Laufey

Summary

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Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Guest: Laufey
Date: April 27, 2026
Theme: Identity, Discipline, and Artistic Emergence: Laufey on Music, Family, and Finding a Voice

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Episode Overview

Dax Shepard and Monica Padman sit down with Laufey (joined by her identical twin sister) for a candid, lively conversation. The episode weaves through Laufey's multicultural upbringing, the peculiarities and privileges of growing up as a twin, her journey from classical cellist to Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, and the intricacies of self-discovery in both music and life. The hosts dig into the sibling dynamic, the immigrant experience, and the creative process, all with their signature mix of humor, warmth, and curiosity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Growing Up a Twin: Identity and Experimentation

(03:06–06:31)

• Dax and Monica are fascinated by twins, referencing past twin experts and studies.
• Laufey and her sister recount their unsuccessful "swap" prank in school, lamenting that modern sensitivities often prevent people from finding twin mix-ups amusing.
  • Quote, Laufey: “People were too woke to laugh about getting twins mixed up.” (06:09)
• Being a twin provided a buffer against loneliness amid frequent life changes and rigorous music training.

2. Multicultural Upbringing: Iceland, China, and the U.S.

(06:35–18:23)

• Laufey’s mother is a Chinese violinist who moved to Iceland for the Symphony Orchestra; her father is Icelandic and worked at the IMF, leading to stints in Washington, D.C.
• The discussion explores the challenges and resilience of immigrants, how choice impacts attitude, and the subtle forms of racism in even progressive societies like Iceland.
  • Quote, Laufey: “She never saw being Chinese or being Asian in Iceland as some sort of drawback... She just moves forward.” (13:35)
  • About Iceland: “It’s a country run by women... So progressive in many ways, but there’s still so much work to be done with diversity.” (16:01)
• Laufey reflects on feeling “different but not alone” due to her twin and her minority status in homogenous Iceland.

3. The Impact of Music and Family Discipline

(18:34–25:07)

• Dax draws parallels between excellence in music and sports, highlighting the high level of discipline expected from immigrant families.
• Laufey discusses her mother’s approach, emphasizing that discipline was about cultivating good habits, not just winning.
  • Quote, Laufey: “My mom’s goal was not to make me the best solo cellist in the world. It was only about teaching good habits... seeing something through.” (22:45)
• Laufey intentionally chose cello over violin to carve out a separate identity from her mother and sister.

4. The Search for Self: Adolescence, Confidence, and Twinhood

(25:25–30:09)

• Reflects on insecurities magnified by being a twin—being treated collectively rather than individually.
  • Quote, Laufey: “We were referred to as the twins. We didn’t have our own names. That was my one act of rebellion: I hated being called the twins.” (29:17)
• Explains how leaving home and attending college separately allowed each twin to establish individual identities and break free from the “twin” label.

5. From Classical Cellist to Singer-Songwriter: The Berkeley Years

(34:29–43:39)

• Laufey shares how attending Berklee College of Music on scholarship was both daunting and transformative; she arrived without a clear creative identity.
  • Quote, Laufey: “I absolutely did not [have an identity]. I was a classical cellist, a jazz singer, and I loved pop music.” (35:03)
• Her musical breakthrough came after experiencing heartbreak and writing her first self-authored song, “Street by Street”, marking a turning point in her sense of agency and artistic voice.
  • Quote: “I wrote down the lyrics, like street by street, I'm gonna take back my life… That was like I snapped out of my depression.” (45:09)

6. Social Media as a Launchpad

(47:09–50:25)

• Laufey explains how lockdown and consistent social media engagement helped catapult her music career, building an unusually intimate bond with her fanbase.
  • Quote: “It became this community… people were from all over the world... I feel so close to my fans.” (48:10)

7. Rapid Success, Sisterly Collaboration, and Navigating Fame

(50:25–53:28)

• Discussion on her meteoric rise from college student to Grammy winner; her twin sister is now her creative director, playing a vital role in her career and sometimes even in her music.
• Laufey addresses the joys and challenges of external perceptions and self-esteem in romantic and public spheres.
  • Quote, Dax: “How are you updating your self-esteem? You thought no boys liked you and now… still not caught up yet?” (52:34)
  • Quote, Laufey: “I’m very happy and in love right now. Working out all fine. We’ve updated ourselves.” (53:01)

8. Stage Persona and Creative Expression

(55:06–56:02)

• The conversation links Laufey’s onstage flamboyance and wardrobe with self-expression and release, in contrast with her offstage reserved personality.
  • Quote: “I feel like I am the prime version of myself on stage… my truest self.” (56:01)
• She deliberately explores less polished, more vulnerable musical territory to challenge public perceptions.

9. Performing at Coachella: Behind the Scenes

(63:30–68:28)

• Laufey recounts her Coachella debut and the anxieties of performing alongside major artists. Navigating festival unpredictability (weather, technical constraints) required adaptability.
  • Quote: “After the second song, I was like, okay, this is fine… I love performing.” (67:14)

10. Philosophy on Career Trajectory and Longevity

(69:07–69:52)

• Rejects the notion of chasing another artist’s blueprint; instead, she focuses on authenticity and career longevity.
  • Quote: “The second I stopped playing that game with myself, I started to succeed... I want longevity. I don’t want it to go away.” (69:33)

11. Children’s Book and Diversification

(69:52–70:31)

• Introduces her new children’s book, Mei Mei the Bunny, which mirrors her own experiences with stage anxiety and learning to embrace imperfection.

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Notable Quotes & Highlights

“People were too woke to laugh about getting twins mixed up.”
— Laufey (06:09)

“She just moves forward… never saw being Chinese or being Asian in Iceland as some sort of drawback.”
— Laufey on her mother (13:35)

“I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t leave home for college, leave my twin, and start living life.”
— Laufey (30:09)

“I was insecure as a girl, but I was not insecure as a musician.”
— Laufey (30:55)

“My show... There’s a pop portion of the show, there’s the jazz portion, there’s the more classical bit, and an arena, you can kind of morph…”
— Laufey (65:19)

“I feel like I am the prime version of myself on stage. My truest self. My most honest self.”
— Laufey (56:01)

“The second I stopped playing that game with myself, I started to succeed.”
— Laufey (69:27)

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Important Timestamps

• 03:06 — Twin studies, twin pranks, and identity as “the twins”
• 06:35 — Family background: China, Iceland, and how her parents met
• 13:35 — Immigrant experiences, identity, and the psychology of choice
• 16:01 — Progressivism and invisibility of race in Iceland
• 18:34 — Rigors of classical music training and parenting
• 25:25 — Adolescence, insecurities, and fighting for individuality
• 34:29 — The uncertainty and opportunity at Berklee College of Music
• 43:39 — The moment music and heartbreak align: “Street by Street”
• 47:09 — Social media strategy and building a global fan community
• 50:25 — On rapid success, sisterly support, and creative direction
• 56:01 — Stage persona vs private self; on releasing vulnerability in performance
• 63:30 — First Coachella: nerves, logistics, musical uniqueness
• 69:07 — Rejecting comparison and focusing on authenticity
• 69:52 — Laufey’s children’s book, Mei Mei the Bunny
• 70:48 — Deluxe album A Matter of Time: The Final Hour and world tour reflections

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Memorable Moments

• Laufey and her sister did a twin-swap prank at school, but “no one noticed” and people were embarrassed when they found out.
• Recounting her mother's courage moving alone from China to Iceland: “She just went with it… and makes beauty out of everything.” (13:35)
• Laufey’s self-deprecating acknowledgment of her name confusion in the U.S., and the internet joke about being confused with other half-Asian women in entertainment.
• The cathartic writing of "Street by Street" while nursing heartbreak, and how it led to her finding “her sound”.
• Coachella’s unpredictable logistics (“we gotta chain up the castle”) and Laufey’s matter-of-fact approach to risk and adaptation on stage.

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Concluding Notes

The conversation is engaging, candid, and often humorous, blending deep reflections on identity, family, and artistic integrity with lighter anecdotes about twin pranks, quirky Icelandic weather, name confusions, and festival life. Laufey emerges as a multidimensional artist: disciplined yet improvisational, introverted yet exuberant, rooted in family yet determined to write her own narrative. The episode is a testament to the fluidity and messiness of self-discovery, made all the richer by the bonds—familial and communal—along the way.

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For more:

• Watch Laufey’s Coachella performance (YouTube, skip the first song per Laufey! 73:09)
• Read Mei Mei the Bunny
• Listen to A Matter of Time: The Final Hour
• Learn about the realities of twinship, parental discipline, and the global journey to musical stardom—all with a dose of Dax and Monica’s signature chemistry.

Transcript

[Dax Shepard]

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dax Shepard. I'm joined by Monica Padman.

[Monica Padman]

Hi there.

[Dax Shepard]

Hi. Today we have Leve.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

We have Levi. She is a two time Grammy award winning singer and songwriter. And what was so special is we got her right between her two performances at Coachella.

[Monica Padman]

I know we got her like right off the presses. So we got to hear about how that first experience went.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And then added bonus, she brought her identical twin sister.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, it was so fun. We love twins.

[Dax Shepard]

We love twins. We have Twin Expert just coming on. I mean it's really in the zeitgeist. Her albums, everything I know about Love, Bewitched, A Matter of Time and a new deluxe album out now, A Matter of Time, the final hour. She also has a children's book out now called Mei Mei the Bunny.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Which we'll hear about. Yeah. Mae Mei gets a little nervous before a big performance.

[Monica Padman]

Of course she does.

[Dax Shepard]

Please enjoy le vey. We are supported by Quints. I'm pretty picky about what I wear. Not in a fashion way, more in a If this bugs me even a little, I'm out way. And this time of year always makes me want to reset a bit, clean things up, keep my closet simple. That's why I keep coming back to quints. The fabrics feel elevated, the fits are thoughtful, and the pricing actually makes sense. Quince makes high quality everyday essentials using premium materials like 100% European linen and their insanely soft flow knit active fabric. Their linen pieces are lightweight, breathable and comfortable. Perfect for spring. And they strike that balance where you look put together without trying too hard. I got their linen pants and honestly, I was surprised how good they feel. Sometimes you think linen could be coarse, but these are so soft and luxurious and nothing really flows like linen. The best part is the pricing. It's 50 to 60% less than similar brands because they work directly with ethical factories. Refresh your wardrobe with quint. Go to quint.com ddax for free shipping and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. Go to Q U I n c e.comdax for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.comdax this episode is brought to you by Apple. There's nothing like your first Mac. When I got mine, I remember opening up and immediately feeling like, oh, this just makes sense. Everything felt intuitive and instead of fumbling around trying to figure it out, I could just get right into what I was doing. Writing, creating, getting things done. It all felt easy in a way that really Stuck with me. That's how I felt with my first Mac. How will you check out the all new MacBook Neo, an amazing Mac at a surprising price. Find out more on apple.comMac he's an up transfer.

[Levi]

He's an object expert.

[Dax Shepard]

He's an object.

[Monica Padman]

Guys, are they really twins?

[Dax Shepard]

Identical.

[Monica Padman]

We love twins.

[Dax Shepard]

Kind of obsessed with twins.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. We have so many questions.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, we've had a twin expert on. And of course you're probably. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You should.

[Monica Padman]

Interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

First of all, you should watch all 1,000 episodes.

[Levi]

I've seen all 1 1,000.

[Dax Shepard]

I've seen all one 1,000.

[Levi]

One 1,000.

[Dax Shepard]

No, there's all kinds of mind boggling things. You know, twins separated at birth, identical twins separated at birth.

[Monica Padman]

Just studies about personalities. We don't get to do that with many people, but with twins.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You guys are really good experiments, subjects.

[Levi]

Oh, totally. You could cut like a scar on our knee, track how we heal. Like, we could just do that. For sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, lots. So we could put one of you in the Amazon with the same cut and one of you in Iceland. Ding, ding, ding. And see where you healed better. Yeah. Or there was one in Brazil or Colombia where two identical twins were born in the same hospital and they accidentally switched one from each. And so a pair of twins went into the country, raised in a very rural environment, and then another pair of twins were raised in the city. Completely different kind of parents. One was wealthy, one was rural. But when this all got unveiled and they realized, oh, no, you're an identical twin and your twin is in rural Brazil, when they got together, despite being raised in those dramatically different environments, they were almost the exact same person and same with the other two.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Levi]

I'm so pissed. If I were the one who had

[Monica Padman]

been raised right, I know I would

[Levi]

see those studies where they show a twin that drank more or smoked more and, like, they look worse for wear. And I always think, that's gonna be me.

[Dax Shepard]

You're gonna be the one that looks more haggard.

[Levi]

I drink and Larry doesn't drink, so I'm gonna look like ass just because I'm on like a continuous tour.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you're like, I just want to take care of.

[Levi]

It's not like a choice to appease the above.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, if you had your druthers, you would be drinking much more and smoking much more. You wouldn't smoke. You sing too much, right?

[Levi]

Yeah, I think so.

[Monica Padman]

What about pranks? Have you guys done pranks on people?

[Levi]

The pranks are super underwhelming because they haven't shocked anyone. One time on April Fool's Day, we were like, fuck it, we're gonna swap.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Levi]

And we swapped, and we were in two different classes. So I went to her class and she went to mine.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, this is. Okay. Back in school.

[Levi]

Yes. And her class watched a movie. So I watched a movie, and my class had a pop quiz.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no. Oh, so she got screwed.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But also you got screwed.

[Dax Shepard]

No, she got to watch a movie.

[Monica Padman]

I know, but your grade.

[Levi]

Shitty grade.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

She had the last laugh.

[Levi]

Yeah, she did, but no one noticed. And then when we told people, people felt, like, a little embarrassed because they wanted to treat us like human beings, which is sweet.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Levi]

So they couldn't laugh. Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Levi]

They were also just, like, ashamed and embarrassed. So it wasn't like a gotcha moment. It was like a. Oh, you heard their. How we react by treating them still like human beings.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Levi]

Don't you agree that's kind of how it read? Yeah. People were too woke to laugh about getting twins mixed up. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's upsetting. We should always be able to laugh.

