Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard - podcast cover

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Armchair Umbrellawondery.com

Hi, I’m Dax Shepard, and I love talking to people. I am endlessly fascinated by the messiness of being human, and I find people who are vulnerable and honest about their struggles and shortcomings to be incredibly sexy. I invite you to join me as I explore other people’s stories. We will celebrate, above all, the challenges and setbacks that ultimately lead to growth and betterment. What qualifies me for such an endeavor? More than a decade of sobriety, a degree in Anthropology and four years of improv training. I will attempt to discover human “truths” without any laboratory work, clinical trials or data collection. I will be, in the great tradition of 16th-century scientists, an Armchair Expert.

Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now.

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Episodes

Suzanne O'Sullivan (on over diagnosis)

Suzanne O’Sullivan (The Age of Diagnosis: How Our Obsession with Medical Labels Is Making Us Sicker) is a neurologist, clinical neuropsychologist, and award-winning writer. Suzanne joins the Armchair Expert to discuss why epilepsy is a very neglected area of medicine, that we can change the quality of our movements and how our body feels by our scrutiny of them, and how contagious collapse phenomena are a dime a dozen. Suzanne and Dax talk about the scientifically nonsensical myth of the sonic w...

Mar 05, 20252 hr 6 minEp. 865

Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling (Running Point, The Mindy Project, Never Have I Ever) is an Emmy-nominated writer, actor, and producer. Mindy joins the Armchair Expert to discuss how she is the only the second person Dax has ever worn a suit for, relate over the sexiness and status marker of a good yard, and ask whether one can be Indian on the west side of LA. Mindy and Dax talk about her parents coming from two different parts of India and their meet cute in Africa, how every show she makes has a slow motion sho...

Mar 03, 20252 hr 9 minEp. 864

Armchair Anonymous: DIY Disaster

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about DIY projects gone wrong. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at ...

Feb 28, 202544 minEp. 863

Blaise Aguirre (on overcoming self-hatred)

Blaise Aguirre (I Hate Myself: Overcome Self-Loathing and Realize Why You’re Wrong About You) is a child and adolescent psychiatrist specializing in dialectical behavior therapy. Blaise joins the Armchair Expert to discuss becoming an expert on Borderline Personality Disorder and DBT, the correlation between BPD and suicidal ideation, and that it’s not a choice to live with the disregulation of BPD. Blaise and Dax talk about the analogy of a person with a BPD brain being saddled with a very fast...

Feb 26, 20251 hr 43 minEp. 862

Nikki Glaser

Nikki Glaser (Alive and Unwell, Someday You’ll Die, Not Safe with Nikki Glaser) is a comedian, actor, and television host. Nikki joins the Armchair Expert to discuss why Dax’s name has good joke texture, her plea for people not to have veneers during the apocalypse, and feeling embarrassed that her name had to take up space in Ralph Feinnes’ brain. Nikki and Dax talk about growing up resentful that she wasn’t born as pretty as she could have been, wanting the approval that comes with being extra...

Feb 24, 20251 hr 49 minEp. 861

Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a crazy DNA testing story. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice a...

Feb 21, 202550 minEp. 860

Alison Wood Brooks (on the science of conversation)

Alison Wood Brooks (Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves) is a behavioral research scientist. Alison joins the Armchair Expert to discuss why growing up as a twin is like watching an alternate version of your own life, how we underestimate the complexity of chin wagging, and the reality that human connection is not just about transactional information exchange. Alison and Dax talk about Kant’s sparkling smart people dinner party rules, how hungry we can be to extract ...

Feb 19, 20252 hr 9 minEp. 859

Walton Goggins

Walton Goggins (White Lotus, Fallout, Hateful Eight) is an Emmy-nominated actor. Walton joins the Armchair Expert to discuss no longer being willing to perpetuate cultural stereotypes of the south, being raised by the real Steel Magnolias, and sharing attraction to volatility on the edge of chaos. Walton and Dax talk about having wives that can walk with kings, the humiliation of poverty, and how an application for an American Express card changed the trajectory of his life. Walton explains lovi...

Feb 17, 20251 hr 49 minEp. 858

Armchair Anonymous: Bad Proposals

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a proposal gone wrong. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at ht...

