You really should watch City of Ghosts. It’s on Netflix, six episodes long, and it’s a delightful and important exploration of Los Angeles, cultures, and how we manage history. City of Ghosts also happens to be, at least at first glance, a show for children. It’s animated and features a group of kid characters who fan out across L.A. to interview and record the ghosts that live there. It’s guileless and smart and often very funny. Elizabeth Ito created the show. She wanted to create something le...
Aug 22, 2022•50 min•Ep. 72
Gaby Dunn is well-known to podcast audiences for her shows Just Between Us, co-hosted by Allison Raskin, and Bad With Money with Gaby Dunn. They’re well-known to readers for books like I Hate Everyone But You and Bury the Lede and articles in The New York Times and Buzzfeed. But Gaby Dunn hasn’t always been well-known to Gaby Dunn. Raised in Florida, where talk about sexual orientation was scarce and talk about transgenderism was non-existent, Gaby had a long journey to figure out who they were ...
Aug 15, 2022•57 min•Ep. 71
Within the comedy world, Tom Scharpling is known as a bit of a Swiss Army Knife. He’s the host of the long running Best Show , online now and on WFMU before that. He’s a veteran TV writer on shows like Monk and What We Do In The Shadows . He directs music videos. Now he’s a book writer, with the memoir It Never Ends. In that book and in our interview, he tells stories of his own mental health journey that he’s never shared with an audience before. Tom started running into trouble with depression...
Aug 08, 2022•53 min
Getting Jamie Lee Curtis to open about her many years spent addicted to Vicodin is, frankly, not very difficult. She wants to talk about it. And that’s for a couple of reasons. One, she wants to make it clear that she’s no different from any other addict in any other walk of life. That’s why she calls herself a dope fiend. She just happens to have had success in an industry she derisively calls “show off business”. Two, because she committed to sobriety after reading someone else’s story of addi...
Aug 01, 2022•54 min•Ep. 70
Issues of depression and anxiety have been present in Open Mike Eagle's raps for a long time. His most played track on Spotify is "Ziggy Starfish (Anxiety Raps)" and it's from 2015. Mike has always been more prone to self-effacement and worry than to the boasting and swagger you might find in other hip-hop artists. But after a year that saw him lose his tv show, his touring income, his marriage, and his home, Mike became more open than ever before and hit record on all of it. His album, Anime, T...
Jul 25, 2022•48 min
Even if you’re not completely aware of Shane Koyczan’s poem “To This Day” , at least 25 million other people are. That’s how many views the YouTube video of the poem has as of the time we made this episode. It’s not just a great poem, it strikes a nerve. “To This Day” talks in a very direct and meaningful way about the effects of bullying and how people can carry it with them from the playground deep into adulthood. Because, many times, it’s not just kids messing around, it’s actual assault or e...
Jul 18, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 69
Right now, in Jamie Loftus’s childhood home in Brockton, Mass., there are dozens, maybe hundreds of notebooks in storage boxes. They’re from second grade up through middle school and each of the notebooks is filled, cover to cover, with detailed descriptions of where she was and what was happening: who was there, what were they wearing, what was on the walls. The descriptions are all written in a shorthand Jamie developed and that no one else could read. At the time, the adults in her life thoug...
Jul 11, 2022•53 min•Ep. 68
This episode of Depresh Mode with John Moe came about as part of a challenge to our listeners: if we reached our member goal during the last Max Fun Drive, we’d make and release an episode with Justin McElroy. We hit the goal, here it is. Of course, making that goal can be and was a pretty nervous-making enterprise. There’s more than a bit of anxiety involved. Appropriately to that proposition, anxiety is something our guest knows well. Justin is one of three McElroy brothers hosting the comedy ...
Jul 04, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 67
The CBS News Sunday Morning commentator, Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me panelist, and veteran actor had all the approval and validation one could want early in her life. She was a pageant winner, Harvard grad, and Rhodes Scholar by the time she went to Los Angeles to make it in film and television. But the vagaries of the entertainment industry, the death of her mother, and an unsuccessful marriage showed her that there’s only so much you can prepare and study for. Faith talks about her experiences ...
Jun 27, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 66
It’s not actually all that hard to tell when Tim Heidecker is kidding and when he’s not, but it does take a little bit of practice. When he’s performing on shows like Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! or Tim & Eric’s Bedtime Stories , it’s comedy. When he acts in comedic movies, sure, that’s comedy as well. But on albums such as his new one, High School , you don’t need to listen carefully for the punchline because there isn’t one. He’s not trying to fake you out with his music, he’s giving ...
