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.
This episode of Armchair Anonymous features listeners sharing their dramatic and often humorous "I Quit" stories. Tales range from quitting after multiple near-death experiences at a wildlife agency to a teen's elaborate fake fall at Kmart. The episode explores themes of workplace frustration, personal safety, and the breaking points that lead to life-altering decisions.
Jonathan Haidt returns to discuss his book, The Anxious Generation, focusing on the impact of smartphones and social media on young people's mental health. He explores overprotection, attention fragmentation, addiction, and social deprivation, proposing solutions like delaying smartphone access and encouraging real-world independence. The conversation navigates complex issues of technology, ethics, and societal well-being, offering insights into the challenges faced by today's youth and potential paths forward.
Lauren Graham revisits Armchair Expert to discuss her new show, "The Z Suite," generational differences, and career pressures, while also delving into friendship dynamics, societal gender issues, and personal anecdotes, including her early career and thoughts on a Gilmore Girls revival.
In this episode of Armchair Anonymous, Dax and Monica share wild stories from listeners, including a flesh-eating bacteria infection after a shot, a disastrous whitewater rafting trip, and a bizarre erotic massage experience in Tanzania. Listeners recount near-death experiences, medical mishaps, and shocking travel encounters. The episode explores themes of resilience, unexpected dangers, and the importance of perspective.
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...
Mindy Kaling discusses her career, cultural identity, and personal life with Dax Shepard, touching on topics such as diversity in Hollywood, motherhood, relationships, and the pursuit of success. They explore the challenges and triumphs of navigating cultural expectations, building a career, and finding personal fulfillment. The conversation is insightful, humorous, and reveals the complexities of Mindy's experiences and perspectives.
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 ...
Dr. Blaise Aguirre, an expert in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), joins Armchair Expert to discuss BPD, suicidal ideation, and overcoming self-hatred. He explains the emotional dysregulation of BPD, the importance of DBT, and how to help those struggling with self-loathing. The discussion also covers differentiating between mood and personality disorders, trauma's impact, and strategies for managing relationships with individuals who have BPD.
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...
Dax and Monica interview Armcherries about their experiences with DNA testing, featuring stories of surprising family revelations, unexpected connections, and navigating complex relationships. The episode explores themes of identity, family secrets, and the impact of genetic discoveries on personal narratives, with discussions on both heartwarming reunions and shocking parentage revelations.
Dr. Alison Wood Brooks explores the science of conversation, discussing effective communication techniques, the complexity of human interaction, and strategies to improve conversations in various settings. Topics include twin dynamics, negotiation, active listening, vulnerability, and the impact of status hierarchies.
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
