The movie, "Our Friend", you've made this
with some other people, you made this beautiful film.
I watched it and I watched it alone.
I got a link to see the film
and I watched it and it's beautiful and it's gorgeous.
And I'm crying my eyes out at the end, which I don't do,
'cause the Irish, we don't have emotions.
(laughter)
We suppress them so much, but I just walked
out of the movie and that is for me a five-star review
because I thought it was beautifully done.
And I thought all the performances were fantastic.
And it's such a powerful story.
And it's a true story,
Yeah.
Which I didn't realize,
I mean, when I was watching it, I didn't know the backstory
that this is, a journalist wrote this story.
It's the true story of his wife getting ill
and his best friend helping him through it.
And, it's absolutely gorgeous.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate that.
Yeah so, Matthew Teague lost his wife to cancer.
He's a writer and wrote this article for Esquire.
And I think that part of it
was just catharsis for him trying to process this.
I mean, he went through the worst thing
you're gonna go through in life.
Somehow he came out of the other side
of processing this tragedy as being able
to frame it as a story of friendship.
Yeah.
And that was like incredibly moving to me.
I mean, that's the big thing with life, right?
Like how are we going to construct meaning
from these things that happen to us?
And I just found it,
found it really heartbreaking and really moving.
I feel really lucky to have been a part of it.
Yeah, Dakota Johnson is fantastic in it.
Yeah.
And Casey Affleck I thought was fantastic
and it all feels, I mean, as it should, it feels very real.
And it's hard to explain, but,
it's harrowing and sad and then uplifting at the same time.
Yeah.
And so I was the movie's over and I'm crying.
And I went and found my wife and it was just like, hug me.
(laughing)
Yeah, yeah.
Please don't ever get sick, but at the same time,
I felt better for having seen the movie.
And I felt this great sense of like, perspective.
Does that make, like?
It does, and I think that part of, so I think
that it has a couple of things that make it unique.
Our director comes from documentary.
[Conan] Uh-huh.
She's made some narratives,
but she also directed Blackfish,
[Conan] Right.
and some other really great documentaries.
And so first off she wasn't interested
in it being a melodrama.
She wanted it to feel like, you know,
real depiction of what this process might be like,
which like all the great James Brooks movies,
you know, there, life is never one thing.
Right.
It's sad, and funny, and you're laughing
through the hardest parts.
And I thought she did that really, really well.
And I think that also she handled the emotion
like a magic trick where there,
this humor and lightheartedness and friendship
is peppered all the way through in this way
that when the tragedy inevitably happens,
it's harder and more emotional
because you've seen all the good times leading up.
Yes, yes.
You talk about the comedy in it.
Your character is a person who's struggling to find himself.
He can't ever quite figure out, you know, his path in life.
And one of the paths he tries is stand up comedy.
[Jason] Yeah.
He's interested in being a stand up.
And I thought, well, that's really interesting
because there's a part of it where,
you're a famously very funny person,
but you're very convincing at playing a character
Who's naturally funny, but trying stand up,
but not polished and not particularly great at it.
And it was, I thought,
a very accurate portrayal of someone trying it out.
Thank you.
It was the most terrifying part of doing the movie.
Really? Honest to God.
Really?
I was not afraid at all of doing the drama,
because, I was surrounded by great actors,
and I felt like if I let them take the lead
and just try to be honest on camera, I'll be okay.
I kind of know how to do that at this point.
I've never tried stand up.
And in the script, there's, I mean, you do comedy,
you really understand.
There's some assumption that someone who does comedy
just knows how to do all the different stuff.
And so in the script it just said, Dane does stand up.
(Conan chuckles)
And I don't write jokes that way.
I was really scared.
It also had to be mediocre.
So I thought to myself, like, "What do I do?
"Who do I call?"
And I randomly had Adam Sandler's phone number in my phone.
[Conan] Uh-huh.
Because I had congratulated him on, on something he did.
He's made such a great turn into drama.
And I thought, "Oh, you know what?
"He's someone who would understand,"
like, I'm trying to do this drama.
Maybe he'll be able to help me out.
So I texted him like, "Hey, I'm so sorry to bother you.
"This is Jason Segel.
"I'm doing a movie where I have to do stand up.
"Do you have any jokes that you might be able to give me?"
I didn't even know if that was an appropriate question.
Right.
And he was like, "I don't offhand
"but I have a friend who can send you some jokes.
"It's my pleasure."
I was like, oh my God, thank God.
And then later that night
the jokes arrived and they were so dirty.
(laughing)
They were like the dirtiest jokes
I had ever read in my life.
Like I was embarrassed reading them.
And I hadn't contextualized enough
that it was a cancer drama.
Yeah, yeah.
You didn't say,
"By the way, it's a cancer drama.
"I'm not doing a roast.
"It's not a roast of Sarah Silverman." (laughs)
I like shut my computer at one point.
(laughing)
Yeah, if you, now that thinking about the movie,
if your character had gotten up there and done that,
stand up in that context, it would have been
it would have just ruined the film completely. (laughs)
It would have been horrible.
Yeah, yeah, well, Adam Sandler needs to pay
for what he did, you know?
You know what?
It was the kindest thing in the world
that he thought to try send me those jokes.
(laughing)
I'll find another context, someday, I don't know.
We have a clip here from "Our Friend".
I actually don't know which clip this is, do you?
Yes, I believe that this is a clip where
the family finally is just completely overwhelmed.
And they start, they're at each other's throats
and things are really falling apart at home.
So I demand that Casey Affleck's character Matt Teague
come with me on a hike.
[Conan] Yes.
Because that's how I, that's how I process my grief.
And so this is us together.
Yeah, I know this scene well,
let's take a look at this clip from "Our Friend".
[Jason] You see that also yeah?
Yes. I see them.
That's nice.
(boaters chatting)
(laughing)
What's funny to you?
You just did your hair.
I did not. You just did your hair.
No, I didn't, it was windy earlier.
First of all, they can't even see us.
They're not looking at your hair.
Second of all, it's weird to just sit over here
and watch a show, we should have to
tell them that we're here so that they know.
So they don't, you know, go skinny dipping or something.
Just say, "Someone's over here" so they know we're here.
Just say something.
I'm going to, I'm thinking of what to say.
Just say, "We're here, there are people here."
It doesn't matter what you say, just let them know.
There's people here, it doesn't matter what you say.
(laughing)
To this day, at my age, happily married,
if I, out of the corner of my eye see attractive women
who aren't even going to see me
I slightly try and adjust my hair.
Yes.
It's funny that you say,
it's funny that you say at your age
because I'm now reaching the point where
people who I feel are my contemporaries
are calling me sir.
[Conan] Oh yeah.
Or Mr. Segel and I just hate it.
Oh, I know it's awful, it's awful.
I don't know what happened, but wait, till I think I'm,
I've got some years on you
and then some, and, I think of myself as this young,
goofy guy and occasionally someone offers
to help me across the street.
(laughing)
Oh no, oh no.
That hasn't happened yet but we know it's coming.
Yeah.
Let me make sure I get this, the word out.
"Our Friend" is out now in theaters and at home On Demand.
And, it's the best movie I've seen in a while.
I mean, in memory, I really loved it.
And, it's got everything.
It's got everything and very powerful and your performance
all the performances were great,
but I'm really happy for you.
I'm a huge fan of yours.
And so....
Thank you, likewise.
And I knew nothing about this movie when I saw it,
I just knew that you were in it
and that you'd be coming on the show.
And so I went in blank slate and was just blown away.
So congratulations.
Thanks, man, it just means the world to me.
Appreciate that.