Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Summer S’pouses Episode 3: Tak Boroyan

Episode Date: August 13, 2026

Tak Boroyan is still adjusting to being Sona Movsesian’s spouse.   Tak sits down with Conan, Matt, and Sona to discuss emigrating from Soviet Armenia at a young age, his first date with Sona, and his favorite music to play (that she can’t stand).   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.

Hi, my name is Tach Boroyan, and I'm still adjusting to being Sonam Ossetian's spouse. Summer spouses with Conan O'Brien, Sonam Obsessian, and Matt Gourley, and Eliza Powell O'Brien, Tack Baroian, and Amanda Lund. How many years have you been married now? It's been 10? Wait, are you being serious? No, no, no. We got married in 2019.

No. 2018. Yes. So, Dad, let me do my math. Well, we're going to wrap this up. We're going to wrap this up. We're going to wrap this up. We take together for 10.

I feel like Chuck Woolery right now. Wait, wait, wait. Oki's eight years old. So eight years. You're going off of Oki's age? That's how I know. How many children you have? Well, let's see. Let's see. There are two little beds.

Okay. I'm going to start this off. Yeah. by saying that TACBeroian is one of the cooler people I've met in my life. And I will... Guilty as charge. I'm going to give you the evidence. This guy super handsome, cool graphic artist, okay?

You've worked for Tim and Eric's company, absolutely, for 14 years. You are a sick guitarist. You've been in a bunch of bands, okay? This guy emigrated in 1989 from Soviet-Arts. Armenia. Yeah. Where you either did or didn't cause the plant, the power plant. We talked about this.

You told me not to bring it up. I know. And you know what you said? You said, I never said he was responsible for Chernobyl. I never said that. Yeah. Roll it clip. This is the way I had always heard the story.

TAC was on a school trip. They went to Chernobyl to see the plant. They said, don't touch anything. Tack said, what's in this room? And they said, TAC, you irrepressible scamp, you stay out of that room. TAC went in there, removed an important cooling rod, and walked out of the reactor. It exploded, creating one of the worst nuclear disasters ever, after which TAC fled the Soviet Union, came to America, married you, and then you said, maybe we should get a microwave. And he said, who needs a microwave? Watch this. And he just put his hand over the food.

Okay. Stupid. Okay, look, maybe I said that. But you emigrated from Soviet Armenia, 1989. How old were you at the time? I was 11. That's a tough time to emigrate. Your whole world changed.

Yeah, I was like I was somewhat of a child, and then I was still a child when we came, and I didn't speak any English. I think it's the hardest thing in the world to do. What? The English? I'm still struggling with that. True. No, to completely, especially at that age or any age, uproot and come to a different country and need to learn the language, the customs, everything.

Yeah, it was tough. It was not easy at first, but, you know, when you're young, you adjust really easily. So did you make friends pretty quickly? Oh, yeah. Did you? Yeah. I want to. Because I still haven't.

I still haven't. That couple. Yeah. So, we were a cool kid. Were you pretty cool? No, God, no. I only became cool when I started marrying Sona. When I started marrying Sona?

It's a long process. It's a lot of process. That's why he doesn't know how long you've been married. It's not official yet. Here's what I remember. Here's what I remember very clearly. Okay. I don't know how much you know, but Sona was a, you know,

just a wild tornado at the show. Oh, yeah. And she was a force of nature. I love Sona, but she was always getting mad at me for different reasons and we would bicker and she would say well I'm not going to give you your messages because you need to know I mean crazy stuff was happening sure and then one day she comes in and she's the happiest person in the world oh and she was like I met this guy we used to do shows at Comic-Con she said I met someone at Comic-Con and um the next thing I know you're in

the picture and uh you she was immediately over the moon happy and then all of us were like, this guy, TAC, is the coolest guy ever. Then you guys get engaged. You have this wedding. I went to the wedding and I watched you guys come out. And I was like, that is the Jack Kennedy and Jackie, you know, like, you're just like the high praise. Seriously, thank you. There's this like power couple.

Well, and you threw us an engagement party. Yeah, that's right. It was amazing. That was, that was fun. I've never seen so many mustaches in my life. And eyebrows. Yeah. So nice of you and lies.

I realized they all had one eyebrow. Between all of us. They grew the one circular one. It's like redwood trees that share roots. I noticed like these guys all have to go in one car. Well, we better go now. Oh, man. Yeah, just have been a delight.

And then you have the coolest. You have these twin boys. And they're super cool, good looking. they're just going to lay ways to the world. They are. Mike and Charlie. A lot of energy. A lot of energy.

It's a lot. They're a handful, but they're so cute and they're so sweet. They are really sweet. Yeah. It's just the fighting. Oh my God. It's constant.