[Levi]

Yeah. Just a giggle.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Levi]

We put the effort in. Just a giggle. Yeah. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

So I'm most curious right out of the gates how mom and dad meet. Because Mom's from China, Dad's from Iceland. How do they meet?

[Levi]

So my mom's a violinist, and she got a place in the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Congrats, Mom. So she, for some reason, was just ready for an adventure, decided to move to Iceland and be the one Asian person in Iceland.

[Dax Shepard]

How did they meet?

[Levi]

I don't know the exact story, but Iceland is a very small community. I'm sure my dad just saw my mom around, was like, wow, she's so cute.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I went a couple summers ago. Very, very small.

[Levi]

Did you get good weather or bad weather?

[Dax Shepard]

Great weather.

[Levi]

Really? Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Levi]

I mean, it's really personally, like, if people hated Iceland, I'm like, I will personally take them back and walk them around the country.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. But have you ever heard someone say they didn't like Iceland? Have you gotten that feedback?

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You have?

[Levi]

Iceland's an unpredictable beast. You know, if you're going and you want to see a rainbow behind the waterfall or the northern lights, and there's just, like, an orange weather warning the whole time.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's.

[Dax Shepard]

What's an orange weather warning?

[Levi]

I forget the exact levels of it, but there's like, a yellow warning, orange warning. I think there's a red warning, too. Just different levels of how fucked you are. And how much you cannot travel around

[Dax Shepard]

the country because of snow. Blizzard.

[Levi]

Yeah. The second it hits any type of warning it's like get off the roads.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Levi]

Which doesn't stop anything.

[Dax Shepard]

Now here's something I could see someone complaining about. And we were blessed, privileged. We had great blackout drapes in our hotel. But you're there in the summer.

[Levi]

Doesn't touch me.

[Dax Shepard]

You're not gonna sleep if you don't have blackout. I mean, cause it's light out at 3am well yeah.

[Levi]

It's so fun to go out at night during the summer because you leave the bar and it's past midnight and there's just this orange sunset. Sl sunrise. Cuz the sun just doesn't hit. Like it just sits on the horizon.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it just kind of goes across.

[Levi]

It just goes across. Yeah. And it's so beautiful. It's just electric. So just get drunk.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm an ex addict. I don't know if you know this about me, but the whole time there I was like, man, I could have died so well here in this city with cocaine. I could have just gone.

[Levi]

Also how people just thrive in the cold, chilly, odd climate that Iceland is.

[Dax Shepard]

Heavy drinkers, right?

[Levi]

Yeah. I didn't really think about it growing up. When I left Iceland for college, I noticed how weird Iceland was. Or not weird, but just different. I remember distinctly coming back from my first like holiday for Christmas, coming back to Iceland and noticing how very dark it was. And you wake up and it's still dark in the winter. It's affected me a little more now as I've spent more time in the States.

[Dax Shepard]

California will mess you up.

[Levi]

People get very pressed about like daylight savings and like oh no, like it's getting dark so early and I'm like, you guys should go to Iceland and then come back and you'll be so thankful. Yeah, it's weird.

[Dax Shepard]

You also spent time in D.C. so dad worked for the IMF? Yeah, he's Icelandic.

[Monica Padman]

What's the IMF?

[Dax Shepard]

International Monetary Fund.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you guys went to D.C. when you were seven to nine? Is that the ages?

[Levi]

Yes, seven to nine. And then also when I was like a teeny tiny baby. But I don't remember that. I sound very Americanized, but I really only lived there from a bit of first grade, second grade. But it was so formative, Right. It's like when you learn to read and write. So I always had this kind of memory of living in America at that age. It's like you have McDonald's and you have American Girl dolls. And you have Target.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Levi]

And that was like daily Disneyland. Whereas. And then you went back to Iceland also. We moved back in the middle of the recession, the financial cris which hit Iceland really hard. So it was such a different atmosphere to land into.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Was your dad stressed beyond belief? Because that was the role. He was taxed for the government.

[Levi]

Yeah, well, we lived in America when all the bad shit was going down. Yeah, exactly. And then we moved back into just like this absolute mess of a system. And I have the class. Like I don't really know what my dad does, but he was definitely working very hard to help fix things there.

[Dax Shepard]

Is he 11ft tall? How tall is he?

[Levi]

I don't know. I don't think about my parents height.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, what makes you think he might be 11ft tall?

[Dax Shepard]

Because the Icelandic men are really tall. Like all those Nordic folks tend to

[Levi]

get up there Viking.

[Dax Shepard]

Like now listen, I'm a father of daughters and I'm going to be honest with you. If I was listening to my daughter on the show and she didn't know how tall I was or what I did for a living, I think my feelings might be hurt.

[Levi]

Well, it's all confusing because I still don't completely understand American height.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, because you're interested.

[Levi]

And then I've lost a little bit its side of meters too. So I'm kind of stuck in an in between. It's the same with Fahrenheit and Celsius. I kind of never really know the temperature.

[Dax Shepard]

Some people can be a person without a country. You're a person without measurements.

[Levi]

I'm a person without measurements. Yeah, well, numbers don't matter.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I like feeling.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I think a lot of people don't know what their moms and dads do specifically. They know like the overarching.

[Dax Shepard]

How tall is your dad?

[Monica Padman]

I don't know.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, God, you guys, I really don't know. Ashok is crying right now.

[Monica Padman]

No, he's not.

[Dax Shepard]

He's to update you.

[Monica Padman]

No, he's not. He's like, that's your father. He doesn't know how tall I am.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, he does.

[Levi]

Yeah, I don't think my dad knows how tall I am either. Yeah, I'm a girl. Height. I don't know.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I love numbers also.

[Levi]

I find that in the States. Maybe this is because I went into the conversation of dating and then height became this thing. I never thought about height until I started dating. Then that became a number. Like 5, 11 meant nothing to me before the age of like 20.

[Dax Shepard]

How tall are you? Do you Know how tall you are? Oh,

[Levi]

five. Five, I think, like, five.

[Dax Shepard]

You're not five. Eleven. You just threw out five' eleven. And I was like, I just hugged you.

[Monica Padman]

I don't think you're dating.

[Levi]

That's the height that men are scared of saying that they are.

[Dax Shepard]

All right, they'll say they're six feet, exactly.

[Levi]

But I don't really know what any of that means.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you're like, who cares? Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

511 is bigger than 6. It's 511, so it seems bigger.

[Levi]

This makes no. I don't understand that system. What do you mean? It caps out at 11, then it turns to, like, a new number.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. It's a terrible system, the English system. I agree. Okay, so mom was this concert violinist. What was her time commitment there? I know she practiced every single day, but what was the hours worked because they know how she was on you both learning music, and I'm curious how much free time she had for that.

[Levi]

She's also a teacher, so taught a lot of island students, and we just kind of were her students as well. When we were born, she definitely prioritized our music education, but she was always in the orchestra as well.

[Dax Shepard]

How was she doing in Iceland? That's a big change for her from China.

[Levi]

Yeah, huge. I ask her all the time because it's so. Well, as somebody who's moved very far from my country to a different part of the world, I have all this modern technology. Like, I can call her every single day. I can connect to Icelandic culture still. And even through the Internet, finding, like, an Icelandic community in la, there's so many different ways that you can connect to a culture still. I don't want to say that she didn't think about it, but I think that was the option, so she just went with it. And what I really admire about my mom is she never saw being Chinese or being Asian in Iceland as some sort of drawback. She didn't sit around lamenting that she was different than everybody else. I think I do a whole lot more of that than my mother? She's never done any of that. She just moves forward, very entrepreneurial, and she just makes beauty out of everything.

[Dax Shepard]

Don't you think that speaks volumes about when you decide something versus something's been decided for you? So she decided to leave China. So she's not gonna go to Iceland. Be like, boo hoo, I'm Chinese in Iceland. She chose it. But you're just bor in nice, and you're like, what's up? Why am I The only person.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's true.

[Levi]

I've been thinking so much, actually about the choices we have and how confounded by choice I often am. I think about, in contrast with my mother, where she didn't have nearly as many options. You just take what you can get, in a sense.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Levi]

And when you get a position in an orchestra, you just go. And whether that's in Iceland or Antarctica or Singapore, you know, in the States, you go where a door opens. And I think that there's kind of a beauty to that. And it's such a privilege to have so many options. You go to a restaurant and there's one plate on the menu, you just eat it and I'll be happy. But, you know, you go to the Cheesecake Factory, you're confounded by choice.

[Dax Shepard]

Good luck.

[Levi]

And sometimes that is a whole lot more stressful experience.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It makes me realize that because she chose it, it's one thing. And if you didn't choose it and if you could trick yourself into going like, oh, I chose this experience at all times, you would experience it much differently if you could just fool yourself into that.

[Levi]

Oftentimes I think about my mother's journey and how a door would open and she would just walk through it. She wouldn't look around like, is there another door around me?

[Monica Padman]

Is there racism there?

[Levi]

Oh, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Everywhere, I guess.

[Levi]

Absolutely. And it's something that whispers in Iceland too, because there are so few people of color.

[Monica Padman]

Right. I guess that was my question, that

[Levi]

it's like people in Iceland oftentimes love to pretend that it doesn't exist because it is a very progressive society and we are very forward thinking in many ways. Like, we had the first democratically voted female head of state, the president in the 80s, Viktis, who was a single mom, and she was voted. And currently we have a female president, female prime minister, a lot more female ministers as well. It's truly like a country that is run by women, which I'm so proud of. So progressive in so many ways. But I still think there's so much work to be done when it comes to diversity. But there's so little diversity that the conversation doesn't come up as often. But I think it's something that's increasing and I'm happy that people are talking about it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I don't want to excuse racism, but I also want to acknowledge people when they have no experience with other groups, they are left only with stereotypes.

[Levi]

The way I like to describe it, even for myself, and I'm only half Asian, I Am white Passing in many instances. But in a class of 250 blonde haired, blue eyed people, you walk in and you have different features and you're eating different food at home, immediately everybody will turn around and be like, oh, what's this? Sometimes. But it wasn't meant to be like a negative thing. But I often felt so different growing up. By the nature of being a part of a very homogenous society.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Okay. But you're also saved by the fact that you're bouncing around everywhere. Right. So you're in Iceland until seven, then you're in D.C. for a couple years and you're with international students where you go to school.

[Levi]

By nature of being in D.C. i went to a public school, but everyone was from a different. Different country. Yeah. Which was really cool. Which I think is why I loved being in D.C. so much.

[Dax Shepard]

And then summers in China.

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So when you go to China, are you also feeling exotic and other.

[Levi]

Yeah, but I never really thought of it. For some reason in China, I was always so excited to go to China and excited to be with my grandparents and excited to speak Chinese and eat the food. When I speak Chinese in China, people are so warm about it. They love speaking Chinese and they love when Westerners are trying to claim their language or speak it or something like that.

[Dax Shepard]

And you speak Mandarin, Right, Mandarin.

[Levi]

Whereas Icelanders, I often find if you try to speak Icelandic to them and you even have a lick of an accent, they'll switch to English. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, don't even try.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Levi]

That's kind of the difference. It's fun to try to be a part of China because the culture, the food, they love when you embrace it. Whereas like in Iceland, there's all these kind of weird social rules.

[Dax Shepard]

But they are both music professors, so obviously this comes very natural for you to be in this situation. But when I'm looking at your life, I have a lot of. And I could be totally wrong, but I see like moving around a lot. That leads to crazy loneliness, Ken. The level of dedication to learn cello, to learn piano, to end up yourself playing cello at the Symphony Orchestra at 15. These are lonely endeavors. And until I read you had an identical twin. I have like one whole thought of your childhood, but then when I think you have an identical twin. That must help buffet all of those things.

[Levi]

Absolutely, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Can you imagine having done this whole same life of yours but by yourself?

[Levi]

No. You know, it's funny, you say the word lonely and the whole time I'm thinking, I really don't know, like lonely In a sense. But different is always the word I use, because I felt different. But I was never alone like I always had. You knew my sister with me. And especially classical music education can be quite a lonely endeavor. When I started playing in chamber groups and orchestra, I started loving it so much more because it became a social thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Levi]

And you'd hang out with your other friends that were doing this really odd thing as well, which is like studying.

[Dax Shepard]

You're basically Olympians.

[Levi]

Well, it's a solo sport until it becomes a group sport.

[Dax Shepard]

But also, just the amount of practice required is all consuming. No.

[Levi]

Yeah. I mean, it takes up your whole life in a way, and that becomes your identity. And I never questioned it. I don't want to say that I didn't have the freedom to do other things. I just came from a family of classical musicians and knew that that's what I was meant to do. When I was younger, I saw it as just, like, a part of school, at school, and then I went home, and I cello for an hour.

[Monica Padman]

You're like, it was just part of the routine. It's a part of the routine.

[Levi]

Yeah. And then as I grew older and it became more of, like, a choice of, are you really gonna want to pursue this? That's when my mom was like, this is in your hands now. If you want to continue on this journey, you continue. And if you don't, you don't have to.

[Dax Shepard]

What age was that?

[Levi]

14. Like, high school age.

[Monica Padman]

Did your sister also play?

[Levi]

Yes, but she played violin, and I played cello. We both played piano, but we had our kind of separate things there. But we could often play together, which was lovely.

[Dax Shepard]

And what does that do to the dynamic between mother and daughter when mom is the teacher and mom's overseeing it? And I heard you in an interview on Fresh Air saying, like, yeah, if she hears you not play the right note from the other room while she's working with her on the violin, she's screaming to you. I went to, again, another stereotype. But, like, the Chinese immigrant American child in America has very specific. And it's gonna be like, fucking math Biro this really intense. You've got to get this skill, because you must be safe. I want to know what that dynamic was. Was there tension or was that easy

[Levi]

instilling this level of discipline, healthy discipline in me? I think a lot of kids get it through sports, and I got it through music. It's funny how much of a taboo. I don't even know if taboo is the right word, But I think sometimes when People talk about immigrant parents and how hard they are on their children. They love to. Especially when it comes to, like, music or school. They love to make it sound like this really oppressive thing. And sometimes it totally is. Do not get me wrong. I had a really healthy relationship with my mother and discipline. So many kids get this through sports, and I feel like it's okay with sports. Somehow in the eye of.

