Conan O’Brien Must Go: Season 3 Roundtable Discussion Part I

Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend

Conan O'Brien joins his creative team—Mike Sweeney, Jessie Gaskell, and Jose Arroyo—to discuss the behind-the-scenes chaos of his travel ser

Key takeaways

• The team faced significant bureaucratic challenges filming in India due to past permit issues from 2004.
• A standout moment in India involved meeting an inspiring fan named Rusty and his intense, shotgun-wielding father.

Main topics

• Conan O'Brien Must Go Season 3
• Filming challenges in India

Notable quotes

I think this might be our best season yet.

Conclusion

The episode offers a delightful look at the unscripted, often chaotic

Transcript preview

Speaker 5 (0:03) Conan O'Brien needs a fan. Want to talk to Conan? Visit teamcoco.com slash call Conan. Okay, let's get started. Speaker 2 (0:12) Hello, Conan O'Brien here. And this is a very special episode that we're doing, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, because I am sitting here with the creative masterminds behind my travel show, Conan O'Brien Must Go. By the time this drops, all four episodes will finally be out. India, Netherlands, Morocco, Philippines. I'm very proud of these shows. I think this might have been our best season yet. I think there's a lot of funny and even some heartwarming stuff in those episodes. And I'm thrilled to be here with the team that's been with me on all of my travel shows going back to the very beginning. And I'm talking about Mike Sweeney. Hello, Mike. Hello, Conan. Well, and now we're losing. We are dropping fans by the ratings drop off right there. Yeah. Hello. Jesse Gaskell. Hi, Jesse. Hi, Conan. And that was a little more sincere. And then. You know him as Dr. Arroyo. I know him as Jose Arroyo. He's an actual human being, sort of. Jose, how are you? Hi. Hi, Speaker 4 (1:24) Conan. Speaker 2 (1:25) And guys, we have been working together on travel shows going back years and years and years. The 80s, that's right. The 1980s, when we traveled to, the Berlin Wall was still up. Yeah, Speaker 5 (1:39) that Speaker 2 (1:39) was Speaker 5 (1:39) us. We actually Speaker 2 (1:40) caused the Berlin Wall to fall. I was doing a bit with Jordan and we slammed into it. And then Putin, everyone was like, ah, what the fuck, let it go. I almost said Putin, but that's historically inaccurate. It would have been Yeltsin. Conan, stop it. Anyway, let's talk about these shows. Speaker 2 (1:58) I made this statement that this might be my favorite season. You guys can weigh in. And I'm not just saying that in the I think this is our best yet kind of shtick. I was very proud of these. Yeah. They're all quite different. A bunch of these are countries that we always wanted to go to and it never quite worked out. It's Speaker 5 (2:18) really the furthest flung season, I think. We've traveled far. To get to these places. Speaker 2 (2:23) Yes. Yes. And if you go by just mileage alone, these are our best shows. And it all starts with I'm Speaker 3 (2:32) going Speaker 2 (2:32) to start us off on India because that was the first episode that dropped. And Mike, maybe you can speak to this, but India was on our wish list for a long time. I think there were some bureaucratic difficulties, if I'm correct. Self Speaker 5 (2:52) -inflicted. Speaker 2 (2:53) Probably self-inflicted. But Mike, why don't you lay the table a little bit for our long journey starting years ago to go to India? Speaker 1 (3:02) It started in 2017. We were putting India together. And there is a lot of red tape, a lot of bureaucracy to shoot in India. I'm sure. If you wanted to start a petrochemical plant, it's smooth sailing. But to shoot a TV show, it's rough. And so, and then it turned out we shot something in 2004 without any permits. And that someone dug that up and dinged us for that. So on the eve of going. We pulled the plug because we still didn't have an answer. And instead, in two weeks, we planned you going to Italy with Jordan. Yeah, I remember that. We were going to go to Italy, Speaker 2 (3:48) but because Speaker 1 (3:48) of a Speaker 2 (3:49) kind of weird rogue remote that we did years and years earlier. Andy Blitz. Andy Blitz, very funny writer, had a very funny idea, which is he's having problems with his computer. And he's talking to someone at the call center, which, of course, is in India. And he's having difficulty. So he wraps his computer up, puts it under his arm, gets on a plane and takes it to India, which is a very funny idea. Of course, we meant no offense to anybody. But none. What we didn't because we're all wet behind the ears. And Andy Blitz and I can say this. I don't think this is legally actionable. He's Speaker 3 (4:29) a Speaker 2 (4:29) fool. Speaker 3 (4:31) Andy Blitz. Brilliant. Speaker 2 (4:33) No one got any permissions or anything. It was just sort of shot guerrilla style. And that caused us to be put on some list. But it all worked out. And our huge thanks to the government and everyone involved in letting us come to India. We had a wonderful time. It is one of my favorite places to visit. It's spectacular. Yes. India is a spectacular place. I cannot say enough good things about our experience there. And I loved, there's one fan that really, he's one of my all-time favorite fans, and that's Rusty. Speaker 5 (5:14) Yeah. Speaker 2 (5:14) Unbelievable. Just a special guy. I mean, from the Speaker 5 (5:17) first 10 seconds. Of you meeting him. I met him Speaker 2 (5:21) as the way these shows work is it always starts kind of with a random fan calling into us and I talk to them on the podcast. And you speak to this, Jesse. He was just electric right away. He came in really hot and funny doing a million bits. Speaker 5 (5:37) Yeah. Speaker 2 (5:37) And then we. Which could Speaker 5 (5:40) go either way sometimes. I mean, sometimes people try that and it's like, ah, this didn't. This didn't work. Yes, they're trying Speaker 2 (5:46) too hard Speaker 5 (5:46) or it Speaker 4 (5:47) comes Speaker 2 (5:47) off awkward. He just. He owned it. He owned it. He was, you know, he's that great quality of he was hilarious and also sweet. And yes, then you add to that that, you know, he's, you know, been been dealing with an ailment since birth. He's been dealing with this and he's confined to a wheelchair and he is. the most sunny, optimistic, hilarious, forward-thinking, live-in-the-moment guy. Yeah, Speaker 5 (6:21) he's inspiring. Speaker 2 (6:22) He's really inspiring. And so going and visiting him and meeting his parents, it's one of my favorite, because if you watch this episode, and I hope you do, everything that happened in Rusty's house with his family, you can't... invent any of that. It is un-inventable. You cannot script that. It was just a happening. Jose, why don't you weigh in? But keep it much shorter than everyone else. Speaker 4 (6:55) First of all, everything you said is true. We couldn't have planned the... Rusty is his own character. Very dynamic. Very funny. His father is off the charts. You know, incredible as well. He's almost as tall as you. Very outspoken. Has kind of a military bearing. No Speaker 1 (7:17) filter. Speaker 4 (7:17) And no filter. And brought Speaker 1 (7:19) his own sound effects. And then at Speaker 2 (7:23) one point, the dad leaves the room to go get something and comes back carrying a giant shotgun. Yes. Speaker 1 (7:30)