0:00

Hello

0:00

there, and welcome to Inside Conan an

0:02

important Hollywood podcast.

0:04

We're your host. I'm Jesse Gaskill,

0:06

and I'm here with Mike Sweeney. and

0:09

And as some of you may have heard,

0:11

our friend Brian Rich passed away

0:13

last week. It's very

0:16

sad. News Yes.

0:19

Unexpected? It

0:20

was a bit of a I mean, it was a total

0:22

shock. And we

0:25

we just wanna talk about Brian a second

0:27

because he was such a brilliant

0:30

comedy writer and such a sweet

0:32

guy and such a smart funny

0:35

man and

0:37

he was responsible for

0:40

some of everyone's

0:41

favorite late night with

0:43

Conan O'Brien characters,

0:46

including the masturbating bear and

0:48

pinbot five thousand, and

0:51

so much of his comedy back then was so

0:53

unique and had such a great voice

0:55

that it really helped establish kind

0:58

of the bold and silly comedy

1:00

that Conan became known for in the

1:02

early years. And Brian was a

1:04

big, big part of that.

1:06

Yeah. That that is clear. and

1:08

Brent went on after late night

1:11

to continue make leaving his mark

1:13

on comedy. He worked on shows

1:15

like Brooklyn Nine Nine, Sasha Baron

1:17

Cohen's, who is America, Eagle Heart,

1:19

and let's be real. And

1:22

there are just so many people who have

1:24

wonderful stories about working with

1:26

Brian, really memorable

1:27

person in the company's

1:29

lives. Yeah.

1:31

And it you know, if you wanted to see one

1:33

of his old late night bits,

1:35

it's kind of a piece that's federated.

1:38

It's called

1:39

late night sting operation

1:41

or it's a sting operation and

1:43

it's on team Coco and it's

1:46

That to me is like a graded sample --

1:48

Yes. -- of of one of his the

1:51

bits he would do. I mean, we were all the writers

1:53

at Conan where we were all in awe of him.

1:56

Yeah.

1:56

And we were lucky enough

1:58

to get to talk to Brian on our

1:59

show last season. So we wanted

2:02

to reshare that interview Yeah.

2:04

It features one of our favorite stories

2:06

that's ever been told on the podcast.

2:09

Yes. It's really special. we're

2:12

so excited to get that story. Have

2:15

Brian come on and tell the story. It's

2:17

it's something that he did at late night

2:19

that I said we were all in awe of

2:21

him. Well, the awe

2:23

level went off the charts after this.

2:26

Yeah. And it's a great it's a wild story.

2:29

So

2:29

here's our interview with Brian Ridge.

2:39

If you're a fan of Conan and especially

2:41

Conan's late night with Conan O'Brien

2:43

years, there were so many great

2:46

sketches and characters

2:48

that came up and were created

2:51

in the mid to late nineties. These

2:53

characters still come up all the time. Masterbathing Bear,

2:56

Pimpot, and a lot of

2:58

really great memorable sketches. And

3:01

when people ask me about them, I always

3:03

mention our next guest who

3:05

created so many of these memorable

3:07

moments. Mister Brian Rich,

3:10

Brian, welcome to the show. Welcome,

3:12

Brian. Thank you. Thank you. thank

3:14

you for having me. Oh my god.

3:16

Yeah. It's long overdue. Yeah.

3:18

It's funny. Actually, I think you

3:20

kinda went out to me once to to

3:22

maybe see if I do this show before, and

3:25

this is when you were in New York. Yes.

3:27

And I think that it's

3:29

funny because I think I said I can't

3:31

because I was working with my girl.

3:33

And then came and did it. Yeah. On

3:35

some, you know, we were doing some,

3:37

like, tests, like, pilot things for something

3:40

that we ended up doing this year. Right. But I

3:42

was like, I don't think I can. I really should

3:44

go to this thing. Yeah. And then I get there

3:46

and it's like, Robert? Oh, he's

3:48

gonna be in late. He's

3:50

doing this Conan podcast. and I was

3:52

like, okay, great. Yeah. Well, you created

3:54

an opening when you said no. Yeah.

3:57

I know. That's great. was

3:59

getting calls from

3:59

someone on your team, I think, during our

4:02

Uh-huh. Where are you?

4:04

Yeah. That's that's when I learned not to

4:06

ever be a team play. there. Well,

4:08

we're glad that we got you in between

4:10

smuggle projects.

4:11

Yes. Mhmm.

4:12

We get so many questions about the

4:14

characters that you've created. There are still some

4:16

of people's all time favorites.

4:18

That's great. That's great to hear.

4:20

Well, we wanna go back to kind of to the

4:22

beginning of your time on the show

4:24

because you Uh-huh. You

4:26

came over from David

4:28

Letterman. Right? That was that was that

4:30

your first writing job out of college?

4:32

Yeah. Yeah. That was pretty much

4:35

my first job with Letterman in

4:37

the same building, in the same studio

4:39

as, you know, late

4:41

night with Conan O'Brien later was

4:43

to be in. So yeah.

4:45

I worked for Letterman at the very end

4:47

of his run at NBC there. Uh-huh.

4:50

And then Conan was my next job after

4:52

that. What what was it like starting at Letterman

4:54

right out of college that had to be

4:57

were you intimidated or were I was

4:59

yeah. I mean, I I was really just

5:01

excited to get the job. I think I

5:03

got it. Not a year after I actually

5:05

graduated. Okay. What took so

5:07

long?

5:07

Yeah. I don't know. I did

5:10

a Slacker. Wait. Super twenty

5:12

three. Yeah. So I

5:14

was like, Can

5:15

I still write for young people

5:17

or is anyone

5:19

gonna get my references? Yeah.

5:22

I don't know. I mean, it was just really exciting

5:24

to I mean, I remember when

5:26

I heard I was getting hired

5:28

and I was I was living at home

5:31

with my parents in New Jersey, and

5:34

I think that was, like, the biggest thrill

5:36

of all. I was, like, oh, thank god. I'm now

5:38

have it. I get to move out? Yes. I can

5:40

have enough money and to,

5:42

like, get out of here

5:44

and, like, leave this behind

5:46

forever. once I explained to them

5:48

who David Letterman is. Yes. Yeah.

5:50

So moving back there after college

5:52

was just a big mistake, but it did it

5:54

did motivate me to -- Right.

5:56

It is. That's a great motivator. Yeah. Get a

5:58

good application together.

5:59

Well, you were on you were in the

6:02

Harvard Lampoon. Right? So then Right.

6:04

that's where you probably knew all these people who

6:06

had

6:06

And you're, like, everyone who graduates works

6:09

in television. Yeah.

6:09

Well, not yeah. But, yeah, we

6:12

knew about, oh, you know, we'd hear about, like,

6:14

this that person who had

6:16

gone on to write for shows

6:18

we were into, you know -- Right. --

6:20

and

6:20

did you had you heard of Conan at that point?

6:22

Yeah.

6:22

Yeah. Yeah. Conan amongst them.

6:25

Conan was still you know, he graduated

6:28

way before me, but he was

6:30

still, you know, he was talked about

6:32

because he was two time president

6:34

there. Of

6:35

the the lampoon. Of the lampoon. Okay.

