Luke Combs

Summary

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard – Luke Combs (August 18, 2025)

Episode Overview

In this lively and deeply personal episode, country superstar Luke Combs joins Dax Shepard and Monica Padman for a candid conversation about humility, success, mental health, and finding joy in life’s messiness. Fresh off a series of career highs, including his Grammy duet with Tracy Chapman and the announcement of his new single, “Back in the Saddle,” Combs discusses his North Carolina upbringing, his unvarnished view of country music stardom, and his lifelong battle with OCD. The episode explores how Combs remains grounded despite fame, how he pays it forward, and why authenticity is his guiding star.

---

Main Themes and Purpose

• Exploring Luke’s trajectory from small-town kid to country superstar
• Reflections on privilege, guilt, and gratitude amid success
• Candid discussion of intrusive thoughts and Pure O OCD
• Changing landscapes of country music, social media, and fan dynamics
• The importance of friendship, family, and giving back

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Luke’s “Bronco Raptor” Surprise (03:41 – 06:53)

• Story: Luke tells how Garth Brooks, after inviting him to sing at the Songwriters Hall of Fame, shockingly gifted him a Ford Bronco Raptor—a dream car, especially for a non-“supercar guy.”
  • Luke Combs (04:47): “To be honest… so I’m like, for what?”
  • Dax (04:50): “What do I have to do sexually for this?”
  • Insight: Combs’ gratitude and humility shine as he stresses how surreal and generous the gift was, despite barely knowing Garth personally.

2. North Carolina Roots and Humble Beginnings (07:06 – 14:06)

• Family: Maintenance-man father; HR-mom; moved from Huntersville to Asheville for opportunity. Family income: modest, with both parents working hard. Luke is an only child, but highly social.
  • Luke Combs (14:07): “No, I’m a friend’s guy. I’m in the mix.”
• Formative Experiences:
  • Combs’ high school had a strong arts focus; teachers pushed him to take music and performance seriously but never let him slack.
  • Reluctant to commit to music as a career early on due to realistic, blue-collar expectations.
  • “I just thought you had to kind of hate your job.” (Luke Combs, 23:44)
• Key Quote:
  • Dax (24:16): “No one got to fast pass like I got to.”
  • Luke Combs (24:54): “I feel the same way… they went to school for a decade. I got all this stuff from doing what I like to do. You feel real guilty about it.”

3. Navigating Success, Guilt, and Gratitude (24:10 – 27:28)

• Success vs. Hard Work: Both Dax and Luke express surprise and tension over achieving so much through their passions—contrasted with friends who worked traditional, “harder” jobs.
  • Luke Combs (26:18): “If I buy into it… then you feel like kind of a bad person.”
  • Monica Padman (27:08): “This concept of deserving is very silly. No one deserves anything... Just having gratitude.”
• Giving Back: Luke finds joy in gifting and helping others, tying his satisfaction to generosity rather than acquisition.

4. Early Music Hustle—From Bars to Facebook (27:53 – 38:14)

• College Years:
  • Attended Appalachian State; bouncer at college bar in Boone, NC.
  • First show at Parthenon Café; charged $1, drew 200 people—his “grand ole opry at the time.”
• Building Fan Base:
  • Nonstop local gigging—multiple shows weekly, expanding to other states, self-booking, driving in a Chevy Avalanche.
  • “We’re playing at minimum three shows a week, sometimes five.” (Luke, 37:24)
  • “Grimy good stuff” of independent career-building (Dax’s words, 38:30)
• Social Media Era:
  • Early Vine success, transitioned into modern TikTok, reflecting on the ways the digital age accelerates (and can hinder) artist growth.
  • "The moment is too big for you… It’s like having your first football game at the Super Bowl." (Luke, 39:13)

5. Changing Music Industry and Audience Expectations (40:35 – 43:20)

• Immediate Exposure and Backlash:
  • Discusses pressure for viral hits and the paradox of fans wanting “new music that they already have heard” (41:20).
  • Observes how rapid exposure often leads to equally swift backlash.
  • "People don’t respect you if they made you.” (Monica quoting J. Carmichael, 42:34)
• Radio vs. Streaming:
  • Terrestrial radio still powerful in country, but streaming dominates listening habits; fans favor familiarity over discovery.

6. Breaking the Mold in Country Music (44:23 – 46:56)

• Image & Acceptance:
  • Luke openly addresses not fitting the "hot country guy" image, giving credit to Chris Stapleton for “kicking the door open” for artists like him.
  • "He was already a god before he ever got discovered… you have to have that confidence, right?" (45:23)
• Mindset:
  • Luke (46:56): “I won’t be denied because I feel I have the ability. Like, okay, I can play in the league.”
  • Even after success, he measures accomplishment by his ability to simply “pay all my bills” doing what he loves.

7. The “Hurricane” Breakthrough (43:29 – 48:43)

• **Independently releases “Hurricane”; surprises industry with huge organic sales.
• “I thought that was normal… that’s how it happens for everybody.” (Luke, 43:54)
• **Record deal with Sony follows their initial pass (“The Nashville no”); debut album “This One’s For You” spends 44 weeks at #1.

8. Unlikely Superstar—Remaining Grounded

• On Instant Success:
  • Keeps focus on process, not outcomes—never took anything for granted even as singles kept going #1.
  • Still astounded and grateful: “19 or 20 now. I haven’t had one not go to #1.” (Luke, 49:18)

9. Covering “Fast Car” and the Tracy Chapman Moment (50:22 – 56:27)

• Cover’s Magic:
  • Selected “Fast Car” for recording on a whim, never expecting the massive audience response.
  • Candid about being “naive” to the gender perspective in the song.
  • “I was not like, ‘man, there’s gonna be a lot of eyes on this thing.’” (Luke, 50:45)
• Grammys Duet:
  • Shares backstory of duetting with Tracy Chapman—her mysterious reputation, the shock of her agreeing.
  • Rehearsals built confidence and allowed him to live fully in the moment: “It was just so surreal doing that song with her… I’ve been listening to that song since I was a kid.” (Luke, 55:32)
  • Dax marvels at Luke’s visible joy onstage: “I rewound it like four times… you look at her and I’m like, I think he’s present for this.” (Dax, 55:21)

10. Mental Health & Pure O OCD—An Uncommonly Candid Discussion (56:40 – 71:57)

• What is Pure O/OCD?
  • A form of OCD characterized by obsessive, distressing thoughts (“themes,” e.g., religion, violence, sexuality) but with mental, not outward, compulsions.
  • Luke details how exhausting rumination dominates attention and life.
    • “Imagine being in fight or flight mode 90% of the day.” (Luke, 71:57)
    • “My life revolves around preventing it… I mean, I don’t eat gluten anymore.” (Luke, 72:47)
  • Stresses therapy/CBT, self-education as vital coping tools.
  • Notable Honesty:
    • Q: Has OCD helped your music?
      Luke (71:03): “No, I don’t think it’s part of my success at all. If I just never had it, that would be awesome. There’s no good part.”
• Support & Stigma:
  • Encourages open conversation, acknowledges how rare it is for country stars to discuss mental health candidly.
  • Dax: "I think it's harder if you're a country star. Every actor we talk to... they've all been in therapy. But country? No one's going, 'I'm in therapy.'"

11. Luke's “Back in the Saddle” (73:26 – 73:58)

• Announces new single, inspired by wanting to reconnect with fans after a personal, family-focused year.

---

Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• Luke Combs on Garth Brooks' car gift:
  “He’s like, ‘No, man. Garth bought you this.’” (04:39)

• On family financial reality:
  “Between the two of them, they probably made $60,000 a year.” (09:09)

• On feeling undeserving:
  “You feel real guilty about it. There’s no sympathy for it, either.” (25:39)

• On mental health:
  “It’s like seeing a grizzly bear come out of the woods. But it’s in your mind.” (58:36)

• On the danger of reassurance:
  “The reassurance seeking… makes my brain pay more attention to it.” (59:50)

• On Pure O’s impact:
  “I would say definitely the course of my life kind of has been dictated by that at certain times.” (60:38)

• On whether OCD contributed to his success:
  “No, I don’t think it’s part of my success at all. If I just never had it, that would be awesome. There’s no good part.” (71:03)

• On the magic of duetting with Tracy Chapman:
  “It was just so surreal doing that song with her… I’ve been listening to that song since I was a kid. It’s one of the first songs I remember.” (55:32, 55:42)

• Monica on money and giving:
  “The only thing I feel, actually I can feel about money is when you give it away." (27:08)

• Luke on gratitude:
  “The only thing you can do, man, is try to give stuff to people who don’t have as much as you and just be thankful that you’re in the position you’re in.” (26:42)

---

Important Segments & Timestamps

• Garth Brooks’ Bronco Raptor story: 03:41–06:53
• Upbringing, family background: 07:06–14:06
• Guilt/Gratitude about success: 24:10–27:28
• Early gig grind in NC: 27:53–38:14
• Country music industry changes: 39:10–43:20
• Challenging “image norms” in country: 44:23–46:56
• Breakthrough with “Hurricane”: 43:29–48:43
• “Fast Car” cover and Chapman duet: 50:22–56:27
• In-depth on Pure O OCD and therapy: 56:40–71:57
• “Back in the Saddle” announcement: 73:26–73:58

---

Memorable Moments

• Luke’s awed humility at receiving a car from Garth
• Dax’s admission of “fast-pass guilt” for career success
• Monica and Luke agreeing that giving is the deepest joy of wealth
• Comic riff: Dax’s proposal to be Luke’s “vibe guy” on tour
• Luke’s visible, emotional reaction while recounting performing “Fast Car” with Tracy Chapman
• Luke’s uncommonly honest answer about OCD: he’d erase it if he could

---

Tone and Language

• Warm, self-effacing, funny, and direct; typical Armchair Expert camaraderie
• Luke’s humility, openness, and humor balance Dax and Monica’s curiosity and empathy
• Occasional playful roasts (esp. about country stars’ cars, or Dax’s obsession with acreage)
• No sugarcoating of mental health struggles; practical wisdom throughout

---

For New Listeners

If you’re curious about Luke Combs’ path, want an honest take on the weirdness of fame and fortune, or are seeking candid discussion about OCD, this episode delivers it all with heart and humor. Luke’s authenticity, gratitude, and self-awareness emerge as central themes—proving that even the biggest country stars wrestle with real, relatable messiness.

Transcript

[Dax Shepard]

Wondry subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondry plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dan Rather and I'm joined by Judas Prasner, our top reporter in Los Feliz, California. This was really fun. This was one of two interviews we got to do in Nashville in person in the aforementioned studio that Wobby Wob threw together in five seconds. Luke Combs. What a delight. This boy, I gotta call him a boy. He's so young.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, he's younger than me, so I get to call him a boy too.

[Dax Shepard]

I know he's younger than you and he has 600 acres.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. I feel good about my life.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Yeah, I know you have a great, great life. I'm just really impressed with his acreage. Luke Combs is an award winning country singer. Fathers and sons, getting old, growing up. What you see is what you get. This one's for you. And he has a new single out now called Back in the Saddle. Tasty song, tasty title. Please enjoy this sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet boy, Luke Combs. We are supported by the new movie from Searchlight Pictures, the Roses. All's fair When Love is War. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Andy Samberg, Allison Janney Shuti gatwa and Kate McKen, this star studded crowd pleasing comedy will resonate with anyone who's ever been in a relationship. So pretty much all of us. Perfect couple Ivy and Theo Rose have it all. Successful careers, a loving marriage and great kids. But when Theo's career comes crashing down, just as Ivy's fame starts to skyrocket, a tinderbox of fierce competition and growing resentment ignites, threatening to destroy everything they've built. That is, if they don't destroy each other. First. Directed by Jay Roach of Meet the Parents and written by Tony McNamara of Poor Things, this film is this summer's must see comedy. I love Tony McNamara. Poor Things was like my favorite.

[Monica Padman]

I can't wait to see this.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And Jay Roach is just a beast of a director. The Roses from Searchlight Pictures in theaters everywhere August 29th. Get tickets now. We are supported by JC Penney.

[Monica Padman]

Guys, do not sleep on JC Penney. They've got stylish clothes for everyone in your life. Yourself, obviously, your parents, your kids, your friend's new baby. There's something for every age, everybody and every budget.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, the budget part is huge because scoring a great deal is one of the last socially acceptable forms of bragging.

[Monica Padman]

So true. Why does it feel so good when someone gives you an outfit compliment and then you drop that you paid less than they think? It's just really satisfying.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And then you tell them where you got it. It's from J.C. penney. Yes. JCPenney. It's so good. I just got a second pair of Levi's that are just blowing my mind. They had a wash on there I couldn't find anywhere else. And boy, God, I look, I just. I'm approaching Beckham status with these slacks.

[Monica Padman]

Nice. So if you've been sleeping on JCPenney, wake up and check it out. They've got fashion worth bragging about.

[Dax Shepard]

And they've got a great reward system, too, that makes every shopping trip even more worth it. Shop jcpenny.com yes. JCPenney.

[Monica Padman]

He's an armchair. He's an.

[Luke Combs]

Dude. The story on that thing's crazy.

[Dax Shepard]

I want to hear it. All I care about is cars.

[Luke Combs]

I had one of the first edition Broncos. I had a Ford deal for a couple years. So when they came out with the Bronco, I asked him, I was like, man, I gotta get one of these.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Like, yeah, we'll get you first edition one. So I bought that. Already had it. And my manager bought one of those Bronco, like, Raptor ones. Like that one when it came out.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, sir.

[Luke Combs]

And it was that space blue or something. Ford color.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, space.

[Luke Combs]

So I'm like, this was last Christmas. My wife was out somewhere else feeding my son at the dinner table in our house. And I can, like, see our gate. And I was like, why is my manager pulling up and his Bronco? It's just the same as his, like, blue. The Raptor package. And he would, like, never show up at my house unannounced, you know?

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

So I was like, man, this is kind of weird that he would show up. I figured. I'm like, well, I guess he's giving me a Christmas present. Whatever. So he comes in, he's like, throws me the keys. I was like, are you giving me your car, dude? Like, what is this?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

He's like, no, man. Garth bought you this.

[Monica Padman]

Garth Brooks?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

And I was like, what?

[Dax Shepard]

Did you know him?

[Luke Combs]

Not really.

[Monica Padman]

Whoa.

[Luke Combs]

To be honest. And so I'm like, for what?

[Dax Shepard]

What do I have to do sexually for this?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

$90,000 card. What are we talking about? You know? So I guess it had made maybe a year and a half before that. He got inducted into the Songwriters hall of Fame. They did it at the Ryman, all these people came. He picked your favorite song that Garth has written. So not every Garth song. He didn't write all of them. So you had to pick one that he wrote. So his team asked me to come and be one of the people that sang a song at this thing. Mine was actually the Beaches of Cheyenne. It was a hit, but it wasn't like a super hit. And so he was like, yeah, this is for you. Coming and singing that one song at this. Really?

[Dax Shepard]

That's so classic.

[Monica Padman]

Did he give everyone who sang?

[Luke Combs]

Well, so here's the thing. I guess he had called my manager like the following week. You know, what is Luke like? And he was like, oh, he likes cars. He has a Bronco and he likes Fords and stuff. And he's like, well, I'm going to order him a Bronco Raptor. Well, I guess they were on hold or something. So it took like a year to get it in.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God.

[Luke Combs]

And so I didn't talk to him from that night until that thing showed up in my house. Obviously I called him and then I had it painted.

[Monica Padman]

Unbelievable.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, I have so many follow up questions. How many people came out to perform songs?

[Luke Combs]

I mean, had to be at least 8 to 10. I haven't heard of anyone else. I haven't asked.

[Monica Padman]

I like. I like keychains.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, like, be careful what you tell people you like. I like Arby's.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, I just tell people you like cars.

[Dax Shepard]

I like houses. Yeah, exactly.

[Monica Padman]

I like huge houses. It's weird. I'm really into them.

[Luke Combs]

I love planes. Planes are cool. You seen planes? G5, airplane. Those are so cool. Yeah, I love those.

