Peeping Cooper

(upbeat music) Conan O'Brien needs a fan. Wanna talk to Conan? Visit teamcoCo.com/callconon. Okay, let's get started. - Hey Cooper, welcome to Conan O'Brien needs a fan. - Howdy. - Hey Cooper, how are you? - Good, how's it going? - Let's go in pretty well. I have a few scratching about you right here. You are Cooper shields. And you're in, it's this year you're an architectural historian from Ohio. That's about all I know about you. - That is true. - Tell me what an architectural historian does. - Yes, so there are a few different facets and architectural historian can be. A lot of them are like the educational side, teaching, researching, and whatnot. And the side I'm on, I work for a cultural resource management firm. And a lot of what we do, so most of my company is actually archaeologists. And there's 10 or so of us. And a lot of the projects that we do are government mandated surveys. So when a project is done in the US that requires, that uses federal money, it triggers a cultural resource survey. And so that, make sure that the project doesn't negatively affect any of our cultural heritage, whether that's architectural, historic, or archaeological. - So we'll do what I do in the above ground section, as we call it, is you do survey work. So is that roundabout gonna necessarily impact that historic house that's sitting on that corner? If it is, what can we do to mitigate it? Can they move it slightly? Can they move the house? Can they move the project? - The house. - God, develop it must hate you. - Yeah, you must be hated by, it says here you've been attacked by many developers. (laughing) - It's awesome homeowners. - Homeowners, yeah. When you're driving around in a car with an orange vest on, take and photos of people's houses, you get some weird looks. - Well, I hope so. - It's a way to be a peeper. - Yeah, I mean, that's the thing is you could be a, a Cooper, you could be a serial peeper who got into this. And you talk a nice game up front about preservation and surveys trying to lull people into this sort of NPR fog of, it's all legit, but you're a guy in an orange vest, which by the way is not mandated by your job. That's your choice. - It's branded, but it's optional. - Yeah, yeah. And you're taking some creepy pictures. And these are not historic homes, you're photographing. Often these are homes that were, - Their apartment building. - I don't know, I don't know. - They were built in the 1980s. - College dorms. - Yeah, college dorms. (laughing) I have concerns about this sorority. And it's historical value. Sir, it was built in 1993. - Oh, man, he does such important work. And look, look what we've done to him. - Is it that important? - Yes, it is. - Listen, and Cooper, I don't say that to, in any way, denigrate you. I don't think my job is important. And so I think together we're wasting America's time. (laughing) - Are any of us actually important in the grand scheme of things? - Oh, I would say, I don't know. I mean, I think there's some actors, big A-list actors that are very important. - Oh, what? Okay. - I just wanted to throw that out there. That's the route you'd go for that. - I know, you did it that way. - Drs, your dad was a doctor. - Yeah, but your mom was a lawyer. - Yeah, but he was then in a movie. And he was my mom. (laughing) - You know, a decaprio, that's like a very important person. And I wanna talk about this anymore. It's just so obvious. (laughing) This sounds very cool. You must have architectural styles that you like, architectural styles that you favor over other styles. What are the kinds that you really like? - Things true. - What gets you all hot and bothered? - So I like to say that I prefer historically underappreciated styles. So things like brutalism, postmodernism, like late modernist, like in 1970s, '80s, kind of weird stuff that isn't the coolest to the normal observer, but I did. - It's not the gorgeous Victorian house that's surrounded by stately elms. Brutalism, you're talking about giant blocks, right? And poor concrete. And concrete. - Yeah, of course. And a giant slice of a window, right? And a really shiny floor and hard surfaces. You like a home that can't be baby-proof, is that right? - That's true. It's all danger. Yeah. You like a house where the nursery has spikes coming out of the floor. - They're concrete spikes, but yeah. Yeah, it's gonna be specific. - Boston City Hall, I think, is a really cool building. - Oh, come on. It's cool. - It's cool. - It was in it last year. It was great. - I don't care why you were arrested. That's not important to me. It was a conference, thank you. - I'm sure. (laughing) - We were all arrested. It was the People's Conference. (laughing) - You go on. - You will have a giant x-ray specs on. - You're all rounded up together. Look, Cooper. (laughing) - They're on to you and I'm on to you. - No. - I grew up with that building. That building was built when I was a very young boy and I just never liked that building. Has it come around? Is it that our views have changed and now you appreciate it? Or do you appreciate it because no one else likes it? - Ah, that's it. - So, okay, so there's a chance that I'm trying to be a little bit sneaky about that and think that I like it. - You're a contrarian, correct? - Yeah. - Oh, everyone hates that. - Oh, I was vindicated because my wife, who is in the same field as I am. We were at that conference last year in Boston and Abby and I, we were just walking around in awe. And so it's not just me and it was also everyone there. It was also a conference on modern architecture. So it might have been a bit skewed in the audience. - To be fair, I haven't been there in a really long time. I think the last time I was there was when I got arrested. - Yeah, why not? I actually was punched in the face and I had to go later on to some, they called me in for some reason to give testimony or something about beatings and who deserves them and who doesn't. And I deserve one. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Oh, look at, okay. - Yeah. - Yeah. Just to describe what's happening here to the listener. (laughing) So now I just pulled up a picture of the Boston City Hall and showed it to myself and then to David. So when you heard right now, huh? Yeah, see? - Uh-huh. - Yeah, that's what was happening. (laughing) - It's been voted like the ugliest building in the country. Yeah, multiple times. Yeah. - Oh God. - Yeah, it's a crime. It's a crime and you're wrong. You know what I love is that I love that your wife does the exact same thing that you do. - Mm-hmm. - So as picture you, meeting you both reached for the same orange vest in your hands touch and you were like, excuse me, and she was like, excuse me and then you went, oh my. And your glass is soaked up. What happened? - So we met in grad school. - Yeah. - We both went to Ball State University in New Zealand, months in Indiana. - Wait a minute, Ball State. That's David Letterman's college. - That is David Letterman's alma mater. - I, any college that spits out of David Letterman is okay by me. So very cool. - She, she saw him on campus multiple times and I think it turned into kind of, what's that massing of students over there and it's, oh it's David Letterman. - Yeah. - I don't get that when I go to Ball State and wander around. - Why would you? - I walk around and I hope that people come up to me and they don't. - Okay. - Yeah. - You didn't go there? - No. But I've been, I just constantly hang out there hoping that I get some of that vestigial letterman love, you know? (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - What do you think, if I were to be a building or son of a building or David hopping, what kind of style do you think we would be? - Yes, yes, I thought about this. - You just said that like a villain. - Yes. - Yes, yes. - Yes. - I thought about this. - I thought about it, yeah. - Cool. - So Conan, so for you, I'm going, the postmodern style. - Why is that? - The avant-garde kind of late 20th century and the building in specific, specifically that I thought about is the Disney building, the Disney headquarters in LA. (laughing) It's very bright, it's very larger than life. And it's very kind of in your face, purposefully. - We got to know this stuff. - But it's an exception. - Wait, is this the one that has like the doors? - The door is the door of the seven doors. - The seven little people. - Does it have them? - It does. - Wait, no, that's not it. - No, that's not it. - That's not it. - That's the Disney concert hall. That would be flattering. Show me this other Disney building. - I think it's just the Walt Disney office building. - Yeah. - Type in ugly shit in LA. (laughing) - Tune Disney building. - What's that? - Team Disney building. - Team Disney is the actual name. - Yeah. - And why? Why do you think? I think I'm this building. So be honest. So postmodernism was kind of a response to modernism, just like international style early 20th century. Yeah, the way post-mellon is a response to a guy named Malone. Yes, Malone. Right. Oh, perfect timing. Oh, for God's sake. Oh my God. And it was done. That's what you think I am. I seriously, people need to go on a website and look up team Disney building. I think I think I think I think I think it's suspended by cartoonish dwarves. Well, when you think too hard about it, it gets a little weird. I don't. All right. Well, okay. What about Sona? So Sona, I like the gamble house, which is in Pasadena. It's the epitome of arts and craft style. I do. You know what? I love arts and crafts. Can I see a picture of that, please? So come on, Edward, what are you doing over there? Duck Ground House in back to the future as well. That's a beautiful house. That's what there is. This is much better than the team Disney building. That's a gorgeous house. Yeah. Who lives there? They might be a museum now. They get to a museum now. Yeah, no one lives there. Well, if it's a museum, if you go and just hang out there courageous enough, yeah. Yeah, you wait until closing time. You say, I have to use the bathroom and then you hide in the stall. And then when they leave, I've done this at many museums. Oh my God. This is a lot of presidential museums. I spent six days at the Dwight Eisenhower Museum. It's really fun. You get to where it's pajamas and stuff and hang out. So and what and David, David, what would David be? And these guys are making it better than I am. So remember, it can be a temporary structure. They're gonna say Legos. No, no, it can be like, oh, we tied this together because there was a storm. So David's Illinois history, Midwestern. I'm thinking a nice four square like prairie style, but early prairie style. Yeah. Just very simple, understated. Yes, simple. But still just like a nice, a nice place to be because they're big, warm. Something you'd pass a thousand times and never think twice. Okay, well, those are your words, not mine. Hey, hey, hey, hey. It sounds like a separate. When you pass that, when you pass my building and you see a bunch of fucking dwarves, you're gonna notice it. You're gonna be like, and a common reaction to me is, I don't like what's happening over there, but it did grab my eye. So you're not disagreeing with me. Oh, Cooper, I have a question because this is something it's near and dear to my heart. And you wouldn't be able to help me here. Part of your job, I