6:37

The

6:38

overage Oh, this is showing

6:40

off. Usually, you know, she it's always

6:42

a senior is president pretty

6:45

much. So it was kind of

6:47

unusual thing that he got elected in

6:49

his junior year and senior

6:51

year. Oh, Maybe that happened once

6:53

before. I don't know. But it but But

6:55

now we know so much about election

6:58

cheating and vote counting. Yeah.

7:01

That's right. I think we need to revisit his

7:03

double presidents. It seems yeah.

7:05

It seems unlikely that -- Right.

7:07

-- that could have actually happened twice.

7:09

So

7:09

you did so you had some awareness

7:11

of Conan and --

7:13

Mhmm. -- so when you were

7:14

at Letterman and you heard that Conan was taking

7:16

over late night. Was that a were

7:19

you surprised? Yeah.

7:20

I think I think well, I mean, of course,

7:22

it was a little after

7:24

letterman that Conan got the job. Right.

7:26

He wasn't letterman off yeah. He was definitely

7:28

off NBC before they made the Conan

7:30

announcement. In between. Okay.

7:33

Yeah. you know, I wasn't really

7:35

ready to jump back into writing

7:38

right then, but I remember thinking the

7:40

back of my mind, this will be something

7:42

to watch you know, and

7:44

see maybe this is a place I'll wanna

7:46

work. III guess I remember watching the

7:48

early shows, you know, and

7:50

thinking, yeah, you know, maybe, you know, maybe

7:52

down the line this will be for me. Maybe

7:54

if they find their footing.

7:55

Yeah. I guess we

7:57

were all kind of excited. I guess we were like,

7:59

yeah.

8:00

Finally, as, you know, funny

8:02

writers are gonna step to the

8:05

the core, you know. Like,

8:07

why are all these, you know, meat up it saying

8:09

our jokes getting, you know This

8:12

is gonna usher in a new age

8:14

of the writer's scholar

8:16

-- Mhmm. -- celebrity. revenge

8:18

of the nerds. Yeah. So

8:21

that that had to be a little weird.

8:23

Your next job after Letterman was

8:26

in the same studio. Or

8:27

it's probably very comforting. You're did

8:30

you act like guys? I know

8:32

my way around too. I knew where the commissary

8:34

was. You know what I mean? What was I mean,

8:36

what were some of your immediate impressions

8:38

of the the Conan Breiding

8:40

staff and just how how was it

8:42

different from being

8:43

at Letterman? It was kinda

8:45

wilder, like, when I was there. Mhmm.

8:47

We had a lot of

8:48

late nights there because

8:50

we did dinner. We do the show. Yeah.

8:53

Then we did dinner. in this

8:55

ugly awful conference room where if

8:57

you didn't like the food, it got like thrown

8:59

up in the ceiling where tiles

9:01

were missing and just to see what

9:03

would happen to it after a couple months. And

9:06

then we'd go back in to the to

9:08

the head writer's room and

9:10

work on whatever we had to crank

9:12

out

9:13

bits for, you know, the next day or the next

9:15

few days. And I

9:17

I remember a game we started playing

9:19

that I've tried to Okay.

9:21

Explain to people. I think I know it's coming,

9:23

but I'm not sure, but Did you

9:25

invent this game? What's it called Badger?

9:27

Yeah. Yes. Bad yet.

9:30

Can you explain wait till everyone

9:32

hears the rules? Let's see if

9:34

I can remember exactly. But, yeah, it just get

9:36

so loopy and bored --

9:38

Right. -- that you just need something to

9:40

stimulate you. We were all very

9:42

punch drop. Yeah. It would be like ten thirty

9:44

at night. And I'm also someone who yeah.

9:46

Hey. It's just sitting still for hours.

9:48

Like, I just feel my body corroding.

9:51

Right. Like, you know, I'm always, like, in riders

9:53

room for their two getting up and pacing

9:55

around and -- Right. -- but anyway, backhead

9:57

is a it's

9:59

a very it's a Gidi game.

10:01

You put a bag, a paper

10:03

bag. I guess it was usually, like, the

10:05

bag we had gotten our dinner in or

10:07

something. Right. You put a bag over the

10:09

head your head. and then you would have to

10:11

go around the

10:13

circle of each person in

10:15

the in the room, in the head writer's

10:17

room, like, would be arranged kind of

10:19

in a circle. Right. You'd go up to

10:21

each person, you'd lower your head, and

10:23

then that person would get a free

10:25

snack of your head. Oh my goodness. You

10:27

didn't know exactly you know, when it was coming. So

10:29

you're kinda like, you know, you're

10:31

kinda waiting. It's just kinda funny.

10:33

You'd let the person sit

10:35

there for quite a while. And it wasn't like,

10:37

well, you weren't like you weren't like

10:39

slamming the person that hard. It was

10:41

just just hard enough to be,

10:43

like, kind of funny that When you brought

10:45

this up, I

10:45

assumed it was gonna be some sort of way

10:48

of generating ideas like

10:49

an improvisation game, but

10:51

it literally was just we're gonna punched

10:53

each

10:53

other with the bag on. It it

10:56

took took away ideas by causing

10:58

concussions. Free damage. No. I explained the

11:00

game to people, and I'm like, I was

11:02

like, oh my god, it was so hilarious. You put a

11:04

bag in your head. And then go around and

11:06

people punched you in the head.

11:08

That's it. That reminds

11:10

me when I was actually just money

11:12

at letterman, there was a a game

11:15

called tub of tea.

11:16

You'd sit in a tub of tea

11:18

and people would

11:19

punch you. No. There was no

11:21

pee or tub. He was also just punching you

11:23

in the head with a bag, but

11:25

I

11:26

think I see where you got this idea.

11:28

Yeah. When we would order Chinese,

11:31

they bring our tea, it'd be these

11:33

big plastic containers, and they'd be

11:35

piping hot And it would always

11:37

be can you you know, someone

11:39

would try to drink the piping

11:41

hot tub of tea

11:43

you know, in the break the record over time, and

11:45

you'd be trying to just scalding

11:48

you so much. And everyone, of course, would be

11:50

chanting, like, tub of tea, tub of tea, tub of tea. So,

11:53

yeah, had to do it. You had to do

11:55

it. But yeah. I don't know. I

11:57

think Baghead probably do some things

11:59

up pretty much. I

11:59

remember though it being

12:02

outrageous that at one point

12:04

Ellie would not

12:05

don the bag, Ellie Brannick.

12:08

Oh, right. She's the writer's assistant.

12:10

Writing's court Yeah. At that time. And

12:12

Oh, she refused to do it. And and we

12:14

were required if she don't wanna participate.

12:16

Right. But She had hit the

12:18

bag yet. Oh, gotcha. If

12:20

you hit the bag, you must

12:22

also put your head in the bag.

12:24

I think the fair rule. I mean, that's

12:26

fair. And that those are the rules that come

12:28

on the box. Mhmm. It's

12:31

weird that the bag is boxed.

12:33

There's III

12:34

remember the head writers.

12:36

He'd be like, you guys are hitting me harder.

12:39

He was getting mad.

12:41

And we're like, well, yeah, you're the one keeping us

12:44

here. So

12:45

I'm sure that that game still goes on today,

12:47

doesn't it? Or Sure. Of course.

12:49

I can't imagine it dying out. No.

12:51

Something like that would do now. As long as

12:53

there are paper bags to be had --

12:55

Mhmm. -- it was terrifying.

