
Comedian, writer and director Mike Birbiglia feels earnest about being Conan O'Brien's friend. Mike sits down with Conan once again to discuss his latest special The Good Life, taking comedy advice from the Pope, and how his father’s stroke impacted his own parenting style. Plus, Conan and the Chums hammer out a succession plan for hosting the podcast in the event of a worst-case scenario. 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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Conan O'Brien
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Matt Gourley
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Conan O'Brien
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Conan O'Brien
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Mike Birbiglia
Hi, my name is Mike Birbiglia and I feel earnest about being Conan o' Brien's friend.
Matt Gourley
Back to school.
Conan O'Brien
Ring the bell.
Mike Birbiglia
Brand new shoes.
Conan O'Brien
Walking loose climb the fence Books and pens.
Mike Birbiglia
I can tell that we are gonna.
Conan O'Brien
Be friends Yes, I can tell that.
Sona Movsesian
We are gonna be friends.
Conan O'Brien
Hello and welcome to Conan o' Brien. Needs a friend. Friend sitting here as always with sonam of session, Matt Gorley. Hi. We have a wonderful team here, works very hard. An inside source has told me that instead of doing his job, Eduardo's watching football. Are you watching football right now? Eduardo, what are you watching? Fitch? Eduardo, what are you. Eduardo. I thought you were my boy Eduardo this whole time. Eduardo, what are you watching? Nothing. No, what are you watching? We're about honesty here.
Mike Birbiglia
Listen, we just.
Conan O'Brien
Listen.
Matt Gourley
We just wrapped up an interview with the Guests. And I respectfully waited until that.
Conan O'Brien
Why don't you just tell me what you're watching? I'm watching the semifinals of the UEFA.
Mike Birbiglia
Champions League right now.
Matt Gourley
It's a game between Barcelona and Inter Milan.
Conan O'Brien
Excuse me? It's Barcelona.
Mike Birbiglia
Barcelona and Inter Milan.
Conan O'Brien
Blay.
Mike Birbiglia
Fuck you, man.
Conan O'Brien
So, listen, listen, listen. How dare you, Eduardo? How dare you? All I do is laud you for your professionalism. I think you're the only professional one here. And then I find out that you're watching Barcelona play.
Mike Birbiglia
Who?
Conan O'Brien
Los Estados del Dandos. Inter Milan. And they just scored. Thank you very much. Listen, let me tell you something.
Mike Birbiglia
Yes?
Conan O'Brien
You missed it. Who are you rooting for? Barcelona. It's Barcelona. God, we should learn the language.
Sona Movsesian
White splaining.
Conan O'Brien
Excuse me, I am whitesplaining.
Mike Birbiglia
I knew it.
Conan O'Brien
I knew it. Eduardo. So you had the gall. You're in the presence of Conan o' Brien. We're making a seminal podcast, and you are watching football. You were on your fifth bit, and I decided to just.
Matt Gourley
Go get yourself.
Conan O'Brien
You're gonna let him talk to you like that? Exactly.
Matt Gourley
You're gonna let him talk to.
Conan O'Brien
You and I are both. Oh, look at this. We are all channeling the same scene. Goodfellas. Goodfellas. And Spider just dissed, man. Of course, I be Tommy. I'd be Tommy. Yeah, I'd be Tommy. And. And you're going to, like. You're going to let him talk to you like that. You're going to let him talk to you like that. And now, of course, you know where this goes. I start shooting away at you.
Matt Gourley
This is a rite of passage, because this exact scenario happened to me early on in the podcast as well, where I was Spider. And now you got.
Conan O'Brien
It's a rite of passage. And now you have to be shot in the foot. Then you come back later on with a bandage on your foot and I kill you. Listen, I know I do a lot of bits, and they seem like a waste of time to you, and I'm sure football, as you call it. I call it soccer here in the United States, it's more important to you. But you know what? You do such a good job. I think you should be allowed to watch football.
Matt Gourley
Thank you. I'm going to put something on my TV, YouTube, on.
Conan O'Brien
Well, what would you. First of all, Eduardo, Mad respect. Thank you for. For your comeback. And also for your devotion to the most popular sport in the world. That's right. Or as I call it, El mundo Sona. What would you be secretly watching if you were Secretly watching while we were.
Sona Movsesian
Doing the podcast Love is Blind.
Conan O'Brien
Okay. Is that a good show?
Sona Movsesian
I. I mean, I only really watched the first season. Really?
Conan O'Brien
It's harsh though, right? It's pretty interesting because people say yes to somebody and then they see what they look like. Yeah. And they turn them down.
Sona Movsesian
Some of them do, yeah. It just, you know, I mean, it's. Is love blind? Is it?
Conan O'Brien
That's a. Wow, that's a profound question. And it's the title of the show.
Sona Movsesian
Yes.
Conan O'Brien
Are we really down under?
Sona Movsesian
What?
Conan O'Brien
Above Deck?
Sona Movsesian
Below Deck.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, shit. And what about you? What are you watching over there?
Matt Gourley
I'm just watching Casino Royale as we speak.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, wow. That's the beginning. This is when we are first introduced to Daniel Craig.
Matt Gourley
Pretty good, huh?
Conan O'Brien
As Bond. And he killed it.
Matt Gourley
Yeah, he did.
Conan O'Brien
He really killed it. This is the great scene where he's chasing. Okay, so that's what you're watching.
Matt Gourley
Parkour scene. Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
Or I'd watch YouTube.
Conan O'Brien
You know what I'd be watching?
Sona Movsesian
Huh?
Conan O'Brien
Clips of my show.
Matt Gourley
Oh, my God.
Conan O'Brien
Classic Conan.
Matt Gourley
Oh, my God.
Conan O'Brien
You guys would see me not really paying attention, and then you'd take my phone away from me. Oh, there's Conan talking to al Roker in 2004. Not even a particularly good interview. But me going, look at him, he's. Conan's got sideburns. That just kills me. That's great. Oh, what's he gonna say now? Oh, look at him, he's only 32.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, my God.
Conan O'Brien
Well, I. Listen, you're a maestro at what you do. Thank you. And I'm going to turn this back around to a compliment. You're a maestro and all. I think. I think what Blade did essentially, was expose that you can do this job with one hand tied behind your back. Interesting. I'm still pissed. I'm sorry, are you still. I know you're legitimately angry at Blade. Yes. I think that was a foul move.
Matt Gourley
Well, you ratted him out.
Conan O'Brien
Well, listen.
Sona Movsesian
What did I do wrong?
Conan O'Brien
Now fans get to listen for the eventual payback.
Matt Gourley
That's right.
Conan O'Brien
The get back. And when's it going to happen? How's it going to happen? We don't know.
Matt Gourley
But I thought we all had a tacit understanding that it's us against him. And when Blay. When you. You feed the beast like that and break the union.
Conan O'Brien
You know, also, can I say this? It's not only. It's not only that. It's worse because he's not even on your side and he just gave him. Listen to me. Listen to me. It's worse because I check out the occasional Reddit thread. I know what the word is on the street. Eduardo is one of the most respected people in this room. The rest of us can be fools and goons. Eduardo has this mellifluous voice. He knows what he's doing. He occasionally speaks. It's always good. He is the one in this room who is the adult, the cool one. You betrayed the Jesus in the room. Or, I'm sorry, the Jesus.
Matt Gourley
That makes you Judas.
Conan O'Brien
That makes you Judas. Judas. I'm the Judah. Well, I. You know what I think I. I just wanted people to understand. Eduardo is more than just an engineer.
Mike Birbiglia
He's a human being.
Conan O'Brien
And. And I wanted to show another facet. You're going down. You're going down. Eduardo's coming for you. No. And it's going to be. His retribution will be terrible. John Wick, baby. Yeah. You just killed his dog.
Matt Gourley
You killed the puppy.
Conan O'Brien
You killed his puppy. I think what awaits you, Blay, is horrific. And I. I tremble just imagining being you.
Sona Movsesian
Oh my God. Eduardo's watching soccer and you're getting mad at Blake. Can you get mad at Eduardo, please?
Mike Birbiglia
Add Sona to the list.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. What the. Oh my God. See?
Matt Gourley
He's tearing us apart. We can't let this happen.
Conan O'Brien
You're on the list, first of all.
Matt Gourley
TV all the time.
Conan O'Brien
When you work.
Matt Gourley
How can you have not have siblings?
Conan O'Brien
Sona, stop calling it soccer. It's football.
Mike Birbiglia
Oh my God.
Sona Movsesian
You just said it's soccer. Cuz we're in America.
Conan O'Brien
It's football. And I'll tell you something else. Don't say Eduardo. That's how you say his name. Eduardo. As is Mirmano is Mimigo.
Sona Movsesian
Is he pronouncing your name incorrectly? Is that because it's not perfect?
Conan O'Brien
No, perfecto, perfecto. Eduardo is above reproach. And I feigned turning on Eduardo to trick the rest of you to expose what rats you really are.
