Fall is here, hear the yell.
Back to school, ring the bell.
Brand new shoes, walking blues.
Climb the fence, books and pens.
I can tell that we are gonna be friends.
Yes, I can tell that we are gonna be friends.
Hello, welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend.
It is a massive understatement to say this is a special episode or a unique episode.
We are doing this episode without any guest.
This is the first time we've all been together. since the wildfires broke out.
And there's a lot to discuss and to process.
We don't usually do this, but I'm just going to say the date.
It's Thursday, January 16th, 2025.
Fires broke out, I believe it was a week and two days ago, right?
Yeah, Tuesday night.
I think it started Tuesday afternoon and then got worse and worse and worse throughout the day.
And we've all had our own experiences.
But really, we have to start by acknowledging that, Sona, you lost your house.
Yeah.
And there, you know.
I thought I would last longer before I started crying.
Yeah.
Well, listen.
I really thought I was like, keep it together.
Yeah.
Well, you don't have to keep it together.
You don't have to keep it together.
There's.
You know, you and I have texted a lot and talked some on the phone, but words just seem so stupid when somebody lost their home.
It's not stupid.
It means a lot when you check in and just everybody texting.
I haven't been able to even respond.
There's people who've texted that I haven't even talked to in years.
It feels really good at a time like this to feel like people are thinking about you.
Yeah.
So it's nice.
So don't downplay it.
Let's lead with Tack, your husband, and your boys.
My boys.
Mikey and Charlie.
What do Mikey and Charlie know?
Do they know anything?
They don't have a clue about what's going on.
They think...
They think we told them.
You know there's always this like oh, you should be honest with your kids and tell them.
And we're like, no, we're just not going to tell them that their house burned down.
I think that that's probably, for us, the right thing to do.
I gave them emails when they were babies.
So I emailed their future selves.
And I said this is what happened to this house that you were born.
You came into when you were first born, in the first three and a half years of your life.
But they think we're just living... somewhere else until we build a house and they're really into construction so like mikey's like i'll drive the cement mixer and charlie can drive the excavator and it's like you're not gonna build it like they're not gonna find out about their new the old house till they're 18 i get the email Well, I don't know about 18.
How old are they now?
They're three and a half?
They're three and a half.
And they're, honestly, we're living with my parents right now.
They're getting toys every day.
I don't think they've ever been happier.
Because people are just, everyone's saying, oh my God, the boys, the boys, the poor boys.
And they're just, they just know.
I mean, I used to think this way about snowstorms when I was a kid.
I was just good news.
And the people, it didn't matter what happened to anyone else.
If school was canceled-
So in their perspective, all they know is there's going to be some fun construction.
Yeah.
And they get to build the house.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which I think you should let them do.
OK.
They can get licensed.
And I don't think they can.
I think they can.
But can I ask?
And again, I'm not.
How these things unfold is such a mystery.
I know that for all of us, I was here working on Tuesday.
We weren't podcasting, but I was meeting with writers and we were talking about the Oscars and we were working on that with that team.
And I got a phone call from my wife saying, well, there's some smoke.
And I remember thinking, well, we've been through this before.
We've been evacuated.
There's also been smoke and we haven't been evacuated.
So there's very much a, it's part of life in LA.
And so I wasn't thinking that much about it.
And then the next thing I know, she was like, we've been evacuated.
And so I went from here to, you know, whatever, we went to a hotel and, And I went to sleep that night thinking, because we live in the Palisades.
And I just remember thinking, I'm pretty sure that our house will go.
And it did not.
But just the number of people I've heard from, people I know personally who lost houses is stunning.
It's crazy.
And I know you're in Altadena and it must be the same thing where it's not just you.
You must know so many people.
It's our entire street.
Our whole neighborhood has just been just just destroyed.
It looks like it's hard for me to look at pictures.
It looks really almost apocalyptic.
There's just nothing there and we've been talking to all our neighbors.
Everyone's okay um, but it is.
You know we, we really loved that community and it's yeah, it's really sad that it's all gone.
Yeah, I think that's.