I always say I feel like I'm refereeing half the time at the house. I'm just like, you go there. You go there. Are you a cool dad or are you a dad that loses, gets his, loses his temper? Which dad are you?

I try not to like lose my shit, but I do, right? Yeah. It's hard. But yeah, I try not to do it. It's just, like, so frustrating at times. You just got to remember that they're little. And don't take everything personally.

Wow. Yeah. Again, these are skills I've not mastered. Yeah. English, having friends. Not taking things personally. I think I need a lot of work. Tell me about the music, because you're really into

punk music. Yeah. What are your inspirations? Who do you love? Oh man, there's so many. Um, everything from like, you know, old school like British punk, like, you know, coxbyter, the clash, sex pistol, stuff like that. Yep, yep, yep. And then like American bands, rancid, like dropkick Murphys. Yep. You know, that sort of thing. They're on your show. Yes. Yeah, yeah. And so, and you shred. Yeah, you do. You shred.

You're too modest. No, you're modest. He shreds. I'm all right. He's a really good guitar. For punk music, I do okay. Yeah. But in like, compared to like metal guitar players or, you know, that whole circle, I don't. I'm like a novice. I'm told that when you go check out a punk band, you'll jump in the Mosh pit.

Yeah. I do sometimes. I took Sona into the Mosh pit, right? Yeah. Wait, how did that go, Sona? We went to Seacock's Bar in Santa Cruz. They don't come to L.A. right? Because someone got stabbed.

Yeah. Isn't that what happened? Yeah. Yeah, people get stabbed. It's written on the Coxbar ticket. Yeah. You will be stabbed. And then he, there's like a code with Mosh pits too.

Like they're not, it's like violent, but also if someone falls, they create like a barrier. Am I doing this right? And then, but so like TAC just like kind of grabbed me and like took me in there. And then the crowd of people just threw me around like a doll. And then I got out. And it was intense and scary and really fun. It looks violent and crazy. but there is like a method to the madness.

Like people watch out for everybody, at least when I was going to shows, you know? As soon as somebody falls down, that's like everyone sort of just jumps in and pulls them out. Right. Or her out. And then stabs them.

The stabbing only comes later. You start mosh pits, don't you? I do. I love starting a good pit. Have you ever started a mosh pit and realized this probably isn't the environment for it? We're at a bar mitzvah. Your wedding.

This is a brisk. Briss. The moyle is being babbled around. He's still working on the kid. I think I got it. I always wanted to start a mosh bit at a comedy show that I'm like. Oh, yeah. That's a great idea.

Yeah. So you're at Comic-Con. Were you wandering around and you saw Sona? Yeah. This was after we had finished the shows for the week. I went back. You said, I'm going to stick around. and check out some of the venues at Comic-Con.

Is that right? I went to the actual convention. I was walking around with my friend David. He was walking around with his friend, Katie. And they knew each other, David and Katie. Just by chance. Shout out to David and Katie. We just ran into them by chance.

And did you know who Sona was in terms of the Conan? I seen the Armenia episode a few months ago before that. And then I was like, where did I know this brought from? She looks so familiar. Yeah. And I thought she was somebody's cousin at first. I was like, I, it's like, you're so-and-so's cousin, and she's like, yeah, I am. And then it clicked.

And then we started talking. And I told her what a good job she did on the episode. That was a lovely episode. It was. You took me to a matchmaker. I took you to a matchmaker. And little did we know that in a way it worked, right? In a way it did because you were on television with a matchmaker.

We couldn't find you a good match. I think most of the people that the matchmaker was showing us, she was on her computer, where she said, we have to wait for him to get out of prison. They were all 40 years older

than you and they all looked like they had been, they had had a rough couple of years. And then she did say like, oh, you gotta wait. That's a really good episode.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a great episode. It was. It was. And then because of that episode, because of the matchmaker, I got a lot of random requests, friend requests from guys.

I was one of them. And he was one of them. Is that right? Yeah. Because we didn't exchange information the next day I stalked him on Facebook and then I found him he had requested me as a friend like months earlier it was more of a thing like I was like how do I how do we not have any mutual friends or relatives because we're in the same

business where it's like we're the same age roughly I'm a little older and I was like how is this possible we don't never met right yeah and then I sent her a friend request never heard back and then when we got back from Comic Con I was like well hello I think Game on. I know. I think TAC swept you off your feet. He did.

He's very gallant. Well, you met a lot of the guys I had dated before Tack. Yeah. Yeah. It was not that my standards were low. I'm not saying that. I'll be to say that when TAC showed up, it was a miracle. It was fantastic.

