The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Mike Sweeney (Re-Release)

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

The Three Questions will return for a NEW SEASON next week with a very special season premiere episode! Until then, we’re looking back at Andy’s 2020 conversation with Mike Sweeney - the executive producer and head writer of Sunday’s Academy Awards, hosted by our friend Conan O'Brien! The longtime Conan writer talks with Andy Richter about surviving a traumatic upbringing, his career trajectory from trial lawyer to head writer for Conan, and the value of being surrounded by funny people.  Do you want to talk to Andy and friends live on SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Radio? Tell us your favorite dinner party story (about anything!) or ask a question - leave a voicemail at 855-266-2604 or fill out our Google Form at BIT.LY/CALLANDYRICHTER. Listen to "The Andy Richter Call-In Show" every Wednesday at 1pm Pacific on SiriusXM's Conan O'Brien Channel. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hi, everyone. This is another episode of the three questions with Andy Richter, which is me. And my special guest tonight is someone that I have known for a very long time. It's practically family to me at this point. And it's Mike Sweeney, who is a longtime head writer on the Conan show. Now, what is your title now, by the way? Yeah, what is it? I guess writer-producer.

producer Yeah Well tell people Tell people what the difference is Between what you used to do and what you do now Um Because now is much Now is much better

Yes Let's just The bad thing has gone away I'm Well as head writer for 15 years Which I think is a sign of Mental Illness on my part Yeah

I don't think you're supposed to be The head writer of a late night show that long It is a sense It's a sense of, it's an indication of competence, of skill, of people skills, and also something really, really wrong with you. Very, very wrong. And that should be really at the top. The kind of the kind of codependence that you only find in someone who has made the choice to become someone's sidekick for the rest of their life. That's another kind of sickness. Yeah, but you took a big break there.

I did. I did. I took some time off and came crawling back. You seem much more mature. Came crawling back. So much, so much wiser and more mature the second time around. Well, now, but it did. It got crazy because you were having to, when Conan started doing a lot of these road remote kind of specials.

Right. You mean like weekly? Yeah. I mean, like shows in different cities? No, I mean like going to Armenia. You know, the travel shows. Right, right, right, right. But also, too, every time he had an extracurricular thing, like giving out awards at the Kennedy Center honors or something.

You kind of had to accompany him on that stuff. Yeah, I would like the White House Correspondence Dinner in 2013 is kind of wrangling that. But the travel, yes, going to, like being in Armenia, I remember that because all, all the writers were still working while we and they were writing beats for things. And so I'd like, it'd be 10 a.m. in Armenia and I'd be like, oh, or no, it'd be 11 at night. And I'd be like, oh, everyone's showing up at work now. So I've got to make sure I've gone through all their pitches and pick things.

And it was crazy to do both jobs. I remember, I think it was, because I think it was, because the only one I've ever been on is Berlin. And I think we were flying back from Berlin. right after having shot a whole remote and you were on the plane having to get ready and it was you know it's like Sunday and you're having to sit there and get ready Monday show ready on the plane ride back from Germany yeah yes and that was but you know what like I just yeah but you know what I had that muscle built up where you're just there's always another show coming yeah so

I was just like, okay, the plane ride home is when I'll figure that out. And you just have, because you, that was the hardest adjustment was there's a show every day. At tapes at 5.30, it has, something has to happen at 5.30. And because I'm, I'm, man, from school age on, I was a terrible procrastinator. Yeah. And that kind of beat it out, beat it out of you. Yeah, I can only get things done if someone else has set a deadline for me. That's just, that's how I.

Yeah. Like, I'm, I, I, I, I, I, in the same way, like, I will work really hard, but someone has to tell me to work. Yeah, yeah. If I'm in charge, it's, it's really bad. I, yeah, and I, I, I still, at this age, figure, I, I think like, well, I've got to change that, but I don't know if it's if I'm capable of it. I mean, I do, as time has gone on, I've gotten sort of more, because I've had to be in some way, like more self-directed.

But I don't know whether I should just go with it or keep trying to fix it. I am agon. This has been my agony for years and year. And my therapist, I feel, I just feel so bad. I should just cut them loose. It's like the same old, you know, I want to be doing more, but then when I'm left to my own devices, I don't do anything. Oh, my God. Can you make a tape so I can play it for my therapist so you can just hear it in a different voice?

Why don't we switch therapists? They would never know. For a while. It'll probably be the exact same. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It'll be like, Mike, I mean, Andy. Please, sorry. Yeah.

Yeah, no, it's bad. It's bad. Yeah, I, at the exact same crossroads, just lean in to being a lazy piece of shit and just go with it. Well, I prefer to think of it as other directed. Like, I'm directed by others. Like, I'm such a fucking empath, and I'm so devoted to my fellow man that that's why I'm a lazy slop. Because I'm just waiting for someone to give me the permission to reach my full potential. all your energy is going to other people.

Yeah, yeah. And you're not saving that time for yourself. How did that happen that you changed, that you switched from being the day-to-day head writer to then Matt O'Brien came in to do the day-to-day show? And you're sort of left to do more sort of, you're like an emeritus now. You do the travel shows and very funny written bits. You'll come in every now and then. Once in a while.

Yeah. Yes, when someone tells me to do it. And, you know what? It was like 2015. I was just like, I can't just keep doing this head writer job. It's just crazy. You know what it was? We did a week of shows at Comic-Con.

And every time we ever, you know, like we do a week of shows in Chicago, we do a week of shows in New York, we do a week of shows in San Francisco. I mean, you know what it's like. There's like 3,000 people in the audience. They go insane. When you walk out right before the show starts, there's a roar. You think the roof's going to fall in. And then the show starts, it's insanity.

And the first night of those weekly shows, I would always get a tingle up my spine. And I remember at Comic-Con, we had all this great comedy. The rehearsals went very well. the crowd was going insane and I it's the first time I didn't have the old excitement yeah it's like it I remember that I was like oh this this isn't ideal you know like the that crazy tingling excitement was gone so I thought is that the first comic con that we did yeah that was like in 2015 yeah because

we've done yeah haven't we done like four of them four or five yeah four or five yeah so I just kind of dwelt on that for a while and also it was really hard he wanted to be doing more travel shows and i was like well it's really hard to do that and the head writer yeah job because it's very time so i just went to conan and um proposed what if i stopped being head writer and just worked on the travel shows and any outside stuff you're doing like um he he hosted a Do you remember when he hosted the Nobel Peace Prize concert? Yes. In Oslo?

In Oslo. Yeah. But that was a ton of work, though. But it was also one of my favorite things ever because we were at the Nobel Peace Prize Award ceremony. It was him, me, Jason Shalemiard, field producer. And like, you know, our camera guys and Jason Munoz are sound man. And we were just like, we thought we were going to get arrested and tossed out of there. but and then he had to host a show for like 8,000 Norwegians in this cavernous arena at it was

it was crazy it well I mean when you think Nobel Peace Prize concert you go right to Conan O'Brien he's got to be there yeah you know what I think they stopped doing the concert the year after we did who were the bands who were the bands or was it like bands of like physicists A Beach Boys cover band. I was, Sting was there. I remember Sting was there. He's fun.

