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.
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more
This Armchair Anonymous episode features three unforgettable "Wild Card" stories. First, Nikki recounts a painful slackline accident and its embarrassing aftermath at the ER. Next, Riley details her chilling experience with a manipulative college acquaintance who faked a suicide attempt, leading to a police intervention. Finally, Christina shares a truly shocking tale of discovering a dead mouse in her reusable water bottle, highlighting unexpected hidden dangers.
Malala Yousafzai (Finding My Way, I Am Malala, He Named Me Malala) is an education activist, Nobel Prize laureate, and author. Malala joins the Armchair Expert to discuss having a relatively normal life until a militant organization took over her valley in Pakistan, becoming an activist simply to respond to her new oppressive reality, and how lucky she was to have a male ally in her father. Malala and Dax talk about feeling like a fish out of water in a new school after her attack, winning the N...
On this week’s episode of Mom’s Car we welcome all-around buddy Ryan Hansen. Ryan, Dax, and Best Friend Aaron Weakley talk through feeling famous from a young age at church, the legend of tough and redheaded Billy, doing bad boy things as a teen as an escape from a rough family life, adventures in attempting to be cool kids in high school, a sex dream about a rock, and Dax’s failed intimate encounter with a pint glass of jello. #sponsored by @Allstate. Go to https://bit.ly/momscar to check Allst...
Reese Witherspoon (Gone Before Goodbye, The Morning Show, Big Little Lies) is an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award-winning actor and producer. Reese joins the Armchair Expert to discuss growing up on a military base in Germany, being surprisingly not cautious when her kids want to chase adrenaline, and originally thinking that acting was a hobby to pay the bills. Reese and Dax talk about her theory on dating and the decline in romcoms, refusing to read during her audition for Election while ...
Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a bad babysitting 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 Notic...
Cas Holman (Playful: How Play Shifts Our Thinking, Inspires Connection, and Sparks Creativity) is a toy creator, play designer, and author. Cas joins the Armchair Expert to discuss creating modular ecosystems of play in her toys, studying in the rainforest as a Banana Slug, and her gender-bending appearance on Maury Povich. Cas and Dax talk about learning how to both fabricate and tell a story in design school, instilling ideals with her adventure playground, and the twelve different play types ...
On this week’s episode of Mom’s Car we welcome comedic legend and fellow Groundlings alum Tim Lovestedt. Tim, Dax, and Best Friend Aaron Weakley talk through the dish on Brad, working in wine, Tim getting a DUI at the police department where his dad worked, the namesake of The Worker tall boy, being tuned into the male Midwest supper courtship, Tim and Dax’s Sunday Company mythology, and achieving the most comfortable level of fame. #sponsored by @Allstate. Go to https://bit.ly/momscar to check ...
Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I Would Kick You, Damages, Neighbors) is an Emmy Award-nominated actor. Rose joins the Armchair Expert to discuss being rejected from every drama school she applied to in Australia, not having the confidence to discern between early roles, and whether she identifies as a people pleaser. Rose and Dax talk about playing the straight man in Bridesmaids, getting into a loose comedic rhythm with longtime collaborator Seth Rogan, and her improv baptism by fire making Get Him ...
Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us a crazy military 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:/...
Stephen Dubner (Freakonomics, When to Rob a Bank, Freakonomics Radio) is an award-winning journalist, author, and radio host. Stephen returns once again to the Armchair Expert to discuss the power and necessity of disgust, the ethics of yelling at AI, and reflecting on the 20th publishing anniversary of Freakonomics. Stephen and Dax talk about being prodded by society into binary thinking, the compulsions in being perpetually online that don’t jibe with human nature, and what he does when presen...
On this week’s episode of Mom’s Car, we welcome Dax’s former longtime partner and forever pal Briegh Morrison. Briegh, Dax, and Best Friend Aaron Weakley talk through the harrowing story of her son’s near-drowning, breast cancer being the catalyst for her getting sober, BFAW’s memory of Briegh’s substance-tinged boat cleaning, she and Dax’s couples therapy leading to their amicable breakup, and why one of her greatest gifts is going deep with people. #sponsored by @Allstate. Go to https://bit.ly...
Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show, Cook with Clydeo, Friends) is an Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor. Jennifer joins the Armchair Expert to discuss the hidden messages in children’s literature, why doing podcasts can be like waking up from anesthesia, and the bait and switch of her actor dad deciding to train as a doctor in Greece. Jennifer and Dax talk about her apocryphal encounter with producer Warren Littlefield at a gas station, the cultural significance of why the show would neve...
Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a wedding 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 Notice at https...
Andy Roddick (Served) is a Grand Slam-winning tennis champion. Andy joins the Armchair Expert to discuss when his tennis rankings weren’t as good as his older brother’s until the day it flipped, whether he thinks you’re born or made with the disposition of an elite athlete, and how undervalued a skill it is to get beat and go to work the next day. Andy and Dax talk about the dividends gained from taking 10 years off of tennis, the protectiveness his father showed over his career and finances, an...
On this week’s episode of Mom’s Car, we welcome West Coast Best Friend Nate Tuck. Dax, Nate, and East Coast Best Friend Aaron Weakley talk through the deep evolutionary significance of a tribe chief embarrassing himself, Nate’s wasted and naked black ice car crash, BFAW’s handsome, mustachioed dad, woes of a sludgy summer job, a particularly loud Jean-Claude Van Damme delivery encounter, the long road to road rage recovery, Dax’s legendary rumble after a David Allan Coe show, and a physics-relat...
