Is there any comedian more willing to be the punch line of his own joke than Conan O’Brien? Whether taking jabs at his own pallid complexion or athletic failing or perceived lack of fame, O’Brien always suffers the brunt of the joke. It’s a comedic template that has served him incredibly well especially in his overseas specials. Too often, the ‘American in an Exotic Locale’ special can feel xenophobic and demeaning, the joke almost always at the expense of a different culture’s ‘other-ness’. But O’Brien – whether visiting Cuba or Seoul or (now) Berlin – inverts this unfortunate trope, the joke always on his own shortcomings. The result: O’Brien’s specials not only work as terrific fish-out of-water comedy but more importantly - as a celebration of different cultures. It’s telling that the best segment in his upcoming Berlin special isn’t even a joke, but a simple interview with Muslim refugees in Germany.

At a press event for Conan in Berlin, O’Brien spoke in depth about the ‘diplomacy’ of comedy, on the pressures to be political and his next in-development special plans. For highlights from the event, read below:

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On what was it like shooting the special in Berlin:

Conan O’Brien: What's interesting - for people who haven't been gone to Berlin before… what I found very impressive is the degree to which they not only own their twentieth century history, they really go out of their way to constantly remind themselves about it. They own what happened in the twentieth century, their responsibility. Everywhere we went, there weren't just memorials… there are countless plaques everywhere and they name the person who was taken at the spot and then they say ‘murdered.’ I'll contrast it with our own country - and our history with Native Americans, we don't have nearly that amount of ownership over what happened. I had never been to Berlin… but it had been in the news so often with the refugee crisis. Discussions were happening in our own country and they're still ongoing especially now on how to deal with this problem and this situation. I was very impressed with how cosmopolitan, how multicultural, how ethnically... It's incredible... I was blown away not just by how much [Berlin] owns their past but how much they embrace a lot of different cultures.

On the process for deciding which sketches to do in Berlin:

Conan O’Brien: ...You have a sense feeling of what might be a good place for me to be, what might be a bad place for me to be or a place where nothing interesting is going to happen. You feel it out and you go and you shoot these pieces. Sometimes you're surprised. In Berlin, we had a bunch of things that we tried and we didn't know exactly what was going to happen... Me going to a dominatrix seemed like it would be compelling. It turned out to be more compelling because she didn't treat it like a joke. She wanted to put things inside of me and do things to me and I kept trying to stop her but still have it be comedic and not break my marital vows... Nothing pleasurable happened but I was aware what's making this funny is that my discomfort is real. So that piece was a pleasant surprise. And then there are gifts. The ‘shuhplattler’ dance – that is one of my favorite things that I've done because that man and his two sons we could not have invented them. We didn't cast them. We just hired these people to teach us. What really works for comedy is when I keep trying to goof around and [the people around] aren’t having it.

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On how comedy is diplomacy:

Conan O’Brien: It feels to me that at a time when people may be suspicious of Americans or we might seem arrogant or domineering or xenophobic, I really like this idea of going to other countries. I've been really proud of the fact that in Armenia and Cuba and South Korea, there are many times where I've been with people who don't know who I am. They don't speak English but I get them laughing. And they're laughing at me. The joke isn’t on them. The joke is that I can't do it. I try to be respectful of their culture and respectful that they can do these things that I can't. To me that feels like a form… comedy is diplomacy. You go to these places and you make friends and you show them that you really respect their culture… Obviously every now and then, you run across the odd person who you can have some fun with but I never want it to be I went somewhere and had fun at their expense or laughed at them.

On the accidental nature of his best comedic segments:

Conan O’Brien: We shoot everything and the best stuff is always accidental. The best moments in comedy are accidental. When I was a kid, I watched Carson with my dad. If you look at best of Carson DVDs now, the best moments are something happens and he reacts in the moment. That is always going to be funnier. I'm a reactive comedian. I like it when something happens and then in the moment, I respond to it. People like to see me be disappointed or hurt. They like to see me getting knocked around a little.

