Hi, my name is Rose Byrne, and I feel... ..delighted about being Conan O'Brien's friend.
Oh, that's nice.
MUSIC PLAYS
Hey there, and welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend.
I'm Conan.
We got Sona in da house.
Yep.
Matt Gourley.
And Sona, it is almost your birthday.
It's time.
Yeah.
Now, you take your birthday more seriously than anyone I've ever met in my life.
Yeah.
What is it about you and your birthday?
Okay.
I don't I just I take this entire month as an excuse to see the people I haven't seen in a really long time.
You know, so I celebrate all month long.
Every dinner, every event that happens, I feel like is about me.
Yeah.
I don't know.
It might be a Libra thing.
I don't know.
I know.
I don't think so.
I think it's a narcissist thing.
Oh, it's a Sona thing.
It's a Sona thing.
Do you demand gifts from all those meetings?
No, I don't.
It's not like I mean, it is a milestone birthday.
It is 43.
The big 43.
It's a big milestone.
So maybe no, but nobody gives me gifts.
It's not like we're giving gifts to each other.
It's just like let's do a dinner and then we just go to dinner and I see people from all different walks of life.
Do you expect multiple presents over the month or do you think you just get presents on the day?
I don't get any presents.
I don't want presents.
You don't get presents on your birthday?
I also just don't like just like getting a lot of stuff.
You know, I mean, this is really sad.
I lost my stuff.
And so I'm really aware of all the stuff I'm accumulating now.
In the fire, you lost a lot.
Yeah, I just don't want just stuff anymore.
I just want things I need.
So I'm very particular about it.
But I do love going to eat and I do love celebrating my birthday.
So you're putting it out there that you don't want, because I was going to get you some really nice things.
Oh, I know.
Okay.
No, we'll do that.
No, no.
Wait, how?
Matt and I had lists of beautiful baubles and treasures we were going to give you.
That's right.
But those apparently are out now.
That's not going to happen.
Yeah.
No, it's okay.
I guess I'll just keep this hand-signed by Cher Leather Bustier from the video Believe.
Yeah.
You just have that?
I do.
I bought it for myself, but I was going to give it to you.
Oh, were you really?
Yeah.
I did lose my share drawing.
And I guess I'll just hang on to this bust of Dr. Kevorkian that's made out of dried hummus.
Why?
Dried hummus.
Wait, did you say hummus?
Hummus.
Oh, my God.
You love it when I say it that way, don't you?
I know, it's cool.
So you should let me know what are some things that you need, because I would happily get you something that you really need.
Well, things I need are kind of lame.
Like, I just realized I don't have a tray.
A tray?
Like, for my kitchen to, like, take things.
I don't understand what you need.
Is there a drive-in window at your house?
A buffet?
You guys always eat from a buffet?
Yeah.
I don't know.
Can I get some extra ketchup packets?
Yes.
Could you just hand me... No, why do you need... Seriously, why do you need a tray?
What do you need a tray for?
In case I have a lot of stuff I have to transport from the kitchen to another room, you need a tray.
Who's eating in another room?
Do you guys have sneeze guards in your kitchen?
Wait a minute.
It says here, I just looked up your address.
It's a sizzler.
You live at a Sizzler now.
I wish I lived at a Sizzler.
So wait a minute.
So describe to me.
No, the Sizzler burned down.
She lives in a soup plantation.
I love soup plantations.
She needs to defend how you have a tray that takes things from one room to another.
Why are you acting like this is weird?
Never has Liza ever come to me with food on a tray when I'm in another room.
It is true.
It is a normal thing.
When you watch TV, you put snacks and a little drink on a tray and stuff.
You have a trade.
Liza won't let that happen in our house.
You can't eat over there.
Some crumbs will get.
No.
But you are an awful eater.
So that makes sense.
I would not allow you to eat anywhere in my.
I am.
I've heard you're ravenous, but are you messy as well?
Yes, I am.
Well, I've been called the wood chipper.
So what happens is you feed food towards my gaping ma and then crumbs shoot out.
Remember when Cookie Monster would eat?
Yeah.
He couldn't because there's no real throat to Cookie Monster.
It just there's no throat.
You know, Cookie Monster just has this these flaps.
He's a puppet.
He's not real.
Yeah.
There's no mouth hole.
It's just flat there.
It's a mouth hole.
That's ridiculous.
He's not real.
That's not true.
That's just not true.
You, I get it.
I get why Liza would... The trays.
That's a normal thing that a lot of houses have.
Your house for sure has a tray.
We probably have five trays.
When Liza serves me food, she is wearing a hazmat suit.
And she's wearing one.
You know what she's often wearing is one of those deep sea diving uniforms from the 1920s.
And she'll come to me and she'll say, here is.
And I can just hear an echo.
Here is your tomato soup, soup, soup, soup.
And then I go.
And then it's just a Jackson Pollock all over the walls.
Oh, that's nice.
So, yeah, stuff just goes flying.
That's why we don't have a tray in our house.
You do have a tray for sure.
You have a tray.
You probably just never.
I'm thinking of a very small tray that just brings out some grapes and a little bit of cheese over.
If a guest is here, we would have that.
But you're talking about a big tray.
No, I'm talking.
I think when I'm saying tray, you're thinking of like cafeteria trays.
No, I'm talking about like a serving tray.
So you want a tray.
And what else do you want?
I've only I only got to tray.
That must be a pretty good life.
If all you need is a tray.
I know I need a lot more stuff.
Does your new place, your new abode have stairs?
Yeah.
Do you need a stair chair that goes up the stairs?
I don't need it, but I'd like one.
Would you use it if you had one?
Yeah.
I think those are so cool.
Aren't those so cool?
Yeah.
And I think the fact that you don't need one is kind of cool.
Yeah.
But you still have one.
And then you could put the tray on your lap and you could eat like you're on an airplane.
Because that's how slow it is going up.
You could finish a meal.
Yeah.
You could have a whole turkey dinner.
And slowly, Tack is going up the stairs at like I mean slower than a tortoise.
Yeah.
And oh, it's really fun too to put a tortoise on a stair chair.
Okay.
Why?
But the tortoise is already slow and it's already going up.
It's just a slow thing on a slow thing.
Yeah, it's really funny.
And then you just let a rabbit go up the stairs on its own.
Yeah.
Do you want a stair chair?
Yeah.
You're putting a second floor in your house, aren't you?
I would love to.
You haven't put it on yet?
Give me some time.
It takes a long time to do that.
You know what would be great?
I'll build you a staircase and put a stair chair in, even though you don't have a second floor.
And it'd be funny when people smash their head on the... Ah!