12:58

Brian, do you remember was

13:01

not to put you in the spot, but the origins

13:03

of masturbating bear, because

13:05

we obviously get a lot

13:07

of inquiries about

13:08

about MB.

13:09

And we just would

13:11

love to get like a real soup to

13:13

nuts of masturbating, Darren,

13:15

where that came from.

13:16

Yes. Yeah. It's funny because if

13:18

you actually if you Google my

13:21

name and Brian

13:23

Ridge and masturbating. masturbating there

13:25

is still one of the top three hits

13:27

that woke him up. That's great for

13:29

him. Yeah. And Mike,

13:31

I think you actually I remember you corrected

13:34

me after a panel, like, years

13:36

ago because I had forgotten the

13:38

actual

13:39

actual arjin. I thought it was

13:41

a new character's thing, which is the sketch

13:44

we started doing afterwards, like just

13:46

introducing this. Right. But what it actually

13:48

was was fusing the affiliates.

13:50

Mhmm. I also love that you

13:52

already did a panel about masturbating

13:54

parathits. Right. We

13:56

need to get people to talk about this. And then we

13:58

we broke off into separate discussion

14:00

groups. Yes.

14:03

Yes. Please in the affiliates.

14:05

So yes. pleasing the affiliate. So I

14:07

just like the premise that the

14:09

masturbating bear was a preexisting

14:11

guarantee. The idea was we're we're

14:13

from now on, we're going to

14:16

have the masturbating bear bound up

14:18

-- Right. -- right so that he can't

14:20

masturbate anymore. I think it was like

14:22

an affiliate like, quote unread

14:24

letters. Like, I think it was, like, an affiliate -- No. You

14:26

shop or something like that. Like, somewhere that

14:28

they'd be conservative. Mhmm. -- and

14:30

and they were complaining about the

14:32

masturbating bear, which didn't

14:34

exist, you know, in reality as a

14:36

character -- Right. -- in reality. And so we are

14:38

agreeing now to the

14:40

masturbating bear would be shackled

14:43

and we had, you know, the trainers,

14:45

which you and I actually played.

14:48

Right. Like, on we had

14:50

cattle prod and everything. We're gonna make sure that

14:52

the masturbating barrier would no longer

14:54

be allowed to masturbate when you appeared

14:56

on the ship. Yes. What the masturbating

14:58

bear in any conception was

15:00

supposed to have been doing other

15:02

than masturbating and all these other appearances,

15:05

you know, is left unsaid. it

15:08

still hasn't been addressed. Yeah. So, of

15:10

course, he, you know, he breaks free and he

15:12

starts masturbating and Right. And

15:14

then, yeah, I went from there. I just had to think

15:16

of new permutations. I remember there was

15:18

one where he was being

15:20

totally good and not masturbating,

15:23

and then Konin walks over to congratulate

15:25

him, I think. And -- Right. -- his hand

15:27

passes through him and he realizes

15:29

it's actually a hologram and

15:31

then we cut to the masturbating there,

15:34

operating like a hologram machine, and he's

15:36

been masturbating wildly the whole

15:38

time. I forgot

15:40

that. It was just one

15:42

beat in this desk piece. You know, a piece

15:44

that's like five minutes long. Yeah. the crowd

15:46

went so nuts for it that Great

15:48

way. It's just like I mean

15:51

The a blessing it occurs. Yeah.

15:53

That's your bit now and you own

15:55

it. Right.

15:55

And it's it's a double edged

15:57

sword because, you know, the

15:59

all of a

15:59

sudden, it's like we would need more masturbating

16:02

bear and Yeah. we

16:03

need him in more and more precarious

16:05

scenarios.

16:05

Right. But after three weeks,

16:07

it's as you're probably like, oh god,

16:10

please. No more. you know, this

16:12

isn't a a rich multidimensional

16:14

character that Right.

16:18

Yeah. After I left the show though, I

16:20

don't think I ever

16:22

watched masturbating.

16:24

Oh, I've seen a few, but I just didn't I

16:26

don't wanna know. painful. Yeah. they've

16:29

cheapened it. It's not all about the masturbating.

16:31

It's about the inherent tension

16:33

between what the fair wants and

16:35

what the show wants. There

16:40

was one really

16:42

great one. I don't know if you ever saw it. We

16:44

were in Chicago for a week. Yeah.

16:46

And so Conan's on stage at the Chicago

16:48

theater. This is like two thousand six, I think.

16:50

So it is after you had

16:52

left the show of and but he's like,

16:54

well, you know, people or, like, where's

16:56

a mess with your mirror? You gotta have them in

16:59

Chicago. But I promise you, you know, it's

17:01

a vile character. There's no

17:03

way -- Sure. -- we would

17:05

bring that character here to Chicago. And then

17:07

you just cut to a pre tape, and

17:09

it was an airplane, a by plane.

17:12

and the masturbating bear

17:15

skydives

17:15

out of the plane over like,

17:18

there's an a cameraman skydiving

17:20

as well. Wow. who shot the whole thing.

17:22

So For CGI. Oh, yeah. You saw this

17:25

amazing view of of, like,

17:27

Michigan and and down, you know, the Sears

17:29

Tower, and and it

17:31

was all to impossible music. And we actually got

17:33

a skydive

17:34

put on the masturbating fair costume.

17:38

and jump and it that's one of those things

17:40

when it was

17:41

edited

17:42

overnight. And, you know, I think Michael

17:45

Coleman and Andrew and Michael

17:47

Gordon and Andrew Weinberg edited it.

17:49

And, like, all the writers gathered around and

17:51

just watched it, like, twenty times in a row on the

17:53

-- Yeah. -- on a computer. because it just you

17:56

couldn't believe there's a surprise that

17:58

the the bare suit didn't

17:59

disintegrate from the the air

18:01

pressure against it. Sky diving,

18:04

just tough to bear, just flying

18:06

away, you know, Well, they

18:08

knew they knew the first time you created it.

18:10

Yeah. Right. This has to be -- Mhmm. --

18:12

it's gotta be able to withstand their pressure.

18:14

Yeah. Let's let's put in the

18:16

extra money now. How

18:17

did you cast who was

18:19

actually gonna play the masturbating bear? Because

18:22

you didn't take that

18:24

glory role for yourself.

18:27

Yeah. I don't know. I I

18:29

you know, if I knew that it would, you

18:31

know, have such reaper cussions and

18:33

go on -- Right. -- longevity. Yeah.

18:35

I'm sure I would have tried to get in the

18:37

bear suit. You know,

18:40

that's just retire on that side. be

18:42

doing appearances still. I don't

18:44

remember. I think it was probably just a matter

18:46

of Michael Gordon saying, you

18:48

know, yeah, I'm not

18:50

busy. when you're in something like that, you know, it's gonna

18:52

take a lot of the day out to go to reversals

18:55

and all that stuff. So you're too busy with

18:57

something. Right. But he also played a lot of

18:59

mute characters on the show. Like,

19:01

he he played, like, a giant ant and

19:03

he'd he'd play a skunk and

19:05

he he so he did

19:07

all these kind of Mimey,

19:09

giant costume, like he played the

19:12

Stanley Cup where he -- Uh-huh. -- had a giant

19:14

Stanley Cup on his body and you just saw

19:16

his legs. So it

19:18

probably was, like, does this

19:20

bear talk? No? Okay. It's it's

19:22

a it's gonna be gourdive. Yeah. I he

19:24

was this thing, Diz, I

19:26

think, before Right.

