Hello, I'm Konan O'Brien. Today is a little unusual. Normally, this is the slot where I talk to someone in the world, a fan, and have a nice chat, and I really do enjoy those conversations. Today is a little different. Today is April 18th, which, first of all, happens to be my birthday. So far, no gifts. Happy birthday. Yeah, thanks a lot. This is your gift. I'm very excited because today We are dropping four specials that I did for Max called Konan O'Brien Must Go. The format relates to this podcast. How it works is I talk to fans, sometimes the United States, and often around the world who listen to the podcast. We decided it might be fun as I'm chatting with these people in different countries to maybe drop in on them and get involved in their lives and follow up on some of the things they brought up in their podcast interview. That's what the show is. Conor O'Brien Must Go is me going to four different countries, Norway, Argentina, Thailand, and Ireland, and surprising fans that talk to me on the podcast. Then Getting involved in their lives a little bit, and then moving on and exploring the country.Interfuring in their lives.Interfuring, yeah.

Joining me today are some of the people that were instrumental in helping me build this show, Mike Sweeney.

Hello. Happy birthday. I can't believe you forced us together, so we could just say happy birthday to you.

Very clever. Anyway, thanks for your help on the show, and I'm looking forward to my present. Jesse Gaskel. Hi, Konan. Thank you for being here. Matt O'Brien, no relation. All right. Hi. Then, of course, Jason Chilemi. We call him Chills. These are the people that were the nuclear core of helping me make this show. Now, I'll let you all speak freely about what a genius I am. I've written these comments for you, and they're right in front of you. You can read them now.

We'll go in order of height.

Let me say up front, these are people that I've been working with for a number of on my shows, and they've worked with me before on travel shows. When I put this project together, I wanted them to join me, and I was very lucky that they did. We are here today to discuss the show, talk about it, and give you a little insight into how this program was made. We go to four countries. The first one we went to was Norway, and then the second one we went to was Thailand. Then we went to Argentina, and we finally ended up going to Ireland each time visiting a fan. I was impressed. We did manage to surprise most these people. They didn't know we were coming. There was a lot of logistics involved in that because you can't take a plane ride for 15 hours and go to a foreign country and then find out that someone's gone on vacation or moved. They're in LA.

We just don't feel like being on camera.

We had to... Mike, maybe you could explain how we figured out the way to let them know that we might need them as a follow-up to their podcast interview, but not let them know that I was coming.

Well, Jason was- Chills. Chills. Chills. I apologize. Chills would have to... Each fan was different. Some were like, I'm going to be here. Chills would reach out to them and say, Hey- We sent out feelers. Yeah, we sent out feelers, make sure they're going to be around. Then we came up with a construct that Oh, you know what? We might be doing a behind the scenes of some of our fans, and we would just send a cameraman there to shoot you for the day.

Shoot some B-roll. Yeah, we love your podcast interview with Conan, and we want to shoot some B-roll. Yeah.

And we'd leave you out of it. Right.

Now, the problem is, and that worked for the most part, occasionally, I would show up in a country and it would show up on their social media that I was around. But then Jason would probably have to put out the word- Chills. Chills. Sorry, I'm wrong of me. Chills would have to get out the word that, No, no, Konan's in country, but he refuses to meet with you because he's an absolute prick. Just to really throw them off the trail. He's blocks away.

He's right turn around.

He's right behind. Hey, I'm looking out my window. He's two alleys from here. Yeah, but he wants to peek in your window, but he won't come in. He shoots the B roll himself. People have always asked me, Why do I... What is it about these travel shows I like so much? I love... There's not much we can control. I've had many people say to me, Well, that must be terrifying. I find that to be liberating and really fun. We never quite know what the gold is going to be. And random things will happen. I'll bump into people on the street, like in Norway, who are just perfect comedy foils. We couldn't ask for better people. Or there's a scene in Norway where I'm on a boat and I'm holding something. I'm sorry, where I'm in Thailand and I'm on a river and I'm holding something that I've been handed, which is quite obscene. And just then a boatload of an American family goes by and I quickly... But if you asked If you asked the greatest comedy directors in the world to try and manufacture that moment, it wouldn't happen because I've looked at that scene and you guys have looked at these things in editing a lot.

The timing is perfect because it's an accident. You lose your luggage. I mean, that was just something that made everything Yeah, I lost my luggage on one of the trips and had to go, and I went across the street, and I needed to buy some clothes. Right across the street, there was an absurd shop that only specialized in making traditional costumes, Norwegian costumes that people wore 200 years ago.

