Dominic Fike

Summary

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Episode: Dominic Fike
Release Date: September 22, 2025
Guest: Dominic Fike
Host: Dax Shepard (w/ Monica Padman)

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Episode Overview

This episode features musician, producer, and actor Dominic Fike, famed for his breakout performance on Euphoria and his genre-blurring music career. Dax and Monica dive into Dominic's tumultuous upbringing, musical journey, struggles with addiction, family dynamics, and his somewhat accidental foray into acting. Throughout, they celebrate vulnerability, resilience, and the complexities of self-identity, delivered in the show’s signature candid, humorous, and self-deprecating style.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

First Impressions and The "Dirty" Stereotype

• Dax and Monica immediately comment on Dominic's appearance versus his online persona, with Dom explaining (05:08):
  • "I take a long time to shower. I spend time showering. I'm a single man."
• Dominic notes he's aware he looks "dirty" to some on social media, which they quickly dispel in person.

Childhood, Family Dynamics, & Socioeconomic Divide

• Dominic grew up in Naples, Florida among both affluent and less privileged groups (05:49):
  • "The division between middle class and rich people and poor people… wasn’t so thick and palpable. It felt like you could slip into any one of those sections."
• He discusses his mother's serial relationships and absentee, addicted father, contributing to a chaotic childhood marked by instability, step-siblings, and violence (15:09):
  • "My stepdad would beat the shit out of my mom all the time. And… the cops would come and arrest my mom every time."

Addiction, Sobriety, and the "Malone Collective"

• Conversation shifts to substance use, self-definition of sobriety, and treatment approaches (08:01):
  • Dom mentions involvement with a quasi-cultish wellness group that offers somatic therapy and defines sobriety individually.
  • On using psychedelics for insight: "It’s like opening a map. … You check where you’re at… take that 30,000 foot perspective." (09:47)
• He reflects on evolving relationships with substances and supporting his brother through addiction (10:53):
  • "Sometimes you evolve past where you're supposed to go and it knocks you back."

Generational Trauma, Guilt, and Self-Compassion

• Dominic shares struggles with being both caretaker and survivor in his family (11:26):
  • “I kind of shut the phone on him. Let me just see if he figures it out.”
• Dax and Dominic connect over witnessing violence against their mothers and how that shaped overprotectiveness and wariness around men (16:24).
• Dominic is open about not extending to himself the grace he gives others (23:30):
  • “I never extend that care to myself or that courtesy or that grace. I've never ever done it. And part of that I think makes me who I am.”

Escapism, Early Creativity & Avalon Forest

• Dominic describes using adventures and music with friends as a means of coping with home life, conjuring a fictional “Forest of Avalon” to escape reality (26:53):
  • “My childhood was kind of like South Park… an adventure takes place. And the forest of Avalon was just one of those episodes of that season.”
• On first experiences with weed and music as both peer acceptance and emotional outlet.

Entry Into Music & Jailhouse Bidding War

• Details on living situations, supporting family through crime, and ultimately being jailed for interfering with a police officer to protect his brother (34:13).
• On house arrest, producing his debut mixtape, and failing a drug test for cocaine (39:54):
  • “It's right as I finish the last song on the mixtape … and I just failed. And he put cuffs on me right there.”
• Releases the mixtape while incarcerated, triggering a label bidding war and a $4M Columbia Records contract (42:01):
  • "By the time they he gets out, there is a bidding war to sign you, and you signed at Columbia for $4 million dollars."

Providing for Family and Pressure of Success

• Much of the initial deal money went to lawyers to get family members out of jail and regain custody of his sister (43:09).
• Dominic discusses imposter syndrome, family responsibility, and navigating fame post-release. Dax notes the “miracle” dimension of such a turnaround.

Evolution as an Artist and Collaborating with Justin Bieber

• Dominic retreats to Colorado to make music post-signing, expression inspired by stories of creative isolation.
• On collaboration with Bieber (51:27):
  • “He is an athlete with it. When he shows up, it’s like seeing Michael Jordan or Kobe step on a court.”

Euphoria: Accidental Acting & On-Set Struggles

• Cast in Euphoria after a viral music performance, despite a disastrous audition (58:01):
  • "I show up to the audition… beyond fucked up. I'm just laughing at Sam and everyone's laughing at me."
• Sam Levinson, Euphoria creator, rewrote the part for Dom based on his personality (58:25).
• Honest about ongoing substance use during filming and risk of being fired:
  • "Doing a lot of coke and a lot of really great weed." (63:04)
  • "All the money... this is a temporary fix for something that I need to actually go and heal." (63:28)

Public Reaction & Being Vulnerable On Screen

• Addresses negative response to his Euphoria musical scene and the intensity of online judgment (64:50):
  • "People hated that scene... the whole internet just blew up about me doing that."

Sobriety—Multiple Attempts, Relapse, and Parenthood

• Open about four rehab stints, including Cirque Lodge and Crossroads (69:09).
• On fatherhood not being the rock bottom moment, but rather having a breakdown following withdrawal (67:00; 67:45):
  • “It’s a fallacy to say there’s a bottom because I’ve had a dozen billion bottoms. But certainly I did have the profound moment... you got everything you wanted, and you're the most miserable you've ever been."

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Self-Compassion:
  “I never extend that care to myself or that courtesy or that grace. I've never ever done it. And part of that I think makes me who I am.”
  — Dominic Fike (23:30)

• On Substance Use and Recovery:
  “Sometimes you evolve past where you're supposed to go and it knocks you back. And I think I'm finally at the point where, like, you know when you stretch out a rubber band and it's like… I'm like, right here, right?”
  — Dominic Fike (10:42)

• On Family Trauma:
  “My stepdad would beat the shit out of my mom all the time. And we would have to watch it. And then the cops would come and arrest my mom every time.”
  — Dominic Fike (15:35)

• On Surreal Success:
  “It was kind of like the first of its kind in that span of time to happen to this bidding war thing. I'd never been a part of anything.”
  — Dominic Fike (42:33)

• Dax on Escapism:
  “My dad was an addict and I was like, I’m never going to do anything. And then that failed. But that was my initial game plan…”
  — Dax Shepard (28:45)

• On Being Judged in Hollywood:
  “I would have been so triggered by, like, I bet she thinks I'm a piece of shit.”
  — Dax Shepard, on acting alongside Zendaya (71:58)

• On Pressure and Meaning:
  “Why don't I like what I see? I'm supposed to like it. Yeah, it's scary.”
  — Dax Shepard (67:33)

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Important Timestamps

• [05:08] — Dominic on hygiene, public perception, and “dirty” stereotype
• [09:47] — Psychedelics as emotional mapping, views on ayahuasca
• [15:15] — Mom’s addiction and ability to function
• [23:30] — Discussion of self-compassion and grace
• [26:53] — Avalon Forest, his childhood escape and imagination
• [34:13] — Getting arrested protecting his brother, days before his mixtape release
• [39:54] — Failing a house arrest drug test right after finishing mixtape
• [42:01] — Post-jail, $4 million record deal, family legal battles
• [51:27] — Collaborating with Justin Bieber, creative work ethic
• [58:01] — Euphoria casting story, messy audition, part rewritten for Dom
• [63:04] — On nearly getting fired for drug use during Euphoria
• [67:00] — Fatherhood, hitting bottom, and the misconception that parenthood triggers sobriety
• [71:58] — Hollywood insecurities working alongside “goody-goods” like Zendaya

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Standout & Lighthearted Moments

• [17:19] Dominic: “I just don’t really want to hang out with dudes.”
• [35:04] Dominic’s brother using the “reed in the lake” cartoon escape trick during a police chase.
• [45:10] Dom watching the money hit his account at a urinal after his record deal.
• [56:08] Dom jokes about seeing girlfriends fawn over Bieber: “Her eyes turned black like a shark, smelling blood.”
• [72:34] Dom at a bar with Tom Holland and Toby Maguire, asks them to do the Spider-Man meme.

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Final Notes & Episode Mood

Dominic’s presence is winsome—equal parts enigmatic, self-aware, and boyish. The rapport with Dax is instant, with shared backgrounds in family trauma and addiction, but also a shared sense of humor about pain, class, and recovery. Dax and Monica lean into their roles as both interlocutors and enthusiastic fans, sometimes maternal toward Dominic’s hard-lived but hopeful story. The episode is honest without being bleak, celebratory without glossing over pain—a testament to Armchair Expert’s enduring tone.

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For Further Listening

• Tiny Desk Concerts — Mentioned as an appearance Dominic missed due to substance use ([66:30]).
• Working with Labyrinth and Euphoria Soundtrack ([60:46])
• Standout Podcasts — Dominic shouts out Theo Von and Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast ([73:22]).

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This episode is highly recommended for anyone interested in stories of resilience, creative reinvention, and the lived realities behind modern celebrity.

Transcript

[Dax Shepard]

Wondry plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondry plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dan Shepherd. I'm joined by Modest Mouse.

[Monica Padman]

Hi.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, Modest Mouse. Ding, ding, ding.

[Monica Padman]

You went with Rob.

[Dax Shepard]

Rob and I went and saw him today. We have just one of the most adorable, adorable boys out there.

[Monica Padman]

Out there.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, Dominic Fike. We both fell in love with him on Euphoria.

[Monica Padman]

That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

He's a musician, a producer and an actor. He was just impossibly good on Euphoria for having never done it.

[Monica Padman]

And we, we get into it there, you know, there was some stuff going on.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure. He was. He is juggling some things.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And he has a couple different albums out. What could possibly go wrong? Sunburn. And a new mixtape out now called Rocket. I love his childhood story as you are about to hear.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, man.

[Dax Shepard]

Buckle up, buckle up. Please enjoy. Dominic Fike. We are supported by Boar's Head. Let me tell you about my new obsession from Boar's Head. That's basically barbecue joint flavor without the three hour wait. It's called Sweet Bees Honey barbecue glazed chicken breast. And folks, this is what happens when honey meets barbecue perfection. They take this incredible chicken breast, season it with smoked paprika and garlic, then slow roast it with the amazing proprietary glaze made with real wildflower honey. Their tagline says it perfectly. It's honey drizzled and barbecue sizzled. And that's exactly what you get in every bite. I mean, I can eat a stack of this.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. This is making me starving. I want that.

[Dax Shepard]

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[Monica Padman]

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[Dax Shepard]

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[Dominic Fike]

How you doing?

[Dax Shepard]

Hi, brother. Welcome.

[Dominic Fike]

Nice to meet you.

[Dax Shepard]

Nice to meet you.

[Dominic Fike]

Pleasure. Monica. I'm Dom.

[Monica Padman]

Thanks for coming.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, no problem. Mind if I sit here?

[Monica Padman]

That's not.

[Dominic Fike]

I've seen you sit here.

[Dax Shepard]

We're gonna insist you sit there.

[Dominic Fike]

I have seen you sit here.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. If we're checking facts, I sit there. In an interview, I sit here. So we move around.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, I did. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

You're as cute in person as you are on television. You don't always know what you're gonna get.

[Dominic Fike]

What do you mean?

[Dax Shepard]

You see people on television, they're super cute. You meet them in person, you're like, they're not as cute, personality wise, you know, I don't know. There's some magic with a lens. I'll meet other people and be like, wow, in real life, that person's unbelievably attractive.

[Monica Padman]

It can go. Yes. It often to me goes the other way. People are more attractive.

[Dax Shepard]

We love to think we're more attractive in person because we don't like how we look on camera.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You and I. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When people meet you, do they say one way or another? Because that's a common thing for people to say. Oh, you're so much cuter in real life. Or you're taller.

[Dominic Fike]

I see Instagram comments about people thinking like, I don't shower. Apparently I look like I smell bad.

[Dax Shepard]

Dirty.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah. Re dirty. Yeah, that's what people say.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, well, we can confirm you don't smell. We can tell the world you don't smell.

[Dax Shepard]

That'll be the first myth we dispel today.

[Monica Padman]

That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

What do you chalk that up to?

[Dominic Fike]

Do you think it should be your wardrobe? I take a long Time to shower. I spend time showering. I'm a single man.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Monica Padman]

Then, yeah, you really gotta get in.

[Dominic Fike]

There's no one waiting for the shower or waiting for me.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's your point about being single? I was thinking more like you're on the market, you gotta put your best foot forward.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. I don't think that women like it when I try to get all primped out, you know, I think they prefer me more dirty.

[Monica Padman]

Interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not shocked by that.

[Monica Padman]

You have a mysterious vibe and so hyper.

[Dominic Fike]

I got a mysterious vibe?

[Monica Padman]

I think so.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, let's put it this way. I'm a child of divorce. All of my friends, their parents were divorced. Like, are all your friends parents are divorced for the most part.

[Dominic Fike]

No, man, no, no. I grew up with a lot of people who had healthy, admirable parents who are all in high functioning relationships. Because a lot of rich people where I grew up, Naples, Florida.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Dominic Fike]

So they were like model families. I feel like the model families kind of changed, but for that point in time when everybody was really trying to fit into that box and that middle class thing was like dying out, that is what I experienced from my friend's parents.

[Dax Shepard]

I think maybe that's a testament to your self esteem or not or your own security. Because I felt judged by other people. I needed to know everyone else was dealing with some shit. Or I got insecure in those situations, like, oh, this family thinks I'm trash. You didn't have any of that?

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, I had that, but I was also trash. I was like, yeah, this family's got a good read on me. It was cool though, because the division between middle class and rich people and poor people, it wasn't so thick and palpable. It felt like you could slip into any one of those sections. Because I would hang out with a lot of people from. In my city, they call it in town. Okay, A lot of people call it Brown Town because minorities lived here. So I grew up there and I had a lot of rich white friends because I like to skateboard and I like Blink 182 and Sergeant Peppers and shit. So like, whatever.

[Dax Shepard]

And they had swimming pools and it's hot out.

[Dominic Fike]

Exactly. Some friends, swimming pools and a lot of snacks.

[Dax Shepard]

I know this game. You gotta go somewhere after school to eat.

[Dominic Fike]

Of course.

[Dax Shepard]

Who's got the microwave pizza?

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, we all hung out, you know.

[Dax Shepard]

There wasn't like a hard demarcation.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's good.

[Dominic Fike]

Wasn't like socials and socials like from the outsiders. That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

Socials and Greasers. Because I feel like my school is pretty hierarchical. It was in socioeconomically, especially in junior high.

[Dominic Fike]

Where'd you go?

[Dax Shepard]

Detroit area.

[Dominic Fike]

Okay. Motor City.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right, sir.

[Dominic Fike]

When did you leave there?

[Dax Shepard]

95.

[Dominic Fike]

That's when I was born.

[Dax Shepard]

I know that we have a lot of weird things. So you're about to turn 30.

[Dominic Fike]

Gross.

[Dax Shepard]

December 30th. Right.

[Monica Padman]

Can't say that here. We're both much older than you, so you don't get to say that yet.

[Dax Shepard]

But I was doing all this math. I was like, oh, I basically got sober. Exactly. Right now for your lifespan. Because I got sober in September and I turned 33 days after you.

[Dominic Fike]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

January 2nd.

[Dominic Fike]

So I've been messing with. It's like a team of people called the Malone Collective.

[Dax Shepard]

Is it a cult?

[Dominic Fike]

It's kind of a cult.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great.

[Dominic Fike]

And the way they help you with sobriety in whatever way you see fit for yourself. So you can go there, do acupuncture, craniosacral. You can do somatic therapy.

[Dax Shepard]

What's somatic?

[Dominic Fike]

Somatic therapy. It deals with your nervous system. So it's the language of your nervous system. So whatever you can do to quell those waves that reach your window of capacity, you can, like, quell that signal.

[Dax Shepard]

That, like, dysregulates you?

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, absolutely. So it's super helpful.

[Dax Shepard]

And are you allowed in that program? What I think is cool about sla, sex and love addiction, if I understand it correctly, because I'm not a member, but my understanding of it is you create your own definition of sobriety. So you have. I think it's called a ring. And it's like, I cannot go to sex workers. I can jack off as much as I want. You know, whatever you're saying, your own rules.

[Dominic Fike]

That's a dangerous game, setting your own rules.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, yeah, but I think it makes sense because for some people, it's not an issue for they're not addicted to pornography. They're not this, but they are that.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. Sex is so ambiguous.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

That you kind of have to create rules like an eating disorder.

[Dax Shepard]

Some people are like, so they can't masturbate. But that's not for everyone.

[Monica Padman]

Right, right, right.

[Dax Shepard]

So does this cult, and I'm one myself, I say it with a lot of respect. Do you get to define your own definition of sobriety?

[Dominic Fike]

You get to define your schedule? I think that we all have a mutual understanding of what sobriety kind of looks like.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it's getting different I'd say we're in a different era than we were in the 90s for sobriety, where there are tons of people that are now sober that smoke weed or they would say they're sober.

[Dominic Fike]

It's Cali sober.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, Cali sober. Some people do ayahuasca, but they're dead sober.

[Dominic Fike]

I think it's gotten more ayahuasca's intense, dude.

[Dax Shepard]

Nuance, right? Yes. I've not done it. Have you done it? You have. And did you glean anything from it? Was it a breakthrough at all in any way?

[Dominic Fike]

It's like all psychedelics for me. It's like opening a map. You kind of check where you're at. You have this big scope. It's like zooming out. You take that like 30,000 foot perspective on acid. It's funny because you're like, okay, I got it. And then you're like, we're good, right? And the dudes like, no, there's six hours.

[Dax Shepard]

But I already got the.

[Dominic Fike]

But I got it though, right now. And then you get tired of it. And then by the end of that six hours, you don't even care about the message. You're like, I just want to get back to the PlayStation and cigarettes.

[Monica Padman]

Maybe that's the message that is.

[Dominic Fike]

I decided recently it's all great. Cocaine's awesome. Sobriety is awesome. I don't want to go on this, like, Kanye thing where he's like, I fudgeing.

[Dax Shepard]

Love everything.

[Dominic Fike]

But I do like. I do like, it's fine as long as you can handle it. My brother, I just put him in this place called Cirque Lodge.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, I've sent people there.

[Dominic Fike]

I've been there too. It's great. I love him there. But I sent him there and he's back now and he's looking at me because for a while I was just very loose with my definition of it. And I'm still kind of to this day, like, figuring it out.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

I have no idea.

[Dax Shepard]

I think it can evolve.

[Dominic Fike]

Sometimes you evolve past where you're supposed to go and it knocks you back. And I think I'm finally at the point where, like, you know when you stretch out a rubber band and it's like. Yeah, I'm like, right here, right?

[Dax Shepard]

So vibrating, but not.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, but not.

[Dax Shepard]

Getty wampus.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Alex, my brother, I just put him in there and he's back because he keeps looking to me like, how do I do this? What do I do? So this was my thing. Why I'm glad I didn't grow up with a dad because I didn't have that dude to be like, what the fuck's going on? I've been that to him. And recently I kind of shut the phone on him. Let me just see if he figures it out. Because he'll text me in the middle of the night like, yo, I need to buy a crib right now. And I'm like, actually shut the fuck up and, like, listen to your body, and then we'll see where you at. And he hit me. He's like, I kind of want a beer today. I'm like, okay, cool. Thank you for calling me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

Why you want a beer? He's like, you know, just go out to dinner like a gentleman.

[Dax Shepard]

The great illusion. Yeah, yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

Being like, a sexy drinking gentleman is so whack.

[Dax Shepard]

Sipping wine.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But some people just can't do it.

[Dax Shepard]

I know, but it's this great illusion in the program, which is like, almost everyone has the same fantasy. Like, why can't I have a glass of wine and read a book? And it's like a. I never want to be the dude drinking a fucking glass of wine reading a book. I want to be jumping off the. The second floor into the pool.

[Dominic Fike]

Facts.

[Dax Shepard]

So it's like you're already pretending you have this fantasy that you don't even have just because it's a version that you think you can do for sure.

[Dominic Fike]

And you see people do it, and I guess it looks fun, but it doesn't really.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm all for what anybody wants to do. If they're suffering, I hope they'll figure out a way to not be suffering.

[Monica Padman]

Do you feel responsible for him now that he's out in the world and he is calling you?

[Dominic Fike]

Oh, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

That's intense.

[Dominic Fike]

So I got a crazy situation with my family when I got out of jail. I went into jail. Pretty homeless. I got a record deal while I was in jail.

[Dax Shepard]

We're fast forwarding way too.

[Monica Padman]

I know we'll hit it all.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Dominic Fike]

No, my bad here.

[Monica Padman]

I'm just thinking about the responsibility of a brother that just came out of.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Let's start at the beginning. How old are mom and dad when they get divorced?

[Dominic Fike]

I don't know that they were ever married.

[Dax Shepard]

I didn't mean them. How old were you when they separated?

[Dominic Fike]

Oh, for as long as I can remember, like maybe two.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I was three. We're on a very similar path.

[Dominic Fike]

We are on a similar path.

[Dax Shepard]

We both hit the steps. Dad lottery. It sounds like when I interview someone and they're like, I love my stepdad. I'm like, congratulations, man. It's kind of hard to get a.

[Dominic Fike]

Great, super hard experience. It's crazy. I've had so many.

[Dax Shepard]

How many?

[Dominic Fike]

Too many. Just called my mom out.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, your mom's. I can tell she can take it.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

From your earliest memory. They're not together.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Did he have children before he met your mom?

[Dominic Fike]

He told me that he did because.

[Dax Shepard]

You came into the world with two step siblings. No.

[Dominic Fike]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Dominic Fike]

Yes, I did.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I was like, if I've got that one.

[Monica Padman]

So they weren't really in your life, though?

[Dominic Fike]

No, they were in my life. My step siblings. Yeah. It's just lives ago, it feels like, but yeah. Janelle, my older sister, and Alex, my older brother.

[Dax Shepard]

So they were dads.

[Dominic Fike]

They were the stepdads. Oh, they were your mom's boyfriend's kids?

[Dax Shepard]

After dad.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Right.

[Dominic Fike]

I didn't really know my dad. My earliest memory of my dad is, like, him catching me masturbating way too young.

[Dax Shepard]

By the way, what was his reaction?

[Dominic Fike]

Way too cool about? He was like, what you doing, bud? And when I think back on it, I'm like, damn, that's so weird that he took that approach with me.

[Monica Padman]

Well, maybe he didn't want to shame.

[Dominic Fike]

You didn't, but I'd rather he did. Now that I think back on it, I'm like, we weren't this, like, hippie, comfortable family where, like, you know, everyone's.

[Dax Shepard]

Jerking off and you're doing the Lord's work.

[Dominic Fike]

Dude, that wasn't it. So that bothers me. But I don't remember a lot of him. That was one of the only memories I have of him and me as a kid.

[Dax Shepard]

And I say this with love. He was a junkie. Yeah. And mom, too.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so they both liked opiates. And had they met already liking opiates, or did they develop that together?

[Dominic Fike]

My mom doesn't really tell me much about them meeting. The only thing my mom has to say about my dad is that he's a piece of shit.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Dominic Fike]

And she changed my name from Dominic Mills to Dominic Fike. That's how much she didn't like him. Even my name pissed her off to this day. Like, I can tell when she sees something in me that reminds her of my dad and has to shove it down.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dominic Fike]

And that sucks.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a bummer, because I will say, my mom and dad, they got divorced, but my mom always loved my dad. And I think when she sees him and Me. She likes it. She's like, oh, that's the guy I married.

[Dominic Fike]

That's cool. That's a great experience.

[Dax Shepard]

I like that.

[Monica Padman]

That's rare, I think.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Pretty rare.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It'd be so interesting if you did hate your ex, which is so common because your kids look so much like. Constant reminder, same way. So dad was gone. Dad resurfaced at, like, 10. At some point, we'll get to. But how functional was mom as an addict?

[Dominic Fike]

Pretty functional. She raised me and my brother alone. Now that I have a kid, I'm like, how did you do that? All the time and resources. I'm not on heroin.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

So I'm like, how did you do that?

[Dax Shepard]

How did. And I.

[Dominic Fike]

And I'm here because of her.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a really nice and positive takeaway because you could feel differently.

[Dominic Fike]

For sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, she was incarcerated sometimes.

[Dominic Fike]

All the time.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Like, how frequently?

[Dominic Fike]

Once every year. A couple years. She'd go away for a while for drugs. For all types of stuff. Driving drunk or drugs.

[Dax Shepard]

Doing addicty.

[Dominic Fike]

Addicty. Domestic violence. My stepdad would beat the. Out of my mom all the time. And we would have to watch it. And then the cops would come and arrest my mom every time. I didn't even know what cops were or what the problem was.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

So it was tough. I could have been like, I saw what happened. I could have been a good eyewitness account. I could have saved my mom maybe, like, six months in jail.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, no, I'm sure the stepdad was probably terrifying.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

He was a big dude, and he had his own problems. I'm sure.

[Dominic Fike]

You know what? He was like an alcoholic.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Dominic Fike]

And I never. Old fashioned, old classic.

[Dax Shepard]

Come on. Pissed off for no reason.

[Dominic Fike]

Alcoholic. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You knew what you were getting. You know, he'd come in the door and he was angry. That's how it went. Something always seemed to happen to him on the way home from the bar.

[Monica Padman]

At least he was consistent.

[Dax Shepard]

Disappointed when he got into the house. So I, too, watched my mom get beat. And that created that thing. It fucking killed me to not be big enough to protect her. It then made me feel like a coward. Like I had all this shame about it. You should grab a knife. And then this oversized trigger for any bullying. And I want to get in the mix way too much if anyone's getting kind of victimized. Did you pick up any of these issues?

[Dominic Fike]

And people would take that as like, dude, this guy's got a big heart. And then you go around thinking, like, yeah, that must be it. I Got a big fucking heart, right?

[Monica Padman]

Well, it's in the mix.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah. It's one of the things that makes a big heart. For sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. The events were one thing, but the abuse I put myself through after those, that's rough. And I don't like dudes as a result. I just. In general, I don't need to mean any dudes.

[Dominic Fike]

I feel you. Yo. You know what's crazy? I say this all the time to my manager.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, now we're getting somewhere.

[Dominic Fike]

It's usually about work, and it'll be like a meeting with my agent, and I'll be like, you got to go do this. I'm like, who is it? And they're like, dan or something. I just don't know my agent's name. I'm like, I don't really want to hang out with a dude today. And they'd be like, dom is not about gender. You have to talk to this dude. Like, I don't text guys forever if.

[Dax Shepard]

They'Re in my house. That's when it's really like, Christian can invite over infinite females. There's too many people. It's too noisy. But I'm not unsettled. The second there's a dad of a kid that's getting picked up, I'm like, all right, who the fuck? You hear that shit? What's he planning to do?

[Dominic Fike]

I think that's pretty primal, that sort of response.

[Dax Shepard]

That's what I wonder. Because you can't really have a different childhood to know, like, yeah, am I just genetically wired this way? Totally possible. Or is it? No random dude showed up, and then the outcome wasn't great. So guess what? I don't look forward to random dudes.

[Dominic Fike]

Totally. I don't think anyone does. We had a joke going for a while. It was an ongoing bid that was like, should we get some more guys here?

[Dax Shepard]

Almost play football. Should we get a couple more sausages in the mix?

[Dominic Fike]

Like, I love it here, but we should get a couple more guys.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, that'd make this thing really pop up.

[Monica Padman]

I do think because Dax is an A, he's accumulated a bunch of AA friends. Guys, yeah, mostly guys. But they all prefer to be around women. I think there's, like, a calmness maybe, or a grounding that the men don't provide that the women do.

[Dominic Fike]

I lost that for a minute. My feeling grounded with women for the past, like, six months. I think I retreated to work. And you know when you're in and out of relationships for a stretch of years and people are like, this is A relationship guy. And then you take that second and you're like, okay, I need to be single. And then you have the talk with your friend. You're like, yeah, I've been single for a minute. And you know what? I'm really enjoying my time. It's being me. I'm single now. You do that for a while. I lost my feeling comfortable and connected around them because of that phase. I went into this phase of not dating and scarcely being around them. You lost yourself, but in the cool way it wasn't in a negative way. Now I'm just so nervous and I admire the shit out of them. My mom used to have this friend named Candy. She was like the first other woman. You know, your mom's your first girlfriend. So this was the first other girlfriend. I was just in a harem. It was me as a kid. Like fucking Q hef in it. But this woman was that to me, like this tall, nurturing, mom, girlfriend type of thing. And that's how women have become to me now. They all remind me of Candy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

Now women to me are like aliens. And I'm walking around and shaking hands with them is crazy.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you heard the song Candy by Mandy Moore? Kristen's favorite. He's like a singer, songwriter dude.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I remember.

[Dominic Fike]

Cameo.

[Dax Shepard]

No, it's a man's name. I like sex in Candy. Is that how it goes? Here we go.

[Dominic Fike]

Marcy Playground.

[Dax Shepard]

This is incredible.

[Monica Padman]

None of us can find it.

[Dax Shepard]

It's called the Boss. Who sings Candy? Your favorite?

[Monica Padman]

Martin Sexton.

[Dax Shepard]

Martin Sexton. Do you know that? Thank you. Yeah. Just got Sarah on the phone. All right, thank you.

[Dominic Fike]

Have you seen this chatgpt shit with South Park? Have you been watching the new South Park?

[Dax Shepard]

I watched the first of the two Trump episodes and what a mind blowing experience.

[Dominic Fike]

This ChatGPT thing that they're talking about, do you guys use AI at all?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

What are they exposing? I want to know.

[Dominic Fike]

It's just like how lame it is for when people use them for everyday life. That's what it's useful for.

[Dax Shepard]

Like how many ounces are in this?

[Dominic Fike]

Or just anything?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. You could have asked Chad about this.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Potentially it would have known.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. I use it as Google. I'm very much an old person. Yeah. And I get it.

[Dominic Fike]

Talking to it's easier.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Have you heard the guy try to make it count to a million?

[Dominic Fike]

No. That's hilarious.

[Dax Shepard]

It will not.

[Monica Padman]

Why exactly. It's highly impractical.

[Dax Shepard]

Sorry. She was Australian.

[Dominic Fike]

Oh, no, I was ripping. We were just at lunch. I Was that was where my story was gonna end about the women. Damn. Anyway, it was a map. We just went and ate at this place near here called All Time.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, we love All Time.

[Dax Shepard]

You know the spots.

[Dominic Fike]

Look at Siren City.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, Monty's always over there.

[Dominic Fike]

Beautiful women hang out over that place. There's a blonde girl that works. Works there. We made eye contact multiple times.

[Monica Padman]

Does she have blue eyes?

[Dominic Fike]

She does have blue eyes. Like, yeah, yeah, like Australian kind.

[Monica Padman]

I bet her name is Francesca.

[Dominic Fike]

Francesca.

[Monica Padman]

I will pass.

[Dominic Fike]

It's me, Dominic.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Reachable on Instagram, I hope.

[Dominic Fike]

Of course.

[Monica Padman]

She is beautiful.

[Dominic Fike]

She is gorgeous. I'm actually going to Jamaica in a week and there's an open spot.

[Monica Padman]

I gotta seat next to me on the plane.

[Dax Shepard]

First date. Jamaica. Yeah. Okay. So I guess also, I just am curious. I know what it's like to be the little brother in this scenario.

[Dominic Fike]

How many older brothers? Just one.

[Dax Shepard]

Just one. And he's five years older. And it's only now that I'm writing about my childhood where I recognize the amount of pressure that was on his shoulders. He was dealing with the same thing with Mom. And then also, I'm supposed to be protecting this little boy. I am now understanding how insanely stressful that probably was for him.

[Dominic Fike]

You know, it's funny, your older brother probably thinks about it that way too, though, like, for you. Because I think about my younger brother and I'm just like, I can't imagine having to live up to all this shit. Sometimes I feel so fucking bad, and sometimes I feel like crying. I'll be sitting alone and thinking about my family and want to literally just scream or cry just because there's so much you want to say, but you can't because you got to work through this. And they got to say what they got to say. And by the time they do, you probably don't even remember what you were going to say.

[Dax Shepard]

You feel like there's a bunch of healing out there that's not been done.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, there's been so much damage, I suppose.

[Dax Shepard]

I think what might be nice about your position is when you watch him struggle again. I've had this with my best friend since he got sober. I have compassion for him I can't really have for myself. And similarly, I wonder if you look at the fact that you had to send your brother to treatment, you might go, oh, yeah, man, this is kind of the outcome of what we dealt with. So obvious that that's what's happening for him. And maybe you can extend that to yourself.

[Dominic Fike]

It' Funny you said. Yeah, because it's harder to think about yourself in that perspective.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I deserve anything bad.

[Dominic Fike]

You try not to because you're kind of taught from a young age not to. When kids do it and it's unregulated and you don't know the other side. Like parents worry that it's some form of narcissism. That way of thinking is phased out and so you sort of cater to other people and you fill that void by worrying about other people.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Dominic Fike]

I never extend that care to myself or that courtesy or that grace. I've never ever done it. And part of that I think makes me who I am and high functioning and it's gotten me to where I'm at that.

[Dax Shepard]

You're also 29. You got a lot of time to figure out how to love yourself and not be mad at yourself.

[Dominic Fike]

So, yeah, I just took my family to Big Sur. That was super nice. We were out in Carmel. I got this cabin. My nephews are good, they're playing. My brother's good, he's on the couch. His girl's good, my son's okay. My mom's sitting telling me about the space in a song, like a Justin Bieber song. Because my mom loves Justin Bieber.