He's like a really good sport. He's done a lot of stuff with us. Yes, he loves comedy. And I learned a lot about the Nobel Prize. I didn't realize the Peace Prize was only in Norway. And the other ones are all in Stockholm, Sweden. Did you know that?

No, I didn't. And I wonder why. For some reason, they decided to throw a bone to Norway. I don't know why. So they're like, we'll give you the Peace Prize. Yeah.

So they've this building that's made just to pick the Peace Prize winner once a year. But there's a whole giant building. The whole thing's a sham. They've got to be able to rent that out for weddings and stuff. That's a great idea. You know, I mean, come on. You can't have that all the way around. Yeah.

No, it's a giant waste of space. Anyway. Well, I mean, I was, I was. I was happy that you did that. Not just for you. I mean, I miss you in the day-to-day running of the show because it's really gone downhill. Yeah, yeah. It's been down.

Deeply. But I was very, I was happy that that happened because I know, like I say, on a plane with you, riding back on a first class, Luftanza flight, which is ridiculous. And then you're there working. and I felt like, oh, my God. What a waste of first place. Mike's got a shitty life. You know, that Berlin show is one of, it's, to me, and other people have said it's, it's, it's the funniest.

I think it's the funniest travel show. There's Conan with the dominatrix. Yeah. Which is hilarious. And then the scene you did with Conan, where, um, with the, you took a shoe plightly. their dance lesson. Yeah, the slapping dance. Right. And you and Conan are in Liederhausen. And they're being, you two are being, well, everyone had been drinking. Yes. An hour, which was helped make it extra fun. Well, we were literally in the half brow. We were literally in like, in a halfbrow. And the place is pretty much closed. But the people work in there like, you want some beer? Like to all of us, like, oh, yeah, sure. Why not? I mean, it's what we do. All we do is sort of. Let us do what we do for you. And then you guys got a lesson from two twins, or they were brothers.

They were brothers and their dad. We didn't know that the musician who was playing with him was their dad. Like I hired this musician. They said, oh, they've got a guy. And then the guy turned out to be their dad and it was kind of, you know, it just became as you two both zeroed in on the sordid family relationship. Yeah, yeah. of this father playing accordion these two sons slapping each other's ass for money. Yeah, it was, it was, yeah, it was a fun thing.

And that dad guy was wonderfully unimpressed with any of our, of our shenanigans. And also like, it was a great street. Yeah. And he really, he was like, hey, you got to do, you know, if you're going to do this shoe slapping folk dance, you got to do it right. You know, like, right. It's like, yeah, no, he was all this, which was exactly what you want. It's the perfect, who would think a German would be a good stream.

Yeah, yeah. A German who's celebrating small town culture, small town German culture. Yeah, so I'm glad I'm not doing that anymore. Matt O'Brien's doing a great job. And you know what? I, like when I watch rehearsal now, it's like, oh my God. Because that used to be me in the Hatsi.

Yeah. Next to Conan, who's between you and Conan. you're super sharp he's crazily sharp and you know all the comedy bits kind of have to you know you and conan are usually seeing them for the first time yeah and you know they have to pass muster with you guys and it's it's brutal there's so many times i was really confident about stuff i'm like they're gonna love this it would just blow it would just get zero laughs in rehearsal and it would It kind of cracked me up because it's like, of course. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. And, you know, it'd be like, what are we going to do on the show today?

Can't you tell my loves are growing? I had acted before, but I had never really done. Well, and I had worked on a pilot for a TV show. You're talking about before you started? Before I started on later. Right. But that process of figuring out the comedy. And being, well, in a way, being brutal about it.

Like, just being like, no, I'm sorry, that doesn't work. And realizing early on, like, that that's the way it has to kind of be. Because you don't have any time. And if you want it to be good and you don't have any time to be. There's to for, to assuage feelings. It's like, no, no, this is. Or that, or just the certain, you know, like the, well, we got to make this work, it needs a new ending.

You know, and then we got to think of an ending. And I, going from that out here to L.A. when I came out here to do sitcoms, I realized very quickly that when somebody makes a pitch and it's not really good, they go, they'll be like, well, that's a really good idea. But I think we could maybe do it where I was just like, no, that's not funny. And people were like, what a dick. But I mean, I was like, you know.

Who's this horror? Well, and then. then there are also, too, is the sitcom, the sitcom fake laughter that happens. Oh, my God. At rehearsals and stuff where, you know, like for every joke, the writers are like, ha ha ha ha ha. Oh, my God. I had never the, go ahead. I, yeah, no, the first time I'd ever encountered that was at late night and is in my office and someone put a tape in the outer room. And I've never heard laughter like this, most explosive laughter. And it was a table. read for a sitcom. Yeah. And I thought it was, I thought it was fake. Yeah.

I'm like, this is fake, right? And they're like, no, all the writers laugh. But it, but it was such fake. It's, yeah. Who, who, like, who falls for that? Well, they all do. And then they all, and then if you don't, you're a dick. Like I, oh, my God.

I wouldn't laugh at things. I could see that. And writers would sort of after a while come up to me like, wow, you're really tough to make laugh. And I'm like, no, I'm not. not. No, I'm not, you know. And I mean, and then there's other things too where I think writers they give you something and you read it and go like, oh, that's really funny. But you know, because. Well, that's common. Yeah. It's like people going, oh, yeah, that that'll work.

That's great. Or that'll work. Oh, that's great. Yeah. And, and I always think it's like, I don't know what out here, it just seemed like, yeah, out here in LA, it just seemed like people, it's like magicians going, Ooh. Ah, like to each other's magic tricks. It's like, we know. never catch on. It's a gimmick. Relax. To where the bunny is. Yeah, yeah.

Wait, you, and they're the ones who wrote the magic trick. That's, I know, I know. It's so self-serving. It's like, that's fantastic. I know.

I went, one of my first, I was on, just shoot me. Yeah. When Marsh McCall, who was a head writer on the Conan show, was a head writer there.

And I got a, I did a guest spot on that. And I was sitting, there was like one of the run-throughs. You know, like it was, well, we had done the table read and this was, and then you rehearse all day, and then they were going to do a run-through for the writers. And it was after lunch, and Brian Possein and I were sitting backstage, like behind the set, kind of in semi-darkness, just like reading or sitting there, kind of chilling out,

waiting for our time. And I heard them all on the other side of the flat, come in and start the rehearsal. and it was a scene with George Siegel and David Spade. And they start, you know, and you hear the kind of, you hear the dialogue start, start. And then the first laugh line comes and the loud burst of laughter actually startled me because it was like the fifth time, the fifth time that we'd all heard this fucking joke.

And they're all like, ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Oh, man. That's exactly what the laughter sounds like to. Yeah. And I, it's, The thing that kills me is how do you know?

