Conan O’Brien Must Go Season 3, Chris Fleming Late-Night Pitch, and Eric Andre Airport Settlement

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Featured: Conan O’Brien, Chris Fleming, Marc Marin, Byron Allen, Seth Meyers, Eric Andre

What’s in This Episode

• Conan O’Brien Must Go Season 3 announced with India, Netherlands, Morocco, and Philippines episodes
• Conan discusses improvisational comedy approach and finding humor in travel mishaps
• Chris Fleming profiled in Harper’s Bazaar with Late Night hosting pitch
• Chris Fleming’s philosophy on stage performance and avoiding personality-driven comedy
• Byron Allen’s 2025 late-night success at 12:30 slot beating Seth Meyers
• Eric Andre airport settlement mentioned in episode title

Questions Answered in This Episode

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Full Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.

Caloroga Shark Media from Poolside, where it’s eighty two degrees, portly cloudy and a UV index of eight times. Johnny Mac with your Daily Comedy News out today on HBO Max. Isn’t what we’re calling it This week, Conan O’Brien Must Go Season three, four new episodes. Conan O’Brien Must Go to India, the Netherlands, Morocco, and the Philippines. Conde Nas said, Hey, Conan, you seem like you were having a blast making the show.

Conan said, it was a little bit of both. Let’s say we had a terrific fan was from Cleveland, Ohio. I wouldn’t go visit that fan because that isn’t kind of the travel I want to be doing. No knock on Cleveland. Good thing he cleared that up.

Cleveland’s gonna get mad. Deacon Mike lives in Cleveland. He’ll be throwing stuff across the room. You’re like, hey, that deacon. He seems pretty friendly.

Oh no, no, no, I’ve seen him throw. We used to work at a radio station together. I’ve seen him throw a reel to reel. I’ve seen it. Hi, Deacon Mike, I digress Conan’s not coming to see you, Deacon Mike Conan says, So sometimes I’ll find a great fan and realize, oh, there from Norway.

Wouldn’t I love to go to Norway? First, it looks great, but it’s also a great cultural contrast. I’m very techtile I insert myself into people’s personal space. The Norwegians don’t like that. So then to think, well, this could be a funny dynamic, and that makes us want to meet that fan even more.

Conan explains, you want a country to be visually interesting, you also want it to be a placed where maybe it’s customs and culture are going to provide a great setting for a Fish out of Water story. A lot of thought goes into each episode, but so much of what ends up happening is very Gorilla style. They were curious how much improv comedy happens in the show. Conan explained, I was never a stand up comedian. I got started doing improvisational comedy, and that’s really my comfort zone.

I love trying to make something happen. If I just met you on the street and we started talking, I’d probably try to make something fun happen in the moment, and those moments often yield good results. That’s part of my inspiration for doing the show Pool’s Eye, aside from its eighty two with a UV index of eight, and I don’t want to be inside do I hear the landscapers? Conan said, the people I met were so funny and had a real sense of irony. They were really good comedic partners.

I’ve never shtrung up to shoot comedy at strangers. I’m there to try and get a spark between us and see what happens. What I learned from doing comedy in front of an audience every night is you may go in with an idea of what you’re going to talk about, but the greatest thing in the world is an accident. If David Bowie’s on the show and something goes wrong, perhaps his coffee mug breaks accidentally because it was cracked. That’s not a disaster.

I’ll jump in here. That sounds like a very specific, made up scenario. I’m guessing that actually happened. Gonan says, when you travel, things don’t always go to plan. They just don’t.

And if you’re ready to find the humor in it and improvise and figure out another way, you’re gonna have a great trip. Making the show as a combination of preparing for something and then preparing for things to go another way completely. I’m at my happiest when things are a little off kilter. I don’t know why, but on all the years that I was doing my late night show, I was at my commas when things got chaotic. That’ll bring us in a few minutes to my Chris Fleming premise, make twelve thirty great again.

