Conan O’Brienhas been one of the most beloved comedic talents of the last thirty years. While many fans were sad when O’Brien ended his three decade run on late night television in 2021, the comedian has been keeping his entertaining brand of comedy alive on his podcastConan O’Brien Needs a Friend. One of his recent guests on the podcast was famous actor and friendPaul Rudd. Anyone who has watched Conan over the years knows what that means and, yes, Rudd kept his hilarious tradition alive. HisMac and Meprank lives on!
For context, over the years on Conan’s show, Rudd would always set up a joke like he was about to introduce a clip from whatever project he was promoting at the time, only to play the same thirty-second clip from the movieMac and Me,where a child speeds down a hillside in an uncontrollable wheelchair. It did not matter that Rudd was on Conan’s podcast this time around. Like usual, Rudd sets up O’Brian like he was actually promoting a new project that he was in — this time, and Audible series he stars in withKen Marino,Adam Scott, andCelia Weston. Rudd teases a bit of the narrative and his character Ken Croft, a low rent publicist, and the fake story is about this publicist who starts a sweet relationship with a craft store worker played by Weston. Rudd is very convincing, but then he plays a clip from his “new series”. Of course, it was the infamousMac and Meprank. O’Brian loses himself to laughter and jokingly yells at Rudd, because a podcast is not a visual medium.
It is always wonderful to see a tradition kept alive. Arguably, this now almost twenty-year-old prank is the most hilarious of them all from Conan’s iconic Late Night run.Mac and Meis such a bizarre 80s creation that acted as a poor man’sE.T. the Extraterrestrial. Seeing Rudd’s love for this obscure film is just delightful, and it does not matter how many times the actor has pulled off this prank. Even though well seasoned watchers know exactly what is coming, every time you see this masterful clip, it is like you are witnessing its beauty for the first time. The set-up is always the same, but the punchline is always killer.
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Everyone has that one bad movie that the public hates, but you unapologetically love.Mac and Meis Rudd’s guilty pleasure movie. Every time he shares that love with this hilariously out of context clip, it is simply a transcendent experience.
The fact that he played this clip on a podcast made it even funnier, and seeing O’Brian’s genuine reaction makes for another memorableMac and MePrank. Check out the full clip below:
