May 22, 2024 • 31 mins
Jacqueline Novak is the co-host of the podcast “Poog,” the author of “How to Weep in Public: Feeble Offerings on Depression from One Who Knows,” and the force behind the Netflix special “Get On Your Knees” — a comedically highbrow exploration of a less-than-highbrow sex act. She talks about the act of creating something unique, and of being true to who you are. Simone fills Danielle in on a life-changing retreat.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey Bessies, Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today on the bright Side, comedian actor and writer Jacqueline
Novak is here to talk about her Netflix comedy special
It's called Get on Your Knees. Plus she shares the
most Tony Robbins thing about her. It's Wednesday, May twenty second.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I'm Danielle Robe.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
And I'm Simone Voice, and this is the bright Side
from Hello Sunshine, Simone.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I'm so happy to have you back. You just got
back from this wellness retreat.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yes, I just got back from a retreat called on Site,
and I have to say, outside of motherhood, it is
the single most transformative experience of my life. I mean,
pure magic with forty new friends.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I wish everyone could see you. You look so rejuvenated and rested.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
This is what several days of no screens, no alcohol,
clean eating, being out in the wilderness will do for you.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
What do you mean no screens? You didn't touch your
phone or a computer. I did not touch my phone
or a computer for several days. And to be honest,
I kind of feel like I'm an alien walking around
on planet Earth right now. But the irony of that
statement is I'm more human than I've ever been because
of the deep work that I did at this camp.
(01:18):
So I think I should explain the ground rules of
on site because that really gives you a taste of
what the full experience is like. So there's no screens,
there's no alcohol or drugs, there are no last names,
and no discussion of what you do for a living,
because they want everyone to be putting humanity before credentials.
They want you to come there and really rediscover who
(01:40):
you are outside of your job. For every day we
had small group therapy, and it really is like three
to six months of therapy condensed into a matter of
a few days. Is it mine body soul like do
you wake up and go for a long walk, or
is it fully group therapy?
Speaker 4 (01:59):
It's mind body soul.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Well.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I would wake up with the birds every morning. It
was so idyllic and peaceful. We would start off every
morning with a meditation. We would do yoga at night,
We had soundbats at night. We even had a silent
disco which was super fun. And this like really cathartic
release for all this hard work that we'd been doing.
But I'm not gonna like sugarcoat it at all. It
(02:22):
was it was five days of like crying our eyes out,
like everyone can only imagine weeping doing in our child work,
like these miraculous transformations and breakthroughs, and then you're all
experiencing it together. So the people that I went through
this process with, even though I had only known them
for a few days, they know me better than the
friends that I've had for several years.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Oh yeah, I can only imagine.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I think sometimes we're more willing to tell strangers our deepest,
darkest secrets than the people closest to us.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
But that was the thing that I was most scared of, Danielle.
When I went into it. I was like, so, I'm
going to this retreat. It's gonna be a bunch of
people from my industry. How do I know that I
can trust them with like my deepest darkest secrets, vulnerabilities,
my trauma. The way that they went about it, like
we fostered connection and empathetic community in really small ways first,
(03:13):
and then that facilitated opening up in a massive way.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Is there anything that you learned, any tools, any tips
that you think we could all be applying in our
day to day life.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I came away convicted by the power of screenless connection.
So I'm coming back and like ready to have phoneless
dinner parties, ready to say, like in my own home
and my family, we're going to do phoneless meal time.
Like starting small, but those small changes I think can
lead to significant improvement and just overall quality of life.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
We did one thing at the end of.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
The trip that was so powerful and everyone was crying,
of course, something called an affirmation circle.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
Have you ever done this?
Speaker 5 (04:00):
No?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Please tell me, Okay, it's this beautiful thing, and I
think this is something that we could all try to
do with our friends the next time we have a gathering.
So you create an inner circle with a bunch of chairs.
You know, however many people you have, you half that amount,
and you put half the people on the inside of
the circle. Everyone else is on the outside of the circle,
and one by one you walk around. You gently place
(04:23):
your hand on the person's shoulder in front of you,
and you just whisper and affirmation into their ear. And
while we were doing this, there was this really moving
piece of music playing. And you know, after having had
the honor of like getting to really see the humanity
of all these people, we felt equipped to really give
them an affirmation that was meaningful and had depth, and
(04:47):
it was just so beautiful to witness and see everyone
receive that.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
You are thoughtful and empowered queens.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Thank you well from one empowered queen sitting next to
me to another. You know, Simone and I love a
woman who charts her own path. So on today's show,
we're talking to a comedian who's doing comedy a little differently.
Jacqueline Novak has a Netflix special that got a ton
of buzz. It's called Get on Your Knees. Here's what
I think is so cool about this. She has been
(05:18):
working on this meticulously for over twenty years. The idea
for the special actually started as a college essay, and
then she turned it into an off Broadway show, and
now it's come to life as this comedy special that
has been widely received.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
I so admire Jacqueline's bravery and ambition in redefining comedy
in a way that feels authentic to her.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Like she is a writer at her core.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
She studied English in college, and she really brings that
grasp of language and literature and poetry to the stage
in this special. It's a super unique style of comedy.
I mean, I remember when I first watched it. I
was fascinated by her. I was completely captivated by her.
(06:05):
She has this frenetic energy as she moves across the stage.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Well, it really got me thinking, which is what I
think she wants us all to be doing, watching and
then talking about it afterwards. Because it's all about fillatio.
It is about blowjobs, and at first hearing that, you think, oh,
is it crude, And it's not. It's very poetic.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I have never seen anything like it, never seen a
ninety four minute special talking about oral sex. And you're right,
it does seem like it would be raunchy. But she's
even said, like, my parents have seen the show multiple
times and.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, that's not the point of it.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
No, it's not raunch for the sake of raunch. There's
a lot more to it.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
So we are going to get into all that and
more with Jacqueline No back after the break.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Stay with us.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
We're back with a groundbreaking comedian who is changing the
narrative around women in sex with her Netflix comedy special
Get on Your Knees. It's based on her critically acclaimed
one woman show of the same name.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
I am going to talk about the blowjobs quite a
bit tonight to the point of tedium, said one early critic.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Jacqueline Novak is an actor, writer, and stand up comic.
She's also the host of the podcast Poog with Kate Berlant,
which I love, and the author of the book How
to Weep in Public. Feeble offerings on depression from one
who knows Jacqueline, Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Thank you for having me. Hello, you are.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Having such a moment.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Your Netflix special Get on Your Knees is getting so
much attention, Simone and I couldn't stop talking about it.
And it's different than a traditional special. How do you
describe it to people?
Speaker 5 (07:54):
It depends on who I'm talking to and who I'm
trying to sell to, you know, like I'll tell you
it's anything, but to be clear, it does absolutely stand up.
