Conan, Sona, and Matt Discuss the LA Fires

Hello, welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. it is a massive

massive 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 do 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 it was Tuesday night Tuesday 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, this is the.
I really thought I was like, keep it together. 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.
So it's nice. So don't downplay it.
Let's lead with Tack, your husband, and your boys, Mikey and Charlie

What do Mikey and Charlie know?

Do they know anything?

They don't 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 we told them.

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 going to build it.
They're not going to find out about their old house till they're 18. 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.

Okay.

They can get licensed.

And I don't think they can.

I think they can.

But can I ask, and again,

I'm not, I just, 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, um, I went from here to, you know, whatever, we went to a hotel and I went to sleep that night thinking, cause we live in the Palisades. And I just remember thinking, I'm pretty sure that our house will go and uh it did not um but just the number of people i've heard from people i know personally who lost houses is stunning yeah it's it's a it's crazy and uh 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 destroyed. It's hard for me to look at pictures.
It looks really almost apocalyptic. There's just nothing 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 um i think that's the thing too is that you're you're really sad for other people who also lost their houses.
And so you just you all kind of like commiserate together. I'm on a group with like 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 mean, it's like, 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 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 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 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 okay. 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 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 3.30, when we were at my mom's house, there was an evacuation order for our area. And then my alarm company called around 6.
And they're like, the sensors in the living room and in the master are picking up movement and I thought oh it's that can you tell if it's a person or what is it and she's like we can't tell and I 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 it I was just sitting in my car, just like sobbing. And I was like, oh my God, my, my house is on, just 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- You sent me this great video of them on the beach. Yeah.
Just having a wonderful time, your boys. Just 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, 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 it's not

you can get it on eBay

it's not like

it's not just you can get it on ebay it's not like it's not a special ice bucket but 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 uh 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 he signed an

autograph for me and my brother and then uh when we met jimmy carter and he signed the photo i had to you. It was really nice.
And he signed an autograph for me and my brother. 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 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.
All of your possessions, everything that is something that 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 really sad. I think too, there's a mantra everyone has now, which is correct, which is, oh, it's just it's just really sad i think too there's a a mantra everyone has now which is correct which is oh it's just stuff and as long as we're okay and as long as my family's okay and that's true but you also have to acknowledge it's a loss oh it's a loss because there it's not so much the stuff itself it's what it signifies it's the memories and um You have to process that.
You can't skip over,

you know, we're all okay you can't skip right to that and stay there because um you are gonna feel all these things i know and it 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. Um,

but. 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. 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, I think...

And the fires are still burning. That's the crazy part, too.

Oh, yeah. You know what?

It's 55% contained.

They are.

It's eaten in what Palisades is 22% or something as of today.

Yeah.

Contained. That's it.
Yeah.

The thing is, and this is, I was telling Blay 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% discount to victims of the fire. And me and Erica were like, we have to call all the stores we just went to.
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, that's sometimes, but also it's like an awkward thing to bring up. It's like, hi, how are you doing? It's like, 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.
it's like, 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 fire.

She just wanted me to use a different wording.

No, I think burned down gets you the discount.

I mean, I've been displaced.

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 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. What kind of discounts you got for me? 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 bestselling book and you pull up in a,

you know,

in a,

like a,

you pull up in a BMW.

Hey,

house burned down.

I'm getting some unleaded gas.

Looking at the price.

What's the snob 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, it's, it's, it's been very hard to process. I, I don't know about you, but it's also just, well, I'm going to switch to you for a minute, Gorley, 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 you, it, it, 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? I couldn't. I was here.
You couldn't be bothered. I was, yeah, I couldn't be bothered.
I was like, don't I have people that do these things to do these things no I got a call from Liza my wife at work and she said okay they told us we gotta go and I said okay she said I'm just gonna grab like two t-shirts two pairs of socks two pairs of underwear whatever a pair of jeans I said great she said do you need me to take anything else 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 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, I 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've been there before and i was really happy and i just have this kind of uh if i if that whatever if whatever something happens i'm not going to get another isuzu hope and i'm sorry get to that I'm not. But very, I don't know.
I get it on almost, uh, 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, um, 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, a lot of 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, you know, the possible illusion that I would say, well, it's just stuff, but no, I'm sure I would be, uh, devastated and emotional for a lot of reasons.
but it's such a confusing time. And obviously obviously it's just, 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, 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. Money aside.
Oh.

And money and- 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?

Oh.

Money aside, food aside, clothing aside.

Oh.

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 bandaid. Here's what I'm saying.
The bandaid's mostly torn off. Let's go the rest of the way.
I need this. I know.
I'm like, am I not? 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, Albert.
Code and Fire Sona on podcasts where she talks about losing her home. I'm looking forward to that headline.
I know. I am really glad your, because the Palisades is also very, very scary.
Yeah. And I really was worried you were gonna lose it, and I know you're not attached to the things in your house, like you're saying that you are, but I'm very attached to the things in your house.
And I think also if you lost yours, it would overshadow mine a lot, so in a way, I'm just really happy that you're okay. I'm going to have mine destroyed.
It makes you feel better. This is the ultimate.
I get to talk last thing that you guys do. Yeah, I know.
Oh, 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, Gourley, 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.
know the guy i mean i wouldn't even hear and say that about myself johnny come lately uh icy to

the touch um but well if you just touched me once maybe you'd know dad rubbing that icicle but uh you know you've got us and uh 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 know we talked about Altadena a lot and we joked about it a lot, but it is a really special place.
It was an incredible place to raise my kids. And I just, I hope we find a way to get back there.
Even after all this, I just, I've lived in LA my whole life and that's the happiest I've ever been. So I just want to make sure people know it's a really incredible place.
It's 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 um it's uplifting there's just little bright spots in in all of this shittiness and you know the way the way the city comes together. So many people have risen to the challenge and been remarkably generous and human.
And 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 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 just you just start asking people how are you where do you live are you all right are you okay and uh 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 chumps podcast was from sona's backyard in altadena which is a really nice memory and what i remember most is uh what a great time we had but also that your neighbors came by you had neighbors coming by to say hi yeah and um uh and it uh there's a vibrant community there that i 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 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

Thank you. 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 you know um you know what I am gonna we we're really lucky we're our family is here they're all in LA.
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. Like the boys have more underwear than they've ever had before.
They've had 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, 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 found that's been very helpful is there's a database of the least funded gofundmes for individual families yes and so you can find the people that my wife my wife has been on to this and uh i shut it down because i i was like i was thinking of taking up golf and i want to buy those no oh my god i like Your true colors are showing. I wonder how long.
What are you doing? Are you donating money to people that really need it? I set the clock the minute this happened of like how soon. It's possible I could one day play golf.
In which time clubs would need to be procured. No, she found that and it's amazing.
It's easily find yeah well obviously it can get sensitive what's the right where's the right place to to give money if you can give money or to donate um and we need to be sensitive about that we will do research we'll maybe in the links that connect to this episode give some suggestions uh 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 in the...
It's 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.
It's okay. It's fine.
It's not your fault. 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.
Oh my God. 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.
I know. The minute I start talking, why do I, what am I gonna 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 up in Tilden.
You're talking to me like something, like I'm damaged. You're doing so good.
Look at you. You are.
And then we threw the word link in there and that just got you all frazzled. That's okay.
When this episode comes through through your machine 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.
And can I say something? I cannot tell you how many people go, are you really that bad? 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. Is that, they want to know if Jordan Schlansky is real.
And I go, yeah, he really is. And they go, and when you talk about like tech stuff, are you really that bad? I may be the most like regressed technological person on a podcast, which is fairly technically.
Right. Well, that's why I surround myself with people who know.

I love that your son is very, so fluent in it.

And it's almost like God played a joke on you.

Yeah. My son is very gifted at these things.

And I, 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? Well, I'm trying to see if I can clear this screen. Uh-huh, yeah.
So is that why you're hitting the plastic part, 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 living for the best. Yeah, there is.
God gave him a wonderfully foolish father for him to enjoy. And but is your greater family., 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's unit is there.

It is there.

It's also, look,

I like that. family for so long yeah that your family is 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 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've become a brat I have I've become an asshole a little bit and 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? Oh, God.
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 carved my, he carved your brother because he wanted a boy, a real boy.
And then he became real. 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.
Yeah, 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 inconvenienced.
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.
What 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.
We got to do, like, he's sad about his guitars. He lost all his guitars, but one of his friends gave him one, which is really nice.
But, you know, he's like worried about his random, he's like 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 could 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, the kettlebell probably survived. I hope my fireplace and iron survived.
Or my anvil. I hope my bowling ball survived.
My God bless him. Yeah.
Well, you know what? I think he is, I mean, he's an incredibly cool guy. He is.
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 the boys and how we're feeling. And he's very sweet.
And, you know, Oki's fine too. I know people were probably 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. The boys are lounging.
Your dog is having baked Alaska. Sushi.
Yeah, sushi. I think that's incredible yeah

cordon bleu

chicken cordon bleu

oh my god

so yeah

Tac is

Tac'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

we have

others we can turn to

when we need to

so we're very lucky

Thank you. very lucky we're i told girls this i was like we're the luckiest unlucky people because we we have others we can turn to when we need to so we're very lucky handled the aftermath too with just such humor and aplomb and and honesty too with how you're feeling it's amazing you're you're amazing oh well thank you you're okay i do think um i i know there's gonna 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 of of it and i i don't necessarily come from a people that are were believers in uh talk therapy um but and i think freud famously said the only people who are immune to psychotherapy are the irish but i but i do think it's uh 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. We're very much getting it out.
And I'm lucky I have a lot of friends who I just, you know, we'll 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 then I've been lucky because I can rebuild, but other people have gone through so much worse. So I'm lucky in that sense.
Yeah. Well, 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 um and so this was weirdly uh even though you're the one who's really been affected much more a million times more than I was a billion times more uh 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 we are a family yeah and also everyone who works here.
And there was such a lovely outpouring,

and I'm not going to,

online,

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 you're going to get through this with flying colors. And, uh, I am going to gradually work my way back into, um, 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 see a long time, I mean, like, many hours.

Oh, yeah, that's what I figured.

I knew it.

I knew you were saying that.

I spent the last hour doing it already.

Yeah, I was going to say, is there really evidence?

Oh, right.

We do record these.

Can I just say also, I'm really, really happy to come back to work.

Because I think this podcast has gotten me through it's gotten me through

covid it's gotten me through fertility treatments and it's going to get me through this and I um I love being in this room and talking with you guys and just I love my 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 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 uh love you we're back we're going to continue to make our foolishness and update you on on i mean what is this is we'll update you on yeah 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 Fedorovich who works here has been working for me for, I want to say, close to 30 years, if not 30 years. Her husband husband brad helped out there fighting these fires and uh 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 Then 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.
But boy, I can't wait till we get back to revering. 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 of Sessian 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 Britt Kahn.
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