Episodes: 2017

When we asked listeners about their favorite songs to listen to while battling depression, The Mountain Goats’ music kept coming up. We caught up with the band’s founder, singer, and songwriter, John Darnielle, to learn about what goes into his process. We also find out about the music he listens to and the other ways […]

There are many ways to address depression: therapy, meds, exercise, music. And then there are our own thoughts. We learn the mantras, reminders, and rituals that some of our listeners use to get through it when Clinny D flares up.

When clinical depression, the ol’ Clinny D, starts getting the best of our listeners, a lot of them reach for the headphones to fire up some choice tunes. We take another spin through the therapeutic playlist and hear from The Beach Boys, the Grateful Dead, and a Taylor Swift cover you simply must listen to.

We asked our listeners to tell us about the songs they use when depression is hitting hard. Take a listen to some of the responses, both the songs themselves and the stories behind them in this highly musical trip through the jukebox that is Clinny D. You won’t often find mix tapes with Doris Day, […]

More ideas from listeners for unusual methods they used to address their depression that actually worked. We’ve heard a wide variety of ideas from all over the world, including Jonna Nummela of Helsinki, Finland who tells about her clown alter-ego who takes lumps so Jonna doesn’t have to. We also hear about what Jonna brings […]

It’s a crossover conversation between The Hilarious World of Depression’s John Moe and Ana Marie Cox, host of the podcast With Friends Like These. Both shows traffic in the idea of having more conversations about things that don’t get talked about very often. In that spirit, John and Ana Marie open about some events that […]

We asked listeners for the strangest ways they’ve tried to treat their depression that actually worked. And boy, did they ever come through. We hear musical solutions, efforts to enumerate animals, and some clandestine harmless vandalism on the streets of Ottawa.

Peter Sagal, host of NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! was our guest on the very first episode of our podcast. He used the occasion to break a long silence and tell the world that he’s struggled with depression, the first time he had told anyone other than a doctor. On this placebo episode, we check […]

March is #trypod time all over the podcast world and we’re getting in the spirit by offering an episode of another American Public Media program. Terrible, Thanks for Asking explores the sometimes difficult answers that people avoid giving when asked, “How are you?”

THWoD stops by to say hello with a mini-episode. A not-really-an-episode. A placebo. Instead of talking to professional comedians, host John Moe talks to some listeners of the show about their surprisingly amusing tales of struggling with depression. We hear about the power of a pair of concert tickets, a very special friend who isn’t […]

Comedian and actor Paul F. Tompkins is known for being friendly and delightful both on stage and off. And that’s pretty surprising given that he grew up in a home where his parents slept in separate rooms, each likely struggling with undiagnosed and untreated depression, and conflict and anger were all around. Hear how comedy […]

The life of a professional comedian and actor can be glamorous at times. You get recognized, go to the occasional celebrity party, maybe have a lot of strangers know your name. But it didn’t feel all that swanky to Baron Vaughn when he was holed up in a Vancouver apartment for days at a time, […]

Before she was a successful LA comic with a new Netflix special, Jen Kirkman was a somewhat confused kid growing up in Boston. Hear how she got screwed up by nuclear war anxiety, found her calling in comedy, and ultimately learned to leverage her creativity and imagination to take on depression and anxiety.

When it comes to struggles with depression, everyone’s story is different. But a lot of the time, the stories can be pretty similar. In this episode, we point out some common themes that seem to rise up in a whole lot of conversations with comedians. Join us for a journey through feeling awful and trying some things to feel better with Michael Ian Black, Aparna Nancherla, Mike Drucker, Jordan Carlos, Jenny Jaffe, Jake Weisman, Sara Benincasa, and Bill Corbett.

It’s not exactly normal for a 5-year-old kid to listen to Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” over and over and over, but Andy Richter didn’t know that. It felt natural to him. The actor and longtime comedic accompanist to Conan O’Brien relates his childhood in Illinois, the impact of divorce on his nascent depression, and how he plugged away at finding both an effective treatment and who he really was. Also, are ALL people who go into comedy at least a little twisted? Here Andy’s answer.

Just about everyone who mattered in the ’60s and ’70s hung out with Dick Cavett. His talk shows were hilarious, candid, and culturally vital. They were snarky before David Letterman ever hit the air, and sharp before Jon Stewart showed up on anyone’s TV. Along the way, he managed to infuriate Richard Nixon such that the President plotted attacks against him, which is when you know you’ve really arrived. On this episode, Dick talks about his own struggles with depression as well as the struggles of people he knew, including Judy Garland, Laurence Olivier, Marlon Brando, and Groucho Marx.