Depresh Mode with John Moe

The Greek gods, as depicted in Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus series, are far from stately and dignified. Indeed, they’re neurotic, depressed, and anxious. They’re gossipy and bitter and nasty and petty sometimes. Probably some legit mental disorders banging around, some trauma likely in there as well. In other words, they’re pretty human.Rachel Smythe tells us why mythology has always spoken so deeply to her, what she learned from being a social pariah in school, and how she’s handling international fame and being a number one New York Times best-selling author.Along the way, we talk about  making art and depression and ADHD and night terrors. And trauma. And being a workaholic.Get your copies of Rachel Smythe's Lore Olympus books and pre-order Volume 4 wherever books are sold. Read Lore Olympus online at Webtoon.com or on the Webtoon app. Follow Rachel on Twitter @used_bandaid and on Instagram @usedbandaid.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!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: 988 or 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepressionFind the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

It was pretty simple in comedian and writer Zach Zimmerman’s mind when he was a kid: you had to accept Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior or you would spend all eternity being tortured in the fiery pits of Hell. And he wanted to do that accepting. Problem was, God never spoke to young Zach or gave him any indication that he was saved. No revelatory ecstatic church service or voice from beyond to give Zach a sign, just constant doubt and terror.And that can mess someone up. Zach struggled for years with depression and anxiety.His mental health took a further hit when a close friend was killed in what was the largest mass shooting in American history at the time.Zach got to college at Princeton and in short order figured out that he was atheist and vegetarian and that the guys playing volleyball shirtless outside his dorm were pretty darn attractive.Now a successful author, Zach has received good therapy and can reflect on the experiences that formed his frame of mind.Preorder your copy of Zach's book, Is It Hot in Here (or Am I Suffering for All Eternity for the Sins I Committed on Earth)?, due April 18, 2023, wherever books are sold. For tour dates and more information about Zach, visit his website www.Zach-Zimmerman.com. Follow Zach on Twitter @zzdoublezz.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!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: 988 or 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepressionFind the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

Enjoy the debut episode of John Moe's new sleep-aid podcast Sleeping with Celebrities and be sure to subscribe!Andy Daly is a comedian, actor, and podcaster. He starred on the Comedy Central series “Review” and was a supporting actor on HBO’s “Eastbound and Down” as well as a cast member on “MadTV.”Like many people, Andy has a yard at his home and is thus charged with the task of taking care of it. To do this, he sets aside about half a day per week, although that day varies because Andy’s weekly schedule is somewhat erratic.Andy Daly’s yard has some day lilies, which he does not particularly enjoy, and some olive trees. Andy likes olives but finds the process of turning an olive from his own tree into an olive he can eat to be pretty challenging because it turns out it takes several steps. Once when he was a boy, his parents gave him some olives as a birthday present because they knew how much he liked olives and they thought it would be funny. Andy didn’t think it was all that funny but they gave him other gifts too so don’t worry. He thinks it would be hard to kill someone with a weed whacker but he’s willing to speculate on how that might happen.He hopes you sleep well and have pleasant dreams.Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you’d like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber?Email us at:  sleepwithcelebs@maximumfun.org.Follow the Show on:Instagram @sleepwcelebsTwitter @SleepWithCelebsTikTok @SleepWithCelebsJohn is on Twitter @johnmoe.John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback.

If you’ve listened to our show before, you know that we recommend a period of trial and error to find a mental health treatment that works best for you. Nothing works for everyone, after all, so you have to see what you respond to. Neal Brennan is the embodiment of that concept and in this interview he reports back on how well or poorly it went for him trying Freudian therapy, antidepressants, transcranial magnetic stimulation, a special kind of TMS available in China, ketamine, ayahuasca, 5 MeO-DMT, and other solutions. The good news: Neal’s mental health is doing much better than it had been.The not-so-good news: he went through some mind-blowingly bad horrific experiences along the way.Neal’s latest standup special, Blocks, is available now on Netflix.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!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: 988 or 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepressionFind the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

The title of KC Davis’s book paints a pretty vivid picture of what her work is about: How To Keep House While Drowning, subtitled “a gentle approach to cleaning and organizing.” KC, a therapist and podcaster, specializes in helping people who have dealt with mental disorders, trauma, postpartum, and other issues but who are still faced with piles of laundry and dishes that need to be addressed. She joins us on a room by room tour of an imagined house to figure out how to take on care tasks while caring for yourself.Get your copy of How To Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing wherever books are sold. Learn more about KC at her website, www.StruggleCare.com and listen to her podcast, Struggle Care with KC Davis, wherever fine pods are cast. Follow KC on Instagram @strugglecare.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!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: 988 or 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepressionFind the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