And then just blood rushes down the staircase and your guest is screaming in pain.
I swear there was a second floor there yesterday.
We're doing elevator.
Yeah.
That's funny.
We just got a thing in the mail.
We got junk mail for something called like a slift.
What's a slift?
And it's like an easy prefab elevator that you can put in your house.
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
This is fantastic.
We could get a Slift?
Yes.
Wait a minute.
I think it's called Slift.
We need one here.
Can I say something?
Can you Google, is it called Slift?
Slift.
That sounds disgusting, by the way.
No, it's a band.
It's a what?
A band.
So it's not called Slift.
You sick pervert.
You're like, there's something I want to get.
It's called Slift.
Oh, that's right.
It was a nudie mag we got in the mail.
But wait a minute.
Um, is there, this is a question for maybe for Adam, but this is our building here.
We own this building at Larchmont.
It is team Coco global headquarters.
We should have an elevator.
And I love that idea.
And you know what I want?
I want one, uh, that we have three floors in this building.
I like the idea that it's prefab.
It's something that someone comes in.
It's installed within a day because I know it's not going to be safe.
And that's funny.
Yeah.
We also need fire poles.
What?
I think it's one or the other.
Yeah, it's one or the other.
And I say elevator.
What's it called there, Eduardo?
Stilts.
That's it.
Stilts.
With a Z. With a Z. Can we have an operator?
But how?
I don't understand.
I've never heard of it.
Look at that.
Oh, my God.
It looks like very Star Trek, doesn't it?
It looks like you go in there and you get some kind of future medical thing done.
No, it's a chamber.
You get into this chamber.
And how do they install that?
That's where Spock dies.
Oh, I see.
That's where Spock dies.
Yeah, but he dies of boredom because it's going so slowly.
Wait a minute.
Do you think we could get this installed?
I think it's a great idea.
I'll put up the funding for it.
I think we should look into it for real.
I would love it.
Oh, look, there's a little animated part on stilts.
Yeah, it would make the building more accessible.
That's true.
It's good.
It's a good thing to do.
Oh, and you know, it'd be great if it made a lot of noise so that when we were recording the podcast It should come up in this room.
And Ted Danson comes in to get ready for his podcast.
And of course, you know, he's no spring chicken.
He'll get on the stilts and then...
And we can hear it on our podcast.
And I'm like, Ted!
Ted!
I'm sorry, but slift makes more sense than stilts.
I think you're right.
Yeah.
Maybe we can get, oh, look at this.
It's quiet.
It's quiet.
And there's a cartoon of a guy and his dog sleeping, so that he can sleep on a couch while his wife quietly goes in an inner tube and sails up.
Oh, it's got a remote control.
So you could put someone in it and control what they do?
This lazy shit is having his luggage sent down in an elevator.
Okay, all right.
This is a handicapped person or handicapable, but this is a person who should use this.
But can we go back to the guy saying someone put my luggage in the elevator and send it down to me in our two room house?
I do think you need to have an old school guy with a hat as the elevator operator.
David Hopping is on the, let's just call it a slift.
Okay.
And stilts.
Get your act together and change the name.
David Hopping will be on it and he'll be wearing a, again, 1930 elevator operator costume.
And when he arrives at this floor, he goes like, cosmetics, notions, unmentionables.
Unmentionables.
We don't do any of that.
This is fantastic because he doesn't do anything.
David does a lot, but then whenever we're all here, he doesn't do anything.
Yeah.
So he could be riding up and down the elevator doing bits.
Yeah.
We have to get this.
We need to immediately find out how much this costs.
The company's called Stiltz, and I'm not doing an ad for them because I wish their name was Slitz.
Slit.
I say Slit.
Slit.
And guess what?
That's the even better name.
Slit is like a strip club, kind of.
Trust me.
Yeah, and you know what?
Slits should have an elevator.
You can join the 100th of a mile club.
Yeah.
Listen, stilts, you have 24 hours to change your name to slits.
I want this.
I've never wanted anything this badly.
Let's do it.
Maybe they'll give us one for free.
I mean, we've done a lot of promotion for them.
Come on.
Listen up, slits.
Yeah.
Slits.
Knee, formerly known as stilts.
Slits, knee, stilts.
Yeah.
You may know her as stilts, but we call her slits.
Slits.
I've got to have it.
I've got to have it.
And I will spare no expense.
We're going to sawn a hole in this joint and we're running that thing up and down.
And David Hopping is going to get a uniform and we're going to shoot videos and everyone's going to love us again.
Okay.
All right.
Let's wrap this up.
My guest today stars in.
This is very exciting for me to talk about the new movie.
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You alongside.
Well, another familiar face you might know.
And this is a project that's very near and dear to my heart.
And I absolutely adore our guest today.
I can't, I don't know, just nothing more I can say.
I'm I'm thrilled you're here on the podcast.
You came on The Late Night Show a couple of times and I never really got to talk to you and we've had this incredible experience together working on a movie.
I had never done anything remotely like that, and...
Everything I thought about you came true and was verified a million times over.
Just in terms of like your, I know you to be this incredible actress and this very funny person who can do any kind of performance.
And then you show up and you are one of my favorite people of all time.
Seriously.
And so that was a blessing.
And now I want to.
I want to take you down.
Today's the day.
Today's the day.
You claim you're from Australia.
Exactly.
Real talk.
But I found out San Diego is where you were born to Patricia and Lorenzo Bobkick.
Finally.
Finally.
You can come clean.
Right?
This is exciting.
We'll talk about the film in just a bit.
I just wanted to start with you grew up just outside Sydney.
Like inner city suburb, like 20 minutes from the city, Balmain.
Balmain.
And you're one of four?
Youngest of four.
Okay.
I feel like a policeman now getting information.
Says here, your eyes are hazel.
And you're so innately funny.
And I've seen this up close and in person that I'm thinking that had to present itself when you were a kid.
Did you know you were funny when you're just with your, in your family?
I mean, the youngest thing of like, you're goofy, maybe like trying to get attention and being a little bit goofy.
And my mother says I liked the attention, but I was also quite shy.
So one of those performers too, that's a little bit shy, but a bit of a ham.
And you knew there were certain comedic performances you saw growing up.
Yes.
And you thought that, and who is that?
Who are we talking about?
Well, John Cleese in Fawlty Towers.
That was a show that my family, one of the few shows that we all gathered around to watch.
And it was like, I don't know how big it was here in the States.
Fawlty Towers was.
I mean it wasn't like Friends, but it was.
It played, I mean the first times I saw it.
I think PBS was showing it.