Jun 20, 2022•51 min•Ep. 65
Honestly, I really expected to call this episode “Covid Sedaris” because David Sedaris had just tested positive for COVID when we taped the interview. But when we spoke, he wasn’t feeling it much at all. Had some symptoms that might have been allergies or COVID but were barely noticeable. Other people have it a lot worse, he says. David has been delighting audiences for 30 years now, ever since the broadcast of Santaland Diaries. His latest book, Happy-Go-Lucky, is deceptively titled, containing...
Jun 13, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 64
Comedian and writer Ginny Hogan got interested in standup comedy when she was in her twenties and working at a tech startup in San Francisco. Soon she was hooked on comedy. And alcohol. She got hooked on alcohol as well. The comedy was definitely more positive and healthy than the alcohol. In this interview, Ginny recounts a habit she developed for getting drunk, picking up a little extra wine to take with her, and then spending the night walking the streets of San Francisco and New York with he...
Jun 06, 2022•55 min•Ep. 63
Jamie never expected to be a mental health advocate. He was working in the industry that had always been his dream career: surfing apparel. But things changed after several days spent taking care of a young woman he didn’t know, who was struggling with suicidal thoughts, substance use disorder, and self-harm. Renee had carved the word “fuckup” onto her arms but couldn’t get into a treatment facility for several days. Jamie’s essay about their time together became a viral sensation on MySpace, wh...
May 30, 2022•50 min•Ep. 62
Right now, in our society, there is so much to be anxious about. There are many factors that could lead one to feel depressed and defeated. If one already has a tendency toward anxiety and depression, that path can be even shorter. But as a member of that society, one must look for hope anyway. It’s that dynamic relationship between despair and hope that led us to reach out to Maggie Smith. The American poet Maggie Smith, not the British actor Maggie Smith. Maggie is the author of several volume...
May 23, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 61
The English language is constantly growing and evolving, and so is our usage of that language. We don’t refer to people with mental illness as “lunatics” anymore. At least we shouldn’t. But there was a time when that was a commonly accepted term. Even language that we think to be more enlightened can fall out of favor. Person-first terminology has become popular in recent years. That’s where you don’t say “Tom has depression.” You say, “Tom is a person with depression,” in an effort to convey th...
May 16, 2022•59 min•Ep. 60
A lot of people listen to Shamir’s music, and have since he was 19 years old and his songs began circulating. People listen for the innovative arrangements, the poetic lyrics, and the artist’s unique singing voice. The music has been described as house-hop, disco, and indie-pop. Shamir pays a lot of attention to the music as well. He’s listening to make sure he’s staying true to himself. He wants to make certain that what he’s creating forms an accurate portrait of who he is. This conviction, th...
May 09, 2022•49 min•Ep. 59
Current events in the world today can be a lot to deal with even as a regular person. You got war in Ukraine, anti-democracy and pro-Putin forces in a major political party, a movement against LGBTQ and trans people, COVID, and environmental worries to name just a few things. And it might be even more intense if you’re one of the people producing the news. S.E. Cupp has to follow the news very closely, it’s part of her job at CNN and as a newspaper columnist. But she says the close proximity to ...
May 02, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 58
The singer, songwriter, guitarist, and acclaimed author John Darnielle is one of the more prolific creative forces you’re likely to run across. He’s released 20 full-length studio albums, plus a mess of EPs, tapes, and singles over his 25-plus years of recording. And he’s written three novels in recent years as well. In this interview, John talks about his interest in written material about violence and horror and what he thinks might be behind society’s stronger than ever fascination with true ...
Apr 25, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 57
Sarah Edmonson and Anthony “Nippy” Ames were doing okay in life. They were healthy, they were working, and, like a lot of people, they were looking for more success. So when they were introduced to some self-help courses called the Executive Success Program, they gave it a shot. When it seemed to be working pretty well, naturally, they stuck with it. The group they ended up in, pronounced “nexium” but spelled in unpronounceable capital letters, manipulated that desire for success and happiness, ...
Apr 18, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 56
41% of people are planning to quit their jobs in the next three months. 41%! We first tackled the topic of employee burnout a year ago and much has happened since then: a bunch of variants, restrictions being lifted and reset, and an event known as The Great Resignation, where more people have quit their jobs than ever before. And now we’re starting to see the effects of prolonged work-from-home jobs and from employers who are doing little or nothing to address burnout. We’re seeing a blurring o...
Apr 11, 2022•54 min•Ep. 55
For people who have never lived with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the condition can be seen pretty simply. They might think it means the person can’t concentrate on anything, that they can’t focus on much of anything. But for the writer and podcast host Sarah Marshall - and for many like her - it’s not that simple. She grew up with the issue of being very focused on things she cared about and not caring so much about the aspects of school that didn’t intrigue her. Eventually ...
Apr 04, 2022•45 min•Ep. 54
Online comments sections have become synonymous with cruelty, hatred, bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, and the jerks who spew that kind of thing out. Most of us roll our eyes at that or, if at all possible, avoid even looking at that dispiriting part of the internet altogether. But Dylan Marron is not most of us. When his viral comedy videos led to strongly vitriolic comments aimed directly at Dylan, he started collecting those comments in what he called his Hate Folder. He wondered who these peop...
Mar 28, 2022•59 min•Ep. 53
First time author Liz Scheier’s book, Never Simple , is aptly named. Liz had always known that her mom suffered from depression and anxiety but she didn’t know until her early twenties that borderline personality disorder was also part of her mother’s mental framework. BPD, according to Mayo Clinic , “impacts the way you think and feel about yourself and others, causing problems functioning in everyday life. It includes self-image issues, difficulty managing emotions and behavior, and a pattern ...
Mar 21, 2022•55 min•Ep. 52
Human Resources , a spinoff of the Netflix show Big Mouth , is a very honest, truthful, and illuminating program about how mental and emotional health operate. It’s well-researched and displays depth and accuracy. And all of that might be surprising given that it’s full of extremely horny monsters, panicky mosquitoes, ambition gremlins and a ton of other cartoon creatures. And just so much extremely graphic talk about sex and bodily functions. So much, you guys. But the show is smart and anyone ...
Mar 14, 2022•58 min•Ep. 51
It’s tempting to try to look for a reason why Joel Kim Booster, ordinarily a very funny and engaging person, feels dead inside, trapped in a persistent depressive state. His father recently died of COVID. The two hadn’t been very close (Joel’s dad was a conservative Christian, Joel is a gay Hollywood star) but were beginning to reconnect. You could point to the pandemic, which left Joel in an apartment he doesn’t like for extended periods. But it’s just as easy to point to things that aren’t esp...
Mar 07, 2022•51 min
Drummers have different styles. Patty Schemel’s drumming has always been tight and precise but she plays hard and heavy, big thick beats that powered songs like “Miss World” and “Violet”. Her substance use was also hard and heavy, keeping pace with or exceeding the consumption of her peers in the Seattle music scene of the 90’s and of her band’s leader and frontwoman, Courtney Love. It started with alcohol and worked up to heroin and crack. In our interview with Patty, she details her career asc...
Feb 28, 2022•58 min•Ep. 50
It used to be a lot easier to keep family secrets about issues of paternity. That was before companies like Ancestry.com and 23 & Me came along and offered genetic testing for a small fee and some spit in a cup. Now, what might have started out as some fun, idle curiosity is often turning into something more earth-shattering, more of an existential crisis. It can result in strained family relationships, negative mental health consequences, and sometimes fun and friendly meetings. It’s a lot and ...
Feb 21, 2022•46 min•Ep. 49
Dissociative identity disorder (DID), a condition formerly referred to as multiple personality disorder, is very rare almost everywhere in the world except for one place: Hollywood. Not among actual people there but among characters in movies that are often very over the top. So while you and I might know people with depression or anxiety, the only reference we have for people with DID are fictional characters. We change that today. Dr. Shelley Kolton is an OB/GYN in Manhattan and the author of ...
Feb 14, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 48
As if sustaining a traumatic brain injury and being in a coma for a few weeks wasn’t bad enough - and it certainly was - Drew Magary had the added complication of becoming a real asshole. Which was unexpected. You’d think that surviving an ordeal like that would make one glad to be alive, more conscious of appreciating one’s family and all that life had to offer. And it did to some extent but he also turned into a complete jerk. Drew is a co-founder and writer for Defector.com , a columnist for ...
Feb 07, 2022•50 min•Ep. 47
Anxiety has cost Jen Kirkman several things over the course of her life, including, as she explains in our conversation, a study abroad program in Amsterdam, an effective outcome of a fear of flying class, and a pleasant time on a Ferris wheel. She doesn’t even remember that trip on the Ferris wheel but she knows it happened from an old photo where she looks absolutely haunted. Among the other problems anxiety has caused is confusion in kindergarten about whether she actually had parents. Along ...
Jan 31, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 46
