Depresh Mode with John Moe

(takes a moment to secure tongue firmly in cheek)It would be rude to make fun of Josh Gondelman just because he’s a little strange. Or not strange. Instead, we’re going to learn from Josh about his career, his life, and how, even though he’s very bad at dancing he does it anyway. Then our pal comedian Gary Gulman for a response to what we heard. Gary is arguably the king of depressed comedy, having taken off the issue in his special The Great Depresh.Follow Josh Gondelman and Gary Gulman on Twitter @joshgondelman and @GaryGulman. Visit JoshGondelman.com and GaryGulman.com for tour dates, books, and more.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.Help is available right away.The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

Ivan Maisel’s words have been available to the general public for decades. It’s just that those words have tended to be about what’s happening with the Crimson Tide’s offense or who got the head coach job at UCLA. And although his work as a college football reporter is important to him, Ivan’s writing about his late son, Max Maisel, goes infinitely deeper.Max died by suicide in 2015. Max’s death, and more so his life, are the subject of I Keep Trying To Catch His Eye, Ivan Maisel’s new memoir. Ivan has decided to be very open about everything including Max’s neurodivergence, his depression, the weight of grief and guilt that followed his death, and the conscious effort to move forward with full descriptions of everything.Ivan’s story is often sad, because of course it is, but it’s not really about sadness. It’s about accepting the incomprehensible and leaning on love.Get your copy of I Keep Trying To Catch His Eye: A Memoir of Loss, Grief, and Love wherever books are sold. Follow Ivan on Twitter @Ivan_Maisel.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.Help is available right away.The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

You’ve seen John Ross Bowie on a screen before. I’m sure of it. Maybe it was the Big Bang Theory or Curb Your Enthusiasm or some of the other eight zillion credits he has. John’s been dealing with depression and anxiety even longer than he’s been an actor, which has meant guiding a complicated brain across uncertain situations for quite a while. And maybe, if we believe the forecasts about the gig economy, a lot more of us will be living a similar lifestyle before too long. No, we won’t all be on tv shows but you know what I mean. John gives us some applicable wisdom.Morra Aarons-Mele is the host of The Anxious Achiever podcast and has spent a lot of time in both traditional and self-employed jobs. And she’s been battling a nasty depression as well. Morra talks about some specific techniques for not letting your anxious brain take over. You’ll learn exactly how to figure out what to put on the piece of paper you tape to the wall in front of you.Listen to Household Faces and The Anxious Achiever on the podcatcher of your choice. Follow Household Faces and Morra Aarons-Mele on Twitter @HouseholdFaces and @morraam.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.Help is available right away.The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

Maddy Myers, a gaming journalist and co-host of the Triple Click podcast, shares insights on how video games address mental health authentically. She discusses titles like Depression Quest and Celeste, which represent struggles with depression through gameplay and art. Gregory Lobanov, an independent game designer known for Chicory: A Colorful Tale, explores the nuances of depicting mental health and creativity in gaming. They highlight the power of indie games to convey personal, emotional stories that resonate deeply with players.

Forming emotional bonds with fellow human beings is one of the most basic instincts we have. There’s a primal urge to attach yourself to others, for safety, for mating purposes, or hell just to have lunch. But just because that desire is present doesn’t mean that it’s easy or even inevitable to actually form those connections. At the same time, we’re all going to spend some time alone. Maybe in brief moments, maybe for very long stretches. Comedian, actor, and writer Lane Moore thinks about these things a lot. She is perhaps best known for Tinder Live, a touring series of live shows where she checks out profiles of men looking for connections and provides live commentary and live swiping before an audience. She finds that most people are pretty nice, honest people but that some of them do some pretty weird stuff. Stuff like posing for their profile pictures while covered in blood, naked, next to a deer they killed. Or being naked except for a strategically placed top hat. She tours with the show a lot but has also given quite a bit of thought to the other side of the coin and has written a book titled “How To Be Alone.”Lane shares her thoughts on all this plus living with complex post-traumatic stress disorder in a deeply personal conversation that’s valuable if you’ve ever been alone or with someone else. Which covers everyone, I’m pretty sure.Also, stick around after the main interview for a meditation minute with our pal Laura House.Visit Lane's website at lanemoore.org or her Linktree at linktr.ee/hellolanemoore for tour dates, her book, and more. Follow Lane on Twitter @hellolanemoore and on Instagram @hellolanemoore. Understanding Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: https://www.healthline.com/health/cptsdThank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.Help is available right away.The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

Depresh Mode with John Moe and Go Fact Yourself got together to celebrate MaxFun Block Party!If you enjoyed this conversation we had with host J. Keith van Straaten, be sure to subscribe to Go Fact Yourself on maximumfun.org.

Amos Lee has a wonderfully smooth singing voice and plays the acoustic guitar beautifully. And if you never paid attention to his lyrics, you might even find his music to soothing and mellow. If you do lean into his lyrics a little and if you open yourself up to his tone and phrasing, you will soon find references to pain, loneliness, depression, anxiety, and trauma. This is especially the case on Amos’s upcoming album, Dreamland. He says he’s more comfortable talking about that side of himself now than on the other seven albums he’s released dating back to 2005.In this interview, Amos shares plenty, including how he went from being a second grade teacher named Ryan Massaro to being a musical sensation named Amos Lee pretty much in one night. We also hear about a pivotal mental health crisis in college that realigned his priorities and how he made a woman in hospice dance when she didn’t think she wanted to.Visit Amos Lee's website and listen to Shoulda Known Better and Worry No More at www.amoslee.com. Follow Amos on Twitter @amoslee and Instagram @am0slee.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.Help is available right away.The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

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 when he was around ten years old, which evolved into two hospital stays, the second of which involved electroconvulsive therapy. That treatment wiped out the depression but wiped out a big chunk of his memory in the process.Get your copy of It Never Ends: A Memoir With Nice Memories! at www.tomwroteabook.com or wherever books are found. Follow Tom on Twitter @scharpling.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.Help is available right away.The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

World Mental Health Day is this coming weekend and Depresh Mode host John Moe is feeling a bit reflective. When your job involves talking about mental health all the time, every day is kind of World Mental Health Day. All the ones ending in Y anyway. In this special bonus episode, John narrows down what could have been a list of hundreds of important things to know to just six. It was hard to pack in. He was shooting for three or four. Please listen to the episode for full elaboration but you should know certain things. Thing 1: you’re okay. Thing 2: not you’re fault. Thing 3: shit’s fucked up. Thing 4. Depression lies. Thing 5: don’t get hung up on terms. Thing 6: actively seek hope. Join us for a mini-episode and then all your mental health issues will be solved forever. Well, maybe not, but it might he helpful.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.Help is available right away.The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

Alison Rosen cautions us to not read too much into the title of her show. It’s really just an expression that was popular in slang vernacular a few years ago when the podcast started. Besides, if every person listening or appearing on the show was her new best friend, that makes her pretty fickle on friendship. But the name works really well because she does things a friend should. She shares her stories, she’s vulnerable, and she genuinely cares about the person she’s talking to. In this episode, we hear how postpartum depression kicked her into taking therapy a lot more seriously. She tells us how she still struggles with not tying her quantitative measurement on a bathroom scale to her value as a person. And she shares why it didn’t really bother her when Adam Carolla called her “baby girl” as long as it was on the air.Listen to Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend on the podcatcher of your choice. Follow her podcast on Twitter @ARIYNBF and Alison herself on Twitter @AlisonRosen and Instagram @alisonrosen.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.Help is available right away.The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALKCrisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlinesThe Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.