Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Episode: Mom's Car: Monica Padman
Date: September 23, 2025
Episode Overview
This episode of "Mom’s Car," a spinoff from the Armchair Expert universe, is a lively, unscripted ride-along through Los Angeles with Monica Padman, Dax Shepard, and Aaron. The trio dives into Monica’s favorite eateries in Los Feliz, swaps stories on sustainability and possessions, fields quirky and serious listener questions about relationships and change, and debates the philosophical and practical challenges of evolving identity within marriage. The tone is as irreverent and intimate as ever, blending playful ribbing with honest vulnerability about human messiness, transformation, and what really matters in life.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Thrifting, Generosity, and Attachment to Things
- Sustainability and Clothing Donation
- The group discusses giving away nice items to thrift stores like Salvation Army and Goodwill, and the strange hope that recipients appreciate the item's original value.
- Notable Quote:
- Dax: “I hope they know they got something that's normally $350 for $2.” (01:36)
- Monica calls out the non-Buddhist trait of attachment, challenging why it matters if someone recognizes the value.
- Cycle of Ownership
- They reflect on the circularity of donating, then buying someone else’s old clothes.
2. Food, Habits, and LA’s Strange Rhythms
- LA's Unique Meal Times and Restaurant Preferences
- Monica shares her favorite French-inspired spot, Loupiet, describing its festive European charm (02:51).
- Delivery Adventures
- They contrast assumptions about food delivery’s expensive clientele, noting it’s often everyday folks ordering from “weird duck restaurants” (03:35).
- Aaron and Dax discuss odd and off-putting smells encountered during deliveries.
3. Listener Questions: Humor and Authenticity
- The 'Fake Vulner Boy' Email
- Dax writes a fake question about a sensitive Southern man searching for love in a bigger city, which momentarily fools Monica.
- Memorable Exchange:
- Monica: “I can't imagine there's anyone out there looking to care for someone who is always throwing up and crying.” (07:40)
- Dax: "You wrote this, Dax." (07:48)
- Once revealed, Monica admits the made-up listener was nearly her “perfect man”—until the vomiting in New York was mentioned.
- Conversation playfully explores what Monica’s ideal partner might really be like.
4. Comfort Zones, Habits, and Exploration
- Monica contrasts her risk-averse daily life with her adventurousness in food, seeing restaurant exploration as her version of “kink” (13:56).
- Dax admits to getting stuck in habitual routines, preferring familiar favorites to new experiences.
5. Possessions, Value, and Mortality
- Attachment to Material Goods
- Dax and Monica open up about the desire—despite their best intentions—to accumulate and hold possessions, like expensive watches and vehicles.
- Dax relates the irrational hope that heirs (or strangers at Goodwill) recognize the worth of items left behind (19:30).
- They muse on how mortality and events like fires force us to clarify what truly matters (20:05).
- Notable Quote:
- Dax: “None of this has any value anymore because there's no one here to care about it.” (19:51)
6. Personal Stories: Family and Loss
- Aaron shares anecdotes about inheriting their father’s Vietnam memorabilia; Dax keeps his late father’s AA sobriety coins.
7. Sexual Openness and Body Image
- Masturbation Openness
- Discussion veers into sexual habits, with frequent jokes about being “caught in the act” (24:10).
- Bodily Aesthetics and Grooming Norms
- Monica, Dax, and Aaron discuss waxing, the gendered discomfort around male waxers, and shifting trends in body hair presented as generational and cultural touchstones (27:19).
- Dax explains how his first perceptions of womanhood came from Playboy (“a mature, fertile woman right there, not a baby”—28:20), leading to broader questions about identity and sexuality.
8. Real Listener Question: Changes in Long-term Partnerships
- A Wife’s Struggle with Her Husband's Bodybuilding ([32:22–47:13])
- A genuine listener asks how to process her husband’s newfound obsession with bodybuilding, which has altered their dynamic.
