Claire Danes Returns

Summary

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Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend — “Claire Danes Returns”

Podcast: Team Coco & Earwolf
Episode Date: November 3, 2025
Guest: Claire Danes (actor)
Host: Conan O’Brien
Co-hosts: Sona Movsesian, Eduardo Perez
Length: ~60 minutes (ads and irrelevant segments omitted)

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Episode Overview

This episode welcomes acclaimed actress Claire Danes back to the show. The conversation weaves through her career—especially the new Netflix limited series “The Beast In Me”—parenting three kids, behind-the-scenes stories from “Homeland,” insights into fame and rejection, and the peculiar joys of traveling for work. In classic “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” style, the discussion is equal parts wit, warmth, and absurdity, punctuated by Conan’s running bits and the group’s inviting banter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reuniting with Claire Danes

• Warm greetings and playful callbacks to Danes’ early appearances on Conan’s “Late Night” show.
• Danes reflects on having grown up on television and how strange and familial these reunions feel.
• [12:12] Conan joking about Claire’s first appearance:

  “You were a wee thing, three years old, you cried the whole time.”

2. Parenting Chaos

• Danes candidly describes life with three children (ages 12, 7, and 2), mixing affection with exhaustion.
• The mutual comic catharsis of parenting small children—including picky eaters, specific syrup requests, and always “getting it wrong.”
• [14:41] Claire Danes:

  “No, no, no. It’s so much harder staying put, staying home, and just… making waffles for your children. You will get it wrong. You will fail every time.”

• Conan relates, joking how leaving for work was sometimes a welcome break from domestic chaos.

3. Fame, Rejection, and Reviews

• Danes shares the uniquely public vulnerability of acting, where reviews (good or bad) are inescapable.
• [17:01] Claire Danes:

  “Rowan was asking me today on the way to school. He said, mama, what is the least favorite part of your job? … Maybe rejection... and the heels I have to occasionally wear.”

• Conan recalls his mother’s well-meaning but brutal honesty about critics and her inability to let go of bad reviews.

4. “The Beast In Me” — Bringing a New Series to Life

• The history of Claire’s new Netflix limited series, “The Beast in Me”:
  • Conan played an early role in discovering the script but humbly downplays his involvement.
  • Jodie Foster was initially lined up to direct and recruited Claire.
  • Danes discusses the “slow burn” of getting the show made and the importance of on-screen chemistry.
  • The process of casting and defining the antagonist, a character eventually played by Danes’ real-life husband, Matthew Rhys.
• [21:21] Claire Danes on her role:

  “I read it and similar to you, just… it was immediately clear that this was a great conceit and a really vivid character. I loved the kind of Hitchcockian feeling...”

5. The Strange Joys (and Dangers) of Acting

• Conan remarks on how charming actors—like Matthew Rhys—play menacing characters so well, musing that it’s fun to subvert typecasting.
• Danes describes how “The Beast in Me” thrives on the ambiguous, sometimes romantic intensity between adversaries.
• [24:18] Conan:

  “I really enjoy being an asshole. It’s so contrary to the face I’ve put out there.”

6. “Homeland,” Spy Camp, and Real-World Espionage

• Danes recounts annual “Spy Camp” for “Homeland,” where CIA insiders, ambassadors, and even Edward Snowden provided insider knowledge.
• The complexity, exhaustion, and sometimes existential anxiety of learning what real spies endure.
• [31:44] Claire Danes:

  “We would assemble what we ended up calling spy camp every year. And there was a club for spooks in D.C. We would meet there for about five days... interviewing a pretty wide range of people within that universe.”

7. Living Abroad and Parenting on Set

• Filming “Homeland” involved global locations: Tel Aviv, Cape Town, Morocco, Berlin, Budapest.
• Her eldest son, Cyrus, grew up absorbing various cultures and set lingo (“Back to one, Mommy!”).
• The oddities of raising a family while perpetually traveling.
• [37:48] Claire Danes:

  “Eventually he would call action and cut. … When he was a toddler he’d get mad at me, he’d say, ‘Back to one, Mommy!’”

8. Danes’ Decision to Prioritize School

• Despite early success, Danes left for Yale, craving normalcy and friends her own age.
• The challenges of re-integrating into “normal” life and then back into acting.
• [40:50] Claire Danes:

  “I was lonely. I didn’t realize how lonely I was… but once I sort of got my bearings ... it was just a blast… But wonderful.”

9. Google Fame, Conan Gray, and Team Coco

• A lively digression into Googling “Conan” and discovering Conan O’Brien’s battle for search engine prominence with Conan Gray and Conan the Barbarian.
• The trio proposes a global fan effort to keep Conan O’Brien #1 on Google.
• [55:30] Conan:

  “Sometimes there’s this misconception that the important things right now are, you know, trying to get some resolution between Ukraine and Russia or global warming…None of that’s important right now. Start with Googling Conan O’Brien several times a day.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Claire Danes [13:09]:
  "It's very rich and on the verge of overflowing with life. I have three kids. 12, 7 and 2. That last one was a real shocker. I was so pregnant with her when I last spoke to you."
• Conan on parental guilt [14:03]:
  "I just wish I could be here. And my wife saw through it all. She's like, uh huh. Yeah. Really?"
• Claire Danes on rejection [17:01]:
  "Rowan was asking me today on the way to school. He said, 'Mama, what is the least favorite part of your job?' And I said, ... maybe rejection. There's just a lot of rejection. And the heels."
• Conan on humblebragging [20:54]:
  "All I wanted was a walk-on. ... I always shoot the camera, look right into lens and wink. ... 'Conan here!' and you guys are like, cut. You're just the butler. Shut up."
• On 'Spy Camp' [31:44]:
  Danes: "We interviewed a pretty wide range of people within that universe. ... We Skyped with Snowden when that wasn't such a kind of common thing."
• On parenting abroad [37:48]:
  Danes: “He’d get really mad at me. He would say, ‘Back to one, mommy.’”
• On Google infamy [55:30]:
  Conan: “Start with Googling Conan O’Brien several times a day.”

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 01:49: Claire Danes intro ("I feel blessed to be Conan O’Brien’s friend")
• 12:12: Reminiscing about Danes’ first “Late Night” appearance
• 13:36: Parenting war stories, comic exhaustion
• 17:01: On rejection—Danes’ son interrogates her about her least favorite parts of acting
• 19:57: Tracing the origins of “The Beast in Me”; involvement of Conan, Jodie Foster, and Matthew Rhys
• 24:18: Playing against type—why nice actors make the best villains
• 30:28: The real-life espionage behind “Homeland” and Danes’ annual CIA “spy camp”
• 36:41: Filming around the world; raising kids abroad
• 39:43: The “school interlude”—Danes’ time at Yale and why she left acting for academia (and back)
• 43:39: College life vs. career urgency
• 55:30: “Conan v Conan Gray v Conan the Barbarian” — Team Coco’s Google campaign

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Final Thoughts & Tone

The episode is a quintessential “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend”: irreverent, self-deprecating, and feels like a hangout among friends rather than a staid interview. Claire Danes is articulate and sincere, mixing humor with insight. The conversation slides easily from sharp industry commentary to goofy asides about Google searches and office gossip, always buoyed by affection and a refusal to take themselves too seriously.

Conan wraps up with characteristic warmth:

“You’re such a talented performer, but you’re a really good person, and I love talking to you.” [46:45]

And as always, the show ends with good-natured teasing about waffles, search engines, and the eternal Team Coco spirit.

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Transcript

[Conan O'Brien]

Foreign has a new parade this year. A parade of deals. So if you're standing on the street waiting for that parade to go by because you took this literally, you're going to be wasting your time. Wake up, kids. It's a parade. Where is it? A parade of deals. What? Kid crying? Every day from now through November 27th, Macy's is featuring a new must have deal that will last only one day.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

1.

