My wife Liza
is here in studio.
Little applause, please.
(group clapping)
You can't applaud enough. You sound like little,
you sound like little church mice.
(all laughing)
And Liza's here because she's been working on a project
that, I love this project.
And people will say, "Well, you're biased."
But I'm, make it clear, I am not a fan of my wife.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, we just-
Well, we are.
I know. Everyone else is.
Everyone I know, Huge fans.
As Sona loves to say, you're only, the only, what?
Your favorite-
My favorite thing about you is Liza.
Yes, there you go. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah.
And that's the sentiment that I get from most people
is they say, "You're annoying, but we love your wife."
And I'm like, "Okay. Um... "
It fills you with rage.
Fills me with rage
'cause it's my parents that are saying it.
(everyone laughs)
But I am thrilled because...
Liza, welcome first of all, to our little studio.
Thanks. Yeah.
Nice to be here. (chuckles) Nice to have you.
Not at all weird.
(all laughing) Yeah, not at all.
I just love that we're not, we can't shout at each other
because, you know, there's company here.
Give us a minute.
(all laughing) Yeah. Give us,
give us eight seconds.
Sona, I think we should leave.
Yeah. (chuckles). (all chuckling)
No. You, Liza, you're here today
because you've been working on something
that I really love and I'm excited about it,
and very proud as your goofy partner in life
that you have made this really cool podcast
that we're gonna share with people
called "Significant Others".
That's right.
Yep. I'm so afraid to make a mistake.
Why?
You got this, buddy.
What's that? You got this.
Well, because you know,
later on I might hear about it.
(all chuckling)
Likewise.
Yeah, exactly.
We're both on absolute- Yeah, best behavior yeah.
I know this is so fun.
It is really- I promise.
Use your I statements.
Always say, "I feel." Don't accuse anybody of anything.
(Sona laughing) That's right.
Hug a pillow if you need to.
There's water and treats.
(laughing) Well, I think
that you've made this very cool, non-fiction podcast.
My favorite podcasts often are, that I listen to,
because I don't listen to this one, (laughs).
Not a fan of mine,
but I love any podcast where I can learn something
whether it's history or literature.
And you came up with a very cool idea
which I will throw to you.
So you can explain what "Significant Others" is all about.
Basically, it's about sort of looking at people
who are just outside the spotlight of history, essentially.
So, I've always been really interested,
even before I was married to Conan,
about what it was like
for people who were married to, you know,
the, people we read about in history books.
So what was it really like
to date and be married to President Lincoln, for example.
Right.
That's sort of the genesis of it.
And as I started collecting more and more of them
and asking people, "Is this anything
that anyone else would be interested in besides me?",
Conan was one of the first people to say, "Absolutely.
I would absolutely listen to that."
Which was, I mean, if you hadn't done that,
I don't know if I would've, you know, pursued any of this.
So, either thank you or
it's your fault. It's my fault.
(all laughing)
It's my fault.
We'll see. Yeah, it's your fault.
You cover these great people
and things that I didn't know
because I knew about, obviously,
I think I knew somewhat about Gandhi.
I certainly knew about Lincoln.
I thought I knew about Virginia Wolff.
And then you find out
about these other people in their lives
that were pivotal, not always for good
which is fascinating.
This is not the story every time
of someone who is saving the day in any way, a secret hero,
it's both.
They help, and they don't help.
And they influence the whole game, as everyone does.
No one is an island.
So I've been listening to them.
I think I've listened to all of them except-
I think there are a couple
that I haven't burdened you with,
but no, you've been my first reader of the scripts often,
and first listener to the scratch tracks.
And you're a very good editor. I'll say that.
Aww. That's nice.
I know this is, like, sober.
You guys are like,
"This is all so civilized. This is so nice!
No.
I wanna know about the bad stuff.
Was there a murder?
Oh, in the podcast?
Yeah.
Oh, I thought you meant in our lives.
(all laughing)
Oh, is there murder in your lives?
I don't help out a lot.
(all laughing)
I feel very entitled
when it comes to cleaning up the kitchen.
Oh, okay.
I've gotten a little better.
You're you're much better.
Much better than I used to be.
But it is-
I used to say, "Well, I'm done,
and now let others handle things.",
was my declaration at the end of every meal.
Now the (chuckles), now the dishes end up
near the dishwasher.
(all laughing)
Still not in it.
They're moving closer. So close!
Still not in it, but near it.
They're moving closer.
Okay.
They're moving so much closer.
Progress.
You talk about the Tolstoys, Gandhi,
Mary Lincoln, Nabokov's wife Vera,
Maya Angelou and James Baldwin,
who I didn't even realize
had this incredible connection.
A connection. Mm-hm.
Molly Day Thacher and Elia Kazan,
Virginia Wolff, Dr. Spock.
I mean, Gandhi is someone who I,
I mean, I just,
I don't even think of Gandhi as being in a relationship
because he's become such this holy, revered figure
that he's almost, you know,-
Beyond that.
Godlike.
And the Gandhi one was one of the only ones
that I didn't have in my head before we started.
It was actually a suggestion of Nick Liao,
who's a Team Coco person.
And I'm so grateful for that suggestion
because like you (chuckles),
I was like, "He had a wife?"
(all chuckling)
There's a national holiday named for her in India,
Oh.
which my friend who voices Kasturba
and then also talks to me afterwards about it,
you know, grew up knowing,
basically that was all she knew.
So that's interesting too,
that you can even be from the culture,
and know of the person, and still not know anything more.
And she was massively important in his life.
So there's a lot of...
My favorite thing, like yours,
is that it's not all good or all bad,
that these are really complicated people,
and complicated relationships.
And in this era of, sort of, reexamining historical heroes,
I sort of love that
when the reexamination can be incredibly complex and nuanced
and that it's not just, "Hey, guess what?
This guy was secretly an asshole."
Yeah.
Although, guess what?
(all laughing)
A lot of them were, and it wasn't so secret.
Well, I'm publicly an asshole.
Right. Exactly. (Sona and Matt laughing)
And I think that's where I've got everyone fooled.
You mentioned that you had someone, a friend voice.
You've got a lot of people
Yes.
voicing things.
Nick Offerman is Leo Tolstoy,
Megan Mullally, Sophia Tolstoy,
Tim Olyphant, Rita Wilson, Jameela Jamil,
D'Arcy Carden, Lisa Kudrow, Paul F. Tompkins.
I mean it's...
We were very lucky.
Yeah.
I called in every possible chit that I could.
I don't think anyone's ever gonna take our call again, so.
(all laughing)
Again. You're welcome.
Including Gourley.
Yeah. Well, yes. Including Matt Gourley.
That's right. That's right.
Oh, that's right. Gourley, what part did you play?
I play a reporter in the Lincoln episode. Is that right?
Mm-hmm. When you're describing in great detail
Mary Lincoln's, the shape of her head.
Yeah.
It's a really, really misogynistic, sort of, slam
of Lincoln, or Mary Lincoln, and yeah, it's crazy.
Yep, and we naturally thought of you.
Yeah. You were perfect.
I get that a lot.
I love they brought you in, Liza brought you in
to be the creep (all laughing)
in the Lincoln episode.
Yeah. I do play a lotta creeps.
Mm-hm. Yeah.
I'll edit that out.
Was there one thing that you learned
that just really shocked you
other than that Gandhi had a wife?
Yeah. (chuckles) Well, that was surprise number one.
I mean, there are a lot of really fascinating moments.
I don't really wanna spoil anything.
Yep. Yep.
But, and one of the-
And you didn't know Lincoln was shot.
(all laughing) It's true.
Like, guys, I really learned a lot.
I said, "Did you know he went to a theater?"
It's so crazy. Hey spoiler, man.
