Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Conan and Sona in Morocco

Episode Date: June 25, 2026

Conan and Sona report on their recent travel adventures from the backseat of a car in Morocco while en route to Marrakesh.   Wanna get a chance to talk to Conan? Submit here: teamcoco.com/apply Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link: https://siriusxm.com/conan. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey there, welcome to Conan O'Brien needs a friend. I'm joined, as always, by Sona Mobsessian. Hello. This is kind of a special moment in our podcast because we, at the moment, are in a car in Morocco. Sona and I are in the back seat of the car. Yeah. Blay is in the front seat, shooting us, I think, for video capture. and Rashid is our driver.

Hello, Rashid. Rashid is helping us out. He's driving. And I may occasionally ask Rashid for any kind of help we might need, like content or humor. That's good. Yeah. So here's the story. Shooting an episode along with Sona of Conan O'Brien Must Go, visited a fan who lives in Casablanca.

Yeah. So we flew into Casablanca, right? And we shot there for, what, two days? Yeah, we were there for two nights. And we hung out with our fan who was very cool, and we had a good time with him. Yes, sir. Then... Can you say his name?

Are we allowed to? Yes. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, he's a cool guy. Yeah. Well, what did you say can we say his name? I don't know. Is this...

We can talk openly and say all the things? Well, yeah, we're safe. We're far from America. In the backseat of a car. I'm driving through the desert. So you can say whatever you want. Okay. I didn't know how much of the episode you wanted to discuss because I, I should have asked questions before we recorded.

This is okay. I was talking about how we do it. And I just started. You started making yourself laugh really hard. I was going to launch into, you know, why we're here, where in the country we are, some of the customs and traditions. But you, seconds before we started recording, started laughing really hard. And I asked you why. And you said, because there was that famous song, right?

this is how we do. This is how we do it. And then you said online, there was a guy whose name is Howie Do It, right? And why don't you tell a song when you control it, when you get yourself under control?

There's a picture of this guy. He's just a guy. And his name is Howie. His first name is Howie. And his last name is Do It. Yep. And then it just has the song looping. That's just saying,

this is how we do it. Right. And how long were you, how long were you watching that for? It's not how long I watched it one time. It's how many times do I watch it in like a week. And what made you start laughing about this now in deep in Morocco near the Algerian border? I don't know.

Okay. I have no idea, but it was also somebody sang the song and it makes me instantly think of that. I'm sorry, you know what? Oh, wow, that was cool. We were almost hit the car ahead of us. Anyway, I'm sorry. That was not Rashid's fault because the car ahead of us hit the brakes. No.

And it was a mom walking her child across the street. Yeah. Which is illegal. She shouldn't have to do that. Okay. So let me give everyone, now that we got, this is how we do it. Yes. I have your system.

Flew into Casablanca, right? Then we finish up with the fan and it's time to go to the desert. Okay. Here's, I thought, was a funny part of the whole situation. We're at the airport in Casablanca. Yeah. And we can't leave because somehow our papers weren't in order. Yeah.

And we couldn't get on our plane. So we were stuck in Casablanca because we didn't have our papers, Rick. Of course, I nod to the famous film, Casablanca. And what's the whole plot of Casablanca? No one can leave because they don't have their exit visas. They're trapped. And so I kept going up to the officials and saying, you've got to help me reek, you've got to help me rank, like Peter Lurie, and they didn't know what I was talking about.

Oh, they didn't know? No, they didn't know. And I was jailed for a while. Oh, maybe if you went as Ilsa, they would have been like... You know what? That was my mistake. I should have dressed up as Ilsa. Yeah, that would have been nice. Or else Humphrey Bogart. Yeah, she, yeah, she, you know, just said, yeah, she. Yeah. No, you should have done that. We were there for, what, four hours. Yeah, but we were only supposed to be there at 20 minutes. and anyone who knows me knows I can do Peter Lurie going I need my papers

I can do that for four hours easily I could have been out for three days you could and you know what when people don't get something I'm doing I love it and I do it I go twice as hard

I know I know do you ever get tired of your own bits oh God no is there ever a time when you're like oh this I've been doing this for a long time nope no no I'm always just so happy to be trapped inside this guy. Okay. What a weird way to put it.

