Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

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.

On this special episode, we revisit some of our favorite moments from Wednesday episodes in 2025. Scott Payne gets stripped for a wire while undercover, Mark Ronson recalls his rockstar-studded childhood, Blaise Aguirre defines the difficulties of BPD, Mary Claire Haver assembles a toolkit for menopause, Malala Yousafzai struggles to make friends in high school, Michael Lewis laments male anger generated by the gambling industry, Seth Harp tracks stolen cash and corruption in the military, James Kimmel, Jr. advises on a landlord conflict, Dave Mitchell & Chris Feistl infiltrate a Colombian drug cartel, and Andy Roddick mythologizes his serve. 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.

On this special episode, we revisit some of our favorite moments from Monday episodes in 2025. Nikki Glaser relays the risks of a roast, Brad Pitt commits a non-union extra faux pas, Dominic Fike drops his mixtape in jail, Dove Cameron tries to mend her relationship with her dad, Alexander Skarsgård finds his way as an actor post-Zoolander, Jennifer Aniston talks kids and SNL, Adam Scott discovers grief for his mom while filming Severance, Mindy Kaling writes nerdy women who desire, and Charlie Sheen keisters an ice cube after falling asleep on camera. 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.

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.

On this special holiday dinner party episode of Armchair Expert, Dax and Monica are joined by Kristen, Amy, Jess, Erick, and Wobby Wob to discuss an early worm burn by Erick’s dad, Jess’s red mustache mastery, which body parts deserve the most attention, how each ranks Christmas, who among them they’d eat if necessary, why “unlimited gathering” is the perfect crime, and what the group is leaving behind in 2025. 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.

Zooey Deschanel (Merv, New Girl, She & Him) is an actress and musician. Zooey returns to the Armchair Expert to discuss the lessons of the go-bag after the fire evacuations, the elegance-centered branding of cats, and the touching surprise that fans often comfort-rewatch New Girl. Zooey and Dax talk about having a partner who's a consummate tinkerer, growing up in a family of ADHD interrupters, and the embarrassing moments running through her head at all times. Zooey explains being a broken-up couple with a depressed mutt in her new movie Merv, her kids only recent interest in watching her in Elf, and a beautiful, special Armchair rendition of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. 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.

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

Coltan Scrivner (Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can't Look Away) is a psychologist, researcher, and author. Coltan joins the Armchair Expert to discuss always preferring to do nitty gritty research in the field rather than a sterile lab, studying human fun and fear responses to haunted houses in Denmark, and his four domains of morbid curiosity. Coltan and Dax talk about why in nature there’s a lot of danger without safe opportunities to learn about it, that bar fights actually take place a lot less than if we were chimps, and how bodily injury is an effective cue for danger and violence. Coltan explains ghost hunting in Georgia while not believing but seeing anyway, the 24-question scale he created for measuring morbid curiosities, and whether serial killers over-index in liking horror. 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.

Jake Johnson (We’re Here to Help, The Dink, New Girl) is an actor, writer, and podcast host. Jake returns to the Armchair Expert to discuss why anything that can still evoke fading old school Hollywood is special, how everything feeling like a black box theater has him falling in love with acting again, and focusing on playing the game his way while he’s here. Jake and Dax talk about letting go of control to be present in his movie The Dink, why he strategizes his workflow to stay ahead of the darkness, and how he tries to re-engineer doing this business out of love. Jake explains building up better after the loss of a close friend, finding someone a kidney through his podcast We’re Here to Help, and the terrifying, thrilling process of performing scenes with Tom Cruise. 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.

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.

James L. Brooks (Ella McCay, The Simpsons, Taxi) is an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter, director, and producer. James joins the Armchair Expert to discuss being an industrious high school reporter interviewing Louis Armstrong and Anne Bancroft, his lucky break as a studio page bringing Edward R. Murrow coffee, and co-creating the Mary Tyler Moore Show with Alan Burns. James and Dax talk about why there’s no better job in the world than on a television show that’s working, seeing Andy Kaufman perform as the vile Tony Clifton for the first time, and that he thinks you go legally insane when directing. James explains what it was like giving notes to Jack Nicholson, starting The Simpsons which is still the longest-running scripted show in history, and what makes a contemporary female heroine in his new screwball comedy Ella McCay. 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.

