
Lisa Kudrow feels still really good about being Conan O’Brien’s friend. Lisa sits down with Conan once more to discuss the unrelenting optimism of her character Valerie Cherish on the newest season of The Comeback, remembering the wonderful Robert Michael Morris, the evolution of their friendship over the last forty years, and much more. Plus, David Hopping relives his experience seeing the Backstreet Boys at The Sphere. For Conan videos, tour dates and more visit TeamCoco.com. Got a question for Conan? Call our voicemail: (669) 587-2847.
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Conan O'Brien
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David Hoppins
Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
Fools.
Conan O'Brien
Fools.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
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Lisa Kudrow
Hi, my name is Lisa Kudrow, and I feel still really good about being Conan o'. Brien.
Conan O'Brien
This is a day to day thing with you.
Lisa Kudrow
Every day I take a walk and then I go, wait. How do you feel about being Conan o' Brien's friend?
Sona Movsesian
Fall is here Hear the yell Back to school Ring the bell Brand new shoes Walk and loose Climb the fence Books and pens I can tell that we are gonna be
Conan O'Brien
I can tell
Sona Movsesian
that we are gonna be friends.
Conan O'Brien
Hey there. Welcome to Conan o'. Brien. Needs a friend. Joined by. Well, no Matt Gorley right now. He's still out on paternity leave. Yeah, it's been six years now that he's been on paternity leave. This child just joined the army. Good to have you here. David Hoppins.
David Hoppins
Great to be here.
Conan O'Brien
And Sona Obsession, of course. As always. You, you were late today. We just taped an interview that you weren't here for. What happened was a little bit of a snafu.
Sona Movsesian
There was a little bit of the snafu.
Conan O'Brien
What happened there?
Sona Movsesian
It wasn't in my calendar. So if it's not, I'm like, you know, if it's not there, I don't know it's happening.
Conan O'Brien
Is this a physical thing you write in physical calendar.
Lisa Kudrow
What do you mean?
Sona Movsesian
Like I have a calendar and I write in it with my, like a
Conan O'Brien
pen it's got, like, you know, a fireman with no shirt on, you know?
Sona Movsesian
Oh, like a calendar.
Conan O'Brien
That's the kind of calendar I picture you having. You probably like a sexy guy calendar.
Sona Movsesian
Well, it's a digital one, but then there's other calendars that get sent that do have it on there, and I didn't pay attention to those.
Conan O'Brien
There was a show about male dancers that you were obsessed with.
Sona Movsesian
They weren't dancers.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, they were gigolos.
Lisa Kudrow
They were jigalos.
Conan O'Brien
You're obsessed with jigos. Did you have a gigolo calendar back in the day?
Sona Movsesian
I did have a gigolo calendar and every month.
Conan O'Brien
And see, this is why I asked you. I picture you having, like, a gigolo calendar or a shirtless fireman calendar or now a heated rivalry calendar.
Sona Movsesian
Yes, baby.
Lisa Kudrow
Okay.
Conan O'Brien
And then the problem is you get so distracted by the hunks that you don't write things down every time you go, oh, I'll write down. I've got to be in there for that interview for the podcast. And then you look up, and it's one of the shirtless hunks from heated rivalry, and you go. And then you forget, and you just write blither, blather, bluther. Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
Or I just drool all over it,
Conan O'Brien
and you draw butts on the calendar.
Sona Movsesian
I draw. Oh, my God. I draw butts.
Lisa Kudrow
But maybe.
Sona Movsesian
Maybe that's my system for putting things in my calendar.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. Two butts means I got to get into the podcast. Three butts means I've got to go see my. My orthopedic surgeon.
Sona Movsesian
Yes. It's a. It's my butt butt code.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, yeah.
Sona Movsesian
It's the butt code for my calendar. Look, but then also today.
Conan O'Brien
And then you use different things. There's some butts. There's some penises.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Six butts and two penises is. Mikey and Charlie need to get their shots? This is her system. The ancient Incas used knotted string instead of recorded language, and it worked fine. Sona uses a series of butts and dicks in a certain order. And, I mean, when you published your version of King Lear, it was fantastic.
Sona Movsesian
People are gonna look at my calendars thousands of years from now, and they're gonna be relics of butts and penises. And then people are going to worship.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. And realize that it exactly. It exactly explains the solar system and the movements of the sun.
Sona Movsesian
Yes. Yeah, I. I think so. I think it's a very special system. Anyway, so I went to a workout class this morning.
Conan O'Brien
Anyway, aside from my ancient Incan or Aztec Calendar of butts and dicks.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Onward. Yes.
Sona Movsesian
So Butts and dicks calendar. Then I went. I went to work out this morning, and I was driving somewhere, and then I got a. A text from Blay, which is one of the scary texts to get when you work. He's like, where are you? What's your eta? And I'm like, oh, I'm supposed to be somewhere right now. And then I called and I found out, but I look like you're you.
Conan O'Brien
You look like you went to the gym.
Sona Movsesian
Yes. Look at me. Look at my hair.
Conan O'Brien
I think you look great. What's the problem?
David Hoppins
Shut up.
Conan O'Brien
No, no, no. I mean.
Sona Movsesian
I mean, thank you. No, I feel like I'm. I'm really wishing you didn't have so many subscribers on YouTube right now.
Conan O'Brien
Okay, so here's the thing. I want to know what your workout is, because in the whole time I've known you, you've never said to me, I'm off to the gym for my workout.
Sona Movsesian
Yes.
Conan O'Brien
You've never done that.
Sona Movsesian
I don't.
Conan O'Brien
So what do you. What do you do? What is a workout?
Sona Movsesian
Today was the first workout I went to.
Conan O'Brien
I didn't know that. Yeah. This is gold. I'm a prosecutor who just happened to ask a question, and you said, well, when I purchased the murder weapon and committed the murder, I thought today would be the day. That today was your first day where.
David Hoppins
Where?
Sona Movsesian
I did a spin class at SoulCycle in Pasadena. Shout out. Give me. No, don't give me some. I'm probably not going to go back. I was really?
Conan O'Brien
You are not going back.
David Hoppins
Really?
Sona Movsesian
I suffered throughout the entire thing.
Conan O'Brien
Okay, so also, I picture you, like, yelling back at any instructor if they say, okay, now, ladies, let's go. No, we're going up a hill now. You're like, fudge this. I'm not going up a hill.
Sona Movsesian
I was saying it under my breath. I was like, shut up, bitch.
Lisa Kudrow
Shut up.
Sona Movsesian
As she was talking and telling, you're
Conan O'Brien
not allowed to yell at the instructor. Yeah, I'll cut a bitch.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah, I. But I wanted to. And the whole time I was like, this is stupid. Why am I doing this? I want to watch tv. What am I doing? Why am I doing? Like I was taught. I had an internal monologue that was so not what you should have when you're in a workout class. I hated every second.
Conan O'Brien
Did you have. Were you. While you're working out, is there a big container of Red Vines in front of you that you're eating while you're
Sona Movsesian
yeah, like six calories out. Like 12 calories in.
David Hoppins
Someone's feeding it to her.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah, yeah. You bring in a Red vine person to feed you Red Vines. Well, I'm glad you're here.
Sona Movsesian
And, yeah, I'm sorry I missed the interview.
Conan O'Brien
Don't be sorry. I mean, yeah, you would have had fun.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
But I know I liked who you interviewed, and so I'm bummed.
Conan O'Brien
I'm sure I'll interview, you know, Barack and Michelle Obama again.
David Hoppins
It was share.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. And share. It was Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and Cher.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, my God.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, and the Survivors. Drivers of the band Queen. But you know what we'll do?
Sona Movsesian
You'll come to the guy, John Deacon included. And he doesn't even do anything with the band anymore.
Conan O'Brien
You know what? Everyone was here. It was really fun, but you wouldn't have loved it.
David Hoppins
I took your seat.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. Oh, and this great hummus place sent in some food. But next time that happens, we'll.
