Good morning and welcome to the 2022 Max Fun Drive. It’s the one and only time of year all of us at Maximum Fun come out directly to ask for your support. And that’s a lot less often than public radio stations do it, quite honestly. Really, among places that have asking for money built into the business model, we’re positively demure.
I want to keep making Depresh Mode and I want to keep sending you this newsletter. Will you make that possible?
The fundamental belief at the root of all the work I do is that conversation about mental health, publicly available and easily accessed, will make the subject easier to talk about for everyone in society. And then fewer people will be afraid, more people will get the help they need, and we will be healthier.
And I know that I’m right. I get letters from people all the time telling me that the work I’m doing has helped them. They feel more hope, they feel less alone, they value what my work has led them to.
This is from an email I got from a listener named Jennifer a couple days ago:
Until I discovered your podcast I felt like nothing could pull me out of the pit. Exercise, healthy eating, sleeping, therapy/meds, etc. were just proving their futility with each passing day. To hear people, funny people no less, articulate their internal struggles as they function so well on the surface made me feel again. Seriously, my new therapy is just walking laps around my neighborhood canal while laughing and crying along with your guests. So thank you for that.
Sometimes we’ll do an episode on something that is complicated and needs explaining. Sometimes it’s about an angle on mental health issues you haven’t thought of before. And sometimes, often, it’s a human being talking about their human experiences. We put out a show every week, sometimes more than one. I am happy to do all the work involved in that - and it’s a LOT of work - because it helps people.
Similarly, this newsletter seems to provide value to people. I have more subscribers than I ever expected. The percentage of people opening and reading the newsletter is so high that it’s positively garish compared to other email things.
But if my work isn’t pulling in enough in financial contributions, I will have to stop . Go get a job at a company somewhere. I want to continue making something valuable here instead. So it’s up to you, the listening and reading public.
HARD TONE SHIFT TO SOMETHING SILLIER!
WHEN you donate to Depresh Mode through Maximum Fun - not if but when - you can get fun gifts. Including our bonus content episode, available ONLY to donors.
SLEEPING WITH CELEBRITIES - a special podcast episode made to put you to sleep.
Life can be stressful and when that is the case it can be hard to silence your own racing thoughts enough to let you relax and doze off. So we wanted to help. We called up some comedians, writers, podcast hosts, people who do a lot of talking and communicating, and we asked them to have conversations with us about the most boring topics they could think of that they also know a lot about. You can listen to those conversations instead of your own racing thoughts. Play it on a smart speaker or your phone next to your bed. Or on wraparound headphones if you have another person there.
Celebrities you’ll be sleeping with.
- John Moe introducing the show and then talking about the differences and similarities between Dubuque, Iowa and Duluth, Minnesota.
- Comedian and writer Josh Gondelman describes the daily routine of his elderly pug, Bizzy.
- Janet Varney, screen actor, host of The JV Club Podcast here on Maximum Fun, tells us about long drives from Tucson to Glacier National Park that she took when she was a kid.
- Peter Sagal from Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me. He tells us about running shoes and, yes, running socks.
- Tre’Vell Anderson and Jarrett Hill from the podcast FANTI lead a discussion of glasses sliding down your nose and also how to prepare rice.
- Lisa Hanawalt from the Baby Geniuses podcast on Maximum Fun, creator of the animated show Tuca and Bertie. Tuca and Bertie are birds but she’s doesn’t talk about birds, she talks about how she takes care of her horse.
- From Jordan and Jesse Go, Jordan Morris and Jesse Thorn are with us. They have a lot to say about west coast geography and antique shopping.
- Bridger Winegar is a comedy writer and podcast host. He lives in California. He walks us through one of his favorite cookie recipes as well as giving us updates on his many cousins.
- Laura House, our meditation helper and co-host of Tiny Victories stops by to talk about packing.
- John Hodgman helps us play a very slow and methodical video game.
AT THE $10 AND UP LEVEL, you get Sleeping with Celebrities AND your choice of Maximum Fun custom-made patches. You can sew it or iron it on to your fanny pack or denim vest!
The Depresh Mode patch features Oops Nope, the official mascot of our show. Oops Nope is an o’opu nopili, a fish that climbs its way up the sides of waterfalls, microinch at a time. Seemed to be a good fit. The fish wears sweatpants.
There are many other levels at which you can donate, all of which you can find details on at maximumfun.org/join. There are MESSENGER BAGS, BASEBALL CAPS, ACTIVITY PACKS, and so much more. maximumfun.org/join
ON THE ACTUAL SHOW THIS WEEK
My guest is John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats, author of several books, including the recent Devil House.
We talk about: violence, Satan, heavy metal, anxiety, ducking out of a party while saying “too many people too many people too many people”, Tik Tok, drugs, and parties.
This is from 2010: