Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Nicholas Hoult

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

Actor Nicholas Hoult feels truly happy about being Conan O’Brien’s friend. Nicholas sits down with Conan to discuss bringing back “huzzah” as Peter III in The Great, receiving an early education in film acting from Hugh Grant, exploring his passion for car racing, and working with visionary director Robert Eggers in his latest film Nosferatu. Later, Engineer Eduardo is taken to task during a particularly bruising Team Coco staff review. For Conan videos, tour dates and more visit TeamCoco.com.Got a question for Conan? Call our voicemail: [phone]. Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link: https://siriusxm.com/conan.

Hi, my name is Nicholas Holt. And I feel truly happy about being Conan O'Brien's friend. And the shoes, walk and lose, climb the fence, books and pens. I can tell that we are gonna be friends. I can tell that we are gonna be friends. Hey there, welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend joined by Sonam Obsession. Hi, Sona. Hi. You done coughing? It was a lot of coughing.

I always have to clear my throat. My grandfather used to say, it's not the cough that carries you off, it's the coffin they carry you off in. Fun guy. Anyway, then he'd say good night and shut the door. We have to go to sleep. Matt, how are you?

Matt Gourley. I'm good, how are you? I'm good, I have a little pet peeve. Oh. My pet peeve is that sometimes we gather around these mics, these microphones, these holy transmitters of our wise words. And we're supposed to do a podcast, and then you guys start yammering.

Mostly, I think we know who the criminal is here at Sona. You'll start yammering about something, and we haven't begun, and you're like, yeah, before we get started, and you'll yammer sometimes for 20 minutes, and I'm thinking, why aren't we making this the podcast? Why can't you control yourself? This is part of my process.

Oh, I'm sorry, Marlon Brando. I didn't realize you have a process. I have a prod. This is my, can I say something though? I think you always forget out of the three of us, I am the least professional. Never forget that. Oh, okay.

Never for a second do I forget that you are an unprof forget that. Oh, okay. Never for a second do I forget that you are an unprofessional person. Yes, okay. A total loose cannon. Sometimes you might forget that. You're cuckoo in the cabezas. So you might forget that sometimes. It's never left my mind.

So sometimes you might forget it. Never, ever. I never forget that. And so what all I'm saying is there are times where I'm thinking we're here, we're here to do our job, which we also love, it's fun. But you'll start gabbing and gabbing and gabbing. And I'll say, well, why don't we just say, hey, welcome to Conan O'Brien needs a friend.

And we can, whatever this is, we can talk about what you're talking about. And you'd be like, hold on, I'm not done yet. What did he just say? What did he just say earlier? Shut the fuck up. Monetize it or he just say earlier? Shut the fuck up. Monetize it or shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up, yes.

I do think, you know. I know, maybe that was, you know, okay, sorry, go ahead. No, no, please continue. I think you know, okay, la la la la la, we have to like talk when the microphones are on. But sometimes I just wanna catch up with you guys because I'm actually your friend. No, no, la, la, la, la, la, we have to like talk when the microphones are on. But sometimes I just want to catch up with you guys because I'm actually your friend. No, no, no, no.

You're were friends. And sometimes it's okay to just catch up. When we're in this room, everything must be monetized. Everything must, Adam, help me out here. When we're in this room, everything must, you know, is part of the product. The Team Coco product. Okay, can I offer a suggestion? Especially if it's coming from Sona,

that she should be paid more because the product is being monetized is primarily hers. Ba-da-ding-do-ding-do. Well, I didn't say that. I did not say that. I like that. Do you want to weigh in? No, I agree with you that it's a waste.

It's inefficient for there to be conversation happening off mic, but in Sona's defense, I think you're often guilty of the same thing, which is... Oh! ...telling stories, chatting when we're not actually recording. So I agree with you in theory, but I have to say, I think that it's not just Sona. I love you, Adam.

And can I say something to bounce off of what Adam just said? Can we just let this moment sit? No, because I have something to add to it. I invited Adam. He sits way in the corner. He's over there calculating, scheming. And I bring him over into this holy, holy area

of the table with the mics. And then you stab me. And I bring him over into this holy, holy area of the table with the mics and then you stab me? He crucified you. Through my toga? I crucified you. He crucified me. I just have to be my honest self. I have to be true to myself and that's the truth. So you think sometimes I spin a yarn after we're done.

Well, now I hate to do this, but can I add, most of the time when you do that, it is unmonetizable. Because it cannot go public. That's true. I tell some real corkers. Did you just get on me last episode about using the phrase cock of the walk and you just use corkers?

I tell, you know, sometimes I- A real Lulu? Sometimes I lay out a real Lulu of a story. No, I do tell some stories that are not for public consumption because maybe they include a name and I don't like to sell people out. But, and so we have some delicious conversations in here. But yeah, I guess I'm guilty of the same thing.

But I do think Matt's right though. A lot, I think you are usually thoughtful about if you're gonna tell a story that is appropriate for the podcast, you will save it for the podcast. Okay, what I'm saying, Sona, is that I want, how dare you harumph? I was just, I was breathing. That was not breathing, that was a harumph.

If that's your breathing, I'm worried about you. Or else you have emphyse was just breathing. I was breathing. That was not breathing, that was a Harumph. If that's your breathing, I'm worried about you. Or else you have emphysema. I'm breathing. I think all those years in the coal mine have hurt you. I believe, Sona, that you should be a little more disciplined, hear about your work, and you should tell your tales into the microphone. Off of what Adam just said, how often during when we were taping the show, did you hold up rehearsal, because you were noodling on your guitar so much.

And isn't that kind of the same thing? We both have a process. We do. You know what? That's a fair point. There are, I want to say over, there are 28 years of, there's 28 years where I'm making late night television. And I think there may be easily 2,000 hours... of me playing whatever guitar song I wanna play that day

while people in headsets desperately try to get me to rehearse a sketch. What was even the conversation that you were supposed to save for the mic? We don't even know it. We don't even know anymore. I don't remember. Look, it's just because I like you.

You don't like it when I have a good time sometimes. It is true. When Sona's having joy, I feel like I'm having a heart attack. When Sona's experiencing true joy, I have all the symptoms of a major aortic aneurysm. It does feel like before you enter the room, we have to hurry up and get our catch up sessions.

That's right. We do. Yeah. Just otherwise you're gonna yell at us. We talked about a lot in about seven minutes before you walked in today. What did you, see, so you guys are afraid before I come in the room that once I show up,

I'm gonna shut everything down, right? You're gonna monetize our little anecdotes about how we've been and what we've been doing over the past. That's exactly what I would do. This is a bigger conversation about how you, the work environment you've created and how we can't comfortably speak. So I'm glad you brought this up.

Can I just say that if someone is struggling in a situation like this, better help is probably- Oh my God. With better help, you can get online counseling. Fucking thumbs up. Come on, Adam. No, I'm just- He's not wrong. I'm just saying. But just use offer online counseling. Fucking thumbs up. Come on, Al. He's not wrong. He's not wrong.

