Dr. Lisa Gives a Sh*t

Alvaro Gamboa is an awesome human and a great comedian. He sums up his POV here:, “I have a background in critical race theory. I have a have a degree in that. And so it's something that I find amusing, I guess I could say, where like just trying to find the intersections between race, gender and class and how those play out in our daily, not just in my upbringing, but in our day to day lives and how that affects it.”

You’ll also hear how Alvaro, a good-looking young man, likes the ladies—and I’m here to tell you personally, as a witness and friend, he is very respectful of women.

https://www.youtube.com/@AlvaroJokesGamboa

rebelioncomedy : Mondays 6pm @bkmadecomedy

Sarah Cummings is a young trans woman who I hadn't met before. She is from a fairly small town and has had to make her own path as she is trans and bi-polar. Sarah is very serious about becoming an accomplished writer. Currently she is an editor at https://sentencedlit.org/

She's been in New York for 3 years. As Dr. Lisa, I'm thinking it must be disorienting to be an outsider until you move to New York and fit in. Going from being an outsider to fitting in will challenge anyone's view of themselves and therefore, their creative work. Sarah puts a lot of pressure on herself, but she's only 25 and has good footing to get to where she wants to go.

DLG1425 Machine Dazzle can only be 100% who he is — a major reason he is the creative force that he is.

Casey J Salengo has just released his special, "Welcome To The Jungle," so I wanted to hear about his experience and his feelings about completing such an awesome project. Casey is super talented and is hilarious to watch as well as listen to. This special, any special for a comic, is a HUGE project that involves great comedy but with a serious side of production. I really want you ro WATCH HIS SPECIAL cause I want you to be happy! Look for the stuffed fox when you watch it.

Casey and I talked on Dr. Lisa in 2017, LISTEN HERE, when he was single and I was trying to get him a date from a call-in. Now he's happily married to great woman, also a comic, Courtney McGuiness. Courtney is funny but also really good at all the things that are valuable that make for a great career as a designer. with a good, consistent salary and benefits. We take a deep dive into how this relationship has facilitated his growth as a human. Let's face it—women rock!

PS: My husband listened to Casey and I talking and it helped him understand me better. I actually did some good therapy for my own relationship on this one!

Insta: @caseyjsalengo

#comedy #unlicensedtherapy #comedians #caseyjsalengo #courtneymcguiness #therapy #creativework #creativestruggle #creativerewards #drlisa #drlisagivesashit

Aamir Ashad is a stand up comedian who moved to New York from Rochester a year ago to pursue comedy. he's smart, funny and with a good work ethic, he is making great progress in reaching his goals.

When I met Aamir at an open mic a few months ago I invited him on to discuss arranged marriage, as that is how his parents met. We have a deep discussion about Aamirs view of arranged marriage as well as his own thoughts about dating and sex. Aamir is Muslim, 22 years old and has very set ideas about women, staying pure and marriage. As Dr. Lisa, I tell him he sounds like he might be repressing some important feelings that would help his personal growth. He then lays an unexpected bombshell on me which changes our whole understanding of the discussion right there and then. (Go to timestamp 51:23) Conflict ensues, but we finish as mutually respected friends. Follow @aamirdoesstandup

Megan Cossey is highly educated (Cornell, ba cum laude, Columbia Journalism, MFA) from a tiny, southern town, that didn't follow the script she was brought up with. After graduating from Columbia, she embarked on a career in communications at the UN.

Currently, she co-parenting her teenage son with her ex-wife and her ex-wife's partner and reinventing her work career, all while pursuing an increasingly active comedy career. She talks about how her perspective is changing along with circumstance out in the world.

Megan has learned a lot about men from raising her son who is doing well in school and has a girlfriend. She sees how boys are restricted from expressing emotions except for anger and mean girls make fun of emotional boys.

@megan_the_cossey

This is Ben Louis' EIGHTH time on the show! Ben has solidified his position at Siriusxm. Currently a Music Program Coordinator for SiriusXM Heart & Soul. as well as being the Producer/co-host of the Platinum 20 Countdown on Heart & Soul.As a self-proclaimed workaholic and R&B expert, Ben's has gone from Radio Free Brooklyn to R&B Sirius XM radio influencer who is sent to represent SiriusXM at music festivals all over the us in 8 short years.

Ben's father is a preacher and Ben talks about the connection he has with his dad's work ethic and skills as a pastor 

Ben's SiriusXM Show: ⁠Sunday Mimosa,⁠ Sundays 5pm + midnight on channel 47, Instagram: ⁠@benlouisradio/⁠ #BenLouis #Siriusxm

Listen to Ben's personal and professional journey as recorded with Dr. Lisa annually since 2018:

Ben Louis: First session DLG1204 - 2018 Fellow RFB "Ben Talks" host, Ben Louis talks recent gf breakup.

Ben Lous: 2nd Session, DLG1840 2019 Ben Louis, host of RFB's BEN TALKS, comes in for a follow-up session!

Ben Louis: Third Session - DLG220 2020 Fellow RFB host, Benjamin Louis of BEN TALKS, talks candidly about his personal growth.

Ben Louis: Fourth Session DLG260 2021 Ben Louis, former RFB host is on the cusp of living his dream!

