Conan O'Brien Attends Trash Can Dedication in His Honor

Conan O'Brien may have four Primetime Emmy Awards and a People's Choice Award, but he recently received what may be the greatest honor of them all: a trash can in his name.

The former late-night host revealed on his podcast Thursday that the unexpected honor came during a June trip to Langley, a town on Whidbey Island in Washington. O'Brien said he was visiting with his wife, Liza Powel O'Brien, who had written a play that was being produced in the small town. O'Brien said he was warmly welcomed by the local police chief, the mayor, and various residents of the town.

"I'm walking around... and someone comes rushing out of their store and they go, 'Oh, hi Conan. I'm headed over to your ceremony,'" the comedian recalled. "And I'm like... ceremony?"

"So we go over and sure enough they've planned... They have a crowd out behind city hall and they have an impromptu ceremony and they dedicate a trash can to me."

"There's a trash can there and they, very quickly, the mayor had a speech that he found someone in town to write for him," Conan said. "And then I met the kid who wrote the speech. He looked like he was about 19. He was wearing a little bow tie. So I said, 'You work for the mayor?' and he went, 'Oh, no! The mayor just saw me buying a cappuccino and said he needed a speech for Conan O'Brien and [his] induction into the trash can hall of fame."

When asked by his co-host Sona Movsesian whether he felt it was an honor, O'Brien replied, "You know, I think the thing to do is to just say yes it is," adding, "They quickly, I mean it was kind of a joke, but they just put a sign on it that said 'The Conan Can.'"

O'Brien went on to reveal that Mike Sweeney, a former writer and producer for O'Brien's popular Conan travel shows, was in town for the play and rushed to the event to offer joke ideas and film the event. "He's shooting it wildly with his iPhone and I'm thinking, 'Hey, our travel shows are back after two-and-a-half-years of COVID!'" Laughing, the late-night host conceded, "It's totally something we would've done on one of our travel shows."

During the speech for O'Brien's trash can naming ceremony, a resident said that the town wanted to dedicate the trash can to "a person who embodies civil service clearly as much as the trash can itself." O'Brien signed and dated the top of the trash can with a cartoon image of himself saying "What an honor!"

"It's an actual trash can," O'Brien concluded. "It's going to be there at Whidbey Island for the foreseeable future. Until they honor the next person who comes to town."

Kirstie Renae is a writer, blogger, and Austin-based actress with a penchant for binge-watching TV with her dogs. Follow her on Twitter @KirstieRenae.