[Monica Padman]

That's so generous.

[Luke Combs]

It was wild. I called him and I was like, hey, man, you didn't have to do this. I was like, man, it's Tuesday night and I was home. I drove 20 minutes and I was there for less than an hour. Dude. Like, yeah, but you could have went out and you could have booked your own show that night and made this much money or whatever.

[Dax Shepard]

And I was like, what a standup guy.

[Luke Combs]

I was just kind of floored by that, to be honest.

[Dax Shepard]

You must find out if he ended up buying like nine cars, we should.

[Luke Combs]

Definitely find out because I don't know.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so, Luke, there's a lot going on for you and I as I researched you today. Number one, first and foremost, and I have a long history, well documented. I have two favorite cities in America. Austin and Asheville.

[Luke Combs]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And so you're first brought home as a little baby To Huntersville. And that's a Charlotte suburb.

[Luke Combs]

Yes, just outside of Charlotte.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. And what did mom and dad do there?

[Luke Combs]

Dad was a maintenance man for First Union bank, no longer around. And mom was working HR at First Union at the time.

[Dax Shepard]

Did they meet at First Union?

[Luke Combs]

I don't believe so, actually. So mom was actually working at more their corporate office. So they weren't like working at branches. They were in the big skyscraper downtown. Like I had down the basement. Workshop maintenance man. And mom was out at their headquarters.

[Dax Shepard]

Quick question about dad. What's the most insane story he ever came home with? Like, someone put a boot in the toilet or did anyone fuck anything up in a massive way?

[Luke Combs]

Nothing much in Charlotte, because when we moved, I was like seven. So then we got to Asheville. He was maintenance for Centura Bank.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

He was employed by a company called CB Richard Ellis, which was an independent contractor. So he drove to all the small communities in western North Carolina that had branches of Centura. And he was like, the one guy that would go fix everything. So you go from Asheville and he'd drive two hours to Spruce Pine, fix the air conditioner or call the guy that fixes the air conditioner. 10 or 12 different cities that he would travel to every day, Pretty much.

[Dax Shepard]

So he can do everything is my assumption.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. For the most part, he had to subcontract out air conditioning stuff. He would come home and make keys and changing locks. It was all kind of stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

Because my best friend from childhood, he managed like 10 or 12 different places over the course of 10, 12 years. He started as a roofer, but by the time he finished that job, he did absolutely everything. Because he'd show up at these places and he'd just have to figure it out. Yep.

[Luke Combs]

It's just like. So I gotta drive three hours to fix this toilet. Nobody that works at the bank knows.

[Monica Padman]

How to uncle plunge a toilet.

[Luke Combs]

It's like, you know, it's that kind of stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

Did mom also get a job in Asheville?

[Luke Combs]

Yes, she stayed with First Union. She's transferred to Asheville. My dad came up. So mom actually took the transfer job, I believe. And then dad found his job once we got up there.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, then was she the breadwinner?

[Luke Combs]

I don't know that either of them really were. I would say, between the two of them, they probably made $60,000 a year.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. But you're born in 1990. Yeah. So I do think, increasingly you're three years older. Man, that's.

[Monica Padman]

So.

[Dax Shepard]

You're fucking way older.

[Monica Padman]

You gotta go this has been really.

[Dax Shepard]

Nice, but get in that souped up Raptor and get out of here. I didn't tell you, but I have a Raptor R, So.

[Luke Combs]

It's the F150.

[Dax Shepard]

It's F150. Yeah. But the R has the V8 instead of the V6 supercharged. It's heaven.

[Luke Combs]

That sounds awesome.

[Dax Shepard]

We got to get you in one of those. I'm gonna buy you one of those first. Your manager's gonna be rolling up again soon.

[Monica Padman]

You're just gonna collect so many cars.

[Luke Combs]

Well, it's funny, I wouldn't really consider myself a supercar guy.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I was gonna ask that.

[Luke Combs]

Really honest. That was a gift. Like something I never would have bought myself. I mean, the most expensive, expensive car I've ever bought myself is a Bugatti Veyron. No, it's like I've got a 1986 Toyota SR5. It was before it was the Tacoma.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

I've got one of those.

[Dax Shepard]

Because that was your high school truck.

[Luke Combs]

No, thought it looked sweet. It was like 12 grand.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

I got a 84 Chrysler LeBaron.

[Dax Shepard]

You might be the only person with weirder taste than me.

[Luke Combs]

Chrysler LeBaron.

[Dax Shepard]

All praise be to Chrysler. That is the shittiest car that's ever been made.

[Luke Combs]

My father in law put bullhorns on the front of it.

[Dax Shepard]

Perfect. Yeah, why not? It's a piece of do whatever you want.

[Luke Combs]

And it's clean. Dude, it had like 14,000 miles on it.

[Dax Shepard]

It did.

[Luke Combs]

The lady that lived in Palm Springs that owned it stayed in the garage. It's never rained. And she only drove it, like to church.

[Monica Padman]

If you are driving. Whatever. The thing you just said about no Keith Urban. Okay, I was going to ask.

[Luke Combs]

Keith Urban's the sports car guy.

[Dax Shepard]

He's who?

[Luke Combs]

I look up, he's rolling up in the Pagan. Oh, yeah, bro. He's. You never know what he's rolling.

[Dax Shepard]

You'll be at the.

[Luke Combs]

And it's like old Bronco. Old Bronco. Old F253 million dollar Pagani. New 250.

[Dax Shepard]

Are all y' all like. Yeah. Married to Hollywood.

[Luke Combs]

Oh, no.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I was. That's what I was gonna ask. Is it kind of like, oh, that's passing?

[Luke Combs]

No, dude, because Keith is the nicest guy on the planet.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

He's also Australian. That kind of gets him out of anything.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, dude, it's like so much cooler than anyone else too. Like, you see me like, that guy's cool, dude.

[Dax Shepard]

He's a sweetheart.

[Monica Padman]

But if it wasn't Him. If you're at a restaurant and you saw that parked. Does it read douchey Those types of cars.

[Luke Combs]

Nashville's such a quote unquote newer city for people with money. I think about the old country stars and the cars they had. It was Cadillacs. Have you seen the car in the hall of fame? Center console is a saddle and it's got. It's all covered in like silver dollars. The door handles on it. I think it might have been Webb Pierce's car. The door handles are cult revolvers. Oh, that are onto the frame, dude.

[Dax Shepard]

A million dollar Cadillac.

[Luke Combs]

That's the kind of stuff that was going on here. I just don't know that in Nashville that's ever been a thing. So it's hard to say the flex is your boss.

[Dax Shepard]

I think back then there's other ways to flex.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, it was. And then like guys that had a planes back then, I feel like was big. To me, owning the plane is the worst investment of all time. Yeah, it might as well just flush money down the toilet.

[Dax Shepard]

Exactly. In fact, I just read an article is like people who think they can be in the private flight business versus what amount of money you'd actually need really would make no difference. And it's in the hundreds of millions.

[Luke Combs]

Before it's like a non consequential amount of money. You have to be literally a billionaire to like really afford a plane.

[Dax Shepard]

When you look at your statement at the end of the month, you have to notice no movement after buying a $55 million.

[Luke Combs]

It can't be a percentage of your net worth.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right. You're savvy. You're only 35, but you're with it. You get it.

[Luke Combs]

Oh man. You know the bus is a lease. Like my bus is not. Not a big lavish. I've had the same bus for five years now.

[Dax Shepard]

Probably you have a hot tub in it. I heard that's pretty lavish. You also have a card room. I heard you have a full bar.

[Luke Combs]

I've got my bedroom in the back bathroom. And then I got bunks and that's really it, dude.

[Dax Shepard]

Who's in the bunks? Your boys?

[Luke Combs]

My assistant is my best friend from high school.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

So he lives here with his wife and kids and he comes on the road. That's him and my personal security guy who only ever comes out. We're on the road.

[Dax Shepard]

I would like to challenge that guy.

[Luke Combs]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Last man standing. Because you're a security. Because I can't play anything. But I do want to be on tour for a While. And I feel like if I could.

[Luke Combs]

Just come out, you know?

[Dax Shepard]

But I want to be in the bunk and I want to have a role, so I do want to be looking for snipers.

[Luke Combs]

You should be vibe guy.

[Dax Shepard]

Vibe guy?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. We don't have a vibe guy.

[Dax Shepard]

We just need to set the tone.

[Luke Combs]

No, just vibe guy.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

Like, you're around here. Like, man, this guy's chilling hard. I like this guy, right?

[Dax Shepard]

He's kind of angry in the hole.

[Luke Combs]

Like, maybe you're the tip of the spear if we have guests out. And like, dude, Dax Shepard's just chilling hard. Dude, this is going to be a fun time out here.

[Dax Shepard]

If that's a role, that's all I'm a thousand percent in. Yeah. Okay. Let's go back to Asheville. So, seven years old, you moved there. Do you have siblings?

[Luke Combs]

No. Only child.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, we don't get many.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, there's not a lot.

[Monica Padman]

I like that. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you do weird only child shit like my wife. Who. It's tricky.

[Monica Padman]

Don't say she's an only child.

[Dax Shepard]

I know. She'll kill me. She does have sisters, but she saw them on the weekends. You know, they were from her death. Dad's second marriage. She's a very only child. And our friend Eric, who's here right now, he's only child, too. Both of those two, they'll be like a party and they'll go upstairs and read a book and they don't even care.

[Luke Combs]

No, I'm a friend's guy.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

I'm in the mix. I feel like you can go kind of two ways on the only child thing, so I have a ton of friends. The only child thing was not like my parents wanted one kid. They were being financially responsible and they're like, we can only afford it, and.

[Dax Shepard]

Let'S be honest, we can't afford you.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

They were like, really?

[Luke Combs]

You're putting a bit of a strain on us as is. Yeah, I had a bunch of really, really close friends, man. I still.

[Dax Shepard]

So you were always a social kid and you got along with everybody for sure. So what was elementary and junior high like for you?

[Luke Combs]

If you came into the class, it would be like, least likely to succeed guy would have probably been me. Because you just been like, look at this guy. He's not going to do anything.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you said. I heard you on 60 Minutes saying you were lazy when you were younger.

[Luke Combs]

Oh, big time.

[Dax Shepard]

Big time. Yes.

[Luke Combs]

Massively lazy.

[Monica Padman]

And what do we think that's about?

[Luke Combs]

I don't know. To be honest. I think there's some innateness to it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Like, just.

[Monica Padman]

But obviously you're not.

[Luke Combs]

My business manager's a really close friend of mine, and he obviously wasn't before. He's my business manager. I didn't know him.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. If there's ever a role to assign to a friend from childhood, business.

[Luke Combs]

Business manager's not it.

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Luke Combs]

Lawyers, not it. No. No. Manager's not it.

[Dax Shepard]

Surgeon.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, it's not it. But we've gotten really close through the years and still sometimes fight feeling that way, you know? And he's like, it's insane that you still kind of feel like you're lazy, given what you've achieved. I'll rephrase it. Not that I feel like I'm lazy. And this is also going to sound insane. It's like I feel like I haven't done anything hard. Does that make sense?

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Monica Padman]

That's interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yep.

[Luke Combs]

Music is not hard to me to do. Like, it is not hard to go write songs and sing them and play shows. We're not busting up concrete here, dude. Like, what are we talking about? I mean, obviously I didn't finish college. I was semester and a half away from finishing that. I was like, wow, this is hard.

[Monica Padman]

Time out kind of thing.

[Luke Combs]

But I was also getting into music, so I was like, well, this seems to be working out good and I'm like, making more money. I was working two jobs. It's weird because working two jobs, that sucks. And being in college, I mean, obviously that's hard, but I didn't really enjoy it. So maybe I've just always chased enjoyment to some extent.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it sounds like maybe nothing turned you on. You weren't really on fire for anything. And then when you found the thing you were on fire for, you showed up and you did all the things you had to do. That's a very ADHD thing I've heard.

[Luke Combs]

I sang forever.

[Dax Shepard]

When is start?

[Luke Combs]

As soon as I could talk. You were just like a natural thing. I didn't know I was any good until probably high school.

[Dax Shepard]

Because you were in choir, you did the play at school and stuff?

[Luke Combs]

Yep, I did all those. I did four years of that.

[Dax Shepard]

And how big is the school in Asheville? Because it's a tiny town. I have some fantasy where going to school there might have been a little more peaceful than other places.

[Luke Combs]

It very much was. I remember when me and my wife got married and we didn't have any kids yet and we weren't expecting like. Like our kids go to public school and she was like, no. And I was like, what are you talking about? She went to private Catholic school. I'm like, why not? I'm like, public school rocks, dude. Like, there's all kind of different people.

[Dax Shepard]

You mean he learned to deal with every kind of person.

[Luke Combs]

I'm like, it's great. So the school I went to is a 4A school. My graduating class was 400, maybe.

[Dax Shepard]

Good size.

[Luke Combs]

Just a decent size.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

They might be 3A now, but at the time they were 4A.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know that terminology, do you?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Yes. My school is 5A.

[Luke Combs]

Where'd you go?

[Dax Shepard]

School.

[Monica Padman]

School. Georgia.

[Luke Combs]

Okay. Let's say North Carolina doesn't have any 5A's.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, really?

[Luke Combs]

What is 5A?

[Monica Padman]

It's basically like the size of the school.

[Luke Combs]

It's a classification so that believe now there's some 7A school.

[Monica Padman]

Really?

[Luke Combs]

In like Texas and Florida.

[Dax Shepard]

Whoa. Here's my question. Why do we need the A if A is consistent throughout all these? Why don't we just go a six A five A four? I don't know, three or seven?

[Monica Padman]

No. It probably means I don't know what it is. I might have to look it up for the fact check.

[Dax Shepard]

I know I sound like a real Yankee right now trying to figure this.

[Luke Combs]

Out, but that is the thing. So that's how they classify. Like, our school was a good football school. So it's like when you go to the playoffs, you only play other teams of that size.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

Other 4A teams or other 5A teams or other 3.

[Dax Shepard]

That makes sense of why.

[Luke Combs]

That's why.

[Monica Padman]

Actually, you're right. It's kind of based off.

[Luke Combs]

Basically based off of football. The 6A team's not going to play the 1A team for the state championship. Because it's not fair, dude. Because there's 400 kids in this school and there's 5,000 kids.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. One's a university. Yeah. Okay. So yours was a good size school.

[Luke Combs]

It was good size. And I didn't know this at the time, but we had state of the art performing arts center at my school too.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Which kind of makes sense for Asheville for people who've not been there. It's an incredibly artistic, hippie, like, little beautiful town.

[Luke Combs]

But art school was not in downtown. I'd say downtown is for sure that vibe. There's obviously a lot of outdoorsy, free spirit, people that flock to Subaru drivers. My mom had a Subaru. Subaru floating around. And my freshman year, man, they opened up a whole performing arts wing of our high school.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Luke Combs]

So My band teacher and my chorus teacher were married and they met in college or something, and so they taught there forever. They're retired now, but I'm still in touch with them. They come to at least a show a year. So he was my music theory teacher, the band director, my course teacher, and she was like my second mom at school. They forced me out of my laziness in my pursuit of music. They weren't like, oh, you're so good. They weren't those people.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Luke Combs]

They were like, hey, man, what are you doing? My senior year, I was like, I'm not gonna do the musical this year. If you wanted to be a quote unquote lead in the musical, Right. Like, there was aud auditions, obviously had to audition to be in the musical. You had some level of talent. But to do the acting, there was like these specialized auditions, and I'm like, that sounds like a whole thing. And I was like, I'm just not gonna do it this year. And they were like, okay, whatever, so just don't do it, you know? And I'm like, okay. Wasn't expecting that answer.