Sona Movsesian
Everyone's laughing it up. The hummus place, huh, guys? You like that one? I hate everybody in this room.
Conan O'Brien
This is hilarious. When I introduce this guest, it just always cracks me up because we've been friends literally forever. And. And she is one of my absolute favorite people in the entire universe. She stars as Valerie Cherish in season three of the hilarious HBO series the Comeback, which people are so psyched for this.
David Hoppins
So excited.
Conan O'Brien
So psyched for it. She is one of my closest friends. I adore her, and I love when she comes on the podcast. Lisa Kudrow, welcome. Welcome. I mean, we've known each other forever. Yeah. And got started together, as everyone knows, in improv in 86. And it's still a day to day thing with you. I never know. I never know. Am I still good with. There have been whole years where I've been out, but at the moment, I'm in, which is fine. And we'll see how it goes.
Lisa Kudrow
That's not true. It's the other way around.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah, I know.
Lisa Kudrow
What? Where'd that come from?
Conan O'Brien
Look, in the 2000s, I just turned on you. No, we were just. It's funny because, I mean, you came in here and you started being really funny and we're just laughing and we hadn't even turned on the microphones yet. And it just always feels strange when I say, hey, my guest today is Lisa Kudrow. Because we had dinner last week. Yeah. With my wife Liza. And you and Michelle could not be there because he refuses to dine with me now.
Lisa Kudrow
Right.
Conan O'Brien
He was out of town. I know. He Was out of town. We're just trying to start trouble.
Lisa Kudrow
No, thanks. Yeah. Anyway.
Conan O'Brien
But, yeah, we had a blast. And so it's so funny when it's formalized this way a little bit. And it used to be worse. Not worse. Cause you were always great. But when I would say when I had a band and it was on TV and they'd be like, all right, here she comes, Lisa. Ba da ba ba da da da. And you'd come out and, you know, the dress, and I'm bowing to you and then getting behind my seat, and I would just flash back to you and I in a Dupars diner in the late 80s going, here's a funny idea for a skit.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Well, we both got to get back to our day jobs, so it's.
Lisa Kudrow
Your day job was writing.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. At least I had a. I had a decent. Yeah, yeah. And you were slinging hash at the headache clinic. At the headache clinic, which was given. Why were you slinging hash at a headache clinic?
Lisa Kudrow
I don't know. You said slinging hash. I wanted to be a good improviser.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah, that was good. That was good. Now it's a very funny scene.
Lisa Kudrow
Hash slinging, headache clinic.
Conan O'Brien
Exactly. Yeah. I'm delighted that you're here. People get very excited when you come. Huge fans here. And so Paula Davis, who we were just talking about before the mics came on, who's been with me forever, who's our booker. She is vibrating for, I would say, a month now. Talking to me about the Comeback and the new season of the Comeback.
Lisa Kudrow
That's what she was telling me.
Conan O'Brien
She's doing a rewatch, but she's not the only one. I have so many friends that are telling me the Comeback, and because they know that you and I go way back, people are asking me questions about it. I don't know anything.
Lisa Kudrow
A lot of people from my life couldn't watch seasons one and two. They couldn't handle it.
Conan O'Brien
It was tough.
Lisa Kudrow
And I think probably for you, even though you're too supportive to say it, but my husband hasn't seen them. Do you know that?
Conan O'Brien
Really? I didn't know that.
Lisa Kudrow
Michelle has not seen all of season one or all season three also.
Conan O'Brien
I think that's really sweet. I watched both of them and thought it was brilliantly funny. But because I'm such good friends with you and care about you, it's hard. It's hard.
Lisa Kudrow
I just don't even know what anyone is talking about with that. I can't.
Conan O'Brien
I'll tell you specifically.
Lisa Kudrow
It makes Me nervous that something's wrong with my version of reality. Because you're not the only one. It's like because they're so humiliated for her.
Conan O'Brien
Well, you play it. And everyone here is. You play it so brilliantly. Close to the bone. And for me, anyway, there was the character of the writer, Pauly G. Who is just so mean. And that actor did such a great job. Yeah. In season one, he was so good at being a type of writer. I know, right. And it made me. But you know, not supporting you at all, you know, making. Just wearing away your confidence and so much anger and bringing so many of his own issues to that situation that. Because, I don't know, I've been in that world. It was hard. It was hard. Just like I told you, I wanted to like fight him at one point I said I don't want to meet him because I think I want to hit him with a two by four.
Lisa Kudrow
Right.
David Hoppins
And.
Conan O'Brien
Poor guy, he's a lovely guy and a terrific actor, but he needs a beating because.
Lisa Kudrow
But listen, I mean. Cause we had a writer's room the first season and every one of them knew that guy, so we weren't making him up. And the thing is, is that to me, it was really obvious that this guy thought he was having a promising career. We hear that he was a Simpsons writer, he won an Emmy and now he has this show. And then the network tells him, no, it has to be this. Oh, and by the way, just to hedge our bets, there's a companion reality show and. And that would be enraging to any showrunner. And he is particularly asshole. Ish. Right. And has whatever feelings he has about her. Cause she is annoying, she is sort of phony. And what do you do with that? And just shut up. Right, right, right. That's been a solid five minutes of me monologuing, by the way. But to me it was really obvious, like what he's pissed off about and.
Conan O'Brien
Okay, no, no, that's fair. I just. There's a.
Lisa Kudrow
And he's punishing her.
Conan O'Brien
Yes.
Lisa Kudrow
But did she seem punished?
Conan O'Brien
Well, she's.
Lisa Kudrow
Sona says no.
Sona Movsesian
No, she's like blissfully, almost.
Conan O'Brien
I wouldn't say blissfully. I would say Valerie Cherish is valiantly unaware. Yay. Valiantly unaware. But also, I think one of the reasons she's that way is she's not completely oblivious. She knows that she's hanging by a thread in this business. She knows that. And you play it so well. Excruciatingly optimistic in a way, that's so forced because you know that this isn't all going your way. And you're so thirsty. You really wanna win that Emmy. You really wann. What's amazing to me is that it really does capture something you see out here. You see it out here all the time is the big forced smile. I can't tell you how many times I pass a billboard and I see a big smiling face of someone who's saying, it's all great, right? And I know that person's miserable. I know they are. I've met them. I know. You know, and I see those faces all over the place. Because so many people aren't happy in themselves. Do you know what I mean? And so the smile gets bigger. And that's what you see a lot of. And I think Valerie Cherish is like the best character in my opinion, that captures something that exists out here. And I do have a lot of empathy for her, but I also think she's not Peter Sellers as Clouseau. She's not someone who's oblivious. No, things are. Fires are. You know, she knows that, oh, here's the paparazzi. They're not shooting her, they're shooting someone she used to work with. She's trying to get to her, they're stepping on her feet. She knows that it's not going her way and she's pushing herself through the crowd.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, I just realized I just might be really mean. Cause that just made me laugh.
Conan O'Brien
Well, it's funny. No, it is bad for her.
Lisa Kudrow
I mean, I bad for her. Yeah. But it hasn't, like. Yeah, I don't.
Conan O'Brien
But it's this. It's a. I don't know, it's a really fun.
Lisa Kudrow
For me, she's. What she's doing is like, that's okay. Like that's her mantra is it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. That's what it takes, you know, like it doesn't matter. And then. Cause first I was just making fun of her. Season one, to me, yes, I am mean. And I was making fun of that. And after we were done, I had a friend. And she's smart, this woman. Her name's Mirage. She's really great. And she was saying, oh, but no. And she's Irish, so I don't know, maybe you know her.
Conan O'Brien
Of course.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah,
Conan O'Brien
I see her at the meetings, the community. Once we reach for the same potato at the bowl. Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
Oh my God, it happens.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. There's just a bowl of taters there.
Lisa Kudrow
There was a fight, but she said no. Isn't she wonderful. She's just, you know, she's so. You can't keep her down.
