“I’ve never felt so alive!
I’m erect for the first time in 15 years!”
“I grew up in an Irish house,” O’Brien says.
Conan O’Brien on ‘Hot Ones’.First We Feast
“An Irish Catholic home in Boston.
I never saw a spice till I was about 52 years old.
So I’m terrible with hot food.
I grew up on tasteless food.
So this is a whole new experience for me.”
(“I can’t get used to it,” he says.
“It’s not abettername.")
And, as part of an ongoing bit, O’Brien keeps sticking half-eaten wings into his pocket.
Because it’s just plain unprofessional.
“Because they were just told they were not getting a good show.
No, that’s not show business.
Show business is, ‘You’re getting the greatest show in the world.'”
And that is Conan O’Brien’s comedic ethos.
A promise O’Brien delivers with unhinged enthusiasm.
O’Brien not only gets candid, but also cocky.
By this point the spice level has gone up several notches, so O’Brien matches then exceeds that energy.
Are we doing this or not?!
What’s the point of even beingaliveif we can’t do this?!”
His lavish pompadour shakes vigorously with each exclamation.
Minutes later, O’Brian realizes he might have made a terrible mistake.
I’m starting to feel some sensations."
I’m erect for the first time in 15 years!"
I’m perfectly f—ing fine!"
They could just watch this interview and get all the lessons they need.
O’Brien’s commitment to “the bit” is daring and even dangerous.
That water buffalo story?
And he was almost seriously injured because of it.
“I just kept thinking, why?”
he says of the incident.
“It’s because you do a show every day.
You get into the ‘Let’s go, let’s get this thing going.’
And I’m there and I’m just thinking about the next thing.
A voice just said, ‘Hop on,’ and I did.”
Because that’s show business.
And we just got the greatestHot Onesin the world.
