Conan talks to DeVaughn in Calgary about how to come out on top as a professional bobsledder. Wanna get a chance to talk to Conan? Submit here: teamcoco.com/apply Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link: https://siriusxm.com/conan.
Chapter 1: What does DeVaughn think about living in Calgary?
Conan O'Brien needs a fan. Want to talk to Conan? Visit teamcoco.com slash callconan. Okay, let's get started.
Hey, Devon. Welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan. Hey, Devon. How are you?
I'm good. How are you? I'm sorry. This is crazy.
Well, I think it's crazy that your shirt matches your background exactly. Exactly. Because you look like a floating head right now.
It's cool.
It's pretty cool. You have a good look going for you. Thank you. Yeah. Devon, there's so much we need to talk about. But the first thing I need to understand is where are you coming from right now? I have no idea where you are in the world.
So I'm from Calgary, Alberta in Canada. I originally was from Edmonton, but yeah, I'm in Calgary now.
Okay. So you live in Calgary and what's the temperature where you are right now?
It's unseasonably warm. It's about five degrees Celsius. So, yeah.
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Chapter 2: How does DeVaughn stay fit as a bobsledder?
What is that in American temperature?
Yeah. We like everything done the American way since we're soon to buy your country.
I've never figured out the conversion there. So your guess would be as good as mine. So it's 41 degrees.
Okay.
Did you call it Calgary? Yeah, so I'm not originally from here, so I call it Calgary. I'm supposed to call it Calgary.
You know what I say, Devon? Stick to your guns. Yeah.
Yeah, the locals don't really know what they're talking about. I don't think so.
Hey, I'm going to say this, Devon, and this is a compliment. You look yoked. Doesn't he look like a... Do you lift? Yeah, I mean, you look... Swole, is that what the kids say?
Swole, yoked.
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Chapter 3: What are the dangers of bobsledding?
right when I sent it.
Yeah, but let me tell you something, Devon. If I was on a bobsled for two seconds, I would spend the rest of my life telling people that I was a bobsledder. That's just me. You're being way too modest. It sounds like, I mean, this is serious stuff. You have competed at a top level.
Yeah, I was very lucky. I was also just very fortunate to be in good positions. I put myself there and put myself out there last year and was able to just find my way into one of our top sleds last year and
somehow ended up over there it was uh okay i just took a shot at it so i don't know we've all seen the images of bobsledding um but i don't know much about it i know there's a couple of a couple of you are crammed into a bobsled how many so it's either two or four uh four it gets real cozy in there but uh it's nice you're you're with your buddies kind of going down well and if they're not your buddies they become your buddies real fast
Yeah, they do, for sure.
So you are interlocked with these. There's four of you, and you're on this sled that's like a rocket. And how fast do you go at times?
150 kilometers an hour. Damn it, you and your metric system. I don't know.
I mean, that could be 11 miles an hour for all I know. I'm sorry, I'm very ignorant. My cat can run 150 kilometers an hour. 93 miles an hour. 93 miles an hour? And what is that in kilometers? Yeah, stop it. I just got us off of that. Okay, all right. Wait a minute. So 93 miles an hour on a bobsled. I don't understand what happens if you crash. You hang on for dear life.
Seriously. Do you fall out? What happens? You can, if you don't hang on, you will fall out. Yeah. Like it's kind of my first crash. I learned it real quick. Um, I was doing a two man, so it doesn't go quite as fast. It gets to, I don't know what it is in miles per hour, but it gets to like 140 ish kilometers an hour. And we crashed probably at the fastest point on the track in Whistler.
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Chapter 4: How does a bobsled crash feel?
You would just slide down the track into a crowd of people dressed in black.
Yeah, we would all wait. The coffin would be opened at one end and I'd slide right in. And they'd say, well, there he goes. And put me down. So, I mean, have you ever been seriously hurt?
I haven't. I've been really fortunate. Our crashes, one looked violent. It wasn't that bad in it, but it looked really bad. Just because you're about halfway down, we crashed, we tipped over. And as you're going through all these turns going down, the sled's just doing its own thing. No one's controlling it. So when it goes up on a turn, it comes back down as if it's coming down on your head.
You can kind of feel it, but... You're just hanging on. Again, you're with your buddies, so you're kind of like hanging on like, okay, let's hope we all don't fall out and get hurt here.
That's a pretty low-key conversation you guys are having. It's 93 miles an hour. You're soaring through an ice tunnel out of control. I kind of hope we don't get hurt here. Interesting. Is one of you reading the paper? Oh, look! Sister, the Oilers are in town.
I think, like, the last crash that we had, I was thinking, like, my first thought was, like, because it was our first four-man on the World Cup together, and... I like told my family all back home, like, this is where you can watch it. Make sure you tune in. It's at this time. And like, first thing I was like, oh man, my mom is watching this and she's not going to like this sport anymore.
Just because that's all I was thinking the whole time. I'm like, oh man. I need this to end so I can pop out and just give her a thumbs up.
Show her that you're all right. Quick question. My instinct would be I would want to be the third person in a four person because if something went wrong, I would try to use the bodies in front and behind me as a buffer, as a shield. Is that a sign of low character on my part? I would try to be positioned behind you so that I could steer you towards the ice and the rocks.
And your body is, I'm just being honest. Your legs are too long.
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Chapter 5: What is the economics of bobsledding?
Chapter 6: What protective gear do bobsledders wear?
How big is your bobsled?
It's a bigger bobsled, yes. It's less aerodynamic. But at my insistence, it has, when the crash starts, excuse me, gents. And I open a little door and then you hear footsteps going... Down some steps. And then I shut it. It's a little cocoa. And I read the third Harry Potter. I think it's Harry Potter and the stone that's made of bones. And I'm in there with a little sweater and stuff.
And there's a little fireplace.
No one's going to want to be on your team.
You don't know about bobsledding like I do.
Your bobsled sounds more like one of those big, like, tall bags. It's going to tip over all the time. Oh, okay.
So suddenly you're the expert, Devon. I think I know a little more about bobsledding than you do, having spoken to you and seen a photograph. Now, what's the economics behind bobsledding? How do you guys, do you need sponsorships? Who's funding this? Does the Canadian government step in and throw some loonies at it? See what I did right there?
That was a good reference. That was a good Canadian reference.
Well, you know, I've been around. I've stayed at Martin Short's Lake Cottage. That's where I know all this stuff.
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