[Conan O'Brien]

We're talking about daily deals on things you'll love. Like a super cozy Ugg Fluff throw. Hey, try and say that even if you say it slowly, you'll probably mess it up. Ugg Fluff Throw. An upgraded Dyson vacuum. That's nice. And some of your favorite fragrances, hair products, jewelry too. Oh, and don't forget, Black Friday deals start November 10th. So remember, this isn't a real parade. It's a parade of deals. I was fooled. Don't bring a balloon and get all excited. Your daily thrill starts now. Shop now@macy's.com or in store. When you're saving up for the things you really want, you gotta make smart choices. You know, the other night I cooked dinner instead of ordering takeout for the sixth time in a week. And there were a lot of choices involved. Do I have paprika? Do I have enough onions? You know, is caramel gonna go in this? Oh, God. The State Farm personal price plan is another smart choice you can make. It can help you create an affordable price when you choose to bundle. Home and auto insurance says jfk. It's made for you by you. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on ratings plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amounts of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state.

[Claire Danes]

Hi, my name is Claire Danes and I feel blessed.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh my God.

[Claire Danes]

About being Conan o' Brien's friend.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Is here.

[Claire Danes]

Hear the yell back to school, ring the bell. Brand new shoes, Walk and loose Climb.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

The fence Books and pens.

[Claire Danes]

I can tell that we are gonna need friends. I can tell that we are gonna be friends.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

There's just so much.

[Conan O'Brien]

Hey there and welcome to Conan o' Brien Needs a friend. I just started the podcast to stop Sona from jabbering. You were jabbering a bit. Sonam obsession joining me and macaroli. Did you see what I did there? I started the podcast in order to stop her. I saw a slight opening and I jumped in.

[Eduardo Perez]

I'm gonna leave in the edit. Just the last thing she said right before you spoke, which is, there's so much spit on it.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

I was saying you rest on the microphone. Microphone a lot. You did that. I remember you had. We shouldn't talk. No, it was. It was in the documentary.

[Conan O'Brien]

Documentary.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

You had pus in your eye. And then you kept shoving the microphone in your eye. And then I had to, like, wipe it with a wipe.

[Conan O'Brien]

Going back to 2010.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm preparing to do my tour, and there's. We're having lots of problems getting the show up and going.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

And at one point, I remembered I wasn't feeling well. I had a pustulated eyeball. Don't even ask me what was going on. I had some disease that was eradicated in the Middle Ages, but I wasn't feeling well. And it's the poster for the tour, the movie, the documentary. Conan o' Brien Can't Stop Is Me. I see it every morning. Cause I had that. Someone gave me that framed poster, and I put it in my basement, and I'm always passing it on the way to, like, watch tv. And I. It's me leaning my pustulating eye on the mic, on the foam cover of the microphone.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

You're holding it.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm holding it, and I'm rubbing. I'm wiping pus onto the microphone. And then the director, Robin Flender, got a great shot of you. He inserted it later of you with a little handy wipe.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah. Wiping his face.

[Eduardo Perez]

Meaning you had to clean up his pus.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

I had to clean up his eye. Pus from his microphone. His eye.

[Conan O'Brien]

And to be fair, I did bring this up in your interview for the job. Oh. I said, I may have a pustulating eye and you will need to clean it after.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

I don't remember that.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, you were pretty high.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah, I was pretty high.

[Claire Danes]

Scored.

[Conan O'Brien]

Scored.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Crushed it.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Goals.

[Eduardo Perez]

What?

[Conan O'Brien]

I don't know.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

That doesn't work. But you have a thing with resting on whatever microphone you have. Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Sometimes I don't know what it is, but I find it somehow calming to rest my eyeball on the microphone.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

And Eduardo, you are, of course, the designer of this wonderful studio. This is your equipment. You're very finicky about it. How do you feel when you see me resting my eyeball on this, what I'm sure is a $600,000 microphone? It's not. I'm okay with it because we have a bunch of spares. So if you've done it too long.

[Claire Danes]

I'll swap it out.

[Conan O'Brien]

Do you boil them afterwards? They can get cleaned actually this foam. I hope so once because I secrete many secretions. And they could get on the mic. It just could happen also when people.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

You're not the only one who uses that microphone.

[Conan O'Brien]

I know people spit on regularly does a podcast in here and I've noticed lately he has all these horrible sores around his mouth. I think he has what I have now and he probably thought, oh, there's gonna be no problem me speaking into this mic. Little does he know that I have some kind of scab from this era of the Salem witch trial. It's coming out my eye and it's going into Ted Danson. And the last time I saw him, he had trouble. He was trying to just eat the softest muffin.

[Eduardo Perez]

You're killing Ted Danson.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm killing Ted Danson. He couldn't get the little soft muffin into his mouth because of the giant cankers on his Ted Danson lips.

[Eduardo Perez]

The other concern is the earphones. You know sometimes when you have you noticed if you picked up earphones, sometimes they've got a little.

[Conan O'Brien]

I. I clean them every pre session and I will say this.

[Eduardo Perez]

I move every time we have to move here.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

They glisten.

[Eduardo Perez]

And sometimes guests ears glisten.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

They glisten.

[Conan O'Brien]

I know, I see you're talking about. It's it sweat. They're nervous around. I don't know Brian, what's happening.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Or they're oily. Yeah, maybe they're oily.

[Conan O'Brien]

Who could be guest has been oily?

[Eduardo Perez]

Earwax.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Oh no.

[Conan O'Brien]

You know, who knows earwax around?

[Claire Danes]

Just saying.

[Conan O'Brien]

Can I just say, and I can say this because he's a friend. When Greg Daniels was here, he walked in and he's just so oily. He's just an oily guy. And at first I thought he was an eel from the deepest part. The deepest part of the ocean. An oily eel that lives.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

The eel was walking into your stomach.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I said, an eel? And then he said, conan, it's me, your old writing partner, Greg Daniels. And I said, I'm sorry. And I remember, I recovered very quickly.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He took off headphones and they were dripping, dripping.

[Conan O'Brien]

You heard? And someone's gonna get back to Greg with this just. He's an oily, oily man.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Such a greasy, oily guy.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, slimy. I used to, as his writing partner, I had to blot him every day. I had giant human sized blotting tissues. Anyway, I wanted to throw him under the bus. For no reason. But I thought, I can't go after any other guest, but I can go after Greg Daniels. So I made him oily when he's not oily at all. I know, but.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, I. We have a terrific show today. I really do. And I know that because we recorded it before I spoke this little. So now I'm going to act excited.

[Eduardo Perez]

You were in a whole other state on the other side of the country.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah, we're not in this interview.

[Conan O'Brien]

You're not in this interview. And it's only because the guest requested. Oh, yeah. What? She's a avid fan of the podcast, but she said that she goes to great expense to have you two removed from it.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Oh, man.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Audibly removed. No, I was in New York doing some work there and did a podcast or two. And of course, when I'm there, there's no way to get you guys out to New York. You have. Both of you. You both have, you know, families.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

But my boys are four. Like, I can use a night or two.

[Conan O'Brien]

I know.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Away.

[Conan O'Brien]

The problem is you'd probably insist on flying first, and I'm not paying for that.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Well, yeah, you are.

[Conan O'Brien]

Coach is fantastic. I've heard.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

I have your.

[Conan O'Brien]

I've heard. Coach is great. I'll fly Coach. And then someone showed me a sketch. Sketch recently of Coach. They drew it for me.

[Eduardo Perez]

Oh, your only connection with Coach is someone showed you a drawing of it?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah. It was a illustration of what it looked like. What are you talking about? I came. I was practically born in coach. My whole life was coach. Only recently have I moved up. Now I sit with the pilots. Yeah. Yeah, I have. Oh, my God.

[Eduardo Perez]

Imagine being on a plane where the pilots are sitting next to Conan. I would be so afraid for my life.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm doing bits and then the bits get physical and then I hit a button and then suddenly we're in a power dive, and I'm just making a bit out of the power dive.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

They have to. What do they do when people are unruly? They tape them to the chair.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

They would do that to you.

[Conan O'Brien]

They would do that to me.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah, for sure.

[Eduardo Perez]

We do that with you here?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes, you can.

[Eduardo Perez]

Oh, we should tape him for a full episode to the chair.

[Conan O'Brien]

But wait a minute. I'm still allowed to talk?

[Eduardo Perez]

Yes.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, you just get the same amount of jibber jabber that you always get. Well, we'll tape your mo. The problem. If you tape the mouth shut, then you've got something.

[Eduardo Perez]

Can we tape his mouth?

[Conan O'Brien]

We'll isolate Everything about Conan but his mouth. What does my body ever do? My body is.

[Eduardo Perez]

Your body flails a lot.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

You are flailer. You are. You're very animated.

[Eduardo Perez]

You grab and you twist and you noogie and you hit.

[Conan O'Brien]

I don't hit. Let's. For HR purposes, I don't hit. I caress with purpose.

[Eduardo Perez]

For HR purposes. You hit.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah, you do. And then would you be able to have a whole conversation where you don't.

[Conan O'Brien]

Whip off your glasses dramatically and I make that sound?

[Eduardo Perez]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

When I take my glasses off?

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, my God. People love that bit.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah. But you wouldn't be able to do it.

[Conan O'Brien]

I do it in my mind and then I'd make it happen. I am. There's so much happening in my mind right now.

[Eduardo Perez]

It would be great to do a segment where you're here, but your mouth is taped shut and he's taped to the chair. But we just get to talk.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

You know, we just talk and we.

[Eduardo Perez]

Can say whatever we want and he has to hear it.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

But then it would just sound like just the two of us talking on the. When people listen to it.

[Eduardo Perez]

But we could do things to infuriate him and the listener would know that he was there and can't speak up. He can't defend himself.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Okay, I'm down.

[Eduardo Perez]

It'd be fun.

[Conan O'Brien]

The worst thing you could do is compliment me. I know, I know. Yeah. Say something nice about me and I'm not able to deflect. But you couldn't do that, could you, girly? No, I couldn't. All right. What's that?

[Eduardo Perez]

I couldn't and I wouldn't.

[Conan O'Brien]

You wouldn't?

[Eduardo Perez]

It would be irresponsible.

[Conan O'Brien]

It would be wrong. What are you doing over there?

[Eduardo Perez]

Yeah, what are you doing?

[Conan O'Brien]

What are you doing? What are you pretending?

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Finger guns.

[Conan O'Brien]

Why are you doing finger guns?

[Sonam Viswanathan]

I don't know. I don't know. We were wrapping up and I was like. And then I had a mouth full of water. Why did you have to draw attention to.

[Conan O'Brien]

I just want people to know what I'm dealing with.

[Eduardo Perez]

The pilots either.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, you can't sit with the pilots.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

I'm broken.

[Conan O'Brien]

You can't be on the plane. My guest today is an Emmy Award winning actress who starred in the hit HBO series Homeland and the Hulu series. Fleischman is in trouble now. You can see her in the Netflix limited series the Beast in me. Thrilled she's here today. Claire Danes, welcome. You're such a breath of fresh air. I love seeing you every time you drop in and you Were a great friend to me on the old Late night show.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Back in the glorious late 90s. Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

When I think you were a wee thing three years old, you came on your first appearance, you cried the whole time.

[Claire Danes]

I did, yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, it is funny. I have this interesting relationship with people who were coming on as kids or just very, very young adults in that time, you know, and these clips come up every now and then and I'll.

[Claire Danes]

Think, oh, my voice was like eight octaves higher.

[Conan O'Brien]

And mine was ten octaves higher. Hi, Claire, how are you? It's good to see you. Yeah. I went through puberty, I think, in Obama's second administration, as I love to say, but it was. It's always so nice. And then I see you now and it's like family, kids. You're kicking ass in your career, which gives me a lot of joy.

[Claire Danes]

Thanks.

[Conan O'Brien]

All good?

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, All a lot.

[Conan O'Brien]

Like, it's funny, you have a thing you do a little bit which is like.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Which is you're allowing for the possibility of disaster at any moment.

[Claire Danes]

That's accurate.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, no, that's. That I sense that is a very.

[Claire Danes]

Fair description of how I am perceiving my life. Yeah. No, it's good. It's very rich and on the verge of overflowing with life. Yeah. I have three kids. 12, 7 and 2. That last one was a real shocker. I was so pregnant with her when I last spoke to you. That's right here.

[Conan O'Brien]

That's right.

[Claire Danes]

Deeply pregnant and a little sick. I'm still sick, but because I have three kids but no longer with child.

[Conan O'Brien]

I couldn't tell if the sickness was pregnancy related or just my personality.

[Claire Danes]

Yes. And that it didn't help a little like the Tylenol, apparently. But yeah. So. No, it's good. It's wonderful. It's just I'm, you know, kind of eking it out. It feels like.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. This is sort of like this is what I remembered when I have two kids and when they were three and one. I remembered and I. This is a. I feel guilty saying this. I love them, but I was so happy to. Oh, I've gotta go to work. And I would pretend I have to. I just wish I could be here. And my wife saw through it all. She's like, uh huh. Yeah. Really?

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

But I have to go to work and talk to Claire Danes. It's like working in the mines. You try talking to her. She's a nightmare.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

And so. And she'd be like, uh huh. Really? Okay, well, good luck with that.

[Claire Danes]

No, no, no. It's so much harder staying put, staying home, and just, you know, making waffles for your children. You will get it wrong. You will fail every time.

[Conan O'Brien]

You will fail.

[Claire Danes]

Even if you just put it in a toaster, it's not the right maple syrup. It's not enough maple syrup. It's too much maple syrup. And the response is not commensurate with the effort.

[Conan O'Brien]

The effort that you put into it.

[Claire Danes]

Or the failure or whatever it is. It's just. It's always at such a high pitch. Literally. It's just a lot of hyperbole. It's a lot. It's a lot.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

They're very expressive, and they're beautiful, and I love them. And. And I, too, am very excited to go.

[Conan O'Brien]

You gritted your teeth as you said. I love them. I love them so much. It is. You know, I. Again, this is kid talk, but I remember my son being so particular that he would call it a bit. If there was a bit meaning like a little tiny grain of something anywhere, he wouldn't eat it. And I just thought, who's this little Lord Fauntleroy who won't have a bit? Of course, then remembered me being one of six.

[Claire Danes]

Sure.

[Conan O'Brien]

And trying to declare to my parents, I will not eat this.

[Claire Danes]

Yes.

[Conan O'Brien]

That didn't go over too well in my house.

[Claire Danes]

I'm sure that's June of six. One of six.

[Conan O'Brien]

I was one of six. We were born three months apart.

[Claire Danes]

Oh, my. Yes. Well.

[Conan O'Brien]

Which I'm told is never. Is not medically possible, but it's what happened.

[Claire Danes]

My mom was one of five. Like, she was four and a half when everybody else was born, three months apart in very, very quick succession. And was the kind of default nanny, sort of. And I absorbed that through her.

[Conan O'Brien]

You absorbed it all?

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

You know, I don't know if you've ever done this with your kids, but it doesn't work when you try to declare to them. You know, I'm. I'm a big deal in my. In the world. You need to understand something. This waffle may not be perfect, but I'm Claire Danes. You give a whole speech about that.

[Claire Danes]

Rowan was asking me today on the way to school. He said, mama, what is the least favorite part of your job? And I said, huh? I said, maybe rejection. There's just a lot of rejection. And the heels. The high heels that I have to occasionally wear anyway.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, first of all, heels, I've worn them. It's killer. I went to this premiere last night, and my wife came with me. And she was wearing very high heels. And the first thing that happened when we stepped out of the car and people were taking pictures was her heels went right through a grate and one of her shoes came off. And we just both started laughing because.

[Claire Danes]

Her white skirt flew off.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, exactly. But we're just not built for any occasion that a normal show business person has to do all the time. I'm not one of those people. She's not one of those people. She looked. Absolutely. But we step out, foot right into a grate, shoe stuck to the grateful. I think there are welders right now trying to free it. Yeah. And that's just the world we're in.

[Claire Danes]

It's true.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's interesting. You talk about rejection. You almost didn't make it, you know, here. Because it's a very high bar to get onto this podcast.

[Claire Danes]

Well, thank you.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I had to look. I was up all night looking at tape.

[Claire Danes]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I finally cleared you.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, well, okay. And that feels divine because I am blessed. But, yeah, no, it's true. It's an integral part of it. And you'll always get reviewed. And if it's a good review, you're screwed. And if it's a bad review, you're screwed. There's just no winning. Winning.

[Conan O'Brien]

Also, you have to make that decision. If you're going to not validate the bad reviews, you have to make a. Then you're not allowed to.

[Claire Danes]

I am pretty good about not reading it, but. But it just seeps through, like by osmosis. I mean, you can't really safeguard yourself. There's no.

[Conan O'Brien]

I used to have. My mother would. I don't read anything. I just don't. And then you hear if there's some really good stuff, people will tell you. And I'll say, oh, really? That's nice. Yeah. And then my mom, who meant well, but she would say things like. I'd say, oh, this latest thing I did, people seem to really like it. And she'll say, yeah, I don't know what's wrong with that writer at the Boston Herald Tribune Dispatch. And I'll say, is that even a paper? Well, it's a supermarket circular. And I'd say, oh, but I don't think you have beady eyes and lifeless lips. And it would all be under the guise of defending me.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

I don't think you're. With. Completely devoid of talent and a cancer on humanity. And I. Oh, okay. And then years later, it'd be like five years later. Well, mom, they just Gave me the Nobel Peace Prize. Well, I'm still angry at that writer. Do you know what his name was? Brian McElhaney.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

What?

[Conan O'Brien]

I know where he lives. But it was her way of exercising it. But, yes, you hear about the good, you hear about the bad. You can't hide from it. But I am very, very, I don't know, very happy for you. This new project. I have to be full disclosure, which I love. And I have a little bit of a weird history with a lot of it, which is a lot of it. The beast in me wouldn't exist if.

[Claire Danes]

It weren't for you.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, I don't know about that. It's such a good script. And David Kissinger, who was a longtime associate of mine and just a brilliant guy, he said, I found this script. This script came my way and you have to read it. And I read it and it's that classic thing. It was just a page turner. We did our best to shop it around. And this was a bunch of years ago.

[Claire Danes]

It was a slow burn.

[Conan O'Brien]

It was very slow burn.

[Claire Danes]

Very hard to burn birth. But we did it. Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

And then so I am, you know, was some part of the story quite a while ago. And I'm very upfront about. This is a terrific project. And Howard Gordon is. Took the helm and so many people have come in and done an amazing job. And I take no credit for any of that. You know, I'm happy I was involved early on, but I'm just thrilled.

[Claire Danes]

And I don't think you're fairly representing yourself, but. Okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

All I wanted was a walk.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, it never worked out. Yeah. I always shoot the camera, look right into lens and wink. And I give the thumbs up. And I'm like, conan here. And you guys are like, cut. You're just the butler. Shut up. But how did this come to you? Because I remember it was quite a while ago.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

But you are very hard to. It's hard to get Claire Danes. Cause you are a busy person.

[Claire Danes]

Sure. Even though rejection was the first thing that came to my mind when my son asked me that question. Yeah. We were deep, deep in Covid times. So we were all in our, you know, respective bubbles. And Jodie Foster reached out to me because she was going to direct it at one point. And she and I have known each other for a long time now. Yeah. And I read it and similar to you just. It was immediately clear that this was a great conceit and a really vivid character. And I loved the kind of Hitchcockian feeling of it. But you know, it's in a contemporary, but it felt very classic. I really wanted to know what happened next, and so did everybody involved in making it. It took us a long time to figure that out, and it went through a few different iterations. And it was tricky defining the. Let's call him the antagonist. That other lead character that Matthew ended up playing, I cycled through a lot of different names. One of them was Cyrus, which is my eldest son's name. And I said, timeout. No, that's.

[Conan O'Brien]

I can't be having a tortured relationship with Cyrus.

[Claire Danes]

That's gonna be tricky for me.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

So anyway, ended up being Niall anyway. I think it really works. Thank God. You never know.

[Conan O'Brien]

You don't ever know.

[Claire Danes]

Not even when you're making it, maybe especially when you're making it. When you're in the.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, that piece that was missing was. Who is this guy he's playing opposite you? And then one day, David Kissinger called me and he said, we're thinking about.

[Claire Danes]

That's a good Kissinger.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, David Kissinger. He's like, we're thinking about. You know, and it was kind of like, what's your take on Matthew Reese? And I said, only one of the most charming, amazing people I've ever met and a major man crush of mine. And so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not that my. Yay.

[Claire Danes]

He's very crazy crushy, isn't he?

[Conan O'Brien]

In all the jokes.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's annoying.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah. No, he's kind of stupid. Impressive and charismatic. It's comfortable and so fun, too.

[Conan O'Brien]

How it seems to be a prerequisite that actors who are very charismatic and kind and affable can play sinister so well. And I think there's something. I've noticed that in sketches or anything, that I've done some version of acting, I really enjoy being an asshole. And it's not because I'm not. It's that it's so contrary to the face that I've put out there.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah. I've never played, like, an overt baddie. And to be fair, Niall isn't. It's not supposed to be overt. Does not play it that way. And that's really was another reason why this appealed to me, because I thought their dynamic was so surprising and unusual and fun because they're kind of in love with each other and their antagonists.

[Conan O'Brien]

So that happens a lot. In love.

[Claire Danes]

I guess so, yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. This message is brought to you by Square. Your favorite neighborhood spot runs on Square. You've noticed these products, right?

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

You go into a store, it looks like it's a pop up or something. You think, how am I gonna pay for this? And then they just whip out the square. Yeah. And you touch your card to it and you're done. So quick. Neighborhood businesses aren't just storefronts. They're part of daily life. It's the first place you stop in the morning. Right. It's probably where you get your mochaccino or your nut free drink. Thank you. If you're allergic, thank you for remembering. They're the places you stop in without thinking. The spots that feel like, well, I'm gonna say an extension of home. And so money spent locally is always good.

[Claire Danes]

That's nice.

[Conan O'Brien]

Stays local, supporting the people who pour their energy back into the community. And when we show up as neighborhood neighbors, it means real opportunity for the business owners who power it all. That's why Square partners with more than 4 million businesses around the world. From restaurants, salons, to boutiques, bakeries, Square gives them the tools to run smoothly, serve their customers and grow with confidence. I like those little doodads. Yeah, that's what I call them, doodads. You can go to square.comgoconan to learn more. But before you do, go support your favorite neighborhood spot. You'll be happy you did Square. I'll see you in the neighborhood. You know me, I love to travel. Travel the world. I do it, you know, professionally for my travel show, but I also just like to sometimes with my wife, go and visit a foreign land and try their different cuisines. Yeah, enjoy the world. Travel is just better. With D Mobile you will not believe what members get on their best plans. They get amazing travel benefits like Free in Flight wi fi. I use my wifi a lot when I'm on a plane.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Me too.