I'm just saying. But just use offer code Conan. Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah, exactly. And you know what? Wrap. Wrap. You can, listen, you can,

if a therapist isn't a good fit, you can cut off that session right away and it's no hassle to start another one. This is kind of like us having Miller time. And it's just- You know what, it is like Miller time. You know how it's like Miller time? When you're a bunch of buddies standing around

and you know what you want when you're with buddies? You want beer that tastes like beer. Do you know what I mean? Oh my God, you know what you've done to our friendship? You fractured it. Yes! There's a blast. Jesus, there's a blast from the past.

When you are unhappy, you should check out LinkedIn jobs. I heard they have a good B2B model. Yes. Okay, we just made, yep, $88. Worth it. Oh my God. All right, you guys, my guest today starred in the Hulu series, The Great.

Now you can see him in the new movie, Nosferatu. I'm very excited he's here. He's incredibly talented. ["Nosferatu"] Nicholas Holt, welcome. I'm very excited he's here. He's incredibly talented. Nicholas Holt, welcome. Have we started? Is this it? Yes, this is it, yeah. I was thinking about friendship on the drive here. Were you really?

Yeah, well I was thinking about how LA is quite a lonely town in many ways. Anyway, we don't have to get into it too far. Well no, we should because you live in LA now. Yeah, well, technically down in Long Beach, yeah, so LBC. Which everyone in LA. I've lived in Long Beach for 20 years. Oh, where was? Belmont Shore.

You live so close to me. I'm on Naples. Oh my God. I lived in Naples for a little bit too. Oh my gosh. Do you want to be friends? Yes. I was going to ask you guys. Wait a minute. Hello.

You're relieved. You're dismissed. I'm going to go have a coffee. You still live in Belmont. What are your spots? No, I live in Pasadena now, but I was just... Oh, you went the, you're dismissed. I'm gonna go have a coffee. You still live in Belmont, what are your spots? I live in Pasadena now, but I was just. Oh, you went the wrong way, okay. Friendship, friendship canceled. Man, it was so, yes.

He wanted to get far away from the water and closer to the sun and just be miserable. I do like Pasadena, well, there's a Huntington Library and Gardens, it's very nice. Yeah, you wanna be friends. Well, we don't go there anymore because it's too far now. I understand. If, if I ever am not there, I'll think of you. I think I've lost control of this interview completely. Basically I'm here looking for friends.

Well, you'd be an amazingly cool friend to have. I have to say I am a massive fan of yours. Thanks. And you seem like a very normal, healthy person. And I'm sure you don't love compliments ladled on you. No, I always liked your work. Oh, you do? Okay.

Well, then you're like. Well, first time I saw you was in love compliments ladled on you. No, I do. I always liked you were. Oh, you do? Okay. Well, then you're like. Well, first time I saw you was in About a Boy, which is such a great film. And you were so good in that movie with Hugh Grant. And it holds up.

I think I've watched it many times since then. It's one of those movies whenever it's on. I love you in it. I love the story. I love Hugh Grant. It's just so well done. I love the story, I love Hugh Grant, it's just so well done, I love the soundtrack, blah, blah, blah. And then I saw you kill it in many roles,

and then you started doing the great with Al Fanning. Yeah. And my eyeballs fell out of my head because I thought, Nicholas Holt is one of the funniest actors alive, you were so good in that role. And here's the thing, you're walking this insane line of a terrible murderer who is constantly on the verge of killing his wife

and by today's standards, just an inhuman barbarian and incredibly likable. And I thought, what kind of Juno move is that? But I loved your character in that. I thought you were absolutely hilarious in that role. It was a dream of a role. Because Tony McNamara's writing is so smart. And that was the thing, I kind of discovered

that character along the way as everyone else did because he wrote the favorite as well that I was that I was in and then after that he said Oh, I've got this other script and it was it was at that point a feature Script for for the great and I'd worked with L before he said he was gonna ask L to play Katherine and she's wonderful As you know, and and I knew I had a fantastic time working with her previously So I was excited about all the components and then he turned it into a show But when we started shooting we only had like a couple of episodes, two or three episodes. So then it was kind of as we went, we would get more of the episodes as we shot.

So it was kind of like, I'd read it and I'd be like, oh, this is terrible. Very funny, but terrible, horrible character. Right. Who's just punched his wife and all these things. But then, but then you'd start to eke out all the things that made him human and tick and the way, the way, the way him human and tick and the way he is and how ridiculous he is in very humorous ways. So it was kind of, it was definitely all down to him,

his writing basically. Okay, yes, great writing, but I thought you and Elle together, one of my favorite couples I've seen on TV in memory and also- We had the best time. Well, you could tell, you guys have such a great chemistry, but also Huzzah became,

I think you put Huzzah on the map. It's back. Huzzah is back. Huzzah. And also just that self-assurance, constantly obsessed with your cock and sex. And I just, I'm just watching this and thinking. Is this the segue?

I know. Is this in your journal again? Yes! Yeah. No, but just like. Cock was so aggressive. Yes! It's a very aggressive word.

It's a very aggressive word, cock. Strong sounds. Yeah. It is. But also just this kind of musing about sex and what he's going to do next. Just like it was hilarious. It's hilarious.

A real foodie. Yeah, a real foodie. One of the redeeming things about him is his foodie nature, but also he's very open. It's exactly what you see is what you get. Yes. And I think that's one of the things that people can appreciate about him.

It's like not very common that you see someone who tells you exactly what they're thinking. Yes. When they're thinking it. And he's the kind of person who might say, hmm, I may have to murder you now, but would say it out loud. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then go, well, probably shouldn't have said that out loud. That's the kind of, I think that show, I mean, first of all, the acting across the board, who plays the, I mean, such terrific acting, but the minister of war, the general. Oh, Douglas Hodge. Oh my God.

The mental, yeah. And that is truly incredible, his performance, because, you know, characters aren't described, there's not like any of the bellowing and breathing and all those things that Douglas added. And I remember being in scenes with him when we first started shooting, you'd hear him constantly like, gulp, gulp, swallowing his own burps and stuff.

None of that was in the script. It was just something that he brought to the character and was so hilarious that there were times that we had to like cut and stop scenes because the rest of us would be giggling so much at just how he breathed. He's constantly. Which is.

But again, he was a great character because he's this, you know, he's this Russian general who's drunk all the time, but also has common sense. I mean, he is the voice of reason often in a scene, but also not. I don't know, that series was so delightfully surprising and I watched that and then I knew that I had a Nicholas Holt obsession

when I don't know if you guys remember, but Elle Fanning came on the podcast and we were talking about the show and I kept saying, tell me more about Nicholas Holt. And she would indulge me and she was like, well, what you should talk to Nicholas. And I'm like, yes, I should. You tried to get his number from her. I did, I did. And she gave it to me and then it was like, well, you should talk to Nicholas. And I'm like, yes, I should. You tried to get his number from her.