[Monica Padman]

Like, you know, you wanted them to fight for. Right? Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

So my first three years, we had a drama teacher that had been there for 25 or 30 years. In my senior year, we got a new drama teacher. Our former teacher retired. So we had this new woman who had come in kind of like fresh out of college gal. It was going to be her first play. And it came down to the day of auditions, and I went to my course teacher, and I was like, I think I screwed up by not wanting to do this, you know? And she was like, yeah, you're telling me too late now. I was like, what do you mean? Like, you're not going to let me try out? You know? She's like, it's not up to me, pal. You're going to have to go down and talk to the drama. She's like, I didn't know her at all, right? So she's like, you need to go down there and have a conversation with her. And then it's up to her. I'm not gonna call her and say, this guy needs to do it. Nothing. If she wants you to do it, you can do it. And if she doesn't want you to do it, too bad. You should have signed up. Thankfully, she let me do it. I ended up getting the lead role.

[Dax Shepard]

And people were, how'd the acting part go for you?

[Luke Combs]

You know, it's not my thing.

[Dax Shepard]

That's almost better in Some weird way if you're watching a musical and he's not very good as an actor for a while and you kind of like you've given up on him and then the song comes on, then he fucking blows your hair back and you're like, hold now. Might have been that fun experience.

[Luke Combs]

I still don't feel like I have much memory of doing like the lines thing. Like it would still give me as much anxiety now as it did then because I'm like, how am I ever going to remember all this stuff? Obviously I did it. There's a DVD of it somewhere at my parents house.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, thank Rob. Start the performance. Put it on.

[Luke Combs]

I'm glad they did that. They always push me to keep going with music.

[Dax Shepard]

But it doesn't sound like during any of this period you haven't set your sights on this at all.

[Luke Combs]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Because you go to college and you study business for a minute and then criminal justice. You want to be a homicide detector.

[Luke Combs]

I did. Yeah. Me and my dad always watched cops first 48. I was always just intrigued by it. I remember asking my course teacher, my last semester of high school, I was in chorus every day of high school. So a fourth of my entire high school career was spent in chorus class. So then my last semester, first period was chorus. Last period, I was Ms. Bryant's teacher assistant and that was her period where she didn't have a class. So I'm just like making copies, which was awesome because I didn't have to like be in class. She never really gave me preferential treatment of like, oh, we'll just do whatever you want. Do your homework.

[Dax Shepard]

Right, right. It wasn't an independent study for you. No.

[Luke Combs]

You're going to be my assistant, like doing stuff. I'm going to go eat lunch and you're going to be printing out lesson plans. And I was like, oh, brutal. You know, I signed up to something like, oh, this will be cake. She'll let me do whatever. Didn't happen. So I remember asking her like, hey, should I do music in college? I've always hated the technical side of music. The theory part was always really confusing to me. I'm not the smartest guy in the world. Math has never been real easy for me either. It's the same part of the brain to me that's doing music. The math, that's always been my complete worst subject. So music theory was always really difficult. And she told me, don't do music if you can see yourself doing anything else. And so I took that very literally because I'M thinking, oh, well, she means like being a music teacher, which is obviously not what I wanted to do at all. I was like, I'm never going to be a choir director or like a band teacher. So that was my cue to just go, well, I'm just not going to do music.

[Dax Shepard]

It's an interesting test she put in front of me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I love that actually.

[Luke Combs]

For sure.

[Dax Shepard]

You probably interpreted that that or maybe you did is, oh, I guess they shouldn't do it.

[Luke Combs]

For sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Where she was like, there's only one answer to this question. If you don't have that answer, you're not going to make it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah. She's like, if you have to do it, you will do it.

[Luke Combs]

Oh, for sure. And I mean, now it definitely is. I guess just growing up, you know, in a decently small town with blue collar parents, you're not like, well, maybe I'll be Garth Brooks.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

No, same, same.

[Luke Combs]

It's like saying you're going to be an astronaut.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

You're like, it's not going to happen. I just wanted to like pay bills. I just thought you had to kind of hate your job.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Luke Combs]

And like I just thought that was what life was like. It was like, oh, cool. Like my parents work, they hate their job.

[Dax Shepard]

They work for the weekends and they.

[Luke Combs]

Work for the weekends and they take care of me and that's just what life is going to be like. And that's just how it is. Because I didn't know anything else.

[Monica Padman]

Well, no wonder you now think you aren't doing anything hard. Cuz that is your idea of hard. Not liking it.

[Luke Combs]

Exactly. Like not liking it was my version of like, well, I got to do something I don't like because that's just how life is.

[Dax Shepard]

I have the same thing. When Kristen and I first walked through this house, we're just taking it in and I said out loud a couple times, like, I just didn't work hard enough for this. It's hard for me to integrate this because I should have a lot more calluses and I should have a lot more body injuries and I should be 68.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's confusing because no one got to fast pass. Like I got to. It's complicated.

[Luke Combs]

There's a lot of guilt associated with it.

[Dax Shepard]

You know all these great people you grew up with. Like when I'm looking at the house and it's like I can think of six or seven dads that killed themselves and they couldn't get this. And I'm like, those guys were Better than I am. You know, they worked harder, they were tougher, and they went through more. And I feel a lot of guilt about it.

[Luke Combs]

I do too. So we have a really close group of guys from back home that we text every day pretty much. You know, there's like 10 of us. Maybe. I didn't realize how rare that was until my wife was like, you have 10 friends from high school that you still talk to like every day. And you guys been playing fantasy football together for 15 years. Like that's weird. Yeah, it's just not normal.

[Dax Shepard]

By the way, I'm gonna be saccharine right now. Now that's weirdly the biggest gift in your life. It's not even the success in the money, cuz I know a lot of rich, lonely people. That's the big win right there.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, but I feel the same way. One of them's a pharmacist, one of them's a doctor, one of them's a CPA. They've all got MBAs and Dr. Job.

[Dax Shepard]

They work their ass off.

[Luke Combs]

Oh, dudes, like, I would have been the most scum guy.

[Dax Shepard]

They would have been buying your dinner.

[Luke Combs]

Every time you a million percent. But I see those guys, like, man, they went to school for a decade. I got all this stuff from doing what I like to do. You feel real guilty about it. There's no sympathy for it either. No one's. Man, I feel real bad for you in your big ass house.

[Dax Shepard]

You're having a hard time integrating your mansion into your.

[Luke Combs]

Right, Right.

[Dax Shepard]

I wish you luck with that brother. Yeah. By the way, let's talk about that because that's interesting. It's kind of a double whammy because you feel this guilt and then you have exactly what you just said, which is then you feel guilty for even having that problem or being guilty about it. There's just layers of madness in your head about this thing that is what you dreamt about and what you want.

[Luke Combs]

If I buy into it, if I'm like, oh man, my life's great and I have all this great stuff and I deserve all this stuff, then you feel like kind of a bad person A little bit.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

If I am like I got this great house, then I'm a dick.

[Dax Shepard]

I think for me the fear is it'll all go away. The second I think I deserve all this, for sure I'll find out real quick. I didn't. So it's like there's superstition too, that the shoe will drop. The second I think I deserve this.

[Luke Combs]

I Think it's just being appreciative is the thing that's the answer. And giving back to people, helping other people, it's the only thing you can do, man, is trying to like give stuff to people who don't have as much as you and just being thankful that you're in the position you're in. I mean, that's always been my answer to it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I mean this concept of deserving is very silly. No one deserves anything. No one deserves the good stuff and no one deserves the bad stuff.

[Luke Combs]

Without.

[Monica Padman]

It's not an appropriate word. I think you're right. Just having gratitude for the things that have come your way and just be like, oh my God, what a gift. And then giving back. We were just talking about this recently. The only thing that I feel, actually I can feel about money is when you give it away. Having money feels good because you can help.

[Luke Combs]

You can help other people without a doubt.

[Dax Shepard]

You always got to train your brain though, to recognize that for sure.

[Luke Combs]

I mean, I've always been a big. I'd rather give a gift than get one even when I was younger. When you're a kid, you love getting gifts because you're a kid, man. Once I got older, I was like, dude, I don't even even want any gifts, dude. Like, let me give you a gift. That would be a bigger gift to me. I could rather see somebody get something.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, we got to go through a little bit of your stellar career. So while you're in college, you start bouncing at a bar.

[Monica Padman]

What college? I need to.

[Luke Combs]

Appalachian State.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, nice.

[Dax Shepard]

Where's that at?

[Luke Combs]

It's about an hour and a half from Asheville. They would consider it the high country is what they call it. Higher elevation than Asheville.

[Dax Shepard]

Hey, real quick, did you ever go on Sliding Rock or Looking Glass Falls?

[Luke Combs]

Million times.

[Dax Shepard]

What a. I have such a sweet spot for Asheville. I used to go there to do rewrites for movies and I brought my three year old there and I took her to Sliding Rock and we did it together and I was so fun.

[Luke Combs]

Dude, Sliding Rock's so cool.

[Monica Padman]

Is it a big rock that you slide on?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, it's like in the river.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like a quarter mile long slab.

[Luke Combs]

No bumps. Somehow it's just like the last drop off.

[Dax Shepard]

If you're three is something, but it's fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Generally safe.

[Dax Shepard]

So you're bouncing at this place. Was it the kind of place you ever had to do anything?

[Luke Combs]

It's really more deal with college egos. Boone's like Mini Asheville. Like, it's very outdoorsy. The population of the town doubles when school's in. It's just all crunchy kids. Kids that want to snowboard and fly fish and kayak and hike and, like, it's a super outdoorsy.

[Dax Shepard]

A lot of Subaru is probably still there.

[Luke Combs]

A lot of Subarus there too. Yeah, very much so.

[Dax Shepard]

You get to perform there a little bit, and then you have your first actual show shortly after that.

[Luke Combs]

It was while I was there. Yeah, it was. The Parthenon Cafe was the name of it. Boone's finest Greek restaurant.

[Dax Shepard]

That's your Bluebird.

[Luke Combs]

That was my grand old Opry at the time. No longer there, Rip.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, bummer there. And did it feel right immediately?

[Luke Combs]

You know, it was really good. So I had been messing around with it, filming little covers in my apartment for, I don't know, maybe six months.

[Dax Shepard]

At that time, and putting them on.

[Luke Combs]

YouTube, putting them on Facebook. YouTube. So I felt like I was ready. Like, man, I feel like I could do a show. I asked the bar owner actually where I was bouncing at, which was a different bar. I was like, hey, man, can I do a show here? And he was like, oh. He's like, we don't do any live music because there's apartments upstairs. So, you know, was a little mini strip malls, three buildings. There was the bar I worked in, a tanning salon and a Domino's Pizza. And there were seven apartments.

[Dax Shepard]

You could have a nice day.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, sounds nice.

[Dax Shepard]

Get your hair done.

[Luke Combs]

Seven apartments on top. And he was like, taking our lease that we can't do live music. I was like, bro, I live in the apartments.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

I was like, I know.

[Monica Padman]

I can go door to door.

[Luke Combs]

We'd all be down here. And he was still kind of worried about it and didn't want to do it. And, dude, me and him are still in touch to this day, too. But I played rugby in college, so we hung out at a different bar, which was Parthenon. And the owner of Parthenon, his name was Nick, and he was this wild card Greek guy. Just didn't give a. About anything.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Luke Combs]

Just like, wild guy, man. So I asked him. I was like, hey, man, can I do a show here? He's like, yeah, just put it on the calendar. There was just, like, a calendar on the wall. So I just went and, like, wrote it on.

[Dax Shepard]

You can put anything. We're doing a truck pull in here.

[Luke Combs]

People could have just came and wrote anything, and that's what would have been going on there. But it worked out man, I charged dollar tickets. Ticket. I made 200 bucks, man. 200 people came.

[Dax Shepard]

No. That's incredible.

[Luke Combs]

It was not a place that could fit 200 people.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Luke Combs]

It was dependent on the day kind of place. There was a football game slammed. It was Friday night slammed, Saturday night slammed. It was like grimy in the best way. You just get wings and you get five dollar pitcher of whatever left in the beer lines from the weekend before. And like that was just the vibe there. Not a lot of structure going on. But the place that I lived above and then the place I worked at was newer place. There was a local contingency, but there was also a really big student contingency too. So the owner was a local guy, so everybody he knew would come there and support his business. And then the kids loved it too. Anytime there's something new in Boone, kids were like, fuck it.

[Dax Shepard]

We love that place.

[Luke Combs]

That's a new place. Let's go.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. We are supported by Quince. With quints you can get luxury basics at prices that make sense. Get all the good stuff. High quality fabrics, classic fits and lightweight layers for warm weather. Without dropping a fortune, I just was staring at a box of quints that arrived yesterday. Kristin's been firing off orders. We all love everything that arrives.

[Monica Padman]

I ordered some sheets, some really, really amazing sheets. They're also so cute. They're striped. They have this like cream stripe. It is. I love quints and I feel like it's a hack, honestly. It's like the quality is so good and it's so reasonable. If you need to get anyone a present or anything, I think quints is the place.

[Dax Shepard]

Look no further. Quince has closet staples you'll want to reach for over and over. Like cozy cashmere and cotton sweaters from just $50, breathable flow knit polos and comfortable lightweight pants that somehow work for both weekend hangs and dressed up dinners. And everything you're going to order from Quints is half the cost of similar brand. Working directly with top artisans and cutting out the middlemen, Quince gives you luxury pieces without the markup. Keep it classic and cool with long lasting staples from quince. Go to quince.comdax for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.comdax to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.comdax we are supported by Better Health. You know when you're struggling and you go online and start searching with symptoms and trying to figure out what's going on. It can be pretty darn daunting.

[Monica Padman]

So overwhelming. Way too much information.

[Dax Shepard]

Too much information. These days it feels like there's advice for everything. Cold plunges, gratitude journals, screen detoxes. I'm two of those three. But how do you know what actually works for you? Using trusted resources and talking to live therapists can get you personalized recommendations and help you break through the noise. Well, therapy on BetterHelp is a great place to start. Start with an app store rating of 4.9 out of 5 based on over 1.7 million client reviews.

[Monica Padman]

Therapy's so important to get ahead of things. People think you go once something bad has already happened, but ounce of prevention? Exactly. It's huge.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with better help armchairs get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.comdax that's betterhelph e l-p.comdax we are supported by Kodiak Cakes. Kodiak Cakes Kodiak fuels big days with protein, whole grains and other real ingredients. Because when you've got a day on the books, whether that's a big meeting or a family outing or an outdoor adventure, the last thing you need is an energy crash. Kodiak knows that combining 100% whole grains with protein helps keep you feeling fuller, longer without weighing you down. Down. It's the perfect combo for activities. It holds up to help you go the distance. They're delicious.

[Monica Padman]

They taste so good and they're protein.

[Dax Shepard]

Packed and they're robust.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, they are robust.

[Dax Shepard]

I love Kodiak cakes. And yeah, Kodiak cakes have amazing breakfast options like oatmeal and waffles that take just minutes to make. But it's not just breakfast. They have snack bars too. Their chewy bars are a family favorite, perfect for packing in lunches and camp care packages. Head to kodiakkakes.comdax and enter code DAX to get 15% off your first order. That's kodiakkakes.comDax promo code DAX or your local grocery store. They're the ones with the bear on the box. ARR. We are supported by Kachava. This is an exciting time to be a cachava fan because they've just launched a new flavor, strawberry. Gosh, do I love strawberry.

[Monica Padman]

So good. So good. It's so exciting. Exciting.

[Dax Shepard]

They're keeping the Same great combo of 85 plus superfoods nutrients and plant based ingredients. With 25 grams of plant based protein and adding a supercharged strawberry twist, this is a great flavor. If you like to personalize your cachava, you could do a strawberry banana smoothie or maybe mix two flavors and make a strawberry and chocolate combo. Yeah, I'll take that. I love strawberry and chocolate. I have mixed those two and it is delicious. Delish. It's time to rethink your definition of fast food. Cachava is one of the fastest foods you can make and it contains nutrients to support your strength, energy, digestion, metabolism, cognition and immunity. Think meal prep with minimal prep time. It's a comprehensive, all in one meal. If you haven't tried cachava yet, it's time you did. You've never tasted strawberry like this. Go to kachava.com and use Kodaks for 15% off your next order. That's Cachava Rava K A C-H-A-V-A.com code DAX for 15 off.

