Sometimes gallows humor is the best medicine. On this week’s episode of Conan O’Brien’s podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend,” guest and longtime Conan buddy Will Arnett told an amazing tale.
When Arnett heard that Conan’s dad Dr. Thomas F. O’Brien, a professor at Harvard Medical School, died at age 95 at his Brookline home last December, Arnett immediately texted his sympathies.
Addressing Conan on the podcast, Arnett read that text aloud: “’Hey listen, I’m sorry to hear about your dad passing. Sending love from our family to yours.’ And you wrote back, ‘Thank you, Will. To be honest, I blame [Jason] Bateman.’”
Bateman is Arnett’s BFF/“Arrested Development” alum/“SmartLess” podcast cohost with Sean Hayes.
Arnett continued the tale: “So I wrote, ‘It’s not a terrible theory.’ And Conan texted me back: ‘He killed my dad.’”
Conan laughed: “In fairness, my dad would’ve loved this.”
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The Brookline native is good friends with the group; they have a running joke that he can’t stand Bateman. O’Brien even joined the trio in Boston in ’22 to record a live “SmartLess” episode. The ’23 episode also aired on the HBO docuseries, “SmartLess: On the Road” — and is absolutely worth the watch or listen if you missed it.
The tale goes on.
Arnett told Bateman what Conan texted; the two laughed about it, Arnett recalled. The next day, Bateman texted Conan: “Arnett tells me you’re on to me.”
Conan replied: “Bateman, do yourself a favor. Turn yourself in.”
Three days after his dad’s death, Conan’s mom, Worcester native Ruth Reardon O’Brien, died at age 92 at their Brookline home.
Arnett immediately texted Conan: “Bateman is asking for your sister’s street address.”
A day and half later, Conan responded. “Just seeing this now. Fantastic … Tell Bateman to make it look like a robbery.”
Conan burst out laughing in the podcast studio.
“You know what’s weird? I swear to God, this is how I grieve. Everyone has their way,” the Harvard alum said.
“I’m a sick person. But I do know, my parents, who I’m very sentimental about … a big driving force in my life was making them laugh. And I used to think about it: ‘Am I going to want to do comedy after my parents are gone?’ Because that was the whole reason I did everything. [So] it was so comforting to me to screw around with you guys at that moment … If that makes me a madman, then so be it.”
“No, I get that, man. If you didn’t laugh you’d cry. You’re still emoting, you’re still feeling,” Arnett said. “I can’t wait til my parents die. I’ve got so many bits ready to go.”
Lots of us, apparently, relate to O’Brien’s gallows humor.
The clip trended on Twitter Tuesday and Wednesday, earning some 7.2 million views on one clip, with other posts including comments:
- “All my friends are like this and they are so necessary when the awful stuff happens. Trust me”
- “‘Make it look like a robbery’ took me out lmao”
- “timely example of how grief looks wildly different depending on the person, and often comes with gallows humor, which is HEALING.”
- “this is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life”
And comments on Instagram:
- “This full text exchange deserves to be in the Smithsonian”
- “My Dad passed in 2022 … Bateman”
The full clip — and Conan’s laugh here — is well worth the watch.
Lauren Daley can be reached at ldaley33@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @laurendaley1.
