Matt Damon

Summary

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Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend: Matt Damon (January 12, 2026)

Episode Overview

Conan O'Brien welcomes acclaimed actor Matt Damon to the show for a lively, candid, and often deeply funny conversation about friendship, humble beginnings, the mysteries of Hollywood, working with Ben Affleck, and their respective journeys from Boston kids to megastars. The episode oscillates between riotous anecdotes, thoughtful reflections on creative work, and the sort of warm camaraderie that gives this podcast its charm.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. A Shaky Start and Embracing Vulnerability

[03:03-09:39]

• The episode begins with Conan admitting he’s tired, distracted, even “a little high” (without substances), leading to a chaotic, self-aware, and meta opening.
• The Team (Sona Movsesian, Matt Gourley, Kelly Ripa, and guest Matt Damon) riff about the quality of the introduction, joking about low standards and how audiences are “borrowing chunks of people’s life they’ll never get back.”
• Conan expresses respect for the listeners’ time, but the group acknowledges (with much laughter) the pressure—and improvisational looseness—of closing out the year.

Notable Quote:

“We are borrowing chunks of people’s life that they will never get back.”
— Conan ([06:19])

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2. First Encounters and Literary Surprises

[11:31-13:17]

• Conan reminisces about a serendipitous bar meeting with Matt Damon in the ‘90s. Instead of industry small talk, they immediately detour into talking about writer Flannery O’Connor.
• Matt laughs about actors who “can’t read,” riffing on Hollywood stereotypes.

Notable Moment:

“I test a lot of movie stars. Most of them can’t read.”
— Conan ([13:11])

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3. The Damon-Affleck Origin Story: Friendship and a Joint Bank Account

[14:12-15:56]

• Matt details the shared BayBanks account he and Ben Affleck maintained as young, struggling actors: money from extra gigs used exclusively for auditions, arcade games, or beer.
• Their code for the account was “River P.” after River Phoenix—a nod to an early acting hero.

“We could use the money for video games at 1001, which was the arcade on Mass Ave … or, when we got older, if we could find anyone to buy us beer.”
— Matt ([15:19])

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4. Memories of Hustle, Humiliation, and Acting Lessons

[16:33-19:43]

• Conan and Matt fondly look back on the awkwardness and affection of their pre-fame struggles: buying drugstore makeup, botched auditions, and extra work.
• Matt recalls how working on The Rainmaker with director Francis Ford Coppola taught him vulnerability through theater games:
  • Coppola would gather his cast, including “hardcore” actors like Mickey Rourke and Jon Voight, for improv games (“soundball”), establishing an atmosphere where looking foolish was safe and expected.
  • “There are the requisite amount of humiliations that come that accompany that even as you get successful.” ([19:43])

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5. Inside Hollywood: Directors, the Art of One Take, and Clint Eastwood Stories

[20:07-28:21]

• Damon shares his working experiences with iconic directors (Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg, Chris Nolan, Eastwood):
  • On Invictus, Eastwood’s “one-take” style astounded Damon—who spent months preparing his South African accent only to hear “cut, print, move on” after his first shot.
  • Eastwood’s editing as a filmmaker: sometimes, after cycling through dozens of drafts (as with the script for Unforgiven), returning to the original is best.

Notable Quotes:

“Why do you want to waste everybody’s time?”
— Clint Eastwood to Matt Damon ([22:04])

“When you overthink, you start to stink.”
— Conan ([28:46])

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6. The Realities of Action: Bourne, Running on Screen, and Technology

[29:16-33:29]

• Conan jokes that today’s airport security would “screw” Jason Bourne—no more quick escapes with iris and facial recognition tech.
• Damon reveals he learned from Run Lola Run star Franka Potente about the importance of checking how you look running on camera (“I thought I ran great. And then I looked and I was… like, oh my God, it’s Jerry Lewis!” [32:18])
• Amusing discussion of “movie running” vs. real running, with a nod to Tom Cruise as the gold standard.

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7. Renewed Collaboration: Making 'The Rip' with Ben Affleck

[34:18-39:44]

• Conan watched The Rip knowing nothing but Damon’s involvement, enjoying the surprise that both Damon and Affleck share the screen.
• Damon discusses the evolution of his partnership with Ben: why they worked apart for years post-Good Will Hunting, and how “the Peter Jackson Beatles documentary” inspired them to reunite creatively after years apart, prioritizing joy and connection over outside expectations.

“I called Ben, and I was like, man… it was our dream and our lives from the time we were teenagers… It was something we did together… And I think after [Good Will Hunting]… we should try to make names for ourselves individually.”
— Matt ([35:48])

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8. Aging, Priorities, and the Joy of Creation

[37:19-41:07]

• As they get older, both Matt and Conan emphasize the value of working with people you enjoy, investing in meaningful projects, and caring less about overthinking or external validation.
• Damon recalls Affleck’s early wisdom as collaborators: “Judge me for how good my good ideas are, not how bad my bad ideas are.” ([38:49])

“You’re just laying tile individually, and it’s gonna make a bigger mosaic, which is what you did with your life.”
— Conan ([41:07], quoting advice from George Meyer)

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9. Boston Boys: Family, Upbringing, and The Odd Path to Showbiz

[45:41-48:54]

• Both Conan and Matt reflect on their unlikely trajectories from non-entertainment families in Boston to Hollywood, how surreal early opportunities felt, and the local TV touchstones that made their aspirations feel possible (Zoom, Spencer for Hire).
• Damon credits his mother, a professor of early childhood education, for helping him and his brother’s brains “develop the way they were supposed to.”

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10. Parenting, Technology, and the Value of Boredom

[49:00-51:10]

• The group discusses screen time, children’s development, and how boredom (now endangered) was crucial for creativity.
• Damon points to Christopher Nolan as a model—Nolan avoids smartphones specifically to preserve time for “deep thinking.”

“Boredom was great. I mean, remember how bored you’d be as a kid and then you’d figure something out?”
— Matt ([49:33])

• Conan (joking): Maybe the next Bourne movie is just Jason on his phone, no running necessary.

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11. On 'The Rip': Cop Jargon, Cash-Sniffing Dogs, and Moral Ambiguity

[52:26-55:36]

• Damon breaks down the film: a tension-filled, morally ambiguous cop drama inspired by real-life Miami vice units who sniff out dirty drug money (literally, with dogs trained to detect cash).
• Conan notes the film’s twisty uncertainty: “You have to try and figure out who’s playing what angle… and I got it wrong.”
• Damon: “Can we trust the heroes of the movie? And you don’t know. And that’s kind of the fun of the movie.” ([55:29])

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12. Friendship, Gratitude, and The Long View

[56:07-56:38]

• Conan and Matt express mutual appreciation and the pleasure of these deep, longstanding connections.

“I love to time travel. I love to go back to the guy in the crappy used car… and then think about the things I get to do now…”
— Conan ([44:53])

“To kind of feel like you won the lottery, but your best friend won it, too.”
— Matt ([45:41])

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13. A Surprise Conan O'Brien “Historical Marker”

[58:25-64:29]

• In a warm and hilarious coda, the show brings up a foam-core poster “historical marker” a fan made for Conan’s first LA apartment (Cochrane Avenue), memorializing his ramen-and-Miracle Whip days.
• Conan marvels at humble beginnings—cringe diet, scrounged furniture, and a cardboard Miss America girlfriend. The story concludes with the group appreciating fans’ creativity and Conan reminiscing about his early, broke years.

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Notable Quotes

• “When you overthink, you start to stink.” – Conan ([28:46])
• “Judge me for how good my good ideas are, not how bad my bad ideas are.” – Ben Affleck (recounted by Matt, [38:49])
• “Boredom was great. I mean, remember how bored you’d be as a kid and then you’d figure something out…” – Matt ([49:33])
• “You’re just laying tile individually, and it’s gonna make a bigger mosaic, which is what you did with your life.” – Conan ([41:07])
• “To kind of feel like you won the lottery, but your best friend won it, too.” – Matt ([45:41])

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Memorable Moments & Banter

• The entire opening [03:03-10:44] is a showcase of the show’s gleeful, rambling, almost fourth-wall breaking humor (“We’ve lost our way. It started with me staring at a light going…”).
• Playful theorizing about Bourne’s fate in a world with iris scanners and “contact lenses with six irises.” ([29:16-30:45])
• Damon roasted for his caring advice to Emily Blunt about running—exposing how even big stars don’t always know how they’ll look on film.
• Conan’s “Jack Nicholson at the Yankee game” story: getting pressured not to wear a Red Sox cap, Nicholson taunting Pedro Martinez.
• The “Cochrane Avenue” fan marker and Conan’s cardboard Miss America companion: “I was married to a cardboard cutout for five years, and then she left me. Yeah, she said emotional cruelty.” ([63:12])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening/Meta Banter: 03:03 – 09:39
• First Meeting & Literature: 11:31 – 13:17
• Damon-Affleck’s Joint Bank Account: 14:12 – 15:56
• Coppola, Acting Vulnerability: 18:24 – 19:43
• Eastwood’s “One Take” Style: 20:07 – 22:10
• “When you overthink…” maxim: 28:46
• Bourne Travel & Eye Scanners: 29:16 – 30:45
• Why Damon & Affleck Reunited: 34:18 – 39:44
• Screen Time & Parenting: 49:00 – 51:10
• Damon Explains 'The Rip': 52:26 – 55:36
• Cochrane Avenue “Historical Marker”: 58:25 – 64:29

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In Summary

This episode offers a rare window into the warmth and authenticity of two Boston-bred, world-famous oddballs—Conan and Matt Damon—catching up like old friends while reflecting on showbiz, friendship, the creative process, what it means to get older, and the humble, sometimes hilarious roots from which big dreams grow. It’s a generous serving of insight, laughter, and nostalgia for anyone curious about Hollywood, creativity, or the durability of lifelong friends.

Transcript

[Conan O'Brien]

When you have to pick up meds, it can really dig into your downtime. I agree with this.

[Sona Movsesian]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Gotta get that. That medication. It just. You better get over there and get it.

[Sona Movsesian]

Stand in line.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, no, they always put me right to the front.

[Sona Movsesian]

Oh, they do?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Sona Movsesian]

Oh, okay. I didn't know that they're.

[Conan O'Brien]

Anyway, because you have to wait in traffic, wait to find parking, and then stand there waiting in the pharmacy line. Trust me, I was kidding before. I know what it's like. Amazon Pharmacy delivers meds right to your door fast.

[Sona Movsesian]

When you.

[Conan O'Brien]

Without ever having to get up and do anything. That sounds good. Your patience and your feet will thank you. Thanks to Amazon Pharmacy, healthcare just got less painful. The best B2B marketing gets wasted on the wrong people. Man, this tears me up. So when you wanna reach the right professionals, use LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 1 billion professionals, including 130 million decision makers.

[Kelly Ripa]

Hmm.

[Conan O'Brien]

I wonder if I'm one of those. That's why LinkedIn has the biggest B2B ROAs of all online ad networks. Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Pretty good deal. Just go to LinkedIn.comconan that's LinkedIn.comconan. terms and conditions apply.

[Matt Damon]

Hi, my name is Matt Damon, and I feel good about being Conan o' Brien's friend.

[Conan O'Brien]

I was encouraging you beforehand. Really go after me. And you chose to be a kind.

[Matt Damon]

Man in the most anodyne answer in history.

[Conan O'Brien]

Folly's here. Hear the yell back to school Ring the bell Brand new shoes Walking blues.

[Sona Movsesian]

Climb the fence Books and pens I.

[Conan O'Brien]

Can tell that we are gonna be.

[Matt Damon]

Friends.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes, I can tell that we are gonna. Hey there. Welcome to Conan o' Brien. Needs a friend. I just freaked out my co workers.

[Matt Gourley]

You okay?

[Conan O'Brien]

I am now. Yeah. I was looking up at the light that's above us.

[Sona Movsesian]

Is that a bug? Is that a dead bug?

[Conan O'Brien]

I didn't even notice that.

[Kelly Ripa]

Oh, okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

I was just looking up at the light and I went into a little bit of a trance and all of you were staring at me and I think. I think I left my body.

[Matt Gourley]

Well, you weren't just in a trance. You were making the sound of a dripping faucet.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, I was going.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

I don't know what I was doing there. I've been working a lot lately and I had something I had to do last night, and so I'm not well rested and I feel a little high, even though I'VE taken no substances. So just seconds ago, I was staring up at the light above us when you said, okay, Conan, do the intro. And I was going, doing this with my mouth. And I wasn't doing a bit. I wasn't trying to be funny. I was just looking up at the light and making that noise. And then I looked down and you were all staring at me as if I were some sort of sideshow freak.

[Sona Movsesian]

Are you. Are you okay?

[Matt Gourley]

Are you okay?

[Matt Damon]

I'm not.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm not. I don't think I'm.

[Sona Movsesian]

Are you really tired? Are you tired?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Yeah, a little bit. But you never tell the audience you're tired. You always want people thinking you just.

[Matt Gourley]

Prefaced it that you were tired.

[Sona Movsesian]

Yeah, you said you were tired because you said you did something yesterday and you slept late. So, like, you did that. There is no audience.

[Conan O'Brien]

I just did what Peter Sellars does as Clouseau, and it's one of my favorite things, but I wasn't doing it on purpose. He walks into an interrogation room and he says, you know, because there's been a kidnapping. And he says, I'm here, you know, to investigate the murder. And someone goes, murder? And he says, who said murder? And they said, you said murder. And he said, I don't say murder. And I've always loved that. It's such a funny thing. And I just did it for real. I don't know what's going on with me. I'm a little scrambled today, but that could be fun. Maybe that's going to loosen my brain a little bit and various creative juices will flow.

[Matt Gourley]

Who can say, okay, I'm worried about you.

[Conan O'Brien]

Are you really?

[Matt Damon]

Yeah.

[Matt Gourley]

Well, also, you're wearing this very cozy flannel. It almost looks like you're in PJs and that you've kind of just woken up and, you know, or you're ready for bed and that we should tuck.

[Conan O'Brien]

You in or something. I don't wear flannel a lot. I like it. That is true.

[Matt Damon]

It's nice.

[Conan O'Brien]

I should wear flannel a little more often. We're in the winter months now, which in LA means it's not 72, it's 71 degrees. Yeah, it's freezing. So sometimes flannel is necessary. I do. I mean, come on. That's something I want to talk about. I want to see my breath at night. I want it to be cold. I agree. You never go with me on this, but I like to wear layers. And I was just on the east coast recently doing some work. There, and I was wearing these sweaters, and I was dressed like an adult. I was wearing a pea coat, and I was walking around in it, and I had sweaters, and I would sometimes wear an overcoat, and I'd look like a gentleman. And then I come back to LA and it's time to put on my who farted T shirt. Look, do I think this is a great opening segment? No, I don't. I think we've lost our weight. It started with. It started with me staring at a light going, we started at a deficit. Yeah, and. Yeah, exactly. Which we inherited from the Biden administration. But to be fair, You can't blame me. Even though it's a year into my podcast administration, this is what I inherited when I started this venture five years ago. Are you okay? What are you doing? You're doing. Now you're touching the sides of the mic and saying, beep, boo, beep, boo. Okay, I see.

[Sona Movsesian]

Beep, boo, beep, boo, beep, boo, beep.

[Conan O'Brien]

Okay. You think that because I set such a low bar that now you're free to just completely go.

[Sona Movsesian]

Can we just do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Matt Damon]

Oh, he's using it.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, the old shaving bin.

[Sona Movsesian]

As a. As a shaver.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah, that's cool. No, no. I think we're showing such disrespect for the people who.

[Sona Movsesian]

Am I distorted through this glass?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes, you are. Yeah. It looks like a Dali sketch. Yeah. Look at us.

[Sona Movsesian]

We're bringing our A game today.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, I respect our audience. They pay a lot to listen to this podcast. Do they pay a lot? No, they don't pay anything. Okay, well, then what are we worried.

[Matt Gourley]

About giving them what that's worth? You get what you pay for, listeners.

[Conan O'Brien]

You got exactly what you paid for. No, we're using. They have precious life. Once again. I ran into someone on the street today here in Larchmont who said that they were just listening to the podcast. We are borrowing chunks of people's life that they will never get back.

[Matt Gourley]

Also, I think this might be the last episode of the year, so it's okay if our tanks are a little empty?

[Conan O'Brien]

No, it's not. We have to. Now you've put a whole new level of pressure on it.

[Matt Gourley]

Don't blame.

[Sona Movsesian]

Go out with a bang.

[Matt Gourley]

Don't blame me. You started this episode making dripping noises.

[Conan O'Brien]

I wasn't. Clearly wasn't ready. And you, as the maestro behind this whole operation, should have said, he's not ready. Let's wait. Or maybe we could have had a huddle. Or maybe you could have asked me, are you okay off Mike? I'd be saying, you said, are you okay on Mike? Who does that? What kind of doctor are you?

[Matt Gourley]

I thought I'd make good.

[Matt Damon]

So for some people, this is the last episode of the year. For others, it's the first episode.

[Matt Gourley]

We can't start this way.

[Conan O'Brien]

God.

[Sona Movsesian]

Now can we do a better.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, we can do better.

[Sona Movsesian]

Say something.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, can I just say, I don't think of the. That the New Year's as the new year. I think of fall as the beginning.

[Matt Damon]

Of the year, and I.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, no, that's because you're still a child who gets peanut butter and jelly sandwich and puts on your short pants and goes off to school and. I mean, college is good, though. Let's start again, because I think we can do better.

[Sona Movsesian]

Yeah.

[Matt Gourley]

Are we starting again for real? Like, we're. We're ditching this?

[Conan O'Brien]

I don't even know what's real and what's not anymore. This is just a weird.

[Matt Gourley]

I can count on.

[Conan O'Brien]

We're in some sort of weird Bermuda Triangle.

[Sona Movsesian]

It could be because we were off for so long, we're having trouble finding our footing.

[Conan O'Brien]

That could be it.