[Luke Combs]

So I went back to him. When I went back to work, I was like, hey, man, I just played across the street. There's a chance you could throw a football. You could see one from the other, but that's how small Boone is. And I was like, I played over there on Wednesday night and 200 people game. And he was like, really? And I was like, yeah, so I'll just keep doing that or I'll do it here.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Luke Combs]

And he was like, let's do it here. So then I played there every Thursday.

[Dax Shepard]

Every Thursday.

[Luke Combs]

Over a year. It's been one of my biggest assets, you know. By the time I moved to Nashville, I'd played literally hundreds of shows. We were booking shit as a band. It was just my name. So I mean, I was cold calling places and getting shows. We're traveling all over North Carolina. We're starting to go to east Tennessee. We're going northern South Carolina. And then all of a sudden, dude, we were playing at minimum three shows a week, sometimes five shows a week in a town that's really small.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

So then we booked a place called Geno's and I believe was every Wednesday. So we did Wednesday, Gino's Thursday Tavern. Every other Friday at the Rock. Every Sunday at Boone's Barbecue.

[Dax Shepard]

You're full time musician, right?

[Luke Combs]

Pretty much. And I had pretty much dropped out of school at that point. So I lived in Boone for a year just doing music.

[Dax Shepard]

Were you having any problem doing three, four shows a night?

[Luke Combs]

I mean, I was smoking cigarettes Then, too. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Getting drunk a lot or not too bad, not fun.

[Luke Combs]

At least once a week, for sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. That's not your thing. You don't struggle with that at all.

[Luke Combs]

No, no, no, no. Whatever that thing is, I don't have.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Throw a couple of hamb down here. We got a whole another problem.

[Dax Shepard]

We got a new animal gig for sure.

[Luke Combs]

So we start doing that, and I'm realizing now, Town Tavern, there's lines to get in. Every Thursday, we're doing that every bar, man. And people are coming to see us because we're the only gig in town, really.

[Dax Shepard]

And you're building a whole fan base.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. So then, you know, we've got a Facebook page going. I'm doing cold calls. We're riding around in my bass player, Chevy Avalanche to gigs out of town, and I'm making press kits and mailing those out to bars and other college towns in North Carolina, just anywhere that would book us.

[Dax Shepard]

This is the grime me good stuff that you'd miss out on if you just popped into American Idol and then had this record deal. Like, this is the kind of groundlings. Host your own show, obviously.

[Luke Combs]

I had a lot of success on vine around that time, too, which is, you know, now defunct. Social media guys probably remember Vine.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It was short video clips.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. The new version of that is TikTok. Right. And I think now a lot of that stuff's over.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. You can skip.

[Luke Combs]

You skip all the steps and. Not that that's good or bad. I mean, I think it's really great for the artist to have a platform like. Like that there's people that their first ever show they've done is in an arena on tour with someone. The moment is too big for you, man. Not that there isn't people that rise above that. For sure there is.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. But it's like having your first football game at the Super Bowl.

[Luke Combs]

Without a doubt.

[Dax Shepard]

That's too much.

[Luke Combs]

Without a doubt. First car racing, and then it's like if you screw up, then people go, oh, well, you're not any good. And it's like, well, God, just played in the Super Bowl. What are we talking about? Of course I'm not any good. Country radio is still really big. It was even bigger when I started and even bigger before that. But, like, you go and do all these events for the stations, and the thing they love to do is guitar pulls. The litany of newer artists will come in and go, hey, we're in the St. Louis St. Jude Jam. They book a nice theater Somewhere in town. The kind of usual suspects at my time be like me and Midland and Carly Pierce, people that came up at the same time. It's usually people that are kind of in that same class. But then every once in a while you get thrown on. It's like, oh, well, Luke Bryan's in one. There'll be five of you. You're all on stage at the same time and it's just you and a guy.

[Dax Shepard]

Guitar.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Luke Combs]

Or you and one person playing guitar. Can you imagine being in that situation and you've got 250,000 Tik Tok followers and you've gotten a record deal and you come up and the guy that's played the song right before you is Chris Stapleton. And you've played two shows.

[Monica Padman]

And also in your shows you sing his songs.

[Luke Combs]

For sure.

[Monica Padman]

It's like, oh, God.

[Luke Combs]

But like, that would be incredibly intimidating. It's no big nobody's fault. I mean, if anything, it's the industry's fault.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

You know, for that industry's fault.

[Dax Shepard]

The market is driving it. You have this.

[Luke Combs]

And fans want stuff. They want new stuff all the time. They want to be able to see stuff all the time. And I think the most interesting conundrum for us as artists that at least has come in the recent years, let's say you're going to put a new song out and you're a new artist. You might make 20 tick tocks that are just this one sound clip of them song. You lip singing in your car and then it's you lip syncing it with your dog. And it's like all these different things and you just do that over and over. Fans, they want to hear new music, but they want to hear new music that they already have heard. Somehow I want to know that I like it before I've even listened to it, somehow, which is in some ways an impossibility. But it's like if you don't do enough of the pr, enough of the Promise promo, your first week sales numbers are going to suffer. The fans aren't going to be as interested in it because they want to know, I already am going to like this.

[Monica Padman]

It's also unfair because I think it leads to a lot of backlash. There's an artist right now. I won't say who. I feel like all of a sudden everyone really doesn't like him anymore. There's all this backlash and it's because he was thrust, in my opinion.

[Luke Combs]

It's because he's also this incredibly talented.

[Monica Padman]

Guy, though he's unreal.

[Luke Combs]

He's like Freddie Mercury. Like, his voice is insane. Insane.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's awesome to hear you say that.

[Luke Combs]

His voice is insane. It's like ungodly.

[Dax Shepard]

Who hates him?

[Monica Padman]

No, there's a whole Internet.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, Internet.

[Luke Combs]

What? It's like coworker music. That's what they call it. It's like a big thing, coworker music.

[Monica Padman]

It's because, in my opinion, he was everywhere all of a sudden, because that's kind of who you have to be now. You do have to put your songs in all these things and be in this and be in this and be this. And then they're like, actually too much of you. Goodbye.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, this is Ed Sheeran, who you did a song song with. We interviewed him in England and he's like, yeah, man. In England, they love the rise, rise, rise. But once you're at the top, they have a pretty quick like, okay, we don't want this. There's some kind of sense of, okay, you're too big now. We're mad about it.

[Monica Padman]

We just had J. Carmichael on, and he said something that I thought was really interesting. He was like, people don't respect you if they made you.

[Dax Shepard]

That was his explanation of, like, American Idol. It's like, if they voted for you and they made you, they feel entitled to lead where you should be going artistically as opposed to you brought them along. It's interesting.

[Luke Combs]

Interesting. We're in really international waters of what happens next in the music industry. I think it's a very interesting time. Terrestrial radio, obviously, in country, it's still huge, but streaming has been such a huge push.

[Dax Shepard]

When I get in the car, I'm putting Spotify on. I want to hear exactly what I want to hear, and I want to hear right now.

[Luke Combs]

You don't hear new stuff. You aren't exposed to as many new things because you're like, oh, I just want to hear familiar stuff. It comes back to, I want to hear stuff I already know about McDonald's.

[Dax Shepard]

I want to know I'm getting the.

[Luke Combs]

Same burger because I'm in my car. I'm only drive 30 minutes away a day for that 30 minutes. I don't want to have to risk listening to something I don't like. I want to listen to stuff that I already know that I like.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right.

[Luke Combs]

And that's like, a tough place to be as an artist. I remember when it was fun when someone put a new record. I'm like, what's going to be on it?

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Luke Combs]

Is it going to Be good or is it not going to be good?

[Dax Shepard]

When you get to Nashville, you start self releasing some eps and then on your third one, I guess hurricanes on that.

[Luke Combs]

Is this a single? It wasn't even an ep. I just put that one out and.

[Dax Shepard]

That one got 15,000 in one week.

[Luke Combs]

I thought that was normal, by the way. I was like unaware that that was good at all. It's the same thing as the public school thing. This is a bubble that I know this is must be how everything goes.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

So like you go, you start doing music, your shows are going really good.

[Dax Shepard]

There'S lines out the door, people always.

[Luke Combs]

Want to come and then they buy your music and that's how it happens for everybody. So I get to town and I remember I mentioned it to somebody and they were like, how did it sell that much? I'm like, people thought it was good. So then people bought it. It's like how that happened, you know.

[Dax Shepard]

Which is like 10 years ago maybe.

[Luke Combs]

Hurricane went number one in 2017. I put it out in 2015. Yes, 10 years ago.

[Dax Shepard]

It sounds like. Not because it sounds like you were just as you said. Yeah, I put a song out and everyone listened to it. That. Duh. My guess is you didn't have this. But were you at all thinking, like, I don't look like the prototypical country star?

[Luke Combs]

Oh, gosh, yeah, dude, for sure. Especially at the that time. Everybody was hot at that time.

[Dax Shepard]

Keith Urban's hairs to die for every.

[Luke Combs]

I mean Luke Bryan's a babe. FGL guys, Sam Hunt, Luke Bryan, Chase Rice, he went to my high school. I mean just six, four college football player. Like every guy had played college football and was diesel out. Like just good looking dudes. And when I moved to Nashville there was a lot of like, I don't know if the artist thing's going to work because you're just not what works. But the guy that kicked that door open was Stapleton. He was a bigger guy. I mean if you lived in Nashville, the guy was already a guy God before he ever got discovered. He's got 200 and something cuts as a songwriter. He's the best voice ever.

[Dax Shepard]

Is he the king? You're among a few country people we've talked to. They all bring him on.

[Monica Padman]

I'm dying to have him on talking.

[Luke Combs]

He's so talented. He's like Vince Gill or something. Vince Gill is just a one songwriter, a one guitar player, a one singer, a one producer can just literally do it all. Like there's not many guys that can truly do it at all. Like, if you're Clyde Drexler, you're great. And then Jordan shows up, and you're kind of like, I'm good, but fuck, that guy's real good. And not that if he was in here right now, I'd tell you I'm a better singer, but I'm not. But it's like, you have to have that confidence, right? It's like there's just some guys.

[Monica Padman]

Well, some people are undeniable.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

I mean, the talent level is just so high.

[Dax Shepard]

So back to knowing that at that time, people are like, look, man, you've got all the things, but you don't have the package that's going to work, that's going to sell millions of albums. How are you dealing with that information? Information. I'm just gonna keep going. Yeah, probably. Now, if that teacher asks you the question, now you have the answer, which is like, I'm not gonna do anything else.

[Luke Combs]

Whether that's the case or not, definitely. I had so much confidence at that time in my ability. You're coming from Boone, right? So you're big fish, small pond. I had made one or two trips to Nashville and met some people and written some songs with folks. Then when I got here, I was like, dude. And this is not a cockiness thing. This is a true gamer mentality for me. I was like, dude, these people can't hang with me, dude. Like, I would get in rounds, and I'm like, duh, I will sing this guy out. I mean, he won't even show up.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Luke Combs]

It's never a competition.

[Dax Shepard]

I think that's good.

[Luke Combs]

But it was just a confidence. And, like, I won't be denied because I feel I have the ability. Like, okay, I can play in the league.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

It's like you get in the NFL all of a sudden, and you're like, I don't know. I was pretty good. I played at a smaller college. Maybe I don't have the combine numbers that this other guy has.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Luke Combs]

But put me in the A gap, and he's on the other side, and I'm coming out, I'm walking out. He's not kind of thing. And that was a little bit of my mindset when I got here. But also, I was already so happy with everything that was going on. I'm living in Nashville. I'm not having to work. You're making a living, making enough money with no publishing deal, no record deal, writing songs five times a week, getting better every day. Day making progress. And I'm paying all my bills. And to me, that was the definition of making it, man. Like, I just wanted to be happy doing what I wanted to do.

[Dax Shepard]

If you can support yourself doing something you love, forget it.

[Luke Combs]

That was it. Then I was like, well, man, this is my cheat code. I don't need anything else. I live in a nice apartment in Hermitage. What's better than this, man? Like, I get to write songs all the time, sing all the time. I got great friends. I feel like I fit in, you know, people want to write with me. And again, that's a very intoxicating time. And so for me, me, I just wanted to make a living doing music.

[Dax Shepard]

You had probably already accomplished kind of the standard of living your parents had raised you under.

[Luke Combs]

Definitely, I can do this. No problem. There's no debt collectors calling me. This is all good.

[Dax Shepard]

Hurricane kind of blows up and then from this, Sony does sign you, and then they release this one's for you.

[Luke Combs]

They passed to me the first time. I always call it the Nashville no. Which is like, well, we'll be in touch.

[Dax Shepard]

We're not going to be in touch.

[Luke Combs]

We're not going to be in touch. Which is the Southern thing. It's like, just tell me. No, I'd rather just hear.

[Monica Padman]

Right, right.

[Dax Shepard]

We'll be in touch. And by that I mean we will not be in touc.

[Luke Combs]

By that I mean, it's a no for us.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Okay. So what happens though is Sony does sign you and then they release this album, and this album stays at number one for 44 weeks.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. Nuts, man.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a little shocking that you're not completely fucked up because, yeah, you release your song on Your own and 15,000 people get it in a week and you're like, yeah, of course you do. Your first studio album and it's fucking number one for 44 weeks. This is where I argue you're not lazy. Because a lot of people would put it in neutral at that point, like, I don't have to try at this too hard. It comes pretty natural, comes pretty easy and. Or you could have become completely panicked that your follow up album is not going to. You could have been burdened by that, definitely. So how did you take that kind of crazy success? First five singles are all number one on that album.

[Luke Combs]

Dude, it's 19 or 20 now. I haven't had one. Not going to.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

You haven't had one. Not.

[Monica Padman]

You got to prep yourself.

[Luke Combs]

It's going to happen at some point. Yeah, I'm aware. But then again, there's no pressure because it's so beyond what you even think's possible. First time I ever played Her Hurricane, I played at the 40 watt in Athens.

[Monica Padman]

That's where I went to UGA.

[Luke Combs]

I think it was Labor Day weekend, and 86 people came. And I remember being, like, kind of bummed because we had been playing decent shows in that size venue. What's that place hold? Probably 500 people.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's small. Yeah, pretty small.

[Luke Combs]

We had kind of been rocking those, and my manager was like, it's Labor Day weekend. I was in school. I remember this conversation like it was yesterday because I was really bummed out. And that was the first night I'd ever played Her Hurricane in a show. And he said, dude, I saw Florida Georgia line here, like, five years ago, and 17 people came.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Luke Combs]

And he was like, you got 88. He's like, and they're doing pretty good.

[Monica Padman]

You know what I mean?

[Luke Combs]

And I was like, oh, okay. That makes me feel a little bit better. It's been wild. But, yeah, we did everything from the smallest place you could play to stadiums.

[Dax Shepard]

My favorite thing he did is Fast Car. Your version of Fast Car is so great. That was one of my very favorite songs growing up. Interestingly, it was one of your favorites. What a fucking beautiful song.

[Luke Combs]

Oh, gosh.

[Dax Shepard]

Were you afraid to tackle it at all? It feels like such a female perspective. Right. The dad's a drunk, the husband's abusive.

[Luke Combs]

I think maybe I was just too naive to even be aware of.

[Dax Shepard]

Think through all that.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. Then again, man, that song's been covered, like, 1300 times.

[Dax Shepard]

Has it really?

[Luke Combs]

There's, like, 1300 covers for sale.

[Dax Shepard]

I didn't know that.

[Luke Combs]

Incredibly prolific song in a lot of people's lives. So again, I was not like, man, there's gonna be a lot of eyes on this thing. We had some throwaway time at the end of the studio. Like, it was never a plan to do it. I just always played it at shows, and I hadn't since I'd gotten my.