(Sona laughs)
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. I don't wanna, everything was, you know, surprising
at a certain point.
Yep.
I think the Doctor Spock episode
might be the most surprising to me.
A lot of your fans might not even know who he was
because he's so young. I'm so excited about that
because I was raised on that book.
Me too. Yeah. Yeah.
And it's a real generational divide.
Like, I bet you could, you know, find the exact number
above and under where people do
or don't know about him, but-
It was a big, oh Dr. Spock was the
Child care guru. Child care guru.
Yeah, not the Vulcan.
Oh, you know what? We have his book.
Yeah. And it was,
He was beloved. I think in the '50s, '60s?
The book came out in 1946,
same year my mother was born. Wow.
And it revolutionized,
there's a great quote
by a guy who wrote a profile in "Esquire" in like '86,
and Spock died in '98.
So it was like toward the end of his life,
but not all the way at the end.
And he was like, "This had such a profound influence
in such a quiet way.",
because it was these articles
that he was writing in women's magazines
that were lying around, you know, hair salons.
And nothing else has affected so quickly and so vastly
how the world regards babies,
and handles them, and raises kids.
And you know, so there's all this stuff about
like he created the hippies,
he was responsible for the "Me Generation".
There's been a lot of backlash.
The feminists hated him for a while.
And then he changed some stuff,
and got back in their good graces.
And meanwhile, you know,
his own family was kind of a disaster.
Oh. Yeah.
Well, whenever someone writes
a, "Here's how to parent a child.",
You're asking for trouble.
Yeah. Within 10 minutes And he actually-
those kids start killing people.
(Sona laughs)
And he wasn't a big,
like, he didn't have the kind of ego
that a lot of experts have.
He was very ready to revise what he had written,
and to collaborate,
and he didn't wanna own it, and be right all the time.
But then there's this just point
where he couldn't take his own advice, you know?
Like, there's just, you can't fix
what gets put in the hard drive, kind of.
Oh, interesting. Oh.
Anyway, that one to me is really fascinating.
Who's playing Dr. Spock?
Uncast as of now. (gasps) Oh my god. Wow.
Just to be intentionally confusing,
Can Leonard Nimoy? (chuckles)
(all laughing)
Well, he's passed on.
It was just funny to me if we got Zachary Quinto,
who plays Spock now,
That's a great idea.
and got him to play Dr. Spock.
And do it in the voice.
But then do a lot of disclaimers up front.
Zachary Quinto will be playing Dr. Spock.
It's not that doctor. We know he plays him.
Just, I love unnecessary confusion.
I'm gonna ruin your podcast.
(all laughing)
No. And so one of his sons said
that when Dr. Spock from Star Trek became a thing,
he was so relieved
because suddenly there was another,
when people would see his last name,
and they would say, "Are you related to Dr. Spock?",
and he would, he just like, "Ugh, I don't wanna."
'Cause he's, then, the living test of his dad's work.
Oh, wow.
And so when they would say,
"Are you related to the Vulcan?",
he'd be like, "Yes, exactly. That's who I'm related to."
That's why I root for Conan Gray,
It's true. You know, the pop star.
Yeah. I just want him- As do our children.
Yeah, exactly. (Matt laughs)
I'm tired of being that Conan.
So, it's root for Conan Gray.
Yeah, of course. Okay.
Yeah. 'Cause I can't take the burden anymore.
It's too much. Yeah. Yeah.
I feel that same way about the Matt Gourley
that's a contractor in Northern California.
You know, I can't get out of his shadow.
(all laughing)
Well, he's just a really good contractor.
He's he's gonna be playing Dr. Spock.
And that other Talin Sona Movsesian too.
Yeah, he's great.
Okay. Lemme make sure I get the word out.
"Significant Others" is available right now.
Yeah.
It's already out.
A new episode of "Significant Others" drops every Wednesday
with bonus episodes the following day.
So be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcast.