Every Sunday we are taking a look at the world of books. I read a lot and always want to share my opinions on what I read, so I thought it would be fun to write reviews. Today we are looking at what it’s really like to work for Conan O’Brien

The World’s Worst Assistant (2022)

Sona Movsesian

Synopsis

From Conan O’Brien’s longtime assistant and cohost of his podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, a completely hilarious and irreverent how-to guide for becoming a terrible, yet unfireable employee, spilling her trade secrets for minimizing effort while maximizing the rewards.

Sona Movsesian didn’t wake up one day and decide to become the World’s Worst Assistant. Achieving such greatness is a gradual process–one that starts with long hours and hard work before it eventually descends into sneaking low-dosage edibles into your lunch and napping on your boss’s couch. 

With a foreword from Conan O’Brien, The World’s Worst Assistant is populated with hysterical black-and-white illustrations, comics, and more. It’s a mixture of how-tos (like How to Nap at Work and How to Watch TV at Your Desk), tips for becoming untouchable (like memorizing social security and credit card numbers and endearing yourself to friends and family), and incredible personal stories from Sona’s twelve years spent working for Conan that put their adorable closeness and professional dysfunction on display. In these pages, Sona will explain her descent from eager, hard-working, ambitious, detail-orientated assistant to self-awarded title-holder for the worst in history.

– from Blackwells

Positive Points

This book is a really great insight into the world of America talk show production an the behind the scenes of the way it works and also how different the process is across the pond. Sona tells some great stories about the main man, Conan O’Brien as well as talking about her journey into the role of his assistant. It is a really interesting insight into the world of an assistant and also can give you a look at the way women are treat by other people in the industry (not Conan) that may shock you.

Negative Points

She does tend to mention Cannabis a lot which can be frustrating but it is important to remember it is legal over there. Also if you are not a fan of Conan this book is not for you as its mainly about him

Overall Review

I found this a fantastic read and as a fan of Conan I felt I learnt a lot about the behind the scenes of his shows and podcasts which to me I found incredibly interesting. It is hard to get hold of in the UK so you may have to listen to it via audio like I did on Spotify.

Rating : ***** 5 Stars