[Dax Shepard]

Come on, who doesn't shout out Justin?

[Dominic Fike]

I was talking to her and she's like reveling in this space of a guitar. So between verses. And it's not like we don't have light hearted talks. For some reason this one felt significant, this sentence, like, I love the space here. I think that was all she said. But for me it felt like a point of departure. It was like, everyone's safe right now.

[Dax Shepard]

She does not have the weight of a bunch of other things.

[Dominic Fike]

She's so comfortable not worrying about babies or rent or food that she's telling me about an understated guitar solo in a pop album. And for some reason it hit me like I wanted to cry. So I'm thinking I made it to this point. It's always been a little bit stressful. But for some reason I'm not living like the way I want to, like a piece of art like Prince would, you know, these stories about these artists that you hear and you're like, oh, it'd be easy to live like that. All you would have to do is make sure a couple things are in check. So I'm like, what's stopping me from doing that? You know when you're hanging out with someone you're interested in and you bring them around your old Friends. And your old friends won't let you be a new guy. They won't let you progress.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. They're threatened by who you might be with this person.

[Dominic Fike]

So I have that friend in my head that never lets me be different or progress. It's always reminded me of something I did before. And that's why you're not able to do this. Your street cred was fucked back here. You're not this guy. But I'm like, what is this guy? So instead of being like, okay, just can't do that anymore, I'm like, what is this? Why is this? I got a lot of shame, too, because of this narcissism that was sort of created for me with my cell phone. Like, it gave me narcissism. And a lot of people didn't have this opportunity to go look at themselves or how people are interacting with them right now. If you wanted to know someone's opinion of you, you can go get it. Yes, I could go get anyone's opinion of me.

[Dax Shepard]

It's irresistible.

[Dominic Fike]

That gives me shame because I'm constantly have this reference of myself when really there is no reference of yourself. If you wake up today and you want to be a fucking chair, like, it's all good today. I was like, I don't want this shame. I don't want this vanity. So I'm not doing it. And removing that for some reason, coming back to it like a mantra, like, I don't want shame. I don't want vanity. Right now the sky's bluer and, like, my stomach is easier. I can talk. I'm not worried about a microphone in my face or a camera or the imprint for the rest of my life of the words, I don't give a damn now. And it's really good.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you seen the Jonah Hill documentary with Phil Stutz?

[Dominic Fike]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

You should watch it. It's about him and his therapist.

[Dominic Fike]

Oh, I know about it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And he talks a lot about this. So that voice he would call the shadow. And the shadow's created to protect you at some point when you're younger. And then you outgrow it as your life evolves and the shadow's afraid you're going to leave it behind. So there's this weird practice of thanking your shadow, appreciating your shadow, inviting them to be a part of the new you, and then they fight backlust. I know, it's pretty fascinating.

[Dominic Fike]

Part of that doc, giving them form and humanizing emotions. Somatic therap. He's big on that. It's helped me with a lot of that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Okay, so during all this chaos, you find. Is it Avalon Forest?

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell me about Avalon Forest.

[Dominic Fike]

My childhood was kind of like South Park. The day would start and it's us four friends and we're all like sitting on a stoop and I'd be like, an idea comes and an adventure takes place. And the forest of Avalon was just one of those episodes of that season. We went to the beach, me and my four friends. We find some weed on a rock on the beach. Super rare. What a blessing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

14 year olds.

[Dax Shepard]

God wants you to. No one's around.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah. We didn't have to go through sketchy drug deal to get it, you know, not get robbed, beat up, police. It's just on a rock. We just start riding our bikes around because that was our mode of transportation. The bike, the pegs, the shoulders. God, I missed that. Anyway, we're riding around and my home was small and the problems were so present you could feel it. And you addressed them every time you walked in the room.

[Dax Shepard]

Room.

[Dominic Fike]

So every time I left the house, it was like, let's get into it. I wanted Alice in Wonderland.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

Every time I wanted there to be some sort of danger, we narrowly escaped. And the Forest of Avalon was, like, perfect for that.

[Dax Shepard]

And you know why? Because our arousal setting was set way too fucking high. Right. It takes a lot to wake us up.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Because you might think that if you're coming from chaos, all you want is a hammock. Yeah. All you want. But it makes sense. Like, no, that's not the idea of fun. When you grow up with the chaos level.

[Dax Shepard]

10% of my memoir so far is this field we've lit on fire and we had a rope swing.

[Dominic Fike]

This is what I'm describing.

[Dax Shepard]

Act like a caveman.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah. Did you have a name for it? Because I had a name. It made it so much funnier.

[Dax Shepard]

No, we didn't.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, it was just the Forest of Avalon. The mystical Forest of Avalon is what we call. And we would be laughing every time you said it. And you'd hit the joint and call that and be like, you know, so.

[Monica Padman]

It wasn't a real place. It's just a place in your mind.

[Dominic Fike]

It was literally an undeveloped lot. It was just a lot that had not yet turned into a Ritz.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

To make your own society with its.

[Dominic Fike]

Own Lord of the Flies kind of deal.

[Dax Shepard]

I loved it.

[Monica Padman]

Possibility.

[Dax Shepard]

My dad was an addict and I was like, I'm never going to do anything. And then that failed. But that was my initial game plan, was like, I know what this does to my family. I'm not going to with it. Did you have any reservations about smoking.

[Dominic Fike]

Weed or doing anything around the time that it happened? No, but initially, yeah, because I saw my mom smoke cigarettes and I found my mom doing drugs a lot too. I would find heroin and just put it back, back. By the time I made it there, I. I was trying to just keep my hands from not sweating. So if someone's like, yeah, we smoke weed, that's what we do. I'm like, damn right, that's what we do. And we kiss girls, too.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, whatever. Things I'm supposed to be doing to be acknowledged as a boy.

[Dominic Fike]

What's that? We hate school. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Who's an asshole?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's just confirmation of your identity with people around you and that. We all did that.

[Dax Shepard]

So when do you start? Start? Well, you start rapping at that point, too?

[Dominic Fike]

I did, but that was more for fun. We just started getting drunk. One of our friends, Gus, had a rich parent situation, a huge house, and we would go and steal his mom's Kahlua. Like, fill the bottles back, freestyle in the car. It was this around the time when currency was really cool. Lil Wayne was really big. The drought mixtapes or whatever they call them. No ceilings, all that kind of stuff was coming out. And I had this Colombian friend named Gibron shout out Jabron, who's an idiot, legitimately needed.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Dominic Fike]

And this guy was only into Lil B and pissing people off like teachers, just calling them slurs that they didn't know what they meant. So this kid was funny. And we would just sit in the car and freestyle all night. And then one time, we're drunk as fuck, and he turns to me, he's like, dude, you're kind of too good at this. And, like, took the mic over and they just started doing fart bars again, you know? And then from that moment, something did kind of flip there, where you're like.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I want to pursue this.

[Dominic Fike]

I was like, how do you guys not see the paths in the writing? Sometimes they would sing something and do a flow, and I'd be like. And I expected them to hit it there. And they left. I'm like, well, no, this is the right way, right? And I think that was the reason I started making music. Because there was like a period of time where Weezer music and Jack Johnson music or Chili. Like, I hadn't heard a guitar song in, like, five years.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

And so I'm sitting on house arrest. I'm like, well, I guess I could make it. Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare.

[Dax Shepard]

This episode is brought to you by Anthropic Sick. So I've been genuinely obsessed with this AI called Claude, and I have to tell you about it because it's completely different from what you'd expect. You know how our conversations with guests always end up in fascinating and kind of raw places? Exploring why people make the choices they do, or diving into those complicated human moments that don't have easy answers? Well, I started using Claude to help me think through some of these deeper questions between episodes. And what's wild is that it doesn't rush to answers. It actually thinks through problems with you. You. When I'm preparing for interviews, I can upload research papers or articles, and Claude helps me explore different angles, like search the web for current perspectives, even build interactive research tools using something called artifacts to map out complex topics. Basically, it's like having this thinking partner that matches your curiosity about the complicated stuff. When I'm trying to understand a guest's work or explore connections between different ideas, Claude helps me see blind spots I might miss. Try Claude for free at Claude AI armchairexpert Expert and see why the world's best problem solvers choose Claude as their thinking partner. This podcast is supported by FX's English teacher. I love English teaching.

[Monica Padman]

I love this show too.

[Dax Shepard]

Last year's critically acclaimed series returns to follow Evan, Gwen and Markie as they vie for their students divided attention. CY Cosmopolitan called its premiere season a master class of comedy. Again, this was really my favorite comedy.

[Monica Padman]

Of last year and we got a shout out on that show.

[Dax Shepard]

Gotta watch English Teacher. FX's English Teacher returns September 25th on FX. All episodes streaming on Hulu.

[Monica Padman]

At Maurices, we're all about great jeans. You know, the ones that fit you just right. The ones that go from work days to weekends and everywhere in between. The ones that simply make you feel good. Because you don't just wear jeans, you live in them.

[Dominic Fike]

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[Monica Padman]

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[Dax Shepard]

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[Dominic Fike]

We were having a going away party for my older brother. I was living with my older brother. At this point. I'm homeless, my mom's in jail, so I'm on his couch and I'm just doing little sessions with people because I at this point got a name in my city from just rapping. So people are paying me 2, 300 bucks to do a verse, which is like, horrible. But back then, you're gonna give me money to eat? Of course I'm gonna do whatever the fuck you want. I'll sing a dance too. I'll definitely rap. So then I get into this kind of lifestyle where I'm in and out of the studio and partying a lot. And so is my little brother. When my mother was in jail for a while, we tried to hold onto the house.

[Monica Padman]

House.

[Dominic Fike]

So he starts car hopping, like, stealing from cars. Like, we get like carbines and. And sell them. Yeah, iPads, whatever. Sometimes you find like ten grand of cash and he's paying the rent for so long. And then he goes to jail.

[Dax Shepard]

At what age?

[Dominic Fike]

Like 16 some.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Dominic Fike]

And he's in there for a while and then he gets out. Finally, five days out of jail. My older brother, now my step brother is going away.

[Dax Shepard]

He's going to jail as well.

[Dominic Fike]

No, he's just going away.

[Dax Shepard]

He's leaving on his own recognizance. Right.

[Monica Padman]

He's just going to travel.

[Dominic Fike]

That's when she started.

[Dax Shepard]

He's going up Miami.

[Dominic Fike]

I think he's going to California to pursue a rap career.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah. And we're all excited for him. And my brother is there and he's drunk and a cop pulls up for a noise complaint. So my brother starts dipping out. He's on probation. And once you get out, you're not supposed to do anything stupid in like the first five days. I know that's a rule.

[Dax Shepard]

Drinking underage probably isn't a good look.

[Dominic Fike]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Here we go.

[Dominic Fike]

This is awesome. This is awesome. Okay. Dude, I shit you not. He runs away. It's an apartment complex. There's a nearby literally lake, and they have these reeds sticking out of the lake.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Yes.

[Dominic Fike]

Do you know where I'm going with this?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Without a paddle? Yes.

[Dominic Fike]

Crazy. He did that he performed.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, it's from cartoons originally. It's like you go underwater and you can't breathe, and they're shooting at you. So you take a reed and you breathe through it. You use it as a snorkel.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

And we did it without a paddle. But it's like a cartoon trick. But here we go. Real life.

[Dominic Fike]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh.

[Monica Padman]

Cause he saw it without. Oh, my God.

[Dominic Fike]

We used to watch your religion. So full circle, he's doing that. So the cop starts chasing my brother. I'm chasing the cop the entire time, too. So at one point, the cop notices me next to him. I'm trying to tell Alex, yo, slow down. The cop's not going to do anything. It's fine. I got you. It's good. So the only thing I can think of is trip the cop.

[Dax Shepard]

Keep the cop from your brother because he's going to go back to jail.

[Dominic Fike]

Whatever works. Yeah. So he pulls out a taser. I'm thinking it's a fucking gun. Immediately, my instincts and I knock this dude over. Oh, man. I know I fucked up. I saw him be embarrassed. You know when a grown man gets fucking embarrassed?

[Dax Shepard]

Dangerous.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

And he's a cop.

[Monica Padman]

Yo.

[Dax Shepard]

You're like, he didn't get fucked me up, boy.

[Dominic Fike]

And then he put me in that car. And now I went to jail.

[Dax Shepard]

And then you got assaulting an officer charge.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. And then you get house arrest. How long was that supposed to last?

[Dominic Fike]

Supposed to be, I think a year.

[Dax Shepard]

And then how did you fuck up house arrest?

[Dominic Fike]

Cocaine.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Dominic Fike]

Crazy. So house arrest really enabled me to focus because I had just been running around like I'd been making music here and there, but it was for features. It was like transactional. None of it was real art. None of it was face to face with any sort of songwriting. Like, I really hadn't even thought about a stanza in months prior to this. So I finally get on house arrest. I'm at my computer, actually. There was these girls shout out to Bailey and Callie. But they just let me live at their house. Cause they liked me.

[Dax Shepard]

And you're cute as fuck.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah. They're like, you're fucking so cute.

[Monica Padman]

This cute face in our apartment.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

They let me live with them, and I just started making music with them. I had a girlfriend at the time, and I used to play guitar for her. I hadn't played in years, but she bought me a guitar. Like, remember when you used to play guitar for me? I'm like, yeah. So I start playing the guitar again, and then I'm like, Shit. I'll make a mixtape with a guitar, though. This time I'll sing instead of rap. And maybe this will be for girls. Turns out it sparked my entire career. That's all I do now. I hardly rap.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it is for girls.

[Dominic Fike]

It is.

[Monica Padman]

We all like it.

[Dax Shepard]

It's working.

[Monica Padman]

I have a question really quick. How do you feel? I'm sure you've told your story many times. When people show pity, what does that do to you? Are you like. Yeah, that makes sense. When people say, aw. Or are you like, no, it's fine. Don't feel bad for me.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah. I think I told the story enough times at this point. I've seen all the reactions.

[Dax Shepard]

Yep.

[Dominic Fike]

Some of them surprise me. Some of them are comforting to me. Sometimes Spitty's good. Sometimes you want it. Sometimes when you're telling your story and you're in Europe and you're hungry, you want something to eat, and this lady's asking you about it, and you tell her that and she pities you, she puts a little bit more cheese on that thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure, it can work for you.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Because I can imagine. I feel multiple times in hearing this, like, oh, man.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, don't you feel like, I got to take care of this?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, there's that.

[Dax Shepard]

I bet there's a lot of gals attracted you that are wanting to take you in.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. How do you like it? Because you don't. You don't want.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't like it.

[Monica Padman]

No, you don't like it.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't want anyone to take care of me.

[Monica Padman]

But you do.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Secretly. Don't tell anybody, though. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I want you to like me and not like me at the same time.

[Dominic Fike]

Not like me for the reasons that I want you to not like me.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

There's a lot of active contradictions. Okay. But you didn't get to cocaine or breaking house arrest.

[Dominic Fike]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So you're in there focusing. It's doing wonders for your songwriting. But.

[Dominic Fike]

But I'm in a room all day, and I'm trapped all day. And even now, that's my job. I know that it's healthy to step up. Away.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Isolation is.

[Dominic Fike]

It's a. So I start using everything I can that has a short span in your stream. Coke is like three days. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Is that what it is?

[Dominic Fike]

I don't know. When I was looking it up, work out, do this.

[Dax Shepard]

I wasn't taking a lot of piss tests when I was smoking crack. This may surprise you. I didn't hold any employment.

[Dominic Fike]

You know, it's Funny, me neither. But I think it's something in middle school that you do with friends when it comes to weed is like. You guys discuss like the shelf life of drugs in your.

[Dax Shepard]

I do know weed lasts for like a month. I know that one.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, everyone knows that. Every guy. Guy knows that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And meth lasts a while in your system, but I don't know coke.

[Dominic Fike]

Coke's one of the quicker ones. So I'm doing coke.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, right. Yeah, Take a piss, I guess. You are on house arrest.

[Monica Padman]

That's true.

[Dominic Fike]

I'm bored. And the girls are always at work. And their mom lived there too, but she's always at work. She's trying to get me to go to school. She's like, dom, you need to do something with your life. I'm telling her I'm making a mixtape. Kid with a face tat, smoking dope, doing coke in her department, talking about a mixtape.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not necessarily investing on that.

[Dominic Fike]

Startup gave a damn. No one gave a damn. And then I get called, called in, I think. And it's right as I finish the last song on the mixtape. I'm up doing coke that night and the dude calls me at 7:00am he's like, Dominic, another drug test. And I'm thinking like, oh, well, I just did it. So it's probably not even in there yet. Oh, oh.

[Monica Padman]

Like I just did it.