- The group uncovers deeper issues:
- Fear of Identity Change:
- Monica: “I thought I knew you… now you’re changing. That’s scary in a relationship.” (33:55)
- Dax: “If I’m dead honest, if I was her, I’d be kind of embarrassed to be moving through the world with a bodybuilder as my partner.” (35:38)
- Gender Norms & Double Standards:
- Monica: “We're asking men to be feminine and masculine and all the things. That's really hard.” (36:06)
- Dax: “There's something a little unattractive about [being] fully consumed.” (36:59)
- Impact on Daily Life:
- Monica observes that shared rituals, like restaurant outings, can be upended by new obsessions (“if I was married to someone…and then he decides to become a bodybuilder…that is affecting my life”). (40:12)
- What’s Fair to Ask?
- Dax: “You can't ask someone to change fundamentally for you…People get to make decisions about their lives.” (49:40)
- Advice:
- Dax: “Try to really figure out what the key fear is…share it with your partner and give them the opportunity to comfort that.” (46:57)
- Monica: “It’s a conversation that you have, you’re vulnerable, and then you say, I'm scared that you're changing.” (47:14)
- Fear of Identity Change:
- Analogy to His Own Marriage: Dax compares it to Kristen Bell’s choices around body hair and his life-risking hobbies—highlighting the boundaries and negotiations of autonomy in marriage.
9. Sobriety and Couples Changing Together
- Dax and Aaron acknowledge the challenges when one partner gets sober, potentially destabilizing a relationship built on shared habits (50:01).
- Dax: “It's not fair to her or for me. I don't want to be at dinner with someone who's a little drunk…” (50:30)
- Monica takes the compassionate view: “If I was married to someone and they got sober, I'd have to change my lifestyle.”
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On Donating Expensive Items
- Dax: “I have this weird desire that I hope they know that...it was a $350 sweater.” (01:36)
- Monica: “It's not very Buddhist. And why does it matter?” (01:51)
-
On Change in Marriage
- Monica: “I thought I knew you… that's scary in a relationship.” (33:55)
- Dax: “Try to really figure out what the key fear is… and then share with your partner.” (46:57)
-
On Personal Kinks
- Monica: “In exploration of cities, that's where I get kinky… My kink: eating tasty food. I'm so kinky.” (14:00)
-
On Masturbation Openness
- Dax: “I am embarrassed to be caught jerking off.” (25:02)
- Aaron: “So I guess I kind of want to get caught, but…” (25:30)
-
On Gendered Body Image
- Dax: “The first time I saw women naked…they all had hair bows. It represented, like, womanliness…not a baby.” (28:20)
- Monica: “There's something primitive about it.” (29:28)
-
On Mortality and Possessions
- Dax: “None of this has any value anymore because there’s no one here to care about it.” (19:51)
Important Timestamps
- 01:36 — Dax on donating expensive items and attachment.
- 07:40 — Monica on seeking a partner “always throwing up and crying.”
- 14:00 — Monica describes her “kink” as city exploration and eating.
- 19:51 — Dax’s epiphany about the meaninglessness of possessions after a loved one’s death.
- 27:19–30:06 — Conversations around waxing, body hair, and generational shifts.
- 32:22–47:13 — Deep dive into the bodybuilding husband listener question, identity change, and relationship negotiation.
- 50:01–51:46 — Navigating relationship challenges when sobriety alters the dynamic.
Overall Tone & Takeaways
The episode is quintessential “Mom’s Car”/Armchair Expert: part comedic, part philosophical, always introspective. The hosts and Monica balance self-deprecation and playful banter with recognizing the importance of honesty and directness in relationships—whether about food, watches, or the fraught landscape of romantic change. The episode’s wisdom is found in the encouragement to “name the real fear” underlying irritation with partners, to communicate openly, and to remember that the heart of life is not about stuff, but connection, memories, and vulnerable curiosity.
For listeners seeking laughter, sincerity, and a candid window into navigating evolving relationships and values, this episode delivers a vintage blend of Monica and Dax’s warmth, humor, and self-inquiry.