Feb 14, 202550 minEp. 857

Nate Silver (statistician)

Nate Silver (On the Edge, The Signal and the Noise, Baseball Between the Numbers) is a statistician, author, and founder of FiveThirtyEight. Nate joins the Armchair Expert to discuss his youthful aspirations for a starter job as US president with a promotion to baseball commissioner, how code-switching as a gay man of his cohort can translate to success, and defying the odds by quitting his first job to play online poker. Nate and Dax talk about learning statistical models as a hobbyist because ...

Feb 12, 20251 hr 33 minEp. 856

Chelsea Handler Returns Again

Chelsea Handler (I’ll Have What She’s Having, Dear Chelsea, Chelsea Lately) is a comedian, producer, and best-selling author. Chelsea returns to the Armchair Expert to discuss appreciating words more than gifts, having the best sex of her life at 50, and how funny it is that people that don’t know us that well give us the most impactful advice. Chelsea and Dax talk about being without toilets a mere three lifetimes ago, our job as humans to find optimism in the dark, and how you always have to b...

Feb 10, 20251 hr 46 minEp. 855

Armchair Anonymous: Sports Event

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a live sporting event disaster. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Not...

Feb 07, 202540 minEp. 854

Acquired Podcast on the NFL (with Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal)

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal (Acquired) are hosts of the critically acclaimed podcast covering business history and strategy. Ben and David join the Armchair Expert on this special Super Bowl episode to discuss the metric of being right more often but having less fun, how the Super Bowl is the best weekend for a wedding, Disneyland, and Costco, and how LA refused to participate in early games due to segregation. David, Ben, and Dax talk about Teddy Roosevelt starting the NCAA in 1905 to preve...

Feb 05, 20251 hr 46 minEp. 853

James Marsden

James Marsden (Paradise, Jury Duty, X-Men) is an Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actor. James joins the Armchair Expert to discuss paying the price for such a dominant chin, the reality of being an Oklahoman in Los Angeles, and still feeling like every job is his last job. James and Dax talk about the story of meeting after Dax lost a role to James, sharing an enduring appreciation for mens’ bodies, and comparing notes on starring in shows that trick people. James explains that being a middle ch...

Feb 03, 20252 hr 17 minEp. 852

Armchair Anonymous: Nurses II

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us their craziest nurse stories. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at h...

Jan 31, 202543 minEp. 851

Reid Hoffman Returns (on an optimistic AI)

Reid Hoffman (Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right With our AI Future) is an internet entrepreneur, author, and co-founder of LinkedIn and Inflection AI. Reid returns to the Armchair Expert to discuss Socrates’s musing on the failings of writing, an argument for pushing back on confirmation bias, and why you can’t have science or the middle class without the printing press. Reid and Dax talk about why AI is different from other technologies that have changed our lives, how powerloom weaving...

Jan 29, 20251 hr 56 minEp. 850

Josh Gad Returns

Josh Gad (In Gad We Trust, Frozen, Book of Mormon) is a Grammy Award-winning actor. Josh returns to Armchair Expert to discuss why he believes he would be the Unsinkable Molly Brown on the Titanic, the unthinkable bravery and precision of LA firefighters, and questions whether Dax thinks he would’ve ended up as an Ira Glass or a Howard Stern. Josh and Dax talk about having permission to send Kumail Nanjiani shirtless pics, growing up without his emerald kingpin father, and how his comedy was bor...

Jan 27, 20252 hr 23 minEp. 849

Armchair Anonymous: Dated a Criminal

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a time they dated a criminal. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notic...

Jan 24, 202552 minEp. 848

Sunita Sah (on defiance)

Sunita Sah (Defy: The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes) is an author, award-winning, tenured professor at Cornell University, and expert in organizational psychology. Sunita joins the Armchair Expert to discuss living up to the Sanskrit meaning of her name, why Milgram’s electric shock experiment pushed her to pursue psychology, and how some of the wildest and offtrack people she knows are doctors. Sunita and Dax talk about how speaking up when you see something happening to someone else ...

Jan 22, 20251 hr 56 minEp. 847

Adam Scott Returns

Adam Scott (Severance, Parks and Recreation, Stepbrothers) is an Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actor and comedian. Adam joins the Armchair Expert to discuss why the era of movies that produced ET, The Goonies, and Temple of Doom means so much to him, how Severance was in such apt alignment with the grief for his mother’s death, and the reason playing “fan at bar” is way more embarrassing than “guy at bar.” Adam and Dax talk about a call of the void by licking lead, rebranding artisanal nicotin...

