Chuck Palahniuk Inspired A Fight Club At BYU | Late Night with Conan O’Brien

(Original airdate: 10/30/03) Author Chuck Palahniuk discusses the extreme reactions that people have during his readings and how "Fight Club" inspired thousands of students at Brigham Young University.
Subscribe to watch more Team Coco videos / @teamcoco
Watch more Late Night clips classic.teamcoco.com/
FOLLOW TEAM COCO ON SOCIAL
Team Coco on Facebook / teamcoco
Team Coco on Twitter / teamcoco
Team Coco on Instagram / teamcoco
ABOUT LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O’BRIEN
Running from 1993-2009, Late Night with Conan O’Brien is one of the most beloved late night shows in television history. Known for its absurdist humor, hilarious celebrity interviews and featuring the best stand-up comedians and musical acts of the 90’s and early 2000s. Hosted by Conan O’Brien alongside sidekick Andy Richter and house band Max Weinberg and the Max Weinberg 7, Late Night with Conan O’Brien featured unforgettable segments like “If They Mated,” “In the Year 2000,” “Desk Driving” and made a breakout star of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
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.
Team Coco
/ teamcoco

[@michaelnagle5482]

What a weird but awesome mix of guests this show had that night.

[@AlexChecho]

Imagine Tarantino taking on a Palahniuk novel 🤤 perfect movie 🍿

[@kumarananpudukottai8089]

The fact that chuck and Tarantino's havent worked together baffles me they have a similar energy

[@whatsabryan]

That’s exactly why lol

[@brady2075]

It shouldn't baffle you. Tarantino likes solo writing credit on his work.

[@daffy_schmuck5828]

Tarantino has half the intelligence Chuck has

[@nl3064]

Tarantino isn't above adaptations, though. Jackie Brown was based on an Elmore Leonard novel.

[@AxleTrade]

I'd love for them to work together for a Haunted or Lullaby adaptation. A lot of Chuck's books are prime material for Tarantino's style.

[@entelekhia]

The famous Armani water buffalo leather pants!!

[@mr.visitor2947]

6 G's babaayy!!

[@rickhoffman2826]

We're all here for the pants.

[@ryanromandia8223]

Haha

[@RudeBoySka216]

Quentin Tarantino is just loving every second of this interview lmao

[@bolo2393]

Palahnuik doing his damnedest to look like Tyler Durden

[@y-unespynchonesky9708]

More like Jim Morrison. We've all been there..

[@leomarco7181]

The story he was referring to is "Guts" which is in his book Haunted. You are welcome.

[@happynewyear001]

Keep your buttholes away from pool suction drains y'all.

[@zeegsteves]

That story changed my life

[@mammontustado9680]

@@happynewyear001 ooh damn, the visuals. Terrible and incredible that I still remember that scene years after

[@bolo2393]

I read it in playboy. How easily you can waste your college tuition, just trying to get your rocks off.

[@nl3064]

@ Leo Marco - Yes, we all figured.

[@YodatheHobbit]

Nice Tyler Durden cosplay Chuck.

[@pinkylean9193]

I just finished watching "Cinema Therapy" where they talked about "Fight Club" and men's mental health. Alan Seawright was the one who started the fight club, and they had around 300 people involved. :P

[@stoptheviolins13]

It was in a church gymnasium, and the governor’s son was arrested for charging admission to see his fight club. Lol

[@Kalendale]

This is youtube. Fact checking is not allowed here.

[@KevinBessey]

It would have been next level if he pulled it off in a temple.

[@hemmojito]

So not really about the fight club. They were fine with that I guess. But it's the money he charged that pushed them over the edge. Gotta love America... :D

[@bd2073]

Omg I love Chuck, I was the last in line at his Rant book signing in my city and it was like I was first in line, he's a trooper! He asked me to bite him, in the signature! The book couldn't be more relevant today with COVID-19 being a thing so, go read it!

[@BrianNIL]

Not sure how it's relevant to covid, but Rant is my favorite. Always wanted to see it made into a movie. I hear Tarantino has one left in him.

[@selfdiscardedkingofruin7291]

Read most his books. Never disappointed.

[@gertrudelaronge6864]

... meh.

[@Thegbear]

Tarantino is a great audience for Conan, damn, he couldn’t stop laughing. Love it!

[@shawncdonnelly]

Such a quintessential '90s guest list.

[@brodjefferson3513]

And yet it was 2003

[@nl3064]

@@brodjefferson3513 he's saying those who came to prominence in the 90's, obviously.

[@zekedone1845]

Cinema Therapy Brought me here

[@mst3kJoel]

Some points of clarification: Reports said the short-lived BYU fight club had about 100 people show up to fight (not 7,000). Also, the Utah governor's son was charged for participating in (not running) a fight club in a Latter-day Saint church gym (not a temple) in Salt Lake City (not Provo). But the truth doesn't sound as cool, I guess.