[Conan O'Brien]

And that free in flight wi fi sounds good to me. A free year of AAA data and texting in over 215 countries and so many more. I don't have time to mention it. I just don't have the time.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

I didn't even know there were 215 countries.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, that's just. Well, it's not sad. It's not even surprising. Anyway, all this just means it doesn't cost 50 bucks to tell your producer that you're lost somewh in, I don't know, Madagascar, the Maldives. Mesopotamia. Miami. T Mobile's benefits and perks take the stress out of travel. Let them save you from the boredom of long flights. Plus you can save with all the freebies and discounts. Check it out@t mobile.com Travel man football season's here. I loves me some football season.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Me too.

[Conan O'Brien]

I really do. I like gathering around the TV set and cheering on my team. Go, team, go.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Advance the ball.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah. You guys chest bump a lot, you and your homies?

[Conan O'Brien]

I do. I get together with my gang and we're just. Chests are bumping left and right. You know what I mean? We look like a bunch of dolphins frolicking in the surf from tailgates to watch parties. Celebrating all season long means more moments with the coolest people in your life. Now's a perfect time to celebrate game day with friends, family, and a great tasting light beer. It is Miller time. Miller Light, the original light beer since 1975. I am a Patriots fan, as you know, and I watched that great Patriots dynasty, you know, led by Tom Brady and all those great moments. I was there with my Miller Lite and my bros and we were clinking glasses.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah. High fiving.

[Conan O'Brien]

Just high fiving and stuff. Chest thumping.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Slapping each other on the butt.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

In a manly way, of course. Mirror Lite, great taste. 96 calories. Go to mirrorlite.com conan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Mirror Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. If they say they sell beer and they don't have Miller Lite, well, you have every right to start screaming. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs for 12 ounces. You brought up this thing. You never know. And that's another thing that. It's a theme that really fascinates me is you can. You can get all these great, amazing. There's no way we can lose people together. And I remembered early on in this project, one of the first meetings that we took, I took was Jodie Foster came in and we had this meeting with her and she's this iconic, incredible actor and director. And meeting's over. And I said, that's one of the smartest people I've ever had. I mean, I just was so impressed with her. Yes, she's impressive. And you get all these people together, chemistry. There's something about something magical happens. And I've found it so many times in my career is if I point to the things that have gone, well, I couldn't have told you beforehand, right?

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

There's some kind of little spark that happens that nobody can control. You do the best you can, but it's like the weather. You just don't know.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah. I mean, you try. You do what you can. And that gives you a better chance of, you know, finding that elusive, you know, mystical, magical thing that we all are aiming for. But.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Well, I'm just thrilled for all of you guys.

[Claire Danes]

Thanks. Go us.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. I just wish I had a piece of the merch beast in me. Action figures. I'm always looking for the merch. I have to ask you a question about. I was absolutely a fanatic for Homeland and loved it and found out only later on that you got to regularly meet with people who did special ops, people who did basically spycraft.

[Claire Danes]

Yes.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I thought, oh my God, I would do any project where I get to talk to those people.

[Claire Danes]

It was amazing. It was maybe a couple seasons in. One of the writers of the show, Henry Brummel, who actually passed away way too early, he was crazy gifted, but his dad was in the CIA and so his, I guess his uncle also, you know. Anyway, this man who was very closely connected to him was in the CIA and a very senior position, just retired. And so this became his project where he would assemble what we ended up calling spy Camp every year. And there was a club for spooks in D.C. and we would meet there for about five days just as the writers were starting to think about what the season might be. And we interviewed a pretty wide range of people within that universe. People from within the CIA and also ambassadors and senators and, you know, journalists. And we Skyped with Snowden when that wasn't such a kind of common thing.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Before he had his own SiriusXM channel.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. And we would get these forecasts and it was dizzying. We were so drained by the end of every day. Cause it would start at 9 and it just didn't. There was this revolving door of fascinating people who were telling you horrifying things.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. It's almost like you don't want to know how the kitchen works. I mean, there are times where I've little moments where I've been brought face to face with the fact that everyone's doing their job the best that they can. But we're human beings and it's a insane world out there. And if you are aware. I think it's one of the problems today is that we're all hyper aware all the time because of 24. 7News. We're all. We're all hyper aware of every single possibility for danger all the time. And I think that's not meant to be. Just to live your day and get up and make the waffles for the Kids and then say, yeah, exactly, whatever. And I think I'll go get some. I need to get some shoes. Oh, I. I also need a Bluetooth speaker. You need to exist on that level.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

But for you to be made aware by these specialists of every single insane thing that's happening all the time.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

And they, you know, they would contradict each other. You know, that was. It was. It was fascinating. I don't know, there was something kind of consoling about it, too, because I could see that they were all very invested. At the very least, everybody cared a lot. They didn't all agree with each other. But, you know, that was a long time ago. I have no idea what that environment is like now. I really can only imagine. But I have to say, they may.

[Conan O'Brien]

Have wiped your mind.

[Claire Danes]

They may have.

[Conan O'Brien]

Men in Black.

[Claire Danes]

They may have. But no, I mean, actually, just doing that show was an amazing way to metabolize what was happening politically. To be able to kind of reflect on it and make something of it, to comment on it, like that was. Helped me. It helped me feel a little more active, you know, and now I'm just, you know, I'm in the much more passive position of just, you know, absorbing it and gawking and worrying and, you know, so I miss that.

[Conan O'Brien]

I've had a few moments. I'm sure you have, too. I think you went to a White House correspondence dinner when Obama was president, and you have these moments of meeting these people, and then you see the people around them. I was at some event years ago, and I believe President Obama was there. And then I went back to use the bathroom at one point, I think I was emceeing something, and I went back and I see some military guys, and there's like, the nuclear football. And you're thinking, they just seem like people, and they probably are. And it's more than I want to know. I want to think, do you know what I mean? That there's like a golden palace somewhere.

[Claire Danes]

No.

[Conan O'Brien]

And look, I'm sure I don't even know what I saw, but it's just a feeling of when you get around power like that, when you get behind the scenes, it's why I'm not a conspiracy theorist. Whenever I've had a chance to peek behind the curtain just a little bit, what I see is people like me doing the best they can.

[Claire Danes]

Right, Right.

[Conan O'Brien]

And that's why I. I don't know. I don't think that it's. I don't think there are just masterminds if there are masterminds, they're probably working at a tech company. They're not working.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah. No. There is something kind of unsettling about that, for sure. You sort of are like, oh, you look down and there's no net. But, yeah. I don't know. That was a wild ride.

[Conan O'Brien]

And how many seasons was it all told? I'm trying to.

[Claire Danes]

Eight.

[Conan O'Brien]

Eight seasons.

[Claire Danes]

And we filmed.

[Conan O'Brien]

And draining, too, I would think.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

But it was.

[Claire Danes]

I never worked on anything for that long. And there was something really wonderful about being part of a company and earning that history. And you then develop a kind of fluency that is so helpful. Like, we were so efficient, and it was so intimate.

[Conan O'Brien]

And.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah. And I just loved that feeling of, like, efficacy, you know? And we would parachute. We filmed all over the place. The first three seasons, we were primarily in Charlotte, North Carolina, which was standing in for D.C. but they were like a month in Tel Aviv or, you know. But then it became this international show, and we shot a season in Cape Town, which was, again, standing in for a very different place. But, you know, Afghanistan.