Sona Movsesian
Remember when the studio wasn't working properly? He it up.
Conan O'Brien
Remember?
Matt Gourley
What are you doing?
Conan O'Brien
What are you doing?
Sona Movsesian
I want you to get mad at Eduardo. I just want you to get mad at him.
Conan O'Brien
We gotta stick together, you guys.
Matt Gourley
We gotta stick together.
Conan O'Brien
You know what I love?
Matt Gourley
We have nothing if we're not one.
Mike Birbiglia
You know?
Sona Movsesian
Remember the audio wasn't working.
Matt Gourley
Union Strong.
Sona Movsesian
Who was here? Who's the guest?
Conan O'Brien
It's called audio.
Mike Birbiglia
Oh, Jesus.
Conan O'Brien
Listen, I'm gonna say one thing, which is I want listeners to look at what just happened here. I was given some information by Blay, which I took. I turned against Eduardo, exposing him and embarrassing him. Then, through a series of deaf maneuvers, tricked all of you into bickering with one another. And then I became Eduardo's defender, his amigo, and the one who says football and not soccer. And so now I have emerged as the hero of the story. And you are the villain, Sona. As are you, Blay.
Matt Gourley
You're cool.
Conan O'Brien
You're cool. Fuck you, you're cool.
Mike Birbiglia
Yes.
Conan O'Brien
Hey, I am a matador.
Sona Movsesian
Fuck you, Blay.
Conan O'Brien
It's very few movements.
Sona Movsesian
I'll turn against Blake.
Matt Gourley
Oh, look what he's done to us. Look what he's done to us. This is sad. And Adam, you're being awfully quiet over here.
Sona Movsesian
I know you're just sitting there quietly.
Matt Gourley
Adam, you're the boss here. And Adam, are you watching football?
Conan O'Brien
Deep down, you know I'm the maestro, don't you? At manipulating the people around me so that I always come on top 100%. I'm just being quiet because I'm letting this unfold. This is good content. And you're watching. You're watching the maestro conduct the orchestra to perfection. I'm loving it, man. Perfect. Perfect. You're a good guy too, Eduardo. And Adam, you're the good guys in this room. And I'm going to include this guy too. My guest today is a hilarious comedian, writer, director and actor whose latest special, the Good Life, is now available to stream on Netflix. Very excited. He's with us today. He is a fine fellow. Mike Birbiglia, welcome. I do feel like we have maybe 110 different ways in which we intersect, in which we have commonality.
Mike Birbiglia
Yes.
Conan O'Brien
I'm hard pressed to think of anyone else who I have more in common with, who's not in my family that I have more in common with. Because you, sir, Mr. Mike Birbiglia, if that even is your real name. Clearly one of those stage names just to sound cool. You hail from where all my people come from.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah. Your people are from Worcester.
Conan O'Brien
Worcester. Worcester, Massachusetts. And they all went to Holy Cross College. Or the cross is where.
Mike Birbiglia
Which is where my dad went. Yep. And our parent. My dad is a retired doctor. Your parents were doctors?
Conan O'Brien
Yep. Yep. But my dad was a doctor. My mother was a lawyer, not a doctor. And so that's insulting if you come in here and start.
Mike Birbiglia
You thought that was insulting? I just thought that was a basic misunderstanding.
Conan O'Brien
You're right. I don't know why I went to insult. That's so weird. But I'm so mad at you right now.
Mike Birbiglia
You're so sensitive since the Oscars.
Conan O'Brien
Yes, I am.
Sona Movsesian
I feel like.
Matt Gourley
Yes, you didn't win.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Mike Birbiglia
I just want to hold space for Matt and Sona today because I feel like you guys have really probably been through it with Conan's ego this year.
Matt Gourley
You're not kidding.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
I was under the impression that if you host the Oscars, you get an osc. And when the night was out, I was. I thought one of you had my Oscar. Oh. Or David. And no one had it. And then they said, no, you don't get an Oscar for hosting the Oscars. And did you see the fucking fit I threw backstage?
Sona Movsesian
Everybody heard about it.
Conan O'Brien
I smashed stuff.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You hit Ariana Grande in the face.
Matt Gourley
Well, with an Oscar Wilde.
Conan O'Brien
I tried to, but she's quick. I took a swing at Ariana Grande, she ducked, went under it, and she came back with two rabbit punches to the kidney really fast. And I just went down hard. Anyway, you got me distracted on my fight. Physical fight with Ariana Grande. We overlap in so many ways.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah, I know.
Conan O'Brien
And let me begin by saying you very kindly sent me your latest special, and I'm gonna start with this because I loved it and I love your work, and you did a one man show, and I'm gonna give it a quick shout out now. It'll also get its own special. It's called the Good Life and it's on Netflix. I will say that for my money, nobody does tone, sustained tone in comedy as well as you. You create this beautiful tone that's very funny and then occasionally very meaningful. It's just a thing of beauty. And you lay it out there. And for just tone alone, I think you might be the reigning champ. I will say that.
Mike Birbiglia
Thank you.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah, yeah. And I end. You're hilarious. We've known each other a long time, but I was thinking about. You were talking in your special, and I've thought about this before, and we've talked about the ways in which we are alike, but in this special, you're talking about all these things that I relate to a thousand percent.
Mike Birbiglia
Oh, interesting.
Conan O'Brien
Meaning we come from the same part of the world. Exactly. Which is. I grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, but my parents are both Worcester people. My grandfather was a traffic cop in downtown Worcester. And you talk about growing up with a father who's a physician and how there's a lack of physical affection. And I'm like, you just went through this list of things that I was checking off. You're going through a traumatic thing with your father. Who you talk about, he has a stroke. This is tell. You're in the hands of a master when you're talking about something as powerful as a stroke and a lot of other heavy things. And it's hilarious. It's really good. But. But I lost both my parents this year within days of each other, which always sounds like a murder or a motorcycle accident, literally. My dad passed, and then three days later, my mom passed. And you talk about trying to wrap your head around your dad's mortality, but also growing up in a family where people aren't constantly saying I love you. In fact, it's not said. And there isn't a lot of demonstrative physical affection. And then generationally, how you and your wife. Me and my wife. Every conversation with my kids starts with I love you and them saying I love you and ends with I love you and them saying I love you sometimes in the middle of the conversation. Oh, and just so you remember, I love you. And I mean, it's just too much. That's my plan. It's too much. We're overdoing it. We should go back a couple of clicks towards our parents generation.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
But anyway, I was very touched by your special, and I. I mean, it's funny. It will be funny to anyone, but I remember thinking, I'm so glad Mike is coming in today. It is Mike, right?
Mike Birbiglia
Mike Birbiglia.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, fuck. Yeah, it says Dennis Leary here months ago. It says Dennis Leary.
Mike Birbiglia
I mean, it's fine.
Conan O'Brien
Well, he's also from Worcester.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah, yeah.
Conan O'Brien
It just says Worcester comic.
Mike Birbiglia
Let's go ahead and do it, by the way.
Conan O'Brien
Jesus Christ. No, no, but you. You.
Matt Gourley
Just put on speak.
Conan O'Brien
Just put up with him. I am gonna stop talking now.
Mike Birbiglia
But I emailed you the special and partly because I know we have all those things in common, like, it's an absurd amount of things in common. And then I said, please share this with elite members of your staff, including Matt Sona. And then I wrote the White Stripes. And then I crossed out White Stripes.
Conan O'Brien
Well, you know, it's also.
Mike Birbiglia
But then they didn't get it from you.
Conan O'Brien
No, they were loud.
Matt Gourley
We didn't get that message. We got the link, but not the message.
Sona Movsesian
He calls us elite.
Conan O'Brien
And then who was announced this morning as being inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame?
Mike Birbiglia
The White Stripes. Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
So it's almost like you foretold the future.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
And a quick shout out to the. To. To Jack and Meg for that experience.
Matt Gourley
The lead is that you're gatekeeping. Praise that.
Mike Birbiglia
That's what I. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Conan O'Brien
I don't know. And then I swear to God, every day I'm on my to do list is get rid of Matt and Sona. And then I just don't get to it. Every day it's on the list with, like, more brown sugar. Granola's running low. The problem, you wear denim with denim. You know, the problem with that list.
Mike Birbiglia
Is that Sona probably goes over the list with you and then she's on that.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Mike Birbiglia
As being axed.
Conan O'Brien
And then she turns it into Ray's for Sona but never raised for Matt. No, not really. What's up with that?
Sona Movsesian
Well, it's a lot of like, okay, make sure you put this on list. And I'm like, yeah. Woo. Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.
Conan O'Brien
But I really. It's a giveaway usually that you're not. It should be a giveaway.
Matt Gourley
Yeah. Also you're miming holding the pad here.
Mike Birbiglia
And the pen here so that there's never getting.
