Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Ike Barinholtz #4 | March 30, 2026

Episode Overview

In this engaging return, award-winning actor, comedian, and producer Ike Barinholtz joins Dax Shepard and Monica Padman for his fourth visit. The conversation is classic Armchair: funny, self-deprecating, and insightful. They riff on medical misadventures, career highs and lows, shifts in Hollywood, parenting, male vulnerability, and Ike’s new podcast "Funny You Ask." The episode offers a blend of personal anecdotes and pop culture commentary, with a lively trivia segment and memorable banter.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Medical Routines and Aging

• Dax and Ike compare notes on annual physicals, colonoscopies, and related prep, sharing both the indignities and ongoing anxiety that come with middle age.
  • Ike recounts his first prostate exam:
    "Even as like a crazy, perverted Jewish teenager, I was like, nah, I'm gonna skip that one." (06:00)
  • Discussion about colonoscopy prep and awkward timing with the upcoming SAG Awards, involving both humor and real-life logistical stress.
  • Both men admit to tracking their weight loss after colonoscopy prep for neurotic reasons (09:09).

Notable Quote:
"It tastes like poison that has gone bad." — Ike on colonoscopy prep (08:42)

2. Hollywood Reflections & Comedy Heroes

• Reflection on Chevy Chase’s documentary and legacy:
  • Ike explains why he stopped watching — preferring to remember Chase for his iconic roles rather than his later career or reputation (13:04–15:15).
  • Dax offers a more compassionate interpretation:
    “You could be as talented as Martin Scorsese and the luck gods need to be on your side, too." (18:22)
• Scorsese’s career and the role of perseverance, luck, and sacrifice in the arts.
• Both discuss the emotional cost of artistic greatness versus personal life:
  • Ike: “I’m more of that guy where I’m just like, I’ll work less. Whatever.” (19:10)

3. Career Highs and Awards Season

• Ike jokes about his recent 'winning streak’ with Critics' Choice and Emmy nominations.
  • The emotional whiplash of hype, expectation, loss, and eventual triumph.

Notable Exchange (on awards):
Ike: “Absolutely nothing has changed.”
Monica: “But does it make you feel like…now you’re in this elite?”
Ike: “Funny thing is, for years you’re like, I don’t give a [bleep] about award shows. Then you get nominated…you’re excited.” (20:35–21:06)

4. On Set and TV Projects

• Behind-the-scenes of "The Studio," "Running Point," and actor schedules.
  • Ike: “It’s one of those shows where you just completely surrender to the schedule.” (25:22)
  • Celebrates work with an ensemble cast and how "The Studio" appeals to non-industry friends and relatives (23:27).

5. Film, Parenting & Aging

• Ike discusses his role as Elon Musk in Luca Guadagnino’s film "Artificial."

  • Initial hesitation due to distaste for Musk; ultimately accepted for the director and challenge (48:21–49:15).
  • Preparation involved “injecting poison into my brain and watching everything I could find” (50:23).

• Tears, grief, being dads to daughters, and how male vulnerability emerges with age.

  • "People are dying, you have life catching up, you have friends with kids that get sick... That’s where you’re crying." (28:05)
  • Discussion of tricky adolescent parenting moments and how small slights can sting (35:02–35:20).

6. Pop Culture and Trivia

• Spirited riffs on Hollywood knowledge, favorite movies, and a live “movie game” segment.
  • Both Dax and Ike display encyclopedic movie trivia, with playful competitiveness about who could “go deeper” (46:40).
• Extended live trivia segment using Trivial Pursuit questions.
  • Dax, Monica, and Ike compete, banter, and reveal surprising areas of expertise and gaps (65:31–79:55).

7. Ike’s New Podcast: Funny You Ask

• Origin story — designed as a hybrid of trivia and comedy riffs with celebrity guests. The twist: guests answer questions in their areas of presumed “expertise” (56:24).
  • “My goal is to make it to the first round of questions — you should know them.” (58:21)
  • Categories tailored to guests (e.g., Mindy Kaling: fashion, Celtics, Indian food; Jimmy Kimmel: pizza, 80s music).
  • Ike assures no one is made to feel dumb — comedy and fun come first.

8. Food and Cooking

• Ike’s culinary passions: chicken cutlets, potatoes, and seeking recipe inspiration online (52:57).
  • Playful invitations to Dax and family to sample his food, with both joking about ideal-sized dinner parties.

9. Life, Travel, and Random Banter

• Monica and Dax play a travel “desirability” game about dream destinations (82:12).
• Reflections on living in tourist-heavy areas, how NYC and LA can feel less like home due to transient crowds (87:16).
• Humorous takes on domestic life: Monica’s anxiety over keeping an indoor tree alive, Dax’s plant ambivalence; musings on home irrigation technology and soil (95:05–96:27).

10. Empathy, Vulnerability, and Legacy

• Revisiting the ups and downs of fame and advice about focusing on others during work trips.
  • Dax: “Focus on that [new] person. I never once considered one of the things I did or didn't get. And the parents of this person thought I was so nice, and I told them, I'm not. I was just being selfish…" (89:28)
• Discussion on biopics, false histories, and balancing artistic license with real lives (107:01–108:24).

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the indignity of prostate exams:
  "I wanted us to kind of move past... And then like the next 10 minutes, I'm just kind of like sloppy slopping, sliding around." — Ike (06:45)
• On male tears:
  "My frequency rate just has gone like this, you know?" — Dax (34:22)
• On awards-season ego:
  “People who are well meaning…will say, like, you’re for sure gonna win, right?...And then you start to be like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna win!’” — Ike (21:04)
• On prepping for a colonoscopy at the SAG Awards:
  “I’m gonna be in and out of there with full torrential sounds…next to Stellan Skarsgard.” — Dax (10:01–10:09)
• On the dark side of stand-up:
  “If you do stand-up, at least at first, you gotta do it a lot.” — Ike (40:16)

Highlighted Timestamps

• [04:45]–[08:42]: Medical checkups, colonoscopy, and prostate exam comedy.
• [13:03]–[15:15]: Dissection of Chevy Chase documentary and fame’s double-edge.
• [18:00]–[19:37]: Scorsese’s career, sacrifice, and creative valleys.
• [21:06]–[22:23]: Award show emotional rollercoaster.
• [25:22]: TV set scheduling chaos and "surrender to the schedule."
• [27:28]–[29:35]: Emotional triggers—on being dads and crying more violently with age.
• [46:40]–[47:22]: Movie trivia battle and depth of film nerdery.
• [56:24]–[61:14]: Funny You Ask — Ike’s trivia podcast pitch.
• [65:31]–[79:55]: Live trivia segment!
• [82:12]–[87:56]: Travel dream destinations, living among tourists.
• [95:05]–[96:27]: Monica’s indoor tree anxiety.

Closing Vibe & Takeaways

The episode is a lively, warm, self-effacing exchange that celebrates the messiness of aging, parenting, and pursuing creative work in Hollywood. Ike and Dax's chemistry is unbeatable—they oscillate between hyper-specific cultural trivia, personal vulnerability, and broad universal observations about life and showbiz. The playful trivia game punctuates a thoughtful, inviting conversation that feels both intimate and hilarious—classic Armchair at its best.

Listen for:

• Hilariously awkward medical stories
• Real talk about award shows and ego
• Life lessons on family, fame, and the cost of genius
• Directors, movies, and meandering trivia tangents
• The debut of "Funny You Ask" and its unique trivia/comedy format
• Parenting perspectives, crying as a dad, and shifting masculinity
• Genuine warmth and laugh-out-loud moments