[Dominic Fike]

Like, what's up, Pete? Yeah, give me the cup.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

He gives me the cup and I just failed. And he put cuffs on me right there. I'd never been so in disbelief.

[Dax Shepard]

I was like, we thought you had it all.

[Monica Padman]

People do that, won't it?

[Dax Shepard]

That's the great thing about coke. It makes you optimistic. That's why it's a relief.

[Dominic Fike]

And then I went to jail for a while. And during that time in jail, I released the mixtape.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So how was the time in jail? You were in county. It's awesome. It was great.

[Dominic Fike]

I had a good time in jail.

[Dax Shepard]

Again, this is a stereotype, but I'm worried how cute you are. I'm a little worried about how cute you are.

[Monica Padman]

That's scary.

[Dax Shepard]

I know. I hate to perpetuate a scary.

[Dominic Fike]

So it's not really like that nervous. Okay, tell us this thing called like PETA, PETA, reda, something like that. It's some four letter acronym that is against prison rape. Rape.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so we got some action in there now.

[Dominic Fike]

Huge. It's like dare, but if they kept doing dare, and it was a huge.

[Dax Shepard]

And it worked.

[Dominic Fike]

I had the full long hair. I was like 20 in there. Oh, no.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, There we go. You're a piece of.

[Dominic Fike]

I was.

[Dax Shepard]

Call it what it is.

[Dominic Fike]

I was so.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

And I was in a violent block because of my charge. My bunky murdered his family.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Dominic Fike]

Hilarious, though. The funniest guy.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, if you can't laugh about murdering.

[Dominic Fike]

You know, you can't laugh with him because you killed them all.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God.

[Monica Padman]

Wait, how long were you in jail?

[Dominic Fike]

Like a year.

[Dax Shepard]

I did have one question we blew past. Did you watch Florida Project?

[Dominic Fike]

No, I never watched Florida Project. I was never into people making movies about my town because they always did it wrong. And I just didn't want to be let down. Pissed off with the Florida Project.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't think you will be with that. I hadn't seen it when everyone else saw it, but then I loved Anora, so I went back.

[Dominic Fike]

Nora's great.

[Dax Shepard]

And watched Florida Project. Florida Project's better than Anora. And I love Anora. Florida Project is awesome.

[Dominic Fike]

That's a crazy take.

[Dax Shepard]

It's awesome.

[Dominic Fike]

Sean Baker's amazing. Oh, he did Florida Project.

[Dax Shepard]

He did Florida Project.

[Dominic Fike]

Okay. We love Shawn Baker.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And it has this impossible thing that kids have. Once every 30 years, someone captures little kids. Being little kids, you're like, how did they get this to happen? It's magic.

[Dominic Fike]

The first time you saw Dakota Fanning. What the fuck's going on?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I am Sam Drew Barrymore et.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So you piss hot, you go to county, you release the music. Now this is so improbable. By the time they he gets out, there is a bidding war to sign you, and you signed at Columbia for $4 million dollars. What? A lot of this is up there with Kihe Kwan. Yeah, he's on a refugee ship. Oh, wow. Within a year, he's flying first class. The Steven Spielberg to be in Indiana Jones.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

So, yeah. This getting out of prison to a four million dollar contract. How do you compute that?

[Dominic Fike]

I. I don't know. It was kind of like the first of its kind in that span of time to happen to this bidding war thing. I'd never been a part of anything.

[Dax Shepard]

Because it was big on SoundCloud, right? You had put it all on.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, I put it on SoundCloud. And then Reid, who's still my manager to this day, takes it off real quick because he sees it starting to garner attention. Yeah, we had a couple like suits reach out. We'd never been in contact with anybody like that. I've been releasing music for five years at this point. These dudes start flying from California to visit me in the jail. No, this dude that's like, hey, Dominic, you ready to be a millionaire?

[Dax Shepard]

And you're like, I'm homeless. I'm not doing this. For a penny under 4 million, you can take 3 million and shove it in your house.

[Dominic Fike]

What had happened was my mom is in jail and my dad's in jail. At this point, Both they're facing 20 years. Because this whole time, my family, they're huge heroin deals. My stepdad Sean's a heroin trafficker. We're all chilling at one point. And we'd been doing this for years, living in hotels, selling coke. It worked out. It put me through school. And then all the doors get kicked down at our hotels and at our other houses, and everyone's taken to jail. Marshalls. It's in the news. I'm seeing them both. I'm like, oh, man, they're fucked. 20 years each. So I'm in jail, too, and my sister's up for adoption because of this, and my brother's in jail, and I need to get my sister out of adoption. I need to get my mom out of jail, and I need to get my stepdad out of jail. So each lawyer for them is 200 grand grand. And then to get my sister out, I'm still paying for that to this day. So I'm thinking about my position, and I'm homeless at the time, you know.

[Dax Shepard]

And I need you in jail. Your money. Yeah, you're. Damn.

[Dominic Fike]

This is my work that y' all are buying. All this is in my head. It wasn't that I came up with, like, 4 million. I'd never seen money over a thousand dollars.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

So are like 200,000. I'm like, that sounds like a not real number, I guess. Cool. I'm not pushing it up. Another dude flies from another label, comes to the jail, says a bigger number. And then I didn't even know this was a thing. I tell that dude that the guy said a bigger number. Yeah, this motherfucker goes with a bigger number.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

Like, wow. I feel like I'm a athlete.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you're in Jerry Maguire.

[Dominic Fike]

Jerry Maguire, Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Dude.

[Dominic Fike]

That means so funny. We get to the point where we're in LA and on top of the Columbia building or the Sony building, because at this point, Rob Stringer's involved, the dude who owns Sony, he's like, all right, who's this motherfucker? Like, everyone's throwing this money around. Who's this guy? He comes to meet me. We're in a meeting, and at this point, I know how to do this money thing. So I'm in the room and I'm like, playing them songs, and they're like, oh, these are so good. And then I'm like, yeah, well, you never know. And I'm about to walk out, and Rob Stringer's like, so what? Are we doing this or not? Because he's a businessman. I respect him so much. I'm like, well, I don't know. And Ron's like, maybe we could. And he's like, no, no more millions. Are we doing this right now? I'm like, yeah, I'll do it right now. And we just sign it. And we pop a bottle of champagne on this rooftop. It's me, Rob, and a couple of my friends. And then I go into the bathroom and I'm like, yeah, I got a piss. Because all the champagne. And I'm looking at my phone, the bank account. Shouldn't I see the number jump?

[Monica Padman]

No way.

[Dominic Fike]

At the urinal. And then from then on, I just don't remember. It's been like seven years of wow.

[Dax Shepard]

So you initially blew a ton of money on lawyers?

[Dominic Fike]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Were they successful?

[Dominic Fike]

Only one, My father's still in jail to this day. Mom got off crazy probation. I was able to get her custody of my sister back.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

Move her out here. She hasn't worked a day since.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, this is great.

[Monica Padman]

It's a movie.

[Dax Shepard]

It is a movie. I got a piss, and then I want to talk about you through.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, you guys go potty.

[Dax Shepard]

How to go. Okay. Thick, ropey.

[Monica Padman]

We get it all out.

[Dax Shepard]

Or a weak. Thin. Pretty weak.

[Dominic Fike]

My friend Stefan was walking by the bathroom when I was, like, 17, and I was peeing and he was just, like, weak. That has stuck with me for nine years.

[Dax Shepard]

We've talked about this. I think guys, when they go into a toilet and they think other people can hear them, they think people are evaluating how big their dick is by how powerful the stream is.

[Monica Padman]

Well, it sounds like they are.

[Dominic Fike]

Wait, have you ever done that think to yourself?

[Dax Shepard]

Sure. Like, I thought, oh, that guy's wrestling a hog in there. Let's do that. I hope he can keep it in the toilet. But you're right, it's almost counterintuitive, because really, if you think if you had to pass the urine through 18 inches of sausage, that would slow it down.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

It's almost like we have the backwards notion, but it really. It's like if it was just a hole coming out of your top of your balls. It'd probably be like, I mean, it's.

[Monica Padman]

How big the urethra is.

[Dax Shepard]

Surely, surely. But also how much pipe it's got to pass through. It's going to lose momentum.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Unless it's like the early mining hydro projects where it's like the urethra is big at the top and gets narrower. Then it would increase the pressure.

[Monica Padman]

We'll look into it for the fact check. As we mentioned earlier.

[Dax Shepard]

So I think it's a common.

[Dominic Fike]

I went and listened to a lot of the podcasts and I actually went far back because I just put it on to sleep too.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Dominic Fike]

It's good to sleep too, by the way. That's awesome.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm with you.

[Dominic Fike]

The media that you can sleep to.

[Monica Padman]

I agree.

[Dominic Fike]

To me, probably priceless.

[Dax Shepard]

That's biography comforting.

[Dominic Fike]

You ever listen to the podcast Come Town?

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Dominic Fike]

You guys familiar with the podcast Come Town?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow. I like the title. Tell me more.

[Dominic Fike]

Mullen, Stavros Hawkish and Adam Friedland, they have since disbanded, but they were like the originators of To Me, the comedy podcast.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, cool.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. And it was called Cometown.

[Dominic Fike]

That's horrible. Non stop racism. Like, oh, wow.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dominic Fike]

So the original Manosphere, like horrible. Yeah. But now it's different than Manosphere.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, also, I heard you say in an interview that Floor Florida has a different sense of humor than la. You can go a lot harder.

[Dominic Fike]

But now the world is kind of like taken. Everyone's can say now. Everyone likes to say turned back. Yeah, people say that now. That's why they've been saying in South Park. They're like, everyone says it out. Cartman's walking around with a shirt that says woke is dead. Cuz he's sad. He doesn't have anyone to oppose anymore. That's how I feel now.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure, people are confused. No one knows what ends. What's up? Was it liberal to say this or conservative?

[Dominic Fike]

I miss it. Stay in your lane. Play your role. Dude boy. Now.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, so $4 million appears in the bank account.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. You spend a lot of the money immediately on your family. That's lovely. And then you have your debut studio album in 2021.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Three nights was huge. That's streamed a billion times for sure. So that's their first kind of big hit. If I were you and I had been in jail and these people start flying to see me, I would have the most imposterous syndrome possible. Like they're fucking up. I'm not worthy of flying here.

[Dominic Fike]

I felt pretty like I'm in Jail. I feel like fucking Al Capone or some shit. I'm like, this is the least impostery.

[Dax Shepard]

I felt in jail, right? Because you're like, I'm a piece of shit and I'm wearing pieces.

[Dominic Fike]

You're like, I'm really doing it.

[Monica Padman]

I went all the way with this thing.

[Dax Shepard]

People said this is where I'd end up, and here I am. They were right.

[Dominic Fike]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

But the notion that I would be worth $4 million investment, given your track record, would have been kind of overwhelming pressure.

[Dominic Fike]

The whole time in my mind, I'm like, white people are crazy.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

What the hell are the first meal? I'm like, hearing this mom, like, talking.

[Dax Shepard]

About why people are nuts.

[Dominic Fike]

You guys are nuts. I don't know what you're talking about.

[Dax Shepard]

So did that get in the way of you being creative at all? Feeling like, oh, my God, these guys just spent 4 million on me. I'm never going to have a, you know, that's going to pay this off.

[Dominic Fike]

Back then, that was my thought, but really, it fueled so much. The older you get in this industry, you start looking for somebody to, like, jumpstart your shit. You're never using your own phones to pay for your shit, first of all. But back then, receiving money like that, I didn't realize it was like jet propulsion. It really pushed me into this thing. I'd never seen snow before, too. When I got out of jail and they gave me all this money, so I'm like, let's go get a house in the snow. So I go to the highest point in Colorado. So I started thinking, like, how Led Zeppelin and shit, how they made albums. They would go out and retreat.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

And I'm like, well, I'm a rap artist, but I just made this rock album. And now people are talking to me about my baselines and about my writing. Maybe I'll just, boom, go into that.

[Dax Shepard]

Figure out what to double down on. Right?

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah. Where to double down.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

And so I'm like, well, let's go see snow. So we go to Breckenridge. I get cabin. I bring all my friends, friends that are producers, and it's a mad house.

[Dax Shepard]

In a good or bad way.

[Dominic Fike]

In the best way. I hired one of my friends to be a chef guy. Never. My best friend Max, his mom died when he was young, and he had his dad, who was good dad, but absent a lot of the time. And I was homeless at this time. And whenever I would come to Max's house and we would need food and our parents wouldn't be there. He would cook us up something. He would go into the fridge and say, over here, I could whip us up something like this. So when I get my money and he's my best friend at the time, like, just come chef for me. Come chef for the guys. Cook on some very sweet story. That's what he does. And I'm taking all my other friends as producers, but we didn't realize, like, the Altitude thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. It's not conducive to great thinking.

[Dominic Fike]

Oh, my God. We're up there drinking whiskey, wine.

[Dax Shepard]

The hangovers at Altitude are something else.

[Dominic Fike]

God. And also, you don't stop to think about your nose. At one point, I wake up and I just. I'm like, I can't breathe. And we're supposed to be recording an album. I have to sleep with six humidifiers on me. So I would wake up soaking wet every morning and, like, go down and record, get drunk. Turns out this album was actually one of my favorite albums to listen to. Do now.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, all these things work for a while until they don't work.

[Dominic Fike]

You're so right.

[Dax Shepard]

You don't do them over and over again because they didn't work initially for sure. Yeah. All this stuff's like, you get hammered. Oh, I can talk to girls. That worked out great. I now don't have social anxiety. That's cool. I did this and I stuck up for myself. All these little things you build why it's positive. So that album does really well. And then I want to know what it's like. You end up singing on a Bieber song.

[Monica Padman]

Shout out, Justin again. Second shout out of the pod.

[Dax Shepard]

I think he deserves it. Yeah, he does something else.

[Dominic Fike]

I hadn't done any features with anybody, and I still don't really do features. I think the only features I've done is, like, Remy Wolfe, Paul McCartney, and Justin Bieber.

[Dax Shepard]

That's pretty solid. How did you get approached? Does he call you? How does he know about you?

[Dominic Fike]

Okay. Yeah. So I'm in Antigua, in rehab. Eric.

[Dax Shepard]

Classic. That's where I sent my best friend, Aaron. Crossroads.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, I was at Crossroads.

[Dax Shepard]

Nice.

[Monica Padman]

What year?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. How do you end up in Crossroads?

[Dominic Fike]

I was dating this really nice Jewish actress lady. I love her so much. Her name is Diana Silvers. She was amazing. And we were dating for a while.

[Dax Shepard]

And I, I. I already know the answer.

[Dominic Fike]

You already know what happened?

[Dax Shepard]

Cheated.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Cheated. And then what happened?

[Dominic Fike]

And then she said, you need to go to re. And I'm like, it wasn't me. It was the Drugs that I'm on. Go to rehab.

[Dax Shepard]

Not true and not true.

[Dominic Fike]

Not true and not true. Both not true. It's funny talking to you because you can't really, you know, that's funny. So, yeah, I'm in Crossroads.

[Dax Shepard]

This is why the program works.

[Dominic Fike]

Really. Of course, I don't have my phone because they don't let you have your phone. But apparently he died. DMs me. My manager calls me because you get the phone, like, once a week or something. And I'm on the jail phone and.

[Dax Shepard]

Earning your swimming rights.

[Dominic Fike]

It was coveted, actually. I went during COVID So did Aaron.

[Dax Shepard]

I wonder when Aaron was there.

[Dominic Fike]

What is Aaron?

[Dax Shepard]

Aaron's my best friend from childhood. And he was there in 2019, Thanksgiving to January 1, 2020. You guys just miss each other.

[Dominic Fike]

Probably. It's hard to catch each other. Nobody really stays at those. No one's ever like, yeah, he did.

[Dax Shepard]

A full, like, month and a half. I was probably. He accepted the advice to stay longer, which I was happy about.

[Dominic Fike]

Good. Which no one ever. No one ever does.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so you're at Crossroads. There was this cheating event. Did you yourself think I have some kind of substance abuse issue? Were you there yet or no?

[Dominic Fike]

No. Because my parents were drug dealers at a young age. They're giving me drugs. My mom finds drugs, she gives me more drugs. So it's like, I didn't know what normal was. And as far as I'm concerned, all these normal people don't have as much money as me at the fucking time front. What the is that mean?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, this is.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm doing it wrong, but it seems to be working pretty well.

[Dominic Fike]

Working.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. Okay, so he DMS you. And how do we think he found you? He just heard Haley.

[Monica Padman]

Haley Bieber.

[Dominic Fike]

He was like, yeah, Haley's been listening. Which is always my point of entry is somebody's girlfriend.

[Monica Padman]

That's right. That's this show, too. That's how we get any guy is somebody's wife or girlfriend.

[Dax Shepard]

Of course, the 10% that resist hating are girls guts.

[Monica Padman]

They'll join in.

