“The World’s Worst Assistant,” a new memoir by Sona Movsesian, tells what happens when an ambitious young woman who excelled in both the Burger King drive-through and the NBC page program managed to turn things around when she landed a job. as Conan O got. “Brien’s assistant—a deal she sealed by asking if she could lie down during the interview.
“The HR rep told me Conan liked my couch joke,” she writes. “I got my job for Conan because I was making a joke about being lazy – a harbinger at best.”
Thirteen years later, Movsesian, who co-hosts the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” has amassed many skills and work experiences that are rarely bragged on LinkedIn. For example, once in a period of four days she watched 58 episodes of ‘Friends’ on the clock because she had heard that Robert De Niro’s assistant had watched 55 episodes. Sleeping at work? How do you “misuse your company card without technically obfuscating”? “Worst Assistant” has illustrated guides for that.
But Movsesian’s story isn’t about celebrating laziness or incompetence. It’s about how two flawed people who were destined to be together found each other: a boss who accepts an employee for who she is and how she does her job, and an employee who accepts her boss for everything he is.
“I give Sona space to be Sona (see book),” O’Brien writes in the foreword, “and she in turn gives me space to knock a delicious cupcake out of her hand just as she is on the about to take a bite.”
Here, the world’s worst assistant talks about the movie she’s watched the most, the TV she gets to watch with her kids, and the Girl Scout cookies she buys in bulk. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
1. Cher Cher is a very important person, and not just because of her contributions to culture and fashion. She is partly Armenian, and I am Armenian. Before us, we have very few famous people in the spotlight, and none is bigger than Cher. She is an icon, and the fact that she is half Armenian was very important to all of us, especially when we were growing up.
2. The Evil Eye The evil eye occurs in many cultures, including the Armenian culture. It is a round eye that is usually blue, white and black. It keeps the evil eye away from you. If people somehow try to curse you or wish you bad, it pushes that away and protects you. It’s in my car. It’s in my house. It’s working. It’s a big part of who I am as an Armenian and who I am as a human being.
3. “Galaxy Quest” “Galaxy Quest” is the first movie I’ve seen four times in theaters. When I ran out of people to go with, I went to see it on my own in the theater. I’d never done anything like this. I don’t know why, I’ve always felt like going to the movies alone was weird. “Galaxy Quest” broke that seal for me.
4. Fred Rogers We have twins, 1 year old boys. My husband and I were like, what can we watch with them that we won’t hate? And so we bought all the old seasons of ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’. The episodes are timeless. There is an episode where he meets Yo-Yo Ma. Then he said, Let’s think about how Yo-Yo Ma talked about how he would feel playing the cello. And there is only one minute of complete silence. No one would do that now. No one would ever sit idle for a minute.
5. “Cheers” I started bingeing the entire series about six years ago. Then I met the man who would become my husband, and I discovered that he was doing “Cheers” too. We were almost in the same place. When he told me that, I was like, Oh, we should get married and we should finish “Cheers” together.
6. The Rock Wrestling was an important part of high school for me. It was like a soap opera that I didn’t know I needed in my life. And The Rock was the main character. When The Rock left wrestling, he took my wrestling love with him. But I still watch everything he plays in. I don’t care if I’m interested in it, I’ll leave my kids and go to the movies for a few hours.
7. Cock Sparr When I met my husband, he was in a cover band of Cock Sparrer – a British punk rock band. It’s a genre I had never really delved into, but when we heard that Cock Sparrer was playing in Santa Cruz, we went to them. It was really cool to connect with my husband like that, to see something he loved in a genre he loved and then realize that I really liked it too.
8. “Step Brothers” Years ago, after buying an apartment, I specially cut a window in the wall between the kitchen and the living room so that I could watch “Step Brothers” while cooking. With Will Ferrell films, the more you watch them, the more you notice the nuance in things. But I also love that I can put it on, do something else and then stare at the TV anytime and laugh at whatever happens.
9. Disneyland When I was a kid, I was filled with absolute wonder when I went to Disneyland. My mind would explode. Now I can go there and buy a popsicle and then five minutes later I can buy popcorn and then two minutes later I can have chicken tenders. I can do Disneyland like I wanted to do Disneyland as a kid, but I can do it as an adult because I pay for it.
10. Girl Scout Cookies Girl Scouts is where I met my core group of friends when I was in elementary school. Today it no longer matters whether you are a colleague’s daughter or a stranger on the street. If you say, “I’m a girl scout – do you want to buy some cookies?” I will say yes and I will buy an inordinate amount of cookies from you. Usually it is Samoas.