The thing too, is that you're really sad for other people who also lost their houses.
And so you just... You all kind of commiserate together.
I'm on a group with 70 other people from Altadena on a WhatsApp group and we're all talking about what the next steps are.
So that's keeping us busy, but...
You're right.
It's just the number of people I know who lost their homes is... I mean, it's just unthinkable.
It's crazy.
But thankfully, everybody that we reached out to is safe somewhere.
So that's important.
But it is...
Oh, it sucks.
Is there anything I'm, is there anything that you're doing now that at least helps you feel like you can take steps?
Like I don't know what the process of we've been.
I've been locked out of.
We've been.
No one gets close to our neighborhood.
I don't know when we'll get back to our neighborhood.
But you've got this other consideration of, OK, what?
What are the steps involved?
Meaning, yeah, do you with insurance claims, things like that?
We put in an insurance claim.
It's all this stuff.
And people are sending us so much stuff about property taxes, about you know what you could do with your mortgage payments, about signing up for FEMA, signing up for this, signing up for that.
And it's I think I just I want my kids to go back to their school, which is fine.
The school's OK.
Yeah.
Tax back at work.
I'm back.
I want like normalcy.
And then we'll probably end up having to rent a house for a while, and then you know figuring it out.
It's just there's like a thousand questions.
It's crazy how many.
Yeah.
And you can't process it all at once.
No, you can't.
And that's the thing.
It's just there's so much to do.
And, you know, I don't like doing anything.
And now I have to like fill out forms.
Right.
And I have to think about things.
Especially in the state you're in.
I can't imagine having to do that stuff that's already awful.
But sometimes is that helpful to engage in like okay, this is a tangible thing I can do that gets us to the next step, rather than just sit and think about perseverate worry about what's happened.
It's just so much stuff to think.
I mean...
Also, I realized I'm not good under pressure.
We saw the flames from the ridge near our house.
And we had a friend whose husband works in the LAFD.
And she's like, you should probably just evacuate.
But everything was moving east and we're west.
And then all of a sudden, at 330, when we were at my mom's house, there was an evacuation order for our area.
And then my alarm company called around 6.00.
And they're like, the sensors in the living room and in the master are picking up movement.
And I thought, oh, is that... Can you tell if it's a person or what is it?
And she's like, we can't tell.
And I asked her, I was like, are they flames?
And she didn't know.
And then we just... I hung up and I was like, I think my house is currently on fire.
And it was...
I was just sitting in my car, just like sobbing.
And I was like, oh, my God, my my house is on fire.
And then my parents' house got evacuated.
And so Tack, and I were like I, and I like grabbed Charlie and Mikey out of the bed and I just put them in.
And I'm like, let's just drive south.
I don't know where we're going.
So we went to Orange County and we just stayed there through Sunday and we made the boys think we were on vacation.
And so we were like me this great video of them on the beach.
Yeah.
Having a wonderful time.
Your boys having a blast.
Yeah.
They're just totally clueless, which is nice.
It's nice to be around them because they have no idea what's going on.
And I think they're one of five.
They're two of we're one of five families in their school that all lost their homes.
So, you know, it's going to be interesting for them to go back to school.
And I hope people don't treat them any different.
You know, we want to just sort of keep things the same.
I just want to fast forward to six months from now where like, I look back on all the stuff and I'm like oh, it's OK.
It's all just stuff.
And then, you know, but.
Can I ask, did you have a chance before you left your house, did you have a chance to get anything?
I took some stuff.
I took like the very important like family heirloom jewelry.
I took my grandma's ice bucket, which is like, it's not, you can get it on eBay.
It's not like, it's not a special ice bucket.
I went back in and got my Crocs.
One of them.
I got one of my Crocs.
I just wanted one of them.
I really like the left Croc.
But you got some heirlooms.
We got some heirlooms.
But there's a lot of things I think about that are gone.
And that makes me really sad.
I had a personalized Kobe autograph picture that's gone.
That's right.
He was on our Tonight Show.
Yeah.
And I remembered I introduced you to him and said, this is your number one fan.
And he was so nice to you.
It was really nice.
