Overview of For the Love of Butts
This episode of Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan features Sean, a Broadway producer from Issaquah, Washington, in a playful, fast-moving conversation with Conan and Sona about theater, producing, investment risk, and—most memorably—butts. Sean explains how he and his husband moved from law into Broadway producing, won a Tony Award for Death of a Salesman, and are now working on several projects including Paddington, a Heated Rivalry parody, and a Real Housewives stage production. The discussion quickly turns into a joke-filled, increasingly absurd pitch for a hypothetical Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend musical.
Main Topics Discussed
Sean’s background and Broadway career
- Sean says he used to be a lawyer but pivoted to the arts in midlife after losing both parents and reassessing his life.
- He and his husband, Paul Danforth, became Broadway producers and won a Tony Award for Death of a Salesman.
- Conan praises the production, especially Laurie Metcalf’s performance and Nathan Lane’s work.
How Broadway producing works
- Sean explains that many producers raise money from investors, but he and his husband usually invest their own money.
- He says this gives them more creative control, especially on smaller productions.
- He notes the financial risk is high: Broadway investments can be lost entirely.
Current and upcoming projects
- Sean mentions a Paddington stage production coming over from London.
- He is also involved in an unauthorized musical parody of Heated Rivalry.
- The conversation turns to a Real Housewives musical, which Sean hints is being developed with cast members from the franchise and/or former actors.
Notable Comedy Bits and Running Gags
Sona’s “love of butts”
- A recurring joke throughout the episode is that Sona is obsessed with butts.
- Conan and Sean repeatedly reference this, joking that Heated Rivalry includes “more butts” than any competing production.
- The bit escalates into a fake musical number about a giant singing butt.
Conan’s Broadway musical pitch
- Conan proposes a Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend musical starring himself, Sona, and Matt Gourley.
- Sean gamely sketches out a structure:
- Act 1: the origins of the podcast team
- Act 2: the show becomes a hit, creating chaos and conflict
- Act 3: an emotional resolution involving the group reuniting
- Conan keeps improvising a story about the rise and fall of the podcast and a dramatic betrayal by Adam Sachs.
The “Scott Hunter” bit
- Sean says there’s a role in Heated Rivalry for Conan: Scott Hunter, an older hockey player.
- Conan is delighted by the idea of playing a veteran NHL player despite having no hockey or acting experience.
- The running joke is that Conan might be perfect precisely because he fits none of the usual qualifications.
Key Takeaways
- Sean is a successful Broadway producer with a recent Tony win and several high-profile projects in development.
- He and his husband are unusual in that they often self-finance productions rather than relying on outside investors.
- The episode is less a serious interview than a showcase for improv, inside jokes, and increasingly ridiculous theatrical pitches.
- The most memorable recurring theme is the absurdly enthusiastic fixation on butts, which becomes the episode’s unofficial punchline and signature bit.
Closing Moment
The episode ends with Sean inviting Conan and the team to the Heated Rivalry parody and jokingly offering Conan a chance to play Scott Hunter onstage. Conan pretends to take the offer seriously, while the team continues riffing about theater, contracts, and how ridiculous—or maybe brilliant—the whole idea is.