Chris Martin

2023-03-20 01:02:23

After 25 years at the Late Night desk, Conan realized that the only people at his holiday party are the men and women who work for him. Over the years and despite thousands of interviews, Conan has never made a real and lasting friendship with any of his celebrity guests. So, he started a podcast to do just that. Deeper, unboundedly playful, and free from FCC regulations, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend is a weekly opportunity for Conan to hang out with the people he enjoys most and perhaps find some real friendship along the way.

2Speaker 2
00:00:00.98 – 00:00:01.62

Hi.

00:00:03.78 – 00:00:11.24

My name is Chris Martin and I feel really great about being Conan O'Brien's friend.

1Speaker 1
00:00:13.96 – 00:00:37.76

Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell, brand new shoes, walking blues, climb the fence, books and pens. I can tell that we are gonna be friends. Yes, I can tell that we are gonna be friends. Hey there, Welcome to Conan. O'Brien. needs a friend? I'm a professional podcaster named Conan O'Brien.

00:00:39.30 – 00:00:50.76

I've been doing this for a number of years and I'm a real pro. Oh boy, I'm really. I'm the gold standard, which everybody has judged now sitting here with Sona.

00:00:50.90 – 00:01:00.16

Sona, Wouldn't you call me the gold standard? No, I wouldn't call you the gold standard. I think there's people who've done it longer than you and much better. Yeah, much better.

00:01:00.34 – 00:01:07.34

I think you're good, I think you're fine. Okay, I think you're okay. I have a story about the phrase the gold standard.

00:01:07.34 – 00:01:31.00

That involves the great Johnny Carson. Oh yeah. I had the privilege of getting to meet him a couple of times and talk to him on the phone a few times. And I remember once I sent him, I was hosting some special in the history of NBC on Late Night, I think 50 years. And so I got the chance to with my staff, we cut together these montages of every late night.

00:01:31.00 – 00:01:47.20

Hosts cut together all of their best stuff. So Letterman, Jack Parr, everybody, Steve Allen. I got to reach out and contact them and send them their stuff, Letterman from his Late night show, and, of course, Johnny Carson. And then I got a call.

00:01:47.46 – 00:02:10.30

I didn't expect, I just thought it would be. This is before email, I think. But I thought I'd just get a message that Johnny Carson either approved or didn't. And then I get this call and they say, Johnny Carson's on the line for you. And, of course, my soul left my, I mean, it was just, you know, he's the biggest star in the world all the time. I was growing up and informed everybody's idea of what a late night show was.

00:02:10.40 – 00:02:28.38

So I saw the blinking light and I was like, that blinking light is Johnny Carson, and someone said, No, that's the light that tells you he's on the phone, that's not Johnny. But anyway, I picked up the phone and I hit the button and there's his famous voice. And he more or less was telling me that he watched the montage and he thought it was good.

00:02:28.44 – 00:02:46.68

He thought we did a good job and he really liked it. And in the special, I referred to him as the gold standard, and I said, Of course, Johnny Carson, the gold standard, and he said, my only. I don't really do a Carson impression, but he said something. He said, Well, the only thing I'll take exception to is you referred to me as the gold standard.

00:02:46.68 – 00:02:57.16

Kind of a self-deprecating thing. That's the only thing I disagree with. You called me the it's not like a little much. You called me the gold standard, and I said, Well, keep in mind, Johnny, that gold has been greatly devalued.

00:02:59.14 – 00:03:06.48

And I got a little chuckle. I'm not going to say I got a huge laugh, but I got a little chuckle and I was so happy. That's so cool, yeah.

00:03:07.14 – 00:03:19.20

What else do you guys talk about? He then started going on and on about what a huge fan he was of mine. No, he didn't. We actually had a really nice conversation, it wasn't that long.

00:03:19.56 – 00:03:42.08

I don't like to over-represent things, but it was really special. I got to tell him that one of my favorite old Carson clips was he used to do this character. Art Fearn Oh yeah, and Art Fearn had this famous thing where he was like a fast-talking pitchman kind of. And he was telling you how to go someplace in L.A. to buy a certain product.

00:03:42.08 – 00:04:09.76

And at one point, he just,—and I was telling Johnny Carson this, I said, Oh my God. Every time my writers see this segment of Art Fearn that we show with this line in it, we die laughing. And so I said, it's the one where you're art Fearn, and you're saying, do this. Get on the 101, then switch to the 134, then get on the 5 freeway. And then he says, then take the sloss and cut off, and he says, then get out of your car and cut off your sloss.

00:04:11.22 – 00:04:25.16

And my writers, Oh, you met May Lee? And he says,—and it's the way he kind of rides up on his toes a little bit. And he goes. —he says, take the sloss and cut off, get out of your car, cut off your sloss. And he's got this big pointer he keeps hitting the board with.

00:04:25.70 – 00:04:38.42

And my writers and I, we like to think that we're edgy, young, hot shots. We just—watch that clip, and every time he does that joke, we burst out laughing. It's timeless. When you brought up Art, Fearn, I almost said, Cut off your sloss.

00:04:38.52 – 00:04:50.40

Cut off your sloss. I'm glad I didn't, and I said, we see that, and I said, that joke is funny every time. And he said,—it was kind of just a nice moment, because he said, Yeah, he said, it is.

00:04:50.48 – 00:04:52.82

And he kind of chuckled and he went, I don't know why.

00:04:54.84 – 00:05:09.82

And then, you know, the conversation was over pretty quickly. But it was just really nice to be able to tell him. You know how much he meant to all these young writers. Still, you know, this is years and years after he retired, so that was nice.

00:05:09.92 – 00:05:15.34

That's really nice. I have that memory until I lose it, sloss in his penis. Yes, oh, okay.

00:05:15.48 – 00:05:18.48

In this case, yes, it's a streak, though, I wish. —you know what? Oh yes.

00:05:18.48 – 00:05:27.36

I know the streak. Okay, I think Johnny would have loved it had you been on set. He would have loved it because he loved people like you. Sona, I'm not even kidding.

00:05:27.44 – 00:05:37.18

No, he did. No, No, no, I'm serious. If you had been on set, he would have loved if he'd said, get out of your car. Cut off your sloss, and if you had said, Wait a minute, is sloss in penis?

00:05:37.36 – 00:05:41.16

Now, of course, that would have shut down the network in 1974.

00:05:42.32 – 00:05:45.46

Oh, but still, I wonder, when you were allowed to say penis, he would have thought that was really funny.

00:05:45.66 – 00:05:54.62

Yeah, oh, it was when Saturday Night Live did that sketch of the nudist sketch, wasn't it? That was the first time you were allowed to, and I worked on that sketch. Well, there was no, you didn't. Why don't you talk about it?

00:05:54.74 – 00:06:07.80

Yeah, you're a penis pioneer, yeah, in that sense. Robert Smigel, he was the lead person on that sketch, but I worked on that sketch with him and wrote a song.

00:06:07.80 – 00:06:19.38

At the end, the penis song standards came in. I think it was actually the great Rick Ludwin. And they just said, there's no way you can do this. And we were arguing that, like, it's part of the anatomy, you should be able to say penis.

00:06:19.52 – 00:06:27.26

Of course, now it seems like the most tame thing in the world. But you get weird when people say, vagina, Oh, don't do that, so you would be like, Oh, okay, don't do that.

00:06:27.28 – 00:06:29.86

So censor vagina? Yeah, oh God, please.

2Speaker 2
00:06:30.06 – 00:06:30.36

No.

1Speaker 1
00:06:31.08 – 00:06:35.88

Please, well, congrats. We gotta just shut that down. I had no idea you were the penis guy.

00:06:36.44 – 00:06:38.82

I know you more as dickhead, quite a reputation.

00:06:43.40 – 00:07:03.14

Of course, my nom de plume is Dickhead, but also in some parts of Europe, I'm known as the penis man. Everyone calls me something different. Okay, well, I'm very excited about our guest today. He is the co-founder and lead vocalist of the seven-time Grammy award-winning band Coldplay.

00:07:03.32 – 00:07:16.16

The band is currently on its sold-out Music of the Spheres World Tour. This one's a little different. He did not come to our studio. It was kind of a fun field trip, I went out to Malibu.

00:07:16.28 – 00:07:36.88

Well, fun for me, because let me point out that Sona and Matt did not come. I wanted to lessen our carbon footprint, especially with real big stars, so I just wanted to make sure that everything was just right. We had a proper conversation, you know, because you know the way you always cut in a lot and say things like, I'm hungry.

00:07:37.88 – 00:07:46.26

I am hungry, I am always hungry, and he probably would have fed me. Get me some stew, Chris Martin Stew.

00:07:46.56 – 00:07:51.88

I want a deal. Stew Well, yeah, he's from England. They always have a veal, Stew handy.

00:07:53.60 – 00:08:09.00

Anyway, I met him, he has this very cool sort of compound out in the Malibu area and got to meet him there. So it wasn't a proper, wouldn't you say? This is true, Eduardo? Not a proper. Soundproof studio. You will hear some ambient noises.

00:08:09.26 – 00:08:17.96

Yes, you might hear a weed whacker here or there, and I'm the one operating it. I don't know. No one told me that that was going to hurt the podcast, that's odd.

00:08:18.24 – 00:08:19.56

Eduardo, you were there, you had fun.

