Conan O’Brien regrets a joke he made involving Anne Frank who perished in Nazi concentration camp in 1945.
In a new documentary about him, Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop – which makes its debut Sunday at the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas – the comic gives fans a different glimpse of his life, as he becomes overwhelmed by the pressure and obligations of a 32-city live tour.
At one point, he is told at Bonnaroo that it will be over soon. He answers, “That’s what they said to Anne Frank.”
“Wow. Yeah. I’m not trying to make light of that situation, obviously,” he says. “I’m very intense, and I get very down about myself and my show, and it’s the flip side of performing. When I finally get out there, my cerebral side of me and the worrying side of me and the Catholic side of me just turns off and I just go. What you’re seeing is almost physics there, there’s a build up of pressure, and then there’s the release.”
O’Brien says the documentary highlights “the biggest misconception” about him over the years – that he is an easygoing guy.
“…I’m not,” he says. “I’ve been working with the same people for close to 20 years now, and they’re more than welcome to find me ridiculous, which I think they do.”