[Monica Padman]

That's interesting.

[Levi]

You hear about kids who push really hard to become Olympians or football players or basketball players, and they grind, and they spend all their time with their coaches. Their coaches push them hard. And I find that the conversation around that, it's like, okay. Whereas people talk about the mean Chinese mother or something.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I have opinions about the sports thing. So, yes, it's great when you turn out to be Tiger woods, but for every Tiger woods, there were a couple thousand kids whose relationships with their father was completely destroyed for something that didn't amount to anything because the dad had fucking dreams of being on the pga. So definitely it happens. And, yes, when I'm talking to you, it works out like you're here. You have two Grammys, of course, here. But I think, unfortunately, a lot of people end up modeling that. Again, if the payoff is there, then, yeah. If you end up at the Olympics, yeah. But if you also just rode your kid for 12 years and they weren't destined to be an Olympian, then, no, I don't think that's.

[Levi]

I've definitely seen mean examples of it. I mean, of course, in classical music. Are you kidding me? But this is where I think it was really healthy. My mom's goal with making sure I practiced every day was not to make me the best solo cellist in the world. It was only about teaching good habits and discipline, being able to stick to something, seeing it through, dedicate yourself to something. And that's something I'm so grateful for, because even as I've left classical music, I've been able to transfer that to school or life or work. I think I'm really fortunate that it was just about good habits and not just about winning. She didn't care about me winning. And I think that's where it gets really unhealthy when parents just want their kids to win.

[Dax Shepard]

Miss the spelling bean, get yelled at the whole ride home.

[Levi]

Yeah, like my mom, who's gonna make

[Dax Shepard]

money with a spelling bean?

[Levi]

I would never do that.

[Monica Padman]

But societally, I do think you're right. This is interesting. I'm even thinking, just personally, I do that. Like, if I hear that A coach or something is pushing their protege very hard. I'm like, yeah, that's what you have to do.

[Levi]

That's how you do to get a gold medal.

[Monica Padman]

I don't have any judgment of that, but, yes. If I hear someone's like, oh, my God, they made me do so many math problems, like, wouldn't let me get out of my seat, I'd be like, oh, no, that's a problem.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, also, there's a different dynamic. If you have a coach and you've told your parent, I really want to be a gymnast, okay, great, here's the best coach. And then when you disappoint the coach, you understand they're not disappointed. They're teaching me this thing. But I think where it gets blurry is when your parents parent is your teacher and you fail. I do think there's an extra layer.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Levi]

I mean, my mom always made sure we had teachers.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Levi]

She was never our primary teacher.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Levi]

And I think that's really important.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yes, yes, yes.

[Levi]

It was more for my sister because she's a violinist, so she taught my sister who played violin. I literally chose cello because I was like, I don't want my mom to teach me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's smart.

[Dax Shepard]

And I don't want to have to be measured by her either. Like, here's an example of perfection in the house. Do I want.

[Levi]

My grandfather was a violin professor in China, and he taught all of these amazing Chinese prodigies. And I just saw those kids, I was like, all right, I'm not going to match up. But I love the sound of cello. It sings more.

[Dax Shepard]

I think cello is my favorite instrument of all of the traditional ones because it goes more places. It's like, I don't know, is it a bass? Sometimes it can go a bit high. Like, it just feels very versatile. It can be all over the place. You're playing with the bow. Sometimes they're not. Feels more of a flexible and improv friendly instrument than some others. But maybe that's completely rubbish.

[Levi]

I don't know what it is. Is. It's just when people listen to violin, they think a lot more about technique. Fast passages, runs, if you will like to compare it to singing. Whereas if you think about cello, it's about tone, it's about heart, it's about how it touches you. It's a lot more melodic in that way.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you love watching Wednesday play the cello? Are you stoked that it looks so cool?

[Levi]

I'm stoked that there is any type of Cello in the world, in pop culture. That always makes me feel so seen. Whether it's School of Rock or Wednesday or anything, I always celebrate it. Whenever a character plays the cello, I'm like, yes.

[Dax Shepard]

She's also such a badass.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Levi]

And I love how Wednesday gets her anger out by playing cello. And I feel like that's actually really cool because cello's known to be this melodic, like, sad instrument. I love it. I always think string playing in movies and TV is so funny. Cause it's almost never synced correctly. And you know too much. I know too much.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Levi]

And it always looks kind of silly, but I can tell that Jenna Ortega put in the time to, like, learn the instrument, and I think that's so cool.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I want to acknowledge how you and I are almost like, if there was a spectrum of this, we'd be on opposite ends of the spectrum, which is like, I'm not a master of anything. I did 1 million things as a kid.

[Levi]

I did something.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know if I am, but my childhood was completely undisciplined. My mom was at work all day. Single mom, by the way.

[Levi]

Despite all of this, I'm extremely jealous of.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great. Because when I'm looking at your life. And of course, my life got me here, and I like where I'm at, and your life got you here, and you like where you're at. So we could make cases for either. But when I look at your childhood, I go, oh, no. Well, where was the childhood? Because when you weren't doing those things, which are already very time consuming and repetitive and so much practice, you're doing ballet.

[Monica Padman]

Highly disciplined.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Levi]

Every single discipline. I was just dancing.

[Dax Shepard]

So for me, discipline's like. But I'm just curious. Do you think you paid any price or you gave anything up for that to end up as skilled as you were?

[Levi]

No, I don't think so.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great.

[Levi]

On the spectrum of classical music, I was still pretty lax. Like, when you look at the kids that are really out there performing, they are on a different level. I still had a childhood. Like, I still had fun. I think I didn't start being a teenager early enough, but that came a lot more from my personality. I was really scared of growing up. I really didn't want to be an adult. I really wanted to be a child. I had this weird complex about wanting to be a child always. I can't explain it. I was, like, scared of drinking and scared of going to parties and scared of going on dates. Super scared of boys. I was A very insecure child. I didn't feel great about how I looked or my body, and I just didn't feel confident enough to go do that.

[Dax Shepard]

And how similar are your personalities? Like, what was your twin personality?

[Levi]

We were both like that. I think we both like spiraled into it together. I felt weird. And times two, imagine feeling like you take up a lot of space and are super annoying and you're in your head about that and you feel like you dress differently and you look bad and you look ugly. And times two, I felt like I was walking around being extra weird, extra different.

[Dax Shepard]

This is tough because she's here. But yes, I was insecure. And then any family member of mine also made me insecure. Right. Like I might not have liked what was going on with me, but also it's like, then you bring other family members. Now I'm embarrassed on their behalf.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So if you didn't like yourself and then there's an identical version of you cruising around, that's just more embarrassment in a sense for me.

[Levi]

Absolutely. And we were referred to as the twins. We didn't have our own names. There was like this two year period where the teacher would be like, oh, and twins. And we would scream back, it's Levi and Junior. We genuinely. That was like my one act of rebellion ever in high school. I hated being called the twins because I wanted to have my own identity.

[Dax Shepard]

Sorry we're so interested in it.

[Levi]

No, honestly, I love talking about it. It's a weird thing and I feel like I've overcome it so much. So I do love talking about it because I think when you're in high school, you can feel so trapped in your identity and think that that's the only way you're ever going to be. But to your earlier point on where was the opposite of discipline? Right. I wouldn't be where I am now if I didn't leave home for college, leave my twin sister. She went to university in Scotland. I went to university in Boston and start living life.

[Dax Shepard]

How scary was that first year?

[Levi]

It was really scary until it was really fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, can I back up though? Because I want to know how this girl with this personality means very understandable insecurities that we all have. How did you deal with being on stage at 15 for the orchestra, symphony orchestra, and then TV twice? Like you were on Island Got Talent. Why isn't it Iceland Got Talent? It's Iceland.

[Levi]

It is Iceland Got Talent, but Iceland and Icelandic Eastland.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, Eastland Got Talent. Okay.

[Levi]

I mean, Iceland is an island.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then also the Voice.

[Levi]

I competed in every single singing competition or talent competition I could find.

[Dax Shepard]

So how did you do with those when you were feeling insecure as a young woman and then you're also having to get on TV and perform on stage? Did you disassociate and have a different Persona? How did you manage that?

[Levi]

I was insecure as a girl, but I was not insecure as a musician.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, great.

[Monica Padman]

That's great.

[Dax Shepard]

Maybe that's part of the reason you loved it so much is, like, it was your superpower.

[Levi]

I loved going on stage. I've always felt. Felt so comfortable on stage, and I think that's where I found my confidence.

[Dax Shepard]

So you were a finalist in one and then a semi finalist in the other.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Were kids at school not intrigued by this? Were you, like, popular for it?

[Levi]

I don't know if popular is the right word. People definitely knew that I was doing all that, but it didn't mean I was cool by any means.

[Dax Shepard]

Were you getting any credit for that? Were people like, hey, I saw you on Iceland Got Talent. You were great, and you're like, thank you?

[Levi]

It was like, however little credit she got, I got less, because when I

[Monica Padman]

got it, it was kind of like,

[Levi]

oh, I'm sorry, that wasn't you. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I think your twins like the Wednesday version of you. Would you say that?

[Monica Padman]

I mean, we need to talk more, but yeah, you guys have a really fun complimentary vibe.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Levi]

We fill into each other's sentences.

[Dax Shepard]

Is he the naughtier twin?

[Levi]

Oh, for sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Was that always the case, or is that when you said when you guys went to college and you kind of separated?

[Levi]

We went in and out of Naughty, and now I'm touring a lot and needing to make sure I'm sleeping. Discipline comes nine hours a night, and both of our lives are quite crazy. I've literally dragged unia into all of this with me, and. Which is so lovely, because such a weird thing to go through and to go through it together again. I'm still not lonely.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's wonderful. Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare. We are supported by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. That's smart. Not checking the pockets of your jeans before doing laundry. Classic oversight, that mystery clunking in the dryer. Yeah. That was your lip balm's final moments. And somehow there's always one random receipt in there to dissolve into confetti. Yeah. Checking first is smart, so check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions and availability. Allstate North America Insurance Company affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. We are supported by ZipRecruiter. O get recruited, think about a time you hired someone who wasn't just qualified on paper, but genuinely excited about the role. Maybe they asked thoughtful questions in the interview or you could tell they actually research what you do. That enthusiasm made them stand out from everyone else. If you're hiring, you want a candidate who's passionate about about your role. But you can't get that insight from a resume unless you post your job on ZipRecruiter. And now you can try it for [e-mail] Dax their powerful matching technology finds qualified candidates fast. And here's what's new. ZipRecruiter now shows you the most interested and qualified candidates first. Those are people who can explain in their own words why they want your job specifically. You're not just seeing who fits the requirements. You're meeting people who actually want to be there. Find candidates who really want your job on ZipRecruiter. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Try it for [e-mail] Dax that's ziprecruiter.com Dax meet your match on ZipRecruiter. Okay. So was the decision, though, to go to Boston and go to Berkeley hard?

[Levi]

It was really tough because despite taking every opportunity I could, I was really, really scared of jumping into becoming a singer. I was like, this is not gonna go anywhere. I don't wanna say I'd given up, but I felt that I had enough proof that I wasn't gonna make it. I had competed in every single singing competition. I had all these producers in Iceland promise that they were gonna work with me or listen to me, and nobody really responded or gave me the time of day. And I would see them work with other girls who were more like down the middle pot. I think I also truly hadn't found my sound.

[Dax Shepard]

I was gonna say, you probably didn't have an identity yet.

[Levi]

I absolutely did not. I was a classical cellist, a jazz singer, and I loved pop music. I loved songwriter and a terrible ballerina. Yeah. And I don't even know if I knew if I could find my sound.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, that's scary, right?

[Levi]

Nobody was making the kind of music I wanted to make. And I didn't even know what kind of music I wanted to make. If you would have asked me back then, I would have told you, in my dream world, I'm mixing all the things I am, which is a songwriter. Like, I'd not written any songs. I'd written maybe one song. I wouldn't call myself a writer. When I had gone to Berkeley, I'd written a song reluctantly, for a class or something.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Levi]

So I didn't have songwriting experience. I didn't have life experience. I didn't have anything to write about. I was a classical cellist and a jazz singer. I hadn't really experienced heartbroken heartbreak. Maybe I'd had some secret crushes. But my biggest fear when I was in was admitting to having a crush. I don't know why I thought that there was absolutely nothing more embarrassing than that.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, don't you think? Because then rejection might be on the other side of that.

[Levi]

I was genuinely scared that if I so much as admitted I had a crush on, like, a movie character, that the world or that my friends or something would be like, oh, my God. Do you think you can get that?

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know.

[Levi]

I thought it was that deep.

[Dax Shepard]

Monica did the same thing, but her crushes were like, oh, I'm gonna go. So outside of what's possible to talk about.

[Monica Padman]

I like to talk about it, actually, because it was like, everyone. Everyone's doing this. So maybe that's the difference, though. Everyone had crushes and had.

[Levi]

My friends did too. I don't know what it was you

[Monica Padman]

thought you'd be made fun of. That's so interesting.

[Levi]

I think I was judging myself.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Levi]

I think it came from, like, deep inner judgment. And that's something that I completely worked out of when I got to college. And I was known as just Leve when I went to Berkeley. Yeah. So I was very afraid to jump into the. The deep end. And it was my mom who was like, you have to go. She was like, you have this beautiful opportunity. And she believed so much in me. And I did so much unworking of my kind of childhood. Although I just had so many walls up and I broke them all down. But barrier by barrier as I got to Berkeley. And then in the last eight years, I've just been knocking it down. And now I feel so free.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So walk me through the steps of arriving in Boston and how do they start eroding and what's it like to be in Boston and how are those things falling away? Because, yes. By your junior year, you're now like writing and making music. And by your senior year, you have songs that are on the radio in Iceland.

