(applause)
We must have been the two tallest guys in late night.
Yeah.
Let me ask you something,
because first of all that suit
you did not get that off the rack, I'm guessing.
No, no, no.
You have someone who makes these for you.
Yes.
You are six feet
Nine.
6' 9", that amazes me because I am
used to being fairly tall.
I'm about a little over 6' 4".
If I was in the NBA I'd be a speedy little guy, wouldn't I?
(laughter)
I'd be one of those little speedy guys.
Exactly, and in today's game you would be very short.
Yeah, I'd be a small untalented man in the NBA.
(laughter)
My small height would not be the only problem.
There'd be other problems too.
I didn't want to say that.
[Conan] Thank you, you're kind.
I'm glad you said that.
Thank you, but I'm curious this causes problems for you.
Everyone thinks it would be so great to be Magic Johnson,
but six feet nine inches tall,
you've actually broken equipment
at an amusement park, didn't you?
(laughing)
Tell us about that, what did you do?
Oh man, what happened was I got on a roller coaster.
And you know the bars that lock you in,
I had to fold my legs in sit like this,
really down low so the bar could come over and lock me in.
Right.
Well, it threw the timing off the whole roller coaster.
So everyone was killed?
(laughter)
What a wonderful story!
Basically.
Just because you had to ride a roller coaster.
Yes, I had to ride.
So it took us like 10 minutes to get me in there.
[Conan] Right, right.
And so when we finished the ride,
there was about eight blue coats waiting for me.
And I was like, uh-oh, what happened?
I thought something had happened.
So they pulled me aside and said,
"Mr. Johnson, you can never ride a roller coaster again."
That's so sad.
Very sad.
So then you went to the tea cups, and broke those.
Just went around.
Everything at the park I should have broke,
but I had a good time, though.
It was an experience.
Now you did, I don't know who came up
with the nickname Magic, but if you're gonna
pick a nickname, I would think
that's one of the better ones to have, you know?
Because a lot of people get saddled with a nickname,
and then that is it.
So did you have someone?
I mean, who first of all came up with the idea
of let's call this guy Magic.
Was that you?
No, it wasn't me.
It was a sports writer back in Lansing, Michigan
when I was 15 years old.
And he said, hey I want to give you a nickname.
And you know at 15, what do you know?
Nothing really.
[Conan] Right, right.
And so, I said okay, cool.
And my friends are all laughing at me,
so the guy said, somebody's already called Doctor J,
and Big E, that was Elvin Hayes.
I want to call you Magic.
So I looked at my boys, they looked at me.
Is this guy kidding?
And I thought he was kidding, too,
and the next day he wrote the article Magic,
and it stuck ever since then.
That's giving that guy a lot of power.
If he had said stinky, you know?
I think you're stinky, and then that sticks,
and no matter what you achieve,
they're like good job, stinky.
You had a different nickname for a while
that you got rid of, isn't that right?
Yeah, oh man, a few of them.
My family called me June Bug.
(laughing)
See, that would not be nearly.
And then June Bug won his fifth NBA title.
Exactly.
Go June Bug, go!
That just wouldn't be very good.
You're right, and so you know,
Little E, EJ, you know.
And then the Lakers, they all called me Buck.
[Conan] Right.
So that was my name with the Lakers.
Right, right.
But Magic, you can't beat that.
No, you can't beat it.
It's great, it's been good to me.
My mom, she doesn't like it, but it's been great.
Why doesn't you're mom like it?
Well, you know, of course they give you Earvin.
What's wrong with Earvin?
Let me talk to her, yeah.
I'll explain to her Earvin's okay, but no,
it's not as good as Magic.
Well the funny thing is, Conan,
Earvin is not the reason that she lives in that big house.
I had to keep explaining, Magic is the reason.
(applause and laughter)
Magic paid for this.
Earvin's working in a shoe store somewhere.
Now you not only achieved great things as an athlete,
an amazingly successful businessman.
And I was looking at your accomplishments today.
You own 33 Starbucks, and that's on one city block.
(laughter)
Which is a problem, by the way, we have enough.
You have a chain of movie theaters, is that right?
24-hour gyms, you're part owner of the Lakers,
and then you own TGI Fridays, is that right?
Yeah, that's it.
Do you go to TGI Fridays?
Yes, I do, I enjoy it.
[Conan] There's some good stuff at TGI Fridays.
Yeah, some good stuff.
And you have Fatburger restaurants.
Yeah, it's a southern California hamburger stand,
which we have 47 units.
Right, I used to go to Fatburger all the time,
and then I was wondering do they
ever try to get you to change it
to sound more healthy conscious,
but leave the burgers the same.
