When it comes to how he tries to resonate with people as a comedian, O’Brien said, “I realized for me back in ‘93 when I got in front of a national audience that I just had to hang on long enough for me to get comfortable in the job.”
“I also realized there was a B side to that,” he said, “which was people had to pick up on my rhythm, and they had to pick up on my, for lack of a better word, ‘vibe.’”
“That had to happen,” said O’Brien. “And that wasn’t going to happen overnight.”
“I was never the kid that was popular on the first day of school. Over a long period of time, people would pick up on what I was doing,” O’Brien said. “And I imagine what happens is you educate your audience [on] who you are and kind of what you’re about and then they grade you on that curve.”
“I think we’re seeing that with [President] Trump,” he added. “If other people said some of the things that Donald Trump said, it would be game over.”
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With regard to his career success, O’Brien said, “I have been showered with luck. I’ve worked really hard and I think I have decent instincts and I try to follow them, but the luck I’ve had is insane.”
O’Brien said that his friends and family help keep him grounded. “I know Ben can relate to this,” he said. “Your really good friends don’t care, you know, they don’t care that, oh, you just got elected senator.”
“You want friends that hold you accountable,” said O’Brien. “And my friends find me ridiculous. They tease me. I’m friends with a lot of the people I work with, who routinely mock me.”
“And then family. No one’s going to do it better than family,” he continued. “Like my wife, Liza, my kids, find me an object of scorn and ridicule…and I’m sure you have the same thing, Ben, where they didn’t care about—I mean your resumé, your achievements are off the charts—they don’t care.”
“‘Sen. Sasse’ is not a term that’s ever going to be spoken,” Sasse agreed. “My brother-in-law, six best buddies, it’s ‘jackass Ben.’ And if you ever acted like you thought you had some impressive title, they’ll beat the hell out of you.”
“Nothing gives you a perspective like having a family,” O’Brien observed. “I was the star of my life, and me and my show were the most important thing in the world until I [met] my wife. And then the minute my daughter was born and I was holding her, I thought, ‘Oh, I get it. I don’t matter anymore.’”
“And people would think that’s a negative, especially if you’re a egotistical comedian,” he said. “It wasn’t. It was like someone took this giant heavy suit of lead Flemish armor I was wearing and removed it. And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s about her.’”
“And then my son’s born. Oh, it’s about him,” said O’Brien. “Oh, I get it. My job is to do the best I can. But it’s really about them now.”
Conan O’Brien on the Power of Comedy
Conan O’Brien’s advice to young performers is “you have less to lose than you think you do.”
Some mistakes are terrible, but many mistakes aren’t. “No one’s caring about you as much as you’re caring about you,” he said. “No one’s keeping score.”
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