Summer S’pouses Episode 4: Liza Powel O'Brien

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2:04Hi, my name is Liza Powell O 'Brien.

2:10And I feel so many things about being Conan O 'Brien's spouse.

2:17Oh, this is going to be good. Summer Spouses with Conan O 'Brien, Sonam Avsassian, and Matt Gorley. And Liza Powell O 'Brien, Tack Baroyan, and Amanda Lund.

2:35Well, welcome to Summer Spouses, the game show, where the spouses of the three idiots that do this podcast come in. And today's special guest, Liza Powell O 'Brien. And I thought I'd just start by saying, first of all, thank you, Liza, for coming in today. I don't know if this was your favorite thing to do, but you were very sweet to say, yes, you'd do it. And we were just talking, I think in one of the, I think it was the first episode, we were talking about last names because Amanda. Lund. Lund, yes. But Amanda took Gourley initially. Is that right? Well, she took it legally, but not publicly.

3:17Right. Out of shame. Right. Oh, okay. Well, this is a well-known thing Liza and I talked about because you have such a beautiful last name and a very cool last name. Powell is such a cool last name. I think. I never thought so growing up. The 1L. The Powell with the 1L and how it, because I'm a history buff and how it goes back to, you know, revolutionary days. I will tell you, it has definitely been misheard or maybe not misheard as Bowel. So that's what I think of all the time now when I'm introducing myself. Well, when I first, when we first met. So that is a beautiful thing. When I first met, I thought you said Bowel and I was like, I am in.

3:56It's one of my favorite topics. And then when I thought it was Powell, I was really bummed out. Yeah. No, but you have, it's just a really, you know, beautiful name. And then I got to know all the Powells who are really cool people. But I remember feeling a little bit like, oh, because I've never been a huge fan of my last name just because it's so generic, kind of just Irish name. And so we've, you know, we've talked about maybe I should just switch to Conan Powell. Oh. You know? Really? Well, he's being very kind to me because I said when he was complaining about his name before we were, right before we got married.

4:33Yeah, we were engaged. And I said, well, you can always take my name. And it didn't go over for a while. I know, wait, you're making it seem like, You're like, yeah, I was toying with it for a bit. I wasn't toying it for a second. No, no, it did not sit right. Well, the Conan O 'Brien brand had been built. That's like, we're going to change McDonald's. That's the problem is the Conan O 'Brien brand had been built. But I was like, privately, you know, a la Amanda Gorley, who no one knows as Amanda Gorley. Right. Could have changed it privately. Okay. You want to still do that? No, that's fine. At this point.

5:08No more paperwork. I don't want you to have it. you're not worthy of now that you've actually now after 25 years you're like we gave it to both our kids that's plenty oh yeah in addition to yours yeah no it's it's all good but well this is I mean you're free to you know maybe I should step out of this I'm wondering if you should leave like I was wondering why you guys oh that's interesting oh do you want me to go like that's a better game show it's true but you know We can do both ways. Well, you know, I clearly can't lead this conversation any more than I can lead a marriage or participate meaningfully in a marriage.

5:51Keep going. Keep going. You're doing well. What is this perspective? Let's just say, you know, there's some I'm problematic around the home. Is it your bits? What are the problematic things? I mean, there's a lot of problematic things. I almost took a picture today. Nothing to do with this. I was just going to record it to maybe show some other people. what the kitchen looked like after he had cleaned up from making his breakfast. Okay, tell us. Which he was very dutiful about putting the butter away and putting the spatula from the sink into the dishwasher. And then on the stove was a pan, another spatula, some spray that was still open.

6:36It was an SPF 50. Cabinets left open. No, I fried three eggs and put them on a piece of buttered toast. Why did you need two spatulas? One went missing halfway through. Who can say? I think I used one spatula to pick up the other spatula. You can't be too careful with a spatula. That scene in Sixth Sense, when the mom first knows something's really wrong with the kid, because she is giving him cereal, and she turns around and she comes back, and all the doors in the kitchen are all the cupboard doors are open. all of a sudden? She's like, oh no. Every single time you walk into the kitchen and you can tell he's been in there because every door and every drawer, everything's open.