How do you know when there's a wolf if everyone's saying wolf all the time? Yes. You know, it just. I never understood with sitcoms where, you know, they do a scene several times and they kind of tell the audience, hey, you got to pretend you didn't hear it. It's like, what? No, that's not. But it's, to me, I would just be like, oh, well, we can, well, let's come up with something else. because, but, you know, it's just kind of they ram it into the ground.

Yeah. Well, and I did find doing multi-camera sitcoms out here that the audience really wants to help. Like, they're just there to help. So they will laugh every time as, you know. Yeah. But that's different. That's like you're asking the townsfolk to help us do this barn raising and the barn is a sitcom. But it's like, we shouldn't be laughing at it.

No, no, no. And that's like going back to the late night thing, it literally, like, there was no time. You're right. There was no time. And that, that was like when something went great, there was no time to kind of like, oh, look what I'm, look what I did. And that kind of like, there was no glory lap. But on the other hand, when, when things bombed, like you wrote something and it bombed in rehearsal, you were also very grateful to move on quickly. Yes. And like, you know, there wasn't time to dwell on that. No, no. As Tommy Blatchell,

who's one of the writers on the show, said, you said, you pitch it once. If somebody says no, let it go. Unless you really think that it's really great, then pitch it a second time. And if it gets turned down a second time, then let it go. And that's, that is a very good rule. Yeah. Do not, I know people pitch the same thing. And it's like, what do you do? everyone remembers the first time you did it. Yeah. And no one went for it. Right.

And it's, you're not a help. It's just you start looking. There are some, some writers that I've come across who, part of their, a component of their, of their sort of,

you know, makeup in writing comedy is that there should be some justice. You know, like, like, wait, this is the best joke. And everyone's like, I'm sorry.

It just, it isn't. you know and that is that's one of my favorite things yeah i'll never forget because i was doing stand-up at the time when everyone was um you know it's like who's going to replace letterman who's going to replace letterman and i was you know working at clubs in new york and stuff and we're out one night after you know you'd go out to a diner every night and it's like two in the morning and i guess they had flown all these comedians to l-a to audition for lorne michails and um you know, it was a week later and it's like, who's it going to be?

And we found out that night it was a guy named Conan O'Brien, not a stand-up. He was a writer. And all the comedians were outraged. He didn't go through the clubs. And I was just like, ha, ha, it's not a law firm. You're not making partner. It's show business. And people, anything can happen.

Like that to me is the first thing you learn is. there's no fairness. There's no, or, or your perception of what should be fair. Throw that out the window day one. Yeah. And just enjoy the, the good with the bad, because it's all going to be insane. Yeah. And I just, I remember, I'd never heard of them.

And I was just delighted that a non-comic got the job. Yeah, yeah. And they were outraged. And you know what? I dealt with writers on shows exactly what you're saying. who the same way, like they would be mad if a joke that they thought was great didn't get on. And then they'd come to me as head writer and go, can you, can you laugh harder at this joke? And I was like, no.

Oh, boy. Like when we read it in front of Conan, I'm like, no, no, no, no. Wow. I'm not going to do that. I can't wait until we're off, off podcast and I can ask you exactly who it was. Because I had some guesses. Sure. Well, now, you're...

Justice. You're not a California, and you're from New Jersey, correct? I grew up in New Jersey. And you're from an Irish Catholic household, correct? Well, yeah, I didn't grow up with any sense of being Irish. Or Catholic? Catholic, I was Catholic, I guess, but not, I never went to Catholic school. I just went to public school.

And so I had to... go to Sunday school where I didn't, you know, I paid zero attention. And so, yeah, but, um, it's funny. It's like, as I became an adult, I would notice things. And I'd be like, oh, I'm Irish, like personality traits, you know, like being paranoid, paranoid or, or, or never forgetting, you know, if someone crosses you like that. Yeah, like I'd see this in other people and I'm just like, oh, okay. Yeah. Or like abscess.

Possibly drinking. And abscesses of rage that even you didn't know were there that all of a sudden come out. Like, oh, yeah. I hit a pocket here and I'm angry about something. Yeah. Yeah, no, but I just, it was like a very white suburb of New Jersey. And so it was very generic.

Like I thought everyone was Catholic and Jewish. That's the makeup of the neighborhood. I grew up in. Yeah. And I thought I'd never met a wasp. I think there was a guy who was a Methodist in high school. And I thought he was like a persecuted minority. A unicorn.

I just thought everyone was Catholic or Jewish. Yeah. That was it. And you have two sisters, right? Is that right? I have two older sisters. Yeah. You're the baby.

And were you treated as such? I was totally. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, I, like when I, we finally were going to have a child, I wanted a girl because I felt like raised by women. Yeah.

Because my father really wasn't around. So it was mostly my mother and my two sisters. And that's what I was used to. And I never had a brother. So I just assumed. I always more comfortable around the female gender. Yeah, yeah. Than the male.

But, yeah. I mean, I had, I mean, I've told you before, I had a crazy upbringing. Yes. I mean, everyone that's had a crazy opportunity. But no, but yours is, I mean, just throw out a few of the details. I mean, I don't, you know. Show enough of my penis to win the longest penis. What?

The Milton Burl. That old Milton Burl joke. Oh, right, right. Right. Right. Just take out enough to win. Yeah. Just enough to win.

Yeah, yeah. No. Well, I just, you know, my mother. had something called dissociative identity which used to be called multiple personality disorder they changed the name for some reason

I guess well isn't it because the multiple personality is kind of not entirely apt that it's like it's not necessarily I think you're right I think you're right like I remember seeing that show the United States of Tara do you remember that show?

Or Sybil. Sybil was the first one. Sybil was the first one. But then the United States of Charite tried to make it like the husband, like they started buying outfits for her different characters, the wife's characters. And I was just like, oh. That's not how it works.

Yeah. It's no one's hanging around for fun times. There are no fun times. Yeah. Yeah. But we didn't know that when we were little. We just knew that. I mean, in hindsight, it's like, oh, yeah, those were different personalities.

But she would just set off on this rage at my father that would always culminate in violence. So you knew it was coming. And she'd had, like, she'd start grabbing butcher knives and chasing. Like, it literally, I used, I used, I, I, I, you felt like you were in a cartoon because it was, you know, a house where the dining room is connected to the kitchen, which is connected to the hallway, to the living room,

to the dining room. And you'd literally be running around in a circle with her chasing you. And you're like, should I, should I cut back the other way? Or, you know, it was,

it was terrible. We were kids, so it was terrible. Yeah, yeah. And then she'd turn us against her father because he was an alcoholic. So she was like, I act this way because.

Because your father, the way your father behaves. And, you know, if he would only act normal and stop drinking, I wouldn't act this way. And, you know, we were like, I was 10 years old. She brainwashed us, basically, my sister's night. And we all just believed her. And then she'd turn us against him. So then our job was like, if she got mad at him, we'd have to kick him out of the house. And wire the doors shut so he couldn't get back in.

Oh my God. Yeah. And then he'd go sleep in a flop house somewhere. And he had a big power. He was the director of research for a pharmaceutical company. Wow. And he was a mayor of our town. What?

Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah. It's like a part-time job. Yeah. It was like a small town. So, you know, he's supposed like, you know, supposed to be in like the Memorial Day parade the next day.

And he's sleeping out in the car in the driveway because he got kicked out of the house. Yeah. Yeah. Well, did the police have to get called from time to time? Yeah, the police came some time. Because I would admit, you're like, oh, I got to go out to the mayor's house again, you know? Yeah, no, it was. Um, yeah, but, you know, I was brought up that you didn't talk about it.

So I never told anyone about any of this stuff until I was, like I ended up living at home taking care of her till I was 26. Oh, my God. Yeah. Wow. No, it was bad. I mean, I think about, because I live through, you know, like a, there was a period of major dysfunction and violence in my childhood, but it was not, you know, it was like within a certain set of amount of time.

Right. But what I think back on is just, and something that I thought about, you know, when you hear about kids living in a situation like that, or just, there's. situation with an unreliable parent who can explode. Right. Just the sense of never, never being able to be relaxed to always, always feel uptight going into the place where you're supposed to feel most secure and most safe. And that's got to, you know, I mean, did you feel that?

Or was it like times where you felt, you know, you're living on eggshells because you didn't know when this person might go crazy all the time yeah all the time and and uh we were all like that and it's and it was hard to predict what would trigger um it was literally like setting a lighting a fuse a lot really long fuse and you knew when it was lit uh and you it was you could never really predict when it was lit and then you knew it was just going to build and build and the tension of the building to when the violence started. I mean, there were times we would, like, things would erupt and it would be close to bedtime, and then you'd go up and try to go to sleep.

And I would literally push furniture against the door. So I could sleep because I knew, like at 1 a.m. She was going to come up, you know, with a knife or she'd go to the garage and get like a pitchforker. I mean, really dramatic or an axe. Like once my sisters and I were locked in the upstairs bathroom and she was chopping, she was doing the shining. She was chopping through the door. And we were, I was looking out the window, like, trying to figure out how badly we'd get hurt if, you know, we had to jump. But there is one, there's one time I finally kind of, there's.

This is years later. I mean, that's when we were young teens. But like when I was, I was living just with her. And I must have been 23 or 24. And go, I was, it was starting to really screw with my head. And I, there was one night where I just like, you know what? That is it. And I, I just had it.

And I went downstairs to the garage. And I got, I got a chainsaw. I came up to the room, the TV room where she's sitting. I started the chainsaw. And it's just like screaming like, you like it? How do you like it? You know? I was like, I'm going to, I'm going to fucking kill you.

I'm going to kill you. And she just looked at me and laughed. And I was just like, wow, she's a good super villain. Wow. She's impressive. And I'll, I mean, it's hard. It helps me to say it out loud. But I was on the edge of killing her.

Wow. I was very close and never before or since, obviously, but I turned my jeans off and put it downstairs. But I had to pull myself back from it. And that, you know, what it makes me think, like sometimes I'll hear about teenagers who are in an abusive family and they, they kill their father-in-law or something. something like that. And I always, it upsets me so much because from my own experience, I understand that when you're in that nuclear family, you don't know there, you don't know you'll ever be able to just escape from it. It seems so obvious. I mean, looking obviously, but it seems like there's no way out. Like it's just, this is it. When you're in it and you're young, you, and your

parents have always been dominating like that, you don't see a way out. Yeah. Well, I think also, too, you're living in a perpetual fight or flight state. Right. And there's no, there's no, you know, there's no room for conceptualizing. Like you can't in the middle of a fight or flight state think, what do my life be like in two years? Right. Oh, no.

You're just thinking about now, now I'm either going to die or I'm not going to die. Or now, you know, like just or and not even so much die. Just the world's going to end. You're going to end. Everything. And I just don't think that there's any room for you to think in, in theoretical terms about the future. You just are in the now. And that's, and that's, you're trapped there by these fucking crazy people.

Yes. By the way, I want to say, I'm, I'm really. good with a chainsaw and you know brush cleared or I do the job right clean up and leave they don't have to worry about any and when it comes to chainsaw you can be a man of action not just talk right right yeah my my mother did call the police on me once um around this time believe it because uh i you know i went to law school and i was studying for the bar exam and um my girlfriend called up and my mother got on the phone and started calling her a whore. So I got upset and I kind of yelled at her and threw up against the refrigerator and she, oh, well, she grabbed a butcher knife. So I knocked the knife out and pushed her against the refrigerator and she went into her bedroom and called the cops and said I was trying to kill her. So it was the night before the bar exam and I had a lot of studying left to do. six the entire counts.

It's making me dizzy. All these police cars showed up. And I'm just like, oh, gosh, this is going to cut into my study time. Like, I literally was just recalibrating, you know, when am I going to finish studying torts if I have to deal with these cops? And, you know, they all surround it. Like, I came out to the front port. I mean, it's, I knew it was funny. But they all surrounded me.

like, oh, don't move, don't move, you know. And I'm like, okay, let's talk. Yeah, but don't they know? I mean, haven't these cops been to this house before and they know? No, you know what? No one, like the last time cops were there before that was like when I was seven or eight. Oh, oh, oh, I see. Yeah, so no, no.

We had all been, we'd been left alone. Like, our, no one in my family reached out to help us. Was your dad gone? Your dad gone at this point? He died when I was 19, yeah. Oh, okay. And that was crazy, too, because he died of emphysema. And the last years of his life, he was on those giant oxygen tanks.

And he ended up rooming with me in my room. But because we had been kind of brainwashed against him, I didn't talk to him for the two years. We were ruined. Oh, my God. But I would change his, you know, oxygen tanks for him. But I was, I literally thought he was the enemy and I wasn't allowed to talk to him. And then when he died, my sisters and I, this is how brainwash we were. We thought my mother would be fine because he was dead.

And so we were excited. We were happy. And, you know, of course, then instead of him being the main focus, we became the main focus, all our craziness. And was there a revisionist history that he was a saint after he died, that kind of thing? Or was he still a bad person? Oh, by the children. By your mom, by your mom. Oh, no, no, no.

Yeah, yeah. No, she, but then she just turned on us and, and, you know, would, you know, she told us we could never leave. We could never move out. We owed it to her to make her, you know, she's upset, but we're, it's all our fault. And we're not doing our responsibilities around the house, blah, blah, blah. And then, like, if you, you know, after a night of her being crazy and trying to kill you, like, if you, she'd be like, you seem upset today. What's, what, because she would be kind of, she'd be a different person. She'd forget. You're like, what's, what's, what, you know, what's bothering you? And I was like, well, you, you know, chased us around with a knife, you,

you, blah, blah, ba, ba, ba, da da da, da. And you'd tell her everything. And she'd be like, I don't know what you're talking about. Like, she'd literally say, I don't, I don't know what you're talking. And then two hours later, she'd be like, you know, I thought about what you said. And you just made that stuff up to get out of your responsibilities here. And, and then she'd build up from there. and get crazy again.

