Summer S’pouses Episode 5: The Spouses Alone

0:02Don't freak out, but there's an island in the Caribbean that loves both of you, David, Sona. And I think I'm love too. It's called Aruba. It's the most welcoming place on earth. Have you been to Aruba? I haven't. It's fantastic. Yeah. Now, that's the good news. This island loves you. Here's the bad news. You can't feel any of that love from your sofa or your desk or whatever heavy machinery you're operating. You got to fly on down there, walk on its beaches and soak in the sun, and then you'll feel that love. That's how you have to do it. I'm giving you both time off. I'll fund the whole thing.

0:31Oh, wow. And you got to get to Aruba because when you love Aruba, it loves you back. Plan your trip today at aruba.com. Offer a free vacation for Son and David. Not real. What? Granger knows when you're a procurement manager for an office park, you're not managing one building. You're managing all of them. And to stay ahead, you need to see through walls and around corners. Lights about to fail, filters ready to clog, H-back on its last leg? If you wait until something breaks, you're already behind. Count on Grainger for quality products, easy reordering, and 24-7 support. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by.

1:10Grainger, for the ones who get it done.

1:18Summer Spouses with Conan O 'Brien, Sonam Obsessian, and Matt Gorley. And Liza Powell O 'Brien, Tack Baroyan, and Amanda Lund.

1:31Hello and welcome to a very special episode of Conan O 'Brien Needs a Friend. My name is Liza Powell O 'Brien and I'm here with Amanda Lund and Tak Baroyan, the spouses of Matt Gourley and Sona Mastessian, respectively. Welcome to Summer Spouses. Doesn't that make you think that there's going to then be a fall spouse and like they're going to have to get remarried to new people every season so that there's something to put on the air. Oh, my gosh. Summer spouses. Right. I mean, I could take a break, you know, I could use a break. Heard, by the way, that is a very good idea. OK, how has this been so far for everybody?

2:13It's been great. It's the first time for me. You've done this on a podcast. I have not done like what I haven't done is sort of the being yourself and and talking about your life like a chit chat show is what i call that do you and you do that right i not like this i mean i have like one chit chat show with my friend maria but it's behind a paywall and i'm pretty convinced like no one is listening so it feels very safe this is scary because people are like we've got eyes and ears by the way i think we fewer every second I think maybe on this one. It's going to be out there forever. Right. Also that.

2:50Yeah. Yeah. But it felt like fun to be in the hot seat a little bit. Did your spouse act a little bit differently in this room with you in it? That's a good question. I was getting like supportive nods. From him? From Matt. Yeah. From Matt. Okay. Did he look, was there fear in his eyes? He told me right before we came in, he was like, it's okay. Like you can. Whatever you. He said, you can speak freely. Okay. And so I kind of got the green light a little bit. Does that mean that you're not usually encouraged to speak freely? No, I've signed a non-disclosure. I suppose that makes sense. What about you, Isona?

3:32Isona was always Isona, right? Yeah, she was kind of giving me that, don't you fucking embarrass me. But was she also just watching, it felt like she was also maybe a little quieter. Like she was really interested in hearing what you had to say. Yeah, yeah. She was letting me talk for a change. Is that on you? Yeah, exactly. That's not the norm. Yeah, no, it is. We're cool. She was about the same. She's always herself. That's like her thing, right? Yes. No matter what circumstance. It's a gift, really. It's not typical, I don't think. It's not. And how about your kids? Does one of them take after each of you?

4:09Or are they from somewhere else entirely? I think so. I think Mikey is more Sona because he's like very adventurous and just hardheaded and stubborn. And Charlie and he's very extrovert. And Charlie is more like, you know, he's more me. I think he loves to draw and he likes to do his own thing and like look at his monster books. Yeah. And just sort of do his own thing, you know? Yeah. Yeah. We just got these great thank you notes from them for their birthday presents, which was adorable and I'm going to frame them because I don't have little kids right now to do that with. And one of them drew a picture and the other one wrote Michael.

4:52Thank you, Michael. And so it was like, this couldn't be a better representation of how different my kids are from each other. That's it. Is one of them more social than the other? Depends on the day. Sometimes Mikey gets a little shy for some reason. It's kind of weird. And Charlie steps up and like tells the jokes, you know, which is like so like unexpected because he's more of an introvert, you know. Yeah. But he can tell that like the usual host isn't there. So he's filling in. Yeah. Yeah. But I would say they're, you know, they're equally social kids. And, you know, they always approach other kids and talk to them, introduce themselves.

