Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Malcolm Gladwell (The American Way of Killing, Outliers, Revisionist History) is a bestselling author, journalist, and podcast host. Malcolm returns to Armchair Expert to discuss growing up among Canadian pacifists, discovering America through magazines, and making his home in the country that fascinated him as a kid. Malcolm and Dax talk about what Law & Order gets wrong about murder, how a surgeon’s 3,000 gunshot cases ...

On this week’s episode of Mom’s Car we welcome Liz Plank (journalist, author of For the Love of Men, and host of Boy Problems). Liz, Dax, and Best Friend Aaron Weakley talk through the stakes of soft launching a boyfriend, dating men who come with renovation projects, whether having a boyfriend is actually embarrassing, the difference between being picky and expecting perfection, why raising kids should be a team sport,...

Colin Kaepernick (The Perilous Fight, Colin in Black & White, I Color Myself Different) is a former NFL quarterback, author, and civil rights activist. Colin joins Armchair Expert to discuss growing up Black in a white adoptive family, finding belonging in a Modesto barbershop, and choosing football over Major League Baseball prospects. Colin and Dax talk about the racial code words used to evaluate quarterbacks, reaching the S...

Ashe (The Girl of Your Dreams, Moral of the Story, The Dream) is a singer and songwriter. Ashe joins the Armchair Expert to discuss growing up with a bipolar father, becoming the responsible younger sibling, and finding refuge in songwriting. Ashe and Dax talk about her breakout hit coinciding with devastating loss, the panic attacks that nearly made her quit music, and the adrenaline crash after a show. Ashe explains why success c...

On this week’s episode of Mom’s Car we welcome Jedidiah Jenkins (Go Quiet on the Mountain, Mother, Nature, To Shake the Sleeping Self). Jedidiah, Dax, and Best Friend Aaron Weakley talk through texting punchlines to David Sedaris, driving through a blizzard while Aaron slept for 29 hours, finding love 58 miles outside your comfort zone, Jedidiah’s sexual Rumspringa in his 30s, the difference between being desired ...

James McAvoy (California Schemin’, Atonement, X-Men) is an award-winning actor and director. James joins the Armchair Expert to discuss running wild in Glasgow’s council estates, considering the priesthood to see the world, and landing his first film role after offering to make tea. James and Dax talk about the Wanted role Dax almost got, feeling out of his league opposite Keira Knightley, and making a film about Scotti...

Adam Grant (Vibe, Hidden Potential, and Think Again) is an organizational psychologist, Wharton professor, and author. Adam joins Armchair Expert to discuss being pushed out of his childhood friend group, feeling like an impostor at Harvard, and finding his footing on the diving team. Adam and Dax talk about memorizing students’ backgrounds, NASA sending incompatible astronauts into the wilderness, and the party that produced...

On this week’s episode of Mom’s Car we welcome Dakota Fanning (The Sun Never Sets, Ripley, Man on Fire) and Jake Johnson (The Sun Never Sets, New Girl, The Dink). Dakota, Jake, Dax, and Best Friend Aaron Weakley talk through Dax and Aaron’s romantic movie night, bringing a rolling backpack to high school with zero shame, a firefighter uncle’s devastating theater review, treating dating apps like a casino, le...

Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Frankenstein, The Shape of Water) is an Academy Award-winning director, screenwriter, and producer. Guillermo joins Armchair Expert to discuss his dad winning the lottery twice, diagnosing himself from a health encyclopedia, and promising the monsters in his bedroom lifelong friendship. Guillermo and Dax talk about writing The Devil’s Backbone while his father was kidnapped, James Ca...

Jared Diamond (Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings, The World Until Yesterday, and Guns, Germs, and Steel) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist, historian, and UCLA professor. Jared joins Armchair Expert to discuss growing up in the shadow of World War II, his family’s connection to the Holocaust, and his path from physiology to geography. Jared and Dax talk about testing history through natural experiments, measuring the ...

Leanne Morgan (Leanne, You’re Cordially Invited, I’m Every Woman) is a comedian, actor, and author. Leanne joins Armchair Expert to discuss growing up in a 600-person Tennessee town, leaving her first marriage, and raising three kids while chasing Hollywood. Leanne and Dax talk about developing stand-up while selling jewelry at house parties, spending 20 years as the “$2,500 girl” on the corporate comedy cir...

Ben Lamm, co-founder and CEO of Colossal Biosciences, serial technology entrepreneur, and pioneer in de-extinction. Ben joins Armchair Expert to discuss being raised by his mom and grandparents in Texas, starting his first company while at Baylor, and why a conversation with geneticist George Church changed the course of his life. Ben and Dax talk about building a team to engineer a mammoth from scratch, creating woolly mice in 30 ...

Joey King (Practical Magic 2, The Act, The Kissing Booth) is an Emmy-nominated actor and producer. Joey returns to the Armchair Expert to discuss starting work at nine years old, her dad’s past as a professional arm wrestler, and losing and rediscovering her natural sense of joy. Joey and Dax talk about joining the beloved world of Practical Magic, working alongside Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, and finding fulfillment in...

Eric Goode (Monsters of God, Chimp Crazy, Tiger King) is a filmmaker, hotelier, and conservationist. Eric joins Armchair Expert to discuss growing up in an animal-filled home, surviving Northern California’s New Age movement, and befriending Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring in 1980s New York. Eric and Dax talk about creating legendary nightclubs and hotels, directing Nine Inch Nails videos, and stumbling into Tiger King ...