And he signed an autograph for me and my brother.
Right.
And then when we met Jimmy Carter and he signed the photo, I had that one.
That's gone.
There's just a lot of little things that are nothing I can't live without.
But I don't want to.
I just I really miss that stuff.
And it's also it's weird.
When we were in Orange County, we like packed up our stuff and we're like everything we own is just in our car right now.
And that's a very weird thing to think about that, like all of your possessions, everything that is something that you you, you've accumulated over the last 40 years.
They're all gone and all you have left is whatever's in this van.
And it's just it's just really sad.
I think, too, there's a mantra everyone has now, which is correct, which is, oh, it's just stuff.
And as long as we're OK and as long as my family's OK, and that's true.
But you also have to acknowledge it's a loss.
It's a loss because it's not so much the stuff itself.
It's what it signifies.
It's the memories.
And you have to process that.
You can't skip over that.
You know, we're all OK.
You can't skip right to that and stay there because you are going to feel all these things.
I know.
And it's weird.
It does feel like you're kind of grieving and you realize like I mean I wish I took, like I had a bin full of the boys like first three years, like little things that I wanted to keep forever.
And that's gone.
Yeah.
But, you know, and then you're like holding out.
Maybe we'll go back and like we'll find things that we like in the rubble of whatever's left and we'll just like find something and just be really happy that things still exist.
So we're also waiting when we can go back.
I mean, the National Guard is everywhere.
And so we can't go to our house and, you know, the air quality sucks and everything's just ash.
But, you know...
And the fires are still burning.
That's the crazy part, too.
Oh, yeah.
You know what?
It's 55% contained.
They are.
And what, Palisades is 22% or something as of today?
Yeah.
Contained.
That's it.
Yeah.
The thing is, and this is, I was telling Blake about this yesterday.
Me and Erica Brown went shopping and like the third because I need a whole new.
I need all new things, everything new.
And we went and it kind of like was brought up when I was checking out somewhere that my house was gone.
And she's like, oh, we give a 20 percent discount to victims of the fire.
And me and Erica were like, we have to call all the stores we just went to.
Yeah.
Do you give a 20% discount?
But then it's awkward because you go to a store and you're just like, my house burned down.
Also, do you need to, do they want you to prove that?
Yeah.
How do you do that?
I have a piece of roof that I keep in my wallet.
I mean, I don't know what the hell they're talking about.
Well, then sometimes, but also it's like an awkward thing to bring up.
It's like, hi, how are you doing?
It's like, uh, uh, my house burned down.
Do I get a discount?
Usually it's like you get a free birthday meal at Denny's and you just show your ID.
I know.
And then Erica was like, stop saying your house burned down.
Say you were displaced by the fires.
She just wanted me to use a different wording.
No, I think burned down gets you the discount.
Yeah.
I mean, I've been displaced.
Me too.
And I do not deserve a 20% discount.
Can you imagine me going around, I've been displaced.
I have to live in a pretty nice hotel.
And so I demand the 20% off.
Sir, this is a frozen yogurt establishment.
Sir, you're buying a Rolex.
I don't want to pay full price.
And it's Patek Philippe to you, sir.
No, it's it's it's it's it's absolute fucking craziness.
It's just nuts to just like go around just being like, hi.
So the other stores are giving discounts.
Like, can I get a discount here when my house burned down?
And at first it was like, you know, it's hard to say, oh, my house burned down.
I would cry every single time.
And then I just like I got to a point where I was like, hi, my house burned down.
It's like, what kind of discounts you got for me?
Yeah.
What if you're doing that five years from now, when you live in a beautiful new home and you're thriving and you've written like your third best-selling book?
And you pull up in a, you know, like a... You pull up in a BMW.
Hey, house burned down.
I'm getting some unleaded gas.
Looking at the price.
Let's just knock 20 off that.
When did your house burn?
Five years ago.
Oh, I also won the lottery last week.
Oh, my God.
No, but it's...
Man, it's been very hard to process.
I don't know about you, but it's also just Well.
I'm going to switch to you for a minute Gourley, because you know.
I know that you were in.
There was a while there where I was pretty certain oh Pasadena, I don't think that looks good.
And I know your house, I just thought, is this going to get you too?
And I guess it didn't get to you, the fire.
Is that right?
No, we were very lucky.
We got really close to the evac warning zone and it was heading down the arroyo.
So we did pack and leave, but that's all.
I mean, we just, we were...
Are you back in your house now?
I am.
The girls are still down at Momo's in Long Beach where the air is clean.
I know.
Because that's the other thing.
Is this talk about the air quality index being okay, but that doesn't account for certain leads and asbestos toxins in the air and stuff.
So I don't know.
I wear a mask outside my house, even though it's blue skies and there's ash and everything.
Right, right.
It's just weird.
Did you guys pack and...
I couldn't.
I was your... You couldn't be bothered.
Yeah, I couldn't be bothered.
I was like, don't I have people to do these things for me?
No, I got a call from Liza, my wife at work, and she said, okay, they told us we got to go.
And I said, okay.
She said I'm just going to grab like two t-shirts, two pairs of socks, two pairs of under, whatever a pair of jeans.
I said, great.
She said, do you need me to take anything else?
And I said, just grab the E.B.
White letter off the wall, which is this letter that I, when I was 16, I wrote E.B.
White a letter about how much I admired his writing and how I aspired to try and make something of myself.
But I was afraid of criticism because I'm thin-skinned.
And he wrote me back this beautiful note, and it's signed E.B.
White.
It says, P.S., if a fire happens, take this.
Take this, yeah.
And so that's kind of... I said, grab that, but I didn't think about anything else.
And I...
I don't know why I get into, and I think I've always been this way.
I think I was.
You know, I can channel when I first moved out to LA and I had a on Cochran Avenue, had a 380 a month apartment and a 1977 Isuzu Opal that I bought at the airport for no money.
And I just always channel like yep, I've been there before and I was really happy and I just have this kind of if that, whatever.
If whatever something happens, I'm not gonna get another Isuzu hopeful.
And I'm sorry.
You'll never get to that height again.
But very I don't know, I get on almost very calm about that and the material world and things like that.
But then I also know if the reality came, There's my perception of how I would feel.
And then how would I really feel if that had happened?
And we got really close.
I mean, it was right up to our line of our house.
And then you just, I don't know.
I could easily be here saying we don't have our house.
And like I say, I've spoken to many of my friends who lost their homes and So I don't know.
You can't know how you would feel if that happened.
So I have the possible illusion that I would say, well, it's just stuff.
But no, I'm sure I would be devastated and emotional for a lot of reasons.
But it's such a confusing time.
And obviously, it's just... um what can we all do for people if only i knew someone who had lost their oh right you were mentioning no but like i'm saying is what what you know that's the question is how can what can we do for you you know you're loved you've got all of us here i'm money aside oh and um I need money.
Money and food.
I need lots.
Can I live in your house?
Can we all come live in your house?
Can I just say the parameters first?
Money aside, food aside, clothing aside.
Love and affection aside.
Love and affection aside.
Sheltering you in any way at any one of my 19 mansions scattered.
Any further contact aside.
Yeah.
Is there anything I can do for you?
And also, I'm letting you go.
Oh, no.
Is this a bad time?
No, bad time.
I mean, you might as well pull off the band-aid.
Here's what I'm saying.
The band-aid is mostly torn off.
Let's go the rest of the way.
I need this.
I know.
I'm like, am I... I had to make a decision.
You were Gourley, and he does so much in the editing.
I've worked for you for so long.
Yeah, but...
Conan Fire Sona on podcast where she talks about losing her home.
I'm looking forward to that.
I know.
Oh, I am really glad your house is because the Palisades is also very, very scary.
Yeah.
And I really was worried you were going to lose it.
And I know you're not attached to the things in your like you're saying.
I'm very attached to the things.
Yeah.
And I think also if you lost yours, it would overshadow mine a lot.
So in a way that I'm like, just really happy that you're okay.
I'm going to have mine destroyed.
This is the ultimate.