Conan O'Brien
No. Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
There's no one more resilient. No, she's wonderful. She's the strongest person I think I've ever seen. And I just went, huh? And then realized, yeah, Because I don't feel bad playing her. I don't feel decimated when I'm playing her, because I am rejecting the rejection or the insult and turning it into something that she needs, that I need.
Conan O'Brien
Well, she doesn't say no ever.
Lisa Kudrow
Right.
Conan O'Brien
She says, if they say, okay, now you've got a. You know, for this, I'm making this up. But if in the new season, they said, okay, to promote this next project, we're gonna. You need to be covered in duct tape, and we're gonna put bunny ears on you, and you have to hop down Hollywood Boulevard. You'd be like, all right, well, okay, you know, I mean, you. This is what we're doing. I guess this is what the kids want to see. Now, I don't get it.
Lisa Kudrow
Right.
Conan O'Brien
But you would do it in 120 degree heat.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
And probably pass out. But she is intrepid. She's brave. I don't know. And just.
Lisa Kudrow
She wants what she wants. And whether you think that's a worthwhile goal is another issue. But, yeah, she doesn't give up. And there's something. I guess we like that.
Conan O'Brien
So here's something about that.
Lisa Kudrow
I don't know. All of a sudden, like, Lindsey Vaughn flashed in my head, you know, like, everyone likes a come. No, because I was thinking, why is she doing this? You know? And then like, well, everyone likes a comeback and everyone likes that. But I went, ugh. I don't know. It seems dangerous.
Conan O'Brien
And then this just happened over the weekend. I don't know when this comes out, but Lindsey Vonn crashed, and I think she fractured her leg.
Lisa Kudrow
Yes. Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
But there is the reality to, you know, she was really brave to make that attempt. But you're right. There's a high level of. There's a slim chance this will work out.
Lisa Kudrow
Right.
Conan O'Brien
But that's what makes a comeback so incredible, the odds against it.
Lisa Kudrow
And you can't have a comeback or do that if you're not just being optimistic and hopeful. Hopeful against all odds. Against, like, with, like, presented right in front of your face. I don't know. But yeah, I don't know. We do this every 10 years.
Conan O'Brien
Yes. This is what I wanted to talk about, you know, but this is the thing. This is what I love what's so unique about this show is I think the first one is 2004 or something. 2004 and came out in five. Yeah. And you were kind of. I mean it's. I think it's two years or something before Keeping up with the Kardashians. It's like this is. You were doing a satire of something that hadn't, I don't think really formed yet.
Lisa Kudrow
Right.
Conan O'Brien
Then you come back 10 years later and now. Which then commented on that moment. And I think few people would have the patience or the nerve to say these come out once every 10 years. But it's really cool because now I have not seen a second of the third season. But the idea that you can now drop in again a decade later, it's very unusual.
Lisa Kudrow
It is, isn't it?
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. But I'm so. It's so great that we didn't get picked up that first season because it gets to be about something.
Conan O'Brien
Right. Were you surprised when it didn't get picked up?
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Oh yeah, I was surprised, yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
Why were you surprised?
Conan O'Brien
Just cause it was really good.
Lisa Kudrow
Thanks.
Conan O'Brien
And you think, well, this will now get picked up.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Of course. I've been wrong about these things before. I've had my own experiences. But.
Lisa Kudrow
Wait, what do you mean?
Conan O'Brien
I don't know. But I think you've only had an easy time.
David Hoppins
You're right.
Lisa Kudrow
You and your privilege.
Conan O'Brien
I know. Never a bump. Never a bump in the road, Man. Tax time, tax season. It's stressful.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah, it is.
Conan O'Brien
And the old way of doing taxes was such a pan that gave you a shoebox with your receipts.
Sona Movsesian
Yep.
Conan O'Brien
You're scared, you're nervous, you're like, when did I buy this? You know the April 15th tax deadline will be here before you know it. It's coming fast. Doing taxes used to mean sitting in a waiting room, handing over a pile of papers and then staring across a desk for while someone berates you.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
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David Hoppins
That's true.
Conan O'Brien
You'd wear these T shirts that were, you know, like, hey dude, whatever. I'm with stupid.
David Hoppins
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
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Lisa Kudrow
Oh, yeah. The supermarket is where all the fans of the Comeback are.
David Hoppins
They are.
Conan O'Brien
They are. They're there. They're there in the produce lane. And you're there like, what about those melons? And you're like, I don't know. Hey, the Comeback. But I go to a lot of supermarkets. But you must have had that experience where you're hearing from people. I love that. And so you didn't hear that necessarily from the, you know, the people that made the show or broadcast the show, but you knew. I'm hearing from way too many people.
Lisa Kudrow
Well, even when it was. When we were on, we heard David Bowie got in touch with HBO because he was gonna be on tour. He didn't wanna miss anything. So send him, wow, whatever, 2005 DVDs or whatever it is. Look, I'm looking like. I don't know. We don't remember.
Conan O'Brien
Then you find out the other shows David Bowie wanted.
Lisa Kudrow
No, he wanted.
Conan O'Brien
I didn't get the latest Fear Factor where they eat shit. Can you have that one, please? You're like, david.
Lisa Kudrow
And then we felt like, oh, okay. Yeah, that's right. Hbo. That's all they need to hear. Probably. And, you know, we had a lot of bad reviews because people didn't understand what they were seeing.
David Hoppins
Right.
Lisa Kudrow
And then by the time, halfway through, there were revised reviews, like retractions and.
Conan O'Brien
Which is pretty rare.
Lisa Kudrow
And also our ratings, we were doing as well, if not better than Entourage when its first season was just the year before and went, all right, so great. And who else has shows that you don't. You've not seen this before, you don't really understand, and then you get to know what it is and embrace it. And it's great hbo. Except they kept telling us, yeah, we're not. Hbo is not HBO anymore. So I don't know. It's really gotta. I don't know. We'll see. I don't know. And then it turns out I only found out a couple years ago. There was one guy at HBO that I don't know if I ever even met him in charge, who was just like, we're not going to pick that up. Right?
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
Well.
Lisa Kudrow
But I have to say, yes, it was a surprise that we didn't get picked up, but I didn't feel bad. And I was in shock that I didn't feel bad because I thought, well, look, this is about the best I can do. And I think we did it about the best that it could be done. So I've got nothing to feel bad about. It's not my mistake.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
So I don't know. I didn't feel bad.
Conan O'Brien
Well, that's. I'm glad. Yeah, you should have felt a little bad.
Lisa Kudrow
I'm just sorry I felt bad later when I.
Conan O'Brien
As long as you felt bad at some point.
Lisa Kudrow
No, I did.
Conan O'Brien
Good.
David Hoppins
Good.
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, no, don't worry.
Conan O'Brien
Good.
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, I felt bad. No, no. Like gut wrenching a hole in my.
Conan O'Brien
In your soul.
Lisa Kudrow
In my soul.
Conan O'Brien
Good.
Lisa Kudrow
And my soul's.
Conan O'Brien
That's necessary for good work. It is. Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
Okay.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. You'll have it one day, Sona.
Lisa Kudrow
Will I? But here's the thing. It wasn't because it was canceled. It was because someone else. It was Bill Maher talking about something and jokes that don't land because, like, one joke and it was famous. I don't remember someone making fun of someone who's marginalized or, you know, like a victim. And he was saying, look, you wanna make fun of white men, you can make fun of white men all you want, okay? Cause they've got the power, but don't make fun of that person or that thing. And I went, women are still, you know, you can't make Fun of women in that way. Like, you can't. Oh, no, they're too easily recognized as victims if they're. And I went, no, I never thought
Conan O'Brien
of it that way. I mean, because so much great comedy. I mean.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. Women, too.
Conan O'Brien
Lucille Ball, you know, Tina Fey, so many great. On and on and on, have made fun of themselves as women. And it's brilliant, you know?
