Why is it so fun to watch your team win in the World Cup or to be a Knicks fan as they finally get an NBA championship? There’s a collective joy in sports that can also be found in art, theater, and comedy. In this episode of How to Be a Better Human with Maxwell Pearce, Chris talks to him about his accomplishments as a mixed media artist and a Harlem Globetrotter. Maxwell integrates playfulness into his art and in sports—whether it’s using shoelaces as texture in his artwork or training his body to perform a basketball trick shot. Maxwell shares how play is the secret ingredient in his career and how changing the way he thinks about the rules and mistakes allows him to have more fun and more successes.

Find more ways you can make more room for play in your life with PLAY@TED. Learn more from conversations, ideas and moments at ted.com/play

Featured guest

• Follow Maxwell Pearce on Instagram and at https://theartofanathlete.com/
• View Maxwell's Harlem Globetrotter's profile

Connect with the team

• Follow Chris on Instagram and at chrisduffycomedy.com
• Buy Chris’ book, Humor Me 
• Watch How to Be a Better Human videos on YouTube at TEDAudioCollective
• Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Heather Berlin is a a neuroscientist, clinical psychologist, and professor of psychiatry and neuroscience who studies the science of giving up control. She joins Chris to talk about finding the balance between knowing when to hold on to control and when to let go and be present in the moment. They also discuss why you don’t need to always be productive or in a constant state of self-optimization, and how there are benefits in learning to lose track of time and practicing boredom.

Featured guest

• Follow Heather Berlin on Instagram, LinkedIn, and at https://heatherberlin.com/
• Buy Heather's book The Fine Art of Losing Control
• Tune in to Heather's TED Talk, coming soon in November 2026

Connect with the team

• Follow Chris on Instagram and at chrisduffycomedy.com
• Buy Chris’ book, Humor Me 
• Watch How to Be a Better Human videos on YouTube at TEDAudioCollective
• Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do radio personality Ira Glass, New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, and your host Chris Duffy have in common? They all have practiced an unexpected skill that makes them more human—improv comedy. And they learned it from master improv teacher Rick Andrews. Rick joins Chris to discuss the life lessons they learn from giving up control and practicing how to “yes an” in conversations. They also modeled improv games such as “Alibi,” “7 Things,” “Fortunately and Unfortunately,” and more, so you can sprinkle some improvisational silliness to build better communication and trust in your work and personal life.

Featured guest

• Follow Rick Andrews on LinkedIn and at https://www.rickandrewsimprov.com/

Connect with the team

• Follow Chris on Instagram and at chrisduffycomedy.com
• Buy Chris’ book, Humor Me 
• Watch How to Be a Better Human videos on YouTube at TEDAudioCollective
• Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How long have you been sitting today? If you’re still on the couch or the office chair, then this is your PSA to get up and move! In this episode, Manoush Zomorodi, host of NPR's TED Radio Hour, joins Chris to share the detrimental effects of sitting all day. They talk about the joy of adding more positive interruptions in your life, why going off-camera helps you improve your mind-body connection, and more!

Featured guest

• Follow Manoush Zomorodi on Instagram, LinkedIn, and at https://www.manoushz.com/
• Subscribe to Manoush Minutes on Substack
• Buy her book Body Electric

Connect with the team

• Follow Chris on Instagram and at chrisduffycomedy.com
• Buy Chris’ book, Humor Me 
• Watch How to Be a Better Human videos on YouTube at TEDAudioCollective
• Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today’s special featured episode of 10% Happier with Dan Harris, hear from Ranjay Gulati, a Harvard professor and author whose pioneering work focuses on unlocking organizational and individual potential—embracing courage, nurturing purpose-driven leaders, driving growth, and transforming businesses. Find out how you can decipher courage and recklessness, build moral anchors for your decision-making, and take action when you’re feeling stuck.

10% Happier with Dan Harris is a show about how to do life better, hosted by a former ABC News anchor turned bestselling author. Drawing on a mix of ancient Buddhism and modern science, this podcast covers self-compassion, relationships , productivity, and more. Find out how happiness is not an unalterable factory setting; it’s a skill. You can find more episodes of 10% Happier with Dan Harris wherever you get your podcasts.