Finally, we get out of Casablanca, right? We get out of Casablanca, and we fly, we take a plane and we fly for, I don't know, 45 minutes an hour, way to the east, right, to the, near the border, because we want to have some, that sweet Sahara sand look, you know, the classic look of camels and dunes. What was the name of the place we stayed, Blay? It was in... It was in... For the desert, this is Merzoga. Mirzugat. Merzuka.

Merzoga. Merzoga. We stayed in Merzoga, and we hung out there, and it was incredibly hot, so hot that our camera equipment could fry. Yeah. Melt down if we didn't keep it cool enough. And boy, did we found a place I'm never supposed to have. hang out, didn't we? Oh my God. I mean, it was 105 in the shade. It was incredible. Just the elements are working against your biology. Yeah. I saw it in real time. Yeah, but it was fine. And it's beautiful.

Yeah, it is. And you and I had some adventures there. We had a very special treatment that'll be featured in the show where we get buried in sand, you and I, which is incredibly hot when they first do it and you think you're going to die. And then your body shuts down. You don't feel it anymore. So that was fun. Shut down? Yeah, I died for a while. They had to resuscitate me. That did not happen to me.

I was Medevac to a hospital in Aspen, Colorado, and then flown back to the shoot. So that's why this remote is taking us over nine years to shoot. Then, today was the day where we need to drive, because we're now making our way to Marrakesh. Yeah. So to get to Marrakech is a very long drive. We are on our way to Quarza Zate. Quarza Zata. Is that right, Rashid?

Quarza Zati, yes. Gorsazate. I think the way I said it was more accurate, Rashid. Oh, my God. It's so rude of you to correct me. Do I correct you when you say Newton North or Brookline High? Two things he's never said in his life. And we'll never say.

He says, hey, let's go over to Roxbury. Let's get a roast beef sandwich at Buzzies Roast Beef. I don't start parsing his pronunciations. Anyway, we are going to fly from Korsazate to Marrakech. Then we'll be in Marrakech and we'll shoot there. Yeah. And Marrakech is going to have, that's going to be a little more luxe, I think. It's going to be a lot of shops and bazaars and stores.

Yes. Maybe I'll buy you something. A lot of you'll buy it you can buy me a lot of stuff Well no I can't I don't have a lot of money Oh okay Very famously I've not done well I'll just charge it to the show You can't

Okay I just want a lot of stuff I want a bag I want stuff for the boys I want something for tack I want stuff for my house Okay I'm just gonna end that now Yeah I'm just gonna end that now So we are on our way to Marrakesh

And that got me thinking It would be great if we could sing a song in the car about going to Marrakesh, and then, of course, there's that Crosby Stills, Nash song. Oh, I thought you were going to say, this is how we do it. No, no. That was my second thought, but not my first thought. You know, Blay, you know this song, All Aboard that train. Me to Marrakech, all aboard.

Well, listen, I bring it up for a reason. I've never liked that song. Oh, no! I don't love that song, and it's the only song I know that's about Marrakech, And so I thought we should come up with our own song about Marrakesh. Okay. And then maybe we can use it on this travel show. Oh, that sounds fun.

And if it catches on, we own the rights. Yeah, if it catches on. You know I'm tone deaf. But it's okay. I'll do my best. Yeah. So what are you thinking? Any ideas for a song on our way to Marrakesh?

Marrakesh. Oh, Marrakesh. It's a land of things to buy. You weren't kidding when you said toned up. I forgot. Really bad. You can't. Oh, Marrakech.

What? What are you doing? What are you contributing to this? You sound like you're not even that interested in Marrakech. You were like Marrakech passed you. It's nearby. It's kind of across the street. You don't really want to say hi to Marrakech.

You want to say hi to Marrakech. Do you know what I mean? You don't want to stop and chat with Marrakech. It's supposed to be revelatory. Marrakesh, like, dissed you at a party. You got some beef with Marrakesh, but you're not ready to talk yet. That's the way you just greeted Marrakesh. Maybe it's a distract to Marrakech.

