
The Best Advice Show
The Best Advice Show is your reminder that there are weird, delightful and effective ways to make life slightly and sometimes profoundly better. In every (very short) episode of the show, a different contributor offers their take on making life more joyful, healthful and livable and it's likely gonna be something you can try today, if you want.
Latest episodes

Jan 16, 2024 • 33min
The Mortal Mingle with Zak Rosen: How To Say Goodbye To Your Pet
This episode was originally made in collaboration with Slate's excellent podcast, How To! Like many pet parents, Zak Rosen and his wife lived for years in a state of denial about their beloved dog, Rumi. Then they learned that Rottweilers only tend to live about eight to 12 years, and there was no denying it: Rumi is already in her twilight years. In the not-so-distant future, they’ll have to make some truly tough decisions.On this episode of How To!, Zak seeks out advice about end-of-life pet care from Dr. Ellen LaFramboise, owner of Crossroads Veterinary Hospice, and fellow pet parent Gabby Santos, who shares how she prepared for the death of her 18-year-old miniature pinscher, Bob’i. Their conversation might change the way you think about your furry pal’s final days (and maybe even your own).If you liked this episode, check out “How To Get Your Dog To Stop Barking (Without Barking Back).”Podcast production by Zak Rosen, Rosemary Belson, Derek John, Joel Meyer, and Merritt Jacob.
---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Jan 11, 2024 • 10min
The Mortal Mingle with Kathy Benjamin: Planning Your Funeral
Kathy Benjamin has worked as a writer and editor since 2009 for major sites including MentalFloss.com and Cracked.com. She is currently a writer and editor for Grunge.com. Offline, she’s contributed articles to mental_floss magazine and Reader’s Digest. Her specialties are history, royalty, Christianity, and death, but always with a dash of funny.In 2013, Kathy wrote Funerals to Die For: The Craziest, Creepiest, and Most Bizarre Funeral Traditions and Practices Ever (Adams Media). She also contributed to Cracked.com’s publication The De-Textbook: The Stuff You Didn't Know About the Stuff You Thought You Knew (Plume, 2013). Her latest book, It's Your Funeral!: Plan the Celebration of a Lifetime -- Before it's Too Late (Quirk).Kathy has turned her hand to fiction with the recently completed Area 54, a humorous science fiction novel about disco, drugs, and aliens. She has also written four children's books, which are about absolutely none of those things.She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, Simon, and her dog, Briscoe.---Support Zak and the production of The Best Advice Show by becoming a Patron today!
---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Jan 9, 2024 • 17min
The Mortal Mingle with Melanie Davenport: A Place For Our Grief
Melanie Davenport is the Abbot of the Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple in Detroit and a therapist with a psychodynamic, holistic, and mindfulness-based approach to healing.*This series is dedicated to the memory of Sam Woll. May her memory be a revolution.
---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Dec 26, 2023 • 31min
Where We've Been and Where We're Going
Today's episode, a re-run from last year at this time, featured Rabbi Yoni Dahlen, Dr. Erika Bocknek, Michael Franti, Jaye Johnson, Shari Colton, Eric Colton, Caveh Zahedi, Rob Walker, Jessi Hempel, Kevin Kelly, Dan Messé, Ned Specktor, Holly Wren Spaulding, Jo Strausz Rosen, Erica Heilman, Grace Bonney, Rikke Houde, Laura Hawley, Lucy Anderton
---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Dec 21, 2023 • 7min
This Advice from an 8th Grader is LITTY
Natalie is an 8th grader living in Texas.---Meal Planning with Dr. Michael StrauszLeavening with Dr. Michael StrauszHow to Achieve Easy Umami Flavors with Dr. Michael Strausz
---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Dec 19, 2023 • 5min
Offer Cozy Vibes with Katie Triest
Katie Triest is a bird educator and coziness expert living in Telluride, Colorado.
---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Dec 14, 2023 • 8min
You Are Powerless with Natalie Ruskin
Natalie Ruskin works work with purpose-driven people who want to thrive in work & wellbeing. At the heart of her work is the belief that transformation is possible. She hosts the podcast A Success Of Our Own.
---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Dec 12, 2023 • 7min
On Learning to Let Go with Shelby Jouppi
Shelbby Jouppi is a freelance data journalist based in Denver, Colorado. She's here to help local newsrooms find creative ways to bolster their community reporting with data collection, analysis and visualization.
---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Dec 7, 2023 • 3min
Give Money to Strangers with Gregg LeFevre
Gregg LeFevre is a longtime New Yorker with a passion for storytelling. Through writing, art, and conversations with friends and strangers he has always practiced the art of a good story. In his public art commissions, he has found ways to celebrate the collective stories of others, as well as sharing the personal stories he has lived.
---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Dec 5, 2023 • 4min
Guilt-Free Gift Giving and Receiving with Erin Bicknese
Erin Bicknese is a professional home organizer. She was last on the show talking about International Tell Your Crush Day. Hear that episode here. Work with Erin on nesting services to clear the clutter and center what's sacred to you!---Get Zak a Chanukah gift by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron today!
---Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Fill out the TBAS listener survey to help Zak get to know you better.https://forms.gle/f1HxJ45Df4V3m2Dg9---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST or email him a voice-memo at ZAK@bestADVICE.show---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow