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

Armchair Anonymous: Public Transit

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a crazy public transit 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 Notic...

May 16, 202540 minEp. 895

Chris Nowinski (on CTE)

Chris Nowinski (Stop Hitting Kids in the Head, Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis, Concussion Legacy Foundation) is an author, retired pro-wrestler, and neuroscientist. Chris joins the Armchair Expert to discuss never forgetting the culture shock of wealth while studying at Harvard, his stint wrestling on Monday Night Raw, and not having ever really been in a real fight. Chris and Dax talk about why the violence in football is actually worse than WWE, his first instance of REM behavior dis...

May 14, 20251 hr 40 minEp. 894

Mo Amer

Mo Amer (Mo, The Vagabond, Black Adam) is an award-winning comedian and actor. Mo joins the Armchair Expert to discuss feeling anxiety only when there’s something unsettled at home, embracing the responsibility of being a comic that’s also made a personally and culturally meaningful thing, and the best part of his new show being that he gets to introduce different layers to his story. Mo and Dax talk about his brilliant telecommunications engineer father relocating their family from Palestine to...

May 12, 20252 hr 5 minEp. 893

Armchair Anonymous: Cults II

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a time they escaped a cult. 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 ...

May 09, 20251 hr 1 minEp. 892

Michael Lewis (on the gambling epidemic)

Michael Lewis (Who is Government: The Untold Story of Public Service, Against the Rules, The Big Short) is a best-selling writer, journalist, and podcast host. Michael joins the Armchair Expert to discuss his dad’s advice to not waste his education to figure out what he wanted to do for a living, incredible insider art stories from being the stock boy of the Wildensteins’ private collection, and learning that the world is a conspiracy of people who understand economics. Michael and Dax talk abou...

May 07, 20251 hr 57 minEp. 891

Jon Bernthal

Jon Bernthal (The Accountant 2, The Bear, Real Ones) is an Emmy Award-winning actor and podcast host. Jon joins the Armchair Expert to discuss making peace with the beard, how looking like a real person has been an asset in his career, and teaching his kids to not react to negative emotions. Jon and Dax talk about the positive values he was exposed to growing up in a Quaker school, keeping an anger journal through boxing, and the impact of attending acting school in Russia. Jon explains playing ...

May 05, 20251 hr 40 minEp. 890

Susan Morrison (on Lorne Michaels)

Susan Morrison (Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, SPY Magazine, The New Yorker) is a journalist and author. Susan joins the Armchair Expert to discuss never wanting to subject her children to a life of moving around, marrying comedy and journalism into irreverant reporting at SPY Magazine, and loving the idea of walking through New York City as time travel. Susan and Dax talk about why humor is just the language we all speak to get by in the world, how Saturday Night Live is a mon...

Apr 30, 20251 hr 52 minEp. 889

Anthony Anderson

Anthony Anderson (G20, Black-ish, The Departed) is an Emmy Award-nominated actor, comedian, and television host. Anthony joins the Armchair Expert to discuss being in the Guinness Book of World Records for furthest hit golf ball with the longest usable club, why he thinks Stevie Wonder can see, and calling Lionel Richie to cash in on his long-promised dinner. Anthony and Dax talk about how it felt to grow up in the hotbed of music, movies, and culture, both being called for availability by SNL o...

Apr 28, 20251 hr 54 minEp. 888

Armchair Anonymous: First Responder

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us a crazy first responder 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 at ...

Apr 25, 202541 minEp. 887

David Blaine (magician and mentalist)

David Blaine (Do Not Attempt, Buried Alive, Above the Below) is a magician, mentalist, and endurance performer. David joins the Armchair Expert to discuss the deck of cards his mom gave him as a kid in Brooklyn, keeping his magic secret when he was young because other children are a brutal audience, and why his unique ability for breath holding was the beginning of his love of endurance. David and Dax talk about the reason he decided to do the buried alive endurance performance, how Buster Keato...