[Dax Shepard]

I think it's more common to go, this dude. Oh, he's been melodious. He's honest about it. Oh, what a.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, so she loved it.

[Dax Shepard]

She loved you.

[Dominic Fike]

She had been playing it for him, and he was like, I've been drumming to it for the past month. Why don't you come by and do something? And I'm telling him, like, right now, like, yo, I'm in rehab. And he's like, oh, that's cool. I know that he's dealt with so much. Dude, he's the coolest guy. Also, let me just say that.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, please do. Yeah, I don't think anyone knows we had this faux fight with him in the media, Kristen and I. What with Justin years ago.

[Dominic Fike]

I'll patch it up right now. Call him.

[Dax Shepard]

Years ago, he was renting a house in this neighborhood. And when he was renting that house, the paparazzi were out in front non stop for him. But guess what? If he wasn't around, they'd pick us up because it. They're just there. So it upped our paparazzi interactions a lot. So I think I complained once in an interview that Bieber up our whole scene by moving behind us. But I wasn't mad at him. It's not his fault. That got perpetuated into a little thing.

[Monica Padman]

Did he think you were really, really mad?

[Dax Shepard]

I think maybe he thought that for a minute because then he had to respond.

[Dominic Fike]

Imagine being the dude that everyone's like, he's a lesbian. He's a. He looks like Ellen. You know, for years, anything that pokes you is probably like, well, him then.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, you know, I completely understand. But I've since spoken very favorably about and he did DM me once. Interesting. But I missed it by two years. I didn't realize you could look at your DMs.

[Dominic Fike]

Totally.

[Dax Shepard]

Anyways, I think he's radical.

[Dominic Fike]

He's sick. He just dropped an album. Oh, we did like last night or today. Oh, Swag two is what it's called.

[Dax Shepard]

When you look at him, what quality do you go like? Oh, that's the thing I need.

[Dominic Fike]

Well, I say this all the time. So when we worked together, I finally get out of rehab, we go to Henson. We're in the studio.

[Dax Shepard]

This is the Muppets. Henson.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, Right here.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. What was it originally? A and M. Precisely.

[Dominic Fike]

So yeah, I come through there. I'm actually with the girl that I was dating, the Diana girl. We're back. Because I'm back from rehab.

[Monica Padman]

You did what you were supposed to do.

[Dominic Fike]

What I was supposed to do. She's my ex girlfriend now. If you can.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, we're gathering.

[Dax Shepard]

We still are. Well, we're not rolling. Not a rekindling. Life is long.

[Dominic Fike]

She's there. Which was insane. You should see how girls look at Justin Bieber, even if they're your girlfriend. It was crazy to see. I was like, damn, do I do that to people ever?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you were doing to Haley like a.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

This is a push.

[Dominic Fike]

Her eyes turned Black like a shark, smelling blood. Like.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, good for him.

[Dominic Fike]

What I do admire about him is he is an athlete with it. When he shows up, up, it's like seeing Michael Jordan or Kobe step on a court. He's warming up. I mean, I don't dance, but this motherfucker can, like, pop and lock. So when I write, I just, like, leave me alone. And I'm singing it over to myself in my head. And I'm gonna need some time. Everybody's kind of gotta do your own thing. Don't look at me. Act like you're doing something. Even if you're not doing something. Probably don't do anything. Cause it's gonna be too loud and interrupt me. But act like you are.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dominic Fike]

And he's there and he's like, dom, you know what? I think you should do this harmony. He'd be like, huh? Like, hit the harmony.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dominic Fike]

And I would just be like, okay, I guess. Cause some artists you work with, they're just like, man, it's all good. Like, we just do whatever. It's music. It's a free love. This man took a jersey off, and.

[Dax Shepard]

I was like, whoa, time to get to work.

[Dominic Fike]

I love that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

And it's still love for it. It wasn't like. It's transactional.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not a musician, but on the outside, I can see where there are a handful of people who. Their voices are so great. Like, I don't know a lot about Sinatra, but I think everyone wrote his music. That's not his thing.

[Dominic Fike]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

But you start to see. Let's just say Timberlake leaves his boy band and he ends up with the Neptunes. And that first album is what it is, and it's incredible. And then you wonder, I wonder much is Justin and how much is the Neptunes? And then over time, it starts to surface. Oh, no, it's them, clearly. Right. Because that's Bieber. No matter who he works with, which he works with a lot of people, the quality ends up being there. Which leads me to believe, yeah, he has some kind of quality.

[Dominic Fike]

He does have that. In the people that do sing and not write their own songs, you would expect that quality to always be present, but it's not. And he has it in. You know, what do people say? In spade? That's what they say he has. Yeah. So, so much of it.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm impressed. Okay, so you work with him. Then euphoria comes. How do you get approached for that? And had you ever considered acting?

[Dominic Fike]

I never considered acting at all. I actually didn't want anything to do with acting. I was doing a triple J performance called like a version where you have to perform another artist's song. So I performed a Claro song. But what I did was I wore a wig because I was like, I'm a girl. I was also just high as. So I was just like, whatever.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, so rehab had not stuck. Yeah, okay, great. Good to know where we're at.

[Dax Shepard]

It did erase the cheating, but it didn't cure the addiction.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, great, great, great.

[Dominic Fike]

Every time. So I start playing that and I guess one of the casting agents for Euphoria, her name was Jennifer Vendetti, she saw that video and was apparently intrigued. Yeah, called me. I didn't know what Euphoria was. I didn't know. It's this big fucking TV show. I don't know who Sam Levinson is. I don't know who fucking even Barbie or Zendaya or any of the girls. So the night before, I was reading about some actor who did his thing, fucked up or something. Maybe it was a week before. So I stayed up all night with this girl, drinking whiskey, taking shots, rooms. I show up to the audition or the read beyond fucked up. I'm just laughing at Sam and everyone's laughing at me because I'm just laughing at them. And I'm like, what is this script? I'm like throwing shit around and calling Sam. Like, you wearing a fucking dress, dude? Talking to Sam, because he was wearing a dress. And I was like 30 minutes late. And like, can you do this? And I was like, I don't know, probably. And we start reading it, but then the words start jumping around on the page. So I was like, I can't do this script. And they were like, dom, just go get rest. And they were so mad at me. I remember they called my agents and were like, this kid's never doing anything in Hollywood again, ever. We're so mad. But then I guess I posted something like a month later that was like, it's not about what you do do, it's what you do moving forward that really is going to define. And it wasn't in reference to that, but I think that Jennifer saw that and I think I was living in a different way at that point. I was trying to, like, buckle down. They called me back. It was like a year later. And Sam had written a part for me. Sam had rewritten this character that I showed up to read, but he wrote it with the qualities of the guy he saw show up. So he writes this guy that's like half his character and half the dude that showed up that day. And then I was honest with him. He has a meeting with me. Like, okay, I know that you get up. Obviously you have some problems. I have those problems too. We can get someone to help you, but you have to do this. You sign a five year contract. This is a formality. But he's like, I need to know that you're not going to like me on this. I was like, brother, got you. Like, this time, I'm not understanding the stakes still of this show. And then we get into filming it, you find out real quick when you see that budget, you know?

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

When you show up and there's like 20 semis there.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah. And then you meet all the people too. And you see actors never really take this serious because I'm here. I'm just like. I'm just doing another whatever.

[Dax Shepard]

Which is like a self defense mechanism for sure.

[Dominic Fike]

If I. I told you, I don't care. Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

So true.

[Dominic Fike]

That was definitely what I felt.

[Dax Shepard]

And did you feel pretty natural pretty quick? Because you hit the ground running. You were so good immediately. I was rooting so much for you guys.

[Monica Padman]

Such a good character.

[Dominic Fike]

Thanks.

[Monica Padman]

I love.

[Dax Shepard]

I wanted he and Rue to be together.

[Dominic Fike]

Oh, really?

[Monica Padman]

Did you write the. That song?

[Dominic Fike]

No, Labyrinth wrote that song. Sam had asked me to go write a song and I wrote one. I mean, I had like, overdubs, and I didn't know what he meant.

[Dax Shepard]

Something that couldn't be done in a room.

[Dominic Fike]

He was saying, write a song on the guitar. So then I get this song Labyrinth makes and it's gorgeous. I was like, I'll sing that. Yeah. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I was gonna say. Was it hard to admit? Like, yeah, this is pretty awesome.

[Dominic Fike]

It's better than what the song that I wrote for. It is still good, though. I listen to it sometimes.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, great.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I heard Pharrell getting interviewed by somebody at some conference, and I was relieved to hear that. That was like his 16th attempt at the theme song for that movie.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Happy Feet.

[Dax Shepard]

For Happy Feet.

[Dominic Fike]

Happy was a theme song for Happy Feet.

[Monica Padman]

Wait, this is not sounding right.

[Dax Shepard]

No, it wasn't for Happy.

[Dominic Fike]

That was a theme song for them.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it's for Despicable Me. If you feel like they hired him to write Truth.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah. Despicable Me too.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

So the first album he wrote all these hits, goes away to do the second one, and every time he submits admits, they're like, that's not it.

[Dominic Fike]

I've been there.

[Dax Shepard]

It's such a relief. I would imagine for people to know that Pharrell sometimes has to stand up at the plate 16 times. And that's why he's for reals. He didn't go, well, no, I'm better than this.

[Monica Padman]

The end of that story, I think, is that he basically said, no more, no more. I've done it this many times.

[Dax Shepard]

But he came up with happy. And he's like, well, this is it.

[Monica Padman]

This is it, and we're not doing it again.

[Dax Shepard]

And then specifically, he told the president of the studio, I need you to drive around in your car. Something about driving around the the car. Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare.

[Dominic Fike]

You realize when you work in music, all these dudes are super normal dudes and they're just like you and I. This Danny Elfman dude's just like the Omar Apollo dude sitting next to me. The only difference is, is this dude was down to do 15 tries of it for 15 plus plus years every day. That's the only thread that I find connecting all the people that I admire. It's not that this person drinks this type of water. This person wakes up and shits excellence genetically.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

It's that this person just didn't stop.

[Monica Padman]

That's so true.

[Dax Shepard]

I heard you say that you were almost kicked off the show a bit for your drug use. What was the consumption at this point?

[Dominic Fike]

Doing a lot of coke and a.

[Dax Shepard]

Lot of really weed.

[Dominic Fike]

Great stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

Smells so good.

[Dominic Fike]

Smells great.

[Monica Padman]

It must be hard for you, though, because if you. If everyone's like, you're doing so good and you work. That character's incredible. Incredible. How then do you.

[Dax Shepard]

What's broken?

[Monica Padman]

Why am I fixing something again, Same with you. Go to jail and then you get $4 million. How do you right size that and say, no, I really need to get my act together because your act is working.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, well, it was kind of like if a dude gets like a cool cut on his arm and then they put a band aid on and the band aid's like Transformers. I was like, what do you mean? I'm doing great Transformers, Band Aid. But then you take it off and there's a fucking gash in your arm. That's kind of what it was. All the. This money. This is a temporary fix for something that I need to actually go and heal. I would kind of be better about going on camera super fucked up. Like, I would space it out. Like my weed would be like 50 minutes. I put eye drops in. The thing about getting fucked up on set was like, people imagine that I'm just constantly Talking to Sam and Zendaya and Hunter. Fucked up. I was in my trailer bored all the time. You fucking know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

In suffer, you're in boring job. And then at the drop of a, you know, you got to be there. That was the funny part is when you are in the middle of doing something and they're like, you're on it. Five.

[Dax Shepard]

Knock, knock, knock. You were signed on for a season three. Is there a season three of that show ever? No.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, I actually just did some of it.

[Dax Shepard]

There is a season. Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

They're filming it. I was just talking 100. She's filming it.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I was afraid.

[Dominic Fike]

Nah, they're going hard.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, good. I love that Rosalie is in it.

[Dominic Fike]

I know.

[Monica Padman]

It's such a good show. It's such a harrowing show.

[Dax Shepard]

A good friend of mine is on that show, Dane.

[Dominic Fike]

He's going through some. I saw some shit about it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

It's crazy because when I met him, he's like a superhero.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. Totally heartbreaking. Okay. When you sang to her, I know.

[Dominic Fike]

People hated that scene.

[Monica Padman]

What?

[Dominic Fike]

Who did? You didn't see me get roasted on the Internet for that. No, the whole Internet just blew up about me doing that.

[Dax Shepard]

What were they mad about?

[Dominic Fike]

It's like, why is this guy singing? I'm trying to see the rest of the characters arcs. Because it was kind of at this point when everything was like, culminating. Imploding. Yeah. The culmination of all this drama is happening right now. And then it cuts to me being like, you want to hear some? I wrote.

[Dax Shepard]

They thought it was too time consuming.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah. She's going to show where we're at as humans.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. That's.

[Dax Shepard]

You know what more goes to show? It's like every conversation's happening and you have to find the ones that are bad. Really? Because that in our world.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

No one thought.

[Monica Padman]

I've never even heard that away. And also, that's so dumb because it's also about her. It's a very human moment. Who would want to skip that?

[Dominic Fike]

No one was trying to see that. They were trying to see, like, Animal Kingdom, the girls fighting with the hair. They wanted to see that. Have you seen the user interface? Have you seen Amazon lately? You ever just go into any stream Streaming service? Do you see what it is? It's just like yacht murder. This person was discarded in the back of a Popeyes and they used her as a rug for eight months. And here's the doc about it. That's all it is. And that's how you Know where we're at as humans?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

Before, it was like Charlie Chaplin, like, slipping on banana peels.

[Dax Shepard]

We outgrew that. We needed something more radical. Well, I can't be the first person that would compare you to him, but Mac Miller, a lot. That's got to be a tremendous compliment now. Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

It hurts, though, because he's dead.

[Monica Padman]

I know you can take it a different way.

[Dominic Fike]

I loved his music, and I felt like we were really close to working together. I managed by the same people that managed him, and I know a lot of his friends.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you done a tiny desk?

[Dominic Fike]

I've not done a tiny desk. I was supposed to, but I didn't sleep the night before. I was coked out, and so I missed it.

[Dax Shepard]

Right, right, right. These things happen.

[Dominic Fike]

They do.

[Dax Shepard]

Where are we at with the drugs now?

[Dominic Fike]

Good.

[Dax Shepard]

Was there an event? Was there anything exciting that was like, okay, these are getting more dangerous. Yes.

[Monica Padman]

You have a child.

[Dominic Fike]

That was a big, big one.

[Dax Shepard]

We would like that to.

[Dominic Fike]

You know, it's funny. That wasn't the thing.

[Dax Shepard]

No, it's not. It's worse. It's worse.

[Monica Padman]

That's honest.

[Dax Shepard]

I've seen so many dudes in sobriety think that when their kid arrives, that's going to be the. It's harder. More stress in your life.

[Dominic Fike]

It is. And you also get this thing. It's like, all right, well, he's one now. Maybe I got three more years of this, and then it's boom.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, he'll remember all these things. It's a fallacy to say there's a bottom because I've had a dozen billion bottoms. But certainly I did have the profound moment looking at a mirror at a bar, trying to get well enough to make my flight, where I was just like, wow, man, you got everything you wanted, and you're the most miserable you've ever been. What is broken?

[Dominic Fike]

Know that feeling.

[Dax Shepard]

You got all the stuff now. So what is it crazy feeling?

[Dominic Fike]

That one.

[Dax Shepard]

It's scary for me because I was like, oh, if I get rich and I'm famous, I got no problem.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, you think that. And then it feels like a man on the edge of the world. When you're in that mirror, you're like, what?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, why don't I like what I see? I'm supposed to like, yeah, it's scary.

[Dominic Fike]

It sucks.

[Dax Shepard]

Then you got to figure out what the fuck's broken.

[Dominic Fike]

Yeah, man. I was in Paris for Fashion Week and getting after it. No shortage of drugs and women in Paris. I end up staying up too late, and I Have to go to Rome for a week and a half. Supposed to be great. Rome's beautiful. This is the most miserable I've ever been. I'd run out of Xanax, which I've been taking for, like, six months at this point. So I had, like, a psychotic breakdown. I didn't sleep for three days. I'm up screaming, crying, throwing shit at the walls, breaking things, screaming at people, calling people pedophiles, files.

[Dax Shepard]

I was just going to say, people know from watching movies that kicking dope is hard. I don't think people understand how absolutely horrendous kicking benzos is.

[Dominic Fike]

It's the devil.

[Dax Shepard]

Xanax and all the benzos, they seem so innocuous. It's like, oh, yeah, take one.

[Dominic Fike]

Everyone takes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, but it's when you've taken them for 30 days straight and you're up in your. Dose, it up your brain pretty severely.

