Despite common suspicion, Jordan Schlansky is not reading from a script and usually doesn't even get a warning about the remotes he's going to be in. Conan O'Brien stated that people constantly ask him if Jordan is real. In a Q&A after a showing of the Italy episode of "Conan without Borders," he said to Jordan, "I would say what we saw tonight, was 98% real you; sometimes I think you put a little English on the ball, but I think for the most part, it is really you."
The writers often spring the remotes on Schlansky so he doesn't have time to prepare what he's going to say, thus giving us the most authentic representation of Schlansky's personality as possible. On an episode of "Inside Conan," Jessie Gaskell, one of the writers on "Conan," explained, "People often ask, 'Does Jordan really know all these facts about such a variety of random subjects?' And we don't want people to think we've set it up or that it's fake."
Need more proof? Comedian Mike Birbiglia was once Schlansky's intern and confirmed that he isn't acting. He said on "Conan," "You're not even exaggerating [about Schlansky] and that's just amazing about him."
