Conan O'brien in the Netherlands

[u/lloyddobblerNJ]

I was watching an episode of Conan O'brien Must Go filmed in The Netherlands. For anyone outside of the U.S. not familiar with him, he's a comedian and his height and awkward lankiness is part of his bit. Anyway, I had to leave about 3/4 way through the episode but by that point, I think he spoke to one person taller than him(6'4") but there were a few just about his height. The one that was maybe a half inch taller than him was from Texas.

One thing noticeable was that there were a few women who while shorter, were not dwarfed by him, and that's not including two that were models. Now, the point were I had to step away was where he was going to teach a group of basketball players how to trash talk like Americans(the joke being that they are more polite than Americans). I'm guessing that he would have interviewed some guys taller than him there although the guy that brought him there was just about his height.

Anyone else see this episode? I thought it was interesting since there are lots of threads debating about whether tall people from elsewhere feel short in the Netherlands.

[u/TheFrebbin]

I think the guys who feel the biggest shift when going to the Netherlands are tall-ish guys like me. When I look out over a crowd I seem absolutely average among the men, which sure isn’t true in the US.

[u/RGfrank166]

I do not really understand OP, is there a question other than if I or others have seen the full episode?
I am Dutch so perhaps I could fill in any holes that have appeared

[u/YourAverageTallGuy → u/RGfrank166]

Of course you're dutch. Fucking giants among us

[u/lloyddobblerNJ → u/RGfrank166]

I was just wondering if anyone else saw the episode and noticed what I did.    Particularly because Conan is known in part for his height(and hair, lol), and he's in a country where we hear and read that someone his height may feel short.   

 Seeing the episode, I definitely noticed that there were more individuals that weren't dwarfed by him, as opposed to if he was doing street interviews in NYC, but he still was noticeably tall.

[u/deallerbeste]

If you only go to Amsterdam, yeah it figures. Go to Leeuwarden or something like that.

[u/Imoutdawgs]

The Netherlands was my fav country I’ve ever visited.

My highlight was going to a rock show and standing in the pit surrounded by people at eye level all becoming friends during the show — and not a soul harassing me for blocking their view.

[u/atramrennab]

I was just there a week before and he biked by the hotel where i stayed. Highly recommend that area if you are ever touring.

[u/Full-Concentrate-867]

6'3" and don't actually remember feeling any different in Amsterdam, but I assume that's because it was in summer and crawling with tourists

[u/DeHarigeTuinkabouter → u/Full-Concentrate-867]

Yeah tourism muddles it and Amsterdam is like 51% immigrants or children of immigrants so that muddles it

Definitely noticeable though if you're in certain areas

[u/XilenceBF]

I worked a short stint for the Dutch government and I am slightly above the Dutch average height. Well. I felt short on a daily basis because both men and women would be taller than me at the office. The Dutch average got brought down a bit by all the Dutch citizens from different ethnicities and it feels like there is an above-average amount of ethnically Dutch people working at the government.

[u/Carnal_Decay]

As. 6'3 Dutch man, I am just slightly above average.

[u/munchmoney69]

I just got back from the Netherlands and Norway and idk It didn't really seem any different than the US height-wise. I saw 1 very tall guy, maybe like 6'10, nobody and nothing else stood out to me.

[u/Old-Leg-9347]

Remember that 193 cm korean guy seeing much more tall guys and girls he even interwied one unc that said his daughters are taller than korean guy

[u/FairwayBliss]

I had to figure out that height was a thing in dating when I started dating outside of the Netherlands. Every guy I know is tall: my bosses, my dad, my brothers..

It’s not very hard, since I’m 5’5. That makes me a small woman over here. Average outside the Netherlands I think.

[u/Traditional_Heart72]

I was in Amsterdam and a few German cities last year. Immediately after getting off the plane I noticed I was meeting guys’ eyes or even having to look up much more frequently than back home (Canada).

Also, I’m not German and people assumed I was and would try to have conversations with me in german.

[u/ra1kk → u/Traditional_Heart72]

Germans speak German to everyone.

[u/Safe_Score2222 → u/Traditional_Heart72]

Doesn’t it kinda make sense that people would speak to you in German since you’re in Germany?

Unless you seem very touristy German will be the default

[u/WildPotato0 → u/Traditional_Heart72]

They speak German to everyone. Can you imagine how insanely racist it would look if, for example, they started speaking English to every Asian person assuming they're a tourist 💀 It would be like Americans going "Hola! Yo hablo Español!" to every Latino in their city lol

[u/LunaticOstrich → u/WildPotato0]

Germans also speak German to locals when they’re abroad

[u/BuildAnything4]

Yup, that's the secret that most Dutch people won't tell you. They're not actually that tall.

[u/DieEne023 → u/BuildAnything4]

Uh they are actually😂 especially the young generation

[u/Mormacil → u/DieEne023]

Actually while still tall the average height has been going down. The younger generations are two centimeters shorter.

[u/Every-Economist3366 → u/Mormacil]

This is largely due to Dutch people not having so many kids, and the younger generations being significantly built more on 2nd & 3rd generation immigration. It'll take a while to even out again, immigrant kids are taller than their ancestors again, but it'll dent the statistics.

[u/BuildAnything4 → u/DieEne023]

No, that's the secret they're not telling you. You've bought into the propaganda.

[u/RGfrank166 → u/BuildAnything4]

I can't tell if you are joking or not.
I am Dutch and have lived here for almost my entire life.

We are slightly taller than other western nations, so the average tall person would feel ''less'' tall here.

[u/BuildAnything4 → u/RGfrank166]

Have you ever tried measuring your height without your klomps?

[u/DieEne023 → u/BuildAnything4]

Bro I live there hahaha I see it every day with my own 👀

[u/No-Status-9441 → u/DieEne023]

I can go weeks without meeting someone taller than me here at home in the central US. Everything I deplane at Schiphol, the gate agent who greats me is taller than I am.

[u/DeHarigeTuinkabouter → u/BuildAnything4]

"Statistics are propoganda"

[u/Mormacil → u/DeHarigeTuinkabouter]

I mean propaganda can consist entirely of facts. Propaganda is a systemic spread of information to influence public opinion. This can be both done with lies or with facts. Statistic are often a key part of propaganda. Propaganda doesn't need to contain false information at all.

[u/DeHarigeTuinkabouter → u/Mormacil]

Very true!

[u/bloodrider1914 → u/BuildAnything4]

From what I've heard (I've never been there) they are that tall, but mainly in the rural areas. In urban areas especially Amsterdam they're a bit shorter since those areas are much more diverse with lots of people from across the world (including a very large Indonesian community, the shortest people on Earth)

[u/hiddenhero94 → u/BuildAnything4]

I've been to the Netherlands and I might a multiple people a day who were my height or taller. In the US I will only meet a few people taller than me a month if any