The one and only Conan O’Brien.

And I got to have a conversation with him about how the man who can so effortlessly give a poignant Harvard commencement address can also do a fake Bollywood song in India called “Namaste In Your Lane” or prance around as Van Gogh in my old home of Amsterdam.

I’m a Simpsons kid. My dad was probably a bad parent, because he let a 5-year-old watch every episode.

So I knew Conan as a TV writer before he even had his talk show.

I’ve admired how he packages intelligence into comedy for my whole life.

But here’s what we talked about:

Intelligent people spot patterns. They have strong opinions. And other comedians that I respect, like John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and John Oliver, have turned their opinions into the show. They are experts at comedy, but they wield their comedy like a weapon.

Conan wields his comedy like a rubber chicken.

I’ll admit that it’s hard for me not to be polarizing about some of the things I see in our world. When I start typing, God only knows what’s gonna come out!

But what Conan does that so, so, so few people on planet earth have managed to do is: He walks a comedic tightrope between intelligent and absurd that never leans on politics or the desire to make a point. The joke is the point.

He’s stayed married to one person. He hasn’t self-destructed with drugs or alcohol. He’s taken care of his entire team (even during Covid), who are also lovely people by the way.

There are people out there who have achieved some of what he has, but when you add it all up, no one I can think of has done it all, for so long.

And talking to him? I can tell you it is no accident. He’s just somebody who’s smart enough to realize he can have everything he wants if he stays focused on what truly matters.

There’s a powerful lesson in that.

It takes thoughtful work and conscious effort to build a life and career on that frequency—on that vibration.

All I can say is, I’m buzzing, that’s for sure.

#Lifegoals right here.