Jake Tapper & Conan Remember Evel Knievel’s Wild Stunts | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

Jake Tapper clears up the false memories people have of Evil Knievel jumping over the Grand Canyon. Plus, Jake Tapper reveals that Conan was one of the first people to receive a copy of his first book.
Listen to "Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend" link.chtbl.com/CONAFTapperEvel
SPONSOR
Get a 4-week trial, free postage, and a digital scale at www.stamps.com/conan
Subscribe to watch more Team Coco videos / @teamcoco
Listen to the Full Podcast link.chtbl.com/conan
FOLLOW TEAM COCO PODCASTS ON SOCIAL
Conan O’Brien on Twitter / conanobrien
Team Coco Podcasts on Instagram / teamcocopodcasts
FOLLOW TEAM COCO ON SOCIAL
Team Coco on Facebook / teamcoco
Team Coco on Twitter / teamcoco
Team Coco on Instagram / teamcoco
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.
Team Coco
/ teamcoco

[@Shiny7054]

11:15 "His problem was always the landing" that honest to God made me cackle

[@Ghoopty]

Nice eulogy 😅👍

[@Ghoopty]

Binge watching all these Jake Tapper snippets. Conan was on fire 🔥

[@Brian28021]

Jake Tapper always surprises me with his sense of humor. His on-the-job content is so effin' grim all the time, that when he's doing casual appearances, I'm caught a bit off guard by how chill he is.

[@LuminousNews]

That Evel Knievel toy was the best toy ever.

[@gertrudelaronge6864]

Yes!

[@okayimbackwhateverjones]

I dont even know specifically what youre talking about but I have a faint glimmer of a third if a memory that says you are right 😅

[@enderjed]

They make them again! I got one a couple years ago. Still fun. Imma give it my grandson this Christmas

[@nickstoli]

Like most boys in the 70s, I was a huge fan of Knievel's. I think the Snake River Canyon jump was shown live on closed circuit. A week or so later, it was on Wide World of Sports. There's was no way my parents would pay for me to watch it on closed circuit and I missed the TV broadcast. This is way before VCRs. It wasn't until the internet came around before I finally saw the stunt. Young people probably won't believe this, but Knievel, back then, was probably the third most popular athlete in the world. Behind only Ali and Pele.

[@thesath1]

Was it just me, or was Conan absolutely on FIRE this episode?

[@afrosymphony8207]

"No they dont jake" sonaaa what was that!?? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@matthewbarry4464]

It was broadcast on ABC's Wide World of Sports. I remember watching it live and seeing the slow motion replay of the lift off at the same time the parachute started to deploy.

[@lance134679]

Knievel inspired a lot things, such as the Fonzie stunts on Happy Days, Super Dave Osborne, that early Simpsons episode, I'm sure there's more. It's kind of nice to see him further immortalized in a novel.

[@Dellaluna13]

And Duke Caboom from Toy Story 4.

[@lance134679]

@@Dellaluna13 Of course, How could I forget?

[@wowwowwow8765]

He also wasn’t a great person, but his celebrity persona was decent. Encouraging kids to be good people. Luckily the kids didn’t know he tried to beat an author with a baseball bat.

[@BananaHams]

Born at the end of '73. To me, as a Canadian, I remember Super Dave Osborne on the show Bizarre from the 80s. A spoof, but still awesome!

[@jkhoudini]

Surprised Conan hasn’t gotten the Twain yet

[@redrick8900]

You know that's not a real award right? It's a show that has to pay the person to receive it and it's not like the best people are getting it.

[@PopeLando]

Fascinated to realise that there actually wasn't that much difference between Evel Knievel and Super Dave Osborne...!

[@colonialstraits1069]

That was the point.

[@Writebrain82]

Super Dave was an act though. As far as I know, he never actually put his body in harm's way with anything he ever did. But he was funny though.

[@lynnturman8157]

Other than the fact that one was real & the other was a fictional character.

[@RJHart1214]

Rest in peace, Super Dave. May you have died as you lived, doing something stupid and ill-advised.