Yeah, it would only show on PBS until cable came around.
Yeah, but I would see it.
And what drew me to that performance and I'm guessing you might be the same is that John Cleese is verbally very funny and kind of pitch perfect but then, but then he can use his body in the funniest, which is not dissimilar to you actually, now that you've the same physique.
It's so tall yeah, and like the legs, and just the innately comic with, and just some brilliant yeah, brilliant physical comedy sequences from that show that i can recall yeah, Yeah.
I mean, he's so he could he could do it both.
And I always just thought, and I know Peter Sellers to me was the same kind of thing as someone who could, you know, deliver verbally the perfect performance, just in the face.
But then if called to could be very physically hilarious.
And what about what women were you watching?
We thought that person's doing something I love.
There's a great show called Kath and Kim from Australia, these two brilliant comedians, Jane Turner and Gina Riley, I believe.
And they were brilliant.
They were fantastic.
Hysterical.
It was a very popular show in Australia, sort of satire about these two women.
And then also I loved Ab Fab.
I loved them from that.
And Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Yes. was one of my touchstones.
I just grew up watching Seinfeld and Elaine was.
I mean yeah, I'd not seen anything like that in a sitcom in America before.
I just thought she was like so groundbreaking, you know, and amongst these men, and just such a specific, lived in character.
So physically funny, verbally brilliant.
So her intelligence just shines through.
But then the horrible dance that she had to do.
Horrible dance.
I mean, yes, again, she could do just like Cleese, she could do both.
Yeah.
One of the things I loved for her and for any fan of comedy is when she did Veep.
She opened up this whole other can of whoop-ass comedically.
Yeah, she really did.
It was a turn, wasn't it?
It was a pivot.
Yes, I mean she could have moments of being a slight out-of-touch sociopath on Seinfeld, but then in Veep.
They wrote this incredibly, incredibly mean, horrible stuff for her to say and do.
And she's so funny doing it.
She's so funny.
She's so funny.
And still likable.
And you still were rooting for her.
Yes, I'm still rooting for her, even though she's clearly the worst person in the world.
That's like working for you.
Okay, okay.
We'll have to edit that out.
Oh, wait, you edit it out.
I'll handle it.
I'll handle it.
Did you guys ever work together over the years?
I've done some bits with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
I feel like everyone has crossed over at some point.
I love to hear those stories.
I'm such a geek about that.
Tell me what happened.
And I have to ask you about someone who I got to meet through my show. who seemed very cool.
And of course, tragically, we lost him way too young, but Heath Ledger.
And I know that Heath Ledger, I think, was on my show and agreed to play a didgeridoo.
So I remember having a very distinct pleasure of talking to Heath and then us bringing a didgeridoo out and him blowing into it.
And it makes that sound that.
I'm sorry, I don't know that he was playing it correctly or incorrectly, but I just don't know what the didgeridoo, I don't know what the tuning is.
That really surprises me.
I am shocked.
You didn't grow up doing that?
I know.
I couldn't pick out exactly what Rush tune it was.
I think I have a recollection of that now that I feel like that.
Heath is an important part of your early life and getting started.
Tell us about that.
I was 18 and I got cast in a film called Two Hands opposite Heath, and Heath was the lead.
He, with the same age, were just kids in the film.
Um, it did very well in Australia.
It was Brian Brown, myself and a cast of wonderful Australian actors and um, Heath and I traveled to Sundance together and the film didn't ultimately really translate here as as well as we'd hoped, but um, it's become like a beloved classic in Australia and yeah, he was integral in getting me agents and getting me to auditions.
And he would always have a house full of Australian actors and friends.
He was a very generous guy.
Also shy, actually.
There was a kind of reserve about him, even though he was surrounded by people often.
But he was really instrumental in those early years and very, as I say, a hugely generous spirit.
But, yeah, we were just kids.
He was 18.
He had done a show called Roar.
It was interesting.
He always had such great creative talent instincts and he was being offered so many kind of corny tv shows.
He was a heartthrob, you know, after it when he kind of hit and he really had a specific goal of what he wanted to do and whose careers he loved and i admired that.
He had confidence inside.
Yeah.
And it was so.
It's so easy, when you have that heartthrob leading man status and you have that face, to to just disappear into that world of playing the same person over and, over and over again.
And he came at that in this way.
And in so many of his roles, it just felt like it was very important to him to this is an art piece.
Yeah, he had a creativity about him and a goofiness.
And that role in particular was so unexpected, right?
The performance he gives, it's so, talk about a pivot.
It was really, and it stands the test of time, obviously.
It's like I remember going to see it in the cinema and the gentleman next to me had obviously seen it several times.
And every time Heath came on, he would start to recite the lines with him.
Oh, no.
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
I was like, wow, this guy has seen this movie.
Matt, would you like to apologize?
25 times in the cinema.
I would like to apologize.
I thought you looked familiar.
I wasn't going to say.
I was like, were you at a movie theater?
But you have to admit I was pretty good.
Honestly.
You nailed almost every line.
Yes.
But it was, that's a mark of a performance that is like, you know, iconic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you have success, things are going well, and then you do Bridesmaids.
I thought that you were getting to play so many very subtle comedic moves.
The speech where you're each trying to.
When you first came on screen though, I remember thinking okay, this is the beautiful friend who's going to be kind of uptight, and you're just going to hit that note.
And then you don't, and you're.
You're in many ways being just as competitive, petty, and insane as Kristen Wiig.
And I was just like, oh, okay.
Yeah, Rose Byrne.
And then I think that was everybody's reaction.
You know, it's like those guys are so willing to like i had auditioned for get him to the greek and ended up doing that film.
That's how i met um jad, who was producing kristen's script that paul feig directed kristen and annie marmalo's script um, that paul feig directed.
But those guys are really open-minded.
They're like i was on damages.
They're like sure, come in.
You know a lot of people would be like why would you want to see this dramatic actress who's not got comedy chops to come in and work with these?
Like you know hardcore, all those girls are from groundlings UCB.
Like really properly trained improv comedic actresses all brilliant.
Like, as you say, like what an ensemble of like incredible actresses.
One of my, like probably my favorite film to ever shoot.
And Helen really is the straight man in many ways.
She's just buttoned up.
But I remember early on when we were rehearsing and just trying to figure out exactly the inspiration for that character and how competitive she is and the need for status and how important that is and how people wear that entitlement.
It was very fun, very fun.
And working with, oh my God, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph. you know, Melissa, Ellie, Wendy.
It was just such a heavyweight cast of these women, you know.
Did you find that that?
Because what's been remarkable about your career is, of course, there are people that do comedy and drama, but you excel at both of them.
