Josh Groban

Summary

Podcast Summary: Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend with Josh Groban

Episode Date: June 22, 2026
Host: Conan O’Brien with Sona Movsesian & Matt Gourley
Guest: Josh Groban

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Episode Overview

In this spirited and characteristically playful episode, Conan O’Brien welcomes singer, actor, and all-around affable mensch Josh Groban. The conversation dives into Josh’s new album Cinematic—a tribute to movie music—before veering through Groban’s origin story, his brush with instant fame, and the evolution of his comedy-leaning public persona. The pair also discuss the realities and absurdities of show business, including their collaborative Oscar performance, Josh’s love for musical theater, and funny childhood recollections. True to Conan’s mission of seeking friendship, the episode oscillates between comedic bits and moments of genuine reflection.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Conan & Sona’s Moroccan Misadventure

[02:07-03:43]

• Conan and Sona recount their trip to Morocco for Conan O’Brien Must Go.
• The quest was to find authentic argan oil—a pursuit ruined a bit by learning it’s readily available on Amazon.
• Conan: “It ruins the magic of travel.”
• Both describe the exhaustion that comes with travel shows and their jet-lagged antics in LA.

2. Social Media Algorithms and Dark Humor

[04:35-08:22]

• The group discusses online “doom scrolling,” Sona’s fascination with Instagram street fights, and a viral video of a robot kicking a kid.
• Conan: “Does that robot feel shame?...Because I’m a human, I was reading in, ‘oh, that robot must feel shame right now,’ and then I realized—it doesn’t.” ([06:12])
• Sona jokes about “victim blaming” the kid; Matt suggests their algorithms are turning them into monsters.

3. Josh Groban Joins: Oscars, Comedy, and Sex Toy Bits

[09:57-13:54]

• Conan describes their Oscar collaboration, with Groban singing a comically self-congratulatory tribute to Conan.
• They reminisce about Groban Zooming in from Tokyo and joking about Japanese sex toys:
  • Josh: “I had two Trader Joe’s bags full of dildos, suction cups, and tassels.” ([12:33])
  • Conan: “No one builds shit like the Japanese…but you kept turning them on, and they were like a lot of robotics.”
• Groove of show business: “So much of TV is bits over, and then you’re off to Belgium to do a concert, and, you know, I’m off…I don’t know where I go.” ([14:06])

4. Making ‘Cinematic’—Movie Song Favorites & The Godfather in Sicilian

[15:10-17:43]

• Groban shares how he recorded beloved movie themes like “Unchained Melody” and “Skyfall” with a 90-piece orchestra in London.
• On “Speak Softly Love” (Godfather theme), he sang in Sicilian at Coppola’s request:
  • Josh: “I sent in a demo…they sent me back a note saying, ‘Mr. Coppola would like it in Sicilian.’ That’s when I realized there was such a thing.” ([17:05])
• Comedic riffing on lyrics' literalism (“Never let your wife in Italy start the car, she will blow up…”).

5. Josh’s Origin Story: From Introvert With ADD to Prodigy

[18:40-21:43]

• Josh’s middle-school choir teacher, Richard Barrett, yanked him from the back row for a solo, changing his path:
  • “Had he not given me that moment…I wouldn’t be here.” ([19:43])
• Even bullies supported his talent (before shoving him into lockers).

6. Brushes With Destiny: Singing With Celine Dion at 17

[25:35-31:12]

• At age 17, Josh is asked by producer David Foster to stand in for Andrea Bocelli in a Grammy rehearsal duet with Celine Dion.
• Initially, Josh turns it down—his mom is dumbfounded and Foster calls him, essentially, an idiot: “Get your ass to the Shrine Auditorium!” ([27:25])
• Celine Dion is warm and encouraging:
  • “She clocked it…and made her soundcheck about making me comfortable.” ([29:08])
• Celine allows Josh’s dad to video the rehearsal, creating a cherished memory.

7. The Trappings of Sudden Fame, Avoiding “Rock-Star” Pitfalls

[33:14-36:28]

• Discussion of pressures faced by young stars—why Josh didn’t succumb to substance abuse:
  • “The pressure of needing to sound really good out there…kept me from getting into dangerous territory.” ([34:36])
• Lighthearted pushback from Conan about not trying heroin to protect his voice.

8. Musical Theater, Comedy, and Improv Roots

[36:28-46:29]

• Conan confesses confusion about people bursting into song in musicals; Josh counterpoints with his childhood love for the art form.
• Both connect over their love for The Music Man. Conan dreams of performing “Ya Got Trouble.”
• Josh details his early improv experience at LA Connection, humorously describing a weird tribute painting of himself on the theater’s outside wall.
• Josh: “There are no paintings of me as a singer. But for some reason, LA Connection was like, ‘this guy…improv master!’” ([45:49])
• He credits Jimmy Kimmel for giving him opportunities to show his comedic side (“sing a ballad to make pandas horny” on TV).

9. The Duality of Performance: Serious Musicianship & Comedy

[47:17-50:27]

• Conan asks about hitting difficult notes; Josh shares that you have to practice and mentally adopt a “fuck it” attitude to let it fly:
  • “If you care that much…you’re going to get tense. The more you say, ‘God, I hope it comes out,’ the more you’re gonna regret it.” ([47:58])
  • Comedic anecdotes about other singers hyping themselves before big notes.

10. Special Moments: Recording Moon River With His Dad

[50:35-54:25]

• Josh’s favorite part of recording Cinematic was a trumpet duet with his father:
  • His dad, nearly 80, practiced for weeks; the studio set up Louis Armstrong’s historic stool/mics—making it a “core memory family moment.”
  • “To have a song that is a tribute and a thank you for what he put in my DNA…best thing I’ve ever done.” ([52:53])

11. On Parental Sacrifice & Following Your Dreams

[54:25-54:50]

• Conan and Josh reflect on artistic parents who chose stability; the show ends with a comedic, cynical “moral”:
  • Sona: “Deny your dreams.”
  • Conan: “I call Old English, Original American.” ([55:03])

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Showbiz Absurdity:
  “There’s a weird thing about show business…So much of TV is: bit’s over, and then you’re off to Belgium…and I never see you again.” – Conan O’Brien ([14:06])

• About Getting Nervous on Stage:
  “There has to be a certain amount of ‘fuck it.’ Because if you care that much…you’re going to get tense.” – Josh Groban ([47:58])

• On Rebellious Comedy in Awards Shows:
  “I love anyone who’s legitimizing a completely illegitimate piece of comedy.” – Conan O’Brien ([13:21])

• Celine Dion’s Generosity:
  “She made her soundcheck about making me comfortable.” – Josh Groban ([29:08])

• On Parental Sacrifice:
  “I got my musicality from him [dad]. He went into business…to make sure we could pursue our dreams.” – Josh Groban ([54:25])

• Classic Conan Sarcasm:
  “Don’t pursue your dreams. Speak American. Do heroin. Deny your dreams.” – Conan O’Brien/Sona/Josh (riffing) ([54:50])

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Lighthearted Bits

• Repeated comedic riffs about Japanese sex toys and “sex tourism.”
• Extended breakdown of Conan’s new character in Toy Story 5 (“Smarty Pants,” a toilet-training toy), including meta-commentary on being motion-activated and sounding unintentionally inebriated. ([60:07–63:12])

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Important Timestamps

• [02:07] – Morocco trip, argan oil quest
• [06:12] – Robot kicks kid video discussion
• [09:57] – Josh Groban’s intro, Oscar collaboration stories
• [15:10] – “Cinematic” album stories, Godfather in Sicilian
• [19:43] – Choir teacher origin story
• [27:25] – Grammy bait-and-switch, singing with Celine Dion (Josh’s “you idiot, go!” moment)
• [34:36] – Pressures of fame, drugs, and protecting the voice
• [38:08] – Improv and musical theater roots
• [45:49] – LA Connection improv building as a comedic landmark
• [50:35] – Recording “Moon River” with Josh’s dad; Louis Armstrong studio anecdote
• [54:50] – Parental sacrifice, advice spoof: “Don’t pursue your dreams”
• [60:07] – Conan’s Toy Story 5 gadget, “Smarty Pants” reveal

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Tone & Style

The episode is infectiously playful, full of off-the-cuff banter and comedic callbacks, but it’s balanced by pockets of sincere praise, personal stories, and mutual respect. Conan is in top form as both jester and curious interviewer, while Josh Groban reveals himself as affable, reflective, and remarkably game for self-effacing humor.

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For Listeners Short on Time

• Tune in at [09:57] for the start of the main interview with Groban.
• Don’t miss the “Moon River”/dad segment at [50:35] for heartfelt backstory.
• The last 5 minutes ([54:50+] ) is peak Conan-Groban banter and the episode wind-down with comedic “wisdom.”

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Closing

Josh Groban cements his position as both musical powerhouse and comedy aficionado, riffing effortlessly with one of late night’s sharpest wits. Whether you’re a fan of Groban's pipes, Conan’s punchlines, or seeing the machinery of showbiz from the inside out, this episode will keep you smiling—and, occasionally, surprisingly moved.

Transcript

[Sonam]

Foreign.

[Conan O'Brien]

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[Sonam]

Yeah, like all the time.

[Conan O'Brien]

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[Sonam]

Oh, no.

[Conan O'Brien]

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[Sonam]

Oh, yeah, all the time.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. LinkedIn has a word for that. Bullspin.

[Sonam]

Bull spin.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Instead, you can get the highest roas of major ad networks with LinkedIn ads. Cut the bull. Spend. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 and get a $250 credit. Go to LinkedIn.comconant Terms apply.

[Josh Groban]

Hi, my name is Josh Gro. Downright giddy about being Conan o'. Brien.

[Conan O'Brien]

Now that's the right attitude.

