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Transcript of Rose Byrne

Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
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Transcription of Rose Byrne from Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend Podcast
00:00:00

Mcdonald's burgers are prepared to order, and the patties are made from whole cuts of beef sourced from farms across Ireland, with a pinch of salt and pepper.

00:00:09

Nothing else. There's not much else to say, really.

00:00:12

That sizzle speaks louder than words. Served after 11: 00 AM, subject to availability.

00:00:23

Hi, my name is Rose Bone, and I feel delighted about being Conan O'Brien's friend.

00:00:31

Oh, that's nice.

00:00:35

Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell, brand new shoes, walking loose, climb the fence, books and Hey there, and welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a friend.

00:00:57

I'm Konan. We got Sona in the house. Matt Gourley, and Sona, it is almost your birthday.

00:01:05

It's time.

00:01:06

Yeah. Now, you take your birthday more seriously than anyone I've ever met in my life. What is it about you and your birthday.

00:01:16

I take this entire month as an excuse to see the people I haven't seen in a really long time. I celebrate all month long. Every dinner, every event that happens, I feel like is about me. I don't know. It might be a Libra thing.

00:01:31

I don't know. No, I don't think so. I think it's a Narcissist thing. It's a Sona thing. It's a Sona thing.

00:01:38

Do you demand gifts from all those meetings?

00:01:41

No. I mean, it is a milestone birthday. It is 43.

00:01:47

The big 43.

00:01:49

It's a big milestone. So maybe... No, but nobody gives me gifts. It's not like we're giving gifts to each other. It's just like, let's do a dinner, and then we just go to dinner, and I see people from all different walks of life. I mean, it's fun.

00:02:02

Do you expect multiple presents over the month, or do you think you just get presents on the day?

00:02:06

I don't get any presents. I don't want presents. What do you mean?

00:02:10

You don't get presents on your birthday?

00:02:11

I also just don't like just getting a lot of stuff. I mean, this is really sad. I lost my stuff, and so I'm really aware of all the stuff I'm accumulating now.

00:02:21

In the fire, you lost a lot. Yeah.

00:02:22

I just don't want just stuff anymore. I just want things I need. I'm very particular about it. But I do I love going to eat, and I do love celebrating my birthday.

00:02:34

You're putting it out there that you don't want... Because I was going to get you some really nice things. Oh, I know.

00:02:40

Okay. No, we'll do that. No, no.

00:02:42

Wait, how? Matt and I had lists of beautiful You have beautiful baubles and treasures that we were going to give you. That's right. But those apparently are out now. That's not going to happen.

00:02:50

Yeah. No, it's okay.

00:02:51

I guess I'll just keep this hand-signed by Cher leather Bustier from the video Believe.

00:02:58

Will you just have that?

00:02:59

I do. I bought it for myself, but I was going to give it to you. Oh, were you really?

00:03:03

I did lose my Cher drawing on my house.

00:03:07

I guess I'll just hang on to this bust of Dr. Kevorkian that's made out of dried hummus. Why? Dried hummus. Wait, did you say hummus? Hummus. Oh, my God. You love it when I say it that way, don't you? I know. It's cool. You should let me know what are some things that you need? Because I would happily get you something that you really need.

00:03:26

Well, things I need are lame. I just realized I don't have a tray.

00:03:33

A tray?

00:03:33

For my kitchen to take things.

00:03:36

I don't understand what you need. Is there a drive-in window at your house? A buffet?

00:03:41

You guys always eat from a buffet? Yeah.

00:03:44

Can I get some extra ketchup packets? Yes. Could you just hand me- No, why do you need it? I'm seriously, why do you need a tray? What do you need a tray for?

00:03:52

In case I have a lot of stuff I have to transport from the kitchen to another room, you need a tray.

00:03:58

Who's eating in another room?

00:03:59

Do you guys have These guards in your kitchen? Yeah.

00:04:02

Wait a minute. It says here, I just looked up your address. It's a sizzler. You live at a sizzler now.

00:04:09

I wish I lived at a sizzler. Wait a minute.

00:04:12

Describe to me.

00:04:13

No, the sizzler burned down. She lives in a soup plantation.

00:04:16

I love soup plantation. She needs to defend how you have a tray that takes things from one room to another. Why are you acting like this is weird? Never has Liza ever come to me with food on a tray when I'm in another room. That's not I'm in another room. It is true.

00:04:31

It is a normal thing to have as a tray. When you watch TV, you put snacks and a little drink on a tray and stuff. On a tray.

00:04:36

You have a tray. You bring the things to the tray. Liza won't let that happen in our house. You can't eat over there. Some crumbs will get... No.

00:04:43

But you're an awful eater, so that makes sense. I would not allow you to eat anywhere in my vicinity.

00:04:51

I am.

00:04:51

I've heard you're ravenous, but are you messy as well? Yes.

00:04:54

Well, I've been called the wood chipper. So what happens is you feed food towards my gaping ma, and then crumbs shoot out. Remember when Cookie Monster would eat? Because there's no real throat to Cookie Monster. There's no throat. Cookie Monster just has these flaps. He's a puppet. He's not real. There's no mouth hole. It's just flat there. That's a mouth hole.

00:05:19

That's ridiculous. He's not real.

00:05:21

That's not true.

00:05:22

I get it. I get why Liza would... The trays. That's a normal thing that a lot of houses have. Very normal. Your house for sure has a When Liza serves me food, she is wearing a hazmat suit, and she's wearing...

00:05:36

You know what she's often wearing? It's one of those deep sea diving uniforms from the 1920s. She'll come to me and she'll say, Here is, and I can just hear an echo, Here is your tomato soup, soup, soup, soup. Then I go,. Then it's just a Jackson Pollack all over the walls.

00:05:54

That's nice.

00:05:55

So, yeah, stuff just goes flying. That's why we don't have a tray in our house.

00:05:58

You do have a tray. For sure, you have a tray. You probably just never have used it.

00:06:02

But I'm thinking of a very small tray that just brings some grapes and a little bit of cheese over if a guest is here. We would have that, but you're talking about a big tray?

00:06:09

No, I'm talking... I think when I'm saying tray, you're thinking of cafeteria trays. No, I'm talking about a serving tray.

00:06:17

So you want a tray, and what else do you want?

00:06:18

I only got to tray. That's as far as- That must be a pretty good life.

00:06:24

If all you need is a tray.

00:06:25

All you need is a tray?

00:06:26

I know I need a lot more stuff.

00:06:29

Does your new place, your new abode have stairs? Yeah. Do you need a stair chair that goes up the stairs?

00:06:34

I don't need it, but I'd like one.

00:06:37

Would you use it if you had one? Yeah. I think those are so cool. Aren't those so cool? Well, I guess I'll go upstairs now and you sit down and you actually put a seat belt on and then and it's much slower. I think the fact that you don't need one is cool, but you still have one. Then you could put the tray on your lap and you could eat like you're on an airplane.

00:06:55

Because that's how slow it is going up. You could finish a meal.

00:06:58

Yeah. You could have a whole turkey dinner and slowly tack is going up the stairs. I mean, slower than a tortoise. It's really fun, too, to put a tortoise on a stair chair.

