Conan O’Brien Tries to Convince Rob Lowe They Should Both Become Celebrity Trump Supporters
Rich Fury/Getty Images, Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Conan O’Brien tried to convince Rob Lowe that they should become staunch supporters of President Donald Trump, primarily for the publicity and to get invited to the White House, in a new interview. The late-night host jokingly kicked around the idea on a recent episode of the actor’s podcast, Literally! With Rob Lowe.
In the midst of a discussion about Trump’s dismissal of presidential norms, including his dismantling of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, O’Brien came up with a proposition. “Trump and the GOP in general, they don’t have a lot of celebrities on their side,” he told Lowe, further noting that a typical GOP fundraiser is supported by “one Beach Boy and there’s usually some country star and then there’s Jon Voight, I think?”
O’Brien added, “I think you and I should go hard for Trump. We should just both say, ‘Rob Lowe and Conan O’Brien, we support Trump to the hilt.’” The talk show host went on to describe the perks of becoming celebrity Trump supporters: “They would invite us to the White House. We would get invited immediately. We would get invited to all kinds of great stuff.”
Instead of agreeing, Lowe opted to play the straight man in the comedic scenario. “You know what it would be really great for? Our careers,” said the actor. O’Brien shot back, “OK, you’re being sarcastic. I think it actually puts us on the tip of everyone’s tongue.” Lowe felt “it puts us on the tip of the spear,” but O’Brien reminded him, “As Liz Taylor said, ‘All publicity is good publicity.’” The actor had a solid rebuttal: “Liz Taylor also used to stick a fucking onion in her face to cry on screen. I saw that with my own eyes by the way.”
With that, O’Brien instantly became more interested in hearing about the legendary actress’s use of onions to prepare for emotional scenes. “Let’s talk about that and then we’ll get back to my idea that we both throw our careers away,” he concluded.
Lowe has been politically active over the years, but he appears to be somewhat moderate. In a September 2016 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the actor noted he’s “campaigned for both sides of the aisle” and was still undecided between Trump and Hillary Clinton. Lowe never revealed how he cast his ballot, but he hasn’t been particularly supportive or critical of Trump since he took office.
In May 2018, Lowe called out the Hollywood Reporter for a headline about then-Trump staffers Sarah Sanders and Sean Spicer visiting him backstage at his one-man show in Washington D.C. Lowe responded in a tweet, “Other invitees were John Kerry, Josh Earnest, Jon Favreau, Peggy Noonan and others,” adding the hashtags “relax” and “bipartisanship.”
Meanwhile, O’Brien is arguably the least political of all the talk show hosts. His brand has always been comedy above all else. In fact, when it comes to criticizing Trump, O’Brien has opted to go after what he perceives as a poor sense of humor due to a lack of “humility.” The talk show host told Rolling Stone last year, “To really have a sense of humor, you have to be able to laugh at yourself… Our funny presidents have always been able to see the inherent absurdity of it all.” During an event at the 2018 New York Comic Festival, the Conan host told CNN anchor Jake Tapper, “We touch upon [politics],” but his show’s strength ultimately lies in silly jokes. O’Brien and Lowe endorsing Trump for a second term? That does sound pretty silly.
Listen below. The conversation about emerging as Trump supporters starts at 24:15.