Lisa Kudrow
Yes. But, Val, this wasn't the same. This was a man being cruel to her. And I thought, no, it's a writer, you know, giving a hard time to an actress. Like, why is that a big shock and horror? I mean, that's one. What do you think? What do you think actors and especially actresses have put up with forever, you know, and haven't. I don't know. I don't know. Anyway. No, but you proved me wrong. I take it back. I'll never say it again. I get it. No, I get it.
Sona Movsesian
I get what she's saying.
Conan O'Brien
What do you give us your input here, Sona?
Sona Movsesian
I just think. I actually think it's part of the reason why she was so. Just kind of like, okay, just taking it is because she's used to it. I mean, that's how it's always been.
Lisa Kudrow
Right. It's not gonna change. Exactly. So you've gotta, like, here's. Here are the boundaries.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
And so you just work within them, around them, you know, that's all.
Conan O'Brien
Yep.
Lisa Kudrow
And I mean, look, I don't know if it's because I've. I don't know if it's. I never felt like, oh, I'm a woman. And so, you know, I don't get to. I don't know. I mean, on some level. Yes. Especially with this, it just didn't occur to me. It's like, this isn't gender specific ambition or hopes and dreams. So it didn't occur to me that it would be an issue at all. And I think it kind of was, that it was a woman.
Conan O'Brien
But now when you come back 10 years later and you do the second season, did you feel more assured that I really know who this character is? I know there's a lot of fans, people are excited for us to return. Did it feel different?
Lisa Kudrow
Kind of. I mean, it's a little scarier because then there's expectations. And what Michael Patrick King and I Knew was, It's 10 years later, she's 10 years older, and it's gonna be. It has to be different. And, you know, and then I just thought it was great that we had her win the Emmy for A performance she couldn't even appreciate in herself because she was stuck on how tired she looked in the scene. And I liked that a lot for her. And then, of course, the huge thing is that she, you know, leaves the Emmys that you hosted. Thank you.
Conan O'Brien
I got paid.
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, you did? I told them you didn't have to get paid.
Conan O'Brien
It was.
Lisa Kudrow
That makes me mad.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. It was validated parking. That was my payment. Yeah. But I needed to say.
Lisa Kudrow
I'm kidding.
Conan O'Brien
It's disturbing when you'll say something like, yeah, and I hope something horrible happens to you, Conan. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Chills me more. Oh, okay. Well. Cause it could be real, it could be true.
Lisa Kudrow
I'm explaining in the joke.
Conan O'Brien
So I was really.
David Hoppins
Yourself.
Conan O'Brien
I was really sad about the character of Mickey.
Lisa Kudrow
Yes.
Conan O'Brien
The actor who plays your.
Lisa Kudrow
And the actor, Mickey. Robert Michael Morris.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. And he was such a. So terrific. And he completely nailed this kind of person that we all know, especially in this business, someone who's been with you a long time is in your corner, and it's just all you were getting was, you know, undiluted support from him.
David Hoppins
But.
Conan O'Brien
And of course, he's not perfect, but I just. I was very obviously sad, you know, that he had passed. And that character is just kind of note perfect, I think.
Lisa Kudrow
Right. Yes, he is. And also biting his tongue. Like, we had so many takes. He was sort of a little bit of a reality check. Sometimes when she's saying something and you're wondering, like, that's stupid. Right. And then you, like, they switch over to Mickey, who's looking confused, or why'd she say that?
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, he was great. Yeah. And that was a horrible loss. I mean, I couldn't even think about doing more for a really long time. Cause we'd been talking about it and, you know, knew that it might be possible, you know, to do more. But no, it took me a really long time to get over Mickey. Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah, he was great. And, you know, he wasn't. He was sick when we were shooting that season, and when our first day we were. We had to walk back and forth a lot somewhere. I don't know. And he had to sit down. He said, I don't know if I can do this. And Michael Patrick King, you know, who knew him from college, that was his college acting teacher. And he came over and he just said, you can do it. Of course you can do it. And I said, yeah, and whatever you need. And he got. Over the course of shooting, he got better and better. And better. And his doctors said, what are you doing? Because everything's good. Like, the disease is not progressing.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
Whoa. We don't. What are you doing? So I don't. It's that stuff. I love hearing stories about that happening, which.
Conan O'Brien
Cause we don't understand it, but it makes 100% we believe it. I believe there have been times where I haven't felt well, and then I've gone out and done a show for a really big audience at a theater or something, and I feel great afterwards. And you think, okay, this is adrenaline, but it's also community. I got my people around me. I'm getting all this positivity. You're getting this bath that is very, you know, life saving.
Lisa Kudrow
Right.
Conan O'Brien
It's. It's so. I totally understand that.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. I. Right. I mean, we. Look, if Covid taught us anything. Well, it taught us a lot of things, but to me, one of them was, boy, our immune systems are. Everyone's is different. And wow, it seems like what activates it and what, you know, what helps it along. And how much of wellness is immune system. And then other things. And we don't know. To me, it just meant, oh, that's right. We don't know most everything about our bodies and our universe, and we don't know a lot.
Conan O'Brien
Well, I get most of it, but. Okay, I'm sorry, I just.
Sona Movsesian
Do you know he does understand that stuff?
Conan O'Brien
Yeah, I do.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, okay. Can you explain anything about these?
Conan O'Brien
I don't think you would understand. Okay, I'm sorry. But you know what I mean, it's just the level.
Sona Movsesian
Do I know what you mean?
Conan O'Brien
Yeah, I'm just thinking on like. I'm thinking in like the ninth dimension, you know, so there's only so much I can do for you people.
Lisa Kudrow
That's true.
Conan O'Brien
You know what's interesting?
Lisa Kudrow
That's true.
Conan O'Brien
I just, I'm sorry, I'm a little bit honest. And then. Oh, it's all this, by the way.
Lisa Kudrow
I mean, I think Conan is so smart that he could explain physics.
Conan O'Brien
No, not physics. Physics. I don't understand.
Lisa Kudrow
You don't?
Conan O'Brien
No, I really don't.
Lisa Kudrow
Did you ever take physics?
Conan O'Brien
No. I mean, I did in high school, but I, I, you know when they start saying, oh, time is a relative? Well, I, of course I understand that. I'm the one who explained it to Einstein.
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, okay.
Conan O'Brien
But no, there's so much I don't understand.
Lisa Kudrow
That is, I believed that. Oh, okay.
Conan O'Brien
Very humbling.
Lisa Kudrow
That was you?
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. Went back in time and he was like, who is this man, what are you doing in my patent office? Hey, E equals MC squared, buddy. And grow out a mustache. And then I zip back the muscle. Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
Anyway, that's Conan, you guys.
Sona Movsesian
Your accent was spot on.
Conan O'Brien
Well, that was Einstein.
Sona Movsesian
Can I hear it again?
Conan O'Brien
I'm trying to work in the patent office.
Lisa Kudrow
There we go.
Sona Movsesian
Okay.
Conan O'Brien
And I think. Who's this Irish lady? I'm a dude, man. You look like Jane Lynch. Shut up.
David Hoppins
He knew Jean.
Conan O'Brien
C squared.
Lisa Kudrow
Time is relative.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
He just tried to explain it to.
David Hoppins
I don't even know.
Conan O'Brien
So here's an interesting thing about you, is that you've experienced this real. This real victory in this space with the Comeback, but you also got to experience that failure. Oh, no, no.
Lisa Kudrow
What if that's where you were going? That would be great.
Conan O'Brien
Yes. Yes. You. I don't know what you were doing before the Comeback. It just didn't pop. Whatever it was. No, my point being that you, with friends, you could arguably say you got to be in the last giant communal TV mega hit that no one at the time realized. This is maybe the last of these where everyone's gonna watch this show, and it's a cultural touchstone. And this is where we all are, watching these people go through this life that was such a phenomenon. And very few people get to be in the nose cone of that rocket. And you've had both very different experiences. But the success you're having now is the success of this new way of experiencing tv as opposed to the massive. You know, it's Cheers level, Happy Days massive. And I'm just curious, like, you've experienced them both, and I don't think a lot of people have. That's gotta be an unusual to have both of those.
Lisa Kudrow
Okay,
Conan O'Brien
that's all. You don't need to comment.
Sona Movsesian
Don't you feel like a cult hit? Cause that's what I feel like.
Conan O'Brien
But also, it's a different. It's a very. It's. It's a great piece of work that is. That fits this new medium really well, in my opinion, which is.
Lisa Kudrow
Okay. I just try to understand. Cause what do you mean, time's relative? Yeah. All right. Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
See, a guy's on a train and he's passing a station. Now, what if someone on the station throws an orange?
Lisa Kudrow
See, that's. That's what I'm hearing simultaneously while you're talking about the other thing. Cause time folds.
Conan O'Brien
Cause you're existing. Yeah. You're on both folds of the time.
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, right. Okay. And you get what I'm saying? And. Hi, I'M Lisa.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm also at that point in my life now, too. I'm traveling. I'm existing on this plane in 2026, but I'm also right now in 1986, and I'm buying tons of Lisa Kudrow stock. And now I'm r.
Lisa Kudrow
Exciting. When I went public,
Conan O'Brien
I made a killing. You know, some of you started buying Lisa when friends hit the air, but not me. I was there in the olden days when we were in a weird basement doing improv for absolutely nobody. I think that one night, we had one person in the. It was a rat. And they had good suggestions, but they were the same suggestions. Virulent disease, rat. You said that already.
Lisa Kudrow
You were so mad at me. It felt like there were days we were doing this, and you were just looking at me like, why are we doing this?
Conan O'Brien
Like, what did you make this show? We were in a. Performing in a theater that was at the bottom of the Scientology center, and no one would come in. And there was one person. I think one night, there was one or two people in a theater that. And we did our show anyway. We were like, we're gonna. The real pros perform. Even when there's one or two people. Let's go. And then afterwards, I was just embittered.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, yeah, you were. That's rough.
Conan O'Brien
And she was my. You know, so honest. Elise is always super honest with me, and I just. She would. When I would be down or if someone was doing performances that were hacky, I would put my head in my hands like this, and she'd say, they can see you. Yeah, you're being a dick. And I'm like, oh, right. You're right. You're right. I forgot that could.
Lisa Kudrow
Subtle compared to what you were doing. You know what you were doing. What were you doing? Show them what you were actually doing.
Conan O'Brien
I don't know. I can't. Oh, pulling my hair out.
Announcer
Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
You know that bit. That funny bit when he's, like, in so much pain that he's pulling his hair out, and so it's a little more than just this.
David Hoppins
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
I'm saying.
Lisa Kudrow
I. I'm saying you're a terrible person, basically, I guess.
Conan O'Brien
Wow.
Lisa Kudrow
That's not nice. Yeah, that's not a nice thing for me to do.
Conan O'Brien
I wore my. I wore my heart on my sleeve. I know when it came to comedy, and that was not always a good thing, and I needed to just be.
Lisa Kudrow
I felt like it's good for the.
Conan O'Brien
You just need to put a sheet over me. You just need to put a sheet over me. When someone went up to do a nerd character and had tape around the middle of their glasses was going. I've been working on a new formula, and I like computers. And Lisa just needed to have. You need to have a tarp that they put over a barbecue outdoors. You just need to have one that you put over me so that they couldn't see that I wanted to die.
Lisa Kudrow
Wait, who's going? Oh, you're going up. Okay, give me a second.
Conan O'Brien
Conan, we're gonna put the tarp on now. Then you just see a quivering tarp with steam coming off of it, with
Lisa Kudrow
fists coming out of the tarp.
Conan O'Brien
Okay, listen, what is this, Beat Up Conan Day? Sona's not gonna stand for that.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah, I am.
Lisa Kudrow
I am.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, okay, you're encourage it.
Sona Movsesian
No, I am. I'm encourage you. I'm gonna laugh and I'm gonna enjoy it.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, but to me, it's not beating up on you. It's just you had a highly attuned antenna for subpar comedy. And that's the whole thing about classes. Everyone's learning what their clown is. Don't you hate that expression, find your clown?
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
I mean, yeah. Anyway, that's the groundling thing. Teachers were like, you know, you just gotta find your clown. And I, I'd get really mad.
Conan O'Brien
The one thing I still can't do to this day is improv warm up exercises. And there have been. I didn't like them back in the 80s, and I just wanted to go out there and do the thing. And I didn't want to play these games backstage to have us all get in the mood or something. Right?
Lisa Kudrow
Me neither. Not in the mood.
Conan O'Brien
And then, yeah, and it's these games like, blip, blop, bloop. I look at you and go, blip. And you look at me and go, bloop. And blip, blop, bloop. And you're always in an alley somewhere in Hollywood and it smells like urine and you're going. And I would say, can we just not do this? I will pay you. I will pay you if we don't have to do this and be like, you have to do it, man. It's really good. We're going to do.
Lisa Kudrow
We had to do that recently.
Conan O'Brien
We did. We. Few years ago, we did a show for charity. And backstage again in an alley in Culver City, I think, and someone said, okay, everybody, let's warm up. Let's play Skittley Daddly Dee.
Lisa Kudrow
I know
Conan O'Brien
what is that really. What is it?
Lisa Kudrow
I don't know what it is.
Conan O'Brien
You know?
Lisa Kudrow
No, I didn't know what the thing was. They were even telling.
Conan O'Brien
I didn't know either.
Lisa Kudrow
And I said, but it was an involved thing. But first you had to, like, skidupity. Like, just like, no.
Conan O'Brien
And I was begging. I was saying, can I just not do this? Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
Why did you do it?
Lisa Kudrow
No, I think we did it a little bit. And then just went, all right.
David Hoppins
Okay. So moving on.
Lisa Kudrow
Is it time? I think it's time. I think. I don't know that we have time for this.
Conan O'Brien
I made the sound of a siren. I said, oh, I think someone. I think someone got hurt somewhere. We better go inside. Oh, the cops are coming. We better clear out.
Lisa Kudrow
Is that a gunshot?
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. Kapow. That's not a gun, Conan. That's a terrible gun. Now get back to your bloop. I said, blipped. You gotta say, anyway, that's just me. I wasn't built for that.
Lisa Kudrow
No, I didn't like it either. I almost quit because I didn't like what I saw in the first improv class where it's like, throw a spaceball, and they're just. And be angry, and they're just like, grr. I couldn't. I just went, that's what I have to do. Maybe I'm not. This isn't for me.
Conan O'Brien
You know what's interesting, that I've always thought, and this is something that's true of legitimate acting, which is not what I do, but the line between it being great and you absolutely humiliating yourself is so razor thin. And, you know, a lot of acting classes kind of, you need to just put that stuff all aside and strip yourself of all your. And I think of your defenses and then sob or roll around on the floor or pretend you're a jelly bean or all that kind of stuff. And I thought, yeah. Did you go like, good jelly bean?
Sona Movsesian
Or that was you being a jelly bean? I was like, mmm, yeah. Yum, yum. I love jelly bean.
Conan O'Brien
I go, okay, good jelly bean. Well, that's a good day, though. Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
Jelly bean is a good jelly. But I don't know.
Conan O'Brien
I always thought, oh, no, all I am is If I weigh 100, you know, 90 pounds, 185 of it are defense mechanisms. And then some hair and maybe some teeth. So I can't. I'm not gonna get rid of all that stuff. I can't do it. I mean, my hat's off to people that can do it. I have a lot of respect for.
Sona Movsesian
But you still use so much improv. You learned something. No, both of you did learn a lot, I'm guessing. Unless you already were just natural improvisers.
Conan O'Brien
I think both of us brought some of our own way we think to it. And then, yes, you learn great tools, rules, great tools.
Lisa Kudrow
By listening, listening, talking, responding, and then just. And committing. And that was the first thing I learned watching him. He was really committed to throwing a ball. And you didn't look.
Conan O'Brien
No, no, no.