[@gordonscott8758]

Incredible degree of exaggeration (from 100 to 7000, from SLC to 50 miles south in Provo at BYU-why BYU?, and from a local congregation basketball court to a sacred temple). Stunning in this day of internet that he would dare repeat it for mere entertainment value. Makes you wonder how much of his other stories were similarly expanded.

[@ArchibaldClumpy]

@@gordonscott8758 Such as... all of the stories about mass hysteria during his readings. I'm sure some people are grossed out and leave but he makes it sound like some Pentacostal rave

[@amiracleone2803]

The guy who started the fight club has a channel called cinema therapy.

[@nonaligned293]

fight club in BYU had 100 people show up at the night of the bust. Also running/participating isn't that big of an exaggeration (especially since it's governor's son - which is the key point. And that's an easy cover up, it's a miracle it was a story at all), and you have to imagine Chuck has some inside info regarding these things. And it's kinda Chuck's thing to mix up facts and fiction, remember reading Fight Club, on the first page there is some nonsense about how drilled holes in the barrel of a gun can make it into a silencer.

[@Randelius]

Calm down-- a lot of denominations refer to their chapels or regular houses of worship as 'temples.' Judaism, for example. When he said 'temple,' he wasn't trying to shock anybody.

[@gRm444]

anyone else a cinema therapy fan?? haha

[@CLuvTravels]

His name is Robert Paulson His name is Robert Paulson

[@jakw97]

Not a single question or answer, great interview.

[@ShinbrigTV]

I live on BYU campus and I can confirm this is true.

[@amiracleone2803]

Go to cinema therapy if you want to know the guy who started the fight club

[@neobellic7258]

if more well known guests would come on hbo conan's show again...

[@abercrombieandzilch]

Dunno, I think his podcast is pretty chokefull of heavy-hitters, but it would be nice to see them on his show too

[@robertowd5635]

Who else came here to see the leather pants Chuck talked about on the Joe Rogan Experience?

[@NoName-to5xl]

I did. commented about it too. they look kinda cool. but not right for him .

[@TheRockerxx69]

Simply awesome

[@comotuabogada]

He's weirder than I thought. I love him

[@jonathanfraga3771]

This is gold

[@ryanhoskins458]

*Ya just know, that 7,000 number was B.S. There's no way you fit more than a 100 & no way it would have happened at a Temple. A church building, maybe* 😆

[@orcanimal]

Conan is the GOAT

[@nickioleary8577]

Anyone else here from Cinema Therapy?

[@bekahswanson]

Me!! Lol

[@NoName-to5xl]

those are 6000$ water buffalo paints. heard it on rogan episode with chuck.

[@collineare]

Most every grade school teacher's daily experience.

[@movementii]

His outfit is fucking awesome

[@USDAselect]

So Tarantino is a giant?

peace clubs bro that is what we need ,hey tarantino u look great man

[@mammontustado9680]

Peace club? Are you talking about the opposite of a fight club? Wouldn't that be an orgy?

@@mammontustado9680 well not necessarly ı guess

[@rennermawlood]

those are some nice armani water buffalo pants

[@MortalKiller2006]

You are all here for the buffalo leather pants

[@IveGotToast]

They look as dumb as I imagined

[@DAsrada]

Here's hoping a couple of those Brigham Young Christian guys took a look at each other after a long fight and went "...Damn. Nathanial has a very nice body. We just got done pummeling each other but I feel a stronger, deeper bond with him."

[@kabarwonosobo906]

I never finished reading lullaby because it's dark

[@GhostWriter655]

Fight club is a masterpiece

[@GhostWriter655]

@@dancingbanana627 Both, of course

[@nl3064]

Well, the movie. The book is 'meh' (and this is coming from a Palahniuk fan). One of the few times the movie is far better than the source material.

[@GhostWriter655]

@@nl3064 Well, i love both. I am huge fan.

[@UnityAgainstJewishEvil]

@@nl3064Agreed, one of the few cases where the film is better, not that the book is terrible.

[@nl3064]

@brumslybrumbino9516 yeah, the book just seems like it's for middle-schoolers. Palahniuk has written way, Way better.

[@words911]

The irony. Tarantino staged some pass outs during the Pulp Fiction hypodermic needle to the chest scene. No such thing as bad publicity.

[@mindblowingdiscussions2707]

Fight Club is one of the most mindblowing movies, I watched it many times but didn't know him. Then I saw his JRE podcast 2 years ago and his stories stunned me. I lost my hobby of reading for a while now, but I m really curious to read any of his books. anybody know a good one of Chuck Palahniuk?

