Conan Recaps the Oscars with Mike Sweeney

Summary

Podcast Summary: Conan Recaps the Oscars with Mike Sweeney

Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend Episode: Conan Recaps the Oscars with Mike Sweeney
Release Date: March 13, 2025

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1. Introduction and Context

Conan O’Brien opens the episode by addressing his listeners’ interest in his recent experience hosting the Oscars. He introduces Mike Sweeney, his longtime head writer, highlighting their 30-year collaboration and the pivotal role Mike played in orchestrating the Oscars event.

Conan O'Brien [01:02]: "We've had a lot of requests out there from people to talk about my recent experience hosting the Oscars."

2. Receiving the Invitation to Host

Conan narrates the unexpected nature of being asked to host the Oscars. Despite a packed schedule and recently returning from a travel episode in Spain, he accepted the invitation, driven by a spontaneous decision.

Mike Sweeney [02:38]: "It just seemed random, out of left field, like not. It was not on our radar."

Conan O'Brien [03:16]: "It was as if I had hit me funny. It was as if I had got a call that said, we want you to be the new Miss America."

3. Personal Tragedy During Preparation

Shortly after accepting the hosting role, Conan faced personal tragedy with the sudden passing of both his father and mother. This period was emotionally taxing, yet his dedicated team supported him through these difficult times.

Conan O'Brien [03:22]: "I saw that my mom is going too. And she went three days later. And that was an experience that was very intense."

Conan O'Brien [05:08]: "But Skyler Higley wrote the Drake joke. I gotta give it up."

4. Assembling the Writing Team

Conan and Mike regrouped to assemble an exceptional team of writers, leveraging long-standing relationships to ensure the material resonated with Conan’s comedic style. This reunion was both nostalgic and creatively invigorating.

Mike Sweeney [06:13]: "Amazing, amazing writers. We just laughed. I missed being in a room with this crew."

Conan O'Brien [07:24]: "We have to tell this story. Skyler Higley wrote the Drake joke."

5. Writing Process and Challenges

The duo delves into the intricacies of crafting jokes for the Oscars, highlighting the rigorous process of generating numerous ideas, refining them, and dealing with the constraints imposed by concurrent award shows. They emphasize the importance of adaptability and not becoming overly attached to any single idea.

Conan O'Brien [09:07]: "We had so many ideas that, like, you can't get too attached to any idea because you just know that things are going to get cut."

Conan O'Brien [12:43]: (Ad breaks omitted as per instruction)

6. Production Elements

A significant portion of the discussion centers around the technical aspects of the Oscars production, particularly the exceptional lighting handled by Bobby Dickinson and Noah Mintz. Conan humorously addresses misconceptions about his appearance on stage, attributing his polished look to professional lighting rather than personal enhancements.

Conan O'Brien [19:45]: "I have been... My wife is just. I am horizontal all the time."

Conan O'Brien [20:25]: "The lighting is insane. It's the best lighting I've ever had."

7. On the Night: Backstage and Onstage Experiences

Conan recounts his experiences backstage and onstage, including memorable interactions with celebrities like Mick Jagger. He describes the high-pressure environment, the meticulous coordination with producers Raj and Katie, and the seamless execution of his scripted and improvised moments.

Conan O'Brien [23:33]: "Oprah sat Oprah."

Conan O'Brien [30:08]: "He... he was lovely. He was great and funny and thoughtful."

8. Interactions with Celebrities

One standout moment was Conan’s backstage encounter with Mick Jagger, where they discussed performance anxieties and the shared experience of entertaining large audiences. This interaction underscored the universal pressures faced by performers, regardless of their stature.

Conan O'Brien [29:08]: "Mick Jagger... he was incredibly nice. He said to me at one point, oh. And by the Way we've never met. And I'm like, he. How do you know you've never met me?"

Conan O'Brien [30:59]: "But he... he was lovely. He was great and funny and thoughtful."

9. Reflections and Conclusions

Conan reflects on the overall success of hosting the Oscars, expressing gratitude towards his team and the Academy. He acknowledges the intense scrutiny and personal challenges but emphasizes the rewarding nature of the experience. The camaraderie with his writers and the seamless blending of his comedic instincts with the formalities of the Oscars were highlighted as key factors in the event's success.

Conan O'Brien [35:37]: "It was a really fun night."

Conan O'Brien [43:01]: "It was a real highlight, but it's also. Man, it's nice to have that behind us."

Conan O'Brien [44:33]: "What's next?"

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Notable Quotes

• Conan O'Brien [07:36]: "Skyler Higley wrote the Drake joke."

• Mike Sweeney [15:11]: "We can't do that. It's gone now because someone else did it."

• Conan O'Brien [25:03]: "How much of the show do you."

Conclusion

In this episode, Conan O’Brien provides an in-depth and heartfelt recount of his journey hosting the Oscars, navigating personal loss, and collaborating with a dedicated team to deliver a memorable event. The candid discussions, intertwined with humor and candid reflections, offer listeners a comprehensive understanding of the complexities and triumphs involved in such a high-profile endeavor.

Transcript

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[Conan O'Brien]

Hey, Conan O'Brien here. Usually in this slot we air a fan interaction episode, but we're not gonna do that. We've had a lot of requests out there from people to talk about my recent experience hosting the Oscars. It is only been about a week. By the time this airs, a week or so since I hosted the Oscars, we're taping this a bit earlier, several days after the show aired. So it's still fresh in our minds. And I am joined to go over this experience with my head writer of many, many, many years. Some say too many years, too many. Mike Sweeney. Mike Sweeney has been with me almost since the very beginning of my late night show. He waited a little bit to see if it would and then when he saw that, you know, it was probably gonna make it, he came aboard. So he is a coward, but Mike.

[Mike Sweeney]

Sweeney, he should have led with the coward part.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, Mike Sweeney came, has been with me for a long time.

[Mike Sweeney]

30 years.

[Conan O'Brien]

30 years. 11 of them quite pleasant. And we worked together on the Oscars along with Jeff Ross and Mike Sweeney led the creative team and people seemed very happy with how it went. I had a blast doing it. And one of the reasons I think I was able to enjoy myself so much is I knew I had. We worked very hard to get material that we liked. And I think the call came in from the Oscars in late November.

