Chapter 1: What is Todd Levin's background as a comedy writer?
Conan O'Brien needs a fan. Want to talk to Conan? Visit teamcoco.com slash callconan. Okay, let's get started. Hey, welcome to a Thursday episode of Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. Usually these are fan episodes, but we've been mixing it up a little bit recently. I'll tell you why.
Getting ready for the Oscars, and I have my A-plus elite writing staff downstairs in the building working hard on concepts, riddles, quizzes, recipes for the Oscars. And I am very fortunate. I'll just come out and say it. I work with the best writers. in the world. And one of them, I want to come up and hang with them.
We did this with Brian Kiley a couple days ago, and now we're going to do it with Mr. Todd Levin, about as sharp a writer as you will find. You really are. That's really nice. You're crazily talented, and I'm so glad that you're helping me with the Oscars. And we've, I think you joined me, did you say it was 2009 was when you came on board?
2009, just as you were wrapping up late night in New York. I was wrapping up late night, and I was headed to take over The Tonight Show for a 30-year run. We had jobs for life. I remember I hired you, and you said, you know, Tonight Show hosts last forever.
Chapter 2: How did Todd Levin contribute to the Oscars preparations?
And you said, count me in. And you started spending money like crazy. Oh, yeah. Most of it was spent before I even got to California. Yeah. Oh. Yeah, he showed up and the first day he got, he said, I'm buying a Bentley. Yeah, and he got a license plate that said, Tonight Show for Life. And I said, I looked it up. It was way too many characters for a license plate. It wasn't even legal.
It was actually Tonight Show for Life 3 because two other people had gotten the same vanity plate. Two other writers for my Tonight Show. Yeah, so you were with me for the end of Late Night, Tonight Show, then the TBS thing, and now Oscars. And yeah, so you will be my writer for life, whether you want to be or not. So let's get into this a little bit, because there are different types of writers.
There are the kinds that chatter constantly. I'm sorry to say I was one of those. What? Oh, my God. Doing bits in the room and dancing around like a chimp, a chimp on crack. And then, Todd, you're that I call you. You're like a ninja, an assassin. You you're quiet. You're taking things in and then you'll say something that's really hilarious and you'll write something that's really great.
But there's not a lot of, you know, babbling and hey, look at me, which I really admire. It's not demonstrative because I believe in my work. Oh, wow. I am very much like a bad musician, magician, and I'm also a bad musician, but I'm a bad magician trying to distract you. I'm like, whoa, look at this. And then, cause I'm afraid someone will really look and see there's not a lot of protein here.
No, but I was, I think it's awesome just because I'm, I've never been uncomfortable with that part of like performing stuff. Yeah. Even when I was doing standup, I was the guy who just hugged the microphone. I just held it dear to me. And I wasn't like a big act out guy. You'd often try and leave with it. Yeah, exactly. You'd be like, Todd, you've got to keep that here. Come back with the mic.
Well, tell me about your journey a little bit, because this happens so often. I work with these really talented people and I get to know them. We're in the trenches together. And I think, hey, I don't really know your origin story, but when did you know, oh, comedy is for me? I mean, I think I always knew it as a kid, but I didn't know. I think you probably hear this a lot.
And I think a lot of people who are in comedy say this, but I didn't know it was a career. You know, I didn't grow up in that kind of environment. You know, my parents were both state workers in Albany, New York. And I so I loved comedy as a kid. And my dad was really instrumental in that because my dad had. My parents had a terrible record collection.
They had very, they had like a couple of John Denver's, a couple of Barbra Streisand's. Right. But then my dad also had. David's saying, what's wrong with that? Sounds great to me. Not much. I love your parents. When can I come over? David, settle down. But my dad had Bob Newhart records as well. And so he was my introduction to comedy. So I would listen to his records all the time.
He had Cosby records too. You could say that. But those were also a huge influence on me. Huge, yeah. Yeah. And then my dad also had this rule. We had this really strict bedtime. But we had HBO when I was growing up. And if there was a funny movie on, at like nine o'clock, he would let me stay up to watch it with him. So I'd watch a lot of comedies with my dad.
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Chapter 3: What unique writing styles do Todd Levin and Conan O'Brien embody?
The beginning of my stand-up career was me reading bits. It was very much like a Newhart thing where I would prepare a written bit that depended on the page because I was so scared. And I just was like, I need the words to be perfect. So I would structure it like, well, I got these letters in the mail and I thought I'd share them with you. I found these old diary entries.
So something that was sort of, it had to be read. And then as I continued to do it, I just got more comfortable being in front of people and being spontaneous. And the pages started drifting away.
But you have to find a special place to do that because there are comedy clubs where it's very confrontational and you have to almost fight them to prove that you're funny, which can breed a certain kind of style. And then there are places you can go that are more open to experimentation. 100%. And so where were you finding those places?
So in New York, that was, there was a place called Rafifi, which was in the back of a, it was like they showed movies there. And there was also like burlesque nights. It was a really weird place. There was a bar in the front and a little theater in the back. And there was a big kind of thriving alternative scene there. So I would do shows there, UCB, places like that.
There's a place called Luna Lounge that had a very famous alternative show on Monday nights. Marin kind of ruled the roost there. And he was at an older, kind of a generation of comics before me. Um, yeah. So there were all these little rooms you could do that. And then once you got comfortable, there still was an expectation that you do clubs.
I never really wanted to do clubs, but if you're doing, if you're trying to get into a festival or get on TV, then you kind of have to be in clubs and you have, and it is, it's different. It's like, I have to make you like me. Yeah. Whereas in the alternative rooms, you're kind of like, well, this will make you like I this the words I'm saying will hopefully make you like me.
But like you have to be this person that's approachable and it it can be combative, but it's just it's more of like a struggle. Like I have to make these idiots like me. You just mud brain. Yeah. You morons. How are you morons tonight? You idiots. You working class scum. Hey, why the crowd wasn't that good tonight? Yeah, they were. They were really good until you screamed at them.
In your wool suit. You dropped your horn-rimmed glasses at one point. I waved a newspaper at them. Don't you idiots read? Yeah, everyone has to find their own way. And you do that. And then what did you do TV jobs before you came to me? This is my first TV job. So I had been doing pretty well as a stand up and I'd gotten like a TV gig just performing and I got an agent through that.
But as soon as I got an agent, I said, I want to write like that's what I want to do. You know, I like stand up, but I love writing. And this late night was my first TV job. And I almost didn't take it because I thought, well, shouldn't I have a job on a worse show first? Like I had that, that's my own like, you know, insecurity and growing up in this kind of like working middle-class family.
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Chapter 4: When did Todd Levin realize he wanted to pursue comedy?
I love Minty. And that was like, it just made people happy. Oh, it was so. It made me happy. Great. Now refresh us. Take us through the, Minty is a candy cane, but not any candy cane. And he's played by McCann. He's played by Brian McCann. I had, basically, I had so much insurance for that bit though, because I had Brian McCann, who is an incredible performer. Such a great performer. And so funny.
playing this candy cane that had fallen the idea is that he had fallen on the ground briefly briefly briefly he briefly fell on the ground he had a few things stuck to him like a cigarette butt and a penny and then the song was can you do the song i'm trying to remember it uh uh can't calm around minty the candy cane who briefly fell on the ground and it was done in that kind of old time on the ground
Now he's covered in goo. Now he's covered in goo. Oh, my God. So McCann played him, Stack sang, Brian Stack, also an amazing performer, sang the song, and Jimmy Vivino arranged it. I can't sing. It's a great song. And, of course, near and dear to my heart because my favorite era of singing is about 1914. Megaphone singing.
Chapter 5: What were Todd Levin's early influences in comedy?
Megaphone singing. And it was great. He had just the perfect thing stuck to him. And immediately people loved him. I loved him. I would always dance along with Minty. I think Minty threw things at people. He threw, he had a little basket of candy canes that he passed out in the audience. And then he would whip them at me. He would violently whip them at you.
And quick shout out to Brian McCann, who I got to get in here at some point because he played That early, early late night show, he was on and would just play these hilarious characters that really helped us put our stamp on the kind of humor we liked. One of my favorites was the man with bulletproof legs. McCann would come out wearing super short shorts.
And an incredibly self-satisfied expression. And he would sing a song about how you can't hurt me because I've got bulletproof legs. Yes, I've got bulletproof legs. You can't. And then, blam, he'd get shot in the chest and collapse and die. And it was one of my favorite things because he would make his legs elongate. Yes, he was like... Like almost do this kind of beautiful swan walk.
