Hi, my name is Bob Odenkirk.
And I feel chocolate chip about being Conan O'Brien's friend.
Fall is here.
Hear the yell Back to school, ring the bell.
Brand new shoes, walkin' blues, Climb the fence, books and pens.
I can tell that we are gonna be friends.
Yes, I can tell that we are gonna be friends.
Hey there, welcome to.
Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend.
Slightly different situation today.
I am in New York City.
I made up a name for it.
I call it the Big Apple.
Just came up with it yesterday.
And I'm sitting here with David Hopping.
How are you, David?
I'm good.
David, of course, grew up in a cornfield, completely unfamiliar with the city.
But it's overwhelming for you.
He keeps looking up at the skyscrapers, clutching his cardboard suitcase and saying, g-g-g-g-garsh.
How did they build them?
They're so tall.
Yeah.
Anyway, he said, they're like silos with windows.
And I said, just take it easy, David.
You'll get used to it.
And this is nice.
We have a connection back to L.A. with my perpetual chum for life.
My ride or die buddy.
Hell yeah.
Sona.
Love Sessian.
No Gourley today because she's off at a, I think.
What is he doing?
He's at a, oh, it's like a festival where everyone just looks at their old 45s.
Is that what he's doing?
Wait, is he at like the Renaissance Fair?
No?
Where is he?
What do you mean he's at a fair?
Is he at a fair?
I'm sorry.
You're probably new to me.
I made something up.
Oh, sorry.
I thought like, yeah, no, you're new to this.
Oh, my God.
Did he miss work?
Because he's at the restaurant.
You know what I'd love to do?
I'd love to do improvisation with Sona Movsesian.
Like, hey, welcome to my ice cream shop.
Wait a minute.
This is an ice cream shop.
I thought we were on a stage.
Oh.
Curtain comes down.
Boo.
Boo.
Conan was good.
But who was that lady?
No, they'll be like, oh, she just redefined improv.
Yes.
Yeah.
Possible.
Yeah.
You could be the Oppenheimer of improv.
Oh, just say, like, what are you talking about?
This is not.
No, we're on a stage.
This is not an ice cream shop.
Yeah.
Audience.
She just blew through my mind, man.
Or I could say like, can you list all the flavors for me?
And then it just derails the whole sketch because you're just like strawberry vanilla chocolate, Rocky Road.
Hey, you're good at this.
Rainbow Sherbert.
You're a good improviser.
Keep going.
Now I'm out.
Okay.
Mint chocolate chip.
Hazelnut.
Pistachio.
Hazelnut.
Coffee.
Coffee with chocolate chip.
Oh, David has one corn...
Corn flavor.
Good one, David.
Was that your impression of me?
Corn flavor.
I like corn flavor.
I'm going to go see the Broadway show Smash.
I did.
I went last night.
Yeah.
Was it much like the TV show?
It was.
Yeah.
OK.
There's so much he's not saying.
Anyway, what's that, Sona?
Do I work out?
Yes, I work out.
Oh, I didn't ask that.
You did.
Are you working out when you do work out?
Like, do you go to the gym when you're on the road?
I've been too busy.
There's been a lot to do.
And so that my schedule gets thrown off.
It feels like you can squeeze in a half hour if you really were serious about it.
What?
What?
Kind of hard to do.
What's that?
What's that?
You're right.
I got to get to the gym.
People when they meet me on the street, they expect me to be jacked.
Sona, we've got a big show today.
Big show.
We've got a really big shoe.
Remember Ed Sullivan?
No.
Okay.
Can we put crickets in?
Oh, wait.
Sorry.
We're improv-ing.
Yeah, I remember when I used to watch Ed Sullivan as a kid and we had a big shoe.
I remember that.
Yeah.
There you go.
Good improv, Sona.
Remember the time you and Ed Sullivan went to that ice cream parlor and you got strawberry vanilla coconut pistachio hazelnut creme, de caramel, Oreo crunch vanilla flipple, sab-dab-jab-a-dab.
Flipple.
Hab-ba-da-ba-da-boo.
Okay.
Sandler came in.
You suck at improv.
What?
What's that?
Greatest man who ever lived?
Oh, no.
I said you suck at improv.
You're welcome.
What?
I can give you notes.
I'll give you notes.
It's all right.
You know what?
You should do the intro.
My guest today.
What?
What's that?
My guest today.
You're the worst.
You know what I love?
Whoever invented the technology that allowed us to talk in real time to someone in Los Angeles?
They think, oh, this will be amazing.
People will be doing surgeries from across the coast.
No.
Two idiots are going to be talking over each other.
What's that?
Huh?
What's that?
I knew you were, but what am I?
I'm rubber, you're glue.
My guest today is a writer and actor who stars in the new movie, Nobody 2.
He is a very old friend of mine, and it's really meaningful that I get to talk to him today.
Thrilled he's with us.
Bob Odenkirk, welcome.
Last night, I'm here in New York.
I went last night to see your guys' production of Glen Gary, Glen Ross.
Blown away, really fantastic.
Michael McKean is in it with you, Bill Burr.
Who are we talking about here?
I mean, really, it is just a spectacular cast.
I mean, all of you were great.
It was really special for me because, to anyone who doesn't know listening to this, Bob and I met in 1988 when I first came to Saturday Night Live.
And immediately we realized you and I have a weird twin language.
Yeah.
We're two complete left brain weirdos who are cartoonish and silly.
And so Bob and I would just hide in an office and talk gibberish to each other.
See, that's why I called your producer about today.
I was like, what does he want to talk about?
I know.
No, no.
Well, I want to get to a bunch of things.
I thought this would just be gibberish.
And I have a weird thing.
I've had so much fun doing podcasts with friends David Cross's podcast and things and letting it devolve into gibberish.
Right.
But there's something weird, Conan, I've been feeling about like not wanting to do that.
Yeah.
In public anymore.
Yeah.
Well, it's called, you don't want to be medicated by the state.
You don't want to be taken away.
And I understand that completely.
But you know, what it triggered for me last night in a nice way was you and I had this.
We just loved being weird together and we had all these adventures we were just talking about when we were in the show happy happy, good show together.