[Levi]

What really changed for me is I kind of had my first touch with depression.

[Monica Padman]

I think your safety blanket wasn't there.

[Levi]

My safety blanket wasn't there. And I didn't really know who I was. I was really confused when I got to Berkeley. So I went as a cello student because they offered me a full scholarship as a cellist.

[Dax Shepard]

The Presidential Scholarship.

[Levi]

The Presidential Scholarship. I can only guess it's just due to lack of string players. I was very fortunate to get to go. Yeah, that's a big honor for free. And that was one of the reasons I decided to go. Because my parents were like, we're not gonna pay for college. This shit is free here. If you wanna go, you pay for it. So, of course, that kind of felt like this golden ticket to go. And so I went. And I was there playing cello and singing a bit. But I couldn't fathom why they had invested that much in me. I really didn't understand. I kept telling myself, they just need cellists, they need string players, they need people in the orchestra. That was what I kept saying to myself. So I was just trying to figure out who I was in the tapestry of Berkeley at the time. And it took me a couple months to realize that a lot of people were doing a lot of different things. People had majors, people had principal instruments, but most of them were mixing everything together.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, we just interviewed Charlie Puth, who was there at Berkeley, and he was doing like, sound engineering or something.

[Levi]

Yeah. But he plays every instrument and could have probably done any major there. It was so healthy for me to be around these kids who didn't have as much of a classical upbringing. And their relationship to music came from a true place of love. People were willing to do anything and they were really down to collaborate and mix different genres together. And a lot of people had this honest blind faith in themselves, which I needed to instill in myself. You cannot do this job without having that blind faith and thinking that you are going to make it. You cannot reluctantly jump into this. And that's where things started to change.

[Dax Shepard]

Am I right or wrong in that? To me, classical, it's in so many ways the opposite. There's so many rules. It's already been there. You're trying to reach perfection. It's rote. It's hitting the exact note and all these things. It's rules based, very rules based.

[Levi]

And I will.

[Dax Shepard]

And this other thing, creating new music, that's Novel and not been made is the antithesis of that. It's breaking every rule and experimenting.

[Levi]

The way I saw it was I'd come from a system where we were training to be the best players of the music. The best musician at the school was the musician that could play the best. Literally had the best musicality, best technique, the combination of everything. Whereas at Berkeley, I was all of a sudden in this environment where the best musician was the best creator, not necessarily the best player. I mean, of course, you know, good players, everything they have.

[Dax Shepard]

In a dream world, you have both.

[Levi]

I thought was the coolest was the person creating the music. Everyone has a different voice, everyone plays differently. It wasn't necessarily about who had the best technique. I was so in awe of the storytellers and the people that could make me feel something and the ones who'd found their own lane. And I was like, I need to do this. So I think I realized quickly that I should just lean into what I'm good at and what I love, which is I loved singing songs from the Great American Songbook. I love classical music. String arrangements can totally be transferred into that. And then I just needed to live a bit of life to write. And I started dating for the first time. And I was so heartbroken. I was talking to this guy who did not give a shit about me. And he was also much older, which in hindsight, I'm like, ew, Are we

[Dax Shepard]

talking like five years older or 15? 20.

[Levi]

He's like six years older.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, okay, okay.

[Monica Padman]

But when you're that young.

[Levi]

Yeah, I'm like, I'm 26 now. And looking back, like, I would never with like a 19 year old, like, yeah. Anyways, it was my first brush rejection,

[Monica Padman]

which is so hard. You had been avoiding that your whole life.

[Levi]

I had been avoiding that my whole life. And I think I was so scared of it. And then it came, and it was worse than I could have imagined.

[Dax Shepard]

But then you have something to write about.

[Monica Padman]

True.

[Levi]

Genuinely. For three months, I could barely get out of bed. And it was also a couple of different things that played into it, like being away from home and not being sure who I was as a musician.

[Dax Shepard]

As you're saying this, I just gotta say it's the most unavoidable part of a human life. I remember graduating. I was gonna do one thing. I was in Detroit, and then I woke up there. I'm like, what am I doing? Like, just that panic of, like, what am I doing? Where am I gonna end up from, like 18 to 24? And you can't sidestep.

[Monica Padman]

It's fast forward.

[Dax Shepard]

You gotta just go, storm.

[Levi]

You gotta walk through the storm. And it's a storm for almost everybody.

[Dax Shepard]

It is, yes.

[Levi]

People think going to Berkeley is some sort of magical button or highway to Hollywood, and it's absolutely not. The best thing I think you can get from Berklee is it's a nest to discover who you are as a musician, to try out different things, to collaborate with the people around you. Like, the real wealth, I think, is the other students there who are coming from all corners of the world and bringing different lessons with them.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like a safe place to walk through that. That crazy.

[Levi]

I think so. It's a safe place. It's a really expensive place too, you know, so it's really scary for a lot of people being at Berkeley and trying to figure it out. When I think about the artists who have really succeeded from Berkeley, it's really social media, you know, you can collaborate with the people around you and then you use social media. That's what happened to me.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell me how in your senior year, you write this song that ends up. Yeah. Being number one on Icelandic radio.

[Levi]

Number one on Icelandic radio is so. Dude. It sounds more impressive than it is it.

[Dax Shepard]

It is crazy. What are you talking about? If that was the number one song in Milford, Michigan, that'd be thrilling. That's where I'm from.

[Monica Padman]

Deprecating. I want you to take on how cool you are.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Levi]

No, you guys, the population of Iceland is so small.

[Dax Shepard]

Who cares?

[Monica Padman]

It's still awesome.

[Levi]

I wrote this song called street by Street. It was one of the first songs, if not the first song I wrote while at Berkeley where I was working through this heartbreak. And it was the first, like, heartbreak song I wrote. It was a movie moment of healing. I wrote many of the lyrics in a bus leaving Boston because I was escaping to New York because I couldn't do it anymore. I was like, the whole city's tainted. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, remember that? And looking back, it wasn't that dramatic, but it felt so painful.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Levi]

I wrote down the lyrics, like, street by street, I'm gonna take back my life, kind of. Because it had taken over my whole life. I was so depressed for this very small. I'm not gonna call it a small reason. I was feeling so terrible, but it was ruining an entire city for me. So I wrote these lyrics down and it was the most healing thing. And then I ran to get a guitar. When I got back to Boston, I was in this Dorm room that had a view of the city. And I. I wrote the first lyrics, and it was like, this view used to bring a smile to my face, and now it makes me disgusted. That's not the exact lyric.

[Dax Shepard]

You're paraphrasing yourself.

[Levi]

I'm paraphrasing. And then the chorus is like, street by street, like brick by brick I'm gonna take back my life from the back Bay to the sky I just wanted to claim ownership of this thing that this guy had kind of ruined for me. And it was like I snapped out of my depression. I mean, it probably took a couple of days, but in hindsight, it felt like I snapped out. I was so excited. I was like, oh, my God, I found my sound.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

You took something that you were powerless in, which was the relationship, and then you turned it into something you had total power over, which was the output, this song. So it transferred from powerlessness to powerful.

[Levi]

Yes. And I was so excited because not only had I lyrically found that it helped me, but I had found a way to use the chordal language that I was used to from the Great American Songbook and put it into a song that still felt modern, like, it still felt new.

[Dax Shepard]

So maybe more impressive to you than the Icelandic number one is that Billie Eilish noticed this song.

[Levi]

She didn't.

[Dax Shepard]

She didn't.

[Levi]

I did a cover of her song called My Future a couple months into the Pandemic. And I did all these harmonies. Cause it's such a beautiful song. It's one of my favorite songs.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you worked with Finneas?

[Levi]

I'm just a fan from afar, and they're both so sweet, and they have done wonders for pop music. I genuinely feel like what they did for pop music helped me even be able to have a moment.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah.

[Levi]

Yeah. I'm absolutely one of those musicians that's created that space so that me and many other musicians could come in and

[Dax Shepard]

thrive, be melancholy and popular, be melancholy

[Levi]

and pop and dissonant and have these jazz chords. And my future totally had that. So I did a cover of that. And she posted on her story.

[Dax Shepard]

It wasn't street by Street.

[Levi]

No, no, no. I think that got lost in translation somewhere. And that was just me being a true fan.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. And then so on the back of that, you put together Everything I Know About Love. No, you have an EP for us.

[Levi]

Oh, EP called Typical of Me. And this is where everything got really soupy with the Pandemic. So I recorded the song street by street the day that we had to leave campus, March 2020. And that's a week or two into the pandemic is when my social media started blowing up. So it was all this kind of magical timing.

[Dax Shepard]

Where did you retreat to?

[Levi]

To Washington DC. So my parents moved to Washington DC, January of 2020.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, what a blessing.

[Levi]

Great timing. But I went back to D.C. into this house that I did not recognize. Never been there before. I thought it was going to be a two week break from school. And I said to myself, I was like, okay, I'm gon used these two weeks to just post videos of myself singing, playing cello. I would play cello and sing jazz standards. And then I'd also, in between, post songs that I'd written. I did it almost every day, every other day. And I think people were like, why is this young woman singing these songs from the 40s or the 30s?

[Dax Shepard]

With a cello too.

[Levi]

With a cello, yeah. And it was one of the very few moments I've said, I'm gonna do something, and it actually works. And I just kind of stuck to it. I figured out that if I stayed consistent and communic with the people who were following me, it became this community really quick. I would do weekly live streams as well. I called them my Sunday lullaby series. Every Sunday I would sit down and I would just sing. And there was like a chat going on and people were from all over the world and we'd be talking about like, oh, like what's Covid like there? And it was such a beautiful community that it started with. And I think that's the reason it's flourished into the community that it is today. I feel so close to my fans and I. I hope that they feel close to me too, because it's been this kind of continuous conversation from the beginning. And I literally would write a song that day and I'd play a little bit of it and then that song would end up on my ep. And people remember it when I'd written it.

[Dax Shepard]

They probably felt a lot of ownership over that first time.

[Levi]

Yeah. And they should, because so much of the information that they were giving me, whether they liked it or not, was

[Dax Shepard]

going into it was some weird version of performing live in a way, because you're getting feedback, which is. Right. I am struck by the fact that there's so many overlaps in a lot of these musical stories. Like I'm thinking of Anderson Paak, who was saying he drummed in church, he wanted to be a rapper. Well, first he wanted to be a dj, then he wanted to be a rapper. And then out of like not having a drummer. Decided to play the drums while he was also performing. Then he does tiny desk and never anticipating. Oh, the drumming and singing is what people are like, oh, wow, okay. And it's not just that it's a gimmick. I think there's something we can detect that we know that's Anderson. Like he's always been a drummer. He's supposed to be drumming and singing. And I think like this cello thing is very similar to that where it's just like it gets your attention, but it gets your attention for a lot of ways. I think there's something we can detect in that that's authentic as fuck.

[Levi]

I think it's because nobody would ever consider picking up a cello and singing at the same time as something that would result in any type of viralities.

[Monica Padman]

But it's you. It's very funny.

[Dax Shepard]

The more you can believe in everything.

[Levi]

It comes from a very honest place and it comes from true love for the instrument.

[Dax Shepard]

So then it happens pretty quick. Then you do everything. I know about you. Your debut album in 2022. So two years into the pandemic and then 2023, Bewitched comes about. And from the start is on that album, which is enormous. I was listening to it today and it has over a billion streams on Spotify alone. How does one experience going from college two years before to a Grammy winning album? How are you keeping up with it? Ratcheting so quickly?

[Levi]

I think I'm still playing catch up.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I bet. What was your sister saying about all this? Because you guys have diverged. She went to Scotland, you went to Boston, and now all of a sudden you're winning a Grammy. She like, hold on a second. Should I have gone to Berkeley?

[Levi]

We've gone through the whole thing together. She's immediately became my creative director for free and for fun first. And then it actually became a need of mine and she fulfills it so well. So she's extremely involved in everything. Anything that goes out into the world she's touched. Except for the music. But even the music, she plays violin on it sometimes. So the biggest blessing is I've felt like I've gone through it with my sister and we share a face in a sense. So even the really new kind of weird parts of getting recognized. The first question people ask me is almost always, are you Yunya or Leiwe?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Levi]

And which twin are you? Or they'll go, are you? Although I think that's maybe because my name's hard to pronounce.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, the spelling I Don't know how we get lei from L, A U

[Levi]

F E. Quite the spectacle it's become, I'm sure.

[Monica Padman]

Oh God.

[Levi]

Au is just a in Icelandic. And that's. I don't know. I've been seeing people on the Internet making fun of my name and I'm kind of like, like at the end of the day, it's my government name, it's your name and it's my great grandma's name. And it's funny because it's such a normal name in Iceland. It's a little weird here.

[Dax Shepard]

Interestingly. This is my question for later. But we're here. I'm going to ask it now. So she is the mother of Loki, the Nordic mythology God of mischief. But you don't seem very mischievous. And this goes back to the childhood. Is there some mischievousness?

[Levi]

For sure there is. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

What's secretly going on? Also, how are you updating your self esteem and thinking no boys liked you? And now obviously probably tons of boys are liking you but you still don't think they are?

[Levi]

No, I mean.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so we haven't caught up yet. We're still not.

[Monica Padman]

I was going to ask that too. Like what's your current relationship with dating, with how people see you?

[Levi]

I'm very happy and in love right now. Working out all fine.

[Dax Shepard]

So we've updated ourselves.

[Levi]

We've updated ourselves. Yeah, for sure. I feel so much more confident to your point earlier with the mischievous. I think people read from the world that I'm this very kind of like poised, very even toned. A even toned person. And I'm not. I'm a Taurus. First of all.

[Dax Shepard]

Monica, what does that mean? Tell us what that means.

[Monica Padman]

A little stubborn, right?