[Matt Gourley]

That wasn't the case yesterday.

[Conan O'Brien]

We were.

[Matt Gourley]

We were hitting.

[Sona Movsesian]

Were we hit. We were like.

[Matt Gourley]

No, yesterday was.

[Sona Movsesian]

At least I felt okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

We were hitting. Yesterday was actually very good.

[Sona Movsesian]

Was it?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. When do you have standards? What are you doing?

[Sona Movsesian]

I don't have standards. That's the problem is even I think this is bad, and my standards are really low.

[Conan O'Brien]

I think right now. And this. Maybe this is.

[Matt Gourley]

Yes, you do think.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, my God. This is a good thing for people to hear that their hero struggle as well. I think we.

[Matt Damon]

Twice.

[Matt Gourley]

Twice have we ever ditched a take on something. We almost always keep things.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah. No, you don't want to mention it.

[Matt Damon]

I don't.

[Sona Movsesian]

I don't know.

[Conan O'Brien]

Whatever. What's this now? What are you saying now?

[Matt Gourley]

I'm taking it.

[Conan O'Brien]

What are you doing? Why did you. I was getting. I was pulling this whole thing. This is awful. I woke up from my. From my primordial slumber and started to pull it back together again. And then you mutter and reference something and look at you and you make noises with your mouth, but no words.

[Matt Gourley]

Blaming us for this.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sona Movsesian]

You're the one who started it. It trickles down.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm back and I'm better than ever.

[Matt Gourley]

Okay.

[Conan O'Brien]

Hey. Welcome to Conan o' Brien Needs a Friend, the podcast that delivers every single time with never a false start, never a missed opportunity. Sona Movcessian has joined me.

[Sona Movsesian]

Yes, hi. I'm here.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, you are here. And, and, and Matt Gourley. How are you?

[Matt Gourley]

I'm. I'm well, thank you.

[Conan O'Brien]

You look fantastic.

[Matt Gourley]

And so do you. Thank you.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm doing the best I can. I'm wearing a flannel shirt today. It's cozy, it's very nice. Bought it just down the street. I'd say the name of the store, but maybe that's cheating. I don't know. Give them a free plug, Faraday. They make a really good sweater.

[Sona Movsesian]

Oh, I like their stuff.

[Conan O'Brien]

They have very good stuff. And I'm a regular customer. But that's not the point. I'm here to talk about what I think is the topic on everyone's lips right now, which is the holidays. Because this is gonna air When, Adam? January 5th. For most people. Yeah, that's still the holidays. Or is it? This is so confusing. It's not the holidays. It's okay.

[Matt Gourley]

Can we go back to the inept one?

[Sona Movsesian]

No, no, no.

[Conan O'Brien]

You said rap.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh my God. I thought I had saved it. And then I said, let's talk about the holidays, Forgetting that this comes out January 5th, when everyone's in a deep depression and just the mere mention of holidays makes you want to eat a gun. My birthday's January 7th, by the way. Trust me. Every year at your birthday, I'm excusing myself to try and end it all.

[Sona Movsesian]

Oh, my God. Hey, it's almost the year and anniversary of my house burning down.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, my God. That's right.

[Matt Gourley]

Oh my God.

[Sona Movsesian]

Let's make it worse.

[Matt Gourley]

And your parents untimely passing.

[Conan O'Brien]

My parents passing year anniversary. Oh my God. Did you know what? We got through all of that and then the greatest tragedy of all hit us. A very bad opening segment. That's worse than that was the worst than all of those things. Oh, man. And yet we're still here. Oh, my God. And I love you so much. And I love you, Gorly. And together we're gonna make this year. This is a great moment.

[Sona Movsesian]

Let's do it.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Okay. 2026.

[Matt Gourley]

It can't get any worse.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. My guest today is an actor, you know, from such films as Good Will Hunting, the Martian and the Bourne Identity. Now you can see him in the new Netflix movie the rip. What can I say? He's a superstar. Yep. He's an international megastar. He also is a lovely gentleman. Matt Damon, welcome. Thank you so much for being here. And we have a lot to talk about today. And I just. I wanted to Start with, I think I've brought this up to you before, but not on microphone. We didn't monetize it. Jesus. Those are the only conversations that are worthwhile.

[Matt Damon]

I want to sell some ads.

[Matt Gourley]

Are you going to talk about the new Buick? What is.

[Conan O'Brien]

Matt and I are very excited about the new Buick. No. My brother took me to a bar years ago, and this was short. This isn't too long. It might have been a year or two after Goodwill hunting. It's Good Will Hunting or, you know, maybe early born. It was.

[Matt Damon]

No, it was before that. It was late. It was in the 90s still.

[Conan O'Brien]

Okay. It was in the 90s, yeah. I'm in town. We're both.

[Matt Damon]

Wasn't it, like, Christmas night or something?

[Conan O'Brien]

It was Christmas night. And my brother said, hey, we could hang out with our. This is my brother, Luke. We could hang out with our parents, or we could blow this place and go. All they did was, you know, create us. We could go to this really cool, cool bar I know called the B side and the B side Lounge. And I said, yeah, yeah, you know, screw the elderly. And so we get. We go over there and I walk into this very cool establishment and just like, a really cool place to hang. Bar. And you're sitting there and.

[Matt Damon]

Because Ben and I had had the exact same conversation. Fuck out of here.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. You guys were escaping. And so I just see you sitting at the. Sitting there, and I go over and. You couldn't have been nicer. We're chatting. I think we had briefly met before, but not really, like, talked. And within minutes, you and I are talking about Flannery o'. Connor. That's what I remember. And I remember thinking, I don't know, that there are many movie stars that would start talking to me about Flannery o'. Connor. Do you know what I mean? I thought it was very. I was like, this guy is.

[Matt Damon]

There are a lot of people who read books, though.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, there aren't. There aren't. I test a lot of movie stars. Most of them can't read.

[Matt Damon]

I can't read at all.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Yeah. Tom Hanks cannot read.

[Matt Gourley]

He can type, but he can't read.

[Conan O'Brien]

He can type, but it's just. It's like a monkey at a typewriter. Yeah. And I'll also mean so many huge stars can't. You know, Liam Neeson can't tell time. And I'll ask him, hey, Liam, what time is it? And he shows me his watch and says, what do you think? Unbelievable.

[Matt Damon]

Anyway, but you're scared to answer because.

[Conan O'Brien]

Of the way he said, you have a certain set of skills, but not telling time.

[Matt Damon]

You don't have all the skills, you know.

[Conan O'Brien]

You're laughing, by the way.

[Matt Damon]

Ben and I were extras in a movie called the Good Mother that Liam Neeson was. Was the star of in the. In the 80s. And we were still in high school, and I think it still exists in the movie they were shooting in Harvard Square. And we went and we were extras, and we walk by Liam Neeson, a very. Like an adolescent or teenage, you know, Ben and Matt walked by a very young Liam.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Matt Gourley]

Yes.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Matt Damon]

That was. That was as close as I ever got to him. But, yeah, I'm a big fan.

[Conan O'Brien]

What you just said reminds me that you guys, you know, were good friends long before you became famous and you were working together and kind of on a mission to make it in this. And you had a. I've read before that you had a bank account together, a baybanks account.

[Matt Damon]

Remember baybanks?

[Conan O'Brien]

Of course I do.

[Matt Damon]

So we had a baybank, a shared baybanks account that we would put money in that we had made professionally. So if we got any part like that extra work, for instance, you get 50 bucks or 100 bucks, depending if it was a union job, you get 100. And that money would go into our shared account. And that account we could only use for auditions in New York, where we take the bus or back there, they have the Pan Am shuttle or whatever, or the train, get down to New York, you know, walk in, you know, which, you know, took however long, five hours to get down there. You know, you walk into the place somewhere in midtown, and, you know, in three minutes, they're like, okay, thanks.

[Matt Gourley]

Which is.

[Matt Damon]

We used to call it getting, okay, thanks. Because you go there and beat your chest and pull your hair out and sob, and they go, okay, thanks, and you're done. And then you go all the way back to Boston. But. But we had this account. We could use the money for that, or we could use the money for video games at 1001, which was the arcade on Mass Ave. Yep.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yep.

[Matt Damon]

Or, you know, when we got older, if we could find anyone to buy us beer. So those were the three uses for the account.

[Conan O'Brien]

You're very responsible young men.

[Matt Damon]

But the, you know, talk about, like, intentionality. The account, the code to the account was River P. Because River Phoenix was an actor that we really admired. He was our age, and he was getting the kind of parts that we wanted to play. Yeah. And so that was our secret Code to get into our shared bank account.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's interesting. I don't know about you, but I think about a lot. And I have wistfully about early experiences before anybody knows who I am, you know, I'm headed to something to audition and someone says, well, you should have makeup because it might be a camera test. And so I went to a drugstore and purchased makeup at a counter. And the woman said, what is it you're trying to do? And I said, they said, I need makeup. And then sitting in my. This is out here in LA, sitting in my 1977 beat up Isuzu Opal and putting it on myself with a rear view mirror and then going in and being terrible.