7:18Yeah. What's happening? I will plead guilty to all of this. Also, I've been told after you use a pan, it's supposed to sort of sit and cool on the stove for about a week. That may be wrong, but that's just something. Manufacturer's instructions. Yeah, that's what I heard once. and that's there's a lot I think there's some things I've gotten better at many things but I would you say my stuff spreads you're a spreader I recently figured this out if you go into a hotel room he has to put when he comes in and drop something down I like to make piles and stacks and you know confine everything he has to put everything on a different surface so we can see it all so next thing I mean, it works.

8:06I'm not psychological. And we're talking about T-shirts, jeans, and underwear, but I lay it out and go like, I'm rich. There's limited surfaces in a hotel room. $120 worth of clothing. We're rich. What? There's limited surfaces in a hotel room, so you're just... I know. Not in our hotel rooms. Imminent domain. Well, first of all, and Liza's being very modest, but we always get the... I buy out the entire floor. Oh. Penthouse floor of any... Yeah. I just... And I always let them think that I'm coming, that I'm Saudi. with that name. It really goes far. That I've come in from my palace in my private jet, which also, for some reason, was named American Airlines.

8:47I have a question. So you went out with him and then you saw him eat. And you're like, I'll go out with him again. You know what? On our first date, actually, I remember telling Sybil about this. Yeah. Our friend Sybil Goldman, who gets a shout out. We went to a movie at like four. or something like that. And then afterwards, he had an idea to go to, I didn't know this, but he had an idea to go to Sean Lee, his favorite restaurant, which was right there. Real quick, what movie did you see? Do you remember? All About My Mother by Ogmodovar. He wanted to see High Fidelity, but I had just seen it.

9:20He said, I won't see a movie you've already seen on our first time scene. I thought it was very showdown. It was sweet. So then she takes me to a movie where one of the characters walks out of a vagina at some point. Literally, like a 30-foot high. Yep. And I, my brain melted. I can only imagine you. Yeah, I felt safe with John Cusack. She says, I have another idea. And I said, okay, we'll try that. And it was like saloon doors. She comes charging out of a giant vagina and you hear like a player piano in the background. I think, think, think, think, think, think, think, think, and stay out. And stay out.

9:57Anyway, he said, so then he said, do you want to get some Chinese food? And I was like, no, I'm in the mood for Mexican. He was like. Everything I said was no, but we're doing this instead, which should have been a clue. So we went up to this really crappy Mexican restaurant that I loved at the time. And we were the it was five o 'clock in the afternoon. We're the only people in the entire restaurant. And they bring us chips. And he he put the chip in his mouth. And then like the corner of the chip is sticking out. And he pushes it in with the heel of his hand. I thought it was adorable. I know.

10:28He wasn't doing a bit. I was eating. I don't know how he's eating. If you watch, if you watch not just me, but I'm going to say some of my siblings as well, when it's time to eat, it was very much a, you know, there's six of us. There was a round table and they would just throw a bunch of food. Well, your brother, in fact, this morning, asked if our two dogs eat out of the same bowl. I don't know why he did that. Yeah, I was talking to my brother, Neil, and I said, oh, hold on a sec, because the dogs came running in and they both started eating their food. two dogs, two golden retrievers. They're eating out of there.

11:01And Neil went, do they eat out of the same bowl? But I was wondering if he got that idea because that's what you eat out of the dog. You guys got one bowl of gruel that you all had to eat. Kind of. But so I also, Sona, be a little more specific about what you were alluding to, the way I eat. Just so really fast. Fast, yeah. And like, you know, like his siblings are hovering. I mean, you know, but it is alarming. It's compulsive. And you tell me no one's going to take it away from you. She's always kind of. So when you guys were eating like family dinner with the four of you, you were just shoveling food.

11:37Oh, it's gone before I sit down. Like I put the food on the day. And by the way, you're not the only one in the house. And so I am routinely eating like grandma used to, like for 25 minutes after everyone else is done. Well, I'm still working on my food. But she takes her time eating.

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16:59When we were first going out, I just noticed that I would like, I need a giant hamburger. Oh yeah. You know, I need a, I need giant quantities of things because it was all this very sort of compulsive dealing with some trauma from childhood. I don't know. Kind of way of eating. And maybe some of it's just in the bloodline, you know. Have you ever done that? Like your father giving the kids cigars in the closet and you just go to put a feed bag on and go until you're satisfied? I don't know. What are you talking about? That made no sense. You guys haven't heard that? Someone still has feedback?

