Mental Health Comedy

Melissa’s imagination, creative and poetic spirit saved her life. As a kid and up until the past four years, even though she has built one of the most successful toy companies in the world, raised 6 great kids and married to a wonderful partner in Doug; she was existenially depressed with a lot of anxiety … Continue reading Melissa Bernstein – Toy Story → See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/pr...

So Barry Katz has managed, produced and been in the comedy world for a long time. I could list his accomplishments, his podcast Industry Standard or a million other things he;s done. But what is so interesting, is his sense of calm. This is what has seen him through his career through many personal tragedies, … Continue reading Barry Katz – The King of Calmedy → See Privacy Policy at https://art19...

I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. And that will be reflected in these delicious show notes. There’s only one Judy Gold. Emmy Award winning writer, Author of her latest book “Yes I Can Say That-when they come for comedians, we are all in trouble”, host of the KILL ME NOW podcast, now writing … Continue reading Judy Gold – For Cryin’ Out Loud → See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privac...

Jimmy Pardo is never not funny (which is his podcast-and one of the most popular and longest running in the world). It’s a lot of fun talking with him and in this epsiode, Jimmy talks about anticipatory anxiety in going to parties, and I talk about the anxiety I feel of re-entering the world as … Continue reading Jimmy Pardo – Anticipatory Anxiety Party → See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/pr...

On this episode we explore everybody’s favorite topic REJECTION! It’s BYOE-Bring Your Own Emotions. Our guest is the great Mike Rowe. Mike has been a comic and a writer for a long time on shows like Futurama and Family Guy. He has a new book called “It’s A Funny Thing: How The Professional Comedy Business … Continue reading Mike Rowe – A Funny Thing → See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privac...

Steve is a veteran Comic, Writer, Playwright, Actor, Host and Author. Hos latest book “Point of Pines” is a serious journey into a very dark childhood with a mother who was a textbook narcissist and probably borderline personaity. In this epsiode; Steve talks about the experience of growing up with the abuse of being forced … Continue reading Steve Bluestein – Turn This Mother Out! → See Privacy P...

I loved talking to Steve. A real pleasure getting to know someone I’ve been a fan of for so many years or radio. So good when you get to know people behind their work. In this episode, we explore what it’s like to be bipolar, to be fully yourself on and off Mic. Steve has … Continue reading Steve Mason – Radiohead → See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at h...

Merrill is a legend, and so funny and interesting to talk with. We talked about her childhood and how growing up with a narcissist mom affected her, falling in love with a childhood nazi and more. These are just a couple of the subjects in her graphic novel based on her grade school diaries called … Continue reading Merrill Markoe – You Are Smarter Than a 5th Grader → See Privacy Policy at https:/...

This is a great story of how a person can change their life completely and find something they love. That person is Madeleine Smithberg. She tells the story of a breakup that happened years ago and reconnecting with her former boyfriend 30 years later and relocating to marry him and move to Seattle. There; Mad … Continue reading Madeleine Smithberg – Getting Mad → See Privacy Policy at https://art...

Amber is a good friend and one of the few people I talk with fairly regularly. She is uniquely creative, darkly funny and honest; and wrote a terrific book called Sober Stick Figure a few years ago. I love the book, but we’ve never really talked with her about her experience with alcoholism, being in … Continue reading Amber Tozer – Hi Sobriety → See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and...

I really enjoyed this show, Laura made us laugh hard; wickedly, brilliantly funny and a great brain that almost exploded due to an aneurysm. Jennifer talked about skills for taking care of yourself mentally when you’re hurting physically. How Laura’s husband Garrett saved her life by getting her to talk a drive with him. But … Continue reading Laura Kightlinger – Aneurysm Shmaneurysm → See Privacy...

This is a powerful show. There are a few major themes: Racism and Violence, The Influence of Suli’s mentor Garry Shandling and Self Care through trauma. Suli is a comedian, writer, producer and director. He’s written for shows like The Tonight Show, SNL and The Espy Awards. He’s acted on many shows including The Larry … Continue reading Suli McCullough – Racism, Self-Care & Garry → See Privacy...

I’ve always been a fan of Blaine’s. I like him as a person, I like him as a performer and a writer. In this show we talk about in no particular order: Life as the dad of a 7 year old who was roaming the halls of Luigi’s Mansion wearing headphones as we talked. We … Continue reading Blaine Capatch – Happy-Go-Daddy → See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at ht...

Laura is a writer on shows like Mom, The George Lopez Show and recently; The Secret Life of Boys for the BBC; a meditation teacher (taught me and Eddie Pepitone, so many), a comic and the co-host of her new podcast Tiny Victories with Annabelle Gurwich. More on that shortly. In this episode though, she … Continue reading Laura House – Life & Death & Stuff → See Privacy Policy at https://ar...

If you’re exhausted, mentally drained and ready to lay down, this is your show! Great conversations and skills to get you through holidays or any day. Mo Collins talks about how she deals with morning pandemic panic and classic comedy stories about Parks & Rec + 40 Year Old Virgin. Gareth Reynolds talks relationships, intimacy, … Continue reading Holidazing Special – Mo Collins, Gareth Reynold...

This is a good one, just a really good conversation between Mary Lynn, Jennifer and me. Mary Lynn Rajskub is a wildly creative, imaginative comic, actress and person. Sure, Chloe on “24” and work on It’s Always Sunny, Little Miss Sunshine, Punch Drunk Love to name a few of many. She shares stuff about not … Continue reading Mary Lynn Rajskub – Know No’s (Young Finkelstein) → See Privacy Policy at...

Howie Mandel, Judd Apatow, Kevin Pollak, Phil Rosenthal, Cathy Ladman, Wendy Liebman, Kira Soltanovich and Wayne Federman! In this very very special episode, we share some of our amazing guests and the fact that no matter who you are, we are all in this together trying to deal and heal with pandemically insane struggle! You’ll … Continue reading Strugglefest 2020 Special! → See Privacy Policy at h...

There is only one Maria Bamford. Nobody is brighter, sunnier and more articulate about the often dark corridors of mental struggle. Listening to her is a joy, she’s just very honest and real about herself. We talk about her latest comedy special “Weakness Is The Brand” on Amazon Prime; https://www.amazon.com/Maria-Bamford-Weakness-Brand/dp/B0814NP31Z commenting on herself while performing. … Conti...

Teresa is an Emmy winning writer, a TV host, journalist, mom of 2 boys, has worked with Adam Carolla on his show, and has a podcast with Gina Grad called Easy Listening. We talk about a lot with Jennifer including how to teach kids who are struggling to reach for one small slightly better thought … Continue reading Teresa Strasser – Take Me Out To The Emotional Ballgame → See Privacy Policy at htt...

Great show as usual with Eddie. No one brings the spiritual, the horror and the peace better. In this episode Jennifer gives us some perspective on food and mood, being conscious about the good things our bodies do for us, rather than beat the crap out of ourselves. Ok, myself! Ok, it’s my fault! And … Continue reading Eddie Pepitone – Gimme Shelter/Skills for Body, Mind and Spirit → See Privacy P...

We talk about election fallout and listening skills. Jennifer and I role play Republicans and Democrats, first not listening to each other and then trying some empathetic listening. 75 Million are experiencing joy and 70 million have loss. And there’s very little connection between these two extremes. Peter is a great standup, actor, writer, producer, … Continue reading Peter Spruyt – Election 2/J...

It’s election exstressaganza week. Carlos Alazraqui is a terrific voice actor, comic, improviser, dad… the voice of Rocko on Rocko’s Modern Life, Detective Garcia on Reno 911, many more. Ever since I’ve known him, he’s been constantly creating. In this episode we look into reactions and where they come from. Jennifer works on skills for … Continue reading Carlos Alazraqui – Election Stress Insider...

Chuck and Danielle are two multi- talented comedy writers and comics. We talked election chaos, media overwhelm and how this kind of chaos and stress affects our thinking and things we can do to deal and get a semblance of sanity. You don’t usually see a lot of podcasts that use a word like “semblance.” … Continue reading Chuck Sklar & Danielle Koenig – Election Chaos & Head Sanitizer → Se...

In addition to being the co-host of a very popular podcast called The Dollop along with Dave Anthony; Gareth is a standup, writer and actor. Let me explain that the title of the show is about the fact that he kept talking about his love and envy for The Rock, and that we did some … Continue reading Gareth Reynolds – The Rock & Role Play → See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Cal...

We went from you can’t handle the truth to you can’t find the truth in this country. David Earl Waterman has had a really interesting life; starting with growing up in a mixed race Brady Bunch. His white mom with 3 kids, remarried a black man with 3 kids, and that’s how he was raised. … Continue reading David Earl Waterman – Black & Whiteness → See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy a...