[@aaronpage8428]

Well the fainting story is in his book Haunted. Might be a good place to start. Choke is my favourite and Rant is a lot of peoples.

[@BrianNIL]

Rant is my favorite

[@bolo2393]

Choke

[@y-unespynchonesky9708]

Damned is my favorite so far. With a sharp, clear and precise, economical style and funny as hell ( No pun intended). The way he describes it is, the Breakfast club but, in hell.

[@trumphatesyou]

Survivor and Haunted just for "Guts"

[@amiracleone2803]

Go to cinema therapy if you want to know the guy who started the fight club.

[@SolidMikeP]

THIS IS SO RANDOM

[@elijahmassey2355]

Who else came here just to see the water buffalo pants?

[@IveGotToast]

Yes.

[@nathancrossen2224]

Frank Cross should have been his publicist.

[@ZOE_NtombiYaseManwabeni]

The man is 61 years old. Fresh AF

[@scotthart7245]

I've had Mono

[@terrytummons8898]

Who does this guy think he is all dressed like Tyler Durden? 😉

[@samandsophia5632]

here from cinema therapy

[@gordon_lamb]

Chuck just mentioned these pants on the Joe Rogan podcast!

[@yusufhashmi1024]

That's why they released the clip

[@kp2718]

Did he really read it in Italian?!?!

[@Lobocyfer]

QT

[@alaintao3507]

Who's here because of the buffalo pants?

[@a34rwl]

Yes, but what made people pass out and throw up were those pants.

[@mitchtickets]

Conan should do jre.

[@organicmilk5]

If you havent read Guts... read it lol..

[@sublimeade]

Masturbation deaths. Quentin Tarantino. 2003 interview (filmed Kill Bill 1&2)

[@markheadrick6499]

👍

[@adamhonse6846]

Wow, and you watch him and rogan have a much cooler vibe and a great story.

[@dominicdococo4574]

You guys should disable the posting of outside links on the channel if you can. Big influx of porn, crypto scammers, and phishing attempts.

[@YodatheHobbit]

Welcome to KZbin.

[@xploration1437]

Meow

[@paul-baseballcollector]

I like his books, even though I don't read fiction anymore, but he looks so arrogant here lol. Not necessary

[@evandercaldwell9993]

No homo, but this a good looking guy!! He has something of a Jack Kerouac!

[@totesmacgrotes]

He reminds me of Christian bail in American psycho

[@lydianbreaux9332]

🐿

[@wordyballoons]

The fact that Conan's channel uploaded this video just DAYS after Chuck talked about this appearance on Joe Rogan's show just proves how massive he's gotten. No wonder CNN hates him.

[@bd2073]

Sorry who does CNN hate?

[@patreekotime4578]

@@bd2073 Libertarians love joe rogan and hate CNN so in thier minds CNN must hate joe rogan.

[@wordyballoons]

@@patreekotime4578 You don't keep up with the media landscape do you? They're on record airing ouright lies against him that have been factually debunked. The most recent one being the Ivermectin debacle.

[@DoctorFurioso]

@@patreekotime4578 Oh... well, listen up, libertarians. CNN is a company-- it's totally inanimate and is totally incapable of either loving or hating anyone. It's personhood is a legal fiction, at best.

[@patreekotime4578]

@@wordyballoons I honestly dont pay any attention to American political gossip. Its ridiculous and boring. Nor do I pay much attention to any of the US "news" outlets because every single US based news company is atrocious at actually delivering important stories and mostly is just obsessed with political gossip. The only reason I even know about this grudge match is because the so called "free thinkers" all yammer on about it in offtopic KZbin comments.

[@ryanellis4474]

Conan chased the jokes instead of listening and reacting to Chuck Conan could have still made jokes on top of better listening to chuck, but Conan got impatient or bored and ran for laughter from the crowd instead of more layers of chuck

[@matthewmillar-ericksen8345]

That's a long as neck

[@lauraosterdock7492]

🐷🐷🐷

[@ricarleite]

Chuck is SO awkward

[@Thecheeseman420]

First

[@xploration1437]

Is your boyfriend impressed?

[@gertrudelaronge6864]

Not a likeable guy. Sadistic and arrogant.

[@daonetimeisaidyesyes7769]

Dude trying to hype up his product but he's a flop and a liar.

[@cynthiajones4332]

Just in case you haven't heard... God so loved the world He gave His son Jesus that whoever believes in Jesus will have everlasting life. John 3:16 Please believe and repent from your sin today. Dont be left behind. Love Y'all

[@DoctorFurioso]

Unless you happen to be Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, I don't want whatever you're selling.

[@fletcher667]

No one asked