Jan 20, 20251 hr 46 minEp. 846

Armchair Anonymous: Unauthorized Evacuation

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about an unauthorized evacuation. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice ...

Jan 17, 202555 minEp. 845

Jenny Taitz (on stress resets)

Jenny Taitz (Stress Resets, How to Be Single and Happy) is a licensed clinical psychologist, best-selling author, and assistant clinical professor in psychiatry at UCLA. Jenny joins the Armchair Expert to discuss the initial modalities that inspired her to become a psychologist, turning knots in our stomach into bows, and tells a true tragedy of spilt milk that drives her therapeutic practices. Jenny and Dax talk about the most effective formula for saying no, how we can manage our emotions by n...

Jan 15, 20251 hr 43 minEp. 844

Josh Brolin Returns

Josh Brolin (From Under the Truck, No Country For Old Men, Dune) is an Academy Award-nominated actor. Josh joins the Armchair Expert to discuss his infiltration of Dax’s algorithm, the fact that Monica has only half-seen The Goonies, and how his hand-me-downs always yielded greater returns than his top dogs. Josh and Dax talk about Dax’s anger and forgiveness recognizing himself reading From Under the Truck, how not fighting is just another form of fighting, and the inescapability of the high oc...

Jan 13, 20251 hr 39 minEp. 843

Armchair Anonymous: Embarrassingly Caught

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us the most embarrassing thing they’ve ever been caught doing. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and ...

Jan 10, 202543 minEp. 842

Ken Goldberg (roboticist)

Ken Goldberg (Why Don’t We Have Better Robots Yet?) is an award-winning artist, roboticist, and engineering professor. Ken joins the Armchair Expert to discuss being born in Nigeria, growing up in rough and tumble City of Brotherly Love, and on how that taught him how to not take things lying down. Ken and Dax address the elephant panties in the room, how a course he took in 1981 began his trajectory in robotics and AI, and the tragic archetype of Pygmalion and the hubris of falling in love with...

Jan 08, 20252 hrEp. 841

Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry (The Six Triple Eight, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, Diary of A Mad Black Woman) is an actor, playwright, producer, and filmmaker. Tyler joins the Armchair Expert to discuss how he realized that his journal could be a play, his fear of comfort, and growing up to leave the door open for somebody else. Tyler and Dax talk about seeing a black middle class for the first time after relocating to Atlanta, the things children walk through, and moving storytelling into TV because it was a bigg...

Jan 06, 20252 hr 1 minEp. 840

Rerelease: Roy Choi

On today's episode, we revisit Roy Choi's episode from March 10th, 2022. Roy Choi (Broken Bread, The Chef Show, Kogi) is a chef, author, and television personality. Roy joins the Armchair Expert to discuss how he went from having a gambling addiction to being an award-winning chef, what Asian immigrants had to do to navigate the American system, and how important food is to Korean culture. Roy and Dax talk about what happened to restaurants during the pandemic, how most people in America are a p...

Jan 03, 20251 hr 54 minEp. 836

Rerelease: Monica Lewinsky

On today's episode, we revisit Monica Lewinsky's episode from October 17th, 2019. Monica Lewinsky is an American anti-bullying ambassador to the Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying Programme, on the advisory board of Project rockit, founding board member of The Childhood Resilience Foundation and contributing editor to Vanity Fair. She sits down with the armchair expert to discuss overcoming trauma, cyber bullying and her experience being publicly labeled as a negative archetype. Monica talks about bein...

Jan 01, 20251 hr 49 minEp. 835

Rerelease: Dax's Mom (Laura Labo)

On today's episode, we revisit Dax's mom's episode from July 2nd, 2018. Laura Labo (Dax's Mom) is an American entrepreneur, businesswoman and Dax's #1 love of his life. In this special episode, Laura sits down with the Armchair Expert to discuss her life story, the mistakes that made her and the struggle of raising a family as a single mother. Dax describes the many reasons he loves her and Laura talks about the recent death of her husband. The two of them travel down memory lane in a delightful...

Dec 30, 20242 hr 36 minEp. 834

Best of Friday 2024

On this special episode, we revisit some of our favorite moments from Friday episodes in 2024. Nick goes topless and bounces off the wall, Steve gets sharked by a Great White, Rags discovers a dead body, Jane’s Instagram Live audience gets more than they bargained for, Tyler sleeps through a car crashing through the house, and Brittany confronts a shitty hotel thief. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Ex...

Dec 27, 20241 hr 13 minEp. 833
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