[Dominic Fike]

People take them for years. And I look at it online. It's like, you're supposed to take these for this amount of time max, or else it can be serious. Yeah, I think I took them for six months getting off of them. I almost died. Having seizures, flashes, fucking all. I'm freaking out. And then I just ruined this trip for everyone in Rome. And by the time we get back to L. A. I'm like, okay, I'll stop doing it.

[Dax Shepard]

Turns out I am.

[Dominic Fike]

You go so long thinking that you kind of maybe can get it under control. And there's always this stretch of time when it really feels like you're doing it. And, boy, does that ground come.

[Dax Shepard]

And you're in Rome and you should be happy and the people around you should be happy, and you're miserable, and they're all miserable. Yeah. How many times you go to treatment?

[Dominic Fike]

Like, four.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow.

[Dominic Fike]

Cirque twice, Crossroads once, and then seasons. I also did some recovery in jail to get out quicker.

[Dax Shepard]

What's your favorite part of it and what's your least favorite part?

[Dominic Fike]

My favorite part of it is, you know what I was talking about with the dude that's your friend that kind of won't let you progress and change. You show up there and no one knows you. So you get to create this person, and then when you leave, you get to be that person. Because your friends, even waiting back home, expect a little bit of change. Everyone gives you the grace to change at the same time, which rarely happens in life. It's always different times. Everyone's on a different schedule. When you go to treatment, you're a baby again. I love that part of it. And they give you the opportunity to change. You're like, you're sure I can change, right? Go ahead. And then you do. And it's amazing. Yeah, I love that part. My least favorite part is. And there's no really bad things about it, if you look at it from, you're about to die.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

It's all great. But there's a couple treatment centers that get a little clicky, which is human.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

But I think if there was a way to eliminate that. Which is funny because I'll be in the studio and I'll be like, I need a guy here to do high hats. Just do hi hats, but not talk. Prefer like, he doesn't eat or drink water. And then like, so you want a human, but to erase his humanity.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm like, that would be ideal.

[Dominic Fike]

Exactly, exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Most efficient for me.

[Dominic Fike]

It's kind of how I feel about rehab. I'm like, if we could just eliminate the human part of it, it'd be amazing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a lot of parts I would have wanted to get rid of. Like those God part. I'm like, oh, yeah, what are we doing here?

[Dominic Fike]

For some reason, that isn't a big thing to me. Because I like that challenge where I got to.

[Dax Shepard]

It was like, you're so bogged down in the logic of it all, as opposed to, this is an act of humility. You lack humility. You need some fucking humility. And you need to ask for help and avail yourself to help. And that is one act of doing that. And even more so if you don't believe in it. So my. Oh, I get it. It's even cooler test for me. I gotta be that humble to participate in something. I don't necessarily believe in other people. Otherwise, I think that's good.

[Dominic Fike]

Saintly.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you gonna act more? Other than euphoria?

[Dominic Fike]

Would you like to more? I've been busy with music, but I'd love to act more. I have an acting agent agency as well. I'm busy. I'm away for months at a time. The kid. I'm down to do more acting.

[Dax Shepard]

Some musician just told us it was a female. She said there's this illusion that you can do both, but you absolutely can't. Like to promote the out to record it, then to promote it properly.

[Monica Padman]

Blonde Buxamine.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't even know who you're talking about.

[Dominic Fike]

Just describing her in porn categories like ivory, she's ebony.

[Monica Padman]

Light skin and white hair.

[Dax Shepard]

You're like the driven soul who Knew everyone was crying. Dove, Cameron Dove. Dove.

[Monica Padman]

Dove. Cameron.

[Dax Shepard]

Dove said that you have a similar vibe.

[Dominic Fike]

Musicians.

[Monica Padman]

Musicians, baby. Yeah. Did you get along with Zendaya? Was that fun?

[Dominic Fike]

Zendaya's great. She's very much Michael Jordan.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. But let me ask you this, because you're kind of a scumbag like me. And I look at her as like a goody. Good.

[Dominic Fike]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I would have been so triggered by, like, I bet she thinks I'm a piece of shit.

[Dominic Fike]

So funny. That is why I really just wanted to skip over this part of it. I was like, I already know any mention of her name. I don't know if she sees it. She would look at me. I already know who I was on that set. And I think that kind of affected the way people felt about me too.

[Dax Shepard]

But again, it's a little bit of that self protection.

[Dominic Fike]

Exactly. It's like, I already know I'm a piece of shit.

[Dax Shepard]

I know you can't knock me any.

[Dominic Fike]

Lower, but they can.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not taking this serious, but I am.

[Monica Padman]

She probably has more grace for you than you.

[Dominic Fike]

Maybe. Yeah, I imagine she's great.

[Dax Shepard]

Tom Holland maybe is a secret scumbag.

[Dominic Fike]

I'm on.

[Dax Shepard]

Should be great.

[Dominic Fike]

I hear he's actually like him. He's funny. We hung out a couple of times. One night. I'm not even fucking with you. I go out to this bar. I'm with Tom Holland for some reason. Toby Maguire's there. It's just me, Toby Maguire and Tom.

[Dax Shepard]

Holland to the Spiderman 2.

[Dominic Fike]

Fucking Spider Man.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm just realizing the connection here and.

[Dominic Fike]

I'm just between them both. I was like, dude, this is awesome. Like, literally like this. And I'm like, can you guys do the meme? And they both did the Spider man meme.

[Dax Shepard]

And they were all just like, that's exactly what you expect. That's awesome. Well, it's a delight to meet you. Yeah. As I said, you're even cuter in person.

[Dominic Fike]

Thanks for having me. I never done a podcast. This is your first podcast and I watch them a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm going to guess your favorite. I get one guess. I'm gonna guess your favorite. Theo.

[Dominic Fike]

I love Theo.

[Monica Padman]

City or whatever.

[Dominic Fike]

MSSP really is good. Matt and Shane secret podcast. Ms. MSSP. Shane Gillis and Matt McCusker have a podcast.

[Dax Shepard]

I love Shane Gilles.

[Dominic Fike]

It's great. It's good to sleep too. But like I said, this one's really great.

[Dax Shepard]

Thank you. We're going to keep at it for a little while longer.

[Dominic Fike]

It's A good thing y' all got going.

[Dax Shepard]

Please make that season three of Euphoria I love.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. It's on.

[Dax Shepard]

You call everyone and go like, let's pick up the pace. We don't need to do it.

[Dominic Fike]

They're like, all right, well, could you go faster?

[Dax Shepard]

All right, brother, well, great meeting you. Nice to meet you and good luck with everything.

[Dominic Fike]

Thank you very much.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for the fact Check so you can hear all the facts that were wrong.

[Monica Padman]

It's cloudy out. Is it to me?

[Dax Shepard]

Are you sure? Maybe it's outside of El.

[Monica Padman]

When I woke up, it was cloudy. And then the weather app said, cloudy all day.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh.

[Monica Padman]

Oh. And you're right. We wore outside and it didn't seem cloudy.

[Dax Shepard]

It felt bright. A little bright.

[Monica Padman]

But in my heart, it's still cloudy.

[Dax Shepard]

This is my argument against sleep data.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I understand.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I've already laid that out.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Yes.

[Monica Padman]

I'm with you.

[Dax Shepard]

You need to do a sleep study. Cool. You need to find out what's going on. But just waking up every morning and having a device tell you basically the limits of how good your day can be.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I agree. I, I'm, I'm against that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So I think that happened with the weather app is like, you woke up, it was cloudy, and then you're like, and it's going to be cloudy all day and then you click into that gear.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

We've had really weird weather this summer and going into fall, and I'm very grateful for it.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. Notoriously, Los Angeles is at peak heat in September.

[Dax Shepard]

Yep. In the beginning of October.

[Monica Padman]

And it's scorching.

[Dax Shepard]

It's always over a hundred.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It's miserable. You can't keep up with anything. You're damn near dead in your apartment with one window unit in your kitchen.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But also another thing that won't interest anyone is we have a season which is marine layer season. End of spring, early summer is marine layer. So all the way to like one or two in the afternoon, it's always overcast, which keeps the heat down. In June it's nice. But we've been in marine layer almost all of September.

[Monica Padman]

Interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

Which is interesting. And then it also said it was going to pour today. Right.

[Monica Padman]

It did.

[Dax Shepard]

Said it was 80% chance it was going to rain, but that didn't happen because I keep looking out my bedroom window on the second floor down at the roof of the guest house, and there's so many leaves in the gutter and I go, I got to leave. Blow those out before the rain comes. And then I was like it's coming Wednesday. I got to get. And then I won't go to the store. I didn't do the leaves. But then it broke.

[Monica Padman]

So maybe you. It's the sim cuz it's like oh, he's not ready yet. He hasn't done the leaves. So we have to hold off on the rain.

[Dax Shepard]

That's nice. So maybe the whole state will be like please clean up your leaves. We need rain.

[Monica Padman]

I'm good.

[Dax Shepard]

We need rain cuz it's fire season.

[Monica Padman]

You're right. You're right. Marine layer shout out gray clothing brand.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh yeah, I have some marine layer.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. They we used to our sweatshirts old. If you have an old armchair expert Christmas once a year limited edition sweatshirt Christmas drop. Chances are it was marine layer.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Speaking of trusted brand. Not yet. But we will have a new merch oh yeah situation very soon. So keep your ears and eyes peeled for that.

[Dax Shepard]

Monica's been using all of her style prowess to come up with a whole new set of designs.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. We're working with a new company who, who's well versed in merch.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And we've all been working together to come up with some nice basic pieces, basics and. And I think they're going to be really cute. It's not. I guess it's a little bit of a tease because it's not available yet. But it will be.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know that I often do. You say cock tease. Is that new?

[Monica Padman]

No, I. I said it. Somebody listening. Please go back into all the episodes and see how many times I've said it.

[Dax Shepard]

Ask AI.

[Monica Padman]

I guess normally I say it a tease but I. It means teas.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yes. Do you think I said there's rungs of the intensity. You could say she's a tease. He's a tease. She's a dick tease. A dick tease.

[Monica Padman]

Never said that.

[Dax Shepard]

She's a tease. That's like triple X, full blown, full throttle dick tease.

[Monica Padman]

Sounds like dick cheese. Yeah. I don't like the sounds of that. It's like onomatopoeia.

[Dax Shepard]

I like it all. It sounds like someone's teasing it. Right.

[Monica Padman]

But then they walk away.

[Dax Shepard]

But then they walk away. But that's much better than nothing.

[Monica Padman]

Is it?

[Dax Shepard]

The dicties is always framed as something negative. But I would way prefer some light teasing than to nothing.

[Monica Padman]

Oh yeah. People really act like it's the worst thing you could possibly.

[Dax Shepard]

This is blue balls.

[Monica Padman]

Blue balls. Exactly. It's kind of a patriarchy thing because it's like. Like these women, they come and they just. Like their sirens, and then they walk away, and then these poor men have these huge balls that turn blue also.

[Dax Shepard]

Who we just had a guest on whose mother was, like, Uganda. Oh, it was. It was that terrible doc we watch. Oh, the Hoarder.

[Monica Padman]

No, the. The w. The unknown number.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Although. Did we have someone. The mom with the orders. Her mom was telling her, like, you got to jerk the. These guys off.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. She was. And she gave her a vibrator for Christmas in front of her brother and dad.

[Dax Shepard]

Father. Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. Maybe that woman had a little bit of munch h, but just didn't have the Internet.

[Dax Shepard]

Didn't have. Was too lazy to pull it all off.

[Monica Padman]

She had hoarding also. I mean, she had a lot to handle.

[Dax Shepard]

She had a lot going on.

[Monica Padman]

Although that unknown number lady, when we see her house, because of the body cam, it doesn't look organized.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it doesn't look. Or. It didn't look bad, though.

[Monica Padman]

Really? I felt like it looked.

[Dax Shepard]

I was expecting to see something worse. Worse. Yeah. I had my expectations very low. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I wonder if people have watched it since we've talked about it. Great, Doc.

[Dax Shepard]

I went to the Emmys.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, you did. I wrote that down. Tell us.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I went to the Emmys. We also went to this party called the Night Before Party, which raises money for the MPFT fund.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. That's Motion pictures, Arts and Sciences televisions.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. We haven't been in probably 12 years.

[Monica Padman]

Really?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. The last time we went was the time that we were hanging out with Amy and Tina, and the next day we were on a walk, and Kristen just said, I'm just not funny.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm like, well, if. Yeah, it was like. I think it was at least 12 years ago, maybe. Maybe more. Before Lincoln, before I was even born. We went because the beautiful Adam Scott and his wife Naomi were official hosts of.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Friend of the pot, friend of the pod. Friend. Just real life friends. We just adore those two. And, yeah, so we went, and that was. It was fun. And I was reminded I have the same anxiety of any function with a lot of people, which is like, you're gonna see a lot of people you like, and then you're not gonna be able to really talk to them. Them. You're gonna have, like, three minutes of small talk, which is not my favorite, and then someone else is gonna walk through that. Everyone knows, and then we're gonna start the cycle all over again.

[Monica Padman]

I hate this, too.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So it was really fun to see everyone that I watch on tv. That part was fun.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I did get to chat with Ben Stiller for a while.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, and that was fun. Friend of the pod.

[Dax Shepard]

Friend of the pod. And I'm a friend of his pod.

[Monica Padman]

I feel his sweat. It's on me. He was really sweating then because he was sitting.

[Dax Shepard]

Monica's sitting on the exact same spot that our guest who just left was sitting. And he's very sexy.

[Monica Padman]

He is very sexy.

[Dax Shepard]

A sex machine.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And you're now in his sweat. Do you kind of like it?

[Monica Padman]

I like it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I bet.

[Monica Padman]

I don't smell it, which is cool.

[Dax Shepard]

You just feel it.

[Monica Padman]

His sweat doesn't smell.

[Dax Shepard]

His sweat's at back tease, which makes sense because you're getting a back tease right now.

[Monica Padman]

This person has to sweat a lot for the. Their job or did they work in a steel mill? And so his sweat is evolved where it's just. Is. It's just releasing water to keep cool. But it's not stinky at all.

[Dax Shepard]

No. Wow. So then. Then you got the Emmys the next day.

[Monica Padman]

Wait, I want to say on the party for a second.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Monica Padman]

Great. Okay. Cuz parties. These parties. These parties, they're fascinating and I think they're relatable to anyone as an adult. Adult. Going to a party where you don't know people or you kind of know people. You know, some people, you're trying to figure out how to maneuver through and you don't want to be by yourself. And it's all very fascinating mixed with. It's actually like being at a high school party because there's popular kids and there's crushes and there's like all these dynamics going on.

[Dax Shepard]

A lot of dynamics.

[Monica Padman]

There was a Netflix Emmy party after the Emmys. Day of that, Anna went to.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And she didn't get a plus one.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Or. Yeah, she didn't get one and then she didn't ask for one. Which mistake you. You got to.

[Dax Shepard]

I always am the plus one. So I don't know the rules, but that's what you do if you get invited.

[Monica Padman]

Are married. So if you.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm the plus one.

[Monica Padman]

No. Either way. Either you're the plus one or she's the plus. Plus one.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Monica Padman]

There's no, like, issues.

[Dax Shepard]

It's just built in.

[Monica Padman]

It's built in.

[Dax Shepard]

If you're inviting Kristen, you have to invite me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah. And. And vice versa. If you're a single person, you kind of have to make sure you ask for a plus one at Events.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Which I've learned over time.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

So she went and she was, like, so, like, for like, a week. She was so excited about this party.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, good.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah. Also, Anna, our friend, is so fun. Right.

[Dax Shepard]

She's the funnest person.

[Monica Padman]

Loves a party. Party.

[Dax Shepard]

She's always in a great mood. She's got a zest for life.

[Monica Padman]

She's just ready. She's just gonna say yes to anything. She'll do anything.

[Dax Shepard]

She's so fun.

[Monica Padman]

She is normally my plus one because of that. Because she'll always say yes, and then she's just easy at the place.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So she was so excited. And. And I had this sort of feeling like, God, I mean, Anna's of all people. She can, like, handle a party by herself.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Dominic Fike]

This is.

[Dax Shepard]

If anyone could pull this off, off, it would be her.

[Monica Padman]

For some reason, I had this. I was like, I don't know why. I don't. I feel like this, like, might not go very well. I. I didn't. And I didn't want to say that.

[Dax Shepard]

You want to jinx her or yuck. Or yum.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And also, at one point, she was like, I wish you could come. I was like, yeah, this gets complicated because I, of course, want to be embraced and invited to things. And it's lovely. It's so nice. However, I am not a person.

[Dax Shepard]

Person that feels super comfortable going to a party without needing to be there. Right. Right.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. Like, I don't want to just be invited to a party unless I'm in a show that's represented there. Or I'm like, obviously, I went to the SAG party because I was a part of that show.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Things like that. But I'm not interested in just, like, going to a party to see.