Sona Movsesian
That's how I do it.
Conan O'Brien
I think this should be about Mike Birbiglia. And one thing that I. Wow.
Mike Birbiglia
I don't think Matt was trying to make it not be about that.
Conan O'Brien
I don't like it when someone prattles on with their own voice and doesn't let the guest talk. Which reminds me of a story in 1967. I wanted a cat and my parents took me to the angel memorial. Oh, well, that can wait. Mike, there is so much crazy stuff that you talk about that I can relate to. But here's something you talk about in the special, which I'm so glad you brought up, which is our visit, our visit to the Pope. By the time this airs, the Pope will have been gone for quite a while. It will no longer be the top story in the news. But you talk about the Pope inviting a bunch of comedians. And we were among that elite squad of comedians that were invited. And it was a. He spoke to us in Italian. And you talk about this in the special, what he said. And actually it was quite beautiful. It was about comedy and comedy's place. And I thought you did a very nice job. And it's very powerful now that your special's coming out because he is no longer with us. And I was impressed with what he said to us. Yeah.
Mike Birbiglia
He basically said, comedy. In these divisive times, comedy has the power to unite us, bring people together. And when you make one audience member laugh, God smiles also.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Mike Birbiglia
And I just thought it was Beautiful.
Conan O'Brien
You know, it's funny, he spoke to us in Italian so it just sounded like a waiter was telling us our options.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, my God.
Conan O'Brien
He actually said tagliatelle at one point.
Mike Birbiglia
But then I find that very offensive. As an Italian American, you should.
Conan O'Brien
That's how I meant it.
Mike Birbiglia
No, but that. Your brain just goes to this sort of Italian food stereotypes. It's like, after all we've been through as immigrants in the early 20th century.
Conan O'Brien
Wait a minute, the Irish were immigrants too. Sona came here like six weeks ago.
Matt Gourley
I mean, he's not bad at Irish people.
Conan O'Brien
No, but what I'm saying is he said in his speech, you want a meatball? Remember that part? I'm sorry, which part of this is offensive? Do you remember the part where he ended it with God bless you and do you want a meatball? Do you recall?
Mike Birbiglia
No, you know, I don't remember that part of it.
Conan O'Brien
It's weird that I remember.
Mike Birbiglia
No, no, I. I faintly remember it. I faintly remember it. Yeah, no, but it was.
Conan O'Brien
I'm trying to make you complicit in my terrible riff. Don' did the Pope speak?
Mike Birbiglia
Did the Pope say anything to you?
Conan O'Brien
Well, they bring us up one by one in a line.
Mike Birbiglia
True story.
Conan O'Brien
And we got a handshake. And.
Mike Birbiglia
And by the way, Chris Rock, Conan, Stephen Colbert, David Sedaris. And in the special, I point out. I know I'm at the bottom of the list.
Conan O'Brien
Not so. Not so. I didn't like that self deprecating quip, and I'm not a fan of self deprecating comedy, but it is really funny that the way both of us found out, which is the way I think all of us found out, is that apparently the second person closest to God other than the Pope is comedian Jim Gaffigan.
Mike Birbiglia
That's right.
Conan O'Brien
Because you say in your special that Jim Gaffigan that, you know, your mother said you were called by God. And he went, no, no. I actually got a call from Jim Gaffigan and I remember my.
Mike Birbiglia
Who was called by Stephen Colbert. He may have been called by Gunn.
Conan O'Brien
But I think it. But Gaffigan, I think is like the go to.
Mike Birbiglia
He's in the mix.
Conan O'Brien
Vatican guy.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah, yeah.
Conan O'Brien
I think Colbert wants to be the go to Vatican guy, but I think it might be. I think Gaffigan had performed. I want to say he performed for the Pope.
Mike Birbiglia
He opened for the Pope. He opened for the Pope in Pennsylvania years ago.
Conan O'Brien
Yes. For real. True story.
Mike Birbiglia
True story.
Sona Movsesian
That's not a joke in a bit.
Conan O'Brien
No, no. He came out and he Opened for the Pope, but I've opened for the Devil on the road.
Mike Birbiglia
Okay.
Sona Movsesian
You know, I get so mad at myself when I. Cause I believed he opened for the Pope.
Conan O'Brien
No, he did. Oh, he did. He did open for the Pope.
Sona Movsesian
He did a joke, so I thought.
Conan O'Brien
Right. But my joke doesn't negate that truth.
Sona Movsesian
It does kind of doesn't help.
Matt Gourley
Yeah.
Mike Birbiglia
Mama mia.
Conan O'Brien
I'm at the Pope. Yes, yes, the bit.
Mike Birbiglia
But now I'm saying earnestly, earnestly to you, that Jim Gaffigan open for the Pope.
Conan O'Brien
Yes. True story. That is a true story. And Jim Gaffigan is. I.
Matt Gourley
Wait, was the Pope funny to follow Jim Gaffigan?
Conan O'Brien
Wait, here's what I hear back. Is that the Pope that Gaffigan was killing? And the Pope was like, get him off stage. Get him off.
Mike Birbiglia
He's going long.
Conan O'Brien
He's going long. I said seven minutes.
Mike Birbiglia
I gave him a leather light.
Matt Gourley
I have a bit about Hot Pockets.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, no. Step on my Hot Pocket. Joe.
Sona Movsesian
The light.
Conan O'Brien
Cause the Hot Pocket, what's inside as a meatball. Anyway, I started.
Mike Birbiglia
He just. By the way, he just died. The Pope.
Conan O'Brien
You're mocking, but you know what?
Mike Birbiglia
Mocking the Pope with an Italian stereotypical voice. He literally just died. His body's still warm.
Conan O'Brien
No, it's not warm. No, he's not on a frying. They don't have the. It's so fresh. He's not on a.
Mike Birbiglia
Conan.
Conan O'Brien
Respectfully, I'm saying. He doesn't have one of those French fry lights on him. He's not Argentinian. He was. He was born. Yes, he is.
Mike Birbiglia
Wait, did the Pope say anything to you when you walked up to him? Cause we had a moment with him. Did he say anything to me? Because he said something to me.
Conan O'Brien
All he said to me is, who's a Babiglia? And I'm like, he does. It's like a one man show. It's very good. And he says, I don't have time. No, I don't. I just. He did not say something to me. We had an exchange. I just said, thank you so much, you, Holiness, for having me, and this is an honor. And I shook hands, and I got the impression that it was an assembly line that they were cranking through us.
Mike Birbiglia
What did he say to you? For me, it was, you know, it was pretty intense. Leaned in, spoke into my ear. He goes, you are Jesus. And now he's dead. And so nobody can substantiate this, but it's like, I don't know.
Conan O'Brien
Well, I'm sure you know what the whole thing's on tape.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah, I guess I thought maybe he.
Conan O'Brien
Said, let me tell you something. These other guys are fuckers, but you, you really miss impression.
Mike Birbiglia
He was like, I like the Len. Maybe I'm a Leno guy.
Conan O'Brien
He went away and he come back just like Jesus.
Mike Birbiglia
When he came back in the 10 o' clock slot, I thought, is anybody even watching this?
Conan O'Brien
It was. I have to tell you.
Sona Movsesian
Oh my God. What happened to you?
Conan O'Brien
Listen, first of all, can I say something?
Sona Movsesian
He was so mad at me.
Conan O'Brien
Can I say something? Sona, you are correcting two people for their Pope impression. The only two people in the room who met and spoke to the Pope.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
We are doing an exact replica of what he sounded like.
Sona Movsesian
Okay?
Mike Birbiglia
We're professionals.
Conan O'Brien
Jesus Christ.
Mike Birbiglia
This is how Pope were.
Sona Movsesian
He's not even Italian. So that's the thing that's really surprising.
Conan O'Brien
No, he spoke Italian.
Sona Movsesian
Okay. But he had an Italian accent when he spoke English.
Conan O'Brien
You know what he actually does the voice of it's a me Amario. He does. That's.
Mike Birbiglia
In fairness in the special, I am guilty of saying yippee. Of saying, who's that? I'mma make a pizza on the Eucharist. Which I'm sure if my dad ever sees the special, he will not like.
Conan O'Brien
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Mike Birbiglia
Oh, the best.
Conan O'Brien
Yes. So delicious. Perfect Tillamook flavor for you. Blay. It's so creamy, Tillamook. Oh, so creamy. Whatever flavor you get, you'll enjoy it. You know, I like things simple like vanilla bean cookies and cream, of course. Good chocolate hazelnut. Yes. Find Tillamook ice cream near you@tillamook.com. that's T I L L A M O O K dot com. Haven't you heard? The newest fashion trend is finding clothes. It's such attitude up front.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
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Sona Movsesian
I love everything from Quints and I shop from there often. Everything is really great quality at a very good price.
