The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: Me Cago En La Leche (feat. Alex Palou)

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

Alex Palou, the winner of the Indianapolis 500, joins us for another edition of Refrán Del Dia and a game of Indy 500 for your life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The tequila that invented tequila. Proximo, Cuervo.com, please drink responsibly. Cuervo dot com. Please drink responsibly. Quervo. This is the Dan LeBattor Show with the Stugatz podcast. This episode of the Dan LeBattor Show with Stugatz is presented by Draft Kings. Draft Kings, the crown is yours. Stugatz, Alex Palo isn't just a champion. He is the greatest. And I don't know whether he's willing to

say he's the greatest or not but he's a three-time IndyCar Series champion. He's looking to go back to back this season. He's won five of his last six races which is crazy and finished second in the other one and he got the Indy 500 yesterday. He's the first Spaniard to do so so we're very excited to have Alex on the show. Thank you for joining us, Alex. What have the last 24 hours been like for you? How did you sleep? How did you celebrate?

How crazy has life been? Thank you guys for having me on the show, but it's been crazy. I mean, as you can see, I lost my voice, been a lot of screaming and celebrating with the team, with the family. Can you tell me what the highlight was after winning and all of the experiences of the last 24 hours?

Just the milk. After the winning, does it have to be the milk? Yes, I would say the milk. I mean, the milk is the biggest tradition, right? And it's the biggest difference to all other races instead of champagne is milk. And that milk tasted so good. I loved it every second of it.

But I would say the victory lap we did at the end. So basically I went over a pickup truck and I did a lap after the race was complete, just saying hello to the fans and thank you. So that it was the first time that I was able to experience so many fans and to celebrate with them. There was a lot of people that stayed with us to celebrate at the end. So that was probably one of the highlights. How about in terms of people you heard from, somebody you were able to share it with, that it was a little extra moving

than it might have been other, undercirc- somebody who understood what it meant for you to win this race. I haven't had much time to go over the phone and all the messages, honestly, it's been nonstop. But I heard there was Pau Gasol that used to be in the Lakers that he's been following me lately, I think, because he knows that obviously I'm from Spain

and I'm racing here in US, so similar to him. Then I received a letter from the kings of Spain, which that's pretty cool. I mean, it's not every day that you receive a letter from them. So yeah, I cannot wait to go and scroll all over the messages that I got. So you literally went pow before the king.

You did go pow-gasol, bit of a stunner to go pow over the king. He's a legend, Dan. But also stunning that you just simply haven't had time to listen or look at your messages. Have you slept at all? I slept, yeah, I would say like four hours after the race. And then another four or five hours last night,

we went to the banquet celebration last night in Indianapolis. And we got to New York at about 1 AM.m. so yeah it's been it's been non-stop but honestly it's been amazing like I'm enjoying every second of it I'm very tired but I'm loving. Dan introduced you as the greatest Indy car driver of all time are you? No absolutely not. Wow is that what he did? I mean, it's a... No one's had this kind of start since AJ Foite. It was 50 years ago.

He's having an incredible season. People don't really know. This race takes like three weeks to qualify and practice for. There were over seven million people watching, over 350,000 people in attendance. I'm sure part of the celebration is, well, I've done it, but also, where do you go from here? You're in the middle of one of the greatest seasons ever.

It's kind of hard to kind of reacclimate to the grind of the regular season in an Indy car. Yeah, honestly, it's been an amazing start of the season for us at Chip Ganassi Racing and the 10 car. Like we've won five of the first six races, have never experienced anything like that, but the team has done an amazing job on giving us a really fast car every single weekend.

Where do we go from here? Detroit, I mean, this weekend, we have a great opportunity to try and win at Detroit, try and do our best there. It's gonna be tough. Like, I cannot have the best preparation that we normally have being on the media tour, but it'll be fun.

And then trying to win the championship this year would be super cool to win the Indy 500 and the championship the same year. Can you take us back to what your thinking was about this as a life and career when you were opening a coffee shop with your wife before all of this winning started, and you thought that maybe that would be the career for you

if racing didn't work out? Yeah, that was back in 2018. I was, I didn't know if I was gonna have a real chance. I was not a professional back then. Like I was racing all over the world, but it was tough to get like a real contract for like years. So I didn't think or I didn't know if I was gonna have a career.

