Jim Downey Shared An Office With Bill Murray At “Saturday Night Live” | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend 

35 seconds in, Downey clinches the funniest opening to any Conan podcast.

The delivery on the “haha, nice try” is so perfect

“The financier!” Got me crying bro 😭

Everyone is rightfully talking about Jim’s hilarious intro, but an underrated part of it (and part of what makes Conan so great) is Conan’s ability to recognize what’s happening and set up Jim perfectly with a straight-man act. Comedy masterclass

1:41 that mock laugh is so golden that it warrants its own emmy

Nobody will ever be able to top Jim’s intro. Pure gold. Norm would have been on the floor.

An underrated part of the bit about Epstein is that the initial joke is making fun of the format of the podcast of needing to explain why the guest is Conan's friend, but when Conan gives him the "much has been said about Jeffrey Epstein, terrible things", Jim doesn't miss a beat and switches the entire joke to him being oblivious about Epstein's dealings. He does it in a split second too, because he immediately says "Jeff" after that. The dude is a master.

I award Jim 100 points. The entire room is now funnier for his presence.

I was an intern on SNL in 2004… and I’d always see Jim Downey outside Lorne’s office on show nights (I recognized him from older sketches, but didn’t know his name). Eventually he became very friendly, and even brought me into his office to show an old tape of his Grayson Moorhead sketch. He told old stories about how John Belushi once found an ad for an actual hit-man in the yellow pages. Mr. Downey was a real great guy… very down-to-earth, easy to talk to, and not a snob at all. (Coincidentally he is Robert Downey Jr’s uncle)

His approach to comedy is oddly reminiscent of Norm's, you can tell these two were comedy partners...legends....

"with the island?", killed me

What a great opening he clearly is funny af

Less celebrities and more comedy writers please!

The first couple minutes made him my favorite guest on the podcast ever. Brilliant.

man this whole interview was so incredibly funny. I've of course heard of Jim Downey, but only from Conan and other writers talking about how funny he is - to experience how truly and deeply funny he is within this interview was an absolute joy.

Downey is one of the funniest people of all time. What a special man. I’ll always remember his role as an introspective homeless man in Dirty Work. Here’s your two dollars!

The commitment to this bit by Downey is well worth it to the point of heroic.

"Ghislaine's in prison?" 😂😂😂😂😂

Can we please have Jim Downey as a regular guest or an honorary chill chum? This was one of the funniest episodes I've listened to (and they are all hysterical).

I really like the stumbling and fumbling at 2:30 is one of the funniest things by any comedian. Him trying to insinuate politely in full character... absolutely hilarious. Talking about Epstein for two minutes and then ending with "whatever you do in your private life... doesn't matter, I'm your friend." LOL!

For those who don't recognize him, this guy is the best part of Billy Madison.

The comedy timing on this guy is unbelievable. 5 years of guests and in his very first appearance, he did without a doubt the funniest "Hi, my name is _______ and I am ________ about being Conan O'Brien's friend" 😂

“Haha! Sorry! Nice try!” Gets me every single time lmao

Everyone who likes Conan and Norm and such needs to know who Jim Downey is.

It's so great when Sona really cracks up. She goes all in.

I love that Conan immediately caught Jim's cue to play the straight man. This bit wouldn't have worked with any other pair of comedians. Conan and Jim are just masters of their craft.

I have never been MORE CAPTIVATED within the first 30seconds of an interview!!! I can't wait to hear the _whole_ _thing_ with Jim Downey!

This whole bit is brilliant - it just builds and builds. One of my favorite little touches is the way he says “ok” after Conan says “I don’t do anything in my private life!” '🤣

1:42 “Haha. Sorry, nice try.” absolutely killed me

That is the single greatest intro/read by any guest this podcast has ever had

The Howard Shore Jim references as the band director is THE SAME Howard Shore that made the iconic film score to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, amongst many other iconic movie scores! That's wild!

His phrasing, pauses and word choice in the intro are just masterful.

The first 3 minutes, the most legendary moment of this podcast ever!