[Mike Sweeney]

It was the day after we got back from Spain.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Shooting a travel episode in Spain. And I got a call and I called you and I said, I'll do it, but you gotta be on board.

[Mike Sweeney]

I just laughed really hard.

[Conan O'Brien]

You laughed really hard for a long time.

[Mike Sweeney]

Said they, I just got a call. They said, would you want to host the Oscars?

[Conan O'Brien]

Why were you laughing?

[Mike Sweeney]

Just because the timing of it.

[Conan O'Brien]

We were so busy.

[Mike Sweeney]

You got really sick in Spain, along with a few other people. And also just the. It just seemed random, out of lift, like not. It was not on our brain.

[Conan O'Brien]

It was not on our radar.

[Mike Sweeney]

Not on the radar.

[Conan O'Brien]

It was as if I had hit me funny. It was as if I had got a call that said, we want you to be the new Miss America.

[Mike Sweeney]

Right, Exactly.

[Conan O'Brien]

It was that random. And from left field, I would have laughed less. So I said, yes. And then we quickly had to go and tape hbo. Max very kindly said, okay, you're supposed to finish this travel season, so yes, go host the Oscars. But can you knock this other travel show off? Very quickly. Squeeze it in quickly. So we immediately dashed to Austria and we're shooting a show in Austria when I get the call that my father had passed away. So I rush home. And then while I'm home, I see that my mom is going too. And she went three days later. And that was an experience that was very intense. And a bunch of you were very kindly flew out for that, which blew my mind. And I still thank you for that. That means the world to me.

[Mike Sweeney]

Of course.

[Conan O'Brien]

Eduardo. Inosho.

[Mike Sweeney]

It was duly noted. Eduardo.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. I called for you during the. I said, and of course. Eduardo. Eduardo, Eduardo. I'm so sorry. Yeah, Eduardo.

[Mike Sweeney]

Sure, sure.

[Conan O'Brien]

Whatever.

[Mike Sweeney]

The funeral is not properly miked.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, he didn't. Well, I'm glad you can laugh at my parents death.

[Mike Sweeney]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, no, I'm kidding. I'm laughing too. And that's. They would have wanted that. Who knows? No, I don't think so.

[Mike Sweeney]

You know, while you were gone, you. You left Austria and we were. We had to stay there another few days.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, I'm so sorry. That must have been tough for you.

[Mike Sweeney]

Well, yeah, we had to go on to Vienna. Yeah. Jewels.

[Conan O'Brien]

I had to go mourn my parents while you guys went to Vienna and shot B roll and drank schnapps.

[Mike Sweeney]

Yeah. Just so you understand, it wasn't just you that had a difficult journey.

[Conan O'Brien]

Ex.

[Mike Sweeney]

The van was kind of cramped. But we shot. We were like, what do we do? So we. I don't even know if we talked to you about this. We shot something with Jordan.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. That I'm not in.

[Mike Sweeney]

That you haven't seen.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Mike Sweeney]

That you haven't seen.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. I'm cutting it without even seeing it. Yeah.

[Mike Sweeney]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

So then there's a real roll here, because that rolled right into. Right into Christmas felt like days after, which rolled right into January, which rolled right into the fires. I've been living in a hotel since then.

[Mike Sweeney]

Right.

[Conan O'Brien]

And so I remembered us noticing that the Oscars are getting closer and closer, and because of all this madness, we haven't been able to get together in a room and get going. And so you were instrumental in putting together. I mean, some of the names were obvious because it's people you and I had worked with for a long time. But I think we put together a murderer's row of writers.

[Mike Sweeney]

Amazing, amazing writers. We just laughed. I missed being in a room with this crew.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, man.

[Mike Sweeney]

And we all stumbled downstairs in this building. It's a big conference room there. And we just would laugh, and I would come in.

[Conan O'Brien]

I would come in, and it was therapy for me because I would come in, and anyone who knows me knows that I. I'm like a fish in water, in tropical water when I'm in a writer's room. I'm just so happy to be around writers and to be joking around, usually riffing on things that could never make it into an Oscars show. And there was plenty of that. But.

[Mike Sweeney]

And that was a good shorthand to bring this crew back that had already written for you, so that.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes, they knew my style.

[Mike Sweeney]

And also just goofing around like, you know, it was just an instant.

[Conan O'Brien]

But I mean, shorthand. Brian Kiely, Matt O'Brien, Laurie Kilmartin, Dan Cronin. Dan Cronin.

[Mike Sweeney]

Jesse Gaskell, and Jose Arroyo, who also work on the travel shows. Skyler Higley.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yep.

[Mike Sweeney]

And did we mention Brian Kiely?

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, and by the way. Yes. Twice.

[Mike Sweeney]

Brian Kiley was also there.

[Conan O'Brien]

And then also Brian Kiley, Kylie Kama. Oh, and Scott Gairdner came in to help shoot some of the amazing. He's amazing. And he helped give a. To some of the things.

[Mike Sweeney]

Scott Garner was a writer. Yeah. On the TBS show. Josh Comers. Fantastic.

[Conan O'Brien]

Did we mention Kylie, Brian Kiley? Yes, but also Berkeley Johnson. Berkeley Johnson. And you should see Berkeley's Johnson. It's a joke I've been doing for 15 years, and it's always better. I was. It's so satisfying. But we have to tell this story. Skyler Higley wrote the Drake joke.

[Mike Sweeney]

Halftime.

[Conan O'Brien]

The halftime.

[Mike Sweeney]

Halfway through the Oscars.

[Conan O'Brien]

We're halfway through the Oscars, which means it's time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile. And he wrote that joke. And today I Was. I mean, this has happened to me a couple of times, but I walked to some store this morning to get a cup of coffee, and this young black gentleman came up to me and went, conan, I gotta ask you, did you write that joke about Drake? And I said, I did not. That is the handiwork of Schuyler Higley. And I gotta give it up. I'm not that well versed in the rap battles, but I got major props from this gentleman. Excellent. But we started working and then just generating ideas. And it's the same thing we've done back when we would do Emmy shows or any kind of Comic Con shows, which is just generate thousands of ideas and throw most of them out.