Conan O'Brien
And you wear the pieces. I sometimes. David, many is the time I've stopped you and said, hey, that looks nice. What are you wearing? And you've said, it's Quint. Quint. Yeah. Yeah. Stick to the staples that last with elevated essentials from quint. Go to quince.comconan for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's almost a year. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.comconan to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.comconan this is an advertisement from BetterHelp. Men today face immense pressure to keep it all together. But bottling things up can lead to depression or unhealthy habits. It's okay to struggle. Real strength comes from opening up about what you're carrying so you can be at your best for yourself and for everyone in your life. If you're a man, you're feeling the weight of the world. Talk to somebody. Not a sign of weakness. It's a sign of strength. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 5 million people globally. It's convenient, too. You can join a session with a therapist at the click of a button, helping you fit therapy into your busy life. Plus, switch therapists at at any time. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. There's no reason not to try talk it out. With BetterHelp, our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.comconan that's betterhelp.comconan Anyway, I'm glad we, I'm glad we, we, we took care of the pope, I think. Oh, do we took care of the pope. But it was a lovely experience to be there. And it wasn't just American comedians. We were a small contingent. It was comedians from all around the world.
Mike Birbiglia
All around the world. And then I met. I. I met Liza, your wife. I met your son. And then I had a question, which is. Cause you know, the special's all about what. What can I teach my daughter? And what have I learned from my dad? And so my question for you is, your son is great. What'd you do right? What do you think you did right?
Conan O'Brien
I will give. All joking aside, not all joking. I'm sure I'll get back around to it. But my wife is. And you will back me up on this because you've known her for a long time. But everyone here, she is a lovely person, a great soul, and she was and is such an amazing mom. I think I'm a good dad, but I think she is the stellar parent. You know what I mean? And so I give her a lot of credit. But I also think you talk about this, which I think is really nice. Cause I can't stress enough. The special is very funny. But then there are these just great nuggets in there that. That burble up of wisdom and thoughtfulness. And you talk a lot about just modeling good behavior, that kids pick up on everything. And your kids have watched you and your wife be decent people. And I don't think. I don't think there's any replacement for that. Do you know what I mean? My kids have seen me be inept, clumsy. They've seen me make an ass of myself in different ways. They're continually shocked that I seem to have made something of myself in the world. But I don't think they've seen a lot of bad behavior from me. And look, Matt Sona, you guys have kids. I think that is 90% is monkey see, monkey do. Kids look at their parents. And you talk about it in your special that you've kind of tried to just be nice, good people, right?
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah. I mean. Cause, yeah, when I was a kid, I joke in the special, but it's true. When I was a kid, my dad was a doctor. In his free time, he got his law degree. And I go, that's how much he didn't want to be a dad. I was like, what can I do in these slots of time when I would be parenting?
Conan O'Brien
Yep.
Mike Birbiglia
Yep. In fairness, we weren't great kids. We always wanted a dad, but. And he wanted another secondary degree.
Conan O'Brien
Our goals were at odds.
Mike Birbiglia
But, yeah, that was one of the things about being a kid is like, my dad was very, you know, serious about his job. And then he would. Every now and then he would just shout. He was just very old school. And I feel Like, I've. I've always grappled with that. I've always been like. I've always thought, if I'm ever a parent, and I'm now a parent, I'm just never gonna do that. Yep. And it wasn't just my dad. I mean, in Massachusetts, I'm sure you saw this all the time. The parents were wild.
Conan O'Brien
Well, I. I recognized this part, too, which is my dad. Incredibly sweet. And, you know, when we, you know, were kids, he had a temper, and he would uncork sometimes. And it was. You know, I think it was a kind of generational. Like, my dad. Again, you talked in your special about. You said your dad didn't. Instead of being sent off to fight in Vietnam because he was in medicine, they sent him to Texas.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah. To be on a base.
Conan O'Brien
To be on a base. The exact same thing happened to my dad in the Korean War.
Mike Birbiglia
Oh, no kidding.
Conan O'Brien
So he was sent to Texas, and he didn't really do anything that had anything to do with the military. So when my dad passed, we read in the instructions that he had left that when he and my mom died, the instructions were like. You know, he wanted, like, the full military honors at the funeral, which he's entitled to. And so I gave the eulogy from my dad. My brother Luke gave the eulogy from my mom. Cause it was a double funeral. And I said, first of all, let's get something straight. Cause there's, like, a big flag on his coffin. And, you know. And I just said, my dad was in the army the way Captain Crunch was in the Navy. And the reason I felt okay with that is I think that would have really made my dad laugh. And when my dad laughed, he grabbed his shoulders and. Cause there was. So you don't want to express too much. It's not just too much emotion. Also, joy. Everything's kind of bottled up in this Catholic way.
Mike Birbiglia
Oh, yeah.
Conan O'Brien
And so he would uncork sometimes, get angry and frustrated. And I remember thinking, it's just generational. I'm sure he had witnessed that with his parents. I don't want my. I just don't ever want to be that dad. I didn't want to be angry, dad.
Mike Birbiglia
Me neither.
Conan O'Brien
So I think.
Mike Birbiglia
So one time I said to my daughter, I go. So I go. When my dad. She goes. One day, I was emotional about something. Like, I was like, I don't know if we should do. And then my daughter goes, dad, why are you yelling? I go, oh, this isn't yelling.
Conan O'Brien
I know what yelling is.
Mike Birbiglia
I go, just so, you know, when I was a kid, my dad, you know, and. And I'm. And I literally said to her, I'm gonna shout right now. This isn't me shouting. I'm doing an impression of my dad. He would go, where are my goddamn keys? And she was like, oh, my God. And she was like. You know, she was like, he's not. He's not shouting like that now. And I'm like, you're stealing my jokes. Yeah, that's straight out of the special.
Matt Gourley
Yes.
Conan O'Brien
She's really got it for my dad in the famous Laura and Earth is there's a special spoon that has a serrated edge for eating grapefruit.
Mike Birbiglia
Oh, really?
Conan O'Brien
Yeah, it's a grapefruit spoon. You know, it has a little serrated edge. So you can. And there was one in our house, and my dad liked to use it to eat his grapefruit in the morning. And one morning, he couldn't find his grapefruit spoon and just listen to the guy narrate the explosion of the Hindenburg. It's a little similar. And so we just clock things. And we clock things where we say, like, I love my dad. My dad was an amazing person. I'm gonna. I'm gonna try to not do that.
Mike Birbiglia
Part, but it's interesting, because no matter what you do as a parent, I feel like what I've discovered is it doesn't mean you're better as a parent than your parents were to you. You're just ultimately different because, like, I. Because, you know, I was raised very Catholic, et cetera. And. And so, you know, we don't really do a lot of the Catholic stuff. And then we're in the Vatican, and Una's. My daughter's looking around, and she goes, dad, who's Jesus? And I was like, oh, wow. I have really overlooked a lot of major historical facts in my education just for pop culture. No, really. She knows the Greek gods and the Roman gods.
Conan O'Brien
She knows the band Jesus and Mary Change.
Mike Birbiglia
But I was like, oh, it's interesting because that is something that, since going to the Pope, I have started telling her more about what Jesus taught. Yes. Which I think is generally net positive, with some caveats.
Conan O'Brien
I think we can all agree that the core, not just of Christianity, but the core teachings of many religions, they have this commonality, this beautiful. All in their own different way. But the core tenets of many religions are fantastic.
Mike Birbiglia
Absolutely.
Conan O'Brien
Just about treating how you should treat other people. Humility. And then we, of course, over the centuries, have added all of this glop to it. And it's turned into mega churches and virtue signaling and insanity. But if you just go to the basic tenets, they're very beautiful.
Mike Birbiglia
Yes. And Pope Francis seemed to embody a lot of the best aspects of Christianity and Catholicism.
Conan O'Brien
I remember. And this is a funny thing to seize on, but he was a very humble man, Pope Francis. And when he came into the room, I don't know if you noticed this. Did you notice his shoes he was wearing worn kind of walking earth shoe, like Mephisto kind of.
Mike Birbiglia
Oh, yeah.
Conan O'Brien
They were just very. They were shoes that you would pick up at a very inexpensive store.
Matt Gourley
Like a Florshum or something.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah, something like that. They were just very basic kind of worn shoes that a guy would wear on a bus or the guy who's driving the bus. And I remembered thinking there was no sense of the pomp and the gold and the rings. And I thought that was impressive. Yeah, I mean, he had that one ring, the papal ring.
Mike Birbiglia
Well. And he won that NBA championship for the Mavs.
Conan O'Brien
Yes, Mavericks. Well, I said. I made the mistake of saying Mavericks. And he said, who's this Mav? They said, call it the Mavs. Remember that?
Mike Birbiglia
Oh, yeah.
Conan O'Brien
You said, meatball.
Mike Birbiglia
We beat the Nuggets in the finals. They went into overtime. Now, I'm doing New York, New York, New York.