So we were like, you know what, let's do something together with my wife. So we opened a coffee shop. We ran it for two years and then we moved to America as soon as I moved to IndyCar. So we sold it. It was fun. We learned a lot and I'm glad that my racing career

went better than my coffee shop career. Well, you were terrible. You were terrible at it, right? You were doing all of the work. You were cleaning tables, but you were a terrible coffee shop owner, were you not? I was not doing everything, but I did clean a lot of tables

and I did make a lot of coffees. I thought I was decent. I was working my ass off every single day there because it was our business, but it was fun. It was a huge learning experience. All right, forgive me, a correction. Were you a successful coffee shop owner? Was the coffee shop something

that would have been a good career if racing hadn't worked out? Oh yeah, absolutely. It was great. Like honestly, it was on this little town in Spain called Girona. It's like an hour away from Barcelona, a lovely town. And yeah, it was going really well.

Then COVID hit us, we were still doing great. But yeah, I think it would have been a good business. But if I had come to you then and said, what are your wildest dreams look like that are realistic right now in racing? Does it look anything like your last six races? Absolutely not. Like my goal back then was to hopefully one day

be part of IndyCar. When I say be part, it's just like have a contract of like one year and be able to make all the races and have fun and hopefully get a win or something. But yeah, it was not what we have today. This is a wild dream that I'm living on and yeah, it's insane. It seemed like the conditions this year were unique.

The track was damp because there was a delay as all the drivers were in their car. You had very seasoned veterans making mistakes, cars stall out on the pit. Connor Daly admitted to peeing himself. Kyle Larson has a spin out and takes out Stingray Robb. It was a very confusing race for people that are just jumping into IndyCar mid-season. What was so difficult about the cars and the track this year? Well, it was the first time we had the hybrids at the Speedway.

It just added a little bit of weight, a little bit stress to the tires. Then the conditions were not amazing. Like it was super cold. I think it was the coldest Indy 500 we had in the past 10 or 15 years. So it was tough to get the tires into temperature. It was easy to make mistakes. And at the same time, it's the, the field is so close that you need to go super aggressive nowadays since, since lab one, just to try and move yourself up front and have a chance at the end to fight for the win. So, um, yeah, it was tough to get into a rhythm with so many yellows at the beginning, but, uh, yeah, I'm glad everything worked out for us.

Have you ever peed yourself? Um, no, no, no, never, never until today. Never. Um, Connor did, I know some drivers did, but, um, yeah, never until today. Never. Connor did. I know some drivers did, but yeah, I was close actually. I was close. We had the rain delay at the beginning of the race. We're sitting in the car for like 35 minutes.

There was nothing going on. Just think that we try and hydrate as much as possible before the race, because it's gonna be a long two and a half, three hours, and you know, you're gonna to sweat a lot. So being, uh, sitting in the car for like 35 minutes without doing anything, um, your mind started being like, okay, Alex, you need to be, you need to be, you need to be. Um, so yeah, I think that's what happened to Connor. That's what he said, but I'm glad they didn't have to make it.

Can you explain to the person who might not understand the physical, emotional, and mental drain of how you feel after a race when you have gone in that particular heat, losing, I don't know, how much weight do you lose during one of these races, and how exhausting is it to be that kind of focused for that long? I would say we lose about four or five pounds

of just pure sweat. Just think that it's a 500 mile race. Although we're going really fast, it's still 500 miles that you're sitting and strapped in that racing car. The suspension is made for performance, not for being comfortable. We don't have power steering. We don't have power brakes. It's quite physical. And then just the mental stress of like,

not being able to relax for two and a half hours. You need to constantly know what you're doing, look for any accidents around you and try and avoid any scenarios. So yeah, it's fun. It's fun what we do, but for sure it's exhausting. How often will you have drifting thoughts where you're like just thinking, you know I really enjoyed that ham sandwich in Portugal that time there or like how often do you have thoughts that aren't about racing while racing?