[Mike Sweeney]

We had so many ideas that, like, you can't get too attached to any idea because you just know that things are going to get cut. For example, we had a whole big cold open that we loved.

[Conan O'Brien]

It was not the substance cold open that we ended up going.

[Mike Sweeney]

It was a different one. And it was basically hammered out before the fires. The idea of it before the fires happened. And then even after that, we kind of honed it, and it would have been like three or four minutes long. And it was you starting out in Wicked, so you're in a situation.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, it was the idea that I'm going to. Oh, Conan's now going to goof on all the movies. And so it starts with me, and I'm all green in Wicked, finishing Defying Gravity, or one of those songs, and I finish it. And then you see you cut to the next thing, which is Gladiator, and clang, clang, clang with swords. And then you see that I'm a gladiator, but then you notice that I'm still green. And then you go on to conclave, and you see people voting with their ballots, and then one of the hands is still green. And then you cut to me in Dune, and one of the characters, Javier Bardem, is saying, I can't hear you because they all wear those masks in the sand. Take it off, take it off. And I finally take it. What's your problem, man? And I take it off and I'm green. And he's like, what the hell, man? Did you start this with Wicked? And I went, yeah. And this stuff doesn't come off. And the whole thing is that the dye wouldn't come off. And we had to shoot it all in one day. And it was kind of a conceptual idea, which we were. But we thought, oh, this is. We can carry this through the whole thing. Where Then all the characters in every movie that I've inhabited are laughing at me and giving me a hard time because I started out as green, including Nosferatu. They're all Noferatu. They're all piling on me. Like, you don't start with green. Everyone knows that stuff doesn't. Everyone knows that stuff doesn't come off. You shoot the wicked at the end. I know, but we had one day and no one told me.

[Mike Sweeney]

That's a good bill. Scarsgard.

[Conan O'Brien]

Thank you. So we thought. So we thought that that was like, oh, yeah, this is the idea. And then we realized this is so complicated to shoot and it takes so many different setups and started to kind of fall out of.

[Mike Sweeney]

Well, it was more. But also then the Oscars said, we're opening cause of the fires with this big.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes, that's true too.

[Mike Sweeney]

Musical tribute. And that we were like, wait, you.

[Eduardo Inosho]

You can't go far.

[Mike Sweeney]

Five minute musical tribute and then go into a five or four minute.

[Conan O'Brien]

So we needed something quick. We needed something quick. I was obsessed, right? Always obsessed with coming out of Demi Moore's back, Right. Since I was a child. I just. I meant that visual of my hair coming out of my head was something I was obsessed with. And that ended up being good. But it's one of the things you learn, which is that you constantly. It's not just. It's with monologue jokes and it's also with bits. And this is just more about the process. Don't fall in love with anything. Because also the times change. You know, if something is eight weeks out or nine weeks out, what's funny now isn't the story four weeks later. So, so many of the narratives kept changing with the Oscars race. That. And things would seem funny now, but then not later. And then we got a lot of clarity because I started going out to different clubs and doing jokes and I could see which ones consistently work.

[Mike Sweeney]

Well, that was incredibly helpful. And I think also just, you know, for just confidence in that. Oh, no, these jokes are good.

[Conan O'Brien]

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[Will Arnett]

Yeah, your voice changes when you do a car.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm trying to. I'm trying to become Will Arnett, but I can't do it. He's like the all new Nissan Armada Pro 4X. No, listen, I'm going to. I'm going to explain this car to you because this car is fantastic. It's max 8,500 pound towing capacity has the power to haul all your favorite toys. On your next big adventure, you could steal the Statue of Liberty with this. It's incredible. I'm not saying do that. I'm just saying this thing, that's a lot of hauling power. Nobody gets left behind. With the Armada Pro 4X's premium interior that seats up to eight passengers.

[Will Arnett]

That's crazy.

[Conan O'Brien]

I don't know. Eight people. Going big never goes out of style. No terrain is too tough for the all new Nissan Armada Pro 4X. The most capable Armada ever built. Built for the most rugged of terrain, the all new Nissan Armada Pro 4X gives you freedom to explore further.

[Eduardo Inosho]

One of the hardest parts about B2B marketing is reaching the right audience. You put so much effort into a campaign only for it to get wasted on the wrong people. I know, like I'm trying to sell my coal miners hat and it goes to a dance troupe. Ugh, that's no good. It's just stupid. That's where LinkedIn ads come in. Fortunately, LinkedIn is a network of over 1 billion1. You can't even count that high.

[Will Arnett]

I can't.

[Eduardo Inosho]

I can't either. Link has a network of over 1 billion businessy people who might actually be interested in your business. You can even target your buyers by job title, industry, company roles, seniority skills, company revenues. Did I say job title? I think I did. So stop wasting budget on the wrong audience. That's just stupid. Start targeting the right professionals with LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn will give you a $100 credit on the next campaign. So you can try it yourself. Just go to LinkedIn.com TeamCoco. That's LinkedIn.com TeamCoco. Terms and conditions apply only on LinkedIn ads.

[Conan O'Brien]

The audiences were very nice because they would go out and say, I mean, I know Nikki Glaser does this as well, but it's a very good tool to go out and try things out with an audience. But I would say, please don't record this. And they wouldn't.

[Mike Sweeney]

Right, right.

[Conan O'Brien]

Which was really nice because all they'd have, someone would have to do is put that online and you're completely screwed.

[Mike Sweeney]

Well, the other landmine, which I didn't think about, I wasn't really aware of, is like, I've heard the term award season, but it never. I was like, award season. There was a different award show. So once we were going to go to a club and they're like, oh sure, you're go on after so and so who's hosting the. You know, Judd Apatow's hosting the DGA Awards. He's going to do his monologue first. And you're just like, wow, there's so much.

