Charlie Day Created A Fake Talk Show For His New Movie | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

I can tell that you're a movie and and. classic comedy fan because I I got to. see your movie Fool's Paradise and I. know it's coming out May 12th May 12th. okay only in theaters only in theaters. as it should be it's time it's time for. America to join again finally in the. cathedral that is a theater. um better than a real Cathedral because. there's none of that God talk or we. could yeah yeah. we could do some God talk before the. movie if you'd like if you like of. course it's all up to what you want to. do praise the Lord yeah.

get your feet off the seat turn off your. phone. um. but I saw your movie Fool's Paradise and. I it it I really loved it I really love. your film and I love you in it and you. wrote this movie and you directed it. it's very sweet. um you guys haven't seen it yet because. I just got this Advanced uh copy that I. watched but it is very much. uh evocative to me of chaplain Buster.

Keaton it's it's got a real sweetness to. it your character is. you're doing that same thing a chaplain. did uh out of necessity and then Harpo. Marx did which is you're not saying a. word. um and you're very expressive and you. really are uh. playing this person who is picked up by. the Hollywood Machine and um you're at. the very center of it and you're very. passive it's it's a little bit like. being there and being there I think was.

my initial okay could I make a movie. like being there no one's going to do. that anymore I guess I'll just do it. myself and um. and then when I realized it's not. totally working I said okay can I. combine it with Broadway Danny Rose. where I have this sort of sad Sac guy uh. and that only in then was I able to sort. of land the plane your character is so. content in his own I will say one thing. he's so content in his own space that at. one point he's at a Hollywood party and. he doesn't say anything he's very much a.

you know chaplain-ass kind of character. and he fall he get he falls into the. pool accidentally and can't swim and he. sinks to the bottom and his hat just. settles on his head and he's just. sitting at the bottom of the pool making. no effort and I thought this is such a. great example of how little this. character wants or needs and how passive. he is and you're just sitting there when. another character comes in and and and. and and saves you but had that character. not come in you would have stayed until. the movie would have ended there.

which could have been an interesting. film just too short yeah but uh yeah. yeah I did an extremely passive. character and then you know there's some. justification which is that he's you. know we meet him in a mental institution. and the the idea is that he suffered. some sort of trauma and we don't know. what. he has almost like the mind of a child. and uh you know there's another doctor. there who says well you know if we give. him enough sort of exposure therapy. um and maybe if he has a meaningful.

connection with another person he can. sort of Break Free from this uh sort of. regressive psychosis that he's in uh but. it's gonna be a lot of work and it's. gonna be a lot of effort a lot of time. and the other doctor says okay well. what's our first course of action and. the guy says well the state's not going. to pay for any of that so we're going to. put his ass in the first bus downtown. you're you're parodying Hollywood and. and but but also old Hollywood because.

there's so many elements of the film. it's it's a mishmash of. um the Hollywood you're making fun of. they're making pictures and they're. making them almost the way they did in. the 30s but it takes place in current. times yeah sort of a heightened thing. yeah it's really fun where I thought. okay I could just set it now. but in some ways now is. not enough to satirize Hollywood can I. make it almost feel as though it's. satirizing Hollywood Through the Ages.

yeah. um there's also a great part where your. character is invited on a talk show and. uh and it's you've made a generic talk. show and of course uh I'm watching it as. me and I'm watching these two uh idiots. laughing like hyenas that bring you out. and just find everything funny and. there's part of me that thought yeah. that's kind of. [Laughter]. I would love it no no but it's it's also. it's just it's it's uh it's parodying.

every type of show like that so it's not. specific but it was really. um that part was really making me howl. because it's so over the top it's a good. performance by uh Jimmy Simpson. yeah yeah. um yeah I think initially I wanted to. see if I could go on a few talk shows. and and shoot it like that and then. ultimately I felt as though. stylistically would take you out and. then it would take you out of the movie. to have like a real world uh person. going back and forth between these.