And you know, back in the day yeah, at victory gardens theater chicago, summer of 88, robert smigel and Just this really fun thing that we tried to do.
And then we had some time off and you and I drove down to Springfield and visited the house Lincoln's house in Springfield.
And then I'm the exact height that Lincoln was.
And you became obsessed with.
I should talk as Lincoln and you should talk as his law partner Herndon.
Yes.
And Herndon had big mutton chops.
And this is one of your specialties is you can go into these great characters, as everyone knows.
And you and I walked around Springfield together and you were like I tell you Abe, I think you're going to run for president.
You're going to win.
Yeah.
You know, and I was going like...
Well, I don't know.
And it was just why.
Who are we amusing?
We're amusing no one.
I think we're just making ourselves happy.
But I think we did that for a couple of hours.
Last night was special for me because you're in this.
I mean, I'm so glad it's been acknowledged.
You got a Tony nomination playing Shelley Levine in this classic David Mamet play and you killed it.
You absolutely killed it.
And it was so because I flash back to wait a minute.
I remembered, I think in 1990 or 89 or 90 you did a one-man show called Half My Face is a Clown.
And again, we were still writers trying to figure out, do we get to be in front of people?
Should we be in front of people?
Are we too weird to be in front of people?
And I went and saw you do your show.
There are bits in it that are still, I have such fond memories.
And I remember at the time watching you and thinking, Bob's doing it and he's really funny.
This is great.
I was telling you last night it's kind of You didn't make a break with your past, because I can see moments where you're accessing-.
Oh, there's no question.
There's things in Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross, that I'm doing physicalizations or to get sort of conceptualizations of a moment.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And of an emotion or- Yeah, that could be.
In Half My Face is a Clown, or Happy Happy, Good Show, or any of those early things.
Or Mr. Show.
Yes.
Like there are things you're doing that you're accessing that people would think well, this is really funny, but it can't belong on Broadway in front of a sold out crowd and you can't be Tony nominated for it.
Yeah.
Yes, you can.
And also, I mean, clearly you built up these incredible chops doing- Saul.
Saul, yeah.
Saul.
Yeah, better call Saul.
And before that, Breaking Bad.
And you were around these masters and-
You worked it and worked it, and worked it, and it was I mean Well, you know Smigel, Robert Smigel, our friend, who's the reason I even got on Saturday Night Live, and I think the reason I was able to stay there for any length of time was he came to the dress show and I said to him, because I'd been asking this question, am I being too silly in this role?
And he said- For Glenn Gary, yeah.
Glenn Gary.
And he said, yes, Bob, you are.
And you got to chill out.
You got to tone it down.
And I'd been waiting for someone to give me that response because that's what I felt.
But our director, who was to his great credit, let us run free.
You know, I think he maybe hesitated.
He didn't... I don't know.
He didn't want me to feel... Hemmed in.
Hemmed in, yeah.
Or editing yourself.
Yeah.
And he was like, no, it's fine.
It's great.
And he very much wanted to do a humorous version of the play.
He wanted as much comedy to come from the play as he could.
He said that multiple times.
So...
But I think Robert was right.
So after Smigel saw the show and called me and we talked, then I just kind of dialed it in more because obviously at the end of that play, Shelley asks for your empathy.
You know, and if you've been too ridiculous and I get close to it uh, it's hard to say that to the audience and now feel um, some degree of impact for this guy's uh, you know destruction self-destruction, right and uh.
And so robert helped me dial that in and i think i, i i'll tell you, one of the things that helps me to be as fun and big as i am in this play is the size of the room.
Yeah, like that is a big room we're in with a play And there's not unlike Saul, there's not, or the nobody movies, there's not a camera three inches from your face.
And so some amount of projecting and being big, but I just thought whoever had the idea.
I don't know how it happened, but-.
And particularly you and Bill Burr.
You're both playing these characters that you feel like Mamet wrote them for you.
That's how it felt to me.
And I was so happy because I was watching you on this huge stage on Broadway.
Everyone, you know, applause when the curtain comes up.
You have this scene.
Your opening scene is incredible, like nuclear energy from you, that and I I'm just thinking how did Bob remember all this?
Yeah.
I mean, that's what I'm, I'm, I'm just amazed by it.
Yeah.
Well, I, I got good at that doing Saul.
I mean, Saul taught me how to learn a script.
Yeah.
And I had no choice.
And I was so scared.
And Conan, I lost my voice.
It's going to be scary.
Out of sort of stress.
Yeah.
The first week of Saul and Ray Sehorne was so great.
And we spent so much time together, she and I, and she really helped me through those early weeks.
And yeah, so I learned that the ways to do that. which is essentially, I mean, if it's well-written, if the thing is well-written, even with the repetition that Mamet likes to use, that feels like people slipping and tripping over their thoughts.
And even with that, It's a story.
It builds.
It has one thing goes to the next.
Even the trips in there, the vocal and the words that repeat themselves feel like they make sense, whether the person's nervous or excited or whatever.
That's why there's a reason.
There's an emotional reason.
Right, right.
And...
So so it's really kind of it's weird, Conan.
The first thing I did with the Saul script, and really with the Breaking Bad script, was I just deconstructed it like a writer.
Like if we were going if someone had said, do you rewrite this?
And, you know, that's what I did as an actor was like, what is he trying to say?
What is his subtext?
What is he saying?
Uh, where's he going down a dead end, and then he goes back and starts again, and so it all comes from writing and i got good at that and i got, and there is also a kind of a weird muscle training that your brain it gets better at.
Uh, memorization well also uh, there's it's music.
When I'm watching and the thing is in comedy, we know there's a music to it.
And sometimes we have these ideas and thoughts and it's just because you and I love music and we've always been kind of fascinated with wanting to play music and do music.
And then it's that thing that so many comedians, we want to be a rock star.
Right.
And early on in our lives, people assessed our skills and said, you should try comedy.
And it was.
There's a music to this stuff and there's a music to And if you tune into that, I would think that would help, because the patterns in Glengarry, Glen Ross and Mamet is just It is.
If you can hear the music in your head and I can tell that you guys all are hearing that and it could be a vocal performance.
That's what it is.
It's a vocal performance.
