh so it's like a who framed roger rabbit type deal okay it's you know live action and a mixture of the two okay got it yeah live and animated but i got to play uh

wiley coyote's uh lawyer oh which is very exciting very exciting it's so it's it's really fun they're they're everyone's really nice and we start a week from Monday. So I'm looking forward to it. That's very exciting. Yeah, I'm excited. Well, good luck. Thank you. And Will, do you have any final favorite?

Were there any Conan memories that we didn't get to? Or any memories from... I just will always remember. It really was fun every single time I did it. But I will never forget being a part of that New York show. When he came back, the people were so rabid to see Conan and just being a part of that show was just,

I mean, it was just something I'll never forget. It was such a people's, it just showed me how much people love Conan and how excited they were to have him back. You know, he was, he was a part of New York,

very much like, you know, like Saturday Night Live. You can't not think of New York when you think of Saturday Night Live. And Conan really inserted himself in there and was like another of the New York icons. So, you know, when he left, New York was short an icon. It was really fun to be a part of people showing their love for Conan. And, you know,

I'm one of those people who's been a huge fan since he started and sort of gotten to be a part of this show. And enough of a part of the show that I'm actually on a podcast talking about him. You know, I would have been very excited if I, starting out in the business, knew that, you know, 25 years later, I'd be in this position, I would go, Oh, good. You'd be, first of all, like, what's a podcast?

Isn't that just radio? I don't understand. You got a good point. You got a good point. Thank you, Will and Will's dog for joining us. Yes, all the way from Albuquerque, New Mexico. That's right.

Let's read a listener question. I love listener questions. Me too. Because it means there's listeners. That's true. Who are literate. Who are literate. Exactly.

That's always been a goal for us. Oh, yeah. Let's hear it. Okay. Hi, Jesse and Mike. I really love your show. Now I feel like our producer wrote this. Correct me if I'm wrong, but

I believe I heard that the Conan writing staff, like the staff at a lot of other late night shows, are broken up into two teams. The monologue writers and the sketch writers. Is this true? And if so, which teams were you on? Did you ever get to switch to the other side? And do you prefer writing monologue jokes or sketches?

Best, Alyssa. Thank you, Alyssa. Okay, that's my middle name spelled like that. Wait, is that true? It's true. A-L-Y-S-S-A? It's spelled like that. Wow.

Okay, let's answer her question. So yeah, Alyssa, you're right about this. Our staff was broken up into monologue and sketch. Yes. It happened that way right from the get-go in 1993. I'm guessing maybe, you know, with Robert Spiegel and Conan coming from SNL, maybe it was that kind of... Oh, Weekend Update? Weekend Update-y is more monologue joke versus sketch. I'm guessing. That makes sense. Yeah.

Yeah. So... And writers were traditionally hired for one or the other right absolutely yes it was like oh we have a monologue opening on the staff oh we have a sketch opening it was one or the other yeah and some people crossed over yeah some people played for both teams yeah wink. They're called traitors. Jose Arroyo did, I know. Yes. He would write monologue jokes. I mean, he, I think, would at least attend the monologue meetings and pitch there, right?

Yeah, no, he would regularly write and contribute monologue jokes on a regular basis. Yes, he really enjoyed exercising both muscles. And I will say, as things went on, I think towards the end of Late Night and all of TBS and The Tonight Show, a lot of the monologue writers did double duty and started pitching sketch ideas as well. Yes, which I was always impressed by because it just seemed very hard for me to do what they did. Even though I love writing monologue jokes, but the volume of jokes that they had to write was so astounding to me. Yeah, and I think we've talked about the stats for that before. And I think it's one of the more stunning statistics about a late night show is like four writers, four monologue writers would pump out around 140 jokes a day, which is

amazing. Only six or seven. Yeah. And it expanded like eight or nine as we went on. But that ratio, that output on a daily basis, and then the ratio of what's picked, I think are both kind of shocking numbers, I would think. It's really grueling. It's grueling, but it's also a muscle. And there'd be interns that would collect premises in the morning. And that's a skill where you kind of go, oh, this story has potential. That's a story, yeah. Right, right, right. And they do their own premises too. And then they would just sit down and wail on jokes and pump them out. But in the early days of late night, the monologue writers would go home right after the show taping.

Oh, wow. A little perk. And the sketch writers, because they also produced all the sketches. And also, the sketch writing just tended to almost start after dinner every night for the next day or the next few days. The sketch writers would be there like midnight every night. Oh next day or the next few days the sketch writers would be there like midnight every night so oh wow did they start later or no they all everyone started at the same time i i think informally they started later like they'd come in at like 10 or 10 30 they were just tended to be later probably yes whereas the monologue writers kind of had to get a jump because their first batch of jokes would be due around noon. Yeah. So I think they just, even on their own, waking up at home were like on the clock, so to speak, more.