D’Arcy Carden (Loot, The Good Place, The Handmaid’s Tale) is an Emmy Award-nominated actor and comedian. D’Arcy returns to the Armchair Expert to discuss forming a bond with travel show co-host Sherry Cola through working together on Nobody Wants This, being a musical comrade of Wobby Wob’s, and insisting that she suffers from time blindness. D’Arcy and Dax talk about finding best friendship in her husband since their early twenties, exhibiting some addictive behavior when it comes to attending concerts, and the most scared she’s ever been acting. D’Arcy explains playing a lot of emotion as a comedy girl in her upcoming show The Five-Star Weekend, what she cries about in real life, and getting to play a super fake Italian in Loot. 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.

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about the craziest thing that happened at Thanksgiving. 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.

David Fajgenbaum (Chasing My Cure, Every Cure) is an immunology researcher, professor, and author. David joins the Armchair Expert to discuss being recruited to play football at an assortment of Ivy League schools before ending up at Georgetown, the promise he made to his mother to pursue medicine before she passed away, and starting a foundation in his mom’s honor to help college students with grief. David and Dax talk about the sudden onset of symptoms that meant his liver and kidneys were shutting down, gaining 100 pounds of fluid almost overnight, and nearly dying multiple times amid a diagnosis of Castleman disease. David explains the decision to approach his illness with off-label drugs, putting himself into full remission with a drug used to prevent transplant rejections, and the current mission with non-profit Every Cure to treat other inflammatory diseases with existing medicine. 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.

Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams, The Secret Life of Us, The Square) is an actor, writer, and director. Joel joins the Armchair Expert to discuss how he knows when his Australian Vogue Editor-in-Chief wife doesn’t like his outfit, why his approach to relationships is ‘it takes two to tango,’ and the reasons why he gets starstruck over are athletes. Joel and Dax talk about the big dreaminess of Australian filmmakers, the deficits of old school masculinity, and why his brother is ‘that guy’ as a stunt performer in movies. Joel explains pitching ideas to George Miller while getting his steps in, the pleasure of working alongside someone better than him, and the incredible and brutal world he gets to portray in Train Dreams. 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.

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

Andrew Ross Sorkin (1929: The Inside Story of the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History) is a financial columnist, TV anchor, and author. Andrew joins the Armchair Expert to discuss a kid telling him when he was young that god drew him wrong, actually working with Aaron Sorkin (no relation) on his show The Newsroom, and landing an unofficial internship at The New York Times as a senior in high school. Andrew and Dax talk about why his motto as a finance journalist was ‘chasing interesting,’ understanding not trusting the stock trading system because it doesn’t deserve to be trusted, and his tips for getting ChatGPT to tell the truth with verifiable facts. Andrew explains writing an exposé on going into debt to buy stocks, shocking and unexpected stories of fallout from the stock market crash of 1929, and parallels he sees in current financial trends accompanied by an argument for transparency. 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.

Billy Crudup (The Morning Show, Jay Kelly, Almost Famous) is an Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor. Billy joins the Armchair Expert to discuss his interpretation of his findings on Finding Your Roots, how he both appreciated and struggled with having a dreamer for a dad, and the story of his parents getting twice married and divorced. Billy and Dax talk about his sentimentality sometimes sneaking up on him, wanting to create for his son the stability and consistency that he didn’t have growing up, and rebelling against his father by getting a master's degree in acting. Billy explains the galvanizing moment when he realized he wanted to pursue acting as a craft, feeling useful when he can tell a good story, and why doing television scared him when he was just starting out. This episode is sponsored by AlexaPlus. 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.

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about an unexpected orgasm. 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.

Mel Robbins (The Let Them Theory, The High 5 Habit, The 5 Second Rule) is a podcast host, entrepreneur, and best-selling author. Mel joins the Armchair Expert to discuss feeling every day in college like the only one who couldn’t make it work, how the human brain is wired to avoid what’s hard, and all the attributions kids make growing up in an unsafe environment. Mel and Dax talk about the reason getting out of bed when you don’t feel like it is a skill, why we are one decision away from a different life, and the fact that there’s always an excuse not to do something. Mel explains when she began course correcting her life one five-second interval at a time, the reality that there’s no amount of talking yourself out of what’s meant for you, and The Let Them Theory. 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.