Apr 23, 20251 hr 38 minEp. 886

Monica Lewinsky Returns

Monica Lewinsky (Reclaiming) is an activist, writer, and podcast host. Monica returns to the Armchair Expert to discuss confronting deep trauma listening to her own voice while making her new podcast Reclaiming, the argument for not killing a darling even if it’s unflattering, and how it’s naturally harder to give the nudge into vulnerability in a conversation because she wants her guests to feel safe. Monica and Dax talk about the theory that people are preserved at the age they become famous, ...

Apr 21, 20251 hr 33 minEp. 885

Armchair Anonymous: Cedar Point

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us a crazy Cedar Point 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 at http...

Apr 18, 202540 minEp. 884

David Sedaris #5

David Sedaris (Happy-Go-Lucky, A Carnival of Snackery, Calypso) is a comedian, humorist, and author. David returns to the Armchair Expert to discuss why his Picasso painting is what he would grab in a fire, what in 50 years we will see as unforgivable, and how you can have a towering hatred for someone who has no idea. David and Dax talk about the paradox of stinky, kissable money, how he schemed an off-the-rack priest outfit, and the nuance in offensiveness. David explains that there’s nothing ...

Apr 16, 20252 hr 3 minEp. 883

Bert Kreischer

Bert Kreischer (Lucky, Bertcast, 2 Bears 1 Cave) is a standup comedian, television host, and podcaster. Bert joins the Armchair Expert to discuss the fact that he would have thrived in a content house, how his discontinued flip-flops showed him the power of diversifying his talent, and why learning how to edit videos put him in the driver's seat of his career. Bert and Dax talk about why Florida and Australia are the closest cousins in the world, the truth being that he’s extremely sensitive, an...

Apr 14, 20251 hr 54 minEp. 882

Armchair Anonymous: Haven’t Confessed to Parents

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us something they still haven’t confessed to their parents. 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 Cal...

Apr 11, 202539 minEp. 881

Rebecca Lemov (on brainwashing)

Rebecca Lemov (The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion) is a historian of science, author, and professor at Harvard. Rebecca joins the Armchair Expert to discuss the meet cute with her husband at the cafe where she was struggling to write her dissertation, how she fell under a romantic spell with anthropology as well as opioids, and the relationship between addiction and brainwashing. Rebecca and Dax talk about how Patty Hearst used brainwashing as a defense fo...

Apr 09, 20251 hr 46 minEp. 880

Dove Cameron

Dove Cameron (Too Much, Descendants, Liv and Maddie) is an Emmy Award-winning actor and singer. Dove joins the Armchair Expert to discuss the origins of bloomers, realizing she was a stimulus addict at a very young age, and her fear of offending the gooey duck community. Dove and Dax talk about spending her formative years in India for months at a time, her first music gig singing in the children’s ghost choir for Ryan Gosling’s Halloween band, and recognizing as early as she can remember that h...

Apr 07, 20251 hr 58 minEp. 879

Armchair Anonymous: Meet Cute II

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about their meet cute. 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 https://...

Apr 04, 202540 minEp. 878

Herman Pontzer (on evolutionary anthropology)

Herman Pontzer (Adaptable: How Your Unique Body Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us) is an evolutionary anthropologist, author, and associate professor at Duke University. Herman joins the Armchair Expert to discuss growing up at the end of a dirt road in a house his dad built, unpacking the dark history of anthropometry, and the ewok chapter of human evolution. Herman and Dax talk about why the brain is the most expensive organ in the body, how the first full human skeleton found being named af...

Apr 02, 20251 hr 52 minEp. 877

Eiza Gonzalez

Eiza González (Ash, Baby Driver, 3 Body Problem) is an actor and singer. Eiza joins the Armchair Expert to discuss whether there is human DNA in hotdogs, how she wanted braces because all the cool girls had them, and being a patriotic Mexican. Eiza and Dax talk about her father’s priority always being for her to learn as many languages as possible, why her dad passing away suddenly influenced her to pursue acting full time, and experiencing insecurity when she started working in America. Eiza ex...