[@Lost_n_Found_1]

If this is a joke, your set up and delivery needs some work.

[@UberNeuman]

I can't begin to tell you all how many times I lost my grip and rammed my fist into the floor when cranking that damn handle on that damn Evil Knievel Motocycle toy.

[@florianadolf2256]

"He was all tweed", I could already picture it in my mind's eye, lol 😂

[@user-qd2tp3gt7k]

Funny that you mentioned Dynasty before you began this segment and being thrown into a pool referring to Linda Evans because John Derek produced a film of the Caesars jump. To keep costs low, Derek employed his then-wife Linda Evans as one of the camera operators. It was Evans who filmed the famous landing.

[@badad0166]

Excellent connection! And it was THE film of Caesar's. Only I've ever seen...Imagine Linda Evans in her twenties with a film camera? Standing there? In a pantsuit? Oh, blessed be thy days of yore.

[@RJHart1214]

Thanks for that, I love that piece of Dynasty-related trivia and the sheer weirdness of the coincidence. Ursula Andress, Linda Evans, and Bo Derek. John Derek didn't do too badly, did he.

[@user-qd2tp3gt7k]

@@RJHart1214 No he did not !Not bad for a guy that was in The Ten Commandments, But what I do find weird is that all his Wives were Look a likes ,each one younger than the last.Sounds like a good topic for a future podcast to me .

[@RJHart1214]

@@user-qd2tp3gt7k True! Ha!

[@NoviJimB]

I was a big Evel Knievel fan in the early 70's, always watched whenever one of his jumps was televised. When I was about 10 some of us built a little ramp in our backyard and tried jumping our stingray bikes over some overturned garbage cans. DIdn't work too well. :) There was a place called Devil's Hills about a mile from our house in Detroit. There were some dirt paths with hills in a fenced in area that was supposed to be off limits, but there was an opening in the fence. We'd ride our bikes there and pretend we were Evel when we went up those hills. My friend's dad took us to the Detroit State Fairgrounds in 1972 to see him do a jump. He had connections and got us seats right at the top of the ramp. I was 11 at the time, that was a pretty exciting event. I think he did three jumps there that weekend, this one was in the afternoon. I think he crashd that night or the next night. The one I was at was successful. By the time he did the Snake RIver Canyon jump I was 14 and I remember thinking it was a bit ridiculous.

[@lordofthereels6790]

I always loved in The Tale of Tom Sawyer where Tom asked Adam Sandler to paint his fence and Sandler said "gloopity beepity boo"...that part always stood out to me.

[@alexislapuz687]

Hearing stories about Evil Knievel's popularity is fascinating. I remember stumbling across even a book about him in my childhood. The fact people were even writing literature on him as an extreme sport pro athlete is fascinating Also, as a young person specifically named after that character Alexis Carrington from the tv show Dynasty, my parent's fav show in the time period i was born, hearing you guys randomly speak about the show was such a treat! 😄

[@Writebrain82]

Evel is from my hometown. He's not well liked here, but, he's a true original. He did something that nobody really ever did before, and he was a bad guy sometimes, but, you can't deny his impact on the world.

[@axcelc5204]

Lol his “impact on the world”

[@badad0166]

@@axcelc5204 For those of us in our late fifties, yes. And I have the scars to prove it. He was the first of "extreme sports". And suddenly, we all jumped our bikes off ramps. For the first time. And then we got skateboards.

[@axcelc5204]

@@badad0166 no I get that I’m saying he literally impacted against the world like he fell lol

[@melaniebrowning6959]

I actually love that I had to search to see if Conan actually interviewed him on his show😂😂

[@TheTarrMan]

Evel Knievel was nuts. This was before computers so all the jumps were calculated manually and often miscalculated. Even after the worst crashes he would insist on physically walking off the field before getting into an ambulance. The stunt people these days are nothing by comparison.

[@badad0166]

No tach even.

[@franciet99]

Slide ruler.

[@TheTarrMan]

@@franciet99 Ah yes, The Nazi's "super weapon".

[@redrick8900]

This was after computers were used to calculate the moon landing. Also, this isn't hard math. You don't need a computer to do it.

[@badad0166]

@@redrick8900 Yeah but they didn't. Eyewitness say they eyeballed it with a shrug. "Look good?" "Yup."

[@guinnesstrail6799]

Crikey, I had one of those. It was the best toy ever....that and The Six Million Dollar Man (see thru spy eye, bionic arm, red jumpsuit).

[@mylucidlife495]

His son, Robbie Knievel (RIP), jumped the Grand Canyon.

[@forestyogin2218]

So but the first canyon choice was the Grand Canyon. The Crand Canyon park officials would not let him. Then he just picked the closest canyon to the Las Vegas, which was the Snake River Canyon.

[@RJHart1214]

I love the idea that having been denied the Grand Canyon Knievel might have just decided to rocket over any old place like over the ditch behind an Arby's.

[@Lost_n_Found_1]

@@RJHart1214 Sounds like your idea came from the movie Hot Rod.

[@twoblacklabs904]

The site of the Snake River Canyon jump was in Twin Falls, South Idaho - nowhere near Las Vegas…

[@Lost_n_Found_1]

@@twoblacklabs904 Is is not the next closest canyon?

[@forestyogin2218]

@@twoblacklabs904 Ah yes thanks "twoblacklabs". The main point that it was the second choice, and the second choice was chosen for it's convenience. Like an afterthought. That is funny in itself.

[@Chakranimated]

Matt is hilarious lol

[@markpaprocki8315]

I remember the shark jump and him wiping out on the landing. The Fonz made it through.

[@Beth-ie]

I _need_ this podcast to be aired on KZbin in its entirety! I adore every clip I can get, but man, it would be awesome to watch the whole show (don't really listen to podcasts.) Conan is the best, no matter what Claire thinks. 😉(See! I Watch!!!)

[@ctrainbeats]

he legit sounded so defeated lol

[@fletcherchambliss1590]

I remember. I was a teenager. Also went to the “ramp” at the Snake River Canyon rim path.

[@benrippedoff1281]

Don't forget the movies. The "biography" starring George Hamilton and Viva Knievel! He battles Mexican dug lords, jumps his motorcycle and crashes, gives away his toys in an orphanage.

[@capnstewy55]

I believe you're really talking about Duke Kaboom.

[@frankeckhardtii9072]

"Today if you want to abuse a shark it's much harder" 😂

[@RJHart1214]

I'm British and I can't remember when I first heard of Evel Knievel, he was just always there. The Seventies and early Eighties seemed to have quite a lot of these daredevils. (Before extreme "sports" proliferated in the '90s and after, at which point it became annoying.) Only Knievel was iconic. None of the wannabes got an equally iconic Simpsons parody. Or a gloriously terrible star vehicle like Viva Knievel! (George Hamilton being cast *as* Knievel in the *other* Evel picture is one of the oddest casting decisions. Imagine Ryan Gosling playing Mickey Rooney or Brad Pitt playing Trump.)

[@Ghoopty]

“I’m going…..to Duff………GARDENS!” 😅

[@CaptainTedStryker]

My parents both rode motorcycles in the 70s. At our house he was thought of basically like Johnny Knoxville, a jackass who does dangerous things for attention.

[@stew6662]

Wait, Evel actually practiced??

[@conleylynch7842]

I love the bromance. With regard to Evel Knievel I too was a big fan and had the wind up motor cycle and other toys. As an added bonus my uncle in Butte lived in the country club area adjacent to Knievels compound and my cousins knew Robbie and my parents and uncle went out to dinner with Evel and his wife once or twice. Knievel was not well liked and everyone thought he was a drunk and a jerk which burst my bubble. At one point he had to sell the mansion and moved from Butte.

[@steveg4082]

12:28 “Shark Beef with Conan O’Brien”

[@TheTarrMan]

We have a hotel here in Peoria named after Mark Twain. Mark Twain stayed their one time so they named it after him. It's called the "Mark Twain Hotel". . . . . Mark Twain!