No one's ever bought one. No one's. No one.

They were so delighted. I couldn't believe someone came into their shop. Really? No. I bought one, and then I walk out on the street The first guy I run into is just so happy to talk to me and tell me what an idiot I am. Not to be mean, but just to be very honest in a very, I'm guessing, Norwegian way. But it was- Everyone there was very straightforward. Very straightforward. Refreshingly matter of fact. Yes.

Not hamming it up.

We had a really good time. The fans to a one, were great. The fans were... Because one of the things that I've noticed too, is there's that second where they're excited to see you. Like, Oh, Konan, you're here. That's cool. But then they very quickly are just themselves, which I like because then they start giving me shit. They're not afraid to point out when I've made a mistake. Yeah, they're just hanging out. Yeah, they're just hanging out. That was-They were all funny. They were all funny.

They were all smart. They were They were just great to play with.

I think meeting them on their turf makes them feel a little more comfortable. I think almost every time I go into their homes, with one or two exceptions, I surprise them, and then I go right into their homes and start finding things. Again, it's real and it's in the moment and it was really fun. But I have to say, we We've all worked, done these remote shoots before. All of us have worked on them for years. One of the nice things now is we're working with Max, and they told us, We want this to look really great. We got this incredible unit. We have these women are spectacular. Emily. Emily Topper is our director of photography. Yeah, and she's fantastic. Emily Strong is doing sound. Brenda. Yes. Is there a second camera? Brenda, when we were in Argentina, at one point, I'm on a horse and we needed a shot, and Breda grabs a camera and jumps onto a horse facing backwards with the camera. Completely unfazed. Completely unfaced and gets the shot. I thought, who are these three Amazons?

She was unbelievable.

We're kicking ass.

She's like, I've done this before. She goes, I'll just sit backwards and follow the lead horse.

I'll just ride the horse backwards. With no hands. And shoot you with no hands.

And we're all like, because we were like, do we need a truck, a flatbed? And meanwhile, she's on the horse.

Yeah, she's already up there.

And we're, You who?

Yeah, I'm over here solving the problem, you idiots.

Yeah, it's a great look. I mean, the- The drones.

Drones. Drones. Drones were a few. We've never had... Sometimes we messed around with drones, but we got these really good drone operators in every country. My thought was a really good travel show should look absolutely gorgeous. Then all of the other ones teach you about the country. It's very important to me that you learn nothing about the country.

That's your guarantee.

It removes knowledge.

Yes. If you had knowledge about the country beforehand and you watch my show, I do think you'll laugh, but it will erase any useful, real knowledge about the country.

I love the drone operators in Norway. It was two guys Oh, my God, they were great. They're like, They just did succession, and we're like, Wow, because a lot of succession. Because succession was a shot in Norway. That's what I was getting from it.

When we came back in, just to remind people, the last season of succession, half the season takes place when they go in- Scarsgard's character. Yeah, Scarzgard's character. I meet with him, and they were in Norway. They shot there, and they had just worked on that when we worked with them. Then we were, I was like, Oh, my God, you just worked on succession, and now you're with Konan O'Brien. How the mighty have fallen. But they were great.

There's this climactic scene, big scene in succession. This big yard, this giant party. It's like a party. It's a party. It's a party. And I'm watching it, and then I see the drone guys, and we're like, Oh, my God.

They made it in.

They're playing drone guys in the show.

What was great is that they were salivating for us to come up with comedy ideas where they could pull off something really amazing. That was a joy. There was just a lot. I have to say it could be very tiring. It's a lot of work to fly so far, and then we usually have to hit the ground running right away. But the minute we get out there and start talking to people, I mean, Ireland. We went to Ireland to visit a fan. Just anyone you bump into in Ireland is a professional comedian. It's not their profession, but they could be. There's just something in the water.

In the bones, yeah.

Oh, man. Yes. There are some hilarious people you spoke to in Ireland. The other cool thing in Ireland was you were walking down the street and people were just stunned. It was you. Then they took their ear buds out and said, I'm listening to your podcast right now.

I ran into people in Ireland who were listening to the podcast as I ran into them. Then this made me really happy. We were shooting something on the River Liffey, which is the river that bisects Dublin. It cuts it in two, Matt. But anyway- Can we take that out? Can you actually make it play twice? Yeah, loop it. So anyway- Loop reverb. Yeah. Anyway, I'm standing there by the River Liffey, and this cab drives by, and someone rolls down the window and goes, There was talk of gerbels. One of the catchphrases from the podcast, and I was I'm so happy that my people left this country. I go back to the actual plot of land that my people had, that my great grandfather had. We left in 1871 because we couldn't make it there anymore, and went to the United States. And all these years later, I've come back and my legacy is this obscene story about Mickey Rooney talking about Richard Gere having gerbels in ass. It lives on. The O'Brien's come back. There's talk of gerbels, I tell you.

Believe it or not, that came full circle.

Yeah, it really did.

I can't go into detail.

It was fantastic. The other thing that I think was an elevation, I hope people... I think people will like these, but because we got to up the ante a little bit with these, have this nice budget, we could do these set pieces with real costumes and go to real locations. There's a lot of improvisation and me walking around in my regular street clothes being me. But then there are these set pieces that we wanted them, and we really wanted them to look like this could be from a movie.Cinematic, yeah.It's very cinematic. Of course, because we have Topper and her team, they were able to pull off the look and we had costumes. Chills, you were a part of that, getting me making sure that we had everything we needed in the country.

Fake mustache.

Yeah, fake mustache. I carry some with me. The TSA is always- A pipe for every occasion. The TSA is always really suspicious when a guy comes through with 35 mustaches. I'm not your business. Let me through. Ireland, we had a lot of facial hair, a lot of hair. A lot of, yes. We were smuggling it. There was a lot of fake facial hair we shipped in and costumes. And what's really fun is Scott Cronic, who gets the wardrobe together, always comes to my house like two days before I leave for the country, wherever it is. And he'll come in with all this insane stuff. Options, where I'm a Viking or a lighthouse keeper or I'm a- Soccer goalie. I'm a soccer goalie. I'm a goucho. And all these insane looks. And I'm a leprechaun and whatever. He's bringing all this stuff in and dressing me up in them. And invariably, my wife will walk in not knowing that this was going on. And I'm standing there and she's just like, Oh, Jesus. It turns right around. Roleplay. This is what I'm married. Yeah, Exactly. Every woman dreams of a sexy lighthousekeeper. What a tower. No, but just getting to recreate some of those, do those cinematic moments, which we haven't really had a chance to do fully before.

It was so much fun. You get to do some acting.

I don't know if that's what it's called. Different forms of shouting. I remember the Viking makeup woman.

It's like a two-hour drive to this Viking reenactment center. Oh, my God. I'm just thinking like, Well, she can maybe start stuff on the bus. And she's like, No, no, no. We need to be in a separate room. I need to plug in for the light. I need all this space.

She was a real professional. She was like, Get away from me. I'll make it happen. I'll just get out of my way.

But I'll tell you something. Let me do my job.

I'll tell you something. It's the difference between all those years when we would do remotes and run and gun quickly. I would be the mustache would be in my back pocket and I'd be in a van, and then I'd slap it on and get out there. Makeup was done very quickly, if at all. This was different because we went into these travel shows sometimes with that attitude of, Wow, we can just slap it on on the bus. These look good for a reason because they're saying, No, no, no, no, no, You asked for something good, you're going to get something good, sit down and shut up.

You know what? It's going to take 50 minutes to an hour to do it. But then when you got out of that chair, it was like, Oh, my God. Yes. Oh, yeah.

So worth it.

Fantastic.

I know. That was a big swing that whole day because we had really insisted. We always worry when we've insisted on driving for two hours to get somewhere.

To make it worthwhile. Yeah. Yeah, there's always- The pressure.

Every mile, there's a pressure odometer. Oh, the pressure's going up.

There's always the fear. And it's also freezing cold.

It's the same adage of the longer the story, the more pressure on the punchline. If someone's telling a really long story, or sometimes one can get caught and you realize this story I'm telling is really going on, God, Damn it, this punchline better. That's exactly how it works when you're shooting a remote. If you have to drive for three hours, it basically is how much in Europe, how much petrol did you burn? How much gas did you burn to get here? What was your carbon footprint getting to this place? Then it better really be funny. Sometimes we have lost that bet. Sometimes we've won.

But especially, sometimes you roll out of your hotel with a crew and you're getting all this great stuff on the street. Then it's like, all of a sudden, you're in a van for two hours. It's like, Wait a minute. Why are we doing this again?

Your muscles are cooling. Right.

