Summer S’pouses Episode 5: The Spouses Alone

Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend

In this special 'Summer S'pouses' episode, Liza Powell O'Brien, Tak Baroyan, and Amanda Lund—spouses of Matt Gourley and Sona Mofsesian—sit

Key takeaways

• The spouses found unexpected freedom in speaking openly about their lives for the first time, especially with supportive encouragement from their partners.
• Sona Mofsesian has gained significant public recognition due to her podcast presence, leading to fan interactions and photo requests.

Main topics

• Personal transformation through podcasting
• Family dynamics and child personality traits

Notable quotes

"It felt like fun to be in the hot seat a little bit."

"We get recognized all the time now. She's like a full-blown celebrity at this point."

Conclusion

The spouses reflect on the profound personal and social changes brought

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:03) Summer Spouses with Conan O'Brien, Sona Mofsesian, and Matt Gourley, and Liza Powell O'Brien, Tak Baroyan, and Amanda Lund. Speaker 3 (0:17) Hello, 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 Mofsesian, 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, Speaker 2 (0:45) my gosh. Summer spouses. Right. I mean, I could Speaker 3 (0:47) 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? It's Speaker 5 (0:58) been great. It's the first time for me. You've done this on a podcast. Speaker 3 (1:02) I have Speaker 2 (1:03) not Speaker 3 (1:03) done like what I haven't done is sort of the being yourself and and talking about your life. Like a chit Speaker 2 (1:09) chat show is what I call that. Do you? Speaker 3 (1:11) And you do that, right? Speaker 2 (1:13) I'm 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 Speaker 3 (1:27) and ears. By the way, I think we're fewer every second. It's going to be out there forever. Right. Also that. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 (1:36) But it felt like fun to be in the hot seat a little bit. Did Speaker 3 (1:40) your spouse act a little bit differently in this room with you in it? Speaker 2 (1:45) That's a good question. I was getting like supportive nods. From him? From Matt, yeah. From Matt. Okay. Did he look, Speaker 3 (1:51) was there fear in his Speaker 2 (1:52) 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. Yeah. A little bit. Does that mean that you're not Speaker 3 (2:08) usually in her speech room? Speaker 2 (2:12) No, I've signed a nondisclosure. I suppose that makes sense. What about you? Speaker 3 (2:17) Sona was always Sona, Speaker 5 (2:19) right? Yeah, she was kind of giving me that, don't you fucking embarrass me. Speaker 3 (2:23) But Speaker 4 (2:24) was she also Speaker 3 (2:25) just watching? It felt like she was also maybe a little quieter. Like she was really... interested in hearing what you had to say. Speaker 5 (2:35) Yeah, yeah. She was letting me talk for a change. Is that Speaker 3 (2:37) unusual? Yeah, exactly. That's not the norm. Speaker 5 (2:40) 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 Speaker 3 (2:48) a gift, Speaker 5 (2:48) really. It's not typical, I don't think. It's Speaker 3 (2:51) not. And how about your kids? Does one of them take after each of you or are they like from somewhere else entirely? Speaker 5 (2:58) 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. Speaker 3 (3:23) 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. Thank 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. Speaker 5 (3:45) Is one of them Speaker 3 (3:45) more social than Speaker 5 (3:46) 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, Speaker 3 (4:00) 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, Speaker 5 (4:07) they're equally social kids. And, you know, they always approach other kids and talk to them, introduce themselves. It's really cute. That's very cute. Speaker 2 (4:17) Eliza, you're such a natural at this. Well, I'm just nosy. Speaker 4 (4:21) That's Speaker 2 (4:22) a great voice. Speaker 3 (4:23) Oh, thank you. Thank you. Have you Speaker 2 (4:25) just been like watching Conan all these years like I could do it? No. Speaker 3 (4:29) Better? 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 Speaker 2 (5:04) a little bit, but. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, probably a little bit because we cross over a bit. Matt will be on my shows and Speaker 3 (5:13) I'll Speaker 2 (5:14) be on his stuff sometimes. So yeah, we do some crossover stuff. Speaker 3 (5:17) What's your favorite kind of performance? Is it theater? Is it TV acting? Oh, yeah. Speaker 2 (5:23) I probably... Theater. I really actually love podcasting. It's just I just really, really like it. There's just so much creative freedom in it. And like you Speaker 5 (5:33) probably I don't know, maybe felt that when you did Speaker 3 (5:34) your show. Yeah. Speaker 2 (5:36) Yeah. Well, yes, Speaker 3 (5:37) there were. I mean, I felt. It was great. I couldn't believe I got to do it. It was also I signed myself up for so much work that I started to be very grumpy. That Speaker 2 (5:49) was a lot of research. It was a lot of Speaker 3 (5:52) research and writing. And I was doing it sort of in lockstep with my younger kids last two years of high school. And then he graduated and I was