We’ll get there. Stay with me. We’re still in the Conin article Goen it said, I always remember there’s another audience, which is the camera, so that when I fail, I can turn to them and look slightly deflated, and they might understand, even in joy seeing things not necessarily going my way, if to remind myself that it’s not just me and this person who perhaps doesn’t know what I’m talking about. Harper’s bizarre profiled Chris Fleming. Now hear me out here.

I know some of you like Seth Myers a little more than I do, but the President and I are aligned on this issue. We need to make twelve thirty great again. I mean, Seth Myers is in the middle of a seven week vacation as anyone crying out going, Oh, I really miss Seth Myers. No, it is time to make twelve thirty weird again. In the great tradition of Late Night with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O’Brien, I propose to you it is time for Late Night with Chris Fleming.

Let’s give him the slot. What are we going to do with Seth Myers Dunn? Oh, he can go on Peacock, don’t know, make twelve thirty great again? Harper’s bizarre rites. It’s not loud enough for Chris Fleming.

It’s a Tuesday night in June near West Hollywood, Nearly three ind fans that packed the Largo for Chris Fleming and Friends, a recurring variety show hosted by Chris Fleming. He opens the evening, performs between sets, and brings out a rotating lineup of surprise guests. He takes the stage a few minutes after eight, dressed in a vintage electric teal two piece, a sleeveless collar top and built bottom pants. That’s a little David Bowie with a hint of evil. Can evil exactly?

This is what we need? At twelve thirty on NBC, The crowd is howling, multiple people are in tears, and yet the laughter is not quite where Chris Fleming wants it to be. He thinks he’s losing people. After the show, Chris told the reporter, I don’t have a thing that a lot of comics have where there’s an unfillable void in me until it comes to the volume of laughter. It’s almost like you’re conducting.

I’m completely in their experience as well as my own, and I’m so in my own world. It’s brutal. I can’t not say what’s on my mind about how they’re not reacting. Mark Marin said Fleming really has an amazing freedom of mind on stage. A lot of the connections he’s making in terms of how he moves around the stage and the mannic seemingly stream of consciousness and method he’s chosen.

It’s a rare thing to be improvisationally that flexible. Fleming says, I’m just delivering the news. You never want yourself to be the thing people are obsessed with. You want your ideas to be the thing people are obsessed with. No one gives a hoot about me.

They want the product I’m working on. If you’re the personality You’re cooked. That last special on HBO was me firing at the height of my powers. He decided to become a comedian. He said, my mom was like, how do you think you’re going to get cash?

You need to write your own material. Old Chris Fleming began studying performers he considered singular that list. Let’s know this list, Richard Simmons, Robin Williams, Ricky Martin, Eddie Zord, Steve Martin, Michael Jackson, Maria Bamford, and Michael Flatley of Lord of the Dance. You know what do you throw all that in a blunder? I get it.

We are told. What united them was not a style as much as a totality, a commitment to physicality, spectacle, and a persona and tyler their own. We’ll keep it with Late Night for a while. There was a resurfaced interview from Byron Allen back in May when Colbert was rinding down. Apparently Byron Allen had a heated conversation with NPR journalist Alyssa Cheng, who kept asking Byron Allen if he was asked by CBS and Paramount not to do politics.

Sounds like she didn’t do her research it is well known. Maybe it’s just because I host a comedy podcast. I think it’s well known that Byron Allen has told people as he says it. I said twenty years ago, don’t do anything political, don’t do anything racist, sexist, any of that. Twenty years ago because the stuff ages and gets dated.

Now, this was when Byron’s show was still on at twelve thirty and said we won this since September. We’re beating Seth Myers, who’s been on way longer than eighteen months. I’d have to fact check that. But first of all, let me say loud and clear, never bet against Byron all The guy’s a billionaire for a reason. He is super smart.

If you’ve listened to interviews with him, that comes across, and he’s very, very likable when you listen to him. But if he was beating Seth Myers and we An, NBC should have Chris Fleming on. On Monday, Byron Allan said, now what’s happening. You have to look at this because we go by the numbers. Remember it’s a business show, not show business.

The repeats on political humor, when you do a show, the repeats are negative, negative fifty two percent the shows that are doing political humor, the repeats negative fifty two percent, the repeats on comics unleashed negative fourteen percent. Why because I’m not talking about something that happened eight weeks ago or twelve weeks ago. Alan said for a while he wanted to create comics on leash for his comedian buddies because he didn’t feel at that time twenty years ago, and there was a good form for diverse voices, and he wanted to be super clear. CBS does not give notes quotes. I want to be clear.

I have absolutely not had any conversations with anybody at CBS or parents about what to say or not to say. Politics are no boundaries. CBS has not given any notes, any feedback about don’t be political again, don’t bet against that man. The writers from Stephen Colbert’s show have a little bit of work. Risco hargatea who is this year’s Emmy host, has revealed that she’s working with the writers from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

She told Deadline, we’re at the beginning stages, so we’re throwing out a lot of different ideas. I’m working with an incredible team of writers. The writers from Colbert. We’ve been meeting a lot and discussing a lot and pitching a lot of ideas. We’re pitching so many ideas.

She sounds like Trump. There the greatest ideas. These are the best ideas from food business dot Net. You’re home for comedy news. Guillermo from Jimmy Kimmel.

His salsa brand, Guillermo’s, is going nationwide. Now, John, you probably want to make fun of this because you made a lot of fun of Jim Gaffigan bourbon and I know I’ve learned my lesson Jim Gaffigan Award winning bourbon maker. I could still make fun of George Lopez tacos, but I’m not going to bet against Guillermo. Here. Giermo said, I’ve always wanted to have my own salsa, and I’m very happy.

The salsa is so good. It’s fresh and authentic. The president of the company is a guy named Chris Kirby, who said Guillermo’s is not just a celebrity brand. That’s obviously what gets us a lot of attention, you think, but we really think the product is the star. Guillermo might get consumers to try the product once, but taste is what gets them to buy it again.

Now, despite what mister Kirby said, here’s this next quote. I made the salsa and sent it to Geirmo, and Girmo said, yep, this is good, and I would put my name on this. That’s all we needed. So it’s really Kirby Salsa with Giirmo’s face on it, dude. Girmo s also comes in mild, medium, and hot varieties, ingredients from micro Dice for consistent texture and taste.

Mister Kirby says, you’ll find that taste in every single bite. Sebastian Maniscalco was on the tonight show starring Jimmy Fallon. He talked about the Sebastian impression that Marcelo Hernandez does and told Fallon, I’m wondering how I get on the show. My dad’s upset. He’s like, what’s going on?

They’re imitating you and making all this money off and you’re not even there. But Sebastian said, it’s good, very flattering. I don’t even know if Harry Styles knew who I was. I think they probably had to show him a video and go, could you do this? You never know who knows and doesn’t.

Another reminder I do another show. It’s called five Good News Stories every day, five things that went right in the world. No politics, no outrage, just good news. It’s like five minutes long, comes out four days a week. Those days are Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

So if you listened to yesterday, you gotta wait till tomorrow. But anyway, follow the show where if you find this one and it is Friday, it is time for the Comedy stock Market. Take it away, Burt Reynolds, Comedy stock Market. I don’t want to force this as a segment. I don’t really have a lot of ideas.

A lot of the news this week was around people like Sheen Gillis, and we bought some Sheen Gillis stock last week, so if you want to buy more Shane Gillis, sure, buy more Sheen Gillis. I do think we should buy some stock in a landscaping company. With the amount of landscapers just surrounding my house, there’s apparently a lot of business in northern New Jersey. Maybe we open a landscaping company and forget about this podcasting nonsense. Let’s also buy some stock in Dean Cook.

If you called yesterday’s DCN Live. I talked a little bit about the new Deane Cook movie that is coming out in September. I will do a deeper peace about that on Monday’s audio podcast. But let’s buy some stock in Dane Cook and a landscaping company and maybe Sheen gillis no sells this week not feeling negative and that’s a pretty boring comedy stock market. On this Friday, we have a bunch of legal stories to go over.