I also, you know, mounted it as an off Broadway
show and definitely put it in a theater context. Point
is it's this sort of high brow show, but the
blowjob this mix of high and low. You know, it's
like very poetic and I'm sort of prudish and obsessed
(08:16):
with dignity and all this kind of stuff. But then
I'm talking about the blowjob and penis cock but from
a linguistic perspective. So it's this weird combo that usually
people are surprised by, sort of regardless of which expectation
they came in with.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
You're wearing a great T shirt and jeans in the special? Yes,
and I hope you don't take this the wrong way.
This is like a commment to me, you could have
been in like a Victorian era dress, or you could
have been in a great T shirt and jeans in
twenty twenty four. That's how timeless and flowery and poetic
the language is. To me, Oh my god, I love it.
(08:56):
I should have worn that, although it would be hard
to tour with.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Your comedic point of view is provocative, and you talk
openly about sex and sexual situations, but it's not for
shock value like you do poeticize, you unpack, you dissect
even Yeah, what's the conversation that you wanted to start
with the special?
Speaker 5 (09:17):
You know, I don't let myself think in terms like
I'm trying to start a conversation and it's too grand
And I take myself seriously in one sense, but it's
like if other people find it meaningful or great, I
can't even partake.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
In that, but like why the blowjob?
Speaker 5 (09:34):
I knew that it was something I always found compelling,
almost from a literary perspective or like a poetic perspective,
more than I really thought of it as a sort
of thing I wanted to explore my stand up because
the blowjob to me, you know, it's like sometimes hard
to remember the first time you hear about something, or
(09:54):
the first time a concept. Kind of it was this
thing that you know, I remember distinctly hearing about it
for the first time in middle school. It's like I
sort of really do remember being like, wait what, And
then in the culture of the high school it was
such a charged idea. There's something that seems so foolish
about it, sort of ridiculous, but it's also held up
(10:17):
as this cool, you know sort of thing. So it's
like I knew that it was one of these things
that I would enjoy analyzing. I say it in a
special but you know, like to the point of tedium,
I was like the blowjob just as this focal point
of almost like all these other things to be discussed about,
like feeling foolish, like how can you be a mind
and in a body? You know, how can you be
(10:39):
a thinker and partake any sort of ridiculous acts that
are relatively wordless. The blowjob sort of silences you. If
you're a talker. It's kind of you know, not your
It's like, wait what, but I like words.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
You point out the contradictions so well, and whether you
accept it or not, you are changing the conversation. And
I just want to go through some of the praise
that you've received.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
I'll take it. I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Your director Natasha Leone called get on your knees, your Opus.
Your former director John Early said, Jacqueline brings real stakes
in gravity and poetry to the mundane. Vanity Fair said,
the stage show solidified you as a comedic powerhouse. How
do you feel when you hear this praise? Are you
able to receive it?
Speaker 5 (11:22):
Oh? My god? Well, I made a point to not
read any press about it, particularly after the special was released.
It's a dangerous game taking in anything that the press,
even a ray of review. It's like, it's just this thing.
I've decided that if I let that boost me, you know,
my interior state is going to be affected by that,
(11:44):
and so then shall there be a negative press? Right?
I guess I'm trying to almost not be lifted by
the positive quotes, because if I cling too much of them,
then similarly might I cling to some devastating statement one
day that really bumps me out. But you know, when
you very safely to my emotions, just give me this
little wonderful compact. I'm like, oh, I like that.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I like it.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
That's you should.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
I want to touch on something that Simone said, which
was poetry to the mundane, because to me, that exemplifies
your work so well. I've heard you say that the
only way to tolerate our mundane existence is essentially to
make it a big deal. So you are on a
quest to make everything fun and exciting and a big deal,
even mundane things like eating dinner or giving a blowjob.
(12:32):
Why are you injecting excitement into everything right right?
Speaker 5 (12:36):
I think it's an emotional survival mechanism. I think I
figured out for myself pretty early, I guess a teenager.
When I started writing something about putting a lens on
anything like the slight at a distance that you do
when you're poeticizing something or writing a joke about it,
or writing about it at all. It made it like
suddenly the entire world has potential for you know, beauty,
(13:00):
or it does something for me in a very core
way of just relating to the world.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
It's like I remember around that time, someone's saying to me, like,
why can't you just be in the moment? Why you
gotta like make a film about it? And I was like,
it's a way for me of getting into the moment.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Well, you can tell you're highly observant, and also you
are a very thorough preparer. I was held in such
suspense when I was reading about your preparation Forget on
your Knees.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
I mean, it's so incredibly thorough.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
So four years perfecting it on a sold out theatrical tour,
five months fine tuning it in post production down to
the closed captions, making sure that those were all accurate.
I mean, I don't think there are many other comedians
out there who can call themselves this committed, I mean,
and so detail oriented. Why did you feel like the
stakes were so high with this special in particular?
Speaker 5 (13:54):
I think because it's like twenty years in the making,
and so because it was this big swing, like pretty
ambitious in the scope, and I'm going to talk to
it for ninety four minutes and I'm going to roll
around on the floor and get very sort of Shakespearean
and all that kind of stuff, but also be very
crasp I just felt like this, this is a real
laying it all out there kind of moment. And so
(14:15):
I think the anxiety of that just naturally leads to
obsessing about details because you don't really know what else
to do with that anticipatory energy. Yeah, I think there's
something to the first of anything right that you do,
Like there's no turning back from this because it's such
a big, relatively public swing.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
You know.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Well, I read that taking a big swing like this
was actually a departure from your career strategy before. This
was an epiphany that you apparently had around like twenty seventeen,
deciding that the key to your success wasn't necessarily stacking
up this cumulative luck of like small successes, small opportunities. Yeah,
but you instead pivoted to creating your own luck with
(14:57):
this big swing.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Can you talk about that a lot little bit more totally?
Speaker 5 (15:01):
It is huge, Like it was huge for me, and
it felt like it felt like an epiphany, And so
at that moment it became really clear. It was like Okay,
I want to have an especial on Netflix. But not
just that I want to have a special. I want
to have something on there that I know the people
who are meant to be my fans will become my fans,
like almost like I want to put something out there
(15:22):
that gets my people. You know, I don't expect to
get everyone. It's just so simple. But it's like, how
am I going to get it on there?
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
How do you determine what's undeniably good?
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (15:32):
No, it's a very good question.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
You know what I mean. Like I've heard entrepreneurs I
interview talk about having like their own board of directors
almost that they check in with.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Is that what you had?
Speaker 5 (15:42):
I mean I definitely had wonderful people around me, for sure.
But I think for me it was like I know,
when I have completed something or I'm excited about something,
I'm like, this is pretty good, you know. So it
was more of an internal just feeling. There was a
core kind of feeling of me doing me. You know,
like what if I go into myself and go like, okay,
(16:04):
what would be like crazy? Like you know, like what
would be scary? But if I pulled it off? What
don't I know that I could pull off? But if
I pulled it off, it would be cool mm hmm.