I did, I did. And she gave it to me. And then it was like a suspiciously wrong, it was a five, five, five. That's who's been holding and breathing down the line. Now I recognize the breath. You thought it was Douglas Hodge. So I just want to go through,

I just want to walk you through your career, which at such a young age, So I just wanna go through, I just wanna walk you through your career, which at such a young age, you've had such a range of experiences and so much success, but I saw, I know that you had worked as a child, but then about a boy is when it's like 2002, I wanna say. Yeah, about that, yeah. And you're working with Hugh Grant,

who by the way has had this, I mean, he started out as one type of performer in romantic comedies and now he's become, he's found this whole other sweet spot that I find extremely Emeril. He is so good. His recent one's coming out soon, right? Heretic? Heretic, yeah.

I saw the trailer, it looks great, looks amazing. I maintain, and I have many people, I think many people will agree with me, Paddington too, and it sounds like I'm making a joke. He's so trailer, it looks great. It looks amazing. I maintain, and I have many people, I think many people will agree with me, Paddington 2, and it sounds like I'm making a joke. He's so good in Paddington 2. Paddington 2 might be a perfect movie. And I think it has a score on Rotten Tomatoes of just absolute perfection.

I've watched Paddington 2 several times, looking for a flaw, there isn't one, but Hugh Grant is so delightfully insanely over that. He's having such a good time. It's brilliant, he is truly brilliant. You worked with him, you were young, 10, 11, 12, something like that, you're working with Hugh Grant, and he taught you by observing him, you learned from him.

I still think the other day I was thinking about, and I think a lot of my sense of humor probably stems down a little bit from him. Also just how he was on set. He was so dedicated to the work and professional and kind and good with everyone, and just really, really deeply cared about doing a good job himself and making the film good. I think I couldn't have had a better experience at that age in terms of just learning and watching people and being like, okay, this is how it's supposed to be and how it's supposed to be.

You'd have to put in the work. Yeah. To get to the fun part, you need to prepare, you need to be on it. Yeah. And also it's that thing of like, you know, you end up on set sometimes where people won't come out of trailers and this and that. And there's just extra kind of ego business going on and there wasn't any of that. So I think good to have, you know,

good behavior around that sort of, you know. Well, you lost me with this whole line of reasoning. I had a trailer put upstairs in this office just so I could not come out of it. Half the time no one wants me to come out of it. It's a win-win. Yeah. I wasn't familiar with, you know,

this show you did when you were an adolescent skins. I don't really know that show, but it became huge in the UK. And that was a little difficult for you to handle because you're an adolescent and suddenly it's this. Yeah, I don't think any of us were prepared for how well that show would do.

And I stand by this, somebody was asking me about that show the other day and I was saying, I think the reason that it did kind of capture the moment So well is because it wasn't expected to be what it was. Mm-hmm you know, I feel like more commonly now when shows kind of showing the teen way of life and whatever and They're gonna show everything and it's gonna be hardcore and all this sort of stuff There's kind of this idea of what it's gonna be and how it's gonna fit into the zeitgeist early Whereas that was kind of like we're just gonna make this show. there's kind of this idea of what it's gonna be and how it's gonna fit into the zeitgeist early. Whereas that was kind of like,

we're just gonna make this show, we'll kind of mess it around. It's a good bunch of people, very talented bunch and great writing, but it's kind of like, nothing's expected of it. Yes. And then it did kind of blow up in a way that, I feel like it still kind of gets watched by some people.

Now I've never actually seen it. You were young to be experiencing that kind of attention. I was 16 or 17 and I guess it was around then that maybe camera phones and stuff were starting to kind of come out as well. It was a weird transition because up until then, I'd basically, most of the time, just been able to live my life very normally. And I still can, mostly day to day. Being recognized as kind of a weird, it goes in weird waves. I don't know if you find this,

but it's like if you've had something out recently or you've been on people's screens, then maybe they recognize you. Otherwise people just look at me like, maybe we went to school together. But that period, because that show was very popular with my age group and everything as well, it was kind of, it felt like I was under scrutiny a lot.

Yeah, so if you're going out, you just wanna have a drink, hang out with friends. Yeah. You have to accept that someone might be recording you. Yeah, it was a weird transition. I didn't particularly enjoy that at all. I think it's healthy not to enjoy that. Yeah.

I think there are a lot of people who'd be 15, 16, 17 and think, boy, if I could be famous right now and get that kind of attention at an age when you want attention, wouldn't that be amazing? And so often it's not. Yeah. I don't know what kind of attention do people want? Well, let me explain my problem.

Come to the master. Here we go. You're talking about getting recognized. I wear a hat that says, I am Conan O'Brien wherever I go. Stop me and ask for a selfie. Ha ha ha ha. ["The Last Supper"] You've had this interesting education where you were getting probably attention and working as a child, then you're a teenager, but then you've, I mean, you've handled it all really

well. You've done, I was thinking of your performance in Mad Max as first of all, when I first saw that, I didn't even realize it was you. Yeah, see no one will recognize me from that. Yeah, because you play Nux. And Nux is this terrific character. You lost so much weight for that. And the backstory, first of all, I love that movie.

And we did a parody of it when we were at Comic-Con once where I play the doof warrior, who's the guy that we actually recreated, we shot it film style, we recreated that whole giant truck. Do you remember this, Sona? Yeah, I do. I'm hanging off the front with an electric guitar and the white face and wearing the red onesie

and shooting fire. Do you still have the red onesie? I'm wearing it now. But I'm wearing it from- The red onesie's his new nickname. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm wearing it for medical reasons. But I'm shooting, they gave me a guitar that shoots fire. The real fire.

Yeah, and then we were shooting it out in the desert, but they said, I remember just before we started to shoot, they, no, after the first take, they said, when you get near a telephone pole, turn off the fire. And I was like, what? I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that.

I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I remember just before we started to shoot, they, no, after the first take, they said, when you get near a telephone pole, turn off the fire. And I was like, what? And they were like, because otherwise you'll set the telephone poles off here in the desert, outside Los Angeles on fire. And I went, no one thought, like this is up to me.

If I want to, I can take out the power grid with my electric guitar. But anyway, we did a whole parody of that, which was really fun to do, but I absolutely adore that film. And your character, I mean, talk about being able to lose yourself in a character, you lost a ton of weight to play Nux.

Because you're in this, everyone who survived that apocalypse is sickly. Yeah, Nux is meant to be kind of essentially on his deathbed the day that you meet him at the start of the film. So that was something George asked me to do was to lose some weight. I did get a strange body dysmorphia through that where I didn't feel I was that skinny and then looked back at photos and I was like, oh, you were very skinny. I didn't realize quite how far I'd gone with it.