Mar 31, 20251 hr 44 minEp. 876

Armchair Anonymous: Animal Attack II

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a time they fought a wild animal. 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 N...

Mar 28, 202545 minEp. 875

Seth Rogen Returns Again

Seth Rogen (The Studio, The Boys, Sausage Party) is an Emmy-nominated writer, actor, and director. Seth returns to the Armchair Expert to discuss Snoop Dogg being the only person that’s ever gotten him too high to function, how he’s a prime target for robbery and embezzlement, and why precision and comedy are hard things to marry. Seth and Dax talk about knowing that he’s drawn in a bad way to the joke he shouldn’t be making, why people want the R-rated version of superheroes on The Boys, and th...

Mar 26, 20251 hr 41 minEp. 874

Ike Barinholtz Returns Again

Ike Barinholtz (The Studio, Running Point, The Mindy Project) is a comedian, actor, and writer. Ike returns to the Armchair Expert to discuss how the Declaration of Independence was really the result of one big goon fest, presenting like a dumbass while he’s actually a smartypants, and being one of one in the category of people Dax doesn’t mind being wrong to. Ike and Dax talk about why their leading man potential has only grown as they’ve reached middle age, lung chugging laughing gas while rec...

Mar 24, 20251 hr 44 minEp. 873

Armchair Anonymous: Children's Party

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us a crazy children's party 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 at...

Mar 21, 202539 minEp. 872

Mary Claire Haver (on menopause)

Mary Claire Haver (The New Menopause, The ‘Pause Life) is a board-certified OBGYN, culinary medicine specialist, and best-selling author. Mary Claire joins the Armchair Expert to discuss how she ended up as one of eight children to restauranteur parents, the reason she became an OBGYN being that delivering babies never gets old, and how she misinterpreted her own menopause as grief amid the death of her brother. Mary Claire and Dax talk about the untenable claims of the study that HRT gives wome...

Mar 19, 20252 hr 6 minEp. 871

Andrew Schulz

Andrew Schulz (Life, Schulz Saves America, Flagrant) is a comedian, actor, and podcaster. Andrew joins the Armchair Expert to discuss loving showing off his cha-cha at his mom’s ballroom dance studio, argue the significance of Alexander the Great being either Greek or Macedonian, and why after having a daughter there isn’t any gymnastics recital he doesn’t want to attend. Andrew and Dax talk about whether his confrontational style of comedy is rooted in his yearning to be liked, the fact that yo...

Mar 17, 20251 hr 49 minEp. 870

Armchair Anonymous: I Quit

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us a crazy "I Quit" 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 at https:/...

Mar 14, 202536 minEp. 869

Jonathan Haidt Returns (on the Anxious Generation)

Jonathan Haidt (The Anxious Generation) is a social psychologist, professor, and best-selling author. Jonathan joins the Armchair Expert to discuss why his moral dumbfoundings are such tasty party tricks, if disgust contains wisdom about borders that one shouldn’t cross, and how the overprotectiveness epidemic was borne out of the safest generation yet. Jonathan and Dax talk about the fact that despite public response it’s much more dangerous for kids online than it is in the real world, the cos...

Mar 12, 20252 hr 11 minEp. 868

Lauren Graham Returns

Lauren Graham (The Z-Suite, Parenthood, Gilmore Girls) is a Golden Globe-nominated actor, producer, and author. Lauren joins the Armchair Expert to discuss the day Lauren drove by Dax and thought he was Brad Pitt, giving up the ghost that she’ll ever be the kind of person that dresses like she has a real job, and having a maternal relationship with her TV mom on Gilmore Girls in the absence of her own mother. Lauren and Dax talk about both hating having their picture taken, how being a tutor for...

Mar 10, 20251 hr 55 minEp. 867

Armchair Anonymous: Wild Card VII

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us a crazy 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 at https://art19.co...

Mar 07, 202546 minEp. 866
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