Conan O’Brien Thought an ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Room Was a Coworker’s ‘Cool, Creative’ Real House

This is the story of how Nintendo‘s Animal Crossing: New Horizons fooled Conan O’Brien on a Zoom call. During the newest episode of the talk show host’s podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, he and his co-stars recalled the time he mistook a colleague’s Animal Crossing living room for the real thing. Here’s what happened.

‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ lets players get creative with their homes

One of the most popular aspects of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the creative freedom it gives to players. At the start of the game, players move to a deserted island with a group of anthropomorphic animals. However, by using the island’s resources and selling various items, they can turn the barren land into a thriving community with shops, residential areas, and more.

Players can decorate the entire island however they wish, leading to some seriously creative builds. Some gamers choose to follow an aesthetic, like cottage-core or horror. Meanwhile, some use their islands to pay homage to other interests, including video games like Stardew Valley and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

In addition to their islands, players can hone their interior design skills by decorating their homes with realistic items like TVs, kitchen islands, and more. There’s even an Animal Crossing: New Horizons DLC, Happy Home Paradise, devoted specifically to designing vacation homes based on villager requests.

Conan O’Brien thought an ‘Animal Crossing’ screenshot was someone’s real living room

Some Animal Crossing: New Horizons home builds are so life-like that they might look like the real deal when taken out of context. This happened to O’Brien, who made it clear he didn’t play the game or even know what it was. During O’Brien’s podcast, producer and moderator Matt Gourley took a moment to poke fun at the host’s cluelessness.

“We were on a Zoom, and our lovely editor, Mars … her background was from the video game Animal Crossing,” Gourley recalled. “And [O’Brien], in all sincerity, went, ‘Wow, you have a beautiful living room.'”

O’Brien owned up to the mistake, admitting that he told Mars she had a “cool, creative, Etsy-style” home.

The podcast’s video footage, seen above, included the screenshot in question. In all fairness, the setup could easily replicate someone’s actual living room. However, the unusually small proportions and unrealistic graphics are usually dead giveaways that it’s a video game.

O’Brien justified the error by saying it was a “small box” on his screen, so he couldn’t tell it was fake. Thankfully, he had a lighthearted attitude about the mishap.

“Ha, ha, Conan’s an idiot who doesn’t understand how things work,” he joked.

Conan O’Brien has an unusual relationship with video games

O’Brien made it clear in the past that he was not a big fan of video games, nor was he very good at them. Still, whether he liked it or not, he became a gamer through the Clueless Gamer segment of his TBS show Conan. Each time, he would play and review a popular video game (like God of War or Biomutant) alongside a celebrity. The segments hilariously showcased his lack of gaming skills and his disdain for video games.

Unfortunately, Clueless Gamer came to an end in June 2021 with the final episodes of Conan. Hopefully, he’ll revive the series one day; maybe he can finally pick up Animal Crossing.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now on Nintendo Switch.