What the fuck? What do you mean? It was a miracle, though. It was fantastic. Why? Because he's like this, you know, dashing cool guy who can do everybody's, you know, I don't know, I just say it was, and, and, you know, some of the other guys I didn't like, that's all I'm saying. You know, they were good guys. Yeah, no, it's okay.

You know, like one of them had an air mattress in an alley, you know. Oh, God. It was a video game guy. They wanted you to drop them off at the methadone clinic. What are you talking about? What are you saying? The guy from the, who was playing video games when you showed up. Oh, yeah.

It's in your look. But you know what? But I was like her, I was like a father figure. So I would say she'd come back from one of these dates and I'd say, well, how did it go last and she went? It was okay. I mean, I went to his house. He entered the door in his underwear.

He said, I'm not ready to go out yet because I'm still playing. I'm on a new level of my video game. Can you just chill? And she said, okay. And he gestured to a beanbag chair and I sat in that. And he played his video game in his underwear and then said, well, should we just walk to like the all of it? garden and then we can split the check.

And I was just like saying no. He wooed me like the, uh, you're a wooer. How did you come important? What did you guys do for your first date? Our first date was at CityWalk. That's like Amanda and me. Yeah, it was an ironic citywalk date, right? Yeah.

We went to see a, we went to Hard Rock Cafe. And then we went to see. a horror movie and I did the move, you know, like... Oh. You're at... Oh. What was the movie? There's a couple of moves here.

That's just one of them. Lights out, I think, was it? It was lights out, yeah. Which I, and I hate horror. And I told you, I hate horror. Like, but this one's good. And I'm like, all right. I don't care.

I'm in charge. I'm in charge. I know. It's this or video games. I was guys taking it a hard rock cafe. Yeah, it was fun. It was really fun, obviously. Yeah, it was good.

married him. I had babies with him. We did all right. We did okay. We did okay. Um, yeah, and are you, how are you adjusting to Sona's family? Let's talk about that. You've got, uh, Gil, who I love Gil. Love Gil. Uh, yeah, that's your dad, of course. Yes. Don't do it. Oh, sorry, Gil. What are you doing? Whatever I, you know what I love. When I do my Gil, he's going to do the bin, I put a finger on my nose. And what I love is I blow on this, on this corner. of the finger to make it lift up a little bit. Love Gil. Nadia, you know what Nadia said to me when she first met me in 2009? She said Conan Rock USA. You rock USA?

She said, you rock USA. Yeah. And I said, fantastic. She said that to me too for some reason. That's right. But you do rock USA. Yeah. So, you know, you guys, do have any questions, Matt?

Do you remember I pitched that you and I do a podcast together one time? Yeah. Called Paris Toyka. So Paris Toika. And where we just talk about the toys from our youth, mine in America and yours in Soviet Arabia. Oh, but you know, you don't you have some old Soviet toys from Europe? Yeah, we bought some for the kids. We bought Crocodile Gena and Chiburashka.

Oh, can you tell us who? You don't know who those are? Oh, you don't know. You guys talk. It's basically, this is a rough. It's running stamping. Vinipuch, Vinipuch, too.

They're like, you know, Vinipuch is Winnie the Pooh, but the Russian version. Right. And he's got a smoker's voice. Yeah. Yeah. You rock USA.

It's Winnie the Pooh, but he's instead of like the 100 acre woods, he's in a line. He's in a line to get borsed. It was a beautiful children's cartoon. I'm sorry. What's the wolf one? That one's weird.

Oh, Nupagadji? Yeah. That's like the Tom and Jerry of Soviet animation. It's like a wolf and a rabbit. Always tries to eat them. Right. And, you know, no, it goes. I know how it goes.

It's itchy and scratchy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's fascinating to me that it doesn't matter what the culture, kids are going to want the same kind of stuff. And the culture will provide that for them. It will look different to us. It will sound different. But we want two characters that are trying to kind of

Kill each other. That's it. Yeah. One crazy ugly one and one cute one. That's it. And do your kids like these toys? Yeah, I think so. No, they don't play with them anymore.

They sing. So you press a button and they sing the songs from the cartoon. Do they look? Because these were made a long time ago, right? No, these are like remakes. Oh, they're remakes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's the song Crookie Dilgenna sings?

I want you to sing it. I'm not going to sing that. Because thing it, rushing. Let's move on. Okay. All right. All right. Well, listen, we've all had childhood toys.

Yeah. I had a Mrs. Beasley doll. Mrs. Beasley? Crazy reference. Family affair. Listen, you can, that'll come right out. What? And Snip.

And we're back. Family affair. Yeah. Yeah. Boy, that'll help. We're talking about Mrs. Beasley? No, no. That's over.