00:07:08

Okay. Why? But the tortoise is already slow and it's already going up. It's just a slow thing on a slow thing.

00:07:14

Yeah, it's It's very funny. Slow thing on a slow thing is- And then you just let a rabbit go up the stairs on its own. Do you want a stair chair? Yeah. You're putting a second floor in your house, aren't you?

00:07:21

I would love to.

00:07:22

You haven't put it on yet?

00:07:23

Give me some time.

00:07:25

It takes a long time to do that.

00:07:27

It'll be great. I'll build you a staircase and put a stair chair in, even though you don't have a second floor. It'd be funny when people smash their head on the- Then just blood rolls down, blood rushes down the staircase, and your guest is screaming in pain.

00:07:42

I swear there's a second floor there yesterday.

00:07:45

We're doing elevator.

00:07:46

Yeah. That's funny. We just got a thing in the mail. We got junk mail for something called a slift. What's the slift? It's an easy prefab elevator that you can put in your house.

00:07:56

Wait a minute. This is fantastic. We could get a slift? Yes. Wait a I think it's called slift. We need one here. Can I say something?

00:08:02

Can you Google, is it called slift?

00:08:03

Slift. That sounds disgusting, by the way.

00:08:08

No, it's a band.

00:08:10

It's a what? A band? It's not called slift. You sick pervert. You're like, It's something I want to get. It's called Slift.

00:08:17

Oh, that's right. It was a nudy mag we got in the mail.

00:08:19

But wait a minute. This is a question maybe for Adam, but this is our building here. We own this building at Larchmont. It is Team Coco Global headquarters. We should have an elevator. I love that idea. You know what I want? I want one that we have three floors in this building. I like the idea that it's prefab. It's something that someone comes in, it's installed within a day because I know it's not going to be safe, and that's funny.

00:08:45

We also need fire poles.

00:08:47

What? I think it's one or the other. Yeah, it's one or the other. I say elevator. What's it called there, Eduardo? Stilt.

00:08:53

That's it.

00:08:54

Stilt. With a Z.

00:08:57

Can we have an operator?

00:08:58

I don't understand. I've never I heard it. Look at that. Oh, my God. It looks like very Star Trek, doesn't it?

00:09:03

It looks like you go in there and you get some future medical thing done.

00:09:09

No, it's a chamber. You get into this chamber. And how do they install that? That's where Spock dies.

00:09:15

That's where Spock dies.

00:09:16

Yeah, but he dies of boredom because it's going so slowly. Wait a minute. Do you think we could get this installed? I think it's a great idea. I'll put up the funding for it. I think we should look into it for real. I think it's a really good idea. I would love it. Look, there's a little animated part. It would make the more accessible. On stilt.

00:09:31

Yeah, it would make the building more accessible. That's true. It's good.

00:09:35

It's a good thing to do. It'd be great if it made a lot of noise so that when we were recording the podcast- It should come up in this room. Ted Danson comes in to get ready for his podcast. Of course, he's no spring chicken. He'll get on the stilt and then. We can hear it on our podcast, and I'm like, Ted, Ted.

00:09:53

I'm sorry, but slift makes more sense than stiltz.

00:09:56

I think you're right. Yeah. Maybe we can get... Oh, look at this. It's quiet. It's quiet, and there's a cartoon of a guy and his dog sleeping so that he can sleep on a couch while his wife quietly goes in an inner tube and sails up.

00:10:10

Oh, it's got a remote control. So you could put someone in it and control What would they do?

00:10:15

Look, this lazy shit is having his luggage sent down in an elevator, and he's saying, Oh, okay. All right. That makes sense. This is a handicap person or handicapable, but this is a person who should use this. But can we go back to the guy saying, Someone put my luggage in the elevator and send it down to me in our two-room house?

00:10:41

I do think you need to have an old-school guy with a hat as the elevator operator.

00:10:47

David Hopping is on this. Oh, yes. With a bell? Let's just call it a slift. Okay, a slift. And still, get your act together and change the name. David Hopping will be on it, and he'll be wearing a, again, 1930 Elevator operator.

00:11:01

When he arrives at this floor, he goes like, Cosmetics, notions, unmentionables. Unmentionables.

00:11:05

We don't do any of that. This is fantastic because he didn't do anything. When David does a lot, but then whenever we're all here, he didn't do anything. So he could be riding up and down the elevator doing bits. We have to get this. We need to immediately find out how much this costs. The company's called Stilt, and I'm not doing an ad for them because I wish their name was Slitz.

00:11:26

Slitz.

00:11:27

I say Slitz. Slitz. And guess what? That's the even better name.

00:11:32

Slitz is like a strip club.

00:11:34

Trust me. Yeah. And you know what? Slitz should have an elevator. You can join the 100th of a Mile Club. Listen, Stilt, you have 24 hours to change your name to Slitz. I've never wanted anything this badly. Get it. Let's do it. I've never wanted anything.

00:11:52

Maybe don't give us one for free. I doubt it. I mean, we've done a lot of promotion for them. Come on, listen up, Slitz.

00:11:57

Slitz. Knee, formerly known as Stilt.

00:12:02

Slitz, knee, stilt.

00:12:04

You may know her as Stilt, but we call her Slitz. I've got to have it. I've got to have it, and I will spare no expense. We're going to sawn a hole in this joint, and we're running that thing up and down. David Hopping is going to get a uniform, and we're going to shoot videos, and everyone's going to love us again. Okay. All right, let's wrap this up. My guest today stars in, this is very exciting for me to talk about, The New Movie, If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You, alongside another familiar face you might know. And this is a project that's very near and dear to my heart. I absolutely adore our guest today. I can't, I don't know. Just nothing more I can say. I'm thrilled she's here with us. Rose Byrne. Welcome. I'm thrilled you're here on the podcast. Cast. You came on The Late Night show a couple of times, and I never really got to talk to you. We've had this incredible experience together working on a movie. I had never done anything remotely like that. Everything I thought about you came true and was verified a million times over, just in terms of I know you to be this incredible actress and this very funny person who can do any performance Then you show up and you were one of my favorite people of all time, seriously.

00:13:34

That's so sweet. That was a blessing. Now I want to take you down. I want to- Today is the day. Today is the day. You claim you're from Australia. Exactly. But I found out San Diego is where you were born to Patricia and Lorenzo Bob Kick.

00:13:56

Finally.

00:13:58

You can come This is exciting. We'll talk about the film in just a bit. I just wanted to start with, you grew up just outside Sydney?

00:14:07

In a city suburb, like 20 minutes from the city, Balmain.

00:14:11

Balmain. And you're one of four?

00:14:13

Youngest of four.

00:14:15

Okay. I feel like a policeman now getting information. Says here, your eyes are hazel. You're so innately funny, and I've seen this up close and in person that I'm thinking making that had to present itself when you were a kid. Did you know you were funny in your family?

00:14:35

I mean, the youngest thing of your goofy, maybe, like trying to get attention and being a little bit goofy. My mother says I liked the attention, but I was also quite shy. So one of those performers, too, that's a little bit shy, but a bit of a ham.

