Well, hi, Courtney, Courtney Thorne-Smith.
Hi.
Do you go by all three names or do you just-
I go by Television's Courtney Thorne-Smith.
Television's Courtney Thorne-Smith.
Yeah, it was a lot for my son when he was little,
but he got used to it. Right, right, sure.
Yeah, it's important to know how to address people.
Yes.
I bet a lot of his friends are probably like,
"Wait, what's television?"
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
My son will actually say to me,
"I know you were big in the '90s."
(Mike and Jessie laughing)
But the '90s are back.
I'm sure everything you used to wear on "Melrose Place"
is like, now being sold at Urban Outfitters.
Well, you know, it's funny.
I went back and looked at the clip we're talking about today
because I hadn't seen it since I was on it,
and I wanted to talk about it,
and those pants are back in.
Everything I was wearing is back in.
Everything. yeah.
Don't you wish you'd kept it all?
I probably still have most of that.
I don't know if that set design's back in,
but the clothing's all back in.
And the clip you're referencing is the now,
well, it's been famous for a long time.
The clip of you with Norm Macdonald
on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" from 1997.
Yeah, and it just resurfaced again
because Norm sadly passed away,
surprisingly, to I think most people.
Right.
And people were sharing that clip
because it was a perfect storm of Norm
really firing on all cylinders and completely undermining
your attempt to promote a movie that you were in.
And it became a highlight clip
on Conan 'cause that was '97.
He did a fifth anniversary special,
and that clip was kind of the big ender to the guest package
of great, memorable moments and then the 10th anniversary.
So it definitely lived on.
It was definitely a big part
of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" prior to the internet
really- Wow.
Starting up. But so how did that feel?
I mean, you said you just watched it again this morning.
How did it feel watching it?
It was so much fun to watch it.
I remembered it as being great fun and I remembered,
you know, normally after a talk show appearance
it's kinda like, uh, was it okay?
I don't know, it was fine. You know what I mean?
But I remember just having so much fun
'cause I'd just been out there laughing.
Right.
And then people would say,
"Was that okay for you, was that okay?"
And I thought, to me watching it I thought,
I just looked like someone who was having a wonderful time.
He was making me laugh so hard.
Oh, you were perfect, yeah. Conan was lovely.
Well, I authentically was having a great time, I mean,
so I thought so interesting that people say.
And Conan of course is like, "Are you okay? Are you okay?"
I was like, "Did you not see me?
I was laughing so hard I was crying.
I couldn't even breathe."
I just thought, and I watched it afterwards.
And also, I've seen him over the years.
I'll run into him and he'll check
because maybe a show had just been on.
But I watched it and I thought, you know,
I was there with Andy and Norm and Conan.
And I thought, "What a heavenly place to sit."
Like, if someone said, "You get to have dinner
with those three guys" you'd say, "Are you kidding?"
And you would expect to just sit there and laugh.
You wouldn't expect to have deep conversations.
You wouldn't expect to get a word in edgewise,
but it would be delightful to just sit and laugh.
And that's how it felt for me.
And that's exactly what happened, yeah.
That's exactly what happened.
Well, I think that that's what people are responding to
is that you weren't able to get a word in.
It was just- No, he-
Norm was a steamroller, and he was, yeah.
The second there was a pause, I think after a while,
it seemed like you and Conan were kinda like,
um, he's coming back in in 3.2 seconds and go.
And he just kept interrupting.
Had you met him prior to that taping that night?
I don't think so. Right.
I almost think in a way it was like I almost felt
like he was trying to flirt with you on camera by-
Hm. Is that a crazy thought?
Just that he was, I think he was trying to impress you.
Yeah, like it was his mating ritual. (laughs)
Well, I hadn't remembered until I watched it again.
And he said in the beginning he had a crush on me
from the Tom Snyder show which is also hilarious.
So it started off on this lovely note.
I mean, it's not gonna get much better than that.
Right, he suckered you in with that and then it was like.
You know, I don't mind being teased.
That's how my family communicates.
You know, that's how my group of girlfriends
I've been friends with for 30 years,
to me, like a generous, loving tease.
Now, if he was saying something mean about me
it would have felt differently, but he wasn't.
No, not at all. It was just funny and light.
Well, you were a guest on "Late Night" six times
so this was somewhere in the middle there
which made me happy, too because I was like,
okay, at least you had had some other normal appearances
on the show as well. (laughs)
(laughs) Where you got to talk.
Were you were allowed to talk, yes.
Actually talk, just be interviewed.
It wouldn't have bothered me though
because like I said, you know talk shows.
It's this very strange thing where you have to talk
to a pre-interviewer and you have these set stories
and the host sets you up, and Conan's so good at this
because even though it's set up,
you still feel like you're having a conversation.
Like, there's room to play.
He's not going in this story
so you end up going through 10 stories
in one talk show appearance.
You have nothing left for the next 10 years.
Right, right, right.
You can't talk to people for 10 more years.
He lets it go and he'll actually have a conversation
so he's great at that so I went in pretty relaxed.
And I think, you know, I was wearing my actual clothes.
Like, I think that's what I wore that day.
It was before you had to get a stylist.
No, this was pre-stylist.
You could actually wear. Oh.
And I liked it 'cause I wore something
that I would actually wear that represented me, right?
As opposed to the character I was playing.
Yeah.
So when Norm started going,
it just felt like a relief to me.
It was like, oh, great.
Especially when we were talking
about "Chairman of the Board."
Because, you know, that was not, say,
a project of great pride for me, and I had to promote it.
(Mike and Jessie laughing) And I think I was there
to promote it, but Conan started with "Melrose Place"
'cause he probably that was more interesting
and then went into "Chairman of the Board."
And I was so happy when Norm took it and ran with it
because I didn't know what to say.
It was one of those things, it read as funny.
I had high hopes for it. I did it.
The experience wasn't great and I thought,
"Oh, this is not gonna be what I'd hope."
You never know, this could be amazing.
I'm sure that happens a lot where it's just,
there's so many levels at which things can go wrong,
and you know, even in the editing.
Yes, and look, granted,
you're doing Carrot Top's first movie, you might say,
you might have had an idea.
But you know, you also don't know.
Like, Courteney Cox did the "Pet Detective,"
and you know, that was with a relatively unknown Jim Carrey
and that turned out amazingly.
So I thought, "You never know."
But I should have thought,
"That probably doesn't happen twice in a row."
(laughs) You probably-
(Jessie laughing) Right, in the same year.