19:27

It might have been before I even started. I

19:29

don't know if they had stopped doing it by then, but it's very

19:31

early character is. Disney was

19:33

a character he would come out I

19:35

think he had, like, he almost had, like, a wears

19:37

Waldo kind of shirt

19:40

on and would come out and just

19:42

spin.

19:43

around to music and a sign

19:46

that said go disco until

19:48

until he got dizzy and fell down. Right.

19:50

And he would interrupt the like, I think

19:53

I think his

19:53

favorite time appearance was

19:56

during a Bob an interview with

19:58

the real Bob Dole. goes,

20:01

go disco, and he just comes up, and he literally got

20:03

sent to Zee. I think he half fell

20:06

into Bob Dole on the

20:08

couch. that that was a sketch

20:10

called not pleasing our affiliates.

20:13

Right. That's probably what

20:15

led to the creationism

20:18

that bit Did

20:18

they they must still do that. I remember

20:21

now, like, after the show

20:23

sometimes, kinda would have to stay out there

20:25

for, like, another hour and

20:27

just fill

20:27

these little messages, you know, for the

20:30

affiliates. Like, KTW like Oh,

20:32

yeah. Yeah. Yeah. going sad, you know,

20:34

or whatever. you know, like,

20:36

hey, Santa Cruz. Yeah. People

20:38

tend to go, wow. He really knows what's going

20:40

on in our town, you

20:42

know? Like, Right. Right. We're cruising the great

20:44

ratings. Thanks to you. Well,

20:46

another one

20:46

of your famous

20:48

sketches was Pimpot. Yes.

20:51

Can you really quickly explain the

20:53

premise of Pintat to

20:54

anyone who might be unfamiliar? Pintat

20:57

was a well,

20:59

it's It's

20:59

in the name, much like

21:02

Baghead. Right. If

21:03

you're an anemologist, you get

21:06

that hopefully. He was

21:08

a robot fin.

21:10

Yeah.

21:10

He combined the sensibilities of

21:12

the seventies street fin. with that

21:14

of sort of the fifty sci fi

21:16

robot. And -- Mhmm. -- he would

21:18

come out and move mechanically

21:21

and he would talk about,

21:23

you know, his

21:24

hose and he would threaten Conan

21:26

with a Switchblade. He

21:28

would threaten to make Conan one

21:30

of his prostitutes if Conan pushed into

21:32

our That's Right? Oh, and Conan always be like,

21:34

I'm hosting the show. I don't have time to

21:37

prostitute myself in

21:39

the way -- Uh-huh. -- in the way you envision But

21:42

otherwise, Yeah. Right.

21:42

Right. wise, full speed ahead. Which

21:45

also, it's

21:45

a it seems like started as AA1

21:48

off character and then

21:51

was so popular that he he got his

21:53

own spin off series. because it

21:55

didn't it

21:55

start Yeah. I think he was from a new

21:58

characters. Yeah. That one, it was wrong.

21:59

Pimpot five thousand. Mhmm.

22:02

Right. I think also Tommy

22:04

Blocha, I have to give him some credit

22:06

the initial idea

22:08

for him, something about,

22:10

you know, the robot. And we shared

22:12

a a office together,

22:15

Tommy and I. Mhmm. Uh-huh. But

22:17

then I I did write write yeah. The

22:19

initial thing in his whole the name

22:21

of him and his whole

22:22

persona and everything and the

22:25

rhyme and all

22:25

that. It's all schtick. I remember

22:27

I read Pimp by icebergs, Flynn.

22:30

to

22:30

get some, you know Oh, right. -- some ideas

22:33

and and background and I -- Some

22:35

Veritone. -- similar literature by this guy

22:37

Donald Guines, like,

22:39

you know, these books like Awesome and, you

22:42

know, all all these, like, intercity kinda

22:45

seventies. Right. Yeah.

22:47

literature. Wow. You really did

22:50

homework. I remember once

22:52

we had this show soul, the

22:54

lost in space, original lost in space. I

22:56

don't know if anyone even remembers that. Yeah. Yeah.

22:58

Sure. But the the original doctor

23:01

Smith was on earth because Conan especially

23:03

in the early years would have all these a

23:05

lot

23:05

of actors from hit sixty

23:08

shows, and it was kind of like

23:10

you know, people you hadn't heard from in years, and one of them

23:12

was this guy Jonathan Harris, who is

23:14

the original doctor Smith. Uh-huh. I

23:16

think there was a during his

23:19

interview, the the idea

23:21

was Pimpot would come out. Mhmm.

23:23

And Yeah. You bubbled

23:25

headed booby. out of the I

23:27

know you're bucket of boats.

23:29

Right. So we went in to talk to

23:31

him before the show. And Conan,

23:33

you know, is like, oh, you know, what your

23:35

show was on and reruns, and I was kid, I watched

23:37

every episode. He's like, of course, you did.

23:39

He was just, like, over the top limo. And

23:41

we went over the sketch with him, and he was just,

23:43

like, Of course, I've got it. Yes. Of course, I'm

23:45

a professional broadway. You name

23:48

it. I've done it. And we're like, okay,

23:50

this is gonna be great. And then

23:52

he's out there on the

23:52

couch with Conan. His interview's

23:55

winding up. And then you hear,

23:57

like,

23:57

the mechanical noises and and Pimpot

23:59

comes out. and

24:01

goes, I, you know, something like,

24:03

hey, doctor Smith, you know.

24:05

And Jonathan Harris just

24:08

looks at him and goes, Oh,

24:10

well, what a lovely fella? Like He

24:12

didn't do it. Holy

24:15

forgot. Yeah. He literally in the ten minutes of

24:17

the lap forgot. There was gonna be just Got

24:19

all his training. And yeah. And

24:21

COVID's like, no. Doctor

24:23

Harris. It's a you know, a

24:25

robot who's a pimp. He's

24:27

like, Oh, charmed, I'm

24:30

sure. Like, he just oh, I

24:32

am. And so the the actor

24:34

playing the the robot. Oh, right. making

24:36

the moves. Yeah. I think he

24:38

making his moves. Yes. Yeah. For, like,

24:40

twenty minutes. Just waiting for, like,

24:42

minute. You still hear all the servos set

24:44

ups.

24:54

So

24:54

were these sketches that

24:56

you were proud of? Like, did you tell your

24:59

family Yeah. Hey. Look. You guys

25:01

gotta watch tonight. Masterbathing Bear

25:03

is on. I

25:03

don't think I did. don't think I did. I think I yeah.

25:06

You had another bid on that that

25:08

you could tell your

25:08

parents about. And no. That is

25:11

it's one of my favorite

25:13

bits and they they put it I I

25:15

think team Coco put it up a year ago

25:17

and it kind of got all, I

25:19

think, a lot of new attention. It was the FBI

25:21

stingray. Yeah. I love this one.

25:23

That was yeah. That was a fun one to

25:25

do. SketchWare

25:27

Conan's brother is an audience, and

25:29

Conan introduces him. And

25:32

it it

25:32

turns out that his brother was a

25:35

felon who is on the and

25:37

the it turned the FBI

25:39

agents arrest him, and then it

25:41

turns out the entire late night

25:43

with Conan O'Brien show that it'd been

25:46

for, like, three years long ago, was an elaborate

25:49

sting to

25:49

capture Conan's felon

25:52

brother to learn by learning him to

25:54

the studio. Yeah. This thing operation sketch.