Conan O'Brien
Folks, what we're going to do is edit out all of my stuff where the Pope is speaking in an offensive Italian, and just keep yours in. And then we're going to post tape me saying things like, please stop, Mike. Please. The man is gone.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah. I want to know about these notes, okay? I need to know what the notes are doing.
Conan O'Brien
I told him. The two people I've seen in my career who had the most notes when they came out were Garry Shandling and Joan Rivers. Joan Rivers had a lot of notes. And I recently ran into Melissa Rivers and I said, I remembered your mom when every time she came on my show, she was backstage with tons of. And she filled in for me notes.
Mike Birbiglia
Notes.
Conan O'Brien
She said, mom clearly believed in preparing. So you have brought your notes with you.
Mike Birbiglia
Well, I just had a couple questions for you guys because I talk about in the special. Did you guys have a sex talk growing up?
Conan O'Brien
No, I did not.
Matt Gourley
No, I did, but I gave it to my dad.
Mike Birbiglia
What was it?
Conan O'Brien
I want to give me some sex.
Matt Gourley
Is what you said, dad, you're going to. You're going to want to be with a woman. No, he just gave me the most uncomfortable. Right before dropping me off to high school. Like okay, you're going to want to try drugs and have sex and just be safe and don't overdo either of them. Have a great day.
Conan O'Brien
That's not bad advice.
Matt Gourley
No, that's pretty good. And for that reason, I didn't do do either for a long time.
Conan O'Brien
But. And I've been accused of overdoing sex. I don't know what that means. Yeah, you overdid it. What?
Mike Birbiglia
I didn't have a sex dog growing up, but when I was probably around 20, I was living with my girlfriend for a summer, and then my dad.
Conan O'Brien
And she had the talk with me. We're gonna do something soon. My dad was gonna be scary.
Mike Birbiglia
My dad was very, very upset about it. And he just sort of, like before I left, he looked at me for a little bit and he goes, you're playing with fire.
Conan O'Brien
Oh.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, my God.
Mike Birbiglia
That was the whole conversation.
Matt Gourley
That was your sex talk?
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah. And I was like, I got a hose. You know what I mean? I don't know.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, that's the. I did not get a sex talk. And I'm. I'm still waiting.
Mike Birbiglia
Still waiting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, this is the thing. I'll say. I take the Conan o' Brien Needs a friend podcast premise, I think, much more seriously than the other guests. Last time, I demanded to have a real friendship with Conan. Since then, we visited the Pope and we had coffee in Brooklyn.
Conan O'Brien
We did.
Mike Birbiglia
There were two definitive days.
Conan O'Brien
And I am coming on your podcast to get my ass to New York. And I feel badly because we walked in and your assistant was here who works with you on the podcast, and she has an antiquated name.
Mike Birbiglia
Mabel.
Conan O'Brien
Mabel.
Mike Birbiglia
Mabel Lewis. Yep.
Conan O'Brien
It's not a name you hear all, but Mabel. You don't hear Mabel.
Mike Birbiglia
She's gonna love that.
Conan O'Brien
But I.
Mike Birbiglia
She has an antiquated name.
Conan O'Brien
No. And she was wearing a bonnet.
Mike Birbiglia
She was wearing a bonnet.
Conan O'Brien
She was wearing a bonnet. And she was a horse.
Mike Birbiglia
She came on in a horse drawn carriage and.
Conan O'Brien
But she was in the podcast room when I walked in. This very nice young woman wearing a bonnet, and she was working a loom when I came in.
Mike Birbiglia
It was a loom. Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
She had an antiquated name, said Conan. I mean, that's the podcast.
Matt Gourley
I know, I know.
Conan O'Brien
She seems lovely. And she's going, I'll be seeing her at the podcast. And I yelled at her for even daring to be in here. Mach yelled at her. And I said, for symmetry. She needs to scream at me when I come to your podcast.
Mike Birbiglia
But I want to move my friendship With Conan to a quarterly this year? Yeah. You mean right now? We did two meetings in the last year and a half.
Conan O'Brien
Let's see. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm going to be. I think I'm gonna be in New York in June, and that's when this is. It drops.
Mike Birbiglia
That's when this drops.
Conan O'Brien
It drops, right?
Sona Movsesian
Yeah, sure.
Conan O'Brien
I think we should get together in June, and I'll either do your podcast or we'll meet up for more than coffee. What's more than coffee? A lunch, I think.
Mike Birbiglia
A lunch? Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Okay. Not a dinner. I won't do a dinner with you.
Mike Birbiglia
Okay. Fair.
Matt Gourley
Next year.
Conan O'Brien
We'll see.
Mike Birbiglia
So we went to. We went to Italy. My daughter was there. Your son was there. And so my daughter met Conan, of course. Just thinks he's another person going to the Vatican. Just this tall, tall man going to the Vatican also. And then we show. When the Oscars come on. We show her the Oscars. Like that. Remember him? Conan from the Vatican. So that.
Conan O'Brien
How old is your daughter? She's 44.
Mike Birbiglia
44 years old. She just turned 10. But we showed her the Oscars and we laughed at the Adam Sandler bit a lot. It's like really silly, him wearing a hooded sweatshirt. And the next day I drove her to school, and I was wearing a hooded sweatshirt. And she goes, you look like Adam. And I go, adam who? And she goes, adam from the Oscars. I think that's the only time he's ever been referred to as Adam from the Oscars.
Conan O'Brien
Yes, yes. That's. You know, what you said in your special, it's cute. Which was sweet, was that whenever you're out in the real world and someone comes up to you and says, I love your comedy. You had this great line about your kid's response.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah, yeah. Well, I said to her. Cause I was, like, thinking. I was like, that's so weird for her. Probably someone's like, oh, you're a great comedian. And I walked a few blocks. I go, uno. What do you think when people say stuff like that? And she goes, it's a waste of my time. I was like, that's the meanest thing anyone's ever said to me. And I know Bill Burr.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, God, no. That killed me. It's really funny. My kids have a great, healthy disinterest for my shenanigans professionally. And I think way deep down, they're proud of my. If I do some good work. But mostly, again, a waste of their time. Yeah, yeah. And I remember walking through the Street. Once down the street, and I was with my daughter. And do you ever. I reuse some lines. And what I get a lot is, you're much taller in person.
Mike Birbiglia
Sure.
Conan O'Brien
I get that all the time. And so I just learned the thing that always works is people be like, hey, you're much taller than you are on tv. And I say, you're much taller in person than you are on tv. And I'll say, well, you need a bigger tv. And it always works. It just works. I'll say, you need a six foot four television. They're like, ha, ha ha. And we're done. I did that, and my daughter shot me a look. This is a bunch of years ago. She shot me a look. And she said, you've done that one before. And I said, you want an original line for every human I meet? And she kind of gave me a look like, yeah, yeah. You can't reuse material.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
I'm like, you can when you're walking around a mall, you know, what are you talking about? We really got into it, and I started screaming at it, which I promised I'd never do. I said, I'd never be that dad. But that's where he got into it.
Mike Birbiglia
When you hosted the Oscars, I texted you. I go, conan, you showed us how it's done. All of us comedians are diligently taking notes. Do you have advice? I was just about to film my special, and Conan wrote back, and it was very sweet. He wrote, thanks, tons of prep. But I ended up having fun out there. I guess that's the only lesson. Yeah, that's true. And I think that. That the special is, I think, the most fun that I've ever had on stage in one of the film specials.
Conan O'Brien
There is something contagious about people having fun.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah. This special is really specific what the preparation was. It was 70 cities over two years. So I toured, and every city was different. You know, keep making tweaks. Keep making tweaks. And then my director, Seth Barish, who's directed, like, all six of my last specials, he has a theater company called the Barrow Group. And we would have these impromptu, like, rehearsals for whoever was around. It'd be like 10 people in, like, a room. And I just go, this is the story. And it wouldn't be like, stand up. It wouldn't be, like, people bought a ticket. And I would just do the special you guys saw. Like, I would just perform it, and you'd see which parts just don't ring true.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Mike Birbiglia
Cause you take away the inertia of like a thousand people in a room going yay. And it's just like me telling you a story. It starts to be like, oh, okay, well that part's a little bullshit. And this part really feels like something.