I get to talk last thing that you guys do, you know, when you get the last word.
So you say you lost your house.
Did you?
Well, guess what?
Oh my God.
My leg kind of hurts.
So I think I win.
Well, you are, and it's funny because people, I think I hope it comes through, but this is a real relationship.
Yeah.
You and I have been, I mean, Gorley, I don't barely know the guy.
I mean, I wouldn't even say that about myself.
Johnny come lately.
Icy to the touch.
Well, if you just touched me once, maybe you'd know.
Dad, rubbing that icicle.
But, you know, you've got us and we will all help you in any way we can.
Thank you.
And I do think that this is...
There's no way to fast forward through this.
It's going to be a day-to-day thing for you for quite a while.
I do.
I do.
I know we talked about Altadena a lot and we talked, we joked about it a lot, but it was.
It is a really special place.
It was an incredible place to raise my kids.
And I just I hope I hope we find a way to get back there.
Even after all this, I just know I've lived in LA my whole life and I was just.
That's the happiest I've ever been.
Right.
So I just want to make sure people know it's it's a really incredible place.
It's an incredible community.
The people there are just amazing.
The way that also Los Angeles is just banded together is.
Yes.
As someone who is from here, and girls, I know you're from here too, it's really inspiring.
It's beautiful.
It's uplifting.
There's just little bright spots in all of this shittiness, and you know the way the city comes together.
So many people have risen to the challenge and been remarkably generous and human.
And I...
I lived in New York during 9-11 and I'm seeing the same thing again, where people ask each other you know, how are you doing?
How are you?
Where do you live?
Are you okay?
And had that conversation this morning at Bricks and Scones, which is the coffee place right next to us.
You just start asking people, how are you?
Where do you live?
Are you all right?
Are you okay?
And it...
It does, these things do bring sometimes the worst out of people, but often the best out of people.
And I was remembering we you know, the last time we did our Outdoor Chill Chums podcast was from Sona's backyard in Altadena, which is a really nice memory.
And what I remember most is what a great time we had, but also that your neighbors came by.
You had neighbors coming by to say hi.
Yeah.
And there's a vibrant community there that I think is resilient and can come back.
Yeah.
I mean, it's easy for me to say, but I do think there's.
I think there's such a will to bring that city back.
It's not just a faceless city.
Yeah.
You've seen so many people talk about how much they love Altadena.
Yeah.
And I think that they are the city.
So the houses may be gone, but they'll bring them back and they'll keep the city.
When I heard you lost your house, I just felt like desperate to do something for you.
It's so hard to know how much to offer to people in this situation because you feel some, they must be bombarded with this.
Are they being overloaded?
But anything you would ever need.
I think people, all your friends, would be desperate to help you guys in any way.
Yeah.
You know what?
We're really lucky.
Our family is here.
They're all in L.A.
We had no shortage of places to go, which is very we're very fortunate for that.
There's a lot of people who don't. have anything and don't have any connections.
And I think, before people think about sending stuff to us, I think you should definitely look into people who really need it.
The boys have more underwear than they've ever had before.
They have more socks.
I can't stress how many toys they have now.
I think they just think that that's their life now.
Every day a package comes and there's more toys.
And they're just like, this is the best.
We're living at Yaya's house.
They're like, Just eating.
She's feeding them constantly.
They're eating.
They're having more screen time and watching more TV than they ever have before.
Like so they're they're happy.
We're happy if they're happy.
So we're we're OK.
I mean, that's the other thing, too, is we could find out and plug it in.
But if there's a charity or there's a place that makes sense.
One thing I've found that's been very helpful is there's a database of the least funded GoFundMes for individual families.
Yes, yes.
And so you can find the people that need the help.
My wife has been on to this and I shut it down because I was like I was thinking of taking up golf and I want to buy those golf.
No, no.
Oh, my God.
I like a guy who doesn't even... Your true colors are showing.
What are you doing?
Are you donating money to people that really need it?
I set the clock the minute this happened.
It's possible I could one day play golf.
In which time, clubs would need to be procured.
No, she... She found that, and it's amazing.