Sharon Horgan (The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, Bad Sisters, Catastrophe) is an Emmy Award-nominated actor, writer, and producer. Sharon joins the Armchair Expert to discuss being one of three middle children, growing up with a tough publican father that went into the turkey trade, and an early approach by a famous director in a café to audition for one of his films. Sharon and Dax talk about having great recall for lines but basically no other information, the joy-filled buzz of her first time ...
Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a crazy moving 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 htt...
Toby Stuart (Anointed: The Extraordinary Effects of Social Status in a Winner-Take-Most World) is an organizational theorist, professor of business administration at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and author. Toby joins the Armchair Expert to discuss attending Harvard Business School before knowing what business school was, the role of sanctioning mechanisms in a social hierarchy, and how circles of status can affect the value of works of art by millions of dollars. Toby and Dax talk abo...
On this week’s episode of Mom’s Car, we welcome longtime pal and Nobody Wants This supporting star Jackie Tohn. Jackie, Dax, and Best Friend Aaron Weakley talk through comparisons between the smells of broccoli and feet, being a part of the most streamed comedy of all time, getting hit on at the podiatrist, the story of how Jackie ended up with Dax and Kristen’s dog, invoking Esther Perel to settle a write-in question about sexual intimacy, and the gang try to out-Andrew Dice Clay each other. #s...
Charlie Sheen (The Book of Sheen, Two and a Half Men, Platoon) is a Golden Globe Award-winning actor. Charlie joins the Armchair Expert to discuss the lore of having not one but two of his cars stolen and pushed into a ravine, a two-decades-delayed apology to Dax, and why hiring a ghostwriter for his memoir was a dealbreaker. Charlie and Dax talk about how much of his story is impacted by being the little brother of Emilio Estevez, the math of time required in the attempt to work sustainably as ...
Matt Friend (Grace Period, The Simpsons, Family Guy) is a stand-up comedian, impressionist, and actor. Matt joins the Armchair Expert to discuss exploring whether he’s enough beyond his voice in a new stand-up hour, his sister’s characterization of him as a glorified parrot, and roasting Trump to his face at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Matt and Dax discuss whether there might be a neurodivergence component to his impression skills, doing celebrities to themselves on the Golden Globes ...
On this week’s episode of Mom’s Car we welcome actor extraordinaire and Timothy Simons. Tim, Dax, and Best Friend Aaron Weakley talk through the full day of testing he underwent in the 90s to diagnose him with ADHD and how a comorbidity is a heightened sensitivity to injustice. The team hit a two-banger order while Tim discusses seeing behaviors in his kids that are really just reflections of his own, having a contrarian streak in the beginning stages of his career, and finding a backdoor into c...
Kristen Bell & Justine Lupe (Nobody Wants This) join the Armchair Expert to discuss the incredibly involved, long-game prank pulled on set, how this season of their show is a love story between her their characters, and why wanting to evolve into a better person is so aligned with wanting to become a better actor. Justine, Kristen, and Dax talk about Justine coming to a place in her life where it feels good to not deliver a counterpoint, having a penchant for justice in accordance with her n...
Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a crazy valet 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...
Steven Pinker (When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life) is a cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, and author. Steven returns to the Armchair Expert to discuss how in general things have gotten better, that tracking the data can make one more optimistic than reading headlines, and the differences between private knowledge and common knowledge. Steven and Dax talk about how evolved language generates common knowledge, the ro...
On this week’s episode of Mom’s Car we welcome none other than the Duchess of Duluth, Monica Padman. Dax, Monica, and Best Friend Aaron Weakley talk through the most tempted they’ve been to sample their own wares, a definitely real, meet-cute write-in question that could have been a full-circle big twist, why Monica’s kink is sick men and tasty food, a historic review of pubic hair styles, and whether there’s something unattractive or scary about a partner being totally immersed in a new pursuit...
Dominic Fike (Euphoria, Rocket, What Could Possibly Go Wrong) is a singer, musician, and actor. Dominic joins the Armchair Expert to discuss growing up around high-functioning relationships in Florida, how being raised by addicts factors into having a big heart, and wanting to cry when he thinks about the points of departure he’s found with his family. Dominic and Dax talk about having that friend in his head that never lets him be different, how somatic therapy has helped him give form and a vo...
Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a time they got arrested. 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...
Bobbi Brown (Still Bobbi: A Master Class in Leading an Authentic Life) is a make-up artist, entrepreneur, and author. Bobbi joins the Armchair Expert to discuss why the motto "the less I do, the more I’m me” is her secret to happiness, realizing she wasn’t stupid but that things that are boring don’t interest her, and her tips to a happy 37-year marriage. Bobbi and Dax talk about learning how to design make-up looks by working for film and theater departments in college, making her first lipstic...
On this week’s episode of Mom’s Car, we welcome friend of the pod, Erick Richardson. Erick, Dax, and Best Friend Aaron Weakley talk through making a deal with God on a catamaran, the fruitful strategy of taking stock as payment from clients, the former fun of having an unexpected dark side, how Erick came to own 11 rare giant tortoises, and the instability of the market for a cut-off toe. #sponsored by @Allstate. Go to https://bit.ly/momscar to check Allstate first and see how much you could sav...
