Conan O’Brien has followed up his dramatic acting debut with an arresting performance (in more ways than one) in another international series.
Fresh off his role in the critically acclaimed film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, O’Brien cameoed on a TV drama in the Philippines. The part came about during his visit to the country for his HBO Max travel series Conan O’Brien Must Go. While the host made the trip only two weeks ago, the appearance has already made its way to TV screens in the Philippines.
O’Brien’s latest guest spot comes on Sanggang-Dikit FR, a soapy daily police procedural that premiered earlier this year—and the role reunites the host with one of his podcast callers. On an episode of Conan O’Brien Needs A Fan last year, O’Brien had trained to be an action star via Zoom with Filipino fan Mustafa—an aspiring action star himself. O’Brien tracked down the fan during his trip, and the two paired up for the action-packed scene.
While Conan fans have yet to see how O’Brien covers the experience on his own show, the Philippine network he shot it for has been milking the cameo for all it’s worth. The country’s GMA Network had been teasing O’Brien’s appearance for the past week, initially leading viewers to believe it would air on last Thursday’s episode of the daily program.
On Wednesday, it finally aired.
In the scene, O’Brien portrays a villain, alongside Mustafa as his henchman. “Did you get it?” he asks as he steps out of an SUV.
“Finally, the sacred medallion is mine! With this, I’ll become invincible,” he boasts. “No bullet, no plague can stop me!”
O’Brien takes in the moment as he fastens the medallion around his neck. “World domination, here I come!” he exclaims with an evil laugh.
However, his celebration is cut short by the arrival of the show’s two lead officers, who have spotted the amulet theft. O’Brien’s team fails to take them out, leaving only him to face off against the cops in hand-to-hand combat.
“You can’t hurt me,” he says, newly confident with his medallion of invincibility. The charm allows him to shrug off a punch to the face and a kick to the groin, but when one of the officers picks him up and flips him onto a table, the fight is over—and O’Brien is told he’s under arrest.
“For real?” he asks. “This is lunacy! This is madness! This is chaos!” he shouts as he’s led away in handcuffs.
Oe of O’Brien’s co-stars in the scene, Sanggang-Dikit FR lead actor Dennis Trillo, recently shared a behind-the-scenes clip from the set, catching O’Brien launching into the take before the director has called “action.”
“In America, we go before ‘action,’” he jokes.
O’Brien has made it a tradition to cameo on local shows when visiting foreign countries for his travel series—dating back to Conan O’Brien Must Go’s predecessor, Conan Without Borders. The host has guested on soaps in Armenia, South Korea, Italy, and New Zealand, as well as a Mexican telenovela.
O’Brien’s visit to the Philippines—including his cameo on Sanggang-Dikit FR—is set to be included in the third season of Conan O’Brien Must Go. Its release date on HBO Max is still TBD.