00:14:48

You knew there were certain comedic performances you saw growing up, and you thought, that. Who is that? Who are we talking about?

00:14:56

Well, John Cleese in Faulty Towers. That was a show that my family, one of the few shows that we all gathered around to watch. It was like, I don't know how big it was here in the States.

00:15:06

Faulty Towers was. I mean, it wasn't like Friends, but it played. I mean, the first time I saw it, I think, it was a CBS.

00:15:13

Yeah, it would only show on CBS. Until cable came around.

00:15:16

Yeah, but I would see it. What drew me to that performance, and I'm guessing you might be the same, is that John Cleese is verbally very funny and pitch perfect. But then he can use his body in the funiest- Which is not dissimilar to you, actually, now that you have the same physique.

00:15:37

It's so tall and the legs and just innately comic and just some brilliant physical comedy sequences from that show that I can recall.

00:15:47

Yeah, he could do it both. I always just thought... I know Peter Sellers, to me, was the same thing as someone who could deliver verbally the perfect performance just in the face, but then if called to, could be very physically hilarious. What women were you watching where you thought, That person's doing something I love?

00:16:10

There's a great show called Cath and Kim from Australia, these two brilliant comedians. Jane Turner and Gina Reilly, I believe. They were brilliant. They were fantastic. Hysterical. It was a very popular show in Australia for the satire about these two women. Then also I loved Ab Fab. I loved them from that. Julia Louis Dreyfus was one of my touchstones. I just grew up watching Seinfeld, and Elaine was... I mean, yeah, I'd not seen anything like that in a sitcom in America before. I just thought she was so groundbreaking amongst these men and just such a specific lived-in character So physically funny, verbally brilliant. So her intelligence just shines through.

00:16:49

But then the horrible dance that she had to do. Horrible dance. I mean, yes, again, she could do just like Clees. She could do both. One of the things I loved for her and for any fan of comedy, is when she did Veep, she opened up this whole other can of Whoop Ass comedically.

00:17:07

Yeah, she really did. It was a turn, wasn't it? It was a pivot.

00:17:11

Yes. I mean, she could have moments of being a slight out of touch sociopath on Seinfeld. But then in Veep, they wrote this incredibly mean, horrible stuff for her to say and do. She She's so funny doing it.

00:17:30

She's so funny.

00:17:31

She's so funny. Still likable. You're still rooting for her. I'm still rooting for her, even though she's clearly the worst person in the world.

00:17:39

That's working for you.

00:17:41

Okay, we'll have to edit that out. Oh, wait, you edit it out.

00:17:46

I'll handle it. Did you guys ever work together over the years?

00:17:50

I've done some bits with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

00:17:54

I feel like everyone has crossed over at some point. I love to hear those stories. I'm such a geek about that. I'm like, Tell me what happened.

00:18:01

I have to ask you about someone who I got to meet through my show who seemed very cool. Of course, tragically, we lost him way too young, but Keith Ledger. I know that Keith Ledger, I think, was on my show and agreed to play a didgery-do. I remember I had a very distinct pleasure of talking to Keith and then us bringing a didgery-do out and him blowing into it. It makes that sound that... I'm sorry. I don't know that he was hit playing it correctly or incorrectly, but I just don't know what the didgery do. I don't know what the tuning is.

00:18:36

That really surprises me. I am shocked.

00:18:40

He didn't grow up doing that? I know. I couldn't pick out exactly what rush tune it was. I think I have a recollection of that now that I feel like that came. Heath is an important part of your early life and getting started. Tell us about that.

00:18:59

I I was 18, and I got cast in a film called Two Hands Opposite Heath. Heath was the lead with the same age. We were just kids. The film, it did very well in Australia. It was Brian Brown, myself, and a cast of wonderful Australian actors. Heath and I traveled to Sundance together. The film didn't ultimately really translate here as well as we'd hoped, but it's become like a beloved classic in Australia. Yeah, he was integral in getting me agents and getting me to auditions. He would always have a house full of Australian actors and friends. He was a very generous Also shy, actually. There was a reserve about him, even though he was surrounded by people often. But he was really instrumental in those early years and very, as I say, a hugely generous spirit. But we were just kids. He was 18. He had done a show called Roar. It was interesting. He always had such great creative instincts, and he was being offered so many corny TV shows. He was a heartthrob after it when he hit, and he really had a specific goal of what he wanted to do and whose careers he loved and admired that.

00:20:04

He had confidence inside.

00:20:05

I still think that his Joker, I mean, that performance had nothing to do with any performance he had done before. It was so radical that I had seen. It's so easy when you have that heartthrob leading man status and you have that face to just disappear into that world of playing the same person over and over and over He came at that in this way. In so many of his roles, it just felt like it was very important to him that this is an art.

00:20:37

Yeah, he had a creativity about him and a goofiness. That role in particular was so unexpected. The performance he gives, it's so talk about a pivot. It was really and it stands the test of time, obviously. I remember going to see it in the cinema and the gentleman next to me had obviously seen it several times. Every time he came on, he would start to recite the lines with him. Oh, no. I was like, Wow, this guy has seen this movie.

00:21:05

Matt, would you like to apologize?

00:21:06

Twenty-five times in the cinema.

00:21:08

I would like to apologize.

00:21:09

I thought you looked familiar. I wasn't going to say. I was like, Were you at a movie theater?

00:21:16

But you have to admit I was pretty good.

00:21:17

I knew. Honestly.

00:21:19

He mailed almost every line. Yes.

00:21:21

But that's a mark of a performance that is iconic, I guess. Psst.

00:21:33

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00:22:07

So you have success, things are going well, and then you do bridesmaids. I thought that you were getting to play so many very subtle comedic moves. The speech where you're each trying to... When you first came on screen, though, I remember thinking, Okay, this is the beautiful friend who's going to be up tight, and you're just going to hit that note, and then you don't. You're in many ways being just as competitive, petty, and insane as Kristen Wigg. I was just like, Oh, okay. Yeah, Rose Burn. Then I think that was everybody's reaction.

00:22:51

It's like, those guys are so willing to... I had audition for Get Him to the Greek and ended up doing that film. That's how I met Chad, who was producing Kristen's script that Paul Figg directed, Kristen and Annie Marmelo's script that Paul Figg directed. But those guys are really open-minded. They're like, I was on Damages. They're like, Sure, come in. A lot of people would be like, Why would you want to see this dramatic actress who's not got comedy chops to come in and work with these hard call. All those girls are from Groundlings, UCB, really properly trained improv comedic actresses. All brilliant. As you say, what an ensemble of incredible actresses. Probably my It's not a film to ever shoot. Helen really is the straight man in many ways. She's just buttoned up. But I remember early on when we were rehearsing and just trying to figure out exactly the inspiration for that character and how competitive she is and the need for status and how important that is and how people wear that entitlement. It was very fun. Working with, oh, my God, Kristen Wig, Maya Rudolf, Melissa, Ellie, Wendy. It was just such a heavyweight cast of these women.