And sometimes, when I was learning it actually, I would sing it into my little recorder to help memorize it.
And while you're singing it, it's not a...
It's not the most melodic thing you've ever heard, but it's got this like lyrical rhythm and kind of like melody that you find that helps you to memorize it.
Yeah.
Yeah, and I also would say Kieran, of all the people, is the one I most think about when I think about that kind of a sing-song version of his words and how he does it.
By the way, Kieran never saw the film, never saw the play, so his performance is purely...
It's just late.
You're putting him up on a pedestal, but Kieran is famously, just doesn't prepare.
Well, he's sleepy.
It's not the same.
I also love.
I said to him once it was on this podcast that I was talking about him on Succession, his character on Succession, and I noticed that I said am I wrong or is your character just completely unable to sit?
He can't sit on a couch.
He can't sit for a minute.
And he was like, no, no, no, that's it, that's it.
Not that it's all of it, but I noticed a lot that he's constantly squirming and constantly and he uses his body so well.
And last night in the play there's a really funny moment where he's trying to get away from someone.
He's headed for the door.
And then finally, he gets to the door and the person says something that stops him and he just slumps.
And it's I mean, it's like a Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin.
Yeah, it's really funny.
We you know, there's we get so many laughs with this thing.
And a lot of it.
I give a lot of credit to Bill Burr because and that first scene with Bill and Michael.
So my scene comes on and there's laughs in there, but it's desperate, desperation.
And then you get Bill Burr and Michael McKeon and great laughs written in.
Mamet wrote these jokes in.
Yeah.
And these guys are nailing every single one, not to mention, you know, finding other moments along the way.
And the audience, because it's Bill especially, know like, oh, well, he's a comic.
I think this is pretty damn funny.
Well, that's definitely funny.
I'm allowed to laugh.
And so from that point on, they're looking for us to provide some comedy.
And it's been so much fun.
And I don't think you'd ever see a funnier version of this play.
But at the same time, I think we're getting at the core of what it's about.
I don't think we're dropping the the meat of it just because we're finding all the humor within it.
Yeah, it's funny because, just as we were talking about music and stuff, i remember one of the first things i heard you do, when we were first meeting each other and we're in our early 20s, was used to do this character called rocker and he was a.
He was a heavy metal rocker yeah, and it was that.
It was such, it was.
So he i forget what he did, but he'd be like.
No, he'd be like Because he sang sort of like, he talked sort of like Axl Rose sings.
And I always wanted you to do rocker and rock and roll.
And I just delight.
Well, every time I see a guy.
The other day I saw a guy walking down the street in Greenwich Village and he had.
He just looked like an old English rocker.
And all I could think in his mind all day long, he's just saying rock and roll, man.
All day long.
That's the only thing going through his head.
You also did a guy.
But Smigel used to do old people.
Oh, yes.
I'm old.
I'm old.
Oh, I'm old.
And now we're getting old.
It's not so funny anymore, is it?
I'm old.
I'm old.
Yeah, there's so many little things that we would go into.
So mean to people.
Yeah.
But comedy should have a little bit of.
I do a thing where I'll be driving around.
David, you've seen me do.
I'm in a car and I'm driving around, and they're just people.
You're in Manhattan and you're in an Uber and people are all over the place and I'll be like better than him, better than him.
I'll be in a car and it's a guy who just is constantly making sure that he's better than everyone and someone better than him.
And then they're pushing a baby carriage and I'll go like Better than the kid.
Yep.
Yep.
Still good.
Better than, better than.
And like literally, you know.
If anyone else heard it out of context, you'd be a monster.
No, no.
There's so much stuff I do, which is my take on a monster.
And then sometimes you can think, is he a monster or is he doing his take?
I hope he's doing his take on a monster.
And I think I am.
But who sits in a car and goes better than him?
And then one thing I did that only you tuned into was the miso soup horse.
I used to go, one of my characters was the miso soup horse and it was a horse that just went, Miso!
Miso soup!
And you would laugh.
And like every other writer was like, would you fucking shut up?
Miso!
Miso soup!
And Bob would get that, have that great laugh.
And I'd be like, well, at least he'll be my friend when this is all over.
I got to watch...
You came out with Nobody.
And one thing I would not have guessed if you had told me okay, I meet this guy, Bob Odenkirk.
And Future Man came to me and said let me tell you about Bob in the future.
He's gonna be on Broadway.
He's gonna be Tony nominated.
I'd be like, yeah, that tracks.
I can see all of that happening.
He's going to have a sketch comedy show that becomes the formative sketch comedy show for a lot of people, along with David Cross, called Mr Show.
I'd say like, yep, tracks.
He's going to be an action star.
I would say, you know, I like you, future man.
But clearly you have a brain tumor because you know, and when nobody came out I was like oh, I got it.
Because you told me about nobody before it came out.
You said, Conan, there's something I want you to see.
There's something I want you to see.
And you said, there's something I'm doing now that I think is going to surprise you.
And I was like, whatever.
I didn't know what you were talking about.
And nobody came out.
And when it came out, I was just, oh, he's so good at this.
And the bus scene was this thing that really got me where you get beat up and thrown off the bus.
And then I think you I don't know if you take a belt off and you tie it around and you get back on the bus.
And I thought, This is tapping into something that's always in Bob.
Yeah, rage.
There's a rage.
There's a determination.
We were all, at one point, low men on the totem pole at SNL.
And feeling like we don't belong or maybe feeling like we're not going to last.
A chip on my shoulder.
Yeah, and chocolate chip.
And.
But I see it, and then I think you know.
But what's amazing is, this role came along when you're completely established as a great actor.
So you've got that part and then you're kicking ass and there's a rage and the.
I saw Nobody 2 and really loved it.
You saw it.
I saw it.
Yeah.
How did you see it?
Because I'm sure they've been very protective.
Oh, they are really protective.
They sent me a link.
I was trying and trying and trying and trying to watch the link.
It wasn't letting me and clicking on it.
And there's all these codes you have to put in.
And it's like getting into the Pentagon.
I think I'm I feel like I'm trying to access nuclear weapons.
But anyway, long story short, I finally get in, with a lot of help from young people who know how the internet works and how computers work.
And they know the whole alphabet.