[Dax Shepard]

You had to have known from the shows, though, that it was a big winner.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, it was just the college shows. It wasn't like we were doing it on the arenas or at the club. I would do it in college, and I really always liked doing it. And so we had an hour of studio time left that, you know, we had paid for, but we had recorded everything we needed. And I was like, what if we just recorded it? We did it. Ended up putting it on the record, and we didn't promote it at All. I mean, we didn't put any marketing budget behind it until it was top 10 at radio.

[Dax Shepard]

Really?

[Luke Combs]

I had another single out that was climbing the charts that went number one. And by the time it went number one, fast car was like number 12.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Luke Combs]

For whatever reason, man, it just struck the right chord at the right time.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it's a beautiful combination of a great song and then a very wonderful interpretation of it.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

So when you guys sang together, first of all, answer this for me. Cause I'll be working out. And that comes on my liked songs. And I do go. What was her journey? Did she choose to lay back?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, I think she just kind of stepped away. The cool thing about her is nobody really knows.

[Dax Shepard]

She's kind of an enigma.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, for sure. And I remember when there was whispers of that happening. My team was like, well, I think the Grammys are thinking about maybe wanting to do this. And I was like, dude, that ain't happening.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, she's never doing.

[Luke Combs]

I was like, bro, that ain't gonna happen. Like, I remember just thinking like, it's not gonna happen. She just doesn't do anything.

[Dax Shepard]

She's J.D. sanger of the country world.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. So they were like, would you be interested? And I'm like, well, obviously I'd be interested. I was like, it's not gonna happen, but I would be definitely interested. So, you know, it's three, four months go by. And remember I was sitting in the tree stand at my house and Carla called me, who works with Asha and does pr, and she was like, hey, Tracy's going to call you tomorrow at 7 o'. Clock.

[Dax Shepard]

I presume you've never met her at that point.

[Luke Combs]

Oh, no, no.

[Monica Padman]

No one's better.

[Luke Combs]

No one's better.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

She hadn't commented in any way. My cover had already been number one. It's like the run was kind of over. There's no whispers at all. Right. Which is fine. I wasn't expecting to.

[Dax Shepard]

Maybe she was expecting you to call her.

[Luke Combs]

I'm telling you, dude, you can't get in touch with her. Cuz I remember when they were trying to figure it out, they're like, there's not a team. There is no one. Which is also the coolest thing.

[Dax Shepard]

It is the cool.

[Luke Combs]

The coolest thing in the world. So next night, I'm like doing bath time with my kids and it's chaos, whatever. But I told my wife, like, hey, seven o', clock, your boy's off the clock. Yeah, that's sitting at the kitchen table, man. It's just like sitting there with my phone on the table, cuz I'm like, I have a feeling she's gonna call like on time and like prompt and she did, man. It was like on the dot. Phone goes off, it's unknown.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God, I'm nervous.

[Dax Shepard]

Number, whatever. Yeah, I have a butterflies like, pick it up.

[Luke Combs]

It's just her, man. And I was like, I was like, this is crazy, man. We talked for probably 45 minutes.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh really? Did she say, I like your version? She did.

[Luke Combs]

She was like, man, I think you did a really great job.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God, what more could you want?

[Luke Combs]

I'm such a big fan and I'm nerd now. I'm like, why did you do this thing when you recorded this song and this record? And like, I'm just getting deep. She could tell I was a real fan, you know, I really cared about the records. She didn't say this, but I think that was her trying to figure out if she wanted to do it or not.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Luke Combs]

She's like, I don't want to. To go up with this guy if this guy sucks.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, pretty much.

[Luke Combs]

Which I got respect for. It was crazy that it happened.

[Dax Shepard]

When the call ended, did she give you a I'm going to do it or did you hear later?

[Luke Combs]

No, she wasn't like, yeah, I'm definitely doing it.

[Dax Shepard]

She was just like, it was great talking to you and.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

How long after that call do you find out?

[Luke Combs]

It was probably like a month, I would say, before I heard anything. I mean, obviously incredibly thankful that moment happened. It was so cool. Not just for me, but I feel like for so many people to see.

[Monica Padman]

Her back out, it was unbelievable.

[Luke Combs]

That to me was the coolest part. It's just like her being out.

[Dax Shepard]

I love seeing her sing so much.

[Luke Combs]

If I could have, I wouldn't even have been up there. I would have just been like, cool. Can I just watch?

[Dax Shepard]

Of course. She's so great. I love watching that. But the moment for me is she starts the duet, she does her couplet, then we go to you, or whatever we'd call not a couplet, but you do yours. And then when you throw it back to her, you look at her. Whatever facade you might have had, it came down. You have this smile on your face when you look back at her, like you're talking, turn. That's so palpable.

[Monica Padman]

I have full chill.

[Dax Shepard]

It was so palpable. I rewound it like four times this morning. I just look at you look at her and I'm Like, I think he's present for this, which is almost impossible to do.

[Luke Combs]

It was like, were you present as fuck for that? Yeah. It was just so surreal doing that song with her. You know, I've been listening to that song since I was a kid. It's like one of the first songs I remember.

[Dax Shepard]

It could have been almost too much to compute, but it does seem like you're there in your body experiencing it.

[Luke Combs]

The best part about that was, was she was really adamant about rehearsing a lot. She hadn't played in, like, 10 years. She came in just so confident. It was all the players from that record. Like, when she recorded it, she asked me to bring my steel player. So there was steel on it. So it was all the guys that played on the original record. We rehearsed for, like, three days.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow. Did you become friendly with her in those three days?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. And so there was this full confidence. There's no question we're going to nail it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You'd work through all the butterflies in this.

[Luke Combs]

It's like, dude, I didn't rehearse three days for my whole tour. She wanted it to be perfect and she wanted to have that confidence.

[Dax Shepard]

It paid off.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. And make sure it was great. And so that allowed us to be able to just enjoy the actual performance and not be swept up in like, oh, we're at the Grammys. And, like, what if we mess up? Like, there was none of that.

[Dax Shepard]

So here's an interesting thing. You have anxiety.

[Luke Combs]

Oh, big time.

[Dax Shepard]

It's interesting, anxiety, isn't it? Because you would think someone with anxiety performing would bring that out. But my guess is that's not where your anxiety lies. Lies?

[Luke Combs]

No, mine doesn't make any sense, man. It's a form of ocd.

[Dax Shepard]

You have a very specific form of ocd.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. So it's called pure O ocd, which is like, there's no outward compulsions.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, so you're not doing any behaviors that are observable?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, the behaviors are all mental.

[Dax Shepard]

It's just rumination.

[Luke Combs]

Mental rituals.

[Dax Shepard]

So did you have ticks when you're a kid?

[Luke Combs]

No. I would say 99.9 of people who have it. No one would ever even know. I'm not. But in theory, I could be having it right now and having this conversation, and it's like there's almost to.

[Dax Shepard]

Almost. The subconscious is having the conversation, but the real focus is on. Yes, correct.

[Monica Padman]

The internal compulsion. Is it something specific?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. There's a lot of themes that are very recurrent for people that have this Religion is one. It essentially preys on the antithesis of who you are at your core.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

But it focuses on questions that are unanswerable, which is like, do I really love God? Do I really believe in God?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. What percentage?

[Luke Combs]

And then you spend over 90% of your day thinking about that. Let's say that could happen for months on end.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my gosh, that's maddening.

[Dax Shepard]

Is it too private for me to know what your themes are?

[Luke Combs]

No. I've had a ton, man. Like, people have violent ones. Am I some sort of serial killer guy?

[Dax Shepard]

We had an OCD expert on. It was very illuminating that the kind you see in movie is the lowest percentage of ocd. It's mostly people who are like, they're afraid they're a pedophile. They're afraid they're a murderer.

[Luke Combs]

You can touch all of them. And there's some that, for whatever reason, if you weren't really related religious, you wouldn't really have the God one, because that wouldn't be as important to you. It's things that there's never an answer to. There's people that are like, am I gay? Am I a pedophile? Am I a serial killer? If I'm driving down the road, am I gonna just swerve into the traffic? And it's like, you're not ever going to do that.

[Dax Shepard]

I know.

[Luke Combs]

It's like seeing a grizzly bear come out of the woods. But it's in your mind.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. It identifies a threat, but that threat's not there. And then it just.

[Luke Combs]

And then it's like, but it was real. Because I thought that for a second second. People have those kind of thoughts all the time and they just like, oh, that's weird. It's like a bird flying by.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Luke Combs]

You just go, oh, there's a bird. And then you're like, what was that bird? Why did that bird fly by? And then the more you wonder why the bird flew by, the more it starts flying by. Your brain's like, I need to send that thought again. Because you're worried about it, and you being worried about it must mean something.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Really? It doesn't mean anything then the more you think about it, the more it starts showing up and it starts going by and by, and then you start wondering more and more and more, and you do things more mentally, ritualistically to alleviate the anxiety of the bird showing up.

[Dax Shepard]

So what's one of the rituals you can do mentally?

[Luke Combs]

Say, for example, you think in your mind, you're like, I'm gonna swerve my car into traffic. One could be. And this would be, I guess, technically an outward one. It doesn't happen a lot. It's like reassurance seeking is a big one. Let's say me and you were really close friends.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, we will be.

[Luke Combs]

I could be like, you don't think I would ever plow my car into, like, the sidewalk? And you'd be. Be like, dude, what are you talking about? No. And then you're like, thank God. Well, obviously would never do that.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

But that reinforces the importance of the thought to you by me asking you that.

[Monica Padman]

Interesting.

[Luke Combs]

So the alleviation, the reassurance seeking of me wanting to, like, quill the uncomfortableness that the thought gives me makes my brain pay more attention to it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Because then I'm caring about it. You're giving it power.

[Dax Shepard]

Attention.

[Luke Combs]

Right. So the real trick to overcome becoming that is going, yeah, I think I will plow my car in a bunch of people.

[Monica Padman]

Letting your brain go there, or just.

[Luke Combs]

Being like, maybe I will plow my car into a bunch of people.

[Dax Shepard]

And when that happens, we'll deal with that at that point.

[Luke Combs]

Whatever. Maybe I am, you know, insane, gay pedophile. And you know what? That's fine.

[Dax Shepard]

Right?

[Luke Combs]

Because if that happens, then whatever. That's what happens.

[Monica Padman]

That is what it is.

[Luke Combs]

Whatever, man. It's like, it's all good. But I would say definitely the course of my life kind of has been dictated by that at certain times.

[Dax Shepard]

For me, when I was in my early 20s and I just moved to California, I was super lonely. I was ruminating quite a bit on, I thought I was going crazy.

[Luke Combs]

Mental illness is one, like, am I schizophrenic and I don't know it that thrives. What if I'm in this podcast and you guys aren't even real, and I'm sitting somewhere in someone's garage going, well, yeah, I'm a famous country singer, and blah, blah, blah.

[Monica Padman]

I've had. Had this thought.

[Luke Combs]

Imagine thinking that and, like, the normal person might be like, man, that's really strange thing. And they think about it for one minute.

[Monica Padman]

Right?

[Luke Combs]

But imagine that thought comes and it's like a nuclear bomb goes off in your head and you can't stop thinking about it for six months.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Luke Combs]

And you never. I won't say never, but for the most part, I would think, in my experience, you never have two themes at one time.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, interesting, right?

[Dax Shepard]

There's not room for two themes. Almost.

[Luke Combs]

Right? Like, it's almost too much. Bandwidth. Let's say you're worried about relationships, religion, and it's the most important thing in the world to you. And then one day you have the car driving thought. Instantly you think about the religion. You're like, bro, how dumb was that? Oh, wow, I can't believe I wasted three months of my life worrying about this thing that's now is so inconsequential. But then it could come back in five years.

[Dax Shepard]

It's whack a mole.

[Luke Combs]

People always reach out to me about it because there's not a lot of people who've talked openly about that particular form, which a lot of people have. And I would say 99.9% of people suffer in silence with this thing. Because how do you tell your parents when you're 12 years old that you're worried about being a pedophile? Think you're going to stab someone with a kitchen knife? Like people will think you're insane.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You're very afraid that they will take the judgment.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. They'll be like, hey man, something's wrong with my kid. And not he has a mental illness. It's like, my kid is psychopath.

[Dax Shepard]

Some clarity, right? I'm like, I think I am slowly kind of going crazy here. But then I also have moments where I'm like, no, you're not. Everything's kind of grooming groovy, right. And you're afraid if I give over this information, someone's going to assume the worst. We're going to have a DEFCON 5 reaction to it. And I do at times realize I'm not.

[Luke Combs]

That's the thing is none of it ever makes any sense. If you told someone you were worrying about, they'd be like, yeah, they go.

[Dax Shepard]

Stop worrying about it.

[Monica Padman]

But there's nothing about you that would make that true.

[Luke Combs]

Even telling people that is counterintuitive to the healing process. If you are or not like that, it just doesn't even matter. I know right now that I could get in my car and it's an hour drive home and I could have a spike that sends me into a three month spiral. But also I'm just not afraid of that at all. You just have to know, maybe at another point in my life I'll have another one of these and that's okay and I'll deal with it when it happens. And I think that's the freedom. I mean, it took me five years to even figure out what it was.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I was going to say, you seem to have a lot of awareness and tools. Did you receive these from therapy?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. The behavioral therapy part of it is huge. It's having the toolkit to combat it and knowing what's right and what's wrong. Wrong you can never solve it.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like addiction. It ain't going away.

[Luke Combs]

The big key is knowing that you'll never have an answer to any of these questions. You answering the question will never cure you, or you trying to find out the answer is never.

[Dax Shepard]

It's an illusion that you can figure it out.

[Luke Combs]

Right? Because if it was 2 plus 2 equals 4, you wouldn't have any anxiety about it because you would just know. And you could know an answer and you could get a test and that's the answer.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more armchair experiments. Expert if you dare. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Did you know Apple Card is designed to help you pay off your balance faster with smart payment suggestions? And because fees don't help you, Apple Card doesn't have any. So if your credit card isn't Apple Card, maybe it should be subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch. Variable APRs range from 18.24% to 28.49% based on creditworthiness rates as of July 1, 2025 Terms and more at applecard.com we are supported by Skims.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, so, you know, I love Skims so much, and it has a ton of different products. It has apparel, it has swim, it has menswear, which I know you like. And I've raved about a lot of the different product lines in these ads we get to do. But Skims is best known for their incredible intimates. And that sense makes. Makes total sense. The quality of their bras and underwear is truly unmatched. It's luxe, it's comfortable fabrics, it fits that feel good and look good under clothes, which is hugely important. And it's really everything you could want. Like, it is very, very, very hard to find comfortable underwear that's also cute.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, that's the big challenge. But you're endlessly recommending this to friends.

[Monica Padman]

I am. I have multiple of their bras. They all fit great. They work well under all clothes. And I recently tried the Fits Everybody lace tanga. It's made with this, like, really, really, really soft Fits Everybody fabric. I'm obsessed with it. It has this lace trim, so it adds a little bit of sexiness, but it's also comfortable. It's the most comfortable underwear I own, and it makes me feel amazing every time I wear it.

[Dax Shepard]

Shop Monica's favorite bras and [e-mail] after you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you. Select podcast in the survey and be sure to select our show in the dropdown menu that follows. Skims.com we are supported by a ZipRecruiter. Oh, ZipRecruiter. It can be overwhelming to have too many options.

[Monica Padman]

We were at dinner last night and there were too many options on the menu. I wanted too many things.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, when they're good options, it's even harder. Yeah, the same applies if you're a business owner who's hiring. It can be overwhelming to have too many candidates to sort through. But you're in luck. ZipRecruiter now gives you the power to proactively find and connect with the best ones quickly through their innovative resume database. ZipRecruiter's resume database uses advanced filtering to quickly hone in on the top candidates for your roles. See a candidate you're really interested in. You can unlock their contact info instantly. 320,000 new resumes are added monthly, which means you can reach more potential hires and fill roles faster. Skip the candidate overload. Instead, streamline your hiring with ZipRecruiter. See why 4 out of 5 employers who post on ZipRecruiter Recruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. And if you go to ZipRecruiter.com Dax Right now, you can try it for free again. That's ziprecruiter.com Dax ZipRecruiter. The smartest way to hire. Yeah. So how did you learn all this?