Conan O'Brien
That'S the part of it that speaks to something I don't understand. There's a almost mystical quality to some of this mass communication or whatever we want to call it. But specifically comedy where, I mean, and the same thing is true in music where you can try over and over and over and over again to get them to like the thing that they don't like or that they don't respond to. And you can keep tweaking it and working it, but when you find those real things, those nuggets, they just have a palpable weight. And sometimes you just find them conversationally with your friends or out in the world. You find something, you're like, oh, this is, you know, this is great. There's something about this phrase or this story with this, you know. And it's funny cause we started this and I asked you off mic cause you talk a lot about your dad having this, having a stroke, having a stroke. And it sounds like it was a pretty serious neurological event. And this is another thing I can relate to because your dad's a doctor, he starts to try and take control of his own care. And I watched your special and I went right to my dad 20 years ago being diagnosed with colon cancer. And they go in and they do the major surgery, not orthoscopic, but they go in and they do the major abdominal incision and take out a section of his intestine and sew him back up again. And he wakes up after the operation and there are these tubes going in and they're basically anesthesia to block the nerves so that he doesn't feel the pain. And he looked at them and he said, what is this? And they said, well, this is to keep you from feeling the agony of this abdominal surgery. And he said, it will slow recovery. Take it out. And they said, no, no, no, we just cut through you with a buzz saw and took out. And my dad said, take it out. And they took it out. I flew home, cause I was in Los Angeles. I flew home to see my dad thinking. And I said, I'll stop off at my parents house first in Brookline and drop off my stuff and go right to the hospital to visit my dad. And this is like that day after the operation I arrived cause I had to. I would have been in New York. So I Flew in. Had to do a show. Flew in. I don't have a key to the house. I ring the doorbell. The door opens. It's my dad opening the door. No. Yes. He had had his, like, intestine removed the day before.
Mike Birbiglia
Oh, my gosh.
Conan O'Brien
And he's standing there white as a sheet, and he was like, it is good to see you, son.
Mike Birbiglia
Oh, my gosh.
Conan O'Brien
And I can tell he's basically been gutted like a fish. But he KN that you can recover quickly with no anesthesia or a little bit longer and feel comfortable. And he did that. And that's when I thought, there's so much in your special where I thought, yep, I can check that box, too. Yeah, there's so much I can check on.
Mike Birbiglia
It's such a strange thing watching a neurologist. My dad is a neurologist being treated by a neurologist, and they're essentially conferring with each other about what has happened.
Conan O'Brien
And then your dad gave Dr. A bill.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah. Yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Here's my bill. And here's my bill.
Matt Gourley
We'll go Dutch.
Mike Birbiglia
There was a point where. Where. And when he was at the hospital early on, where. Where he. He. My brother Joe said to me. He goes, I went to see dad today, and he said, in the middle of the night, they took me downstairs, and I got hit by a truck. And I was like, dad, it's worse than that. You know what I mean?
Conan O'Brien
Yes. Yes.
Mike Birbiglia
It's oddly like. Yeah, it's a shocking experience, what he's.
Conan O'Brien
Been through and how's his recovery going.
Mike Birbiglia
His recovery's okay. I mean, a few weeks ago, he had pneumonia and the flu at the same time. Yeah. And it just becomes. I mean, the special. I mean, the special has been an interesting process for me, because I wasn't planning on writing about it. I started writing about it. What can I teach my daughter? And then a year into writing that show, my dad has the stroke. And so then I'm like, okay, what. What can I teach my daughter? What have I learned from my dad? And in the process of it, I feel like I've learned to empathize with my dad in this way that I don't think I did. I did when I was younger. I think I just viewed him as larger than life and not quite as a person. And I think it's been very healthy and healing.
Conan O'Brien
You know what helped me a lot is when my daughter was born, and then two years later, my son was born. And I remember telling my wife, no matter what we do, they're Going to go to a therapist and have complaints or issues, because that's just how it is. And if you accept that up front and you're not defensive about it, we're all doing the best we can, and that includes our parents and their parents. We're all doing well. It's not true. There are parents that are not doing the best they can, but most people are doing the best they can, and that's what we're doing. We're doing the best we can. I haven't seen my kids in years, but my manager and my agent tell me they are prospering.
Mike Birbiglia
I spoke with your publicist about the modeling that your children are doing.
Conan O'Brien
Yes, I got them into modeling.
Mike Birbiglia
I know you're getting the checks from it.
Conan O'Brien
Well, they say that, but once they turned 18, they're supposed to get the money, but I am fighting that. And this is reminding me of this crazy riff I did so with Brand, with Bob Newhart, who passed about, I'm say, a year and a half ago, but we were doing something I might have been doing. He did a podcast for a while, and I don't know if I was talking to him, but we got on this crazy riff about doing stuff for charities, and we both started doing this thing about how. Yeah. And then when it's sick kids, and then you're supposed to give them the money. And it was so great. Cause Bob Newhart, who's, you know, a saint, but he was so dry, and he was like, oh, I know, tell me about it. You know, but. And we were both doing this fake riff about how we were trying to hide the money for the children's hospital. That's what I love is the. Is that when you can go that dark with people who are.
Mike Birbiglia
Oh, yeah.
Conan O'Brien
At that point, he would have been 94, and he can go that dark and wants to go that dark.
Mike Birbiglia
Oh, yeah.
Conan O'Brien
And you realize, oh, this is just universal. We're all terrible people. No.
Mike Birbiglia
And this show is definitely the darkest of my specials, just by the subject matter, you know, and it's like, it's been an interesting thing because, like, there's that joke where I say my dad had a stroke, and it's been devastating, but I will say it has calmed him down.
Conan O'Brien
You know, you have a lot of lines like that get big laughs, but if you. You're also touching a third rail, which is the whole point. Right.
Mike Birbiglia
But it's interesting because you just. When people laugh at that. And. And. And, you know, there was a point at which it. Early in the development I was like, oh, that's a little tense. And then I was. I would say to the audience, I go, you know, a lot of the jokes tonight are for me. Yeah, some. Most of them are for you, but a few are for me. This is a coping mechanism, and I hope it is for you too. Yeah, I think that that's the thing I've realized in the process of writing this show is that, like, comedy for all of us is a coping mechanism of some kind.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, it's a total defense mechanism. Coping mechanism. I've often said I just, as a very young child, went through my checklist of, you know, I know everyone's given certain superpowers. What are mine? And I went through, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. And then I got, you know, oh, I can. My friends think I'm funny. We're gonna double and triple down.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Conan O'Brien
Cause it's not gonna be an athletic scholarship. Well, the. The show, the Good Life is on Netflix. It's your sixth special overall, but your fourth on Netflix. They probably don't want you to acknowledge anything that wasn't on Netflix.
Mike Birbiglia
True, true.
Conan O'Brien
So. And I believe that's either out now or out any day.
Mike Birbiglia
It's out.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, it's out.
Mike Birbiglia
It's available everywhere.
Conan O'Brien
Watch it. Because you do beautiful work, Mike. You really do. And there's this. A bunch of these young comedians who come from a generation or two before me, who I really adore you and Mulaney, and I mean, the list goes on and on and on, but just that. Do really great work. And I watch you guys, and it makes me happy. Makes me happy. Like, oh, comedy is in very good hands. It's time for me to die, and.
Mike Birbiglia
Mike Birbiglia needs a friend. There we go.
Conan O'Brien
Which we have agreed that you. You will slide right in.
Matt Gourley
It's official.
Conan O'Brien
It's starting now. Yeah. No, wait a minute. Okay, we can do it. Give me a couple of months, get my affairs in order. But congratulations on another amazing show, and thank you for making it. It really made me feel very connected to you and also really laugh. This is good medicine for all. And now, quick disclaimer. Pope Francis did not speak with that Italian accent.
Mike Birbiglia
Conan o' Brien.
Conan O'Brien
Disrespect to my grave. I'm up in the heaven now, and I have to listen to this shit. All right, Mike, thank you very much.
Mike Birbiglia
This is such an honor. It's my favorite podcast, and I. I just appreciate you guys having me on.
Conan O'Brien
I'll see you soon. I'll see you.
Mike Birbiglia
See you In New York, couple weeks.
Conan O'Brien
Yep. Dads are a lot of things. Let's face it, I'm a dad. Yes. Got two kids. That's right. Grill masters, soccer coaches. Wait, I'm not any of these things. Gadget fixers. Nope. Strike three. They're also the hardest people to shop for. Really? Okay, I guess. So this Father's Day, let Macy's be your guide to gifting. Here we go. Yeah. Macy's is the gifting destination to shop for your father or all the important men in your life. Blay. You know, I gotta say, Father's Day sometimes is dismissed. Mother's Day gets all the attention. Yeah, exactly. I don't get anything on Father's Day often, but this year here, I'm banking on it. And I want people to go to Macy's and buy me everything. I deserve everything. Pretty much any type of gift you can imagine. Some ones you might not have thought of. All at Macy's. We're talking Polos, watches, fragrances. I love a fragrance. Lego barware, electronics, barbecue, gadgets, wallets, underwear, sleepwear, travel accessories, exercise equipment and gaming gear to name a few. And they've got all the brands your dad's just gonna love. Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Levi's, Club Room, Hugo Boss, fanatics, and Finish line. Whoa. I knew two of those. Anyway, let Macy's be your guide to gifting for Father's day. Head to Macy's.com giftguide today. Oh man, I do a lot of traveling. Yeah, that I do the travel shows. Nothing quite like the feeling of an upgrade when you're traveling. Well, as a T mobile customer, you can take the perks with you. That's good. Isn't that nice? It starts the moments you take off with free in flight Wi fi so you can stream your favorite show on the go. Obviously that would be this show, I would think. Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
You. You go in a plane and then you stream your podcast.