Oh, that was low.
Just because I'm an ape, I don't know the alphabet.
An Irish ape.
When Bob sees me, he sees me.
He sees one of those immigrant cartoons of a dirty Irishman from 1870 who looks like a giant gorilla but has like red mutton chops.
This is why I was nervous about the podcast is because I thought you just make me laugh for an hour.
That's all that people would see is Bob is a gibbering, giddy, gibbling fool.
Is that a word, gibbling?
It is now.
I'm a gibbling fool.
I think it's a gibbling.
You're a gibbling fool.
But I honestly, you, Conan, you make me laugh so hard and it's such silly stuff.
And I have to say, the thing that I'll never forget laughing so hard at is the impersonation of the alien from the movie.
Oh.
Enemy mind.
Enemy mind.
Yes.
2 a.m.
I probably ate too much, you know, Thai food.
So I had some kind of sugar rush.
2 a.m., 3 a.m.
Lou Gossett Jr.'
's in the movie along with.
This had nothing to do with the Dennis Quaid.
And Dennis Quaid.
This had nothing to do with who was hosting the show.
No, it wasn't.
Or anything to do with anything.
No one was hosting the show at all.
In fact, the movie wasn't even recent.
Yeah.
And you started doing the alien.
The pregnant- Lou Gossett.
Lou Gossett Jr, and he's an alien who you've seen as evil, but then you realize that his species can have a baby, which comes late in the thing.
This is real, because I never saw the movie.
This is real.
And then there's this part where he's become.
He's gone from like vicious monster And he's gone from like the monster in Terminators and not Terminator but Predator to suddenly it's as if at the end of Predator the monster is like and rubbing its very pregnant belly and making very maternal faces.
And it blew my brain and all I could do was I mean, we had work to do.
Yeah.
And you and I are howling, because I'm rubbing my belly and making... You're saying, I'm with child.
I'm with child.
Which may not even be.
I don't think it's even in the movie I'm With Child, because no alien would know that saying.
If that was in the movie, that would be the greatest thing ever.
I don't know, but anyway, to fans of Enemy Line, I'm sorry.
Can you imagine writing that in and then people being like, this one line.
I think we might be pushing it.
We got to tweak it.
I'm with child.
Does he need to keep saying that?
He says it 12 times.
I counted.
This really cool, vicious alien is like, I'm doing kegels.
I have a cream I rub for stretch marks.
I'm eating for two.
I have to eat two human skulls.
Burp.
Burp.
Burp.
Thank you.
The point I want to make about, which is really fun, is I love the Nobody movies.
I love the second one.
Or the Rage.
Well, I like- Talking about Odenkirk's Rage.
But you know what?
You're able to access that.
It's your nuclear-
Is that true?
On some level, yeah.
You had a very... Well, my dad was funny, but not in the way I am.
He was funny in a... He was good with a line, like a jokey line.
But you had a complicated relationship with him.
Well, we had a distant relationship.
It was more like a pen pal who never wrote to me and never wrote back.
Seriously, he was able to go from zero to 80 in, like, two seconds.
And I think I can do that, and it actually lends itself to acting and all kinds of things.
It's kind of a.
I said to David Carr, the great journalist, once he had come to see Better Call Saul and he was watching a scene, and afterwards he said to me I don't know how you do that.
I said, I know how I do it.
He goes, oh yeah, how do you do it?
And I go, I have poor emotional boundaries.
You're being honest, but it's funny, too.
Yeah, but it's kind of true, and it is actually kind of true of not all actors but a lot of actors who are able to can't help but slip between sort of emotional responses that are maybe a little too intense.
Uh, and you could say that that's a wonderful skill that they're putting on display and it's shocking and surprising and it grabs you and it involves you and it, and then, of course, in real life, it can be very uh, bad and and not healthy and and really be a sign of poor health, mental health.
But I have to go from that to this, which is in 2021.
I remember where I was, but I suddenly someone came in the room and they said Bob Odenkirk had a heart attack.
And I mean I'm always hearing about people I know tangentially through this business who've fallen sick or something, but I had a real response of I know, Bob.
This is really upsetting and horrifying.
And initially I couldn't get a read on, are you gone?
I started to hear this is really serious.
Yeah.
And then I know your brother, Bill, who's hilarious.
And Bill, love you.
And shout out to Bill Odenkirk.
And I got in touch with Bill and he told me, we think he's going to be okay, but it was bad.
And I turned out that you were completely out.
You were out.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a weird thing that happened.
And so one of the tributaries to the Widowmaker got completely blocked and I went out.
Were you in the middle of a scene?
No, we were in a break.
And it was during COVID shooting.
So we were separate from the crew.
And luckily, I didn't go to my trailer.
If I'd gone to my trailer, I wouldn't be here because they don't bother you when they knock.
They wait for up to an hour.
Who takes an hour to masturbate?
You know, when I've had my heart attacks, it was just masturbating.
It was that.
That's what I was doing.
Yeah.
All my heart attacks happen while masturbating.
But I sat, you know, where we were sitting.
Ray and Patrick were right there.
I've told this story too many times.
It's OK.
And this thing happened and I went down.
I turned gray right away and did worse.
What your body does when it stops masturbating. going, oh, nothing matters anymore.
Wow.
Yeah.
And I was just gone and Ray held my head up off the cement and they started screaming.
But people were far away because of COVID.
So, uh, the crew later told me, you know, we thought that they were laughing.
They we thought they're laughing very loudly at something.
It took a few seconds to realize people were screaming.
And luckily we were at the studio and our medical officer was there, Rosa Estrada.
And she came out of her office.
She'd done two tours with the army.
She immediately did CPR properly, really well, broke my ribs.
And the medical officer of the show, the medic, was there too, but he kind of froze up.
He was very freaked out and later apologized to me.
But he then also helped out and they all switched off.
Essentially, they weren't able to get an AED for 15 minutes.
So because CPR was done so well and because they also had that breathing mask, you know Those two things, as well as my training for nobody, which made some of the other veins to my heart larger sort of enlarged like, bigger than you would normally see because I did so much training.
That meant that blood was able to get to my heart.
You were getting oxygenated blood to your heart.
Yes.
To your brain.
And my heart.