Because I read this in the artist's way like a
week before starting stand up in college, it was literally
like an exercise what would you do if you knew
you couldn't fail? And that sounds simple, but if you
(16:24):
actually go, wait, if I knew I couldn't fail, you
might think of something that you just have not allowed
yourself to think of before because you just are so
sure that you would fail at it that you've never
even considered it. That was kind of how I started
doing stand up. The thing I'm saying now is a
little different.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
You know.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
If I go, okay, well, what if I did a
stand up show like whatever about the blowjob, but it
were totally derangedly literary, I'm like, that would be really
cool to me if I could pull it off, that'd
be kind of thing. If I saw someone else do it,
I'd be like, Oh, I wish I did that.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I loved when I read that.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Natasha Leone said, it's very cool when people make their
work very seriously, especially.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
In the business of jokes.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
M yeah, yeah, And I'm thinking to myself all the
comedians I know actually take their work very seriously.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Yeah, you seem to.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Have taken it to a whole new level. I just
think stand ups such a huge sacrifice. You're giving your nights,
your weekends, your time, your love, sometimes you give up relationships.
I mean, the list goes on. What do you think
stand up has given you?
Speaker 5 (17:25):
You know, I do love to perform, and that feeling
and the kind of vulnerability of that sort of leaving
it all on the stage kind of thing. There's something
about that that I really enjoy. And then there's this
other thing that I value, which is my writer identity
or whatever, which is just you know, something in my
interior and connecting with other people in their interiors. Right.
(17:48):
It's like that's what writing has to do with for me, right,
And so a stand up is just this really embodied,
live version of that.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Do you think that the time that it took to
find and workshop this special how did that grow your confidence?
Speaker 5 (18:05):
It's funny. I mean going out and just sharing this
show that was this risk for me, and this really
laying it on the line of kind of who I
am and having a lot of people, you know, respond
really well in a three hundred seat theater in Minneapolis
or whatever. Right, I mean that alone, the basic simple
fact of that that massively grows my confidence, that makes
(18:26):
me go I'm on the right path for me. You know,
my boyfriend Chris Laker, he's a comedian, and we talked
about this a lot. But it's like, you know, trying
to keep your eyes on your own paper, this idea
of like no one can beat you to you. So
I think for me, just having this pleasure of doing
the show and touring it and the whole thing was
like this feedback mechanism, you know, this positive feedback mechanism,
(18:47):
almost like I was training myself to lock in the
fact that me being the most me is correct.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Yeah, that's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
In addition to being a performer, you're an author. Your book,
How to Weep in Public is all about dealing with depression.
And I really like what you said to describe part
of the book. You said, it's about how to summon
the strength to shed that bathrobe and face the world.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
It was so just perfect imagery. I thought.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
You know, I've dealt with mental health challenges myself. It's
been in my family too, and humor has always gotten
me through. How did humor get you through your time
of depression?
Speaker 5 (19:33):
Well, I think of it like it's not the cure,
but it certainly is like cigarettes in the trenches, like
from a fellow soldier, Like it's like, you know, if
you're able to access it, it's very much like I
find like a kind of here in the moment dealing
with whatever you're dealing with, or a little bit of
a an ointment or a little bit of a release
valve or a little bit of a you know, there
(19:56):
can be a weird fear if you're dealing with mental
illness that if for a moment, you transcend your own
mental illnesses, you know, worse symptoms, that somehow it's evidence
that you don't really suffer. You know, I'm putting that
in quotes, like there's a fear of almost a suspension
of the depression because you're like, wait, am I not
really clinically depressed? Then if I just laughed with my
friend or something like that. You know, but no, take
(20:19):
whatever you can get, you know, don't be ashamed to
be like cackling on the mental health ward. I guess
that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yes, I went through a phase where I was acutely depressed,
and I could only watch comedies. I could not turn
on a sad movie like I really had to laugh.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
That's fabulous. I could only watch like serial killer thrillers
in this acute period, the gruesome sort of like terror
just really brought me into my body and got me
out of my mind.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
And so it was like, yeah, treatment looks different for everyone, folks,
It's okay, we all have her oh different genres.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
You're such an imaginative thinker, so it's not surprising to
me that you would find mind this unique entry point
into a conversation about mental health. And I thought it
was so interesting that you grew up listening to Tony
Robbin's tapes with your dad.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
What's the most Tony Robbins thing about you?
Speaker 5 (21:13):
Oh my god, I mean my indomitable spirit. Well, one
thing I always appreciated about about him was that he
actually talks about, you know, being hideously depressed. You know,
he talks about being at this low point. And I
love I love when people talk about I just love it.
I Mean, the thing I would say that moved me
about Tony is like on these audio tapes that my
(21:37):
dad's friend had given my dad around, like him starting
his own business. Tony would like grow hoarse with enthusiasm,
and there's something about that that just moved me. And
it's very like thematic to my show. I love overreaching.
I love when effort is bigger than the container. So
I think the passion Tony's like, and remember live with passion,
(21:59):
and then like this music comes on, like do do
Do Do Do, and it's like it's part of me.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
I read Awaken the Giant Within, which is one of
Tony's books, and it actually really shifted my perspective on things.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
I like him a lot.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
Awaken the Giant of Inn was like the core text
for me.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, for sure, we have to take a quick break,
but we'll be right back with comedian Jacqueline Novac. We're
back with Jacqueline Novac, and I am so excited for
this part of the conversation because Jacqueline, I am such
(22:35):
a Poog fan. So for people who aren't as obsessed
with your podcast as I am, you co host Poog
with your best friend who's also a comedian, Kate Berlant,
and you try out, or you investigate every wellness trend
so that we all don't have.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
To and it is hilarious.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
But you're also genuinely a wellness girally, So we're gonna
get your opinions on some of these trends. What's worth
the hype and what can we skip?
Speaker 5 (22:59):
Oh my god? Okay, wait, it's so hard for me
to come up with one that is skip overable because
I'm like, wait, everything, come on, is on the table.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Have you done the thing where you like tint your eyebrows?
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Microblading?
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (23:12):
Okay, this stuff I can get into. Okay, I have not.
I do fear a certain kind of browl elimination.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Yes, me too.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
I think it's gonna be weird in a few years.
Like I think, I mean, there are different versions of
it for me, Like, yes, I want my eyebrows to
just be I just would love to control them, but
I think it's a risk for me.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
This is Simon and I are really.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Into doing things that we consider like maybe a little
high maintenance so that we can be low maintenance people.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
Okay, that's amazing. So you mean, like if you do
the work to go get the brow done, then you
don't have to touch your brow every day exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
So like I have laser hair removal because I shudder
at the thought of shaving every single day.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Totally okay, genius, I'm too lazy to make an appointment.