Ben Louis: Fifth Session DLG286 2022 Former RFB host (now at Sirius), Ben Louis, comes in for an annual check in with Dr. Lisa

Ben Louis: Sixth Session DLG319 2023 Former RFB Host now SiriusXM Host, Ben Louis. Ben's life in a creative career is inspiring.

Ben Louis Seventh Session DLG339 Sept. 2024/ Ben Louis has made it—now he’s under pressure. We know he’s got this.

Bryant Denton is a bright, affable, young man who has a growing career in radio having worked at NPR, WNYC and Vermont Public Radio. I got to know Bryant fairly well since he is a fellow radio show host at Radio Free Brooklyn, but I have always sensed that Bryant was just a little more grounded and mature than most guys his age and on the show we find out why. Check out Bryant's RFB show, LIFE SUPPORT, which airs weekly from 11pm to midnight on Fridays,.

Bryant went through some major upheaval in his relationship with his brother, when he and his brother first moved to NYC together and became roommates. There was conflict, with Bryant eventually moving out . They weren't in touch for about 2 years. In the beginning of this year Bryants' brother reached out and they actually spent time together about a week ago—it went well.

Bryant and his brother have a difficult background — their mother is disabled due to a car accident when Bryant was 8. Soon after the accident, Bryant's father left the family so he and his brother with a disabled mother, brought themselves up. Its so encouraging to hear Bryant talk so openly about his life and what his experiences have been like. Clearly this is a story of resilience, growth and hard work.

Sarah Boxer is foremost a thinker! The author of s⁠everal books, graphic novels and articles for many storied publications such as the New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic, Brooklyn Rail and many more.

Dr. Lisa began her career as a self-proclaimed psychotherapist in 2001 and Sarah, on staff at the Arts & Ideas desk at the NY Times, wrote a feature story on Psychotherapy LIVE! READ IT HERE Lisa's live stage show where she did "Psychotherapy" on audience volunteers.

A LOT has happened in the last 25 years. Sarah has a 22 year old son and she's putting the finishing touches on a book of her drawings she did of him from birth to age 5 that is to be published soon. She discusses what effect it had on her to do those drawings, how she first dived into Freud's writing at age 15 (her father had his books in the house) and her impression of Psychotherapy LIVE! all those years ago (a good impression!) It's compelling to find these women with their separate journeys back in the same room, years away from when they first met in July, 2002.

Sarah Boxer Bio:

WHO AM I? 
​​I am a writer of non-fiction and graphic fiction from Colorado who now lives in Washington, D.C. I have drawn & written two psycho-comics -- In the Floyd Archives, based on Freud's case histories, and its post-Freudian sequel, Mother May I?  I have also written reviews and essays for The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic, The Comics Journal, The L.A Review of Books, The New York Times, Photograph, Slate, and Artforum. Now I'm working on a third volume of my Shakespearean Tragic-Comics, a series that so far includes Hamlet: Prince of Pigs ​and Anchovius Caesar. For more detail, see my CV. 

WHO WAS I?
​​For many years I worked at The New York Times  (1989-2006) where I was, at various points, a photo critic, a Web critic, an arts reporter, an editor at The Week in Review, and an editor at The Book Review.  In 2008 Vintage published Ultimate Blogs: Masterworks From the Wild Web, an anthology that I edited. My first book, published by Pantheon in 2001 was In the Floyd Archives.

Kevin Townley Jr. is one of those fascinatingly multi-talented creative people who doesn't fit neatly into any box—he's an actor, filmmaker, writer, meditation teacher, and now author of "Look, Look, Look, Look, Look Again," a book that connects 26 artists to Tibetan Buddhist teachings about transforming negative emotions into wisdom.

His upbringing was pretty wild: raised in 1990s Colorado by his father in a spiritual commune filled with tarot cards, alchemy experiments, and Native American rituals after his parents had a messy divorce (his mom literally punched his dad in the school playground). Despite growing up poor and dealing with instability, Kevin learned early on to embrace his theatrical, queer sensibility—dyeing his hair orange and wearing purple suits to middle school as an act of defiant self-expression that basically made bullies back off. He didn't formally start practicing Buddhism until his 30s, though it was always part of his world growing up in Boulder's spiritual scene.

Now he's making independent films the DIY way, gathering NYC creative friends to shoot projects over months without traditional Hollywood budgets or gatekeeping. His approach to everything—from Buddhism to filmmaking—seems to be about creating nurturing, non-judgmental spaces where people can express themselves authentically. The whole conversation reveals someone who turned a chaotic childhood into a superpower: an ability to see possibilities where others see obstacles and to gather communities around creative visions without manipulation or cruelty.

BIO: Kevin Townley is a writer, filmmaker, actor, singer, and meditation teacher. He began formally studying Buddhism in 2010 and currently practices with the Sokuko-Ji Zen community under the guidance of Kyoun Sokuzan. He has taught Buddhism and meditation for over a decade.

His film and television work include appearances in My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Men in Black III, The Detour, and Law & Order.

With his band, Bambï, Townley adapted Rossner’s Looking for Mr. Goodbar into the rock opera called GOODBAR, performed at The Public Theater. He has written extensively for the Waterwell theater company and Rookiemagazine.

He has also led hundreds of art tours in museums across the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.