[Josh Groban]

That is. It's an honor.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, it's not. But giddy is appropriate.

[Josh Groban]

It's a giddy honor.

[Sonam]

Fall is here Hear the yell Back to school, Ring the bell Brand new shoes Walking blues Climb the fence Books and pens I can tell that we

[Conan O'Brien]

are gonna be friends Yes, I can

[Sonam]

tell that we are gonna be friends.

[Conan O'Brien]

He welcome to Conan o' Brien Needs a friend Sitting here with Sonam Obsession, Matt Gourley.

[Sonam]

Hi.

[Conan O'Brien]

And Sona and I are just back from Morocco.

[Matt Gourley]

Oh, that's funny. I didn't see you guys there.

[Sonam]

Oh.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, really?

[Matt Gourley]

Were you there? Yeah. Much there on my own. Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Wandering around. Yeah, that makes sense. No, we. We were shooting an episode of the travel series Conan o' Brien Must Go, and we. Sonny, you were kind enough to come with me.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Because actually something came up on this podcast. You expressed a desire to get a certain product, a certain Argan oil.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

And so I decided I'm going to get you that Argan oil by taking you to Morocco. Yeah.

[Matt Gourley]

Is it a spoiler to say if you got the.

[Conan O'Brien]

We can't say anything.

[Matt Gourley]

Okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

We can't say anything.

[Sonam]

What?

[Conan O'Brien]

We can tell you we're going to

[Sonam]

tune in for that.

[Matt Gourley]

It wasn't like the Ark of the Covenant. I mean, you could probably get this pretty.

[Sonam]

It's very readily available there.

[Conan O'Brien]

Apparently it's also readily available here. You got scammed. I got scammed. As we were like in the market, hunting down the argon oil, someone said, you know, yeah, you can, yeah, you can get this, you know, on Amazon and it will come from the same store that you found. But anyway, that ruins the magic of travel, so. But we have had. Well, tell me what you thought, son.

[Sonam]

Oh, I had so much fun. I hadn't. Yeah, I used to travel when you do the travel shows and I forgot how. It's a lot of work.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's a lot of work. It is a lot of work. You guys seem a little tired.

[Matt Gourley]

Are you tired?

[Sonam]

I Woke up at 2:30 this morning.

[Conan O'Brien]

I didn't go back to sleep because I was east for a while for other things. So I was on that time. And then we went to, to Morocco.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

And so I haven't been on LA time in, in quite a while.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

So, yeah, I've been waking up at like three in the morning and like cleaning out cupboards.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Like I'll do. When I wake up and it's pitch black outside and I know I'm up, I just start doing tasks that I would never do otherwise. Like I'll build a urinal. You know, first I'll fire the porcelain. I mean, I'll do all these crazy things because I think you have that you're. You're revving. You want to be useful, you want to get something done. Uh, so, yeah, I've been. Actually, mostly what I've been doing is organizing things that I haven't organized in a long time. I mean, just. And my wife was away, so I was alone. It's me, the dogs and the cats. And I'm just. They hear me in the garage banging away, doing stuff. Yeah, it's productive.

[Sonam]

I'm not productive.

[Conan O'Brien]

What did you do when you watch

[Sonam]

clips of shows I like?

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, oh.

[Sonam]

And I just scroll on my phone in the bed. It's nice.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's called doom scrolling.

[Sonam]

It's not doom because my algorithm's really fun. So it's like.

[Matt Gourley]

What's your algorithm?

[Sonam]

My algorithm's a lot of just silly. It's like, you know, silly humor. It's a lot of really funny stuff. I don't know how to describe it. And then every once in a while it's like takes me to a really dark kind of place on Instagram.

[Matt Gourley]

And then like, what?

[Sonam]

I don't know. There's just like.

[Conan O'Brien]

Like, what's dark for you?

[Sonam]

I. I can't. I don't know. Sometimes I'm just like, how did this end up here? I can't. I can't think of.

[Josh Groban]

I.

[Matt Gourley]

Real good example. If you. If you had an example, it would

[Sonam]

be so good if I had an ex.

[Conan O'Brien]

Like, street fights, that kind of thing.

[Sonam]

I get a lot of fights. I do get a lot of fights. A lot of brawls and fights. And I love.

[Matt Gourley]

That's your love language.

[Sonam]

I love them. I know. And they make me. They fire me up. Like, they get me really intense. Like, I don't. I don't know if you guys get that same. Nope, nope, Just me. Okay. You like watching fights? I love it. Sometimes I revisit fights.

[Conan O'Brien]

I saw a clip recently that's been going around. This clip's been going around of which is sort of tangential to this, but this cliff's been going around. They unveiled this robot, and the robot comes out. It's one of these really impressive, you know, latest model robots. And it's coming out. It's doing all these cool moves and spinning and stuff like that. And then it's. And all these families are around watching it, like, applauding. And then it spins around and it kicks this little kid really hard in the stomach. And the kid doubles over and then kind of collapses. And I think the kid's okay. I hope the kid's okay.

[Matt Gourley]

Is this real?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, it's real. I think. I'm pretty sure it's real. And then the robot sort of stands up and then just starts to step back, retreat. And I've thought, does that robot feel shame? Is it possible it feels shame? And I was. Because I'm a human, I was reading in. Oh, that robot just must feel so much shame right now. And then I realized it doesn't. No, it doesn't. There's no way the robot's like.

[Matt Gourley]

That's darker than the street fights.

[Sonam]

I know, but we don't want to feel shame.

[Conan O'Brien]

Robot kicks boy in the stomach.

[Matt Gourley]

It came up.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

I don't see this. Yeah, yeah. No, it's not. The kid's okay. And the. And I think the kid might have needed kicking. You never know. I don't want to bum people out, but I think it's okay.

[Sonam]

I know it's not. It's not funny, right? Hold on.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes. Look to the.

[Sonam]

Here's the guy.

[Conan O'Brien]

He's like, ha, ha, ha ha. Boink.

[Sonam]

Oh, Jesus. Yeah. Oh, no. That's awful. Okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

And look at the Robots like, oh, no.

[Matt Gourley]

Must destroy to save oneself.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Sonam]

Oh, my God.

[Conan O'Brien]

So anyway.

[Matt Gourley]

Oh, my God.

[Sonam]

Now is standing out a little too far.

[Conan O'Brien]

What's that? That kid asked for it.

[Sonam]

Yeah, he asked for it.

[Matt Gourley]

Well, you said he had it coming. You're victim blaming.

[Sonam]

Yeah. You guys.

[Matt Gourley]

Algorithm is turning you guys into monsters.

[Conan O'Brien]

I. Yeah, I said, go, robot. That was my comment that I wrote in.

[Sonam]

Oh, no, you shouldn't be standing. Do you remember when we were. I don't know if we should mention this. When we were in Armenia, probably, and there was a guy doing donuts.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes.

[Sonam]

And there was a perimeter of people.

[Conan O'Brien]

Let me paint the. We're in Yavan, capital of Armenia. We're there for five minutes when we hear all this noise and excitement. And we go to this big square where all these people are packed around watching and there's a guy in the middle who's accelerating really fast in a car doing donuts. And everyone's just. It doesn't seem like an official performance. I think a guy was just doing donuts and everyone came to watch the guy do donuts. Cause it's one o' clock and it's time for donuts. And everyone's. But there's no barrier between the people and the car. And the guy doesn't really. He's not a professional. He doesn't know what he's doing. And then at one point, he swings around and I think he hit a bunch of people.

[Sonam]

He hit people with his car.

[Conan O'Brien]

I think they were. Okay.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I don't think people, you know, here, everyone would be like, okay, get everyone's number. And everyone's going to sue everyone there. They're just like, ah. That's what happens.

[Sonam]

Shake it off. We're good. Get back around the perimeter. Get back to donuts. It was crazy. Yeah. It didn't make the show that we were shooting, but it was.

[Matt Gourley]

Oh, no, no.

[Josh Groban]

You didn't know that.

[Conan O'Brien]

We are opening with the robot kicking the Chinese boy I'm going to put at the top of the show. Well, what was your reaction to that? I mean, I don't. First of all, I saw that thing. It got sent to me. Instagram thought, conan's gonna love a Chinese robot kicking a kid in the stomach, which I don't endorse.

[Matt Gourley]

But now that you've probably watched it more than once, it's gonna think that's what you want, is robots kicking kids.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, I can. I guess I'll just have to. I made my bed and I have to lie in it. It'd be great if all my feet was robots and me watching for hours on.

[Josh Groban]

Now that you've said it out loud,

[Conan O'Brien]

it probably will be. All right, then. All righty then. Remember that when that was a big thing.

[Sonam]

All righty then, Ace Ventura.

[Conan O'Brien]

That was cool. I'm just trying to.

[Sonam]

What, 30. 30 years ago?

[Conan O'Brien]

It was over 70 years ago. Yeah, I just looked it up.

[Sonam]

Okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

My guess, do it. Oh, let's get into it.

[Sonam]

Okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

But you. Sometimes we should do it. You're not crisp with any sentence you dribble.

[Sonam]

Okay. Yeah, you should like.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, anyway. So that's a head intro. And go well anyway. Right, Sona?

[Sonam]

Yep.

[Conan O'Brien]

Right, Sona. My guest today is Antonio.

[Matt Gourley]

Do you have a thought like when

[Josh Groban]

we might want to end this podcast?

[Conan O'Brien]

I think it's coming up real soon.

[Sonam]

Completely.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's coming up real soon because it's

[Matt Gourley]

going to be taken away if we don't end it ourselves.

[Conan O'Brien]

If we can't use this responsibly. They're going to take it away.

[Matt Gourley]

Exactly.

[Sonam]

And intro.