That's my problem. I'm too lazy to make an appointment.
Like I want to dry brush, but I can't seem
to make it happen. Do you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
It's the deal with dry brushing, you guys, I don't
know that I buy it.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Well, first of all, when and where because it is exfoliating.
So it's like, am I standing there if you're supposed
to do it dry, you're kind of like dryly exfoliating
it like standing in the bathroom, Like I don't know,
Like it's just like.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
It sounds very abrasive to me. I just why can't
I take a loofa into the shower and just do that?
Why does it have to be dry?
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Well, that's why I'm suckered more right now by using
the Plaine myths for like the lymphatic Yeah, drain is okay.
I am completely like, Oh it's real, and I'm pumping
the terminy okay, the area above the colinderbone that's supposed
to be like we're all drains out. Oh, I'm totally
into it. I'm pumping that and I'm pumping the underarms, yeah,
(24:48):
like in the morning, and then sort of massaging the chest.
I am buying fully into like face massage, cheek exercises.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Wait, you talked about this on poog. There's a eyebrow
massage thing that you were doing.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
Can you Oh my god, you teach a kind of demonstright.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
Yeah, please demonstrate.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
I saw like the Anastasia Fascia beauty I believe is
this account. And after I posted my video of me
doing it poorly, I saw her post a video but
like correct way to do it, and I'm wrong. I
was like, oh gosh, but her thing is for one.
She's like, do it dry.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Okay, So I'm gonna explain for our listeners. Jacqueline is
massaging the part of her face that's between her nose,
like the bridge of her nose and just below the eyebrow.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
And why do you do this, Jacqueline? What is the
end result?
Speaker 5 (25:33):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Nos, So I'm trying. I want to try, Guosha.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I see all these videos of people's faces before and after,
and I I am not a wellness girlly what well?
I don't buy into hype like, I want long term
results to be out before I buy in.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Okay, do you drink collagen?
Speaker 5 (25:51):
No, I'm not convinced that either topical or ingesting collagen
is actually creating the production. Couldron the skin.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
I think it's snake oil.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Same mm hmm, okay, we all agree.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
How about Celery juice?
Speaker 5 (26:07):
Okay. I recently someone at my Tracey Anderson class was like, well,
you need to do Celery juice, Like, oh, that's it,
That's an every day like without a doubt. That was
almost humiliated, Like what like I didn't know, Like sure,
celery just but like I didn't know. I'm interested. I'm
seriously considering it, but I haven't done it.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
I am a full believer of Celery juice. It is transformative.
If ever i'm feeling sick or a little hungover, anything,
just under the weather, anything, I chug one of those
big green machines. Yes, I feel amazing. I feel invigorated,
I feel revitalized. I don't know what is going on there,
but it works.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
I haven't begun yet, but I'll let you know. I'm curious.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Okay, cold plunges truly.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
This one. I am on the fence. Okay, love how
it feels, I mean for a second, but then there's
this kind of other perspective.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
It raises your cortisol and so for people under a
lot of stress, like is it good?
Speaker 5 (27:01):
Yeah, Like that's interesting. You know what I do love
this is just a Novak tip ice pack under the neck.
This is like one of my mental health Like if
you're just stressed out and you lay down with like
a cool ice pack sort of under the neck slash head.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I swear it.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
Freezes the thoughts.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
With cold plunges actually, with any wellness trend, I think
you have to follow the money.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
And I don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Mysteriously cold plunges are cool, but there are all these
startups selling cold plunge bats now, I don't.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Know, too big to fail exactly.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Okay, Jacqueline, I want to talk to you about some
exciting career news of yours. I saw in the trades
that you're acting in a new movie called A Big, Bold,
Beautiful Journey, directed by the South Korean director Cogonada, and
your co stars are the Margarabi the Colin Farrell. I mean,
it just seems like your dreams are coming true.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
I love it and I want to I really want
to make you know films ultimately and like being on set.
Even from that perspective, I'm just so into it.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Can you tell us anything about your experience on set?
Speaker 5 (28:06):
Everyone was wonderful. Coconata's a genius. You know, the actors,
they're incredible. It's just I'm not used to talking with
stuff that other people are like part of in that way. Yeah,
I'm like, it's weird. Here's what I'll tell you. I
brought like a duffel full of skincare, convinced like that
I couldn't leave a single product at home.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Tell me you told Margot Robbie what to use on
her face?
Speaker 5 (28:29):
No, I didn't, Dare. I didn't, Dare. I basically spoke
when spoken to. I was like tiptoeing around. If I'm hungry,
do I ask for food?
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Like?
Speaker 5 (28:37):
I just felt very much like, Okay, I'm going in
and I don't really know my way around this experience
and being an actor on someone else's project. I just
felt like genuine old school nerves.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Well, that's what I find so inspiring about your career,
because usually people will be a part of other people's
projects first, and then they go out and create their
opus but you were like, no, I'm dropping the opus.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
First, y'all. Yeah, yeah, and then I'm gonna come work
on your little movie. Okay, So.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Well you know why auditions are too hard? Yeah, you know,
like chasing the roles I think I'm you know, it's
like another weird inversion of like we're talking about before,
but almost like, yeah, it's somehow easier for me to
face mounting my own ninety four minute show and performing
it and whatever then like putting myself on a tape
every week for years, Like I felt comfortable going into
(29:30):
the project almost because I've established who I am and
what I do a little bit like it allows me
to Yeah, just gives me a different feeling going in. Yeah,
it's interesting. But yeah, the acting thing. I's texting with
my you know, caper Lant, my co host of Poog
and actor comedian, and all these thoughts are crossing my
mind about acting and like, you know, like things like
I'm thinking back to second grade, like in Peter Pan
(29:51):
and I had this one line and I just was
obsessing about this line and we're saying in a thousand
ways and like the night of the show, and I'm
just like, is that going to be and she was
just like, acting is a mystery, and that just relieved me.
You know, She's like, like, you are a working actress.
She loves it. I always call her like a working
actress or something about it. It's just like kind of
old school, like they're a working actress. And she's just like, yeah,
(30:13):
it's a mystery. And I was like, all right, it's
a mystery, and then that just freed me.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Jacqueline, thank you so much for coming on the bright
Side and dropping so many gems with us today.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
Thank you. You guys are absolute heaven. I am thrilled
to have been on.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
Have me back, We would love to.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Okay, bestie's have you ever wondered how to combine finances
as a couple or if you should get a prenup
before marriage. We're bringing on a finance expert to answer
all of your burning money questions. Send us an email
or a voice note with your questions to Hello at
the bright Side podcast dot com.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
That's it for today's show.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Tomorrow, we're talking to the woman behind the Hello Hayes newsletter,
Alexandra Hayes Robinson, and we're getting her advice about all
things friendship.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
This is such a good one, you don't want to
miss it.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
I'm Simone Boye.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
You can find me at Simone Voice on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok. That's r O
b A. Y See you tomorrow.
