Summer S’pouses Episode 4: Liza Powel O'Brien

Hi, my name is Liza Powell O'Brien. And I feel so many things about being called a bride and a spouse. Oh, this is going to be good. Summer spouses with Conan O'Brien, Sonom of Sessian, and Matt Corley, and Liza Powell O'Brien, Jack Burrion, and Amanda Lund. Well, welcome to Summer Spouses, the game show, where the spouses of the three idiots that do this podcast come in. And today's special guest, Liza Powell O'Brien, I thought I'd just start by saying, first of all, thank you, Liza, for coming in today. No, it's a, it's a, I don't know if this was your favorite thing to do, but you were very sweet to say, yes, you do it. And we were just talking, I think in one of the, I think it was the first episode we were talking about last names because Amanda Lund, yes, but Amanda took Gourley initially, is that right? Well, she took it legally, but not publicly, right out of shame. Right. Oh, okay. Well, this is a well-known thing Liza and I talked about, because you have such a beautiful last name and a very cool last, Powell is such a cool last name. I think I never thought of growing up the one L, the power with the one L and how it, and I'll, because I'm a history buff and how it goes back to, you know, revolutionary days. I will tell you it has definitely been misheard or maybe not misheard as Bowel. So that's what I think of all the time now when I'm introducing myself. Well, when I first, when we first met, so that is a beautiful thing. And then my first met, I thought you said Bowel and I was like, I am yes. It's one of my favorite topics and then when I thought it was Powell, I was really bummed out. No, but you have a, it's just a really, you know, beautiful name and then I got to know all the Powell's who are really cool people. But I remember feeling a little bit like, oh, because I've never been a huge fan of my last name just because it's so generic, kind of just Irish name. And so we've, you know, we've talked about maybe I should just switch to Conan Powell. Oh, you know, really? Well, he's been very kind to me because I said when he was complaining about his name before we were, right before we got married, yeah, we were engaged. And I said, well, you can always take my name and it didn't go over. I know. Wait, you're making it seem like you're like, yeah, I was toying with it for a big. I wasn't trying it for a second now, no, it did not sit right. Well, the Conan O'Brien brand had been built, that's like, that's like, we're going to change McDonald's. That's the problem is the Conan O'Brien brand didn't built, you know, but my, I was like privately, you know, Holla Amanda Gourley, who no one knows as a man to Gourley, yeah, have changed it privately. Okay. And you want to still do that? No. That's fine. At this point. No. Oh. You're not worthy of this. Now that you've actually, now after 25 years, you're like, ah, no, we gave it to both our kids. That's funny. Oh, yeah. In addition to yours. Yeah. No, it's, it's, it's all good. But well, this is, I mean, you're free to, you know, maybe I should step out. I wonder if you should leave. Like, I wonder why you guys. Oh, that's interesting. Do you want me to go? Like, that's a better game show. Well, you know, we can do both ways. Well, you know, I clearly can't lead this conversation any more than I can lead a marriage or participate meaningfully in a marriage. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. What is this perspective? Let's just say, you know, there's some, I'm problematic around the home. Oh, my. Is it your bits? What are the probably things? I mean, there's a lot of problem. I almost took a picture of a, nothing to do with this. I was just going to record it to maybe show some other people when the kitchen looked like after he had cleaned up from making his breakfast, which he was very beautiful about putting the butter away and putting the, putting the spatula from the sink into the dishwasher. And then on the stove was a pan, another spatula, some spray that was still open. It was an SPF 50 cabinet left open. You know that I fried three eggs and put them on a butter, a piece of buttered toast. Why did you need two spatulas? One went missing. Oh, you know what? You can say. I think I used one spatula to pick up the other spatula. You know that's you. You can't be too careful with the spatula. That's seen in six cents when the mom first knows something's really wrong with the kid because she is giving him cereal and she turns around and she comes back and all the doors in the kitchen are all of the cover doors are open, all of a sudden, she's like, oh, no. Every single time you walk into the kitchen and he's, you can tell he's been in there because every door and every drawer, everything's open. Yeah. What's happening? I will plead guilty to all of this. Also I've been told when you, after you use a pan, it's supposed to sort of cool sit and cool on the stove for about a week, that may be wrong, but that's just an instruction. That's what I heard once, and that's, there's a lot, I think there's some things I've gotten better at. Many things. But I would, I'm, you say, my stuff spreads. You're a spreader. I'm a spreader. No, I recently figured this out. If you go into a hotel room, he has to put, when he comes in and drops something down, I like to make piles and stacks and, and, you know, confine everything. He has to put everything on a different surface so we can see it all. So next thing, I mean, it works, and we're talking about cheese shirts, jeans and underwear, but I lay it out and go like, I'm rich. Like, there's limited surfaces in a hotel room. There's limited surfaces in a hotel room, so you're just not in our hotel room. Imminent domains. Well, first of all, and life is being very modest, but we always get the, I buy out the entire floor, penthouse floor of any, yeah, I just, and I always let them think that I'm coming, that I'm Saudi with that, with that name and really, that I've come in from my palace in my private jet, which also, for some reason was named American Airlines. I have a question. So you went out with him and then you saw him eat and you're like, I'll go out with him again. You know what? On our first date, actually, I remember telling Sybil about this, our friend Sybil Goldman, who does a shout out, he, we went to a movie at like four or something like that. And then afterwards, he had an idea to go to, I didn't know this, but he had an idea to go to Sean Lee, his favorite restaurant, which is right there. Yeah. Real quick, what movie did you see, do you remember? All about my mother by mode of art. He wanted to see high fidelity, but I'd just seen it. He said, I won't see a movie you've already seen on our. I thought it was very shocking. Yeah. Yeah. And then she takes me to a movie where one of the characters walks out of a vagina at some point. Literally, like a 30-foot high. Yep. And I, my, my, my brain melted. I get it. I'm like, imagine it. Yeah. I felt, I felt safe with John Chusac. She says, I have another idea and I said, okay, we'll try that. I know it's like saloon doors. She comes charging, charging out of a giant vagina and you hear like a player piano in the background. I didn't think, think, think, think, think, think, think, think, think, think, think, think, and stay out. And stay out. Okay. Anyway, he said, so then he said, you want to get some Chinese food and I was like, no, I'm in the mood for Mexican. He's like, everything I said was no, but we're doing this instead. Which should have been a clue. Yeah. So we went up to this really crappy Mexican restaurant that I loved at the time. And we were the, it was five o'clock in the afternoon, we were the only people in the entire restaurant and they bring us chips. And he, he put the chip in his mouth and then like the corner of the chip is sticking out and he pushes it in with the heel of his hand. I thought it was adorable. I know. He wasn't doing a bit. This is not doing a bit. I was eating. I, if you watch, if you watch, not just me, but I'm going to say some of my siblings as well when it's time to eat, it was very much a six of us. There was a round table and they would just throw a bunch of food. But your brother in fact this morning asked if our two dogs eat out of the same bowl. I don't know why he did that. Yeah, I was talking to my brother Neil and I said, oh, hold on a sec, because the dogs came running in and they both started eating their food, two dogs, two golden retrievers. They spooch eating out there and Neil went, do they eat out of the same bowl? But I don't know if he got that idea because that's what he said. You guys got one ball of girl that you already, kind of. So I also, sort of, be a little more specific about what you were looting to the way I eat. This is so really fast and like, like, you know, like his siblings are hovering. I mean, you know, but it's, it is alarming, and you tell me no one's going to take it away from you. Yeah. It's like, uh-huh, uh-huh. So you guys were eating like family dinner with the four of you. You were just shoveling food. Oh, it's gone before I sit down. Like I, put the food on the, and by the way, uh, I'm, you're not the only one in the house. And so I am routinely eating like grandma used to, like for 25 minutes after everyone else is dying. Like, well, I'm still working on my food. Yeah. So she, you eat. Yeah. She takes her time eating. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. (upbeat music) - When we were first going out, I just noticed that I would like, I need a giant hamburger. - Oh yeah. - You know, I need giant quantities of things because it was all this very sort of compulsive dealing with some trauma from childhood. I don't know, kind of way of eating and maybe some of it's just in the bloodline, you know. - Have you ever done that, like, father giving the kids cigars in the closet and you just put a feedback on and go until you're satisfied? - I don't know, I don't know what it was. - What are you talking about? - Yeah, that made no sense. - You guys haven't heard that all the time? - Someone followed the position. - No, there's a godfamous thing where fathers would catch the kid smoking a cigar. - Yeah, they'd put him in the closet and make him smoke a bunch of cigars. - I see. - To make him so sick of it. - You did not word that properly in the first time. That was a problem. - No, well, you need to go into a closet with it in the stores. - I think a version therapy is what you're talking about, right? A version therapy. - You're going to go into a closet with a strunken white tub. - Where my cigar heads out there, they'll know. - Yeah, so what I noticed right away is, and this is still kind of the case, although I think I've changed a lot, but we're about to somewhat better, but I would just need, like, I need a giant steak and a lot of potatoes, no, I need some pie. And I would look over and she would be like, "No, it's gonna have, it's good to have a salad first. I'll have this salad, I'll have these walnuts." And I'm always running into her, and she'll say, "Did you eat lunch?" And I'll go, "Yeah, I took two pizzas and wrapped them around each other, unhinged my jaw, and slid it down, and hurt a splash when it hit my stomach." And I'll say, "What did you?" And she's like, "I'm good." I had some walnuts. I had a little piece of, I had a radish. That was really good. - He used to call me cornucopia Jones when we were in first dating. - It was all little like, and then I had just a little bit of mustard on the, and I had some, it was delicious. And I'd be like, "What are you talking about?" That's not a meal. - Sounds healthy. - Oh, she's very healthy. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. It makes me crazy. - Oh, I'm sorry. - I'm very boring. - Do you ever go for like a, I just, you gotta have a steak and dig a good deal. - Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. - She mixed also, that steak, my favorite steak, she, she, when you make a filet, or actually any kind of-- - You go with one spatula. - Yeah. - She said, "I think insane." I used a spatula to cook in the spatula. - She's got two spatulas to eat it with. - I was like, "Doesn't know why it doesn't work." - On the Edward Scissor Hands of Flap Jack. - On the Edward Scissor Hands of Flap Jack. - No, you're making amazing. You grill. You're a master griller. She grills up. - Hot sauce. - I'm always really excited. And when I say, "Oh, we're gonna make steaks tonight." We're actually, me and the kids are all super excited 'cause it's better than anything I get in a restaurant. That's for sure. - That's nice. - I have another question. He talks about how, like, on one of your first dates, he muttered murder to someone. - First date? - Okay, not just murder. - Were you ever concerned about his mental health? Listen, I don't know what's wrong with me, but this is a long story, the first date. But by the time we got to that point, we had been murder-in. - She brought backups. She arranged for us to meet other people 'cause she thought, "I don't know that I'm safe with this idiot." - She did the right thing. - Yeah. - No, it was, so I had made this plan with friends downtown, like, when you're young, you make a plan to meet up at 11 p.m. That's not weird. And so we were seeing an early movie and so I thought, "Oh, well, he must have something else to do after that." So I didn't cancel my other plan. So we got out of the movie, we go to the Mexican restaurant, we eat the chips. - We saw a man walk out of a vagina and then I jammed, I jammed a bunch of chips into my mouth and it was like feeding paper into a shredder. - And then we walked up West End Avenue and I was like waiting for him to say like, "Well, I gotta go whatever." And it wasn't happening. I was like, "Okay, this is going on." And now there's a bar in the corner of me. You said, "Do you wanna get a drink?" And like, "Sure, do we go into this bar?" - Then you did a weird thing. - I ordered a whiskey bar. - At the bar. - I don't know what I am. - No, you did. - You were like, "I'll have a whiskey meat." And they were like, "Okay." And I was like, "Wow." You know, this is-- - I did it. - It never since. - Yeah. - Not ever since. - Never since. And the way I wanted it was. - I thought you drank, I got her some whiskey and she's like, "I don't drink whiskey." - Did you just panic and think of a film noir? - I guess. Or something like that sounds like a cool thing to do. - Yeah. - Enjoy it. - And she chewed tobacco. - Anyway, so we were there for a while and I'm thinking like, my friends are waiting for me downtown and I thought, well, I don't wanna bail on them 'cause that's kind of lame. I didn't tell them I had to date and I didn't tell it. So then I said, "Well, I'm supposed to meet people "down town, do you wanna come?" He said, "Sure." And now this is-- - I was, I was not