Yo, this is Marrakesh. Marrakesh can suck it. Okay, you don't want to do that. No, no, no, I don't want to go that. Yeah. I'm actually, and I don't mean it because I'm actually really excited. You know the great thing about you, Sona? No one listens to anything you're saying.

They sort of, they get the gist, but no one's, no one would be offended, even living in Marrakesh. When I first started singing the Oh, Marrakech one, that was me kind of trying to do Oh, Canada, but oh, Marrakesh. And it didn't work. But what's yours? Moving along, along to Marrakesh. Moving along, along to Marrakesh, I could put my troubles on the back of a camel. Moving along, I got to go to Marrakesh. Break down. No, when you beatbox, you kill it. No, no, no, no. Also, what genre was that?

I don't know. It started fulky and then you started doing a beatbox and that doesn't make sense. Okay, hold on. Well, sometimes you're supposed to mix genres and that creates a whole new genre and then you're remembered forever. Oh, you're being an innovator. Yeah. Well, anyway, we'll think about that. I don't know that between us, we're going to come up with a song for Marrakesh.

Merikash. I don't know if we're going to come up with it. A Marrakerche. Merri-Cash. Hey, I want to have a sash in Marrakech. Yeah. Isn't that short for session, sash? Sesh, yeah.

But what kind of sush? Sex-sh. I want to have a sex sash in Marrakech. I want to have... Hey, Rashid is laughing. Rashid, do you like this? I want... What's that?

You like it? I'm going to have a sexish in Marrakech. He loves it. I don't think anyone's ever called it. A sesh. before. A sex a sex sesh. A sex sesh is you're hooking up, you're knocking

boots, but you're also keeping records for your tax attorney. You're monitoring the time. You're making sure that any suggestions made during sex or captain sent to an inner office memo. I'm going to have a sexesh

in Marrakech. I don't know. It's the least sexiest song I think I've ever heard. Well, but one of the least sexy. It's not the least sexy. So that means it's kind of sexy. What? Oh, I guess. Yeah. No, it's just not, it's just a bad song. What do you think so far? What are your observations about Morocco? First of all, I love how they drive. I think Americans are a little uptight. But these guys,

you know, if someone's in front of them and they're driving slow, they just pass them. Yeah, even if cars are coming in the other direction, they pass. And even if everyone's chill. And even if everyone's killed. they still don't mind. Yeah. Oh, oh, God. Another thing that I have noticed, food is great.

I mean, Moroccan food always great. Every meal has been... Every meal we have is fantastic. Toit! And then I realized on this trip, I love camels. And then... Camels are cool.

Yes. They're very smart. They seem like they have... They're very soulful. Yes. And, man, you're up so high when you're on a camel. It's fantastic.

I almost fell off getting on and off. That would have been good. I mean, it's... It's, no, it would have been good footage if you're falling off, because if we could play it, you falling and then blop, backwards, and then falling off again and backwards and put sound effects on it. Boi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ing. I don't know why that's what you think of.

You should have, how about, like, oh, I'm so glad you didn't, Sona, it's nice that you didn't fall off the giant camel. Yeah, it's really funny to put a sound effect to someone not falling off a camel. That's hilarious. How you doing up there? Well, I'm perfectly comfortable, and I'm setting very steady on this camel. Boi-i-i-i-i-ing. That's not funny.

Come on. You can't do that. that yo-yo sound. Woo. Boi-i-i-i-i-i-i-ing. I didn't think I would enjoy the desert as much as I did. I loved your, if you had done America's Funniest Home videos, but all the videos were a kid walking very carefully around a pool and not falling.

Someone walking in with a tray of meatballs and none of them fall off. Yeah. But you put funny sound effects to it. Yeah. Here's some meatballs and they look just fine. As they set them down on the table and nothing bad happens. Wouldn't that be a great America's funny? his own videos.

That would. You just make normal mundane videos. Yeah. Uh-oh. There's, there's grandpa on the, his grandpa on the diving board. And, oh, that was a nice,

simple dive. And he seems fine. I'm going to have a sex session in Marra set. Wait, going to have a sex session in Marrakech. I don't like how you're doubling down on this song, the sex session Marrakech. It doesn't even roll off the tongue.