Hey Bessies, Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today on the bright Side, comedian actor and writer Jacqueline
Novak is here to talk about her Netflix comedy special
It's called Get on Your Knees. Plus she shares the
most Tony Robbins thing about her. It's Wednesday, May twenty second.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I'm Danielle Robe.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
And I'm Simone Voice, and this is the bright Side
from Hello Sunshine, Simone.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I'm so happy to have you back. You just got
back from this wellness retreat.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yes, I just got back from a retreat called on Site,
and I have to say, outside of motherhood, it is
the single most transformative experience of my life. I mean,
pure magic with forty new friends.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I wish everyone could see you. You look so rejuvenated and rested.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
This is what several days of no screens, no alcohol,
clean eating, being out in the wilderness will do for you.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
What do you mean no screens? You didn't touch your
phone or a computer. I did not touch my phone
or a computer for several days. And to be honest,
I kind of feel like I'm an alien walking around
on planet Earth right now. But the irony of that
statement is I'm more human than I've ever been because
of the deep work that I did at this camp.
(01:18):
So I think I should explain the ground rules of
on site because that really gives you a taste of
what the full experience is like. So there's no screens,
there's no alcohol or drugs, there are no last names,
and no discussion of what you do for a living,
because they want everyone to be putting humanity before credentials.
They want you to come there and really rediscover who
(01:40):
you are outside of your job. For every day we
had small group therapy, and it really is like three
to six months of therapy condensed into a matter of
a few days. Is it mine body soul like do
you wake up and go for a long walk, or
is it fully group therapy?
Speaker 4 (01:59):
It's mind body soul.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Well.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I would wake up with the birds every morning. It
was so idyllic and peaceful. We would start off every
morning with a meditation. We would do yoga at night,
We had soundbats at night. We even had a silent
disco which was super fun. And this like really cathartic
release for all this hard work that we'd been doing.
But I'm not gonna like sugarcoat it at all. It
(02:22):
was it was five days of like crying our eyes out,
like everyone can only imagine weeping doing in our child work,
like these miraculous transformations and breakthroughs, and then you're all
experiencing it together. So the people that I went through
this process with, even though I had only known them
for a few days, they know me better than the
friends that I've had for several years.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Oh yeah, I can only imagine.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I think sometimes we're more willing to tell strangers our deepest,
darkest secrets than the people closest to us.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
But that was the thing that I was most scared of, Danielle.
When I went into it. I was like, so, I'm
going to this retreat. It's gonna be a bunch of
people from my industry. How do I know that I
can trust them with like my deepest darkest secrets, vulnerabilities,
my trauma. The way that they went about it, like
we fostered connection and empathetic community in really small ways first,
(03:13):
and then that facilitated opening up in a massive way.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Is there anything that you learned, any tools, any tips
that you think we could all be applying in our
day to day life.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I came away convicted by the power of screenless connection.
So I'm coming back and like ready to have phoneless
dinner parties, ready to say, like in my own home
and my family, we're going to do phoneless meal time.
Like starting small, but those small changes I think can
lead to significant improvement and just overall quality of life.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
We did one thing at the end of.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
The trip that was so powerful and everyone was crying,
of course, something called an affirmation circle.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
Have you ever done this?
Speaker 5 (04:00):
No?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Please tell me, Okay, it's this beautiful thing, and I
think this is something that we could all try to
do with our friends the next time we have a gathering.
So you create an inner circle with a bunch of chairs.
You know, however many people you have, you half that amount,
and you put half the people on the inside of
the circle. Everyone else is on the outside of the circle,
and one by one you walk around. You gently place
(04:23):
your hand on the person's shoulder in front of you,
and you just whisper and affirmation into their ear. And
while we were doing this, there was this really moving
piece of music playing. And you know, after having had
the honor of like getting to really see the humanity
of all these people, we felt equipped to really give
them an affirmation that was meaningful and had depth, and
(04:47):
it was just so beautiful to witness and see everyone
receive that.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
You are thoughtful and empowered queens.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Thank you well from one empowered queen sitting next to
me to another. You know, Simone and I love a
woman who charts her own path. So on today's show,
we're talking to a comedian who's doing comedy a little differently.
Jacqueline Novak has a Netflix special that got a ton
of buzz. It's called Get on Your Knees. Here's what
I think is so cool about this. She has been
(05:18):
working on this meticulously for over twenty years. The idea
for the special actually started as a college essay, and
then she turned it into an off Broadway show, and
now it's come to life as this comedy special that
has been widely received.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
I so admire Jacqueline's bravery and ambition in redefining comedy
in a way that feels authentic to her.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Like she is a writer at her core.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
She studied English in college, and she really brings that
grasp of language and literature and poetry to the stage
in this special. It's a super unique style of comedy.
I mean, I remember when I first watched it. I
was fascinated by her. I was completely captivated by her.
(06:05):
She has this frenetic energy as she moves across the stage.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Well, it really got me thinking, which is what I
think she wants us all to be doing, watching and
then talking about it afterwards. Because it's all about fillatio.
It is about blowjobs, and at first hearing that, you think, oh,
is it crude, And it's not. It's very poetic.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I have never seen anything like it, never seen a
ninety four minute special talking about oral sex. And you're right,
it does seem like it would be raunchy. But she's
even said, like, my parents have seen the show multiple
times and.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, that's not the point of it.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
No, it's not raunch for the sake of raunch. There's
a lot more to it.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
So we are going to get into all that and
more with Jacqueline No back after the break.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Stay with us.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
We're back with a groundbreaking comedian who is changing the
narrative around women in sex with her Netflix comedy special
Get on Your Knees. It's based on her critically acclaimed
one woman show of the same name.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
I am going to talk about the blowjobs quite a
bit tonight to the point of tedium, said one early critic.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Jacqueline Novak is an actor, writer, and stand up comic.
She's also the host of the podcast Poog with Kate Berlant,
which I love, and the author of the book How
to Weep in Public. Feeble offerings on depression from one
who knows Jacqueline, Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Thank you for having me. Hello, you are.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Having such a moment.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Your Netflix special Get on Your Knees is getting so
much attention, Simone and I couldn't stop talking about it.
And it's different than a traditional special. How do you
describe it to people?
Speaker 5 (07:54):
It depends on who I'm talking to and who I'm
trying to sell to, you know, like I'll tell you
it's anything, but to be clear, it does absolutely stand up.