And there's I mean during the race it happens sometimes sometimes it happens that you're like Oh, wow that that coffee man or I need a coffee, or you start thinking about stuff. But it's important to refocus super quick. It's, I think that's the key. It's normal to have thoughts that are from the outset that are not related to racing. We don't have it, at least I don't have it very often, but sometimes happens during the race.

Any chance of you going to F1? No, I tried. Like I tried three years ago. I did some testing with it, but didn't really have a full time rider. So it was better to focus on IndyCar, trying to get as many wins and championships as possible. So yeah, man, now I think I'm in a in a in a perfect

scenario with with the team with a with a 10 car DHL with us like we have an amazing group of people. And there's not many places that that I would rather go than where I am and actually would be really, really tough to live. Also, it seems like it's a really difficult thing to do racing multiple circuits. I know you came from F1, Kyle Larson had the famous double attempt this past Sunday. Only one time has it ever been successful. I don't know if you're at the point where you feel like you have enough accomplishments that you can even entertain,

maybe possibly pull on a double. NASCAR seems to be about it and affords someone doing it the other way coming from IndyCar going into a NASCAR. But Kyle Larson seems very dejected, had a very frustrating day out on that track. And it sounds like he doesn't necessarily want to give it another go. What kind of advice would you give him? Because it did bring a lot of good attention to the sport.

Oh, it was great. It was huge for us, honestly. Like Kyle is an amazing driver. Not only he's good, but also like how he carries the sport and how he talks about it. It's amazing. He's an amazing driver. I think it's just very, it's a very long two weeks for IndyCar. Like we are there, the pressure is on, you're there like every single day at the track,

it's long days and then combining that with something else, it has to be very demanding physically and emotionally, mentally, everything. So I think it has to be very tough. I would say that nowadays it's easier for a NASCAR driver to come to IndyCar because we have so much testing. While if there's an IndyCar driver that wants to go to NASCAR for the double, you don't really have much the double, you don't really have much testing. So you don't really have the opportunity to learn about the car, the team, and just to get comfortable with it.

Although I would love to do it. If I had the opportunity, the good opportunity one day, why not? I love racing cars. I think I would get in trouble there. Like these guys know how to race on ovals very well and their style of racing, it's a little more aggressive than what we have in IndyCar, but still would be fun to one day try it.

The NTT IndyCar series continues this Sunday, June 1st on the streets of downtown Detroit, 1230 PM Eastern on Fox, the Fox Sports app and IndyCar radio network. Alex, you went to the Nick Pacers game after winning the Indy 500. I'm wondering, courtside seats? Yes. Yes. Did you leave when the Pacers were up 20? No. So I actually entered a court when I think they were about tight, then they were up 20, the energy was super high, and I stayed until the end,

and yes, the energy at the end wasn't great. How, have you sat courtside before, or this is fresh off the championship, and this is, you were expecting courtside, like would you have not gone in if they had put you 17 rows up? I would still have gone, honestly, I just wanted to celebrate a little with more people to get the vibe

I mean the energy at the at the city right now. It's it's amazing But yeah, it was my second time being courtside It's it's amazing like it you need to be also like all the time in alert because like these guys that are like I don't know how tall and they just come aggressive at you. So yeah, it was a fun time. It was a fun night. And yeah, I was glad to be able to experience it once again. Tony wants to play a game with you. Your English is exceptional, but it is not your first language.

And so Tony wishes to play a game with you in your first language. Let's play it Very good, very good. Ok, so we're going, let's spin the wheel and see where it lands. Roy has no idea where the wheel is. He doesn't know. It's in Spanish. Great fake wheel. Alright, I know where it landed. Excellent.

Alex, can you please let the people know what Me cago en la leche means. Oh my god. Me cago en la leche means? Oh my god. Me cago en la leche. That would be like, I mean, do I need to translate it? Or the meaning of the phrase? Because if I translate it, I'm gonna

shit on that milk. But it has a different meaning. That is right. Well hold on a second. Just so you know, the Indy 500 winner has said that he's gonna shit on that milk. That is what he has said. But, and so we've gotten him in a huge amount of trouble.