25:56

Yeah. That was a fun one. And then it ends

25:57

with them, like, completely

26:01

dismantling the set and

26:02

they dismantled the whole set. And the

26:05

the great part is Conan. Everyone

26:07

who works on the show was in on

26:10

this staying operation except for Conan.

26:12

Right. From the very beginning, you know,

26:14

him getting the job and everything

26:16

was just to lure his brother out

26:18

of hiding, you know, he's like -- Right. --

26:20

my brother is in the audience today, brother. And

26:22

then, alright, let's get him. And then Andy is

26:24

an FBI agent, everyone.

26:26

The you know, they're all it

26:28

was all this to lure this guy And what do you think

26:30

do you you'd get it you you'd never seem

26:32

to weird that you got a show, you

26:34

know? Yeah. So

26:38

everyone left everyone they they literally took the the

26:40

set out -- Yeah. -- and then

26:42

everyone files out of the studio. Yeah. And I think they

26:44

took away the desk. They took everything away --

26:46

Right. -- the bare bones place. then

26:48

Conan

26:48

disappears in, like, a

26:51

spotlight,

26:51

I think. Remember, like, in, you

26:53

know, by the monologue area. So there's kinda just

26:55

a light on him. Like, there's one light that just

26:58

presses dark and he starts making

26:59

some really hard, you know, felt speech

27:02

about, you know, maybe it was

27:04

just this thing, but know,

27:06

maybe I made someone laugh and,

27:08

you know, I had a dream is important

27:10

thing. And and then

27:11

while he's in the middle, starting to

27:14

do this, you know, or some of you just hear from the

27:16

Raptors like a stage or something. The

27:18

idiots still thinks people are watching

27:20

and everything. You just hear everyone just

27:22

laughing at it. and this,

27:24

you know, this is,

27:25

like, being of ultra

27:27

machine

27:27

conan and runs away into the

27:29

darkness, which is which is great.

27:31

then goes out to commercial on that.

27:34

Yeah.

27:34

Oh. That's one

27:36

of my favorite things about it. Like,

27:38

no band kicked in like, you know, more

27:40

conan in a minute. It was -- Yeah. -- that commitment.

27:42

But watching were, like, oh my god.

27:45

Yeah. Yeah. Complete deflation.

27:48

Right. Yeah. I love

27:50

then after that, he came back. You

27:52

know, well, my next guys.

27:54

I love that that it never got

27:57

deconstructed in any way. Was there a

27:59

discussion at the

27:59

time? I wonder about

28:01

ending the that night show with the

28:03

sketch? because I would have been a Well, NBC

28:06

was actually talking about ending the

28:08

series with that sketch. Hey,

28:11

you know, this could do double duty. We're never

28:13

gonna have a better opportunity.

28:17

He's giving it to us.

28:18

Well, I was wondering I mean, we've it seems like

28:20

you've only had home runs on the show.

28:22

Do you remember having

28:24

any sketch that just

28:26

bombed and rehearsal or something that you were like, this

28:28

is gonna do really well then. I don't

28:31

know. I don't remember anything, like,

28:34

completely

28:35

being I don't know. I'm sure there were

28:38

some that, you know, felt flat

28:40

probably because of technical

28:42

problems. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Of

28:44

course. Oh, I do remember there was one. It it was

28:46

kinda salvaged, but oh,

28:48

it was a kids show. We did a

28:51

kids show. Right. Are you there for that sweetie? Yeah.

28:53

Where the audience was all

28:55

kids and we kinda

28:57

oriented it supposedly toward

28:59

kids. towards kids. Yeah. And there was

29:01

one I had one funny thing on that, which was

29:03

the boredom monster -- Right. --

29:05

which was, like, kind of, this way

29:07

to blackmail the kids you terror that if

29:09

they're if they start getting too quiet at

29:11

any point during the show, the board of monsters

29:14

coming. And we've cut to

29:16

this this horrible monster in the hallway. He was slithering his

29:18

way toward them and they'd all scream and everything,

29:20

and they was just this threat. Right. But there

29:22

was a thing where for

29:24

some reason, I had this thing a parade

29:27

of birds.

29:27

Came down in the

29:28

audience. Oh, right. Vomiting

29:30

was it vomiting birds? Yeah.

29:33

Yeah. I don't know if we said they were vomiting birds or I

29:35

think it was just supposed to happen at

29:38

some point. Alright. They were all

29:40

coming down, you know, these guys

29:42

and birds costumes -- Right. --

29:44

down the alleyway. And then at

29:46

some point, they're all gonna lean

29:48

over and just projectile vomit

29:51

on people on the audience. I mean,

29:53

not real vomit, obviously. But

29:55

with those, you know, S and L types,

29:57

you know, things -- Which is

29:58

still gross. --

29:59

to get that landline. Still

30:02

gross,

30:02

but not when it's bird,

30:04

But in the context of a bird parade, come on.

30:06

Right. You read yeah. That's just, like,

30:08

fireworks on the fourth of July is what

30:11

you said. with mostly a plant

30:13

diet. No. It's not that bad.

30:15

But there was some, like, huge

30:17

malfunction in those where

30:19

basically And then

30:21

the bird leaned over and, like, nothing

30:23

came out. Like, it's I don't

30:25

know. Whoever's who's doing special effects. There

30:27

were some kind of, you know, he's, like,

30:29

pumping away or Oh, no. What's

30:31

going on? And, like, just like a

30:34

trickle, like, a stuff came out

30:36

and I was like, oh my

30:38

god. That's just total. And and

30:40

then in, like, with editing, we

30:42

were just able to put enough

30:44

together that that much outlined

30:47

it, but, like, in my mind, it was gonna

30:49

be, like, you know, anxious

30:51

gushing, projections on people. And you said

30:53

it was just, like, a, you know, Yeah. A

30:55

slow trickle. Look, a line of coughing

30:58

birds. Yes. Like,

31:00

a a mildly Hispanic bird

31:02

for ages. He's got hiccups.

31:05

Can you okay. So

31:05

we kinda glossed over this, but what was the

31:08

kids episode? What

31:09

was the backstory of that?

31:11

We were trying these things, like, in those

31:13

days, like, just know, for the hell of it, I don't

31:15

know if there was one week we did, which was time

31:18

travel. Time travel. Right? Yeah.

31:20

We're each each day

31:22

that week, they Conan and Andy were in

31:24

a different time period like they

31:26

were. Ancient Rome and then the next

31:28

night, the Civil War. Right. And

31:30

then this idea was just let's do

31:32

a show for

31:32

an audience entirely of kids and what would that -- Guess

31:34

show. -- what would the show be? Right. As if

31:36

our sensibility was what the

31:39

child is in the future. Right?

31:42

We yeah. We had to dial it down, like, by two

31:44

years. Right. Hey. These kids will

31:46

love bagel. Right.

31:49

Did the kids like it?

31:51

Did the kids like it? I think they

31:53

yeah. I think they liked it. Yeah. Yeah. get

31:55

them entertained enough. My memory is

31:57

no one remembered I

31:59

mean, no one

31:59

anticipated them getting that restless --

32:02

Mhmm. -- that quickly. And

32:04

-- Yeah. -- and then it was just coated out

32:06

there and we're all like, Right.