[Matt Gourley]

But she told you lipstick and blush.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah, yeah, they were like. That kabuki guy was awful.

[Matt Gourley]

Did you see Divine?

[Matt Damon]

You look like Marlon Brando in the island of Dr. Moreau. What is up with that kid?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, it was a taco commercial. Why was he doing this? Why was he. But I think about those things all the time and I kind of. It's funny, I have an affection for that whippersnapper. And I don't know if you, I mean, you and Ben must have so many memories of being an extra. And they're telling you, chew more slowly or whatever. You have no lines.

[Matt Damon]

Get the fuck away from the graphic service.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, get away.

[Matt Damon]

You know, that's not, that's not extras. You know, it's like it's, it's, it's, it's, you know, can be demeaning work, but we were interested in it and we loved being on sets and it was like we were thrilled to be there. And, and, and yeah, I mean, it was a lot of, I mean, you know, the, the starting out in the business is. I think it's, I think, you know, my nephew's an actor. It's different now in the sense that they, they're, they're allowed to put themselves on tape now. You know, it was a different auditioning was like you had to go show up at the appointed time. You walked into the room and you had one shot at it and that was it. And now, you know, the younger actors are allowed to kind of. All actors allowed to video themselves and work on it until they can curate.

[Conan O'Brien]

It and they can get it, get.

[Matt Damon]

It to and say, this is the best representation of me for this part, which is a very different thing. And, you know, there was a lot of humiliation in the starting out as, you know, like those.

[Conan O'Brien]

I find I'm continually humiliated now.

[Matt Damon]

Well, there's a lot of humiliation in general. It's a very. Hey. It's a very vulnerable thing to do.

[Conan O'Brien]

I discovered earlier I was being humiliated, and then I kind of liked it. And then I turned it into a career.

[Matt Damon]

When I did the Rainmaker with Coppola, like 30 years ago, he did this amazing thing. Every morning when a new actor would come, he would go down to the base camp where everybody gets ready in the morning. And in the parking lot, like, right in the. Where all the kind of trailers are, he would gather all of the actors and he would play theater games. Right. Like soundball, for instance. And soundball is this game you play in kind of acting school where. Where I throw a ball to you and I have to make a noise like bloop or whatever. And when you. And it's an invisible ball, obviously, it's not a real ball. It's a space. It's an air ball, and you catch it and you have to make my sound bloop. And then you have to make a new sound bleep and you throw it to someone else. And it is the dumbest thing in the world. But Francis would do this with all the. I'm talking like Mickey Rourke. I'm talking about hardcore, like, very serious people.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm picturing the cast of the Godfather now.

[Matt Damon]

No, it was.

[Conan O'Brien]

It was James.

[Matt Damon]

Cause I know, I know, but it was Jon Voight.

[Conan O'Brien]

It was like these wonderful actors.

[Matt Damon]

Right.

[Conan O'Brien]

And.

[Matt Damon]

And. And the idea was. And Francis would do it and he would start, and he was this, you know, iconic.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, of course, you know, we.

[Matt Damon]

The Godfathers, the Apocalypse Now, I mean, you know, the conversation on and on and on, all of these brilliant movies. And the whole point was to kind of level set everybody at. This is a place where you can be completely foolish and vulnerable.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Matt Damon]

And I'm going to do it too. Right. And because that's a part of it, it's like you really gotta put yourself out there if you're doing it right. And so there are the requisite amount of humiliations that come that accompany that even as you get successful. Like, you know, if you're doing a tough scene, you might have to break a lot of eggs to get the omelet. You know what I mean? And you have to do that in front of everybody. Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

I was thinking about the list of people, directors that you've worked with, and it's an insane. It's Coppola, Scorsese. Help me out here.

[Matt Damon]

There's a lot.

[Conan O'Brien]

There's Eastwood, Eastwood, Spielberg, Chris Nolan, and you know, the one I'm most interested in kind of is. I mean, they're all iconic directors and amazing, but I don't have a sense of what Eastwood would be like as a director. I've always heard it was like one take or. He's quick.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah, the very first day. So the first time I worked with him twice and the first time was Invictus. So I was playing a South African rugby player. And that's a really tough accent to do. So I spent six months. There's this great dialect coach named Tim Monik, very famous in our world and he's wonderful and I've known him for a very long time. And Tim would come. I was living in Miami at the time and he would come and I had a little office over the garage and he would come in from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday. We would work on this accent because South Africans speak English, it's like their tongue does the exact opposite thing that ours. Like if I say, I'll be right back. If you say it and you think about what your tongue's doing, they say obidot big. Oh yeah, okay. And you go, what the fuck just happened in my mouth? Right. So it's very hard.

[Conan O'Brien]

This is why you're an actor and I am not.

[Matt Damon]

But we took like, you know, it was a long, it was a lot.

[Matt Gourley]

Of work.

[Matt Damon]

And fun and great and I showed up and I'm ready. It's like my chance to work with you know, one of my heroes. And the very first take, you know, I, I did it. And meanwhile, I've done this so many thousands of times. I have, you know, a number of different ways that I'm thinking of maybe doing the scene. So he goes, cut, print, move on. And I go, I go, hang on, hang on, hang on, boss. You know, I. You want to, you know, I want to do another one.

[Conan O'Brien]

I mean, I wasn't even, you know.

[Matt Damon]

That was, that was like, that was the first one. Like you want to do it. And he goes, why you want to waste everybody's time?

[Matt Gourley]

Oh my God.

[Matt Damon]

And I went, no, I guess we're moving on. And it was one take.

[Conan O'Brien]

He was holding a gun.

[Matt Damon]

No, no. But there was a kindness in it. He was a lovely guy. And what was really interesting is the second movie I did with him there was this kind of. It builds to a head with this scene with me and this nine year old kid. And the nine year old kid was a non actor. And we had done one take for everybody all through Invictus. Morgan Freeman. You know, all everybody gets one take. We must have done 40 takes with this little boy because we were trying to get this. It was this kind of huge moment in the film and we were trying to get this stuff out of him. And Clint was right next to me, you know, like we were right next to the camera together just working with this boy. And so it was like his whole mentality was, you know, your crew will go to the ends of the earth for you as long as you're not taxing them on every shot. Right. When we need to get in there, we get in there. But for the most part, professional actors are gonna show up with something good and we keep the momentum.

[Conan O'Brien]

This episode is supported by Apple Watch 2026. Coming fast. And we all make these promises to ourselves. I have been running and I'd like to up my game there. Yeah, you know, I just want to cover more miles, maybe pick up the speed a little bit with each new year. Big goals get set, big promises get made. So you got to break the pattern and you can do it with Apple Watch, designed to make 2026 all about quitting. Quitting it brings motivation into the moments when it matters most with tools like the workout app, pace alerts and activity rings. Whether your goal is moving more, staying active throughout the day, or building better habits, Apple Watch emphasizes progress with features that nudge, remind, and support consistencies. Anyway, as the new year begins, staying committed becomes less about perfection and more about not giving up. Find out [e-mail] Apple Watchseries 11 iPhone 11 or later required. For doctors and nurses on the pit, the work never stops. The Emmy award winner for outstanding drama series is back for a new real time shift. 15 high stakes hours told across 15 must see episodes. New cases and new challenges await Dr. Robbie and his team of caregivers. This is a spectacular show.

[Sona Movsesian]

I love this show.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes. Watched it with my wife. Riveting. Starring Emmy winner Noah Wylie. Season 2 of the Max original series, The Pit is now streaming on HBO Max. Check out the official companion podcast on HBO Max and all major podcast platforms. This is an ad by BetterHelp. A new year is a new opportunity to feel lighter and you don't have to become a new person to do it. Signing up for therapy with BetterHelp can shine a light on what's been weighing you down and illuminate possibilities for the year ahead. BetterHelp handles the initial therapist matching work for you. Just take a short questionnaire to share your needs and preferences. And thanks to BetterHelp's industry leading match fulfillment rate. They usually get your match right the first time. And if your match isn't the right fit, switching to a different therapist is very easy. Let BetterHelp provide you with an unbiased perspective on your life so you can head into the new year taking only what truly serves you. This is something that's very important. The simple act of talking about what you're feeling, getting it outside of you, often helps you see it for what it really is. Takes the power away from negative thoughts. I'm a big believer in this and I think this is very worthwhile. You can't step into a lighter version of yourself without leaving behind what's been weighing you down. Therapy can help you clear space. Sign up and get 10% [e-mail] Conan that's better. H E L P.com Conan. I had a chat with Clint Eastwood once, briefly, and I told him how much Unforgiven meant to me. It's an American movie that was a huge hit, box office hit, and it's a very European film. And he just sort of asked me, what do you mean? And I said, because it's. Everyone's trying to do the right thing and making it worse, which is very much life. And that is not a kind of classic American movie formula. That movie is magical to me. And he hit me.