[Dax Shepard]

Crashing a party, kind of.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Although you do want to go to the US Open and see him. Be seen.

[Monica Padman]

Of course. But that's, like, fun. Okay. That's. That's watching tennis.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I'm obviously bringing a plus one.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

Anyway. But even that, like, no, I would not want to go by myself even if I was invited. I would feel so uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable.

[Dax Shepard]

Like a loser.

[Monica Padman]

I know. And you shouldn't.

[Dax Shepard]

You shouldn't.

[Monica Padman]

Should feel great.

[Dax Shepard]

We've talked about this. I used to go to eat all the time by myself, and I loved it. I didn't give a fuck. I was like, I think people are like, my guy's pretty cool. He doesn't care. Care you?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And being recognized has made me feel a little less comfortable I'm now back to enjoying it. But I do feel like people go like, well that guy must actually be a loser cuz he should have a friend.

[Monica Padman]

No, I think he's on TV and.

[Dax Shepard]

Doesn'T have a friend.

[Monica Padman]

That's not the same thing as a party.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, all right, all right.

[Monica Padman]

I love going.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I was more US Tennis open. Oh there. I would feel like people would be like, like why is that right on tv?

[Monica Padman]

Why is he by himself more adjacent to a party?

[Dax Shepard]

Right, okay.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, there's so many layers. So yeah. Anyway, all to say, she goes to this party.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

She's there for like 10 minutes and I start getting texts, right. Oh no, no one's here. Like no one from the show is there. Or some, some people were there but they were not talking to her. I'm standing at this table by myself. And I said, well go sit at the table. And she's like, no, I feel better just standing at this table.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And you know, and she was like, and I'm going to have to drink, I'm going to have to keep going to the bar because I feel comfortable. You know these things that start happening and I thought I was like you.

[Dax Shepard]

Start getting very self conscious.

[Monica Padman]

So self conscious are feeling like, oh.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm, I'm leaning on this thing. Does that look right?

[Monica Padman]

Does is lean.

[Dax Shepard]

Should I have my hand in my pocket?

[Monica Padman]

You just do losers lean.

[Dax Shepard]

You almost like short circuit as a robot.

[Monica Padman]

You do. And it's so human and relatable. Relatable. It's like going to a wedding by yourself. Yourself. And you're just standing at the stand up table like hoping, oh, I just think like I'm too old to do this ever. I went to, oh, I went to a birthday party recently that was sort of like this and I hadn't felt it in so long. I'll. I'll shout it out. It was Ashley who owns all. No, but ding, ding, ding. Elizabeth Olsen was at this party. Yeah. So Ashley from all time had a birthday party and it was in this like cute side room at all time. And I don't know why I didn't even think twice. I was like, oh, it'll be, this is fun. I'll just pop in. I got there and I was immediately I was like, what have I done?

[Dax Shepard]

It's an immediate feeling done. Yeah. And now you're like, I gotta walk out of here. But that's gonna be awkward. I've gotta like save face and spend 10 minutes here.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

It's all going to Go downhill once you feel that way.

[Monica Padman]

And those 10 minutes are 40 hours because you're figuring out at least, okay, first I'll go get a drink. That takes some time.

[Dax Shepard]

Then I'm going to act like I'm going to the bathroom, but I'm going to leave then.

[Monica Padman]

No, I don't. I didn't leave. I couldn't leave. Like, I had to at least stay to engage with her. But she's obviously talking to people.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And then I'm like, looking around, like, who do I know? Oh, I kind of know that girl, but she's in conversation. And so. So I'm kind of like, you know.

[Dax Shepard]

You'Re kind of saddling up next to.

[Monica Padman]

Yep. You're doing that. Or you're kind of trying to get in their eyeline and, like, so that they'll, like, ignore whoever they're talking to to talk to you. Why would they do that? So they're kind of. They kind of just nod to acknowledge you, and then you're still standing there with your wine.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. It was so bad.

[Dax Shepard]

It's kind of crazy that being a social primate, that we do all feel that. I mean, I guess what that's what we're feeling is like, oh, there's a group and we're not in it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It's very. Was very uncomfortable.

[Monica Padman]

It was so uncomfortable. And it is so the human brain is so interesting. Depending on your place and time and where you. Your location, places you feel comfortable versus places you don't. It was so wild. Finally, my friend Mara came. She just happened to be there. Mara Rosak, incredible hairstylist. Shout out rose hair products. They're great. A lot of people reached out about that towel I talked about because my hair was looking so good. It's sold out, but they are gonna maybe bring it back for the holidays.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay. Anyway, so a lot of sidebars.

[Monica Padman]

Thank God. Mara walked in and I be lined. And I was like, you're not getting like, you're mine now.

[Dax Shepard]

You're now on a date with me.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, that's right. And poor her. She had to talk to me for a long time. Time.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I did speak to Elizabeth Olsen.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that go. Did you?

[Monica Padman]

That was fun.

[Dax Shepard]

I've never met her.

[Monica Padman]

She was really, really nice. I. This is also funny. I was like, whoa.

[Dax Shepard]

Does she notice that you're in head to toe row?

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Huh.

[Monica Padman]

And it actually, my shirt wasn't, but my pants and my bag were.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I was like, the. For the first time, I was like, I Wish I wasn't.

[Dax Shepard]

You felt silly.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I was like, this is like your sister's. I'm dumb. I gotta die. I want to go die. Like, I'm wearing your sister's clothes. You're like, who is this person? Why do I have to talk to mar. Why are you talking to her? And then you find yourself talking about such, like, small talk is.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It's. It's uncomfortably inane. It's like. It's like you. Yeah, You. Your soul feels like it's getting sundered.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Because I think in that conversation, I. I tried to bring up perimenopause. It felt like.

[Dax Shepard]

Like you were forcing it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It wasn't on anyone's mind.

[Monica Padman]

I felt like it was going to be a good entree in these three women who were talking about hormones. And I was like, oh, well. And then I was like. I was about to say on my show, but I was like, I can't say on my show. She's gonna be like, you got a show? What podcast?

[Dax Shepard]

Please don't tell me about your podcast.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. It was so scary.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Anyway, so parties are hard.

[Dax Shepard]

Parties are hard. They are hard.

[Dominic Fike]

Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare.

[Dax Shepard]

So we left there, then we went to the big event itself.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And they had a really heightened security.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I see.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. There's snipers on the roof and stuff. Different roofs.

[Monica Padman]

I'm glad.

[Dax Shepard]

But it made getting in, like, really quite crazy.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, we're. There was definitely a moment where I was like, do. Should we get out and walk the remaining half mile?

[Monica Padman]

Kristen and I did that one year.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It's not sorted all that well. And I was like, are we gonna miss? And I think her CA Category was, like, second up or something.

[Monica Padman]

I was getting so panicked because I'm watching the e carpet to get you guys, and I'm like, time is a ticket. I haven't seen them. What's going on?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. We walked around the whole side of that whole thing. We never were even on the red carpet. We can't. Kind of came in the side.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And got there in the nick of time. And I don't know why. I had a memory of them having some great green room with a lot of. Of snacks. So I was like, I'm gonna be fine.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

And then, you know, I'm like, I'm hungry. And she's like, yeah, I'm hungry, too. Okay, after your category, let's go to the green room. So we go to the green room. Slim pickings. There was nothing there. I think I ate, like, seven pieces of Mordello ham.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, sure.

[Dax Shepard]

And that's all there really was.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And I ate it all. That was it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, you save. You saved. None for everyone.

[Dax Shepard]

I was in a desperate situation. Situation.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I. When she went away to go do the Ted and Mary presentation, I knew I had a few minutes. Yeah. Like a few awards. I had a little buffer.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

So I'm like, I'm gonna go out to the lobby and I. I was gonna be conservative. I was like, I'm gonna go get a thing of popcorn. That'll tide me over. And that's. I can manage that. Just a couple kernels at a time. Hide it on the ground.

[Monica Padman]

But high. Choking. Probably just, you know, something to think about, I suppose.

[Dax Shepard]

Or in your teeth.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But anyways, I got up there. They were sold completely out of popcorn. So I said, oh, it. Give me the nachos. I sold out of nachos. So I ended up with a huge hot dog. Like a Snoopy special hot dog. Like, quarter pound hot dog. And a bag of Flamin Hot Cheetos. Cheetos and Skittles, which I don't eat sugar. Really. And I certainly am not eating Skittles. If I'm gonna eat sugar, I'm gonna eat, like, a candy bar of chocolate.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So I got back to the seat, and I was just trying to be pretty quiet about now. I have an enormous tray of food. By the way, sincerely, none of this occurs to me. For whatever reason, I just don't think.

[Monica Padman]

You're not thinking you're on tv.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't think, oh, hey, guy. You're the only person in the first six rows with a tray of food on you. I literally don't even think about it. I'm just like, I'm hungry. I got nothing to do here. I'm not nominated. They're not budding to me.

[Monica Padman]

Well, they might.

[Dax Shepard]

So I'm. I'm pounding this hot dog, and all of a sudden I hear Dax. Dax. And I look over. I posted this video.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, I saw.

[Dax Shepard]

And yes, Sarah Paulson's recording me.

[Monica Padman]

Friend of the pot.

[Dax Shepard]

Friend of the pot, by the way. So many friends of the pot at this thing. It was so fun. Like, half the people are nominated. It was. It was. I really liked that a lot.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I just really liked it. I was like, everyone in this room is human.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I've gotten to see everyone be human for two hours. And that's really cool. In the past When I'd go to these things, there's all these different people, and I'm imagining what they are, and, you know, and I'm applying status and stuff. But this was, I think, for the first time ever at an or, I was like, oh, there's a room full of people.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. I love that.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'm happy for him. It's really cool what they did and then. And it's just really, like, a room full of people. And it was great. Like, whispering to Seth Rogen once, because I'm a huge fan of Tony Gilroy. He wrote and directed Michael Clayton. He also wrote Andor.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. So then I see the nomination for Andor, and it's for, like. It's for Mike Gilroy, and I'm like, what does Tony go by Mike? And then I, like, lean over, and I'm like, if there's one guy in this audience that'll know, it's Seth Rogen. This motherfucker knows every single thing about him. And, you know, I'm like, seth, does Tony have a brother? And he's like, yeah, two brothers. And then it was the brother that won. And then he mentioned the third brother, who's also right on the show. So this is so fun. I'm, like, getting info from him, and I'm staying dialed into what's going on. But anyway, so that hot dog thing happens, and then friend of a pod, Sam Rockwell, has left his seat and comes over and just goes, buddy, you killing that hot dog is the funniest thing. I've been watching you eat that hot dog.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God, the whole room's so hot.

[Dax Shepard]

Now. I realize everybody's been watching me eat. Eat this hot dog. And then Sam leaves, and I look at him to say goodbye. And then I catch eyes with. With Seth Rogen and Ike Barnolds and says, like, you ate that thing like a corn. Corn on the cob. And I'm like, oh, I. Oh, no. Everybody there was watching me fucking pound this cob because I didn't want to eat the bun. So I was, like, eating it kind of crazy. And I'd put a ton of ketchup and mustard and mayonnaise on it because I wanted more. More calories because they didn't have any food for sale up there.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

So I just. I had a moment where I was like, oh, my God. I was being stared at by a lot of people.

[Monica Padman]

You were the jester.

[Dax Shepard]

Accidentally, I was the Jester. And I think if I saw me, I would think I Was doing a bit, but I wasn't doing.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know why. Because I'm.

[Dax Shepard]

So now it's a pattern. This is why I would think that because the other time when I was watching the, The. The. The Lions game at the Golden. Golden Globes.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, right.

[Dax Shepard]

On my phone.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Again, I thought I was just having this very secret moment where no one knew I was looking down at my phone.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then Kristen had recorded me and posted. It became kind of a funny thing.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But I don't think the room was paying.

[Dax Shepard]

The room wasn't. But if I add up that little oopsies with this now this hot dog gate. If I. And I was cynical, I didn't like me already, I'd be like, this guy's just. He's never nominated these things.

[Monica Padman]

Why is he there?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, why is he there? Why does he go there and have to do something stupid each time?

[Monica Padman]

So interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

So I kind of had accidentally backed into another right. Little thing. I mean, but it was. I, I. It was. I was fine with it.

[Monica Padman]

Of course they sell food, so obviously people are. If it was all sold out, people ate.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Well, I had seen. Oh, another fun thing I'll. I'll say is Chloe 7 was directed in front of me.

[Monica Padman]

She's so fashion.

[Dax Shepard]

She's so fashion. She's so cool. Yeah, I know where there one time with my friend Leslie, and I just thought she was really cool. And I've always thought she was really cool. So when she was. She was nominated and when she didn't win and the other person came up, and the second the camera was offered, I didn't want anyone to see this. I slid her $20. Okay, okay. She turned around, she was laughing. And then she was like, Tried to give it back to me. I go, no, you must keep it, because if people say, sorry, you lost, you go, oh, no, no, I won. 20. $20.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, great.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So she's the one who had been sneakily eating some popcorn, where I got the idea.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I imagine people have to eat.

[Dax Shepard]

I guess the line was at popcorn before people were gonna look at it.

[Monica Padman]

Nachos were eight sold out.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It must have been folks in the.

[Monica Padman]

Back or before the show started, maybe.

[Dax Shepard]

Or in the breaks when they. Maybe they buy it in the lobby and eat it all in the lobby. But I carried this huge tray back to my seat, and no one said anything to me. There was ushers everywhere.

[Monica Padman]

Right?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Wow.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. That's funny.

[Dax Shepard]

And I mean, so now I guess I, I'm Kind of pot committed to this. I. I am now. It is going to have to become a bit. Yeah. I'm gonna have to play like a trumpet in the middle of something. I know. I'm sorry. But that's my responsibility.

[Monica Padman]

As soon as it turns into. On purpose, it's not. It's ugly. Yeah. And it's about you and attention. Tension and.

[Dax Shepard]

And I actually feel confident I'll accidentally do.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Just let yourself be.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But it was. It was a good. It was a really good time. And I felt like kind of a moment of growth, which is like. I didn't feel better than anybody and I didn't feel less than anybody.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

That was a great feeling.

[Monica Padman]

This is the thing I'm always trying to tell you. Do you think maybe I'm just ahead of your time?

[Dax Shepard]

Probably. You're probably way ahead of your time.

[Monica Padman]

It's not always. Status isn't always abound. And it does.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it always is. And then you participate in it sometimes or you don't.

[Monica Padman]

It doesn't have to be. You don't have to perceive it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You can. It's hard, but you can remove yourself from it.

[Monica Padman]

Write it down.

[Dax Shepard]

But I didn't do anything to earn it. I just kind of felt that way. Which was nice.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Great. Well, I'm glad. I'm glad. Better than fainting. Did you see some. One like lady. It was some political thing. It was like her first day. Maybe she was French or something. And she passed out and there's video and it looks so scary.

[Dax Shepard]

She making a speech.

[Monica Padman]

Like they're all up there doing. Yeah. Like she wasn't in the middle of talking. Somebody else was talking. But it was like four podiums. And then she just like watching someone pass out is so weird.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

To see the human body just like get out. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Is quit.

[Monica Padman]

Very scary.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And you were fainted. I. Yeah. Had this weird passing out thing which then caused all this anxiety about passing out.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. But you passed out on the bike riding it at Soul Cycle.

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

When did you pass out?

[Monica Padman]

I passed out babysitting. It was a whole thing and it was really scary. It was while I worked at SoulCycle.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay. And at all. Not like babysitting when you were a kid.

[Monica Padman]

No, no, no. It was during that time.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Anywho. Just watching someone's body give out. But. And she. She said low blood sugar. So like you could have passed out and it would have been so.

[Dax Shepard]

What a dummy. I'm also too big.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. You would have taken Out.

[Dax Shepard]

I would look like a dum dum. Like, oh, look at that big dumb guy, just, like fell over.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, this big ogre fell.

[Dax Shepard]

I have never fainted, thank God.

[Monica Padman]

I hope you don't.

[Dax Shepard]

I feel confident I'm not gonna.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you. Speaking of fainting bodies giving out health stuff, tell everyone the story you told me the other day.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh. Oh, okay, great. Yes. Another highlight. Thank you. Highlight. This was really just a highlight for you. I was excited to tell you. Yes, I know. Wiley was seated, I think, two rows behind me. So on one of my many trips to try to get food, I saw him and I kind of locked eyes with him. So I walked over and I introduced myself, myself to him. I'm like, hey, no, I'm. I'm Dax. Nice to meet you. And he said, oh, yeah, I was on your hay ride this year. And I'm like, you were on my hay ride? He goes, yeah, I was on the hay ride last year.

[Monica Padman]

I can't.