The heart starts to die right away, right?
It starts to scar up and die.
But because those other veins were feeding blood through my heart, the heart didn't scar up.
So my heart has almost no scarring at all.
That's fantastic, yeah.
For 15 minutes of just people doing this.
And then they had the aed and it took three hits for the aed to work, which is a lot.
Yeah, it's kind of super scary and that's where some of the fear and the the real.
Well, everything about it was really scary.
And in fact tony, uh dalton, who played lalo and his good friend, he was there, they were all there, everybody gathered around and uh, He said I saw a guy die from a heart attack at an airport.
Same exact thing.
I saw it again.
I'm like, well, he's dead.
This guy's over.
And so it was the three AED hits that also super freaked people out.
Because that AED device does a thing.
It talks.
It says...
No heartbeat detected.
Step away from the body.
10, 9, 8, 7, down to 1.
And then it shoots.
And then your body jumps off the ground.
And then there's, like, some recoup moment.
And then it goes, no heartbeat detected.
And so they also check you, then it's a step away from the body because you can't be near it, right?
You can't be touching it or you'll get shocked.
And so the fact that that had to be done three times made everyone feel that this thing was maybe just- Not working.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so then we were very far from the fire station.
I'm going to tell this story.
I've told it too many times.
I apologize.
Just go to the next clip.
No one heard the other times.
This is the first time.
We're the first time.
It took 25 minutes. for the ambulance to get there.
And then, well, they were far.
And then they took me to a great hospital, Presbyterian in Albuquerque.
And then at 5 a.m. in the next morning, I think they put me in a coma.
You know, I think they put me in a stasis state.
Then at 5 a.m., they went in through here, which you can't even see that scar anymore.
They went through your wrist?
Yeah.
They went in, pushed it out, cleaned it out, put in two stents.
Jesus.
They used just a bristle brush. that they got at the hardware store.
And they don't clean it.
They don't clean it between procedures.
I told them, you know, it's just sitting on the shelf for months.
There's dust on it.
Did you wash it?
Did you rinse it?
Nothing.
They keep it in their glove compartment.
They said we were in a hurry.
Yeah.
I said, well, you were worried about me.
And they, no, we had other projects.
They call us projects.
There's a toilet that needed work.
You say that you- Look, everybody was really scared for all legitimate reasons.
I'm super lucky, Conan.
CPR was done really well.
Yeah, three people switched off because you can't do it, for if you're doing it well, you can't do it for more than two and a half minutes three minutes because you're exhausted, right?
So you need someone to hand it off to.
So there's three people who switched off.
And then this aed device, which every studio there has now, but at the time there was none in any of the studio buildings on the whole lot, but Our Rosa had one in the trunk of her car that she'd been trying to return to her friend.
She had borrowed it and she had tried to return it, and her friend wasn't home or it wouldn't have been in her car.
And her car was parked, you know, as those lots are huge and she had to run and go get it.
So it's just so many things happen that we're lucky.
I have...
The stories that my friends told me Ray, of course, Patrick Vince the degree to which I could see how shaken they were from having been there.
I kept asking them, tell me the story, because I had no memory at all.
Nothing.
It was just a blank.
It was just wake up and I'm leaving the hospital a week later.
That's my first memory is talking to the doctor on my exit interview.
So I was there for a week.
I was awake the next day at one o'clock but groggy.
But I don't have any memory of any of the hospital at all.
And I don't have any memory of the day, the whole day that we shot.
So we had shot all day.
One of the gifts that it gave me this is so weird is for the next couple of weeks.
I had memory challenges and a lot at first.
Like I didn't know where I was.
I would not be scared at all.
I would wake up and be like, well, wow.
I mean, honestly, Conan, it was like if I it's like, look at this world.
Yeah.
This place is fucking amazing.
Well, this is Sirius XM in New York, and it really isn't.
And so, I mean, you know, you're talking about a blade of grass, sunlight.
Yeah.
You know, just life, butterflies.
But Sirius XM New York, no.
No.
I don't care if you just came out of a death coma.
It really was.
And this happened when my memory came back a little a little bit more every day.
But I didn't wake up the way we know, I do normally, which is whatever.
I went to bed afraid of, scared about, concerned about.
Right away.
Right there.
Not to mention my own brain's natural fallback position.
What should I be worried about?
What should I be worried about?
Yeah.
Literally going down the list.
I think this is something I got from my mom.
How is this person doing?
How is that person doing?
What can I do to help this person?
What can I do to help somebody in my life who I'm concerned about?
And just who should I be worried about right now?
Yeah.
You know, and what should I be worried about?
And I just didn't have any of that.
The world was a wonderful place.
I had people I loved around me.
I had a job that I can't believe, a magically wonderful job that I get to do.
And that carried with me for months, for months.
Here's the question I have.
Because I've noticed this.
I lived in New York on 9-11 and everybody was on their best behavior after 9-11 in New York City and it was just a beautiful thing.
You'd go to a restaurant, people said, you've got to go out, you've got to keep the city going.
You'd go places and the person would come over to take your order and you'd ask them how they're doing.
Where do they live?
And then you'd make them sit down and they'd join.
I mean, it was just this happening and I think it lasted five, six weeks.
And then people started bickering.
And I just thought, oh, I see.
This is what humans revert.
Are you able to still access the gratitude, the feeling of I'm suffering?
Yes, I am.
Yes, I am.
I mean, I think I have to make an effort.
But it definitely, especially as my memory came back, because of course the first thing you're concerned is well, maybe I'm not going to get it all back, and then I can't act and stuff.
Right.
But I, you know, I was getting it back a little at a time, every day, and I could sense that I'll get, I'll be OK, you know, but I've got to remember what this state is like.
I've got to remember the value of this.
This is this should be a part of your day.
Every day.
Yes.
You should feel this every day at some point.
Somehow you should get yourself here because this is true, too.
It's true that our world is filled with concern and worry and danger and things you should pay attention and be concerned about.
But this also. should be something you touch base with as often as you can.
Yeah, I've said I've realized this a bunch of years ago that humility gratitude, these words get thrown around a lot, but it's not something you achieve, it's stomach crunches.
You know, you've gotta, or... stretching.