And I'm not asking you, I'm telling you.
No, but I'm telling you, I mean, I watch you and I love...
You gotta write it down.
This is blank.
I love horror.
I love the insidious films.
Yeah, they're fun.
But like I'm watching you in that and you can, just you're always able to really break my heart, and then I'll see you being hilariously funny with Seth Rogen and I'm just a little mystified as to what that's all about.
I think there's something very wrong with you that would show up on a cat scan, frankly.
Yeah.
There's a large line dividing your skull.
Oh my God.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
I just want to reduce all your- That's definitely true.
Yeah, all your talent.
Just because she has range, you're like, something's wrong with you.
I just think she has a terrible brain problem.
That's my take on her acting.
And he's right.
I think i'm right correct um, but uh, and then i we, we need to get to this because um, this script comes along.
This creative force named mary bronstein, our friend, our friend, our friend writes a movie.
How does the script come to you?
What happens?
My agent sends me this script and she's a very discerning Irish woman.
You best be reading me scripts.
What is wrong?
You best be reading my scripts.
I'm sending it your way.
Pretty much.
I'll tell it to a donkey.
She's a pirate.
She's a pirate agent.
I said she was a pirate.
I heard pirate, not Irish.
Ah.
Pretty much.
It's weirdly exactly like that.
Why did my parrot go caw, caw?
Parrots don't go caw, caw.
You're an Irish pirate with a raven.
I couldn't get a parrot, so I had to get a raven.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Sorry.
I'm sorry.
So, anywho, you've got a line down your head.
That's a real visceral, cellular reaction to an Irish woman.
I feel it.
I'm sorry.
They terrorized me.
Straight up.
Throughout my life.
From the island.
Straight up.
No, she's very discerning, you know, and she's only written a few times over the years.
And she said, you need to read this.
And I was like, hmm, okay.
But she, you know, read like fire.
It's like she lit the page.
It's such an unbelievable script.
And I want to hear your thoughts on it when you read it.
And I devoured it.
And there's an incredible symmetry to the script with the imagery.
It's kind of the metaphors that are going on and what's happening in front of Linda, what's happening to her and what's happening outside of her.
There's a wonderful symmetry.
And you really do see it, I think, in the finished product as well.
It's very much there.
And I just thought, oh my God, what an opportunity.
It's someone throwing you the ball, right?
And you've got the bat and you're like, can I really?
Oh my God, oh my God.
And it was extraordinary.
And it's sort of genre defying in a way.
There's many genres.
There's horror, tropes of horror in there.
There's tropes of drama.
There's- There's comedy in there too.
And there's comedy.
So I-
You know, I couldn't believe it.
And then I started to, you know, I met with Mary and we started to work together.
And I just thought, oh, my God, I cannot fuck this up.
So I have this funny experience, which is this script comes my way.
And we talked about this with Mary on the podcast.
But Adam Sandler calls me.
Oh, I didn't know that Sandler called you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just to tell me he admired my work.
Yeah.
Hold on.
And then he called me.
Copy that.
I'm just name dropping now.
And then Brad Pitt texted me.
He wants to know where I got my Ford Taurus.
You're going to win that game, by the way.
And so anyway, all these famous people are always calling and texting.
No, Adam called and he said, is it okay if I give one of the Safdie brothers your... your number.
Yeah.
And it's for an A24 film.
And I went, I guess so.
And he was like, oh, you think so, Connie?
Yeah, dummy.
Idiot.
And so at first I thought it's going to be.
If someone like me gets offered a part, it's always to play myself.
Yeah.
Do you know what I mean?
Of course.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's oh.
And then the characters turn on the TV and Conan O'Brien's there and he's saying you all heard in the news the story about insert character's name here.
Mm-hmm.
And then they were like, no, no, no, you're playing a character.
So I talked to Mary and tried very hard to talk her out of it.
I just was like, well, this is a really great script and you don't want me in there.
But she was adamant.
What was your reaction when you were like, oh, it's playing a therapist?
Um I, I mean, my first reaction was there's be honest with you, was there's been a mistake, you know?
Like why?
Why am I?
Why is someone?
And I should talk to my therapist about that but I it, it was.
Um, it's very surprising to me that she has this, this beautiful thing that she's written.
That's, uh, a real statement by her and, um, and I, and, and comes from her life and, um, I just, this is her big shot and I'm in there and I thought, okay.
And I really didn't want to mess things up.
So she was very like- So we felt the same way.
We felt the same way.
We were both like, we gotta mess it up.
Only there's a difference.
We gotta mess it up.
There's a little difference.
You're Rose Byrne.
And I'm-
So then I'm starting to feel better, because she's given me all the reasons why I'd just be perfect for it.
And she said, trust me, everyone is excited about you doing it and you're perfect for it.
And I thought, well, they're professionals, they must know.
And then Mary sets this meeting at the Whitby Hotel that I show up at, you show up at and Mary shows up at, and you proceed to say, excuse me Conan, what acting have you done?
And I start saying, well, I haven't really done that.
No, but I mean, what films have you done?
And I went, I haven't done any films.
And then you said, uh-huh.
And I said, I've done sketches.
And she said, but what about like dramatic roles film?
And I went, I haven't really done that.
And then you start drilling down deeper and you went but surely you did plays in high school?
And I said no, I didn't.
And Mary, I didn't know you that well then.
So I thought, Rose Byrne does not want me in this.
And then I find out later that you're taking the piss out of me.
Like you winked at Mary.
But I left thinking, oh my God, like she's going to go to her Irish script reader and And say put down that bowl of taters.
And get Conan off this fecking, not fucking, but fecking movie.
But I often feel like people have secret histories.
You don't know.
Maybe you had a rich history of doing a play or at Harvard.
You knew I didn't do any.
Now you're being the nice person.
No, no, no.
Honestly, I was like... I remember...
I remember going, but has anyone approached you before or has anyone asked you to do a dramatic role that didn't work out?
So, you know, like I was like doing investigative, like, because I feel like.
It was like you were wearing a wire and people were listening in a van.
And then all I remember is you slammed your plate down at one point and said who do you think you are?
That did happen.
And then you slapped me.
And then I hit you.
Yeah.
I hit you.
And then I hit me.
No.
And then we start the process of making this movie.
And I will admit, I was saying that I worked really hard with Mary.
You did.
For a year.
You were attached forever.
Yeah.
Long before, as was Rocky.
So you're making the point that you got it much quicker than I did.
I see what you're doing.
Look at this.
This rose is such a master at passive aggression.
Are you seeing it?
Yeah, you.
A long time.
A long time.
I mean, much longer than me.
And I'm really 99% of the film.
But anyway I had that experience of worked very hard with her, tried to prepare as much as I possibly could.
And then before you know it, it's a very small room.
All our scenes are in a tiny room.
It's a tiny room.
And I'm a large fellow.
And we're in this tiny room.
Tiny room.
Is it quite hot?
Or how is the temperature?
You think you were very excited to see me.
Of course.
That's what had happened.
You kept saying, is it hot in here?
People were like, it's actually 33 degrees.
Was it stuffy?
I just remember.
Was it?
Yes, it was.
They had sealed all the windows for sound.
And it's just a regular office on the Upper East Side.
So it was.
This is not a fancy.
This is like we shot this fast and it was like a big budget.
It was just to set the scene.
It's not like it's a. I was told you got all the money.
All of it.
Of course I did.
All the money.
And you came in the first day wearing a grill.
Yeah.
It said Rose Rocks.
And I was like, that's a little over the top.
That's how I work.
I know, but I. Establish my boundaries.
That was really off-putting.
Every time you stood up, just money fell out of you.
But I, we had these, I'll never forget, just sitting opposite you and we're in that room.
And then I hear, action.
Like the hallways packed with people.
Action.
And you and I have this scene to do.
And I think the first take, I was just trying to process, I'm in a movie.
Why am I in a movie?
I know.
Why am I in a movie with Rose Byrne?
This is insane.
And then I kind of got it together, I think, for the second take and was able to just okay, just be in it.
But I think on the first take, I was freaked out, you know?
That's how it felt.
You were great.
I looked at you and you were there.
You were my scene partner and you were present and I never felt not safe.
But then I see a close-up.
I know.
I've worked with a lot of people.
And it's like, you know when someone is there with you and you were there with them.
And the scenes were very hard.
They were challenging.
There's a destructive relationship.
It's at the end of this relationship with this therapist and their patient.
And it is someone in a crisis.
And they're not treating each other well.
Right.
It's like complicated.
Well, I was saying this to Mary Bronstein, the writer-director.
I was telling her that one of the things that was a little difficult for me is I am extremely fond of you and I'm also a caretaker.
So in real life, if it started to rain, I would scramble to like have a tent built around you.
It's that kind of thing.
It's counterintuitive.
And my character is the exact opposite.
180 degree opposite.
And you are in, we're in this tight space and you are begging me.
Screaming at you.
You know, screaming for help.
And I'm not doing the thing.
Every cell in my body is saying, we must help Rose Byrne.
And then I have to remind myself, this is not Rose Byrne right now.
Yeah.
This is my patient.
But it was.
The scenes were challenging.
I agree.
But you, and I've told this to everybody, and you can see it in the film.
I just, was present for you turning yourself inside out in the scene.
It's so insane to watch someone do that, especially in an enclosed space, not up on a proscenium in a theater, but just take their own heart out and crush it in front of you.
And then I'd hear cut and you would start laughing or giggling.
Or you'd say, I want a sandwich, you know, and making jokes.
And then Mary would come in and go, okay, let's do another one.
You'd be like, all right.
And I'm like, what do you mean another one?
No one can do that twice.
And you do it like 19 times.
You want me to pull my heart and my lungs out this time?
I could try that for you.
Or just one lung and two hearts.
It was just weird to see.
Those scenes were epic.
I hadn't done that sort of scene before.
Where are you in a therapist's office like that?
Where it's really like in real life where you're having these sort of moments with your therapist.
So it was wild.
That was definitely a... Those days were... I mean, they were fun.
There's a fun, for me, a fun element of like, can we do this?
And like... you're taking off together in this scene, like what's gonna happen, you know?
And then seeing, you know, where it kind of goes.
There was one.
I can't remember if this made it into the film or not, but there's one scene where you're I think you're lying, there's some scenes where you're in the chair and there's some scenes where you're on the therapist's couch.
Where you're going through all these emotions.
And at one point, you're just trying different stuff.
And it was so fun to watch you play.
At one point, your feet went up in the air.
I'm there.
I remember that.
And you're doing some sort of yoga feet up in the air thing.
Obnoxious stretching in the chair.
So stupid.
She's so obnoxious.
She's like a child.
You're trying to provoke your therapist.
And so you're doing like this weird thing.
A yoga stretch where your feet go up into the air and your head you know, and I don't think it made it in.
No, I don't think so.
But there's a bridge too far.
I know.
But I was I like silly.
What you and I do is galaxies apart.
But then I see flashes of, oh, I know what that is.
That's you playing. to find things and offering Mary all these choices.
And I know that we do that in comedy.
Yeah, exactly.
You know, we do that in comedy.
It's the same, absolutely, an offering.
And she allowed us to do that.
You know, there was these, you know, and her especially in those scenes it's always, I mean, I'm always looking for a little levity, right?
And those scenes were heavy.
So it's like, how can we sneak in something that is a little bit, you know, that might be funny?
I don't know.
So I have a question, which is something I find very endearing is your refusal to take yourself seriously in a profession where everybody takes themselves very seriously?
Is that an Australian thing or is that a Rose Byrne thing?
You tell me.
What do you think?
Because you've probably had Australians in this chair before, so I don't know.
That's right.
We had all of Akadaka here.
A-A-C-D-C.
Hackadacka.
It's true.
I did a show in Sydney once at some big theater downtown and one of the best crowds ever.
I mean, an Australian audience.
They are such a good, I'm so glad you say that because it's such a long way to come.
So when people do get there, they really do appreciate it.
People kept thanking me for coming and I said you know.
I kept saying you know you have a really good country.
Yeah.
I'm happy to be here.
But no, the crowd was insane and great.
But what I love is they just... There's no formality.
Like if I would call on someone, instead of just answering my question, from their seat they'd come running up on stage and then we'd end up being scene partners and doing a bit.
There's a lot of improvising and having fun and taking the piss in Australia, which is really lovely.
Cultural language, for sure.
But do you think...
That's part of your.
Anytime a compliment comes your way or people say, oh my God, and you're like well, thank you.
And then I see the deflection, which is.
I mean, I would say the same of you.
You're a bit of a deflector, I would say.
Is that an Irish thing?
I mean, I am.
I think so.
I have Irish, you know, ancestors.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
How Irish are you?
I haven't, well, Byrne.
So B-Y-R-N-E is like one of the most common names in Ireland.
So when I went there, they said, welcome home.
They did.
And my full name is Mary Rose, which is like literally a ship, you know, from Ireland, you know.
But funny, when I went there, I felt melancholy.
I don't know.
I felt like the Irish kind of streak of pain, if I may say.
Yeah. share with you guys i felt i felt that i felt the joy but i also felt that did you feel like that when you're there i had any reaction i was like i'm gonna feel like the motherland and i had that to an extent and then i felt like the the deep kind of history of you know yeah there's um i went back for my travel show and i got very uh sad and i'm not someone who lets myself probably i have a difficulty accessing that and there was no hiding it there i just really felt i said oh my god the view here it's such a beautiful you can see these mountains they're so gorgeous and oh my god and i said why did uh people leave and the woman i was with said because you can't eat the view like they didn't you know and they needed this wasn't working and they had to go And I thought, right, idiot.
That's intense.
It was really intense, but that's why they left.
A true return to your roots.
Did they try to eat the view before they left?
I looked at the mountains and there was one big chunk out of it.
Maybe they didn't need some seasoning.
But that's real.
I get that.
I get that.
Always good to bring levity into famine, I always say.
Yeah.
I'm serious.
I appreciate that.
I needed an out and you gave it to me.
But no, but like that is part of it.
But I think Australia is so fascinating to me because so many Irish went there or were sent there.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, you were clearly sent.
I was clearly sent.
Yeah.
No, the jails were overflowing and they did this crazy experiment where they were like let's put all these people on a ship and ship them out there and they can live out their sentence there and then hang out with the people who put them in jail in the first place.
Yeah.
That's a short history and also ruin all of the indigenous people, culture, you know.
That whole thing, that whole thing that happened.
Yeah.
There's a reason they don't use you in the tourism ads anymore.
I know.
Can we try another take, Rose?
I know, exactly.
Wait, let's not focus on that.
Yeah.
And then you forgot one of the most important things, which is everyone from Ireland who got shipped over there has my skin coloring.
Yeah, I know.
And they're suddenly living at the equator.
Yeah.
And they're running around shirtless in that sun.
It is the weirdest story.
It's a pretty crazy story.
Yeah.
Everyone is beet red there.
Everybody.
Yeah, it's wild.
And so I was thinking OK, that's the currency in my family where I come from, which is you make fun of yourself before anyone else can make fun of you?
I think so.
No, I do.
To your point, I think it's absolutely a cultural fact.
You know, we don't take ourselves too seriously.
There's a thing called tall poppy.
Never get too big for your boots.
Yes.
You know, like, there's definitely an element of that culturally for Australians.
And I guess I kind of embody that a little bit.
But, you know, my, you know, yeah.
Humor's always been a big thing in our family.
And I've always been firmly, you know, made fun of.
And supported at the same time.
But no, it's not.
I find earnestness pretty hard to swallow.
I do too.
To be honest.
I do too.
That's why I've surrounded myself.
Yeah.
With the least earnest people in the world.
It's like, yeah, it's a funny thing.
What a good joke.
But I take the work seriously.
I love the work, and I love the work.
That I would absolutely take seriously.
Well, I mean, it was clear to me that you're not screwing around in this role and it's been a delight to see the reaction to your performance.
It's just made me so happy because universally, people have been saying yeah, Rose Byrne, and Mary likes to use the phrase hiding in plain sight.
You've been here, you've been doing incredible work.
Everyone loves you.
And then you do this role and everyone is saying, Jesus Christ, this is a yes.
It was just really nice.
Yeah.
Oh, look, I feel very emotional about it.
I'm emotional about the movie.
I'm protective of it.
Like, I think it's such an incredible piece of art.
I think Mary's a force of nature.
I think her story is so punk rock how she's taken this, tackled motherhood and being a caretaker, and really in a radical way.
Like, it's very unconventional and it's uncomfortable and...
I love the film.
So I'm still figuring it out as we were chatting about earlier.
Like I'm still discovering it and seeing it through, particularly a lot of friends who are now seeing it, seeing it through other people's eyes and what they're discussing with me about it and what feelings they're responding with.
And I, it's been, I'm so grateful not to be corny, but to be a part of that.
And I feel, yeah, I feel, I feel, I feel very like so proud to be in this.
Yeah.
There's something about.
Maybe you could tell me what it is, but it is a different movie and there aren't a lot of movies like this.
Well, there's the tradition of sort of the woman falling apart.
Yes, that's a tradition.
But Mary pointed out to me, those are all written by men.
Yeah, totally.
Through the lens of the gaze of a man.
And she was like, no, no, no, I'm going to write this.
And this movie is like refusing to ignore this woman.
You know, a lot of mothers feel invisible, they don't feel seen, they don't feel acknowledged.
And this, this movie, is like no no you, you can't look away.
This is a mother in a crisis with a child and you will not.
She will not be kind of ignored, which is a response.
A friend was, we were chatting with a friend and she was like, I felt seen.
And I was like, wow.
And so um, and then I have friends who don't have children, who really understood other aspects of the movie and other other other things she's bringing up in people.
So I think that's well.
My wife has not seen the movie yet because and she I wanted her to see it.
Um, she's not a fan of my work.
Uh, What a shame.
That's so hard.
What a shame.
Has no idea I did television, really.
Just doesn't like the podcast.
Liza.
No, Liza hasn't seen it yet.
And she wants to see it, and she was going to see it tonight when we go to this event.
She can't come?
She can't come because she has to be in Seattle to see her lover.
Okay.
Who, by the way, he's a great guy.
He's hot, too.
He better be.
He's a ferry captain.
The weather's really bad, then.
He's very tan.
He's the most tan guy.
Because he takes her to Mexico all the time.
I'm like, well, I'm closer.
I could take her.
And he's like, I got it.
They're actually going to see the movie together tonight.
They're going to come up to me afterwards.
We thought it was great.
Yeah, I loved it.
God damn it.
Why is your voice so low and resonant?
But anyway.
But I've been telling her because, you know... I really like her podcast.
Oh, yeah.
She introduced me to... She is the brains of our outfit.
But she said an interesting thing, which is, I mean, I was telling her that this movie it's going to be tough for you.
It's not going to be easy because...
It's very visceral about what a woman goes through, who is a mom and trying to handle it all when her husband's off doing talk shows.
But I know she's going to love it, but also that it's going to push some buttons.
Did she read the script?
She did read the script.
And she said to me, I didn't know people wrote scripts like this anymore in the nicest way.
Oh, that's rad.
That's such a cool comment.
Yeah, so I'm.
You know Mary really wanted to get The film.
Is so you up to the point where the camera is so close to you so much of the time?
And initially, did that freak you out at all?
Well, the first day, the camera got closer and closer and closer.
It was right there, and I could hear it.
It's film, you know?
And I said to her, are you going to be that close?
That's how close we're going to be?
She was like, mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I was like...
You sent the dailies to your dermatologist.
Yeah, exactly.
And I was like, is this look okay to you?
We'll just freeze it.
But I could, I could hear it.
So it was, it was cool.
I mean, it's just technical, right?
So just sort of adjusting for that and making sure we were always in dialogue.
Like, did you get this?
Did you get that?
Should I try one like this?
Try one, like you know, even though we'd had this great rehearsal period, her and I.
But yeah, that technical side of stuff you don't know until you're there right, you've got to like figure it out and and understand it and get my sea legs with working with the camera department.
But um, but i knew she was doing something, you know what i mean.
I was like she's pulling something off here and the conceit of not, which is not really a spoiler, but the conceit of never seeing the daughter was also something she told me early on and i was like okay right, so i knew she was crafting this language and this tension to tell this story in her you know vision, her cinematic vision, and it wasn't until i saw it that i was like Oh, good Lord.
Wow.
My goodness me.
She, she, nothing could have prepared me.
Yeah.
You've done so much work in film and yet this seems like a big evolution or step forward or change in some way, because it pretty much is.
I mean yeah ASAP Rocky myself, you guys have some people tossed in there, but we're, and we're playing the parts that we need to play, but this is this, is you?
Mm-hmm.
And that was.
That was that was.
I think it's one of the most powerful things about the film is you're.
It is your journey.
And I think I've heard you say that so often.
It's easy for a woman to be an appendage in a film or, like you know, you're the, of course, you're the co-equal or less.
Yes.
Yep, which I've done many times, oh my gosh, many times.
But this is truly from the perspective of this character.
Like you have no other perspective really and sometimes you don't know what's real and what's not like when, through the eyes of this woman who's just so disassociated, you know it's a real tightrope, the whole thing it's like and, as that mother myself, like just confronting all of these, you know it's very.
People are not comfortable.
There's a lot of shame around women who are disappointed with motherhood or have anger around motherhood or have, you know, Feelings that aren't you know.
Anything less than total fulfillment.
Total fulfillment, yeah.
Isn't it just the most joyous, totally fulfilling?
Yes, yeah.
Andy Richter told me when his kids were really little, he said, you know what it is?
It's high stakes boredom.
And I said, what do you mean?
Because this is before I had had my kids.
And he said it's a two and a half year old and you're.
They're not doing anything and you're just staring at them.
Yeah.
But if you if you're not vigilant for a second, they will try to run in front of a car.
And that's what it is.
And so there's.
Of course, there are moments of resentment.
Good feelings, bad feelings.
And at this point, she's not even a mother.
She's a caretaker.
So she's not even getting the joy of it and the extraordinary parts of it.
It's like she's just in this crisis of being a caretaker.
So I felt that was such an opportunity.
It's just an opportunity.
It's like you don't get these shots often.
So I feel a bit too like I can't believe it came to me.
I'm like a little bit like that too.
Now it got back to me, you've tried to cut me out of the film.
And you said- Just the first scenes.
You said- The last scene I thought was pretty good.
Pretty good.
Smart.
You requested, this is true, Rose- I would have done that.
Yeah.
Rose suggested that maybe, because she saw a rough cut and said- This is really rough.
We could get, yeah.
She said, I've seen rough cuts, but this is, and she said, what are we going to do about him?
And then she said, can you just put a CPR dummy in there and put an orange wig on it?
And they tried it.
I have a question for you.
When did you first see the film?
I saw the film for the first time.
At Sundance?
Yes, at Sundance.
We were at Sundance together.
What was your experience of watching it?
I think a little disassociated.
Yeah, yeah.
Like you were out of it.
No, I could watch... I really loved it, and I could watch you.
I could watch everything.
You know, my scenes, I just think it's a weird... I can't really connect to it.
I can't watch that dispassionately.
And I know anyone who's been, like you, an experienced, you know, actor... can do that.
I can't do that.
I'm just happy I didn't look at the lens at some point and give a little wink.
Well, here's a crazy hypothetical.
I know there's a lot of awards buzz for you, Rose, but let's just say supporting actor.
I know.
Hold on.
Supporting actor nomination for Conan O'Brien.
He wins, but he's also hosting the Oscars.
What happens?
The world implodes.
First of all, you've just ensured it won't happen.
That was my goal.
How superstitious are we?
Very superstitious, yeah.
I come from that island.
Me too.
That pirate island.
We're probably related.
Yeah, I think so.
No, I don't think so.
I just looked in a mirror and then I looked at you and I'm like, okay.
I have cousins that look like you.
You have cousins that look like me?
I do.
I have an uncle with no legs.
I do.
I do.
I have cousins very similar.
Very, very similar.
Say it.
Handsome, handsome.
Totally.
Okay, there we go.
It was so sad.
I have a cousin that looks like you.
I do.
But then they fixed it.
No.
No.
Listen, you can't help me.
The damage is too deep, Rose, too deep.
You're not getting my sympathy.
Yeah, I don't think we'll encounter that problem ever.
And I think the important thing... But you are hosting again, correct?
Yeah, that's the plan.
Wow.
You were so great.
I loved you.
Loved last year's ceremony.
It's wonderful.
I couldn't think of the word.
I was like, events, ceremony, whatever.
You become very poised.
I know, all of a sudden I'm the Queen of England, but I...
I couldn't think of the word.
I was like, what is it?
An event?
No, it's not an event.
It's a ceremony.
It's a ceremony.
It's so Rose Byrne is to be so elegant, using just the correct, but then also so goofy at the same time crossing your eyes, doing a bit and then right back into oh, we're here with dame judy dench, it was.
That was like you had to thread such a crazy needle.
It was such a following such a tragedy here in california remember, and you had to.
It was like no, i don't kind of an impossible, but it was like that's like a kind of an impossible task, so That's a tough gig.
That is a tough gig.
Okay, now I don't want to do it again.
Yeah, you do.
Yeah, you do.
Get the CPR dummy out there.
It ain't tough, it ain't fun.
Yeah, now you're talking.
The CPR dummy.
Hosted tonight by the CPR dummy.
Yeah, Leo DiCaprio comes out, does chest compressions.
Well, the movie, I mean, this is cool.
We get to plug the movie.
If I had legs, I'd kick you.
It's a weird thing to say, but I feel like as like an uncle figure, whatever.
I'm so proud of you.
I'm so proud of Mary.
I'm just happy for both of you.
Thanks, buddy.
Thanks for having us.
And October 10th, you can go to the cinema to see it.
And thanks for your support, my therapist.
You know what?
