When actor David Duchovny was teaching his daughter to ride a bike, he made the questionable choice of taking her to the top of a grassy hill at Pepperdine University in Malibu and pointing her straight downhill toward Highway 1. Luckily she learned (quickly) how to brake, but he realized not all of his ideas are good ones. In fact, some are failures. Sam asks David how to view failure through a positive lens, why it’s so hard for Americans to admit defeat, and why Yale is still waiting for him to teach a Kierkegaard graduate class.
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Kierkegaard or Californication? (with David Duchovny)

We make a lot of choices, every single day. Some explode, some implode, most we barely remember. Each week on Choice Words, Samantha Bee sits down with people she admires to examine the biggest choices they’ve made in their lives and the ripple effects those decisions have had. What’s a story a journalist took a chance on that changed history? A vote that a politician never should have cast? A song lyric a musician came up with in the shower that made them instantly famous? 

Sam’s made a lot of choices, too. She may have to interview herself about starting this podcast.
 

Comedy

As the author and podcast host of “Freakonomics,” Stephen Dubner spends a lot of time thinking about and studying what goes into good decision-making. In one of our favorite episodes from the vault, he gives Sam tips on balancing logic with emotion, offers ways to use your imagination to help you make a choice, and defends the coin-flip method.
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Choices We Made: Logic or Emotion? (with Stephen Dubner)

When Laura Dern found out that her mother, Diane Ladd, had scarring on her lungs, the doctor told her to be gentle with her mom because she’d be dead in 6 months. Laura chose to challenge that diagnosis by taking her mother on regular walks to expand her lung capacity. Not only did it work, but it turned into a new book co-written by the two award-winning actresses. In one of our favorite episodes from the vault, Sam asks the mother-daughter duo how those walks saved Diane’s life and what family stories and secrets were uncovered during those strolls.
Follow Laura Dern @LauraDern on X and Instagram. Follow Diane Ladd @Diane_Ladd on X and @rosedianeladd on Instagram.
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For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Choices We Made: Honest Conversations or Family Secrets? (with Laura Dern and Diane Ladd)

We’re bringing you an episode of A Slight Change of Plans from our friends at Pushkin. Named by Apple as the Best Show of the Year 2021, host Dr. Maya Shankar blends compassionate storytelling with the science of human behavior to help us understand who we are, and who we become, in the face of a big change.
In this episode, psychologist Dr. Marisa Franco argues that it's a mistake to prioritize romantic and familial relationships over friendships. Strong, supportive friendships expand our sense of self, she says, and are associated with greater well-being and health. Marisa offers research-based strategies to make new friends and deepen our existing friendships, including helpful concepts like mutuality and the mere-exposure effect. Marisa and Maya also discuss how to stay friends through big life changes, why fighting could make your friendship stronger, and how to break up with a friend with clarity and kindness.
Follow A Slight Change of Plans to never miss an episode: https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/a-slight-change-of-plans
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For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From A Slight Change of Plans: “The Science of Making (and Keeping) Friends”

When actor Kerry Washington’s parents told her a massive family secret five years ago, it shook her entire world. And despite being an extremely private person, Kerry decided to reveal this shocking information in her memoir, “Thicker Than Water.” In one of our favorite episodes from the vault, Sam and Kerry discuss how learning this truth helped Kerry know herself for the first time in her life and what made her want to share her story with the world. Plus, how Kerry feels about people’s inability to differentiate her from Olivia Pope and why Kerry was known as “the condom lady” in high school.
Follow Kerry Washington @kerrywashington on Instagram and X.
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For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kierkegaard or Californication? (with David Duchovny)

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