So, so you never got a moment. There was zero satisfaction. There was never even like, I'm sorry, you know what, I'm sorry for what it was, you started to wonder

whether you were hallucinating or not. Wow. It's just crazy. Yeah, it was crazy. It was crazy. Now, why? And I mean,

and this is something, because I've known, I mean, I knew, and you've talked before about these similar incidents. and there are no repeats at this like she really she had new programming all the time and uh but how do you come out of that as normal as you are how do you come out of that as kind of an

even keeled like you're well a wonder i mean from what i can see you're a wonderful father you're a wonderful husband you were great to work with you're a very much of like you're just a very even kind, thoughtful person, and you have every reason in the world to be a monster. Well, I think I was little. I was like the peacekeeper in the house. And so, you know, I try to make my mother laugh. You know, that old thing.

Right, right. But, but I think when she wasn't having these episodes, she was a very loving mother. So, you know, I, I'm, I'm telling you the dramatic stuff. But when she wasn't like that, she was, I think a really smart, funny, loving mother. So I think that's why I felt kind of normal. And my sisters, too. I mean, we're super tight now because we went through this together.

Yeah. But did you all cope with it? Did your sisters cope with it okay? Yeah, I think we all. I think we all did. That's incredible. I mean, I never told anyone about this until I was, until I was like 24 years old.

And I thought I was going to get struck by lightning because it had been drummed into me. You never talk about what happens in your home, which is another Irish thing. Yeah. But, yeah, but, you know, then I start going to therapy and that helped. Yeah. And stopped any relationship with my mother. Like, I'd invite her to her wedding. And, you know, we just had it because she was just really bad, you know.

Yeah. She was, at the time, I considered her to be evil. I mean, but, you know, obviously, it's severe mental illness. Yeah. Did you ever get a, did you ever get a sense from her that she was aware that she was sick? No. And years and years later, I guess around 10 years ago, she was living alone. And, you know, I just, it always ate at me.

And I was like, I'm going to get a call that she's been dead for a month. and cats have broken into the house to eat her and all that stuff. And it's going to end horribly and I'm going to feel guilty, even though I shouldn't feel guilty. Oh, well, but then she heard her back in the house and my sisters got her to an emergency room. And while they were treating her back, they were like going to the doctor. Because we used to try to talk her into going to get mental to please, please. go see a doctor and she was like there's nothing i don't know what you're talking about there's nothing wrong with me you're making all this stuff up none of this is true i do da da da da it's all you three children

are the problem now that your father's dead and blah blah blah blah blah so they finally get her to a hospital and she's admitted for her her injured back and they're like please i don't know if they tipped him or what they did they're like please give her her her psychiatric exam and they they locked her up for two days and gave her all these tests and they said she had a very rare form where she's never truly never understands that there's something wrong with her. Wow. And they put her on all these medicines and they worked her the last two years of her life. She was just the good mother the whole time. Wow. And I would talk to her on the phone and have a great conversation with her and I would hang up and I would literally be stunned for five minutes after each phone call in total.

I just couldn't believe. And, you know, when she passed away, I felt like it was a miracle that was able to have, end things on a very positive note. That was something I never saw that coming. Wow. Yeah, I did not see that coming. So did you live with her through college when you went to college? Did you stay at home? I commuted to Newark.

I drove down to Rutgers in Newark every day. And then I commuted to law school three years. And I didn't want to go to law school. She was like, you're going to law school. And I was like, okay. And, you know, she, like filled out the applications. And she got me into some good schools. She was a pretty great mom.

She got me to law school. Yeah. I never wanted to be a little. lawyer. And then I was like in law school that I was such a I didn't know I could quit. Like I always wanted ever since this little kid I wanted to do something with comedy. Yeah. And, uh, you know, at the time, I was like, oh, I'd love to do standard, try standup comedy. And I'm like, well, I'm in law school. Like, I don't know. I didn't know I could quit. So I went through law school and then I was. And became a lawyer. I was a trial lawyer in Manhattan for three

years yeah so i i that's when i finally moved out um because you know i it just but yes i lived home with her for seven years of college wow yeah yeah and when um what kind of lawyer you were a trial lawyer for for what oh the worst kind for an insurance company oh so like you were the one trying to find out when people hurt themselves and sued somebody you were the one that said like you faker. Right. And the good thing about it was if my client, whoever I was representing, was guilty of hurting someone, I could just settle the case and get like money. And so the only cases I ever truly defended were ones where they were fake and there were a lot of fake ones. Oh, I see. And I didn't know that. I was 25. I was very young and naive and about people lying.

And I learned the plaintiff lawyers don't get paid unless they make money. Yeah. They get a third. If they don't make any money, they don't get anything. So they are very motivated. I mean, people, we found out like some lawyers would use old x-rays for, for, for other people. Yeah. Wow.

And, and witness, there were, they'd hire witnesses. to say they saw an accident. There's one lawyer who finally got caught. He was getting millions of dollars from the city. And someone finally figured out that it was the same witness in all these different trials. And even then, even then they couldn't prove it until they found out that one day he said he saw an accident. He was in Rikers Island in jail. And then, then finally, like, that.

That's the level of proof you need to take down some of these lawyers. I mean, they're unbelievable. Wow. They're unbelievable. Yeah, but. So. And they're, yeah, go ahead. And, but you're, what makes you finally go like, enough is enough.

I got to go do some comedy. Oh, the second I moved into the city, I, I was doing like trials during the day and I started doing stand-up at night. You had written material, had you been writing? I started writing stuff and then I found this, you know, small club called Good Times that like it was kind of easy to get on stage air. And so I just started going there and going there. And then eventually I got into like the comic strip and Catcher Ice and Star.

And then I had no money saved. I had zero money and I just quit the law job. And I, because I, when I was making like $50 a week doing stand up, my rent was really low, I was like, okay, this is it. So I just quit. And I remember the last trial I did. Somehow the jury found out I was doing stand-up and they came to the comedy club after the trial. The jury did?

Yeah, the jury did. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a very good last trial because the judge, like I used to crack. I used to make a lot of jokes in court. And the judge in that case was like, he goes, you know, I feel you're not long for the law profession. And I feel like you're headed in a, and I was like, wow, that's nice of the judge to say. Yeah, yeah.

Because the previous trial I did in federal court, the judge, I made like a joke to the jury. And he called me up and said he was going to find me in contempt if I made one more joke to the jury. And I was like, well, what's the point of this job? Yeah. If you can't make jokes. If you can't joke with the jury. Yeah. But, yeah.

So I just quit and then I was doing stand-up. I did that for nine years before I started working at Conan. Wow. So that was like a whole second. Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like from 86 to 95.

Wow. Yeah, in New York City mostly. But I traveled a lot to do stand-up. I loved it. Because the first time I met you was in a very early remote bit that we did on this on the on the with Doug Llewellyn who was the reporter from the people's court right and then and it was all new to me anyway you know i mean it was all new to everybody but it was just like oh there's this guy here who's a comedian and i think it had been your idea is that why yeah yeah i i had done a submission and uh robert smigl who is really great to me he said look i've we already

have all the writers but we like this one idea with doug lowellen where he's he would stand outside the courthouse downtown Manhattan and ask people, because he had just left the people's court. So now we had him asking people coming out of the courthouse. Like, how do you think it went? Like the same thing he did on the people's court. Yeah, yeah. It was a pretty simple idea.