My character doesn't have a name.
Oh, really?
Yeah, and I looked at night.
There's a degree on the wall which you can't see in the movie, but I walked up to one point and where it says name, it just says therapist.
Did you give yourself a name in your character work?
No, I didn't.
It's not too late.
The movie's not out.
Nigel G. Sopsip.
I think it's best if we take him out.
That was a bad one.
Anyway, just a joy to work with you and to get to know you better.
And I'll be seeing you around the circuit.
I'll see you on the circuit.
Yep.
Thanks for having me.
Thank you for such a wonderful room of funny, lovely people here.
Thank you.
We do.
What's this thing about you being a seat filler?
Oh, we'll do it, sure.
Okay.
Just say, hey, Conan, any childhood, any memories from your early days in show business?
Okay, ready?
Yep.
Hey, Conan, any memories from your childhood days in show business?
All right, one more time.
Hey, Conan.
Do you have any memories about your childhood days in show business?
Childhood days in show business?
Early days.
He said early days.
What am I, Shirley Temple?
You just teed me up to do that.
It was time to shoot on the good ship lollipop.
Puff, puff, I'm smoking a cigar.
No, we were just talking earlier and you guys said, hey, bring that up on the podcast.
It's one of those early memories of young Conan out in the world.
I think I was a writer on Saturday Night Live.
This would have been the, I don't know, sometime between 1988 and 1991.
I think we were in a hiatus.
I wasn't doing much.
I was bumming around.
And someone because I did sketches on the show.
Occasionally I would appear in the background of some SNL sketches.
And someone said hey Conan, they could use you over at.
I don't know if it was the MTV Video Awards or VMAs or something.
It was some early version of one of those types of shows.
And it was shooting at the Armory in New York.
I remember this.
And they said at rehearsals, they need people to pretend to be the winners.
Hmm.
So you sit in the audience and they say, and the winner is Phil Collins.
And then a black woman stands up and she walks up on the stage and she says I want to thank the other members of Genesis.
And she basically just so they can get the lighting right and the blocking right, because you're certainly not going to get that person there.
They never read the real winner because that can never be revealed before the show.
So they always say at the beginning of rehearsal, this is for rehearsal purposes only.
The winner is Phil Collins or whatever.
So I was just like, this is interesting.
I'll do this.
And I think I got like $50 or whatever I got.
So I went over and I think about this now, because I've when I do award shows, now I'm there when I see the people who are doing that same thing that I used to do.
Did you ever think you'd be up there hosting the Oscars?
And here you are just a seat filler.
You know, fake award winner.
Yes, I did.
I knew.
You knew.
I just knew.
Okay.
I said it's going to be probably around 2025.
Okay.
Global warming is going to be a real problem.
People don't think so.
Ozone layer would have been fixed.
And yeah, I just knew the whole thing.
Okay.
So anyway, no, I would have had no idea.
But I was there and I was doing that.
And I think I had to be someone in Oingo Boingo once.
I mean, it was just these crazy, these references are so funny, you know?
And I was like, well, on behalf of Boingo, I just want to say...
I was joking around a lot and they probably told me to shut up.
But what I remember very clearly is someone who was there in person was Tina Turner was hanging out at the rehearsal.
Yeah.
Wow.
And so I'm sitting there just wearing my little lanyard that says backstage goofball.
Robert Palmer was there.
Simply irresistible.
He was there.
The two of them were there.
I think they probably had a sound check, but they were just hanging out.
I remember they announced the category.
Again they said the winner for best song of 1988 is.
And they opened the envelope and someone said Tina Turner.
This person got up, I think a 62-year-old um, very pale man, stood up with crutches and went up on stage and said i'm just really excited that i'm here to win this award.
And tina turner was there and she got really excited because she thought this means that she's going to win that night.
And i saw her manager have to go up to her and say no no, this is just for rehearsal.
And i remembered seeing someone's a huge icon of rock Dreams get crushed in that moment.
I saw that happen.
It wasn't that bad.
I think she probably ended up winning anyway.
But yeah, it was one of those things where I had a lot of experiences like that.
It's fun.
Yeah.
Showbiz.
It was showbiz.
And I was just this young kid.
Your childhood showbiz.
Yeah.
It wasn't childhood.
I would have been in my 20s at that point.
Mid-20s.
Okay.
But it was an exciting moment for me back then.
And now all these years later, I still treasure it.
Was that sincere?
Nope.
I didn't think so.
Okay.
It's just one of those things that, you know.
So the year was 1986, according to what I found.
Oh, it was 86.
Okay.
So guess what?
I wasn't on SNL yet.
It was pre-SNL.
Hmm.
1986, and what was it?
The VMAs.
It was the VMAs.
Was it at the Armory?
It was in New York, not at the Armory.
What was the Tina Turner song?
We don't need another hero.
I bet it was going to be, what's love got to do with it?
Is that 86?
What's love a secondhand emotion?
Typical male.
What's that?
Typical male you got a typical.
Is that what?
It's much, so much better than an atypical man video was to the mailbox?
No, we don't need another hero, that's what i said, okay.
Well anyway, i was there, and what would robert palmer have been there for that was that simply irresistible?
Probably robert palmer was there and he presented a video vanguard award to madonna, Okay.
I didn't see Madonna at rehearsal.
Because you didn't get to go to the show?
No, of course not.
His video was Addicted to Love.
Yeah.
I can't afford it.
We can't afford it.
You guys have to stop.
We don't have to pay this.
No, we do.
I don't think we have to pay if we sing a song, do we?
I think we're singing it.
Let's get that from Adam.
Adam, do we have to pay if we sing a song?
Yes.
I don't know.
Let me ask you this.
You don't know.
Let me ask you this.
It's murky.
The versions we're singing are so far from the original that they can't be, you know.
It works for me.
Okay.
No, I think you can't.
Oh, boy.
No, but listen.
You can't do it.
Yes, you can because I just sang it incorrectly.
I mean, legally you can, but... I said stairway.
I know, but you shouldn't.
You're just ruining things, I think.
It's okay.
Look, we're going to get some clarity on this.
Okay.
Because I think we should be able to sing these things.
People know me as a crooner and I'm a jukebox.
Quiet.
They know me.
I am America's jukebox.
I've got these golden pipes.
No.
They call me the velvet smog.
And I think that we should be able to sing songs.
Well, we should look into this.
And I would say, stay tuned.
Yeah.
To a future episode.
Stay tuned.
To a future episode.
I don't know what we're doing.
Don't make it.
Oh.
Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, with Conan O'Brien, Sonam Ovsessian, and Matt Gourley.
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