[Conan O'Brien]

I thought you were gonna say Cleveland.

[Claire Danes]

Sure.

[Conan O'Brien]

We couldn't shoot in Cleveland, so we went to Cape Town, South Africa, for Cleveland.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah. And then we shot a season in Morocco. We shot a season in Berlin, you know, couple months in Budapest. My son Cyrus went to school in all these places. Like, he still can't eat couscous. Cause he ate it every day at his school.

[Conan O'Brien]

What a great experience for a kid, though, because through osmosis, he's getting a taste of all these cultures at a really good early age.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah. And he's. He doesn't really share that with his siblings. Cyrus. I mean, Rowan was. I was also pregnant with Rowan shooting the show. But he was little. He was like a baby by the end of it, so wasn't like. I mean, Cyrus was raised on that set, too. And Leslie Link Glatter, our producing, our primary director, she would literally, like, cradle him. And then eventually, while she was directing. And then eventually he would call action and cut. And. Yeah, I remember when he was a toddler, he was like three. He'd get really mad at me. He would say, back to one, mommy.

[Conan O'Brien]

Back to. They shouldn't even know that. I know. I was like, what? Back to one, back to.

[Claire Danes]

So on the set, you're back to your first positions at the end of a take. But anyway, so.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, you know, it's funny. Cause my daughter, I remember when she was maybe three, she was really small, and she said something like, I Was in the kitchen and she said, yeah, I asked for orange juice. And then cut to you not getting the orange juice. And I was like, cut to. Because I spoke that way all the time after just years of being in comedy. And yeah, I thought, oh, my God, a three year old is saying cut to. So, yeah, I think that's how I told her bedtime stories. And then cut to evil monster. I used to try to frighten you her to go to sleep. But yeah, I just. They just pick up the lingo. They're around.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah. And he would be on a playground and he would kind of teeter up to another kid and say, my name is Cyrus, I speak English. Because it wasn't a given that, you know, the other person necessarily would. And I thought, oh, that's cool. Like, he understands that the world is big and it holds many different kinds of people within it.

[Conan O'Brien]

And probably also he's very fluent in, you know, his percentages. What do I get from this?

[Claire Danes]

Do I. Yeah, yes, there's a lot of that. Generally, what do I get from this?

[Conan O'Brien]

What do I get?

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Then my kids very interested, My son very interested in what do I get out of this?

[Claire Danes]

There's a lot of times you get.

[Conan O'Brien]

Nothing and you'll like it.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's so funny because you got started so young. I mean, to me, seemingly had success right away. I'm sure that's not how it would feel to you, but you had the success right away. And then you did something that I always think is a great decision, is you decided, well, I gotta go to school.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

You know, I mean, I didn't stay.

[Claire Danes]

There, I didn't graduate, but I sure did go.

[Conan O'Brien]

If you didn't graduate, you have to leave right now. We only take college graduates here. You did two years at Yale.

[Claire Danes]

I did two years. I was very present while I was there. I really did apply myself during those two years.

[Conan O'Brien]

You did Romeo and Juliet, I think, in 96, is that right?

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, I was 16 when I did that.

[Conan O'Brien]

And then you did that and then you went to school, or was it after?

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, yes, I went to. Gosh, I don't remember. But I took. I deferred a year. I did a movie. I made a movie called Broke down palace. And I just also just like had a minute and went. And that first year was just amazing. I was so happy. I mean, I was totally overwhelmed and out of my destiny. But I was just so thirsty. And boy, was I did I find water.

[Conan O'Brien]

Thirsty for.

[Claire Danes]

I think, you know, I didn't really go to high school. I was tutored on set. And so I really had a deficit. Like, I mean, it wasn't.

[Conan O'Brien]

You want a community of people your age.

[Claire Danes]

I was lonely. I didn't realize how lonely I was, so. But yeah, but it turns out, like all those. It was unorthodox, but those extracurriculars of, like, working on those sets kind of amounted to something. So I was, you know, that was a choppy initial month, but once I sort of got my bearings and figured out basically how to write an essay, I realized, oh, I can kind of do this. And it was just a blast. I mean, again, it was exhausting. And I. Yeah, but, but, but, but wonderful. And it was so nice to just think, like for the sake of it, you know, and be making friends who I wasn't, I don't know, working with formally, you know.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. And that's a connection that you can have the rest of your life.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah. And I. You know, all those cliches turned out to be true still, some of my. And actually there's a woman named Sarah Treem, whom I'm a writer, who.

[Conan O'Brien]

Terrific.

[Claire Danes]

Was in my same year. I didn't really know her during that time, but she's become a really, really close friend, so. And she kind of insisted that I go to the. I don't know which anniversary it was. They don't call them that, do they? Reunion. Reunion. And I felt like not at all entitled. Cause I didn't have my stamp and my certificate. But. But it was so great to go. And actually Hugh and I took the kids. We kind of went on a staycation to New Haven at the end of our Christmas break this year. We were feeling a little restless and we really wanted Pepe's pizza, so we went and stayed at the nicest hotel in New Haven, which is, you know, just fine. Yeah, but. And we didn't even go to like, see campus, but, you know, of course we were there. So we kind of stumbled on, you know, into it and. Oh, I was very moved by it. It was so beautiful. And I thought, what the hell did I. What was I complaining about here with my three kids? Like, I got to sit in these unbelievably gorgeous spaces and read.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, I. People that are lucky enough to go to college. And not everyone is lucky enough to go to college, obviously, but if you're fortunate enough to go, I say that's. Just keep in mind this is a small period of your life where you get to be. You're not with your parents, you're with These, you know, other people your age and your job is to think thoughts and read books and it's really magical. And then, of course, all I can think about when I was there was, you know, in college was, I gotta get outta here and get going on my career.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, sure.

[Conan O'Brien]

And okay, what's the hurry? Yeah, but that's how it is.

[Claire Danes]

I mean, that is why I left, because I did, you know, in aggregate. It had been about three years since I had done any acting. And when I went to college, I really was giving. I was wondering in a genuine way if that was what I wanted to commit the rest of my adult life to. And it turned out, sure, yes. In fact. And it was actually interesting. The couple years just following my time at college were a little hard because I had to kind of. My academic self had become very developed. And I forgot that a lot of acting is just an intuitive, like, visceral experience and exercise. And I had to just, you know, be a raw nerve and not do so much thinking. But when I'm, you know, choosing a role or, you know, when I'm trying to make sense of the story in it formally, boy, did those. Did that time in that institution. Yeah, it really comes in handy at those points and there's plenty of that. But yeah, I had to kind of compartmentalize. But yeah, I thought I could do a movie, a summer and like, I forgot how much work goes into getting work. And I was never not able to read a script when I was really immersed in college and.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, it's not realistic, I don't think to say. What did you do with your summer? I helped out at a camp and I was in charge of the canoes. What did you do? I shot a movie in Budapest. Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, I mean, it had worked out. I mean, I was actually gonna do something with Jodie and a film with Jodie and it fell apart. I mean, it just things. There's nothing predictable about our job. And you can't say I'm starting on July 1st and ending August 17th. Yeah, it didn't work that way for me.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, I wanna make sure I hit this. Cause the beast in me is out now and it is this project that I foresaw a bunch number of years ago and it just gobsmacked me. It's really terrific. And then the fact that now it's you and Matthew Rhys and. And Howard Gordon and it's just this incredible team and I'm happy for people to see this.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah. Me too. I'm so glad we finally get to share it.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Claire Danes]

You know, that's fun. I hope they enjoy it. I really do.