But so that you guys shot that remote before late night had even started. Yeah. In August. And Smigel was very nice. He invited me down to watch. And I was terrified to show up. And I remember meeting you, I'll never forget, because I met Conan and he's all high energy. He's like, hey, thanks.

You know, blah, blah, blah. I was like, oh, he seems like a nice guy. And then I met you for awesome producers. He's like, oh, you know, and then they're like, oh, and this is Andy. And you were on a bench just reading the newspaper. And you kind of looked up like, yeah, who the fuck are you? And I was like, oh, my God, who is this guy? You were so self-possessed.

And I was very impressed by you right away. Oh, gosh. Thanks. It sounds like I'm like, sounds like it was a dick, but no, you weren't a dick. You weren't a dick. I was like, that guy seems really cool. Oh, thanks.

Not a dick. That came later when you moved to LA. Did sick up. Well, come on. You got it. Just very comfortable in your own skin. Oh, thank you. Yeah.

I was like, that guy's impressive. Yeah, I mainly just wasn't sure what was going on. And, you know, probably it was a good article of the paper. And I wasn't sure why I was there. And, you know, have you talked a lot about how you became the sidekick? Because you were hired to be one of the writers. Yes.

I had, yeah, I had mentioned it. I've mentioned it before. I was hired. All right. But yeah, but I mean, just in on the conversation, because I was hired because I, I had met Roberts, my goal through a friend. Right. When I was living in L.A.

And we hit it off. And then he. went then I just he reached out to me and was like hey I'm gonna and I was the same thing I'd heard I was back in L.A. and I had because I had gotten the job on the movie Cabin Boy. Right. And

I just got her message from Robert. Hey, I'm working with this guy Conan O'Brien and I had just like you know like I sat. Jeff Garland invited me to a pilot taping that he did. And it was like it was like some

sitcom where he played a cop or something. I don't even remember. But I, Kate Flannery, who's an old friend of mine and I went, and we sat in the audience, and we were sitting in front of Bob Odenkirk and Carol Leifer. And I knew Bob, kind of, but I sat and just eavesdropped on them talk about Bob's friend Conan, getting the late night job, you know? Right. And probably a little bit of, I'm sure there was a component of Bob being like, why isn't it

me? You know, because I, because there was a lot of that. It's the same thing that you say about the stand-ups. Right. I think everyone of it, you know, like between the ages of 21 and 37 who had ever made anyone laugh was like, how come him? Why not me? That should be me. Yeah, yeah.

Now everyone, everyone's that way now with Odin Kirk, but instead it's about being an action, an action movie. Yeah, an action hero or Oscar winner or whatever. Right, right. Yeah, or in little women. Like, why wasn't I in little women? Oh, my God. One of my favorite entrances of that time. Hello, my little women or something.

But anyway, and then I, so I was hired, I was the first writer hired, and there was with the notion that I'd be doing some performing, and then it just evolved in, I think it was Robert's idea. It just evolved into like Robert saying, when there were camera tests, go sit next to Conan and keep him company and talk to him.

And then I just would talk to him. And also, too, we had worked up, you know, like Conan and I had worked up an act around the halls, too. Like how much time, how much time when you say you worked up an act? How long had you guys been in the hallways? Probably three months. Probably three months. Yeah. So you already had this kind of a good rapport.

Yeah, definitely. Him burning hot and you. Yes. Well, and also, too, you know, like there was a. you know, he, he's an excellent guitar player and he practices all the time. We, you and I know this. Yes. And he's much better now, but like in those days especially when he would be learning a riff,

everyone on the show would have to hear him learn how to play. Right. You know, I don't know, you know, return to sender or whatever, you know, or some old rockabilly. But he'd ask you your permission first. Oh, no, no, no. He would just practice the same riff, you know. But he used to do this to people. And it's just now that you know him,

it's just part of his, like, completely weird silliness. And his, and sort of like, like, having a child that needs Adderall kind of that. Right, right, right. But he would just come up to people, like, and start playing guitar and singing. He did that to me. Yeah, and singing at them. And everyone was like, what do I do? What do I do? This is my boss.

What do I do? and yeah, but you had, so you had that same thing. No, the same thing. I could keep going. And I, I was freaking out. Like I thought it was a test and I was supposed to, am I supposed to dance? What are I was freaking out? I mean, there were a couple times.

I was just kind of like, okay, he's just going to stand here and sing to me like he's a, like it's an Italian restaurant and he's a strolling violinist. But what I started to do when he would do it is I would get up and like, like, yo, woo! Like, clap and dance. Like, it was a hoe down. And then it, you know, and then it was just kind of, it was like, whereas everyone else kind of just stood there and stared at him. But I was just kind of like, oh, come on.

You leaned into it. Yeah. It's like this. I mean, it's like when you know somebody's funny and they're doing something that you're sort of, you know, like, I just, I didn't feel like, oh, I got to treat him like the boss. Right. You know, because I instantly felt like, oh, no, he's just. like me. You know, he's,

he's a guy cut from the same cloth as me. So I would want somebody to say, what the fuck are you doing? You know? I want someone to try to help me. Yeah. And then that just kind of evolved into my job, basically,

which is to go like, shut up, sit down, you know, when no one else will do it. But yeah, but it was, and then, well, and then at that time, Robert was the head writer. And then he left and Marsh was the head writer because they. Marsh McCall.

Yeah, there was, I don't know if it's, but. And then, and then March is there for short, and then Jonathan Groff was there for a long time. Yep. Were you hired when Jonathan was there? He and I started the same day. Oh, wow. And nine months later, he was a head writer. I was like, oh, I'm, I guess I'm a, I'm a little slow on the uptake here.

He just, bam. Yeah. blew past everyone and became the head writer. And he was great. He was, but I mean, but you guys both have, well, you have what I think is the two most important things generally in, to do that job, which is like, first of all, a good sense of humor, like good taste. And the secondly is your people, people, you know, like you know how to talk to people. That is as sadly. I mean, it is, I actually always loved dealing with people and work.

It's like problem solving. Yeah. You know, which so I did like that aspect of it. I used to watch, again, I'd watch rehearsals. I'd be in an office with, you know, Michael Gordon and Brian Rich and, you know, Brian and Brian Kiley. And I'd watch rehearsal and I'd be see Graff holding down the, the fort. next to Conan with you. And I was just like, I can't, I'd say every day, I can't think of a worse job than being

head writer. Yeah. And, but then when I, I, they offered to me, I was like, you know, you feel like, well, you have to, I don't know, I feel like I, yeah, I had to say yes. So, you know, it's just like, then it was trial by fire. Yeah, yeah. It's a big learning curve. But, but it's just when things aren't going well in rehearsal.

