Actor Timothy Olyphant recently shared one of his most embarrassing travel moments during an appearance on Conan O’Brien’s podcast. He revealed how a translation app led to some very awkward restaurant encounters in Thailand.
The Deadwood and Justified star explained that while filming his new FX series ‘Alien: Earth’ in Thailand, he and his crew had been relying on Google Translate to communicate with locals. After a few weeks in the country, Olyphant felt confident enough to venture beyond basic phrases and decided to engage with restaurant staff about menu recommendations.
“I’ve been asking the waiters at any of the restaurant, I’ve been pointing at the menu and saying, you know, what do you like? Like what’s your favorite? Right. But saying that in Thai,” Olyphant recounted to a delighted Conan O’Brien.
However, something seemed off. The waiters weren’t responding as expected, and Olyphant couldn’t understand why his seemingly innocent question was falling flat. Determined to solve the mystery, he decided to reverse-engineer his translation using the app.
“So I’m like, ‘Oh, I say it in Thai and it’ll tell me back in English and I’ll know now if I’m saying it correctly,'” he explained. After testing some basic phrases like “hello” and “goodbye” to ensure the app was working properly, Olyphant input what he thought was his restaurant question.
The result was mortifying: “And I say that and it comes back and says, ‘Gaze into my eyes.'”
The revelation suddenly made all those awkward restaurant interactions crystal clear. For at least two dinners, instead of asking servers about their favorite dishes, Olyphant had been intensely requesting that they stare directly into his eyes.
“So for at least two dinners, literally… I would really be like just ‘gaze into my eyes,'” he admitted, mimicking his earnest delivery that must have left Thai restaurant staff completely bewildered.
O’Brien couldn’t contain his laughter, noting how surprised he was that no one had actually complied with the request. “I’m surprised no one just started to get down and looked right into your face,” he joked.
Olyphant praised the patience and kindness of the Thai people throughout the ordeal, calling them “nice people” and “so good people” who remained polite despite his unintentionally intimate dinner requests.
The actor’s upcoming alien series, which was filming in Thailand during this linguistic mishap, premieres on FX. Viewers can watch Olyphant communicate much more successfully—presumably without any intense staring contests involved.