I also, you know, mounted it as an off Broadway
show and definitely put it in a theater context. Point
is it's this sort of high brow show, but the
blowjob this mix of high and low. You know, it's
like very poetic and I'm sort of prudish and obsessed
(08:16):
with dignity and all this kind of stuff. But then
I'm talking about the blowjob and penis cock but from
a linguistic perspective. So it's this weird combo that usually
people are surprised by, sort of regardless of which expectation
they came in with.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
You're wearing a great T shirt and jeans in the special? Yes,
and I hope you don't take this the wrong way.
This is like a commment to me, you could have
been in like a Victorian era dress, or you could
have been in a great T shirt and jeans in
twenty twenty four. That's how timeless and flowery and poetic
the language is. To me, Oh my god, I love it.
(08:56):
I should have worn that, although it would be hard
to tour with.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Your comedic point of view is provocative, and you talk
openly about sex and sexual situations, but it's not for
shock value like you do poeticize, you unpack, you dissect
even Yeah, what's the conversation that you wanted to start
with the special?
Speaker 5 (09:17):
You know, I don't let myself think in terms like
I'm trying to start a conversation and it's too grand
And I take myself seriously in one sense, but it's
like if other people find it meaningful or great, I
can't even partake.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
In that, but like why the blowjob?
Speaker 5 (09:34):
I knew that it was something I always found compelling,
almost from a literary perspective or like a poetic perspective,
more than I really thought of it as a sort
of thing I wanted to explore my stand up because
the blowjob to me, you know, it's like sometimes hard
to remember the first time you hear about something, or
(09:54):
the first time a concept. Kind of it was this
thing that you know, I remember distinctly hearing about it
for the first time in middle school. It's like I
sort of really do remember being like, wait what, And
then in the culture of the high school it was
such a charged idea. There's something that seems so foolish
about it, sort of ridiculous, but it's also held up
(10:17):
as this cool, you know sort of thing. So it's
like I knew that it was one of these things
that I would enjoy analyzing. I say it in a
special but you know, like to the point of tedium,
I was like the blowjob just as this focal point
of almost like all these other things to be discussed about,
like feeling foolish, like how can you be a mind
and in a body? You know, how can you be
(10:39):
a thinker and partake any sort of ridiculous acts that
are relatively wordless. The blowjob sort of silences you. If
you're a talker. It's kind of you know, not your
It's like, wait what, but I like words.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
You point out the contradictions so well, and whether you
accept it or not, you are changing the conversation. And
I just want to go through some of the praise
that you've received.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
I'll take it. I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Your director Natasha Leone called get on your knees, your Opus.
Your former director John Early said, Jacqueline brings real stakes
in gravity and poetry to the mundane. Vanity Fair said,
the stage show solidified you as a comedic powerhouse. How
do you feel when you hear this praise? Are you
able to receive it?
Speaker 5 (11:22):
Oh? My god? Well, I made a point to not
read any press about it, particularly after the special was released.
It's a dangerous game taking in anything that the press,
even a ray of review. It's like, it's just this thing.
I've decided that if I let that boost me, you know,
my interior state is going to be affected by that,
(11:44):
and so then shall there be a negative press? Right?
I guess I'm trying to almost not be lifted by
the positive quotes, because if I cling too much of them,
then similarly might I cling to some devastating statement one
day that really bumps me out. But you know, when
you very safely to my emotions, just give me this
little wonderful compact. I'm like, oh, I like that.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I like it.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
That's you should.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
I want to touch on something that Simone said, which
was poetry to the mundane, because to me, that exemplifies
your work so well. I've heard you say that the
only way to tolerate our mundane existence is essentially to
make it a big deal. So you are on a
quest to make everything fun and exciting and a big deal,
even mundane things like eating dinner or giving a blowjob.
(12:32):
Why are you injecting excitement into everything right right?
Speaker 5 (12:36):
I think it's an emotional survival mechanism. I think I
figured out for myself pretty early, I guess a teenager.
When I started writing something about putting a lens on
anything like the slight at a distance that you do
when you're poeticizing something or writing a joke about it,
or writing about it at all. It made it like
suddenly the entire world has potential for you know, beauty,
(13:00):
or it does something for me in a very core
way of just relating to the world.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
It's like I remember around that time, someone's saying to me, like,
why can't you just be in the moment? Why you
gotta like make a film about it? And I was like,
it's a way for me of getting into the moment.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Well, you can tell you're highly observant, and also you
are a very thorough preparer. I was held in such
suspense when I was reading about your preparation Forget on
your Knees.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
I mean, it's so incredibly thorough.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
So four years perfecting it on a sold out theatrical tour,
five months fine tuning it in post production down to
the closed captions, making sure that those were all accurate.
I mean, I don't think there are many other comedians
out there who can call themselves this committed, I mean,
and so detail oriented. Why did you feel like the
stakes were so high with this special in particular?
Speaker 5 (13:54):
I think because it's like twenty years in the making,
and so because it was this big swing, like pretty
ambitious in the scope, and I'm going to talk to
it for ninety four minutes and I'm going to roll
around on the floor and get very sort of Shakespearean
and all that kind of stuff, but also be very
crasp I just felt like this, this is a real
laying it all out there kind of moment. And so
(14:15):
I think the anxiety of that just naturally leads to
obsessing about details because you don't really know what else
to do with that anticipatory energy. Yeah, I think there's
something to the first of anything right that you do,
Like there's no turning back from this because it's such
a big, relatively public swing.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
You know.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Well, I read that taking a big swing like this
was actually a departure from your career strategy before. This
was an epiphany that you apparently had around like twenty seventeen,
deciding that the key to your success wasn't necessarily stacking
up this cumulative luck of like small successes, small opportunities. Yeah,
but you instead pivoted to creating your own luck with
(14:57):
this big swing.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Can you talk about that a lot little bit more totally?
Speaker 5 (15:01):
It is huge, Like it was huge for me, and
it felt like it felt like an epiphany, And so
at that moment it became really clear. It was like Okay,
I want to have an especial on Netflix. But not
just that I want to have a special. I want
to have something on there that I know the people
who are meant to be my fans will become my fans,
like almost like I want to put something out there
(15:22):
that gets my people. You know, I don't expect to
get everyone. It's just so simple. But it's like, how
am I going to get it on there?
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
How do you determine what's undeniably good?
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (15:32):
No, it's a very good question.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
You know what I mean. Like I've heard entrepreneurs I
interview talk about having like their own board of directors
almost that they check in with.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Is that what you had?
Speaker 5 (15:42):
I mean I definitely had wonderful people around me, for sure.
But I think for me it was like I know,
when I have completed something or I'm excited about something,
I'm like, this is pretty good, you know. So it
was more of an internal just feeling. There was a
core kind of feeling of me doing me. You know,
like what if I go into myself and go like, okay,
(16:04):
what would be like crazy? Like you know, like what
would be scary? But if I pulled it off? What
don't I know that I could pull off? But if
I pulled it off, it would be cool mm hmm.