[Conan O'Brien]

Right? And then, you know, we can't even be there when he does his because we don't want to hear something like we can't be influenced. We want to make sure there's no overlap. So you get into this thing where then you say, okay, that show's over. I know, but this comic's out hosting this Spirit Awards and they're doing the circuit and trying jokes about. So you have to wait till. And if anyone does any joke, you can't do that joke, then obviously it's gone.

[Mike Sweeney]

So we had a couple of areas where we're just like, ah, nah, we can't do that.

[Conan O'Brien]

We can't. It's gone now because someone else did it. So the whole thing was fascinating. But I have to say, the real education, the real behind the scenes education was, you know, the Academy of Motion Pictures, they are very serious about certain things. And we had this real lesson in. And again, I don't fault them. I'm just, this is what they do. They, the image of Oscar is very important to them. And there'd be times where we'd be shooting bits to promote the Oscars, promos.

[Mike Sweeney]

Promos to run on abc, promos to.

[Conan O'Brien]

Run on ABC or to go on the Internet that would promote the Oscar. And I remember there was a giant Oscar statue and I shot something with it. It was really fun. And at one point I said, oh, it'd be really funny. It was about Oscar and I, the Oscar and I sharing an apartment and we don't get along, our marriage is crumbling and this was actually out there. They ended up releasing it and I thought it came out pretty well. But it's just a nine foot Oscar and I bickering. And of course the Oscar's not doing anything. It's just standing there like a statue. And I'm saying, what happened to our marriage? And we're fighting about things that couples fight about. But at one point I thought, oh, this would be really great if the Oscar was just on the couch. Let's lay it on a really big couch and I'll be vacuuming and say, could you at least lift your feet or could you at least get up and help load the dishwasher? And we wanted to do it and they just said, no, no, no, that can't happen. And I said there was whispering, there was whispering in this big room. And then one of the people from the Academy came forward and said, oscar can never be horizontal. And that blew my mind. Like, wow, this is like the thigh bone of St. Peter. This is a religious icon.

[Mike Sweeney]

And we tried to put an apron when it was serving you leftovers. And they're like, no clothing on Oscar.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, Nick. Oscar.

[Mike Sweeney]

Oscar's always naked.

[Matt Gourley]

Oh, he's naked, but he won't lie down.

[Mike Sweeney]

There's rules.

[Will Arnett]

I didn't know.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, no, there's just rules.

[Will Arnett]

There's rules.

[Conan O'Brien]

There's a lot of rules with Oscar. And then you realize, oh, this has been around. This award ceremony's been around since 1929.

[Mike Sweeney]

Right.

[Conan O'Brien]

There's a lot of different sort of shorthand for what can and can't happen. But they ended up being very helpful. I want to stress that they let us.

[Mike Sweeney]

Everyone was great.

[Conan O'Brien]

They were great. And the ABC people were fantastic. And the producers we worked with, Raj and Katie, they would just make anything happen. They would just. Anything we said, they would say, yes, that sounds funny. Let's make it happen.

[Mike Sweeney]

So the day we met them, they were so nice. I was like, oh, this is the classic rope a dope. Yeah, this is a trick. And the first time we asked for something, you know, and they were amazing, right? Every step of the way.

[Conan O'Brien]

But it just kept getting. My experience of it was once I said yes, I would always wake up at three in the morning and look at the ceiling and go, what? That's a what? What? I said yes to what? And then it takes about an hour and a half to get back to sleep. And that's just the deal. That's just what it's like.

[Mike Sweeney]

I talked to a few other. Some of the writers, and I was waking up at three thinking of things that either were still up in the air or that I forgot to do that day came to me at three in the morning. I was like, just. And then I couldn't go back to sleep till this week.

[Conan O'Brien]

It was enjoyed this week. I have been. I refuse to. I mean, we finished. It's now Friday. Sunday night was the show. And it's been. My wife is just. I am horizontal all the time. I'm glad. I know ostrich can't be, but she.

[Mike Sweeney]

Doesn'T like you horizontal.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, I never has. The response was really lovely. And then just. But the thing I keep going back to is the lighting. The lighting is insane. It's the best lighting I've ever had. It's the best lighting I ever will have. And it's Bobby Dickinson and Noah Mintz. And they kept. They were looking at my face and touching little dials and adjusting things during the rehearsals. And they also adjusted my face manually. But I'm sorry, I swear to God. I looked at myself in a monitor at one point in rehearsal and I'm like, who's that guy? It's not me. And I know online people were speculating, you know, did Conan get some work done or something? He's like, it's called lighting. It's called lighting. Which, by the way, if you've checked out the podcast, this is not Oscar lighting.

[Mike Sweeney]

That's pretty good.

[Conan O'Brien]

And also we do these travel shows and I'm always. My brand of comedy has always been, hey, this could be really funny. Let's just go do it. And we shoot it with no thought towards lighting. Or I'll run into a 711 and do something.

[Mike Sweeney]

It's a documentary cruise style.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's a documentary cruise style as if it were a war zone.

[Mike Sweeney]

Right.

[Conan O'Brien]

So I always look like, I always look like a toy that a dog got ahold of and chewed up. And then suddenly I step out there and hit my mark and I'm a 19 year old girl.

[Mike Sweeney]

You looked great.

[Conan O'Brien]

And then I did look good. You did. Then I step out of it. It's like, oh, the old pumpkin's back.

[Will Arnett]

That's an intimidating room. To be up on that stage and looking at all those people must have.

[Mike Sweeney]

Been, I think you were in the audience, so.

[Will Arnett]

I was, yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

What was it like in the audience? Were you scared for me?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, I, you know, I was really.

[Conan O'Brien]

You can say it.

[Will Arnett]

I know I was a little nervous for you and it was weird not to work. It. It's one of, you know, those big events that I would normally have worked. I didn't work at the event.

[Conan O'Brien]

You brought Tack.

[Will Arnett]

I brought Tack. And we were sitting next to Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, wow. What was that like?

[Will Arnett]

We were behind the complete unknown.

[Conan O'Brien]

They are so much fun.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. We were in the fourth row. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were just a few rows ahead of us.

[Conan O'Brien]

Your seats were much better than I was. Said they. These are not the seats.

[Will Arnett]

I think you made a mistake.

[Conan O'Brien]

I think. I do.

[Will Arnett]

I do. I really think you made a mistake. Yeah. And I, I just didn't move the whole time because I was like, I can't. Someone's going to.

[Conan O'Brien]

And also if you leave this seat, someone's going to take it from you.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. And. And also every time you'd come up, Tack would be like, yeah, Cony. And I'D be like, stop talking. You can't do that here. It's the Oscars.

[Conan O'Brien]

Who sat behind you?

[Will Arnett]

Behind Oprah?

[Conan O'Brien]

Oprah sat Oprah.

[Mike Sweeney]

Oprah.

[Sonam of Session]

Better seats than Oprah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Behind us, better seats than Oprah. Op. Oprah Winfrey had to look through your big hair to try and see who had won an Oscar.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, my God.

[Conan O'Brien]

How did that happen?

[Will Arnett]

So, you know, Erica Brown was there as well, who works on the show. And I was like, we have to get you to meet Oprah. So we were following.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I've introduced Erica Brown to former first lady Michelle Obama. Twice.

[Will Arnett]

Twice. Twice. Yeah. And, you know, she's from Jackson.

[Mike Sweeney]

That should count as an Oprah.

[Will Arnett]

Everybody back. Everybody back home is just like, oh, my God. And so, you know, I was like, we'll just walk by her, and I'll, like, push you into her, you know.

[Conan O'Brien]

Like, just like, oh, that's a good idea.

[Will Arnett]

Shove you into her.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Matt Gourley]

And you were telling Tak to be quiet.

[Conan O'Brien]

So what did you do?

[Will Arnett]

She was following Oprah, and then she just disappeared.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, she's.

[Will Arnett]

And I think she went out, like, a special exit, you know.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, she has trapdoors installed before she goes. People show up and install trapdoors.

[Mike Sweeney]

Yeah. She helped design them.

[Will Arnett]

And it was really exciting to just be there in the audience watching you and just, like, hearing the jokes for the first time, you know, I mean, it was. It was awesome. It was really, really cool. And everybody around was talking about how great you were doing.

[Conan O'Brien]

It was fun. It was a lot of fun. It was to have. Also to have an orchestra. You get spoiled between the lighting and an orchestra and a high.

[Matt Gourley]

That's the first time they put the orchestra that.

[Conan O'Brien]

Wasn't that a great idea?

[Will Arnett]

It was really cool.

[Mike Sweeney]

And they had a trapdoor. An Oculus had opened to reveal the. The orchestra up on the. It was very. It was neat.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Kind of.

[Mike Sweeney]

And they had a Bond tribute for no good reason other than I assume it was for you.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Matt Gourley]

I've some notes.

[Conan O'Brien]

Let's hear it.

[Matt Gourley]

No.

[Will Arnett]

How much of the show do you.

[Conan O'Brien]

That is the joke, is it? That is the joke. Well, no, anything I'm doing, we wrote.

[Mike Sweeney]

Yeah, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

But like, the rest of the.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, they have a very good team.

[Mike Sweeney]

Right.

[Conan O'Brien]

Headed up by John Max, who works on.

[Mike Sweeney]

Man, he work on every award show.

[Conan O'Brien]

He's working on one right now. He is the Soul Train Awards.

[Mike Sweeney]

He's working on the Mark Twain Awards.

[Conan O'Brien]

I said Soul Train.

[Mike Sweeney]

Okay. But I'm just. I'm a stickler for accuracy.

[Matt Gourley]

So the Soul Twain.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. And so Zach Galifianakis did that very joke in one of the clubs I was in.

[Mike Sweeney]

Oh, sorry.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, it's okay. It's okay. I just want to make sure that he doesn't think we ripped him off the. Yeah, I have to say, that was a. That was a highlight probably in a long career. That was just so. Oh, yeah, it was so fun. But I just was thinking the lighting is amazing. There's this orchestra. Everyone in the crowd's wearing a tuxedo. And, I mean, you hosted the Emmys.

[Mike Sweeney]

Twice, and that's true, right? But, yes, this. So it's like, oh, well, okay, you know how to do that. But then, I don't know, there just. It was a different level of getting scared before something.

[Conan O'Brien]

You get intense. You get intense.

[Mike Sweeney]

It got very intense.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's a big gig because then, you know, people are watching, like, whatever, around the world or something.

[Mike Sweeney]

Well, I wondered. I'm like, why are you so out of your mind? And waking up at 3am and then afterwards, you're like, oh, that's why. Because it really is highly scrutinized.

[Matt Gourley]

What's it like backstage?

[Conan O'Brien]

That's interesting. Is it chaos?

[Matt Gourley]

Is it control?

[Conan O'Brien]

No, it is a machine. My experience of it was that the way they have it set up is the winners drift off stage right, and they're taken into a whole. You know, it's like a digestive system. It's like they're taken through. They're taken through the winner's walk, Then they're taken right into a press. There's a quick, I think, glam shots. Then they're taken into the press room. Then they're going, taken this way, and I'm on the other side. Mostly I'm either going to. But I'm always coming off from stage left. So I'm coming out to either my mark on stage left or to the center. So there's not a lot of interaction. But every now and then, you'd have this amazing moment. And the one for me was, I'm backstage and I'm watching the monitor. Cause you're just watching the monitor. In between, I'll go and talk to the writers and we'll think, what could be a funny idea? What could be a funny thing we could say? Here we were constantly trying to think of what's something that could come up, what's happening in the show and what can we comment on. But every now and then, there's not much to do. We know which the next joke is. It's not for 10 more minutes. So I'm sitting there stage left, and I'm looking at my monitor. And I'm just aware of, like, a presence to my left. And I kind of just look over and it's this guy. And I immediately see that it's Mick Jagger, who I've never met. And Mick Jagger looks at me and he starts nudging me. And in kind of a comic American voice, he's like, hey, hey, how's the crowd? How's the crowd? How's the crowd? How's the crowd out there? How's the crowd doing? How's the crowd doing? How are they? How are they? And I said, crowd's really good. Cause they were. I said, it's a good crowd. And I said, but you don't have to worry about that. Cause you're Mick Jagger. And he went, oh, no, no. I'm not gonna try and do a Mick Jagger. But he said, I always worry about the crowd. And I said, wait a minute. So you're with the Rolling Stones, and you're in Buenos Aires. And you're getting ready to come out and start the show. And you're gonna start off with satisfaction. And you're anxious that the crowd isn't gonna be good. And he said, oh, no, definitely. I wear an earpiece and I listen to the crowd. And sometimes I can tell the crowd isn't quite there yet. And I have to give it a little extra up front. And I was so relieved. Cause I realized, obviously, he's 35 levels beyond me. But nothing ever goes away. Meaning I've had many people give me a hard time. Cause I'm at a small gathering. And I'm supposed to get up and give a toast. And Liza can tell I'm anxious. And I'm getting worked up. And I'm looking around the room to see, is this a good room? And she's like, it's a dinner party. What are you doing? And I'm like, it just never goes away. You're always worried about that stuff. And to hear that Mick Jagger, who's, I believe, 81, the front man for the Rolling Stones, is asking people, how's the. Asking me, how's the crowd? You think I'll be all right out there? I don't know. It's gonna be touch and go for you, Mick.

[Mike Sweeney]

It's the lighting.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But he. I mean, I was kind of intimidated. Cause I didn't know what he would be like. He was incredibly nice. He said to me at one point, oh. And by the Way we've never met. And I'm like, he. How do you know you've never met me? Isn't your life just a blur of occasionally an orange person comes by? He was lovely. He was great and funny and thoughtful, and I had a great exchange with him. And then I knew, I need to end this. Like, don't hang on too long. So I said, well, anyway, wonderful, Lovely. It was very nice to meet you, too. And I. I walk away, and I think Ruthie has me walking away from him. And I saw that Ruthie was filming it, and I just walk up and go like, okay, that just fucking blew my mind. That's pretty crazy.

[Mike Sweeney]

Back into the tent with the writers.

[Eduardo Inosho]

I'm so good at board games. You ever played a board game with me?

[Will Arnett]

I haven't, but I feel like I just destroy. Probably get really competitive.

[Conan O'Brien]

I do.

[Eduardo Inosho]

And if I start to lose, I flip the board over. That's why I have an unbreak broken streak. I just always win because I just throw the board over, flip it over, and say, get out of my house.

[Will Arnett]

Okay, that's mature.

[Eduardo Inosho]

Well, yeah, it's a way to always win or never lose. Well, if you want to save time and win faster, you should do it with Monopoly expansions. There are three new ways to shorten classic Monopoly attached to any classic Monopoly board, old or new. To add a twist and win fast. This is it. Everything's happening faster now. They've sped up Monopoly.

[Will Arnett]

Monopoly does take some time.

[Conan O'Brien]

If you don't have time, did.

[Eduardo Inosho]

Not anymore.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Eduardo Inosho]

Bask in piles of money and free parking. Be granted permission to cheat and steal and go to jail. Good Lord. Societal structures are collapsing. You can even experience the thrill of owning it all, including the bank in buy everything.

[Will Arnett]

What?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yep.

[Eduardo Inosho]

We're teaching people good value. Shorten the game with monopoly expansions. All three packs are available to purchase now at Amazon.com Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro.

[Conan O'Brien]

People ask me a lot about genius. I don't know why. I don't know what it is about me. A real genius always seeks out the nerds. That's the common thing as nerds. I mean, this is why I go to you all the time, David. Thank you. Seriously, because you know how to, like, do things on the. On the phone and order things online. I don't know that simple stuff. You can't. Yeah. Make tea. Yeah. Nerd wallet. That's what I'm talking about. Nerd wallet is going to find the right credit card or auto insurance for you in minutes. Their team of nerds has done the research so you don't have to just answer a few simple questions and you'll be matched with the right financial product for you. They have only nerds working there. Every now and then, a jock will try and apply. Oh, and they say, go no further. You are banished from our realm. Feel like you would thrive working for that? Yes. I would go to nerdwallet.com to finance smarter today. After all, letting NerdWallet do the work is more than smart. It's genius. Terms and conditions apply. Credit products subject to lender approval. See nerdwallet.com for details.

[Will Arnett]

Were you guys in a tent?

[Mike Sweeney]

We were. It's kind of a black duvetyne kind of roped off area. And we had monitors and we had a. You know, we had the scroll of the script. And so we would like. After Flow won, Brian Colley had a joke about, you know, it's the first win for Latvia.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, it's your move, Estonia.

[Mike Sweeney]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

And then you guys are on the fly just like, what's the process of.

[Matt Gourley]

You doing that and then getting that into the teleprompter for him in time? Like, how much time was there?

[Mike Sweeney]

There was this producer named Rachel was right in the room with us, and she really helped with the script along the way.

[Conan O'Brien]

She was great.

[Mike Sweeney]

During the show. Our script guy, John Crotteau, who we could not have done any of this without.

[Conan O'Brien]

He's a hero.

[Mike Sweeney]

He came out from New York just to work on the show, which was amazing because he worked on the world show. He walked.

[Conan O'Brien]

Walked the whole way. He walked the whole way because we wouldn't give him bus fare, right.

[Mike Sweeney]

And he's right now only in Iowa. He's still on his way back home. But she. So we'd tell Jot, you know, okay, let's do this. And then she'd talk to the prompter person, and it would come right up and he'd read it and be like, get. Okay, you've got 10 seconds to get out. There was one a couple of times. Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

There was a moment that I was happy about, which is we're. I don't know if we're backstage, but it's very. Just before the show, and we see Timmy Chalamet coming in, right? And he's wearing a bright, bright yellow outfit. He has a red carpet cover, red carpet coverage. And he's wearing this suit that's just.

[Mike Sweeney]

Bright, bright, like creamsicle.