cool 'cause they could have said, "I've got things to do by cell, by cell." But now I went, "Okay, I've got nowhere to go." - So we get in this cab to go downtown. Now we both had probably something to drink at the Mexican restaurant and the bar. - We weren't slosh though. - No, we weren't slosh at all, but I think, and we're also neither of us knows what's going on. And so we're in this cab heading downtown and you gave the address or maybe I gave the address. I think you gave the address. You told them where we were going. And then you started going, "Oh, I know that, yeah." - We all know that now. - First of all, I didn't know that then. - So I just was like, "Okay, we're gonna go down to White." - It was part, like St. Mark's place. - Part of the, I think was the name of the bar. - Yeah, we're gonna have a providence on, it's on, you know, - Bowery or whatever. - It's in the Bowery, blah, blah, blah. And the guy was like, "Okay." And I go like, "Thank you." - Oh my god. - Oh my god. - And the thing is, I, people who don't know me, I'm always doing a show and the show is just for me. - Yes. - So I don't care. - I'm cringing forward. - So I'm just, I'm going, "Oh, okay, thank you." And then I'm doing my favorite, like, pop, I like, - Well, I guess we're going now. Oh, he's gonna take a ride. - Oh my god. - I'm doing a lot of stuff. And Liza's just not- - I was being polite and not like attention to it. - So you weren't laughing or anything. - You didn't even acknowledge it. - Nope. - I was like, it's almost, yeah, like it was like, he had Tourette's, no. - Jesus. - What do you mean, like he had Tourette's? - Something's wrong with me. Did you feel like you were bombing? - No. - First of all, you don't understand, Matt. - Oh, that's an impressive, Matt. - You don't understand that it's not about it working or not working. It's just what's going to happen. - That's right. - Okay, oh, and I guess we're going now. And I'm always, I mean, I'm with David Hopping all the time and we'll be on an elevator and someone will say, like, "Hey, Conan, I was like, it's good to see you too, "I'll get you." And David's like, I think that person can hear you. - So then you said murder at some point. Is that what you were going to say? - Oh, I mean, I don't even know if that, I don't know if it was murder, but it was just strange noises. - Yes. - Okay, okay. - Strange noises and mutterings and weird assides that don't need to be said. This one thought, well, I'm so glad we're meeting up with other people, this will be a safe environment. And, but then we had a really good time. - Yeah, we did. - And how was a second date brokered? - There was no second date. - He called and left a message on my answering machine. The next morning, like, 11 and said, "I had a really good time last night." You know, I don't know if it was like, "Give me a call," or whatever. So. - Yeah. And then I didn't hang up, I went. - Well, anyway. - Oh no! - Oh no! - Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. I left that message, I was like, "I have a little hand, I have a little hand, "I have a little hand, I have a little hand." - Well, we only scratched the surface. We could do. - There's so much more. - We could do 35 hours of just, and what would happen to what you say? - We have to really lose your pocket. - People, no, people would be very entertained and they would call in and say, "You've got to get away from him." - Yeah. - Are you safe? Well, thank you so much for coming in. - Anytime. - It's the love of my life right here. - Aww. - Yeah. And. - My favorite thing about you. - You've always said that. You remember you told me that once. You said like, you didn't say them if you said lies is the only thing about you I like. (laughing) But also, I was just out there in the hallway. We have a nice HD monitor out there and I was just out there and it was before I came in and I saw lies up in the monitor and there's a whole room full of people. I went, "Look how pretty my wife is." - Aww, that's pretty good. - I'm still smitten. - Aww. - Now what's for dinner? (laughing) A radish. I can't wait to have my nightly radish. - Alright, well that has been Liza Powell and O'Brien. And thank you so much. That was great. - Next episode is over to you guys. You guys take over the whole podcast. - You guys take over the whole podcast. - Exciting. Look out. (laughing) Come on. (upbeat music) Conan O'Brien needs a friend with Conan O'Brien, Sonom of Cessian and Mack Gourley. Produced by me, Mack Gourley. Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross and Nick Leo. 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 BritCon. 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? You can call the Team Coco Hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of serious XM when you sign up at seriousxm.com/conon. And if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O'Brien needs a friend wherever fine podcasts are down below. (upbeat music)