2Speaker 2
00:08:19.92 – 00:08:21.26

It was cool, oh cool.

1Speaker 1
00:08:21.34 – 00:08:29.34

Cool, I'm glad I'm happy for you, Eduardo. Did you think the conversation was adversely affected by Sona and Matt not being there? I thought the conversation was great.

00:08:29.54 – 00:08:31.70

Here we go. But Adam, you were there too.

2Speaker 2
00:08:32.14 – 00:08:32.80

Yeah, okay.

1Speaker 1
00:08:33.00 – 00:08:35.04

What Blai? Yeah, oh cool.

2Speaker 2
00:08:35.14 – 00:08:36.00

That's cool.

1Speaker 1
00:08:36.36 – 00:08:43.24

It's so fun. I said. All necessary personnel. I can't wait to edit this episode down to 20 seconds.

00:08:46.26 – 00:08:50.14

Well, it'll be a fun 20 seconds anyway. Very excited he's on the pod.

00:08:55.08 – 00:08:56.18

Chris Martin, welcome.

00:08:59.92 – 00:09:09.42

I feel great about being here with you. I don't know what we just did. We tried to high five, but I think I put my hand out in the incorrect way.

2Speaker 2
00:09:09.54 – 00:09:10.74

Well, we reached across the aisle.

1Speaker 1
00:09:11.04 – 00:09:15.86

We did, we did. I immediately fell in love with you once our hands touched, I have to say.

2Speaker 2
00:09:15.90 – 00:09:17.00

Well, I fell in love with you years ago.

1Speaker 1
00:09:17.00 – 00:09:39.66

Very sweet. Well, you know, it's nice. You and the gents from Coldplay did the show a number of times and then you came on and we chatted once. But I've always wanted to do this because every time I've run into you, you seemed like a fascinating, smart, witty guy. But in that other format, I can't just sit and talk to you.

2Speaker 2
00:09:40.32 – 00:09:42.62

In the chat show format, isn't that the whole idea?

1Speaker 1
00:09:43.40 – 00:09:53.24

No, it is supposed to be the idea. But in America anyway, once you have the band and all the comedy sketches and everything else, you never really get the time to get to know somebody.

2Speaker 2
00:09:53.54 – 00:10:08.10

I also felt that in the chat show hierarchy, singers are right at the bottom. I don't know if that's true. It's like, we've got this guy juggling koalas, he's on before you, and a guy that was once on a rerun of a pilot, he's on before you.

00:10:08.26 – 00:10:09.10

And then at 2 a.

00:10:09.10 – 00:10:09.32

M.

00:10:09.32 – 00:10:13.88

We're going to talk to you for one minute, yeah, and then we're going to cut to, Yeah. I was like, Okay, cool.

1Speaker 1
00:10:13.88 – 00:10:16.16

Chris in defense, the Koala guy was amazing.

2Speaker 2
00:10:16.32 – 00:10:17.04

He was amazing.

1Speaker 1
00:10:17.08 – 00:10:27.66

Those were live koalas. Most of them were not injured. No, it is funny. When, what was I looking at? The other day? I just came across Tape of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan.

00:10:28.20 – 00:10:40.76

And they have people doing tricks with monkeys. And then it's time for the Beatles and you're thinking, why would you even have any kind of show other than you've got the Beatles, you just have them on?

2Speaker 2
00:10:42.02 – 00:10:59.24

I'm happy we're talking about this because we just did SNL last week, which we loved doing so much, and Pedro Pascal was hosting. Yeah, I saw, and he was amazing, and it just sort of reminded me that. It's great to have someone famous come on TV, but it's really great to have someone who really knows what they're doing and can act.

00:10:59.40 – 00:11:06.32

I think it's the same for talk shows. There's great guests and there's probably ones that you have to scrape the barrel a bit.

1Speaker 1
00:11:06.62 – 00:11:08.08

Oh, I'm happy to name names.

2Speaker 2
00:11:08.08 – 00:11:23.90

No, no, don't name names. But also, if you think about all the competitive music shows, the voice and all you have to remember. Everything is a TV show or the Grammys, that's what it is, first and foremost. And so, even if you're the most interesting composer in the world, it might not be great TV, right?

00:11:23.96 – 00:11:25.16

That's the way I've always looked at it.

1Speaker 1
00:11:25.26 – 00:12:05.28

You know, I'll tell you that this is something that I think it's exceptional for actors in the UK. Many times, which is over the 30 years that I was doing that TV stuff, I noticed that American actors, I mean, I'm talking about great actors, terrific actors, top of the top. They mutter, they give one-syllable answers, they don't want to ever smile because that's not cool. They've all been influenced, going back to James Dean. But then I'd have these people on like Richard Harris, I'd have these British actors on who have the best acting chops in the world, and they're raconteurs.

00:12:05.88 – 00:12:23.56

Yeah, they love to be funny and they tell stories. And I mean, I was always blown away by that and I would always tell them. There's something in the water, there's something about in the UK, where no, no, you need to be able to tell a story, you need to be able to land a joke. It's in the blood, I think.

2Speaker 2
00:12:23.86 – 00:12:29.92

Do you think that comes from the different types of training, or the more theatrical background in London, or where do you think it's from?

1Speaker 1
00:12:30.22 – 00:12:45.96

I think it's the tall poppy syndrome. It's the same thing with the Irish, the English, the Scottish. They're very self-aware. You can't. If you get too big, someone else will chop you down. If you get a big head, If your ego gets too big, someone else will let you know it.

00:12:46.14 – 00:12:58.30

Whereas American actors can take themselves really seriously. And there's no one around to say, shut your face, you're acting like an idiot. And I think that's to me. That's where the difference is.

2Speaker 2
00:12:58.52 – 00:12:59.70

Yeah, yeah, okay.

1Speaker 1
00:13:00.00 – 00:13:04.56

All right, well, that's all the time we have. I'm just here to tell you things that I've.

2Speaker 2
00:13:05.54 – 00:13:11.28

I've got a new thing in my life of. If someone says something that I don't necessarily agree with, I just say, Okay, great.

00:13:14.10 – 00:13:33.28

Look, rather than I don't, really want to, I don't. I'm trying to remove any conflict in terms of. We've tried for years to sort of see if the sort of way of changing people's minds is telling them they're wrong. And I don't think it is. I definitely feel that more strongly than ever, so I'm trying to just listen.

00:13:33.52 – 00:13:38.76

I mean, you're a lighter example. I'm talking about if someone's talking about fascism or this or that.

1Speaker 1
00:13:39.02 – 00:14:10.50

Well, I was going to get to fascism. I try to find common ground with the people I talk to, and it's very hard. Because you're a rock superstar. And you think, how can I find common ground with this man without seeming completely deranged? But I do know that we both grew up in these environments, where what we're doing for a living, or as our art, whatever we want to call. It seemed unimaginable when we were kids. I have read that about you, that when you were a young kid, growing up, in sort of a—.

2Speaker 2
00:14:10.50 – 00:14:11.00

Southwest of England.

1Speaker 1
00:14:11.16 – 00:14:20.44

Southwest of England, quiet. Very, you weren't a young boy that was thinking, Oh, yeah, I have my plan, I'm going to be a music superstar.

2Speaker 2
00:14:20.84 – 00:14:38.84

Well, it's funny. I was speaking to this 15-year-old yesterday about songwriting, he was asking, How do you know when something's good? And I was trying to explain the duality between absolute self-belief and complete wonder and humility. I think you have to keep that forever.

00:14:39.54 – 00:15:11.34

Yeah, but I do think that when I was 12 or 13 and Song started arriving, there was something in me that felt like, Oh, these are really special. But then, on the other hand, there was nothing nearby to measure it against. Or no one in our—even in the region, had ever gone out and done that. So it did seem impossible, but I still headed towards it, if that makes sense, I feel that no matter where you grow up or in what social strata. If you just have a couple of people say a couple of the right things to you, it boosts you enough to get to the next island.

1Speaker 1
00:15:11.70 – 00:15:11.88

Yes.

2Speaker 2
00:15:12.02 – 00:15:15.36

So who did you have saying you're pretty good, you could do this?

1Speaker 1
00:15:15.48 – 00:15:33.92

My parents sent me to a summer camp that I hated away in the woods in Maine. And I didn't—the kids didn't like me and I didn't like them. And then there was one counselor that I just—he thought I was the funniest thing, right? And he kept laughing really hard. And he kept saying, Are you guys listening to this kid?

2Speaker 2
00:15:34.04 – 00:15:34.56

What's his name?

1Speaker 1
00:15:34.72 – 00:15:53.14

I can't remember now, okay, I can't remember his name, but I just remember that he was really laughing and then he single-handedly got me through that summer camp experience. It was all because he thought this kid's really funny, and then that just kept happening. And I know for you, you had—.

2Speaker 2
00:15:53.14 – 00:15:54.28

I saw common ground there.

1Speaker 1
00:15:54.32 – 00:15:56.06

You had a music teacher.

2Speaker 2
00:15:56.34 – 00:16:24.38

A couple of people that I had—you just reminded me that in the same year, two things happened, which was like a total microcosm of how my whole life has turned out. I played an original song in a school concert and got booed off by a drunk boy in the year above. And at the same time, this dad of a friend who had been in a pretty successful band in England. He came to see a concert and I played another song and he said, You're going to be massive. This happened almost in the same month.