And what was the, I mean, everyone has their own technique, but is that a kind of thing where literally you're working with a doctor and what was the, I mean, everyone has their own technique, but is that a kind of thing where literally you're working with a doctor and they're saying, okay, you can have a tic tac today and then a little soup before bed. It wasn't that, it was just not eating as much and just running tons and jumping rope and like, yeah, just not eating that much.

I wish there was a secret. Oh, I didn't eat as much. Fuck. I think there is now, right? That's right. The old Ozemp there is now, right? Oh yeah. The old Ozepic. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I'm gonna get an Ozepic colonic.

Oh God. Oh, Jesus. I don't know, maybe it'll go even faster if I go the other way. I don't even know what that means. Go the other way. I know, what? Not a suppository, but a colonic.

I'm just gonna say, a colonic. I want that for other reasons. They don't go together, oh yeah. But the red onesie is going to be helpful. Thank God I have that onesie on. When did you become... One of my mates had to give himself a colonic... That's when you shoot the stuff to loosen everything. Yes.

He had to do that in a hospital. And then lost control. They said you could do it himself. He was like, okay, I'll do it. But then was on the floor of the that in a hospital. And then like lost control. They said you could do it himself. And he was like, okay, I'll do it. But then was like on the floor of the bathroom in the hospital, like cramping with feces. Oh my God. Why did they say do it yourself?

Oh my God. First of all, this story is much better if you identify your friend. I can't, they're very famous. Oh, it's gotta be Hugh Grant. It's Hugh Grant. It's gotta be. Hugh Grant cramping, shitting all over the floor. You heard it's gotta be Hugh Grant. It's Hugh Grant. It's gotta be.

Hugh Grant cramping, shitting all over the floor. You heard it here, folks. Let's get that out there. It's not, it's not. Too late. I'm editing your It's Not Out. And we're replacing it with an AI Yes It Is. Definitely him.

Oh, we got the sound bite. Hey, thank you. Now we're good. You got very seriously into motorcycles at some point. Yeah. That was for a role. I learned to ride bikes for a role. The first thing I did with Elle called Young Ones that Jake Puntroy directed with me and Elle

and Cody Smith-McPhee and Michael Shannon. Great group. But yeah, my character rode motorcycles and that. So I learned to ride for that. And then got into it for a little while and was riding a lot and getting on track and all that sort of stuff. But I've kind of stopped. It started to feel a little bit, well, I fell off a few times. So that started to feel a little bit dangerous. And then I got more into car racing. So I've been doing more of that because it feels a little bit safer.

Yes. You got just some, you're in a cage. Yeah. You've got a whole roll cage helmet. I mean, you wear a helmet obviously on the bikes, but you've also got this hands device. Have you heard of this? The hands, I think it stands for hands, head and neck saver. So it's like underneath your harness is this thing that then connects to your helmet to stop your head if you do crash from moving too far.

So it's saved loads of lives. So you have, you have seriously, first of all, as a kid, you were interested in cars. Yeah, I grew up watching it with my dad and racing with my dad and stuff, and he would like build cars as one of his hobbies. So I was always kind of interested and excited by them. So now I'm lucky where I got the opportunity to kind of go and race around a track. You just took, I mean, a serious course. What's the course that you just took?

Oh, the course of Pallotta, the Ferrari, yeah. So now I'm kind of waiting, hopefully. I've done some of their track attacks at the Ferrari Challenge, and those have gone well. And then next will be the actual race, but track attacks, when everyone's out there trying to set the fastest lap sort of thing, time. Now explain to me the appeal,

cause I've never, I'm not a gear head. I enjoy a nice car, but when I first made money and could buy any car I wanted, just so you know who you're talking to. And I'm a writer on the Simpsons and I go out and I buy a Ford Taurus SHO. That's the Ford Taurus that has the stick shift. Yeah, stick shift's great.

Yeah, but it looks exactly like a Ford. You missed the Ford Taurus that has the stick shift. Yeah, stick shift's great. Yeah, but it looks exactly like a Ford. You missed the Ford Taurus, part of it. Well, I had a stick shift and I was like, okay. Having fun. Got a sweet Yamaha six in there. And, but yeah, I remembered thinking, this is so cool. And people would say you're driving around in a Ford Taurus and you're 28 years old. And you told us you were gonna get this really cool car.

And I went, yeah, but if you look inside, it's got a stick shift. And the common reaction was, it's a Ford Taurus. You look like you're going to Whole Foods to buy some broken bits. Not even Whole Foods, like Big Lots. Okay.

Let's not get dicky about grocery stores. But anyway, that's the degree to which I'm probably not a gear head, but you participated in and won a race recently, didn't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got the fastest time. So I don't know how to describe the feeling of it is something where it makes you very present because you have to be.

You have to be, right. And it's a weird mix between having a lot of adrenaline, but then having to kind of counteract that and calm yourself and be extremely focused for periods of time, where you're doing things that are against human instinct. Because like, for instance, at the track where you're kind of coming up through turns two and three and it's blind, and so you can't see where you're going going and you have to keep your foot pinned to the floor and you're going about 130 40 accelerating into the into the yeah

Yes, and you're going up you're turning left But you can't see exactly where you're aiming to come out and then there's walls on either side So you're going through there like 140 and it all goes well Luckily for me this time and everything was fine But it's a weird feeling where you're like half of the muscles in your leg are trying to pull up and stop you from doing it and the other half are like overriding it to be like, no, you have to do that to get quick. And then it's so there's, but then once you've done it once, you can do it again and then you keep on building up and you start to get muscle memory of muscle memory. And you start to

just, you start to feel the car and it becomes, you don't become one with the car. That's such a stupid thing to say, but you started. I did with the Taurus. I had sex with my Taurus. Was that not clear? Wait a minute. Never mind. The car was not on when I became one with it. When my car was not even on and I was not in it

when I became one with it. This is why you got stick shift? I thought it was fairly clear by the way you're talking about it. I'm going to keep explaining what happened. Oh. Uh, well, okay, but. I was gonna go so far with it, and I've reined myself in.

Could we just like to take this time to apologize to you? It's fine, yeah. Don't worry, Nicholas, this never has to air. It's interesting, it's gonna sound like I'm taking, making a joke, but I'm not. I kind of understand what you're saying, because if I'm in front of a large group of people, I am, there is an adrenaline rush

and I am sometimes doing things that are against my better nature. But I also think this is gonna be really funny if I do this thing that's potentially quite embarrassing or foolish. So there's this push me, pull you, but I also like to be in control, but I also like the potential chaotic loss of control and it's all at the same time. That's the closest I've come to that. Yeah, no, it's exactly that. But it's not going 100.

But then it's closed state and it's kind of very meditative and it becomes, but let me ask you something then. So when you're about to make a joke or take a risk, how often do you doubt it before you do it? And if you doubt it, do you just abort or do you override? This is one thing I found is that if I'm thinking about it beforehand, it's not gonna be as good. And if you do it then, it's not as satisfying, it's not as good.

And for some reason the audience knows it too. I don't know what that's all about. No, no, no, I get what you're saying because when you were first talking about the Ford Taurus, I was in my head, I was reaching for some sort of joke about there being a condom on the gear stand. And it was there somewhere, and then I was like, oh, and then I thought about it too much,

and I was like, this isn't the time or place, let's just bury it. Right, but then I went about it too much and I was like, this isn't the time or place, let's just bury it. Right, but then I went there. Yeah. So you showed a lot of restraint and caution. And you held your tongue. And then me, the older man who should know better. Well, just because I couldn't formulate

what the idea was. No, I didn't formulate it well either. I have me fucking a Taurus. And- You just said I fucked my car. There's some sort of of sign joke in here In a Capricorn My point is what's that? What's that joke? What's the one where it's like?

Oh, I don't know I broke up with my I broke up with my ex and someone says why and they could oh because I'm a Sagittarius and they're a cunt Can't say that. Beep that one out. You can say it. That used to be my favorite for a while. I think if you're allowed to say it in the UK. Yeah, so I say-

Apologies to anyone who's offended by that. Yeah. You can change that word for other words. They were a bit, but it's funny. Hey, Sona. So unexpected. I just want to make sure people know Sona said that. Cunt, cunt, cunt, cunt.

Yeah, cool. Okay, there you go. Now, okay. Yeah. You know what's funny? Why is it you have better material than I do? This is frustrating. But it is funny how I did have an experience that I really loved. We shot a travel show in Berlin.

Ooh, I'm going to Berlin in a couple of weeks. Let me know. Is it for work? Yes. Okay. This was a while ago. I won't be going there anytime too soon, but we shot a segment where I believe I'm in a very, very fast BMW that's latest model, fastest model. And we go on the Autobahn.

And why I always heard about the Autobahn is you can go as fast as you want. There are no speed limits. That's not really true. There are heard about the Autobahn is you can go as fast as you want. There are no speed limits. That's not really true. There are sections of the Autobahn where I would crank it up as fast as I could go, but they're short. And then it's like, no, no, no, this part,

you have to slow down to like 55 kilometers an hour, whatever. And I was- What was the fastest you went? I wonder, I have to look it up. 55. It was 55. No, no, we went? I wonder, I have to look it up. 55. It was 55. No, no, we went, I think, I mean,

it would not be impressive to you. It was impressive for me that we, I'd have to find the speed that we got to, but I was impressed. It was an impressive speed for you. Did they make your palms a little bit sweaty? No, because a lot of the time- They were sweaty anyway.

A lot of the time on- I'm a bit of a pervert, but- Ever since the Taurus. Yeah. No, I want to say it was. I think you got up to like 121 or 126 miles per hour. Yeah, which to me, I mean, you said you've done two, what is it? The fastest we went on track in the challenge, Ferrari Challenge car was 170, I think.

Wow. Okay. But that's weirdly, everyone was saying. I was pulling a trailer. The first thing. I want to say. It had three horses in it. That was through the drive through. Yeah.

That's what everyone always asked though, and they're like, oh, how do fast do you go on track? And a lot of the tracks, you don't go that fast because the straights aren't that long. And it's not, and it's not the sitting going fast in a straight line. That's the difficult bit anyway. that's how everyone can put their foot to the floor and go up through gears it's the big game through the corners quickly which is the scary and difficult bit and how well the brakes work the first time using the brakes in a race car you'd like just kind of kick your

foot to the brake as hard as you can and it's everything like they stop quick and it's it's impressive but then trying to get that right whilst you're turning and releasing them and then and then you go into the pits and they're like look at your time and they're like well, this is why you were slow because you you you hit the brake one car length too early, but traveling at 170 miles an hour So, you know 0.1 tenths of a second, but then you didn't release it at the right pressure So you lost two tenths of a second and then this this, and suddenly you see why the details of it. And I think that's one of the reasons I like it as well. I've said this before, but in acting and filmmaking,

there's lots of subjective things in racing that's very objective. They look at it and they go, this is why you're slow. So do that better, and you'll be quick, and you're like, okay. No, it is refreshing because it's something that I find refreshing about sports, not participating in them so much,

but is watching them is that things can be measured. And in comedy, no matter what you do, people go like, eh, not my cup of tea. Or someone can like it, someone else can hate it. It's just this miasma, it's this soup. You can never quite say, no, no, empirically this wins because how can you do that? But in, and that's true of all the arts.

Like when sometimes when I watch the Oscars or any award show, I think this is so crazy. How can we be comparing all of these things and who's deciding and what does that even mean? It always seems ridiculous to me. Was, let me ask you something. Career wise, was there ever a measurement that you hoped to attain that you were like,

oh, if I attain this or reach this or this happens, that'll be a good barometer of like, I'm good. I've done it, I've made, what was it? What was it? Is it right now? Welcome to the Nicholas, if I could get Nicholas Holt to ask me questions as if I were interesting.

No, no. That's my, that's my EGOT. That's my EGOT. No, I remembered my career has been a series of me thinking if I could get to this point, then I'd never worry about anything again. And that goes back to me being 22 and just thinking if I could just make a living as a comedy writer.

And then I did, and I'm like, okay, well. The minute you attain something, yeah, you have disdain for it. But when I was- What's next? What's the next level then? For me, I think cover of Men's Health in a Speedo. Just like super cut. You should pivot. On the bonnet of the Taurus.

Washing it. Making sure it's extra clean. on it of the Taurus, washing it, making sure it's extra clean. I think it's time 61 year old men of my complexion, who work out intermittently are seen as sex symbols. This country's already going through enough. I think this country can handle more. It's what the country needs. This country can handle more. No, I think-

It's what the country needs. Yeah. That's a man of the hour. No, it's funny because I was very young and a writer on Saturday Night Live and we won an Emmy when I was there for a season that I've been working on and we won and I was in my twenties

and I remember thinking, wow, you know, this, I won an Emmy, this is gonna change everything. And of course it doesn't change anything. None of these things change anything really. And so it's just been this constant education and reeducation and reeducation. It's all an illusion, you just keep going. Yeah.

And I think for, I mean, your analogy would be, there's not gonna be any point in a car where you're gonna say, I'm satisfied, right? You're gonna keep. I mean, I guess if you would go and win, it can get- Oh, that's right. To the trophy or something.

You can win. Then you can be, but then of course that's- Then it's like, you've gotta do it again. It's like you've done it, you've gotta do it again, or you've gotta go to a different track and do it again. You've gotta defend, like, yeah, there's always- Did you stand on top of the car when you won the race? No, I didn't.

What are you supposed to do? There are all these iconic things you're supposed to do when you win. We went, I got on the podium and they gave a bottle of champagne and I'd never done that before, the spraying champagne thing and I did a terrible job. I popped it, it didn't really squirt anywhere

and then I saw the other guy on the podium, like one of them like hit the bottle on the ground. So I kind of did that to try and get it to Fizz, but it just kind of a load fell out. And then it was like, it was just all a bit of a mess. Because when you see people spraying champagne, it looks cool. And I was like, yeah. Did they take your trophy away? No, they should have done.

It was an absolute disgrace. You could see them taking your car with a tow truck. They took the car back. And then I'm like, I can fix this. I can do better. So I'm shaking it up, sticking my thumb in there. And by then, there's not enough in there. It's not fizzy enough.

And then everyone's left. Yeah. You're there late at night. The sun's gone down. You're there with a Diet 7 Up, shaking it. Come on! I still do it every morning, yeah. Do you, do you,

oh, this is what I'm saying, I'm curious, does this, does any of this translate? Does your driving ability translate to you on the 405 freeway? No. Does anything like that translate, or are you an amazing driver going 55 miles an hour on the highway to get your oil changed?

No, no, I don't think so. I just get bored sitting on motorways, stop, start, and whatever. Mm-hmm. It's so, it's a completely different, I like to think that maybe my reaction time and if something happened, my car control would be good, but I've luckily never had to use it on the road. Yeah, that's good. You just knocked wood in. I don't think this is wood. What do you mean? I think.

This is definitely wood. This is definitely wood. This is an expensive piece of wood. I don't trust Eduardo. I think he cheaped out on us. He found something cheaper than wood. Might be particle board. Yeah.

Yeah. It's better for the sound, right? Yeah. He gets it. Yeah, you get it. Yeah, you get it. I don't get it. How do you like living in Los Angeles area? We were talking about this a little bit

when you first showed up, but it's so interesting. Maybe it's the grass is always greener, but having 100% Irish genes, I always find myself yearning for it to be cloudy and rainy here in Los Angeles. But for years I've noticed that people from the UK, Brits, they want to be here. They are not interested at all in a cloudy day.

They want to get red in it faced. I don't know. Do they? Well, I think so. Yeah, they love tanning. They love, is that, do you think I'm onto something here? I think you're onto something, well you know what, the reverse of that would be my wife was like, when we first met, she was like, oh I love, she's from here, she was like,

oh I love rain, I love cloudy days, whatever, and I was like, oh cool. And we were back in London for a while shooting some of the great for six months, and I think it was rainy and cloudy and cold for most of that time, and she quickly realized that she didn't enjoy that. There's something about if you grow up in the sun where you kind of have this romantic idea of rain and gray and cold and all this. But actually when you put her in it, she was like, no, this isn't. And you're happy. You like it here.

I like being in the sun. I mean, I miss London. I miss pubs and the theater and friends and a lot of the things about the lifestyle. I've been able to walk more places. So I do miss it. But I mean, the thing about my job is I'm always kind of on the road in different places. So I'm finding this a nice base at the moment. The, we're talking, I want to make sure we get the word

out on Nosferatu. Where did you shoot this? Where did you shoot Nosferatu? We shot it in Prague. Oh my God. See that, that is why I do a travel show, is that for years and years and years, for 28 years, I sat at a talk show desk and talked to people like you who said,

oh, I just got back from Prague. Yeah, have you been there for the show? No, I've never been to Prague. I wanna go there, but- Oh, you should do an episode going there. Yeah, I will. In like alignment with Nosferatu coming out. Yeah. Oh, so you want me to travel to get the word out on Nosferatu coming out. Yeah.

Oh, so you want me to travel to get the word out on Nosferatu. Thank you. All right, Sona, could you book me a flight to Prague? Sure. And get me a cheap, good, good, good, good, really good acting. Really good acting.

All done, bye. And could you have a shirt made that says Nosferatu in theaters now? Let's see that, can you screen print it? Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do. Wow, you've got a laser printer. That's a good sound effect. Stupid.

What kind of machine makes this? Do all your machines make noises like that? Yeah. Your guillotine probably goes, glulululululup. Bloop, bloop. That's my burger. I'd like to hear the guillotine. Yeah, let's hear the guillotine. Foom. Splurt. Glu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu It's a fun, jolly, skillet-y, isn't it? Didn't realize the French Revolution was so humorous. Yes.

Benny Hill in the French Revolution. Da da da da da da da da da da da da. Whee, boink. Da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da. Uh, okay, you made Nosferatu, directed by one of my favorites, Robert Eggers. I love his stuff. He's incredible, isn't he?

Absolutely incredible. And so, I mean, I'm excited to just see the look of the film. I mean, he always achieves. I mean, I agree with you. I'm such a huge fan of his. I love his movies. I love the performances in his movies. He is, I think, a real auteur filmmaker

and one of the greatest working and alive. He's just, and it's, you know what, I was thinking about this the other day as well. He's so dedicated to the craft of filmmaking in terms of technically, emotionally, historically, what he creates. There were moments where he was like watching old films to try and figure out what was the best snow we could use. Because he shot all on film. Like you said, the look is so important in terms of turning the story.

But he, so he was like, why is the snow good in these movies? But it's not good in these and then he found like some old stock Snow that isn't made anymore fake snow from the 90s whatever they managed to locate that's as best just enough Breathing this as best I said, and I'm like god this movie is beautiful There's a reason they don't use it anymore. So I was poisoning myself. Nicholas, no. Oh God, it looks good on screen. He is, yeah.

It's just his dedication to the details of historically, but also exploring the occult and the emotional aspects of this story. It's something he's wanted to make since he was eight years old and there was a play of it he did at school. So no one could have told it better. What are the Eggers movies that you were really drawn to?

I mean, The Witch was the first one I saw and I met him after that, which I just thought, all his movies feel so real, which is kind of a weird thing because I'm not necessarily like a horror fan. Well, this is, it's so funny because I had the opportunity to interview Jordan Pio and he was asking me what kind of horror films do you like?

And I said, I don't like someone jumping out of a bush, stabbing, jump scares, and someone chasing someone else with a chainsaw. And I cited The Witch as an example, and Eggers as an example of, there's a wide shot early in the film, it's fall and it's New England, 17th century New England, and the wind is blowing

and you just see these trees slightly undulating and it's terrifying because of the implication of what something malevolent is out there. He managed to make trees in the fall in New England very frightening. And I responded to, there in the fall in New England very frightening. And I responded to there's so much in The Witch that it's so much of its tone and so much of it is. And then there are, yes, there are little moments

that are frightening, but when you think about it, there's so little violence, there's so little action, but your heart's in your mouth the whole time. Yeah, oh, he's a master of creating tension. I think you're gonna love that. I think I'm excited for you to see it because it's like the tension he creates, but it is visually stunning and the score and the sound is like imposing and fills your bones.