[Conan O'Brien]

I believe they will. I believe they will. And I think. I know. I don't think anyone knows more about show business than I do. I'm just going to take a second here and say, I think your daughter.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Us.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Cut two. That's true. That's true. At two, she knew the language better than I do. Yeah. I. I'm so happy for you. You're obviously a. You're such a talented performer, but you're a really good person, and I love talking to you and very happy for you.

[Claire Danes]

Thank you.

[Conan O'Brien]

And so all good things.

[Claire Danes]

Thanks.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I'm coming to your house for waffles.

[Claire Danes]

Great.

[Conan O'Brien]

Are they good waffles?

[Claire Danes]

No.

[Conan O'Brien]

Do you think you could up your waffle game a little bit?

[Claire Danes]

I know I could.

[Conan O'Brien]

Okay, let's get on that. Well, thanks for being here so much.

[Claire Danes]

Thank you for having me.

[Conan O'Brien]

This message is brought to you by Airbnb. Twice I've used Airbnb in the city of San Francisco. I've loved it because I can feel like a person. You know how it is when I stay at a fancy hotel. Yeah. They're always like, oh, Mr. O. Brian, a legend. I can't believe it. I'm like, please, please. It's just. I'm just a person. No, you're a God. It goes on and on and on.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Oh, God. Oh, wow. Okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

All right. Nice.

[Conan O'Brien]

That was me that said that. Anyway, and for those reasons, I won't stay at the Comfort Inn again. But. But I like this. This experience. I like this experience of just feeling like a person. And you can wander around. You can.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Can.

[Conan O'Brien]

You feel like it's a very personal space. You can chill and. And I know, Blay, you're a big Airbnb person. Yeah. And I like to. When I go on trips, I like to put my place up to host so I can make a little extra scratch while I'm away. And I just got this cool, new big, glowing egg lamp that changes colors, so it's very, very cool. And you've had no offers. Loved it. Except for the glowing egg. Yeah, you know, it's sci fi, it's relaxing.

[Eduardo Perez]

It's really.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how [e-mail] host if you're.

[Claire Danes]

A custodial supervisor at a local high school, you know that cleanliness is key.

[Conan O'Brien]

And that the best place to get.

[Claire Danes]

Cleaning supplies is from Grainger. Grainger helps you stay fully stocked on the products you trust, from paper towels and disinfectants to floor scrubbers. Plus, you can rely on Grainger for easy reordering, so you. You never run out of what you need. Call 1-800-granger. Click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, you don't want to go home?

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Who, me? Yeah, well, I. I don't mind going home. I already watched the Summer I Turned Pretty Today, so I'm all caught up, in case anyone's wondering.

[Eduardo Perez]

Team Conrad.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

For reals, bro.

[Eduardo Perez]

I don't know. I heard someone say that. I've never seen it.

[Conan O'Brien]

I don't want to talk about it.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

I was so excited. I can only talk to two other people about it.

[Conan O'Brien]

I hope you're talking about character actor Conrad Janice. I went a different way and you couldn't do it.

[Eduardo Perez]

Is Conrad Janice the dad on Mork and Mindy? Yep, that's right.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

You guys, it's really hard with you too, sometimes. It's really hard.

[Conan O'Brien]

Hackiest opening ever of a TV show. I'm trying to remember because the song is like, you guys are digging in and they show, you know, Mork and Mindy and all that, and then they go. And then at one point, it breaks into classical music. And Conrad Janis is going like that. And then they pan over and the old lady and it turns to rock and roll. And she's got a guitar and she's doing. You're like, oh, my God, this is awful. What an awful decade. All right, let's go.

[Eduardo Perez]

Okay, let's do another review. The reviewer. This is where we go to Apple Podcasts. We pull out a five star review. We review the review itself.

[Conan O'Brien]

Nice.

[Eduardo Perez]

There's a twist.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

They think they're reviewing us. We're reviewing them. Exactly.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

They get a taste of their own medicine.

[Conan O'Brien]

Good one.

[Eduardo Perez]

And this one actually calls back to a discussion we had a while back on the podcast, but I think it's worth revisiting. This is from Brian AD86A D E E86. It's called a Losing battle. Fighting the Good fight to keep Conan o' Brien is the first Conan that pops up on my Google search.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes.

[Eduardo Perez]

Unfortunately, my teenage daughters are fighting diligently against and in favor of Conan Gray.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, Remember this? He's a singer. I'm told he's quite good. But is he?

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah, he is.

[Eduardo Perez]

I'm put Conan into Google here. Conan the Barbarian followed by Conan o' Brien followed By Conan Gray.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, I don't see why Conan the Barbarian is still popping. I mean, that movie hasn't been relevant in 40 years.

[Eduardo Perez]

Well, there was a remake with Jason Momoa a few years ago.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, there was.

[Eduardo Perez]

So that maybe that gave it a little steam. There's two Conan movies plus a red Sonja, plus the remake.

[Claire Danes]

My God, you have so much fun.

[Eduardo Perez]

And I think there's a new Red Sonya movie coming.

[Conan O'Brien]

So there's a Conan. Guess what? There's a Conan and Sona here. But we are still battling Conan and red Sonja.

[Eduardo Perez]

Let's see what comes up first. Sona or Sonja?

[Conan O'Brien]

I have to say, by the way, I just asked ChatGPT who is the most famous Conan and Conan O' Brien came up first. I love ChatGPT. And guess what?

[Eduardo Perez]

This is proof that AI is not going to work.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah, it's broken. Chatgpt is broken.

[Conan O'Brien]

We just proved that it will not take over the world. Conan. Is this episode superior? Conan? Wait, what?

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Wait, did you put in Sona? What comes in?

[Eduardo Perez]

Well, you guys spelled each other. You spell your names differently.

[Conan O'Brien]

She's I A.

[Eduardo Perez]

No, she's J A.

[Conan O'Brien]

What?

[Eduardo Perez]

I think red.

[Conan O'Brien]

So what do you mean? I think you know, it's anti American. Let's see.

[Eduardo Perez]

Am I wrong?

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Well, she is, isn't she? Red. Does that mean she's a commie?

[Eduardo Perez]

No, she's like a barbarian. Oh my God.

[Conan O'Brien]

She's a redhead. And guess what? I'm a redhead. And I'm a proud patriot. I kind of want to bully you.

[Eduardo Perez]

For not being nerdy enough.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Know.

[Eduardo Perez]

Here's the breakdown.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Oh, man, oh man. I'm going against. No, I can't do that.

[Conan O'Brien]

Hey, you're in there. But I'm never going to be. Why can't you wait? Wait a minute.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

You.

[Eduardo Perez]

That's big.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

What is an Indian singer? I can't. I can't go up against that Sona.

[Conan O'Brien]

Will you put this in perspective when you ask AI who are the famous Sonas? You're number three. Yeah, that's cool. You came from nothing. You were a lump of clay that and I breathed life into you. You know what I mean? You're like a puppet that came to life 10 minutes ago when is wondering why you don't have more followers. That's ridiculous.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

I want to be able to get to like share where I just am one name.

[Eduardo Perez]

Oh, there it is. Okay, here are the bullet points for you. The longtime assistant of late night TV host Conan o'.

[Conan O'Brien]

Brien.

[Eduardo Perez]

Not sure who that is. And a popular Co host of his podcast Conan o' Brien needs a friend. She is the author of the humorous book the World's Worst Assistant.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Hey.

[Claire Danes]

Wow, look at you.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

It's me in two sentences. Is it really is. That's it.

[Conan O'Brien]

You're more than proud of. No, I'm proud of that.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

That's cool.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, I'm saying you're more than that. Negative things, but you're more than that. I didn't mean good things, but you're so much more. That's like 2%. Most of the iceberg is beneath the water.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

I'm just going to spend and all negative all day googling Conan Gray. So he just beats you as the most googled guy.

