and i was struck, though, with a show with 162 references, how much like lenny bruce that was, which was, lenny bruce used to use racial epithets over and over and over again and saying it doesn't mean anything. take away their power. and you absolutely captured that today. and yet, if your mission is to sort of push the envelope, to do what others wouldn't do, to find comedy in new and different places, will you run out? i mean, are there any standards left? which is exactly why-- obviously now, it's not like we can do a show-- "oh, let's do a show where we say, you know, the "f" word 162 times." you know, it's like it's-- you've got to look for new ways to do it. [voice quivers] but, you know-- (stone) no, but sometimes-- we're always fascinated by-- the reverence, like, "oh, you're doing this, and this is new." and we're like, "thanks, but there have been "a lot of people doing this stuff, "from norman lear with all in the family to lenny bruce to george carlin." i mean, it isn't, brand-new to say the "f" word, you know? (divney) you know, when married with children was on fox, th

sorry to get all lenny bruce on you, people. >> i would say all animals should write into him and not us. >> if they were equal they could write nbut they can't. >> i don't believe that for a second, sir. >> i got some delightful e-mails. it takes them awhile to type, but they do it. >> their on screen names are nuts 83. >> they have acorn berries. >> isn't it true that he and other extreme vegetarians just hate people? >> yeah, no, absolutely. first i want to say this guy is like madonna in term of his love for animals, except madonna on steroids. i never heard of him until that story. i just want to point that out. >> well, you are young. >> i am young. >> we had to verify that. >> this guy says he wants george bush to die. so alt -- so at least we don't have to claim him on the conservative side. >> he had ticket holders check for meat products. that would have left you in the cold. you came with a bucket of kfc. >> it is the same. have i been going to morrisey concerts since 1991, and you can sneak in the beef jerk key. the problem is once your friends find out how you sneak in th

dick gregory, lenny bruce, there has been, chris rock, there has been a huge list of comedians that have fallen into that. and you need to think as you progress further in years, that window shuts. >> a new world now on this tv late night war zone. urn very gracious in welcoming conan. you describe jay leno as the biggest two-faced dude and a back stabber. >> was that me? >> i'm afraid so. >> you know, i will say this. i do not have a personal relationship with jay leno. we are not friends. nor have we ever been friendly. i've heard some things said about me by him that i took exception to. >> like what? >> you know, there were things that he said that i was not appropriate to people of my own color. which i found disingenuous from somebody else. that's a pretty big chip to pull out. and i disagreed with that. >> what did he mean by that, do you think? >> i think when you understand the material, you understand it. when you don't get it, you might think i'm negative toward my own people. >> it struck me as strange. he's always been unbelievably core just. he has a chat, a cup of coffee.

dick gregory, lenny bruce, chris rock, there have been a lot of comedians who have fallen in that vein. you hope that as you progress further in years that unique window shuts. >> are you more hispanic, latino? i saw when we got the stats. >> you're going to breakdown my ethnic breakdown? >> apparently she did this, revealed your dna. 55% european, 32% native american, 9% east asian, and 4% african. but you relate most to being latino. >> you know, it's an interesting -- i mean, if you look at my face, i look a little indian. i'm a little sanjay gupta but then i'm a little bit mexican as well. so i'm not -- i'm not native american enough to get a casino but i do blackout when i drink occasionally. so i would say that of all of those things, i'm happy to be all of those things. i'm happy to have a little bit of african-american in me. i love the asian part in me. and then i like that nativeness because i come -- i think my father was -- i didn't know my father but i believe that he was from an area of mexico has been inhabited by indians. >> are you seen by the la latinos, are you seen

so you had people like, and some of them black comics, but lenny bruce, mort saul and be dick gregorye very important in establishing that kind of critical social humor in this country, and then after they did it, other people came along, and black humorists, particularly richard pryor, combined the rawness with the social commentary. made huge strides. opened it up entirely for people. and the writing is kind of interesting also because they're, blacks have been kept away from writing satirical books. if you look at the literature of african-americans, there were only a few books that even touched on satire up until the 1900s. i think charles chestnut used humor first, and then you have james wheldon johnson, i guess, with the autobiography of an ex-colored man. you don't get anything again until the renaissance, langston hughes, and, um, hurston, those people come along. but they opened up the stage for the kind of writing that you people are doing when you're actually dealing with humorous writing because it's very difficult to do. >> well, you know, i'm glad you bring up dick greg