1Speaker 1
00:16:24.58 – 00:16:26.06

But then the drunk kid came back.

2Speaker 2
00:16:26.40 – 00:16:37.28

No, he won't. Funnily enough, the drunk guy showed up backstage in Australia in 2009 and now comes to all of our shows.

1Speaker 1
00:16:37.70 – 00:16:39.22

Wait, the kid that booed you offstage.

2Speaker 2
00:16:39.90 – 00:16:41.92

He might still be booing, but there's more people around him.

00:16:43.58 – 00:16:45.00

I don't know why he's there, but he's there.

1Speaker 1
00:16:45.00 – 00:16:48.94

He's the one guy booing at a Coldplay show. I love that.

2Speaker 2
00:16:49.20 – 00:16:50.52

Either that, or he's saying, Bruce.

1Speaker 1
00:16:53.70 – 00:17:02.60

SPRINGsteeN I've seen him often after a show, tears coming down his cheek because he thought he was booed. You're like, No, no, no, no, I know that you took to the piano at around 10, 11??

2Speaker 2
00:17:02.60 – 00:17:03.42

Yeah, and guitar, yeah.

1Speaker 1
00:17:03.76 – 00:17:05.28

Guitar was first, I know, yeah.

2Speaker 2
00:17:05.38 – 00:17:19.10

Yeah, both, and I wouldn't say I'm very good at either, but this is another thing I was saying to this young guy yesterday. So many of our songs, the portal through which they arrive, is some failure that I've done on the guitar or I'm playing the wrong thing. But it sounds good.

1Speaker 1
00:17:19.18 – 00:17:19.54

Right?

2Speaker 2
00:17:19.70 – 00:17:29.60

Or I'll often tune to a different tuning so I don't know what I'm doing, yeah, or play without looking on the piano, so I'm just hearing it. So I don't know if it's correct, if you see what I mean, yes.

00:17:29.78 – 00:17:38.58

And often, if you analyze our songs after the fact, they're so simple that we would never have allowed ourselves to do that had we known. Oh, it's just E to A to B to e.

1Speaker 1
00:17:38.58 – 00:18:05.70

But it's not because I know I mentioned this to you once. I've tried. When I first approach a Coldplay song that I love to play, there's always something like, Well, yellow's a really good example of that high E string to play it right and have it. Sound kind of like, I'm going to say the record just to date myself, but the recording, that high E string, has to be tuned slightly differently. And there's something about it.

00:18:05.70 – 00:18:16.64

That's there's always something in your songs, and it's a compliment that is somewhat different. Do you know what I mean? Even if you think, well, this is just a straight B, No, it's not, it's really not.

2Speaker 2
00:18:16.78 – 00:18:36.50

I feel like this goes across my life, too, that your limitations become strengths. Oh yeah, so really early on I realized, Well, I'm not going to be the best singer of all time, and I'm definitely not as fast on guitar as my friend Simon. You know, yep. Or as Wilson Pickett, I'm not going to be as good a singer as that, or I'm never going to be able to dance like Tina Turner.

00:18:36.82 – 00:18:52.52

But maybe I can make things weirdly. Me, yes. And that's what I feel so encouraged about around the whole world right now is seeing people become themselves, even if it's a bit different. Yes, because that's how I feel about our music.

00:18:52.72 – 00:18:55.70

And I don't claim it's the best, but it's definitely the most us.

1Speaker 1
00:18:55.84 – 00:19:13.50

It kind of fascinated me to find out which I didn't know. That your chemistry and something feeling right is so important to you that the story of how you found your drummer seems extremely improbable. Yeah, because he wasn't really supposed to be the drummer.

2Speaker 2
00:19:13.72 – 00:19:13.92

No.

1Speaker 1
00:19:14.14 – 00:19:19.92

You had someone who was technically very proficient and then when it came time to record, he wasn't around.

2Speaker 2
00:19:20.32 – 00:19:26.68

Is that right? Well, it's funny. This week I realized what he actually is, which is he's our sommelier. Oh, OK, because he's obsessed with wine.

00:19:27.24 – 00:19:28.50

I think you won't mind me saying.

1Speaker 1
00:19:28.50 – 00:19:32.14

Oh, I thought you were going to say he's our sommelier and then use it as sort of like.

2Speaker 2
00:19:32.34 – 00:19:34.88

It's going to be an analogy. Wait, so he's.

1Speaker 1
00:19:34.94 – 00:19:36.36

He really is your sommelier.

2Speaker 2
00:19:36.96 – 00:19:40.80

So this is will our drummer, but he plays a lot of things.

1Speaker 1
00:19:41.00 – 00:19:41.86

Will champion? yeah.

2Speaker 2
00:19:41.96 – 00:19:47.66

Will champion? Yeah, he's also a wine expert now, now that he's nearly 70..

00:19:49.76 – 00:20:02.04

But his role in the band, I realize, has always been sort of to say, we've got too much of this flavor, change this. He sort of has this connoisseur overview.

1Speaker 1
00:20:02.32 – 00:20:03.34

He can see the whole thing.

2Speaker 2
00:20:04.38 – 00:20:21.22

For example, he said to me years ago, I don't mind what kind of song you present me. But as long as I feel it's emotionally real, we'll do it. And still, I show him things, he's like, we can't do that and I get mad, but I really trust his. What's it called discernment?

1Speaker 1
00:20:21.54 – 00:20:23.26

Yeah, his poor judgment.

2Speaker 2
00:20:23.76 – 00:20:24.48

No, no, he's right, I don't know.

1Speaker 1
00:20:24.64 – 00:20:25.70

No, he's right, he's right.

2Speaker 2
00:20:25.70 – 00:20:37.64

Well, he'll say that this song is sounding quite poppy. Make sure that the lyrics have enough bittersweetness in them so that I can enjoy playing it. And he's right, because that's life, life is this amazing tension between extremes.

1Speaker 1
00:20:37.98 – 00:20:44.98

But when you originally chose will, it wasn't necessarily because he was the most technically proficient drummer. No, no, no, no.

2Speaker 2
00:20:45.38 – 00:20:46.20

But none of us were.

1Speaker 1
00:20:46.54 – 00:20:49.02

Yeah, as a non-musician, I'm fascinated by.

2Speaker 2
00:20:49.02 – 00:20:54.08

But you are a musician. First of all, we have so many things in common. Okay, let's go through them. We play music.

00:20:54.08 – 00:20:58.40

Uh-huh. We both rely on the feedback of other people for our livelihood.

1Speaker 1
00:20:58.52 – 00:20:59.24

Yes, that's true.

2Speaker 2
00:20:59.36 – 00:21:02.54

We both love what we do. Yes, we're both devastatingly handsome.

1Speaker 1
00:21:02.90 – 00:21:05.96

Oh my God, we should have started with that one.

2Speaker 2
00:21:06.00 – 00:21:06.94

That's about it, I think.

1Speaker 1
00:21:08.38 – 00:21:12.62

But also, I want to just point out that I'm meeting you. We always do these in my studio.

2Speaker 2
00:21:12.62 – 00:21:13.54

We both slept with your wife.

1Speaker 1
00:21:17.30 – 00:21:29.18

She still talks about it all the time, best day of her life. You know, we usually do these in my studio. And we came out to where you are, and I won't say too much about where we are.

2Speaker 2
00:21:29.52 – 00:21:30.28

You can say it, it's okay.

1Speaker 1
00:21:30.82 – 00:21:40.64

I'm going to give the address no. It's out in Malibu and it's this big compound. And the second I got here, I thought, This is a-fantastic, I love this.

00:21:40.92 – 00:21:45.98

You have all these different buildings. And then I thought I could be a cult leader here, you know, yes.

2Speaker 2
00:21:46.02 – 00:21:48.08

Well, I think that might have been what it was originally built for.

1Speaker 1
00:21:48.26 – 00:21:50.38

Was it for a cult? Oh my God, I've always wanted a cult.

2Speaker 2
00:21:50.98 – 00:21:52.60

Well, you can get them these days pretty cheap.

1Speaker 1
00:21:52.60 – 00:22:01.86

I know, but I want one of those kooky sex cults where I walk around in a purple robe, okay, and then eventually I'm killed by my own cult members. Okay, great, because they can't take it anymore.

2Speaker 2
00:22:04.14 – 00:22:08.50

You might be one, I don't know. Yeah, okay, great.

1Speaker 1
00:22:16.90 – 00:22:18.48

Would it be okay if I lived here?

2Speaker 2
00:22:18.48 – 00:22:20.08

You can live here in a robe, yeah.

1Speaker 1
00:22:20.26 – 00:22:22.52

Yeah, oh, I'm going to wear a robe and wander around.

2Speaker 2
00:22:23.20 – 00:22:24.56

You're welcome anywhere we are.

1Speaker 1
00:22:26.18 – 00:22:33.50

You know, you talk about how important chemistry is, and I know, is the band a democracy, you know? Does everyone have a voting say?

2Speaker 2
00:22:33.92 – 00:22:45.40

I think that this is very hard to answer objectively, but I'll try, okay, I think the five of us, because there's four that you see myself. Johnny on guitar, Guy plays bass, Will, who's the drummer sommelier?

00:22:45.40 – 00:22:49.16

Okay, and then Phil, who is our kind of creative director.

1Speaker 1
00:22:49.46 – 00:22:50.64

And you've known him probably the longest.

