Conan O'Brien Screams For Billie Eilish And FINNEAS

By Andrew Sanford | TV | March 30, 2023 |

By Andrew Sanford | TV | March 30, 2023 |

“Dad humor” stems from a lack of embarrassment. From bad jokes to wearing silly clothes, dads must possess an unshakeable shamelessness that seems unfathomable to most young people. Some gain this lack of shame early in life. For instance, I once shaved my head and came to middle school the next day with the hair glued to my face. I wanted laughs. Instead, I got taunts. Regardless, that hair stayed glued to my face until the end of the day. Now, I would do something like, say, go into a dark corner of a room and scream at the top of my lungs because Billie Eilish jokingly dared me to.

Conan O’Brien and I are both dads who were raised in Massachusetts. That is where our similarities (mostly) end. We also both cannot be embarrassed easily. I’d even go so far as to say that we revel in embarrassment. It makes being a dad that much more fun. My children can’t be embarrassed yet (they’re only two). There’s also a good chance they will discover their shamelessness early, as I did. If that is the case, I will teach them to harness it, as others have before us. (Tradition)

Conan employed his anti-embarrassment powers when he sat down with cool kids Billie Eilish and FINNEAS this week. The whole interview is great. All things considered, Billie Eilish and FINNEAS come across as even-keeled. Anything that may seem off about them can be attributed, I think, to being wildly successful before their 20s. They could be much worse. Instead, they are charming and smart and grounded. They also have a bit of a dry sense of humor.

During the interview, Eilish asks Conan to go into the corner and scream as loud as he can. I think she was joking in a very dry way. It’s hard to tell because as soon as she asked, Conan agreed. He took off his headphones, went into the corner, and screamed. Everyone has a good laugh (especially FINNEAS). Eilish can’t even wear a dress without being unjustly scrutinized, my guess is there’s something almost alien about seeing a celebrity get to let loose like that without even thinking about it.

Billie Eilish and FINNEAS don’t need to embarrass themselves to get attention (because that’s what Conan and I and others like us are really doing). But there is something freeing about having no shame. That said, there’s likely also something freeing about being an incredibly famous musician who still has their whole life ahead of them.