Well, he's explaining what this means to me. Well, no, no, that's what he said. We all heard him. I'm not liking this game. We all. I'm not liking this game. Shit on the milk, what? Yes, but you can also say what it means to say,

I'm gonna shit on that milk, which makes no sense. Yeah, it makes no sense, but it's more like saying, dang it, or yeah, some words that I prefer not to say here. Okay, well, it's too late. You already said them. We tricked you because you're tired after your delirium. On this one last note before we let you go, can you explain to us the historical perspective

of what it means to win this particular race, which is different for anyone who cares about racing than all the other races? It's huge, it's amazing. It's unbelievable to be in this position to represent the Speedway, to represent the 500 miles, and I would say motorsport in general.

It was a dream of mine to one day be here. But honestly, like it's not it's not only an important race for the motorsport community. It's also important for everybody that it's not normally following motorsport. They learn about it, they hear about it. And we had like 8.4 million people watching the end of the race on Sunday on Fox. So it's huge. It's worldwide. And it's amazing to be part of it.

Final question here. We play a game around here called Indy 500 for Your Life. OK, I'm going to give you two drivers. You have to pick one of them. If that guy were to lose, you would die. OK? You understand the game? Wow.

Yes. A lot of pressure. I'm not liking your games, guys. I know. I don't blame you. OK, but Indy 500 for Your life. You have two options. Okay, Alan sir or AJ foit. Who you going with I Would say probably AJ foit. Yeah, you're living. All right. Congratulations Alex gets to live He's the first racer since AJ foit in

1979 five of six races and again, he finished second in the other one and they also shits on your milk thank you sir gracias congratulations thank you guys deeply embarrassed he did say it we've got it for all time now bad spot milk is kind of like a big deal when it comes to yes we did well that's why I did the thing he said like you want me to saying literally translate or give you the meaning and you're like no literal and like he was like like got your want me to like literally translate or give you the meaning? And you're like, no, literal. And like, he was like, trying to like, got your journalism. That's exactly what we did there. Hey, listeners, listen up, because I know that approaching the summer, you're probably as busy as I am, but also as desperate as I am to find some healthy meals that you can fit into those

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Don LeBattard. What is the worst part of the life? Stugats. Don Lebatard. What is the worst part of the life? Stugats. The worst part of the life of what? This is the Don Lebatard show with the Stugats. My sense is he misses that coffee shop. I mean seriously, did you guys sense that? I wanted to ask him if he wanted to get back in, I'd go 50-50. Little espresso lane. I mean, how about that?

I like it. You're in? I like that. You're in, huh? Yes. Greg Cody had an opinion here today that I had not heard from him before, and I don't know what instigated it. Greg Cody has said that in general, cities are bad at celebrating championships.

And first of all, I don't know how he arrived at the take and I don't know why he's having it today. Is there something in particular that got your attention on celebrating championships where a city did it poorly? Well, there was the thing in Liverpool, they were celebrating a soccer championship and a car. It wasn't terrorism or anything. Maybe it was an accident, but a car drove into a crowd.

Wherever cities are celebrating, major cities, you hear about people are falling from lamp posts and fireworks are going off, and there's all kind of mayhem. Why can't we just celebrate to celebrate without feeling like we have to like mob mentality where everybody's all of a sudden doing things they shouldn't do. And it just I think cities need to really take a step back and rethink the whole idea of how we celebrate what should be nothing but a joyous stand to the side. Stand to the

side. I think you're saying organize it more, right? I mean something. It's just, it's gotten out of hand. And it used to be like Detroit always had that reputation. Now I feel like it's every city. There are incidents going on, like the Kansas City Chiefs, there was a big crime during their celebration. Mass shooting?

