Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

40 Episodes
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By: Armchair Umbrella

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 laborato...

Armchair Anonymous: Cults II
#892
Yesterday at 7:35 AM

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

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Michael Lewis (on the gambling epidemic)
#891
Last Wednesday at 7:35 AM

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 about diving headfirst into the bleeding edge of Wall Street in the 80s, getting in trouble (but...


Jon Bernthal
#890
Last Monday at 7:35 AM

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 baseball in Moscow to make some extra rubles, he and his brothers...


Susan Morrison (on Lorne Michaels)
#889
04/30/2025

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 monopoly for comedy, and that she could draw a line from...


Anthony Anderson
#888
04/28/2025

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 only to be ghosted, and realizing that he still hasn’t really processed the death of...


Armchair Anonymous: First Responder
#887
04/25/2025

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

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David Blaine (magician and mentalist)
#886
04/23/2025

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 Keaton informed him doing stunts in one take for Street Magic, and learning...


Monica Lewinsky Returns
#885
04/21/2025

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, how all the personal inner work she did entering her fifth decade helped her grow in w...


Armchair Anonymous: Cedar Point
#884
04/18/2025

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

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David Sedaris #5
#883
04/16/2025

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 better than a pants-shitting story, a defense of a children’s book with no less...


Bert Kreischer
#882
04/14/2025

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, and when he started the tradition of pooling tips at his live shows to change on...


Armchair Anonymous: Haven’t Confessed to Parents
#881
04/11/2025

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

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Rebecca Lemov (on brainwashing)
#880
04/09/2025

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 for her actions, why it's such an effective mind control tactic to strip someone of their name, and how Korean War...


Dove Cameron
#879
04/07/2025

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 her parents were meant to split. Dove explains not knowing she was...


Armchair Anonymous: Meet Cute II
#878
04/04/2025

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

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Herman Pontzer (on evolutionary anthropology)
#877
04/02/2025

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 after a Beatles song, and why people burn more calories being anxious. Herman explains...


Eiza Gonzalez
#876
03/31/2025

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 explains why she rides so hard for those who first gave her a sho...


Armchair Anonymous: Animal Attack II
#875
03/28/2025

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.

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Seth Rogen Returns Again
#874
03/26/2025

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 that the dragon he’s actually chasing for his au...


Ike Barinholtz Returns Again
#873
03/24/2025

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 receiving PRP treatments, and the age criteria for a dickoplasty. Ike explai...


Armchair Anonymous: Children's Party
#872
03/21/2025

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.

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Mary Claire Haver (on menopause)
#871
03/19/2025

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 women cancer, her argument that hormone replacement therapy is the longevity drug for women, and a hormonal so...


Andrew Schulz
#870
03/17/2025

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 you can call him a lot of things but ignorant is not one of them, and br...


Armchair Anonymous: I Quit
#869
03/14/2025

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.

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Jonathan Haidt Returns (on the Anxious Generation)
#868
03/12/2025

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 cost of gamifiying a child’s education being that their brain becomes desensitized to dopamine release, and that more seriou...


Lauren Graham Returns
#867
03/10/2025

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 the Princeton Review was actually a racket, and the di...


Armchair Anonymous: Wild Card VII
#866
03/07/2025

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.

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Suzanne O'Sullivan (on over diagnosis)
#865
03/05/2025

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 weapon, the psychosomatic wave of TikTok tics, and the real difference between hypochondria and psychosomatic impairment. Suzanne ex...


Mindy Kaling
#864
03/03/2025

Mindy Kaling (Running Point, The Mindy Project, Never Have I Ever) is an Emmy-nominated writer, actor, and producer. Mindy joins the Armchair Expert to discuss how she is the only the second person Dax has ever worn a suit for, relate over the sexiness and status marker of a good yard, and ask whether one can be Indian on the west side of LA. Mindy and Dax talk about her parents coming from two different parts of India and their meet cute in Africa, how every show she makes has a slow motion shot of a shirtless man’s to...


Armchair Anonymous: DIY Disaster
#863
02/28/2025

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.

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Blaise Aguirre (on overcoming self-hatred)
#862
02/26/2025

Blaise Aguirre (I Hate Myself: Overcome Self-Loathing and Realize Why You’re Wrong About You) is a child and adolescent psychiatrist specializing in dialectical behavior therapy. Blaise joins the Armchair Expert to discuss becoming an expert on Borderline Personality Disorder and DBT, the correlation between BPD and suicidal ideation, and that it’s not a choice to live with the disregulation of BPD. Blaise and Dax talk about the analogy of a person with a BPD brain being saddled with a very fast car but not the skill to drive it, the fact that when we are disregulated we can’...


Nikki Glaser
#861
02/24/2025

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 extraordinary, and why Dax thinks Nikki is the Taylor Swift of comed...


Armchair Anonymous: DNA Testing
#860
02/21/2025

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about a crazy DNA testing 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.

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Wondery Presents: Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky
02/20/2025

You’ve heard her name in headlines, during trivia nights, as a punchline: Monica Lewinsky. She’s been a major reference in pop culture since she was 24 years old when a scandal made her a household name overnight. Since then, she’s fought to redefine her reputation - and now she's ready to use her experience to encourage others to take back their power, too.

On her new podcast "Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky," Monica leads honest and wide-ranging conversations about what it means to write your own narrative. Each week, guests like Olivia Munn and Alan Cumming share...


Alison Wood Brooks (on the science of conversation)
#859
02/19/2025

Alison Wood Brooks (Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves) is a behavioral research scientist. Alison joins the Armchair Expert to discuss why growing up as a twin is like watching an alternate version of your own life, how we underestimate the complexity of chin wagging, and the reality that human connection is not just about transactional information exchange. Alison and Dax talk about Kant’s sparkling smart people dinner party rules, how hungry we can be to extract vulnerability from others while being hesitant to share it ourselves, and how asking more questions creates ma...


Walton Goggins
#858
02/17/2025

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 loving lunatics, why time with his kid is worth more than any amount of money or success, and approaching his...


Armchair Anonymous: Bad Proposals
#857
02/14/2025

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.

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Nate Silver (statistician)
#856
02/12/2025

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 academics don’t have the street smarts, the phenomenon of sore winners in tech, and the ad...


Chelsea Handler Returns Again
#855
02/10/2025

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 be aware of what you’re taking in so you don’...


Armchair Anonymous: Sports Event
#854
02/07/2025

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.

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