But then there's this weird thing where it's like you're watching and you're like, you can't take your eyes away because it's, it's like looking at a Rembrandt every scene, every shot. But then, but then there's also this thing where you like don't want to look away because you're also, there's this, something's coming, something's happening. It's a really interesting exploration of kind of the evil that we all have within ourselves, but also externally coming and how that affects us. So I'm excited by it.

I think it's a really good movie. What was the period? Is it 1890s? Yeah, in Wissburg, Germany. So it's kind of a gothic tale, I guess. But then yeah, going back to his movies, of course, The Lighthouse was like, and Willem Dafoe's in this one as well,

and him and Rob were so brilliant in that movie. We got to do, we did a travel show in Dublin last year, and we drove around and we went to Wicklow, which there's this great iconic lighthouse, and I got all made up as Willem Dafoe in The Lighthouse, and I have this long, insane speech that we shot in black and white. You're doing promo for the lighthouse then,

so you can do something that's right. You better make another show. What I'm saying is go check out the lighthouse. Get the costume on as well. Yeah, but what I loved- I'll send you the script. What I loved about that, I guess what I loved about that movie is

the performances are amazing, but also you're paying attention to like the button on someone's weird suit, which is very somehow evocative. Yeah. He manages to get all that stuff right. And I'm thinking Gothic, Nosferatu, late 19th century, field day with the visuals.

Oh, the costumes, Linda, the costumes that she created are all impeccable and stunning. But it is all that detail again, it's like his historical knowledge of everything going on. And because he leads from the front with such passion, everyone around just really wants to bring their best and do their best to serve his vision. But then I would text him thinking he'd be asleep about something in like the middle of the night, in the middle of the day here, but which middle of the night in London.

And he'd be like, oh, I'm up. I'm researching which cigars your character should smoke in this scene and whatever. He'd be like, dude, go to bed. It's three or four AM in London. What are you doing? But he's just constantly so, so in the zone of what's right for the story in every minute.

Smoking thousands of cigars. He's vomiting. I've got to get the right one. I am, well, listen, I am a huge, huge fan of yours as a person, but I just think your performances are off the charts great. And this movie is made for me. So, and oh yeah, Bill Skarsgård. Yeah, oh, his performance is magic as well.

Because he's created, you know, this monster, Count Orlok, but he's given it such history and rooted it in something very real. So it's, you know, it's terrifying, it's scary, but it's also real. Do you, I'm curious because my work is always, I make something and then we see it either instantly or 10 minutes later and then I never see it again.

Your work is you work really hard on something, craft it, you make it, you have some control over some facets of it. But, and then this long period of time goes by, I would think, before you see it, how apprehensive are you about, okay, now it's time for me to go see myself in Nosferatu? I don't like that, I don't like that.

I don't like that. I always equate it to like when you were at school and you did a test and you're waiting for the results to come in. Yeah. There's that nerve racking feeling where you're like, and it depends also how you left the shoot in terms of how you, your overall feeling there.

Like, did you feel like you gave a lot of variation on each scene in the edit? If they want, they're gonna have options. Did you feel like you explored everything you could have done? And then that's a different feeling as opposed to if you walk away from something and you go, I think I missed a bit here,

or actually that could have been better. And suddenly then you're looking back and you're like, oh no. So it's an odd feeling waiting for something to come out and not something I look forward to particularly. I'll say from my vantage point, your work is excellent. And so, and trust me, I think a word from Conan O'Brien

carries a lot of weight in the film industry. Yeah. Huh. The car fucker. Yeah. Yeah. Red onesie the car fucker gave us a thumbs up. Five stars from the tourist fucker.

Absolutely thrilled that you could be here today. And I do want to be your friend. I doubt it's gonna happen. We can definitely be friends. No, I have a bad feeling. You gave me the sheet. Let me say it. I'm not gonna say it's not gonna happen on your end.

I'm gonna say you're the one that's gonna, you'll see. Just keep calling and breathing down the phone. I'm always waiting. Nicholas. It's the only reason I've still got a landline. It's me. But congrats on the new film, Nosferatu, and thank you so much for stopping by

and for being so funny and terrific. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Peace out, Tupac. Oh, God. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Peace out to Puck. Oh God. What's up, Matt Gurley? What's the plan? Well, we're going to do another staff review. I love staff reviews because as the...

What is my title at this company? Am I CEO? No. Am I chairman? No. Am I... I feel like you're just... ...talent.

You're not someone who... Are you admitting I have talent? I'm saying you're not someone who's, like, making, like, hey, guys, let's wheelin' and dealin' decisions. This, I'm doin' it. I do that, but that's all I do. All I do is come into meetings and go, hey guys, let's do some wheelin' and dealin'.

And then Adam and Fedorovich and Ross are all like, what? And I'm like, yeah, some wheelin' and dealin'. They're like, just, and they just push me out of the room, and I've got my shirt button down. Yeah, yeah. You're the face of this company. Yeah, and what a face. Yeah.

Okay, let's move on. I like as the grand poobah, I like talking to the employees and telling them how I think they could do better. Okay, so today we have Eduardo, who is currently hiding behind his monitor right now. Eduardo, don't hide. Eduardo.

And be a man about this, Eduardo. Can you step away from the machinery that you employ? Who's gonna watch the levels? Adam. Oh. Adam's over there checking the levels. Do the levels. Have a seat, Eduardo.

And is this your first time at the table? I think for the hoppening, I was interrogated. Just have a little, Eduardo, and... Is this your first time at the table? I think for the happening, I was interrogated. Just have a little seat there, Eduardo, and... Buckle up. Yeah, buckle up. Okay, now, Eduardo, if you don't mind, this is a very, very large company, huge company.

They literally have tens of thousands of employees. Your full name, please. Eduardo Perez. Eduardo Perez. As I've said before. Eduardo Perez. Okay, Eduardo Perez. As I've said before, Eduardo Perez. There you go. Let me help you, Eduardo Perez. Perfect, perfect.

So, Eduardo Perez. It's important that we... Eduardo, you are, I'm gonna start by buttering you up before I chop you down. You made this beautiful studio that we're in, state of the art, you're a very talented guy, and I applaud you for your work. Thank you, thank you.

I did it with the help of many other individuals. I can't take all the credit. They're not here right now, but you did a fantastic job, and you've done, as far as I can tell, mostly a really good job here. It's an excellent job. Describe your duties. You have to make sure that the equipment's all functioning. Duties.

What duties, yes. Hey, your staff reviews next. Yeah. Take it easy. Yeah. Duties. My duties relative to this show. Yes, yes.

I engineer, I make sure that you all sound as great as you can. Um. Um. And who has the most challenging voice of the three of us? I engineer, I make sure that you all sound as great as you can. Um. Um. And who has the most challenging voice of the three of us? Be honest.

Honestly, I would say you do. What's challenging about it? You're very dynamic. So you get very excited and loud and then, but sometimes you, because of your bits. It's called being a rageaholic. Yeah, exactly. I explode in rage.