[Conan O'Brien]

Thanks, Sona. My guest today is a Tony Emmy and Grammy nominated singer songwriter. His new album, cinematic is a tribute to the silver screen. And it's out now. I am so happy he's here today. He's a funny, lovely fellow. Josh groban. Welcome, Josh, I am so thrilled you're here. Conan's we have had a connection over the years because as a very young man, you came on my late night show.

[Josh Groban]

I did.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I thought, this kid is very talented, but also really funny. Oh, man. And you were sweet. And I thought, I don't think he's gonna make it. But wouldn't it be nice if he did? And I think I remember I said that to you.

[Josh Groban]

It's what you led with.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

So I.

[Conan O'Brien]

My next guest probably won't make it.

[Josh Groban]

You really like to keep me on edge. Yeah, I was nervous already. That really threw me.

[Conan O'Brien]

You've had this brilliant career and you remain a really nice person and a really funny person. Which leads me to my next topic of discussion, which is not long ago, I was tasked with hosting the Oscars. And I remember we had this idea there needed to be someone who could sing this, you know, sing my tribute in. And immediately, I think two of us at the same time said, wouldn't it be great if Josh Groban would do it? And I remembered having a thought, oh my God, Josh Groban. If he doesn't do it, I don't know that we can do this piece. Cause that's the best person to do it. And I know that whoever. If you weren't available. Cause we knew that you were touring. Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

Who was the second choice?

[Conan O'Brien]

This is not gonna make you happy, but it was comedian Patton Oswalt.

[Josh Groban]

Oh, Patton.

[Conan O'Brien]

That would be quite good. Yeah. No, apparently he's had a terrible voice.

[Josh Groban]

I'm imagining him in the night gear right now.

[Conan O'Brien]

That's just it. There was no second choice. There was no second choice. And I know that if we had found someone, I'd have been mad the whole time that it wasn't you and probably tank the piece. So we reached out to you. We found out that you might be amenable. We should have a conversation. And the next thing you know, I'm on a zoom with you, and you're in Tokyo.

[Josh Groban]

I was in Tokyo. There is no cooler experience than being in Tokyo. First of all, to begin with. And then having a zoom with you about doing this bit. Nothing will top this.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, here's the weird thing, too. I thought. Remember we got on the Zoom, and I said, you must be on tour. And Josh said, no, they have the best sex toys here.

[Matt Gourley]

That's right.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

And this is where I like to shop for my sex toys. And then for 20 minutes, you were showing me these.

[Josh Groban]

I had a bag. I had two Trader Joe's bags full of Dilden suction cups and tassels.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, no, no.

[Josh Groban]

Let me continue. No, it was really light tourism for me. Yeah. Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

The thing is, no one builds shit like the Japanese.

[Josh Groban]

True.

[Conan O'Brien]

But you kept turning them on, and they were like a lot of robotics.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

A lot of robo. And one of them had a song

[Josh Groban]

similar to the one you wanted me to sing. It was so I kind of said it like, you know, like this.

[Conan O'Brien]

But anyway, we had this. So next thing you know, we're rehearsing. You killed it. We do it at the Oscars. You were great. And then here's a weird thing about show business. You killed it. And people really liked the piece, and people were so happy that suddenly you're there. I love anyone who's legitimizing a completely illegitimate piece of comedy. So the fact that you were part of it with your amazing voice, but you're singing these incredibly stupid lyrics about how I'm the greatest ever and it's over. But from my perspective, I'm on top of a mountain, holding onto a fake falcon and being pulled off the stage. And I wave to you, and you kind of wave back, and you go left and I go right, and then I'm into The show and I never see you again.

[Josh Groban]

I know.

[Conan O'Brien]

And it's weird because I know that if I had been watching that, I'd think, oh, cool, Now Conan and Josh Groban get to hang out backstage and trade old horsepowers.

[Josh Groban]

Go to a lounge.

[Conan O'Brien]

Go to a lounge. No, watch out. I don't see you anymore.

[Matt Gourley]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

So much of TV is bits over, and then you're off to Belgium to do a concert, and, you know, I'm off. I don't know where I go, but

[Josh Groban]

to sleep for a week, I did. I knew, though, going into it that. I mean, if I could see you even for a second, that would be great, because your responsibilities on a night like that, leading up to it and then on the night.

[Sonam]

Right.

[Josh Groban]

And you make it look easy. I mean, it really was. I was happy that this was scheduled on the calendar so we could catch up.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes.

[Josh Groban]

You know, this is the only reason I'm having you.

[Conan O'Brien]

The only reason. And first of all, this will never. No one will ever hear this. There's no tape in the machine. Said the idiot who fundamentally didn't understand how things work. But it is really nice to get to talk to you.

[Josh Groban]

Same.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I. I was listening after the Wave. I mean, after the Wave. And I was listening to the album you did. Cinematic. And it's all these different amazing movie songs. Songs from great movies. And I was listening to. Using the Godfather theme, and it has lyrics in Sicilian.

[Josh Groban]

That's right.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I didn't realize that the Godfather had lyrics. The Godfather theme.

[Josh Groban]

Me neither.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I was like, this is amazing. And I translated the lyrics. I used iTranslate. And it's just going over the plot of the Godfather.

[Josh Groban]

That's right.

[Sonam]

It was before the Godfather. It came out.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, no, no. It came out at the same time as the Godfather. But the lyrics are not imaginative. It sounds like such a beautiful song. But all the lyrics are, you shouldn't let your wife in Italy start the car. She will blow up and her body will go real far.

[Josh Groban]

Never sit with your back to a. Yeah, it's. Yeah, it's. Enjoy the clams. Enjoy the clams. Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Incredible. Just really, really getting into the nitty gritty.

[Sonam]

Really.

[Matt Gourley]

It is.

[Conan O'Brien]

There's going to be a sequel and you'll see. It's pretty good. Watch Number one and the second of may be. Whoa. It's understood. Three's a mistake.

[Josh Groban]

Three's a mistake. Yeah, I go up for that one.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. But I was listening to it and just Unchained Melody. Oh, yeah. I mean, there's a bunch of songs there. And also your Skyfall.

[Josh Groban]

Oh, thanks.

[Conan O'Brien]

Is fantastic.

[Josh Groban]

Thank you.

[Conan O'Brien]

So I was listening to all these, and I was thinking, first of all, the musicians you have behind you, it's insane.

[Josh Groban]

90. 90 pieces. 90 players in London at AIR Studios. And singing it in the room with them is like nothing else. There's so much about my job that is just isolated. You're in a hotel room. You're in a dressing room. You're in front of a microphone. To be in the room with them playing is like walking on a cloud. It's because, you know if you mess up, they have to start again. If they mess up, you start again. And it's just a. It's an incredible experience to. To sing these melodies with them. And the Sicilian came because I. I was. I rehearsed it in Italian. There's an English language version. An Italian language and a Sicilian version.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I. Fluent in Italian.

[Josh Groban]

No, I. I learned these languages as a singer because I grew up learning these art songs. And I would. I would sing in French and Italian and Spanish. I don't speak the language fluently, but I. But I learn them as I'm, of course, when I'm singing them. But I sent in a demo of the Italian version to Coppola and the team. He was being honored for the AFI lifetime achievement, and he asked me to do it for that. And I sent in a demo, and I was really nervous, and I worked, like, for two weeks on it, and then they sent me back a note saying, like, oh, no, no, Mr. Coppola would like it in Sicilian. And so that is when I realized that there was such a thing. Looked it up. There was. And, yeah, you learn something new every day. It was beautiful, though.

[Conan O'Brien]

Did you ever think ever for a second, you know, having your agent call and go, yeah, that's not happening, Coppola. Do you know what I mean? Because I. I send that response back all the time, but it's about much smaller things. Yeah, can Conan be there for the kid's birthday party at 3? And I'll say, no, I can be there at 3:15, but I want my $200 up front just to throw your weight around.

[Josh Groban]

I just.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

Oh, you want Sicilian now you get gibberish. That's what you get. Cause what's really the difference? Yeah.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

What are you gonna say? No.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, I'm sorry, Cony. I think all foreign languages are just gibberish. No, I'm sorry. I thought everyone spoke American.

[Sonam]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Groban]

Canceled, Canceled, Canceled.

[Sonam]

Are we recording this. No, we're good.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm pretty sure America was the first language. Oh, boy, said the idiot. And then everyone lost their way.

[Josh Groban]

Oh, goodness.

[Conan O'Brien]

So I wanna talk about your origin story. Cause it really fascinates me when you're a kid. You, obviously, you're, like, singing in your room. I think you're aware that you have this thing you can do, but you probably don't know what its value is or its merit.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

And then you're 13 years old and you're in a choir.

[Josh Groban]

Yes.

[Conan O'Brien]

And do I have this right? The choir teacher's like you in the back.

[Josh Groban]

Exactly right.

[Conan O'Brien]

Why don't you come forward? I wanna hear you a

[Matt Gourley]

he.

[Josh Groban]

Well, what he did was he. Which all great teachers do, is he recognized that there was a student in his choir who really needed the push. I was not. I mean, I'm a ham on stage, but I am, like, the most introvert on stage. And when I was a kid, I was really introverted, had a really hard time making friends. My grades weren't great. I did ADD and didn't even know about it. So, like, I was a little bit lost. And I was in the back of the class, and I was in the back of the choir, and I loved being part of it. But he heard a. That there was a little bit of a talent there. I was, by the way, 13 years old. My voice still hadn't changed. So there was a talent there, but it was very.

[Matt Gourley]

It was very high.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

So it was a real gamble for him to say, I'm gonna put this kid in the front and I'm gonna give him a song. And he gave me this song, Swonderful. George Gershwin song, Swonderful. And I sang it with all my might because it was an assignment. He knew that if he didn't give it to me as a class thing, that I would never do it for myself.

