"That's a man who doesn't know what to do with a horse."

October 15, 2017 2:28 PM

Conan O'Brien Didn't Ask David Letterman For A Horse After Conan O'Brien wrote a loving farewell tribute article to David Letterman, Letterman repaid the gesture with a most unusual gift. [SLYT]
posted by Servo5678 (23 comments total)

Love it. I too don't care if the story is true or not.
posted by Secretariat at 3:15 PM on October 15, 2017 [8 favorites]

ePONYsterical!
posted by mightshould at 3:29 PM on October 15, 2017 [12 favorites]

I want to know why other people were riding his horse at the boarding stable. Unless that was part of the agreement, that's not something that should have been happening.
posted by sardonyx at 3:38 PM on October 15, 2017

Horse massage started when someone misheard dressage.
posted by Nanukthedog at 3:43 PM on October 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm just relieved to know that "horse massage" doesn't involve having a large hooved animal walk up and down someone's spine.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:50 PM on October 15, 2017 [3 favorites]

Greg Ace, we call that bareback....
posted by mightshould at 3:53 PM on October 15, 2017 [5 favorites]

A true white elephant.

Pinto elephant.
posted by clawsoon at 4:03 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

we call that bareback....

Really? Huh...Now I'm even more mystified by porn descriptions.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:10 PM on October 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

Does "cowboy up" have you confused too?
posted by mightshould at 4:21 PM on October 15, 2017

Does that refer to Billy Crystal and the other guys dressing in chaps and Stetson hats in those "City Slickers" movies? If not, then yes I'm quite confused.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:37 PM on October 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

It's better than back when he moved his talk show from NY to LA and "reclaimed" the car he didn't take with him to The Big Apple... which I saw was a green 1996 Ford Taurus almost identical to what I was driving at the time...
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:45 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Greg Ace is as confused about horses as is Conan....you're in good company, Greg.

But, back to the post (up, down,up, down...)It's totally a funny story and I enjoyed the clip(clop,clip,clop)and appreciate it - thanks for sharing, Servo5678
posted by mightshould at 4:48 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

That horse is pretty shabby compared to the Volvo wagon that Letterman received from Paul Newman.
posted by peeedro at 5:42 PM on October 15, 2017 [6 favorites]

The story reminded me a little bit of an early episode of The Simpsons, which is not surprising since Conan did write for the show during the golden era.
posted by FJT at 5:56 PM on October 15, 2017

>I want to know why other people were riding his horse at the boarding stable...

To exercise and/or train the horse: O'Brien apparently paid for a full-service accommodation for Dave the horse, which involves daily exercise and perhaps training. Darn humane of O'Brien.

The alleged episode reduced my esteem of Letterman even further, though: gifting a horse in that fashion is an awful thing to do.
posted by the Real Dan at 7:11 PM on October 15, 2017 [4 favorites]

the Real Dan--maybe it's less awful as a gift between multi-millionaires? I mean, I'm sure Conan had plenty of cash and plenty of people on hand to deal with any complications. Or are you more horrified by the implications for the horse?
posted by col_pogo at 7:25 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

After one of the most stressful weeks in recent memory, watching this late night Friday night was extremely cathartic.
posted by vverse23 at 7:45 PM on October 15, 2017

See I was thinking boarding with turn-out, not necessarily boarding plus training. But either way, you're right, it's an awful gift (although if somebody want to give me a horse as a present, I'd be thrilled.)
posted by sardonyx at 8:13 PM on October 15, 2017

The latter, Colonel.
posted by the Real Dan at 10:17 PM on October 15, 2017

My mother pays a horse massage therapist to come massage her ornery unrideable horse, so I'll have to send this clip (clop clip clop) along to her.
posted by maryr at 12:42 PM on October 16, 2017

the Real Dan--maybe it's less awful as a gift between multi-millionaires?

Even if I were a millionaire, I would think twice about getting a horse. You might as well feed the thing your money directly.
posted by JHarris at 2:56 PM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

David Letterman's side of the story on Jimmy Kimmel, which in brief is "He wasn't supposed to keep the durned thing!"
posted by dannyboybell at 5:05 AM on October 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

Jeez, you'd think a conversation between two late night giants wouldn't need a pre-planned anecdote.
posted by ODiV at 9:51 AM on October 18, 2017