Conan O’Brien Tried to Get Cast as a ‘Male Gigolo’ in ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3

Podcasting, travel shows, and deranged appearances on hot-wing-themed interview shows may not be enough for Conan O’Brien, as recently, the longtime late-night talk show host expressed interest in joining the cast of “The White Lotus.” While speaking with Season 3 cast member Walton Goggins for his podcast, “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” O’Brien shared that he pitched himself to the show’s creator Mike White after finding out the next season would take place in Thailand.

“I was in Bangkok, I don’t remember how long ago now, shooting for our travel show,” O’Brien said. “It was a really hot day. And so I had my experience there, which has been well documented. Then not long ago, I ran into — before you guys started shooting ‘White Lotus’ — I ran into none other than Mike White in a restaurant.”

O’Brien went on to share how he’d met White before, describing him as a “very funny, cool guy” and, perhaps jokingly, decided to offer his services on the next season of the hit HBO TV series.

“I said, ‘Hey, so the next season of ‘White Lotus,’ you’re going down to Thailand, right?'” O’Brien said. “And he said, ‘Yeah.’ And I said, ‘I was there. I had a great time. I made a lot of friends.’ And then I said, ‘If there’s a part for me, I’m available.’ And he looked at and he said, ‘You know, there’s a lot of sex work there.’ And I said, ‘I could do that. I could play a part where I’m a male gigolo or something.'”

Goggins was taken aback at first, but encouraged O’Brien’s foray into acting, as well as into possible sex work should he be so inclined.

“Do you think I could play that part or do you think I actually could be a gigolo?” O’Brien asked, to which Goggins said, “Well, I think you could do both. I think you could play that part and you could be that person in real life.”

Goggins will appear in the upcoming season of “The White Lotus” alongside another all-star cast that includes Jason Isaacs, Carrie Coon, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Aimee Lou Wood, and many others. Goggins recently shared that his real-life hotel bill while filming the slightly meta series was almost as astronomically outrageous as the show itself.

“It’s all very meta on every level. We’re guests checking into a hotel playing guests checking into a hotel. We spend all this time together, whether we like it or not, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. We work where we stay,” Goggins told the LA Times. He even added that upon finding out he got the role, he started “bawling, crying uncontrollably.”