Yeah, I mean it's just it's become depressing almost because when a team wins a big championship and there's a big celebration, a parade, what have you, you almost expect something terrible to happen. Well let me explore this part with you guys because obviously if you mix emotion, joy, or any emotion with liquor you're going to have a certain sense of danger involved and risk involved but if on top of that I say to you the following sports create an emotion unlike anything else in your life if you're a sports fan if I say greatest day of your life when did you exhibit the most emotion I don't know if you jumped up and down and screamed when your children were born or whatever you

view is the happiest days of your life But you'll do that in a game three of a series screaming at the television with an emotion Outsized compared to all of your other emotion and emotion you share with strangers in a way You don't even at concerts when you go to concerts There's nothing like sports in terms of triggering both crazy emotions, high end and low end. And then of course, when I throw a bunch of people together and those crazy emotions and permission to be joyous and out of control, all of those things can be a powder keg that there are no boundaries for, right? That security isn't going to prevent people from getting trampled in crowded places.

I don't know outside of Pamplona a lot like it in terms of I'm going to put these ingredients together where there's danger and a party and I'm going to throw emotion into the mix and then I'm not going to get any collateral damage. It should be noted though, this happened over in the UK. Outside of the Kansas City ones, most championship parades here in the United States go without incident. And it's a massive logistical hurdle that many teams and communities clear. This one was different.

And I think you're fair to criticize if you watch the buildup and how that video happened with this particular attack, it seemed totally avoidable and a building up of tension and all the emotion and yes certainly some alcohol fueling to it but this was a very like UK issue this particular incident. Well when when you're in a stadium I think one of the greatest parts of being a fan is you're in in the stadium the home team scores a big touchdown wins a huge game you're high-fiving with neighbors in the stands that you don't even know, right? There's a real communal, community feeling. There should be that same thing when 100,000, 300,000 people are gathering to celebrate winning a championship, but it as often as not,

and I don't think it's rare that it happens, as often as not it gets out of hand. Whether it's just a few people causing trouble, I don't think it's rare that it happens as often as not it gets out of hand whether it's just a few people causing trouble I don't know the dynamic of that it's free and it's a free-for-all but why is there's no assigned seating why so everyone free-for-all because that won't because it's free and everyone wants to try to get the best seat that's part of the problem they're fighting to get closer to the parade I don't think you're right though the math I'll have to call my math friends but I don't think you're right on the idea that it happens more often than not. You'll have your occasional arrest but obviously something like what happened in Liverpool is noticeable

enough that it's not common in any way for a car to go careening into a crowd and also then the subsequent reporting to show it's not terrorism because we've got that general fear around everything that we're doing around the globe these days. But I want to ask all of you, what finishes second place to this set of ingredients? The joy around winning a championship, creating for a bunch of human beings an outward emotion all of us can see that looks bigger than any other emotion they've shown in their life for anything that

they get to share with strangers and a community. I want to know what the distant second is on now add liquor to that and see where all of it goes and how dangerous that will be if I put all of those things together. I think that contextually too, it's, it's, there were other trophy celebrations going on in the UK simultaneously. Tottenham won their first trophy in over 30 years for the Europa League final and they've had a dreadful season so they had every reason a party to the absolute peak went without incident. Crystal Palace is a club that never wins trophies. They win the the FA

Cup. They have their big celebration. Liverpool, championship parades, fairly commonplace recently over there. I think if you look at this in a vacuum, you can make all sorts of changes and everything like that, or you can look at it on the surface and realize we don't really see things like this. I don't know all the times a car has gone careening into pedestrians during a parade. I understand the images were shocking, totally avoidable, really heartbreaking, but I don't know if you want to stand in the way of tradition because this one incident when there were a lot of breakdowns here.

The last time it happened was in New Orleans where a car drove into a crowd. It wasn't celebrating a champion. No, that was a terrorist attack. It was, but I don't agree with Greg on his premise that this happens more often than not. I think more often than not, these things go off without major incident and I still want an

answer to my question what else in the world exists that is this particular cauldron where it is inviting some of it if you've got people out of control with emotion even if it's happiness like it can happen too with unhappiness, but even if it's happiness, I really don't have a life example for you on things like this that are shared with strangers where you're going to be outside yourself with what is normal emotion,

and now you're going to mix it with a bunch of people where you're just out of control with delirium. I don't think there's anything else because how many things in the world are this many people getting together at the same time? Obviously there's concerts or music festivals, then that's it, right?