00:24:03

Did you find that that because what's been remarkable about your career is, of course, there are people that do comedy and drama, but you Excel at both of them. I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. Really? No, but I'm telling you. I mean, I watch you and I love... Don't add it.

00:24:22

You got to write it down.

00:24:24

This is Blake. I love horror. I love the insidious film. They're fun. But I'm I'm watching you in that and you're always able to really break my heart. Then I'll see you being hilariously funny with Seth Rogan. I'm just a little mystified as to what that's all about. I think there's something very wrong with you that would show up on a cat scan, frankly. There's a large line dividing your skull. I'm sorry. I just want to reduce all your- That's definitely true. Yeah, all your talent to- It's just because she has range, you're like, something's wrong with you. I just think she has a terrible brain problem. That's my take on her acting.

00:25:09

He's right.

00:25:10

I think I'm right. That is correct. Then We need to get to this because this script comes along. This creative force named Mary Bronstein- Our friend. Our friend.

00:25:26

Our friend.

00:25:27

Writes a movie. How does the script come to you? What What happens?

00:25:30

My agent sends me this script, and she's a very discerning Irish woman.

00:25:37

You best be reading me scripts.

00:25:41

What is wrong?

00:25:42

You all best be reading my scripts. I'm sending it your way.

00:25:46

Pretty much.

00:25:47

I'll take it to a donkey.

00:25:48

She's a pirate.

00:25:50

She's a pirate agent.

00:25:51

I said she was a pirate. I heard pirate, not Irish. Pretty much.

00:25:56

It's weirdly exactly like that.

00:25:58

Why did my pirate don't caw, caw? Parrots don't go caw, caw.

00:26:02

You're an Irish pirate with a raven.

00:26:04

I couldn't get a pirate, so I had to get a raven. Sorry. Sorry. I'm good. Sorry. I'm sorry. Anywho, you've got a line down your head.

00:26:18

Look at that. That's a visceral cellular reaction to an Irish woman. I'm sorry.

00:26:21

I feel it. I'm sorry. I feel it. They terrorized me. Straight up. Throughout my life, Irish women.

00:26:25

From the island, straight up. No, she's very discerning, and She's only written a few times over the years, and she said, You need to read this. I was like, Hmm, okay. But she read like fire. It's like she lit the page. It's such an unbelievable script. I want to hear your thoughts on it when you read it. I devoured it. There's an incredible symmetry to the script with the imagery, the metaphors that are going on, and what's happening in front of Linda, what's happening to her, and what's happening outside of her. There's a wonderful symmetry. You really do see it, I think, in the finished product as well. It's very much there. I just thought, Oh, my God, what an opportunity. It's someone throwing you the ball, right? You've got the bat, and you're like, Can I really? Oh, my God. It was extraordinary. It's genre defying in a way. There's many genres. There's horror, tropes of horror in there. There's tropes of drama. There's- There's comedy in there, too. There's and there's comedy. I couldn't believe it. Then I met with Mary and we started to work together, and I just thought, Oh, my God, I cannot fuck this I was like, I can't walk myself.

00:27:30

I have this funny experience, which is this script comes my way. We talked about this with Mary on the podcast. But Adam Sandler calls me.

00:27:40

I didn't know that Sandler called you. Yeah, right. Yeah.

00:27:43

Just to tell me he admired my work. Hold on. Then he called me. Copy that. I'm just name dropping now. Then Brad Pitt texted me. He wants to know where I got my four tourists.

00:27:52

You're going to win that game, by the way.

00:27:55

Anyway, all these famous people are always calling and texting. No, Adam called and he I said, Is it okay if I give one of the Safty brothers your number? It's for an A24 film, and I went, I guess so. He was like, Oh, you think so, Connie? Yeah, dummy, idiot. At first, I thought it's going to be, if someone like me gets offered a part, it's always to play myself. Do you know what I mean? Of course. It's, Oh, and then the characters turn on the TV and Conan O'Brien's there, and he's saying, You all heard in the news, the story about insert character's name here. Then they were like, No, you're playing a character. I talked to Mary and tried very hard to talk her out of it. I just was like, Well, this is a really great script, and you don't want me in there. But she was adamant.

00:28:48

What was your reaction when you were like, Oh, it's playing a therapist?

00:28:54

My first reaction, to be honest with you, was there's been a mistake. Why Why am I? Why is someone, and I should talk to my therapist about that. But it was very surprising to me that she has this this beautiful thing that she's written that's a real statement by her and comes from her life. This is her big shot, and I'm in there, and I thought, okay. I really didn't want to mess things up. She was very like- We felt the same way.

00:29:34

We felt the same way. We were like, We got to mess it up.

00:29:36

We got to mess it up. Here's a little different. You're Roseburn. I'm going to. Then I'm starting to feel better because she's given me all the reasons why I'd just be perfect for it. She said, Trust me, everyone is excited about you doing it and you're perfect for it. I thought, Well, they're professionals. They must know. Then Mary sets this meeting at the Whitby Hotel that I show up at, you show up at, and Mary shows up at, and you proceed to say, Excuse me, Konan, what acting have you done? I start saying, Well, I haven't really done that. No, but I mean, what films have you done? I went, I haven't done any films. And then you said, . I said, I've done sketches. And she said, But what about dramatic roles, film? I went, I haven't really done that. And then you start drilling down deeper and you went, But surely you did in high school. I said, No, I didn't. Mary, I didn't know you that well then. I thought, Rose Byrne does not want me in this. And then I find out later that you're taking the piss out of me.

00:30:46

You winked at Mary. But I left thinking, Oh, my God. She's going to go to her Irish script reader and say, Put down that Roll at Taters and get Cona off this feckin, not fucking, but feckin movie.

00:31:07

But I often feel like people have secret histories. You don't know. Maybe you had a rich history of doing a play or at Harvard.

00:31:14

You knew I didn't do anything. No, but I don't know, honestly. Now you're being the nice person.

00:31:19

No, no, no. Honestly, I remember going, but has anyone approached you before? Or has anyone asked you to do a that didn't work out. I was doing investigative because I feel like...

00:31:34

It was like you were wearing a wire and people were listening in a van. Then all I remember is you slammed your plate down at one point and said, Who do you think you are? That That did happen. That did happen. Then you slapped me.

00:31:46

Then I hit you. Then I hit you.

00:31:49

Then I hit me. No. Then we start the process of making this movie. I will admit, I was saying that I worked really hard with Mary, and there's no- For a year, you were attached forever, long before, as was Rocky. You're making the point that you got it much quicker than I did. I see what you're doing. Look at this. This rose is such a master of passive aggression. Are you seeing it? Yeah, you a long time. I mean, much longer than me, and I'm really 99% of the film. But anyway, I had that experience of worked very hard with her, tried to prepare as as much as I possibly could. Then before you know it, it's a very small room. All our scenes are in a tiny- It's a tiny room. It's a tiny room. I'm a large fellow. We're in this tiny room.

00:32:42

It's quite hot or How was the temperature?

00:32:46

You think you were very excited to see me. Of course. That's what that happened. You kept saying, Is it hot in here? People were like, It's actually 33 degrees.