[Luke Combs]

I'm better at that, probably. NY country music, to be honest. I mean, just from years of experience. Experience. I mean, just 10,000 hours times a million of them, but no help.

[Dax Shepard]

Or did you got help?

[Luke Combs]

I never really had a traditional CBT therapist, Honestly. It was just once I found out what it was that probably happened at like 21, which is the same year I learned guitar. Oh, this is what it is. There was a lot of relief in that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

I was like, oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you're not.

[Luke Combs]

The other people have this. What are we talking about?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, the isolation of it is Sometimes.

[Luke Combs]

You can't be like, I must be crazy. Nobody understands. Obviously, my parents were really worried, but they're like, we don't even know. I went to therapy in high school and it was like, oh, you've got generalized anxiety disorder. And I'm like, okay, well, that must be what it is. But it just didn't feel like Specific enough. This feels different than that. Once I found the Puro thing, it was like, oh, my God, this is the thing that I have.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Do you think this could potentially be one of the reasons when you say you were lazy quotes in school like, this was happening in your brain.

[Dax Shepard]

Pretty distracting.

[Monica Padman]

As a kid, how could you be doing all these things at once?

[Luke Combs]

So many times in my life, I feel like I was on the cusp of, like, figuring out or achieving something, and then I would have one of these spikes and it would be like, well, there goes everything. Because I don't care about anything else now because I'm so worried about. I'm crazy. I hesitate even saying these things because I feel like sometimes people are going to watch this and they're going to seek reassurance from hearing me talk, talk about it.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, it'll trigger the wrong reaction. Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

They'll go, oh, gosh. Well, then he said this thing, and that made me feel better for 10 minutes. And so I'm fine for 10 minutes. But it preys on everything you're not.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

And it makes you feel like you are that when in reality, in some ways, your deepest fear is being something that you're not. And that's rooted in this. Another big one is relationship ocd. One of the themes of Puro is like, do I really love my wife? I really love my kids.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Combs]

And there's no answer. Obviously, you wouldn't be worried about it.

[Monica Padman]

If you did it.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right.

[Luke Combs]

And that's the thing. But telling people that is giving them reassuring.

[Dax Shepard]

People who don't love people are worried that they don't love them.

[Luke Combs]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

When you look at the list of people I don't love, I'm not sitting around worried that I don't love them.

[Luke Combs]

Do I love them or do I not love them?

[Dax Shepard]

No, it's quite evident.

[Monica Padman]

I think this is so interesting. Explaining it's actually bad.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a catch 22.

[Monica Padman]

This is good for everyone to hear, even if you're on the opposite end of it. What we shouldn't be doing is be like, oh, but you shouldn't worry about that because you're not. That that's actually not healthy.

[Luke Combs]

That actually makes it worse, which is so confusing. It's such a confusing hamster wheel. Getting out of the loop is so confusing. Until you know how to do it, you can't do it. The research on it has come a lot farther in the last 14 years than it did even when I was 21. There was basically one doctor that even was doing anything on it at that time. At 21.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Now there's a lot more people who are saying that, oh, yeah, I've this thing.

[Dax Shepard]

And do you think it's nature or nurture or a combination?

[Luke Combs]

A hundred percent nature. It's like having bipolar.

[Monica Padman]

It's just wired that way.

[Luke Combs]

It's just how your neurons fire.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you come to find an upside of it? So for me, I very much think of I'm an addict across the board, and it kind of works in most domains until I get to that one. But my obsessive nature and my ruminating on how to make the show better, how to do a better job interview, like, that's all the same package. That makes me. Me sure. Do you think there's been an upside? Do you think it's part of your success as well?

[Luke Combs]

No, no, I don't think it's part of my success at all. If I just never had it, that would be awesome. There's no good part.

[Monica Padman]

That's a good answer.

[Luke Combs]

There's no good parts of it other than when you don't have it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Maybe like, you recognize when you don't have it.

[Luke Combs]

You're like, bro, you feel good. It's just incredible. I will tell people this, man. At least in my experience, it's been something that's gotten better. Better for me.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you think kids help?

[Luke Combs]

Certainly, yeah. I mean, there's less time to worry about that kind of stuff. But kids could also easily be a trigger.

[Dax Shepard]

Ocd. People think they're going to hurt their kids, they're going to kill their kid, they're going to molest their kid. They won't change their kid's diaper for sure.

[Luke Combs]

It's an unique experience in each individual, I would say. Obviously, there's patterns that are recognizable in people that have ocd, you know, especially this form. But I think knowing that you have it is a big part. Anybody that has it should. Should definitely do their research on it. But I don't even have to tell those people to do it because they have.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

Because they're sitting on their computer all day going, yeah, what's wrong with this? Imagine being in fight or flight mode 90% of the day.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And you're actually, bizarrely now almost going to manifest some health condition.

[Luke Combs]

Sure. Because you're going to be under stress all the time.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

You know, I'm glad you're talking about it.

[Dax Shepard]

Me too. Oh, I think it's harder if you're a country star.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Actually, probably every Actor I talk to. They've all been in therapy. We've talked to all the country. No one's going monotherapy. There's, like, some cultural.

[Luke Combs]

I think for me was finding out how can I make this happen less. Not from the therapy side, obviously. That helps a ton. But for me, it was like, man, how can I just change what I'm eating, what I'm doing? My life revolves around preventing it. Right. So, like, I mean, I don't eat gluten anymore.

[Dax Shepard]

Me neither.

[Luke Combs]

That was for sure somehow involved in. My inflammation levels were really, really high.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

And obviously your brain is really inflamed. That's been a big one for me. It's a wild journey.

[Dax Shepard]

Luke, you're a very sweet, talented person. I'm really delighted I got to meet you. I'm really grateful you're willing to come over today and chat with us. And I just also want to give you a big high five for raising $24 million for Asheville, this town I love. Yeah, 24 million bucks. Congratulations on everything. I mean, you're so young. I'm excited to watch you continue. Continue to do radical stuff. Is there anything we got to promote specifically?

[Luke Combs]

I got a new single coming out. It's called Back in the Saddle. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

So Back in the saddle's coming out July 25th. Okay, July 25th. And tell me, where are we going?

[Luke Combs]

I think we're going backwards in a good way. You know, the last record I put out was Father's Day of last year, so it's kind of more of a niche project for me. You know, it's more of a personal.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you have two little boys endeavor.

[Luke Combs]

You know, I got two little kids at home, so it's been two and a half years since I put out a record that was meant to be heard by a lot of people. That's kind of where the Back in the Saddle thing came in. We'll see.

[Dax Shepard]

We'll see.

[Monica Padman]

I'm excited.

[Dax Shepard]

All right, Luke. Well, I hope I bump into you a bunch while we're in Nashville.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Dax Shepard]

You're delightful. Get that Raptor R down here, and we'll find some trails.

[Monica Padman]

Bye.

[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. Smells different in here.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, God. Because of me.

[Dax Shepard]

No, it's not a human smell.

[Monica Padman]

It's like a musty.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, musty old air conditioning smell or something.

[Monica Padman]

Well, it's been musty in here. It might be me because are you musty? Well, I'm wearing a vintage shirt.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh. And it could have some Mustang on it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, sometimes vintage comes with a little must.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I don't think it's that. Although I came in here earlier to set this down and I didn't smell that. Should I smell?

[Monica Padman]

No, it is smelly.

[Dax Shepard]

We must find out now.

[Monica Padman]

Well, it is smelly, musty, but I can't. I don't think it could be that strong that you smelt it coming in.

[Dax Shepard]

Let me see if it's. It's not this piece, right? No.

[Monica Padman]

It's not the T shirt. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

No, that doesn't smell bad at all. That's not it.

[Monica Padman]

Are you sure? Okay, well, I smell it. Like, you know when you put on clothes that aren't your smell.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, because I have. This isn't washed. Ugh. I'm outing myself.

[Dax Shepard]

Way more common when you're young, Right? Like, you're at a friend's house, you didn't intend to sleep over. Yeah, I can sleep over. Can I borrow something? As an adult, I'm not swapping clothes with many people. Are you?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. You're not. You're.

[Dax Shepard]

You're not a girl.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. You're not like, girls borrow each other's.

[Dax Shepard]

Clothes still, like, at inner 40s?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, of course. I mean, not like on a daily basis, but if I'm. If I am.

[Dax Shepard]

When's the last time you borrowed an item of clothing?

[Monica Padman]

I mean, I'm sure I've borrowed something from Kristen upstairs, like, many times.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm sure you don't remember the last time.

[Monica Padman]

Like, probably I'm over and it's like, oh, I need to wear a baby.

[Dax Shepard]

This is a hypothetical. Do you remember the last time?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. Should we call her?

[Dax Shepard]

She won't remember.

[Luke Combs]

Are you kidding?

[Dax Shepard]

You're just so particular about your clothes. I'm finding it a little hard to believe that you're in your friend's clothes a lot.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Do you want me to, like, really peek behind the hair?

[Dax Shepard]

I do. Let's go all the way.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. So, like, sometimes we record.

[Dax Shepard]

Back to back.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And then I we. You change shirts. Cause your closet's here. And then I'm like, oh, fuck. Like, I probably need to change shirts too, but I didn't bring any. So then I'll, like, go borrow something I've done that recently.

[Dax Shepard]

Sound very unsure of when this happens.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I don't write it down in my thoughts.

[Dax Shepard]

I agree that this book seems hypothetically plausible. I agree. You're like, I need Another shirt. Kristen's got a bunch up there. I'll grab one.

[Monica Padman]

Also, I do a lot of closet clean out. Yeah, A lot. And then I'll make big heaping piles of clothes. And then people come and they take them.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And so then they're wearing my clothes.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure. That I.

[Monica Padman]

So women are taking other people's clothes.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so you don't have an exact memory of the last time you were walking around town and in one of your girlfriend's clothes. Not a precise memory, just more of a hypothetical.

[Monica Padman]

Next time I'll write it down.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Keep a journal.

[Monica Padman]

I'll keep a journal. But vintage clothes and shopping, I don't normally wash it immediately. That's gross. People are gonna probably be grossed.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know that I have either.

[Monica Padman]

But vintage is a little trickier.

[Dax Shepard]

It is. But also, what do people think they're getting from, like, you're moving around, you're in a Starbucks. There's 35 strangers in there. Everyone's coughing and sneezing and talking loudly. There's spittle everywhere and airborne contaminants and containers. Contagions.

[Monica Padman]

Legionnaires.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. What do you think you're getting from someone's T shirt? There's no or. We know your skin's a large disorgan, but it's not like anything's. Like they're not using it as a tissue or toilet paper. Psoriasis is not contagious.

[Monica Padman]

But you wouldn't want it like. Okay, we have to be realistic. Aren't there people in the world. We don't have to name names.

[Dax Shepard]

I have psoriasis. So go ahead and name me.

[Monica Padman]

No, I'm not. I moved on from psoriasis.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you did? Okay. I'm still there.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm sorry, it's a large accusation to Levy at someone.

[Monica Padman]

I was just thinking about the guy from Armchair Anonymous where he had his skin across the. No, he had psoriasis and it was across the entire apartment. Remember the whole apartment was covered in skin.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

So you probably wouldn't want to borrow his shirt. And I. And it's nothing against him, but like, I think we could agree.

[Dax Shepard]

I agree that it would be gnarly and I don't want to. To do that. But also you won't catch anything.

[Monica Padman]

No, you're not going to catch anything. But I think people have more. It's more of a. It's not like a disease. Yeah, it's cooties.

[Dax Shepard]

I was just more objecting to people thinking it's like gross. Like you're going to catch something. And I just don't think you're going to catch something unless you're borrowing someone's old used underwear that has a current std.

[Monica Padman]

Bacteria or bacteria. Because you get a uti. I. Yeah, I imagine that. I think they wash it.

[Dax Shepard]

That's hopeful.

[Monica Padman]

It is hopeful.

[Dax Shepard]

I do think that's the express policy. But you're just putting a lot of faith in whatever these are express hourly person that day was like you got to wash all those before you open the register. And they're like, you got it. I mean that's a real.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

At the end of the day, it's humans.

[Monica Padman]

It's humans. I know. That's what. But that to the harsh realization of the world our pilots are humans.

[Dax Shepard]

My father in law sent me an article this morning from the godfather of AI. Now a lot of people have this moniker so you don't really know which one is the truth.

[Monica Padman]

We know the godmother of AI Faith Haley.

[Dax Shepard]

But this gentleman worked at Google. He has since left. He does have a Nobel Peace Prize.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, who is it?

[Dax Shepard]

I don't remember his name. I could look it up real easy. Why wouldn't I honor and credit the this person? But what he he's urging people to do is design AI with a woman's instincts. Basically Joffrey Hinton. Okay, okay. He says, listen to this. Well, first of all, did you hear that an AI model tried to blackmail an engineer about an affair that it had learned about from email? No. Yes.

[Monica Padman]

What the. See? Oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Ok. Hinton presented an intriguing solution. Building maternal instincts into AI models so they really care about people. Even once the technology becomes more powerful, powerful and smarter than humans, AI systems will very quickly develop two sub goals if they're smart. One is to stay alive and the other sub goal is to get more control. There's good reason to believe that any kind of agenic AI will try to stay alive. But there's one sentence in here that's really incredible. Oh. He noted that mothers have instincts and social pressure to care for their babies. The right model is the only model we have of a more intelligent thing being controlled by a less intelligent thing, which is a mother being controlled by her baby. That's a fascinating framing of it, isn't it? That is the baby is in control. In control.

[Monica Padman]

And they're just.

[Dax Shepard]

And they're just adult babies.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But you're fully committed at all times to sacrifice whatever you needed to do for them.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Wow. That's wild.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, that's Cool.

[Monica Padman]

It's like the most distinct in a mother child relationship.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

But also probably a human to child relationship. Like if there's a kid around and you're alone with them and you're in a. Like an instinct does kick in that you have to help that kid or take care of that kid or, you know, you're not just gonna walk away from a kid by itself.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. We're susceptible. We're hardwired to respond to things that are cute. When the eyeballs are disproportionate to the size of the face, we. We get really nurturing and empathetic. That's neat. Yeah. That's what AI needs.

[Monica Padman]

That's why Vinny's so.

[Dax Shepard]

AI needs to look at humans and think they're so cute. Look at them. They're gangly and they're walking on two feet. No one else. Else's.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but what are they going to do about the fact that humans, like, kill people and are really mean and bad?

[Dax Shepard]

So do you know babies break things on accident and they do not accident, though. Or on purpose. Sometimes they slap their mom in the face. We know that.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

You've seen that video of Delta attacking me over and over again. You're in trouble.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, she's.

[Dax Shepard]

She's leaping at me.

[Monica Padman]

And in that case, though, you were in trouble.

[Dax Shepard]

I was not in trouble, as I made very clear in the video.

[Luke Combs]

Video.

[Dax Shepard]

I did nothing.

[Monica Padman]

You were in trouble because she decided you were in trouble. And that means you were in trouble. You were in danger.

[Dax Shepard]

But then she wanted to give me a necklace and she decided I was not in trouble. You're not in trouble anymore.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it was very nice to get back to my little sweeties last night.

[Monica Padman]

Were you happy?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

How do you feel? You're back home.

[Dax Shepard]

I feel dicey. I feel like I'm on re entry.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, sure. Reentry.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you feel you didn't feel that way? I think this is the longest I've been gone from LA since without a paddle. Maybe.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

When in Rome. Maybe. We were gone for two months.

[Monica Padman]

A long time ago.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. 56 days.

[Monica Padman]

That's really long.

[Dax Shepard]

Almost two months.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Time is wild.

[Dax Shepard]

Walked Lincoln to the first day of school today.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, today was the first day of school?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my gosh. Seventh grade.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, I try not to jinx her, but I'm so excited for her.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that was a big year for you.

[Luke Combs]

Best year.