Anything else? And there have been bad situations at music festivals. Tragedy with the Astroworld, the Woodstock 99, things can go out of hand. I was recently at a music festival in Daytona and there were 250,000 people that went through the turn cells for the three day weekend during a heat wave. And you would think, metal festival,

all the makings of things going bad, and they go out of their way to lower the price of water, allow reentry, really good concert organizers go out of their way to mitigate some of these circumstances that could lead into a tragic situation like Astroworld. You get a Scarlet Fire second set at a dead show, you'll see strangers hugging strangers. The fact it's a lyric in the song,

strangers stopping strangers just to shake their hands. That's drugs though, that's not emotion. Oh, it's totally mushrooms, yes. I wanted to ask you guys something here because I told you I've been talking recently on Apple Plus TV that Seth Rogen, I underestimated him. I think of him with a certain kind of comedy that feels like Pineapple Express or 40-year-old Virgin or anything in that realm, which is funny, but not necessarily smart and captivating

or artistic. And the studio on Apple TV is an extraordinarily funny and well-made artistic endeavor. It's a beautiful thing. But there's another thing that I've seen recently in comedy that I cannot recommend strongly enough. And you know if you've been listening for a while that uh...

that i regard this man as a genius because of his comedy being just so extraordinarily likable and enduring uh... but conan and brook a conan o'brien must go is uh... the funniest travel show ever made and and it follows conan without borders which was also exceptional it is such ambitious comedy and television that he's making while ripping everyone off so that he can just travel the world and see the entirety of the world and travel shows

are the easiest thing in in the world to make they're not easy to make but they're not easy to make funny they're not easy to make this kind of well where they have range and creativity and there are only three episodes so far but what he tried to achieve with Conan without borders which was great he has now surpassed because he has gotten better at the making of a travel show and it is just wildly entertaining to see him make fun of himself in a way that's likable and give himself over physically to something that is just wildly funny.

It's also odd for a 62 year old to keep their funny. He's been in comedy for close to 30 years. He's had a shtick. Usually the act runs dry, that well runs dry, especially someone who relies so much on the physical aspects of comedy. He's diving around at a soccer game, busing himself open at north of 60s. So it's really the ambition to do this in your 60s,

the ability to remain relevant, to remain funny, doing the same jokes that you've been done in terms of physical comedy, well into your 60s is not a grace that we afford comedians all that much. But he makes it work with writing and delivery. Not only that though, Stu Gotz, because he's got a lot of help from famous people and funny people, but it is rare. I am grateful for our partnership in a thousand different ways and I am grateful

for you as the helper on the things that we do for 20 years. But what he does with Jordan Schlansky, his sidekick on being just the obnoxious, smarter than every one person, but always as the straight man and neither one of them breaking characters, allowing Conan not to be the butt of the joke, but allowing Conan to make someone else the butt of the joke in a way that's really likeable because the guy that he's doing this with is a friend who's purposely trying to be unlikable and effortlessly doing so because he is unlikable with how much he knows. It is a comedy team, I'm not kidding you, for all time.

If you listen to Conan Needs a Friend and what he's doing on Sirius XM, what they're doing in partnership, I'd argue is, and this is a compliment, okay, because this man has had 30 years on television making things different than everyone else. I'd argue that what he's doing now is the best of what he's doing,

because he's most comfortable and most likable in a format that doesn't have the rigidities and the cold of television and television lights. So he's connecting with his fans. And this particular project, Mike, I don't know what you've been most impressed by watching, but the way that he ends up, for example, doing things way that he ends up, for example,

doing things that test the limits of, I'm just going to appear randomly in a famous soap opera in that country where they don't even speak English or Norwegian rap song. His improvisational skills too are just top level elite because a lot of what goes on to the show and I don't mean to I don't see the script I don't know what exactly they're planning but the way that it feels is alright we're just gonna have you talk to this person that hosted like a Viking cosplay thing and just go be funny that's a very difficult goal to achieve hey funny man just in your 60s go be funny and make us laugh and improv and you

