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John Moe

Maximum Fun

Join host John Moe (The Hilarious World of Depression) for honest, relatable, and, yes, sometimes funny conversations about mental health. Hear from comedians, musicians, authors, actors, and other top names in entertainment and the arts about living with depression, anxiety, and many other common disorders. Find out what they’ve done to address it, what worked, and what didn’t. Depresh Mode also features useful insights on mental health issues with experts in the field. It’s honest talk from people who have been there and know their stuff. No shame, no stigma, and more laughs than you might expect.

Depresh Mode with John Moe

Alex Edelman loves going to concerts but admits that he usually goes solo. That’s because his ADHD leads Alex to show up pretty late to the show and he often spends part of it on the stairs writing something, occasionally darting into the main room for a song he likes. He can’t make it through most movies either. Alex stars in the new Peacock series The Paper, a sort of descendant of The Office. His one-man show, Just For Us, about his semi-anonymous visit to a Queens white nationalist meeting, was a Broadway hit and adapted into an HBO special, picking up a Tony and an Emmy. Alex talks about his work, his mind, the strength and fragility of his psyche, and the significance of Adam Brace, his show’s original director who passed away. 

(As mentioned on the show)

Wits Reunion Show at the Fitzgerald Theater

John Moe’s writing classes at the Loft Literary Center

Math Emergency Farewell Show at the Amsterdam Bar and Hall

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.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Alex Edelman on ADHD, Grief, Infiltrating White Nationalists, and The Paper

If you’re looking for a calm mind, do you love a room with little or nothing in it? Or do you need to be wall-to-ceiling with mementos and objects and stuff to give you a sense of peace? We take a look at how the layout of your living space may have an effect on your mental well being with Dr. Beverly Walpole. She’s a clinical psychologist and the founder of Haven | Wellness By Design, a consulting service based around the psychology of design. We talk about the idea of attachment to objects and whether getting rid of them through decluttering will give liberation and ease or terror and sadness. Then, John Moe brings an annual social media mental health reflection to the podcast and offers some insight on the importance of mental health awareness and how to fight back against the forces that can make you feel worse.

(As mentioned on the show)

Wits Reunion Show at the Fitzgerald Theater

John Moe’s writing classes at the Loft Literary Center

Math Emergency Farewell Show at the Amsterdam Bar and Hall

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.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Better Home Design for Better Mental Health with Dr. Beverly Walpole

When she was growing up in conservative, evangelical rural Minnesota, she knew. When she was excelling at sports, giving and receiving body slams and folding chair hits as a pro wrestler, she knew. Even when she married a woman while still living as a man, Denise knew that she was female. Denise figured it was either suicide or take action to live her truth and fully transition. With her debut special, Bougie on a Budget, now streaming on Apple TV Plus and Amazon Prime, Denise opens up her gender journey and the joys and challenges she faced along the way. She reveals that her standup career took off when she acknowledged her transgender status on stage. Denise also discusses her life with fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that causes not just constant body pain and migraines but also depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.

(As mentioned on the show)

Wits Reunion Show at the Fitzgerald Theater

John Moe’s writing classes at the Loft Literary Center

Math Emergency Farewell Show at the Amsterdam Bar and Hall

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.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Denise Winkelman: Comedian/Trans Woman/Former Pro Wrestler/Chronic Pain Sufferer

There are plenty of places online to get very serious information on mental health, delivered in tones that are somber, sober, or very dry. Ashly Burch goes a different route on her new YouTube show, I’m Happy You’re Here, employing loads of comedy, puppets, foul language, and mature subject matter to teach what’s going on in complex matters such as anxiety. Ashly is known for her work in the games Fortnite, Life is Strange, and The Last of Us Part II, as well as television series like Mythic Quest and Adventure Time. We talk with Ashly about her lifelong anxiety, her experiences with eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, and the importance of demystifying mental health conditions as a way of understanding them.

(As mentioned on the show)

Wits Reunion Show at the Fitzgerald Theater

John Moe’s writing classes at the Loft Literary Center

Math Emergency Farewell Show at the Amsterdam Bar and Hall

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.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Ashly Burch Delivers Mental Health Insight Using Puppets and Swear Words

Because she racks up millions and millions of views for her viral comedy videos on social media, because she’s written two books including the new best-seller A Clean Mess: A Memoir of Sobriety After a Lifetime of Being Numb, because she’s famous and successful, Tiffany Jenkins and her family were invited to travel to California and visit Lego Land. They paid her to have a wonderful vacation. On the ground at Lego Land, the first thing Tiffany did was have a complete anxiety-related panic attack. That’s because Tiffany has an anxiety disorder. And mental health is tricky, doesn’t care about your success, and it sneaks up on you.

Tiffany is taking time off from producing and promoting her work to focus on her mental health, but she takes some time to talk with us. We discuss how her addiction emerged, how it led to stealing guns from her copy boyfriend and selling them for drugs, which landed her in jail, and how she built a community of stable support in her recovery. We also get into her childhood of fearing someone would die, her obsessive fear of her disease, and her recent pondering whether everyone would be better off without her around.