5:29It's really cute. That's very cute. Eliza, you're such a natural at this. Well, I'm just nosy. That's a great quality. Oh, thank you. Have you just been like watching Conan all these years? Like I could do it. No, no, no. I had a nightmare once. I don't know what brought this on that I was supposed to go out in front of people and entertain them. And I had a I'd never had a panic attack in my life. I had a panic attack in my dream because I thought I had to go do that thing that he does. And there's no way I could do it. so no I never watch or listen to him doing what he does and think like let me at it no no sweat no are you guys a little bit closer in terms of your skill set maybe you're both performers maybe a little bit but yeah I don't know yeah I yeah probably a little bit because what we cross over a bit like Matt will be on my shows and I'll be on his stuff sometimes so yeah we do some crossover stuff.

6:32What's your favorite kind of performance? Like, is it theater? Is it TV acting? Oh, yeah. I probably theater. I really actually love podcasting. Really? I just really, really like it. There's just so much creative freedom in it. And like, you probably, I don't know, maybe felt that when you did your show. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yes, there were. I mean, I felt it was. Let's hear it. It was no. It was great. I couldn't believe I got to do it. It was also I I signed myself up for so much work that I started to be very grumpy. That was a lot of research. It was a lot of research and writing. And I was doing it sort of in lockstep with my younger kids last two years of high school.

7:14And then he graduated and I was like, we're done with school. And I sort of felt like I don't want to write any more papers. And it was kind of funny. But so it felt like a really it felt like a limiting format that I had set up. But I liked that. Yeah. I appreciate boundaries and stuff like that because I'm, you know, terrified of improvisation. So here we are. Yeah. So it's a very different type of podcasting. Do you have any other projects coming up, podcasting or others? I don't have any other podcasting projects coming up. No, I have. I have a theater piece in a festival in Aspen. Nice. Oh, that's so wonderful.

7:57It's awesome to come and see it. Theater is where it's at right now. Is that what's happening? You can't AI that, you know what I mean? Right. Well, it's like how live shows are the sort of backbone of the music industry right now, I think. And yeah, these people are into experiences that you cannot, that not every single person in the world can just get. Podcasts are dead, right? Right, exactly. We can all agree. That's what we've decided. Sorry, guys. Yeah, we're done with that. Yeah, no. I think in other parts of the world, too, like in London and Europe, I think there's a lot of theater happening in like sort of grassroots-y ways.

8:37And I think the U.S. is having a bit of a difficult moment with the funding issues. But I don't think it will ever completely go away because it's so human. But yeah, but maybe this is the new campfire. R.I.P. summer s'mores. I mean, I don't know if it's totally gone forever. Okay. Let's see. We have other prompts here.

9:02How has the podcast impacted your lives? Sorry, I read that wrong. Has the podcast impacted your lives? And if so, how? Well, we get like Sona gets recognized all the time now. Really? She's like a full blown celebrity at this point. Wow. Yeah. Because that happened after you got married. Yeah. Was that weird to go through that transition with her? I mean, she people kind of knew she was when we were dating. but like now when I went to YouTube with the podcast and everything because people knew from the remotes from the show before but now it's the podcast this is huge and everybody just like I know your voice oh my god and then like people freak out now and like do they ask for pictures Sona actually says can we take a picture oh my gosh that's great I love that that's so generous with her camera yeah her camera we have a collection at home record it all all my fans a wall of them but it was so weird we were in Hawaii like a week ago and we went to where did we go we went to the the Diamond Head hike oh yeah yeah and there was like the booth where you park and these two girls are working there and and Sona's like watch this they're gonna know and we we drive up and our cousin our cousin from Australia Steve he's there and so we drive up and they're like hi like hi can we park it?

10:26I was like, no, you have to buy parking. You have to go, you have to pre-arrange parking or you have to go drive down the tunnel and park there. And then our cousin Steve's like, Mike, do you know who she is? And she's like, it's Sona! They got all giggly all of a sudden. Yeah, like, they got, like, super stoked. I was like, oh my god. I'm never gonna live this down. So then, and I was like, so now that this happened, can we park there? they're like, no, you still got to go down the tunnel. Celebrity has its limits. Yeah, that was it. Yeah, I feel like you can kind of identify a podcast listener in the wild.

11:06You know, you can be like, that person's going to approach. Yeah. Yep. There's a lot. Yeah, I have none of that because people were coming up to him before I knew him. And so I can't, you know, I can't tell who knows him for what. People still come up to him and say, I love your show. And I'm thinking, which one? What? there isn't a show unless this is a show maybe it's a show and i bet like the travel show has brought in new audience probably because that's a whole different yeah worldwide worldwide okay yeah well you didn't ask oh yeah i think for me it's been interesting because like both matt and i are both like we work like gigs you know and then especially podcasting it's like you'll do a podcast like on a regular yeah and then having something that is such so regular it's like the nine to five job at this point you know which I never would have thought podcasting would have been for us but it's like okay yeah this is like we're yeah this is the career you know which is I don't think either of us could have foreseen that right that it was going to be like podcasting was like the stable thing because right now like everything's so in flux with the other parts of industry you know so that's been really cool and then also post youtube matt gets recognized all the time yep but there's like certain places where you can kind of you think there's a higher chance of it happening like any any theme park like he'll usually get recognized a couple of times how often are you in a theme park i want to ask you know and when i met matt like he had worked at theme parks but he was like i'm not a theme park person but then having a kid he's like a total Disney dad now.

12:44It was like the minute we took Glenn for the first time to Disneyland and like he saw her light up when she saw Mickey Mouse, like he cried. Okay. He couldn't, but he was like, this is so magical. Oh my God. And now they're like, he's taken her to Universal like a lot. He'll play hooky days. She's his beard. Yeah. He's going for him. Like actually, because he takes her to go see the Waterworld stunt spectacular. Okay. And to the point where they're like regulars now. And so I don't know if you're familiar with Waterworld, the movie. Yes. Yeah. You're a big fan. Huge. Kevin Costner. OK. Yes. Thank you.

13:24OK. So there's the villain in it. It has some funny name. I don't remember what it is. But anyway, he's. Oh, they're all getting their phones. I feel so powerful. I never have this in my other podcast. Anyway, so. The Deacon. The Deacon. The Deacon. OK. So they're like Glenn's a big fan of The Deacon. And after the stunt show, they wait and talk to the deacon and like take pictures with him. But apparently he's retiring. Oh, so so they got to go catch his last show. Is he going to be replaced by someone else? I guess like I don't know. And she'll have to be in on those auditions, I think. Yeah.

13:58Yeah. Glenn could play the deacon. That's great.

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17:59Who here actually listens to this podcast? I used to listen regularly and then I got a little uncomfortable with talking about our lives and stuff. So I just kind of was like... It's like not looking at the comments anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I now I just watch like chunks of it on my feed. Have you and Sona had like boundary conversations about what you are comfortable with her sharing? No, we probably should. We have a guy. I don't want to be. I mean, I don't want to be like, don't talk about this. Don't talk about this. Like it comes with the territory, you know. Also, do you feel, okay, because on our end, I am always impressed with sort of Conan's innate sense of boundary.

18:51I think he's got, I would not be good at that. I'm a blabber and he. Yeah, we can tell. Well, of everyone's information too, so don't tell me anything. No, but he has a very, I think, a very good inner compass about how not to hurt anyone, basically. Oh, yeah, yeah. and not share things that shouldn't really be shared, even if they would get a big laugh. So I have never even had that thought. Oh, how interesting. Yeah. Yeah, the same with Matt. I feel like I kind of just trust him. There was only one time. This was a while ago, but it was actually like four years ago when Glenn was a baby. And I don't know what they were gabbling on about in here, but there was something about like Matt had the monitor.

19:36Maybe he had gotten an alert from like our, we have like a Wi-Fi connected monitor. in the nursery. And I'm sitting there in like the dark nursing Glenn and she's like asleep on me. And all of a sudden I just hear, hello. And it's Conan's voice coming through the baby monitor. And I was like, like so scared. Like I didn't know what was happening. And I was like, hello, like, hello, I'm the baby sleeping. And then I just hear like this laughter. like chuckling over there. And I was just like, what is happening? And then Matt was like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Like, I guess I don't know what bit they were doing where he was like here and I can even like talk through the monitor.

20:20And he didn't know that I was in there with a sleeping baby. And I think that was the only time when I was like, I don't like that. Yeah, right. I was like, I was like, no, thank you. That scared me. No, thank you. But otherwise, I listened to some episodes of the show, but I hear a lot of it being edited because Matt's always working on it. So, you know, I'm like around in the back house in his office where he works. And I always hear lots of, you know, I hear the raw audio and I hear get to hear what's taken out. Do you ever disagree with an edit? No, but sometimes I will say not like I'm taking any credit, but there's times when I'm advised.