Well, in the early days, it was probably, was it reading a newspaper? I mean, that's... Yes, it was. We had newspapers. Wow. You know, famously, the New York Times was terrible for joke writing. Which were good. The New York Post. USA Today. Oh, USA Today.

Yeah. And the New York Post. Yeah. Kind of more the more tabloidy. The rags. The rags would give you kind of more pop stuff. You know, the New York Times back then, especially, you know, there's stories they wouldn't even touch till, I mean, it's pre-internet. Yeah.

But, you know, they might not ever touch back then, you know. So when you were hired, was it as a monologue or a sketch writer? As a sketch writer. Yes. Same for me. Which I loved. Yeah. And you were a sketch writer. Yeah. Before that, before I got hired as a sketch writer, I was providing a few jokes for the monologue. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Faxing them in? Or no, they didn't do... No, they didn't do that. Faxing. They would put me on speakerphone for the monologue meeting. Oh, my God. Oh, it was so terrifying. It was terrifying.

And you would just read your jokes out loud? Oh, boy. Yes. And I just pictured everyone pretending they were throwing up or something, you know, so it was, that was a little trial by fire. But have you had occasions where you wrote, where maybe a monologue writer was sick or it just for whatever reason they needed an extra hand yeah i would always love to write them um but yeah i would i would be like oh i just wrote eight jokes and i'm completely exhausted it's it's exhausting it was barely a drop in the bucket. It is very, like I mentioned, like, oh, the monologue writers got to go home early. But everyone recognized that that was a very intense, very super focused kind of job that, yes, you'd be kind of a dishrag at the end of every day.

Yeah. And that's one thing that I think maybe people don't realize if they're trying to get into that space professionally, that it really is kind of, it's a muscle that you have to build up. And that kind of writing is so athletic that you need to start training now if you want to do it, because otherwise you physically won't be able to do it when you start that job. It's physically demanding. It's true. And I mean, I know that there are certain late night shows where the submission process does require you to do jokes every day for a week, which I think is a really good exercise. So that's something that people should try to start doing is just force yourself to write jokes every day. And I mean, obviously you can dump them on your Twitter,

wherever jokes are sold. But it's good to get in that practice because otherwise, you won't be able to keep up. And then let's say you're submitting monologue jokes to a specific late night show. Even if you've built up that muscle, you have to now try to gear it

towards the voice of the host you're submitting them to. Yeah. And that requires a little homework too, watching the show, getting a sense of the rhythm and how they do it. You know, some late night people, if you saw the joke in print, it would be a whole paragraph of four sentences. It's almost like a little story. And then others, like Conan would be very set up punchline. Set up punchline. The few words as possible.

Right. And also they'd cover, you know, Conan would cover different topics and other late night, obviously like the Daily Show would be much more deep dive into, you know, politics. Yeah. So all those things have to be considered too. Oh. You know, it was always scary backstage if cone was on the fence about a joke and if i was like you know what i think that's gonna do well do it oh yeah and you'd have to sell it to him that's where i was like oh

you know like if it didn't do well i'd get a glance on camera maybe look at you personally right oh yes yeah yeah it hilarious. It's just a little thing. But then I've told this story before. A lot of times he'd come up with a joke in the monologue meeting at the end. And if that joke killed, he would pause and look at me with a big smile on his face. Oh, my God. Yeah, it's great. That was fun. He would love it either way. That's right. No, if it didn't do great, it'd be, well, of course, all his jokes killed. Yes, of course. That goes without saying.

Yeah, that was a good question. We didn't really even talk about sketch, but I think... We didn't. Because I think the way the monologues put together is surprising to hear about, I think. Yeah, I think we've covered sketch stuff. Such a grind. Yeah. Well, hey, if you want to hear us talk

for a long time about your question... And if you can guess Jesse's confirmation name... Then please submit your list of questions on our hotline. Hotline. It's 323-209-5303. It's free.

You don't have to pay for this one. Or you can email us at insideconanpod at gmail.com. That's our show. I guess this is our 101st show. It's our 101st, which is just a regular show. Yeah. Next milestone will be a thousand, I guess. And hey, if you like the show and you want to hear us get to a thousand,

you can support us by rating Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast on iTunes and leaving us a review. That would be great. I don't read anything, but as long as, or listen, it's my, the only way I can do this without just cracking, cracking up.

Thank you guys for listening. We love you. Inside Conan, an important Hollywood podcast, is hosted by Mike Sweeney and me, Jessie Gaskell. Produced by Sean Doherty. Our production coordinator is Lisa Byrne. Executive produced by Joanna Solotaroff, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross at Team Coco.

Engineered and mixed by Will Becton. Our talent bookers are Gina Batista and Paula Davis. Thanks to Jimmy Vivino for our theme music and interstitials. You can rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. And of course, please subscribe and tell a friend to listen to Inside Conan on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or whatever platform you like best. It's the Conan Show. Put on your hat. It's the Conan Show Put on your hat It's the Conan Show Try on some spats

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