(As mentioned on the show)

Wits Reunion Show at the Fitzgerald Theater

John Moe’s writing classes at the Loft Literary Center

Math Emergency Farewell Show at the Amsterdam Bar and Hall

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.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Author/Comedian Tiffany Jenkins on Anxiety, Addiction, Felonies, Success, and Not Wanting to Exist

If you’ve dealt with depression, you know that it’s a disorder that speaks to you, firing off insults and terrible idea, often right in the middle of a conversation. Barges in to tear you down. We all must contend with this rude presence. Aaron Foster is a very funny comedian who is still fairly new to the full-time comedy life but, now in his fifties, he’s done a lot of living to inform his comic material. Much of his recent act is centered on a fairly recent diagnosis of major depressive disorder, a condition that he has likely lived with for a very long time. Aaron grew up with an abusive father with bipolar disorder and a brother with schizophrenia who eventually took his own life. Aaron hosted a show on HGTV, opened two restaurants, and made a living as a visual artist for many years. But all the while, comedy called to him. Something about how comedians seemed to make sense of the world appealed to him and after dabbling in standup earlier in life, he has now taken the plunge to dedicate his energy to it. In a moving and personal conversation, Aaron’s depression makes a few appearances but we’re always able to catch it and put it in its place.

(As mentioned on the show)

Wits Reunion Show at the Fitzgerald Theater

John Moe’s writing classes at the Loft Literary Center

Math Emergency Farewell Show at the Amsterdam Bar and Hall

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.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

We Have Two Guests This Week: Comedian Aaron Foster and His Depression

To blow off steam from an incredibly stressful profession, professional nurse Blake Lynch started putting together little comedy videos on social media as “Nurse Blake”. The clips went viral and he started making live comedy appearances to packed audiences, many of whom were nurses themselves. His celebrity status gave him a chance to lobby for better pay and working conditions for nurses. As Nurse Blake prepares for a 68-city tour, he talks about the conversion therapy his parents sent him to in order to switch him from gay to straight (it didn’t work), his eye-opening experiences with panic attacks, and the time he spent in a mental health rehab facility following his divorce. After many years taking care of other people as part of his job, the rehab was a chance to take care of himself and his own mental health.

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.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Nurse Blake on Gay Conversion Therapy, Panic Attacks, and, Well, Nursing

Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale has a lot of memories from growing up as a kid who excelled at sports but also treasured his Lou Reed records. He is also keenly aware of who left during those years: his mother disappearing after divorcing his dad, a beloved aunt passing away, and a revered older sister striking out on her own. Those losses informed his mental health for the rest of his life but so did the understanding of his emotional makeup left in the wake. Gavin tells us about that, the prescription pill dependency he contended with, and the lessons about mental health he imparts now to his four children. We also hear some music from Bush’s new album I Survived Loneliness and get an explanation for the album’s somewhat cheeky title.

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.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Gavin Rossdale of Bush on Loss, Xanax, and New Emotional Landscapes

Jen slept fine the night before she couldn’t. Just short of 29 years old and after years of excellent sleep, insomnia entered her life leading her down a years-long search for cures, treatments, or even just an explanation of why her life had been turned upside down. Jen Senior is the author of an article, “Why Can’t Americans Sleep?” in the Atlantic and she joins us to talk about the intersection of sleep, depression, anxiety, shame, and so much more. We also discuss sleeping pills, antidepressants, and CBT-I, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia.

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.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Insomnia and Mental Health Problems: Each Horrible, Each Feeding the Other

Brandon Stickney remembers booze being everywhere growing up in Lockport, New York and he definitely remembers getting a taste for it growing up. Over time, he developed bipolar disorder and his substance use disorder added cocaine and opioids as favorite drugs. Brandon’s love of getting high would cost him his marriage, his successful career as a journalist and author, and his freedom, after getting busted selling drugs and being sentenced to two years in prison. He tells us about what it’s like to live with mental health issues behind bars, how both prescription drugs and illicit narcotics work there, and he tells the stories of people who helped him get through. Brandon’s memoir of the experience is The Five People You Meet In Prison. Brandon lives in Florida now with his father and is working hard on his sobriety.

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.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Prison, Addiction, Bipolar, and Four Loko with Author Brandon Stickney

Hari Kondabolu has never been afraid to talk about sensitive topics on stage. The veteran comedian, who has appeared on Conan, Kimmel, Letterman, and NPR’s Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me mined material about race, immigration, and other societal hot button issues. But unlike some comedians, he was hesitant to discuss himself and in particular the depression that has followed him for years. He goes there in this interview that also includes exploration of panic attacks, the ups and downs of therapy, and how Seattle helped him become who he wanted to be.

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.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Hari Kondabolu’s Life Was Transformed in Seattle

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