Lisa Kudrow
But there was no ball. He was pretending there was a ball and it looked like he was throwing a ball. And he looked like, a little angry, but not over the top. No, you did it. And that's what acting is, which is why you can act. I let you say all that, you know. Cause I felt like you really wanted to, but no, you can. You can act. You can act because you know how to listen and read, respond. Isn't that all it is?
Conan O'Brien
I guess I don't know what it is.
Lisa Kudrow
I don't either. I'm not gonna study.
Conan O'Brien
Whatever you're doing, keep doing it.
Lisa Kudrow
All right.
Conan O'Brien
That's what I'll tell you.
Lisa Kudrow
You.
Conan O'Brien
I don't know. I don't know. I mean, maybe you have questions for Lisa because, you know, I know Lisa so. Well done. Yeah, but I. I know Lisa so well that some. These are interesting interviews for me always. Because sometimes I think, well, we just talked about that at dinner.
Sona Movsesian
Right?
Conan O'Brien
So then I think, oh, I want to make sure that the people listening get some stuff that isn't just me, because I know Lisa so well. You know? Does that make sense?
Sona Movsesian
Yeah, I totally get it. I think that I do have a lot of questions about you guys starting off together in terms of are you both kind of the same people as you were back then? You think?
Conan O'Brien
Yes, you are. I am. I think you are. I think I'm very much the same. I will tell you, we both had not great cars.
Sona Movsesian
So you have better cars now.
Conan O'Brien
That was. No, I'm just talking about, like, we got to start somewhere that people can understand. I had my car. You had a Datsun Z. Yeah, and it was fine. You had a 280Z.
Lisa Kudrow
My dad's. That's a nice.
Conan O'Brien
No, it was a fine car. I'm just saying it was.
Lisa Kudrow
It was a.
Conan O'Brien
It was a great, wasn't always clean sports car and then get a little.
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, no, my cars were never clean. And I smoked, so.
Sona Movsesian
You did?
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
What?
Sona Movsesian
I don't know. I can't.
Lisa Kudrow
Of course I did. For 20 years.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, my God. Okay.
Lisa Kudrow
Pack a day.
Sona Movsesian
No, Lisa.
Lisa Kudrow
Well, what. I did it just part time, poorly.
Conan O'Brien
And I used to say, you could do better at smoking. You could. I would get mad, you'd be smoking, but not enough. And I'd be like, come on, you can do better. Are you in or out? Are you in or you out? In or out? You gotta be a three pack a day smoker. Lisa, did you ever smoke? No. My God, no. If I smoked, I would look. I was very aware that if I smoked, I would look like a kid who got into a pack of cigarettes. And like, the teacher came by and went, put those down, Augie.
David Hoppins
I'm picturing you next to Lisa, though, with those candy cigarettes.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah, yeah. Puffing little powdered sugar.
Lisa Kudrow
Oh. And I started smoking this summer. I was at Harvard.
Conan O'Brien
We were there at the same time. Cause you went. You were there in the summer.
Lisa Kudrow
We were there at the same time.
Conan O'Brien
And I used to work on the Lampoon in the summers there, so I never missed a summer there.
Lisa Kudrow
And I was there, there one summer. And that's when I started smoking. Cause those fucking bugs, those flying water bugs as big as your fist. As big as your fist.
Conan O'Brien
What does that have to do with you needing to smoke? Who says there's too many bugs? I need to smoke. Why?
Lisa Kudrow
Cause it terrified me. It stressed me out so much. And I didn't tell you the part that made it so bad. As I'm sleeping and I hear a jet has flown into my room.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, God.
Lisa Kudrow
Okay. Cause it's these old crappy buildings next to the river, and there's no screens on them, but there's no air conditioning because, you know, it's the East Coast. And. Well, that's how it showed.
David Hoppins
East Coast.
Lisa Kudrow
East coast in the 80s. And it was an old. An old charming dorm building. And so the windows were open, and I went, what? Like something mechanical flew into the room. It was the loudest. And there was a giant water flying cockroach water bug this big. Don't. You were looking like, I don't know what she's talking about.
Conan O'Brien
No, no, no, I'm not. I'm not.
Lisa Kudrow
The time I was there, dad didn't see a bug.
Conan O'Brien
No, there can be some big bugs, but it never made me think, I need a smoke.
Lisa Kudrow
Okay. And then it was on my. And it was just, like, on my wall. So now it's this big on my wall. And I went, okay. And I grabbed my shoe. Dumbass. Throwing a tennis shoe. That's way too slow as I throw it. It's flying toward my head. And then I couldn't sleep. And, you know, there were cigarettes somewhere and I just started smoking. And it calmed me down because nicotine is wonderful. Oh, it's really good stuff. It's good stuff.
Conan O'Brien
Never had it.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. And then another one flew in and they became pets. There was no getting them out, and there was no choice.
Conan O'Brien
You got them little toys,
Lisa Kudrow
figured out their favorites.
Conan O'Brien
You had them for 14 years. You know what Robert Smigel said to me once? He looked at me when I was being insane about something and tightly wound. And he said, you're the only person I know who would be healthier if he smoked. Oh, that smoking and the breathing and the nicotine. It would extend your. He said, conan, it would extend your life. It's bad for everyone else but you. And I was some. I think about that sometimes. Cause Robert's been right about a lot of things. And now I think at my age, if I started now, I'm like, come on, how much damage could I do?
Lisa Kudrow
No, but this has nicotine in it, so.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, nicotine gum.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. Look, I didn't even take one, but I have it.
Conan O'Brien
This is turning into an ad for starting to smoke, which I don't want it to be. Although I'm a little intrigued.
Sona Movsesian
Well, I don't.
Lisa Kudrow
Wait. But I do wanna say something. Cause you said, are you different? And here's. You are a little different.
Conan O'Brien
How?
Lisa Kudrow
I mean, we should be, shouldn't we?
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
Don't you think?
Conan O'Brien
Sure.
Lisa Kudrow
Okay. But you had told, like when we
Conan O'Brien
met you different from when I was in 1986. Well, yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
I mean, I should hope so. I don't think. I don't think you're as tightly wound.
Conan O'Brien
No, I'm not.
Lisa Kudrow
Okay, good.
Sona Movsesian
He was worse than the. This. Okay.
Conan O'Brien
She's absolutely wounded.
Sona Movsesian
I'm working for you. You have gotten a lot more chill. Yeah, yeah, I see that too.
Lisa Kudrow
But he told me that he would be so tightly wound, like something. I can't either. I don't remember. I just don't want to say no. Cause you were telling me something happened at college and it upset you. And you sat and you quietly, just like. Like, took apart a chair. Really? Just like, quietly, patiently, with rage.
Conan O'Brien
Wow. Yeah. Something in the comedy realm hadn't gone my way. And I went back to my room, and there was a very sturdy wooden chair that they have at Harvard that has, like, the Harvard insignia on it. And I quietly was pulling out all of the pieces of the chair. Oh, boy. Yeah, I had that in me there's a guy in here who scares me. But is that scary?
Lisa Kudrow
Cause maybe this is scary. You told me that story and I went, yeah,
David Hoppins
right.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah, yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
Cause you can't. Actually.
Conan O'Brien
He doesn't.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, I went in front of.
Conan O'Brien
No, no, I would never turn that on anyone. The person I beat up on mostly is me and writers who need a physical beating every now and then.
Lisa Kudrow
Sure. Well,
Conan O'Brien
no, I. Yeah, but I mean, of course we both change. I think having kids changes you too.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Like, I love. And I said this recently on someone else's podcast, but so much of being young is being narcissistic, so it's necessary. You kind of have to be a narcissist when you're young and it's gotta be all about you. And your problems have to be the biggest thing in the world because you are going through life and it's. The stakes are big. And then once my daughter showed up, and then later my son, I remember instantly knowing, oh, yeah, I don't count anymore. I'm not. I get it. And liking it. Like it's about them.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
I've got to be here for them. And just even thinking about it, I'm much calmer.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
So I. Yeah. Needed to be having kids when I was 15.
Lisa Kudrow
That's what you were built for.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. All of us.
Conan O'Brien
All right, kids, settle down. Dad, why do you have acne? Shut up. I gotta go to high school now. Well, not yet, but next year.
Lisa Kudrow
You guys settle down.
Conan O'Brien
I'm gonna go watch Star Trek reruns. Well, I think we're all thrilled. Anytime, you Dr.
Lisa Kudrow
Thanks.
Conan O'Brien
And so excited for the new season of the Comeback, which is a jewel. It's just so beautifully made and really looking forward to it. And I love you. You're one of my favorite people in the history of the world. Oh, come on. Seriously?
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, you are. Mine too.
Conan O'Brien
You just did a. Me too. Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
Okay.
Conan O'Brien
I mean, come on. I want more of you.
Sona Movsesian
I think you gushed enough.
Conan O'Brien
It wasn't enough.
Lisa Kudrow
Thank you for your. Thank you.
Conan O'Brien
Mail it.
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, shit.
Conan O'Brien
Here comes a bird with it.
Lisa Kudrow
If you'd give me your address, I would.
David Hoppins
Yay.
Conan O'Brien
Let's play squ. Got warm up for improv. Okay. Lisa Kudrow. Peace out, Tupac. You know, I value hard work.
Lisa Kudrow
Work.
Conan O'Brien
I just do. I have an incredible work ethic.
Lisa Kudrow
Yep.
Conan O'Brien
And that brings me to Nutrigrain. Nutrigrain is a hard working snack. Okay. I was wondering where you were going to. Real. Well, of course, the minute David knew. The minute I Said hard work. He knew Nutrigrain was coming. It's a hard working snack that fits into real life and it helps hard working people get it done. Let me explain. Yeah, it's made with 10 grams of whole grains, 10 vitamins and minerals and no honey. High fructose corn syrup. Nutrigrain's portable and I demand that of a snack. Yeah, I demand that it be portable. Sometimes a great snack will come out. And it's over £600. I can't lug that around.
David Hoppins
£600.
Conan O'Brien
It's great for a grab and go option. Busy. I'm gonna grab my Nutrigrain bar. Chomp Chomp. And I'm doing my best work ever. Yeah, you can choose between strawberry flavored Nutrigrain for a delicious classic or new Nutrigrain Crunchy for something new. You didn't see that coming, did you? Do you guys think you're hardworking enough to merit these new Nutrigrain bars?
David Hoppins
Of course.
Sona Movsesian
Obviously, I don't know. I don't know if there's more hardworking assistants.
Conan O'Brien
Okay, tell me what you do and I will assess if you're hardworking enough.
Sona Movsesian
You know what? You look really nice today. I massaged your ego, which is important because you go up in front of an audience.
Conan O'Brien
So you don't mean it? No.
Sona Movsesian
Horrible.
Conan O'Brien
It looks terrible.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Okay, well, you know what? That does take a lot of energy to lie to a man with a. An incredibly fragile ego.
Sona Movsesian
Yes.
Conan O'Brien
And you've been doing that for years.
Sona Movsesian
For years.
Conan O'Brien
That's a ton of work. I think you might merit a new Tigray and barber.
Lisa Kudrow
Thank you.
Conan O'Brien
Let's see about David. Hopping. David, what do you do?
David Hoppins
David, I wanna take the obvious. You're here right now, which means that this recording was in your calendar.
Sona Movsesian
There you go.
Conan O'Brien
You do my calendar. So you think you are hardworking because you clicked into a computer and typed you know what?
David Hoppins
And then hit save.
Conan O'Brien
I'm proud of both of you.
Sona Movsesian
You're welcome.
Conan O'Brien
You're both hard workers.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Find nutritious and always delicious Nutrigrain bars at your favorite store or online retailer today. And look for new Nutrigrain Crunchy bars in stores near you. Steve Carell stars in the new HBO original comedy series Rooster. From a creator of Ted Lasso and Shrinking comes the story of an acclaimed author who finds himself teaching on a college campus alongside his adult daughter, navigating their complicated relationship. And Greg's late in life, first chance at the college experience he never had. Is there anyone Funnier than Steve Carell. I do not think there is. So I will watch this. Be sure to check out Rooster, now Streaming exclusively on HBO. Max. Subscription required. Visit HBOMax.com for details. Okay, I'm gonna break into this programming now with urgent, urgent news update. David Hopping just saw the Backstreet Boys at the Sphere. And whatever you're doing, if you're driving right now, I want you to pull over to the side of the road if you're listening. Cooking dinner. Dinner. I mean, just order. Order out, because this is just too important. David, what was this experience like? Backstreet Boys. The Sphere. Paint the picture because America wants to know.
David Hoppins
Okay. Hi, America. It was awesome.
Conan O'Brien
America just hung up.
David Hoppins
It's just one person named America.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah, it's America Ferrara. She does not want to hear this story.
David Hoppins
It was on my birthday. We drove to Vegas. Got there with no traffic. We got there under four hours, which.
Sona Movsesian
That's nice.
David Hoppins
A win.
Conan O'Brien
People love that part of the story. And then whenever you hear about seeing an iconic band at the Sphere, you paint the picture. People's favorite story is about the commute.
Sona Movsesian
Okay.
Conan O'Brien
I love.
Sona Movsesian
I love that you consider the Backstreet Boys iconic. This is nice.
Conan O'Brien
Please, you didn't see my. I put little quotes around it.
Lisa Kudrow
Okay.
Conan O'Brien
No, they. Come on. They're a big deal.
Sona Movsesian
I love the Backstreet Boys.
Conan O'Brien
I'm not going to shit on the Backstreet Boys. I'm not going to.
Sona Movsesian
I just didn't. I didn't know they were your cup of tea.
Conan O'Brien
I'm just saying, this is a huge band. Whether or not I know all their songs, I know a few of them. Let's get to the place. Do it before it's not done. Doing.
David Hoppins
Which goes.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah, do it before it's not done. Hey, hey. Do it. She's all that and a corn sandwich. They have some great songs that are part of the American experience.
David Hoppins
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
But anyway, just get to the good part.
David Hoppins
We got to the Sphere, then we
Conan O'Brien
stopped and we got canned peaches. Sorry. Go ahead.
David Hoppins
I got a drink and a souvenir cup. It has all their faces on it. Then we walked. We had standing on the floor. So have you been to the Sphere?
Sona Movsesian
I haven't been to the Sphere.
David Hoppins
Cause, like, Sona and I get excited about, like, the little things in life.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
David Hoppins
Walking into this, seeing the huge screen was everything. And then everyone stuck to. You were supposed to wear all white to the concert.
Conan O'Brien
Why everyone?
David Hoppins
Cause it's like their millennium album cover. They're all wearing white.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, I thought they Were all saving themselves for marriage, which I admire.
Sona Movsesian
Like a virginal thing.
Conan O'Brien
They're virginal.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, yeah.
Conan O'Brien
They're all, like, pushing 60.
Lisa Kudrow
They're like, yeah.
Conan O'Brien
When the time comes, I want it to be special. And now for my next hit, Gotta get going to the place where we go.
David Hoppins
Yeah. That's a big one. Everyone stuck to the theme, though. Everyone wore white.
Conan O'Brien
That's great.
David Hoppins
And then they came out, and I've never seen anything like this. Like the. It was, like, space theme. So there's, like, a spaceship above you, and it's like everyone's, like, looking up. I missed them even coming out on the stage because the visuals were just so cool.
Conan O'Brien
So I'm getting the sense they didn't need to be there.
David Hoppins
They did. Their music was everything.
Conan O'Brien
Well, they could play the music and then you could look at your spaceships and then, you know, whatever. They could have anybody get up there wearing a white shirt.
David Hoppins
No, they needed to be there. Eduardo's going soon.
Conan O'Brien
Are you going to the Backstreet Boys? No, no, no. I'm going to catch. What's that? No doubt. Okay, cool.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Taking my wife and my niece.