[Conan O'Brien]

Right.

[Josh Groban]

So in. In pushing me to the front, he gifted me with a moment that changed, even if I hadn't gone into it professionally. A moment that changed my. My growth forever. You know, the kids, like, the next day were like, wow, man. That was. Even the bully was like, bro, yeah,

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm gonna still beat you senseless, but I'm gonna go beforehand to compliment you on your incredible range.

[Josh Groban]

Voice of an angel. Now get in that locker.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Could you do it? Wow. Could you do it yourself? I like this bully who just phones it in. Get in that locker.

[Josh Groban]

Well, that's basically.

[Conan O'Brien]

Can you pull your own underwear up so that it rides into your Crack. Thanks a lot. What are you doing? I'm on Amazon.

[Josh Groban]

At least they had to do it in person back then. Now it's also anonymous online. You know, I didn't like it, but I respected it.

[Conan O'Brien]

Bullies. Today's zoom people.

[Josh Groban]

Oh, they just followed in.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh yeah. What's up? Thanks for taking. Yeah. Can you stick your face in the urinal? Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

Yes, sir.

[Conan O'Brien]

Getting a good deal is kind of a big deal. Would you agree? Sona?

[Sonam]

Such a big deal.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. So get this. Prime day is coming June 23rd through the 26th with all the best deals you've been waiting for. Prime Day delivers more than great prices. Delivers the big deal feeling upgrade. That old mattress, Sona, your mattress I hear, just is terrible. Get a new one.

[Sonam]

It's vintage.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's not good. Vintage milk and vintage mattresses aren't the way to go. Okay, score a new great pair of noise canceling headphones. Snag that garden of your lawn. Decor dreams. Whatever you've had your eye on, you can get it for a great deal. Shop Prime Day, June 23rd through the 26th. Summer always changes how you get dressed. You want pieces that feel lighter, more breathable. Things that are easy but still put together. That's where quints comes in. They focus on high quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Think breathable linen and soft organic cotton. And think that now. And Quint's goes way beyond clothing. They have custom upholstered sofas, ceramic cookware, premium bedding and more for your home. Now you have some personal experience with quints, do you not, David?

[Sonam]

That's true.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah, I just went, well, you know, I'm going on a vacation soon. So I went to their vacation.

[Conan O'Brien]

Wait, did I approve this vacation?

[Josh Groban]

This is the. Can I go on vacation soon?

[Conan O'Brien]

Sure, go ahead. Great.

[Josh Groban]

So I got a new shirt for the vacation. It's a 100% European linen relaxed short sleeve shirt. And then I got some.

[Conan O'Brien]

You're talking just the way people talk.

[Josh Groban]

It's the way everybody talks.

[Conan O'Brien]

Hey, it's a nice shirt you got there. Yeah, it's 100.

[Josh Groban]

Well, and then it goes with my Italian leather everyday sneakers that I got too. They're a white sneaker that I think it's gonna look great on vacation.

[Conan O'Brien]

You know what? Your style has improved recently and I think Quinte has something to do with that. Definitely elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com kona for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's almost a full year now available. In Canada too. That's Q U I n c e.com Conan for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com Conan. FX is the Bear. The Emmy award winning series returns for its final season. With no money, the threat of a sale, and a torrential storm in their way, the team bands together to achieve one last service. Can they finally earn that coveted Michelin star? FX is the bear. The final season premieres June 25 on FX. All episodes streaming on Hulu. I love stories where people figure it out. And I'm also picturing the teacher. Like, okay, what's music teacher? Okay, yeah, you next. What is it? Jay Groban? Josh. All right, let's hear it. You know, their glasses shatter.

[Josh Groban]

What is this damn name anyway? Yeah, it was.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, okay, Pavarotti. Let's hear this guy. I gotta get to lunch.

[Josh Groban]

His name is actually, his name is Richard Barrett. And I invite him to every concert that I do because.

[Conan O'Brien]

Because I still make him pay.

[Josh Groban]

I still.

[Conan O'Brien]

That's a trick I like to do. Ah, my old comedy teacher. It's 700 for that seat.

[Josh Groban]

I'd like to offer you the opportunity to buy tickets to my new show. No, he's. He was. He was. Was not.

[Matt Gourley]

That guy.

[Josh Groban]

He was super, you know, excited to teach and still teaches. And, you know, not only did he pull me out back from the back, but he knew that I like to play piano. He knew that I was kind of gravitating towards the drum set in the back. So he's like, I'm gonna leave the music room open. So just whenever you need to go in, have an escape, get in there and, you know it. Having access to all that just changed absolutely everything for me.

[Conan O'Brien]

Do you have perfect pitch? Can you identify a note?

[Josh Groban]

Not. I don't have perfect. I could play by ear. If I listen to something, I can sit down at the piano and figure it out. I actually can't read music. Everything that I've learned how to play. No, it's true.

[Conan O'Brien]

That's the only reason you're here. What the hell, Adam?

[Josh Groban]

Our lesson's gonna be really disappointing.

[Conan O'Brien]

This is where I push the button and you're ejected out of the Larchmont office. You land in a parked car.

[Josh Groban]

I parachute down in front of Noah's bagels. Oh, man. Well, the good news is I can get a great Loxi cream cheese.

[Conan O'Brien]

You land fracturing your pelvis, but immediately order a schmear on a poppy seed.

[Sonam]

That's right.

[Conan O'Brien]

I said schmear.

[Josh Groban]

So you come out with pickles Conan, huh?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. You know, you probably found out you couldn't read music. Harrison Forbe was here when I found out he couldn't read music. And I ejected him.

[Josh Groban]

Oh, man.

[Conan O'Brien]

So you start singing and then you have this moment. Another pivotal moment is you're 17, someone introduces you to David Foster, famous producer, arranger, and he asks you to do this thing at the Grammys. It's like you were a kid.

[Josh Groban]

It was so close together like that. The shy 13 year old whose voice was on the brink of changing was 13. And then the call came in when I was 16.

[Conan O'Brien]

Right.

[Josh Groban]

So the time period between absolutely having no clue, wearing this coat that was so big on me, and getting this call to be part of something, that

[Conan O'Brien]

was something, a big thing at the Grammys.

[Josh Groban]

David had heard me sing at a charity event that he asked me to do. Plucked out of high school, I sang a song from Phantom of the Opera. It was like the biggest. But I went back to class. I didn't think anything else would come from it. So when he called me and he said, I'm at the Grammys, I've written this song. It's called the Prayer. It's for Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli. And Bocelli is stuck on a tarmac in Germany. He can't be here in time for the rehearsals. Would you step in and would you sing this for Celine, with Celine until he shows up?

[Conan O'Brien]

Do you mind? Do you mind? That's just insane.

[Josh Groban]

And I being an idiot, I mean, really, 16 years old, I did not have stars in my eyes to be a solo artist. I was like, I wanted to go to theater camp. I wanted to be. I wanted to worship the throne of Sondheim. And I wanted to, like, that's what I wanted to do. So the idea of like, like the music business, being a singer with those kinds of people, I was only thinking, can I do this well or not? And even though I was the hugest fan of Celine, I said to him, I don't think I'm the right person for this gig. I was so insecure. And Andrea Bocelli is like one of the great tenors of all time. And I was very much, like, living in my baritone world. I was not singing those very high notes. So I said, I think you can do better. I said, thank you so much for asking me. I'm really honored, but I think you can do better. And my mom yelled at me from downstairs, of course, still living at home. And she said, who is that? And I said, oh, that was David Foster. Oh.

[Sonam]

Oh.

[Josh Groban]

What did he want? Well, it's this Grammy rehearsal, as it happens, and Celine Dion is there and Bocelli isn't. He asked me to come and sing. And. Well, what did you say? I said, well, obviously I said, I'm probably not the right person for the job. And they kind of went, oh, all right. Well, all right then. And I could tell they were disappointed. David Foster called me back, and he said, I don't think you understood me. Get your ass to the shrine at Torium 3. Nobody had turned him down before, so he said, get over here. He barely gave me a pass. My dad shows up with me at the side door. Security's like, who are you? I said, I'm here to sing with Celine Dion.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, hi. I'm 17,

[Sonam]

I'm gonna sing with Celine.

[Conan O'Brien]

And this is my dad.

[Josh Groban]

And we are here for Celine Dion. Which way to the microphone? And, you know, and, like, security guard had to, like, walkie talkie. Another guy with a walkie talkie who, you know, and so on and so forth against. Finally, Ken Erlich, who produced the Grammys, came out and grabbed me. And, you know, it was just. I was so new to it that it was such another world. I didn't really permeate how important that moment was to be for me. I just wanted to do a good job. I didn't want to embarrass myself. Celine, of course, came out, and then I realized just how real it was. But the thing about Celine in that moment was she knew that David Foster was doing a thing, that this wasn't just a job. She knew because she'd been there at my age, that David was actually providing a door and an opportunity to prove myself, and that it was a lesson and that this was a moment, this was not just a rehearsal. And so she kind of, like, clocked it, and she's like, oh. Oh, got it. Josh. So nice to meet you. Kiss kiss. Could see I was nervous. And she made her sound check about making me comfortable.

[Conan O'Brien]

She grabbed my hands.

[Josh Groban]

She's like, we're gonna do this. And when you look at me and you have the Italian, then I'll sing the English. We got this. Just look at the prompter and look at the. You know, she was like, pep talking me out there. And I know now that I've done a lot of sound checks for TV shows. I know how precious those. I mean, you know, from just doing,

[Conan O'Brien]

you always get much less, I'm sure such little time allowances for Celine Dion in that movie. But I noticed that you know, it's quick. Yeah. If you're doing the Oscars and it's only appropriate, like Barbra Streisand, all the rehearsal time she needs. And then I'll say, I've got a thing where I catch a fake giant bird on a mountain with Josh Groban. They're like, you've got eight seconds.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah, that's lunch.