00:32:55

Was it stuffy? I just remember, was it?

00:32:59

Yes, it They had sealed all the windows for sound. It's just a regular office on the upper side. It was- This is not a fancy.

00:33:07

This is like, we shot this fast, and it was like a big budget. It was just to set the scene.

00:33:12

It's not like it's a- I was told You got all the money, all of it.

00:33:16

Of course I did.

00:33:17

All the money. You came in the first day wearing a grill. It said Rose Rocks. I was like, That's a little over the top.

00:33:26

That's how I work. I know, but I- I established my boundaries.

00:33:29

That was It was really off-putting. Every time you stood up, just money fell out of you. But we had these, I'll never forget, just sitting opposite you and we're in that room, and then I hear, action. The hallway is packed with people. Action. You and I have this scene to do. I think the first take, I was just trying to process, I'm in a movie. Why am I in a movie? Why am I in a movie with Rose burn? This is insane. Then I got it together, I think, for the second take and was able to just, Okay, just be in it. But I think on the first take, I was freaked out. That's how it felt.

00:34:14

You were great. I looked at you and you were there. You were my scene partner, and you were present, and I never felt not safe.

00:34:20

But then I see a closeup.

00:34:22

I know. I've worked with a lot of people, and it's like, when someone is there with you and you were there with me. Then The scenes were very hard. They were challenging. There's a destructive relationship. It's at the end of this relationship with this therapist and their patient, and it is someone in a crisis, and they're not treating each other well. It's complicated.

00:34:43

I was saying this to Mary Bronstein, the writer-director. I was telling her that one of the things that was a little difficult for me is I am extremely fond of you, and I'm also a caretaker. In real life, if it started to rain, I would scramble to have a tent built around you. It's that thing.

00:35:04

It's counterintuitive.

00:35:06

My character is the exact 180 degree opposite. We're in this tight space, and you are begging me Screaming at you. Screaming me for help. I'm not doing the thing. Every cell in my body is saying, We must help Rose burn. Then I have to remind myself, this is not Rose burn right now. This is my patient. But It was- That's why the scenes were challenging.

00:35:32

I agree. But you, and I've told this to everybody, and you can see it in the film, I just was present for you, turning yourself inside out in the scene.

00:35:43

It's so insane to watch someone do that, especially in an enclosed space, not up on a prescindium in a theater, but just take their own heart out and crush it in front of you. Then I'd hear, Cut, and you would laughing or giggling, or you'd say, I want a sandwich, and making jokes. Then Mary would come in and go, Okay, let's do another one. You'd be like, All right. I'm like, What do you mean another one? No one can do that twice, and you'd do it like 19 times. You want me to pull my heart and my lungs out this time? I could try that for you. Or just one lung and two hearts. It was just weird to see. I'm very impressed.

00:36:26

They were epic. I hadn't done that I've seen before. Where are you in a therapist's office like that? Where it's really in real life where you're having these moments with your therapist. It was wild. That was definitely those days. I mean, they were fun. For me, a fun element of like, Can we do this? You're taking off together in this scene, what's going to happen? Then seeing where it goes.

00:36:54

There was one, I can't remember if this made it into the film or not, but there's one scene where I think you're lying. There are some scenes we're in the chair and there are some scenes we're on the therapist couch, where you're going through all these emotions. At one point, you're just trying different stuff, and it was so fun to watch you play. At one point, your feet went up in the air. I'm there.

00:37:16

I remember that.

00:37:17

You're doing some yoga feet up in the air thing.

00:37:19

Obnoxious stretching in the chair. Exactly. She's so obnoxious.

00:37:24

She's like a child. You're trying to provoke your therapist. You're doing this weird yoga where your feet go up into the air and your head- So silly.

00:37:32

I don't think it made it in.

00:37:34

No, I don't think so.

00:37:34

I think it might have been a bridge too far.

00:37:37

I know, but I like- But it was so silly. What you and I do is galaxies apart. But then I see flashes of, Oh, I know what that is. That's you playing to find things and offering Mary all these choices. I know that we do that in comedy.

00:37:57

Yeah, exactly. We do that in comedy. It's the same. Absolutely. An offering. She allowed us to do that. There was these, and her, especially in those scenes, it's always... I mean, I'm always looking for a little levity, right? Yeah. Those scenes were heavy. It's like, How can we sneak in something that is a little bit that might be funny. I don't know.

00:38:16

I have a question which is something I find very endearing is your refusal to take yourself seriously in a profession where everybody takes themselves very seriously. Is that an Australian thing or is that a Rose burn thing? You tell me.

00:38:31

What do you think? Because you've probably had Australians in this chair before, so I don't know.

00:38:37

That's right. We had all of Haka-daka here, which is the correct way to say ACDC.

00:38:42

Haka-daka. It's true.

00:38:44

I did a show in Sydney once at some big theater downtown, and one of the best crowds ever. I mean, an Australian audience is- They are such a good...

00:38:53

I'm so glad you say that because it's such a long way to come. When people do get there, they really do appreciate it. They're a great crowd.

00:38:58

People kept thanking me for coming, and I said, you know... I kept saying, you know you have a really good country. Happy to be here. But no, the crowd was insane and great. But what I love is they just... There's no formality like If I would call on someone, instead of just answering my question from their seat, they'd come running up on stage and then would end up being scene partners and doing a bit. There's a lot of improvising and having fun and taking the piss in Australia, which is really lovely.

00:39:29

That's a cultural language For sure. But do you think that's part of your...

00:39:33

Any time a compliment comes your way or people say, Oh, my God, you're like, Well, thank you. Then I see the deflection, which is- I would say the same of you.

00:39:44

You're a bit of a deflector, I would say. Is that an Irish thing? I think so. I have Irish ancestors.

00:39:52

Yeah. But culturally- How Irish are you?

00:39:55

Well, Byrne is one of the most common names in Ireland. When I went there, they said, Welcome home. They did. My full name is Mary Rose, which is literally a ship from Ireland. But it's funny. When I went there, I felt melancholy. I don't know. I felt like the Irish streak of pain, if I may say. I share with you guys. I felt the joy, but I also felt that. Did you feel like that when you're there? I had a- Do you have any reaction? I was like, I'm going to feel like the motherland, and I had that to an extent, and then I the deep history of stuff.

00:40:35

I went back for my travel show, and I got very sad. I'm not someone who lets myself probably... I have a difficulty accessing that, and there was no hiding it there. I just really felt... I said, Oh, my God, the view here. It's such a beautiful... You can see these mountains. They're so gorgeous. Oh, my God. I said, Why did people leave? The woman I was with said, Because you can't eat the view. They didn't. They needed this wasn't working, and they had to go. I thought, Right, idiot.

00:41:12

That's intense. That's a.

00:41:14

It was really intense, but that's why they left.

00:41:16

A true return to your roots. Did they try to eat the view before they left?

00:41:20

I looked at the mountains and there was one big chunk out of it.

00:41:23

Maybe they didn't need some season. But that's real. I get that.