[Conan O'Brien]

Creamsicle yellow. And I said, well, he won't get hit driving his bike at night. And people around me were like, that's funny. And so I just kept it in my head and I walked out there, and it was one of the first things I said, like, hey, it's Stewie Shunami. Hey, you won't get hit on your brain. People were like, aha. And I'm like, that's not even on a prompter. But it was just kind of. It was a nice feeling to feel like it is the same thing as you can just think of something and say it. And this giant, important room. If it's okay, they'll laugh at it. It doesn't not all have to come through this huge process of agony.

[Mike Sweeney]

You were very. I mean, you were very loose.

[Conan O'Brien]

You know, I had a few pills in me.

[Mike Sweeney]

Well, whatever. They worked because you were as loose as a goose. And it was perfect.

[Conan O'Brien]

It was a really fun night. And I have to say, lots of thanks and gratitude to ABC Academy. They. They really did. And the producers, Raj and Katie, they took really good care of us, and they seemed to know that, yeah, this needs to be what Conan wants it to be. It's gotta be in his voice. They were very good about that.

[Mike Sweeney]

And everyone was very supportive. Michael Bearden, the conductor, the musical director.

[Conan O'Brien]

Great. Who worked out the song with me. Yeah, he was great.

[Mike Sweeney]

He's a great collaborator, right?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, Michael Bearden was great. And that's a guy that, yeah, worked with Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson. I mean, the list of people he's worked with is insane. So I. I had huge moments of inadequacy saying, yeah, I want to sing this song. And he would sit down at the piano and bang it out and start. And we'd be like, making it up and thinking, wouldn't you rather be working with a real musician?

[Mike Sweeney]

Right. He would transpose the key on the spot, like, oh, okay, let's try D flat.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, D flat. Yeah, it sounds like you're a D flat. And so. But there were so many fun things, like, the sensibility has always been. We love puppets and silliness. So we got obsessed with sandworm.

[Mike Sweeney]

We. Early on in part of the show, I kept putting off ordering it up. I'm like, is this. We're gonna have a sandworm? First, the sandworm was sitting in the audience, and I'm like, uh, all right, a sandworm.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, oh. And then there was one idea where the sandworm comes out with an envelope, and we were like, no, how are we gonn. It's not gonna move. And then we realized that then it's.

[Mike Sweeney]

Gonna come down upside down.

[Conan O'Brien]

And talk to you, and he's gonna have lines. And so there was just. There's a whole. There's a whole lifeline to these things. There's a whole evolution. And then finally it became clear Sandworm needs to be in the orchestra and needs to have gone to the Berklee School of Music.

[Matt Gourley]

Who played the Sandworm?

[Mike Sweeney]

It was a guy who does creature.

[Conan O'Brien]

Acting, but also, crucially, from our team, the gentleman, the artist who dresses me and who. Scott Cronick, who's been with me for years, who I married.

[Mike Sweeney]

You married on television.

[Conan O'Brien]

On television. In New York. He and his partner in New York.

[Matt Gourley]

You officiated the wedding.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Mike Sweeney]

Right. You're not married.

[Conan O'Brien]

But I also was married to him for a while, and then Liza found out and the whole thing and went south.

[Mike Sweeney]

But enhanced your own marriage.

[Conan O'Brien]

Exactly. But he built the Sandworm, and in three days. He built it in three days. And so it was behind the harp. But then we had different ideas for who should be behind the piano, and it wasn't quite working out, and we couldn't quite figure it out. And then finally it occurred to us, the Sandworm should be the person on the piano. And then the Sandworm can show up again on the harp as a callback. That happened. That happened, like, the day before the Oscars. We realized. I think it was the day before we realized it was that Friday. That, yes, Sandworm should come out on the piano first and then show up later on on the harp. Because he's a multi instrumentalist.

[Will Arnett]

Important.

[Mike Sweeney]

But when he came out the first time we rehearsed that song rolled out on the piano. It was such a great reveal. Such a great reveal. Almost as dramatic as you coming out of Demi Moore's back. It was just like, whoa, that's a great tableau. Cause you're singing in the foreground, and there's this sandworm pounding away at the keys. I was like, okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

But Scott Chronic designed the costume. And then at the end of the show, before the show was even over, I think someone from the Academy said, we'd like to keep the Sandworm because they have. Because they have a museum.

[Mike Sweeney]

Great.

[Conan O'Brien]

So I don't know if it's ever gonna happen, but if you go to the Academy museum, you can see. You can see the shark from Jaws. You know, you can see the snow globe from Citizen Kane. And, oh, there's Sandworm. There's sandworm from the 97th Oscars, ruining the museum, dragging it all down.

[Mike Sweeney]

I heard they had to get rid of the shark from Jaws to make Room for the sandworm.

[Conan O'Brien]

The sandworm.

[Mike Sweeney]

Its priorities. But I think they have the right.

[Conan O'Brien]

The sandworm ate the shark because he's above it in the food chain.

[Mike Sweeney]

We mentioned Scott Gairdner. He directed the substance. He also. We did an ad parody. Cinema Streams did a great job of that. And then he shot our two Jeff Bezos arriving.

[Conan O'Brien]

Those are so good.

[Mike Sweeney]

Yeah. At the Oscars.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. A reason I'll never get a package again. Bezos is probably like, see to it he never gets a package again. He's petting a white cat and.

[Mike Sweeney]

Yeah. Matt Schar, our travel show editor.

[Conan O'Brien]

Editor. Oh, if we're just gonna listen.

[Mike Sweeney]

We were working on the travel shows during. Well, like, we had to come in on the weekend and edit. And I didn't even tell you because I thought you'd be like, what do you do? Why are you working?

[Conan O'Brien]

I was so enraged.

[Mike Sweeney]

Other than the Oscars, when people would.

[Conan O'Brien]

Try to talk to me about the travel shows, every now and then, Jeff Ross would say something like, so anyway, you know, if we do end up going to India, I'd be like, it's not about the Oscars. If it's not about the Oscars, I don't want to talk about it. Yeah, I'm a real pleasant chap.

