This episode discusses authentic emotional expression as a key component for connection in comedy, the difference between subjective and objective truth, and why we’re so afraid to connect with others even though it’s what we want most.

This episode discusses why art is dangerous and isolating and why this is required to move culture forward. Traditional and alternative comedy are compared.

This episode discusses staying the fool on stage, where political comedy goes wrong, the secret sauce of William Shakespeare, famous metaphors from Jesus, and various forms of irony.

This episode discusses the economics of stand-up comedy, the importance of marketing your art, setting realistic expectations, and continuing to pursue your passion regardless of painful negative feedback.

This episode discusses what it means to be addicted to something, how to maintain motivation without addiction, lying to yourself, and why you should treat your dopamine with respect.

Huge shout out to Andrew Huberman and his Huberman Lab podcast. Go listen to it. He helped me make a lot of progress with my insomnia issues. If you have basic health questions, he’s awesome. Also, massive shout out to Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long, authors of the wonderful book, The Molecule of More. If you enjoyed anything about this episode of the podcast, read that book. It’s all about dopamine. It’s fascinating. There is also a discussion of other neurotransmitters and how they can help balance out your hyperactive dopamine so you can appreciate the here and now a bit, as they say.

This episode discusses self-esteem, leadership, cowardice, cynicism, generosity, and Mr. Franke’s personal efforts to avoid being an annoying twat with a microphone.

This episode discusses telling secrets, the interplay between epinephrine and dopamine, romantic poetry’s relationship to stand-up comedy, and being hated authentically.

This episode discusses the moral relationship between artists and their work, how that gets easily misconstrued by the general public, tolerating low quality or even bad art, and our strong propensity to see the good in ourselves and the evil in others.

This episode touches on existential philosophy and how philosophical absurdism might bleed over into absurd humor, Shakespeare, Freud, Ernest Becker, and how to be authentically silly.

This episode discusses negative subjective experience as a necessary ingredient in forming comedy, a bit of neuroscience and PTSD, how engaging with literature can affect such things, and how the story of Jesus showed us how to write a joke.