[Levi]

A little stubborn. But I guess more so. I'm just very calm. Oh, I have a very calm demeanor

[Dax Shepard]

because I whipped up this whole thing. Right. I don't know. You have never met you. I'm like to get to this level of musicianship, the amount of work and perhaps the loneliness. And then I hear you. Yeah. And you're so even tempered in all these interviews. And my thought is, is there a rascal in you that is trying to claw out and do you love being inebriated? Do you love escape?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you have a secret? But I think I might just be entirely wrong about the original assessment. I don't think you're as type A as I thought. Maybe you were.

[Levi]

I'm so not type A. I have have a lot of problem focusing. I do think that is short form content's fault though.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Levi]

But I'm not as Type A as people think. I'm really chronically late.

[Dax Shepard]

You were late today.

[Monica Padman]

I think that's true.

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you like to get fucked up?

[Levi]

I do. I do care so much about my tour, my career.

[Monica Padman]

Both can be true.

[Levi]

Both can be true. I care about showing up for people. So I'm not going to get wasted and not show up to a concert. That's kind of what that part is. But I'm like an anxious message. And that's something I really wanted to show with my album. That matter of time. There were a lot of moments in that album where people were quite shocked because I was writing a little more honestly about things. Like the end of the album is just noise. We were just throwing instruments, like sounds at the pounding on instruments for the end. Because I wanted to kind of break out of this perception. But my demeanor reads quite differently.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. How did you take to. Cause right after Bewitched, you started your first, I would imagine, world tour.

[Levi]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And how do you take to that? I feel like you were built for it. Cause you were bouncing all around the whole world already. But again, lonelys, what was the tour experience like?

[Levi]

I love playing concerts. I love going on stage. I make music so I can go on stage. That is what fulfills me. I know my purpose when I'm on stage.

[Dax Shepard]

The stages, you're getting fucked up. So I was also noticing, like, you're so even tempered, but your wardrobe is incredibly flamboyant and exuberant. And I was like, okay, that's one of the releases is like, I'm Steady Eddie. But then I have this really flashy and exuberant wardrobe and I'm on stage doing this thing. So it sounds like maybe the stage is where you get to let it rip. Absolutely.

[Levi]

I feel like I am the prime version of myself on stage.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. The truest self.

[Levi]

My truest self. My most honest self on stage. And I can let go of a lot. A lot of the shackles around me.

[Monica Padman]

It's funny, it's almost counterintuitive. It sounds like when you're on stage, you feel no judgment.

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And in life you're a little more. Exactly. In life, you might be afraid of judgment. Not really.

[Levi]

I've let go of the fear of judgment. I genuinely don't care what people say about me. I get so much, especially recently, people are like, who the fuck is this girl that's singing jazz and they can't stand it? Or something like that. It doesn't touch me because. Because I know I'm being my most honest self. That would only touch me if I weren't being honest.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And I agreed.

[Levi]

And I weren't being authentic.

[Dax Shepard]

This is the part of the interview where I psychoanalyze you. Really quick, please. Based on one lyric. One lyric.

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. So in Mad Woman, which the music video just came out. It's fantastic. It's very 60s. It's very bewitched.

[Levi]

It is.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. One of the lyrics is called me stupid as a mindless joke. This is what the guy said.

[Levi]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And so I went. He was nagging you, this guy that the song's about. Back to the. Feeling insecure. Feeling ridiculous to even have a crush. Do you think initially, when you were finding your confidence in dating, that you were susceptible to that? Someone confirming your story about yourself?

[Levi]

I'm insecure in love. I'll put it that way. I'm very secure everywhere else. Very insecure in love.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And I would imagine you're very vulnerable to someone identifying that and leveraging that against you, confirming your fears, whether they even think it's true or not.

[Levi]

Yeah. I always think guys are thinking much deeper than they are, but they aren't. Called me stupid as a mindless joke. It was probably a mindless joke, but I was like, oh, my God.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. You took it.

[Levi]

He recognized a part of me that is not good.

[Dax Shepard]

Who's the hunk in the video? He looks like an Asian Glen Powell.

[Levi]

Yeah. Hudson Williams.

[Dax Shepard]

Hudson Williams.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God, Dax.

[Dax Shepard]

Did I just offend everyone?

[Monica Padman]

Yes. He's a huge, huge, huge star.

[Dax Shepard]

Does he not look like Glenn Powell? Little bit.

[Levi]

I don't know if he looks like Glen Powell.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I'm wrong about that season.

[Monica Padman]

He did Rivalry, like the biggest show on television. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm so sorry.

[Monica Padman]

Everybody. Upset.

[Dax Shepard]

I hadn't watched Rivalry, and I was looking. I was like, you should.

[Monica Padman]

It's a big deal.

[Levi]

He's so great.

[Dax Shepard]

He is a hunk. The body looks great. The wink is on point.

[Levi]

The perfect madman for the music video.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Levi]

And I gathered three of my friends who are all, as they say, half white and half Asian.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's the term. We.

[Levi]

Asian Wagin is the term. Yeah. I thought it'd be funny because I sometimes get mistaken as other girls who are half Asian and half white. Sometimes I'll literally, like, get tagged and, like, so.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Levi]

Instagram. It was kind of a joke. I went to the Golden Globes, and for some reason, halfway through the carpet, it was a really long carpet, and it was like an obstacle Course it like went up and down and up and I was. Was up at the last part and they start going, megan, Megan. I don't know why. I think people were screaming like leve. And maybe one photographer heard Megan or something like that. I don't know. Or maybe there was a Megan coming after me or before me. But either way. Or they maybe thought that there's a girl in this group cat's eye called Megan who's also half Chinese and half.

[Dax Shepard]

She's Weiian.

[Levi]

She's Weijian. Uh huh. And we could pass the sisters. She is a beautiful young woman and does not like to be compared to a 26 year old. And I will not compare to her.

[Monica Padman]

How dare you. We just died. Both of us just died inside.

[Dax Shepard]

She's enjoying this. Bitch turns 27. So she's like relishing her.

[Levi]

I'm relishing in my 26. Yeah. She is like this incredible dancer singer. But I'm also friends with her and her name is Megan. It kind of became this joke that they were like, oh my God, they're mixing us up. And it became this Internet joke. People started commenting Megan like on all. So I was like, I have to have Megan in a music video with me. And then I had Alyssa Liu, gold medalist.

[Monica Padman]

Amazing.

[Levi]

Her short program was to my song.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you tell her you were a figure skater when you were a child?

[Levi]

I did.

[Dax Shepard]

That was the fourth endeavor also too much.

[Levi]

I did everything. I had so much fun. She is an incredible person, an incredible artist and her message to the world is so beautiful. And she came back to skating and after being away from it for a bit. And she used my song that I wrote about a boy.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh really?

[Levi]

But interpreted it as the song is about. About needing distance from something. But you love it. And she interpreted the self relationship with skating. She came back and she won the gold medal with it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God. Did you feel so were you like this is.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I would love.

[Levi]

I sat there like, oh my God. Oh my God. She'd been skating to Promise for a couple months and so I reached out to her connected months ago and she came to my concert in Oakland and so I've known her for a bit so I of course had to have her too because she's also half Chinese.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Levi]

And Lola Tungsten who plays Belly on the Summer I Turn Pretty.

[Monica Padman]

Oh yes.

[Levi]

I've been friends with her for like four years and I love her so much. And even before she did the Summer I Turned Pretty, the first year I was releasing music and nobody knew who I was. She had messaged me. She was like, oh, we kind of look the same. And she sings so beautifully too. She said that she liked my music. She just, like, sent me a dm. Aw. And I didn't notice it, which is weird because back then I saw everything. And then a year or two later, the summer edge I'm Pretty came out. And I was, of course, stalking her Instagram, and it was growing so fast. I saw that she followed me and I was like, oh, my God, I got a DM her like, we're both await. And it opened up this message that she had sent me prior, and I was like, wow, this is kismet. And she is genuinely one of my favorite people that I have met in this industry and is one of the most elegant, poised, kind people that I have met. A true gold of a human being.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more armchair Expert, if you dare.

[Levi]

All these girls that I know, I

[Dax Shepard]

was like, you just answered my question because I was gonna ask you how it has been falling in Hollywood to young, hot, everyone's got style, lifestyle of la. Given the previous security level in high school, has it been easy for you to drop in and be a part

[Levi]

of, like, going back to high school?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, Right.

[Levi]

Every red carpet, I'm like, oh, my God, oh, my God. Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

You just played Coachella, and I was looking at a lot of pictures of people who went to Coachella, and I was looking at. I was like, I'm just not young and hot enough. And I don't dress well enough, I think, to attend Coachella. As much as I would like to go, everyone is looking peak. And I was thinking, how are you in that environment?

[Levi]

I think style is all about who you are and how you carry yourself. The coolest girl I know who has the best confidence and aura, that is style to me. She could wear a T shirt and cutoffs, and I'd be like, wow, wow, wow. I'm going to copy that. So that. And Coachella really showed that to me. No matter what, if you are a shitty person, your outfit's gonna suck.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's so true. Yeah.

[Levi]

But if you are a really kind and lovely, hot, energy person, you can wear whatever you want and you will have the best outfit.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, that's encouraging.

[Levi]

So you go and you carry your confidence out. But as a musician, I'm currently in between the two weekends, so this is raw. Yeah, yeah, it's very raw.

[Monica Padman]

I know. I feel like we're getting a high, hot take.

[Levi]

I was Sunday night, so I'd seen Sabrina Carpenter. I'd seen Cat's Eye. I saw Bieber.

[Dax Shepard]

What did you think of that? I saw clips of it and I was like, I really wish I would have seen that.

[Levi]

It was awesome. Also, just being a part of that, I've never. Oh, my God. I couldn't. You know, there's like a artist pit and a VIP pit. There are all these different. Everything completely, like, you couldn't get in. My takeaway from Coachella. This is my first Coachella. Coachella is ga. Is the way to do it.

[Dax Shepard]

General admission.

[Levi]

General admission.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay. Tell me more.

[Levi]

The screens are huge and the music is carrying. If you can just be in the back with your friends, dance around with a little space, you can take outfit photos. You can go run to the bathroom. You won't lose your place. You can go get a taco and not lose your place. That is, I think, the move.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Levi]

Also, the toilet situation is shitty no matter who you are, so you may as well be nga.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So you were in the way.

[Levi]

I was in the way back for Bieber, and it was amazing. And then I had to go check out my stage, and I went all the way around, and I was by the outdoor stage, which is kind of further away from main stage, and there was no one there, and I watched Bieber from so far away. Just the end when he started, like, going through all his old hits. I had the time of my life. The time of my life. But I was vocal resting and wearing a mask, so I was kind of like, just emoting.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You let your body do the talking.

[Levi]

I let my body do the talking. Yeah. But I love it as a concert. I admittedly don't get nervous when I go on stage at all, especially when it's my own concerts, because it's such a unique thing. I think people are confused about what the experience of a leeway concert is like. Do we stand, do we sit? Do we sing? Do we sit in silence? Is this a theater show? Is this an arena show? What makes sense? I feel like I've really balanced it out, and it makes a lot of sense in my show.

[Dax Shepard]

My show, it's a very cohesive. Your arena, you got ballerinas, you've got the jazz set up.

[Levi]

Yes, but we're in an arena and we're. We can move around. There's a pop portion of the show, there's the jazz portion, there's the more classical bit, and an arena, you can kind of morph into whatever you want. And then obviously, I feel A theater is always lovely.

[Monica Padman]

So are you happy with the way it went, the festival?

[Levi]

By the time I got to my set after seeing all of these incredible acts.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. I would not want to see that before I. Yeah, it's scary.

[Levi]

First of all, I was like, I gotta lock in. Cause they were all so incredible. But also, I kind of got in my head, I was like, is this a place for me?

[Dax Shepard]

I would too.

[Levi]

I was like, are people going to be okay that this isn't necessarily going to be a mosh pit?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, also just acknowledge what it is. You're with the best of the best.

[Levi]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And the audience is there for everybody. Somebody, nobody. Your audience. You walk out in the arena, these people love you.

[Levi]

There's a lot of discovery going on, which is super exciting. And I got a little nervous. Completely melted away after the second or third song. But when I came out first, also, it was a little cold and windy. There were all these natural elements that you're. All day. They were like, we don't know it if we can do the pyro. Which I had pyro in the end.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, fun.

[Levi]

All day. They were like, we don't know. We have to chain up the castle. Because I have a castle on stage. They were like, we gotta chain it up. It's windy. So I was like, I have no clue what this stage is going to be like. And I don't play many festivals for that reason of. I really like creating a community that fans get to come into and feel safe. And on tour, I have so much community control. Whereas, like, at Coach Coachella. But I want to play Coachella. My whole goal as an artist is to introduce people to my music, to my sound, and as many people as possible. And Coachella is absolutely the place to do it. And I want to be on those stages. I want to be in front of those people. So it was daunting. But after the second song, I was like, okay, this is fine.

[Dax Shepard]

I know what to do.

[Levi]

Yeah. And I love performing. So I really settled into it and it was so cool to get to. To hopefully turn some new fans onto the music. And there was a K pop group on after me called Big Bang. They're like legends. And all of their fans were in the front, which was also daunting because I kept actually, like, looking at them being like, oh, no. Are they disappointed right now?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And when they. Super young. Am I crazy to think the K pop audience is going to be pretty young?

[Levi]

Yes and no. But Big Bang's been around for a while. They're kind of like the OG K pop group that has really, like, made it in the west and as well. So they were a little older than I thought, but my audience is very young. If anything, my Coachella audience was older.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, really?

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Are you gonna do anything different next weekend?

[Dax Shepard]

What's next weekend?

[Levi]

Also next weekend's Coachella.

[Dax Shepard]

It's still going.

[Levi]

Oh, I'm in between Coachellas. This is so raw. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And is it the same performers?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. You'll play again. That's the whole point is, like, this is a big moment. We're getting you right now.

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

My head's spinning. It goes on for two weekends.

[Levi]

Two weekends.

[Dax Shepard]

But people come home, I guess.