It's easily findable, I think.
Well, obviously...
It can get sensitive.
Where's the right place to give money, if you can give money or to donate?
And we need to be sensitive about that.
We will do research.
Maybe in the links that connect to this episode, give some suggestions.
But there are so many different ways.
Uh-oh, what happened?
The links that connect to this episode.
It's just... It's cute.
It's cute.
It's just going to be in the summary of the episode.
Also, links are connections to the episode.
It's okay.
It's okay.
It's not your fault.
It's fine.
It's not your fault.
This is a different episode.
Yeah.
It's okay.
It's fine.
We should have given you a script.
Anytime links are mentioned, we should just tell you exactly how to say it.
And that's on us.
I think the burn I just suffered is every bit as bad as the one that attacked your home.
There'll be links connected to this episode to donate to Conan.
If you want to.
I think now, after the way I was just attacked, for okay, maybe am I fluent in this new techno world.
New?
Of the last 40 years?
Maybe not.
Techno world.
But...
I've now been humiliated and I feel I deserve compensation.
You have a GoFundMe.
I have a GoFundMe to help me, Conan O'Brien, recover from this dastardly blow.
Um, I know the minute I start talking, why do I, why didn't I, what am I going to learn?
Let you do it or let you do it.
Because when I try and do it, it's you're doing a really great job.
You're talking to me like something like I'm damaged.
So good.
Look at you.
And then we threw the word link in there and that there's just got you all frazzled.
That's okay.
When this episode comes through, through your machine.
Oh no.
And you're tuning it to get the right frequency.
Look for a linkage.
Just try this.
Charity links in the show notes.
Charity links in the show notes.
Yeah.
Yeah, but I know you and it's the right thing to do.
You're going to keep all of my blundering and stumbling in there.
You're not going to edit it so I look good.
And I applaud you for that because it's going to make a lot of people very happy.
That's what keeps this show on top.
I cannot tell you how many people go, are you really that bad?
Yeah.
And I say, it's not a bit.
I honestly don't know how this world works.
That is a common thing people say to me is, no, no, just tell me something.
They want to know if Jordan Schlansky's real.
And I go, yeah, he really is.
And they go, and when you talk about like tech stuff, are you really that bad?
You may be the most like regressed technological person on a podcast which is fairly technically advanced.
Well, that's why I surround myself with people who know.
I love that your son is so fluent in it.
It's almost like God played a joke on you.
Yeah.
My son is very gifted at these things, and he enjoys it so much.
When I'm trying to do something, I do become...
It is Zoolander where they're looking at the computer and he just enjoys it.
And he won't jump in and go, here, I'll do it.
He'll go, so what you trying to do there?
What you doing?
I'm trying to see if I can clear this screen.
Yeah.
So is that why you're hitting the plastic part of the cover?
Just tell me what to do.
No, no.
Why don't you tell me what it is you're trying to do?
So he just tortures me.
Oh, man.
He's a genius at it.
He's good.
He's literally the best.
God gave him a wonderfully foolish father for him to enjoy.
But is your... is your greater family.
And then we talk about this a lot and we joke about it a lot, how connected you are to your family and your mom and dad.
But it's also this great gift, right now that you have these people in your life, that they're so close.
I've been living so far away from my family for so long that your family unit is there.
It is there.
It's also look, i love.
I love my parents.
But the moment i step into that house, i'm a 16 year old angsty teenager and this time i'm coming with like my kids and my husband, but i'm still like everything my mom says.
I'm like oh, And I've been there for only like what?
Like four days we've been there.
And I'm just like, oh, I can't.
I can't.
She's cooking a meal for us from scratch.
Right.
You know, and I'm just kind of like, mom, you're just you don't get it, mom.
It's so much of me just being a kid again.
You become a brat.
I have.
I become an asshole a little bit.
And I think that that's not healthy for anybody.
So I don't know how long we're going to last.
When am I allowed?
And I will respect this.
Oh, no.
But when am I allowed to start making jokes about your dad's mustache?
I'm just curious.
I mean, and I will respect if you say it's going to be three months or four months.
And I love your dad.