[@lachauntiswashington231]

I would like to see Conan do shark week someday

[@Scruffy-Janitor]

“Now if you want to abuse a shark it’s much harder” Sona-“ you looked into it😂”.

[@garygreenblatt1607]

Fun tact: Ford announced the pardoned of Richard Nixon on Sunday morning September 8, 1974 . The SAME DAY as Evel Knievel's jump over the Snake River Canyon (which was broadcast live on ABC Wide World of Sports).

[@twoblacklabs904]

You have the date correct, but ABC DID NOT air Knievel’s jump live, out of due caution things might go horribly wrong, and he was killed. The only “live broadcast” was closed circuit, shown in theaters to paying patrons. ABC showed the video a week later on Wide World of Sports. Google it yourself if you don’t believe me…

[@betsyduane3461]

The shark thing was Evil's last jump

[@EinsteinsHair]

Both Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn watch their funeral. I had to check. I was sure it was Finn, and the staff said Sawyer. Hey, I read it fifty years ago.

[@rangers11ization]

The 70s had no rules.I remember watching a guy snap his leg horribly carrying a refrigerator in the worlds strongest man.And instead of rushing him to the hospital.They interviewed him laying on the ground and asked him "Is it broken"

[@badad0166]

The Sky Cycle was cobbled together and included a "Dead Man Switch" that Evel had to hang on to, to keep the rockets firing. So, consensus is that he let go, the parachutes deployed and Evel ended up with one foot on the gas and the other on the brake. End result, pretty much a non....

[@koreanpathfinder]

Having watched the new Mission Impossible movie, Evel Knievel is the poor man's Tom Cruise.

[@twoblacklabs904]

Different era, different equipment & stunt technology, bud…

[@GalGreen]

Did those sharks work for NBC? :)

[@YodatheHobbit]

HIs son Robbie Knievel jumped a motorcycle over the grand canyon. Didn't he? I swear I remember watching that on live tv in the 90s. On Fox?

[@chewpocalypse]

What was the first movie where someone was thrown into a vat of acid and then a skeleton popped up? I'm honestly curious.

[@redrick8900]

Comics were doing it in the 30's.

[@axcelc5204]

Why does Jake look like a proud father listening to Conan speak at 0:13

[@pretzelhunt]

What about his cellmate: Awful Knafyll?

[@zurzakne-etra7069]

Is Conan still wearing the same lipstick? from the JLD episode?

[@TELEVISIONARCHIVES]

Spelled his name wrong in the description. Spelled Evel, not Evil. And yes he did crash in practice but they showed the jump at the end of the Evel Knievel Death Defiers show

[@TheBhup]

Mandela effect of remembering him on a bike jumping the Grand Canyon

[@EinsteinsHair]

Someone else pointed out it was Evel Knievel's son, Robbie, who attempted the Grand Canyon jump

[@twoblacklabs904]

Huge Evel Knievel fan here, and have seen virtually every one of his large spectator jumps on video. The Snake River jump was such a debacle because the parachute was accidentally deployed right after he cleared the launch ramp, and he subsequently landed nose first onto the rock bed next to the river below. He was injured slightly with only a broken nose, but the hype of that “jump” started months before, and was highly criticized as a total flop and solely a publicity stunt afterwards. (But yes, as far as stunts go, it was insane to think he could “rocket” over the canyon in that hand-crafted, rocket powered “motorcycle hybrid.” His reputation afterwards was nearly ruined by the bad publicity, but he was still, “The King of the Stuntmen” to most of my childhood friends. He pretty much stuck to regular motorcycle jumps in the aftermath of that canyon venture…only doing a few more before officially retiring for good.

[@betsyduane3461]

ABC's Wide World of Sports was unwilling to pay the price Knievel wanted for the Snake River Canyon jump, so he hired boxing promoter Bob Arum's company, Top Rank Productions, to put the event on closed-circuit television and broadcast to movie theaters.

[@motorious7583]

But did he ever jump the Fonz?

[@Lost_n_Found_1]

His book sounds ridiculous.

[@lynnturman8157]

Was saddened to hear that Jake is leaving Meet the Press.

[@twoblacklabs904]

Huh? I believe you’ve mistaken him for NBC’s Chuck Todd…

[@rsw1227]

The VERY spoiled kid across the street from me had the Huffy Evel Knievel bike. I had the toy motorcycle and the rocket. My knuckles started bleeding just remembering this. Ha! I would (like an idiot) play with it in the driveway and 97% of the time my knuckles would scrape the concrete as i cranked that bad boy. Being a Gen X'er, i rubbed some dirt on it, got a drink from the hose and played some Jarts WITH the metel tips, barefoot! Ha!

[@THCya97961]

Without Evel there would be no Jackass or Nitro Circus.

[@H0N35TAbe]

Now Adam Sandler needs to snatch that Oscar Got severely snubbed for a Best Actor nomination for “Uncut Gems”

[@zurzakne-etra7069]

Julia fox was better than him in that movie tho

[@lb2696]

@@zurzakne-etra7069did you know she was a muse for josh Safdie when he wrote Uncut Chams? She was good at playing an idiot because she is literally a moron.

[@crithon]

wait a minute, Jill St John you say..... lets go back to that variety show instead.

[@michaelverrastro575]

Please post the video where they talk about porn sounds. :)

[@85set05]

Imagine shipping a bunch of sharks instead of having dude and on a motorcycle come to the sharks. Edit or instead of just filling the pool with skinheads.

[@athanatic]

Bob Truax, a veteran of Military rocketry did steam rockets for a hobby once he was in upper management. He had a fully-automated system in the rocket that failed a test on the day. So, Evel was supposed to pull a lever at a specific time, and he pulled it early, no matter what anyone says. It was not exactly Wile E. Coyote, the designer, Truax, made Robert Goddard gape in astonishment while in his 20s.

[@tyr409]

Good lord and heavens above?????

[@tyr409]

Noooooo

[@Laughing-doves]

Evil Knievel became a born again Christian during his career.

[@stevencramsie9172]

that's a shame

[@twoblacklabs904]

Yeah, he realized he could grift a ton of cash from the Jim & Tammy Fay Show crowd…

[@Laughing-doves]

@@stevencramsie9172 He was saved from eternity in hell through the salvatoin of Jesus Christ.

[@mikewhite4560]

What USE do the 2 Ed McMahons SERVE? 😊

[@hydrarue3725]

I just think of The Simpsons

[@Ghoopty]

“Hey Lance Murdock, now that you’ve jumped 18 burning cars, what are you gonna do next?” “I’m going to…DUFF……..GARDENS!!” 😅

[@waderowland9758]

Conan nose pick--5:27.

[@BenVarkentine]

God help us all, there were a couple of Dynasty novelizations. Unfortunately the real Evel Knievel was just a horrible person - not unlike Mel Gibson in many of the worst ways.

[@redrick8900]

Mel Gibson isn't even a horrible person.

[@BenVarkentine]

@@redrick8900 I can't agree with that, and there is plenty of evidence to support me, but let's leave it there.

[@redrick8900]

@@BenVarkentine There is no such evidence. Your reaction to getting corrected is tedious.

[@BenVarkentine]

@@redrick8900 He's a widely - documented bigot and misogynist who beat his girlfriend and doesn't deny it. Bye now.

[@456012]

Conan was interrupting him way too much in this interview. I’m usually a Conan Stan but I was getting annoyed

[@KingMinosxxvi]

Jake tapper...Conan is hardcore establishment

[@studleydewrite2942]

Yeah,..why have that traitorous bastard on? Disgusting.

[@dbunik44]

does Tapper realize his network is doomed?

[@stevencramsie9172]

he's not under the ether of Trump, so why would he think that?

[@dbunik44]

@@stevencramsie9172 because CNN has one foot in the grave ratings wise

[@mortysmith7813]

I have to follow community guidelines so....all I'll say is, Jake Tapper? You couldn't get the panhandler that stands at the off ramp of I-94? I'd have enjoyed that guest more. Won't be watching these Tapper guest videos.

