Sona Movsesian Leans on The Rock, Cher and Mister Rogers
August 11, 2022 10:58 AM Subscribe
The co-host of “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” talks about the best Girl Scout cookies and adulting at Disneyland. I started off like a lot of people do in television where I was like, “I’m going to take over the TV world,” you know, become an executive with a suit with shoulder pads, and walk around the hall wearing heels. Then, sometime in my time working for Conan, someone was like, “What are you going to do after you’re done with Conan?”, and I was like, “You know what? I just really like it here.” It sounds weird, but it was really liberating for me to get to that point. If we’re going to talk about the downfall of my ambition, I think it really was rooted to a point where I was like, “Hey, I like where I am right now. I don’t need to go anywhere else,” and that’s pretty much it.
"From there it just sort of snowballed, and I got to a point where I was like, Why do I have to want anything more? I get a lot of time off. I could spend time with my kids. I like what I do, and I feel like my voice is heard. Instead of reaching for this job that could be much higher than whatever my position was, I realized that whatever I would get from that, I could get from where I already was."
- Conan Crashes A "Magic Mike XXL" Girls' Night Out
- Conan Hunts Down His Assistant's Stolen "Gigolos" Mug
- Conan Helps His Assistant Buy A New Car
- Conan Interviews His Assistant Sona Movsesian
"From there it just sort of snowballed, and I got to a point where I was like, Why do I have to want anything more? I get a lot of time off. I could spend time with my kids. I like what I do, and I feel like my voice is heard. Instead of reaching for this job that could be much higher than whatever my position was, I realized that whatever I would get from that, I could get from where I already was."
- Conan Crashes A "Magic Mike XXL" Girls' Night Out
- Conan Hunts Down His Assistant's Stolen "Gigolos" Mug
- Conan Helps His Assistant Buy A New Car
- Conan Interviews His Assistant Sona Movsesian
Wow. As a half-Armenian woman about her age who has always loved Disneyland and had Girl Scouts as a primary social outlet growing up, I feel like I should read her book and maybe also listen to her podcast
posted by potrzebie at 11:37 AM on August 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 11:37 AM on August 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
The Best Of "Sona Fixes Your Life": Volume One, Volume Two, Volume Three.
posted by Pendragon at 11:54 AM on August 11, 2022
posted by Pendragon at 11:54 AM on August 11, 2022
Having worked with Conan, she has my sympathy.
posted by Ideefixe at 11:57 AM on August 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Ideefixe at 11:57 AM on August 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
Do tell.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 12:00 PM on August 11, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 12:00 PM on August 11, 2022 [7 favorites]
Team Sona!
posted by sara is disenchanted at 12:11 PM on August 11, 2022
posted by sara is disenchanted at 12:11 PM on August 11, 2022
"Having worked with Conan, she has my sympathy."
Seeing as she said “Hey, I like where I am right now. I don’t need to go anywhere else", and "I get a lot of time off. I could spend time with my kids. I like what I do, and I feel like my voice is heard," maybe she doesn't need it.
posted by jonathanhughes at 12:43 PM on August 11, 2022 [14 favorites]
Seeing as she said “Hey, I like where I am right now. I don’t need to go anywhere else", and "I get a lot of time off. I could spend time with my kids. I like what I do, and I feel like my voice is heard," maybe she doesn't need it.
posted by jonathanhughes at 12:43 PM on August 11, 2022 [14 favorites]
Having worked with Conan, she has my sympathy.
Heh. Matt Gourley does a fun little podcast with comedian Paul Rust where they talk about horror movies and occasionally he'll make a passing reference to his "other" job—he never mentions it by name, but context clues make it obvious to what he's referring—and it's often delivered with a barely stifled sigh of resignation. Gourley seems like a pretty easy-going guy who gets along well with everybody, so even that smallest bit of detectable friction seems pretty telling.
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:47 PM on August 11, 2022
Heh. Matt Gourley does a fun little podcast with comedian Paul Rust where they talk about horror movies and occasionally he'll make a passing reference to his "other" job—he never mentions it by name, but context clues make it obvious to what he's referring—and it's often delivered with a barely stifled sigh of resignation. Gourley seems like a pretty easy-going guy who gets along well with everybody, so even that smallest bit of detectable friction seems pretty telling.
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:47 PM on August 11, 2022
"Having worked with Conan, she has my sympathy."
Seeing as she said “Hey, I like where I am right now. I don’t need to go anywhere else", and "I get a lot of time off. I could spend time with my kids. I like what I do, and I feel like my voice is heard," maybe she doesn't need it.
And as I also had a roommate who did an internship with Conan's writing team back in the day, and said it was one of the best jobs she ever had, I'm starting to get a little suspicious.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:14 PM on August 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
Seeing as she said “Hey, I like where I am right now. I don’t need to go anywhere else", and "I get a lot of time off. I could spend time with my kids. I like what I do, and I feel like my voice is heard," maybe she doesn't need it.
And as I also had a roommate who did an internship with Conan's writing team back in the day, and said it was one of the best jobs she ever had, I'm starting to get a little suspicious.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:14 PM on August 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
Let's not turn this into a love/hate Conan thread. This is about Sona - and she's charming, clever, funny and my inspiration for slacking off at work. I plan to read her book for tips.
posted by Toddles at 3:16 PM on August 11, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by Toddles at 3:16 PM on August 11, 2022 [10 favorites]
I've always thought He was the funniest and charming of all the late night hosts. His assistant looks to be a bunch of fun...
posted by Czjewel at 4:01 PM on August 11, 2022
posted by Czjewel at 4:01 PM on August 11, 2022
Sona's always been funny in her bits on the Conan show, so not surprised to hear she's doing well.
posted by praemunire at 4:55 PM on August 11, 2022
posted by praemunire at 4:55 PM on August 11, 2022
Yeah my old friend wrote for Conan for awhile and was very positive about the experience. Definitely not one of those guys everyone says is an asshole.
posted by potrzebie at 8:49 PM on August 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by potrzebie at 8:49 PM on August 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by Pendragon at 11:18 AM on August 11, 2022 [6 favorites]