00:41:28

Always good to bring levity into I always say. I'm serious. I appreciate that. I needed an out, and you gave it to me. But no, that is part of it. But I think Australia is so fascinating to me because so many Irish went there or were sent there.

00:41:49

We were really sent, most of us.

00:41:50

Yeah, you were clearly sent.

00:41:52

I was clearly sent. Yeah, no, the jails were overflowing and they did this crazy experiment where they were like, let's put all these people on a ship and ship them out there and they can live out their sentence there and then hang out with the people who put them in jail in the first place. That's a short history and also ruin all of the Indigenous people culture.

00:42:12

That whole thing that happened. There's a reason they don't use you in the tourism ads anymore. Can we try another take, Rose?

00:42:22

I know, exactly. Wait, let's not focus on that.

00:42:25

Then you forgot one of the most important things, which is everyone from Ireland who got shipped over there has my skin coloring, and they're suddenly living at the equator, and they're running around shirtless in that sun.

00:42:39

It is the weirdest story. It's a pretty crazy story. Everyone is beet-red there.

00:42:45

Everybody. Yeah, it's wild. I was thinking, okay, that's the currency in my family where I come from, which is you make fun of yourself before anyone else can make fun of you.

00:42:55

I think so. No, I do. To your point, I think it's absolutely a cultural fact. We don't take ourselves too seriously. There's a thing called Tall Papy, never get to a thing for your boots. There's definitely an element of that culturally for Australians, and I guess I embody that a little bit. Humor has always been a big thing in our family, and I've always been firmly made fun of and supported at the same time. But no, it's not. I find earnestness pretty hard to swallow, to be honest. I do, too. To be honest, it's not my cup of tea. I do, too.

00:43:31

That's why I have to run on myself. With the least earnest people in the world. Fuck you.

00:43:37

It's a funny thing.

00:43:39

What a good joke.

00:43:42

But I take the work seriously. I love the work, and I love the work. That I would absolutely take seriously.

00:43:48

Well, it was clear to me that you're not screwing around in this role, and it's been delight to see the reaction to your performance. It's just made me so happy because universally, people have been saying, Yeah, Rose Byrne, and Mary likes to use the phrase hiding in plain sight. You've been here. You've been doing incredible work. Everyone loves you. Then you do this role and everyone is saying, Jesus Christ, this is yes. It was just really nice.

00:44:23

Yeah. Oh, look, I feel very emotional about it. Emotional about the movie. I'm protective of it. I think it's such an incredible piece of art. I Mary's a force of nature. I think her story is so punk rock how she's taken this tackled motherhood and being a caretaker and really in a radical way. It's very unconventional and it's uncomfortable. I love the film. I'm still figuring it out, as we were chatting about earlier. I'm still discovering it and seeing it through, particularly a lot of friends who are now seeing it, seeing it through other people's eyes and what they're discussing with me about it and what feelings they're responding with. It's I'm so grateful not to be corny, but to be a part of that. I feel so proud to be in this.

00:45:08

There's something about, maybe you could tell me what it is, but it is a different movie. There aren't a lot of movies like this.

00:45:18

Well, there's the tradition of the woman falling apart.

00:45:21

That is- Yes, that's a tradition. But Mary pointed out to me, those are all written by men.

00:45:25

Yeah, totally. Through the lens of the gaze of a man.

00:45:28

She was like, No, I'm going to write this.

00:45:30

This movie is refusing to ignore this woman. A lot of mothers feel invisible. They don't feel seen. They don't feel acknowledged. This movie is like, No, you can't look away. This is a mother in a crisis with a child, and she will not be ignored. Okay. Which is a response. We were chatting with a friend, and she was like, I felt seen. I was like, Wow. Then I have friends who don't have children, who really understood other aspects of the movie and other things she's bringing up in people. I think that's the mark of it.

00:46:07

My wife has not seen the movie yet. Oh, yeah? She's not seen it? I wanted her to see it. She's not a fan of my work.

00:46:14

What a shame. That's so hard. What a shame.

00:46:18

Has no aware I did television, really. She just doesn't like the podcast. Liza. No, Liza hasn't seen it yet. She wants to see it, and she was going to see it tonight when we go this event. She can't come? She can't come because she has to be in Seattle. To see her lover. Who, by the way, he's a great guy.

00:46:41

He's hot, too.

00:46:42

He drives this- He better be.

00:46:43

He's a ferry captain.

00:46:45

The weather is really bad there.

00:46:46

He's very tan. He's the most tan guy because he takes her to Mexico all the time. I'm like, I'm closer. I could take her. He's like, I got it.

00:46:57

They're actually going to see the movie together.

00:47:00

I was doing. They're going to come up to me afterwards. We thought it was great. Yeah, I loved it. God damn it. Why is your voice so low and resonant? But anyway, I've been telling her because- I really like her podcast. Oh, yeah.

00:47:19

She introduced me to- She is the brains of our outfit.

00:47:24

But she said an interesting thing, which is... I was telling her that this movie, it's going to be tough for you. It's not going to be easy because it's very visceral about what a woman goes through who's a mom and trying to handle it all when her husband's off doing talk shows. But I know she's going to love it, but also that it's going to push some buttons.

00:47:52

Did she read the script?

00:47:53

She did read the script, and she said to me, I didn't know people wrote scripts like this anymore in the nicest way.

00:47:58

Wow, that's rad. That's such a cool comment.

00:48:00

That's great. Mary really wanted to get... The film is so you up to the point where the camera is so close to you so much of the time. Initially, Did that freak you out at all?

00:48:16

Well, the first day, the camera got closer and closer. It was like, here, and I could hear it. It's film. And I said to her, Are you going to be that class? Is that that close we're going to be? She was like, Yeah. I was It was like...

00:48:31

You set the dailies to your dermatologist. Yeah, exactly.

00:48:34

I was like, I'm in the best of my life. Does this look okay to you?

00:48:38

We'll just freeze it.

00:48:41

But I could. I could hear it. I could hear it going. It was cool. I mean, it's just technical, right? Just adjusting for that and making sure. We were always in dialog. Like, did you get this? Did you get that? Should I try one like this? Try one like... Even though we'd had this great rehearsal period, her and I. But that technical side of stuff, you don't know until you're there, right? You got to to figure it out and understand it and get my sea legs with working with the camera department. But I knew she was doing something. You know what I mean? I was like, She's pulling something off here. The conceit of not, which is not really a spoiler, but the conceit of never seeing the daughter was also something she told me early on, and I was like, Okay, right. I knew she was crafting this language and this tension to tell this story in her vision, her cinematic vision. It wasn't until I saw it that I was like, Oh, good Lord. Wow. My goodness me. Nothing could have prepared me.

00:49:32

You've done so much work in film, and yet this seems like a big evolution or step forward or change in some way because it pretty much Which is, I mean, yeah, ASAP Rocky, myself. You guys have some people tossed in there, and we're playing the parts that we need to play. But this is you. I it's one of the most powerful things about the film is… It's interesting. It is your journey. I think I've heard you say that so often it's easy for a woman to be an appendage in a film or you're the…

00:50:15

Of course, yeah.

00:50:16

You're the co-equal or less.

00:50:18

Yes, which I've done many times. Oh, my gosh, many times. But this is truly from the perspective of this character. You have no other perspective, really. Sometimes you don't know what's real and what's not. When through the eyes of this woman who's just so disassociated. It's a real tightrope, the whole thing. As that mother myself, just confronting all of these, it's very people are not comfortable. There's a lot of shame around women who are disappointed with motherhood or have anger around motherhood or have feelings that aren't- Anything less than total fulfillment. Total fulfillment.

00:50:53

Isn't it just the most joyous, totally fulfilling? Andy Richter told me when his kids were really little, he said, You know what it is? It's high stakes boredom. I said, What do you mean? Because this is before I had had my kids. He said, It's a two and a half year old, and they're not doing anything, and you're just staring at them. But if you're not vigilant for a second, they will try to run in front of a car. That's what it is. That's the reality. Of course, there are moments of resentment. It's good feelings, bad feelings.

00:51:28

At this point, she's not even a mother. She's a caretaker more. She's not even getting the joy of it and the extraordinary parts of it. It's like she's just in this crisis of being a caretaker. I felt that was such an opportunity. It's just an opportunity. It's like, you don't get these shots often. I feel a bit too like, I can't believe it came to me. I'm a little bit like that, too.

00:51:56

Now, it got back to me. You've tried to cut me out of the film.

00:52:00

You said it was- Just the first scenes. You said- The last scene, I thought, was pretty good. Pretty good.

00:52:08

Smart. You requested, this is true, Rose. I would have done that. Rose suggested that maybe... Because She saw a rough cut and said… This is really rough. We could get… She said, I've seen rough cuts, but this is… She said, What are we going to do about him? Then she said, Can you just put a CPR dummy in there and put an orange wig on it? They tried it.

00:52:30

I have a question for you. When did you first see the film?

00:52:33

I saw the film for the first time.

00:52:36

At Sundance?

00:52:37

Yes, at Sundance. We were at Sundance together.

00:52:39

What was your experience of watching it?

00:52:41

I think a little disassociated.

00:52:43

Yeah, like you were out of it?

00:52:44

I No, I could watch. I really loved it, and I could watch you. I could watch everything. My scenes, I just think it's a weird... I can't really connect to it. I can't watch that dispassionately. I know anyone who's been, like you, an experienced actor, can do that. I can't do that. I'm just happy I didn't look at the lens at some point and give a little wink.

00:53:16

Here's a crazy hypothetical. I know there's a lot of awards buzz for you, Rose, but let's just say, supporting actor- Don't do it. No, hold on. Supporting actor, nomination for Conan O'Brien. He wins, but he's also hosting the Oscars. What happens? The world implodes.

00:53:31

First of all, you've just ensured it won't happen. That was my goal.

00:53:35

How superstitious are we?

00:53:37

Very superstitious, yeah. I come from that island. Me, too. That pirate island.

00:53:41

We're probably related.

00:53:42

Yeah, I think so. No, I don't think so. I just looked in a mirror and then I looked at you and I'm like, Okay.

00:53:51

I have cousins that look like you.

00:53:53

You have cousins that look like me? I do. I have an uncle with no legs.

00:53:56

I do. I do have cousins very similar. Very similar. Say it.

00:54:01

Handsome. Totally. Okay, there we go.

00:54:04

I totally. It was so sad.

00:54:05

I have a cousin that looks like you. I do. But then they fixed it. No. Listen, you can't help me. The damage is too deep, Rose. Too deep.

00:54:15

You're not getting my sympathy.

00:54:16

I don't think we'll encounter that problem ever. I think the important thing- But you are hosting again, correct? Yeah, that's the plan. Wow.

00:54:24

You were so great. I loved you. Thank you. Loved last year's ceremony. It's wonderful. I couldn't think of the word. I was like, event, ceremony, whatever.

00:54:36

I love how you become very poised.

00:54:37

I know. All of a sudden, I'm the Queen of England.

00:54:41

I couldn't think of the word.

00:54:42

I was like, What is it? An event? No, it's not an event. It's a ceremony. It's a ceremony.

00:54:48

It's so Roseburn is to be so elegant using just the correct… But then also so goofy at the same time, crossing your eyes, doing a bit, and then right back into, Oh, we're here with Dame Judy Dench.

00:55:02

That was like, you had to thread such a crazy needle. It was following such a tragedy here in California. Remember? It was like- No, I don't remember me. Kind of an impossible. I know. You probably dissuasion. I don't know. But it was like, that's an impossible task. That's a tough gig.

00:55:22

That is a tough gig. Okay, now I don't want to do it again.

00:55:24

Yeah, you do. You just talk me out of it.

00:55:25

Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. Get the CPR dummy out for me.

00:55:28

That's why this isn't tough, it ain't tough. It ain't Yeah. Now you're talking.

00:55:31

The CPR dummy.

00:55:32

Hosted tonight by the CPR dummy. Yeah. Leo DiCaprio comes out, gets chest compressions. Well, the movie, I mean, this is cool. We get to plug the movie. If I had legs, I'd kick you. It's a weird thing to say, but I feel like as an uncle figure, whatever. I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of Mary. I'm just happy for both of you.

00:55:58

Thanks, buddy. Thanks for having us. October 10th, you can go to the cinema to see it. Thanks for your support, my therapist.

00:56:06

You know what? My character doesn't have a name. You'll forever be my therapist. Oh, really? Yeah. I looked at night. There's a degree on the wall, which you can't see in the movie, but I I walked up to at one point, and where it says name, it just says therapist.

00:56:18

Did you give yourself a name in your character work?

00:56:21

No, I didn't. What?

00:56:22

It's not too late. The movie's not out.

00:56:24

Nigel G. Sopsip.

00:56:26

I think it's best if we take him out.

00:56:30

That was a bad one.

00:56:32

Anyway, just a joy to work with you and to get to know you better. You too, pal. I'll be seeing you around the circuit.

00:56:40

I'll see you on the circuit. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Thank you for such a wonderful room of funny, lovely people here. Thank you.

00:56:47

We do.

00:56:52

Apparently, Auntie Mary's famous homemade dishes are actually ordered in. Courtesy of Just Eat. Scandalous. And she's able to maintain this scrumptuous lie by getting €7 off her orders. So get €7 off Bougeum, Milano, Centra, and more. Feed your family. Tell them you cook this.

00:57:12

If somebody's made, got Minimum spend €25.

00:57:17

Participating stores only offer valid until 30th of November, 2025. See justeat. Ie for details.

00:57:22

What's this thing about you being a seat I'll do it, sure.

00:57:31

Okay. Just say, Hey, Konan, any childhood... Any memories from your early days in show business? Okay, ready? Yeah.

00:57:36

Hey, Konan, any memories from your childhood days in show business?

00:57:39

All right, one more time. Hey, Konan.

00:57:44

Do you have any memories about your childhood days in show business?

00:57:48

Childhood days in show business?

00:57:50

Early days. He said early days.

00:57:51

What am I Shirley Temple?

00:57:53

You just teed me up to do that.