I love you.
This is your opportunity to say like 10 years.
I know.
But when we were like texting, a part of me was like, well, my dad, you know, my dad can build a house because he's good with wood because he's because he got my he carved your brother because he wanted a boy, a real boy.
And then he became real.
Yes.
Why do I indulge you?
No, but I don't.
What's wrong with me?
I thought it was like, don't do it.
My true sickness is getting other people to start to do the bit themselves about that.
I know.
That's my true evil power.
It's like comedic Stockholm syndrome.
Yes.
But... You know you don't.
Even if I said, oh, you know what?
I'd rather you just did it.
Yeah.
I think you would last... Right.
But your father's mustache wasn't damaged.
Okay, you know what?
I think we got to wrap it up.
We got to wrap it up.
It's his mustache insured.
I don't know.
I don't know.
It's just a mustache.
Do you realize how happy I'd be if he shaved off half of it and went around saying I lost half in the fire?
I want 20% off.
And just put a little smudge there.
No, you can't get the discount.
Why not?
Because he didn't lose it.
It's just his inconvenience.
They don't know that.
They see a guy come in with half a mustache.
What do they know?
Who's going to challenge that?
I challenge you?
That looks freshly shaved?
Not singed?
I don't think anyone challenges that.
Look, maybe I've gone too far.
It's possible that I'm doing the exact wrong thing at this moment and that I'll pay for it.
Terribly, but...
I'm just glad he's okay.
Oh, thanks.
Thanks so much for your concern.
You're so nice.
A gift.
Yes.
How's Tack, specifically?
Tack's fine.
I don't know if it's this, like, stoic Soviet thing, but he's, like...
All right, we got to fill this out.
He's sad about his guitars.
He lost all his guitars.
But one of his friends gave him one, which is really nice.
But he's worried about his kettlebell that he got for Christmas.
And he's like, God, I hope I find my kettlebell in the rubble.
And I'm like, your kettlebell?
We could just... go get that right now.
We can just go buy it.
And am I not wrong, a kettlebell is the most likely to survive a fire.
Yeah, that's why he's like, my kettlebell probably survived.
I hope my fireplace and iron survive.
And my anvil.
I hope my bowling ball survived.
My God.
Yeah.
Well, you know what?
I think he is.
I mean, he's an incredibly cool guy.
He's very chill.
He's very chill and he's very cool.
And I love him.
I admire him.
And I think he's a good partner to have in a situation like this.
He is.
He's very worried about me and boys and how we're feeling.
And he's very sweet.
And, you know, Oki's fine, too.
I know people were probably wondering.
She's fine, too.
She's also like really happy because my dad feeds her a lot of like people food.
He'll make a whole meal just for Oki.
And so she's like just lounging.
Boys are lounging.
Your dog is having baked Alaska food.
Sushi.
Yeah, sushi.
I mean, it's incredible.
Yeah.
Cordon bleu, chicken cordon bleu.
Oh my God.
So yeah, Tack is, Tack is, Tack's really, he's such a great person.
He's such an incredible father and husband and he's been really good.
So yeah, we're very lucky.
We're very lucky.
I told girls this.
I was like, we're the luckiest unlucky people because we have others we can turn to when we need to.
So we're very lucky.
But the way you've handled the aftermath too with just such humor and aplomb, and honesty too with how you're feeling.
It's amazing.
You're amazing.
Oh, well, thank you.
You're okay.
I do think I know there's going to be a point where I have to go like see someone, because I think I legit Every time I hear wind, I like tense up and it's really nerve wracking.
There's no way.
I mean, so many people are going to have some form of PTSD or whatever.
You however, you want to classify it from this.
And so it is, as you know, I'm a huge proponent of, of it.
And I, I don't necessarily come from a people that are, were believers in talk therapy.
But, and I think Freud famously said, the only people who are immune to psychotherapy are the Irish.
Yeah.
But I do think it's hugely helpful.
Yeah.
It would be good for you.
And also talk to us about it.
Yeah.
I mean, we are a people.
We're in yell therapy, I think, Armenians, my people.
But we let it all out.
That's very good.
Getting it out and and I'm lucky I have a lot of friends who I just I, you know will talk to them or text them, and I'll just tell them exactly how I feel.
And it's nice to have that comfort to be able to talk to people openly about it because yeah, it is.
This is probably and it's also good, but this is probably.
This is the hardest thing I've ever gone through.
Yep.
And if this is the hardest thing I've ever gone through, then I've been lucky.
Yeah.
Because it's, you know, I can rebuild, but other people have gone through so much worse.
So I'm lucky in that sense.
Yeah.
Well, I...
I'll say this.
I have found today to be cathartic for me because I've been thinking about you a lot, Sona.
And on a selfish level, I thought, I really want to get into a room with Sona.
We've texted, we've talked on the phone, but I didn't see you until today.
And I've just wanted you... I've wanted to be in a room with you and talk to you.
And so this was weirdly, even though you're the one who's really been affected much more a million times more than I was a billion times more this was really special for me to get to talk to you and tell you face-to-face that I love you.
Whatever you need, we'll all get you through this.
And we are a family and I'm including, oh God, Gourley.
Don't do it.
I'm gonna do it, Adam.
Eduardo, Blay, uh, we are a family and also everyone who works here.
And we there was such a lovely outpouring and I'm not going to online of of people fans, reaching out to wonder how we were doing.
That was just bowled me over.
We are blessed.
We're blessed a million times over with so many fans.
So many people are rooting for you, Sona and thinking about you.
And, um, you're going to get through this with flying colors.
And I am going to gradually work my way back into mocking and harassing you.
It's going to take a long time.
It's not.
It's begun.
It's not going to take a long time.
No, I mean, when I say a long time, I mean, like, many hours.
Oh, yeah, that's what I figured.
I knew you were saying that.
I spent the last hour doing it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I was going to say, is there really evidence?
Oh, right.
We do record these.
I...
Can I just say also, I'm really, really happy to come back to work.
Because I think this podcast has gotten me through COVID.
It's gotten me through fertility treatments.
And it's going to get me through this.
And I love being in this room and talking with you guys.
I love my job.
And I'm very lucky that I get to have it.
So please don't fire me.
Well, you're really on the line.
No.
You saved it today.
You're not fired today, but there's this very expensive electric bike I'm thinking of getting with company funds.
Come on!
And that would mean there's no room for you!
Do I need this bike?
No.
But I kind of like it because it's a shade of cocoa that I find.
I don't know what's wrong with me, but love you.
We're back.
We're going to continue to make our foolishness and update you on, I mean, what is...
This is we'll update you on.
Keep everyone listening and and how, uh how, this process unfolds for you.
And uh, you know we um, we're thinking not just of you Sona, but everyone out there who's been affected by this, and and to all the really incredible people who, from all over the world, that have reached out and been so lovely to us.
We are blessed people.
Yeah.
And the firefighters.
Yeah.
I mean.
It's unbelievable.
And our own, Sarah Federovich, who works here, has been working for me for I want to say close to 30 years, if not 30 years.
Her husband, Brad, helped out there fighting these fires.
Yeah.
And so yeah, enough cannot be said about—we have a screwy value system in our country where it's like look, there's a celebrity.
And never has it looked more stupid our value system than right now, than when you see these people that really do put themselves in harm's way to save people's homes, save people's lives.
It's absolutely incredible.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But boy, I can't wait till we get back to revering Nate Sliff.
Oh, God.
Look, a podcaster.
He's the true hero.
You got that right, buddy.
Anyway, everybody out there, stay safe.
And thank you again for all of your good wishes and positive energy.
Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend with Conan O'Brien, Sonam Ovsessian, and Matt Gourley.
Produced by me, Matt Gourley.
Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Nick Liao.
Theme song by The White Stripes.
Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino.
Take it away, Jimmy.
Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair.
And our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples.
Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns.
Additional production support by Mars Melnick.
Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Brit Kahn.
You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and you might find your review read on a future episode.
Got a question for Conan?
Call the Team Coco hotline at And if you haven't already, please subscribe to.
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