How to Be a Better Human

What if one day, over the course of a few hours, you lost all of your hearing? That was Michael Chorost’s reality. Michael is an author who had to relearn how to hear after receiving a cochlear implant. Michael and Chris talk about the reality of brain-computer interfaces, the future of hearing, and how hearing loss taught Michael to become a better listener.

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 TEDPods
• 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 does the pressure to be more efficient, more productive, and more useful do to us? Priyanka Mattoo is an author whose new book, How to Be Less Useful, addresses the joys of being inefficient and giving up control. Priyanka and Chris also discuss how traditional gender roles show up in marriage and why it’s important to give your partner space to lead in their own way.

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 TEDPods
• 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.

Chris Gethard is a comedian and the host of the podcast Beautiful Anonymous, an unscripted, unpredictable show where one anonymous person calls in and shares their family woes, secret confessions, or anything at all they want to talk about for 60 minutes. The only rule is that Chris Gethard can’t hang up. Gethard shares what he has learned from the show about how to talk to literally anyone, the life skills he mastered through improv comedy, and why making people laugh has been so important for his own mental health.

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 TEDPods
• 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 does someone who claims having zero tolerance on watching scary movies come to host a podcast on supernatural stories? That’s the question Chris asked Glynn Washington, host of the podcast Snap Judgment and his new show, Spooked. Glynn shares how he grew up in a cult and later moved to Japan. He also talks about the traits in great storytellers and recounts paranormal stories.

Featured guest

• Follow Glynn Washington on Instagram
• Listen to Snap Judgment and Spooked

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 TEDPods
• 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.

Why does making friends as an adult feel like mission impossible?

Today, we’re sharing a special episode of a new TED podcast, Corner Piece. Friendship is hard, especially in adulthood, and this episode explores just that with personal stories from host Melissa Fernandes of her experience grappling with a friendship break up. Along the way, she interviews Anna Goldfarb, journalist and author of “Modern Friendship: How to Nurture Our Most Valuable Connections,” and Dr. Marisa G. Franco, professor and author of “Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—And Keep—Friends”. They explain why friendship can get so complicated as you get older and how to build closer bonds.

Corner Piece is hosted by the trio behind the YouTube channel, Answer in Progress, who start small on life’s biggest questions and follow their curiosities about human connection down rabbit holes to help you, and themselves, understand the world around them a little bit better.

Hear more episodes of Corner Piece on your favorite podcast app or here: https://link.mgln.ai/XDcPEc

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

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

How long do you want to live? 75 years? 90? Over 100?! In this episode, oncologist and bioethicist Zeke Emanuel joins Chris to discuss why he’s suspicious about medical establishments and their push to treat illness and disease rather than teaching patients how to be healthy. They also talk about the beauty of spontaneous conversations with strangers. Finally Zeke shares the three foods you need to cut from your diet immediately… and why ice-cream is not on that list!

Featured guest

• Follow Zeke Emanuel on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and at his website
• Buy Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life

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 TEDPods
• 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.

Monica Lewinsky is an anti-bullying activist and host of Reclaiming with Monica, a podcast that shines her guests’ unguarded conversations about how they make sense of the world. In this episode filmed in front of a live audience at TED 2026, Chris interviews Monica on how she finds healing throughout the years. They discuss the role of public shaming in an online world, the differences between cancel culture and accountability culture, and how to have more empathy after surviving trauma.

Featured guest

• Follow Monica Lewinsky on Instagram and X
• Subscribe to Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram

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 TEDPods
• 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.

“We have tried to create a system devoid of beauty, and it has failed. We have never tried to create a system that is replete with beauty and ask us what it might do.” Reginald Dwayne Betts is a poet, a lawyer, and a prison reform advocate. In this episode, he joins Chris to discuss the detrimental effects of prison systems and how lack of resources and the lack of beauty in prison perpetuates dehumanization. Reginald and Chris also share their favorite poems and books and discuss Reginald’s work with the Freedom Library to bring books to prisoners and correction officers.

Poems and Books Mentioned

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

won’t you celebrate with me by Lucille Clifton

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden

Failing and Flying by Jack Gilbert

The Forgotten Dialect of the Heart by Jack Gilbert

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

under a soprano sky by Sonia Sanchez

For Freckle-Faced Gerald by Etheridge Knight

Featured guest

• Follow Reginald on Instagram, LinkedIn, and at FreedomReads.org
• Buy Felon: Poems and Doggerel: Poems

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 TEDPods
• 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.

Keith Diaz is an exercise scientist who studies the importance of movement to combat a sedentary lifestyle. He joins Chris to talk about how you can build better habits, and why simple alarm alerts might be more effective in motivating people to move than savvier tech like smart watches. Keith also shares why you need to activate your muscles to help you fight diseases and stay healthy.

Featured guest

• Follow Keith Diaz on LinkedIn
• Watch Ketih's TED Talk

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 TEDPods
• 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 do you bring up difficult topics—especially when it involves a loved one? In this episode, Emerson Whitney, author of the book O Mother, talks about the grief of losing his mom to suicide. Emerson shares delicate topics such as growing up neurodivergent with ADHD and autism and how he continues to show up as his authentic self. Then Emerson and Chris discuss finding community and how to cultivate more joyful friendships.

Featured guest

• Follow Emerson Whitney on Instagram and at https://emersonwhitney.com/
• Buy O Mother

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 TEDPods
• 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.