32:08

Good luck. Right. That's when

32:10

he started string dancing. Twenty eight

32:13

minutes to go. because there were no parents. Right? In

32:15

the audience, like, we just had

32:17

no power. They were, like, maybe watching from the green room or

32:19

something. But But the great thing was

32:21

and I maybe you remember his name.

32:23

I think the second or third guest

32:27

was, like,

32:27

an NBC Economics correspondent.

32:31

Oh. I mean, we we purposely booked someone

32:33

really dry. Yes.

32:35

Uh-huh. And Conan

32:37

totally committed to it, and

32:39

they had this really straight,

32:42

dry interview.

32:43

And the kids I think the kids

32:45

booed through the -- Yeah. -- they just booed through

32:47

the whole Wow. I'm I'm sure the board

32:49

of monster. Right. Right. It's coming out

32:51

a lot then. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. It

32:53

was fun to do these, like, weird things once

32:55

in a while. It was kind of

32:57

a pain usually to, you know, is

33:00

but

33:00

get to get out of the road, I think. Do you

33:02

remember you were going

33:05

to I think you announced you're

33:06

gonna leave the show -- Mhmm. -- and

33:09

you're you're coming out to LA to on a

33:11

sitcom. So the head

33:12

writer, Jonathan Graft, started

33:15

the search for

33:15

someone to take your place.

33:17

Yeah. I've heard that this is a legendary story, but I'd

33:19

like to hear Brian tell

33:21

it. Yeah. Okay. Let's try

33:23

to do it justice. Okay. Yeah. I

33:25

I hadn't been hired by SICOM or anything at

33:27

that time. I was just I was just leaving. I didn't know

33:29

what I was gonna do. But, you know, I was

33:32

just like, wow. Kinda feeling,

33:34

you know. You

33:34

were like anything, but

33:36

Right. No. I don't know. I was

33:38

just it was still great, but I was sorta

33:40

like, you know, felt like I'd done a lot. And

33:43

so the search should be done.

33:46

And I decided to

33:48

see if I could

33:49

get hired again. I

33:51

mean, part of it is, like, how much of it? Is this random,

33:53

like, when you get tired? Or

33:55

have I gotten worse? Right. Like, you know, maybe

33:57

I'm not as funny. Like, maybe I've I've

33:59

you know, maybe I've gotten downhill, maybe not, like,

34:02

or it'd just be interesting experiment

34:04

to see if I could get hired again.

34:07

So

34:07

I wrote

34:09

another application. Like, I wrote a bunch of new sketches. Some

34:12

of

34:13

them were ideas

34:15

that maybe I had had

34:17

before, you know, I work on the show that never

34:19

did anything with, like, maybe they were too

34:22

weird or Right. Or

34:24

maybe, like, you know, too

34:26

annoying to produce or something like that,

34:28

you know. So I never, like,

34:30

proposed them actually. But yeah. But

34:32

I wrote you know, a bunch of new sketches. And I

34:34

had now I just need to the

34:36

front

34:36

-- Right. -- you know, to hand it

34:38

in. So

34:38

he submitted those to the Conan show,

34:41

but What was the front? The front. Okay. The front

34:44

was a roommate of a friend of mine

34:46

from high school. Name

34:48

named Hank

34:50

Flynn. Okay. He was like he was kind of a I think

34:52

he's he he's like a car you know,

34:54

he's a on air reporter in

34:56

Philadelphia. Uh-huh. EVA station or something

34:58

now. But some

35:00

stand up at the time, like, some performance

35:02

already stand up. Yeah. So he kinda he

35:04

wasn't completely from left field where,

35:07

you know, wasn't like a shoe salesman. He was doing

35:09

some entertainment, comedy stuff. But

35:11

he was really made a friend of mine from my

35:13

school, and so he

35:16

agreed to do under

35:18

his name and everything, Hank

35:20

Flynn. And then I got

35:22

Rick Cohen put it one step

35:24

farther from me, Greg Cohen,

35:26

another writer on the show. writer on the show.

35:28

Yeah. Was gonna say that

35:30

it was going through him that

35:32

Hank was a

35:32

friend of his or friend of his friends or something like Oh, okay. So I

35:34

wrote the thing up. We proposed, you know, we

35:37

we put it in everything, and

35:40

then process began, and then it was like, oh, like, finally,

35:42

how's it going? You know? And

35:44

it's like, well, we we're down to

35:46

a few, you know, whatever. Hanks

35:50

claims. One of the He's on the shortlist.

35:52

One of the five finalists. This is great.

35:55

Oh. And then Greg

35:56

Cohen started getting really nervous. By the way, he

35:58

just started having second thoughts, like, are we

36:00

gonna oh, is this really bad?

36:02

Like,

36:02

are we gonna get in

36:05

big

36:05

trouble. Actually, as it when it got down

36:08

to the very end, we're like the

36:09

two finalists.

36:12

I actually was brought in

36:13

like like, I guess, Groff and

36:16

Conan were, like, gave it to me. Like, well, you

36:18

you look at these. What do you think? Oh, to weigh

36:20

in. Yeah. The weigh in.

36:22

You're the I did not want to I didn't how

36:24

to spoil the immaculate, you

36:26

know, the the experiment. So I just

36:30

played it very mutual. I was like, I don't know. They're both, you know, to

36:32

toss it up to me, you know, because I didn't I didn't

36:34

wanna solely -- Right. -- you didn't wanna

36:37

tip the scale. change one. I didn't I didn't wanna I didn't wanna sell

36:39

it. So I I kinda stayed out of it.

36:41

It'd be like becoming the host

36:43

of jeopardy. Yeah. Right.

36:46

But okay. But

36:48

then it was dragging on for a while,

36:50

and Greg started getting

36:53

really nervous. Yeah. that's getting a little dicey. Yeah. Yeah.

36:55

And Greg Greg was just I was, like, just hold on

36:57

a little more. I forget, like, I

37:00

had some some end

37:02

game. Hanging their grip. He just started getting more and

37:04

more nervous, you know. And

37:06

so they went for Hank Flynn. Right.

37:08

And he came in for an

37:10

interview and he did fine or

37:12

whatever. And then But

37:13

how did you know he would do well

37:15

in the

37:16

interview? I

37:18

don't know. I mean, I guess maybe I coached him a little bit, but, you

37:20

know, it wasn't like He just had to

37:23

not be crazy.

37:23

Exactly.

37:25

He just that to yeah. Not too

37:27

crazy and everything. I think I think, like, they liked his packet

37:29

the best and everything. And also, this guy

37:31

was cool. He wasn't, like, oh, to

37:33

can I ask actually

37:35

get this job?

37:36

Do I get to work there? Well, I found

37:38

out later actually from my friend

37:40

that he actually was, like,

37:42

what if I just what if I take the

37:44

camera? What if like, I think he actually thought at

37:47

some point maybe I can, you

37:49

know, scan the scanner and,

37:52

like, You know? If I do well in the interview, I mean,

37:54

what's Right. Wait. So was he

37:56

interviewed by Jonathan Gref and

38:00

Conan? don't I don't know if Conan was in there, but he probably, like, did

38:02

a phone thing or something's going in. I'm I'm

38:04

not sure. But Conan was definitely on

38:06

board with

38:08

ironing him. like Kony did read it too and everything like that. But okay.

