‘The Treasure of Foggy Mountain’ Director on Getting Conan O’Brien to Act in ‘Please Don’t Destroy’ Movie (VIDEO)

It’s rare that Conan O’Brien plays a character rather than himself in on-screen cameos. But he happily took on the role of Farley in Peacock‘s The Treasure of Foggy Mountain comedy, created by the guys of Saturday Night Live‘s Please Don’t Destroy, Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy.

In The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, three deadbeat co-workers fend off hairless bears, desperate park rangers, and a hypocritical cult leader while searching for a priceless treasure. O’Brien, Meg Stalter, Bowen Yang, John Goodman (as the narrator), and more comedic favs appear in the movie, premiering exclusively on Peacock on Friday, November 17. In the video interview above, director Paul Briganti (who worked on Please Don’t Destroy videos on SNL before signing on for this flick) shares what O’Brien was like on set, working with producer Judd Apatow on the film, deleted scenes, and more.

Albertina Rizzo, Paul Briganti, Judd Apatow on set of Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain (Credit: Anne Marie Fox/Peacock/Universal Studios)

As it turns out, Please Don’t Destroy, who went viral on social media before booking SNL, had landed this movie deal before becoming a featured comedy group on the NBC variety series. O’Brien was eager to “do right” by the film’s team.]

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“He was really excited. He approached it in a really becoming way, where he was like, ‘I just want this to be really good. I want this to be funny and I want to do my best and I want to do right by you guys,'” Briganti shares. “That was his whole thing. He was like, ‘I hope I do a good job for you,’ which was so different, not what I expected, because he’s kind of doing us a favor, like a mitzvah, by being in this movie. For him to not only do it, but to approach it in that way was really heartwarming and really sweet. He was just so funny, and he made so many things so much better. He was just a great vibe on set. I wish he was around the whole shoot, honestly.”

According to Briganti, Apatow likened making The Treasure of Foggy Mountain to making Anchorman, in that it’s a wildly fun time on set and things moved at a breakneck pace, but there was also a degree of worry on everyone’s minds. Like with Anchorman, the studio didn’t necessarily “get” what they were trying to do with the comedy, so the pressure was on to pull it off.

Learn more behind-the-scenes details about The Treasure of Foggy Mountain in the full video interview above.

Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, Original Movie Premiere, Friday, November 17, Peacock