Conan and Jordan Schlansky in Japan show they’re the best duo in late night

Conan O’Brien continues to strike comedy gold when involving producer Jordan Schlansky, this time bringing him to Japan for a shocking revelation.

Apologies to Andy Richter, Steve Higgins, and Guillermo. But no late night host seems to get more out of a comedy relationship than Conan O’Brien with Jordan Schlansky. Obviously the O’Brien/Richter dynamic is worthy of praise but perhaps they have spoiled us over the years. Things just feel a little different when O’Brien pulls Schlansky out of his (messy) office.

Fans of Conan have seen Jordan’s profile raise in the past few years as he has become a greater source of an awkward, strange brand of funny that O’Brien clearly cannot get enough of. For his part, Jordan appears to be mostly in on the joke and understands the role he plays for O’Brien when the cameras are on. But you can tell that there also times where he can’t help himself and demonstrates that he’s a…unique character.

To help keep things fresh, Conan has been taking things with Jordan out of the offices of their TBS show. Schlansky was O’Brien’s tour guide/tormentor during a trip to Italy. It was one of the most popular of O’Brien’s already wildly successful travel specials thanks in large part to Schlansky’s increased role.

So it made perfect sense that Schlansky would join Conan for his latest adventure in Japan. We’ve already seen Conan work out some of his family problems thanks to a rented wife, daughter, and father. Next he had the opportunity to work out his professional relationship over a meal with his producer:

The “kaiseki” meal gives both of these guys a chance to show off in their own ways. And that is where the comedy comes from. Jordan Schlansky gets the chance to show off his cultural and culinary knowledge that he’s convinced makes him interesting. Conan O’Brien gets the chance to show off his wit, turning around any phrase into an insult or immature joke. Even when he’s not trying, Schlansky always sets up Conan who in turn never misses.

The biggest laugh has to be from the soul-crushing realization by Jordan that he was wrong about Karate Kid Part II. For someone who enjoys correcting others, like he did on Conan’s attempt at Japanese, that had to be a worst-case scenario. When Schlansky starts to smile wide like that, you know he’s losing it. Well done, Conan and well done, Ralph Machio.