Conan O’Brien Reflects On The One Thing That Got Him Jumped In Boston

Conan O’Brien has a theory for why he got his “nose smashed in” while walking through a Boston neighborhood just before he started college.

O’Brien talked with actor Jon Bernthal during an episode of his podcast earlier this week and referred to the “Walking Dead” actor’s training as a fighter.

O’Brien, 59, said he knows he’s “long in the tooth” but admitted there are times in his life he thinks he could pick up fighting.

Bernthal complimented O’Brien’s physique. However, the remarks weren’t enough to stray the former late night host away from a story about one failure as a fighter.

O’Brien told a story about getting jumped in a “sort of dicey neighborhood” before he went to Harvard University in Boston, the area where he grew up.

O’Brien recalled wearing a T-shirt with the Irish flag on it while he was in an Italian neighborhood.

“So I got my nose smashed in by some fellows who didn’t like the cut of my jib, that’s how I described them to the police,” O’Brien said.

“And the police were asking me like ‘What’d you do when you realized you were about to get hit, like what stance did you go into?’ and I went ‘Stance?’ ’cause I’m told I had been a bit of a wise guy,” he said.

O’Brien later said his friend John, whom he hadn’t seen for “many many many many many years,” confirmed he was a “little bit of a wise guy.”

You can listen to more of O’Brien’s story below.

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