[Levi]

Yeah. I mean, how else was I supposed to do? I'm chair expert.

[Monica Padman]

I know exactly. We got. We got. It was so lucky. But so anything. You're going to make any changes? Are you happy? You want to just do it again?

[Levi]

I say you don't change the castle

[Dax Shepard]

around this time and see if it blows away.

[Levi]

See if it blows away. I have a swing on the top of the castle, too.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my.

[Levi]

I need to chain the swing down because I would, like, fly off. I loved it so much. So I don't think I'm going to change much. I'm gonna have a different outfit.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, fun.

[Levi]

I'm really excited to just go knowing how it feels. You can't sound check at Coachella. You don't get to feel the stage.

[Monica Padman]

Really scary.

[Levi]

I got to see the stage before, but other than that, I didn't get to move on it or try the instruments or anything. So you're really going into a completely new environment. But now I'll recognize.

[Monica Padman]

You'll know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

What a cool thing to check off the list. That's a huge thing as an artist.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Now, I do not mean musically when I ask this. I more mean just trajectory. Is there an artist that you're like, that's the road I hope I'm on. Is there someone that you idolize in this space that you kind of want their trajectory?

[Levi]

I don't think so. Because the second I stopped playing that game with myself, I started to succeed.

[Dax Shepard]

Meaning stop trying to get somewhere specific.

[Levi]

Stop trying to figure out whose road I was going to walk, if that makes sense.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Levi]

I want longevity. I think that's my main goal. I love doing that.

[Monica Padman]

This.

[Levi]

I don't want it to go away. Music is something that can follow you forever. I'm not a football player that has to retire. There's so much beauty to that. So as long as I love it, I'm going to keep doing it.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, really quick. You wrote a children's book. I wish you would have brought it or someone would have sent it to you.

[Levi]

I should have brought it. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Is it Mei Mei the Bunny?

[Levi]

May the bunny.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell me about Maymay the Bunny. Why were we encouraged to tell her story?

[Levi]

May the Bunny is a little. Little bunny who is playing violin. Learning the violin. And she has her first concert. Stressful. And she's nervous.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Levi]

Lots of butterflies in the tummy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Levi]

And she has like a anxiety dream the night before her concert where it all goes horribly wrong, as we've all had. And she learns that making mistakes are not always bad. That you can redirect it into something beyond beautiful.

[Monica Padman]

We love that. For Mei Mei and for all of us.

[Dax Shepard]

What's the Japanese word? I'm never gonna get it.

[Monica Padman]

Sugi.

[Dax Shepard]

Imperfections are the beauty. No, it's not. And then, of course, a matter of time. There's a special version that just came out.

[Levi]

There is the Final Hour.

[Dax Shepard]

The final hour. And you just finished your world arena tour. How many cities did you go?

[Levi]

I've done the US and Europe. I think we're over 50 now.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow, Levi, this has been incredible. I'm really glad that we got to meet you, especially that you took time in between these two shows. I didn't realize it was double weekend. I'm so excited.

[Monica Padman]

I'm so happy to know about Hudson.

[Dax Shepard]

The only thing I'm bummed about is, are you going to play on Sunday again?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Because I'm mad because you can't party.

[Levi]

Yes. Nobody talks about this. And I've discovered the absolute horror. No, not the horror. The sadness of playing on Sunday night. Yeah, it's beautiful because you get to send people off into the night. And for me, that is my perfect slot. In the Evening in the Dark as one of the final little shows. It's cozy. It's a little more like romantic. Everyone's ears, drums are out. They're all hungover. It's a good place to be. You can stand with a glass of water and not get moshed on, right?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Levi]

But I had to vocal rest Friday. Saturday. I didn't go to the festival Saturday, say, for Bieber and going to see the stage. But I was like, wow, this sucks. Like, if I played Friday, you could party. I could party all Saturday. Sunday you have a whole week to recover.

[Dax Shepard]

Outfit picks. Is that what you called them?

[Levi]

Yeah. I was not doing That I was so stressed a little bit because I was like, oh, my God, I'm going to get sick. Or also, you get to the desert. It's new conditions. You're super dry. I was wearing a mask.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you blow in the bottle with the straw that we saw?

[Levi]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Marcus Mumford do.

[Levi]

Yeah, yeah, we love. Oh, this vocal straw is very important.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I want to get one just for fun.

[Monica Padman]

I know. Me too. It looks cool and it sounds cool.

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. My only regret is that I did not make your sister bring her violin and you the cello. I would have loved to see these sisters play the strings.

[Levi]

You do not want to hear us play in our current state.

[Monica Padman]

I bet we wouldn't know. It would sound perfect to us.

[Dax Shepard]

You would know. We would have no idea. If you guys could play, like Uptown Girl by Billy Joel on it, we would be like, oh, she's like, that's

[Monica Padman]

the hardest song in the whole world.

[Dax Shepard]

That was a callback because she played with Billy Jo at the Grammys.

[Monica Padman]

That was awesome.

[Levi]

It was very funny. I did play cello with him.

[Dax Shepard]

All right, well, good luck on everything.

[Levi]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

Look for May. May the bunny get the new re release of A Matter of Time.

[Monica Padman]

Go on that YouTube. Watch the Coachella sets.

[Dax Shepard]

Are those all on YouTube?

[Monica Padman]

They are, I think, right?

[Levi]

They are. Just skip the first song.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, just go to the second song. That's fine.

[Levi]

Skip the first song.

[Monica Padman]

Keep it moving.

[Dax Shepard]

Go into. When you're in the saddle. Once you got in the sa.

[Monica Padman]

Look, we can all relate to that. Sometimes it takes a second.

[Levi]

I'm sorry it was cold.

[Monica Padman]

I'm sure it was amazing.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a desert. It's a hostile environment. All right, well, good luck with everything. It was lovely meeting you.

[Levi]

You too. You too.

[Dax Shepard]

I sure hope there weren't any mistakes in that episode, but we'll find out when my mom, Mrs. Monica, comes in and tells us what was wrong. We were sent this. Oh, and it's a super cute a. These are chocolate covered Oreo. Oh, there's.

[Monica Padman]

That's so cute.

[Dax Shepard]

The Lincoln peeling out on a s'. More.

[Levi]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Utopia sweets. And here's one. Monica, can you see? You can't see either.

[Monica Padman]

I definitely can't see.

[Dax Shepard]

This is you and I holding microphones somewhere. Getting. There you go. Rice Krispy treat.

[Monica Padman]

We're at a restaurant. We won a real award, and we were accepting it and we were answering questions.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, look at this one. This is us back in the saddle upstairs. Good catch.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, this is good old. No, this is the good old Days from upstairs. Wow. Cute. Very cute. Thank you. Utopia. Sweet.

[Levi]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

It's so adorable. Look at this guy. That's really cute. Can you can't see that?

[Monica Padman]

I can see it's a chair.

[Dax Shepard]

Think it's a microphone. Here you go. Catch. 1, 2, 3. Another great catch.

[Monica Padman]

I'm so good at catching.

[Dax Shepard]

Ding, ding, ding. I saw some video where they were saying, for your brain, a good exercise is this trainer makes the people bounce a ball off a wall, but with one eye. Covered with an eye patch.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, never.

[Dax Shepard]

And I mean, this is now a brag. I didn't see it going this way, but I was like, oh, I gotta start doing that. I want to make sure both sides of my brain are working.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So I brought two eye patches up to the gym today, and I order white tennis balls so they wouldn't leave a mark on the wall.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, smart.

[Dax Shepard]

It wasn't.

[Monica Padman]

It wasn't hard, really.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know if that's a good. That must be a good sign. It must be doing something else because the person that was being trained was like, they had to get there.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Once your one eye is covered. But it went really.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. But this is tricky because, like, okay, you might just not be good at catching a ball even with two eyes open.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, again, you could set your baseline with your eyes. Both eyes. Can I do this a lot? Can I do four? And they throw with one hand, catch with the other, back and forth. That would give you a sense of how good you are.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

But let's say you could do it six times in a row with your eyes, both eyes. And then you. You couldn't do it with one eye.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know. I'm into shutting one eye down.

[Monica Padman]

Great.

[Dax Shepard]

I think that's crazy. Update.

[Monica Padman]

What?

[Dax Shepard]

I had it again last night. So I was like, I think you're sick. No, it's not that. Because it was so specific.

[Monica Padman]

Really?

[Dax Shepard]

And then I reverse engineered.

[Monica Padman]

We're talking about Hannes.

[Dax Shepard]

People are going to love this. People who hate peptides are going to.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, no. Hold on. Let's go back in time. Let's tell people what happened.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. We went to a screening of a movie. The three of us.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And Rob and I ate popcorn. And then I also. You described the Milk Duds I ate.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. So, yeah, we went to a cool screening where there's, like, treats. Not like these treats. Worst treats.

[Dax Shepard]

None of us. No pictures of us on any of it.

[Monica Padman]

And Dax likes Milk Duds in his popcorn. And they had Milk Duds and It was like, are you gonna get Milk Duds? I just might get Milk Duds today. How exciting.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm gonna be naughty. I said, yeah, me naughty.

[Monica Padman]

And then he opens the Milk Duds, plural, and turns out it's just one enormous Milk Dud, congealed together, but with like a dust on it. Like, this has been there since when

[Dax Shepard]

chocolate gets really old, you know, it

[Monica Padman]

gets that dust, but it congealed. And I have to. Because you got to brag a second ago. I want to brag right now. Okay. You started to pull one off and put it in your mouth and the restraint.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, good job.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you. I wasn't even going to tell you.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great.

[Monica Padman]

Here we are. Yeah, yeah. Where I wanted to say, no, do not eat that. Please don't eat that.

[Dax Shepard]

This is clearly very old or has been through some weird heat cycle minimally.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

And I just want for the listener to know if the box of Milk duds is like 6 inches long. The congealed mass was only like 3 inches. Like, it was only. Maybe it was a small brick, maybe even a third of the box. And it was a brick, but I could see fissures in there where the old duds had formed. So I broke one off.

[Monica Padman]

And you ate it?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I did have very few. I think I probably had like seven.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Just enough to give me that little sugar pop to make the popcorn even better. So it was a great movie. We loved it. You'll hear about it. I mean, really great movie. I loved it. And then got home, did my nighttime routine, which involves Peptides. And now here's something I kind of just ignored in my analysis. So, yeah, when I came in yesterday, I had to report to Rob and Monica that at about 2am I woke up and was like, oh, my God, I gotta go to the bathroom right now. I never have to go number two in the middle of the night, ever. That's not my. Yeah, and then when I did do that, it was an event.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And then there were a few events and it was. It was miserable. So I came in and I admitted to you guys. Well, first I said, rob, did you get sick? He said, no. So I said it wasn't the popcorn. I was convinced it was the popcorn.

[Monica Padman]

I know. When you said that, I was like,

[Dax Shepard]

oh, it's like a communal handle and communal everything.

[Monica Padman]

It's just like.

[Dax Shepard]

It's so simple, though. It's popcorn and oil. I know, but it's. It's the handle. It's like peanuts on a bottle bar. It's like you're handling this, handle that. Everyone's dipping their hand and they don't clean the inside of that.

[Monica Padman]

All right, okay.

[Dax Shepard]

It was just so we all said, it's the milk.

[Monica Padman]

It's obviously the brick you ate. Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And it made total sense. And I was like, yeah, that's it. So then last night I do my peptides again. And now when I'm laying in bed, I'm having, like, an excessive amount of saliva and it's like driving me nuts because I'm trying to fall asleep. And when I was experiencing that, I did. Did go, oh, yeah, I had this last night when I went to bed, right?

[Monica Padman]

I did.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm like, what's going on? I'm allergic to something I'm doing. Fall asleep fucking 1am I gotta run over to the commode. And I do repeat the whole experience. And now I go, and you didn't

[Monica Padman]

have this issue at all during the day yesterday.

[Dax Shepard]

So it's 100% either the barrage of vitamins I took intake at night or one of my peptides.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And here's my deduction. It's easy to make the case for the pills because I'm doing omega 3 fish oil. And then I'm like, oh, has some of these fish oil pills gone bad? That kind of makes sense. But then I'm like, but that's a really quick reaction. So then I go, oh, I started a new vial of a pack peptide on Monday night.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, well.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'm like, that's what it is. There's something in that one vial.

[Monica Padman]

But it's one you've been on for a while, though.

[Dax Shepard]

Peptide I've used from my doctor for a long, long time. So it's not the peptide. Just, you know, there's. You go through a bunch of vi. I was saying this morning to Chris, it's like, you eat enough lettuce, you're going to get listeria on some of the lettuce. It's just like a number.

[Monica Padman]

You just gotta wash it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But bacon, you know, anything you eat, you're gonna like. It happens.

[Monica Padman]

Okay?

[Dax Shepard]

So that's most certainly what it is. So I guess tonight will be the trial. I will take all my pills, but I will not touch the other thing and then see if I have any issues. So it's that now the problem is there's two that I started.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, fuck.

[Dax Shepard]

So I threw them both away.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then we'll start off, start a new.

[Monica Padman]

Interesting. Yeah, I don't love the idea of peptides going rancid, you know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And I don't know that that would be happened. I don't think the peptide goes rancid. I think some contaminate was either on the rubber. You know, I don't know.

[Monica Padman]

You clean it.

[Dax Shepard]

I clean it. But it's a big chunk of rubber. You put a needle all the way through. I can't clean the inside of the rubber. I can't clean the underside of the rubber where it's inside the bottle. So just like when I got my shoulder surgery, they sterilized everything and also they left a bacteria in me that became a huge infection. Infection. So anyways, that'll make people happy that hate peptides.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Probably, I think.

[Monica Padman]

Wow. Okay. Well, now we have to apologize to the Milk Duds.

[Dax Shepard]

We do. I own this is like kind of my formal public amendment to Milk Dud.

[Monica Padman]

I. I guess that Milk Dud was not a dud like we thought. No, it was just fine.

[Dax Shepard]

I wish I still had that brick. I might get into it right now.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Oh, man.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So lots been going on at night.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that I felt. Well, hopefully tonight. New night.