It's brutal. Can't you tell my loves are growing? It's a weird job. It's also kind of like, I mean, and it's been, I mean, aside from trial lawyer, it's been your professional life. Yeah, no. I, you know, what I'm saying. Is that, is that okay? Like, are you okay that you didn't become like a big star stand up comedian or that you didn't, you know?

Yeah, you know what? It's like I love doing stand up. but the second I started working on the Korn show, I also really loved shooting things and editing things. And I really enjoyed writing. I really found it fulfilling to hear you or Conan doing jokes that I wrote. Like that was, and having the audience laugh.

I never thought of it as being a TV show. I thought of it as we put on this show for this group of 200, people every day. Which is a great way to think about it. Yeah, no, I never watched, you know, I wouldn't go home and watch. That was the experience to me when we were taping it. And no, I found it incredibly rewarding. Yeah, I know, I never, I had very, like, I know so many comics that I worked with who had

very, they're like, I'm going to have my own sitcom, I'm going to have this. They had a very strong sense. And I just, I like doing comedy. And, you know, it was going well, but I didn't, I never had defined goals. So, you know, I got hired to do the warm up on Conan. And then that led to the writing job. And I just, once I started doing the writing gig, I really loved it. And I love being head writer.

I mean, I don't want to make it sound like, I mean, it was, it was. really fun i mean really fun it's been yeah it's fun to be in charge of that but also too but i mean but it's also it's also it's also like conan i love conan conan is like family but there are days you know he's high strong and it's hard sometimes yeah and i mean and i'm and how how did you cope with sort of just the and also too there's just you get sick of people you know you just get when when you're in proximity, working on that show is really like being trapped with someone, working in a show like this, because you're there for hours and hours and hours. Yeah. And I just wonder, how do you, how would you deal with those kinds of moments when you, like, just get sick of each other?

I mean, because Bonner and I deal with it with each other. We have to talk. We talked about it, you know? Right. But I, I think I love, just, I've always loved everyone. You know what, for me, I, like, having been a lawyer and done all this other stuff, just being around other. you know, that term like, you know, meet your own, no, hang out with your own people. I think just being around funny people every day was such a joy to me that I never got, I never got sick of

anyone. I just was, I felt like, I always felt like the luckiest person on the planet to be around really, really funny people and laughing, laughing all day. And so, yeah, things are get tense and stuff but i there um well you know what yeah like sometimes conan would be in a bad mood during a rehearsal and i i'd always think oh he you know i i let him down i let him down i'm letting down the show and then sometimes later i'd find oh you know what he had just done the prep for the interview that night and he he wasn't excited about the guest or the guest didn't have good ideas for their segment and he carried that mood and rehearsal and he'd go.

Yeah, or just there's other things going on in his life. Or other things going on in his life. But you know how you don't think that way at the time. You're just like, oh, God, what have I done? Yeah, yeah. And believe me, there are tons of times. It was definitely me. It was my fault.

But I was excited to find out, you know, sometimes, you know, there were other, yes, other things pushing Conan's buttons because it's crazy all the stuff he has to keep track in his mind for a show every night, you know, there's, you know, there's interview, which, you know, no one else, everyone else deals with their own little silo, and he has to kind of deal with everything, which, you know, is a big burden. So, yeah. Are there certain? Are there.

Yeah. If we'd have arguments, I, I always treated it kind of like a marriage. Like, I'd never want to go to bed, angry. And so if I, we ever had a B for anything, he and I were really good at just talking it out and resolving it. Because it was never, it was always super minor. Yeah, yeah. But it is weird. It is weird that he insisted that he sleep with you.

And I know it was weird. It was weird for your wife for many years. And you know, he's so different in bed than he relaxes. Yeah. And I'm the more high energy guy. And he kind of just folds into me. He rolls with it. Oh, it's nice.

Yeah, yeah. Beautiful spooners. Are there, I mean, having. are there moments or bits or things that you look back on with like more pride than you do of other things? Like what are your proudest things that you can think of that you did? Well, you know what? I liked when I was a writer because the great thing about that show is if you wrote something, you produced it and you know, you were responsible for creating it a bit from soup to nuts.

So you really would feel ownership. And, um, I, I, you know, there are a lot of different things I did that. Yes,

I was proud of. And they, they did well. And, and, and, you know, you know,

the other writers liked it. That's all, that's all you really cared about. Like, yeah, the other writers knew and Conan like something. I didn't, I didn't,

I didn't even care. If you guys liked something in rehearsal, I didn't even care if it didn't do well. Yeah. Well, yeah. You do care. You do care.

You want the audience to like it, right. Because then. you know but but um that was a hard thing about being the head writer too was that like you know like you'd add little bits to pieces on the show but you never had that sense of ownership you know it was more kind of helping out piecemeal so um i i was really proud of the head writer work but it's funny you don't it's different than like oh look what i wrote and and your individual bits.

Yeah, like I did a thing a year ago. Like now I'm doing stuff like that again. Yeah. Like I made fun of the, what was that movie? I can't even remember the Irishman. I did a parody of that. So, you know, and I, like, I was really proud of that when it was done because I felt like I did the whole thing myself. And the bits that you do now are kind of more produced than most bits are because you end up getting to,

have a little bit more time with them. Yeah. That's true. And I, I always, yeah, like for one of the trout, like in Ghana, Conan was talking, you know, the artist who did a, sorry, in Ghana, we talked to that artist who made a poster for the show. And it was a crazy poster, a Ghanaian movie poster with you shooting a gun and, you know, Conan's Eisenhower mug with dripping blood. and all sorts of... Yeah, tarot axle or something. Right.

And, you know, like, as we're shooting it, I was like, oh, I Conan said, you know what, we're going to make this into a movie to the guy. And the second he said that, I was like, oh, we'll make a trailer for this. Yeah. And I just started grinding on that and that, you know, and then I just, I love shooting and editing stuff. I kind of like that more than live sketches in a way, just because I love. You can add so many more little tiny details.

And there's a lot more control, too. You get a lot more control than if you write something for him and me to butcher. Right, right, right, right. I remember you and I did an early remote together. And this was typical of our late night experience. It was the elephants, the parade of the elephants. Oh, yeah, yeah. Remember that?

The elephants, I think the train car that they came in was too big to go under the East River through the train tunnels. So they'd get out in Queens. And then at midnight, they would make a big deal and walk them into Manhattan and over to Madison Square Garden. Yeah. And you went to cover it. It was one of the first remotes I did. And I just remember came out. The elephants came out of the Midtown Tunnel.

you were making some quips about the elephants. And then the elephants just took off and started heading to Madison Square Garden. And we're like, come on, let's go. And our cameraman was like, I can't run. I just had two knee operations a month ago. And we're just like, wait, why? Yeah, yeah. I just love when things go wrong.

Yeah. Well, yeah, I think we ended up just like using footage of the elephants. And then I stepped in in front of a green screen. Exactly. And was like, hey, we. found out our cameraman had knee surgery so we couldn't do this part. Right, right.

Yeah. Yeah, but that, yeah, that was a weird. The one, the thing I really pull from that, remembering that one, because, yeah, because they, and I don't even think it's a, I think they do it for fun. I think that they just get all the elephants off.

