Conan, please meet Merin.
Oh, hey Merin, how are you?
Great to meet you.
How do you spell your first name Merin?
The way that it's spelled on the screen, M-E-R-I-N.
Oh wow, you just okay boomer'ed me,
That was so... (Sona and Matt laugh)
That was so mean.
My mum is an anti-aging activist, Conan,
so she's gonna give me a lot of shit for that later.
First of all,
I gotta fix it so that you're up all the time,
because you keep disappearing when you're not speaking,
so I didn't-
you weren't on screen at that second,
and I couldn't see how you had spelled your name,
and you tore into me with a violence and a vehemence
that was... I don't know, it was brutal.
That was brutal.
You're already making me feel really welcome, Conan,
thank you.
Well, I listen, I, I feel like we got off
on the wrong start. Okay.
I simply asked you how you spell your name.
You okay boomer'ed me.
(Sona laughing)
Now, I'm just a smoldering wreck.
You know, I thought we were going to talk about me,
but as I have observed pretty frequently
on the podcast with Matt and Sona,
hi, by the way,
you didn't introduce them or present them in any way,
but also you've already turned it completely
around to yourself.
So I'm very impressed by just the speed, the velocity.
I like Merin,
I like you.
Merin,
Darin' Merin,
Merin,
Come back always.
Merin,
we've run out of time.
No, we got plenty of time.
We just started.
There's no time to speak to you, Merin
Merin, first of all, I resent that
the fact that you think I turn everything to me,
that's just not true, I'm a curious mind, a gracious host.
I always make it about the guests.
Well, for one Conan,
you clearly have your zoom on speaker view,
which means that you're also mostly staring at yourself.
Oh my God. Oh, wow.
This is amazing.
I have found,
Popcorn.
Whenever I become agitated or upset,
if I see my face, I calm down.
It's why sometimes you put a mirror in a crib,
a child just relaxes when it sees itself.
So yes, I do have it on speaker view,
but Merin, I want you to do most of the talking
because it sounds like you are a very analytical mind.
You're very good at reading people.
You've outed me already as not being good at tech.
And you've revealed
to a shocked public that I'm a narcissist.
Thank you.
So congratulations.
So tell us, tell me about yourself.
What do you do? Where are you from?
Yeah, so I'm from the Midwest, generally.
I was born in Kansas.
Oh, so you roam around a lot.
Like a serial killer, you move quickly from town to town.
Yes. Shockingly similar. Yes.
I lived in Minnesota for a long time.
That's where my family is from,
but I actually live in Mexico city,
That's where I am right now.
Oh, you're in Mexico
Home, yeah. And I work for the Fulbright commission here.
I came as a Fulbrighter
and then I stayed on working for the commission.
So I've been in Mexico now almost three years and I love it.
This is a Fulbright scholarship
Yeah.
or did you? Wow. Congratulations.
You're clearly a very accomplished person.
Thank you.
Seriously. I mean that.
I love Mexico City or as I call it Ciudad de México.
Oh, God.
But, sorry, I'll
I'll, I'll, I'll translate that later for everyone.
Thank you. For me too please.
Have you been to my favorite spot to visit in Mexico city
which is where Trotsky was murdered?
Have you been to Trotsky's home?
Of course, yes. Many times.
That's I always take people there when they visit.
You know what, I've been there and
there were two attempts on Trotsky's life.
And the first one was with machine guns
and there's still holes in the wall.
The second one famously worked where they hired an intern
to work for Trotsky.
And he worked for them for a while and then
when no one was looking,
because he was a plant from the Soviet Union,
he wandered in and put an ice pick
Yup.
in Trotsky's head, which I think he still holds the,
a award for worst intern.
Because I mean, you just think about it, like,
people say like, oh, that intern was terrible,
never got my coffee order right.
Yeah. I have another one for you.
Walked in and put an ice pick in the boss's brain.
Well, you better watch out, cause Sona I think is
about at her limit as it is.
Yes.
I can send you an Amazon link
to a really great ice pick store,
Please.
a lot of good options,
a lot of different sizes, you know,
it's not going to leave a trace.
Yep.
Here's the problem, Sona's going to get the ice,
she's going to order the ice picks,
she's gonna get the ice picks,
she's going to be all ready to go.
She's going to be headed in to kill me with the ice pick
and on the way into the office, she's going to forget.
Okay.
(Conan laughing)
You're laughing
Later on, you'll be driving home
and there'll be an ice pick in your purse.
And you're like oh shit!
You're having a good time with that.
I believe in you Sona, second try's the charm.
Thank you, Merin. I know Merin believes in me.
One day, you will have an ice pick sticking
out of your head.
You're welcome to come and visit me here in Mexico.
Oh here's another fun fact about Trotsky.
He gets the ice pick in the head.
It's literally is sticking out of his head,
just like Sona described,
he gets up and fights the guy
with an ice pick sticking out of his head.
It was like a Warner Brothers cartoon. It's insane.
Anyway, look it up online. Death of Trotsky.
Fascinating.