2Speaker 2
00:22:50.64 – 00:22:59.08

Since we were 13, yeah, yeah. And he was the other person where I grew up who was like, we're going to do this. And we would read books about REM and U2 and the police.

00:22:59.46 – 00:23:21.26

And we were both in a blues band with this slightly older kid who was teaching us about Motown. We were like, that's what we're going to do, but with no real knowledge of how. So, for whatever reason, we've all got our gifts in the world and mine is. I get sent songs and I get a very clear idea of how we're supposed to, where we're supposed to go as a band.

00:23:21.38 – 00:23:44.42

And I get sent ideas all the time for this and this, and this and this and this and this and so. And Phil does, too, in a different way for more, sort of where we should play, or let's release an album then, or something like that. So the two of us are the ones who come in with. We've got to do this, this, this and this. So to counterbalance that you have will and guy who. We're not talking about music, we're just talking about how the band operates.

00:23:44.92 – 00:24:12.74

They are more of the naysayers in a good way to make sure we don't do all the stupid ideas, but they sort of pick what actually is good. And that's the same with music. Except that on all of our songs, I know this is a long-winded answer. I'm sorry, on all of our songs. They are like a production line mostly, which is that I get sent, sort of the skeleton of the song and the title and everything. And I'll present that and then Johnny, Guy and Will Will layer their stuff on it.

00:24:12.78 – 00:24:33.26

And it's not finished until they've all either put their parts on it or decided not to. So we always split our publishing royalties, whatever the song is, because it allows people to choose what's best for the song. Because they're going to get paid either way. So they might say this doesn't need any drums on it, but I'll still get paid for drumming, so I don't need to put drums on it. Does that make sense?

1Speaker 1
00:24:33.26 – 00:24:41.56

It makes perfect sense and I'm down with it, except for the payment thing. I do my best to screw the people around me.

2Speaker 2
00:24:41.58 – 00:24:44.14

I can see that from the threadbare footwear.

1Speaker 1
00:24:45.14 – 00:25:28.60

I keep saying, that's my name up on the marquee and I hand them a can of old beans and they can have that. It's funny. Your job starts out to make music, and then this other job comes along, and some people can do it and some can't. And in your case, obviously you're great at it. But the stage work of doing a massive concert, the things, all those skills are not discussed in the entire process of you learning to play music and play music with your friends and write these songs. There's no discussion or thought about, okay, when we're playing the arena, when we're playing the Super Bowl, how do we put this across?

00:25:29.22 – 00:25:42.36

That takes all of these skills. That a lot of people who could get to the point that you were at musically would say, Oh, I can't do that. But you are very adept at it, and I think that's a whole other skill set.

2Speaker 2
00:25:42.56 – 00:25:50.12

Well, first of all, thanks Conan. I don't know how to answer something like that. In terms of adeptitude, is that the right word? aptitude? Okay?

00:25:50.84 – 00:25:51.38

Get that in.

00:25:53.88 – 00:26:13.50

This is another place where I feel that we've leaned into being ourselves with no fear of embarrassment. Because there's no way. I'm as adept on stage as Beyonce or Mick Jagger, but I'm definitely the best at being me right? And so that you can only kind of learn by doing and by loving.

1Speaker 1
00:26:14.10 – 00:26:38.88

And I guess what I'm saying is, Chris, you put on a show, yeah, we do, and you and the rest of the guys you put on a show. But you are burning incredible amount of calories. There's a huge you're giving of yourself and you're also playing to a massive, massive group of people. And a lot of thought goes into the live show, yeah.

00:26:38.96 – 00:26:46.90

Because it seems very important to you and the guys that everybody feel and be part of every moment.

2Speaker 2
00:26:46.90 – 00:27:26.00

Yeah, definitely. I was thinking the other day that a lot of the things that we're really good at as a band are not categories that bands get measured by. So we might not be the best this or that, or in the top 100, this or that magazine or whatever. But there are some things that we really care about that we're just never assessed for. And the main thing we care about is that interaction and communication. Partly for our own sake as humans, wanting to feel alive and not so alone. And sing together and feel that positivity, and partly for our audience. So that they can have a great time. More so than ever, that's our priority.

00:27:27.02 – 00:27:28.92

So I forget what the question was, I'm so sorry.

1Speaker 1
00:27:29.24 – 00:27:31.00

I asked you how the first World War started.

2Speaker 2
00:27:31.40 – 00:27:32.82

Yeah, well, a bit like that.

00:27:34.46 – 00:27:35.56

Two groups of people.

1Speaker 1
00:27:39.34 – 00:27:46.08

Clearly, it was important for you to learn how to do this the way Jagger had to learn how to do it at some point.

2Speaker 2
00:27:46.18 – 00:27:49.56

Yeah, well, we're really lucky that after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

00:27:51.26 – 00:27:51.76

We.

1Speaker 1
00:27:51.76 – 00:27:53.88

By Gabriel Princip Yes, yes.

2Speaker 2
00:27:54.70 – 00:27:56.90

We were able to start small.

00:27:58.76 – 00:28:08.94

So we've been touring almost since then and we've learned from the. We call it the toilet circuit in England. Yeah, but I guess it's the bar circuit here would be the club circuit.

1Speaker 1
00:28:09.00 – 00:28:10.52

Yeah, we call it the loo circuit here.

2Speaker 2
00:28:10.54 – 00:28:24.74

Yeah, okay, so we have come all the way up all the while watching our heroes. Yeah, and I'm more of a fan than ever. So I'd say we learned by doing and are still learning by doing, and always learning by watching.

00:28:24.94 – 00:28:32.66

And even though I was at the Grammys the other day watching Bad Bunny Play and that hip-hop retrospective, which was amazing, yeah.

1Speaker 1
00:28:32.80 – 00:28:34.42

Every week when they got everybody on stage.

2Speaker 2
00:28:34.42 – 00:28:40.46

Yeah, every week there's something that I see that I'm like, Oh, that's amazing, let's try and learn from that. So yeah.

1Speaker 1
00:28:40.46 – 00:29:05.28

I'm curious, one of the things that I talk about a lot. I almost think it should be a sub-theme of the podcast. Or in the title, is be careful about who you envy, because so many people, who you would envy. So many people would say, Oh, my God, Chris Martin, he's got everything, and you think, Yes, I am blessed, but it's complicated. There's other stuff that's going on and it wasn't easy getting here.

2Speaker 2
00:29:05.58 – 00:29:19.76

I hear what you're saying. Yeah, I don't agree. Because I'm really of the belief that whatever is happening for me or anybody is what we're each supposed to be experiencing as humans in this massive mystery that we all live in.

1Speaker 1
00:29:20.30 – 00:29:22.90

I have not reached that level of being able to do that.

2Speaker 2
00:29:22.92 – 00:29:31.90

But it's true if you zoom out far enough. I didn't make me me. The things I'm good at are gifts, the things that I struggle with are gifts, yeah.

00:29:32.50 – 00:29:43.80

That's how I'm trying to navigate my life right now. One time this guy came up to me after the Brit Awards. He was really drunk. He said, What's it like? and I said, Hello, my good man.

?Unknown Speaker
00:29:45.42 – 00:29:46.08

I said.

1Speaker 1
00:29:46.86 – 00:29:48.42

Were you dressed as Dr. Watson?

2Speaker 2
00:29:49.76 – 00:30:00.36

I said, What's what like? and he said, You know, being a rock star and everything? And I said, Well, it's my life dream and I'm obsessed with it. And he said, Yeah, I was thinking about doing it.

1Speaker 1
00:30:02.56 – 00:30:04.98

He was 68 years old.

2Speaker 2
00:30:05.66 – 00:30:12.50

No, but I was like, it's sort of just you either do it or you don't do it, if you know what I mean. And I don't have any complaints.

1Speaker 1
00:30:13.28 – 00:30:13.46

Yeah.

2Speaker 2
00:30:13.88 – 00:30:21.88

But I don't think there's anything to sort of warn people off it or warn or encourage people to it. It's either that's what you are, or you're something else.

1Speaker 1
00:30:22.04 – 00:30:22.30

Right?

2Speaker 2
00:30:22.66 – 00:30:24.36

I'm being a little bit vague, I think.

1Speaker 1
00:30:24.80 – 00:30:45.58

You know, that leads me to this question of you talk about the greats you have. Chris Martin Coldplay massively successful. So you get to have dinner with the people that you grew up listening to, and I'm curious, have you gotten advice from those people?

00:30:45.90 – 00:30:51.52

You know, whether it's a McCartney or a Bono, or anyone Michael Stipe, any of those people.

2Speaker 2
00:30:51.54 – 00:30:57.44

Well, funny enough, I don't actually have dinner anymore. I stopped eating at four, and I learned that from having lunch with Bruce Springsteen.

1Speaker 1
00:30:59.36 – 00:30:59.76

Really.

2Speaker 2
00:31:00.02 – 00:31:00.84

That's really true, yeah.

1Speaker 1
00:31:01.56 – 00:31:08.80

What happened? You were having lunch with him and he said, After this, no more, that's it, I mean, what happened? Kind of, yeah.

2Speaker 2
00:31:09.22 – 00:31:13.20

First of all, Bruce is in my equal top pantheon of heroes.

1Speaker 1
00:31:13.76 – 00:31:15.38

And a wonderful guy.