Because I read this in the artist's way like a
week before starting stand up in college, it was literally
like an exercise what would you do if you knew
you couldn't fail? And that sounds simple, but if you
(16:24):
actually go, wait, if I knew I couldn't fail, you
might think of something that you just have not allowed
yourself to think of before because you just are so
sure that you would fail at it that you've never
even considered it. That was kind of how I started
doing stand up. The thing I'm saying now is a
little different.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
You know.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
If I go, okay, well, what if I did a
stand up show like whatever about the blowjob, but it
were totally derangedly literary, I'm like, that would be really
cool to me if I could pull it off, that'd
be kind of thing. If I saw someone else do it,
I'd be like, Oh, I wish I did that.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I loved when I read that.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Natasha Leone said, it's very cool when people make their
work very seriously, especially.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
In the business of jokes.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
M yeah, yeah, And I'm thinking to myself all the
comedians I know actually take their work very seriously.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Yeah, you seem to.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Have taken it to a whole new level. I just
think stand ups such a huge sacrifice. You're giving your nights,
your weekends, your time, your love, sometimes you give up relationships.
I mean, the list goes on. What do you think
stand up has given you?
Speaker 5 (17:25):
You know, I do love to perform, and that feeling
and the kind of vulnerability of that sort of leaving
it all on the stage kind of thing. There's something
about that that I really enjoy. And then there's this
other thing that I value, which is my writer identity
or whatever, which is just you know, something in my
interior and connecting with other people in their interiors. Right.
(17:48):
It's like that's what writing has to do with for me, right,
And so a stand up is just this really embodied,
live version of that.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Do you think that the time that it took to
find and workshop this special how did that grow your confidence?
Speaker 5 (18:05):
It's funny. I mean going out and just sharing this
show that was this risk for me, and this really
laying it on the line of kind of who I
am and having a lot of people, you know, respond
really well in a three hundred seat theater in Minneapolis
or whatever. Right, I mean that alone, the basic simple
fact of that that massively grows my confidence, that makes
(18:26):
me go I'm on the right path for me. You know,
my boyfriend Chris Laker, he's a comedian, and we talked
about this a lot. But it's like, you know, trying
to keep your eyes on your own paper, this idea
of like no one can beat you to you. So
I think for me, just having this pleasure of doing
the show and touring it and the whole thing was
like this feedback mechanism, you know, this positive feedback mechanism,
(18:47):
almost like I was training myself to lock in the
fact that me being the most me is correct.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Yeah, that's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
In addition to being a performer, you're an author. Your book,
How to Weep in Public is all about dealing with depression.
And I really like what you said to describe part
of the book. You said, it's about how to summon
the strength to shed that bathrobe and face the world.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
It was so just perfect imagery. I thought.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
You know, I've dealt with mental health challenges myself. It's
been in my family too, and humor has always gotten
me through. How did humor get you through your time
of depression?
Speaker 5 (19:33):
Well, I think of it like it's not the cure,
but it certainly is like cigarettes in the trenches, like
from a fellow soldier, Like it's like, you know, if
you're able to access it, it's very much like I
find like a kind of here in the moment dealing
with whatever you're dealing with, or a little bit of
a an ointment or a little bit of a release
valve or a little bit of a you know, there
(19:56):
can be a weird fear if you're dealing with mental
illness that if for a moment, you transcend your own
mental illnesses, you know, worse symptoms, that somehow it's evidence
that you don't really suffer. You know, I'm putting that
in quotes, like there's a fear of almost a suspension
of the depression because you're like, wait, am I not
really clinically depressed? Then if I just laughed with my
friend or something like that. You know, but no, take
(20:19):
whatever you can get, you know, don't be ashamed to
be like cackling on the mental health ward. I guess
that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yes, I went through a phase where I was acutely depressed,
and I could only watch comedies. I could not turn
on a sad movie like I really had to laugh.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
That's fabulous. I could only watch like serial killer thrillers
in this acute period, the gruesome sort of like terror
just really brought me into my body and got me
out of my mind.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
And so it was like, yeah, treatment looks different for everyone, folks,
It's okay, we all have her oh different genres.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
You're such an imaginative thinker, so it's not surprising to
me that you would find mind this unique entry point
into a conversation about mental health. And I thought it
was so interesting that you grew up listening to Tony
Robbin's tapes with your dad.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
What's the most Tony Robbins thing about you?
Speaker 5 (21:13):
Oh my god, I mean my indomitable spirit. Well, one
thing I always appreciated about about him was that he
actually talks about, you know, being hideously depressed. You know,
he talks about being at this low point. And I
love I love when people talk about I just love it.
I Mean, the thing I would say that moved me
about Tony is like on these audio tapes that my
(21:37):
dad's friend had given my dad around, like him starting
his own business. Tony would like grow hoarse with enthusiasm,
and there's something about that that just moved me. And
it's very like thematic to my show. I love overreaching.
I love when effort is bigger than the container. So
I think the passion Tony's like, and remember live with passion,
(21:59):
and then like this music comes on, like do do
Do Do Do, and it's like it's part of me.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
I read Awaken the Giant Within, which is one of
Tony's books, and it actually really shifted my perspective on things.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
I like him a lot.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
Awaken the Giant of Inn was like the core text
for me.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, for sure, we have to take a quick break,
but we'll be right back with comedian Jacqueline Novac. We're
back with Jacqueline Novac, and I am so excited for
this part of the conversation because Jacqueline, I am such
(22:35):
a Poog fan. So for people who aren't as obsessed
with your podcast as I am, you co host Poog
with your best friend who's also a comedian, Kate Berlant,
and you try out, or you investigate every wellness trend
so that we all don't have.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
To and it is hilarious.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
But you're also genuinely a wellness girally, So we're gonna
get your opinions on some of these trends. What's worth
the hype and what can we skip?
Speaker 5 (22:59):
Oh my god? Okay, wait, it's so hard for me
to come up with one that is skip overable because
I'm like, wait, everything, come on, is on the table.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Have you done the thing where you like tint your eyebrows?
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Microblading?
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (23:12):
Okay, this stuff I can get into. Okay, I have not.
I do fear a certain kind of browl elimination.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Yes, me too.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
I think it's gonna be weird in a few years.
Like I think, I mean, there are different versions of
it for me, Like, yes, I want my eyebrows to
just be I just would love to control them, but
I think it's a risk for me.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
This is Simon and I are really.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Into doing things that we consider like maybe a little
high maintenance so that we can be low maintenance people.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
Okay, that's amazing. So you mean, like if you do
the work to go get the brow done, then you
don't have to touch your brow every day exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
So like I have laser hair removal because I shudder
at the thought of shaving every single day.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Totally okay, genius, I'm too lazy to make an appointment.
That's my problem. I'm too lazy to make an appointment.
Like I want to dry brush, but I can't seem
to make it happen. Do you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
It's the deal with dry brushing, you guys, I don't
know that I buy it.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Well, first of all, when and where because it is exfoliating.
So it's like, am I standing there if you're supposed
to do it dry, you're kind of like dryly exfoliating
it like standing in the bathroom, Like I don't know,
Like it's just like.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
It sounds very abrasive to me. I just why can't
I take a loofa into the shower and just do that?
Why does it have to be dry?
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Well, that's why I'm suckered more right now by using
the Plaine myths for like the lymphatic Yeah, drain is okay.
I am completely like, Oh it's real, and I'm pumping
the terminy okay, the area above the colinderbone that's supposed
to be like we're all drains out. Oh, I'm totally
into it. I'm pumping that and I'm pumping the underarms, yeah,
(24:48):
like in the morning, and then sort of massaging the chest.
I am buying fully into like face massage, cheek exercises.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Wait, you talked about this on poog. There's a eyebrow
massage thing that you were doing.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
Can you Oh my god, you teach a kind of demonstright.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
Yeah, please demonstrate.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
I saw like the Anastasia Fascia beauty I believe is
this account. And after I posted my video of me
doing it poorly, I saw her post a video but
like correct way to do it, and I'm wrong. I
was like, oh gosh, but her thing is for one.
She's like, do it dry.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Okay, So I'm gonna explain for our listeners. Jacqueline is
massaging the part of her face that's between her nose,
like the bridge of her nose and just below the eyebrow.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
And why do you do this, Jacqueline? What is the
end result?
Speaker 5 (25:33):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Nos, So I'm trying. I want to try, Guosha.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I see all these videos of people's faces before and after,
and I I am not a wellness girlly what well?
I don't buy into hype like, I want long term
results to be out before I buy in.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Okay, do you drink collagen?
Speaker 5 (25:51):
No, I'm not convinced that either topical or ingesting collagen
is actually creating the production. Couldron the skin.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
I think it's snake oil.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Same mm hmm, okay, we all agree.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
How about Celery juice?
Speaker 5 (26:07):
Okay. I recently someone at my Tracey Anderson class was like, well,
you need to do Celery juice, Like, oh, that's it,
That's an every day like without a doubt. That was
almost humiliated, Like what like I didn't know, Like sure,
celery just but like I didn't know. I'm interested. I'm
seriously considering it, but I haven't done it.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
I am a full believer of Celery juice. It is transformative.
If ever i'm feeling sick or a little hungover, anything,
just under the weather, anything, I chug one of those
big green machines. Yes, I feel amazing. I feel invigorated,
I feel revitalized. I don't know what is going on there,
but it works.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
I haven't begun yet, but I'll let you know. I'm curious.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Okay, cold plunges truly.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
This one. I am on the fence. Okay, love how
it feels, I mean for a second, but then there's
this kind of other perspective.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
It raises your cortisol and so for people under a
lot of stress, like is it good?
Speaker 5 (27:01):
Yeah, Like that's interesting. You know what I do love
this is just a Novak tip ice pack under the neck.
This is like one of my mental health Like if
you're just stressed out and you lay down with like
a cool ice pack sort of under the neck slash head.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I swear it.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
Freezes the thoughts.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
With cold plunges actually, with any wellness trend, I think
you have to follow the money.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
And I don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Mysteriously cold plunges are cool, but there are all these
startups selling cold plunge bats now, I don't.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Know, too big to fail exactly.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Okay, Jacqueline, I want to talk to you about some
exciting career news of yours. I saw in the trades
that you're acting in a new movie called A Big, Bold,
Beautiful Journey, directed by the South Korean director Cogonada, and
your co stars are the Margarabi the Colin Farrell. I mean,
it just seems like your dreams are coming true.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
I love it and I want to I really want
to make you know films ultimately and like being on set.
Even from that perspective, I'm just so into it.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Can you tell us anything about your experience on set?
Speaker 5 (28:06):
Everyone was wonderful. Coconata's a genius. You know, the actors,
they're incredible. It's just I'm not used to talking with
stuff that other people are like part of in that way. Yeah,
I'm like, it's weird. Here's what I'll tell you. I
brought like a duffel full of skincare, convinced like that
I couldn't leave a single product at home.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Tell me you told Margot Robbie what to use on
her face?
Speaker 5 (28:29):
No, I didn't, Dare. I didn't, Dare. I basically spoke
when spoken to. I was like tiptoeing around. If I'm hungry,
do I ask for food?
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Like?
Speaker 5 (28:37):
I just felt very much like, Okay, I'm going in
and I don't really know my way around this experience
and being an actor on someone else's project. I just
felt like genuine old school nerves.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Well, that's what I find so inspiring about your career,
because usually people will be a part of other people's
projects first, and then they go out and create their
opus but you were like, no, I'm dropping the opus.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
First, y'all. Yeah, yeah, and then I'm gonna come work
on your little movie. Okay, So.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Well you know why auditions are too hard? Yeah, you know,
like chasing the roles I think I'm you know, it's
like another weird inversion of like we're talking about before,
but almost like, yeah, it's somehow easier for me to
face mounting my own ninety four minute show and performing
it and whatever then like putting myself on a tape
every week for years, Like I felt comfortable going into
(29:30):
the project almost because I've established who I am and
what I do a little bit like it allows me
to Yeah, just gives me a different feeling going in. Yeah,
it's interesting. But yeah, the acting thing. I's texting with
my you know, caper Lant, my co host of Poog
and actor comedian, and all these thoughts are crossing my
mind about acting and like, you know, like things like
I'm thinking back to second grade, like in Peter Pan
(29:51):
and I had this one line and I just was
obsessing about this line and we're saying in a thousand
ways and like the night of the show, and I'm
just like, is that going to be and she was
just like, acting is a mystery, and that just relieved me.
You know, She's like, like, you are a working actress.
She loves it. I always call her like a working
actress or something about it. It's just like kind of
old school, like they're a working actress. And she's just like, yeah,
(30:13):
it's a mystery. And I was like, all right, it's
a mystery, and then that just freed me.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Jacqueline, thank you so much for coming on the bright
Side and dropping so many gems with us today.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
Thank you. You guys are absolute heaven. I am thrilled
to have been on.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
Have me back, We would love to.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Okay, bestie's have you ever wondered how to combine finances
as a couple or if you should get a prenup
before marriage. We're bringing on a finance expert to answer
all of your burning money questions. Send us an email
or a voice note with your questions to Hello at
the bright Side podcast dot com.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
That's it for today's show.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Tomorrow, we're talking to the woman behind the Hello Hayes newsletter,
Alexandra Hayes Robinson, and we're getting her advice about all
things friendship.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
This is such a good one, you don't want to
miss it.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
I'm Simone Boye.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
You can find me at Simone Voice on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok. That's r O
b A. Y See you tomorrow.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.