I'm reminded of another thing in your book,
which was just fascinating to me,
because I find him to be such an interesting guy,
is you had this meeting with Steven Spielberg
and George Lucas shows up,
and I think you were unaware that George Lucas
was gonna be there, was gonna pop by,
and well, you can relate what happens in this story,
which is pretty startling.
Yeah, what happened was,
so this was 2000...
It actually was, it was the beginning of 2012.
And I don't know if people remember,
but there was a theory at the time that in December of 2012
the world was going to end,
because that's when I believe the Mayan calendar ended.
Which is, in retrospect, a shaky theory
to be making real decisions based on.
They were right about everything else.
(all laugh)
So yeah, like Conan said, me and Evan were
called into a meeting with Steven Spielberg,
which was a real treat and amazing.
I'd met him a couple of times, very in passing,
but it was a thrill, you know?
And we got to the meeting
and we were waiting in his office for him.
It's like a doctor's office.
They take you in first and you wait for them to come in.
And he came in with George Lucas, which was,
Amazing, amazing.
Which was mind blowing.
Like, they're there together.
It truly, you know, for like a nerdy kid,
like one of the most amazing things
I've ever seen in my entire life,
and at which point Spielberg, if I remember,
like is kind of like making phone calls,
and doing some stuff,
he's like, "I need a few minutes,"
as George Lucas sits down and talks to me and Evan,
at which point very quickly the conversation turns to like,
"How's it going?"
"Not great.
We're nearing the end of 2012,
and the world is gonna end essentially."
Yes, yes.
To which me and Evan are like,
is he joking?
A question that still haunts me this day,
And again, I think I know the answer, is - was he joking?
I really don't think, it did not appear he was joking.
So, we tried to prod,
and we're like, we're, you know, we're making jokes.
It's like, "Oh, like, what's supposed to happen?"
It's like, "Oh, a giant fault is going to - earthquake."
He's very seriously saying, yeah, it's a fault line.
It's a fault line.
I'm like, "Oh, good thing the Skywalker Ranch
is on the other side of the fault line."
And he's like, "Oh, that's not a coincidence."
And we're like, "Oh, like what?"
(Conan laughs)
He's thought it all out.
He's really thought it all.
At which point, we're making a joke like,
"Oh, well like if you got a spaceship to escape earth,
like, you know, can we get a seat on that thing?"
And he was like, "No."
(all laugh)
Which again, like, it makes me think he wasn't joking,
'cause if you were joking you would just say yes
to at least placate us by granting our wish
to go on the spaceship.
But no, he said no.
And thank God, but yeah.
And again, to this day,
I am confounded and plagued by that story.
I don't know if he had a spaceship.
If he did, I don't know if he was on it that day,
but it must've been a weird morning.
Yeah, yeah.
Have you met him?
Oh yes, yes.
Do you buy that maybe he thought that was real?
I think it was real.
You know what, I would say Spielberg's reaction
would probably tell you everything you need to know.
Spielberg was little bit like,
he was kind of like, "Sorry for my slightly weird friend."
Right, so that tells you that he was absolutely serious.
I ran into -
The last time I ran into George Lucas,
and I ran into him and he was like, "Hello, Conan."
I was like, "Oh, hello, George.
Good to see you."
And he's like, "Good to see you."
And I think at the end of the conversation,
it was brief, but I just said, "I've gotta go.
I got a show to do, you know, show to tape."
And he said, "You don't tape a show.
You're retired."
And I said, "No."
And he went, "Yes, you are."
Like, he knows that, you know?
So yeah, I'm not on a network,
but I'm not retired, but you know,
so I'm not, whatever, but he just,
he was telling me that I was retired.
(all laugh)
Well, I'm not.
I have a show,
and I also do this and that and that.
And he was kind of like, "No, no, no, no."
Almost as if I was,
isn't it sad that Conan doesn't know.
Someone should have told him that a long time ago.
I actually had heard a similar story where...
That I'm retired. (laugh)
Exactly, that you're retired.
I don't know what I'm doing here.
Conan, where have you been?
I haven't seen you since Vancouver when I took that photo.
Thank you for coming out of retirement
to record this episode.
I am the JD Salinger of comedy.
I had heard a story that George Lucas
was on the set of the "Solo" movie,
and went up to the lead actor,
whose name is Alden, and I don't know his last name.
Ehrenreich, or something like that?
Ehrenreich, Alden Ehrenreich,
and went up to him and went,
"Hey, congratulations on 'Baby Driver'."
And he said, "I'm not in 'Baby Driver'."
To which I was told George Lucas responded, "Are you sure?"
Yes, that's what he told me.
He essentially told me,
"Don't you realize, Conan, you don't make shows anymore,
and you haven't since you left NBC."
And I was saying, "No, I do make..."
"No, you don't."
And so you know what, I'm starting to think.
I'm starting to think he's right.
(all laugh)
He's right, this isn't happening.
The world ended in 2012,
and this was all like a weird echo
of George Lucas' consciousness that we're living in.
I think, yeah.
The world did end and we're living,
he survived and we're living in his mind.
This is all a construct.
If anyone could come up with this, George Lucas.
The guy's a world builder,
he does good world building.