Entertainment
A Brooklyn bar owner hops on the subway and out-jokes Conan O'Brien as his pretend ex-wife
Debbie Shields sat down next to Conan O'Brien mid-interview on a New York train and played his fake ex-wife so well that he could not stop cackling.
Plenty of comedians have tried to keep up with Conan O'Brien. A 68-year-old bar owner from Brooklyn did it on a moving train without any warning at all.
A seat next to Conan
Debbie Shields was riding with her best friend Tony when he noticed a small camera crew in their car. The tall redhead in the middle of it was O'Brien. He was taping an episode of SubwayTakes, the online show where host Kareem Rahma asks famous guests for their hottest opinions while they ride the rails.
Shields did not know the show. She did know Conan. So she told Tony to save her spot, strolled over, said hello and sat right down beside him.
The ex-wife bit
O'Brien started it by calling her his ex-wife. She did not even blink. The two of them had two kids, she told him. One is in medical school. The other is in jail.
He asked whether the kids still love him even though he never visits. Oh yes, she said. His pictures are all over the house. They even got his hair. Anything about their faces she did not like, she added, they simply drew in.
O'Brien folded over laughing. The episode came out Tuesday and the clip has been bouncing around the internet ever since.
Not a plant
Some viewers were sure the whole thing was staged. Shields says that is silly. She was born and raised in Brooklyn. Before she opened Confessions Bar in Bed-Stuy nearly three years ago she worked in trucking and in nursing. She says the bar got its name because the more people drink the more they confess.
Her phone has not stopped ringing. Neighbors, strangers and even somebody from City Hall have reached out to congratulate her.
Comedy runs the bar
It turns out she has been warming up for years. Her bar hosts a Friday comedy night and she introduces the acts. On karaoke nights she roasts each singer before and after the song, then hands over a gag gift.
O'Brien called her lovely and offered to do a sitcom with her or take a two-person show on the road. She has a counteroffer. She has three kids in real life and jokes that only two belong to Conan. She says she plans to hit him up for the child support he never paid.