[Matt Damon]

No. He said, you wanna hear a good Unforgiven story?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Damon]

That you can cut out if it's too boring for people. But I thought it was really interesting. There was a scene in Invictus, I think I had to give a speech or something to the guys in the locker room or something like that. And we were shooting it the following Tuesday or whatever, and I said to him, hey, boss, you know that scene on Tuesday, do you mind if I tinker with the dialogue? I've been working on it, but I think I can figure out a kind of a better way to say it. And he goes, yeah, sure, go ahead. And so I came back and on Tuesday we shot the scene and we did one take and he printed it and moved on. But he came up to me and said, I thought you were gonna change it and fix it. And I said, yeah, it's a funny story. I go, I wrote it and I rewrote it all weekend. I wrote probably 27 drafts. And then I got it perfect. And I looked back and it was exactly the same as it originally was. And he. And he laughed and he goes, yeah. He goes, you know, that happened to me once. And I go, really? He goes, I had a script and I loved it. And I, you know, I, I had it. And I goes, I worked for five years on this thing. And he goes, it wasn't getting better and I couldn't figure it out. And he goes. And then I went back and. To the original script that I had. I pulled it out of the drawer and it. And I called the writer that day and said, I'm making your script exactly as you wrote it. And I said, no way. What movie? And he said, unforgiven.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, wow. Yeah, well, it is. It's all there on the page. I mean, I've looked at the script. It's all there on the page. And.

[Matt Damon]

But it's. But it's. Sometimes we get in that headspace where we go. I bet I could, you know, it would be, you know what I mean? And then.

[Conan O'Brien]

Of course.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah, but it was a great lesson in kind of returning to what attracted you to it in the first place. Right. Like the elemental aspect, the thing that really pulled you in, like, you know, is the reason you're doing it. And so too much tinkering, you can, you can kind of get away from that.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes, you can. Yeah, it's. This is really stupid, but you're saying very well spoken, intelligent things. And then I come in with. But for years on the late night talk show, people would have a good idea and then they'd bring it down to the floor and it would be different from what they told me. And they would say, yeah, I started thinking about it and I would always say, when you overthink, you start to stink. And actually that's great.

[Matt Damon]

That's, you know. I know, but of a Dr. Seuss.

[Conan O'Brien]

It is a doctor. But couldn't I have. I would do it in that. In, like, I have a really smart thing to say, but I intentionally, I think, said it in the stupidest way possible. But then it became a thing that the writers would chant. Sometimes.

[Sona Movsesian]

They would chant it.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, I made that up. Imagine Clint Eastwood saying that.

[Matt Damon]

That's actually great.

[Matt Gourley]

It'd be nice to see.

[Conan O'Brien]

I think about one of your movies a lot. It's more than one movie, it's a series. But the Bourne Identity. Because I do a lot of international travel for work and I'm constantly going through airports now where you don't even have to show.

[Matt Gourley]

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Sona Movsesian]

Stop comparing yourself to Jason Bourne.

[Conan O'Brien]

I get it. A lot. People in airports, internationally say you're very Jason Bournesque. And then they see me run and they go, forget what I just said. And then they put on their glasses and look at my face and go, really forget. No, what I've noticed is that I'll go through airports now and you don't even have to show your passport. It's all your eye scan. And I think Jason Bourne is fucked now because a big thing with you, with your character, was a major fight, throwdown, shootout in the streets of Paris and then instantly you're in Cairo and everyone's looking for you.

[Matt Damon]

He's a ghost.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, he's a ghost. And you've reappeared in Cairo. And I'm thinking, now it's just, you know, your iris.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah, it was kind of a couple years ago that that started where I came back from somewhere and I had the global entry, you know, and that was already pretty easy. You go to the kiosk and you put your passport in and it reads it and takes a picture and goes, yeah, that's you now. It's like you don't even need to pull your passport out.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's.

[Matt Damon]

It is. And so, yeah, he would be totally screwed. Like, the whole point was he had, you know, six passports and they all had different identities and he could speak all those languages and he could just become one of those guys.

[Matt Gourley]

Now his safety deposit box has six eyes.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah, exactly.

[Conan O'Brien]

Eyeballs. You put on contact lenses? No, I was. And also I remembered I was talking to. I think we were interviewing Emily Blunt once, and she was talking to us about a movie you guys made together where she had to run in one scene. Yeah. And you said it was her first scene where she had to run and that you called, you very kindly said, yeah, Emily, let me take a look. Look at yourself running. And here's how you want to. Because you think you're running well, but there's a way when you think you're running well on camera, but then you look back at it, it can be tragically wrong.

[Matt Damon]

You know who told me that no. Was Franca Patente, who was my co star in Bourne, had starred in this great German movie called Run Lola Run. And she runs in that movie through the whole movie. She's Lola.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yep.

[Matt Damon]

And she's so badass for the whole movie. She's in these Doc Martens and she's just. It's just an awesome movie. And we were on set of Borne and I had to do a running scene. And she said, Thomas, the guy who directed Run Low to run, they had been a couple for a while. And she said, thomas told me before I started doing it to go out. And he videotaped me running. And we looked at it because she said, you don't. You know, the only running that we see, you know, is, you know, we see Usain Bolt. We see, you know, the people who can really run, and we go, that's. I must look like that, right? When you start to run, your arm, like, you just look ridiculous.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes, yes.

[Matt Damon]

And I thought I ran great. And then I looked and I was.

[Conan O'Brien]

Like, oh, my God, it's Jerry Lewis. It really is.

[Matt Damon]

Like, every. Like the balance, everything. And so you start to practice, like, you know, high knees and, you know.

[Conan O'Brien]

Keep the arms in. Yeah.

[Matt Damon]

And it really. And so I did say that to Emily, I'm sure, because it. Because it.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, she said you saved her. It was great then. Did she. She. But it's one of those things that, you know, I just. All of us in our mind, if I'm running hard, which I don't do much anymore, but if for some reason I had to run quickly, in my mind, I'm Matt Damon or I'm Tom Cruise, but I know I really am, you know, one of the big balloons that they have in front of a used car lot that's flopping around. And I shriek, too, as I run, which isn't helping.

[Matt Damon]

Cruz figured it out early. I remember there's that great scene in born on the 4th of July where he runs through the rain back, you know, before he goes off to war. And, like, he must have figured it out in, like, the 80s. He was ahead of everybody.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. He probably has a scientific formula. Aerodynam dynamic flowchart.

[Matt Damon]

He runs perfectly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

I wanted to talk to you because about this current movie, the rip, which is fascinating to me. First of all, I knew nothing about the movie when I watched it. I watched it last night. And one of the things that I didn't realize is that, oh, you're in this with. I knew nothing, which is not the way you usually experience a movie these days. But someone arranged, oh, Conan can watch the movie. If you log into this, you can watch it. So I knew absolutely nothing. I knew you were in it. And that's it. And it's a movie that you have made with Ben. You and Ben are in it together. And that was a surprise to me. And I thought, this is interesting. This is such a loaded situation for you guys now, because in a very nice way, in a complimentary way, it's this dynamic duo getting back together. But I don't know if you feel the weight of that at all when you guys worked together.

[Matt Damon]

We did the movie air together a few years ago that Ben directed, and he's also. We're both in it together, you know, and we started this little studio together a few years ago. And one of the reasons that we started it, like, I was watching that Beatles documentary, the Peter Jackson one.

[Conan O'Brien]

Get back.

[Matt Damon]

Get back. At the end of that documentary, there's this incredible scene when they play on the roof right together, and it's just. It's pure joy. You see them, you know, the cops show up, and McCartney turns around, he's like, what the fuck? You know, and they're. And they're. And it's like the most joyful thing. They're all in their 20s. And then Peter Jackson put this chiron up and it said, this is the last time the Beatles played live together. Yeah, yeah. And I was watching it. My. My youngest was, I think 11 at the time, and. And she just goes, dad, why are you crying? And tears were just pouring down my face because it was like, what. It made me so sad that these guys who were just, you know, this was it that. That they. They didn't. They couldn't get past whatever it was that wouldn't allow them to kind of keep doing it together. And, And. And I called Ben, and I was like, man, because I think, you know, this was our dream and our lives from the time we were teenagers. And, and. And it was something we did together and. And we wanted to do movies together, and we. We. We wrote Good Will Hunting together and, and. And starred in it together and, you know, all of that. And I think after that, I think we were like, oh, well, we should try to, you know, make names for ourselves individually.

[Conan O'Brien]

Right?

[Matt Damon]

So I think we were a little allergic to working together for a while, and we were still very connected and, you know, saw each other all the time.

[Conan O'Brien]

But after a success of that magnitude, you don't want to get locked in.

[Matt Damon]

Exactly.

[Conan O'Brien]

Great. We'll do the movie. Is Ben in? Or. Okay, Ben, but where's Matt? You don't want to get locked into that.

[Matt Damon]

Exactly. And we had done, you know, Kevin Smith's movie Dogma together right after that. So we were kind of like, all right, we should chill. And then suddenly a couple decades went by, and it was like, now we're in our 50s, we're starting this company, and it's kind of like, I don't. I don't care. It doesn't have to be a thing. It doesn't have to be a. Stop the presses there together. It's like, we just like working together.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. And also what's evident in the movie is you guys have a connection when. When you have scenes together, there's a connection that you can't manufacture. It's very clear that you two really love. I don't know, you're on the same wavelength. You're on the same. You're clicked in, and you're two characters in this movie. There's a lot of tension between you. There are times where you just want to kill each other. And then as you go on, many things are revealed and you understand what their true dynamic is. But I don't know, it's just. It was something you can't. You couldn't have figured that out with an acting coach if you didn't know each other.