Conan O'Brien
If I'm anxious about a flight, the thing that calms me is seeing myself. And then when you land, T Mobile's got you covered with 15 off all Hilton brands. Did you know that?
Sona Movsesian
No.
Conan O'Brien
Yep. Plus you're covered by with 5 gigabytes count em 5 of high speed data in over 215 countries and destinations with Go 5G or next plans. And I have to tell you, it's a nice feeling. When I travel the globe for my travel work, I like to know that when I land in that other country, I'm covered, I'm there. I can text you and say, hey, I got here safely. I forgot to feed my cat. Could you feed my cat? You could remind me I don't have a cat. It's all good. Good stuff. Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
You FaceTimed me before from another country. And it was crisp. She was clear.
Conan O'Brien
Yep. You could see every mark on my face. Find out how you can experience travel better@t mobile.com Travel qualifying plan required. Wi Fi where available on select US airlines. Terms and conditions apply. All right, we do have to address something which is before the interview officially began with Mike Birbiglia, we start yapping, and we always do this because. And then we don't record on that, or we don't usually air that because we start with, aha. My name is blank and I feel blank. But we thought we should stop doing that. We should just start playing this stuff. Cause it was a good area. We had some fun. And it was before the official start of the podcast, so. So we were just chatting.
Matt Gourley
Sometimes I will take those things and splice them in the interview. But funnily enough, this one was so crazy energy that when you guys actually started the podcast, you both got really sober and somber, and they would never cut together.
Conan O'Brien
I know. That's the thing, is I came in hot.
Sona Movsesian
Yes.
Conan O'Brien
I come in hot sometimes. And you were actually worried. Cause my energy was very high. In a good way. I mean, I was in a great mood. I love Mike Birbiglia. I'm happy to be here. Nice to see you guys. I'm kind of jazzed. And then I have the biggest cup of coffee in the world. And you were worried, like, he's gonna go up from here. Yeah. So I think maybe I came in hot. Brebiglia. Or as I call him, Brabigs, which doesn't really work as a nickname. No.
Sona Movsesian
I didn't hear you call him that once.
Conan O'Brien
Never did. I just thought of it right now.
Matt Gourley
I think that's his Instagram handle, isn't it?
Conan O'Brien
Or Biggs.
Matt Gourley
Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, is it?
Conan O'Brien
Is it?
Matt Gourley
Yeah, I think it is.
Mike Birbiglia
Is.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, it's terrible. I be.
Sona Movsesian
I'd go with B. Biggy.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
If I was him.
Conan O'Brien
I say B. Roni.
Sona Movsesian
I go bin Notorious B. I G.
Conan O'Brien
But what was it we were talking about? Because I can't remember.
Matt Gourley
We were talking about how Berbiglia is offering that when you die. Yeah, he will do. Mike Bia needs a friend. And take Sona and I on.
Conan O'Brien
Yes, yes, he. Which brings up a very good point. We don't have a succession plan, and we need one we do. I mean, I don't know when this drops, but we've just lost the Pope. And that's a whole process they go through for finding someone. It's. It's usually a conclave. Yeah, I don't know if there would be a conclave to find who takes over this podcast should something happen to me.
Sona Movsesian
Who would be in? Well, these three would be in it.
Conan O'Brien
Play. Eduardo and Adam would be Eduardo and Adam.
Sona Movsesian
We're cardinals for sure. Or are we in the running? I don't want to.
Conan O'Brien
I'm. I don't think you guys want to host it. No, you. Let me just tell you something. Host. It's a very high pressure position, and I think you guys get to go like, what. What's he talking about? Eye roll. And then you get the check. And it's all nice to be the tent pole, to be the one who's in the F16 piloting it.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, you think that's what you're doing?
Matt Gourley
Anyway, Sony, he's right. So we should just co host.
Conan O'Brien
Okay.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah, we could just do that.
Conan O'Brien
So who would. Who should it be? Will it be Birbiglia who will take over this podcast?
Matt Gourley
I think he's a strong contender.
Conan O'Brien
Who else would it be? Who else do we think would be. Have the. I mean, very few people. And this sounds like a. I'm thinking it's not even a humble brag. It's just a brag. But who else would have my combination of skills?
Sona Movsesian
Wow, this is a read off of a paper. That's so much work.
Conan O'Brien
Somebody just tears out page from a 1978 Yellow Pages. Let's get this plumber. Oh, no.
Sona Movsesian
What do I do? Someone gives me the research, and then I gotta ask questions.
Conan O'Brien
Occasionally.
Mike Birbiglia
I gotta doodle while I'm talking to people.
Sona Movsesian
My job is so hard.
Conan O'Brien
Guys, I know it looks to you like I just come in here and babble like a chimp, and then somehow it's cobbled together. But no, that's not what I do. I spend hours preparing my body. There's a whole regimen of various tubs filled with different oils at a different temperature. There's a whole thing that happens.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, my God.
Matt Gourley
So you get deep fried.
Conan O'Brien
Various oils. No, I think we should. You guys should be thinking about Adam. You should be thinking about who would step in. You're the podcast whisperer here. You're the one that thought I should do a podcast and started this insanity. As we're talking about it now, I'm actually thinking that I've been a Little derelict in my duties because I should have a. You know, all the, like big companies are talking about, what's the Disney succession plan everyone needs to have when their leader is aging? Everyone needs to have like a man. Wait a minute. Succession plan. Wait a minute, Adam. Wait a minute. It's my response. Responsibility to. To come up with. I was certain. I was certain we were talking about either an accident or me deciding to retire to my. My. My pony farm upstate.
Matt Gourley
And what do you mean is aging? How about has aged?
Conan O'Brien
You know, what about has aged back? I think it's legitimate. I'm going to overlook the way you said it, but I do think. And it is. It should. It should be my responsibility. And I think Birbigli is a great. Although I will say this. Every special he has is about his medical ailments. Today we found out that he was born without bones. Yeah, he has no bones. He uses coat hangers that are strapped to the outside of his body with remains.
Sona Movsesian
He doesn't have much time left either.
Conan O'Brien
I would worry about Birbiglia's health because every special he does is about. Oh, and by the way, I have another condition where my gums are growing into my heart. You know, so would you. Well, here's the thing though. I think you should be grooming your successor. I don't like the word grooming anymore. It's got some bad connotations.
Matt Gourley
This brings up the question, is this like a democracy or a conclave? Or do you get to appoint a successor like a. It seems like the autocrat would be the way you want to go.
Conan O'Brien
And Sona, you had suggested maybe this. It's more like succession. I'm Logan. Roy.
Sona Movsesian
You're Logan. You're definitely a Kendall.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. Excuse me. He is. He's Kendall. He is very. You're a very kind.
Sona Movsesian
You're very Kendall esque. And yeah, it's.
Conan O'Brien
And you. You're not a roller. Shiv.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah, I'm Shiv. I'm Shiv. But you're.
Conan O'Brien
You don't think. You're a.
Sona Movsesian
You're a Tom.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, and you know what? Blay. Blay is the guy who's. The guy who is out in Montana. You know, Connor. Yeah, Blay is Connor. Yeah.
Matt Gourley
I'm more a Tom than a Ken.
Sona Movsesian
You are a Tom.
Conan O'Brien
Blay thinks he's gonna run for president and no one takes him seriously. And I see myself as more of a Greg. That's true. Little. Little bumbly. You know what? You are more of a Greg than a Connor. Yeah. Yeah. And Eduardo's just Eduardo. I mean, you. You can't. You're not. There's no way to make it. There's no Latinos on Succession.
Sona Movsesian
Yo, snap.
Conan O'Brien
He's like a Matson. He's more of a Matson. Cool guy, right?
Sona Movsesian
No, I think he's. Oh, God. Jerry. He's Jerry.
Mike Birbiglia
If I get the same paycheck. Sure.
Conan O'Brien
As me. Sign me up. Yeah. There's not a lot of money in this. I mean, there was at one point.
Matt Gourley
Anyway. We don't have any more time to play the clip.
Sona Movsesian
Well, yeah, this is.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah, play the clip. This is. Play the clip.
Sona Movsesian
This is like Succession, though. If nobody wanted your job, though, like, it's, like, not gonna get it.
Conan O'Brien
And in succession, the company was very sought after and powerful. This is very different with. This is people saying, I don't want that. I'm gonna work at a shoe store instead. All right, play the clip.
Matt Gourley
Okay, here we go.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, man. Oh, man, have we got a lot to talk about. This is one of those ones where I wanna get right into it because we have so much to talk about.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah, I know there's a lot.
Conan O'Brien
You and your special will not come. Come up.