Well, you need... I like... One of the things I'm proud of is the team that we assembled. People have done such a good job. I mean, unsung heroes. I know this people say, We're listening to you guys right now. You don't need to give a speech about everybody, but there are people like Matt Shaw who did such an incredible job. So many people have worked really hard. The graphics look amazing. Matt Shaw was our head editor, and basically, he had one other editor working with him, which I think is very unusual for something at this scale. It looks unbelievable. Yes. Yes. The unbelievable was.

Brad Roland.

Brad Roland. I was thrilled about the mystery narrator we got for the show, we have a gentleman's agreement not to discuss. But most people that work with me don't want it mentioned. He was insistent on that.

Yeah.

But anyway, I love it. I'll do it under one case. I've drawn up a contract. Maybe it's AI. Who can say? Or no one knows. But I'm very happy. I always love those travel shows that we did in the past, and it felt like we had unfinished business there. Then when we had the notion that, Well, what I'm really passionate about now is this podcast. I absolutely adore doing it. It's really fun, and it feels like the natural evolution of what I was doing before, or de-evolution, whatever you want. But the idea that we married the two, meaning it starts from the podcast and then takes off into this world that I've explored for. But now there's a reason to go in country. I'm showing up and I'm visiting a pen pal. I don't know. The whole thing has been really fun to make.

There's often a mission there, too, because people have been sharing things about their lives with you on the podcast. Then you show up and it's like, Oh, I'm going to help you achieve this goal or fix this problem for you. And then you maybe don't. I don't. Yeah.

Or just waste time with you.

Do you remember that dinner we had where you could choose from a pre-fixed menu and it was like the advertiser was cod, and then the entree was cod.

It was Cod. It was Cod tongue. They have a lot of... There's a lot of cod in Norway. They're very, very proud of it. You specifically have to ask them not to put cod on your ice cream cone. You have a cod allergy. You have to say it's an allergy. Is this an allergy? Okay. What cod can we use? No, no cod. We have hypoallergenic cod. I have to say, Argentina, the man, something happened in Argentina. I don't want to give away too much, but we visited our fan who's a terrific artist, and one thing led to another, and it led to a happening, which since then has gotten some traction online. That's one of the aspects of the show that I really enjoy is these little Easter eggs. We don't even intend them always, but in Ireland and in Argentina, we helped make something happen that ended up later on getting noticed by people who didn't know anything about the show. Then suddenly it's online and people are saying, Why does this exist? Anyway, that's I just love the idea of traveling the globe and confusing people.

And leaving people who are really- But I did.

This is a true story because the thing we did in Argentina, which the artist helped us create, We left behind. Then I think it got picked up, and then it landed on some very prominent soccer blog, and it got a lot of traction, and it started to pop up everywhere online, and people were sending it to me saying, What's going on? What's going on? Did you approve this? I was playing- We were in Ireland. It was while we were in Ireland. We were in Ireland when it was blowing up in Argentina. With my friends, I was just saying, Well, I guess you never know. I was playing it. Then I got a call and it's Jake Tapper, who I know. It's Jake Tapper. I'm thinking, Oh, I know Jake Tapper, and he calls me sometimes, and we both love Eisenhower Trivia and shit like that. He's calling I go, What's up? He goes, This thing in Argentina, what's going on? Like any of my friends, I just played it off as well. I guess you never quite know. He went, No, cut it out. Really? What is it? I forgot. Oh, I'm talking to- I know you're behind.

I'm talking to a journalist. He was like, What is it? I went, Okay. I explained and he went, Got it, and then hung up.

It's like you're Banksy.

Yeah, I'm the Banksy of comedy, only it's not worth anything.

We had something made in Ireland that I just saw up this week in social media.

That's awesome. There's a sequence in Thailand that I really love where I'm roaming the streets at night. That was a very cinematic sequence where I've ingested some street food, and then I have a fever dream. A fugue state. I'm not giving anything away because you need to see that. It's quite strange. It feels like a weird foreign film. Yeah.

Well, in that one, my favorite part of that shoot was that we were going against Jeff's wishes because he wanted us to get back.

Oh, Jeff Ross. Jeff Ross.

Yes.

We had a dinner.

We had a dinner reservation.

He's like, You'll be out there for five hours.

There was this one thing we wanted to get. We have a dinner reservation. Jeff, we'll go and grab it, and then we'll go to dinner. The dinner reservation is at 6:30. It took a long time to get.

Matt's very calm. He's like, We'll be done in 25 minutes. Yeah. He's like, Oh, okay. I'll set my watch.

Oh, yeah. I've never seen that before. Anyway, he was disappointed when we walked into the restaurant on time. You could see him deflate.

The restaurant hadn't opened yet. There are We're not open for four hours.

She was like, It's nice to sit here. It's a nice place. They have their conditioning. I think we were shooting, sadly, with global warming. This record will probably be broken soon, but it was the hottest it had ever been in Thailand. We were shooting and we were out on the street, and there's a part where I'm kickboxing, and we're not inside in an air-conditioned gym. We're in an outdoor facility with no air conditioning. I'm no spring chicken, and it's my birthday today. So let me tell you, I'm only getting older. I am throwing kicks, punches. I'm going as hard as I can. At one point, I stopped and I asked Jeff Ross, Do we have a defibrillator? He was like, What do you mean? What do we need a defibrillator for? I'm getting us a restaurant reservation. I'm like, Because I know I could go down. I'll make sure the restaurant has one. I was sweating so much during that segment.

I'll make it a smaller reservation.

Yeah. Well, that works.

Let me know.

They don't have a table for five, but they have a table for four. That works out great. You guys happily eating. Well, I'm in the morgue.

More family style for each of us.

He's gone. We might as well enjoy.

We got enough of the boxing, right?

To at least... Oh, my God. The funniest thing is when... Because writers always want, Can you do something again? They always want it again. Can you give it another shot? What if we do it from another angle? Because- You mean professionals? Sure, yeah, professionals. Obsessive compulsive professionals. But if you're doing something, it's always cracked me up when I'm doing something, especially in my vintage, and I'm just whaling and kicking and punching, and it's 108 degrees. I'm jet lagged and I'm… People are like, That's great. Okay, let's do another one where we put more- Good rehearsal. We put more lead on your boots. There are a few times, too, where it's like, no one's yelling, Cut. No one's…

I know. It's just…

He's just going through a training session.

You finally just go, Okay, I think we got it.

We put you through the physical Ringer in Thailand. Thailand was... Thailand was a work out. But I have to say I do come home from all these countries, well, specifically Thailand, because in some of the setups, I'll go to someone who makes great original Thai costumes, custom, and they're gorgeous. I put them on and they're in the show, and then they come home with me and they're mine. Then I'm thinking, I'll sometimes look in my closet and I have two pairs of chinos, two pairs of jeans, some T-shirts, some of the nicest Thai- And the silk suits. The silk suits. I don't know where can I wear these. I don't know where to wear them.

I'm going to dress like a Viking today.

I remember you bought those knit pajamas in Norway. It was like a full body.

Oh, I've worn those.

Have you worn those?

Because it does get cold in LA and I put them on once and I came downstairs. It's so funny. I just look like a giant stuff. It's like a full onesie. Like a giant stuffed animal. But it was, boy, those- Yeah, they're beautiful.

They're hand-knit.

They were hand-knit, and they're the warmest, most comfortable things I've worn in my life. But you know what those Sock Monkeys? I I look like a Sock Monkey when I put them on with a red pompador. Not even because there's actually a cap you can put on, too, that just isolates your face. I should just wear that and walk around LA until someone photographs me.

Yeah, they'll think that you're- I've lost my mind.

Kanye, yeah. Yeah, exactly. I should wear that and then go up when Kanye is next out with what's his lady?

What's her name?

She dresses in a very provocative manner. Anyway, the next time- I haven't googled The next time those two are out together and she's wearing something with no butt on it and he's just wearing an REI tent, I'm going to run up along- You photobombed them. I'm going to photobom them dressed as a giant sock monkey and put my arm around both of them and see if I can get that photo out there. Kanye is taking a second, bro.

That'd be a great promo for this show.

Yes, it would. Yes. Got to get the word out. We need stunts, publicity stunts. Konan, what are you going to do? I've got this knit thing I can I'll find Kanye.

You already have all of Kanye's fans in your pocket.

You're right. Talk about redundancy. Total overlap. You like Kanye? You love this show.

Do you get to enjoy yourself on these trips? Because it is work.

Oh, great question. Hey, thanks for finally... Someone asked me a question, which makes my job a lot easier. Yeah. Thank you.

Happy birthday. Here's your gift. I wanted to give you a chance to talk. That was my gift. Yes, here you go. No, but seriously, because it is... Like you said before, we hit the ground running, and then it's nonstop till, boom, we're back to the airport.

