What is the coffee mug Conan O'brien drinks from on his show?

Answer 1

Question: Can you list the items on your desk and tell us the significance of each? (Al B)

CONAN: There's the mug of Eisenhower. I've always been obsessed with American Presidents, coz I studied American History when I was in college and that was my favorite subject. So when the show was beginning, that was a gift someone had given me years before, the Eisenhower mug, It's really pretty beautiful, it's a nice mug, and I really loved it. So I put it on my desk coz I thought, the show is so silly it would be good if there's an authority figure present. Because when I first began doing the show no one knew who I was, they didn't know who Andy was and we didn't have much respect from people, so I thought I'll put a figure of great authority and respect on the table, they'll be someone there who will have respect. So and then he's just been there since the beginning.

Then the only other item really is my mug, which my friend Greg Daniels, who used to be my writing partner, he went on to create the show "King Of The Hill" a big hit here in America. When I got the job he took a class where you can make pottery and he made me that mug. He painted all the silly nonsense words on it that I say.

Linzi: What are the words on the mug?

CONAN: Um, they make no sense. I used to make silly nonsense words. Like I've always been a fan of nonsense, you know, kind of like Lewis Caroll. So, I used to say things like "Sweet, sweet goo", "Gibble", instead of "hello" I would say "shello" to people. I would say "yabble", I would say "Jub-jub" - Jub-Jub was the name that I gave for Salma's Iguana. We were all sitting round the room and everyone was trying to think of a name, and they were all thinking of normal names like "Susie" or whatever, little normal pet names "Fido" and I just said "Jub-Jub" and they all laughed and said "ok, Jub-Jub". So I came up with the thing "Jub-Jub" and then Greg put it on the mug. So the mug is basically just a little drawing of me at my desk and it says all those nonsense words all around it.