Conan O’Brien has a theory about the death of his parents, who died within days of one another - and it involves one of his celebrity friends.
Of course, this is all a piece of dark humor, but it’s still a funny story.
Conan O’Brien has had a tough time lately
It’s not far off a year since the death of Conan O’Brien’s parents Dr Thomas F. O’Brien and Ruth Reardon O’Brien, who sadly died within the space of three days last December.
But, it seems as if that short amount of time has been a great healer for the comedian and former TV host, who recently had Arrested Development star Will Arnett on his Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend podcast to talk things over.
It turns out Conan hilariously accused another Arrested Development star of being responsible for his mom and dad’s death.
You might be surprised to learn that it’s the usually mild-mannered nice guy Jason Bateman.
Arnett explained: “I hear that your dad passed away and I text you that day or the next day and I said, ‘Hey, listen. I’m sorry to hear about your dad’s passing, sending love from our family to yours,’
“And you wrote, ‘Thank you, Will. To be honest, I blame Bateman.’
“I wrote, ‘It’s not a terrible theory.’ And Conan texted me back, ‘He killed my dad.’”
Conan decided that laughter is the best medicine
Conan felt the need to defend himself against any potential criticism, noting that his dad, who was 92 when he died, ‘would have loved’ the humor.
Arnett also got Bateman himself involved, telling him about the joke.
“Bateman texts you and says, ‘Arnett tells me you’re on to me,’” Arnett continued.
“Conan says, ‘Bateman, do yourself a favor. Turn yourself in.’”
Then, when his mom died a few days later, the joke continued even further.
“[I texted,] ‘Um, Bateman is asking for your sister’s street address. Okay to give?’” Arnett said.
“Like a day and a half later, you texted back, ‘Just seeing this now. Fantastic…tell Bateman to make it look like a robbery.’”
But behind all of this is a serious message - we all experience and process loss differently.
Conan opened up: “You know what’s weird? I swear to God, this is how I grieve,
“It was so comforting for me to screw around with you guys at that moment.
“It just was. And if that makes me a madman, then so be it.”
Most of the people who have since seen the viral clip agreed.
One comment read: “This is what great friends look like.”
A second said: “What a gift to have friends who have the ability to make you smile in such dark times.”
A third commented: “That is real friendship. Dark jokes only work when there is deep love behind them, and they used humor to lift Conan in a way only close friends can.
"Sometimes laughter in the worst moments is the thing that helps you breathe again.”