fictional characters also I mean a lot. of movies do that where the character. you know I taped a number in my day and. then you see it all the time and I. always thought it was something I never. loved doing which was when the character. and the sh in the movie has it briefly. stops off at a talk show and I'm there. saying so you mean to say that they. think there could be life on another. planet you know and then it shows up in. the movie theater and it just always. felt a little lame whereas creating a.

fake talk show I thought was much. funnier oh thank you uh it it was. apparently it's it's trickier to make a. talk show than you would think because. there's no idea. I need to make a fake one I'd make a. fake one yeah because the sets are big. and the audience is big and I didn't. have the time or the budget to do that. so it's actually only a curtain and uh. and then the stage itself right there is. no audience there just spoiler alert.

yeah. that's right well I'm a huge fan and I I. love your approach which is uh you're. trying to make people laugh it's. interesting when you take it back to its. core you know have some type people say. like what are you are you a satirist are. you a humorist and I think if you really. take it down to the core I think I might. be a clown and that might just be the. simplest way to put it and then you can. dress it up and if someone at the New. York Times likes you they call you.

something else it sounds a little. fancier but at the core I'm still it's. the same impulse that I was using on a. playground in Brookline Mass in 1974. yeah. um so you got kids to laugh do you do. you ever feel challenged by it as if um. I I often think okay am I going. am I making too many jokes are there too. many jokes within this movie do I have. to be more serious do I I mean there are. heartfelt moments in the movie but I. also undercut it frequently yeah no I.

think it's really well paced I that was. my feeling is that it's really well. paced and yeah I think um uh. uh yes there are times where I look at. stuff I've done and we're in edit and. I'm just like shut up I mean I'm saying. it to myself I'm like shut up right. there's too much too many jokes too many. jokes and you're you know let's just and. and really Sometimes the best things. happen during Quiet Moments which took. me uh. you know a while to realize uh.

unfortunately I realized it I think. fairly early on but and that that. sometimes saying very little and letting. someone else talk and just reacting to. them naturally is much funnier than. anything I'm going to come up with I did. a whole movie of that yeah yeah exactly. well exactly yeah. um. I find like when I'm writing something. you know I wrote another movie in the. time that I was sort of in the edit room. on this and I was passing it to some. friends and they were saying you know. like um.

you should make it less funny. and uh you know because they like the. story and they said you get more serious. and I know that's the right direction. and I'll sit with it and I'll do it but. my first instinct always is just don't. people want to sit in a theater and just. laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh but. sometimes to get them to laugh you have. to pull a few jokes out so that the last. land right no it's true I I think that's. true what I don't want to do is make. people think. you don't I really don't.

because I don't know I've heard that. before people like you know not only did. he make you laugh he made you think and. I go yeah lose that second part yeah. lose that part I want people to be. Dumber after they've seen my world yeah. I think I do too I think I do too well. this is an absolute Joy Charlie as I. said uh coming you know just I'm looking. forward to talking to you and it's been. a little while and I love that you're. doing this work I mean uh Fool's. Paradise is coming out Mar uh sorry May.

May 12th May 12th and uh also uh you're. in the biggest movie in the world. true right now true uh it just made what. did it make it made eight billion. dollars eight billion of those little. coins that Mario hits. bashed into eight billion bricks their. hands are just bloody. uh yeah the Super Mario Brothers movie. uh that is uh congratulations thanks. that's uh crazy it's been a crazy ride. just um as long as you have a piece of.

the merchandising you should be fine bad. news pal. I got some bad news for you yeah yeah. they paid me with uh with video game. coins. yeah but they make such a fun sound. that's how they got me that's how they. got they got uh well Charlie continued. success as if uh as if you needed it but. uh you will have it and uh you deserve. it so thank you for being here well. thank you I'm really I mean that you. like the movie because I do feel like. you're my target audience which is to.

say like oh I'm like uh I want like a. Conan O'Brien to like this because if if. the if the top of the comedy guys like. it then I mean then it's up to uh the. standard that I hope it would be that is. really nice. back at you so thank you.