[Matt Damon]

I don't think it helps to have that kind of. You know, we also did, by the way, the Last Duel, another movie that we wrote with, you know, so we're trying. We, you know, we're. But yeah, no, I think that that connection definitely, obviously kind of loads every scene in a different way, I think.

[Conan O'Brien]

Here's the thing that happens. I know in my 20s, 30s, 40s, I was very intense all the time, thinking about every move. And as I've gotten older, I am much more interested in being with people that I really like, that I love making things with them and enjoying myself, because I. And it comes a little bit from a place of, oh, who cares? You know, I mean, I just want to do this. I don't want to overthink it. I just want to be.

[Matt Damon]

Well, I think you see that. You start to see the. You know, you're in the second half. Right. And you.

[Conan O'Brien]

I plan to live to 150, I hope.

[Matt Damon]

I hope we both do. So we're still in.

[Conan O'Brien]

I really don't want to live to 150.

[Matt Damon]

Well, if you could stay healthy, I don't know, might be great.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'll be in constant pain.

[Matt Damon]

But, yeah, that's literally the whole point of this company, is to work with great people that we really want to be with. And every movie that we make through our studio is. Even if Ben and I aren't in it, or he's directing and I'm not in it, or we're connected around the work and trying to facilitate whoever's coming in and. And kind of.

[Conan O'Brien]

Do you guys give each other shit on set or in a professional environment? Do you give each other a teasing, like, brotherly kind of relationship?

[Matt Damon]

Sure. Sometimes, like, you want another take because.

[Conan O'Brien]

You might Want another take? You know, that kind of thing? Well, that's what I would do. I know you would. I would. That's what I would do.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah, I think you're gonna want another take. But look, the good thing is, you know, I think it really helped, helped with our writing, you know, 30 years ago, Jesus, 35 years ago when we started, you know, Ben said this great thing which was judge me for how good my good ideas are, not how bad my bad ideas are. And it was, it's a very profound thing for a 20 year old to say because he wanted the, you know, he, he recognized that we needed the freedom to kind of barf out all those ideas, you know, and so often as, you know, when you're writing, it's not, you write down the bad idea because it's iterating. Right. That it's like that can build into a good idea.

[Conan O'Brien]

Right.

[Matt Damon]

And so, so he was basically giving both of us the permission to just keep, keep the window as wide open as we could.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Matt Damon]

And, and yeah, I mean that. I forget why I started that story, but.

[Conan O'Brien]

Well, it does.

[Matt Damon]

Haven't had enough coffee. This coffee is terrific, by the way.

[Conan O'Brien]

If you want more, we can get you some. They say, whenever someone writes their big great American novel and it's a big smash and everyone thinks it's genius, they have nine other ones in their drawer that they wrote before that. And I'm a big believer in, you just have to do time. To me, the process doesn't change. Like you could look at your career or Ben's and say like, oh, you've clicked off. You guys have clicked off every single box that you would want to check. But still when you show up, there's work to be done and you have to be a little scared. And there are scenes where you think, I didn't get this, I gotta try it again. And time in the edit room and all of that stuff. It's. If they're paying you, it's work.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah, and it's. And, and, and we wanna, we wanna love everything we work on from now on. You know, it's kind of going back to your point. And yeah, it's work. It's a hugely labor intensive thing to do, no matter what. You know, I mean it's. If you sign up for it, that means that you're willing to, you can't phone it in. Nor would I want to take a job for money that I was phoning. I never did that. I always thought whatever I was working on had a chance to be Great. I was wrong most of the time, but I was working with the intention of it being something really wonderful for people.

[Conan O'Brien]

But also, people don't. The nice thing. I have found this very smart. Simpsons writer George Meyer told me this a long time ago, early in my career, when things were not going well. He said, people will remember you for your good work. And he's absolutely right. I think about that all the time. He said, you're just laying tile individually, and it's gonna make a bigger mosaic, which is what you did with your life. And he was right that the work you made later on, that didn't quite click with people. What they do is they seek out all these things you've made that are great, and then they almost rule the other ones out. So in your mind, you're saying, oh, man, so many times I've been wrong. And that's not what anyone else would say. That's just what you would say.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah, exactly. It just made me think of someone like Shohei Ohtani, where they go, like, whatever his career batting average ends up being, if it's 350 or whatever, 320, people aren't going to say, well, you know, he missed. 680.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, exactly.

[Matt Damon]

They're going to go. You know what I mean?

[Conan O'Brien]

I did go to the game and shout that at him for the day, because even when the Red Sox are out of it, I still go to games and wear a Red Sox hat.

[Matt Damon]

Good for you, by the way. I do the same thing. I do do the same thing.

[Conan O'Brien]

I did have an experience once where Lorne Michaels. Sorry, I had an experience. I do that when I think my story is really good. No, Lorne Michaels years ago. This is a very name droppy story, but it was that iconic. It's 2004, and the red Sox are playing the Yankees, and the Red Sox are way down. And Lorne invited me to a Yankee game, and he said, we're gonna pick up a friend on the way. And he didn't tell me who. And I'm sitting in the front of an SUV because he wanted me to make friend room for the friend. And we pull up, and leaning against a street lamp is Jack Nicholson. And I'm, to this day, if I ran into Jack Nielsen, I can't be cool about it. But I just was like, just chill. And he. Jack Nielsen gets in the back, and he just like, jack, you're near Conan. And I'm up in front in that awkward like. And I lean through that. There's a little slit of headrest And I'm like, hiya, Jack. You know, hey, Conan. And then we go off to the game, and what I remember is sitting with him and Lauren at this game. And Lauren had told me beforehand, don't wear a Red Sox cap. Because Lauren had these amazing seats. And he pretty much put all this pressure on me. So I went. And I got a hat that had, like, the Swiss floor. No, just like, a black cap. I had to get a neutral cap because I thought, it's Lauren seats, right? Jack's a big Yankee fan. If I'm wearing a Red Sox cap next to them, this is rude. It was this very hard thing to do, so I just wore a neutral cap.

[Matt Damon]

What happened to you, man?

[Conan O'Brien]

I know, I know, I know, I know. It's Jack Nicholson. And I buckled. So. But I remember to him, Pedro Martinez was pitching, and it's a game that the Red Sox lost just before they had this amazing comeback and ended up winning the World Series and breaking the curse. And Jack Nicholson was taunting Pedro Martinez, and he was shouting at him. Cause it was getting a little later in the game, and he went, arms getting heavy, Pedro. Arms getting heavy. And I'm like, like, that's good. That is so good.

[Sona Movsesian]

What a dick.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's Jack Nicholson. Yeah, it's baseball.

[Sona Movsesian]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. And then I got a nice moment with him on the. On when we got home and got out of the car. He. He got out, and I got out, too, to just say, it was really nice hanging with you, Jack tonight. And he went. He. I guess his son was a big fan of the show. I didn't think Jack knew nothing about what I was doing, but he went. He was like, son's crazy about you, Conan. He said. I said, nice to meet you, James. Nice to meet you, too, Conan. Son's crazy about you. It's Conan this, Conan that. Driving me fucking crazy.

[Matt Damon]

That's great.

[Conan O'Brien]

I was so happy. I, like, got back in the car, and I sat back with Lauren. I didn't get in the front seat this time. I'm like, I'm back here where Jack Nicholson's at. He'll forget you tomorrow. But it is. You know, I love to time travel. I love to go back to the guy in the crappy used car that I bought for literally a couple hundred bucks at the airport from a rent A Wreck and put on counter makeup. And then think about the things I get to do now or the things I've been able to do or had the good fortune to do. And I just love time traveling back and forth to visit that guy and go, isn't this crazy? I mean, if you showed up to the. You who's a teenager and really into acting and said, this is what's gonna happen. Yeah, what a delight.

[Matt Damon]

Well, and also to kind of feel like you won the lottery, but your best friend won it, too. You know what I mean? So, for us, we've talked about that, Ben and I, you know, and also just the fact that it didn't seem weird to us in the 1980s that we were 14 and 16 years old and. Or 15 and 16 and going to New York by ourselves, you know, to audition for things like. Yeah, until we had kids, I think, that were that age, and we were like, can you fucking believe that? We would just go, would you just let this kid go to San Francisco for the day by themselves?

[Conan O'Brien]

Right.

[Matt Damon]

Just. Right. You know, but it seemed totally normal to us. You know, we didn't have families that were in the business. You know, Boston, there's nobody in the entertainment business up there.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm telling you. My. I think your parents were not in the business. My parent. My dad was a microbiologist, and my mom's a state lawyer, and I never saw anything. There was a local show called Zoom.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah, of course.

[Conan O'Brien]

And Zoom had kid actors in it, and it was made in Boston. And at the end they'd say, made at the studio in Boston. And I just couldn't believe someone was making something for television that was in Boston. And so those Zoom kids were like the Beatles to me. I just couldn't believe. But I didn't see anybody. I just didn't see anyone. And then Robert Urich made Spencer for Hire, which took place in Boston. That was a big deal.

[Matt Damon]

That was a huge deal. Yeah, we used to watch it every week, just, you know, it was. You know. And then sometimes you'd go and you see trucks, and you were like, oh, my God, I think they're shooting here.

[Conan O'Brien]

Spencer for Hiya. Well, I remember they shot an episode and they used my high school. This is long after I've left high school. I'm a writer at Saturday Night Live at this point, and I'm in my early 20s, and I'm at Saturday Night Live in this episode, and we were just hanging around the offices, flipping channels at night, and there was Spencer for hire, and they shot it at my high school, and I became that dick who sat there. So I was like, wow, that's my high school. And then Robert Urich's running through the hallways, and he went, you can't get from the science wing to the gym using the A level stairs. I wonder if. Great thinking. What an idiot. But you know, a huge. And I believe your mom was. Was she into child psychology?

[Matt Damon]

Is that she was a professor of early childhood education.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, I. My wife's mother who passed recently. Lovely woman, Pam. She had done a lot of work, I think, learning about kids and development and also as a. As a therapist. And so when I would talk to her, sometimes I'd be reminded, oh no, I'm just telling her the problems with my day. And then I realized that she has this incredible intelligence and knowledge that she would apply to it. And I realized, oh, she's psychoanalyzed. Did you have that from your mom?

[Matt Damon]

I think in the sense that she understood the stages of development, of child development and gave my brother and me a kind of everything we needed for our brains to develop the way they were supposed to develop.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, that's good.

[Matt Damon]

In the sense that, you know, I mean, back then her big bugaboo was like screens was television.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Damon]

How much TV do you watch? What are you watching? And now it's just the, you know, completely. Just jumped a shark with screens and you know, the ubiquity of them and what that means for kids and brain development and stuff like that. And we're basically, you know, this is, you know, a species wide experiment at this point.

[Conan O'Brien]

Exactly, yeah.

[Matt Damon]

Because there are these natural things that have to happen for, you know, and it's like open ended play and things like that for kids that really just help them figure out all the strategies to kind of figure out the world.

[Conan O'Brien]

And boredom. You need boredom.

[Matt Damon]

Boredom was great. I mean, remember how bored you'd be as a kid and then you'd figure something out. You know, you'd figure out a way to entertain yourself or you go make something up or you'd, you know.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, I always say to my wife early on, we gotta leave plenty of room for them to be bored. And she said, don't you worry. Just tell more of your when I was a kid stories. Tell your Nicholson story again. Kids, kids. He's a big deal. But no, I mean, you're exactly right. That's exactly right. You have to leave room for all of that. And then I do worry about it. I think it's a scary thing.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah, me too.

[Conan O'Brien]

Because when I walk through airports and I've just thought of this, when I was in Hong Kong just recently, everyone was on their screen and sometimes people would just click. I mean, and they're not even kids anymore. It's everybody. And you just feel like.

[Matt Damon]

I see for. With myself, like, how quickly I'll allow my attention to kind of get colonized by these devices. This device where I'll just sit there and disappear down a rabbit hole and watch a bunch of. And then an hour goes by and you go, well, wait a minute. That like, Chris Nolan's very famously doesn't have a smartphone. And, and, and I think he said kind of publicly. It's just he, he, he, he wants to preserve that time, that the exact time we're talking about where he can think about things more deeply.

[Conan O'Brien]

Let your mind wander.

[Matt Damon]

Let your mind wander. Rather than just instantly give it the, you know, the dopamine hit of a, of. Of, you know, Candy Crush or something. Like, you know, that's what you're doing for an hour.

[Conan O'Brien]

No, no, no.

[Matt Damon]

I put play backgammon on my phone. I'm like, I've got a quick game of backgammon. It's like, how am I doing?

[Conan O'Brien]

You know, they should do. You should do one more Bourne movie where you're just, where you're just on your phone. Jason's on his phone the whole time alone.

[Matt Damon]

And he's cut back to the CIA and everyone's just on their phone. They're not looking for him, really.

[Conan O'Brien]

They're not looking for you. You're not running from them. Nothing's getting done. And then, and then the tech, the.

[Matt Damon]

Tech overlords are making trillions of dollars. That's the movie. Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

You know, I, I really enjoyed the rip, and I want to make sure I, I get it out there that Steven Yun's in this. You have a great cast.

[Matt Damon]

It's a great cast. Teyana Taylor, Stephen Yeun, I mean, it's. Kyle Chandler's in it. There's just a wonderful group of actors.

[Conan O'Brien]

There was one moment where when I was watching it and I think I heard him before I saw him, but I heard Kyle Chandler's voice and he said something a little like, you know, now what are we doing here? And I just heard the coach, you know, and I'm like, it's coach, you know, but again, he plays someone completely different. Because you're all really good actors. Steven Yeun I've done. He's a friend, and we've done a lot of stuff together. And phenomenal actors. I just adore him.

[Matt Damon]

So do I. And he actually just. He went from doing that to Ben directed another movie that's gonna come out next year that Steven's in. He's in that as well, he's just.

[Conan O'Brien]

We love him. Also, I want to point out the. The story here is a really interesting one because. And I'm not gonna give anything away, but the rip refers to money that I guess has been seized in illegal activity. And, you guys, there's so much great lingo in this movie.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah, it's all real cop lingo. It's all based on, you know, Joe Carnahan wrote it and directed it, and it's based on the experience of. Loosely based on the experience of this kind of unit down in Miami that, you know, they go to. You know, they have units that go looking for drugs, and then they have units that go looking for money. For drug money, basically. And dogs, literally that sniff for drugs and dogs that sniff for cash.

[Conan O'Brien]

That I didn't know when I saw that either. You get to this one house and the dog is sniffing, and you know that there's cash inside. And I thought, I've never heard of that. A dog that knows there's cash in there. You know, they'll soon have one that can detect bitcoin, you know.

[Kelly Ripa]

Right, right.

[Conan O'Brien]

That server. But it spoke a little bit. It just knows. Server.

[Matt Damon]

Wait.

[Matt Gourley]

The dog speaks, and it's looking for bitcoin. We're skipping past the fact that the dog speaks.

[Conan O'Brien]

I think it's more impressive that it can smell, you know, various chips. Matt's writing now. Don't do this podcast again.

[Matt Damon]

No, no, no. I'm just on the thought experiment.

[Conan O'Brien]

Both Matt's are right here. I always like it that the least impressive thing an animal does is speak. And it's more like, how did he know which door to go in?

[Matt Damon]

Go in the right one.

[Conan O'Brien]

Wow. He seems to know which door to go in. He did speak, but one of the things the film does is you have to try and figure out who's playing what angle, and you know, who's. Who's right, who isn't right, who's a good person, who's a bad person. And I was calling it. I was being that wise ass. It's like, all right, this. And I got it wrong.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah, you don't know who's who, really. And it's these guys. They hit this house, they think there's going to be, you know, 75,000 or $150,000 in the house, and suddenly they find $20 million in the wall, and they know that that means it's cartel money, which means that they're probably going to come try to get it. They know, you know, so it suddenly becomes this kind of they're stuck in this house because they have to count the money on site, which is. Which is a rule, because to kind of.

[Conan O'Brien]

I didn't know that either. Yeah. Before they can bring it in, at.

[Matt Damon]

Least in Miami, that's the.

[Conan O'Brien]

You have to count it all on the site because it's too easy for someone. If it's an amount of money, $600,000, and put it in their pocket. And that's just what the count was. So you have to count it there.

[Matt Damon]

You have to count it together and make sure that everybody agrees what the account is. And then you go and you. And you deposit. You know, you drop it off, and they count it, and it's got to match the number that you report and all of that. So. So that's. But meanwhile, you have these. These cops who are. You know, their captain has just been killed, you know, before at the start of the movie. And so you're kind of going, something's going on with these guys. Is there corruption within this unit?

[Conan O'Brien]

Are these people corrupt?

[Matt Damon]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Are these supposed heroes of the.

[Matt Damon]

Are the heroes. Yeah. Can we trust the heroes of the movie? And you don't know. And that's kind of the fun of the movie.

[Conan O'Brien]

And I do love the jargon. And afterwards, I was walking around the house, say, someone jacked my rip. And Liza's like, shut up. I enjoyed it, too, but shut up. Well, I really enjoyed it, and I think I've interviewed you a number of times over the years, but I love it when you stop by and check in, because I'm a huge fan of you and your career and your work, and you're a very. You're a very nice, thoughtful, funny guy. So I love to hang with you, man.

[Matt Damon]

I'll come back next time.

[Conan O'Brien]

You know, I'm not sure we have a space.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah, exactly.

[Conan O'Brien]

Look, I'm sorry. Hey. Okay, thanks. Well, yeah.

[Matt Damon]

Do you realize I haven't heard that in a while?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Matt, this was an audition to get on the podcast. Did you know that?

