Conan O’Brien is often on the lookout for a friend, but he recently took a break from that to have some hot sauce, which is good to do every once in a while. The comedian/former talk show host/Now You See Me star sat down with Sean Evans for a new episode of First We Feast’s Hot Ones, and the power of hot sauce always tends to bring out the worst in people.
As a longtime host, O’Brien has had his fair share of awkward interactions, and Evans wanted to know the worst thing a guest can do while being interviewed. As we know, it can get pretty awkward fast, even without all of the scorching hot sauce.
O’Brien said that the worst thing a guest can do is “tell the audience it’s not going well,” which is something a lot of guests seem to do when they don’t know what to say. He explained:
“I’ve seen it happen many times, it’s an amateur move because the host can do a lot to let people think it’s going great even if it’s not… there are many things the host can do… audience wants to see a good show, they want to see a good interview, and I was always amazed when someone would come out and they’d be doing OK… and then would just go, ‘This just isn’t going well is it?’… you look out at the audience and it be 200 people sitting there and I’d see 200 souls leave 200 bodies cause they were just told they were not getting a good show.”
This is why it’s so important to tell audiences exactly when to laugh or clap, regardless of whatever the guest is saying. When the audience is given too much power, it can get messy!!!
On the other hand, when Evans asked what future U.S. President O’Brien would want on his podcast, he knew exactly who would be a good guest. “Richard Nixon, Oh my god, it’d be fantastic. He’s such a comedy figure when you think about it and we could get him to [say] ‘Watergate’…and he would try to be funny. It would be fantastic,” he said. Somehow it seems like that would also not go over well with audiences.
Check out the full interview below: