Conan Insisted On “We’re Going To Be Friends” For His Theme Song | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

Conan remembers meeting Jack White in a bowling alley before he was famous. Plus, Conan talks about the “incredible price” he paid to use The White Stripes' song on his podcast.
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ABOUT CONAN O’BRIEN NEEDS A FRIEND
Deeper, unboundedly playful, and free from FCC regulations, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend is a weekly opportunity for Conan to hang out with the people he enjoys most and perhaps find some real friendship along the way. Watch highlights of Conan, Sona Movsesian and Matt Gourley chatting with celebrities and meeting fans, along with special segments like “Review the Reviewers” and “Big Dick History.”
ABOUT TEAM COCO
Team Coco is the KZbin home for all things Conan O’Brien and the Team Coco Podcast Network. Team Coco features over 25 years of comedy sketches, celebrity interviews and stand-up comedy sets from CONAN on TBS and Late Night with Conan O’Brien, as well as exclusive videos from podcasts like Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,
Literally! with Rob Lowe, Why Won’t You Date Me? with Nicole Byer, The Three Questions with Andy Richter, May I Elaborate? with JB Smoove and Scam Goddess with Laci Mosley.
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[@pricerowland]

"It's our failure to be our heroes" is a really profound quote from Conan, who I am nothing like.

[@homersimpson5964]

I love when he drops those words of wisdom.

[@supermarionintendo3879]

He says this also in his Dartmouth commencement address. Highly recommend.

[@MrLankyBastard]

John Mayer said something similar. His failure to sound like his heroes lead to his own style.

[@InsignificantNick]

Conan and Jack are so good together. They respect each other so much, and I love that the White Stripes' last performance was on Conan's show where they played that song.

[@Daniel_Ilyich]

I love this new chapter in Conan's career. Conan gets to be more sincere in this format. Good stuff!

[@bernlin2000]

Jack is one of the coolest people alive today, just love his energy. White Stripes were such an incredible explosion of new and old rock sounds, utterly brilliant artist.

[@charlesmarlowstanfield]

Incredible song for the cast. Never get tired of it.

[@CutterCo]

I thought Conan was going to say: "There's many things that I adore about you, but one is your hair... Mine is red, yours is blue."

[@positivevibesrfc]

I saw the White Stripes live at the Carling Academy in Glasgow years ago. So good live. I love how chilled out and down to earth Conan and Jack are.

[@solidkingcobra]

"We're going to be friends" is also the opening song to one of the greatest movies of all time. Napoleon Dynamite. Napoleon Dynamite and Conan are on my favorite things list ever and they are connected through that song. Which I also dig.

[@patreekotime4578]

Thats a really inspirational take on guitar, and music, and art in general. Thank you.

[@luns486]

“Don’t ever let anyone tell you how to play your guitar, Jack.” -Prince True story.

[@bender75]

This is really cool. Applying to any art or even beyond, trying to find your own voice, your own way to express yourself through that, not trying to be perfect in a sense your idols are or the people who are doing the same thing and are (considered) the best at this craft. I never thought of it this way, but it's not just that the beauty but also the perfection is in the eye of the beholder.

[@headlight31]

When you find your own tone in the guitar you know you're doing right.

[@athanatic]

It makes me think of Zappa and he won guitar awards, but was a chamber music composer at heart.

[@acd138]

These dudes are legends!!! That blue hair is sooooo good!!

[@namnams08]

More of Mr White please 😂

[@fromulus]

I loved learning and playing that song, still do. Just a lovely piece of music.

[@JosephDillman]

I love Conan saying "no matter what effect you play" because my first analysis of Jack was here's a guy who tries to use all his pedals in a song. It used to put me off but I appreciate it as a style in its own right and I respect his reverence for the craft as seen in things like "This Could Get Loud" and his other partnerships.

[@BranceCrantly]

I think he only used three pedals during the early days of The White Stripes. A Big Muff Pi, A Digitech Whammy, and an MXR Micro Amp. He added stuff as the band went on, but I'm pretty sure those were what he started with. Maybe a Chromatic Tuner, because his Airline guitar would constantly go out of tune.

[@cstrongman]

He's just going for it, you know. You can only really applaud someone that's just doing their best. It just so happens his best involves a lot of pedals, but that's him, his style. Still badass.

[@xGuitarInFlamesx]

That song became a regular on my playlist because of this podcast. It's so beautiful

[@FALL-LAFF-7477]

I find it funny to think that Jack would be a drummer for his another project with The Kills' Singer and still ripping, matching the energy with his guitar skills.

[@YerpDerp17]

And he is a legit great drummer on those albums. He is known for his guitar, for obvious reasons, but he is a fantastic drummer.

[@wreckzc]

I love this podcast, it's so good

[@davidhurtado2725]

Gotta love getting extended cuts

[@jeepz669]

He tickled my orchid and turned it blue! 😱

[@kellygervais3440]

Great friendship...

[@stefanmarraccini8646]

A couple of national treasures right there. Jack and Sona. They can handle The Coco. Yay!🎉

[@lachauntiswashington231]

great episode

[@pupdiogenes2548]

Now there's a life lesson. For a time, Jack White avoided guitar because he didn't think he'd be able to find a way to be unique with it.

[@bigl6322]

Interestingly I saw an interview with him recently and he quoted Prince as telling him to “don’t let anybody tell you how to play your guitar, Jack”

[@turakamu]

I love Conan and Jack

[@user-gs2pq1up6y]

Brian May, you'll always know it's him playing

[@paulv7744]

true.

[@Ottophil]

Tom Morello too, and if you’re a conservative you’ll be triggered by just reading his name

[@PianoBlackTrimRep.]

Also Kirk Hammett Waaaahhhhhhh waaaahhhhhhhhhhhh WAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

[@MrDuneedon]

Same with David Gilmour, I'd say.

[@phaedrawidney5246]

Ok ....down the jack white rabbit hole I go....#teamcoco #iloveconan

[@detroyt232323]

Conan wearing that extra shmedium tee 🤣

[@thrashish]

It's my favorite stripes tune.

[@geraldframinghammer2626]

Conan and Jack White are two of the three living people I would choose for my "if you could" dinner conversation.

[@known_aim]

Who’s the third?

[@geraldframinghammer2626]

@@known_aim Good question. I'm not sure. Maybe Noam Chomsky, or the dean of my college renewable energy program.

[@known_aim]

@@geraldframinghammer2626 interesting thanks for sharing. Any recommendations on where to start if getting into chomskys writing?

[@leob4403]

​@@known_aimman you could have written "who's the third man?" You were so close to making a jack white reference

[@known_aim]

@@leob4403 ah man, I’m still a burgeoning Jack white fan, have always enjoyed what I hear when I hear it like the hits. Only recently devoured “fear the dawn”. But I know I’ve seen an interview specifically about his record company and the name still slipped my mind apparently

[@atenachos6282]

Had to have been the Garden Bowl in Detroit. 🤟

[@duxsmer1779]

New respect for Jack White. Art is hard!

[@jordanweimer788]

I like that Conan has officially interviewed somebody whiter than himself. The odds were stacked against him but he finally pulled it off with a living a person. His previous attempts were all bodies that were frozen in ice from an archeological dig in the arctic of a ship full of turn of the century British explorers. All of them also had blue hair but that was unrelated.

[@alamdaaliartes]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@Hhhk345]

Jack White seems like such a genuinely cool human being.

[@hullinstruments]

Conan must really like jacks. Jack White, Jack Black, jack offs, Jack's hamburgers, jumping jacks, antique seventeenth-century Jack-in-the-Box possessed by a demon....you know.... just the standard stuff. I think one of my favorites was always his relationship with norm and letterman. I love all those dudes

[@JdubU]

Connie Stevens’ guitar! Tuned to Open Dd ?

[@AbbySandoitchi]

the hallmark of a "songwriter"... it helps to understand as many instruments as possible , yup

[@nelson-haha89]

I just realized that Jack's appearance is basically color inverted Conan in this. Except they both maintain an equal pasty whiteness. But his hair is bizarro Conan for sure.

[@davidblank420]

Ninja looks great.

[@fairsuns]

I need a Steve Carell and Jennifer Connelly podcast episode!

[@wendyeames5758]

I'm grateful to him for donating to save the detroit masonic temple. I love architecture & its a grand building. It'd be a shame to lose it.

[@KATZFEY]

the fact that it took <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="396">6:36</a> out of a <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="428">7:08</a> video to bring up what the title is about LOL

[@CregggFerguson]

Just more Conan time for us 😊

[@KATZFEY]

@@CregggFerguson never would complain about the sexiest woman alive

[@TheMainManBD]

dude looks like ramzes from dota 2

[@jonathanbabich7669]

Jack White/ Gary Clark jr❤

[@kevincoulter9610]

Hey look who got on conan...goober and the peas

[@charlenemack7040]

Every time Jack was on TV… I would yell out…COMB YOUR HAIR! I knew he was gorgeous and handsome underneath that mess.