If I think that what we're making is funny, I am like a kid at Christmas, and I'm very happy. I really do love the camaraderie. I have to say, Jeff Ross is not wrong. When we have worked hard all day, and I think we have good stuff in the can, and then we go out to dinner, I love that. I love that feeling of, I think we found something today and I'm happy with it. We can debrief. Now we can debrief and we can sit and we're in this exotic country.

We're eating Italian food.

No matter where we are. Remember, we went to Armenia once for a travel show. For a travel show years ago, and Romanian food is really good, but there's a lot of chicken. It's very Good. But we kept going- Stuffed grape leaves. Things like that. We kept having that over and over and over again, and it was really good. But then I remember there was one night where I was like, Well, we got to break this up. We found out there was a small mall in Yerevan and an Italian restaurant.

There was basically the Grove.

We went to the Grove in Yerevan. The one in Glendale. Yeah, and then ordered pizzas. We were like, Oh, this is... We're being the ugly American. But for the most part, when we're in country, I have to say, talk about we shot something in Dublin where I go looking for Bono. I'll just tell you that it's called Searching for Bono, and I go looking for him in a park, and it's a... I don't think I'm giving away too much, but it's basically a wildlife section of the documentary. We had so much fun shooting that. I was giggling the whole time. Then everyone had great ideas. Jessie, you were an impetus behind this. That's right. Jessie Gaskel. Then we all I started thinking of different, and I just kept thinking of fun ways to make it sillier and stupider. I was just in heaven the whole time we were doing that. To answer your question, I have a lot of fun doing these. There are times when I get run down, or there are times where we're someplace and I think we're not getting it. This isn't it. This is going to show up on the edit room floor.

Those can be dispirating. Long van rides can be dispirating. I think I have a hard time in a van because I'm very kinetic. When someone says, Okay, that was great. Now get into this very small space and sit in the back. And sit in traffic. And sit in traffic. And we'll poke you in four hours and you need to hit the ground running. I have a hard time with that. I think you have- Matt has some great photos. Matt has photos of me having a nervous- Of you just losing your mind. I lost my mind in the back and I'm doing crazy bits, faces. I'm just basically having a complete psychological meltdown. The courts are going to want those from me. Yes, that's fine. It's in this area- No, the New England Journal of Medicine wants them. But we had such a good time for the most part on these. I find those moments just drift away. I completely forget those moments. What I remember is the fun. I remember Remember the fun of... And everywhere we go, the people in each country were uniformly just so much... Such a great sense of... They seemed to be happy with what we were doing.

Yeah, that's my favorite thing.

And they seemed to like that, I don't know, the joke is usually on me, and they're cool with that. It's fun to just go and explore the comedic rhythm in each country, and it's different in each country, but they're all funny in their own way, and they're not afraid to give me a hard time, which I love.

It's amazing that you can go outside of Los Angeles, and there's just hilarious people everywhere. I mean, we're working it with more.

Guess what? They're not in LA.

That's why you go on these trips.

There are other places, and they have normal jobs. They're just happy to meet somebody, meet a stranger, and have a nice interaction, or maybe they know you from TV.

They're unfazed by the camera. I know. They're very unfazed by the camera, and they're just so happy to go with it. They all seem to pick up right away on, Oh, I get it. Something's wrong with this man. This is the fun of the joke. Yeah, something's wrong with this man, but he seems harmless. It is amazing how everyone- I think I could take him. Yeah. That was an old lady. That was an old lady in a wheelchair. I could take him.

Will me overdo him.

Yeah. It was really fun to make. It's an interesting process because we go and we shoot them. Then we come back. You guys do these rough assemblies. Matt Shaw does these rough assemblies, and then you guys go in. I've always said the way we approach these, whether it was a for the old late night show or the TBS show or travel shows, it's like a chef doing a sauce. Cook it down, get the reduction, add some more broth, cook it down, cook it down, cook it down, cook it down. We just keep cutting and cutting and cutting and cutting and having different screenings and reducing it. Then you get to this final part and you look at it and there they- It's all flavor.

It's burned at the bottom.

I didn't I would say it was a good sauce. All I meant was that it was short. In my analogy, it's just that they're shorter. It's broth. It's still broth. Dense. Still dense, very salty. Your doctor recommends you don't have it. It ruins the taste of the food you're eating.