[Dax Shepard]

Year of my life.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't think you have to knock if it was already the best year of your life.

[Monica Padman]

They can't take it away. No, her.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

See, I'm taking care of the child.

[Dax Shepard]

In this situation because you're like AI, you're agentic.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Seventh grade. We, our friends have a child who just turned 16 and we were at her birthday party and I was, was like, and this is a kid we've known her whole life.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. And like I really held her as a tiny newborn baby.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I didn't know her that little, but since she was, she was like five probably.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And that was so weird.

[Dax Shepard]

Was it?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. For like.

[Dax Shepard]

Is she getting her license?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, she's like driving.

[Dax Shepard]

She is. Oh my God. I know how excited, exciting.

[Monica Padman]

Obviously you know this and all parents know this, but when you get to be an adult, time is just kind of stagnant. Right. Like unless it's your birthday, I guess. But like you barely even that. You're not really. Whatever. You feel the same age and then you're kind of doing the same thing every day or whatever. You know, you're living your life and you're not as aware of the passage of time, but kids make you so aware of the passage of time. It's like a, a non stop sense of like, oh my God, they're getting older. Which means time is passing. I'm getting older. It's like, it's really intense. And she's 16. She is gonna be an adult in two years when we're done with this contract. She will be an adult.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh my goodness. She can. That's why she can do what? She can vote.

[Monica Padman]

She can vote.

[Dax Shepard]

She'll vote.

[Monica Padman]

But like that's. It's crazy.

[Dax Shepard]

It is crazy.

[Monica Padman]

She'll go to college.

[Dax Shepard]

I had that moment this morning. I was like looking at the school and it has the established date on Lincoln's school. And I was doing the math and I was like, oh, this school year, when we hit 2026, your school will have 120 year anniversary.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, cool.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I was thinking, that sounds so old. But it's only two of my lifetimes, which makes it feel not old.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

I get so confused when I start doing time as multiples in my lifetime because I'm only six of me away from the revolution, basically.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but isn't that crazy? It is crazy. But also think about six. A lot has happened. I mean, it just goes by so fast.

[Dax Shepard]

Exactly. This stuff is all like 5 minutes ago is what I'm saying.

[Monica Padman]

I'm feeling very nostalgic right now. Like currently, not today, but just in the past. Couple.

[Dax Shepard]

You're in a nostalgic era.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Because, well, my birthday is coming up, so maybe that has to do with it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And this child turning 16, that really.

[Dax Shepard]

Sent you for a loop.

[Monica Padman]

And I rewatched Girls. I watched the whole thing in a week.

[Dax Shepard]

How many seasons were there?

[Monica Padman]

Six.

[Dax Shepard]

Six.

[Monica Padman]

Ten episodes each.

[Dax Shepard]

Six.

[Monica Padman]

Pretty much hour longs.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. And you loved it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Better this time around for me, it's.

[Monica Padman]

So much better because the first time I watched it, I think I couldn't really watch it. Like I was. I was their. I was. Yeah. I was like their age. I was in my 20s. I was stressed out. I didn't know what my life was going to be. I was them.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

And it was. It was too much of a mirror and it made me feel flaily and anxious. So I don't even think I finished it.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Watching it now, what is the big accomplishment? You think of it, just how authentic it is.

[Monica Padman]

It's so funny. She's so funny. The way she writes. She just has my number. Like the way she writes and storytells is so. It hits such a chord. There are so many moments this happened in too much. Also the show that she created, the new show where like I'm like gonna cry, but I feel like if I start crying, I'll never stop crying.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow.

[Monica Padman]

Like she has there's like this ability to like untap and then I'll just leak out for the rest of time. Like I won't. It's what. It's just.

[Dax Shepard]

And is it a feeling of sadness?

[Monica Padman]

It's such a specific feeling. It's nostalgia, I guess. Well, that. There's a layer of that There's a nostalgia. There's a. Like life is so beautiful and hard and complicated and relationships are so complicated, but they're so. They're so beautiful that we get to. We get to engage like this in. In life. Like it's. It's so intense. Like it's such an intense feeling of the reality of being and how messy.

[Dax Shepard]

Uh huh.

[Monica Padman]

Sure it is. And she's just so funny. Like the first time I watched it, I wasn't in. I hadn't hit that stage in life where I watch everything with subtitles.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh. Huh.

[Monica Padman]

Which I do now.

[Dax Shepard]

Even American shows.

[Monica Padman]

I watch everything with subtitles.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And so I'm not missing any jokes like there. I'm so.

[Dax Shepard]

Are you missing any visuals? Because that's my issue with subtitles is I have to concentrate quite hard to read the subtitles. And I'm Missing a lot of the visuals.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I.

[Dax Shepard]

And if they're there, I'll read them. Even if I'm understanding it perfectly.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I understand this dilemma. Comment on whether you watch with subtitles or not. Dax will read them. I think I'm just so used to it now. I don't think I'm missing any visuals.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And I'm not missing any nuance or jokes. And I think I could have before.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. So you're kind of reading the script and watching the show at the same time.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And it's.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you wish they put the description of the scene on there too?

[Monica Padman]

No, they're doing a great job.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a sparsely decorated one bedroom New York apartment.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. So anyway, that show is making me feel very nostalgic. And so I'm just in like a wispy mood and are you.

[Luke Combs]

What?

[Dax Shepard]

Do you have feelings about summer ending?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Are you ready for fall?

[Monica Padman]

I love fall. I'm really glad fall is after summer.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. And not spring.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Cause I don't love spring.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Spring's fine. But fall's cozy. It's sweaters, it's warm drinks. Football. Yeah. Old fashioned.

[Dax Shepard]

I was thinking about the service that football provides for a lot of Americans.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

You're so sad summer's over.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But for so many people. Like tens of millions of people. The excitement of like, oh, football's back. And I know what I'm doing on Sundays and Mondays.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't indulge, but I get it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Maybe you should get into that.

[Dax Shepard]

I think they deserve. They're pacifying a nation. They're really. They do provide a service to bringing out of the summer blues.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. It's true. But even just like, then Halloween is coming and that's on the horizon. And it's like, what are we gonna dress up as? And Thanksgiving. Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

There's a lot of talk about the costumes already.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. I'm out of the loop.

[Dax Shepard]

But I'll do whatever it's best that you're out of the loop. Cause we're going through many iterations, I think, before we land on it.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

So it's just a lot of pitches right now. Now, you know, And I'm such a stick in the mud. I'm basically like, you know, when you guys decide, tell me what I am.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And just stay out of some of the pitches because they seem impractical to me.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Can you.

[Monica Padman]

Do you mind throwing some out there?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, what I got kind of nervous about is Lincoln's now interested in doing puns kind of bringing back what everyone loved from the 2010s, I guess.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Kristen and used to do this, right?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, yes. Like I. Burt Reynolds rap or whatever, you know? Yeah, Stuff like that. And so they already have, like, really complicated ones.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Where someone's a human and they're a toothbrush and it's me. I'm just like, whoa, we better start fabricating all these if we're really doing this.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Again, this isn't my domain. This is one of the domains I just pop in and out of. I'm on. I'm on hayride duty.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Did you drive the bus back?

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, okay. So the bus is staying there.

[Dax Shepard]

The bus is there.

[Monica Padman]

So he's going to stay there?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, until January. If I come back, bring it back to go to the sand.

[Monica Padman]

I think he should come back home because, like, what if we want to, like, hang out in him?

[Dax Shepard]

I know I would. I feel safer if Big Brown's here. But Big Brown is in cover and not in the baking sun in la.

[Monica Padman]

For it likes the sun. People like the sun. People like the sun.

[Dax Shepard]

Nobody likes to have that much direct sunlight rotting in the front yard.

[Monica Padman]

I can't say nobody when I'm sitting right here.

[Dax Shepard]

But you have rejuvenative properties. You can replace your dead skins and stuff. Big Brown's just gonna get duller and duller. So I think it's best for Big Brown.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you're bummed that the bus isn't here.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. It was only other brown thing. And on this property besides me, I felt seen.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And now I'm back to being the token.

[Dax Shepard]

Is there nothing brown here?

[Monica Padman]

Just me.

[Dax Shepard]

Just little old me. Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. We are supported by True Classic. We're really excited for this new sponsor. You know, we love brands that provide both quality and affordability. And True Classic does just that. It's a menswear brand that has casual classics like tees, pants, socks and briefs. And everything is designed to fit perfectly. You'll get that tailored look without sacrificing comfort. True Classic uses quality materials that are made to last. And they sell stand behind that, they have a made to last guarantee. If your item isn't right, they'll replace it for free within 100 days, no questions asked. Now, I've not needed to return anything from True Classics. Everything I've gotten has fit like a glove. And what truly sets True Classic apart is the mission behind it all. The brand leads with purpose, with a focus on uplifting men. In their day to day lives as well as giving back to underserved communities. They work with several community organizations supporting the veteran community, homeless shelters, schools and cities in need after natural disasters disastrous. So not only are you investing in quality clothing that's going to make you look good, you can also feel good supporting True Classic. True Classic is built for comfort, built to last, and built to give back. You can find them at Target, Costco or head to trueclassic.com tax to try them for yourself.

[Monica Padman]

I have a confession.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh wow. I love a confession.

[Monica Padman]

So I got this necklace.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

For the listener. It's gold. It has, it's really pretty. It has like what kind of looks like a paper clip or safety pin hanging from the chain but with a little diamond on it. Then it has a little pendant. Now the pendant has a unicorn on it.

[Dax Shepard]

Uh huh.

[Monica Padman]

And I feel weird about it because I love it. I saw it and I was like, I need this. But then I decided I was gonna tell people that somebody else bought it for me.

[Dax Shepard]

How come?

[Monica Padman]

Because I think it's weird if you buy yourself a pendant that has a unicorn on it.

[Luke Combs]

Oh, really?

[Monica Padman]

I'm a little.

[Dax Shepard]

What do you think it says about someone?

[Monica Padman]

Arrogant.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow. Arrogant as a.

[Monica Padman]

Like I'm saying I'm a unicorn.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh. I don't know if anyone would think that.

[Monica Padman]

I just want to get ahead of it.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Yeah, I don't, I don't think anyone's going to think that.

[Monica Padman]

I mean, just I imagine the comments are going to be like, oh my God, she thinks she's a unicorn.

[Dax Shepard]

When you wear a La Costa shirt, you don't think you're an alligator.

[Luke Combs]

Or do you?

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, I, I don't. And you don't think you're a horse or a pullover?

[Monica Padman]

This is the brand. This isn't the brand. This is the charm.

[Dax Shepard]

Do I think I'm a hawk or a crow?

[Monica Padman]

Well, you do think you're a crow. You say that all the time.

[Dax Shepard]

I do. I am a crow, but I'm not a hawk.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but that's your dad, you said.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, that is my dad.

[Monica Padman]

See, it's like if I had. If you were a hawk charm.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, if you got a huge tattoo of a big American eagle on your chest.

[Monica Padman]

American eagle's in some trouble right now. But why you haven't heard this? You're so out of the loop.

[Dax Shepard]

I probably am. What?

[Monica Padman]

Because they did a campaign with Sydney Sweeney that really got people in a tizzy about.

[Dax Shepard]

What is this? What? I saw a clip of her Crying, talking to camera about her feelings being hurt.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, maybe. I bet. I bet her feelings are hurt.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. What happened?

[Monica Padman]

She. The campaign was a. About jeans, obviously, but it was. Remember the Brooke Shields, Calvin Klein commercial that they did?

[Dax Shepard]

American Eagle. Sydney Sweeney has great genes.

[Monica Padman]

There's a voiceover. There's a whole thing about her genes and how your genes are passed down and it predicts your, your eye color and your hair color and G E M E. It says something like, I have great jeans. My jeans are blue. I only half paid attention to this. I only was. So I'm definitely missing pieces. And I think there's longer ones and shorter ones, whatever. But there's a, like, backlash against genetics or blue jeans genetics about what it's saying about her genetics being the right.

[Dax Shepard]

Genetics because she's blonde with blue eyes and white.

[Monica Padman]

And the Calvin Klein one is not like that.

[Dax Shepard]

It's more like nothing gets between me and my Calvin.

[Monica Padman]

That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

She's also 13 or something.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. That's problematic in a much different way. But anyway, I don't. I'm obviously, I'm not going to levy an opinion on that. I do think people, you know, I help Kristen with some.

[Dax Shepard]

There's so you have so many specific looks. You're like, okay, that's the sentence. I saw the whole thing. You're like, okay, that's the sentence I want to say. Oh, that's going to be. That's going to sound rough.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's okay.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm going to start with analogy. Do you remember when I helped.

[Monica Padman]

Listen, this is a ding, ding, ding to what I'm about to say.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

People need to, to think.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

They need to think before they speak and before they put things out. They need to edit what they're saying.

[Dax Shepard]

They being American Eagle or the people being critical of American Eagle or just American Eagle.

[Monica Padman]

Like, I help Kristen with commercial stuff. Right. And if you're working with Kristen on a commercial and I'm involved, you're probably gonna be annoyed at me because I am very picky. I am like, we aren't gonna use that word or not. We shouldn'. This. We gotta do this. And it's like to them, they're like, this is all the same thing. This is not.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm very similar. And as you know, I'm always on high alert for like, condescension, triggering people feeling less than. Yeah. Like there's.

[Monica Padman]

You have to think about everything if you're doing a campaign.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

And you do. You have to think about across the board, everything There's a lot to think about. And. And things make a. It makes a difference. Words make a difference. The delivery makes a difference, and it requires a lot of thought. And so when I see something like that, I'm more just like. Like, why? Who let that happen? Sydney Sweeney's person should not have allowed that. And also, American Eagle should not have allowed that. Someone should have said, like, hey, I don't know. Let's just be careful here.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I wish I knew more about the controversy. If the. If it. The controversy is just that she's saying she has good genetics. What's interesting about that, let's just say that's what it is that she's saying I have good genetics.

[Monica Padman]

American eagles, best genetics.

[Dax Shepard]

An American eagle's saying she has great genetics. For the best genetics, that would be an important word. Does she say I have the best. She says I have the best Genesis. Right? I don't know if she said that or not.

[Monica Padman]

I don't either.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So. But what's interesting is, let's say it was just, I have the best genetics. It's funny that that's more offensive to people than what I earned. How I look is that. Would they like the. The counter, which is, no, I look this way. I didn't earn it. I was just born this way. I hit the genetic lottery. People like how I look.

[Monica Padman]

No, no, no. It's.

[Dax Shepard]

To me, it seems less hairy, arrogant to say I'm just the recipient of great genes.

[Monica Padman]

But it's talking about. It's talking about blue eyes and blonde hair, specifically. It's. So. So that is the problem.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, here's where they might have got a little murky on their analogies. They're like, oh, we're gonna play the jeans. Jeans. J.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

But when she says, I have blue jeans, we mean J, E, A, J.

[Monica Padman]

E, N. I know.

[Dax Shepard]

And it got a little murky.

[Monica Padman]

No, they knew what they were doing with that. That's like, her eyes. So her jeans are blue. Like, that's. That's what they're doing. But it's also like, then they need to. Probably what they should have done is ran two campaigns, one with her, one with someone with brown hair or skin or something, and then made a brown pair of jeans.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, just blue jeans versus brown jeans or black jeans.

[Monica Padman]

I love black jeans. They could run a campaign with multiple people with this theme. The problem is you have. Have this, like, beautiful, very Aryan girl talking about her blonde hair and blue eyes and her. And having good genes, and it's kind of Like e, let's maybe not do that. But again, I don't necessarily, I don't actually blame her. I think she needs someone in her camp. I'm not a veil right now. Maybe down the line.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, just putting it out there.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, Just putting it out there.

[Dax Shepard]

Of a consultant. Do you think you could go through like 10 or 12 a day? Like maybe go do a volume play? Like have 12 of these clients that you're overseeing?