David Hoppins
I don't know if they've ever had a comedy show, though. You should try to be, like, the first person.
Conan O'Brien
You know how. I prefer to watch no Doubt when they premiere on my show in New York. What a flex. In 1993. What a flex. Mic drop. So the Sphere.
David Hoppins
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
I want to go to. Here's what I want to do. I want to go to the Sphere when they're featuring something that in no way is enhanced or benefited by the Sphere.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Do you know what I mean? I want to go. When all they're doing is someone's playing a banjo and they're rebroadcasting Walter Cronkite's last episode of the News. And it's just a regular news program where at the end he's. And they just run that a couple of times and someone plays a banjo, and it's all around you on the Sphere. No special effects. It's just Walter Cronkite saying, it's been an honor and a pleasure and, you know, take care and be well. Good night.
Sona Movsesian
You know, or something that doesn't even use the screen at all. It's like two people having a guest lecture on, like, AI and they're not even talking about.
Conan O'Brien
No, no, you use the screen. Because at one point, the two people giving a lecture mention, I'll be talking about this at a separate conference, which is on March 3rd. And just the date March 3rd comes up in tiny font, in small font on one part of the Sphere. Those are the things I want to go see at the Sphere. I want to. My dream is to misuse the Sphere. Let me be very clear. I will go and do something at the Sphere that completely misuses that amazing technology.
Sona Movsesian
Like a PowerPoint presentation on, like, a timeshare in Vegas.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
And then you're just like.
Conan O'Brien
It's just one little part. It's one little square that could.
David Hoppins
You can't even see it, people.
Conan O'Brien
No, here's the thing. You can kind of see it. That's important to me. You can kind of see it. And I go on and on.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, my God.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. That's how I want to use the sphere. But anyway, so you had a good time?
David Hoppins
I had a great time. It was. Yeah. And then at the end, I was actually texting Sona after, because it's just a bunch of drunk Backstreet Boys fans all walking in some hallways singing their songs together. Yeah. And what else could you do closely?
Conan O'Brien
Some of the Backstreet Boys are in with them. Hey, wait a minute. Isn't that Jubjub? What are their names?
David Hoppins
Well, there's Ned, Nick. There's A.J.
Conan O'Brien
there's Nick.
Lisa Kudrow
There's Nick.
Conan O'Brien
I don't know. Is there a Nick?
David Hoppins
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Okay.
David Hoppins
I want to just make that.
Conan O'Brien
Is everyone okay? Everyone's healthy.
David Hoppins
Everyone's healthy. They're all there.
Conan O'Brien
Okay.
David Hoppins
It's like the new Kids on the Block also in Vegas. They're all there.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, I know they're there. I'm trying to pick a date to go see them.
Lisa Kudrow
You need to.
Conan O'Brien
Do those guys ever join forces, you know, or is it like Marvel and dc, where that's not allowed?
Lisa Kudrow
No, they've. They've done.
Sona Movsesian
They've toured together before.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, they all get together?
Sona Movsesian
Yeah.
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, I just thought I had this cool idea.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, no.
Conan O'Brien
And can they then join up with another group? Like, you know, Menudo or is.
Sona Movsesian
Can.
Conan O'Brien
Can you ever get another group that joins them? So those two united Back Street Boys and New Kids on the Block. But then who else could join them?
David Hoppins
We need an NSYNC reunion.
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, in sync.
Sona Movsesian
I mean, it could be 98 degree. It could be O Town.
Conan O'Brien
What if you got them all together? I mean, all together, and then didn't let them perform?
Sona Movsesian
Wait, what do they do?
David Hoppins
They are giving the PowerPoint presentation.
Conan O'Brien
You get them all together backstage, and then you lock the door. And then I go out and I show. I show a little timeshare lecture. It's projected on one small part and they have to watch it. And they can't get out. They can't get out.
Sona Movsesian
The Ultimate Baby.
Lisa Kudrow
And switch.
Conan O'Brien
I love it.
Sona Movsesian
You'll be murdered.
Conan O'Brien
Hey, a lot of people have tried. A lot of people have tried. Old women are taking a swing at me every day. All right, there's my pitch sphere. Call me. Peace out, Tupac.
Producer/Outro Voice
Conan o' Brien Needs a Friend With Conan o' Brien, Sonam of Session and Matt Gourley produced by me, Matt Gourley Executive producer 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 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 Brendan. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of SiriusXM when you sign up@siriusxm.com Conan and if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O' Brien needs a friend where Ed never fine. Podcasts are downloaded.
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Release Date: March 16, 2026
Host: Conan O’Brien
Guests: Lisa Kudrow, Sona Movsesian, David Hoppins (Matt Gourley on paternity leave)
In this warm, comedic, and notably meta episode, Conan reunites with his longtime friend and collaborator Lisa Kudrow to talk about friendship, improv roots, the legacy of The Comeback, and how show business has changed over the decades. The conversation oscillates between playful roasting, insightful reflections on artistic resilience, behind-the-scenes stories, and philosophical musings about ambition, rejection, and optimism. Sona Movsesian and David Hoppins join the fun, with banter on everything from organizational systems to nostalgia for 1980s improv classes and current pop-cultural phenomena.
“It's so funny when it's formalized this way a little bit... It just always feels strange when I say, hey, my guest today is Lisa Kudrow. Because we had dinner last week.” – Conan O’Brien (10:14)
“Valerie Cherish is valiantly unaware... She knows that this isn't all going your way. And you're so thirsty. You really want to win that Emmy.” – Conan (15:17)
“What she's doing is like, that's okay. Like, that's her mantra... I am rejecting the rejection or the insult and turning it into something she needs, that I need.” – Lisa Kudrow (18:23)
“It’s so great that we didn’t get picked up that first season, because it gets to be about something.” – Lisa Kudrow (21:38)
“I never felt like, oh, I'm a woman and so I don’t get to… This isn't gender-specific ambition or hopes and dreams. So it didn’t occur to me that it would be an issue at all. And I think it kind of was, that it was a woman.” – Lisa Kudrow (32:34)
“You just need a tarp that they put over a barbecue outdoors… you just need one that you put over me so that they couldn’t see that I wanted to die.” – Conan (45:08)
“You can act because you know how to listen and read, respond. Isn’t that all it is?” – Lisa Kudrow (50:15)
“So much of being young is being narcissistic… And then once my daughter showed up, and then later my son, I remember instantly knowing, oh, yeah, I don't count anymore. I'm not. I get it. And liking it.” – Conan O’Brien (58:27)
“Two butts means I got to get into the podcast. Three butts means I've got to go see my orthopedic surgeon.” – Conan O'Brien
Sona and Conan riff on her unique "butt code" calendar system, for organizing appointments with juvenile doodles.
“I made the sound of a siren. I said, oh, I think someone got hurt somewhere. We better go inside. Oh, the cops are coming. We better clear out.” – Conan (47:51)
“I love you. You're one of my favorite people in the history of the world.” – Conan O’Brien
“Yeah, you are. Mine too.” – Lisa Kudrow
The episode is filled with uninhibited humor, warmth, and open self-deprecation. There are moments of absurdity—such as discussions of indecipherable calendar marks or misused Las Vegas concert venues—juxtaposed with genuine affection and deeply insightful commentary on the pain and perseverance of creative life. Regular tangents and playful teasing contribute to an atmosphere of genuine camaraderie. The tone stays light, nimble, and affectionate, evoking the feeling of old friends catching up in front of an audience.
This episode stands out for both its infectious playfulness and its honest exploration of professional and personal vulnerability. Lisa Kudrow’s and Conan O'Brien’s chemistry, accumulated stories, and introspective takes offer listeners both hearty laughs and an unusually intimate window into lasting creative friendship—punctuated with discussions about ambition, resilience, and the enduring weirdness of showbiz.
Recommended Listening Timestamps:
Watch for the new season of The Comeback on HBO and see Lisa Kudrow continue to bring nuance to Valerie Cherish’s indomitable (if quixotic) optimism.