It is fun to see the number of hours you start with of footage and then know that you're cutting it down to under an hour.

Then even when you think you can't cut anymore, there's still something you can cut. Yeah, it was even in the finishing room when we would watch the final finished cut, it was like we all had like, Oh, just one little second here. But I think that that's normal.

Oh, I was showing a clip. I went to South by Southwest. I went to South by Southwest, and I showed a clip from a segment in Ireland in the gas station that got this big laugh in this giant room, and I was very happy. Then I just saw it. The clip went on for a couple of- Milliseconds.

A couple- Day, new A couple of seconds afterwards, and the crowd was like, Okay.

I'm up on stage. I'm up on stage thinking, Why is that still in there? I was like, No, no one was thinking about it. No, no one was thinking about it. It was a second for someone to just take an inhale, but I was like, Why is that there?

It's a palate cleanser for the home viewer before they jump in the next sentence.

We want people to be laughing continuously with no pause. You know what I love?

They can hear the show over themselves like. Exactly. I love to. Anyone listening to this who checks and goes, This is nothing but fat. These people are patting themselves on the back. We reduced and reduced and reduced. Then they're watching it and it's just- Was the stove on? This should be four minutes.

There was no heat. Oh, yes. Leave it on another 10 hours.

Because there are comedic- Let me shut the gas off six minutes ago. There are bits where the joke is that there are bits The joke wherever country I'm in is that I just keep going and I refuse to stop. I could see anyone listening to this or any reviewer saying, What are they talking about? I saw some trips. That idiot. Anyway, it was- Well, I think people might want to know how we landed on the countries that we went to. Oh, okay. Yeah. It's interesting. It's like you're looking for, it's like these two circles and you're trying to see what's the best place where they intersect, meaning talk to people around the world, and some people seem like, Oh, I got to talk to this person. For example, Yarla in Bergen, Norway, who just... He's this sweet kid. To me, anyway, he's a kid. He's like 22 years old, and he's telling me, and he's the whitest kid I've ever seen, and he's telling me he's got a hip hop duo with his friend in Bergen, Norway. There's part of me that's naturally curious. Then if he had been in Trenton, New Jersey, I would have said, Okay, I don't think that's a show.

But he's in Norway, and I think, Yeah, Norway. I want to go there. Basically, is the fan interesting and seem fun? Am I intrigued, and is it a country I'd like to go see? If you can satisfy both of those, then I'm on my way. We've had some other fans, too, that we They asked for four specials, so we did four. But there are other fans around the world who've got some very intriguing stories.

There's a lot of other criteria, just in terms of what is it like to get film permits there, and can you quickly film things?

Yeah, exactly. There are countries where it's more difficult to get permission Also another thing, we've just learned things over time, but sometimes we're more ambitious about traveling within a country, and then you realize you do want to do that. But if it's a vast country, and let's say you went to Australia and you wanted to make sure that you did Sydney and Perth, but you also wanted to go up to the Barrier Reef and you also wanted to get into the Outback, you realized that breaking down camera equipment and shipping it around, you're burning time. You want to make sure that you make the right calculations. So, yes, get on a plane and travel within country or get on a train if you really think you're going to get something good. But if you're zipping around too much within a country, you just lose days.

It's a cost.

It's just figuring these things out. One of the things that is fun It's fun and interesting is we sit around, and Jason is a big part of this, but we'll talk to Chills and we'll say, This is what we're interested in. Then we have these conversations where we have a map of the country and we have lists of comedy ideas we could do. Itineraries. And literally like a yarn going from one pin to another. We're like, Okay, so we'd have to go 210 miles to get this How much do we love it? And then we all get into it. And then sometimes we say, You know what? It's not that funny. It's not 210 miles funny. And sometimes you think, I think it is 210 miles funny.

And you are on to me. You know I lie. I always am like, I think it's a 50-minute drive. You're just like, Fuck you.

That's my commute home.

That's my commute back to Brentwood, asshole. Two hours and 50 minutes.

But But I love... It's the making of these things. I like to make things. I like to make things with smart, funny people, and I've enjoyed working with you guys as well. We all know. Happy birthday indeed. Happy birthday indeed. And he wonders why he got no gifts. No, I... Sincerely, we have a great crew. Chills. We've been doing this together. Chills has been with me on every adventure going back to Finland. Finland. Mike. Mike. You've been with me since the beginning. Before that, because the first one was really Ireland. A million years.