On whether he feels pressure to do political comedy given the cultural climate:

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Conan O’Brien: I admire people who do [political comedy] well. It's never been my thing. You figure out very early on what you’re good at, what [you’re] drawn to. For me: the kind of comedy I loved the most and the kind of comedy I naturally do is silly. It doesn't mean I don't think about things, that I don't have opinions. I love it when I can have a serious interview. I read a ton. We do a thing on the web called Serious Jibber-Jabber, where I just talk to historians and do in depth interviews with them Charlie Rose style. We don't even attempt to make jokes. But I've always been drawn to a certain kind of comedy… I love physical comedy. I love being silly. I'm well aware that the world we're in now, there's a lot of people that desire political comedy or commentary. They want that from their show and I think that's great. I completely respect that but if I do anything remotely political I want it to be organic. I don't want it to be something that I try to do because I think that's something that's trending… I really think I just need to keep doubling down on what I do and that’s a kind of universal comedy… Whether it's WC Fields or The Marx Brothers or its Peter Sellers or its the really silly stuff Johnny Carson used to do in the moment or its Monty Python -- I've always been drawn to the silly.

On whether there’s a difference in how people from different cultures/countries perceive him:

Conan O’Brien: It's funny - it's more interesting how universal it's been. I'm not a satirist... For better or worse, I'm naturally more of a clown. I like to put myself in different situations and get a laugh on a visceral level. What's refreshing to me - sometimes you're talking to people who don't even know who you are -- I've been in a really rural area outside Seoul or I'm in a part of Armenia that they don't even know what I'm talking about or who I am, but I can start to do some physical stuff and do these gestures and it almost feels universal. Like there's an inappropriate, awkward man in every culture and I can be that guy for them... One of the great things about Berlin is what you really want for comedy is opposition. If people are just joking around with you the whole time, you don't get that great friction. One of the great things about Berlin were there were characters - the guy just wants to make the sausage, the man just wants us to learn the ‘shuhplattler’ dance, the dominatrix wants to put things inside my body. And I'm trying to stop them and they're like ‘Let's keep going.’ That push back and forth, that's where the comedy is coming from. It's real. It's oppositional. It's who's going to win?

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On whether he would take his ‘overseas comedy special’ approach and visit different areas of the Deep South:

Conan O’Brien: That's a really funny thing that you say that because after the election, the next day I gave a talk at the top of the show, tying to put it into some perspective. Sort of address the elephant in the room -- which is that this election has happened and half the people in the country are ecstatic and half the people are miserable. So we addressed that... but the next day, I get an email from Sarah Vowell, the NPR commentator and writer. She's a friend of mine and we're both history buffs. She wrote me an email and said how much she liked what I said. And then she said ‘I love these travel shows you do. You should do one where you go to some of these places in Middle America or the Rust Belt.’ And I wrote back – ‘That's a fantastic idea. Will you go with me?’ And she said ‘I would go with you but it would be really great if you took Nick Offerman... He, in addition to being an incredible comedian, also grew up in a soybean farm and builds furniture with his hands and comes from that culture and is not condescending about it at all. I actually talked to Nick about it the other day. We started to talk and I said the big trick inherit in this is that you don't want to be ‘the celebrity who's coming to check it out.’ Because that would be horrible. There's a lot of in our culture right now -- a lot of preaching to the choir... I realize no one on MSNBC is convincing anyone on FOX and no one on FOX is convincing anybody from MSNBC. It's not getting us anywhere. It's very negative. I started to think... I loved the idea Sarah was pitching but I would want to make sure it was a show that would have appeal both ways. Regardless of how you voted, there would be appeal there because it would be just funny. And we wouldn't be talking about who you voted for. The idea wouldn’t be you're in a flyover state -- ha-ha. It would be a tricky balance to make sure that wasn't the case. But it's interesting you bring that up because that has been in active discussion for the past week and a half.

Conan in Berlin premieres Wednesday, December 7th at 10PM.

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