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Barack Obama And Conan O’Brien Share A True Bromance

By Andrew Sanford | Celebrity | June 2, 2021 |

By Andrew Sanford | Celebrity | June 2, 2021 |


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The podcast Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend may need a new name. The eponymous host has often joked that through the show he would force celebrities to be his friend. This week showed that he need not force at least one famous person. Welcome to Conan O’Brien Has A Friend And That Friend Is Barack Obama. (A little long, I know; we’ll workshop it.)

Despite joking that he was “ambivalent” about being O’Brien’s friend, Obama did admit that the two, and their families, have spent time together. They are friends. There’s more to their history than a White House Correspondents Dinner, though the stories of that night are fun. These two are friends, and it’s evident in how the episode plays out.

Barack Obama could sound like anybody’s friend. He’s got that charm about him that makes him feel genuinely interested in whoever he is talking to. Conan, not so much. Like any late-night host worth their salt, he can fake it, but the man sounds different when he’s talking to someone he actually likes or, in this case, reveres. Conan has a sense of respect for Obama that is infectious.

They also nerd out about the same stuff. Presidents as writers, history, Harvard, Basketball, Psy, it’s all on the table. It comes across with a casual flow. You feel like you’re sitting in on two friends having a chat, who still have the wherewithal to know they need to make the podcast interesting.

That cinches it. The podcast will henceforth be known as Obama/O’Brien Friends Til The End (again, I’m working on it).

You can listen to the podcast here.