[Dax Shepard]

New night. Fresh start. Fresh new day.

[Monica Padman]

Now if you have it tonight, we're gonna have to say it's the vitamins.

[Dax Shepard]

Correct.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And then the following night, I. What I don't believe is that I have a virus that only strikes at 1.

[Monica Padman]

I agree. 1:00am if you had had it all

[Dax Shepard]

day immediately after I take all this stuff.

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That doesn't make a ton of sense to me. And then I feel completely fine. And I don't have the saliva thing and I don't have anything.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Throughout the day.

[Monica Padman]

Interesting. Weird.

[Dax Shepard]

It's interesting.

[Monica Padman]

Speaking of that movie, which we're not going to talk about, but because we're going to talk about it later. I was saying this to you the other day, but I think it's worth putting out in the world. I just think there's something in the air right now, storytelling wise.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Marriage stories, okay. They're everywhere. It's in the zeitgeist. It's like all the things I'm consuming are about marriage. Drama, drama, beef, strangers. This book that I read that's like everyone's reading this movie we saw. It's. It's like people are really commenting on marriage right now.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It's interesting. I guess sometimes.

[Dax Shepard]

Mostly all negative. Is that.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I don't. I wouldn't say it's all negative. It's. It's just like examining the union, what it means to be married.

[Dax Shepard]

Huh. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I don't know, it's kind of wild out there.

[Dax Shepard]

What do you think is. What. What do you think set this ball exactly?

[Monica Padman]

Like what? I guess sometimes these things just happen. It's like when Armageddon and Deep Impact came out at the same time.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wyatt Earp and Tombstone.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I know what those are. So. So, yeah, I just. Because it's funny because the movie that we saw, I actually thought you. During the beginning, I was. He's. He doesn't like this.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, really?

[Monica Padman]

I thought you didn't like it because it was kind of at first, like kind of a negative portrait.

[Dax Shepard]

Starts with an Oscar Wilde quote, which is like, everyone deserves love. Something like that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. That's why you shouldn't.

[Dax Shepard]

That's why you should never get married or something like.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I'm not triggered by that. Like, if people hate marriage.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Or they had a bad marriage.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Again, probably because I don't have any insecurity on the topic. It's like, yeah, some people. Some people have terrible friendships. Some people have terrible parent, child relationships. Some people have terrible marriages. We have terrible boyfriend, girlfriend situations.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That's par for the course.

[Monica Padman]

I know. I just. Because the portrayal was pretty like, e. Like, at first, and I thought you were thinking that, oh, this like, isn't a good portrayal of marriage. But then you loved it, so then that was interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I mean, what's kind of inherent is story is driven by conflict. There is no version of a story of a happy marriage. That story can't really be told. There's nothing there. You can tell the story of two people falling in love, then being challenged, and then the end is marriage. Or you can tell the story of a marriage dissolving, but you know, a movie about a good job, it's not a movie. You need Devil Wears Prada. You need conflicts. So you're never gonna get. Get.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

The other version portrayed, there's always going to be conflict.

[Monica Padman]

But like, rom coms historically end happily, you know, marriage.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. But the marriage is the end.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

You're not. And you never live in the marriage.

[Monica Padman]

You.

[Dax Shepard]

You live in the story part, which is like getting to marriage.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Great.

[Dax Shepard]

Marriage can be in the background and it can be portrayed as very happy and nourishing.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But it can't be the storyline unless something happens to it. So my assumption is anyone who's going to tell a marriage story, it's going to be one filled with conflict.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Or it's going to be boring as hell.

[Monica Padman]

Right. It's just, it's very, it's, it's, it's in the ether. And as someone not married, I find it kind of fascinating that all of a sudden all these stories are popping up all at once.

[Dax Shepard]

Does it feel like confirmation to you? Like, oh, I wouldn't want to do that.

[Monica Padman]

No, it doesn't. It doesn't feel like, oh, I dodged a bullet or something at all. I can see why that some people would take that away from some of these things.

[Dax Shepard]

Absolutely. I think if you've decided you don't want to get married, any, any portrayal of it being terrible is confirmation for why you don't want to get married.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

I also am interesting. Like, I don't give a fuck who gets married. I think, you know, like, a lot of different countries have transitioned still into lifetime pair bonding, but not the title married. Now there is a reality, there's a statistical reality to the outcomes of being married, which are also very true and kind of undeniable. Like these bizar health ones, you know?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Like I just read one like, the cancer rate for unmarried people versus married is dramatically different and it's even higher for women.

[Monica Padman]

I wonder if that has. But I wonder if pair. Like if that's in the United States, because most people who are partnered for a long time get married. Like the majority. Sure. So I wonder if in these other countries where they don't. What the stats would.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I imagine they need a category on these searches. Surveys that are like long term pair bond.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

What are their health outcomes? But I think, like, look, we have, you know, Vivek Murthy. There's so much great data about just being communal.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah. Loneliness is the diest death.

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It's worse than smoking cigarettes. So it's like, okay, so that's. We don't know what that mechanism is, but we also can't deny.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

The really stark data. And then the marriage thing. I don't know. Like you. I think you'd be inclined to go like, oh. Because you tell each other to go to the hospital. And I think that's a component of it. And you have another outside observer that might notice that your energy level's been low for three weeks when you're. It didn't even occur to you. So you have a co pilot. But that's the mechanical, tangible part that I definitely think is part of it. But also there's another thing. We don't even know what it is.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I think I know what it is, I think if you are happy, happy, then you care about your health. So like, if you're happy and you're noticing, like, ah, like I'm really tired, you're incentivized to go get that figured out.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Because you want to live, you want to return to. Yes, exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

You notice when you're not happy.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, exactly. But I, you know, I think, I think loneliness can be, can be handled in a lot of ways, you know,

[Dax Shepard]

But I also think, like, people can find purpose in it as well.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And that's like a huge driver of your life.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And you can certainly find purpose in other things. But that's one sitting on the table in that situation.

[Monica Padman]

100. Yes. I mean, look on it on a very, just very fundamental level. Of course I've thought. Okay, so last night, we won't talk about it because I know everyone hates dreams, but I just had like a series of horrible dreams.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Throughout the entire night.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And I just like kept waking up after them and being like, oh, it's like still night. Like, I. This is horrible.

[Dax Shepard]

I have those night.

[Monica Padman]

It's so bad. And I have this weird thing happens to me sometimes where. Tell me if you've experienced this or if the audience has, they can comment. I won't read it. Where I'm like stuck in this pattern in a dream. So like. And then I'll wake up from the dream, but I'll still be in the dream and I'm. But I've like, woken up and then the whole thing happens again. But I think I've woken up.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And it's weird because when I lived in the apartment and this would happen, the, the dream, the being stuck was about my house.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Like, I would wake up in my house and then things would happen and then. But I. And I'd be like, no, I think this is a dream. Like, I got to wake up.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And then I would wake up and I'm still in that house.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And it's this bizarre thing that just keeps happening until I finally actually wake up.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

But my dream last night was that. But it was in my apartment.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, geez. Okay, now we're going.

[Monica Padman]

It was so weird, but it kept happening over and over and over again. And it's like horrifying because you, you think you're awake and you're not. Yeah. And I don't know what it is. And so I did wake up and think, I wonder what's happening with my body and, or my voice or anything during These things. Like, I wonder if I'm doing anything in real life.

[Dax Shepard]

In real life, someone's observing you in your bed. Are you talking? Are you.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. Or if, like something was happening, could I be woken up? And I was like, well, I won't ever. I. For now, I won't know that because no one shares a bed with me.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

And that's like an example. Even with the epilepsy, like the first seizure.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I didn't know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Your back hurt.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And I'm. And yeah, everything hurt, but, like, no one saw. So even those things.

[Dax Shepard]

Because.

[Monica Padman]

Because when I was at a hotel with Member, I was at a hotel with Cali and she said that you called someone a stupid bitch in the middle of the night. It's like, oh, my God, how often am I doing that?

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Monica Padman]

There's just moments. I mean, I think there's moments for both. I think when you're married, there's moments where you want to be not married and when you're single, there's moments you want to be married. It's a give and take.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare. The problem with our current culture is things can be in the zeitgeist so much easier. So it's like you read that book. I don't know. You ordered that book. There's a paper trail on the Internet of you having ordered that book. People buy that information. Then you see a post that's this. And now, now it's feeding you everything that's about marriage right now. And then it has the illusion that everyone's talking about it or making art about it. But it's like also you're missing all this other stuff. Stuff. This is for everyone. Like all of our.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Interests are driven to us.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. This feels a little different because it's

[Dax Shepard]

like, it feels objective. Right?

[Monica Padman]

Well, no, it's just there are a lot of movies and shows right now that are about it. Even DTF St. Louis, I would say, is. Is a relationship.

[Dax Shepard]

But then there's also some 60 year old woman right now that is like she's being fed the four different projects that are about child trafficking.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And for her, it feels like child trafficking's the biggest thing. I'm really noticing it because my mom's here and I'm really, really learning how much she's on her phone following Lynx on this trip. The amount of stuff that she knows about that's going on in the government.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's an older person. I think there's. I think moms and dads, they're doing it.

[Dax Shepard]

We keep talking about the youth and I don't know that that's the right focus. We live in an era where you can fill your entire day. There's like one thing that comes out about the courts. Then there's a few things that are happening in Congress, then the Senate, then the president's doing stuff. Then there's the DEA and the ice. And there. It's just like never in history have people been receiving more updates on what's happening with the government. And I think, although it's bad, but the onslaught of knowing of every little thing that everything a congressman said to congressman in a hallway.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Is at your disposal.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's just I. It's a lot, man.

[Monica Padman]

But I do think, yeah, the older people. Well, also, you're retired. Like, what else? Like, if you don't have a job to go to all day long and kids to take care of or whatever, like, you may not have as much of a social life the older you get. Like. Yeah, it's there.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a very convenient, easy source. Yes. Of engagement.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

But I think it gets you. I mean, I know.

[Monica Padman]

Well. Yeah. It gets everyone riled up.

[Dax Shepard]

Profiting on.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Your outrage. The. The impact it has on your emotions.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I just think you're turning over a ton of your emotional agency.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, definitely.

[Dax Shepard]

Really.

[Monica Padman]

But I just do think. I just wonder if there's any changing people once they hit a certain age.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It's just hard for me to accept. In the same way, if I was watching my children go down a rabbit. Rabbit hole, I would feel very inclined to somehow try to intervene.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I hold as a family member. And I was really realizing this this week. You have a very unique role in that. You really do tell each other the truth. There's no protecting of the relationship in the way an interpersonal friendship. There's boundaries and there's a lot of shit's none of your business. And you gotta let people be who they are. But your family will tell you. Your family. Family. My mama just, you know, she's here and she's looking at me. Your hair is getting so curly in back. I would have never thought it was curly. I never thought it would have gone curly. It was so straight. When your kid, you know. And then it's on to the next thing and she's just scanning.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I know. They love to scan. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And that's what family members do.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And of course, I'm reading so much sedaris and so I'm hearing how they talk to each other. And so it's a gift in a lot of ways because they're just telling you the, like, wow, I've noticed you're this way now, which is different from how I've known you to be. Right or wrong. Wrong. Maybe that's a good change or.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But we'll. Family members tell each other.

[Monica Padman]

I know. I tell each. I tell people. Sometimes it gets me in trouble.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It doesn't really go well with friends.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I guess depends on the friendship and the closeness and the trust.

[Dax Shepard]

But like, your parent will go, you're gaining. You gain weight.

[Monica Padman]

Why do they do.

[Dax Shepard]

You've lost weight, you've gained weight. Right.

[Monica Padman]

Why are they always doing that? It's so. It is annoying.

[Dax Shepard]

It. Sure. But I also think it's an important mechanism in our life. Life. Because it's someone. It's not a yes man. It's not a friend.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, God, no.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And it's not bad to have some people in your life that are just like, hey, man, here's what I see. That's different.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I think it. Well, I definitely think it's not good to have, like, yes men. I. I very much believe that. But like, I don't know that anyone needs to just be anyone, whether it's your family or not, needs to be like, oh, like, what's on your. Like, you. What you. So you got a little, like, wrinkles now here. Like, it's like, no, I don't like. It does not. You can keep your mouth shut about that.

[Dax Shepard]

The little wrinkles here.

[Monica Padman]

Like.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. The physical.

[Monica Padman]

Like, I'm noticing your chin.

[Dax Shepard]

The physical narration. I don't know is helpful because what. What can you do exactly. Big shifts in personality or. I know you. I notice you're sad lately more than you have been. Like, that's what family will tell you.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And friends don't always do that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I think they should, though.

[Dax Shepard]

So it has an enormous value. Right, I think.

[Monica Padman]

Well, sure. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Even though it's. It's uncomfortable.

[Monica Padman]

But we've talked about this before. It's like telling people they shouldn't do something. Your family or not, it doesn't work. Like, if it's like. Well, we. We even just had someone on and we were talking about. And it's coming up so we won't spoil it. But a kid who got himself into a very bad situation and the parents were, like, noticing, but they can't be like, hey, don't do that. Because that Just makes the kid be like you.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, they were. They hadn't thrown up their arms in the air either. They were trying to ride the line.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

And they knew more than anyone that he had changed.

[Monica Padman]

Well, of course. But the point is just saying, like, hey, what you're doing is wrong, or this is bad, just straight up calling something out like that might not be the best approach. Always. And in fact, like, doesn't work.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Which is interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

There's times it's bad and times it's good.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And certainly I have heard when my parents have made observations about me and I have had to think about it one way or another, I might conclude I don't agree with them or there's no value to what they're saying.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But it forced me to take a minute to do a little inventory and examine if there's any merit to what they're saying.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And most friends aren't even going to say the thing that would get me thinking that they should.