Mike Birbiglia
Okay, Got it.
Conan O'Brien
You understand?
Mike Birbiglia
No, let me just write this down.
Conan O'Brien
What I've got going on.
Mike Birbiglia
No promotions, new promotions, no motions of projects.
Conan O'Brien
Have you met the. Well, we'll. This is.
Matt Gourley
Mark. I just like to keep him on his toes.
Conan O'Brien
Listen, I came in a bit. Little hot. I apologize. I saw someone who shouldn't be here.
Mike Birbiglia
Yep, yep.
Conan O'Brien
And it infuriated me and.
Mike Birbiglia
No, I get it.
Conan O'Brien
You know what I mean? Right? You don't just let people wander around.
Mike Birbiglia
First of all, I brought a bunch. I brought notes again.
Conan O'Brien
Okay.
Matt Gourley
I love how prepared you. I love notes.
Mike Birbiglia
I got a stack of notes.
Conan O'Brien
Last person who I saw bring that many notes was Gary Shandling, and he's dead.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, my God.
Conan O'Brien
Dead. And maybe I think because of the notes.
Mike Birbiglia
That was one of. That was going to be one of my notes. Today is when. And I just want to pitch this to Matt and Sona when Conan dies. And I'm not saying he's going to die soon. Mike Birbiglian needs a friend.
Matt Gourley
Okay. Yes. We don't have to wait for that.
Mike Birbiglia
No, no. And we have.
Conan O'Brien
Or we can. Before we begin, I have one question.
Mike Birbiglia
No, no, that's part of it. That's part of it. Keep it in.
Conan O'Brien
This can't be part of the keep it in.
Mike Birbiglia
No, that's.
Conan O'Brien
Keep it in wasn't clear to me at the end dad. Okay, now.
Mike Birbiglia
Yeah. Okay. You're dying, dad. My dad is okay now. Y.
Conan O'Brien
He's better.
Mike Birbiglia
He's better.
Conan O'Brien
Okay. I just want to make sure before we get into it, because I'm really. I'm going to really roast him, and I want to make sure he's okay. Listen, I think it's what we do in Massachusetts. It is.
Matt Gourley
It really is.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah. Really is.
Sona Movsesian
Yeah.
Matt Gourley
These two California soft little babies.
Sona Movsesian
I'm really glad you're in my life.
Conan O'Brien
She's from Croatia.
Mike Birbiglia
For real. When Conan dies, it is important that you know that you will be the first two people who I want to have on Mike Birbiglian.
Conan O'Brien
True story.
Matt Gourley
You're just. You're gonna make us.
Conan O'Brien
You're gonna make us. I don't know why I want to start. We are, but you guys have created this thing that has to happen first where they go harmless, make me wiggly, and I feel nauseous about being. And because we have to do that, we can't record any of the. This shit. You created the perfect trap.
Sona Movsesian
It's all being recorded.
Conan O'Brien
Look at this. This is how an es. A guy with esp, does a podcast. That's a funny bit.
Matt Gourley
We're ready to come be on your podcast.
Conan O'Brien
Yeah.
Sona Movsesian
Mike Birbiglia needs a friend, you said. Okay, we're in Conan.
Mike Birbiglia
Let me tell you a few things about television. They're rolling right now, so we can use all of that.
Conan O'Brien
It's not television. It's not television. It's a podcast that's being recorded.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, my God. I hope there's no caffeine in whatever you're drinking.
Matt Gourley
There's a Valium in there.
Sona Movsesian
Oh, God.
Matt Gourley
Okay, over to you, Mike. Whenever you're ready.
Conan O'Brien
Whenever you want to say. It's lots of fun to do. If you like it, holla. Yeah. And if you don't, you're horrible.
Matt Gourley
Oh, no.
Mike Birbiglia
I listened to our last episode, and Yaboo in the comments is beloved. People love yaboo.
Conan O'Brien
Oh, yeah. Well, I could sing another one of his tunes, and I don't know if we brought that up, boy. Wow. Okay, let's start it. Okay. Fake start and go.
Matt Gourley
Conan o' Brien needs a friend. With Conan o' Brien, Sonam of Session, and Matt Gourley, produced by me, Matt Gourley, executive produced by Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross and Nick Leow. Theme song by the White Stripes, incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Take it away, Jimmy. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer. Samples, engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns Additional production support by Mars Melnick Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Bautista and Brit Kahn. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of SiriusXM when you sign up@siriusxm.com Conan and if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O' Brien needs a Friend wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.
Conan O'Brien
Hey, this is Jeff Lewis from Radio Andy Live and Uncensored. Catch me talking with my friends about my latest obsessions, relationship issues and bodily ailments. With that kind of drama that seems to follow me, you never know what's going to happen.
Sona Movsesian
You can listen to Jeff Lewis Live at home or anywhere you are. Download the SiriusXM app for over 425 channels of AD, free music, sports, entertainment and more. Subscribe now and get 3 months free offer details Apply.
Conan O'Brien
Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Whole Almonds makes for a wholly amazing holy delicious experience that's, well, holy. Hershey's, everyone to get to experience the satisfying surprise of a whole almond tucked inside creamy Hershey's Chocolate Chocolate. So don't wait your whole life to try Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Whole Almonds. And if you've already had it, then chances are you're already a lifelong fan of this confectionary delight. Find Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Whole Almonds wherever candy is sold.
Podcast Summary: Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Episode: Mike Birbiglia Returns Again
Release Date: June 9, 2025
Host: Conan O’Brien
Guest: Mike Birbiglia
Platform: Team Coco & Earwolf
The episode kicks off with Conan engaging in his usual playful banter with his team members, Sona Movsesian and Matt Gourley. A humorous segment revolves around their fictional colleague Eduardo, who is caught watching a Champions League soccer match instead of working. Conan expresses mock frustration, leading to a light-hearted exchange about sports preferences and team loyalty.
Notable Quote:
After the initial laughs, Conan smoothly transitions to introduce the main guest, Mike Birbiglia, a renowned comedian, writer, director, and actor. Conan praises Mike’s latest Netflix special, The Good Life, highlighting its emotional depth and comedic brilliance.
Notable Quote:
Conan and Mike delve into their shared backgrounds, noting their roots in Worcester, Massachusetts, and connections through their parents' professions. They discuss personal hardships, such as the loss of Conan’s parents and Mike’s father's stroke, drawing parallels between their experiences. This segment underscores the deep personal connections and mutual understanding between the host and guest.
Notable Quote:
The conversation shifts to Mike’s special, The Good Life. They explore themes of parenting, loss, and the therapeutic role of comedy. Mike shares insights into his creative process, emphasizing how comedy serves as a coping mechanism for personal and familial challenges. Conan shares his own experiences as a father, highlighting the importance of modeling good behavior for children.
Notable Quote:
Conan opens up about a poignant moment when his son was diagnosed with colon cancer, recounting the emotional toll and his father's resilience. Mike shares his father's struggles with stroke and pneumonia, discussing the impact of these events on his personal growth and relationship with his daughter. This heartfelt exchange highlights the vulnerability and strength both comedians possess in addressing serious topics through humor.
Notable Quote:
Both Conan and Mike discuss how humor serves as a defense and coping mechanism in facing life's adversities. Mike elaborates on the development of his special, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and iterative refining through personal interactions. Conan reflects on his own comedic style, noting the universal appeal and therapeutic benefits of making others laugh.
Notable Quote:
The conversation takes a humorous turn as Conan contemplates a succession plan for the podcast, joking about the future without him and suggesting team members as potential hosts. This playful segment showcases the camaraderie and creative dynamics within Conan's team.
Notable Quote:
As the episode wraps up, Conan and Mike continue their lighthearted mock discussions, blending in promotional content in a satirical manner. The episode concludes with traditional sign-offs, maintaining the show's signature comedic flair.
Friendship and Connection: The core premise of the podcast is to foster genuine friendships, and this episode exemplifies that through the honest and heartfelt exchange between Conan and Mike.
Comedy as Healing: Both Conan and Mike illustrate how humor can be a vital tool in processing personal trauma and familial loss.
Authenticity in Artistry: Mike's approach to refining his special underscores the importance of authenticity and the iterative creative process in comedy.
Parenting and Legacy: Discussions around parenting styles, generational differences, and the legacy one leaves for their children provide deep personal insights.
This episode of Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend stands out for its blend of humor and emotional depth. Through candid conversations about personal struggles and the therapeutic role of comedy, Conan and Mike Birbiglia offer listeners both laughter and poignant reflections on life’s challenges. The episode reinforces the show's mission to build genuine friendships and showcases the powerful bond between two great comedians.
Recommendations for New Listeners:
If you're interested in seeing how comedy intersects with personal growth and resilience, this episode offers a compelling mix of laughter and heartfelt storytelling. Mike Birbiglia's insights into his special The Good Life provide valuable perspectives on using humor to navigate life's toughest moments.