00:57:55

It was time to shoot on the Good Ship lollipop. Puff, puff. I'm smoking a cigar. No, we were just talking earlier and you guys said, Hey, bring that up on the podcast. It's one of those early memories of young Konan out in the world. I think I was a writer on Saturday Night Live. This would have been the, I don't know, sometime between 1988 and 1991. I think we were in a hiatus. I wasn't doing much. I was bumming around. Because I did sketches on the show, occasionally, I would appear in the background of some SNL sketches. Someone said, Hey, Konan, they could use you over at, I don't know if it was the MTV Video Awards or VMAs or something. It was some early version of one of those types of shows. It was shooting at the Armory in New York. I remember this, and said, At rehearsals, they need people to pretend to be the winners. You sit in the audience and they say, And the winner is Phil Collins. And then a Black woman stands up and she walks up on the stage and she says, I want to thank the other members of Genesis.

00:59:01

Basically, just so they can get the lighting right and the blocking right, because you're certainly not going to get that person there. They never read the real winner because that can never be revealed before the show. So they always say at the beginning of rehearsal, This is for rehearsal purposes Only, the winner is Phil Collins or whatever. I was just thought, This is interesting. I'll do this, and I think I got $50 or whatever I got. I went over and I think about this now because when I do award shows now, I'm there when I see the people who are doing that That's the same thing that I used to do.

00:59:31

Did you ever think you'd be up there hosting the Oscars, and here you are, just a seat filler, fake award winner?

00:59:36

Yes, I did. I knew. You knew. I just knew. I said it's going to be probably around 2025. Okay. Global warming is going to be a real problem. People don't think so. Ozone layer would have been fixed. Yeah, I just knew the whole thing. Okay. Anyway, no, I would have had no idea. But I was there and I was doing that, and I think I had to be someone in Oingo Boingo Boingo once. I mean, it was just these crazy... These references are so funny. I was like, Well, on behalf of Boingo, I just want to say... I was joking around a lot, and they probably told me to shut up. But what I remember very clearly is someone who was there in person was Tina Turner was hanging out at the rehearsal. No. Yeah. I'm sitting there just wearing my little lanyard that says backstage goofball, and Robert Palmer was there. Simply irresistible. He was there. The two of them were there. I think they probably had a soundcheck, but they were just hanging out. I remember they announced the category. Again, they said, Okay, the winner for best song of 1988 is, and they opened the envelope and someone said, Tina Turner.

01:00:48

This person got up, I think a 62-year-old, very pale man, stood up with crutch and went up on stage and said, I'm just really excited that I'm here to win this award. Tina Turner was there, and she got really excited because she thought this means that she's going to win that night. I saw her manager have to go up to her and say, no, this is just for rehearsal. I remembered seeing someone's a huge icon of rock. Dreams get crushed in that moment. I saw that happen. It wasn't that bad. I think she probably ended up winning anyway. But yeah, it was one of those things where I had a lot of experiences like that where- That's fun. Yeah. Showbiz. It was showbiz, and I was just this young- Your childhood showbiz. Yeah, it wasn't childhood. I would have been in my 20s at that point, mid-20s. But it was an exciting moment for me back then. Now, all these years later, I still treasure it. Was that sincere? Nope.

01:01:47

I didn't think so. Okay.

01:01:48

It's just one of those things that- The year was 1986, according to what I- It was 1986. Okay, so guess what? I wasn't on SNL yet. It was pre-SNL. 1986.

01:01:59

What was it?

01:02:00

The VMAs. It was the VMAs. Was it at the Armory? It was in New York, not at the Armory.

01:02:06

What was the Tina Turner song? We don't need another year.

01:02:09

I bet it was going to be, What's love got to do, got to do.

01:02:13

Is that '86?

01:02:15

What's love, a second-hand emotion. Typical male. What's that? What? Tina Turner. Typical male, you got a typical male. Is that what? It's much so much better than an atypical male.

01:02:30

It's a mailbox.

01:02:32

No, we don't need another hero. That's what I said. Okay, well, anyway, I was there. And what would Robert Palmer have been there for? Was that simply irresistible? Probably- Robert Palmer was there, and he presented A video Vanguard award to Madonna. Okay. I didn't see Madonna at rehearsal.

01:02:49

Because you didn't get to go to the show.

01:02:51

No, of course not. His video was Addicted to Love. Yeah. He's so fine. She no telling where the money I can't afford it.

01:03:01

We can't afford it. You guys have to stop.

01:03:03

We don't have to pay this.

01:03:03

No, we do. I don't think we have to pay if we sing a song, do we?

01:03:07

I think we're singing it.

01:03:08

Let's get that from Adam. Adam, do we have to pay if we sing a song? Yes.

01:03:12

I don't know. I don't know. Let me ask you this. It's murky. The versions we're singing are so far from the original that they can't be... It works for me. Okay.

01:03:26

No, I think you can't.

01:03:27

She's a come in, stay away to heaven. Oh, boy. No, but listen, you can't.

01:03:32

You can't do it.

01:03:33

Yes, you can because I just sang it incorrectly.

01:03:36

I mean, legally you can, but- I said, stairway. I know, but you shouldn't. You're just ruining things, I think. It's okay.

01:03:45

Look, we're going to get some clarity on this because I think we should be able to sing these things. People know me as a crooner, and I'm a jukebox. Excuse me. Quiet. They know me. I'm America's jukebox. I've got these golden pipes. No. They call me the Velvet smog. I think that we should be able to sing songs.

01:04:04

Well, we should look into this, and I would say, Stay tuned. Yeah. To a future episode.

01:04:10

To a future episode. I don't know what we're doing.

01:04:13

Don't make it... Oh, boy.

01:04:18

Conan O'Brien needs a friend. With Conan O'Brien, Sonam of Cessian, and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Jeff Ross, and nick Leal. Theme song by the White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Take it away, Jimmy. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples. Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brenda Burns. Additional production support by Mars Melnick. Talent Booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Brit Kohn. You can rate and review this show on Apple podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Konan? Call the Team Coco Hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of Serious XM when you sign up at siriusxm. Com/konan. If you haven't already, please subscribe to Konan O'Brien Needs a Friend wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.

01:05:27

Apparently, Auntie Mary's famous Homemade Dishes are actually ordered in, courtesy of Just Eat. Scandalous. And she's able to maintain this scrumptuous lie by getting €7 off her orders. So get your code in the app to get €7 off your favorite restaurants. Feed your family. Tell them you cooked it. Minimum spend €25. Participating stores only. Offer valid until 30th of November, 2025. See justeat. Ie for details.

AI Transcription provided by HappyScribe
Episode description

Actress Rose Byrne feels delighted about being Conan O’Brien’s friend. Rose sits down with Conan to discuss her Australian comic influences, her friendship with Heath Ledger, and playing patient and therapist opposite one another in their new genre-defying film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. Plus, Conan recalls his earliest showbiz days as an awards show seat filler. For Conan videos, tour dates and more visit TeamCoco.com.Got a question for Conan? Call our voicemail: (669) 587-2847.
Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link: https://siriusxm.com/conan. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.