don't know what this person is going to say you react and you make the people laugh and he delivers. Yes there's great production there are big players around him that make it work but ultimately at the heart of it it lives and dies with Conan O'Brien's performance to be as funny as he's ever been at 62 years old and to also be endearing to the audience not push people away a guy doing physical comedy and doing the same sticky stuff that you've seen him do that can grow tired and grating on an audience and he finds a way to apply enough humanity and be likable enough that you end up rooting for him even when he's antagonizing people around him it's a special skill

that he has. I cannot tell you how high a compliment I'm giving him personally given how much I admire 30 years, more than 30 years of work for somebody who worked on The Simpsons and his talk show was groundbreaking even amid the giants of late night television to call the work he's presently doing the best of his career. It's just a huge tribute to wherever it is, his neuroses and his needs for attention make him somebody who has to be the clown, who gets people's attention and knows how to get their attention with funny, but also pulls off the second trick,

which is the hardest thing to do. The likeability is indisputable. Anybody watching that is going to come away you might not even think he's funny but you're like man that that guy is great around people it's just so nice to see him create he's comfortable just such a contagious sort of happiness that he's spreading by embracing i'm a six-foot six red clown

clown with crudely painted eyes like you'd find on a doll and making fun of himself physically and having very little ego and then on top of that having a conversation on his podcast network with john mayer for example where you're like oh my god i knew john Mayer was smart and interesting. I had no idea that he had that range as both smart and funny that Conan O'Brien just brought out of him because Conan O'Brien needs a friend. Like I really can't speak highly enough

about what Conan O'Brien is doing with this portion of his career. Comedians don't have runs like this. They don't. Look how sick people got of Jay Leno. Look how, stand up comedians. I mean, the Dice Man exists in a moment in time. The guy who had it was George Carlin. It's, yeah, to be a timeless act, but also sticky. And to have people still waiting for you

to do the sticky stuff while you're also challenging yourself on the improv, he's just, he's an alien. For him to be this funny for this long, to be that quick improvisationally, to have built out bits because what he does with Schlansky is like a really built out bit over time and still deliver time and time out. I'm just in awe of the guy. I remember 15 or 20 years ago the comedian Albert Brooks had a pretty, what I thought was a pretty inventive documentary or film. I don't know how they characterize it. I don't think it's that old. I think it's more recent than that. It's not 15 years old. Looking for comedy in the Muslim world is what I'm

talking about. Okay, it's a different one that you're, I'm thinking of the one he just made more recently. No, but that was the same type of thing where he's going to a foreign country and trying to find the comedy. But you're right about Conan O'Brien. I have such respect for him. I have yet to see this new series, but certainly will based on... You haven't seen either of them? You haven't seen Conan without Borders? The Norway thing is as good a standalone piece of television that, when the goal is we're gonna try to make you laugh with a travel show, I don't see how you could do it better than he did that. I would recommend it strongly. I would also say to you Roy, see if you can find for me,

because when he mentioned Albert Brooks, Albert Brooks, I saw the recent documentary on Albert Brooks that I believe was done by Judd Apatow, who has also done a very good documentary on Gary Shandling, and the details escape me right now on how the father of Albert Brooks died, but I want to get to that story before we get out of here, because comedically, it's dark comedy perfect for Albert Brooks' father to die, I believe, during a speech or during a performance

at a friar's roast of some sort, and the details are crazy on dark comedy on how it is that his father died, and memorable. Yeah, Harry Einstein died after performing a stand-up routine at Lucille Ball's induction into the Friars Club. This was back in 1958. He did the routine, he killed, and then he sat down, and then he died.

OK, but there was also a song that played right afterward that was basically a song about death and what you heard Roy write, Albert Brooks' real name is Albert Einstein. His original last name is indeed Einstein and his brother is Super Dave, our friend Bob Einstein. Rest in peace. I think a millennium that Kennedy honors,

which was also a very interesting point in time for that particular honored app, and said, being a Conan supporter is like rooting for a recreational center and underserved part of the community that is constantly under threat of being shut down. You feel like you have to do a GoFundMe every 10 years for Conan's career.

To be able to make your audience jump through so many hoops to have your back and to still lift them up with laughter after all these years, name another example of someone that's done that. The song was called, There's No Tomorrow.