Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers play Conan production assistants on Meet the Conan Staff, the host’s new digital series on YouTube.
“Well, I sort of stumbled into the role of being the voice of the emo and indie rock movement,” Oberst says, introducing himself to the camera in an Office-like tone. “But that was just to pay the bills. Really, I wanted to break into late-night television production. I guess you could say I’m the Happy Gilmore of emo.”
Oberst acknowledges he doesn’t get special treatment just because he was a famous musician. “Everyone at Conan is super understanding and really trying to help me,” he says, while writers knock stacks of paper out of his hand and scream at him for randomly bursting into song. O’Brien even arrives in the conference room and takes Oberst’s guitar out of his hands, smashing it to the ground.
In contrast, Bridgers is a celebrated assistant, who’s applauded for singing about coffee as the staff chants her name. “Yeah, I’ll probably do this for a while,” she says bluntly. “But it’s kind of a bullshit job.”
Meet the Conan Staff is the first scripted original series from Team Coco. The episodes will launch weekly on YouTube, beginning February 25th. Comedians Chris Fleming and Ever Mainard are also set to appear.
Bridgers and Oberst formed the supergroup Better Oblivion Community Center in 2018. In May, Oberst will tour with Bright Eyes for the first time in nearly a decade. They’ll perform three consecutive nights at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Palladium from May 21st through 23rd before heading to the East Coast.
Meanwhile, Bridgers is on the cusp of releasing a new solo album — following her 2017 debut Stranger in the Alps. She’ll support the 1975 on their upcoming North American tour.