ReThinking: Ed Helms on Growing Through Failure

Podcast: ReThinking
Host: Adam Grant (TED)
Guest: Ed Helms
Date: August 5, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features comedian and actor Ed Helms, best known for “The Office,” “The Hangover” movies, and the podcast/book Snafu, where he explores history’s greatest blunders. Adam Grant and Helms discuss the creative process, learning from failure, groupthink, the value of supportive communities, nostalgic reflection, and advice for bouncing back from setbacks. With humor and candor, Helms offers both practical and philosophical insights on resilience in life and the arts.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins of Resilience: Stand-Up Comedy and Failure

• Early Stand-Up Bombs:
  Helms discusses formative experiences bombing in stand-up and how “show business is just a festival of failure.” He describes learning to embrace failure as essential to improvement.
  • “In order to get anywhere with standup comedy, you really have to learn to love bombing and love failing and sort of see it as just building your calluses.” (Ed Helms, 03:26)
• Comedic Camaraderie:
  Social support among peers mitigated the sting of failure.
  • “Strong bonds are forged in pain, right? Comedy clubs is a fascinating little microcosm of that.” (Ed Helms, 05:05)

2. Coping with Rejection and Building Confidence

• Major Bombs:
  Helms shares painful stories, including a disastrous show at Governors (Long Island) and a mortifying review after a casino gig.
  Notable Moment:
  • “[A heckler’s friend yells] ‘He is a brain surgeon. He’s literally a brain surgeon.’ And at that point, I lost. The crowd won.” (Ed Helms, 06:20)
  • Helms likens the aftermath to a breakup:
    • "It feels like physical pain." (Ed Helms, 06:54)

3. The Importance of Community and Support

• Finding Your Cohort:
  Helms underscores the importance of surrounding oneself with like-minded people, especially in careers seen as unorthodox.
  • “Surround yourself with people who agree that what you want is awesome… it is so galvanizing and such an important way to find support.” (Ed Helms, 09:23)
• Overcoming Social Judgment:
  Growing up in Atlanta, Helms kept aspirations internal to avoid being ridiculed.

4. Joy and Tedium in Showbiz

• Saturday Night Live Inspiration:
  Helms was inspired at a young age watching Eddie Murphy on SNL.
  • "I looked at him and I was like, he’s having fun… and I want that fun." (Ed Helms, 11:29)
• Enduring TV Production:
  Despite the slow pace on TV/film sets (contrasted with stand-up), Helms finds creative satisfaction in exploring new comedic nuances each take.

5. Lessons from “The Office”

• Savoring the Good Old Days:
  The wisdom in Andy Bernard’s famous final episode line resonates personally for Helms.
  • “I wish there was some way to know you're in the good old days while you're actually in them. … Cherish the mundane, because that's where nostalgia is built.” (Ed Helms, 16:08)
• Behind the Scenes Snafus:
  Helms discusses challenges when character arcs became harder to understand, teaching him to persist even when things are imperfect.

6. Groupthink and Historical Snafus

• Wildest Snafus:
  Helms recounts a 1950s U.S. plan to nuke the moon as a flex during the Cold War—abandoned after realizing the risk of the missile boomeranging back.
  • “Any miscalculation… could very easily miss the moon, be slingshotted around the gravitational field and just come right back to Earth.” (Ed Helms, 19:19)
• Major Patterns:
  Causes of major group failures include groupthink, homogeneity, and underrepresentation of women in decision-making.
  • “That [enclosed bubble of groupthink] is the biggest one… Also, there are clearly no women involved in these decisions, and that...contributes to a very siloed set of values.” (Ed Helms, 20:39)

7. Lightning Round: Audience Q&A

• Andy Bernard Spinoff:
  • “It’d be called Andy Time. He would be...a staffer in the admissions office [at Cornell], aspiring Dean.” (Ed Helms, 23:43)
• Relatability to Characters:
  • “Andy is a guy with very few tools to deal with the feelings that I have… I relate to his expressions of insecurity, for sure.” (Ed Helms, 24:04)
• Favorite “Office” Episode:
  • “‘Dinner Party’...the hardest laughs I’ve ever had...when Steve is showing us how his flat screen TV moves 2 inches...we must have done 500 takes.” (Ed Helms, 24:39)
• A Cappella Experience:
  • “Acapella music is unbelievably fun to do and very painful to endure.” (Ed Helms, 25:21)
• Success and Family:
  • “Value is measured in a thousand different ways...all the markers of success...start to lose meaning...the things that matter [are] being a better dad, brother, or friend.” (Ed Helms, 27:29)

8. Practical Advice on Bouncing Back From Failure

• Culture of Empathy:
  “It’s not necessarily: ‘how do I handle my own failures?’ It’s: ‘what culture are you helping to build around you?’” (Ed Helms, 28:51)
• Self-Pep Talks:
  Helms records videos of himself offering pep talks for use during or after tough moments.
  • “Seeing myself like, myself is pretty damn good...sometimes that’s what you need.” (Ed Helms, 30:16)
• Self-Distancing:
  Adam observes that this technique helps distance oneself from the emotional immediacy of a setback.
  • “To hear from a version of you that isn’t caught up in the current failure.” (Adam Grant, 30:27)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Congratulations, you sucked.” (Interviewer, 05:03) – A comedic badge of honor among stand-ups.
• “I am funny all the time. I just be funny all the time.” (Ed Helms, 27:02) – On the persistent expectation for comic performers.
• “Am I just like a gross cockroach that got thrown into this soup?” (Ed Helms, 28:51) – On community culture and failure.
• “Record your own pep talks tonight? … We’re starting something here. This is a revolution.” (Ed Helms, 32:02)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:26–07:29: Ed Helms on bombing in stand-up and its agonizing aftermath
• 09:23–10:49: The role of community in building resilience and support
• 11:22–12:03: Early creative inspiration (Saturday Night Live & Eddie Murphy)
• 16:08–16:50: “The Office” nostalgia and lessons on cherishing the present
• 17:21–18:12: Character and creative challenges during later seasons of “The Office”
• 18:26–20:08: The wild plan to nuke the moon—historical groupthink failures
• 23:33–26:14: Lightning round Q&A (spinoffs, character identification, best moments)
• 28:51–31:43: Navigating personal setback, self-video pep talks, and recovery strategies

Takeaways

• Failure is not just inevitable but formative—learning to embrace it is vital, especially in creative pursuits.
• Community—the “soup you’re in and contribute to”—is essential for resilience.
• Nostalgia is built in everyday mundane moments; recognize them while you’re living them.
• Humor, self-compassion, and intentional habits (like self-pep talks) are powerful tools to reset after setbacks.

For listeners seeking wisdom on growth, creativity, and the value of failing forward, Ed Helms delivers both laughs and practical perspective in this dynamic conversation with Adam Grant.