Conan O'Brien enthusiastically greeted actor Jason Momoa to his TBS show Tuesday night because it gave him the opportunity to talk about the proper pronunciation of his first name with the star of "Conan the Barbarian," opening Friday.
"In the comic book and in the movie that Arnold Schwarzenegger made, it was [pronounced] Co-naaan," said O'Brien, placing guttural emphasis on his name. "And so people used to come up to me as a kid and say, 'Hey, Co-naaan!' And I would say, 'It's Co-nin.' And then they would beat me about the head and shoulders."
He pointed out that Momoa's version of "Conan the Barbarian" seems to use the more civilized pronunciation.
"It's Co-nin," confirmed Momoa. "It's always supposed to be Co-nin."
"Thank you very much!" enthused O'Brien. "I don't know who's responsible for this, I don't know who made this change, but I'm very happy about it."
And then Momoa proceeded to beat O'Brien about the head and shoulders. (Kidding!)
