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Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend

Arsenio Hall

30 Mar 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What does Arsenio Hall feel relieved about?

3.338 - 16.19 Arsenio Hall

Hi, my name is Arsenio Hall. And I feel relieved about being Conan O'Brien's friend.

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17.231 - 38.606 Sona Movsesian

Fall is here, hear the yell. Back to school, ring the bell. Brand new shoes, walkin' loose. Climb the fence, books and pens. I can tell that we are gonna be friends. Hey, welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend.

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38.967 - 40.432 Conan O'Brien

Sona, did you finish your string cheese?

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40.994 - 42.72 Matt Gourley

I did not. I still have it.

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42.74 - 51.845 Conan O'Brien

Sona, I look over. I'm about to start and Sona has string cheese hanging out her mouth and she's shaking her head like, don't go yet, don't go yet.

51.865 - 53.587 Unknown

You hit it so fast, Paul.

53.607 - 56.131 Conan O'Brien

You hit, you jammed it under the table.

56.191 - 57.633 Unknown

Yeah, I did. I'm holding it.

57.673 - 61.719 Conan O'Brien

Okay, well, be proud of your string cheese, you know? There you go. There we go.

Chapter 2: How did Arsenio Hall transition from magic to comedy?

61.739 - 63.321 Conan O'Brien

Yeah, how is it? Is it good string cheese?

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63.421 - 66.405 Sona Movsesian

It is good. Thank you for having it in the fridge.

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66.425 - 67.647 Conan O'Brien

I didn't know we had string cheese.

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67.667 - 69.289 Sona Movsesian

You don't do the grocery shopping.

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69.269 - 82.068 Conan O'Brien

I used to, and then about a week ago, I thought maybe I shouldn't do it anymore. I would always be rushing out just before guests were here. Al Pacino's almost here. I've got to go to the market. He likes his provolone.

82.108 - 84.992 Unknown

The market.

85.012 - 96.662 Conan O'Brien

The market. That's right. I said the market. That's like where people in a fairy tale go shopping. Papa Bear's down at the market with Goldilocks. Sona, good to see you.

97.023 - 97.885 Sona Movsesian

Good to see you too, boss.

97.905 - 101.212 Conan O'Brien

And we're also joined, of course, Matt Gourley is out.

Chapter 3: What challenges did Arsenio face while hosting his talk show?

101.272 - 107.545 Conan O'Brien

He's on paternity leave. And we're very happy for him. But David Hopping's sitting in with us. Hello. Yeah.

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107.726 - 108.066 Unknown

I'm here.

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108.507 - 115.658 Conan O'Brien

Wow, you light up a room. All right. Listen, you had that coming. You know you did. I know. No, you're a fantastic fellow.

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115.738 - 116.24 Unknown

Hey, thanks.

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116.26 - 126.003 Conan O'Brien

Yeah. And you're about to move into a new apartment. I am. I'm very happy for you. But you made the mistake of showing me a video of your apartment and all I've done is give you a hard time.

126.023 - 128.368 Unknown

I was excited. We were...

Chapter 4: How did a house fire impact Arsenio's career?

128.348 - 154.17 Conan O'Brien

together whenever i got the email that we got approved and i was like oh here's the new apartment and ever since then i've regretted everything because i used anything i saw in the apartment it's very nice yeah it's two floors it's got two balconies and i started to go after him like oh two floors huh what am i paying you oh you've got two balconies i don't have two balconies and um so any set anytime you open up to me as a friend i quickly use it against you yes uh

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154.15 - 181.553 Conan O'Brien

You know what? I don't want to speak anymore about our trivial matters because I am over the moon about today's guest. Very excited. This is a guy who I have a lot of respect for. I have a lot of respect for him. And we have worked in a similar profession before. And we have a lot of things, I think, in common. And I just I've always heard he's a lovely guy.

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181.693 - 207.852 Conan O'Brien

And I'm so excited that we get to chat. So let's get right into it. My guest today is an actor. He's a comedian. He's a talk show host who now has a new book. And I've read this book and it's great. It's titled Arsenio, a memoir. I am just well, this isn't a job. This is just a really fun thing I get to do. Arsenio Hall, welcome.

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212.037 - 212.698 Arsenio Hall

Relieved.

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Chapter 5: What misconceptions does Arsenio address in his memoir?

213.158 - 243.141 Arsenio Hall

Relieved. Why relieved? See, I should have prepared. Okay, being totally honest, if you have to take it out, take it out. Last night, me and Howie Mandel arrived in Beverly Hills to do a benefit for abused animals with Jay Leno. Yeah, yeah. So because this is last night, about 8 o'clock, and I am thinking, get to bed, get up tomorrow, do Conan. And I'm looking at Jay in this green room.

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243.161 - 245.746 Arsenio Hall

And I don't keep up with all white folks' business.

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247.389 - 248.752 Conan O'Brien

Well, guess what? I do.