[Dax Shepard]

And I go, why didn't you say hi? And he goes, I don't know, you're driving. I, I don't think you necessarily want me to say hi. And I'm like, well, I'm delighted you on there. And he said, he goes, man, you make some sharp turns. And I go, I'm so glad you say that. I only go through all the effort of doing it so that people will compliment me on tight the course is. But he did, he, he, he, he couldn't wait to tell me how impressed he was with the turn into the alley. Isn't that great? I mean, it's hard for you, but.

[Monica Padman]

It'S about you and it's about me. He was sitting next to me somehow, probably, and I didn't even know.

[Dax Shepard]

He must have been full mask or something.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. And it's.

[Dax Shepard]

But also, we had this with. We've had this with a couple of guests that were on the hayride that we don't know about, but no one's.

[Monica Padman]

More exciting than Noah Wy. No one's more exciting.

[Dax Shepard]

It's extremely exciting. But I can think of a couple people, like, if Jay Z said he was on the hay ride, I'm going to be a little more excited.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, again, that's your preference? Okay, my preference is to be on.

[Dax Shepard]

The hay ride field this year?

[Monica Padman]

Yes. Do you think maybe he was one of the ones that came into the house that wasn't supposed to come into the house?

[Dax Shepard]

He's like, hey, man, I took your hayrid and in your pocket bathroom, like, came for a free hamburger. And then I was like, oh, this place must be open to toury.

[Monica Padman]

Amanda Knox.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Anyway, I am delighted about this.

[Dax Shepard]

It feels like a good start. And then I DM'd him to invite him on the show.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, I knew I smelled something really good on the hayride, but I never could identify it. And now, mystery solved. It was him.

[Dax Shepard]

It was his pheromones.

[Monica Padman]

Now, did you consider telling him him that we talk about the Pit constantly on the show. Big fans. He comes up all the time. I want him to do surgery on my body.

[Dax Shepard]

I did. I did consider saying my co host is obsessed with you, and I hear about the Pit all the time. And then I realized they're being celebrated tonight. Right. Like me telling him someone's obsessed with the show felt extraneous in a given. Given the amount of acclaim they were receiving leaving that night, it felt like, yeah, duh. Don't you see what's happening? We're winning every award. Everyone loves it.

[Monica Padman]

I think a line reading could have been.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, we'll start with, hey, I'm Dax.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, okay. Hey, I'm Dax.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, Noah. Noah, nice to meet you. I was on your hay rice.

[Monica Padman]

What?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

What do you mean?

[Dax Shepard]

In your neighborhood? I was on your hayride. You were making those, like, crazy tight turns like it's crazy.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, well, let's talk about my co host. Thanks for the comment, but she is obsessed with you.

[Dax Shepard]

You're co host of what?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I have a podcast.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, we're dead. See, we're dead in the water, cuz. That could have happened. No, now I'm explaining to him what a podcast is. Oh, Monica, you must acknowledge it's so high risk.

[Monica Padman]

No, it's not. And this is why I'm self conscious. Okay, I know, and it's not a fair comparison.

[Dax Shepard]

I know.

[Monica Padman]

It'S not a fair comparison. And everyone's gonna be mad at me for saying this, probably, but this is where my head's at.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay?

[Monica Padman]

So I got to. Yeah, you have. You would have no problem saying Kristen's obsessed with your show.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

She loves it so much.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I. I know 100% they know who Kristen is, so I do not walk around assuming no wy knows I have a podcast called Armchair Expert. I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't ever assume someone knows it.

[Monica Padman]

Right?

[Dax Shepard]

If they bring it up, I'd love to talk about it, but I never say my show, our show, this show. I don't ever do that because I don't assume everyone knows.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but you could say I have a podcast and my co host is.

[Dax Shepard]

That sounds terrible. I have a podcast. Well, we already have agreed on this. We know it's embarrassing to say I have a podcast. We already dealt with this. We were sitting at a table and said podcast, and we were embarrassed, so.

[Monica Padman]

But then you said the goal is to invite him on the podcast.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So how are you going to do that if you can't tell me?

[Dax Shepard]

I'm going to meet him. I'm going to be nice and likable, and then his publicist is going to pitch him how every guest comes on this show.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And he's going to go, oh, I met the guy who's pretty cool. I'd love to.

[Monica Padman]

His co host is obsessed with me, apparently, and wants me to do surgery, so I'll definitely go on.

[Dax Shepard]

Anyway, anywho, facts.

[Monica Padman]

Okie dokey.

[Dax Shepard]

Dominique. Fike.

[Monica Padman]

I loved this episode. Yeah, I really did.

[Dax Shepard]

What a Get the mkg.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

You want to. You really? I'm sure every woman who mgk. I'm sure a lot of women want to just protect him and.

[Monica Padman]

Well, that's fair. I mean, yes, if I was a woman, I was. It's a little cliche, but I guess it's true. But also, it's not. It's like there's just something admirable about a person who has been put through the fucking wringer and is, like, smiling and thinking about it in positive ways. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Using it to create.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, Using it to create, not letting it kill him.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Is admirable. And there's something like he's a low twinkly, like, just like in his eye. I don't know. I, I, I, I liked him a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

He's very playful.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. He's like a nice boy.

[Dax Shepard]

Would you date him? I mean, he's very young.

[Monica Padman]

Too young.

[Dax Shepard]

But he's very attractive, too.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, he's very attractive, but he's, he's too young for me.

[Dax Shepard]

How old was he?

[Monica Padman]

He's about to be 30 if you are my brother's age. Okay, that's the I can't do do it.

[Dax Shepard]

I get it. You have the brother in the mix, but 30 is an adult man. I know, but I bet he has pubic hair.

[Monica Padman]

I've shared a shower with my brother, so I would assume he does have pubic hair, but yeah, that's a sticking point for me. Anyone who is my brother's age or below is a baby. They'll just be a baby forever. Even when my brother's well, when you're.

[Dax Shepard]

58 and the person's 50 still really, even an old grizzled man like me, they're babies.

[Monica Padman]

Just a little baby. Actually, there were times when, when Dominic was talking that I was like, I would like, see my brother.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, really?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Cuz they're like, they're the same age. And so some of the ways they were talking and certain mannerisms, I was like, oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Are generational, I think.

[Monica Padman]

Generational boys.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So that was sweet. But also my brother has a girlfriend.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And it's so exciting for me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Wonderful.

[Monica Padman]

I think it's so wonderful.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I'm so happy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And you know, I don't know where it will go, but I had this, this like, feeling where I, I, I was like, there's no other feeling other than just being so happy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Because he's your brother, but he's also your son because of the age gap and you want him to not be lonely and be happy.

[Monica Padman]

It makes me so, it makes me feel like I'm so much happier about that development than I am if I had a boyfriend to bring to the table. Like, I prefer this, that just like, he's good and he's happy and, and.

[Dax Shepard]

I feel that way about Carly and Yurt. Like, I'm just so happy that Carly has had Yurt for so long.

[Monica Padman]

It's really great. And then even the idea, like, what if they, like I've taken it so far, like if they have kids and they're gonna bring maybe these little babies to Christmas and I get to play with these babies.

[Dax Shepard]

That is.

[Monica Padman]

And I get to pay for their college and like, it's just so cute. And there was, there's also something like energizing about it. For me, I feel so excited that there might be like, new energy in the dynamic now.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. That is fun.

[Monica Padman]

It's fun.

[Dax Shepard]

And she will make him grow as partners. Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Now I love it.

[Dax Shepard]

One shouldn't care about this, but I do.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Which, which is, do you have any sense of relief of like, I want my parents to know that they carried on and I might not facilitate that. And I'm comforted for them that, that the Padmans may live on.

[Monica Padman]

So I talk to them about this.

[Dax Shepard]

They don't care. They don't, they're so interesting.

[Monica Padman]

They really don't care about that. About like, about like the legacy or the seed continuing or the name continuing or anything.

[Dax Shepard]

It makes me sa, like if I think about my dad in the Shepherds And Papa Bob and Grandma and that I ended that line. That.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, I would have a hard time.

[Monica Padman]

I have some guilt about that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So this isn't helpful.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'm saying it doesn't make any sense. Why do we care if one genetic pool carries on or not? I don't know why I care.

[Monica Padman]

Well, it makes sense.

[Dax Shepard]

You kind of feel like. I feel like, oh, they die for good if that doesn't.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Because there'll be no one here to care that they were here.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. Correct. These are the feelings.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. They're deep.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, they are. They are. But. But then you also have. You can't do it for that.

[Dax Shepard]

No, of course not.

[Monica Padman]

So, yeah, when she came into the picture and I was talking to my parents and I said that, I was like, well, good. At least we know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

At least we know Someone's gonna carry this on.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And that. And they, like, laughed and they were like, we don't care about that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Like, they, I think, want little babies around right now. Like, that sounds fun for them.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

But also, they don't. They're like, fine if that doesn't happen. And they're all. And they don't care about the name being spread and.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. They're bizarrely healthy and evolved.

[Monica Padman]

They're very healthy and evolved. Thank God. Because they got me. So, like, I don't. Although maybe I wouldn't be. I probably wouldn't be me if they weren't that you.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, of course not.

[Monica Padman]

I would probably want to do what they wanted me to do, and I would do it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Beat yourself up or not do it and feel guilty or I would just.

[Monica Padman]

Do it and then be miserable.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So I'm lucky.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

But anywho. So that was exciting. This is all very exciting.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And to be clear, I don't care for me, like, I don't care if my children have children for me. So that someone remembers me. It's really just about, like, my dad and my mom.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. It goes the other way.

[Dax Shepard]

My grandparents. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

But it, like, also, it's like, what does it mean? They didn't live like they did. And. And death is death to me. Like, they're dead. I mean, except they are and they're not. Because there is some truth to, like.

[Dax Shepard]

We so alive right now. As long as I'm here, He's so alive.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, this is unhelpful.

[Monica Padman]

Anyway. Ok, some facts. Okay. So Somatic Therapy. Somatic therapy. I'm doing it explores how the Body expresses deeply painful experiences, applying mind body healing to aid with trauma recovery. Since disturbing feelings often show up in the body in debilitating ways, somatic therapy aims to drain those emotions of their power, relieving pain and other manifestations of stress, such as disrupted sleep or an inability to concentrate. These types of emotions can stem from a variety of conditions and circumstances that somatic therapy may potentially help alleviate. They include ptsd, complicated grief, depression, anxiety, trust and intimacy issues, self esteem problems.

[Dax Shepard]

Can't imagine there's a human on earth without one of those.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I agree. You know, it's funny. I had therapy this week and she said something really interesting because I was having this period, period of anxiety that felt really old and I was having all these, like, old feelings come up that I thought I had, like, said goodbye to, fully put to rest and were gone. So then, of course, then I was like, mad at myself and like, why, why this again? This is back. Like, what?

[Dax Shepard]

Like it's a failing on your part.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And. And she said an interesting thing. She said with loss brings back old losses.

[Dax Shepard]

That makes sense.

[Monica Padman]

There's a current loss. All these old things that are similar in feeling and body come back to the surface.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, that makes sense. So you smell something that's from 20 years ago, you smelt it, it reminds you of that whole thing.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah. And so you kind of have to. Have to walk through those emotions again.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Which is hard, but. But good to know that, like, that's what's happening. Anyway. That just reminded me of somatic therapy.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh.

[Monica Padman]

He mentioned drinking Kahlua. They would steal from friends, parents, and I was like, this is such a universal thing. That's. That was my first drink.

[Dax Shepard]

I think it's most people I know.

[Monica Padman]

Because it's a milkshake, but also, like.

[Dax Shepard]

Because alcohol tastes terrible when you first try it.

[Monica Padman]

Right. But I don't know anyone who, who has Kahlua anymore. Anymore.

[Dax Shepard]

It does feel very 90s 80s 90s.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I wonder what the new one is.

[Dax Shepard]

I'll tell you, when it looks so good, as in the.

[Monica Padman]

Dude, the White Russian. The White Russian, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Then they'd make those at the bar. Like, I. I remember watching that and just being like, I'm so mad I didn't drink White Russians.

[Monica Padman]

It's thick. Yeah, that's really thick. Okay. The Cirque Lodge, we kind of like, we talked about it in a way that it's as if everyone knew what it was because the three of us do know what it is, but it is a rehab center.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And I think they do multiple things. I don't know if it's just addiction. I think there's a lot of different.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah, the studio. Cirque Lodge Studio, Alcohol and drug rehab facility. Luxury rehab.

[Dax Shepard]

Luxury rehab, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Highly rated. Okay. How long does. I'm gonna get so many flags? Because how I looked up. How long does coke last in your system?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. How long. How long is it detectable?

[Monica Padman]

If someone has used cocaine only once, it usually detectable in urine for around three to five days. Someone who takes a larger dose or uses it occasionally, it may show up in urine for three to seven days. For frequent or heavy cocaine users, five to 14 days after the last dose.

[Dax Shepard]

Mm.

[Monica Padman]

So, okay. I looked up that if you can.

[Dax Shepard]

Go 14 days between using coke, then you're not really a heavy user. It's all kind of circular.

[Monica Padman]

True. Okay, now weed. I looked up weed as well. Single, first time user, up to 3 days. Moderate user, which is a few times a week. Five to seven days, chronic user, 10 to 15 days. Heavy chronic user, which is multiple times a day. 30 days or longer.

[Dax Shepard]

I had always heard 30 days. Okay, so you got a really big.

[Monica Padman]

Maybe that's someone who's. Every day. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Pedal to the metal.

[Monica Padman]

And then meth. Oh, when I looked that up, I did get like a hotline popping up.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you did.

[Monica Padman]

Which is great.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It says meth can be detected in urine, blood, saliva, and even hair for different periods of time that vary from person to person. In general, it's much longer than you'd expect. Although the high for meth may only last a few minutes to a few hours. A drug can remain in your body for a much longer period of time. It's not saying specific, which is. Oh, this says can stay in your urine for up to five days.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, what is wild is I have had drug tests show up for meth from.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, I truly haven't done meth in 23 years.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But I. When I was taking drug test tests.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

There was a period where I was like, what is this?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I had to go like, what is. What is going on? And as I had taken Sudafet.

[Monica Padman]

Right. But it also says your meth can be found in a half inch hair sample for up to 90 days.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. No getting away with that one. It sounds like.

[Monica Padman]

Let's just leave that one alone.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. The act that is there to combat prison rape is called Priya. It stands for Prison Rape Elimination Nation act in 2003.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, good. So that's glad they finally. I think there's a big period where they were, like, tough.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You went to prison. Like, that's on.

[Monica Padman]

You deserve it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Gnarly.

[Monica Padman]

I know. That was so crazy that his cellmate was murdered. His family.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I mean.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Wow.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, now you're gonna be really interested in this. So we took a pee break, and then you asked if his stream was ropey.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And then we got onto the sub of. Does a larger penis mean you have a thicker. Thicker stream? And so I looked this up. Having a bigger penis is linked to a slower urine stream due to the longer length of the urethra. You were right.

[Dax Shepard]

Thank you.

[Monica Padman]

And I was like, no, but you were right. However, it just makes sense, I guess. However, a slow stream is more strongly influenced by other medical conditions with penis size having a minor indirect.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I think your prostate has a lot to do with it. Sure. I think when. When guys have really enlarged prostates, it's like, constricting everything in the vas. Deference in urethra. And then it's just a dribble drip, drip, drip. Or I see guys all the time at the urinal and they're, like, trying to get it going, and I'll, like, do my whole thing.

[Monica Padman]

Well, it makes sense if anything's expanded or bloated.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Cuz sometimes even when I. If I'm on my period or if I have a tampon in when you.

[Dax Shepard]

Which is often, as it turns out.

[Monica Padman]

It'S harder for me to pee. I don't know if that's just my body, but for me, it makes sense too, because, like, then everything's, like, stuck.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Constricted.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So.

[Monica Padman]

But luckily for me, I barely ever wear tampons.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And you barely pee.

[Monica Padman]

Correct. Yeah, correct.

[Dax Shepard]

You're hitting this from a lot of.

[Monica Padman]

Different angles, but that's why it's a little. It's uncomfortable if I have to pee because I don't pee often. So when I pee, there's a fair amount of pee. So if I have a tampon in and I can feel like it needs to come out, it's like, too. Yeah. Too much pressure. All right. Oh, the happy Pharrell thing. It is despicable. Me too. And. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And a lot of. Lot of at bats before.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Cranked it out of the park.

[Monica Padman]

That's it.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I loved him.

[Monica Padman]

Me too.

[Dominic Fike]

So cute.

[Dax Shepard]

I want to take care of him. I want to. I want to buy a house. And me, him, and Machine Gun Kelly all live in it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that'll be fun.

[Dax Shepard]

We do a lot of hugging and comforting one another and that'll be little bit like crying.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, cute.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, bye. Love you.

[Dominic Fike]

Love you.

[Dax Shepard]

Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert early and ad free right now by joining Wondry plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short [e-mail] survey.