He wrote and stars in one of my favorite SNL sketches of all time; First CityWide Change Bank. It must be from 1991, but it captures the lameness of bank commercials in the 90s. I was so high when it first came on that I thought it was a real commercial. Then Roseanne pops up and it dawned on me that she's hosting SNL (what a coincidence!) and then I figured out, "Oh this is part of the show!" Jim is a master of deadpan comedy and it's obvious why he and Norm became such good friends.

I woke up and saw Jim Downey and I knew this was a special day. I didn’t want this one to end.

Jim Downey came prepared for that intro!!! More of him on the next episodes 🙏

After that intro, many people learning Jim is one of the best comedy minds won't be shocked

The opening minute was hilarious

I LOVE how he ends the Jeff joke with.. “Conan” 😂

Downey is a legend. An actual legend. On late night's Mount Rushmore of writers.

I keep coming back for the intro! It’s funny that they couldn’t allude to the topic discussed in the intro and instead entitled the clip about sharing an office with Bill Murray. You gotta love Downey!

My god, I cant stop watching the Jeff Epstein intro. His timing is just too good. Truly a living legend. Jim Downey that is, not Jeff.

I've replayed the beginning about five times now and every time I end up crying with laughter

His delivery is impeccable. The Epstein bit was perfectly rolled out.

It's fantastic to see Jim on the show. I'm really looking forward to listening to the entire podcast. I would be disappointed if they didn't talk about Norm Macdonald.

It's so strange to hear these legendary writers all these years later and, in hindsight, being able to hear in their voices the influences of one another like Al Franken and so on.

This whole interview with Jim Downey was so great, one of my favorites. He's still funny as hell.

As a person from Asia, I can guarantee all of us listen.

I can't wait to hear more of this interview. Jim "Jeffrey Epstein" Downy is one of the greatest talents in comedy history, his wit, use of language and comedic chops is nothing short of genius !

I keep coming back to 😅😅 so so funny. What a legend, Jim.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED this episode! Another winner for Team Coco! No one deserves more staying power than Conan 🧡🧡🧡

Google Jim Downey, I had to double-check that I searched for the right person! He looks so different!

Open your notebooks people, that's world class comedy right there.

Conan says worst intro but Sona's face says best intro.

Jim Downey is the best. Always has been. A fundamental part of what is funny. This was a great listen.

I have listened to this episode of CONAF several times. I adore Jim Downey!

2:33 - “It doesn’t matter to me what you do in your private life” LMAO 😂

Best opening ever. To any podcast. It reminds me of the old SNL Weekend Update jokes.

1996 through 2000 I had a lease on a house in Malibu on old Malibu Road right behind the old Hughes market now a Ralph’s market. Bill Murray owned “a” house next-door. In those few years I saw him all of 4-5 times. I knew it was his house because of course the window cleaner told me and I saw him six months going into it on my first year there. In addition to meeting his younger brother later when they had a moving company empty out the house to renovate the place and sell it or whatever they did with it. Bill begrudgingly waved at me once as he looked down at the concrete. I of course left him alone. That house remained unopened, unused, except for the homeless guys who were living in there at the tail end. They utterly wrecked the place towards the end. I have a crazy story about Bill exiting his house, waiting for a limo to take him to the airport. Two in the morning climbing out the side window because he didn’t have keys to his “own” house. It’s like 1-2-3 in the morning or something and my then girlfriend wakes me up because the dogs barking at the side of the house where the windows are. I’m like what what’s going on and she’s like I don’t know there’s there’s somebody coming out of the window next door and falling in to the garbage cans. I looked down opened the window, and I see Bill finishing from scaling down the trellis and what-not fallen on the ground. Luggage thrown on the ground like a duffel bag and up garment bag. And I am craning my neck trying to look down and of course we had this motion sensor light that went off. And she’s like what is it? What’s going on down there and I just casually tell her, Oh it’s no big deal it’s Bill Murray climbing out the window again. This time with his luggage down on the ground. He’s probably leaving. The funny thing about that is that when I look back in retrospect on his career and everything, it was typical Bill Murray. The guy was a wreck. Long story short, I think another year and a half past or so maybe shorter had past. For about a period of about 4-5 months there had been some people staying there and I thought OK he let his house out. Some friends are borrowing the place I see some freaks go in and out, always a lot of commotion going on there. We later find out that some homeless guys had seen him climb into the window one day, as he had a came back into his house. Several months later I would imagine and they ended up doing the same thing and parking themselves in there. One day the police showed up, cleared out the house, and it seems these homeless people were living in there and squatted on the place and literally destroyed the place. Stole a bunch of his stuff. One thing in particular that his brother had told me that they had stolen was he had a signed pair of Air Jordans in a glass case by Michael Jordan. All Bill cared about was that one pair of shoes and something about a Bose portable stereo missing. Anyway, his youngest brother was there and he was really nice. He gave me some stuff out of the garage, some golf clubs, a box of one sheets from the movie, “The Man Who Knew Too Little, and six cases of Pepto-Bismol pink bathroom tiles. It was the same younger brother, who played his younger brother in the movie Scrooged with Bill Murray. Oh, and the police came knocking on the door asking me about if I sign it and suspicious next door and I told him no he said well did you see all these homeless types going in and out and foolishness going on? Didn’t make you think I said, no have you ever met Bill Murray? This IS typical Bill type of situations! I mean this is the same guy that goes in and out of his own house THROUGH a window because he doesn’t have keys to his own house!