[Conan O'Brien]

You have eight seconds to get it right and then get out of here.

[Josh Groban]

Who are you?

[Matt Gourley]

Host.

[Josh Groban]

Got it. It's quick. And so now that I know. And that was a big song that she was about to sing really hard, and that was a big moment. It was nominated for a Grammy, an Oscar. So the fact that she took her precious time when many superstars of that time would have looked at me as like, stand in singer. All right, do the best you can. Let's get through it. You know, I might not have decided that this business was for me had she been me.

[Conan O'Brien]

So even though it. You were for rehearsal only, right?

[Josh Groban]

Yeah. And so, well, Ken Ehrlich said to me after I rehearsed, you know, we're still looking to see if Bocelli can make his flight. So buy. Go buy a suit in this lunch break. Go buy a suit on there. I mean, this is. This feels so old timey. Like, this feels so, like the old. But now you can tick tock yourself and get yourself on. You know, you can find an audience.

[Conan O'Brien]

Right.

[Josh Groban]

But that idea of like, you know, the kid. The kid did, okay, go down to men's warehouse. There's one down the street. And you know, I've got a tailor, here's his name. And, you know, it's. It was like, gotta get a suit. I looked at my dad and I said, I'm not.

[Conan O'Brien]

Like, I'm not.

[Josh Groban]

I can't do this on camera. Like, this is not. I'm not ready for this. Thankfully, Bocelli showed up, I got to meet him. He wound up doing the song, and I got to have a really good story.

[Conan O'Brien]

Did you get to tell Bocelli you were okay? I thought I nailed it.

[Josh Groban]

I was.

[Conan O'Brien]

Because he's a notoriously bad singer.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

No, I was just. I was so grateful that he was gonna finally go out there and nail it. My dad did have a camcorder video of it. And, you know, now, of course, you know that filming a sound check for something like the Grammys of the Oscars is just absolutely no, no. And Celine saw that he was filming, and the security said, you can't do that. And she said, no, no, no, let him film that. So that was, you know, it just was. She was the absolute best that day. And you know, but then 10 years later I got to sing that song on the Grammys with Bocelli. So we had like a kind of a full circle and I've sung it with Celine a few times since then. So it was just, it's wild how those things. Do you remember your 16 year old get a suit moment?

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, mine came later. Mine came when I was 48.

[Josh Groban]

Still involved a suit.

[Conan O'Brien]

Now I, I mean the story I have that kind of lines up a little bit with that was obviously I had these other, all these other adventures beforehand. Sure. But when I, you know, living out here in LA and getting a chance to audition to possibly be considered to be a late night host replacing David Letterman, which seemed insane, but I, they said show up in Burbank at this time and I didn't have anything to wear. So Lisa Kudrow, who's, you know, my, my best friend at the time, she said, hey, let's, I'll take care of this. And she took me to Fred Siegel and picked out the worst coat. And I'm sorry, Lisa, and we've talked about this before, but I'm a very pale person. I know now that I need to wear blue. She was like, oh, this looks good. And it was this linen floppy jacket that was very like almost pure white, maybe a little off white. And so I put it in the back of my Taurus and some transmission fluid that was. Got on it and stained it so I like turned the. And I walk out and I mean people have, I think, looked up, you can look up the footage of me auditioning. I'm like, hey everybody. And I've got floppy hair. And then, you know, I look like I'm trying to pretend to be Don Johnson in Miami Vice after he recovered.

[Josh Groban]

You could see the stain on the.

[Conan O'Brien]

I don't think you could, but. And so you don't just have one moment like that. You have, in my case anyway, many of them and they continue, you know,

[Josh Groban]

and you know, they say luck is preparation meets opportunity. And you know, these moments, these points of light continue. It wasn't just that moment. It's like it's. I can think of. That was a, that was a tent pole of a moment that I didn't know then, but the domino effect happened after that.

[Conan O'Brien]

Now most people, I'm not most, but I'll say many, many people in your situation, that's where the self medication starts. That's where alcohol Drugs. People get into that kind of behavior for a reason, because they feel like a lobster that's been shelled but is alive, you know, and. And everything's too. Literally, too raw. You didn't have that. Right.

[Josh Groban]

Well, that's where my sex tourism to Japan started. I will say it's. That was a somewhat.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

Less dangerous way to.

[Conan O'Brien]

Okay, this is why I'm happy. That quote. If anyone missed the top, that quote out of context is very. Well, that's just bad news for you and your team.

[Josh Groban]

If this were in England, that would be the head of the. Of the Guardian.

[Conan O'Brien]

Daily Mirror.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah. Daily Mirror, Yeah. Wait a minute. No, but I. But I. I was. I. You know, I battled all. I battled all this stuff. I had anxiety, I had depression. I had. You know, and, you know, I had. I had certain medication. Medications.

[Conan O'Brien]

But you knew that you couldn't drink because of your voice.

[Josh Groban]

So the pressure of needing to sound really good out there. Yeah, I think kept me from getting into dangerous territory because ultimately, the feeling of not doing great out there was worse than how good any of that stuff might feel in the interim.

[Conan O'Brien]

But can I just say, heroin would not have affected your voice. Does it affect your voice? Because if not, this is something we should explore.

[Sonam]

Yeah. No, no, no. You should. No, you should not advocate for heroin. Is that what you're doing?

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, I'm just saying.

[Sonam]

Okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm a little shocked that that wasn't proposed to you by your team.

[Josh Groban]

Just to take the edge off my team.

[Conan O'Brien]

Adam Sachs over there is constantly saying, you know, I don't think your comedy timing would be hurt by some of these, like a Fentanyl or something. And I'm like. I'm telling you, Adam, there's not a day that goes by.

[Sonam]

Adam, what the fuck? Why? Come on.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, he's not going on mic now.

[Josh Groban]

The mic is staying so far away from him.

[Conan O'Brien]

He's got the. He just took the mic and buried a hole. Dug a hole and buried it. I'm very glad you didn't get any of those drugs, which, by the way, I think are very bad.

[Sonam]

Oh, good, good. Yeah, you did.

[Conan O'Brien]

You fixed it.

[Josh Groban]

My genre of. My genre of music, though, was not like, I did not have that crew around me. Like, it was, you know, like, you

[Conan O'Brien]

know, what about your roadies?

[Josh Groban]

Yeah, it's like, hey, man, you gotta

[Conan O'Brien]

bump a line, man.

[Josh Groban]

Hey, man, your Ave Maria was really killing. But, hey, you seem a little tense.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, I was with Van Halen, but now, Groban, this is what I think you should do.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah, yeah. Musical theater's fine, but heroin's better. You know, it's like an episode of, like, Remember Cop Rock? Sure, I remember Cop Rock. Everything. I relate back to Cop Rock. Just everything's a musical. I imagine like a guy. Like a guy in a trench coat going, you sang the high note, but here's some meth.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

I did not have that singing guy in the trench coat, like, after my classical scales saying, like, you know, it's

[Conan O'Brien]

fascinating to me that. I'm glad you brought this up, because I have gone, no, we're gonna get off the drugs. But more specifically into musical theater because. And musicals that I've always. To this day, I can never reconcile. I couldn't as a kid and I can't now as an old man. I can't reconcile the. What do you think we ought to do? I don't know. It's kind of tricky, but maybe we should. I'm always like, what the hell happened? What is.

[Josh Groban]

It takes you out of it.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah. And I'm always. I would love to be in a musical where someone does that and other people are, you know, what are you doing?

[Josh Groban]

Yeah, Retrofic or scratch.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

Well, there's two camps of people. There's those that just think it's absolutely ridiculous and don't get it at all. You perhaps Chalamet. And I'm not putting you both in the same.

[Conan O'Brien]

You know, I, too, am with a. I'm with one of the Kardashians as well.

[Josh Groban]

Why is that clown singing on a high, low, high note? Ridiculous. And then those that are totally swept away. I was one of those kids that was totally swept. Just totally swept away by it. And I. The combination of music and story and that you could break into a song and that the singing of that song would somehow tap into some deeper way of expressing the story. I just. I suspended that disbelief.

[Conan O'Brien]

I do make an exception for the. I'm obsessed with the music man. And I'm obsessed with the you Got Trouble song. And I feel like I was put on this earth to do that. And someday in my life, I need to do it. Cause I, you know, and I wrote a Simpsons episode about it and something that I just. And then later was asked. Cause I know you've worked with the Hollywood Men's Gay Choir.

[Josh Groban]

Yes, that's right. Gay Men's Choirs of Los Angeles.

[Conan O'Brien]

Gaiman's course. And what did I say?

[Sonam]

You butchered the name.

[Josh Groban]

Hollywood Gay. Hollywood Foreign Choir.

[Sonam]

What did you do?

[Conan O'Brien]

I. I think they're. Believe me, I've worked with them and their name is the gay Hollywood.

[Josh Groban]

That's right.

[Conan O'Brien]

Choir that men frequent. That's what it's called, frequent. And guys, hello. But I got to. I got to work with them.

[Josh Groban]

Speaking directly to them. That's your camera looking right in the camera.

[Conan O'Brien]

Hollywood. Hello. It's me, David. I'm an Ally. I'm so out of control, unstoppable. What do I say to you every day?

[Josh Groban]

He called me once. He'll always just text me, ally. And once I was in the car with my boyfriend and he called me. Cause he knew we were in the car and I answered and he just screams ally.