1998 or '99.

I was there for that, too.

You were there for that. Chills went on that, too.

That was two days.

We were there for two days.

We shot everything in two days. We have a good crew here, and we get a lot of help in each country. That's important, too. We have the fixers. Yael and Jennifer and Maritza and Marcella. We get all their teams. It's phenomenal. That is worth mentioning is that we need to... When we go to another country, we can only do so much. Then we have to find what's called fixers, people in country who say, You don't want to go here, but you do want to go there. People say that that's funny, but it's really- That's going to offend people. Don't do that. That's actually against the law. You can't urinate in that rare book library. Konan Pease in a rare book library I thought it was a natural. You can't do anything on this list.

We hit one in every country.

But those people are invaluable. What's funny is we meet them. We always meet them at the airport or right when we get to the hotel. Then there's this second of, how are we all going to get along? Then very quickly, you can see that they take our temperature, we take their temperature, and then we're off. We get really close to these people, and we owe them a lot. I mean, they're a huge part of how these shows work.

Well, Chills picks on it, and you'll say-You do a vibe check. You do a vibe check. I talk to three people, I think this is the one.

Then you make best friends. I mean, you stay in touch with people.

He also has affairs with them. Chills has children in every country. Whatever it takes. I know why he picks these. I like this one. She didn't seem that great. Oh, shut up. She's never worked in show business. She doesn't speak English. No, anyway, I enjoyed the doing of it. Then it's just extra suite that we get these shows out of it, and I'm excited for people to see them.Me too.Me too. I think, yeah. We have shown them to a bunch of people we really trust who like them, who have full permission to tell us this is shit, and have in the past told me I'm shit, but I have a good feeling about it.

I laughed so hard during editing that I went into labor.

That's true. That's right. It is true. Yeah, and you weren't even pregnant. That's the crazy part. A baby came out. You made a baby, you laughed so hard.

That was my favorite behind the scenes story.

People need to be very careful.

Yeah, behind the scenes story is- Because we were all hanging out in the conference room one night. Yeah. You During the making of these shows, you- I got pregnant. Got pregnant, which I think involves sex. We'll explain it to you later. Yeah. That was part It's crazy that that was part of this process. No, it was. It was happening alongside as we were making the shows because the shows were delayed by the writer's strike. Otherwise, we would have made these a lot sooner.

You would have never even known I was pregnant.

Exactly. But what was really crazy is at one point we're in editing and you're- I was 37 weeks pregnant.

Yeah.

You were laughing really hard in the edit, and we were joking that this laughing would induce- Oh, I was peeing my pants laughing. Would induce a pregnancy as a joke. Then we all get a photograph in the morning of you. 7:00 AM 7 AM in the morning. 7 AM in the morning of you holding Dottie. A baby.

Yeah.

Not your baby, another baby. No, of you holding Dottie. It was the joke the night before.

No, I know. I was like, They're not going to believe that this is real.

I thought it was a prop baby.

Well, I really was like, Oh, I'm peeing my pants laughing. Actually, my water had broken. At work while we were there. Oh, wow.

But you've been using that excuse for years. I need to step away.

I just wet myself because of a baby.

And then she disappeared for two months. Yeah.

No, that was...

Oh, that made me so happy.

Well, yeah. Dottie's the... We got four shows and a baby. We got four specials and Dottie out of this, which is really nice.

We actually got another baby from a fan.

Oh, my God. Yeah. Well, that's part of the show, too. Yeah. Look for that. Anyway, Konan O'Brien must go. We like them. We clicked them down. Yeah, they're Coming out, dropping right now on max. Go watch now. Plus, this is something cool. The Good People at Samsung TV+. They air a Konan O'Brien show, basically, Conan O'Brien TV channel, and they put together our best stuff. They've put together a bunch of glorious moments from my career. In there, they've also put an exclusive 10-minute sneak peek of the new Kona O'Brien Must Go series, and it's for free. You can see that if you check out Kona O'Brien TV channel exclusively on Samsung TV+. We'll see you there.

Conan O'Brien needs a friend. With Conan O'Brien, Sonam Ofsessian, and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced by Adam Sacks, nick Liao, and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Ear Wolf. 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 Brenda Burns. Additional production support by Mars Melnick. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Brit Kohn. 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 Konan? Call the Team Coco Hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It, too, could be featured on a future episode. And if you haven't already, please subscribe to Konan O'Brien Needs a Friend wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.