1:42 "Ha! Sorry, nice try" - funniest thing I've ever seen

Jim is one of the top 3 friends you've had on in my opinion. Great interview and friend.

Those first three minutes are a masterclass in comedy

I need more comedy stories from Jim Downey and I need them now, Conan.

Thank you Conan for introducing me to this man who was responsible for shaping a lot of my sense of humor, and I didn’t even know it.

Jim Downey owns the sense of humour we carry in our minds ! Think about that !! Our parents taught us a lot but Jim taught us how to make each other laugh! Thank you Jim. And Conan too, I guess !

His voice and demeanor are so unmistakable.

That intro absolutely destroyed me 😂

By 2:30 Sona was laughing so hard I think she was having a hard time getting enough oxygen.

I had to pause this video multiple times because I couldn't stop laughing 😂

This is just comedy gold. It doesn't get better than this.

I haven't seen Downey in a while and was somehow surprised that he's old now

I almost lost it when I read his name on my notifications. This has got to be top 3 episodes EVER, if not the absolute best. What a treat. Thank you Team Coco and Mr. Downey!

Jim is a legend

the first three minutes have had me crying every single time I’ve listened to it since its debut. unbelievable

This is hands down the funniest intro EVER

“I’m talking about Jeff Epstein, the New York Financier.” got me

5:50 The way Jim just agrees and lowers his head is PERFECT.

Absolutely best guest! Absolutely best ever comedic written of our time. Thank you!!!!!!!

Genius 🤣🤣🤣😭

“I’m pretty sure…with respect to” lol

Conan and team, you are the highlight of my day from the morning to end of the night. I chuckle everyday by myself. Laughing stupidly every time I am in the car!

Wowwww I've seen clips of this going around, but i didn't know Jim came right out the gate with this! Pure brilliance with their wit and comedic synergy.

To start out the pod like this is just completely legendary best episode ever. geniuses

„haha sorry, nice try“…I pissed myself hahhahaha

I think Jim Downey played Andy's dad in "Andy's Dad," one of my favorite snl skits.

I saw the Blues Brothers at the Universal Amphitheater and it was a blast.

That first 3 mins holy cow that was brilliant.

I was so hoping they would talk about Norm ! So happy they did. Awesome he had Jim Downey on 🙌

These Jim Downey interviews are glorious. Mind you, I am from Amsterdam and even I love them.

I've watched this bit at least a dozen times. Its still hilarious.

Jim is so disarmingly funny

That intro was the funniest thing I've seen in years...perfect.

I don't have a proper adjective to describe how funny this is. But seriously, have this banter on more often!

Comedy LEGEND that so many are unaware of

That was the greatest introduction I’ve ever heard. Satire at its finest

The entire podcast is hilarious. Downey wrote some of my favorite skits when I was growing up.

Intro was unmatchable. Brilliant, haha.

This was so fun to listen to in its entirety

OMG! That first 3 minutes is gold star comedy gold!

I can see why Norm loved him