What Does Conan O'Brien Say He Is Chasing When He Gets a Reaction?

On the Nicole Byer episode of Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, Conan says the fun is making someone react when you do not already know what they will do. He torments his assistant, Sona, and says he loves her and cannot stop. As a child he worked the house for reactions from his brothers and sisters. He would park at the end of the driveway so his father could not get the car out, then run at him in slow motion yelling. Around age eight, if his mother asked him to fetch lemon wafers for guests, he would answer "yes, directly" and scurry out, so her friends thought she was a harsh disciplinarian. Getting the reaction was the game.