[Conan O'Brien]

Because then I can say, later on I went on record. I'm just. I need to be stopped. I'm an ass. But I performed the Trouble, not the Trouble song, the monorail song, which was my version of it at the Hollywood bowl for this Simpsons anniversary, which was one of my all time favorite moments in show business. And they were absolutely fantastic and really funny. So I've always thought, oh my God. Okay, I need to figure out a way where I get airlifted into a version of Music man and I just get to do that song and then I'm airlifted out.

[Sonam]

I mean, I don't know. After the beef you clearly have with musicals. I don't know if that's gonna happen, do you?

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm distancing myself also from Chalamet. My beef is all with just ballet. Yeah, I'm down with musicals. I do love musicals. I just. Not a beef. It's just that I could never make the logical leap.

[Josh Groban]

But the Music man is where the line is. Okay. Yeah, I love that. Like, that's the one where you're like. But that guy, you know why? With his little traveling salesman box, when he breaks into song, I believe it.

[Conan O'Brien]

You know why?

[Josh Groban]

Why?

[Conan O'Brien]

Because it's. It's that Rex Harrison thing of he's kind of talk, singing.

[Josh Groban]

Ah, okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

You know, now listen, my friend. You know, it's all that kind of thing that makes more sense to me because I often start talking to people in that musical rhythm and yelling at them. I mean, I do. You could see why I would want to do a song where it's like, now gather round everyone, and I'll tell you what you have to know. Oh, you got. You know that as opposed to I wish to have a mayonnaise sandwich.

[Josh Groban]

Well, it's not. It's not trying to be real.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's take a second and go, Conan, you have a beautiful voice. I've given him every fucking opportunity I wish to have a man. His hand. I mean, come on.

[Matt Gourley]

That was.

[Conan O'Brien]

You know what's crazy? He's wiping blood from his eyes. The blood that comes out of Josh's eyes when he hears music being butchered.

[Josh Groban]

That was hairs on the back of my neck.

[Conan O'Brien]

Fantastic.

[Josh Groban]

What a beautiful Irish tenor you are.

[Conan O'Brien]

Their hairs on the back of your neck.

[Josh Groban]

Stunning.

[Conan O'Brien]

Not your hair. It's just other hairs on the back of your neck.

[Josh Groban]

They go all the way down. I'm kidding.

[Conan O'Brien]

Stop it back there. All of you. CACKLING we should address. I want to address the Timmy Chalamet thing for just a second, because he was right there in the first row when we were at the Oscars. And I think. I do. I think he's an amazing actor and I actually have met him a bit. I really don't know him that well, but I think he is a really good guy. I really do.

[Josh Groban]

It got piled on. It was. It became a hat on. Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm going to take a second. And I've. Of course, I thought that was okay. Maybe that wasn't a great thing to say, but, you know, it ultimately helped. Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

Ticket sales skyrocketed. I mean, like, the thing I took from it is like, all right, people are going to have their. Their hot takes, their opinions, as people should, and then you can disagree with it or not. But ultimately, like, if what he said meant that everybody went, yeah, stinks, uncool, whatever it is, and then sales dropped. Well, then that would be one thing. But no, everybody, like ballet companies were saying, use promo code Chalamet.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

To like, yeah, if. Want two for one tickets. Everybody was, you know, sometimes you need a heel for everybody to go, now, wait a minute.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

And every. He actually. He elevated it, people. And then he had. And then Misty Copeland came on the show. Our bit was. Was written before he said those things.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes. Right.

[Josh Groban]

So we, you know, people were asking me, did you do that? You were right in front of, did you do that? And I said, no, we.

[Conan O'Brien]

We wanted to do that. We came up with that before that whole thing. But anyway, just, you know, just a

[Josh Groban]

moment to say he's all right

[Conan O'Brien]

also. And I. I think he's an incredible actor.

[Josh Groban]

Incredible actor.

[Conan O'Brien]

Incredible. Incredible. And talent. And. And who amongst us hasn't said things.

[Josh Groban]

I mean, truly, you did this interview.

[Conan O'Brien]

I think this interview alone, by the way, can I just say, I want to double down on this. I believe when at the beginning of time, everyone spoke American.

[Josh Groban]

Oh, my God.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I think American is A language. And also, what's wrong with fentanyl?

[Josh Groban]

And also use promo code Conan for your. Your black tar heroine needs, let me tell you.

[Conan O'Brien]

Hey, so let's talk about this. You were always interested in comedy. That's always been an interest of yours. I know you're a talented mimic. At some point, because you are a renowned singer. You get this opportunity to be in the office voice on the Simpsons. You get to start playing in that. On those little playing fields of comedy, and you have a facility for it, and you really enjoy it, and that must be. I mean, you have fans who are comedy fans of yours who don't know you sing, Right?

[Josh Groban]

That's very true. Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

And if they're just tuning in right now, they think, oh, they have the comedian Josh Groban on. And then they're like, oh, wow, he sings. Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

In fact, thank you for that opportunity on the Oscars to. To present my singing voice.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Yeah. I thought you should finally be heard out.

[Josh Groban]

Done wonders for my streaming.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

I. So I talked about those first years of my career where I just felt like a shell of myself. Part of that was because I felt like a huge part of my brain was just going untapped. And in high school, I got to work with that choir teacher, but then I also got to start an improv troupe. I had a free period, and we had a black box theater. And when everybody else was just having snacks and what do kids do? Rolling the dice. And I don't know.

[Conan O'Brien]

Wow.

[Josh Groban]

I had no social. Now I had no social life.

[Conan O'Brien]

You really had no childhood. You know, when you.

[Josh Groban]

They were trading.

[Conan O'Brien]

You run down the street in your buckle shoes, smoking clothes, and, you know,

[Josh Groban]

I. I don't know what they were doing.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, like one of those we rims that goes down the street.

[Josh Groban]

That's it.

[Matt Gourley]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

I was playing. I was playing hoop and stick all the way home.

[Conan O'Brien]

Hoop and stick. Already at a butter churn.

[Josh Groban]

And. And so they said, you got anything you want to do? We got an hour free period. And I asked my theater teacher, I said, can we do impro. Can I do improv? I. I'd taken some classes. This is actually a very funny side quest is that in the Valley, there's a theater called Connection. La Connection Comedy theater. That's it. In the Valley. And I was one of the youngest people they had there taking classes there. They now have a very strange painting of me on their wall. If you drive down, I think it's Victory. One of the streets in Burbank. I think it's Next to, like, there's a trophy shop on one side and a gun store on the other. And then there's this improv building, and it's got, like, me and Will Ferrell, who I guess went there, and Matthew Perry's face is on there, but we all look like bizarro versions of ourselves.

[Conan O'Brien]

Any tribute painting of someone is, by definition, weird.

[Josh Groban]

There are.

[Conan O'Brien]

Faces are kind of bent and weird. You know, there are no paintings of

[Josh Groban]

me anywhere as a singer. But for some reason, Ellie Connection was like, this guy, this improv master. We must have him on there. But improv was like an escape for me, so I started there, and then, you know, for the vast majority of the beginning of my career, the label and everybody else was like, you have to be the guy who's on the billboard all the time. You. You cannot stray from the brand of singing these serious songs and being the serious guy on the pedestal, because people are getting an emotion from the songs, and you don't want to ruin that, Honestly. It started with Kimmel. He gave me. He. He said, you know, know, because I wasn't getting couch time, and you giving me couch time, like, being allowed to talk and show my personality was not something as a singer you normally get to do.

[Sonam]

Right.

[Josh Groban]

Kimmel said, we've got a panda that is not mating right now. I think it's lingling the panda. Would you do a skit where you sing a ballad trying to make the pandas horny?

[Matt Gourley]

Right.

[Josh Groban]

And I was like, here we go, and away we go. And so that was the first. Did it work?

[Conan O'Brien]

That's the only important. Yes.

[Josh Groban]

There's a.

[Sonam]

A little.

[Josh Groban]

Little Josh the Panda. I think that worked. I don't know. But then he had me back to seeing Kanye West's tweets, and then he had me back to seeing Trump's tweets back when we could laugh.

[Conan O'Brien]

Those were good times.

[Josh Groban]

And so just, I think. And then friends that I knew that did these shows said, we've got a funny little thing, or we want you to play yourself in a bizarro way. And I just always said yes. I said yes to all of them, because for me, it was my way of just kind of exercising some of that stuff that I felt I was. I wasn't able to be myself. It's freeing. It's fun. So, yeah, that's.

[Conan O'Brien]

Do you have. This just fascinates me. But let's say you're singing something like, you know, Unchained Melody or some song that. Where you have to hit these heights and you Know those notes are coming. Do you ever get in your head about that? Or you just, at this point, know, oh, I. I know exactly what to do there, which I'm sure you do. But when you have to take it up. Up several octaves. Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

You might be training for a long time. You might technically know that the notes are in your range.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

But it's. It's. Takes a lot of kind of practice, mentally, to get yourself to a place where you just decide to say, and it's not because you don't care, but there has to be a certain amount of fuck it, because.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

Because if you care that much, oftentimes the mind and the voice are connected and you're going to get tense. And then the more you say, God, I hope it comes out, the sick thing about it is, the more you're gonna regret how it came out.

[Conan O'Brien]

I don't know if you're aware of this, but you sometimes say fuck it out loud.

[Josh Groban]

Oh, did I?

[Conan O'Brien]

Did I? No, no, no, no. What I'm saying is, I watched you do the national anthem once, and when it came to Rocket's red glare, and this was in front of a huge stadium filled with children, you said, fuck it. And rockets red. And it's like, don't do that.

[Josh Groban]

When you're timing the jets, sometimes you have to vamp. And it just. I tried to stretch. You see the camera guy is going, doing this, and say, fuck it.

[Conan O'Brien]

All right, I think you should start when you're gonna hit a really great, impressive note, saying, watch this. Just before you do it, just. You break out of the song and go, watch this.

[Josh Groban]

You know, there was a singer. I won't name him, but there was a singer, kind of. There was a tenor that I used to see that was kind of coming up around the same time. And he used to do something before he'd hit high notes where he, like, he'd be about to sing the high note and he'd go, yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, no. And I just would go, get this. Here we watch this.

[Josh Groban]

I'm like, I don't. I don't like that at all.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, I just.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah, yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Check me out.

[Josh Groban]

If I did that, if I went, it definitely wouldn't come out. Like, that's a surefire way to jinx a high.

[Conan O'Brien]

I would completely go this other guy's way.

[Sonam]

Yes, you would.

[Conan O'Brien]

I would go the other way and glorify. My favorite thing is to say, check this out, and then fail. I think it's the funniest. The funniest thing in the World to me is, watch this. And then wipe out. And then come completely wipe out. I think that's very funny.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah. You don't start your Oscar monologue with, check this out. All right, here we go.

[Conan O'Brien]

All right, watch this. Hey, you ready to laugh? Watch this.

[Sonam]

Oh, God, yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Did you see that? That movie is so and so. Yeah, so and so. You know. Boy, that would be awful. That's a good joke. By the way.

[Josh Groban]

I did have. I did have one performance where I was kind of sick. I was with David Foster.

[Matt Gourley]

He.

[Josh Groban]

By the way, I should preface by saying he's been the most supportive and he's been a great mentor. But there was one time where I think he knew that I should just buckle up and sing. Sing the note. And I was being kind of a baby about it. I had a cold. And I said, david, this song, please, will you just make sure I don't. Can I just not sing the note tonight? Can I sing around it? Yeah, yeah, no problem. No problem. We get out there, gets up to the note. He's got a mic at the piano, right? And he goes, here comes the money note. Right before. And that was a lesson learned. That was like. And by the way, because I was so surprised that he said it popped right out.

[Sonam]

Sure.

[Josh Groban]

And it was like, you know, tough love.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Oh, what a lot of phlegm got spit out in that moment.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Ba Tang.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Okay, there's another question. So I'm driving around, listening to cinematic. And, you know the Breakfast at Tiffany's theme. Moon River. Moon river, which you do with your dad. And then it devolves into bickering at one point.

[Josh Groban]

It does.

[Conan O'Brien]

You apparently left the milk out and it was overnight.

[Josh Groban]

Those dishes will never get done.

[Conan O'Brien]

River. There's no duet with me and my dad.

[Sonam]

Yes.

[Josh Groban]

The fuck it in. That one is very faint. It comes after the jazzy key change. A little off mic.

[Conan O'Brien]

How cool to get to do that with your dad. It was amazing.

[Josh Groban]

One of one experience.

[Matt Gourley]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

Great, great musical arranger Vince Mendoza gave us that beautiful arrangement. And there was always a moment in the song for an instrumental. And I had great trumpet players that I kind of reached out to get feelers. I talked to Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard, my heroes, to say, hey, I'm doing the song. Would you be interested? And they both said, send me in. And then I said to myself, you know, my favorite trumpet player is also my favorite person. And my dad is turning 80 this summer. He hasn't played the trumpet any way, in any way professionally since the 60s and I asked him, I said, if I, I know you played Moon river as a kid. If I got you to rehearse, you had two weeks notice, do you think you could get the lip and do you think you could do it? And he says, well let me see. And he unzipped his, his trumpet, you know, case that had Dizzy Gillespie for president on it and it had, was dusty, hadn't been open since like the seventies. And. And you know, every time I'd call the house I'd say mom, how's he doing? I'd be hearing, you know, in the background going, he's rehearsing. And I said, how's it going dad? He's good, good. You know, I actually think I might be able to do this. So Greg Wells, our producer set it up. I said look, this is going to be my dad, I want this to be special and we need to have some patience. He hasn't played in a while. So Greg's credit, he said we got to do this at Sunset Sound, which was Louis Armstrong's favorite studio in la. And then he called and they said, you know, we actually still have Louis stool, so if you want we could set out the stool for your dad to sit on. And we got the old mics he used to record into and I'm to going, going, this is just turning into not just a song but like a core memory family moment. My whole family showed up and my brother and my sister in law, my two year old nephew who's walking around and you know, I got pictures of my dad playing the trumpet for him and it was just, you know, it, it and he crushed it. He totally crushed it. So I got my musicality from him. He went into business. His mom said that's no way to make a living.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

And to have a song that is a tribute and a thank you for what he put in my DNA is just, it's the best, it's the best thing I've ever.

[Conan O'Brien]

My, my father in law is an incredibly talented musician and you know, great. You know he can play jazz guitar and you know that kind of Dixieland style and he's just, I mean he can play like Django Reinhardt stuff. Oh great. And, and he's really terrific and he would always sit in with other bands and stuff and he played at our wedding and. But he's someone who, that's what was his real love. But he thought, well you know, I'm married, I'm getting married and I gonna have kids and I must be responsible. So he worked in insurance. And there's so many people who are great artists. I think we live in a culture now of this is my dream and I must do it. There's so many people who make decisions that this is what I want. I want a stable.

[Sonam]

Yep.

[Conan O'Brien]

Income from my family, and they do that. So people like your. Like your dad.

[Josh Groban]

And he could really wail. We have one recording of a live performance he had in the 60s, and he was. I mean, truly phenomenal. And, you know, he became an executive recruiter. You know, he's a headhunter. You know, he goes out and finds jobs for people. And he's brilliant at it. And he's got. Luckily, I don't have that side of the brain. If I wasn't doing this, I'd be lost. But he has also the business. He can focus, like, really focus, and he can do that. And. And he's great at it. But for him to watch me do it for a living. My brother's a director. To kind of watch our artistic endeavors blossom has, I think, been really cool.

[Conan O'Brien]

But also. And you're able to do that because he was responsible and did what he had to do.

[Josh Groban]

Sit down. That's exactly right. Is that he went into. To do what he did to make sure that we were able to say, hey, I liked going to the theater. Can I join the theater camp? You know, can I get an instrument to play myself? And that is the greatest. The greatest service he could have ever possibly done for us.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

I think our final message here is don't pursue your dreams. You know what I mean?

[Sonam]

Don't speak English.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Sonam]

Do heroin.

[Conan O'Brien]

I call it American.

[Sonam]

Oh, sorry. Speak American. Do heroin.

[Josh Groban]

Deny your dreams.

[Sonam]

Deny your dreams.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. I call Old English, Original American. 1100 A.D. english to me is like, yeah, that was American. And then they made it English.

[Josh Groban]

Yep.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm a moron. That just doesn't quit.

[Matt Gourley]

Well.

[Conan O'Brien]

Latest album, cinematic. It's really. It's amazing. And also, I mean, I was thinking, do you. Do you ever just drive around and listen to yourself and enjoy it, or is that impossible?

[Josh Groban]

Well, there's so much of that that happens when you're doing mixes and you gotta make sure you're. You're listening with a critical lens because you just want to make sure that everything is balanced right. So, I mean. Yes. You accidentally get chills sometimes and you say, well, I sounded good there. Oh, that really sounds. Sounds great.

[Conan O'Brien]

You prick.

[Josh Groban]

Yeah, it's true. It's true. Ah, here comes the high note.

[Conan O'Brien]

Ah, yeah, I'm gonna rent You a convertible and we're gonna get a bumped up sound system and you're gonna listen to cinematic driving around la and people are gonna see you listening to yourself and pointing at yourself at stoplights.

[Josh Groban]

I'm gonna point at you.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

What a voice, eh?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Josh, this has been a real delight.

[Josh Groban]

Same here.

[Conan O'Brien]

Thank you so much. Met him. You were a teenager, I believe when I met you. And you were, were again. Really sweet, really funny and I thought. And now here you are and you're an incredibly, incredibly good guy and terrific artist. So glad to know you and thanks again for your help.

[Josh Groban]

Listen, thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for being an inspiration for so many years. You make it look easy. I know how hard it is. And you're just such a beacon of light for so many. So that's. This is the one. I'm going to stick the landing here with some.

[Conan O'Brien]

Take it, take it. Well, you heard it here. I'm a huge influence musically. You are on Josh Rogan.

[Josh Groban]

Hearing your Danny Boy. Really?

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, Danny Boy. The pipes, the pipes.

[Josh Groban]

Maybe I can do this for a living.

[Conan O'Brien]

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[Sonam]

Huh.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's a good deal.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

No quarterly activations, no categories to track. Just unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase. Sona, just the other day I bought you this antique wig stand.

[Sonam]

Oh.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I didn't get cash back and I regret it now.

[Sonam]

Oh, okay. Well, that's a very thoughtful gift.

[Conan O'Brien]

Do you wear a wig or is that your hair?

[Sonam]

Absolutely not. It's definitely my hair. And so it's kind of. It's kind of insulting. You would Buy that gift for me.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, I'll just return it anyway. But I do wish I got cash back.

[Sonam]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

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[Sonam]

I have. I have. You work yourself a little too hard sometimes. Sometimes.

[Conan O'Brien]

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[Matt Gourley]

In celebration of your upcoming appearance in the new Toy Story movie.

[Conan O'Brien]

Toy Story 5.

[Matt Gourley]

Yeah, the new one.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Matt Gourley]

Okay. We have something special to show you.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, my God, it's out.

[Sonam]

Oh, how cool.

[Conan O'Brien]

Look at that.

[Sonam]

Silly.

[Conan O'Brien]

This is my character. His name is Smarty Pants.

[Matt Gourley]

It's a toy for the listener.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's a toy for. Well, basically, my character in Toy Story 5 is a potty training device. And so I think this must be my voice, right? I mean, that could be me.

