Transcript of Telephone Interview w/ Conan O'Brien
Conducted by Jack Megan on October 5, 2001
JM:One of the things being talked about in the arts community is how the events of Sept. 11th have affected or will affect creative output. When one looks back at other major events - the Vietnam War, for example - one sees, in hindsight, its impact and influence on the world of film and music. September 11th was an event of such horrible impact and scale. Has it changed or do you see it changing the work you do in some way?
CO: On our show, it's just made us more thoughtful about each show. It's easy, especially after you've been doing this for as long as I have been - for eight years and almost 1,500 hours of these shows - it's easy to get into certain kinds of grooves or ruts. But since the 11th, we've been very deliberate about each show. Each day the mood changes and we try to respond to the mood of that day. So obviously our first show back was very different from our second show back, which was different from our third show back. So we're just taking baby steps. It's a lot like feeling your way through a cave. We're just going slowly and trying to "sus" out what feels appropriate that day.
So each day we put more comedy in. You know, last night, for example, was a really fun show. We got Will Ferrell (sp) from Saturday Night Live. He dressed as a leprechaun and ran around the audience, and people really liked it - I think because it was silly and really had nothing to do with anything. It's probably the silliest show we've done since we got back, and probably the first show we've done since we got back when we didn't even discuss the 11th - which is just a sign of the times.
At a certain point, our job is just to entertain - you know, the way Vaudevillians entertained during the Blitz - and you just at a certain point have to do your job.
Of course, obviously we stayed away from certain areas, like making fun of Bush and the government and things like that.
JM: Do you think you'll be able to go back to things like that in time?
CO: Oh, yeah! I mean, it wouldn't be America if we couldn't go back to making fun of the President and that's part of what makes it a good country. Just in the way that Congress will start to disagree with the President at some point. They'll start to be contentious again, which isn't the worst thing in the world. It just means that people are thinking for themselves.
JM: You describe yourself right now as being in a "feeling out"
process. At some point, though, I suppose we move beyond that just as
you say. But will there be lasting effects, which will influence the world
of entertainment and comedy? Are things somehow changed now?
CO: Yeah. I guess what I think is that this event - the 11th - is going to change our society, but I don't think anybody can tell me how. I don't think anybody can say how. We don't know how it's going to change. So I'm vary wary of that sort of thing.
Like right after this happened, Vanity Fair was trying to say, "Irony is Dead!" And you know, that's so silly, because we don't know that. I mean we may need irony now more than ever before. Who knows? Who's to say?
I don't think that six thousand, five hundred Americans can die in an hour on American soil and not have it change our country. I think it's going to change a lot of things. I just don't think we can - I'll put it this way, our culture is so impatient to figure everything out immediately. The media always wants to be able to tell you right away what's going to be different. And I think this is a time when no one knows.
I mean everyone running around saying that there's going to be no-more frivolity - that silly comedies are out and it's going to be dramas from now on. Or saying that people are going to want love stories; violence is going to be gone from all movies. But you don't know. Who knows? I mean, there may be more violent movies than ever. I don't think there should be, but people may channel their aggression more.
I just don't think that anyone can predict how this is going to change us, which is why here at the Late Night Show, we've had no overall plan. We just really try to figure out every show that day.
JM: O.K., so if I can't get you to predict future impact, then let's focus
on the show you'll be taping this afternoon. Comedy is many things --
its content, its formula, its timing and delivery. If you can break your
craft into its component parts, what changes the most?
CO: Well, as far as content and formula goes, we were fortunate that our show always had a very silly sense of humor that's kind of abstract. So we've done a little more of that. You know, some shows only do topical humor. That's their content - and I think that they're in a tougher place because there are some shows that just get all their material from the news - and while we've been a show that does some of that, we live off the news maybe a third of the time. Two-thirds of the time we do really silly bits that make fun of me, or use puppets, or we do remotes - and so we've been relying on that two-thirds a lot rather than thinking about the one-third. The formula doesn't change and the content has to change less than some other shows.
As for delivery, the thing we try to do on our shows - these shows that I do - they're very different than "sit-coms" or dramas because I'm a real person. I'm not an actor playing somebody. So we're trying to be really honest with our audience. Not avoid the topic. So I'd say just about every night it comes up with one of our guests.
On the other hand, I'm not trying to drag my audience through it. Obviously, the first shows back, you need to address it because it would be disrespectful not to. You had to. It was the white elephant in the room.
JM: So many artists and entertainers are desperate for an audience. But your situation is different in that you speak to America every night. Do you feel a kind of burden or sense of responsibility in that role at a time like this?
CO: The way I'm looking at it is it's not my job to reconcile the world to what's happened in America, you know? I have a comedy show. And if people feel like comedy's all right, they can choose to turn me on. And if they don't feel like it, they can choose not to. But I'll be here doing my job if they need that. And I think that's the thing to keep in mind - that no-one's being forced to watch any particular show. And I think I would be doing a disservice to people if every night I was doing only serious and sober because that's what CNN and just about every other talk show does. So if someone wants relief or, you know, wants to try and laugh a little, we'll be here trying to do our thing.
JM: So let's go back to the topic of September 11th and its future impact
on the arts and creative output? You've already said that no-body knows
what the future holds. So is this whole discussion just silly? Are we
all just blowing a lot of hot air? Is this little more than self-indulgent
navel gazing in the artistic community?
CO: Well, you know, we live in a culture that blows hot air. I mean, that's what we do. So people are free to talk about it and think about it, but I think it's important to remember that this thing is a lot bigger than us. I have no problem accepting that this is something much, much bigger than me. And while I don't know where it goes, I think that what every artist has to do is to try to be honest about it, about how they're experiencing it.
Yes, I'm sure it has affected me and changed my show in ways that I may not even realize. I mean, my show has been much less frenetic. And I think I've changed in subtle ways that I'm probably not even aware of. Everybody just has to - to the best of their ability - do their job, and this event will consciously or subconsciously have an impact on your art. An impact on what you do. But to try to get too self-conscious about it is kind of silly.
You know, we've all been shot out of a cannon and it's sort of like we're all trying to figure out in mid-air where we're going to land. You know what I mean? We're all being asked in mid-air, soaring through the circus tent, what our landing's going to be like and are we going to hit the net or not. And at the end of the day, everyone's just guessing.
It's not up to artists to decide how our work is changed or will change.
That's for other people to decide. Everything we're talking about now
is for people thirty years from now to write a dissertation on. They can
look at old tapes, at paintings - you know, and talk about how everything
changed in 2001. But it's kind of hard to figure it out now.