Can you say it? Three times. times fast. Going to have a success in Marrakesh. Going to have a success in Marrakes. Going to have a success in Marrakesh. That's not... You're going to have a sexash in Marrakech. Going to have a success in Marrakesh. Okay, that was good. Not bad. Yeah, not bad. This will catch on. It'll be huge. No, it won't. Do your trump where you go, it's going to be huge. It's going to be huge. Yeah. It's going to be huge. What? It's going to be huge. You are the worst impressionist. I really am bad. Yeah.

But I, you know what? I, I try. Do you do it? No, I can't do it. He's not a big enough figure and he's not I don't think enough people sort of know how he talks or find him ridiculous. So how can you do an impression of someone like that?

Oh, I just did. But okay. You can't do it. That's fine. We're rolling along. We're rolling along. We're on our way to the next flight. This has been a lot of travel. But you know what? I've noticed when we sit down and have the food, I keep thinking the same thing. I keep saying, Sona, is this what it's like in your

family because it's lots of plates that are filled with various dips and breads and everyone reaches in and gloop, gloop, gloop. And I thought, this must be very much your home. And everyone's sort of shouting and having fun. I mean, our crew. You were asking this question. I couldn't tell if you were like making fun of me. No, no, no, no.

Or if you were actually saying it. You are Armenian. You are not Moroccan. Yes. But I've noticed that there are certain similarities. There's Baba Ganush, which you love. There's various flat breads. There's a lot of, you know, fresh, whole shhawks.

some vegetable. Yeah. And, of course, the chickens are amazing. Yeah, they're so good. But it just made me think of your family. It's like a collection of little plates and dips and bread and then the main dishes. Yes.

In that way, yes. And are we loud? Yeah. You guys are very loud. Okay. Well, like you guys weren't loud. Six kids. Nothing like you.

You're the loudest person. You're the loudest mammal of encountered. I'm including other. You know, I'm just, that's incredible. I, no. Am I? I once tried to help. Pretty loud.

I once tried to help a bear that was screaming for its life out of a bear trap. And you were twice as loud as that bear. And when I let the bear out of the trap, it attacked me. Because it was my trap. I have a hard time. I set the trap. I'm moving on. I had a hard time believing you and your five siblings.

We were loud. We were like precious sitting, eating your head. ham and your potatoes and your boiled food. Each one of us had our own ham and it hung on a rope above where we sat at the table. So there were six kids, my mom and my dad and my grandmother. So that's nine hams hanging from nine ropes around a circular table in the kitchen on Kennard Road and Brookline. It's like oxygen masks falling from an airplane.

Yeah, in an emergency, a ham would drop down. And we'd all bat at it and garrar, rah. And then, you know, it was like that scene in the first Jurassic Park where when it's over, the person on the roof would raise the hams and they would come up and it was just bones. And pieces of metal twisted cage. I just added the cage in there. You were allowed to, but we're allowed. We've drifted.

Anyone who's tuning in right now has no idea that we're in the backseat of a car driving through the desert in Morocco on our way to Marrakesh. Yeah, if you're just tuning in to this podcast. If you're just tuning in. Well, I don't know how it works. How do you not know how it works? It's been like eight years that you've been doing one. Picasso didn't understand how the paints were made.

He used the medium in a masterful way and defined a generation. Really created 20th century art. So I think I'm doing the same thing with whatever this is. I don't even have to know what it is. But we're in Morocco and this is cool. We're on to America. I've never been to Marrakesh. Have you?

I've never been to Africa. Oh, that's right. I've never been to Africa. And I haven't traveled with you since like 2017, I think. That's right. It's been fun having you. I will say that. You've been a great addition.

I miss this. We've been having a really good time. And I think you couldn't come for a long time because your kids were so little. Now they're old enough. You were FaceTiming with him the other day and I got on and they get, they know who I am, obviously. And I mean, on their godfather. Yeah. I'm going to make my love for the camera shoes.

Isn't that funny? That's pretty topical. Yeah, that's good. That's very topical. Yeah. It's all the rage right now. That's a movie. Godfather.

Yeah. You've all your powers. You've all your skills. I don't want his mother to see him like this. Is that Trump? That's my Trump. You're all your powers. You're all your skills on the economy.