[Matt Gourley]

Yeah, I think it's you.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, it's. I. I mean, I recorded these.

[Matt Gourley]

You recorded specifically for the toy, or did they take the sound bits from the movie?

[Conan O'Brien]

No, they had me do it for the toy. Good to hear. I was like, you know what? I'm never. Wait a minute, wait a minute.

[Sonam]

This.

[Conan O'Brien]

This isn't the bathroom.

[Matt Gourley]

That's you.

[Conan O'Brien]

That's Me. So what's that?

[Josh Groban]

You did it here in this studio?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, I did it. Yeah.

[Josh Groban]

It doesn't shut up. It must be you.

[Conan O'Brien]

It won't shut up. Okay, that's. Oh, no. You know what I did? I decided they're like, you know what's so weird? I'm being interrupted by myself.

[Josh Groban]

Finally, there's karma.

[Sonam]

Oh, my God.

[Conan O'Brien]

God, I can't get him to shut up.

[Sonam]

It's motion activated.

[Conan O'Brien]

Are you done? Oh, he's motion activated. That's what the problem is. Yeah, it is. It is motion.

[Matt Gourley]

Oh, it does say it right there on the box. Can you turn it upside down?

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm just going to put it on the floor for a second.

[Matt Gourley]

Just like, can you yourself go on the floor, too?

[Conan O'Brien]

And can I. And can I be boxed and put into storage by a collector? Yeah. They said, oh, do you want to. I guess they can use a different voice, but they said, do you want to do your voice for the toy? And I remember thinking, I'm never going to be a toy again. Yeah, I want to be a toy. I want to be the voice of the toy.

[Matt Gourley]

A little extra. They negotiate.

[Conan O'Brien]

I do not think so.

[Matt Gourley]

No.

[Conan O'Brien]

No. Well, this is the opposite of a cash Pixar. Yeah. This is not that. This is. I mean, and I don't care, because it's. To be part of the Toy Story saga was just a delight and to be in the same company of these amazingly creative people and these huge stars. So I was super happy to do it, but. Yeah. So now it's a toy.

[Matt Gourley]

I wonder when my youngest daughter gets potty trained if we'll use that.

[Conan O'Brien]

I think your wife will nix that.

[Matt Gourley]

But what if you find out people are using it and children all over the world are getting constipated?

[Conan O'Brien]

There's an epidemic of constipation among children. We think we found the kids. Kids just seize up when they hear my voice.

[Sonam]

I love that. The time you're in a Pixar movie, it's when you're a roll of toilet paper.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, that's how the toy looks. But I'm not a roll of toilet paper.

[Sonam]

I know, but that's. That's what it's modeled after.

[Josh Groban]

You're.

[Sonam]

Yeah, you look like a roll of toilet paper.

[Conan O'Brien]

You're looking at it the wrong way.

[Matt Gourley]

It's literally a roll of toilet.

[Sonam]

It actually is like just a roll of toilet.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, no.

[Sonam]

Oh, my God. Your eyes light up. Okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

You just talked over my toys. Toy, which is so you. My toy was trying to talk and you in Typical Sona fashion.

[Matt Gourley]

Sona toy.

[Sonam]

Okay, I'm glad I didn't talk over that.

[Josh Groban]

Let me see this thing.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, look now I like when you put it face down and he's just talking into the. Into the table alone again.

[Sonam]

Wow.

[Conan O'Brien]

This is the bathroom. That's Smarty pants. When he's low on battery and he sounds drunk. Oh, that's my method as an actor.

[Sonam]

Oh, that's good.

[Conan O'Brien]

Now, I have to be honest as we record this. I've not seen the movie yet, so I don't know what's going to happen. This could be the end of me.

[Sonam]

Really? What? Are you joking?

[Conan O'Brien]

We just never know.

[Sonam]

No, you're joke. It's going to be great.

[Conan O'Brien]

I do not want to be the guy that fucks up Toy Story 5. Oh, you're stupid. Don't say that.

[Matt Gourley]

Maybe you'll get a scary spin off.

[Conan O'Brien]

What if I leave the podcast to go double down on my Smarty pants? What if I start touring and I'm in a Smarty pants?

[Josh Groban]

You go to conventions.

[Conan O'Brien]

I go to conventions and I have, you know, I'm one of those. I just do this a lot and take pictures with people. Yeah, I think that's a good idea.

[Sonam]

Yeah, that'll work.

[Conan O'Brien]

Anyway, so that's it. I am the voice of a toilet training toy.

[Matt Gourley]

This is exciting.

[Conan O'Brien]

Are you excited now? This is a big deal for you, animation and Disney and all that, right?

[Matt Gourley]

Well, I'm not like one way or the other on Disney cartoons, but Toy Story and Pixar, they're pretty amazing. And plus, now that I have a daughter that I go to the movies with, this is going to be amazing.

[Conan O'Brien]

Will you take her to see Toy Story 5?

[Matt Gourley]

We go see a lot. We, we love going to movies. So I mean, this would be. Sometimes we're stretching to find a decent movie.

[Conan O'Brien]

This would be the only thing I've seen. I go to the premiere tomorrow and I will see the movie for the first time. I have. And there are whole chunks of the movie. I don't know because they only give you year. But one of the things that they did let me see was the opening of the movie and it's just stunning.

[Matt Gourley]

Do you have. Are you in that or do you

[Conan O'Brien]

have a. I'm not in it.

[Matt Gourley]

Do you have a grand entrance of it?

[Conan O'Brien]

No, I mean, I don't know. I have not seen anything to do with my part. I'm totally in the dark. But they show the opening of the movie which is quite cinematic and amazing. And I just. They are because David Hoppe and I got to go to Pixar to record my parts, and it is. They're formidable, these people. They're just really amazing.

[Matt Gourley]

Are you gonna take the boys?

[Sonam]

I am, yeah.

[Matt Gourley]

And when he comes on screen, are you gonna whisper to them? I have complicated feelings about that character, I think.

[Sonam]

No. They know that Uncle Conan's in the next Toy Story movie.

[Conan O'Brien]

They don't know which part I am.

[Sonam]

They have no idea which part you're in.

[Conan O'Brien]

Just tell them I'm Woody.

[Sonam]

Oh, my God. That's blasphemy. Absolutely not. No way. Do you get to go to Disneyland for free. That's one of the perks of being, like, a Disney employee. Do you have a badge?

[Conan O'Brien]

No.

[Sonam]

Oh, okay. Are you. So you're not like, you were just, like, temporarily there if you wanted to go to Disneyland for free or get tickets for somebody who wants to go to Disneyland for free?

[Conan O'Brien]

I think they got what they needed from me.

[Sonam]

Okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I will be. And even if I try to purchase a legitimate ticket to Disneyland, they will probably tell me I can't have it.

[Matt Gourley]

You know, we floated the idea of the three of us going to Disneyland and recording there, and I think we should do that.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'd do that.

[Sonam]

Sure. I do that.

[Matt Gourley]

Yeah.

[Sonam]

Yeah. I love Disneyland.

[Conan O'Brien]

I went on. I took a date to Disneyland once, years ago.

[Matt Gourley]

How old were you?

[Conan O'Brien]

I was. I was. When I was first living out here, so it would have been, like, 1986. I would have been 23.

[Matt Gourley]

How was the date?

[Conan O'Brien]

It was a good date.

[Matt Gourley]

Yeah.

[Sonam]

That was a great date.

[Conan O'Brien]

It was a good day.

[Sonam]

Worse.

[Matt Gourley]

Yeah. That takes a lot of the awkwardness out of it because there's so much to do.

[Conan O'Brien]

Why would there be awkwardness with me? What are you talking about?

[Sonam]

Did you make her go to, like, the hall of Presidents?

[Conan O'Brien]

It gets worse. I took her to the hall of Presidents and then made her. We stayed because I wanted to see each president talk multiple times. And then she got upset when I said. I told her. She started to say something. I said, quiet, It's Martin Van Buren coming up. He was the sa. I said, he was the sage of Kinderhook. And she went, what? And I said, old Kinderhook, Upstate New York. Martin Van Buren. His lineage was. They were Dutch. And then I snapped at her, and I never saw her again. She left in tears. And then Martin Van Buren looked at me and went, you are a dick, sir.

[Sonam]

You know so much about Martin Van Buren.

[Conan O'Brien]

He said, you know more about me than I do. And then Martin Van Buren said she looked hot. And then Lincoln said, sure did. You fucked up, son. And then all the cockblocked yourself, young man. You cockblocked yourself. And that's hard to do. And then all the presidents just spent like 40 minutes telling me me what an absolute.

[Sonam]

They had a roast.

[Conan O'Brien]

They just went after me.

[Sonam]

It was.

[Josh Groban]

I would watch the Hollywood and then

[Conan O'Brien]

there was a Kevin. There was a Kevin Hart. A Kevin Hart robot came out and he said, I'm not a president, but I want in on this. And then he went after me. And so it was all the presidents and Kevin Hart roasting me for making my girlfriend go see the hall of Presidents. Anyway, she fled, never, never to return again.

[Sonam]

Great.

[Conan O'Brien]

Anyway, Toy Story 5 do it. I don't know. My brain doesn't work Today

[Matt Gourley]

Conan o' Brien Needs a Friend With Conan o' Brien, Sonam of Session and Matt Gourley Produced by me, Matt Gourley executive produced by Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross and Nick Leow Theme song by the White Stripes Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino Take it away Jim. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples. Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns. Additional production support by Mars Melnick. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Bautista and Brit Kahn. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of SiriusXM when you sign [e-mail] Conan and if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O' Brien needs a Friend. Wherever fine podcasts are downloaded,

[Conan O'Brien]

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