“He could have been seriously injured”

Woody Harrelson revealed on the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” that he was in a motorcycle accident while driving to the studio to record the interview with his “Cheers” co-star and longtime friend Ted Danson. Harrelson collided with a Tesla and was thrown over his handlebars and the hood of the car. He was wearing a helmet and was able to avoid possible head injuries.

“I think crash is a fair term. I actually went over my handlebars,” Harrelson revealed on the podcast after the accident. “I passed this Tesla on the left side, which I thought was moving a little slow, and I didn’t realize it was going slow because it was turning left. I was on a motorcycle.”

More from Variety

“I always feel that the shortest distance between two points in LA is by motorcycle. But today was not so fast as far as transportation goes… I always thought I would be OK. I felt like it hurt a little bit. I felt the pain, but I never thought I would be killed or maimed.”

Harrelson suffered a wound to his wrist and none other than Danson was there to tend to him when he came into the podcast studio. Danson once played a doctor on the soap opera “The Doctors.” The interview started late due to the accident.

“We were in the bathroom and I said, ‘You played a doctor, right?’ and Ted said, ‘I played a lawyer too, so we can sue the guy,'” Harrelson recalled.

The friends said Danson cleaned and bandaged Harrelson’s wound. Harrelson added: “His confidence, his demeanor, everything about the way he does it makes you feel like you’re in the best hands. I never doubted him.”

“I’m sad,” Danson said then. “He could have been seriously injured. It really makes me sad.”

Harrelson and Danson were interviewed by O’Brien to promote their latest collaboration, a new podcast called “Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (Sometimes),” which launched on June 12. Each week on the podcast, the duo joins a special guest to “go beyond career highlights and delve into the things in life that make us who we are,” according to SiriusXM’s logline for the podcast.

Guests on “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” are expected to include Eric Andre, Will Arnett, Kristen Bell, Laura Dern, Jane Fonda, Simu Liu, Megan Mullally, Conan O’Brien, Nick Offerman, Martin Short and Mary Steenburgen. The podcast is produced by Team Coco at SiriusXM, the podcast network and digital media company led by Conan O’Brien, which it acquired in 2022.

“The best thing about this podcast is that it gives me an excuse to hang out with Ted,” Harrelson said in a statement when the podcast was announced. “Sure, we’ll talk to interesting guests and share a few laughs along the way, but the biggest win will be seeing our romance, I mean friendship, rekindled after all this time. And I’m glad listeners can be there.”

Watch Harrelson and Danson’s appearance on the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast in the video below.

The best of diversity

Subscribe to Variety’s newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.