21:00Like, oh, yeah, maybe that could go or stay. Just a couple of times where I get to I get to like a little hear some of the notes, too. that are coming. And he's receptive to that? Oh, I mean, yeah, like he'll do whatever I say. I'm just kidding. No, but it is cool to hear him editing it, you know, and just to see that what he takes out. It's never like really big things because they're such pros, especially when it's just the three of them. You know, a lot of that is just what they record is what you hear. Yeah. Yeah. I want to ask if there's ever been anything from a guest that's been edited out that you can think of.

21:37I mean, that's more of a, these guys know, I'm sure. That's every podcast, right? I mean, it happens, but it's actually less than you would think. Like we give everybody the same disclaimer when they walk in. You know, this is a safe space. We'll take out anything you want. Just let us know either in the moment or afterwards if you're driving home or the next day, if you feel uncomfortable about something, we'll 100 % take it out. And it's really rare that that happens. It happens. It's just very, it doesn't happen often. And does anyone ever call in after they hear their episode and say, I want you to fix that?

22:09I don't know. I've never heard of that. Remorse. I've never heard of that happening. I've never heard of that happening. I think the biggest, I mean, every once in a while, like maybe once or twice a year, like sometimes the order might change a little bit. Like it might be like, oh, like this was great. We should put this more up front. But for the most part, it's kind of like the TV show. I mean, it was kind of like shot on tape. And then, so yeah, that was kind of - You guys might be the first. Right, exactly. Exactly, yeah. To redo all of it. So people always ask me, especially, is he like this at home?

22:42Like this being however he is out in the world. And he is who he is no matter what is happening. Like all the time in the mirror, no one around. He's always doing his stuff. It's all of that. There is no compartmentalization of his character or his nonsense. So he is what you see is what you get no matter who you are. How does that compare to you guys, especially with this show? Pretty much, yeah. And just to say about Conan, it was just so refreshing when I first met him to see that he's like that in real life. He's just this great, awesome guy. And sometimes you meet people and they're like, oh, it's not like that on TV.

23:29You know? Yeah. Right. Like who, Tack? Like who? I'll tell you later. But yeah, he's, I love Conan and he said some very nice things about me and I just. Well, he means all of them. Yeah, he's the most generous. He says them even when you're not listening. He says them even when you're not listening. Oh, okay. That's the real test. But as far as Sona, yeah, she's basically the same person everywhere. Is there ever any time in your lives together where she is someone a little like Kony used to say when my grandmother called, he could always tell she was on the phone because I would suddenly sprout a bonnet.

24:11Like, and hello, and how are you? You know, that kind of like, yeah, I just, you know, I zealig right back to her, whatever she was giving. So is there anything that gets Sona to do that or no? I maybe when she's making some kind of like professional call on behalf of Kona, like making reservations. Hi, this is someone calling from Kona O 'Brien's office. At this point. A professional voice. Yeah, the professional voice. Yeah. But she's always like. I'd love to hear that. She's extra nice to other people like, you know, like the staff and, you know, people at restaurants and hotels. Yeah. Yeah.

24:46That's pretty much the only difference. She gets even nicer. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. It's a good way to go. There's such like a magic charisma that they all have together. And like, well, Conan obviously is a total pro. And then Sona and Matt are just like, they're such good laugh. Like it makes you feel so safe in a podcast to have that. Like they're just looking at you beaming, wanting you to succeed and supporting you with their laughter. But they also, they like stand up for themselves. You know, like he's a big presence. in any room and but they they hold their own which i'm always really happy to hear it's it's so it is just truly magical i feel like matt is basically the same but i don't know if like sona and conan are like true extroverts because they come across super extroverted and it seems like they are that i i wouldn't i mean i would have assumed that you know that he is but i don't really you know think of things that way so much but then during during the lockdown part of covid I was benefiting from some of the changes like I didn't have to drive to a bus stop at 6 30 in the morning I didn't have to make a bunch of meals before everyone left for the day and so and we were all just together and you know that sort of hunkered down thing and so the kids and I were all kind of at the beginning sort of happy about it and and I looked over at Conan and he was like a house plant that no one had watered in four months he was visibly starting to wilt yeah and I thought oh, this is what people mean when they say extroverts get energy from other people.

26:23Yes. He does. And I don't. I think it takes energy from me to be social. And so it's a real, like, he's very extreme that way. So what about Matt? Matt doesn't seem that extreme. He's, I mean, like on the podcast, you'd be like, oh, he's an extrovert. But I think he and I are both similar. We like, we love to socialize and be around people, but we're introverts. So we got to come home and just like power down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. you know, and like just kind of chill out for a little bit. Yeah. They call that extroverted introverts. Yeah. Oh, okay. Maybe that's what he is. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I am too.