[Matt Damon]

Yeah. I'm out of practice.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, we'll let you know.

[Matt Damon]

We'll let you know so much. You do have my contact information, right?

[Conan O'Brien]

How big this podcast has become is Matt has to come in and audition, but. Yeah. Thank you so much for doing this. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Appreciate it.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah. Appreciate it, guys.

[Conan O'Brien]

Thank you. There's a lot of things in our world right now that save you time. Technologies that save you time.

[Sona Movsesian]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

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[Sona Movsesian]

Yeah, you hate following up on.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, I hate it.

[Sona Movsesian]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

And the accounting agent automates and categorizes transactions.

[Sona Movsesian]

Beep, beep.

[Conan O'Brien]

They've been taken care of. That's my. That's my old man's view of what AI is. Bleep, bleep. All taken care of. Get your critical business jobs done with QuickBooks on the Intuit platform.

[Matt Damon]

If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why, hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering. With on time restocks, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift. And you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.

[Matt Gourley]

I was sitting around the other day and my buddy Matt Myra texted me a picture that you might be interested in if we could throw it up on the.

[Matt Damon]

Sure.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh my God. What is that?

[Matt Gourley]

This is a sign that's posted outside one of your former residences, the Cochrane Avenue apartment. Did you know about this?

[Conan O'Brien]

I didn't.

[Sona Movsesian]

Where is this?

[Matt Gourley]

It's in la, right?

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh yes, I live in this apartment. Of course I do. This was a formative part of my life when I was first getting started in la. Greg Daniels and I, our first place, he was my writing partner. He's gone on to many great things. He and I shared an apartment in Brentwood first. Then we realized we need to move out of the west side and be with the young people. Because both of us, we're just desperate to meet anyone our age and have social lives. So we both moved into Hollywood and I found an apartment. A friend of mine, Cynthia Stevenson, actress, a very talented, incredible woman, she said, hey Conan, I'm leaving my apartment. Do you want to take it over? And it was on Cochrane Avenue. So I moved into. It was a first floor apartment. This would have been 1986. I think. I think I lived there. 86, 87, 88. I didn't go out and shop for any furniture. The only thing says that in the summer. Oh, it does.

[Matt Gourley]

And for the listener, they can see this. This on eamcoco podcast on Instagram as well as our YouTube channel. And here's what the sign says. Conan O', Brien, former Cochrane Avenue resident. There's a picture of you as kind of like a bronze bust.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah.

[Matt Gourley]

Conan Christopher o' Brien is an Emmy winning writer, comedian and host who redefined late night television. From Saturday Night Live to the Simpsons to his own groundbreaking shows, he has brought laughter to millions. I'd like to fact check on that.

[Conan O'Brien]

Hundreds. Hundreds.

[Matt Gourley]

In 2025, he added another milestone. Hosting the Academy awards. In the 1980s, Conan lived right here on Cochrane Avenue, finishing his apartment with street finds and surviving on ramen noodles and tuna mixed with Miracle Whip.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes, God.

[Matt Gourley]

It was a time of struggle, ingenuity and questionable mayonnaise based decisions. From these humble beginnings, this street witnessed the rise of a comedy icon.

[Conan O'Brien]

Wow.

[Matt Gourley]

May this moment parentheses a poster affixed with zip ties inspire Cochrane Avenue residents to chase their dreams, enhance their originality and one day upgrade. Upgrade to a home with more than one bathroom. So this is temporary. I didn't realize this is foam core poster.

[Conan O'Brien]

We have to. I mean, my God, we've got to. Oh, wow, look at this.

[Matt Gourley]

Dedicated February 27, 2025 by the Cochrane Committee of Conan Connoisseurs. Actually, just one guy who lives on Cochrane Avenue occasionally listens to Conan's podcast. Occasionally had some free time and no real authority to put up a monument, but did it anyway.

[Sona Movsesian]

Who is this guy?

[Conan O'Brien]

Or g. Okay. You mean what?

[Sona Movsesian]

Actually just one guy.

[Conan O'Brien]

Oh, sorry, I was trying to accuse you being sexist. I know when actually you're just guilty of paying attention. It could be a no. Oh, well, first of all, I want to thank this guy because that's really funny. And old me, I always think of ghost me, the 160 pound Conan who lived at Cochrane Avenue and furnished his apartment with all stuff I found on Cochrane Avenue. Oh, God. I mean, it's just flea ridden. I mean it's just like tables. People used to just put furniture out.

[Sona Movsesian]

I've done that.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah, lamps, everything. And one of my friends gave me a cutout of the win, the Miss America winner that he had a life size cutout of her, you know, in a gown holding, you know, with her sash.

[Sona Movsesian]

Your friend gave it to you, you bought it and it was your girlfriend. Bread.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes and yes. No. Shout out to Randy Klempert, who gave it to me. And I had it in my apartment along with furniture I found. And I thought everything was just fine and lived off of that diet of ramen noodles.

[Matt Gourley]

Tuna mixed with miracle.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Matt Gourley]

Wait, did you come up with this?

[Conan O'Brien]

No. It's an abomination. I. I know. I think it was something that happened back at Kernard. I think the crime started in. In Brookline, Massachusetts. And then I brought it with me.

[Matt Gourley]

That's listed with shellfish in the Bible as an abomination.

[Conan O'Brien]

Yes. Yes. And so am I, by the way. And so, yeah, I lived on Cochrane. And now someone. This is the part of this culture that I find endlessly fun, is someone made that and then put these, all these self deprecating disclaimers at the bottom. And it's really fun. I just love that. And I love that someone is memorializing my life on Cochrane Avenue back in the day. Yeah, I would say 86 to 88. And then I left that apartment to go to, I believe Saturday Night Live.

[Matt Gourley]

Did Miss America come with you?

[Conan O'Brien]

She did. And I was married to her for a while. I was married to a cardboard cutout for five years and then she left me. Yeah, she said emotional cruelty.

[Sona Movsesian]

You left her out in the rain?

[Conan O'Brien]

Yeah. Yeah, I was crying. She was with Bezos for a while anyway. Yeah. He built a yacht for her made of cardboard. They sailed the seven seas until the boat fell apart.

[Matt Gourley]

Recycled into some Amazon packaging.

[Matt Damon]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

She's now a packing tube. Anyway, that's really cute that a fan.

[Sona Movsesian]

Did that for you.

[Matt Gourley]

It is.

[Conan O'Brien]

What's that?

[Sona Movsesian]

That's really cool and cute that.

[Conan O'Brien]

I think that shout out to that fan. That was a very fun cool happening to create. Yeah.

[Matt Gourley]

Whatever gender he is.

[Conan O'Brien]

I love that. And you know what? Occasionally I. I passed that apartment. Not too long ago, I passed that apartment because when I'm driving from my house to our studio, I get off the 10 and it depends on what exit I take, and I start cutting north to our Hollywood Larchmont recording studio. And sometimes I'll find myself on Cochrane. And I always pause and just look at that apartment and go, oh, yeah, that kid's. That kid did okay.

[Matt Gourley]

Did all right.

[Conan O'Brien]

And then a policeman always says, move it along. Nothing to see here. He's a 1920s.

[Sona Movsesian]

He's got that little.

[Conan O'Brien]

He's got the nightstick. Yeah, the night baton. All right, moving along. Move us along there. No more visiting ghost you of 1986.

[Matt Damon]

Move it.

[Conan O'Brien]

He always knows exactly what I'm doing. That's Just a trick of the mind.

[Kelly Ripa]

Move it along.

[Conan O'Brien]

No more ghost you. Those days are past. There's only now. There's no future, there's no past. I'm like, wow, he's done a lot of work. Oh no, it's a Buddhist mantra. All right, well, anyway, thank you, random fan who occasionally listens. Whoever you are, that was a cool thing to do.

[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 Leo 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 Bautista and Brit Kahn. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and you might find yourself review Read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of SiriusXM when you sign [e-mail] Conan and if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O' Brien needs a Friend Wherever Fine podcasts are downloaded.

[Conan O'Brien]

Foreign.

[Kelly Ripa]

Hey there, it's Kelly Ripa, and if you've been listening to my podcast, we are knee deep in season three, and if you haven't heard it, it's time to get on board. After years of interviewing celebs on camera, I finally get to bring you the real conversations that take place when the cameras aren't rolling. Where else are you going to hear Michelle Obama talk about keeping her girls out of Page Six? Hilaria Baldwin's hilarious reaction to Alec running for office, or Jeremy Renner's lucid hallucinations. Jamie Foxx. Nowhere else. It's raw, it's honest, and best of all, it's off camera. And believe me, that's where you get the good stuff. So download. Let's talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa now. Wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everybody, it's Babs. I am so excited to tell you about Birch Lane, a brand that shares my passion for classic style and joyful living. Their classic furniture and decor helps you celebrate it all. From big holiday gatherings to everyday moments at home, each piece is carefully crafted and delivered fast and free so you can celebrate what matters most. Shop my handpicked Birch Lane collection and more classic styles at birchlang.

[Matt Damon]

Com.