Comedians Eric Andre and Clayton English have reached a settlement in a lawsuit that they had filed challenging a police program at the Atlanta Airport that they said used racial profiling and coercive searches just as airline passengers, particularly black passengers, were about to board their flights. The lawsuit, originally filed in twenty twenty two, alleged to the two men were racially profiled and illegally stopped at the airport in Atlanta. The men said officers at the airport had singled them out because they were black and grilled them about drugs while other passengers watched. In the lawsuit, eric Andre called the experience dehumanizing and demoralizing. Eric Andre said in a press release.

It’s a major victory that Clayton County has confirmed that it has ended this program and is now taking steps to prevent this type of abuse from happening in the future. English said in the release, what happened to me was wrong, and I wasn’t willing to let it happen to other people. The county Board of Commissioners authorized a payment of thirty thousand dollars, half goes to each comedian. The county also agreed to require police officers as sign of the airports who use body worn cameras and to undergo training on constitutional limits. Police records sided in the lawsuit showed that between August thirtieth, twenty twenty two April thirtieth, twenty twenty one, there were four hundred and two jet bridge stops.

Of the four hundred two, race was listed in three hundred and seventy eight of those stops. Of those three hundred and seventy eight passengers, two hundred and eleven, fifty six percent were black and people of color accounted for two hundred and fifty eight total stops, or sixty eight percent. The four hundred two stops also resulted in three reported drug seizures. The board here says that yielded more than one million dollars in cash on money orders from a total of twenty five passengers over at the Fringe Festival. A venue has accepted that it discriminated against a Jewish comedian when it canceled his show at last year’s Fringe.

Philip Simon was due to perform his show last year, but the venue scrapped at its short notice after it carried out quote routine unquote checks on a social media currently. Reports last year say that the venue told short all that Philip Simon’s views aligned with quote groups associated with humanitarian violations. Philip Simon suggested he had been canceled quote just for being Jewish. And in China, a stand up comedian considered one of China’s most influential cultural figures, has been placed under investigation and had some performances canceled. Wow Djang is China’s best known comic.

He was accused of violating public morals after he improvised his own lyrics to a famous Chinese revolutionary song. He was reported to the city’s Culture and Tourism Bureau by a complainant who said that the comedian had none not only distorted and vulgarized a classic revolutionary work, but also violated public morals and accepted standards of conduct. The song in question, playing My Beloved Pipa I Believe It’s pronounced, is said to capture the resilient spirit of communist gerilla forces fighting the Japanese during the Sino Japanese War. The original lyrics are quote the sun is about to set in the west, all is quiet on the Waishan Lake. The comedian switched the lyric to all is quiet in the Forbidden City.

The Wuhan Culture and Tourism Buro said the adapted portion performed by the comedian was not included in the material submitted for prior approval and is suspected of violating the Regulations on the Administration of Commercial Performances. Dave Chappelle, remember that story next time you’re claiming you’re canceled. And that is your comedy news for today tomorrow. The Deep Dive is about Robert Shimmel. I got to work with him a lot.

It’s like twenty years ago now. He was a good guy and a Greek comedian, and like a lot of comedians from the beginning of this century. Dean Cook on that list as well. Kind of been forgotten and oak shadowed by the bro podcaster YouTube era, but there were some great comics. I’m going to talk about John Pinnette in an upcoming week.

People seem to like the Ralphie May one from last Saturday, so tomorrow we’ll do Robert Shimmel. I think I may have said in the Facebook group that I was doing Pinnett, but Pinette is probably two weeks out, maybe three weeks out, because I do want to do some Jerry Lewis stuff for Labor Day weekend. I get to do the math on that. How that falls. No, that Labor Day is the seventh, so probably Shimmel and then John Pinnette.

Anyway, follow the show wherever you get your podcasts and download it tomorrow and you’ll see who I wound up talking about. Bye,

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