[Monica Padman]

Remember, I majored in pr. This is where some of this comes in.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You may have the, the pleasure I've had in life of looking back and like, seeming like it all makes sense now. Like, I was so into driving and then I was the host of Top Gear and it's improv and driving fast and you're like, well, how did these things intersect? So it might be that where your, your PR education finally is. Like, I knew there was a total reason.

[Monica Padman]

It's, it's at play every day. It's a play all the time here. I notice it all the time. Like man, meant to be.

[Dax Shepard]

I need to know more, but it sounds like people are overreacting in my opinion.

[Monica Padman]

You always think that.

[Dax Shepard]

I do. I think people in general are trying, are looking for ways to be offended because you could, you could say, I love my blue eyes and blonde hair. That's not saying. That's just saying. That's one version of being beautiful. If she says, I like my blonde hair and blue eyes, they're hearing, I don't like brown hair.

[Monica Padman]

No, she's not saying I like or.

[Dax Shepard]

I, I, I like that I got these.

[Monica Padman]

She's not saying that.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

That's the problem. That's what I'm saying. Words matter. If she, if, if, if it was phrase like that, like, I like my blue jeans.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

That is different than I have good jeans. My jeans are blue.

[Dax Shepard]

Uh huh.

[Monica Padman]

Like, it's so, it's so nitpicky, but it really does make a difference. And I will say, as someone who doesn't have blue jeans, I mean, I have blue jeans, but I don't have blue jeans. I have brown jeans across the board.

[Dax Shepard]

No, you have almost exclusively blue jeans.

[Monica Padman]

I have brown jeans. I have, I don't have any brown jeans.

[Dax Shepard]

Brown jeans are not popular. They're not a popular shade of, they're not a popular wash. Brown jeans, they just aren't. Whether that's.

[Monica Padman]

Black jeans are though. I have brown corduroys and they are so cute. And they're cords. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

When you get into corduroy, people really embrace brown, even orange, whatever. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So I, I, as someone who doesn't have these Aryan jeans that you do.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

If you said, said, like, yeah, I have great genes. I have blue eyes, I'd be like, probably don't say that to me.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

Like, you know, even. And not like, because I'm trying to be offended, but just like.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Are you serious? Like, that's so stupid to say.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I guess for you, blue eyes is really synonymous with white. Because now what's interesting.

[Monica Padman]

Well, she's white.

[Dax Shepard]

She is white.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

If she said, I'm so happy, Happy I'm white, I'm with you. Right.

[Monica Padman]

That's. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So I'm trying to. So I do understand. I'm trying to figure out what the stickiness is here. And I think maybe that's it. Which is blue eyes are so associated with being white and blonde that you're basically saying, I'm happy I'm white.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. So I'm happy. I have this package. Blonde hair, blue eyes, white skin. And by the way, I don't blame you. You guys get a lot of. Lot of you get a lot of in this life. So you should be happy about it.

[Dax Shepard]

But we don't need some white people. Some. Some brown people have blue eyes.

[Monica Padman]

It's so rare. D. It's so.

[Dax Shepard]

Any who.

[Monica Padman]

Rare. I mean, wow. It's probably more rare. Oh, this is a good segue into something. But this. It's probably more rare for a brown person to have blue eyes than green eyes in general. Definitely. Actually, speaking of that, when we were watching Tom Cruise's cruises and what movie were we watching where there was.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, he had green eyes and his love interest had green eyes. I think it was one of the Mission Impossibles or no. Was it Demi Moore in Few Good Men?

[Monica Padman]

It was. It was Demi Moore, green eyes. Tom had green eyes. And we were shocked that they both had green eyes because they're the rarest of eyes. And then we started to look into how many co stars have had green eyes together.

[Dax Shepard]

Couldn't give us an answer for that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. So anyhow. So I guess it's fine that I wear this or.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

[Monica Padman]

Cool.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't think anyone, when they have an animal on their locket, the person's like, you think you're that animal. I think they just think you like that animal. You like unicorns? Not. I think I'm a unicorn.

[Monica Padman]

I actually disagree. Like, if somebody wore a fox or like, had a little fox, like, they're kind of displaying that. That's who they are.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so it sounds like you might be critical of someone wearing a unicorn pendant.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Thank you. Yeah. Which makes sense. All the things we. We fear and worry about others attacking us for the things we. Right. Because they make logical sense to us.

[Monica Padman]

I wouldn't care if someone was wearing it, but I would want someone to have given it to them.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Like their mom or their boyfriend or their girlfriend or their. Someone who thinks they're a unicorn. Yeah. I guess it's like self love. Like, I have. No one's giving this to me. No one thinks I'm a unicorn.

[Dax Shepard]

But I. Interestingly, this is my same. I'm the same pushback I had on the jeans commercial. Anyone who's got a problem's overthinking it. Like, you saw it, you liked it, you bought it. That's really the story. Everything. All the other stuff, though, this bitch thinks she's a unicorn. She's gave herself a. None of. I don't think any of that. And if you are engaged in that kind of thinking, you're doing too much thinking.

[Monica Padman]

Also, if you're engaged in that, you probably just already don't like me. Like, that's sort of how it works. Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And if you're watching that commercial, they go like, oh, yeah, Sydney Sweeney's hot. We've all agreed. And the. And she's got good jeans on.

[Monica Padman]

That.

[Dax Shepard]

That's it.

[Monica Padman]

No, that's not what. That's much different. It's much, much different.

[Dax Shepard]

Anyway, I hope she hears my defense of her and agrees to. Come on.

[Monica Padman]

This is not against her. This is. I'm actually.

[Dax Shepard]

You're critical of the team, not her.

[Monica Padman]

I wish she had someone who told her American Eagle. I feel like they probably knew a little bit more about what they were doing. I don't think they could have gone that far down the line without somebody saying, like, I don't know, maybe we should change up the verbiage a little. And maybe they wanted to be controversial, which if they did, look what we've.

[Dax Shepard]

Just Talked about for 10 minutes. American Eagle jeans.

[Monica Padman]

Look what they got. All right, well, let's do some facts.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

This is for Luke Combs.

[Dax Shepard]

Ah, sweet Luke Combs.

[Monica Padman]

Very sweet boy.

[Dax Shepard]

He hasn't text, he hasn't texted me. He asked for my number, but he hasn't texted me. And then I got. Then I got paranoid I put my wrong number in. But really, probably I did put my right number in, and he just hasn't text me.

[Monica Padman]

It's like a Nicholas situation.

[Dax Shepard]

These young boys Are hard, man. I know why these older women.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, so the car in the Country Music hall of Fame, he said Webb Pierce. So the Country Music hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville features several iconic vehicles, including Elvis Presley's 1960 solid gold Cadillac limousine and Webb Pierce's 1962 Pontiac Bonneville convertible. So he was right. Oh, also, it says Jerry Reed's 1980 Pontiac Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit 2.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wonderful. I mean, look, the original Smokey and the bandit was a 77 Trans Am with a big block 400, 1980. We went to a 4.9 liter turbo. That's a bummer. But we love Jerry Reed. Got a long way to go, short time to get there. We're eastbound, down and down. Yeah, we love him. We love Jerry Reid. And I'm happy he got something from the movie, but I do wish he would have gotten the 77 big block.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Is what I'm saying.

[Monica Padman]

Now, if you saw Jerry Reid at Easodi, I'd be like, that's wild.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I agree.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. We talked about 4A, 5A schools. Something that was new to you.

[Dax Shepard]

Never heard that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And. And you asked what the A stood for. It doesn't stand for anything specific, but rather serves as a classifier for schools based on factors like enrollment size. High schools are often grouped into different classes. 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, et cetera, to ensure fair athletic competition. So I bet it actually stands for athletics.

[Dax Shepard]

You'd think. I mean, otherwise, there's no reason to put that A in there since they don't do 1B and 1 2C since we're only using A then, and it's completely unnecessary. Well, you could have just said 1 through 5. They're classified 1 through 5. Yeah, but if the A never changes as you're going up, there's no point in having it. It's not telling you anything about the school?

[Monica Padman]

No, it's not telling you anything, but they probably just wanted to give it.

[Dax Shepard]

A little something, make it more techy sounding. 5A. But I'm just saying 5 is the operative integer in there. The A is doing nothing. So why do we have.

[Monica Padman]

Well, it's probably written out with five A's.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't think so. You think so? Yeah, I bet it says the number 5 and then A. But you're looking at it. Where are there five A's in a line?

[Monica Padman]

No, no, I mean, like when you're, like, at the school and it says the school. Then it had I, like in My head. I've seen multiple A's.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know.

[Dax Shepard]

All right?

[Monica Padman]

I don't know why. Let me text my friend Kirsten. She works at my high school. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Okay, great. Give her a text.

[Monica Padman]

We're going to give her a text. On air. Hi, comma. I have a weird question for a fact check period. Do you know what the A stands for in 5A schools? Question mark. Also, is it spelled out number 5? Also, is it spelled 5A or 2, 3, 4, 5? Yeah, I've seen A's like this. Oh, I added the. Yeah. On accident. I gotta edit that. Okay. How many people in Asheville drive Subarus? It didn't. It wouldn't tell me. But it does say, nationally, Subaru makes up about 1.6% of the overall automotive market.

[Dax Shepard]

Side note, on our drive to Die Dollywood, we had two different single dudes in cars that were driving at a very high rate of speed, high velocity. I won't mention whether I was driving slow or fast, but they were both in Subaru Foresters. Whoa. And Aaron and I said, this is weird. That's not the car I would expect speed freaks to be drawn to. But, boy, we never saw a Subaru Forester that wasn't doing 20 over. So just file that where you may.

[Monica Padman]

Wow. Wow. Okay. But it does say that subaru is over 11% of the. I'm sorry. In Vermont, Subaru is over 11% of the state's overall automotive sales.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow. So 5x the national average.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Yeah. Cause 1.6%. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I have a confusing fact, because he said that the student. He said that in Boone County, North Carolina, the population population doubles when school's in, which makes sense. But I am confused because the student population of Boone in 2023 was 21,253. That includes Appalachian State and some other schools. But then if you look up the population of Boone, North Carolina, it says 20,000.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. So there's 20,000 permanent residents, and then another 21,000 arrive to go to school, making it during school time. 41,000. But 21,000 aren't residents. So he got that almost exactly right. It's a little more than half of their population.

[Monica Padman]

So you're saying these people aren't residents. I guess that makes sense. I guess.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. They're not on a census.

[Monica Padman]

Hmm. I guess it depends on where. Where they register.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You don't fill out a census in college. Generally, that's like the homeowner.

[Monica Padman]

But isn't it where you're registered. Like, I registered in Athens. So I.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Like, I got like jury duty summons there and stuff. Way past when I was supposed to, like, I was considered a resident there.

[Dax Shepard]

I would hearken to guess that 99% of people do not switch the address on their license from their childhood home to their dormitory.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it happened because I was registering for the election. Like, I think if you. Maybe if you wanna vote and you're in college, that's the way. Okay, let's see. Is pure O, ocd, Nature or nurture? Purely obsessional. Ocd. Pure O. OCD is thought to have a genetic. Genetic component with family history is significantly increasing the likelihood of developing the condition. Studies have shown that puro is five to seven times more common in individuals with relatives who have ocd, suggesting a genetic link. So. Yeah. Oh, okay. So she. Kirsten, my friend, she responded. Here's what my athletic director just said when I asked. A is class so single? A is small schools. We are Regent White. Wow. Duluth. Wow. My school is now 7A.

[Dax Shepard]

They had to invent new ones for your school, she said.

[Monica Padman]

Biggest classification, she said. And the A means nothing. Kind of like with batteries. His words, not mine.

[Dax Shepard]

She said, but that's not a good analogy because the A's in battery do mean something. Because if it's triple A, it's very small. If it's double A, it's bigger. So as you change the A's.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but that's what this is too. This is. The more A's, the bigger the school.

[Dax Shepard]

If you're writing it out, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 A's. But it sounds quite like all they need is the seven. The seven tells them how big the school is, not the A. Whereas in the battery, the A actually tells you the size.

[Monica Padman]

Well, no, the. They're not called 2A, it's double A or triple A. So it could just be double, triple, single.

[Dax Shepard]

But you can't because you have C and D back. Batteries, whatever.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I see what you're saying. You're saying the A is the type of battery because C is.

[Dax Shepard]

The A is the operative piece of information. The A has no operative impact on.

[Monica Padman]

1 through 7A, whatever it is written out with A's.

[Dax Shepard]

It is. She write when she has to say the size of her school. She writes seven A's in a row.

[Monica Padman]

She wrote seven and then a bunch of A's.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so you would like them to keep the A. It sounds like. Yeah, I'm pushing for them to just ditch the A. It's completely extraneous.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. I don't. I think it's stupid to say the school is seven. I like that it has something else added to it.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Well, that's it for Luke. That's all the facts for him.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I really adored him. Hopefully he'll text me one day.

[Monica Padman]

Hopefully. Keep us updated.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, Maybe he'll need 20 bucks someday. Something or a motorcycle.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, maybe he needs to borrow some eggs.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you know they make a little tiny motorcycle named a Dax?

[Monica Padman]

Wow. See, that is a big coincidence.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I got one today. It's a little tiny motorcycle that says Dax. It's so cute.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God. Cute how? Tiny? Like you can ride it or is it for kids?

[Dax Shepard]

I can ride it, but you wouldn't know this, but you know my grom, that little tiny black motorcycle I have in LA? It's just a 125 like my Ducati. The big one is 1200 cc's. This is 125. So it's a little tiny motorcycle and it's retro and it's got this steel frame and it says Dax really huge on it.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Honda makes it. It's super adorable. I'm going to send you a picture.

[Luke Combs]

It's very retro.

[Monica Padman]

So cute. Did. Did you also buy the Dax chair?

[Dax Shepard]

I need to.

[Monica Padman]

You need to.

[Dax Shepard]

I got to be honest though. Like, I would want this Dax mini bike whether it's a Dax or not. It's just super cute and retro looking. That chair does not look comfortable. The armchair. The Dax armchair.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But it's significant.

[Dax Shepard]

It looks torturous, but.

[Monica Padman]

Hmm. God, that's deep. You know, it's like, are you comfortable in your. Your skin? Sometimes you're not. And this armchair reflects that.

[Dax Shepard]

And that's why I don't love the chair. It's not on brand with my personal brand, which is. I am Max Comfort. You know?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. You're comfortable in your skin, but you're also an addict, which means by nature you're kind of uncomfortable.

[Dax Shepard]

But I sit in a La Z boy at work. Like, to me comfort is. Is like top. You know, it's what you're.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. So it's like what you're looking for. So the Dax armchair is not what you're looking for. It's who you are. Just so you know.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh. A rigid, poly injected mold. Like, it's a mold. There's no individuality.

[Monica Padman]

But in a museum, it's obviously special.

[Dax Shepard]

It's an accomplishment. I just think it's a terrible chair.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God. Actually, this is funny because when I was in New York, I went to this place called Superiority Burger. Great restaurant. And on the menu they had these pictures of chairs. And then the drink names like went with the chair. And we did play a game for a long time where we were figuring out who was what chair.

[Dax Shepard]

That's fun.

[Monica Padman]

It was fun. I'll post it. People can play the game.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Okay. Post it all.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I will.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. I love you.

[Monica Padman]

Love you.

[Dax Shepard]

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

[Monica Padman]

Hi, I'm Monica Lewinsky. Welcome to reclaiming. I would define reclaiming as to take back what was yours. Something you possess is lost or stolen, and ultimately you triumph in finding it again. Miley Cyrus, welcome to reclaiming. My 2013 is your 1998. I lost everything during that time in my personal life because of the choices I was making professionally. Chelsea, welcome to reclaiming. I did have a teacher who instilled in me that I was going to do something special, and she was like, you're going to have an impact. Sophia Bush, welcome to reclaiming. You went all the way. You committed, and if it wasn't for you, you have the courage to tell the truth and get out. And I had to say that to women in my life, and I had to learn how to say it in the mirror to myself. This last decade, for me has really been what I consider my own reclaiming, my own journey. My own reclaiming story is in the bones of this show. Please listen to Reclaiming on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.