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When you think about risk, you probably think about big, dramatic moves: quitting your job, moving across the country, saying something controversial. But the people who are actually good at taking risks are the ones who practice small challenges every day. Julie Zhuo was one of the earliest product and design leaders at Facebook, and is now the co-founder of Sundial, a company that uses AI to help organizations make better decisions. In this episode, Molly and Julie dissect what it actually means to take a risk and how you can build your risk-taking skills through daily practice. Julie reflects on her own risk-taking journey, the ways she has honed her abilities to challenge fear, her thinking on when you shouldn’t take a leap, and the important distinction between courage and fearlessness.

WorkLife is a podcast from TED where host and company builder Molly Graham and her expert guests talk through the messy feelings we all experience at work. Ambition and failure, joy and burnout, confidence and self-doubt — this show digs into it all to help you build a career without losing yourself. Listen now: https://link.mgln.ai/9sBEHV

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A-1. Killer-diller. Outta sight. All that and a bag of chips. This slaps! From the 1940s to the early 2020s, these words and phrases are all generational slang that means the same thing—“excellent.” In this episode, Chris speaks with linguist and content creator Adam Aleksic on how technology and algorithms are changing language. They also discuss which age-group is experimenting the most with language, how social media is transforming how the deaf community communicates, and whether going completely offline does more harm than good.

Featured guest

• Follow Adam Aleksic on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and at etymologynerd.com/
• Subscribe to Adam's Substack, The Etymology Nerd
• Buy Adam's book Algospeak

Connect with the team

• Follow Chris on Instagram and at chrisduffycomedy.com
• Buy Chris’ book, Humor Me 
• Watch How to Be a Better Human videos on YouTube at TEDAudioCollective
• Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I was looking for certainty when there was no certainty to be found. If Simone’s words resonate with you, then this episode is for YOU. Simone Stolzoff is a journalist who writes about the uncertainty of life. In his conversation with Chris, he observes why people are becoming less tolerant of uncertainty, the harm caused when we take AI output as definitive answers, and what you can do to expand your capacity to hold uncertainty in your life.

Featured guest

• Follow Simone Stolzoff on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and at simonestolzoff.com/
• Buy Simone's books How to Not Know and The Good Enough Job

Connect with the team

• Follow Chris on Instagram and at chrisduffycomedy.com
• Buy Chris’ book, Humor Me 
• Watch How to Be a Better Human videos on YouTube at TEDAudioCollective
• Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s hard to not feel stress at the state of the world today, so how can you cope with stressors without letting them completely overwhelm you? Clinical psychologist Jenny Taitz spends most of her days helping clients navigate through their stress. She shares why she uses Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, in her therapy work, whether a cold plunge can help you snap out of your messy ruminations, and why doing a few tasks each day to practice for pleasure and mastery can help improve your mood.

Featured guest

• Follow Dr. Jenny Taitz on Instagram, LinkedIn, and at https://www.drjennytaitz.com/
• Buy Dr. Taitz's book Stress Resets

Connect with the team

• Follow Chris on Instagram and at chrisduffycomedy.com
• Buy Chris’ book, Humor Me 
• Watch How to Be a Better Human videos on YouTube at TEDAudioCollective
• Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if your hardest emotional challenges could be solved by talking to a stranger? A person who has gone through the exact same situation or something very similar. That’s the premise of Proxy, a podcast that investigates your niche emotional conundrums with host Yowei Shaw. In this episode, Yowei and Chris talk about the power of knowing you’re not the only person going through something, however specific. Whether it’s losing your job, a friend breakup, or an alternate version of your life that you can’t let go of, Yowei has a method to make it all make more sense.

Featured guest

• Follow Yowei Shaw on Instagram, Patreon, and at yoweishaw.com/
• Listen to Proxy with Yowei Shaw

Connect with the team

• Follow Chris on Instagram and at chrisduffycomedy.com
• Buy Chris’ book, Humor Me 
• Watch How to Be a Better Human videos on YouTube at TEDAudioCollective
• Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.