38:10

So I think, initially, when Hank

38:12

got hired, I I was gonna have Hank

38:16

come in and

38:16

take the job and, like, be weird

38:18

basically and do do all sorts of

38:20

weird shit for, like, the first week.

38:23

you know, and just have all sorts of

38:25

crazy stuff going on. But your

38:27

dream was for him to actually

38:29

take the job. Yeah. Just for, like,

38:31

a week or so coming in just to And then let the cat out of the

38:33

bag. Oh my god. Oh,

38:36

man. So we

38:38

pulled the plug early, and how we did pull the plug was I

38:40

think John actually had all of us come

38:42

into the room when he was gonna

38:45

call Hank Flynn to

38:47

hire him this part. We were we were in

38:49

a meeting. Uh-huh. And I think

38:52

you it came up naturally,

38:54

but I my memory is

38:56

you said, hey, are are you ever

38:58

gonna hire someone to take my place? I'm

39:00

sorry. He's like, how funny you should say

39:02

that. We -- Yeah. -- settled on

39:04

this guy. Hank Flynn. Right. This is my memory of

39:06

it. And none of you knew that this was all

39:08

happening. Right. You know what I mean?

39:10

Okay. Any of this except for Greg Cohen.

39:12

Yeah. Yeah.

39:14

So Graf goes, he goes, you know what? We're all

39:16

here

39:16

right now. Why don't I call him on

39:19

speakerphone and and and off from

39:22

the job? Oh man. You know, it's always a big moment when you offer

39:24

someone a job. And and so it

39:26

seemed very spontaneous. That

39:28

was my memory of it. And so

39:30

he calls Hank

39:32

Flynn, and where all the writers

39:33

are in the his writers room. And it's, like,

39:36

at at, like, nine thirty at

39:38

night. And he puts him on

39:40

speaker phone Yeah. Although,

39:42

I I wonder I wonder how much

39:44

was organic and how much did I

39:47

press crop to do it, maybe a little boat. It it worked

39:49

out perfectly because I did have Hank Flynn re recorded

39:52

the phone call. Oh. So I actually

39:54

still have the tape of that phone call.

39:57

Hello? Hey, I was

39:59

trying to speak with Lynne.

40:02

Thanks. Yeah. Jonathan Grom calling from

40:04

late night. Hello, Jonathan.

40:06

How are you? Good. How are you doing? Not bad.

40:08

Thanks. What's going on? We'd

40:10

like to offer you a job. yeah

40:13

Really? Yeah. Wow. Nice,

40:15

man. Thanks a

40:18

lot. Yeah.

40:20

Yeah. We like your we like your

40:22

submission the best. Well, thank you very much for

40:25

meeting with Conan. Why are

40:27

we doing Brian Rich, who's actually the

40:29

guy who's leaving. And He'd

40:31

read through the package too, and -- Wow. --

40:33

this is the best one. Oh,

40:36

jeez. Yeah. Everybody else

40:38

speak. He didn't make me feel really good, man.

40:40

That really appreciate that. Hang on one second. Alright. Everybody on speaker

40:42

phone. Go

40:44

on.

40:46

oh We

40:48

got any revenues here. Bad

40:50

part is

40:51

third ten o'clock at night, which is

40:53

indicative of the nightmare that does this job.

40:55

But other than that, license.

41:01

Thank you. Oh,

41:03

Jesus. Jeff brought me

41:05

to brief I just talked to him and I'll call

41:07

you tomorrow with, like, more details about what you need to

41:10

do. Okay. Cool, Jonathan. Actually, can I

41:12

talk to just you and ask you a couple

41:14

of questions? I

41:16

just I just need I

41:18

just wanted to ask you a couple of questions.

41:21

So I I just What

41:23

hours do you guys usually work

41:26

anyway? We

41:28

work, like, A

41:30

ten thirty. It depends till, like, you know, now

41:32

or later. Oh, really? Yeah. It's

41:34

pretty grueling. Oh, alright. What

41:37

did I got? It's just

41:39

that I've got, like, I mean, sort of a regular on these open mic circuits, things that

41:41

I like to do, and it would

41:43

really hurt me if if I had to

41:45

give them up at

41:48

all. you know,

41:49

and that Realistically, you're probably gonna have to

41:51

give them up if you wanna do

41:54

this. I

41:56

see. just because it's kind of you'll be here almost every night. And the only

41:58

exception would

41:59

be would be,

42:01

like, Monday. Maybe we get out a

42:03

little earlier on Fridays.

42:06

but she definitely were here

42:08

until now or or later.

42:12

Right.

42:12

So what was, you know,

42:14

three to three nights a week, sometimes

42:16

four. What was Brian

42:18

making any of that?

42:21

I don't know. Just because III

42:24

think that the work is really good. You

42:26

know? I think that the work

42:28

is really good. And I just I just

42:30

wanna get you know what it's

42:32

worth. Oh, you're not

42:32

gonna get more than that? Right. Oh, okay. I

42:35

mean, that's just

42:35

sort of the way it

42:38

works. Okay. I hear

42:40

you. I don't wanna

42:42

hold you up. What

42:44

what what were you and I talked about? Okay. Well, here's

42:46

the thing. Yep. I was was

42:48

watching I watched the

42:50

show a lot over the past

42:53

week. And, you know, some of it

42:55

I liked a lot. But other, you know, some

42:57

of the other stuff that just wasn't

43:00

I don't mean this personally at

43:02

all, but some of the other stuff that just

43:06

really wasn't much pay off to it.

43:08

Mhmm. To be perfectly honest with you,

43:10

I I was watching

43:12

the the Daily Show today. Do you know that

43:14

show? Mhmm.

43:16

on Comedy Central. And I

43:19

I just I think that

43:21

maybe that's more the place for

43:24

me. Mhmm. You

43:25

know what I mean? You know

43:27

what, Jonathan? I really

43:28

appreciate your thinking about me. and

43:32

and and I really appreciate what you think about my work.

43:35

But honestly, I really

43:37

think that maybe maybe

43:40

Central is a better place for me. Oh,

43:42

okay. Is that is that something that

43:44

you're gonna do? Well,

43:46

maybe I mean, I don't really know anybody

43:48

over there. well. I

43:50

mean, I think I may be able I think

43:52

I might be able to swing a PA job over

43:54

there. But

43:55

yeah. I mean,

43:57

I sort of I just think it's

43:59

more my speed, you

43:59

know. But thank you very

44:02

much. Okay. Okay. Well, take

44:04

care. Bye.

44:06

Oh

44:07

my god. So do you remember? Did I did I reveal

44:09

what's happening right then? Or did I let Yes.

44:11

I did. Okay.

44:14

That's good. Brock probably didn't believe me

44:17

at first. Right? We couldn't believe

44:19

you would sit down and write a new

44:21

submission. Go to so much

44:24

work. Yeah. Right. Right now, how hard it was

44:26

to get me to write anything when I was actually

44:28

being paid for it. Right. Right.

44:32

Right. We're just like, oh, all that extra

44:34

work. What what

44:36

was he thinking? Yeah. No. Everyone

44:38

was stunned. It was a great

44:40

And did people react well then once they knew?

44:42

Okay. Oh, yeah. No. Yeah.

44:44

Just so you would pull that all off. I know.

44:48

It's unbelievable. people. We were like, well, wait. Well, who's that guy on the phone? like,

44:50

he's a friend of mine, you

44:52

know, a roommate of a friend of

44:54

mine and -- Yeah. -- and just

44:57

all the steps that went into setting

44:59

up this phone call that night,

45:02

everyone was kinda it was blown

45:04

away. And then I think we we

45:06

kinda reproduced it for Conan

45:08

with like,

45:08

I think we didn't tell Conan what

45:11

happened. So there

45:12

was another phone call where Ralph and I were

45:14

in Conan's office. And I think Ralph

45:16

got Conan to have a conversation with the guy -- Oh, wow. --

45:18

to try to convince him to

45:21

come aboard or maybe drop back like he hadn't

45:23

told to to I think Hank

45:26

did kind of repeat performance for Conan. Oh, wow.

45:28

Let Conan get a gut punch of this

45:30

guy rejecting him as well. Oh my

45:34

god. And

45:34

then, of course, then, you know, Conan had got his revenge on

45:37

me. Yes. Your last

45:39

night. Right. Oh, yeah.

45:41

So what happened?

45:42

it was your last night on the show,

45:45

and I went to Gref and Conan

45:47

and we came up with this

45:49

idea where because back then, sometimes called an if a

45:51

writer was leaving, he'd say, kind of, a send off,

45:53

like, oh, you know, so and so is moving on,

45:55

did a did a So, like,

45:57

oh, what if he does that for for

45:59

Brian's slash show at the end of the

46:01

show? And says, you know what? Let's

46:04

he's so great. Let's bring him out. and we bring out Hank Flynn.

46:06

So we stuck Hank

46:08

Flynn into the into the building.

46:11

Mhmm. And I was worried you were gonna

46:13

see him during the show. but

46:15

luckily you were up in your office.

46:18

So I I didn't know what you thought when

46:20

you saw that because Conan goes, you

46:22

know, there's a writer who's been here. Let's bring

46:24

him out. Brian Rich and then then Hank

46:26

Flynn walks

46:26

out. And were you watching from your office,

46:28

Brian? Yeah. So I was up

46:31

upstairs and, you know, and the writer's score. And I

46:33

think, you know, I guess, the other writers knew it

46:35

was gonna happen to say, oh, like, mom, you know,

46:37

Kona, I think, Kona's gonna

46:40

say something. about

46:40

you. You gotta see this. So so I was in there with

46:42

a

46:42

bunch I think you were probably there, Sweeney. I think it

46:44

was Yeah. It was there. Yeah. It was that

46:47

that office you who in there? You and Fordo

46:49

and Brian Kylie? Yeah,

46:52

Kylie. You know, Conan

46:52

starts with his feel, like, you know, this writing

46:55

of the evening and I'm all, like, and

46:57

getting the warm plug. He's like, oh, this is so sweet.

46:59

He's saying something about me. Brian Rich,

47:01

come on out here, Brian,

47:03

and Hank Flynn comes out

47:05

And I was, like, what? I was, like, I

47:08

was, like, really I was

47:10

really upset because I was, like, oh my

47:12

god. Everyone,

47:14

whoever who I ever told I'd write for this show or whatever, like,

47:16

they're gonna

47:16

see us and be like, what isn't

47:19

the St.

47:19

Brian Rich? different

47:22

guy. Oh, wow. So I was

47:24

just I don't know. I was just

47:27

definitely -- Mhmm. -- got me good. I

47:29

was trying to get down to

47:31

the sixth floor and just barely, like, no.

47:34

No. How are you gonna run

47:36

out on the sun? I was gonna run out and ruin it,

47:38

so they couldn't

47:40

hear that. or something. Yeah. I was gonna run out there. Oh,

47:42

wow. And people were, like, restraining like,

47:44

physically restraining me from getting

47:46

to the stairwell and running down it.

47:49

like, we're gonna put a bag over your head, Brian. Oh, you know what?

47:52

You know what? No. Here's what? I

47:54

now remember why I

47:56

was upset. Why

47:57

I was really upset was because at the end Conan in the

47:59

interview, when he

47:59

was talking to Hank a little, what's next for you?

48:02

He said he was going to work going

48:04

to write for suddenly

48:06

season. That's right.

48:08

And I suspect, no, that

48:10

cannot stand. There could not be a worst

48:12

fate for me. Yeah. That that cannot

48:15

Yeah. Be in my trajectory. Well,

48:17

it did stand. Yeah. And I

48:20

did end up working for suddenly Susan

48:22

for many

48:24

a year. Well, as long as Greg Cohen was he

48:26

had to feel great relief -- Yeah. -- when it

48:28

all came out. You gotta have you should

48:30

have Greg Cohen on this

48:33

I know. And Hank

48:35

Flynn. Yeah. Well, then we

48:37

started using him in sketches after that. He was in a lot of

48:39

-- Oh my god. -- that's great.

48:41

So he did did actually get on the show after that.

48:44

Yeah. He'd acting

48:45

like a lot

48:46

of satellite TV channels and stuff.

48:49

That's right. Well, thanks for doing

48:51

this. Yeah.

48:52

One thing we do, we always like to

48:54

wrap up the show by asking people for

48:57

a piece of advice if they

48:59

have one.

49:00

Oh, just keep at it because you

49:02

you'll get this podcasting thing down eventually,

49:06

seriously. Oh, that's sweet. Sorry.

49:08

No. Yeah. I mean, a piece

49:09

of advice, let's as somebody who has

49:11

been hired on

49:14

the Kona Show twice now. For some

49:16

somebody out there who might wanna get a

49:18

job riding in late night

49:21

or, you know, have broad interest, which, you know, you have your

49:23

own. So I don't know if that's advice. But

49:26

I think you can, you

49:27

know, find a way

49:29

to use, like, everything

49:31

that you ever learned in

49:34

running for, you know,

49:35

especially late night and sketch and

49:37

something like that. That's, like, one of

49:39

the things that's so great about it, you know,

49:41

if you can just draw from

49:43

anything no or interested in and find

49:45

a way to make that funny and get that

49:47

across the people. Right.

49:49

That's a good one. I don't know that we've

49:49

covered that before, but I think especially having

49:52

specific interests and, like, the more

49:54

specific or the more

49:56

kind of tailed, you can get

49:58

into something. That's gonna

49:59

-- Mhmm. -- get you a lot of

50:02

comedy, especially if it's something people aren't

50:04

as familiar with. Yeah.

50:05

And if you have a little,

50:07

you know, a little

50:08

knowledge that authenticity, like,

50:11

kinda comes through. Yep. And, like,

50:13

a sketch or joke, like, you you just know like, even if the the

50:15

person getting the joke doesn't know that much about it,

50:17

you can kinda sniff out, like, if the

50:19

lingo and the Right.

50:22

I don't know. The background seems legit or something, you

50:24

know? Yeah. Like, all the

50:25

research you did for Pimp

50:27

bot. Exactly. That's

50:30

right. and your years as a pimp. Exactly.

50:32

I knew that would come in handy.

50:34

Well, thank you so much, Brian. Yeah.

50:36

Yeah. Thank you.

50:37

Oh, thank you, guys.

50:40

this I mean, you're a legendary writer,

50:42

and it's really good to

50:44

finally get to hash all

50:46

these things out with you.

50:48

Yeah. It's good to finally meet

50:52

you.