You know what's funny? I'm doing political comedy right now. I know. It's very edgy. Yeah. And also, the New York Times is going to love it because it's very smart and incisive. You know what? Yeah.

You know, I'm going to do to Iran. I'm going to make them an offer. They can't refuse. Right? That's just, I mean, that's, I'm going to get all of the best prizes for being smart. But they can refuse it, and they have refused it. Listen, but that's part of, oh, this is, I can't believe I'm a satirist now. Yeah, you are.

Okay. I'm pretty incisive. But yeah, no, you're their godfather. They saw you. They were really excited. They love their Uncle Conan. But what I'm saying is they can now handle you taking off, so maybe you'll come on more trips. Yeah.

I would love to come on more trips. This has been so fun. It's nice. It's nice for me to get away. And how does TAC do looking after the kids when you're gone? He's great. He's such a good dad, and he's able to handle it. He's on top of it.

He feeds them, gets them ready for school, takes them all by after school stuff. The kids getting boring. When you said feeds them. I was like, okay, now we're going to get on the list of meeting basic human needs. He waters them. Can you make sure that? How nervous was Liza every time she left you alone with your children? Do you think she left me alone with the kids once?

No. No, she would not. I won't blame her. I would use them for bits and they would be lost. I'd say, I don't know where they were. The whole bit was they get on the bus and I don't know where it's going. That's the bit, Liza. So no.

Liza's an incredibly smart woman, and that's the last thing she would ever do. Yes. And here's the thing. Oh, wow. Rashid, so Rashid peeks around the truck. Look at this. Then he guns it and passes the truck. Now, Rashid, have you ever had a close call where you came around to go forward and then you almost got nailed?

You know what? What do you say? He doesn't want to talk about it. Wait, when you go off-road? No. Today, no. Okay. Have you ever gotten close to an accident?

Accident for last night or what? No! Last night? No one said last night. Rashid, you just flew your cover. Rashid, you're wanted for a hit and run. They're looking for you. No wonder in the front of the car is all dead.

Last night. Last night. Rashid, you would be terrible in police questioning. Sir, do anything about a crime last night? Murder last night? Me? The sorority? Rashid?

Oh, my God. All right. Rashid, you're going to have to be a regular part of the podcast now. You're coming with us to Los Angeles. Yay. You're going to live with Sona and TAC and all of her relatives. You'll sit at a long table. We don't all live in one house.

Oh, please. You know you will. That's not how it works. You guys sleep in a bunk bed that's 13 beds tall. Your dad's on the top, right? He puts little weights on his mustache, so it unfolds over the side of the bunk bed. I love Gil.

You know that, but he has a mustache. It's ridiculous. Don't say it's ridiculous. What? Gil's mustache is not ridiculous. No, no, no. He's a handsome man. He's a good guy, but it makes him very easy.

I can become Gil at any time by just sticking a napkin under my nose and saying, Sona, sona. It's one of my better things that I do. Is it better? Is it one of your better things? It's my best impression. It's better than my Trump. I'm going to make it off, I can't refuse.

I only do that because the movie's so new. All right. Sonam, we're going to wrap it up, but this is exciting. People are going to hear this back home. Yeah. And this is, and look, I'm going to lower the window and you're just going to hear what it's like outside in Morocco. You can hear the desert.

Listen. Wow. I'm sorry, me talking about tech feeding the kids was boring. I'm trying to be international here. Hold on a second. There's a, uh-oh, there's a policeman, and he's looking at me holding the microphone out the window. Oh, wait, he's scrolling through his phone. We're okay. Anyway, I put the microphone out the window, and it's just air passing over a microphone. I didn't really think that through. But I thought it was still fascinating in a worthwhile experiment. Okay, well, Sona, I love this trip. I can't wait for people to see what we've been up to. Yes. And let's continue with your, regularly scheduled podcasts. And remember, gonna have a sex-shae in Marrakech. Right? No. I like mine better. Okay. Peace out.

Conan O'Brien needs a friend with Conan O'Brien, Sonam of Sessian and Matt Goorley. Produced by me, Matt Goorley. Executive produced by Adam Sacks, 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 Britt Con. 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? Call the Team Coco hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a few.

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