It's Ringling Brothers. Yeah, yeah. They walk them through, is it the Lincoln Tunnel that's on that side? The Midtown Tunnel. Midtown Tunnel. Midtown tunnel. They walk them through the Midtown Tunnel.

And so there's a bunch of people standing at the entrance to the Midtown Tunnel with about a, you know, probably a quarter of a mile between us and the actual mouth of the tunnel from where you can stand. And you see the elephants come out and there's a, they're out in single file. And then when they come to the tunnel, they line them up and then they give them a command, which they must have this, be able to do this on command. Right. And every single elephant shits and pices. simultaneously. And so there's all these people standing there waiting, and maybe some of them knew it was going to happen.

And they get the elephants all lined up, and you think there's going to be some presentational thing. And it's just like, boom. And the wave of stench that hit people, like, I don't know if we had it on camera, but it was just like, whoa! Like just a wall of elephant shit and piss stink. Yeah, no, I remember.

I think we shot it. I don't know if we shot anyone's reaction to it. I think we were too in the cameraman. Too shot. Two in trans. Also, he wasn't able to turn. Right, right. My hips don't work either.

I can't pivot. Okay, great. Well, what's, I mean, you know, I mean, we're now on kind of a weird, and we've been in this area a little bit before, kind of, before, like, where's the show going, what's the show going to be? Right. And there isn't really an answer to that as far as I know, because I don't even think, we know there's going to be a show on HBO Max. Right. And the TBS show will end in June.

But beyond that, we don't really know. We know it's going to be smaller. We know, but we don't know how much what exactly the show is going to be like. And I, by smaller, I mean, I think there might, there'll be less, I assume there'll be less episodes than he's doing now. It'll be weekly. It'll be weekly. Right. Exactly. It'll be once a week. Yeah. So it'll be. But I mean, but I don't, you know, I just don't, well, it's smaller just in terms of the volume of product. Right. Exactly. That's one thing. But I also don't think, I mean, I just, you know, it's as time has gone on, as I think Conan said in an interview once where somebody said

something, I think it was in the New York Times, maybe David Schoff or somebody, but he said, so was your plan to just, and this was before, too, this was years ago, he did this interview, so is your plan to just kind of have the show get smaller and smaller until it just gradually disappears? And Conan was kind of like, well, yeah, actually. That's a great idea. Yeah, that's sort of probably what it's going to be like. You know, and I don't, you know, because he's, we've done there's nothing to prove really and we've been doing this forever and he likes doing it that's why he's still doing it because he likes doing it because he's doing the podcast every week yeah and uh yeah i i remember when we started the podcast i was like oh is he just is he just gonna

because podcast is hilarious and and it seems like it's just an easier lift yeah in terms of doing it And, but no, he loves, he loves being on TV and he loves television. Yeah. Well, how do you, I mean, what is your game plan? Like, are you just kind of staying in kind of a reactive mode to what happens? Yeah. I've been, I mean, this past year, especially not being involved in, like, I'm on the Zoom meetings with the other writers, which has been like a lifesaver for me just because it's a daily dose of laughs. And human contact, yeah.

And human contact. And I mean, it's like the greatest team. I mean, I just love everyone. Yeah. And so we're just laughing for the whole meeting. And then, but I'm not involved in like, you know, Matt, well, you know, you're there at Largo. And it's like, what, seven people doing the whole show. Yeah, I think nine.

I think it's like the basic. And then two of those people are house people, you know, are like people at work at Largo. Like Flanagan and Michael, who's the house guy. Right, right. You know, so, yeah, it's three cameras, one sound, one prompter, one makeup. A makeup person? Yeah. And then me and Matt O'Brien.

Me and Matt O'Brien and Jeff Ross and Jonah. And you. Yeah. I mean, you must, is that like a lifesaver for you just in this time just going, okay. It was. Oh, absolutely. I mean, it was so weird when it started out and we were doing, I was, I honestly, felt like, well, first of all, I felt like I was retired because I was in my house with my dog

and it wasn't like, and I kind of, you know, and like I couldn't go a lot of places, which is like a lot of retired people. They have a limited income. So they can't go a lot of places. So I kind of felt like this must be what it's like to be retired. But then I was getting, you know, I'd get an email. Or dead. Yeah, or dead. I'd get an email. And, you know, I'd get an email. And it'd be like, here's this bit. You know, like it's a bit about, you know, like you using up the liquor in your liquor cabinet to make cocktails. Right. And they, I get the, you know, they'd send it to me.

I'd rewrite. I actually in a couple of instances would, like, go to the store and buy props. Right. I'd film it on my phone or on my computer. I'd just like set my computer, my laptop up, like fixing wherever I was shooting. I'd shoot the bit. It would take me 20 minutes. I'd send it back and then I'd be like, oh, okay, you know, I'd just wait for another email in two days when I get the bit.

And then I'd sometimes do Zoom things with him. But when he started at Largo and then after a while, there was a day, because I wasn't coming in every day. I was coming in every once in a while. And there was like, somebody told me that there was a day where he's like, why isn't Andy in here every day? It's more fun when he's here. And I'm like, well, just, you know, and then I immediately was getting texts. change a plan. You've got to come in every day. Like, yay. Oh, right. Oh, my God. It was such a, like, turning point for me in this whole pandemic thing because I got to go out of the house. And even though

it's a really short, like, there are days when my actual work takes 20 minutes. Wow. You know, just like, we get there. And he's recorded somebody and the bit that we do is just real quick or, or it's just us talking. And it's like, okay, that's it. Let's have some lunch and go home. Yeah. It's weird. It's very weird, but it's fun.

It was always so labor intensive. Yeah. Oh, no. And just being able to go, okay. Yep. Tomorrow, I'm back in the soup at Largo. Right, right. Yeah.

I got to be at Largo by 1130 a.m. Right. And then done by 1240. And it's, you two are, you know, he's hilarious together. So it's, I mean, I think that he's probably in this, you know, he probably sees more people than I do or just has more contact with people. And he's doing the interviews and the podcast. Right. Yeah, but we both, I think are both just happy to.

Yes. Happy to be. It comes across. It really comes across. Good, good, good. You're both kind of like pigs and shit. Like, oh, my God, we're in the same. I'm in the same room with another person.

Yeah, yeah. Even though he's 40 feet away from. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's, that's great. Do you have any, do you have any future sort of outside, like, is there a screenplay you want to write? Does your, you know, your wife is a very successful author, Cynthia Dupree, Sweeney. Yes, she just wrote her second book.

And coming out April 6th. Do you get, does that give you any envy? Do you have, like, author envy? I am so, no, I'm so excited and happy for her. Because I, I, again, in terms of being lucky, I realized being, you know, a selfish asshole. Like now I understand that for years she was like basically raising our two kids while I was at work every night. Like, you know, we were there to like midnight every night.

It could be a very consuming job. Yeah. Yes. And she was a very selfless about it and really generous. And so when she wrote her, she went, when we moved to her. Thank you.