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.
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...
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 ar...
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...
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...
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...
On this special episode, we revisit some of our favorite moments from Wednesday episodes in 2024. Molly McNearney remembers joining Jimmy Kimmel Live, Bill Gates wishes he were smarter, Finneas discusses the dynamics of a duo, Patric Gagne navigates romance as a sociopath, Vanessa Marin walks the walk of Sex Talks, Alegra Kastens explains the spectrum of OCD, Malcolm Gladwell delves into the science of the opioid crisis, Cat Bohannon talks about the medical discrepancies between men and women, Y...
On this special episode, we revisit some of our favorite moments from Monday episodes in 2024. Bradley Cooper reframes his story, Goldie Hawn champions the freedom to choose, Maya Rudolph laments comedy dong, Bobby Lee revisits relapse, Amy Poehler grows in group therapy, Ke Huy Quan delights in serendipity, Halle Berry sets the record straight, Jack Black remembers spirituality as a heavy metal maniac, Vince Vaughn envisions empathy, and Heidi Klum is the queen of Halloween. Follow Armchair Exp...
Join Dax & Monica for our annual holiday spectacular with as we harmonize holiday hymns with Kristen Bell, Anna Kendrick, and Gabe Gibbs, divulge Anna's Christmas candy colored explosion, learn the etymology of Bah Humbug, sing why Wobby Wob’s the weason for the season, and heal the childhood gift wound. 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 Wond...
Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a nightmare holiday experience. 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...
Allison Jones (Freaks and Geeks, The Office, Veep) is an Emmy Award-winning casting director. Allison joins the Armchair Expert to discuss growing up an Irish twin in Massachusetts, her first casting job on Family Ties, and how her love of TV prompted her move to California. Allison and Dax talk about the cast of the Golden Girls actually only being in their 50s, how the highlight of her career was meeting Quincy Jones while casting The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and why jumping a car over another...
Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain, The Social Network, Now You See Me) is an Oscar-nominated actor, writer, and producer. Jesse joins the Armchair Expert to discuss not being cool enough to smoke, receiving a cease and desist letter as a kid from Woody Allen, and how community theater was his outlet for being an incredibly anxious child. Jesse and Dax discuss their saddest film wardrobe experiences, the Parmesan cheese version of Cyrano, and where movie roles rank on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Jess...