17:34that? No, there's a famous like thing where fathers would catch the kid smoking a cigar. They'd put him in the closet and make him smoke a bunch of cigars to make him so sick of it. You did not word that properly the first time. That was a problem. You need to go into a closet with a thesaurus. I think aversion therapy is what you're talking about, right? Aversion therapy. You need to go into a closet with a strunken white copy. Where are my cigar heads out there? They'll know. So, yeah. So what I noticed right away is, and this is still kind of the case, although I think I've changed a lot, but we're gotten somewhat better, but I would just need like, I need a giant steak and a lot of potatoes.

18:10Then I need some pie. And I would look over and she would be like, well, I'm just gonna have, it's good to have a salad first. I'll have this salad. I'll have these walnuts. And I'm always running into her and she'll say, did you eat lunch? And I'll go, yeah, I took two pizzas and wrapped them around each other, unhinged my jaw and slid it down and heard a splash when it hit my stomach. And I'll say, what did you? And she's like, I'm good. I had some walnuts. I had a little piece of, I had a radish that was really good. He used to call me Cornucopia Jones when we were first dating. It was all, it's all little like, and then I, and I had just a little bit of mustard on the end.

18:50I had, it was delicious. And I'd be like, what are you talking about? That's not a meal. It sounds healthy. Oh, she's very healthy. Yeah. Yeah, it makes me crazy. Oh, I'm sorry. Very boring. Do you ever go for like a, just you gotta have a steak and dig into it? Oh yeah, I eat a lot of steak. She makes also a steak that I've, my favorite steak, she, when you make a filet or actually any kind of, I hear she can do it with one spatula. Yeah. I think insane. I use a spatula to cook another spatula. He's got two spatulas to eat it with. I was like. Doesn't know why it doesn't work. I'm the Edward Scissorhands of Flats.

19:24Are you tossing a salad? I think Edward Scissorhands of flapjacks. No, you make it amazing. You grill. You're a master griller. She grills up. That's awesome. I'm always really excited when I say, oh, we're going to make steaks tonight. We're actually, me and the kids are all super excited because it's better than anything I get in a restaurant. That's for sure. That's nice. Okay, enough being nice. I have another question. Yep. He talks about how on one of your first dates he muttered murderer to someone. First date. Oh, okay. No, not just murderer. Were you ever concerned? Were you ever concerned about his mental health?

19:56Listen, I don't know what's wrong with me, but this is a long story, the first date. But by the time we got to that point, we had been. The murder of her. She brought backups. She arranged for us to meet other people because she thought, I don't know that I'm safe with this idiot. She did the right thing. No, it was. So I had made this plan with friends downtown. Like, you know, when you're young, you make a plan to like meet up at 11 p.m. That's not weird. And so we were seeing an early movie. And so I thought, oh, well, he must have something else to do after that. So I didn't cancel my other plan.

20:30So we get out of the movie. We go to the Mexican restaurant. We eat the chips. We saw a man walk out or someone walk out of a vagina. And then I jammed a bunch of chips into my mouth. And it was like feeding paper into a shredder. And then we walked up West End Avenue. And I was like waiting for him to say, well, I got to go, whatever. And it wasn't happening. I was like, okay, this is going on. And now there's this like, there's a bar in the corner. You said, do you want to get a drink? I'm like, sure. We go into this bar. And then you did a weird thing. I ordered a whiskey or a scotch. I don't know what I ordered.

21:04No, you did. You were like, I'll have a whiskey neat. And they were like, okay. And I was like, wow. That's why I did it. Never since. Not one time. Not ever since. And then later on I said, I thought you drank. I got her some whiskey. And she's like, I don't drink whiskey. Did you just panic and think of a film noir or something? I guess. Or something like that sounds like a cool thing to do. I didn't enjoy it. And she chewed tobacco. Anyway, so we were there for a while. And I'm thinking, like, my friends are waiting for me downtown. And I thought, well, I don't want to bail on them because that's kind of lame.

21:36I didn't tell them I had a date. And I didn't tell them. So then I said, well, I'm supposed to meet people downtown. Do you want to come? He said, sure. And now this is post-wake risky. I was not cool because I could have said, I've got things to do. Buy, sell, buy, sell. But no, I went, OK, I've got nowhere to go. So we get in this cab to go downtown. Now we both had probably something to drink at the Mexican restaurant and the bar. We weren't sloshed, though. No, we weren't sloshed at all. But I think and we're also neither of us knows what's going on. And so we're in this cab heading downtown.