You got to do it every day or every other day, or it doesn't.
There's no like I feel gratitude.
Check that off.
You've got to just keep going back at it, because human nature and also modern media is, isn't I mean?
You pick up any device, you turn on the TV and we are programmed to to receive bad news all the time.
So yeah, you're absolutely right.
But I mean, talk about, you do have a lot to be grateful for in addition to your career.
But just if you were looking at your career, I would say.
I said this I heard that people were giving blurbs for your book, your autobiography, which I really loved, and so I wrote on it.
I'm hard-pressed to think of anyone who's had a more fascinating unpredictable, great career arc than Bob Odenkirk.
And I meant it because I knew you like when you were.
You know you had one jacket.
You had that leather jacket and your glasses and you were very intense.
I was really proud of myself that I could put everything I owned in one bag.
Yes.
Well, I remember going to your apartment.
We went to your apartment once and it was super small as all of our apartments were.
And just you could like touch all the walls.
You know you didn't have to move, but you had.
I can remember your brown leather jacket.
You know your jeans, your sneakers, your glasses.
And I think that's everything you had.
And we were hobos and.
But I look at you now and I was like I was watching the choreographed fight scenes, which are so great in nobody.
It's fun to do.
And I'm going to tell you, it's the closest to a comedy writer's room.
Yes.
Is doing a stunt fight and any of the stunt fights I've done.
It's the most like.
Oh, this is what we did at 2 am.
First of all, you train the fight, you choreograph the fight, and I did contribute to all these fights.
And in fact, the bus fight, so much of that I pitched to start, which is he bangs his head.
I hit my head in the first three moves, I hit my head.
I miss, I have to miss somebody, punch and miss.
Your character has been out of it for a little bit.
Right.
Yeah.
And I have to degrade as the fight goes.
I have to get slower and weaker, not stronger.
And I get thrown out of the bus and I go back in.
Yeah.
I have an opportunity to leave.
I could walk away.
And I don't.
Okay and I'm not gonna give anything away.
But in Nobody 2 and I don't think I'm giving anything away because I've also seen the trailer, but for reasons that'll become clear when you see the movie it's organic but you end up at kind of like an amusement park kind of place.
And what's fun is that that's where you are, you're with your family.
And so all the fights are happening in this environment.
I mean, there's a scene that you incorporate whack-a-mole into a Jean-Claude Van Damme fight scene.
So it's two things.
It's really good fight choreography.
It's really fun to watch.
It's satisfying because the biggest, most important element to me of a fight scene is you really wanna hate the dick who's getting beaten up?
But part of that was and it's in the trailer, so I don't think this is a spoiler.
When the guy whacks the girl in the back of the head, I said can you make that just as small as, like he, even the guy who let's say the real guy who does that is like why did I do that?
That was dumb.
What an asshole.
I didn't need to do that.
Like, he didn't even think about it.
He wasn't thinking.
He swats her on the back of the head.
He's like, get out of here, you guys.
Yeah.
And it's the smallest thing.
Even he probably thinks I shouldn't have done that.
That was a dick move.
But he also, it wasn't, I didn't hurt anyone.
Nobody got hurt.
Her hat went like this.
But that was.
But you go, fuck.
No, you know, because little things like that do happen in your life and you can't do anything about them.
You have to walk away from them.
But I know.
But what was so smart about that is it's your daughter.
And I think what's really smart about that is it taps into something.
If you have kids, I don't care how old your kids are.
They can be little, they can be 25.
If someone's mean to your kid or shoves your kid or does anything to your kid, it awakens something in you.
You wanna kill that person.
And so you're trying to leave.
It's a small thing.
You're deescalating, which we use a lot.
Let's deescalate.
You've clearly like, I don't want to have any trouble.
You're leaving, swats your daughter.
And it's just this great moment, because you're walking out and your wife's saying- And I leave.
You leave as, you know, like it's your opportunity.
I could leave.
You could leave.
And then your wife says, see, there's a look in your eye.
Which is, I've seen that look back at SNL when they didn't put your sketch on.
And you're, I'm going to try and let, and you can see he's not going to let this go.
They just, it's your daughter.
And you go back in and clean house.
But using all the stuff that's in an arcade, which is really fun.
That guy who gets it with the claw.
Yeah, yeah.
These stunt actors are so great.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You see how real he makes that?
Yes.
And the punch.
If you watch how he takes that punch.
First of all, there's a thing about like he doesn't just clear off.
He, like, goes...
He's got some strength.
He's not just here to take a punch.
He's a guy who's like, what just happened?
Those guys are so good.
Is it as much fun to do that as I think it is?
It is.
Damn it.
You laugh your ass off.
Damn it.
They say cut, everyone laughs and goes, I can't fucking believe that.
Let's go watch it.
Let's go watch it.
You were on the pod.
Let me say one thing.
You were on the pod for now.
I feel like I'm in because your character, Shelley Levine, talks over people and I'm doing that to you right now, but it's because it's important.
When the first Nobody came out, I had you on.
I loved it.
We had a great interview and I said at the end if you ever make another one, you got to put me in it.
You went, yeah, yeah.
I'm not in it!
Don't be needy.
But I just want to be beaten.
I want someone to beat the shit out of me.
Well, we'll do one.
Just, can you do a third?
Yes.
I don't even have to be me.
Just, I know.
But I mean, when there's nobody three comes out, I just want to be, put me in clown makeup.
It won't be me.
And I'll be a small, but I just want someone to beat me to death.
We'll make it happen.
The last thing I'll say about the Nobody franchise that I appreciate is that there are many like James Bond beats a bunch of people up in a room and then walks into the next scene looking like a million bucks.
You-
You are a real human who's just fought 10 guys and you've been hit as much as you've hit someone.
You've taken as many hits as you've given and you can tell progressively as it goes through.
I mean, Wile E. Coyote gets a reset after every scene.
He can blow up.
And then he walks back in the next scene and it's a fresh Wile E Coyote opening the Acme rocket boot.
Acme rocket boot box.
But you, you can tell like you just take a lot of punishment because you're a real person who's fighting all these people.
Oh, I want to do a scene in the next movie if there is another where he goes through a metal detector and his body is all pins.
And then you fight all the TSA people.
All right, I'm going to have to wrap this up because we have talked and talked and talked.
This will be heavily edited.
I just got to say one other thing.
When I was training for Nobody, and I trained for probably you could say three years, and I...
When I would go do Better Call Saul, I would train for twice a week.
But when I was in L.A., I would train three times a week at the actual stunt gym.
And I didn't think the movie was going to get made.
But they were offering me free training with this great guy, Daniel Bernhard, who trained me.
And it was like free, you know, I learn about exercise.
I didn't know shit about it.
And so I'll take that.
You know, and then you can call me and say, we're not making the movie.
And I'll go, all right, thanks for the free gym hours.
And the whole time I'm doing it I'm thinking about you and Smigel and Sandler and everybody I knew from comedy.
And if I were to get to make this movie.
Yeah.
And you were to go see it in Spade.
I kept thinking about Spade.
I don't know why.
He would go see it and go like, what the fuck?
Yep, that's exactly.
And you know what?
I had that feeling of it was such a mind blower because it was as if you heard there's this incredibly sensual movie out.
It's got really heavy sex scenes and all the women are losing their mind because the guy's so incredible.
And you're like, who is it?
It's Conan O'Brien.
What?
He's 62.
Are his eyes still kind of creepy?
And is his lips still thick?
Yes.
How's his skin?
It's okay.
Wait a minute.
What?
Are his legs disproportionately long?
Yeah.
But man, the way he goes at it when he takes his shirt off.
But only the difference was you completely owned it and it was great.
And there's no like ah, good for Bob, when people are buying movie tickets, especially worldwide.
Well, I just, I promise you, I thought of you guys often.
Keep us in your head all the time.
When I was exercising and thinking that's just a reason to be doing this is, if I could pull it off, that would blow my friends' minds.
Here's how I'll end this.
You loom large in my early career. as one of the funniest people I ever got to work with.
And it was really meaningful to me back then because I was sometimes doing stuff on this frequency that you really appreciated.
And I felt like this guy gets it.
And I felt like you were doing the same thing.
And I've told you, I've memorized moves of yours from your first one-man show.
But Bob, I'm so happy for you.
Thanks for all you.
Also weirdly, even though I'm proud of you.
I know that can like sound condescending, but I'm really.
I'm like I know him and he's killing it.
And just seeing you on that Broadway stage last night, watching your movies, watching your stuff.
So go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Have a nice day.
Have a nice week.
Thank you, buddy.
Bob Odenkirk, Tupac, peace out.
Sona, Sona, are you there?
Yeah, I'm here.
I'm here.
Okay, listen, there's a reason I'm talking to you right now, okay?
Oh, God.
Which is, I am in New York, working hard, while you're hardly working.
Not funny.
And interviewing people, just interviewed Bob Odenkirk, you know?
I love Bob Odenkirk.
Okay, well, don't say it like you don't like me.
And take your hands away from your mouth.
What are you doing?
I feel like your mom.
Sit up straight.
Okay, you can see me.
Yes, I can see you.
I didn't know you could see me.
Okay.
And hello, first of all.
How are you, Sona?
Nice to see you.
Thank you.
Second of all, second of all, let's not waste time on that.
Second of all, I'm here in New York and I'm working hard, you know, supposed to hardly working.
Funny joke.
And I am talking to you because...
I worry that when I'm away from our home base, when I'm away from the Larchmont California studios, that you guys are goofing around and you're not, you're not toeing the line.
And so this is a little drop in to make sure that you're making it happen.
Oh, you're still there.
Do you think you keep people in line here?
You think that you're like.
People get stuff done here in spite of you.
I mean you come in, everyone's like working.
You come in and then you just start like saying all these jokes and doing all these bits and everybody has to just stop working and watch you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It must be tough.
When the master of his craft comes in the room and delights a crowd with his magical skills.
Must be awful.
Oh shit, here comes Beethoven.
Fuck.
Oh no, he's got his piano.
What's this?
A symphony that will endure for all time?
Oh God.
When can I get back on Etsy so I can buy that?
On Etsy? by that little leather pouch um i know i'm gonna say morale is high here uh people just seem to be in really good spirits eduardo you're we're hanging out super productive today um since you're not here can i sit in your chair sure okay but wait a minute hold on okay she can sure yeah All right.
Now we're talking.
Okay.
That's cool.
Now, what does it feel like to be, I mean, in a sense, you know, you're now Conan O'Brien.
What's it like?
I don't know.
I feel a lot more anxious and needy.
Your skin's breaking out.
I'm suddenly filled with self-hate.
I don't know what happened to my skin.
I just have a hankering for potatoes.
Okay.
I think you went too far.
This is now hate speech.
But hate speech, everyone's okay with.
People are fine with you going after the Irish.
No one cares if you go after the Irish, not even the Irish.
But you guys did that.
Like, why is the mascot for Notre Dame like this?
Like, I'll get you.
And then there's Lucky Charms.
I'll get you.
I'll punch you.
Yeah, we're.
We're ridiculous people and we know it.
Um, whereas you are a proud armenian?
Yes, i am, and uh, and how are your boys doing?
I want to ask about them.
Mikey and charlie, boys are good, you know.
We moved into a new place and they're adjusting.
There's a park, there's a pool.
They just want to do things.
Yeah, so we let them do.
Are you adjusting to your new place?
I like it.
It's cool.
I you know, I know I talked a lot about my parents and how hard it was to live with them.
But, you know, they let us live with them for over four months.
And I all I did was complain about them.
So it was very like you're what?
You're a very ungrateful person.
And I say that out of love.
I mean, that's one of your better qualities.
But you are ungrateful.
You're not gracious at all.
And you take things for granted.
There's a lot of G's going on here, you know?
Are you having fun in New York?
I miss the trips that I used to take.
This is great.
I'm slamming you left and right.
All these missiles are landing.
I'm...
Ecstatic.
I will say I've been having a good time.
You've been walking around with me.
I have.
Talk about Conan in Manhattan.
Yeah, you thrive here.
And people come up to you left and right.
It's selfie central.
It is.
I think I've taken 3000 selfies.
Yeah.
But I don't, you know, as I've always said, I like talking to people.
