Name: Conan O’Brien's Embarrassing White House Moment | Letterman
Uploaded: 2022-02-01T16:12:42.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Conan O’Brien's Embarrassing White House Moment | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-02-01. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Conan O’Brien's Embarrassing White House Moment | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-02-01. Transcript available.

Welcome to the show. Welcome to the Ed Sullivan Theater.
This is beautiful. Fantastic.
It's a pleasure to have you here.
You know, even if I wasn't somehow involved in this story,
I would be fascinated by it.
Don't you think?
Yes, yes. It's a fascinating story, the whole thing.
How have things gone for you over there?
How has it been kind of more of an adjustment
than you thought it might be moving?
You were primarily a writer, I guess, before this.
Yes, yes. I had done some performing,
but there are a lot of things, as you know, to get used to.
It's a very complicated job.
I mean, I didn't understand this when I took the job,
but there's someone called a stage manager on these shows.
I'm sorry, what did you say, Conan?
A stage manager. Oh.
Yes. You should write this down, Dave.
You see, Dave, TV's a very complicated thing.
I'll talk to you after the show.
Anyway, there are these stage managers.
I didn't know this was part of the deal.
Their job is to give you these signals,
like two minutes left, one minute, 30 seconds.
They keep you posted.
They keep you posted.
They're your connection to the control room.
That's right, exactly.
And you get some strange ones.
I mean, about three weeks ago on the show,
I'm doing an interview.
It seems to be going well.
And they hold up a card that says,
wipe your chin.
And I felt like Ronald Reagan or something.
It was very...
I mean, I remember thinking,
is this part of the deal?
You know?
I felt like a complete idiot.
And of course,
everyone in the whole studio knew that I was drooling.
I didn't know.
They hold up a card
and the whole audience can see it.
Wipe your chin, idiot.
They said, wipe your chin, idiot.
It was an, oh my God.
We had a supermodel.
We had a supermodel on the show.
Beautiful woman.
Which one?
I don't know, Dave.
It was a one night stand.
I don't know.
Hey, hello.
Look out.
And, no, but she came out wearing a slip
that was just barely,
she was barely wearing this slip.
And the interview is,
I'm about three minutes into the interview.
I'm in the moment.
I'm talking to her.
We're having a good conversation.
When they wave a card that says,
her breast is showing.
Whoa!
And it occurred to me,
why are you showing me this card?
What can I do about this?
If I try and,
if I try and correct the problem,
I will be sued.
That's right.
They want me to leave.
One, one false move
and you're in handcuffs.
I was more than happy to try,
but it's very,
the other thing I've noticed,
you don't have this problem anymore.
You may never have had this problem.
But when you do a 1230 show,
I've noticed that when people compliment you
on an episode,
they also feel obligated to tell you
why they were up that late.
And it's very funny.
I mean, people come up to me,
they say, you know,
I saw you with Lisa Gibbons.
You were really,
it was a great interview.
I really liked it.
Someone pulled a fire alarm
in our building.
And so, you know,
I was coming back into the house.
The TV was on.
Or someone will say,
someone will say,
I saw you with Rich Hall.
It was a very funny segment.
I burned my hand
about two days ago.
And I have an ointment
or a bomb
that I have to apply
every few hours.
Every few hours.
And so I was applying the bomb.
The TV happened to be on
and it was not a bad show at all.
Time for the medication
and I'm just using it as a nightlight.
Saw you right there.
So it keeps my ego in check.
I know more about people's maladies now
than I ever do.
You know, you do.
I was on,
you were nice enough
to have me on the show
a few months ago,
two or three months ago.
You were nice enough to come.
It was great.
And when I watched the show,
I'm very impressed
because it always looks like
you and your staff,
a bunch of hardworking,
smart people
doing a great show.
And I think it still continues
to be very impressive.
Thank you very much.
I do appreciate it.
We got a...
You know,
here are stage managers.
They take naps
next to the camera.
I've noticed that.
He's out cold.
You received a...
Oh, that's good, Biff.
Thank you very much.
I'm trying.
I'm trying.
I'm doing the best I can.
Put that away
and go back to sleep.
Thank you.
I was told that you received a...
Like, was it a fan letter
from the White House
from President Clinton?
Yes, President Clinton
sent me a letter,
said he was a fan of the show.
I think Hee Haw
also got a letter.
But no, I was very impressed.
I got the letter
and then he followed it up
by inviting me to the White House.
That's very nice.
And yeah, it was terrific.
It was for...
This is true.
It was for prominent Irish-Americans.
It was on St. Patrick's Day.
And I don't know
why I wouldn't laugh at that.
But there were some very famous people.
Richard Harris was there.
Michael Keaton was there.
And then there was some...
I think Donnie Most
from Happy Days was there.
Also, I didn't know he was Irish.
Ralph Mouth.
It turns out he isn't even Irish.
He just has red hair.
And so they invited him to.
And I thought,
this is a great opportunity.
I'm going to get a...
You know, when I meet Clinton,
I want it to be this great exchange
that I can then live off of
for the rest of my life.
Looking for a moment.
I wanted a great moment.
I'm in comedy.
I can just tell this story,
you know, for a hundred years afterwards
about my great meeting
with the president
and what did I say.
So I'm in line.
You wait in this long line
to meet the president.
And I'm thinking,
I might give him one of these,
you know,
it's nice to meet you.
Gotcha.
You know, I might try,
I might try something a little...
Something punky, sure.
Yeah, something a little punky
that I can then tell people
and they'll be like,
wow, you did that?
So I'm thinking in the line,
I'm thinking in the line
and you get to the head of the line.
It's like a ride at Disney.
Suddenly you go over the top,
a gate opens,
you get to the end of the line
and you're,
I'm shot out right there
to President Clinton.
And I froze.
I completely froze.
All those, you know,
wise Alec ideas
go right out of your head.
And the president said,
this is Colonel O'Brien.
He's one of our
late night talk show hosts
and he is,
this is my Clinton,
by the way.
Yeah.
Very effective.
Yeah, I'm just telling you.
I'm not an impressionist,
but...
Could have been Reagan too.
Yeah.
It's all purpose.
Your all purpose
presidential impression.
This is my all purpose
impression.
It could be so many people.
And anyways,
he's one of our
late night talk show hosts
and his people are from Ireland.
And the prime minister
of Ireland is right there.
And the prime minister
of Ireland said,
tell me,
where are you from?
Where are your people from?
And the prime minister
leans in like,
I really want to know.
And Clinton leans in.
Like, oh man,
this is going to be good.
Yeah.
He leans in too.
And there's this moment
and I said,
I don't know.
And immediately,
immediately the line
pushes past me.
Donnie,
Donnie Most was next.
He said something
really clever.
You know,
he hung out
with the president all night.
You become
an instant boo.
Yeah.
And so,
yeah,
later that night
I'm trying to live off
this story.
Like,
you know what I said to him?
I don't know.
You know,
it sounds a little like
Clinton,
a little like Reagan
and a little like
Clint Eastwood.
So you have
kind of a whole thing
going there.
You have, yeah,
it's a collage.
You know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.
I don't know what I said to him.