Oh, we cut that out. Oh. And we didn't. We did. It's still in. Stop that. Stop that. It's out.

When am I going to play music with you? And what would I do? Anytime you want. What I fit into? Because, you know, my vibe is sort of more rockabilly kind of thing. So I don't know. I've never really tried to play punk, although I love the clash. Probably punk are kind of adjacent.

They're kind of a jason. I mean, it's funny. I play rockabilly so fast that it might sort of, it's actually a genre, a subgenre called, It's called Psychobilly. I'm kind of a psychobilly guy. Are you really? Well, a little bit. In my youth, I was more psychobilly because I was just more insane.

Believe it or not, I have mellowed. To me, psychobilly is like communism. It sounds good on paper, but for some reason, when I hear it together, I'm like, I still think it could work. And we're going to find out in Manhattan real soon. There's a joke. They say like, Rockabilly is like. like the retirement plan for punk rockers, you know, because they get older and they grow their

hair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, maybe. Maybe that's me. Maybe that's me. There you go. Maybe after all, I am punk. Now, Sona, is there anything, grievances you'd like to air here or maybe TAC, you'd like to say, come on, is there something that Sona's doing around the house that you'd like maybe for her to alter her behavior a little bit? This is a safe space. We can talk about it. Proceed. How much time do we have? Oh, my God. Yay! Yes, yes. Let her rip, baby. Let her rip,

Tuck, Tuck, Tack, Tick, T. Pay MacTon. No, everything's great. One thing that drives me crazy is is sometimes I'd play certain kinds of music and Suna will get mad at me and, like, where are you playing on?

That's such a good Sony impression. Right? Spot on. He plays like Megadeth for our five-year-old. No, they've got to learn. Megadeth is great. No, but like, there's some, what was the one that had a lot of, like, F-bombs in it? Like, it was the one who just, the guy, the Irish guy who died, like, a couple years ago.

The Poggs? Oh, Shane McGowan. Oh, she's got to hear. They got to hear the Poh. You could barely make out what he's saying. No, no, I mean, Shane McGowan couldn't understand Shane McAwan. No, it's just like, I don't know what that is. They don't know what that is.

Sorry, Shane, R-I-P. There's a lot of like not age appropriate music he puts on. He's just so eager for them to like have the same music taste. I'm like, they're five. Do you think they're going to be interested? Do they, oh, I've seen you guys used to put on some music and then when it jumped into it got fast. Yeah. They would both.

I mean, they were like two at the time. They were sort of, they were sort of gyrating a little bit with the music and then the minute this fast part would come. They would both spring to life. And it was so good to see. They'd start a mosh pit at home. No, it's, it's not even that. It's like, I'll play a little bit of, like, country music or something in a car, and she gets mad at me. What's wrong with country?

It's not fun country, like, you know, dolly or woody. It's like redneck country. I don't play, and I don't like redneck country. And I've said I don't like redneck country in a car. I play like, like, Grand Parsons, you know, like cool shit. Yes. One of my favorites. Tack.

I got a. I don't know. And she's like, I'm flying Rio brothers. I'm going to say this. I love TAC. And don't get mad at him. Don't get mad at him ever, Sona, ever.

Ever. Yeah. He can do no wrong. Whatever you're doing is right. He's going to be crowd surfing with our boys. You've crowd surfed. I did. Yeah.

He's crowd surfed before. You know people who just are like on top? I always wanted to do that. But I've never done that. But he's done that. If that's your one of your wishes, we can make that happen. We can crowd surf. I want to crowd surf.

Yeah, we'll use everyone who works for the podcast company. You'll be three people at a fishbone concert. Fishbone, really? That's cool. At Crenshaw High Auditorium. Oh, that's cool. You crowd surf at a Benny Goodman tribute concert. But it went on so long they passed me into the fishbone concert.

Oh, my God. Button up your overcoat when the wind rose free and he's jumping, who. They're just lightly massaging you as you go on. A bunch of 90-year-old women holding you. up. It's like stage diving. This is crutch.

This hurts. Yeah. Obo solo. Tossing out Shakespeare t-shirts as I went the whole time with a cannon. Tech, thank you so much for coming in. You are a superstar. You're one of my favorite people.

And also, I love Sona. And you made her and continued to make her so happy. You're such a good guy. Such a great dad. such a great husband that I'm just, I'm delighted. I'm delighted that you could come in today. Seriously. You heard it, folks.

We're going endorsement from the man himself. Yep. We all know that Conan only says reasonable things that are beyond dispute. Conan O'Brien needs a friend with Conan O'Brien, Sonam of Sessian, and Matt Goorley. Produced by me, Matt Goreley. Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Jeff Ross, and Nick Leow. Theme song by the White Stripes Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino

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