[Mike Sweeney]

You know what?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, we were real pleasant leading up to. Your mind works constantly when you're focused on something. And, you know, I feel like a lot of times when you're getting your creative energy out, you're just making fun of us more than you normally would.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, no, no. Yeah, no, that's.

[Will Arnett]

I'm gonna say that's in your head.

[Conan O'Brien]

Do you feel that way, too?

[Will Arnett]

I felt like it was just anger and passion. It was just elevated. So it was a real joy for all of us who work for you.

[Conan O'Brien]

It wasn't always easy to be around Picasso.

[Will Arnett]

Okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

But, boy, did he fill a lot of museums with wonderful work. 2, 3, 4.

[Matt Gourley]

Picasso and sand worm.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, those are my muses.

[Sonam of Session]

But also Sweeney, weren't you. We were in. We were in Austria. And weren't you trying to then pull together this writers room from across the world as well as Austria? During the day, you would be directing the Austria show, and then at night, you would come back to the hotel, and then we would all chill, and you would be going and trying to pull together.

[Mike Sweeney]

I was on the phone with different writers managers, because initially it was.

[Conan O'Brien]

Who are often funnier than the writers.

[Mike Sweeney]

Yes. The managers were very entertaining.

[Conan O'Brien]

They got great ideas.

[Mike Sweeney]

They're great to chat with in Salzburg. Yeah. And that was all coming together over there. Yeah. But then we ended up, you know, we reassembled our old team, and it's the best move. They're the funniest.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. It was so much fun. It was great.

[Mike Sweeney]

Incredible.

[Conan O'Brien]

Great to have that room, that writers room.

[Mike Sweeney]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

To see them all again.

[Mike Sweeney]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

It was a nice reunion. It was really, really nice to see everything.

[Conan O'Brien]

Also to have everything humming where there's a writer's room downstairs working on the Oscars. I'd be in there joking around. Then I'd come up here and we would do a podcast.

[Mike Sweeney]

Abuse these people.

[Conan O'Brien]

Abuse you guys.

[Matt Gourley]

Abuse people on multiple levels.

[Conan O'Brien]

I know you really could.

[Will Arnett]

You had room just to make fun of people.

[Conan O'Brien]

People are gonna get the wrong idea about me from these jokes you're making.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, yeah?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Sonam of Session]

Anyhoo, can I also ask. You went on Kimmel, which is really funny, and he gave you advice to sit down. Did you sit down by the time.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, not that much. Wow.

[Mike Sweeney]

No. You were on your feet the whole time.

[Conan O'Brien]

I was on my feet the whole time. Cause I'm very hyperactive. Yeah. Jimmy's advice was sit as much as possible. Cause it's a lot of standing, and I can't sit still. And so there's footage. I mean, I gotta give a shout out. Since you're naming everyone you've ever met. Hey, doing an amazing job. I'm gonna list the people that served in the Korean War. Now, on the American side, no, but Ruthie and Samantha, who handle the social media, they did this amazing thing where they were shooting video all the time, sort of day in the life video, and posting it. But there's. Not only am I not sitting down, but at one point, I'm doing a Russian dance while the writers around me are chanting Conan. And the show is only half over, and I'm expending energy and doing that leg kick dance where I'm trying, and then it's madness. Absolute madness. But that's the world I like to live in. Anyway, it was an honor. It was a privilege. It was a thrill. And Mike Sweeney would not have happened without this. Man, you guys probably do. No, we'd have found someone, sure.

[Mike Sweeney]

Of course.

[Conan O'Brien]

Very quickly.

[Mike Sweeney]

So the first thing I learned about is, everyone's replaceable.

[Conan O'Brien]

What's next?

[Mike Sweeney]

So you better show up to work.

[Will Arnett]

I mean, you've hosted the Emmys.

[Conan O'Brien]

You've hosted the Grammys. No Grammys.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Come on, Eduardo.

[Will Arnett]

You're a real fit.

[Conan O'Brien]

What do you think? I think you're a perfect fit.

[Mike Sweeney]

I think you Do I think you're Spanish?

[Conan O'Brien]

Killed during the. Yes, we. That was. Yeah.

[Mike Sweeney]

And you're Hindi and you're Chinese. You're Mandarin.

[Conan O'Brien]

The key to the Mandarin was they were laughing so they couldn't hear the Mandarin. But anyway, it was a real highlight. But it's also. Man, it's nice to have that behind us.

[Mike Sweeney]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

I gotta say.

[Mike Sweeney]

Well, great job. I know I haven't said that till now. No, you really nailed it. Fantastic.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, we can't just be patting ourselves on the back here. There's work to be done. There's work to be done. Yeah.

[Mike Sweeney]

So this man. Can I talk to you?

[Conan O'Brien]

Can I talk about this guy?

[Mike Sweeney]

What you do and what you did.

[Conan O'Brien]

Now, when you did it. Now I'll be Sebastian Maniscalco.

[Eduardo Inosho]

This guy.

[Conan O'Brien]

This fucking guy. This fucking guy. All right, that was our Oscars podcast. Talk down.

[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, Jimmy. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair and 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 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.

[Eduardo Inosho]

Don'T miss grand slam deals. Going now at the Academy sports and outdoors from March 3 to March 16. This is pretty cool. Get up to 50% off bats, gloves and training gear from brands like Rawlings, Eaton, Wilson, Marucci. Hello. That's good stuff. Louisville Slugger and more. Valid for a limited time. Shop with confidence Academy. Know you're getting the best prices with their everyday price match guarantee needed fast. Check this out. Choose same day delivery. Powered by DoorDash. Order by 4pm Hello. Get it by 8pm Nice instant gratification. Shop your local Academy store or academy.com today.

[Conan O'Brien]

Every day our world gets a little more connected, but a little further apart. But then there are moments that remind.

[Mike Sweeney]

Us to be more human.

[Will Arnett]

Thank you for calling Amica Insurance.

[Mike Sweeney]

Hey, I was just in an accident.

[Conan O'Brien]

Don't worry. We'll get you taken care of. At Ameca, we understand that looking out for each other isn't new or groundbreaking. It's human. Amica. Empathy is our best policy.