
Singer-songwriter Josh Groban feels downright giddy about being Conan O’Brien’s friend. Josh sits down with Conan to discuss his breakout moment at 16 singing with Céline Dion at the Grammys, finding ways to exercise his comedic inclinations, and asking his dad to play trumpet on his latest album Cinematic. Plus, Conan comes face to face with his character’s real-life toy from the upcoming Toy Story 5. For Conan videos, tour dates and more visit TeamCoco.com. Got a question for Conan? Call our voicemail: (669) 587-2847.
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Sonam
Foreign.
Conan O'Brien
O' Brien needs a friend comes from FX's alien Earth, one of the most critically acclaimed series of 2025 and a Craig's Choice nominee, hailed as a dazzlingly haunting epic by the rap, with standout performances from Sidney Chandler, Timothy Oliphant and Babu Sise. RogerEbert.com declares that the series from Noah Hawley shatters already high expectations for your Emmy consideration in all drama categories. Alien Earth is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundled subscribers. Ever invest in something that seemed incredible at first but didn't live up to the hype?
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
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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
Toner Bryant goes broke in one month. Josh, thank you. Peyronie's disease, also known as pd, is a condition that isn't talked about often, but it's more common than many men realize. Some men may even feel embarrassed or reluctant to bring it up. PD may involve a buildup of scar tissue that forms under the skin of the penis, which can cause a noticeable curve with a bump during an erection. That curve can lead to pain during intimacy. It also may affect a man's confidence and mental health. It also can lead to frustration, depression, lowered self esteem, and even withdrawal from sexual activity and physical intimacy. If you notice a curve with a bump down there, it might be pd. The good news is it's treatable. A urology specialist can diagnose Peyronie's disease and talk through treatment options. To learn more, visit talkaboutpd.com with the US Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card. You earn an unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase.
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
Visit usbank.com smartlycard to learn more. The creditor and issuer of this card is U.S. bank National association, pursuant to a life license from Visa USA Inc. Some restrictions may apply. This is a paid ad by BetterHelp. I don't know about other people, but I know for me, I like to work. And sometimes I like to work really hard. But then it can pile up, I overdo it, and I start feeling completely fried and I'm not thriving. And that happens to me sometimes. And Sony, you've seen it.
Sonam
I have. I have. You work yourself a little too hard sometimes. Sometimes.
Conan O'Brien
Well, it's important to take care of yourself when things get busy by resting, recharging, and saying no when you need to. Therapy can also be a way to get out of autopilot and get a solid reset. Talking to someone else helps you get a little distance on your situation and maybe helps you cope a little better. Therapy with better help may help you better understand your needs, feel more confident, set boundaries, and create a rhythm that feels sustainable so you're not just go, go, go all the time. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform. Just take a short questionnaire to identify your needs and Preferences, and BetterHelp will handle the initial therapist matching work for you. That's huge because picking a therapist is often a boundary for people. Take a pause. With therapy, BetterHelp can help life feel manageable again. So sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com CONAN that's better. H-E-L-P.com CONAN.
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 up@siriusxm.com Conan and if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O' Brien needs a Friend. Wherever fine podcasts are downloaded,
Conan O'Brien
Finding a skilled hire takes more than just reviewing a resume. You know what I mean? You can't just just go bleep bleep bleep bleep. That doesn't get it done. As AI raises the bar on how experience is presented. Hiring managers need better ways to evaluate skills and fit. That's where Robert Half can help their recruiters combine their expertise with award winning AI to review what's behind every application quickly. And that's important quickly. Who's got time these days? No one. Learn how they can help you find specialized talent in finance, accounting, technology and more at Robert Health Half. They know talent. Visit roberthalf.com talent today. When you're on a GLP1, you often experience a smaller appetite. That means for GLP1 users. Every bite of food should be as nutritious and delicious as possible. And that's where Sprouts Farmers Market comes in. I knew they'd come in somewhere, and I guess now's where they come in. From nutrient dense foods to proteins to supplements that help sustain muscle mass and energy levels, Sprouts Sprouts has you covered. And with in store wellness experts available, guidance is always within reach for any GLP1 journey or broader health goals. Visit sprouts.com to find a Sprouts market near you.
Episode Date: June 22, 2026
Host: Conan O’Brien with Sona Movsesian & Matt Gourley
Guest: Josh Groban
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.
[02:07-03:43]
[04:35-08:22]
[09:57-13:54]
[15:10-17:43]
[18:40-21:43]
[25:35-31:12]
[33:14-36:28]
[36:28-46:29]
[47:17-50:27]
[50:35-54:25]
[54:25-54:50]
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])
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.
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.