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251.257 - 279.006 Arsenio Hall

I only keep up on white folks' business. But I do remember that you all had friction. Water under the bridge. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, Jay is... Your friends are laughing. Water under the bridge. But I thought about it and I'm like, wow, I hope Conan doesn't hate me, you know, because... What? No, because, you know, Jay is like... big brother to me.

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Chapter 6: How did Arsenio's show differ from other late-night programs?

279.707 - 289.649 Arsenio Hall

And we fought too, me and Jay. We're like Cain and Abel. We're brothers, but we have almost- Which one gets killed? He does. He does. I'm the better fighter.

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292.996 - 294.839 Matt Gourley

Jesus Christ. No, no, no, no.

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294.859 - 311.834 Conan O'Brien

I honestly, I'm just, this is going to sound so corny, but I am so happy with my life and I get to do the things I want to do. And I honestly don't think about any of that stuff. I really don't.

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312.255 - 323.865 Arsenio Hall

And I don't know, white folks business, I honestly don't know what happened, but I do remember there was something. I was breastfeeding back in that era. You know, you just had a baby. You are a medical miracle.

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323.845 - 350.345 Conan O'Brien

You're actually lactating right now. Listen, I so want you just to be a happy person in the world because I was telling Adam today that I don't know when I've had a guest. I mean, I filled my book with things I want to talk to you about. I read your book. your memoir, it's fantastic.

Chapter 7: What significant guests did Arsenio Hall host on his show?

350.365 - 351.006 Unknown

It's great.

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351.106 - 371.267 Conan O'Brien

I mean, really great. And you have such a unique story and you're so honest in this book about everything, about how you were feeling. And one of the first things you address in the book is you say, I want to write this book because I want to clear up some misconceptions. And one of the misconceptions about you is there are people out there that think you're a recluse.

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371.399 - 396.307 Conan O'Brien

And you are not a recluse, you know? You might be hanging out with the wrong people, but you're not a recluse. And I'm talking about Howie Mandel. No, but Arsenio, you wrote this book to sort of tell your story and it's a crazy story. It's a fantastic story.

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396.327 - 414.191 Arsenio Hall

Yeah, there are a lot of things that I'm sure people will read and say, That couldn't have happened. I mean, he was a magician. Johnny was a magician. So he thought I'll do that. He was outside a park after playing basketball with Mark Jackson and he saw Muhammad Ali doing a magic trick with a Kleenex.

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414.211 - 427.45 Arsenio Hall

You know, sometimes it sounds amazing and hard to believe, but I think I've just been blessed with an incredible life, which is why I was so cool. going home after quitting the show and chilling. Yeah.

427.47 - 427.731 Conan O'Brien

Yeah.

Chapter 8: What legacy does Arsenio Hall hope to leave behind?

427.851 - 451.204 Conan O'Brien

Well, you know, first of all, you and I both know what these shows take. And then you were dealing with a lot of stuff that I never had to deal with. So I take my experience, which I thought was really difficult. And I love the job as you did, but it's difficult. It's draining. It takes everything you've got.

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451.184 - 470.375 Conan O'Brien

And then I think, okay, but Arsenio is dealing with a whole other layer that I didn't have to deal with. Yeah. I mean, you've got, when you're doing your show, and we'll get there because I want to do a little of your origin story, but I want to get to, you know, it's 1989 and people forget that your show starts in 1989.

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470.956 - 492.042 Conan O'Brien

And even though that sounds like it's the modern era, there's still stuff happening. Yeah. In 1989, where you're getting network notes, like, don't say brother so much on the show, you know, don't go into the audience too much because there are a lot of black folks in the audience. You're getting notes like that. Yeah.

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492.022 - 505.639 Conan O'Brien

I think about that calculation, you dealing with that kind of stuff on top of everything that I know about. And I think that's an achievement to be present for all that and keep your spirits up and do a great job.

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506 - 518.634 Arsenio Hall

Yeah. And, you know, my desire was to do the show and put people in the mix that weren't in the mix. You know, when I was a kid, I'd watch The Tonight Show or, I don't know, Dinah Shore.

518.734 - 535.731 Conan O'Brien

You also watched a lot of daytime. You watched Merv Griffin. Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. And Mike Douglas. And you know what? There's a lot of young people who don't know those people. Those were guys that had talk shows in the daytime.

535.711 - 547.292 Conan O'Brien

And they had a certain kind of energy that I think you brought consciously or unconsciously into late night, which is you didn't have a desk because those guys didn't have a desk.

547.993 - 570.882 Arsenio Hall

You... And by the way, when I took over, Joan Rivers had a desk and my... producer you know my dream weaver she made me get rid of it because she came to see me do stand up one night and she says i don't want anything in front of you in case you want to stand up in case you want to move forward and it will create who we are yes you know you i mean this is uh

570.862 - 596.65 Conan O'Brien

marla kell brown is that right who you're a really good friend and your producer the two of you had this mission in mind which is and i just want to take people back for a second because we're talking about it we might as well talk about it now and then we get to the other stuff i remember when your show came on people can forget how revolutionary that was you came out and you were doing a show that was completely different from anything that was going on

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