[Monica Padman]

Not you in general.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

There's a tactful way to do it. There's a kind way to tell people, like, I'm noticing this about you. I'm concerned. Yeah. I love you. So that's why I'm saying it. Like, I think that's again, maybe because, like, I. I invest a lot in friendship that is like, extremely important to me to be able to do and to receive it. And again, like you said, like, sometimes I'm like, well, I disagree. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It goes right and it goes wrong. I'm just like, assist. Sisters will look at each other and go, holy. You should never get bangs again. It looks like right now. No friend.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Levi]

Ye.

[Dax Shepard]

But your sister's gonna just tell you the goddamn truth.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

About that. And so that might be. You might go like, you know.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah. My brother's coming.

[Dax Shepard]

What the fuck are you thinking with blank? Like, just. Siblings do that to each other.

[Levi]

Sure.

[Monica Padman]

They do.

[Levi]

They do.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. My brother's coming to visit tomorrow.

[Dax Shepard]

Tomorrow. Fun. I'm excited with his lady.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, lovely. I know. I'm really excited.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you planned a bunch of things?

[Monica Padman]

No, everyone keeps asking me that. And then I say, no, know. And everyone's like, you know, doing this side eye.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I think that's fine. I. I just. I'm going to Nashville.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

To have a guys trip with Aaron. Aaron and Aaron.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, nice.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And so I've planned a bunch of stuff that we may or may not do. Right.

[Monica Padman]

I normally am such a planner.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. We got a horse. I've I've scheduled us for horseback riding.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Simply because none of us would want to do that. And I think it'll be so funny. There'll be something so funny about us all doing something that we don'.

[Monica Padman]

Want to do. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And also, Aaron went horseback riding over spring break in Kentucky, and he liked it.

[Monica Padman]

Did you? So there's an untold. I watched yesterday about a horseback rider.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, the one that just came out. Yeah, that for the plane. I love Untold.

[Monica Padman]

It's a great.

[Dax Shepard]

All blessings untold. They do such a good job.

[Monica Padman]

They really do. But, yeah, it made me. I'm like, hor. Okay. People are going to be mad at me for saying this, but, like, the horse world is.

[Dax Shepard]

It's an interesting world.

[Monica Padman]

Specific.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You've not watched the chess. You must watch the chess.

[Monica Padman]

I'm going to. I'm going to. I love that.

[Dax Shepard]

I love chess.

[Monica Padman]

I love not knowing how to play. I do want to learn how to play chess. I want someone to teach me.

[Dax Shepard]

The only bummer with chess is, unlike most other games, where at least minimally, for your ego, you can go, I got bad cards or I got a bad tile deck.

[Monica Padman]

Like, sometimes it's just luck.

[Dax Shepard]

It is a battle of your brain. Yeah. And when you lose, you're like, oh, I'm dumber than this. It's hard. You don't go like, oh, Experience has a lot to do with this game.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

But I used. I had a spell, and it was one of my favorite zones of life. Me and my friend Karim, who's not with us anymore, we used to play chess, listen to Fiona Apple, and drink fun.

[Monica Padman]

Can you drink while playing? Because don't you have to think a lot?

[Dax Shepard]

You're probably not getting better at the game, but.

[Monica Padman]

Probably.

[Dax Shepard]

He didn't drink as much as I did, but I think he did other things that I wasn't doing. Point is, it was so lovely and we were so beautifully matched that it went back and forth like no one left, going like, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Every time.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's what you're. You're hoping for a partner that's like, once in a while, you're winning. Yeah. I mean, you got it. You're supposed to play with someone better

[Monica Padman]

than you if you want to get better.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

But if you want to have fun in this life.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Okay. Let's do a little facties. Okay. This is for Levy. I'm very impressed by classical musicians.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I really am.

[Dax Shepard]

It's interesting.

[Monica Padman]

I wish I was One.

[Dax Shepard]

I can see what. That you would be impressed by them.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I think discipline is.

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You love.

[Monica Padman]

Well, it's hard.

[Dax Shepard]

The gymnasts.

[Monica Padman]

I'm impressed by Venture. That have a level of talent, obviously. But what separates the good from the best are. Is discipline.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I'm. I love that.

[Dax Shepard]

I know. Yeah. A lot of people do. A lot of people do.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. When I look at. Oh. I can't even really say my opinion of all of it. It kind of came out in the interview, but it's like.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

The whole goal is to ultimately play this thing like a computer. Like, play every single note perfectly on perfect pitch. There's a math to it. The music already exists. You're not. So that to me versus jazz improv.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

To me is one's like, wow, this is great. This parallels so many of our debates. It's like Neil Patrick Harris that he would watch a woodworking video on YouTube and replicate the steps. And you were like, yes, that's great.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I was like, why even woodwork if you're not.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Being creative.

[Monica Padman]

What are you saying?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. And then the reward of figuring it out for me without instruction. So wonderful.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But, yeah, the notion that, like, you're going to replicate something perfectly is the goal.

[Monica Padman]

Well, here's. Okay. I have a little bit of a. Of a difference.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

I think that, like, I like being taught. I like knowing the role rules. I like knowing how to execute. I want to be perfect, but I also want all of that so that I can't we. You can.

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

You can play a little on top of it. You can be a little, like, fun and playful on top of, like, the bedrock of perfection.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Like the. The classic, like, jazz, to me is that they still know, like, they know music and in and out and then.

[Dax Shepard]

But they could never play in a symphony orchestra.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, as great as Coltrane is. Was. I don't know that he can be first chair in the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the saxophone.

[Monica Padman]

That's true. Probably. Maybe not. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't think one's right or wrong. I just think it's funny which one you're drawn to. And for me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I can't imagine being proud of myself that I replicated something through lots of rote and that in its best version, I played as good as this version. Violinists from the 1960s, everyone thought was perfect versus I'm Bob Dylan. I kind of sound like. But I like, push an entire genre somewhere.

[Monica Padman]

Right. I don't know. I guess. Yeah. Different. But I Don't think I'm trying to replicate anything. But I am trying to be good.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

At what I'm doing. Like. Like objectively good.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

And subjectively good. I want it all.

[Dax Shepard]

You want it all. Don't we all?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Okay. What are the levels of weather warnings? Red is the highest alert level synonyms. Extreme danger warning, signaling imminent risk to life and widespread damage. Orange is the second level synonyms. Severe preparedness watch, indicating severe weather that may cause significant localized damage. Looks like there's a yellow as well. Moderate localized. Schmidt.

[Dax Shepard]

Short term good look for those colors. I'm not even aware of this system. I've never seen the weather.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, we live in la, but even in Michigan, I don't remember them saying, like, there's an orange warning for a blizzard.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, well, this is in Iceland.

[Dax Shepard]

It's only in Iceland.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I don't know. It might be other places, too.

[Dax Shepard]

But all that weather talk gave me a moment to really take in all the many things that are on your sweater. And it's a real hodgepodge. It totally works. But it's like, I. I'm looking first, I see the deer in the corner. I'm like, oh, this is kind of an autumnal deal. But then I see what looks like a snowflake. But then I realize, no, that's like a spring tree. And then there's some flowers. It's really anything the artist. There's a sheep. It's pretty gorgeous. I really like that story. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

But it's a real hodgepodge of different images.

[Monica Padman]

What do we think is this.

[Dax Shepard]

This one is a javelina.

[Monica Padman]

What's that?

[Dax Shepard]

A wild pig?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, I think, technically.

[Dax Shepard]

Or a Pumbaa, the warthog. It also looks like a warthog a

[Monica Padman]

little bit, I think, technically, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

What's the theme there?

[Monica Padman]

These are like biblical images.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, biblical. Okay. This is part of your conversion?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I just. I'm trying to just sneak it in. No, I just loved the sweater. But I think. Think it's like biblical Animals.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

I guess Animals. I guess.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Don't get me started on Noah's Ark. I want that to be real, in a sense, but I want there to also be a Discovery documentary about what absolute pandemonium and chaos there was.

[Monica Padman]

Oh. What it would be. Yeah, I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Animal World.

[Monica Padman]

I know, I know. But you know what?

[Dax Shepard]

And then the genetic diversity. I don't know where the genetic diversity he came from.

[Monica Padman]

From the animals.

[Dax Shepard]

If there's only two, where's all this?

[Monica Padman]

Well, they're mixing and matching.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, Jesus. Interspecies.

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

In the bird. Why'd this bird stay put?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, like feed on the boat. Maybe they flew above.

[Dax Shepard]

So just the boat was cruising. It's just like every known bird was hovering above.

[Monica Padman]

Listen.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. And these birds that have to live.

[Monica Padman]

No, maybe not every. No, maybe all the birds weren't invented.

[Dax Shepard]

Bold. Of all the stories. And I understand they're all allegory or whatnot. They're parables. And they're right.

[Monica Padman]

They're like, too hard about it.

[Dax Shepard]

But it's a bold one to even pitch. It's like, go with me on this allegory.

[Monica Padman]

Why'd they pick two?

[Dax Shepard]

So they could reproduce. They needed a male and female. The whole goal was to repopulate the planet after God murdered every single person on the planet other than.

[Monica Padman]

And Adam and. No, Noah.

[Dax Shepard]

Noah and his bride and his kids.

[Monica Padman]

Who's Noah's bride?

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know. But also, we're all destined descendants of just Noah. Incest. Because only their kids were here.

[Monica Padman]

Even though that doesn't even make sense because they're supposed to be. There are so many.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm just saying it's a tough one.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Noah's wife from the Bible apparently doesn't get a name.

[Levi]

She's just been referred to as Noah's wife.

[Dax Shepard]

Women are useless.

[Monica Padman]

Our mom doesn't even have a name.

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Monica Padman]

Jesus Christ. They identify her as Naama or Emzara.

[Dax Shepard]

And how many kids did they have? I want to know how many of these kids were making love to reproduce the whole planet. I think every modern Christian would go like, hey, man, it's not three sons. Three. Oh, fuck. So they all had sex with the mom. Where did the fucking kids come from? I don't think.

[Monica Padman]

I don't think. I think there were some other people. Like Moses.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no, that's before.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. So this. This was explained to me. The humans were having sex with the angels and they were creating fucked up creatures. And so God had to flood the entire planet and kill every single person and animal other than what was on Noah's ark.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, okay, okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And then those remaining animals repopulated the planet we now live on. All right, so either Noah and the wife had many more kids after the waters subsided and those kids had sex, or the three sons had sex with the mom.

[Levi]

The three sons had their wives, apparently.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, they had their wives. Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Where did the wives come from?

[Dax Shepard]

They were invited.

[Monica Padman]

They were adults.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. They were allowed to come to sons.

[Monica Padman]

So Noah's A grand.

[Dax Shepard]

Noah was tasked with believe in me. Start building this ark. I'm going to flood it. Everyone's like, you're crazy. Get all the animals. Good luck. He gathered them all. People thought he was crazy. No, the flood came and it killed everybody except for the people he had on the boat. So apparently his sons had wives. That helps with the genetic. Genetic diversity, yes. So I guess just cousins were making love in the second round.

[Monica Padman]

Year long catastrophic deluge sent by God to destroy humanity. Due to widespread wickedness. Only Noah, his family and pairs of every animal species survived on a large ark. It is considered a global event but by believers and is historically linked to regional Mesopotamia in floods. Who are.

[Dax Shepard]

That's why that's a terrible. Noah's son's wives, the Tigris and Euphrates constantly flooded. That's why it was a really relevant story.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, eight people survived the flood.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so we're all the product of eight.

[Monica Padman]

We have the three sons. We've got the wife of them, that's six. And then I guess no. And the mom.

[Dax Shepard]

I guess the cousins took care of the rest.

[Monica Padman]

I want to learn more about the wives.

[Dax Shepard]

Me too. I bet they were hot.

[Monica Padman]

I'm not so sure. Okay, okay. What's the average height of an Icelandic man? 5ft 11.7 inches.

[Dax Shepard]

Just shy of 6ft. What's the average height of an American

[Monica Padman]

man?

[Dax Shepard]

Udu. Indian.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. 5 foot 9 is American.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so they're 2 and a half inches taller on average.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Indian is going to be lower.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. 5, 5, 5, 5. So they're six and a half inches taller on average?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Than Indian.

[Monica Padman]

Let's do Chinese. 5, 6.8 taller than the Indians. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, that sounds right to you?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, probably.

[Dax Shepard]

What about Philippines? Filipinos. Just so Rob feels seen. 5, 4, 5, 4. That's lower. That's our lowest so far.

[Monica Padman]

Should I look up? What's the shortest national average for men?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Timor. Le. At least.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Island in the Pacific.

[Monica Padman]

And that's 5, 3, 5, 3.

[Levi]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Yemen is also low. Laos. Liber. Not low. Yeah. Liberia.

[Dax Shepard]

Let's do tallest.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Oh, I also typed in hortist instead of shortest.

[Dax Shepard]

Figure it knew though.

[Monica Padman]

So those are actually the horses. Yeah. Netherlands. 6ft.4 inches. Then we got Montenegro.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm still above the average in. In the Netherlands.

[Monica Padman]

Yep. Montenegro and Estonia also. Also topsies.

[Dax Shepard]

Stretch limos. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Now was Charlie Puth doing sound engineering at Berkeley? Production and engineering. Yes. Okay. Population of Iceland. 400. 2,000 to 400. 2,300.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a small city in the U.S.

[Monica Padman]

it's a small place. And then the Presidential Scholarship. U.S. presidential Scholars Program is a prestigious invitation only non monetary award recognizing up to 161Top graduating high school seniors annually for exceptional talent in academics, arts or technical education. I know someone who got one. It was a big deal. All right, well, that's it.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. You know, when I told Lincoln that I inter. I had a hunch she might like her.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

And she's like, oh, my God, I love her. She has an identical twin. And I'm like, I know. She came. She's like, she did?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And this was good sim, because the twin episode just came out.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Of Armchair Anonymous. So that was perfect.

[Dax Shepard]

Perfect timing as if we scripted it.

[Levi]

All right.

[Monica Padman]

Love you.

[Dax Shepard]

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