I'm cool with it.
Yeah.
But it gets very silly because we went and saw Bob Odenkirk's Glengarry Glen Ross last night with Bill Burr.
And it was just a fantastic production.
Really great.
And then in Intermediate.
They're just this line form to get selfies.
And I'm standing there doing selfies for everyone.
And I thought I should start, even if I just got a dollar for each one.
Is that a bad thing to put out there?
I feel like people would talk.
I don't think it would go over well.
No, and I'd have one of those little old time change makers on me that the ice cream man had in the 60s.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's what I want to do.
I want to monetize it.
That's the kind of spirit I'm bringing to selfies.
A dollar?
You think a selfie with you is only worth a dollar?
I think that's optimistic.
I think that's optimistic.
If you could put any price on taking a selfie with you.
I think a dollar is aiming high.
You put a dollar.
You could do a BOGO, buy one, get one free.
Yeah, yeah.
Did you say there's a term for that?
BOGO?
BOGO, yeah.
God, I love what the kids are doing.
You guys are amazing.
BOGO, Etsy.
What's that new thing, internet?
It's crazy what's happening.
YOLO.
Sona.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, I know about, and FOMO.
Yeah.
So FOMO, BOGO, YOLO, GOGO.
Yeah.
JubJub, FlipFlap, ChipChop.
Yeah.
How are you, Sona?
I'm glad to see you.
I do miss you.
You know that.
I miss you too.
When I see you in New York, I really miss.
You know, I think I had like a when I kept.
When we kept going to New York, I started getting very like oh, New York.
And now I'm kind of craving it.
I miss it a lot.
You freaked out.
Yeah.
When you were my assistant before I saw the light and got David involved.
Oh, my God.
No, no.
He just knows.
He just gets things done.
But anyway, the first time I took you to New York, you flipped out.
You hated it.
Because you just weren't used to New York City.
You were very uncomfortable there because you're such an L.A. person.
Yeah.
But the one thing I remember very clearly, you needed to go somewhere.
And I said, well, just take a cab.
And you said, I can't take a cab.
I'll be sitting on a seat that other people have sat on.
And I thought, what?
What?
What are you talking about?
What is this narrative you've weaved in your mind?
I sit on so many seats.
You said that.
I've interacted.
You said that. indirectly with so many butts in my life that you think I'm used.
This is a clear memory I have.
Don't say this didn't happen.
I'm not saying you didn't want to take a cab.
It didn't happen the way you first of all, cabs aren't gross like they're gross.
But I also I take like lifts all the time and I don't have a problem with that.
So what was your beef with New York Cavs?
I mean, they're gross.
They're, like, dirty.
But at the same time, I think that you're making it seem like I'm, like, prissy.
Like, oh, I can't sit there.
I mean, yeah, I guess to a certain extent there was a lot of, like...
I don't like cabs.
But I think that I think there was.
You say that's improved now.
You're better.
You're over it.
You're kind of.
Yeah.
But I also I think that I got overwhelmed when I would go to New York.
Like it was overwhelming.
It's an overwhelming city.
And then when you're like me and you just want to go out and do stuff and you don't know what to do and you and you decide to just stay in your hotel, you feel like you're missing out on everything.
And it just, I think it also not only in New York, which is an overwhelming city, but you're with Conan O'Brien, a beloved figure.
And I think that was overwhelming for you as well.
I mean, oh, Conan, I want to sleep with you.
Oh, there he is.
What?
Remember?
You think people do.
I remember random people coming to you and just saying like oh, you know, you're with me all the time.
And they're like, oh, my God, I can't believe it.
And, you know, I had a sex dream about you just an hour ago and it's four o'clock in the afternoon.
You know, that kind of thing.
Whatever.
Never heard anyone say that.
People like, I want to give you money or you're a Christ-like figure.
It was more like, can we take a picture?
And you'd be like, yeah, sure.
And then you'd be like, do you need anything else?
They're like, no, I got to go.
That is so me.
Is there anything I can do for you?
I could write you a chat.
Why don't you join me?
Let's sit down and have a drink.
And they're like, I just want to.
OK, OK.
Now you're making me seem needy.
And that's as crazy as you being someone who's a germaphobe.
Okay.
Sona, I checked in on you.
I miss you.
I know, I miss you too.
Give my love to Tack and your lovely boys.
Do they still like their Uncle Coco?
They love Uncle Coco.
They talk about you all the time.
Did I ever tell you I showed them like, oh, you...
I sent you a video.
You sent them a video back, which I had to play with that for them like 150 times.
And after I did it, one of them, I think it was Mikey, went, Uncle Coco is kind of funny, huh?
And I was like, yeah, he is kind of funny.
Like I don't.
You know, in their mind you're just like this funny guy, but they don't realize you're.
You've been working.
I was taking a ride.
I was back.
I was back from my college reunion and I was in Boston and I was taking, I think, an Uber somewhere and the driver is just driving me, not really paying attention.
And I always chat with the people, so I'm chatting back and forth.
And then I made kind of a joke and the guy laughed and he said you have a sense of humor from another country.
He's learning the language.
You have a sense of humor.
And I was like, whoa, still got it.
All right, Sona, be well.
And I'll be checking in with you in about 20 minutes.
Okay, I'm excited.
I like sitting in your chair.
Maybe you can sit in my chair from now on and I'll just sit in yours.
It's like first chair.
Getting used to other people's chairs.
I like it.
Yeah.
All right.
Butts.
Okay, don't say butts.
Oh, sorry.
Butts.
Lots of butts sat in all these chairs and I'm fine sitting in them.
So, you know, I guess I proved you wrong.
I got to go.
Beethoven out.
I got to get my piano out of here.
Not Beethoven.
You'll see.
Beethoven the dog from the movies.
All right.
I'll talk to you later, Sona.
Bye.
Bye.
Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend with Conan O'Brien, Sona Movsesian, and Matt Gourley.
Produced by me, Matt Gourley.
Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Nick Liao.
Theme song by The White Stripes.
Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino.
Take it away, Jimmy.
Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair.
And our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples.
Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns.
Additional production support by Mars Melnick.
Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Brit Kahn.
You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and you might find your review read on a future episode.
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