Conan Shares Superstitions From His Irish Upbringing - "Conan O'Brien Needs A Fan"

What superstitions do you have? Because my family is Korean. and my mom grew up in Korea and has. a ton of really crazy superstitions, like, "You can't whistle at night because snakes will come.". "You shouldn't like clip your fingernails before an exam,". because it's like, you're, you're getting rid of your knowledge somehow, like various kinds of superstitious things. So do you. have any superstitions? Yeah, you're saying it's cultural. Well, Sona, you can relate to this because. Oh, millions! Sona, she comes from this real hardcore Armenian culture.

and she wears those eyes. What are they called? They're the "evil eye.". I have them everywhere. But what are they called? Yeah yeah yeah. They're called the "evil eye.". Oh, I thought they had an Armenian name. "Achk.". So she has an achk. and she has them everywhere. She has them in her car, She has them hanging around, you know, it's the first thing you see. when you walk through the door of her house. She wears them on her body. I mean, it looks like she's, Hm, yeah I do. Really, it looks like you're. an ophthalmologist or something.

Yeah, I feel like you mooch off of my superstition. No, I've sometimes asked you, when I've needed something or I need somebody to go well, I've asked your mom to use her achk. to try and help me out. Yeah. Right. You know? There's a lot of superstitions we use, yeah. And we protect you when you don't even realize it. Well, I come from. absolutely batshit crazy, (laughter). inbred Irish people. And I swear to God, our grandmother, our grandmother, who.

I think she was, when she was living with us, I think she was 97. Wow! And she lived in the house. with us. There were six of us kids. and my mother and my dad and dogs and cats and parakeets. And it was just a madhouse. And she used to say all these things, like I remembered her telling me, "Don't sit down on wet grass. or you'll get diarrhea.". (laughter) Wow! "Don't sit down on wet grass...". Now that sounds less like a superstition. than she thought that was real sound. medical advice. Sounds like something.

she's telling you out of experience, you know. Well I don't know, that's what she said. She said, "Don't sit down on wet grass...you have diarrhea.". And, and there was this woman, I won't name her. but she worked with, she helped out and she helped take care of us. 'cause my parents were off working. And I remembered my brother, Luke, he got a wart on his hand. Mhm. And so she said, "I'll fix that.". And she cut a potato in half, rubbed one half of the potato on the wart.

and buried the other half in the backyard. (laughing). Of course, it's a potato. (Sona laughs). Yes, yes and you know what? There were plenty of potatoes around. Well, did it work? So I grew up. and then the weird thing is, as you said. my dad's a microbiologist. or so he says. But he'd be like "Hmm, yes, that sound good to me, off to the bus station to pretend I'm a microbiologist.". (Sona laughs). So yeah, the whole thing, was a shit show. Uh huh.

And I think that superstitious brain. has come with me. and I'm not kidding. I think my biggest superstition, I'm not proud of this, is. I think I have to be kind of unhappy. for something to go well. Hm. And that's really true. You've probably noticed that, Sona, like. if I have a show to do, if I'm feeling too good beforehand. Mhm. and I think I do this, this is not a joke. I think I like to go to a dark place. before I allow myself to go out into a happy place. That gives me...

And that is not a, I've had cognitive therapy. I know that that is, it doesn't make any sense. But that probably, for real, is my real superstition. and one that has been. a huge pain in the ass in my life. Oh. It's the Irish-Catholic, right? It's the Irish-Catholic, you know, it's just this, "You got to feel bad to feel good.".