believe, is writing nominations for the national historical registry, meaning you can help assign historic status, official historic status, and get it on the registry of a building that is linked to an important person. True? Correct. So, part of my job is oftentimes writing nominations to the national register of historic places, which is the country's official register of buildings we deem worthy of recognizing, worthy of significance. And there are a handful of ways that you can deem those buildings significant. And one, one of them is an important person. I think you'll have to die in order for it to like work well. I don't think there's oftentimes where they're done when people are living. So I'd have to be dead in order for a building to be given historic status based on you. Well, I'm going to say something for a second. I don't think that's when you go to London, you see plenty of those blue plaques and it's to people that some of them are still alive. It's like this is Mick Jagger's home where he grew up. You know, you'll see some things like that and some of them, they're not. They're still alive and they're touring for God's sake. You could be, you could be the case study for the first one in the United States. So, okay, because I prefer to be alive. And then what structure would be worthy of historic registry? There's my childhood home in Brookline, Massachusetts. And what else? Of course, there's this very elementary schools. And I'm thinking more than one that I went to, you know, as the Baldwin school then as the Michael Jisco school, then of course, there's Brookline. Hi. Could I get plaques for all of these or is it just a one and done thing? So the plaques are the things you can just kind of do on your own if you want to. They're not. The plaque isn't the official part. So we can just make one. Make one. Go take it off. You know what? David? All order one. As my assistant. One. No. Oh, yeah. I want all kinds of plaques. They have to be fairly cheaply made because I'm going to want a lot of plaques. I want homes that I've lived in in New York. I want homes that I've lived in in Los Angeles. I moved around a lot when I was a young man. This building. This, oh, large, here. Oh, yes. This large, here. Where magic was made. Yes. So across the board, we're going to need a lot of plaques. They should probably be made of a durable paper. Okay. You know, initially rain resistant, but then they, because we're going to, I don't want to spend too much money on it. And these are a lot of places. A lot of places need to be. Yeah. I don't know how it all works, but I guess I'd like you to look into it some more. I'd like a way to have a plaque put somewhere with my name on it on some structure, and I'd like it to be well on live. So can you be thinking about that? My wife Abby actually works for the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office as one of the National Register of Historic Places Reviewers. Okay. So I will, I will, I will take this to her. But wait a minute. It has to be an Ohio. No. I've been through Ohio, but I don't know that I. Every state, every state has a historic preservation office. Okay. I want, I have not yet agreed. I want Abby. May I call her Abby? Of course. Okay. I want Abby on this. I want her to be looking into it. And my requirements are a plaque. Well, I think I'd be, you know, if, if I don't have to supply it and someone else is paying for it, I want it to be a plaque, a real plaque, and it should be someplace I believe in Massachusetts. And we need to get this done. We need to get it done quickly so I can hang out there and then act like I noticed there was a plaque. I mean, imagine being hanging out and having a plaque and being like, oh, I guess that's me. Yeah. But you're hanging out right next to it. You got it. Yeah. And you're just acting like you had no idea. Yeah. I'll, I'll get like, I don't know, I'll get a sugar cone ice cream, you know, and I'll just be like, it's good ice cream. Oh, this, I guess that's where I was born. Oh, my God. Yeah. God. That's so sad. Who looks into whether these plaques are accurate or not? Let's say I wanted a plaque that said, this is where Conan O'Brien set the record for most touchdowns in a high school football game. Does someone fact check that shit? Probably not. I think you can just go to a trophy manufacturer and they'll make you a plaque. I've been thrown out of so many trophy stores. I think it would, I've been forcibly walked out of several, several trophy stores. I think the amount of oversight would be dependent on where it's placed because if you put that outside of it like a, a dairy queen. Yeah. I don't think many people would think, think too strong, but if you put it at, you know, outside of the soldier field that, yeah, yeah, people are going to see it. You're right. I'm in question. Yeah. My plaque is just a blatant lie. Then it should be someplace quiet. Cooper, this is, I have to say, this, this interview started out very quiet, you know? You were talking about surveys. I panicked for a second and then this turned into one of my favorite interviews in a while. So I appreciate that. I mean, you started slow as I did in life. You started slow and then bang, it was fantastic. Absolute joy talking to you. Seriously. Thank you. You're very funny. You have a dry wit. You're clearly very intelligent and I think you're doing something cool and, um, yeah, I really do appreciate this and I do not getting, I'm going to want to hear from Abby, okay? I'll, I'll make sure that happens. Okay. All right. Take care, man. Good to talk to you, Cooper. Thank you all. I appreciate it. Bye. 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