[@sharkulashairstylist5505]

Art is evolution. evolution slows without art.

[@richiecuna5781]

yeah i really like dudes music

[@aroncastrejon4136]

I thought this was Ninja

[@ashketchum1132]

Good morning.

[@pavanatanaya]

I put my Blublocker sunglasses on and couldnt see Jack

[@SoundCastle00]

Is there any possibility of Schlansky occasionally becoming a chill chump?

[@Dionnne09]

It woulnt be chill anymore as he would just be spewing random facts the entire time😂

[@SoundCastle00]

@@Dionnne09 lol I did say occasionally....lol It would kinda match Sonas dirty mouth. Schlansky paired with the guests would be bizarre

[@NDemanuele1]

What's interesting about all these famous musicians is they all claim that they taught themselves how to play guitar and can't read music! Sometimes I wonder if they are F'ing with us! Jack stated that here, Grohl, and others. I played the Alto Sax from elementary throughout HS. So I learned how to read music and can play every note on this instrument. Regrettably, I dropped it and lost interest. Fast forward to a month ago - I decided to buy a guitar and attempt to teach myself. Damn, it's hard! It's harder than the Sax because you have strings instead of keys. It would be interesting to get their specific take on how they learned.

[@Pumpkinking64]

Instead of posting clips from episodes from forever ago, HOW ABOUT we just upload full episodes? Why give us crumbs? GIVE US THE WHOLE MEAL

[@soussansabra3207]

Conan should have blue hair or blonde highlights or just blonde 😅

[@amygalvin1799]

I thought is was Paul McCartney playing and singing the first few months of listening to the podcast!😁

[@luns486]

Jack White is the ONLY musician that I can instantly identify from his playing style alone. There is absolutely no one like him in this regard.

[@TMills47]

tom morrello

[@JohnBocanegraKCBD]

Prince?

[@luns486]

@@JohnBocanegraKCBD Jack white tells a story of when he met Prince one time and Prince told him “don’t ever let anyone tell you how to play your guitar, Jack”

[@detroyt232323]

Detroit WHAT!!!

[@SpaceCop]

Ninja is looking pretty rough around the edges these days..

[@mmcc2852]

is this the guy in hottub time machine?

[@jeffdawson2786]

MC5, The Stooges, The White Stripes.

[@user-zb5ly3qt5i]

This guy has the opposite skin complexion of conan's

[@Alice-ui9oy]

Wonder how much those royalties actually are?!

[@axcelblaze1265]

1st one here 😄

[@brianfong5711]

Is he the son of the blue man group?

[@adamwarlock8263]

i bet jack white doesnt even know jack white

[@VoluntaryistJapan]

Jack's live solo on Ball and Biscuit... it puts Page and Hendrix and all others to shame. The is a goddamn loss of facial tissue.

[@cxa24]

it's really too bad I can't eat cool

[@paranormalkori3161]

Do u know how much it costs tp have your own name put in therè thats why i had someone elses name put in there to save $

[@paranormalkori3161]

😂

[@convolution223]

that guy's paler than Conan! is he a ghoul?

[@DenOfVipers]

So Jack White is what you get when you let a deeply mediocre man do whatever he wants, artistically? This is someone's idea of an auteur, huh? Starting to agree with the Taliban. No singing, no dancing.

[@hardrockwhisker2771]

It sounds like a theme song from a 1970's children's tv show. I never even realized that this was an actual song from the White Stripes. I thought it was some half assed semi-improvisation that was made in 5 minutes and created specially for Conan's podcast. Sorry, but I never understood the appeal of the White Stripes.

[@patreekotime4578]

Ugh... Do you listen to the podcast? The fact that is sounds like the theme song from a 70s childrens TV show is EXACTLY why Conan loves it because Conan is obsessed with 70s TV shows.

[@lastrockgod]

Well you described them perfectly but don’t seem to realize that other people find them appealing for the same reason they don’t appeal to you… Different people different taste… But I can assure you all of us have that same problem with some artist… guess it’s just a part of human nature

[@jmgmarcus808]

Jack White is one of the greatest artists of all time. However, he should shut his mouth about politics. Just shut up. Not liking Trump is not is not a political view point.

[@BLAZERYT2001]

Coco never disappoints us, he's an incredible Content Creator and always creates masterpieces. His content is amazing.

[@cabezaboomer]

hes the last enternainer genius