[@wwfbook]

First

[@lucasoheyze4597]

Congratulations on your wonderful achievement 😐

[@wwfbook]

@lucasoheyze4597 thank you I have so many people to thank, first of all my mother, KZbin, for giving birth to the platform, and then a thank you to my father for always telling me if you're not first you're last. That's why I came in first today. Thank you and goodnight.

[@zekelucente9702]

Oh hell no! Conan and Tapper. Conan we’re done.

[@DanCohoon]

Jake Tapper slandering my childhood hero.

[@ez4me2sa]

Ugh, Jake Tapper...No thanks.

[@stevencramsie9172]

go back to vacuuming in pearls, Mabel

[@wereproductsnotconsumers8179]

🤣🤣🤣🤣 You have Tapper on your show? What, Goebells wasn't available?

[@stratcat9432]

I think you meant to say Hannity!

[@wereproductsnotconsumers8179]

@@stratcat9432 Hannity is a clown too, but if you compared the two lie for lie, it would not even be a close comparison. Anyone not embarrased and ashamed for believing the propaganda that Trump colluded with Russia is in a cult. Tapper is merely a state propagandist. Still employed even though all he does is push false conspiracy theory after false conspiracy theory. Only ignorant simpletons and extremists actually believe Tapper reports the news. Anyone still on the left is no different than Germans who openly supported the Nazis during that time. That's not hyperbolic. That is a completely fair and objective comparison.

[@mikecaprio4038]

Makes you wonder. If you don't like Tapper, don't listen to the podcast. Why the childish negativity?

[@stratcat9432]

@@mikecaprio4038 Exactly! Trolling idiots.

[@wereproductsnotconsumers8179]

@@mikecaprio4038 Childishness implies there is ignorance or lack of experience and understanding bringing about the negative perception and or response. Is it fair to call Nazis evil? Is that childish? The amount of ignorance required to treat this proven liar and state propagandist with an ounce of respect is astounding. Are you under the impression Tapper is a good faith actor? Do you follow politics at all?

[@JamesBond-uh4gq]

Enough already with the fake laughs

[@Ghoopty]

Yeah, everything’s fake 🙄

[@darbs3168]

Why is Conan talking to the fake news guy?

[@coronaflo]

He isn't on Fox News.

[@darbs3168]

@@coronaflo brain washed

[@JohnDoe-jh5yr]

​@@darbs3168Pot meet kettle

[@darbs3168]

@@JohnDoe-jh5yr not a fox news guy either but alright dude

[@JohnDoe-jh5yr]

​@@darbs3168Let me guess. Newsmax, OAN, RSBN?

[@AmericaFirst-1]

All about hosting child predators on your show now?

[@EamonKelly]

What?

[@mikecaprio4038]

The right wing arses can let go. Ignore him.

[@JohnDoe-jh5yr]

​@@EamonKellyThe right wing echo chamber is whacked out

[@JohnDoe-jh5yr]

Have you noticed that the actual child predators are sexually repressed conservatives?

[@stevencramsie9172]

@@EamonKelly when MAGA heads don't like something, they call them "pedos." Its their shtick

[@Zefram0911]

Tapper's actually watchable when he's not spewing bs about politics.

[@stevencramsie9172]

(a) he's paid to discuss politics and (b) it's only bs if you disagree with it. So relax.

[@Zefram0911]

@@stevencramsie9172 lul.. imagine defending cnn.

[@redrick8900]

Okay fascist. Cry us a river.

[@necrophiliacin_lace628]

I was about 3 when he attempted the Grand Canyon I don't remember watching it but knowing my dad I probably did. What I remember most is that I had the bike toy and me and my friends used to love having him miss the landing on any jumps... Yeah we were fucked up kids

[@twoblacklabs904]

The U.S. Government FORBID Knievel from jumping the Grand Canyon, so he leased land in South Idaho in the Snake River basin…

[@onionrovirosa]

Great but got nothing on super Dave

[@the406seadonkey6]

I can't respect any of this until Conan stops kissing Sona's ass. What is she good for? Someone please explain it to me. What does she have on him? This whole dynamic has tainted him for me.