Yes, you do this long legged swan walk bragging about how his legs were bulletproof and then he'd get shot in the chest. And it just delighted me. And that's one of maybe 10,000 things McCann did for us. What do you got there, Eduardo? You want me to play it? Yeah, if you want to see one of these Minty sketches come to life, go on the Team Coco channel. Look up Mindy the Candy Cane.
Come on, let's hear them. Happy holidays, everyone! The voice he chose, yeah. That's it. Just a moment or two. You know, my favorite was, Minty's covered in goo. And it's this goo. Oh, that made me so happy. Oh, another early thing. I don't want to talk about this that much, but was the Human Centipede Menorah. Yes! That might have been the same year.
Human Centipede had just come out, which was one of the most horrifying, and still remains one of the most horrifying movies of all time. Sona made me watch it on the tour bus. I did. Oh, really? I've never seen it. I won't watch it. And it buffered a lot, so it took us four hours to watch it. Yeah, yeah. It was really, really not worth it. It was a labor of love.
And so, yeah, human centipede menorah. So did this get you tossed out of any religious affiliations? Well, the two things I remember about it were... that Patton Oswalt had tweeted something about how horrifying it was. And I was like, if that got him, that's good. If this horrifies Patton Oswalt and got him not sleeping, then we know we're in the right territory.
And then the other thing was that we did it multiple years. And for some reason, I guess because the costumes fit, they always tried to hire back the same nine guys. And except for one of them, they all came back. It was like they had Stockholm Syndrome. They all came back. Yeah, the one that didn't come back, Timothee Chalamet. Yeah, exactly.
He just, you know, and he won't acknowledge it anymore. No, no, he doesn't talk about it. No, he doesn't talk about it. But it was crazy because those guys would, they all stayed in touch with each other. It was like a shared trauma. And they all kept in touch. If you want to see the human centipede menorah, Go on the Team Coco website and then don't look at the clip because it was horrifying.
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Chapter 6: How did Todd Levin's career evolve in New York's comedy scene?
I only go to three restaurants. I don't go to restaurants. I've never been to a restaurant. I have two pairs of jeans and a 1973 Plymouth Valiant. Don't ever tell me that again. But yeah. And so Lauren threw us into the deep end of the pool. And at first it felt like insanity. And then I realized no one's going to care more than the people who thought of it. Yeah, it's a great idea.
And so you should be the one that's anal and exacting about what it has to be because it's your vision. Yes. And then you just... I think it leads to so many things. I mean, I think... You have a really good director's eye. So many of the writers do. You develop that really quickly because you know what you want. Yeah, that's very true.
Sometimes even when you didn't think you were that kind of person, you find out really quickly if you have to produce the sketches. I totally agree. And the downside of it is that you also waste so many resources. Like there's so many times because you're in control of it, there's no one to say, are you sure you need all that? And you're like, absolutely. Why is Minty made out of silver?
because that's the way i thought of it exactly do it for me do it eight hundred thousand yeah no it would be a lot of times like like i there was a thing that dan cronin and i worked on that was so so needlessly ambitious it was just a parody of a commercial like a uh what was it it was like uh uh not el poyo uh Del Taco. That's what it was.
It was the idea that it was a Del Taco delivery system so that it was so stupid on its face. It was a special device on your toilet that when you flushed it, it could recognize when your body had room for another burrito. Yeah. I knew the toilet was going to come into play.
And then it would immediately provide you with that burrito once you had cleared enough room out of your body for a new burrito. Yes. And we... And it became this. Trust me, this is something Del Taco's thinking about. I think it was off some story about how Nike or Reebok had developed these sneakers that you could press a button and it would get dominoes for you.
It was like connected to dominoes. So this was like Del Taco's version of that. Synergy, man. Yeah, yeah. And it was so stupid on its face and it became so ambitious where there's this, it gets so in sync with your body's needs that it opens up like a third eye and takes you to this like place of nirvana where it's like everything's perfectly in sync. It was so expensive. But that's what...
Jim Downey was really good at this. He loved the comedy of take something very simple and then make it needlessly complicated. But that in itself is funny. So a long commercial about Change Bank where Jim Downey's explaining to you that if you give us $5, we'll give you...
you know, this, this, this many quarters, this many singles, and, or we'll also give you this many nickels, this many quarter and over explaining it. And I think there's something to an idea that stupid that then probably uses animation, computer graphics to explain how it works. Green screens of like, once the, this area has been voided, then this area is created and this area of your brain.
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