No, I know that when I have an idea or I wanna push something through and punch it, you probably have to ride all the dials. All the time, constantly exactly, riding your levels the most, of all three of you. Sometimes a guest will match your energy and I'll have to ride you and the guest. Yeah, that can happen sometimes.

Yeah, but you're- That happened with Doris Kearns Goodwin. She was, started talking about Lyndon Johnson and she was shouting. And then I was doing bits and she was doing bits. You know what was also difficult to record sometimes? Jimi Hendrix. The great artists are sometimes hard to capture.

You've just, you've been doing this for so long that I'm surprised you don't know how to like talk into a microphone properly. I don't care about the devices around me. I do see myself as a pure, purely artistic cloud that just emanates energy, goodness, and genius. And then these machines, they aren't my concern. These are the concerns of others.

Okay. Like is it Eduardo Perez? Eduardo Perez, yes, that's right. Eduardo, you know, you do a very good job. You did, we were recording certain celebrity recently. I believe it was, I believe it was Caitlin Olsen, of course, and very talented, wonderful. And she comes in and we were all excited to talk to her.

And then there was an issue, and I hate to bring this up in your review, but it felt like you weren't ready to go when it was time to go. What happened, Eduardo? That is correct. Right as we were about to get started, the software program that I normally use

just completely froze. I got the, Gourley would know this well, anybody who's used a computer before. Yeah, and I'm actually pretty fluent in this. I was doing a bit before, but which one is it? It's called Consul. Yeah, Consul, yeah. Yeah, exactly.

And so what happened? Be specific and really get into the minutia because I can match you. Sure, so the spinning wheel of death appeared. Well, we all know what that is. It means it was buffering. Exactly, exactly, and it wouldn't go away. Why are you talking to me like I'm a child?

Wait, what, I'm sorry, what was buffering? Excuse me. Oh, I'm sorry, okay. Can you seriously use the real terminology? Because you're talking to me like I'm an idiot. I have worked in show business for a long time, and I know a lot about television. I also know about the audio aspect of things. So let's have a real intelligent-

It's not even that complex. Well, just please, let's get into it. The computer simply froze. That's all you've got? That's all that happened. Okay. And I had to just hit, I had to restart the whole system. Yes.

That's all you did? That was it. And then I had to load up Pro Tools. I had to load up console again. Yeah, you have to load Pro Tools. You have to load console. But my question is, did you try anything else before you went to what anyone would do, which is unplugging it and then plugging it back in again?

I did, yes. I tried to force quit it and tried to reboot it. Did you try the force? There is no try. There's only do. Force quit. Do you know how to force quit? Yes, of course you do. What's the shortcut?

What's the key stroke for force quit? Control, alt, force quit. Listen, can I tell you something? I believe that was the easy thing to do and it took a long time. Caitlin had to sit here for a little bit because- I feel like it was a minute. Excuse me, it was longer than a minute.

It was at least a minute and 15 seconds. It felt like eternity for me, I'll tell you that. And I could tell she, she's a lovely person, but she was thinking of leaving, I could tell. She handled it like a champ. I was more nervous about your energy than I was about her energy, to be honest. This guy's never had a single hiccup

for how long has he been working here? Can I say something? Prince, anytime anyone in his band hit one note that was a little bit off, he would find them. He would find them. He would find them. But he's a psychopath. No, that's not the point. Are you comparing yourself to Prince?

Yes. You do podcasting. What are you talking about? I'm just saying, you wouldn't know what's wrong because you don't have- I hear the music just the way Prince did. And I think in our, each in our fields, I am every, I am the Prince of podcasting.

You're the Prince of podcasting. You're the prince of, you're certainly a little prince. I'll say that. And I'll tell you this, I just question, did you panic and force quit? Because there are other things you could have tried first. Like what? Yeah.

I don't know, you could have gone to Ultra. Sorry? Ultra. What's Ultra? I'm talking about Ultra. It's a parallel system that you can use. You can access it. And then you can go to Hibernate.

If you had used Ultra and you had gone to Hibernate, don't, hey, Sona, you're just laughing because you're embarrassed you don't know anything. You could have knocked it all down like three generations. What was I thinking? And did you try compression? Compression, ohression. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Compression. Plenty of compression. Well, listen, next time look to me and I can help you. You got it. Okay? I do like the work that you're doing. Thank you. I'm very lucky to have you.

Thank you. And I'm very fortunate that you've done such a beautiful job. And this table, this is your baby. This is one of my babies, yes. You put this table together and anytime one of us, it's happened, Sona's always bringing various soups from home, soups that your mother made,

soups from the home. She's never once brought soup. I'm just trying, you know when you come in with your soups from the old country? Oh my God. Listen, and you spill. How did it turn to this? Have you noticed that when you're,

just back me up on this. Admit, first of all, you bring in a lot of soups from the old country. Just admit it. It's me, bring soups from the old country. But listen, it spills. Whenever a liquid spills, you freak. I do freak.

Because there's a lot of very expensive electronics underneath this beautiful table. Under the hood. Did you know when you were building this table, did you know that first of all, I get clumsy sometimes with my drinks, so on of course, ubiquitous soups. I had a feeling.

I tried to impose a rule that would prevent drinks, but I was quickly outnumbered. Well, I ingest a lot of fluids to keep the old pipes lubricated, so to speak. You were the first one to spill all over this and it was like a full glass of water. Okay, I did spill a full glass of water. However, how many times have you been in here with,

and she drinks it out of a stone bowl and it's some Armenian stew or potash, right? Am I wrong? And you come in and you've got that big spoon that's crazy big, like the Flintstones. You know what's funny is I'm thinking of hush, which it would come with like a hoof. What?

How many times, oh, I said once, she was having some of this hush, and I said, what you got there? And she said, you want some? She said, you want the hoof? You want the hoof, remember? And I said, no, I don't want the hoof. I'm trying to share with you.

That's all I'm trying to do. Well, anyway. Great staff review. So you're welcome. I finally got you to admit that you do bring tons of, you bring hush in in in a big stone bowl that's been frozen for years because it's from the old country. Gotcha, Sona.

Years, oh my God. Eduardo, thank you for all your work and you are impeccable. Thank you very much. My only question is how valuable could your job be if you can walk away from it completely and everything's fine? I built it so that- Oh, you built it, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. away from it completely and everything's fine.

I built it so that- Oh, you built it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, you're such a good surgeon that halfway through the surgery, you can walk away for a peer review. Yeah.

Oh, you know what? I'm with you on this, because he did plug in and plug out and plug in. That's what I would have done. I could do what you do. Yeah, yeah. Oh, and also, what do I do? I guess I'll reboot the whole thing.

Conan O'Brien needs a friend. With Conan O'Brien, Sonam Avsesian, and Matt Gorley. Produced by me, Matt Gorley. Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Jeff Ross, and Nick Leow. Theme song by The White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Take it away, Jimmy. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair,

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