Conan who? Conan who?

Netanyahu welcomes Conan to Israel in satirical video

PM gently lampoons visiting late night talk show host as ‘the pale one who melts in the sun’; then they have dinner together

By ToI Staff 28 August 2017, 6:12 pm Edit
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomes Conan O'Brien to Israel in a satirical video uploaded to social media on August 28, 2017. (screen capture: Twitter)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomes Conan O'Brien to Israel in a satirical video uploaded to social media on August 28, 2017. (screen capture: Twitter)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried out some humor of his own in welcoming American comedian and talkshow host Conan O’Brien to Israel.

In a video posted to social media on Sunday, the prime minister lampoons the funnyman, feigning ignorance about O’Brien and joking to an off-screen assistant to get back to him when O’Brien’s fellow late-night host Stephen Colbert is in town.

But after he is told that O’Brien has a 25-million strong Twitter following, Netanyahu offers an exaggerated welcome to “my friend Conan!”

Slipping in a final wisecrack, Netanyahu asks if O’Brien is the “pale one who melts in the sun.”

O’Brien arrived in Israel late last week to film an episode for his “Conan Without Borders” series.

For the show, being shot at locations across Israel, O’Brien is spending five days in the country.

Over the last several days O’Brien has posted several videos to social media of him practicing Hebrew, visiting key sites, and trying shakshuka as well as the “great” Israeli beer Goldstar.

On Monday, O’Brien visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem before joining Netanyahu and his wife for dinner at the prime minister’s residence, where he appeared delighted that Israel’s first dog liked vegetables.

“If you gave an American dog a cucumber, it would punch you,” he joked.

Netanyahu again teased O’Brien’s fair complexion, saying their 10-year-old white mutt was paler than he is.

It is O’Brien’s first trip to Israel, although the comedian has often poked fun at the Jewish state, including joking that then candidate Donald Trump canceled a trip to the country in 2015 since “they already have a wall and a fear of Muslims.”

O’Brien has previously filmed a number of his “Conan Without Borders” specials outside the US, including, most recently, in Mexico, in March.

American television host, comedian and producer Conan O’Brien visits at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem on August 28, 2017. to film an episode of his travel series “Conan Without Borders.”(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
American television host, comedian and producer Conan O’Brien visits at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem on August 28, 2017. to film an episode of his travel series ‘Conan Without Borders.’ (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

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