2Speaker 2
00:31:15.52 – 00:31:28.96

And I love him, and I love Patty. His wife and I was lucky enough to go over there for lunch the day after. We played Philadelphia last year. And I was on a really strict diet anyway, but I was like, Bruce looks even more in shape than me.

1Speaker 1
00:31:29.16 – 00:31:29.40

Yeah.

2Speaker 2
00:31:29.68 – 00:31:34.70

And Patty said he's only eating one meal a day. So I was like, Well, there we go, that's my next challenge.

1Speaker 1
00:31:35.14 – 00:31:37.80

Did you see what that meal was? It's an eight foot long submarine.

00:31:40.94 – 00:31:45.18

One meal a day, and then you see it's this giant vat of beef chili.

2Speaker 2
00:31:45.54 – 00:31:49.30

The chef came out and said, Today we have flank of Buffalo with a steroid sauce.

1Speaker 1
00:31:51.88 – 00:32:11.02

Yeah, I do this when I've had the opportunity to sit with people who were heroes of mine. I find myself drifting out of my body sometimes to look at the experience from outside. I get a little self-conscious and I've learned to pull myself back in and say, just be with this person.

00:32:11.08 – 00:32:12.20

Yeah, right now.

2Speaker 2
00:32:12.32 – 00:32:12.68

For sure.

1Speaker 1
00:32:12.88 – 00:32:16.98

And talk to them, but it's hard to do when you're talking to a huge hero.

2Speaker 2
00:32:17.32 – 00:32:26.12

I think for two reasons one is we live in a culture where we celebrate people, yeah, as much as criticized, and we also have our celebrities in that.

00:32:26.38 – 00:32:38.42

And we're very much ingrained to sort of think of them as from another planet. So if you didn't grow up around that, like you didn't or I didn't. Yeah, in some small part of you think, Oh, Tom, Cruise comes from another planet where everything's fine, yeah.

00:32:38.62 – 00:32:51.02

Of course, that's not true, but it's easy to fall back into that, sure, even when you're sitting with someone. For example, with Tom Cruise, who I love his work so much. The first time I met him, I didn't say anything about being a fan because I was like, he doesn't need to hear this.

00:32:51.02 – 00:33:02.00

Right? And then I realized, No, he's a human. So next time I was like, I love Bolivian or whatever it was. And so I have to do that thing as well with people. It doesn't have to be someone older.

00:33:02.20 – 00:33:17.00

It could be Adele or Harry Styles, or anyone that I think is great. Sometimes I might drift into that almost worshipful fan, treating them as a bit of an alien thing. Yeah, but then remember, Oh, this is a person and might even be my friend.

1Speaker 1
00:33:17.00 – 00:33:39.10

I love any moment where I get to see these. It doesn't happen often, but if I get to be around an icon and I just see that. Oh yes, they're dealing with the same stuff in their life as I am, that makes me very, very happy. And my one with Bruce Springsteen was a number of years ago doing in a I did a charity event. He was the music.

00:33:39.22 – 00:33:58.76

I was the host slash comic. We both do it our thing, and then we're sitting at this table together after we're done and Patty's with him. And at one point, we're just talking about music. And I just, This is going to lose me fans. But I inferred that I don't quite love the grateful dead as much as other people do.

00:33:58.88 – 00:34:19.84

It's not quite my thing. And um, Bruce, I hope this doesn't get him in trouble again. But Bruce was sort of was like, No, I kinda, I kinda know, you know, some some of it's great, but then there's some of it where I don't quite. And then Patty said, I love the grateful dead. What are you talking about? And then I could just see, like anyone else who's with their partner, Bruce, walking it back.

00:34:20.12 – 00:34:28.86

And Bruce was going. I did not mean to imply the grateful dead. And she was like, Well, I think they did amazing stuff, how could you say? And I was like, Again, I would like to stay.

00:34:30.54 – 00:34:37.66

I did not mean, and I was just so delighted that, oh right, when I put my foot in it with my wife. You know, this is what we deal with.

2Speaker 2
00:34:37.66 – 00:34:40.98

I saw Beyonce the other day after the Grammys, and you know, she's.

1Speaker 1
00:34:41.44 – 00:34:42.14

She's Beyonce.

2Speaker 2
00:34:42.36 – 00:34:54.78

She's my hero and sister and everything. But it's funny because I'm like, I have a knee problem from stage and she'll say, Yeah, me too. You know, you have, like, the same work complaints that no one else can talk about, exactly.

00:34:55.24 – 00:35:02.64

I breathe too much of this and that's yesterday that the strobes didn't go off at the right time. Complaints to anyone else in the world would just say, Go fuck yourself.

1Speaker 1
00:35:02.76 – 00:35:09.40

No, no, no, but I love that. What do you do just before you go out? I'm curious, because it's such an intense, yeah.

00:35:09.68 – 00:35:17.06

And you know, you do these world tours, you're waking up, you might not always know, or you might forget, Wait, where am I? Is this Madrid?

00:35:17.24 – 00:35:25.26

Is this Are we in Hawaii? where are we? And there's a whole production. What do you do to get yourself in the right space before you go out there and do a show?

2Speaker 2
00:35:25.44 – 00:35:42.16

Well, I'm getting older, so it's a lot of. I think it would be the same thing that you would imagine a retired footballer would do if you said you have to play this afternoon. A lot of creaking and stretching and asking people to manipulate this and loosen that, and you know, it's that kind of thing.

1Speaker 1
00:35:42.20 – 00:35:44.16

I've gotten into trouble asking people that, yeah.

2Speaker 2
00:35:45.04 – 00:35:46.60

Please, could you manipulate this?

1Speaker 1
00:35:46.78 – 00:35:49.64

Please manipulate me, why am I being sued?

2Speaker 2
00:35:50.32 – 00:35:59.28

So it's funny as the venues become the same as sports, so are the preparations to do.

1Speaker 1
00:35:59.40 – 00:36:00.30

Yeah, that makes sense to me.

2Speaker 2
00:36:00.84 – 00:36:17.88

I think when we were playing in bars, I don't drink, but the rest of the band were drinking. When we were playing in arenas, the rest of them were doing, you know, arena type stuff. And when you're playing stadiums, it's like preparing for a big soccer game or a big NFL game. And you know, you're going to get some muscle issues, yeah.

1Speaker 1
00:36:18.14 – 00:36:41.54

Oh, I also think, even though I have had people make fun of me because I'll be about to do a show where I'm sitting and chatting with someone and I'm stretching and people say, What are you stretching for? You're not going to in any way do anything slightly athletic, and I say it's something about preparing. I need to do something for myself that gets me to a slightly elevated place.

2Speaker 2
00:36:41.54 – 00:36:57.58

Yeah, I think that comes from physical stuff and from uniforms, I think that we see it all around the world. Anyone that's given a uniform to enforce a rule can do it very firmly when they have their uniform. But if they were wearing shorts and a t-shirt, you wouldn't take them seriously, right?

00:36:57.84 – 00:37:08.88

In the same way that I could not go on stage dressed like this, I would not be able to do it. I have to put on my uniform, which looks pretty similar, looks pretty similar, but I know it's my band uniform, yeah.

00:37:09.08 – 00:37:09.38

And.

1Speaker 1
00:37:10.00 – 00:37:21.36

That makes sense to me, though, too, because I've always felt it isn't. It's a performance. A performance has to be. Slightly. You get to a slightly different place than we're sitting here. I'm wearing jeans.

00:37:21.46 – 00:37:35.92

You're wearing sweats if there was an audience here. I sometimes, even if I put on a tie, even if it's not required, I just feel that I need to do something. That shows that. I'm an ice cream man and I put on my ice cream man uniform.

2Speaker 2
00:37:36.38 – 00:37:49.08

Yeah, well, this is a cool. I don't know if this is interesting, but it's been on my mind. Because I got told I got in trouble for not dressing up enough for the Grammys, although my partner said, You did dress up, you put shoes on.

00:37:50.60 – 00:38:08.22

Which was a true and being really kind, but I was thinking about. I am happy to feel like I have to wear an outfit if it helps me perform better, but I don't agree with telling people what they have to wear. Maybe that's a hangover from school where you're told you have to wear this, or I was.

00:38:08.22 – 00:38:14.22

I was, I need to write a treatise on this, like the sort of clothing rules.

1Speaker 1
00:38:14.22 – 00:38:27.48

Yeah, well, it seems like it's on your mind because you don't. Well, first of all, it's the Grammys, and it's representing all different kinds of music and free expression. So the idea that you need to, you need to dress up for the Grammys.

2Speaker 2
00:38:27.88 – 00:38:37.08

Yeah, but there's also a thing of, does clothing show respect? And I would never want to show disrespect. So because I love the Grammys, so I was interested. Maybe I was wrong.

00:38:37.30 – 00:38:47.60

Or maybe maybe we're sort of brainwashed to thinking, if you're not wearing a tuxedo, you can't get married kind of thing, right? Of course, you can if you're hot, you know, what if you're an axe murderer and you're dressed correctly?

00:38:47.82 – 00:38:55.44

Are you a better groom than Woody Harrelson over here, who loves you with all his heart but is wearing board shorts? Right, right, right, no, you're not.

00:38:55.74 – 00:38:56.78

But I didn't know the answer.

1Speaker 1
00:38:57.80 – 00:39:01.92

And I think Woody is very violent in my experience.

2Speaker 2
00:39:01.92 – 00:39:13.14

I'm going to give a big shout out to Woody Harrelson because he was at a concert. When he was so kind to my brother. When he had no reason to be that, he just became an extra hero in my eyes.

1Speaker 1
00:39:13.20 – 00:39:32.66

Well, that's nice when obviously people are nice to you, but it's. It's so delightful when you find out who someone really is, when they're being, when you find out later on that. They talked for 20 minutes. The person who is installing cable, you know, I don't know. I love that when people reveal their true kindness.

00:39:33.12 – 00:39:34.14

Yeah, through just.

2Speaker 2
00:39:35.24 – 00:39:36.30

Well, he did another thing, too.

1Speaker 1
00:39:36.32 – 00:39:37.36

It wasn't performative, yeah.

2Speaker 2
00:39:37.44 – 00:39:53.98

He did another thing. Because something I learned from my dad is that you everybody is interesting if you ask them questions, everybody, and my dad is amazing at that. And he comes out on tour a lot and he doesn't necessarily know who people are from movies, so he talks to our crew a lot.

00:39:54.06 – 00:40:04.32

And a lot of them have names like Bash or Hoppy Mystic, things like that. And then he met this guy called Woody, and he started talking about, You know, what do you do to fold the cables? and it was Woody Harrelson.

00:40:07.54 – 00:40:08.32

Hello Woody.

1Speaker 1
00:40:09.98 – 00:40:13.40

And then he told you, I met this lovely fellow named Woody, Yeah.

2Speaker 2
00:40:13.90 – 00:40:16.86

And and again, Woody Harrelson was cool as fuck.

1Speaker 1
00:40:17.12 – 00:40:34.76

I was many years ago, had a party and Jim Carrey was there and my mother was there. And at one point, my mother, I see my mother talking to Jim Carrey and I'm thinking, Oh God, what's happening? And then she came over to me, she went. I just talked to the loveliest young man, his name's Jim.

00:40:35.08 – 00:40:47.06

And I said, Oh, you talked to Jim, and she was like, Yes, and I told him. If you want to be in comedy, you stick with it and they're going to try and put you down, but you keep. Of course, he had had like nine.

00:40:47.30 – 00:40:54.68

He was the biggest star in the world at the time. And I said, Mom, all I want you to do is go back to Boston and tell your friends you told Jim Carrey to stick with comedy.

2Speaker 2
00:40:54.88 – 00:40:55.54

That's great.

1Speaker 1
00:40:55.80 – 00:40:57.76

And she did and got laughed out of town.

2Speaker 2
00:40:58.18 – 00:41:10.18

That's amazing. I had. I was visiting my friend who had cancer at the time in New York in hospital. I was coming down in the elevator with a nurse in all her glory, like six pens in the pocket.

00:41:10.40 – 00:41:19.72

And I was singing, not loudly, not like, Hey, check this out, yeah, but I was mumbling or something. And she said, Oh, you have a beautiful voice, and I said, Oh, thank you so much.

00:41:19.88 – 00:41:33.52

She said, You know, you should, you should do something with that. And I and I said, and I said, Oh well, maybe. And she said, also, you look like the guy from Coldplay. This is really true, and I said, Oh, yeah, people say that.

00:41:33.54 – 00:41:40.32

And she said, You know what you should do? You should call restaurants and say that you're him, because you would get really good tables, and then she left.

00:41:42.52 – 00:41:43.70

And it was amazing.

1Speaker 1
00:41:43.88 – 00:41:45.98

Did you ever reveal? Or, at a certain point, you can't?

2Speaker 2
00:41:45.98 – 00:42:05.20

I sued her, but no, I didn't. And I think I think, because we don't, we don't appear, I mean, I guess we appear on TV sometimes, but so much of our artwork is arty and we're not always. I think the band is more famous than any of our faces, and so that that kind of thing happens a lot.

00:42:05.34 – 00:42:11.90

People say, oh, you look, you look like that person, but you're, you're dressed in a tracksuit. It can't be him.

1Speaker 1
00:42:11.90 – 00:42:24.12

Yeah, what I get a lot is, oh, you're so much better looking than on television. And I'm always like, why would people come up and say that to me? And I'll say, it's I look pretty bad on TV, huh? And they go well, yeah.

?Unknown Speaker
00:42:25.10 – 00:42:25.50

Yeah.

1Speaker 1
00:42:25.60 – 00:42:27.04

I've had people say that, yeah.

2Speaker 2
00:42:27.18 – 00:42:31.44

The last time I saw you in real life was I think you were coaching a basketball game.

1Speaker 1
00:42:31.54 – 00:42:34.04

I was there, my son was playing basketball.

2Speaker 2
00:42:34.40 – 00:42:35.52

And you were up and down the sideline.

1Speaker 1
00:42:35.64 – 00:42:36.14

That's right.

2Speaker 2
00:42:36.44 – 00:42:37.90

And I was shouting aggressive things at children.

1Speaker 1
00:42:37.96 – 00:42:43.72

Yeah, I tackled. A child wasn't my kid, yes, and we were both there and we had.

00:42:44.30 – 00:42:51.68

That's right. We got to connect, which was nice, just as guys who are two dads who are at a kid's basketball game, that was fun.

2Speaker 2
00:42:51.88 – 00:42:54.82

I think your kids are more interested in basketball than mine, right?

1Speaker 1
00:42:55.34 – 00:43:04.06

No, I don't think so. No. My son, you know, was very interested in the snack you get after the game. Yeah, that was, I think, what he was in it for.

2Speaker 2
00:43:04.12 – 00:43:04.84

Are they musical?

1Speaker 1
00:43:05.62 – 00:43:17.72

Yes, but my daughter has a very good voice and plays piano, and my son is musical and loves music. And so we'll see. I'm not sure anyone's going to do anything with it.

00:43:17.76 – 00:43:20.22

But it's just nice, it's nice when it's part of their lives.

2Speaker 2
00:43:20.36 – 00:43:22.66

Do you think everybody is musical? I do.

1Speaker 1
00:43:24.54 – 00:43:26.14

I'm going to say no.

2Speaker 2
00:43:26.70 – 00:43:28.20

Do you know anyone that doesn't like music?

1Speaker 1
00:43:28.54 – 00:43:44.98

I don't know anyone who doesn't like music, but I have been around people who seem like, if their life depended on it, they wouldn't know how to make a sound. I mean, you must have met people like that.

2Speaker 2
00:43:45.32 – 00:44:06.70

Kind of, but I really want to believe that music isn't everybody, because music is vibration, and that's what we're all made of. Maybe it's just that some things I read this really good book called The Conscious Ear, about why, about vibration in all things. But it came into talking about why some people respond to some voices and not others.

00:44:06.82 – 00:44:16.78

And it's to do with the frequency that that type of ear canal resonates with. Yeah, and then why? There are other singers that appeal to more people because they have a thicker bandwidth. It's really interesting.

1Speaker 1
00:44:17.20 – 00:44:41.30

You know, I just wanted to bring up because I don't want to. You know, you've been very gracious with your time, but I just wanted to bring up something that I think is amazing, which is, you and the band have done this very cool thing. Where you want people who are hearing impaired or deaf to be able to come and enjoy a concert as well. So you've figured out a way where they can, where you can enhance the vibrations of the music.

2Speaker 2
00:44:41.46 – 00:44:46.34

A lot of our critics say it's the best way to experience our culture if you can't hear the music.

1Speaker 1
00:44:47.48 – 00:44:49.96

But what is it exactly? Because I didn't understand what it was.

2Speaker 2
00:44:50.14 – 00:45:10.64

You mean, the okay, yeah, they are called sub packs. Dakota. My partner gave me one as a gift because she'd seen someone online experiencing whatever they were experiencing with this. It's kind of like body armor that you put on and plug it in and it connects to the base.

00:45:11.44 – 00:45:19.74

Billie Eilish's brother, Phineas Phineas, Yeah, wears one on stage, because if you're on stage, it can give you help. You know where the one is, where the kick is.

00:45:19.74 – 00:45:39.72

So she had seen this lady use it in the hearing impaired deaf community, and she said, you should use this somehow. And so we started doing that and it's been so amazing and should get better and better. So we have. I don't know whether it's 10 or 20 now every night of those packs.

00:45:40.44 – 00:45:47.86

And so if you're hearing impaired, we have an area where we have a signer and you put on this pack and you can feel the show.

1Speaker 1
00:45:48.16 – 00:45:52.24

That's really lovely, that's fantastic. It would be great if that caught on and more people were doing that.

2Speaker 2
00:45:52.42 – 00:45:55.66

Well, you know, like a lot of things in our show, they're expensive.

1Speaker 1
00:45:56.22 – 00:45:56.44

Yeah.

2Speaker 2
00:45:56.76 – 00:46:08.58

So until the price comes down, you know, but they're amazing, the things that people do to consider other people are just wonderful. Yeah, and you don't hear about them as much as you hear about the shitty stuff.

1Speaker 1
00:46:08.66 – 00:46:10.40

No, we definitely have, yeah.

2Speaker 2
00:46:10.62 – 00:46:30.04

But they are out there and so I've been. I just worked out a way, actually, because I do a little bit of sign in our show. Dressed as an alien. I just worked out how to change the sign language to fit the country we're in. Because last year I could only do it in American, but we'd be in Chile or something, and it would be like speaking American on stage.

