Conan O’Brien, Bill Hader deal with their insecurities by playing God of War

Conan O’Brien’s “Clueless Gamer” bits occasionally induce eye-rolling, especially when the butt of every joke is, Aren’t games silly?

The latest installment of Clueless Gamer, however, is a little bit different. The jokes are there, but Conan also turns the relationship between Kratos and his son Atreyus in God of War into a meta-commentary on his own awkward upbringing, making the episode feel slightly less played out than others in the series. It doesn’t hurt that Bill Hader is along for the ride.

Hader, best known for his time on Saturday Night Live and the current star of HBO’s Barry, and Conan figure out a way to perfectly mock the bizarre relationship between Kratos and Atreus that players experience at the beginning of the game. Neither clueless gamer gets very far in the actual game, meaning there’s little time to see the relationship between Kratos and Atreus develop.

“You know, if you just waked in,” O’Brien observes, “you’d think this guy was chasing this boy with an axe.”

Hader and Conan come off as two dads making a bunch of dad jokes about a game that focuses on a dad. Neither seem too impressed by the time their game session is over, but as Hader said, “I worked out some things in God of War, and I can now use it in my life.”

If you’re looking for a more rounded, in-depth God of War review, we have you covered.