In many ways, Christian Finnegan’s earlier career path made a lot more sense given the path he has traveled. He went to NYU, tried and then dropped acting, and then set out to be a very serious writer and artist. He worked in publishing and fancied a career where his writing would be at the center of his work, possibly as a monologist but never as a stand-in-front-of-a-brick-wall comedian. The serious path would make sense given that Christian reached he has experienced some serious stuff: the death of both his older brother and his younger brother, a mother who was unstable and dealing with some mental health issues, an alcoholic father. Whether it’s despite the difficult times he had or maybe because of them, Christian did enter the world of standup comedy where he’s been performing for many years, in specials on Amazon, on several comedy albums and on shows like Best Week Ever, Conan, and The Today Show. He has acted on Chappelle’s Show and The Good Wife. Watch Christian Finnegan's newest stand-up special, Show Your Work, on Amazon Prime.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!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: 988 or 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepressionFind the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

Chris Walla’s life today is very different from where it has been in the past. The musician and producer isn’t in the Pacific Northwest, for instance, where he grew up and lived for many years. He’s in Trondheim, Norway, where he is putting down roots and continues to compose and produce. And while that happens, Death Cab for Cutie, the band he co-founded in the 1990s, is in the midst of a 71-stop international tour.In this interview, Chris talks about music instructors and academic experiences that didn’t quite kill his love of making music. He weighs the thrill of playing music with his friends to the painful drudgery of touring and the experience of losing connection with the songs. And he details his struggles with depression, alcohol, and, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the nagging feeling that people don’t really want to hear what he makes.Learn more about Chris Walla and his Seattle recording studio by visiting HallOfJusticeRecording.com. Listen to Chris Walla's music on the streaming service of your choice. Follow Chris on Twitter @calculizer.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!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: 988 or 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepressionFind the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

Veteran podcaster Lauren Ober suspected something was up and that it went beyond covid stress and professional stress and all the other reasons she had been going to therapy for so long. She had been a journalist for many years and her instinct for the story led her to start piecing together that the life she had been experiencing all this time fit the profile of autism. Well spoiler alert, she tested and found out that, yeah, she’s on the autism spectrum. Then it was a matter of finding therapy that took into her account her neurodivergent brain so she could make some progress. We talk with Lauren about her mental health and her neurological condition.And we talk with Finn Gratton, a therapist who is autistic and who works with a lot of clients who are as well. They discuss the issue of masking, pretending to not be neurodivergent in a world designed for the neurotypical, and why they don’t believe autism is a disorder.Listen to Lauren Ober's podcast, The Loudest Girl in the World, wherever fine pods are cast. Learn more about Lauren by visiting OberandOut.com. Follow Lauren on Twitter @OberandOut and Instagram @oberandout.Learn more about Finn Gratton and their work by visiting GrattonPsychotherapy.com.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!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: 988 or 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepressionFind the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

Kate Beaton’s new book, Ducks, is not about ducks. At least not really. It’s about people, specifically Kate and the people she worked with during a two-year period after finishing university, working in the remote oil sands region of northern Alberta, Canada.The camps at the oil sands housed hundreds of employees and they were not an easy place to be, filled with depression, broken marriages, and rampant substance use. Kate was one of only a handful of women working at the oil sands, a fact that introduced a number of other problems.Get your copy of Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands wherever books are sold.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!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: 988 or 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepressionFind the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

It’s easy to assume that the life of Paulina Porizkova has always been an easy one. Most people first knew her as an internationally famous model, posing on the covers of fashion magazines and Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues. She married a rock star, Ric Ocasek of The Cars, whom she met while filming a music video for the band. Seems like the sweetest life possible, right? Well, not so fast.Paulina tells stories in this interview that show another story. She was orphaned in Czechoslovakia at age three when her parents fled to Sweden, left with her grandmother, then torn away from her grandmother at age nine to be reunited with her parents in Sweden just as their marriage was collapsing. She talks about being a teenage model in Paris, not knowing that what was happening was sexual harassment or assault. And she tells the story of her marriage to and divorce from the late Ric Ocasek, who left her out of his will.Not so glamorous, really.Get your copy of Paulina Porizkova's memoir No Filter: The Good, The Bad, and The Beautiful wherever books are sold. Follow Paulina on Instagram and Twitter @paulinaporizkova and @paulinaporizkova.Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.Check out our I'm Glad You're Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!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: 988 or 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 now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepressionFind the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.John is on Twitter @johnmoe.