Adam Scott's Past Bit About HisBig Little LiesCostars Was So Unfunny It Got Cut from Airing on Conan O'Brien's Show

Mar. 15, 2025

Adam Scott.Photo:Team Coco/YouTube

Team Coco/YouTube

Adam Scottis sharing a memory he wishes he could forget.The actor, 51, appeared on a recent episode ofSiriusXM’s podcastConan O’Brien Needs a Friend,where he and hostConan O’Brienreflected on working together in the past. When O’Brien brought up having to cut one of Scott’s bits from his late-night show years ago, theSeverancestar filled with embarrassment.“It ended up being one of the most deeply embarrassing moments I’ve had, and it’s also confounding to me from beginning to end why I did this,” Scott explained. “I just had this confidence in this bit and didn’t really slow down to think about it before. I was promotingBig Little Lies, right? The second season ofBig Little Lies. And so the bit that I came up with, it’s also interesting because it’s so bad from so many different angles and there’s nothing about it that works. Nothing.”“You know what I love? You so don’t wanna tell us what it is that you just that you keep qualifying it,” O’Brien chimed in, laughing.Adam Scott on CONAN.TBS“When I tell you the basic premise, you’re gonna be like, ‘Why would you do that?’” Scott continued. “The way I saw it going is us talking and you being like, ‘Wow,Big Little Lies, the cast is amazing. It’s all legendary actresses. It’s like the Traveling Wilburys of legendary actresses.’ So what I had done is I thought that saying the Traveling Wilburys of actresses and equatingBig Little Lieswith the Traveling Wilburys would be this like comedy explosion.”Scott went on to say that he “mocked up” a fake album cover with hisBig Little Liescostars as each member of the popular ’80s supergroup, withReese WitherspoonasBob DylanandNicole KidmanasGeorge Harrison.“I had reasons why, but the major — first of all, nobody under 50 knows who the f— the Traveling Wilburys are,” Scott said. “When I said the first line, it’s like the Traveling Wilburys of actresses, it was silent. Silent.”O’Brien added: “You could hear the air condenser!”“So I say it, silence,” Scott recalled. “Show the record cover, silence. And then I start going through each member of the band.”Reese Witherspoon, Adam Scott and Nicole Kidman.Kevork Djansezian/GettyNever miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.While co-host Matt Gourley admitted he was actually a fan of the idea, O’Brien insisted that no one else was.“The crazy thing is, I was so sure that this was going to… it would create a tidal wave of comedy that you and I would just be able to surf through each member of the band that I never came up with actual jokes for each one,” Scott noted. “I just had these little like, ‘Oh, she was inDays of Thunder, so she’s Bob Dylan,’ thinking it would just be so crackly.”O’Brien assured Scott that he isn’t the first person who has “bombed so hard” with a bit, although he still made sure to poke fun at the memory.“I don’t [usually] remember. Yours, I remember,” he joked. “I wake up every morning thinking about it and my wife is like, ‘What happened, is it the Wilburys? Is it the Adam Scott Wilburys bit?’ And I’m like, ‘It is, it is.’ And she’s like, ‘You’re not there anymore. It’s over. It’s over. You’re safe. You’re with me.’”

Adam Scottis sharing a memory he wishes he could forget.

The actor, 51, appeared on a recent episode ofSiriusXM’s podcastConan O’Brien Needs a Friend,where he and hostConan O’Brienreflected on working together in the past. When O’Brien brought up having to cut one of Scott’s bits from his late-night show years ago, theSeverancestar filled with embarrassment.

“It ended up being one of the most deeply embarrassing moments I’ve had, and it’s also confounding to me from beginning to end why I did this,” Scott explained. “I just had this confidence in this bit and didn’t really slow down to think about it before. I was promotingBig Little Lies, right? The second season ofBig Little Lies. And so the bit that I came up with, it’s also interesting because it’s so bad from so many different angles and there’s nothing about it that works. Nothing.”

“You know what I love? You so don’t wanna tell us what it is that you just that you keep qualifying it,” O’Brien chimed in, laughing.

Adam Scott on CONAN.TBS

TBS

“When I tell you the basic premise, you’re gonna be like, ‘Why would you do that?’” Scott continued. “The way I saw it going is us talking and you being like, ‘Wow,Big Little Lies, the cast is amazing. It’s all legendary actresses. It’s like the Traveling Wilburys of legendary actresses.’ So what I had done is I thought that saying the Traveling Wilburys of actresses and equatingBig Little Lieswith the Traveling Wilburys would be this like comedy explosion.”

Scott went on to say that he “mocked up” a fake album cover with hisBig Little Liescostars as each member of the popular ’80s supergroup, withReese WitherspoonasBob DylanandNicole KidmanasGeorge Harrison.

“I had reasons why, but the major — first of all, nobody under 50 knows who the f— the Traveling Wilburys are,” Scott said. “When I said the first line, it’s like the Traveling Wilburys of actresses, it was silent. Silent.”

O’Brien added: “You could hear the air condenser!”

“So I say it, silence,” Scott recalled. “Show the record cover, silence. And then I start going through each member of the band.”

Reese Witherspoon, Adam Scott and Nicole Kidman.Kevork Djansezian/Getty

Kevork Djansezian/Getty

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

While co-host Matt Gourley admitted he was actually a fan of the idea, O’Brien insisted that no one else was.

“The crazy thing is, I was so sure that this was going to… it would create a tidal wave of comedy that you and I would just be able to surf through each member of the band that I never came up with actual jokes for each one,” Scott noted. “I just had these little like, ‘Oh, she was inDays of Thunder, so she’s Bob Dylan,’ thinking it would just be so crackly.”

O’Brien assured Scott that he isn’t the first person who has “bombed so hard” with a bit, although he still made sure to poke fun at the memory.

“I don’t [usually] remember. Yours, I remember,” he joked. “I wake up every morning thinking about it and my wife is like, ‘What happened, is it the Wilburys? Is it the Adam Scott Wilburys bit?’ And I’m like, ‘It is, it is.’ And she’s like, ‘You’re not there anymore. It’s over. It’s over. You’re safe. You’re with me.’”

source: people.com