Paul Rudd has been trolling Conan O’Brien for years, and he just did it again and got away with it because O’Brien never saw it coming. The incident went down during an appearance Rudd made on the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast.
Fans will remember that over the years, the actor would appear on O’Brien’s late-night show and start talking about a project he was working on, often coming up with elaborate set-ups full of detail and specifics. But then instead of playing a promo of whatever he was talking about, the actor would instead show a weird 30-second clip from the 1988 bomb “Mac and Me” of a child speeding down a hillside in an uncontrollable wheelchair.
It was like Rudd’s personal version of rickrolling just for O’Brien.
Rudd’s most recent troll happened earlier this week and was especially hilarious because of how unexpected it was. As usual, the actor prefaced the prank with a long-winded setup, this time talking about developing his own scripted podcast for Audible.
“It’s been really kind of great because I don’t normally get the opportunity to work on my own things like that,” Rudd said. “I’m usually a hired gun. But it’s been fun, and I’ve been working on it and recording it with my friends.”
Rudd went on to describe the all-star cast, which he claimed included Adam Scott, Ken Marino, and Celia Watson. The “Knocked Up” alum said he would appear in the series as a publicist who falls in love with a woman working in a New Orleans craft store.
After describing his exciting new project for a few minutes, Rudd offhandedly mentioned that he has a clip to share with O’Brien as a teaser if he wanted to hear it. “We’ve recorded it,” the actor said, “If you want to play a little bit of it …”
“Sure!” O’Brien replied.
Fans laughed when they found out it was none other than the infamous “Mac and Me” clip that Rudd keeps tricking him with.
“Oh for Christ’s sake!” O’Brien exclaimed upon finding out he’d been fooled again. “Why? Why! You can’t do this on a podcast! That’s why I didn’t see it coming! … It’s a visual joke!”
Rudd replied with a laugh. “I know, would it work that way? I dunno!”
“Was there any truth to anything you said in the setup?” O’Brien asked next.
“No,” said Rudd. “None of that was true.”
“Oh, Jesus,” O’Brien said upon realizing he’d been so utterly fooled once again. “The joke continues. You had me completely fooled, honestly, because I didn’t think … you can’t do that on a podcast,” the late-night host said again.
Maybe next time he won’t trust a word Rudd said. It would be funnier if he kept believing him, though.
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