You might not want to call it Fatburger.
Yes.
Try the artery clogger.
You're gonna love it.
(laughter)
You got me on that one.
Yeah, but you know my favorite is
you are partners in a bank with Janet Jackson.
Yeah, we're business partners.
See, first of all that sounds like
the coolest bank in the world.
Where you going?
Janet Jackson and Magic Johnson's bank.
I want to come.
That sounds like a cool bank.
The other thing is, I think the problem with having a bank
is that if someone hits you up for money
and you own a bank, it's very hard to say,
I don't know, it's not a good time for me right now.
You own a bank, you know what I mean?
They can say just take me to any one of your ATMs.
And it's been hard to turn people down
because of that reason, you're right.
Especially the relatives.
You own a bank.
I don't want to hear that you don't
have any money right now.
Now, one thing that's set you apart,
which I think is a great thing,
especially when you consider the NBA today
is that you never cursed, you never trash talked
when you were a player.
But people must have trash talked at you.
And how did you handle that?
Did you just try and let it wash over you?
How did you tune that out?
When someone's right there and they're just
giving you a hard time and they're saying
all kinds of nasty stuff to try to get into your head,
how did you respond?
Well, it was funny because they'd be running their mouth,
and I'd point up at the scoreboard,
because nine times out of 10,
we were beating that same team.
Yeah, yeah, so that's all you had to do.
I thought you were gonna say
and then you pressed a button and it fell on the guy.
(laughter)
Pretty good, see that?
Click!
No, I just let the scoreboard do the talking
because when you're winning,
at that time I didn't trash talk.
The biggest two trash talkers
ever in the history of basketball
is Michael Jordan and Larry Bird.
But they can back it up.
See, that's what's so great about
basketball players in my day.
Michael Jordan could back it up.
He would let you know he's killing you
and he would kill you.
He would score 50, and Larry Bird would say
I'm gonna score 40 tonight,
and go out and score 40.
[Conan] Right.
And win the game.
Now guys talk trash and they can't play.
(laughter)
You know what, that's exactly what I would be
if I was in the NBA.
I would be that guy, like (angry gibberish),
and then I would accomplish nothing.
But I'd be trash talking more than anybody.
Yes, and that's what we have more today
than we have actual great basketball players.
So we have to change that sort of speak.
Now let's talk about Who's Got Game.
This is an interesting idea.
This is your show, tell us about it.
It's on MTV.
It's a street ball reality show on MTV
starting this Sunday at 10:30.
And actually Snoop Dogg's show premiers before my show.
And what it is, we went around the country
and casted different players from around the country.
And these are guys that are amazing players, but they play
Street ball only.
Just on the street.
They play in courts just around the country.
At their hometown and they never played in the NBA
or any professional league.
And this is their shot.
This is their chance to be on TV for the first time,
people can watch them play,
because street ball is really big, like in New York.
It's really popular here, Chicago.
Crowds gather and watch these games.
And these guys have names, too.
They have Helicopter and this and that,
White Chocolate and they have different type
[Conan] White Chocolate.
Yeah, yeah.
I wish I had grabbed that one.
Late Night with White Chocolate.
(laughter)
Hiya folks, how are ya?
White Chocolate coming at you.
And they're legends.
And they're like Michael Jordan in their hometown.
They all compete against each other.
Compete against each other for 100 thousand dollars
and a court renamed and refurbished in their hometown.
And so there'll be one winner after the 10th episode.
So it's amazing, it's really great.
And you have women in there, too.
Women, we have 10 guys, two women,
and we also tell the backstory of them, as well.
We follow them around to their hometown,
as well as they all live in the same place.
That's a part of all these reality shows.
Make them hate each other by having to share a bathroom.
Yes, and you know what's funny?
In sports and in this show
they end up supporting the winner.
Really because that's what sports is about.
We really respect the person who is the best.
Like, I don't hate Michael Jordan.
He was the best.
I didn't hate Larry Bird.
You know, we just disliked each other on the court
when we went after the championship,
but at the end of the day we respect each other
because he's a talented guy.
You have to give it up to talented players.
Much different than in other arenas
where they dislike people.
Right, right, or they try and run them down
or say they could never take me.
Oh yeah, that's trash talking?
Yeah, that's just my whole mentality.
That's how I am.
I'm like, what are you talking about support the guy?
No, run them down!
You've got it all wrong, Magic.
Who's Got Game premiers this Sunday night at 10:30 on MTV
and we just loved having you on the show.
I'm gonna come back and see you again.
Any time, any time.
Magic Johnson.
Tom Green coming up.
We'll take a break, we'll be right back.