00:46:30.04 – 00:46:30.22

Right?

1Speaker 1
00:46:30.28 – 00:46:31.52

So you've got to figure out a way.

2Speaker 2
00:46:31.64 – 00:46:34.40

So I've just worked out how to do that, I'm excited about it.

1Speaker 1
00:46:34.58 – 00:46:42.68

I think the key is you keep evolving, you have to keep evolving, you have to keep changing, you have to keep. There's no point where you say, Well, God, we've done it.

2Speaker 2
00:46:43.14 – 00:46:52.46

No, never. Yeah, I keep evolving. I learned from Brian Eno, who came to kind of rescue our band in 2006. He came in like an excited puppy.

00:46:52.64 – 00:47:02.46

And he was 59 actually when we met him. Yeah, and he would always be learning and excited about learning. And I really just loved that and stole it.

1Speaker 1
00:47:02.78 – 00:47:08.20

Well, it's funny, you say it's not stealing it. Well, you did steal Bruce Springsteen's diet.

00:47:09.88 – 00:47:13.90

And he'll get you for that, and I'm going to steal it now too.

2Speaker 2
00:47:14.22 – 00:47:31.30

I'm at the exact right age to be inspired in both directions. Yeah, and I love it. And sometimes I have to overcome a bit of professional jealousy occasionally to allow myself to be inspired by something that's maybe more successful. Or that I think is better. I think we all struggle with that.

00:47:31.60 – 00:47:58.46

But there is inspiration everywhere, not just in music, but in film and in everything science all over the place. And then you said about not having anything else to achieve. I think that whether it's a combination of what I try and learn outside of music, or whether it's age or whatever, it doesn't really feel about trying to achieve anything anymore. It just feels like Phil and I were talking yesterday. It feels like we got the job that we really wanted and now we can just do it.

00:47:58.74 – 00:47:59.76

Yeah, does that make sense?

1Speaker 1
00:47:59.82 – 00:48:00.72

It makes perfect sense.

2Speaker 2
00:48:00.78 – 00:48:15.30

We wanted to be this stadium band that really made people connect and sing together, and not see the differences as much as the similarities. As hallmark as that sounds. Yeah, that's our real goal.

1Speaker 1
00:48:15.68 – 00:48:20.26

And now it's the doing of it, every day, is the doing of it, yeah.

2Speaker 2
00:48:20.48 – 00:48:29.06

And you realize in a way that maybe the drive that you had, or the ego is to sort of rocket boost you to a place where you can actually be a bit more useful.

00:48:30.68 – 00:48:37.62

It's not about winning this and beating that person anymore, it's like just make something that some people might like.

1Speaker 1
00:48:37.78 – 00:48:42.66

Letting go of that when you can do it is such a better way to live.

2Speaker 2
00:48:42.96 – 00:48:56.00

Yeah, I mean, if you can let go of it, you're better than me. I have to consciously override, I mean, I have to consciously listen to a lot of weird feelings. And I luckily have some tools that help me these days to not be owned by that feeling, yeah.

00:48:56.38 – 00:49:02.24

And one of the hardest ones is that, oh man, Harry Styles new song is better than our new song or something like that.

1Speaker 1
00:49:02.60 – 00:49:02.88

Right?

2Speaker 2
00:49:02.88 – 00:49:11.26

Luckily, I've been taught how to very quickly be just inspired by it. You know what? It's awesome and he's awesome and I love him and I'm just going to work harder.

1Speaker 1
00:49:11.54 – 00:49:29.20

I just saw him at Coachella last summer and he was dancing and turned around. And I saw that he had an H on the left butt cheek and an S on the right butt cheek. And I thought, Jesus, that's an innovation, I need to steal, I need to walk around, it's a C.

2Speaker 2
00:49:29.28 – 00:49:30.64

And the O takes care of itself for you.

1Speaker 1
00:49:33.82 – 00:49:37.56

I'll get a little apostrophe put over my, okay, my anus.

00:49:39.38 – 00:49:41.74

This was really a blast.

2Speaker 2
00:49:41.94 – 00:49:42.82

We're going to finish on that.

1Speaker 1
00:49:43.56 – 00:50:04.40

Do you think there's a better place you've been? I love talking to people who are insanely talented, but also interested in connecting and interested in the journey. Because we're all just trying to figure it out. And you've been really lovely and I do want to say you gave me a remarkable gift when I walked in the door. That is gorgeous and I'll cherish it.

2Speaker 2
00:50:04.64 – 00:50:05.06

No problem.

1Speaker 1
00:50:05.28 – 00:50:09.32

Yeah, it's a Rolls-Royce 1958 Silver Shadow.

2Speaker 2
00:50:09.60 – 00:50:10.90

Yeah, we give them to everyone.

00:50:13.80 – 00:50:15.16

That's the power of soft rock.

1Speaker 1
00:50:18.60 – 00:50:23.66

You're so self-centered and you're giving out rolls-royces. It's just a bit of a clash anyway. Thank you, so much, thank you.

2Speaker 2
00:50:23.68 – 00:50:28.56

Thank you all for coming. I'm so happy to see you and we love you man. I think we came on your show 20 years ago.

1Speaker 1
00:50:28.60 – 00:50:32.30

You came on many times and just absolute pleasure.

2Speaker 2
00:50:33.02 – 00:50:43.54

Yeah, and the first few times you're just like, How did we get here on American? It's so magical and mystical, and you were kind to us and that doesn't ever go away.

1Speaker 1
00:50:43.76 – 00:50:47.74

Oh, that's so nice. Well, God, I mean, we were honored, honored to have you.

2Speaker 2
00:50:47.76 – 00:50:51.24

Yeah, but you could have been a dick and you were really kind, and it was a good example.

1Speaker 1
00:50:51.64 – 00:50:53.50

Well, you got me on a Wednesday then, yeah.

2Speaker 2
00:50:53.84 – 00:50:54.96

Thank you, thanks, everybody.

1Speaker 1
00:50:55.02 – 00:50:55.44

Thank you.

00:51:01.60 – 00:51:07.66

Let's check in with the people, do a voicemail, all right, I like to hear from the peeps. Sona What?

00:51:07.82 – 00:51:11.56

You in on this, what are we doing? I'm sorry, wait, what did you say? what are we doing?

00:51:12.62 – 00:51:25.04

You were looking right at him as he spoke. It wasn't, no, I wasn't. I was. I had my hair was shedding, so I was taking the bits of my hair and then I was putting it in. But I actually know what we're talking about, putting it in, what the trash can.

00:51:25.34 – 00:51:35.30

You throw your hair in the trash, what else would? I don't want to throw it on the floor. It's part of you. Wait, you want me to. It's falling off, you're supposed to make a talisman out of it.

00:51:35.32 – 00:51:43.82

Yeah, and give it to people. Yeah, your great-grandmother would want you to make something out of it. Called like a watch it what called like a Rebbi-boop.

00:51:44.92 – 00:51:50.32

Yeah, why not make a rebbi-boop? Yeah, tie it all together and make a little rebbi-boop, man? Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, I'll start.

00:51:50.32 – 00:51:55.42

Here, here's one. Okay, well, that's the start of your rebbi-boop. What does the rebbi-boop do? Oh, please.

00:51:55.54 – 00:52:03.24

You don't know Armenian the way I do. I just want you to tell me what it does. It protects you in the night. It's like an evil eye, okay?

00:52:03.38 – 00:52:07.82

Okay, we're going to do a voicemail. Sound good, sure, let's hear it.

00:52:07.84 – 00:52:08.80

Sound good, yes.

2Speaker 2
00:52:09.08 – 00:52:09.34

Okay.

1Speaker 1
00:52:09.94 – 00:52:24.16

Punch it. Hey, Conan, I've never listened to the podcast before, but I want to know what your sock game is like. Do you have like one drawer that's got like veiny socks with patterns on them, and another drawer that's got like black and brown socks? Or, you like, put them in the same drawer?

00:52:24.86 – 00:52:31.96

Or you don't even mess with some kinds of socks. are you wool socked during the winter? like, what's your? I don't know just what's your sock game?

00:52:32.36 – 00:52:33.34

All right, take care.

00:52:35.72 – 00:52:47.08

Wow, I've never heard the podcast. Well, I want to call that out, because I think the only way to call in is if you listen to the podcast. So this person's yanking your chain, this guy's playing with my sock is what he's doing.

00:52:47.48 – 00:53:02.92

You know, I'm going to say, let's assume, let's take him at his word. He sounds very casual, unless he's trying super hard to be casual. He might be a huge fan who's laying it on thick. Like, I don't really listen to the broadcast, that means he's listened to everyone twice.

00:53:03.00 – 00:53:14.34

And some of them backwards. I don't know. I think he's really high. I think he's at home eating some doritos. And he's like, I'm going to call Conan O'Brien, and then he just googled how to call you.

00:53:14.52 – 00:53:18.96

I think that's true. Yeah, I'm going to go with that, all right. That seems like the most likely scenario.

00:53:19.44 – 00:53:22.88

What's his name? again? He didn't say, he didn't say a name. Wow.

00:53:22.92 – 00:53:26.78

He is pretty chill. Yeah, all right, I'm going to call him chill zone, chill zone.

