r/conan

In the post-interview part of the podcast, we've still been having discussion from Conan, Sona and David even though Gourley is back. At first I figured they just had some pre-recorded outros in the can left over from Gourley's paternity leave, but it's been a while now and they're still doing this.

I get the sense that Conan may not have wanted to fully "demote" David since he stepped up during Matt's leave, so he decided to divide it up where Matt takes the intro and David takes the outro. As one of those who enjoys the Conan/Sona/Gourley interactions more than the interviews, I am not wild about this. David's a nice guy, but his highest-and-best is being primarily behind the scenes. Gourley should be out front for both segments.

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KCRW's Tohar Zamir caught up with The Vigodas – that's Conan O'Brien and his band... and Jordan Schlansky – after their performance at the Troubadour on August 13th, 2026.

Summer S’mores got very bad the past couple of seasons. I think many of us went from seeing it as a highlight of the year to “look how they massacred my boy” as it became forced, overly commercialized and self-referential, and generally bordering on cringe-inducing.

Summer Spouses feels again like a simple, good, organic idea that just works. It’s so great to get to hear these people we’ve heard so much about over the years, and so far they held their own remarkably. I’m sure Lisa’s will also deliver in spades because of how witty and smart she is.

I hope it gives them time to fix Smores, or the willingness to keep experimenting with concepts in future summers. It’s understandable that this podcast has become a mature juggernaut but experimentation by the gang will always beat rehashing old successes like Smores had started doing.