Paul Rudd and Conan O’Brien have been friends of at least some flavor for years at this point, a relationship that has been demonstrated, most consistently, via Rudd’s long string of appearances on O’Brien’s various late night shows. (And his choice of clips from his career to run when making said appearances.) But given that the whole premise of O’Brien’s Earwolf podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, is that he’s never managed to make a “real” friendship with any of the famouses he’s spent his career talking to, maybe it makes sense that he’d have Rudd on the show not once, but twice, to really nail this friendship thing down.
Of course, Rudd—who’s currently in post-production on Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania, and whose last major project was AppleTV+’s The Shrink Next Door—wouldn’t just show up for a return appearance on said podcast without something to promote. As it turns out, he’s been working on a new Audible show, crafting, with Ken Marino and Celia Weston, a new narrative podcast for fans to enjoy. Rudd spends fully two minutes setting up this new series, before innocently mentioning that, hey, he’s brought a clip. “We’ve recorded it,” Rudd notes, noose gently tightening. “If you want to play a little bit of it…”
“Sure!” says Conan O’Brien, consummate professional and guileless child. (This bit starts at 28:00 in the episode.)
And, reader? There is nothing in this world quite like hearing the immediate disappointed shock in Conan O’Brien’s voice as the clip starts playing, and he realizes that Paul Rudd—the Lucy-with-the-football of talk show guests—has actually, genuinely, gotten him with that goddamn Mac And Me clip again. After 25 years! He actually got him!
“Oh for Christ’s sake!” O’Brien yells, laughing. “Why? WHY?! You can’t do that on a podcast! It’s a visual joke.” “I know!” Rudd responds cheerfully. “It’s an audio medium!” “I know, would it work that way? I dunno!” Rudd responds, with joy. It’s beautiful chaos.
“Was there any truth to anything you said in the setup?” O’Brien asks.
“No.”
If that’s not friendship, what is?