May 27, 2025

Conan O'Brien's Career Reflections

Show Notes
Transcript

Conan O'Brien discussed his career ups and downs on the Messy podcast with Christina Applegate and Jamie Lynn Sigler. The conversation spans his journey through television and the unexpected support he found online. The episode also explores John Mullaney's interview with GQ Magazine about his Rolex collection and Dmitri Martin's blend of visual art with comedy. Additionally, Taylor Tomlinson announces her upcoming Netflix special, Howie Mandel shares his perpetual connection to standup, and Martin Short humorously reflects on his Emmy nomination against Steve Martin. The show concludes with a reminder of the benefits of subscribing to the ad-free version of the program.

00:00 Conan O'Brien Reflects on Career Ups and Downs
00:58 John Mulaney's Watch Collection and Personal Stories
02:47 Dmitri Martin's Artistic Journey and Personal Reflections
04:14 Taylor Tomlinson's Upcoming Netflix Special
04:53 Howie Mandel on His Standup Comedy Roots
05:32 Martin Short on Competing with Steve Martin and Career Anecdotes
06:36 Closing Remarks and Subscription Information

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Callaroga Shark Media. Hi there, Johnny Mack with your daily

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comedy news. Conan O'Brien, who is indeed on the Mount

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Rushmore of Late Night Comedy. Hopefully you listen to Sunday's

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episode where I revealed the four names. Go check it

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out if you haven't. I really enjoyed putting that episode together.

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That was Sunday's episode. In this feed, Conan O'Brien was

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on the Messy podcast, which is hosted by Christina Applegate

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and Jamie Lynn Sigler. Conan's been all over the place lately.

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Conan said, I've had multiple times in my career where

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things kind of blew up or went sideways. I had

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no regrets about giving the Tonight show a shot, and when,

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for all these complicated reasons, it blew up, I was

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deeply upset. I thought I'm in real trouble. This could

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be end of my career at forty six. But lo

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and behold, this thing called the Internet rose up and

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I got this huge groundswell of love and appreciation that

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I didn't expect. Because you're doing a show like Late Night,

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day and day out for sixteen years, it's submarine duty.

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You don't get a chance to you understand fully that

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there's a generation of people out there that have been watching.

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They're younger than me, and they all knew how to

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use the internet, so they all got on social media

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and it was a big thing. The one thing that

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saved me is I'm very restless, and I'm willing to

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change it up. The idea of doing one thing for

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thirty five years in television and getting a gold watch

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and leaving just said it awful to me. It still does,

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although a gold watch would be great. Speaking of watches,

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I didn't even plan this. I just put a Conan

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story back to back with John Mullaney. But John Mulaney

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spoke to GQ magazine about watches. I wish I had

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done that on purpose. I'm not that good. It's a

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Tuesday off, a holiday weekend. I just put some stories

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with big names at the top. Anyway, we accidentally have

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a theme. Look at that. GQ recounts the story of

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Mullany having to sell his Rolex when he had some

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drug problems. In twenty twenty one, Olivia Munn gave John

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Mulaney a Rolex air King to celebrate the birth of

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their son. The watches from nineteen eighty two, which is

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the year John mullaney was born, and that makes me

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feel ancient and has Malcolm's dad engraved on the case back.

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M'LINI told GQ that the Air King was coming right

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off that whole Rolex debacle. It's linked to a lot

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of stuff. Melini said he didn't need another watch after

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getting the air King, but you still end up getting them.

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John's collection includes a white gold Rolex, sub Mariners and

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elegant Grand Sacos to the high flying show Pards and

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the new Brightling Top Time. How many of those words

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that I pronounced wrong? I'm gonna guess two. Skipping a ed,

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GQ says, I saw on TV the other day you

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wore the special edition show Pard for the Year of

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the Rabbit with a scene of two cute little rabbits

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on it. John said, two cute rabbits on it and

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a great watch with everyone loved. But it's very hard

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to tell the time on two gold hands moving over

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two slightly gold rabbits. But it's funny. I always go

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it's seven to one pm, and that's the one where

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I had to go it is, and then look at

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the studio clock. John talked about having to pick the

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right watch for performing. He said, of one watch, it's

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nice for most occasions, not distracting when you're doing stand up.

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There are watches you might wear where the audience might

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lose any empathy for you. You don't want to wear a

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sub mariner and be complaining about traffic. Colour Wise, I

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don't wear a rose gold, no pink gold. I like

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to say it's for a better reason, but I'm that

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shade of pale where it doesn't look good anyway. GQ

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long piece with John Mullenian watch as I barely skim

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that one. The La Times caught up with Dmitri Martin.

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They talked about how Dmitri incorporates drawings in his stand up.

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Martin said, the cool thing about drawing is I could

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share something personal and I can use a graphic to

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illustrate it. More specifically, Martin's now wondering I brought visual

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art into my stand up comedy. Can I bring comedy

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into the visual art world. Acute Angles is Martin's solo

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exhibit running through May thirty. First Acute Angles, he says

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the title reference is the shape of his nose. It

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features large grayscale paintings with a unifying color palette of

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bright red, sky blue, and medium gray. The paintings depict

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implausible scenarios. What if the Grim Reaper slipped on a

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banana on his way to kill you? What if Superman

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ripped his underpants on his quest to save you. Martin

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has a month long lease of an abandoned yoga studio

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tucked behind a California in Pete's kitchen in Brentwood. The

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Devil's always in the details. Love that whole sentence you

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can relate to this. This show also represents Martin's re

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emergence from his own midlife existential crisis. At fifty one,

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he is older than his dad was when his dad died.

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I just went through that milestone. That's the one you

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really think about. Dimitri's mom was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's.

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So Dimitri wonders, so now is this like bonus time

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for me? Started asking himself that in his late forties,

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he's now fifty one. Sarah Silverman was asked about Dmitri.

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Sarah said, he's not without cynicism once you know him,

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But where comics often lead with cynicism, he is this

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wide eyed openness, and I think that's the threat that

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pulls through all his work. Taylor Tomlinson will be recording

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a Netflix special, she posted on social media. She'll tape

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the special December thirteenth in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She's taping

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at the Fountain Street Church. Kaylee Clements is the director

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of audio and visual technology at the church. Kaylee says

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she was looking for a venue with a nice look.

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As far as I understand, it wasn't expressed to me

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why she picked Grand rap But I'm going to say

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it's because the Fountain Street Church is amazing. Kaylee told

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him live Taylor was very kind and sweet. We were

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taking a virtual tour of the space to see if

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it met her approval. Because it's a really large production.

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There were a lot of moving pieces. We may have

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a reputation as a conservative town, and this shows again

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that we allowed diverse voices and we're open to all

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kinds of perspectives. The Saint Pete catalyst asked Howie Mandel,

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why do you always come back to stand up? How

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He says, I never left stand up. People always go

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I loved it when you did stand up. Stand Up's

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my thing. I was a stand up from day one,

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I did a young Comedian special, and then because that's

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what people did, I went to meet with a sitcom

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company and they gave me a sitcom called to See Elsewhere.

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I didn't set out to be a dramatic actor. While

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I was doing that, I was doing stand up. And

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then I got a Saturday Morning cartoon, Bobby's World. I

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didn't set out to do that. They knew my voice

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from stand up, and I continue to do stand up.

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I don't want to be a game show host, but

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I did Dealer No Deal, and I kept being a

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stand up. Now I'm a judge on a talent show

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and I'm still a stand up and I do a

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podcast with my daughter, But really, I do stand up.

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Vanity Fair asked Martin Short how he feels about being

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up against Steve Martin in the same Emmy category. Martin said,

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it's a little weird and we do kind of divide

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the vote. I think someone approaching me at the very

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beginning about would you consider being submitted as a supporting

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actor when I go into that category, and I said,

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that's completely dishonestome Now it was just a pondering question.

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I think it was from the Emmys. They were acknowledging

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that we would always split the vote. He told a

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funny story about working on the show Damages. It was

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the first day and one of the executive producers, after

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a couple takes, came up and said, Marty, can you

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not smile? And I said why is that when you

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smile you become Martin Short? And I said, well, I'm

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kind of stuck because I am Martin Short. The producer

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later apologized and said that was a stupid note. Martin said,

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I think Lauren Michael said this to me. I attributed

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to him that when you go to the zoo, you

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go to the monkey cage, and the monkeys have a

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right to be reflective or sleeping or not swinging by

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their tails. But when they don't, you wander why, and

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you come back when you hear them swinging by their tails.

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Lauren said something to the effect of, let's face it, Marty,

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you're a monkey. I can sing. I did fifty shows

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on Letterman where I did a big number every time,

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but I never did it like I'm going to be

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sincere this time. Nope. It was always comedy, because that's

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the deal the audience makes with you. And that's your

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comedy news for today. If you enjoy the program, please

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