00:53:26.84 – 00:53:35.14

Just for lack of a real name chill zone, that's a good question, is it? It isn't? I'm going to say that was muscle memory.

00:53:35.30 – 00:53:47.88

Chill zone. You've been busted on all fronts. Yeah, you are a rude stoner, which is a very odd combination. I've never listened to your podcast. Screw you man.

00:53:47.96 – 00:53:57.26

I'm so high. It's not usually how people come across when they're stoned, but anyway, I will reveal how I do it. I have two drawers, you do.

00:53:57.36 – 00:54:02.74

I do have two drawers. Man, what an aristocrat. Exactly that's the dream two sock drawers.

00:54:02.82 – 00:54:22.46

Hey, when I was a child, getting hand-me-downs from Luke and Neal that didn't fit. I dreamed of not one sock drawer of my own, but two one has all athletic socks. Because, as you know, Sona, I work out constantly gym rat, you don't just get a body like mine.

00:54:22.88 – 00:54:38.04

You have to be an accident. I was going to slam myself, but you didn't trust me to do it. Aww. And then I have one that is all purpose, like some wool socks, some of those gold toe socks classic.

00:54:38.14 – 00:54:51.62

That are still left over from my late night days. Wow. I never went out and bought gold toe socks, but that was the ones that were assigned to me. Like TBS, NBC, these socks go back thousands of years, so you stole them.

00:54:51.92 – 00:55:01.68

No, from the networks, you can't steal socks, they just end up being transferred from one place to the other. That's national broadcasting company property that you're....

00:55:01.68 – 00:55:23.98

You know, true story. All the suits I wore all those years at NBC, they were very careful about it. If I wore them on the weekend or something to an event, they would want that back on Monday. Oh, I used to kind of wonder about it because I'm 6'4 with very specific measurements, and I thought these suits aren't really going to fit anybody else.

00:55:24.10 – 00:55:25.32

I have legs that are.

00:55:25.32 – 00:55:35.40

My body is disproportionate, I'm a very large person. What are they going to be doing with these suits? And they told me extras wear them in scenes at Saturday Night Live.

00:55:35.42 – 00:55:58.88

You're kidding me, yep. Whenever you see a 6'4, really long-legged background person on an SNL sketch, they might be wearing a vintage Conan O'Brien suit from the 90s and 2000s. Actors were probably very nervous because they want to be actors, and they're just in the background, sweating all day and night in that thing, and then you're Monday morning.

00:55:59.56 – 00:56:12.78

Oh, no, they wouldn't give it during the show, it wasn't during, it was after I was done with them. When I had, you know, no, no. It wasn't like I had to turn them in so that on the weekend, a stranger could wear them in a sketch.

00:56:13.68 – 00:56:26.66

In my defense, I was only half listening. I have a question about your socks, yeah, do you fold them into each other or do you lay them flat to save the elasticity of them? Does that work?

00:56:26.66 – 00:56:34.98

I lay one on top of the other and then fold. Okay, yeah, that's how I do it too, but some people are very big on saving the elastic. I'm not, I just don't care.

00:56:35.10 – 00:56:41.74

If they get a little loose and floppy, it just makes me look like a real cool dude. It does, yeah, one floppy sock, yeah.

00:56:41.90 – 00:56:54.16

Every now and then I like to show a little ankle. You know, I'm very Victorian about my sexuality. Every now and then I want someone to just catch a little bit of my ankle and go. Ooh, I'm intrigued, oh, oh.

00:56:54.16 – 00:57:12.60

You know, there was a time when people showed a lot less and you had to use your imagination. In Victorian era, people used to say, like, Ooh, look at that upper collar bone. That's where the phrase put. Your best foot forward comes from, showing off your ankle and your calf. Oh, really, from the restoration days.

00:57:12.66 – 00:57:15.62

Yes, it does. Yeah, that's true, that's great, yeah.

00:57:17.72 – 00:57:30.04

I'm so sorry I didn't know how to react. In a culture where only your eyes are seen if you're completely covered except your eyes, people are like, Wow, showing a little lash today. Yeah, I mean, it can be taken to any extreme.

00:57:30.14 – 00:57:45.46

Yeah, yeah, I think we are losing our sense of true sensuality by showing too much. And I'm trying to bring it back by covering as much of my body as possible, and that's by popular request. You just wear a sheet where the hole of your wanger sticks out.

2Speaker 2
00:57:48.10 – 00:57:48.98

My wanger.

1Speaker 1
00:57:49.54 – 00:57:55.72

What, it's the wanger, guys, it's the wanger coming down the street. sounds like it's a red hot wanger.

00:57:55.72 – 00:58:00.66

That sounds like a failed car from the late 70s. It's the Dunson Wanger.

00:58:02.46 – 00:58:04.70

Goes 35 miles per hour at top speed.

00:58:06.60 – 00:58:10.90

Where do you come up with these, your wanger? I don't know. I mean, that sounds fair, you know what?

00:58:10.96 – 00:58:13.74

You're a guy that talks dirty from like, 1952.

00:58:13.82 – 00:58:19.40

I know this guy was arrested on fifth and Elm for showing his wanger.

00:58:23.18 – 00:58:31.44

His straw hat has been confiscated and is being confined in a 1932 Nash Rambler, and Kelly apologizes.

00:58:33.24 – 00:58:44.38

I honestly don't know what's ever going to come out of your mouth. Why use a standard term when you can make a new one? You know what I mean? I thought that might be one that you use. Does anybody use?

00:58:44.38 – 00:58:48.14

Wanger wang is a term for todger. Oh, God.

2Speaker 2
00:58:48.82 – 00:58:49.84

Oh my god.

1Speaker 1
00:58:49.88 – 00:59:00.12

For twigs and berries, for your ghoulies. Unbelievable. You're just a font of this mishmash. I love it. I think you're a time traveler.

00:59:00.54 – 00:59:10.72

Sometimes I think that, you know those romantic shows where a guy is traveling through time and he has a passionate love. In the present day. What's it called? Oh, are you talking?-?

?Unknown Speaker
00:59:10.78 – 00:59:11.84

Outlander Yeah.

1Speaker 1
00:59:12.10 – 00:59:29.84

He's like a guy from Outlander, except he's just picking up different euphemisms for penis throughout different times. And then coming home to his true love in Pasadena. And saying, Would you like to see my Todger, my Wanger Honey, the Velvet Scepter's home? Want to see my winkleVii?

00:59:36.30 – 00:59:43.36

I'm here with the old diddly squat. You guys are bringing these terms back, so that's cool, that's really cool. Yeah, it's, you know.

00:59:43.50 – 00:59:59.30

Well, I hope I do have. I don't popular again. Would you say that I'm an extravagant person? No, I would not at all. I'm not, but I do have two sock drawers and I think that answers the question. Listen, if you can have two sock drawers, I think everybody would want to be able to have two sock drawers.

00:59:59.40 – 01:00:08.42

Yeah, but because I have two, my son has no drawers at all. Oh, you had to take some of his? Yeah, we had to take some of his drawer space. So he has no socks, he doesn't wear socks, he can't.

01:00:08.42 – 01:00:13.86

He can't have socks. that's rough. Yeah, he can't have anything really. What socks are you wearing today? Uh....

01:00:13.86 – 01:00:18.40

Those are nice. Oh, I see black, black, that's sweet, just regular black wool socks, okay?

01:00:18.50 – 01:00:22.22

You know, that's all not a big deal anyway. Wow, you thought you were going to take us to a prom? No, I didn't.

01:00:22.22 – 01:00:26.10

Whoa, Oh, look hey, that's cool. Yeah, where's Waldo?

01:00:26.24 – 01:00:32.12

There's Waldo, what do you got? I just got ankle socks showing a little ankle, oh.

?Unknown Speaker
01:00:32.62 – 01:00:34.62

Hey, I'm a slut.

2Speaker 2
01:00:37.18 – 01:00:39.00

You're an 1832 slut.

?Unknown Speaker
01:00:39.50 – 01:00:39.98

Slut.

1Speaker 1
01:00:41.30 – 01:00:48.16

Leave Harlot be gone, God, she's sexy and she has tuberculosis.

01:00:49.68 – 01:00:50.64

And Palsy.

01:00:52.54 – 01:00:59.76

Oh, let's wrap this up all right. Well, anyway. Hey, I hope you do get a chance to check out the podcast sometime.

01:01:01.30 – 01:01:05.88

How will he hear this? You? Laid-back slacker? Yeah, all right, did it.

01:01:06.12 – 01:01:15.00

Bye, bye, bye, Conan O'Brien needs a friend with Conan O'Brien, Sona Movsesian and Matt Gourley. Produced by Me Matt Gourley.

01:01:15.32 – 01:01:27.34

Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Joanna Solitaroff and Jeff Ross at Team Coco and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf. Theme song by the White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Take it away, Jimmy.

01:01:30.10 – 01:01:48.66

Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair and our associate talent producer is Jennifer. Samples engineering by Eduardo Perez. Additional production support by Mars Melnick, Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista and Brit Kahn. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode.

01:01:49.04 – 01:02:05.54

Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline at 323-451-2821 and leave a message. It, too, could be featured on a future episode, and if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan. O'Brien needs a friend on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever Fine podcasts are downloaded.

01:02:11.16 – 01:02:16.66

This has been a team Coco production in association with Earwolf.

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