[Conan O'Brien]

You know, I really am not familiar with the work of Conan Gray, but I understand he's very talented.

[Eduardo Perez]

I think if he was coming for you, he would have taken.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah, he's a good.

[Eduardo Perez]

I think you might be safe.

[Conan O'Brien]

How can I supplant. I don't want to hear about Conan the Barbarian anymore. You know, I've been hearing about Conan the Barbarian since I was like 10 years old. I don't want to hear about him anymore. We have to make this a project to diminish Conan the Barbarian and enhance Conan o'. Brien. How do we do it?

[Eduardo Perez]

Maybe we give you a fantasy comic of your own, you know.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, that's a way. Or I could start working out. Like, I'm sure I'm at that age where muscle just springs out of me. Doesn't. As you get older, isn't it easier to put on muscle? I forget which way I think it's easier.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

You should play Conan the Barbarian.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Then it's just like a ouroboros and.

[Conan O'Brien]

You'Re redeeming yourself and I'll be red.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Sonja. Oh, wait, Sona. Well, Sona.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, you know what? We should start doing a thing where I'm like. I don't know. We. Yes. We want to skim off their fame without feeding them. How do we do that? I don't want to feed their fame in any way with our fame.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

I think you. What I'm saying is you eat the famous. You become Conan the bar. You beat like you can totally beat out Jason. I can't even finish saying that sentence. I'm so sorry.

[Conan O'Brien]

I've met and talked to Jason Momoa many times. Wonderful guy. But I have said to him, I could take you in a. In a second.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

You can't though.

[Conan O'Brien]

I could. Why do you think you could sized him up?

[Eduardo Perez]

You could take him to Lunch in a second.

[Claire Danes]

No.

[Conan O'Brien]

Okay. That's not. Okay. I see what you're doing. I see what you're doing. You're saying, take you in two different ways. No, I know how I would do it. I know how I would do it. It's important that he's asleep when I attack. That's the first thing.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Okay. Then you have a shot. You do.

[Conan O'Brien]

And sedated. Yeah, and sedated and sick. And that the. The part. The fontanelle and restraint. I'm hoping that he hasn't. He doesn't have a closed fontanelle. That it never closed. His skull never closed when he was an infant. I need a weak spot.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

But I think if all those things.

[Claire Danes]

Are true, I think.

[Eduardo Perez]

Here's what you have to do. You have to enlist your legion of listeners to start just Googling your name and not Conan the Barbarian.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Eduardo Perez]

Right now. Ask them to just Google your name multiple times a day.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Yes.

[Eduardo Perez]

For the next 10 years.

[Conan O'Brien]

And you know what, people? Can I say something? Sometimes there's this misconception that the important things right now are, you know, trying to get some resolution, you know, between Ukraine and Russia or global warming, anything like that. And I think, no, none of that's important right now. Start with Googling Conan o' Brien several times a day.

[Eduardo Perez]

We really could do this.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

What is. What is your fan base called? Do we have a name? Do they have a name?

[Conan O'Brien]

Coco.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Is it. Is that what it is?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Your fan base is just the name of your company. It would be like if Taylor Swift's company Swifties.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, it started with fans being Team Coco. And then we just said, let's just name the company guy. Okay.

[Claire Danes]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, it started where there's a movement.

[Eduardo Perez]

Team Jacob and team Back in Twilight.

[Conan O'Brien]

And then Tom Hanks said, I'm Team Conan.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Oh, Team Coco.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm Team Coco. He said, I'm Team Coco. That's right. But it was Team Edward, Team Jacob. And then Tom Hanks was like, I'm Team Coco. Yeah. During a little fracas I was having at the time, and he said, I'm Team Coco. And that took off. So thank you to Tom Hanks for the whole second half of my career. Seriously. He did a solid. Always a good friend.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

So Team Coco, rise up.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. And so then, you know, it was a great, powerful grassroots movement that I then monetized.

[Eduardo Perez]

Let's see if we can do this for the next week.

[Conan O'Brien]

Hey, this is really heartfelt and pure. Let's attach a money wheel to it. Ouroboros Ouroboros. Yeah.

[Eduardo Perez]

So let's try and experiment for the next week. If every listener would please Google Conan o' Brien as often as you think you can, and then we'll check in to see if it's beating Conan the Barbarian.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, that's.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

That's the project. Beat Conan.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Yeah. And remember, just put global warming everything else on.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Turn off your AI mode on your.

[Eduardo Perez]

Google search, though, so you don't burn all of the energy of the world.

[Conan O'Brien]

But.

[Claire Danes]

What.

[Conan O'Brien]

What?

[Eduardo Perez]

Google has an AI search mode that it does on its own, and when you use that, it burns up all this water just because all the servers that it does.

[Conan O'Brien]

I don't get.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

I don't understand computers.

[Conan O'Brien]

We had something really good going here, and then you got us into this. Conserve water. Yeah.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

I want to hear more about your commentary on the summer I turned pretty. Oh, we were doing that before. Sorry.

[Conan O'Brien]

Just kidding. Okay.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Team Conrad.

[Conan O'Brien]

That's.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

That's okay.

[Eduardo Perez]

I only learned to say that because someone else said. I have no idea.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Where did you hear that, Michael?

[Conan O'Brien]

Sarah getting impatient.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Because it is the real. It's. It's good. I. I am Team Conrad.

[Eduardo Perez]

I'm Team. Who's the other guy?

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Jeremiah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, yeah, his brother.

[Eduardo Perez]

Oh, my God.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Can you believe it? Can you believe it?

[Eduardo Perez]

So, Team Edward, Team J. Jacob, Team Con.

[Conan O'Brien]

I do my taxes over here on my phone. All right, let's do my taxes here.

[Eduardo Perez]

All right. We're done.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Yeah, we're done.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, we were done a while ago. I've left. This is just a hologram. I'm in my car.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

People are going to be really excited.

[Claire Danes]

To hear about that.

[Eduardo Perez]

About what?

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Team Conrad. They are.

[Claire Danes]

They're really excited.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

You don't get it.

[Conan O'Brien]

Just. I thought we were out and you pulled us back.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Hey, Team Coco. Google, Team Conrad in the summer.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, don't get them googling anything else.

[Eduardo Perez]

You're taking resources.

[Conan O'Brien]

You clean this up in editing, please. For God's sake. This one's out of control.

[Sonam Viswanathan]

Okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, you had it right. Okay. Peace out, Shadrach.

[Eduardo Perez]

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 Vivina. Take it away, Jimmy. 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 Batista 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 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]

Hi, I'm Jenny Slate and believe it or not, someone is allowing us to have a podcast. I'm Gabe Leadman. I'm Max Silvestri and we've been friends for 20 years and we like to reach out to kind of get advice on how to live our lives. It's called I need you guys. Should I give my baby fresh vegetables? Can I drink the water at the hospital? My landlord plays the trombone and I.

[Claire Danes]

Can'T ask him to stop.

[Conan O'Brien]

You should make sure that you subscribe.

[Claire Danes]

So that you never miss an episode. Holiday burnout is real. From delayed flights to unexpected guests and all the cooking and wrapping in between. That's why Coop Sleep Goods curated a gift guide and everything is 25% off for a limited time. The guide is packed with award winning pillows, best selling super soft sheets and cooling pillows for the hot sleepers in your life. Shop effortlessly this year by skipping the guesswork and wrapping a thoughtful gift they'll actually use every night. And don't forget, you deserve better sleep too. So go ahead, add an extra pillow or a sheet set for yourself. Everyone needs a good night's rest so you can't go wrong with a gift from Coop. Visit coopsleepgoods.com comedy to get 25% off their gift guide picks. That's copsleepgoods.com comedy.