Yesterday, I saw a really funny interview with Conan O'Brien on Inside the Actors Studio. Here are some choice quotes:
There are six of us (siblings).
Father's a microbiologist and mom's a lawyer.
I'm still 100% Irish.
He comes from a family of inbreds.
All that repression squeezed me into the freak you see today.
I liked creative writing right away and I liked to make my friends laugh.
I got this huge laugh (in the third grade) and it was like getting cocaine injected directly into my heart.
I was not the class clown.
When I write something I always want you to be able to see it; I'm a very physical person.
For a while there (at Harvard) I thought I was going to be a serious writer of short fiction and then die of alcoholism.
The Harvard Lampoon was HUGE; it was a seismic event.
THL is America's oldest comedy magazine; joining it was the beginning of Conan's comedy career.
I had no idea comedy could be so lucrative.
He says jokingly; he never thought he could make money doing comedy.
I used to draw little Conan caricatures and leave them around campus, advertising the show I'd one day have.
Very prescient of Conan and this confession freaked the f&ck out of James Lipton.
Improv was great for me...I always wanted to be funny with people.
Improv teaches you not to fear those moments when something goes wrong.
That show (SNL) puts you into the big leagues instantly.
He recalls having to pitch ideas directly to Steve Martin, Robin Williams and other big names in the biz.
When comedy isn't going well, it's painful.
I quit SNL without having another job.
He was burnt out by the gig.
I'm prone to bouts of gloominess.
(Re: Auditioning for Late Night) I just remember doing it and thinking 'Something's going to come from that'.
I take things really seriously.
(When he first started hosting Late Night) There was no time to be afraid.
We were really down and out that first season.
Things weren't going well and no one wanted to be on the show but David Letterman showed his support by stopping by for an interview.
James Lipton asks Conan to assess late night talk show hosts:
Steve Allen supplied the template everyone drew from.
Jack Parr was very emotional and kinetic; you lived through his moods.
Carson: A consummate pro; relentlessly charming; always the coolest guy in the room...I don't know how you do that.
Letterman invented the anti-talk show; his sense of humour was completely his.
Leno: A very warm presence; really nice guy; you're comfortable being with him.
I've found that what works on late night television is the same thing that works for 2 year old children.
A late night show is really just killing time.
I always want something special to happen on my show and when it doesn't I'm really disappointed.
James shows a clip of Conan visiting an Irish castle on a very windy day:
That moment of chasing my hat kind of epitomizes everything I feel about comedy...it's so pathetic and weird.
A lot of our show is vaudeville: silly and cartoonish.
Conan mocks James and his stack of cue cards:
Look at how he reacts when his cards are physically removed from his presence! You're like a mama bear who just lost her cub.
I tell the interns to watch us during rehearsal and notice that we don't really know what we're doing.
He says in reference to how the process of putting together a show occurs up until the very last minute.
If a show isn't good I'm horrified; I feel physically ill; I brood over it.
If it isn't a box office star, so what? It could be the interview of my career.
I laugh at things that're true.
(Re: Taking over The Tonight Show) I don't know what's going to happen; I'm exhilirated and scared.
TV's changed a lot. I can turn the television on at 4 in the afternoon and see a stripper in a thong bikini made of whipped cream.
I don't like sentimentality in my comedy.
James asks:
What turns you on?
Enthusiasm.
What turns you off?
Snobbery.
Favourite curse word?
Motherfucker. It just cuts through everything.
What profession would you not want to try?
Pornography.
Some Late Night-isms:
The Cone Zone
-designated mark where he delivers his monologues
Masturbating Bear
-one time Jim Carey took over this bit and the guy who usually does it got really upset at his lousy technique
The String Dance
-radical hip action by the whitest guy on the planet; invented on-the-spot during a slow monologue
Conan vs. Colbert vs. Stewart "Late Night Fight" - The Trailer
So back off Mike Huckabee or I will kick your translucent white ass!
Behind the Brawl
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