Looking to make a change, ready to make the move to electric? Did you know you can save up to €2,500 across the electric range at Frank Keen MG? Choose from the fully electric MG ZS SUV, MG 4 hatchback, and the MG 5 estate. But don't delay, this offer is available for a limited time only. Go to frankkeenmg. Ie and book your test drive today, or visit our showrooms in Ballymount, Dublin 22. Terms and conditions apply. Visit frankkeenmg. Ie for more information.

Walter Isaacson set out to write about a world-changing genius in Elon Musk and found a man addicted to chaos and conspiracy. I'm thinking it's idiotic to buy Twitter because he doesn't have a fingertips feel for social, emotional networks. The book launched a thousand hot takes, so I sat down with Isaacson to try to get past the noise. I like the fact that people who say I'm not as tough on Musk as I should be are always using anecdotes from my book to show why we should be tough on Musk. Join me, Evan Ratliff, for On Musk with Walter Isaacson. Listen on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Tune in to the new podcast, Stories from the Village of Nothing Much, like Easy Listening, but for fiction. If you've overdosed on bad news, we invite you into a world where the glimmers of goodness in everyday life are all around you. I'm Katherine Nicolai, and I'm an architect of COSE. Come spend some time where everyone is welcome and the default is kindness. Listen, relax, enjoy. Listen to stories from The Village of Nothing Much on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Join us.

For the Can't Miss live music event of The Holiday Season. Our iHeart Radio Dingle Ball special coming to ABC, December 21st. Starring Cher, Olivia Rodrigo, Cisa, Niall Horan, Sabrinah Carpenter, One Republic, Jellyroll, Big Time Rush, and more. Tune in to the iHeart Radio Dingle Ball special on Thursday, December 21st at 08:07 central on ABC and stream next day on Hulu and Disney+.

Hi.

Hi.

Is this a fake? Did I reach you?

This is fake. I mean, if- I'm trying to think about Plato, Shadows on the Wall. You know what I mean? We're just looking at the Shadows on the Wall, my friend. You're calling about a severe head injury?

Yeah, well, define brain problem.

Well, I mean, it's pretty self-explanatory. Has a doctor ever said anything concerning about your brain?

I'm thinking, does it have to be like a physical injury or could you- Tell me what you got. With a neurological- Tell me what she- I don't know, maybe schizophrenia or something.

Is that what you have going on?

I did from ages 19 for a few years. I was told it could happen for a couple of years in your late teens. And then I guess for me, it just went away after three years.

No medication or anything?

Yeah, I got a lot of medication. I got really fat and even more depressed. And so I said, fuck medication. And you quit it? And then it just eventually went away, and I guess other factors in my life changed, and I'm fine now.

Well, I am not educated on the topic. I'm going to be the first to say it, so I don't know, but I'm glad you're doing well. Thank you.

Sorry that- Me and my husband listen to you religiously, and we've always wanted to call, so it's really cool you brought the podcast back.

Thank you so much. Wait, let me see if I can play one of my new songs. Iheart has a library of songs. What's this?

Instead of hatred, I choose love. I love it.

Listen, much love to you and your husband. Thank you for calling in.

Thank you. Thank you. We're calling in from the Bay Area.

The Bay. Hold on. That's a dinner bell for you.

There you go. All right. Off to feed.

Do you know that I was once on a Southwest flight with both too short and E-40?

Yeah, my husband, he heard that podcast and his retaliation of that was really funny. I didn't hear the podcast.

Listen, no pressure. I've heard that. No pressure, but isn't that crazy?

Yes, that is cool, and twice.

I just feel like for the Bay Area, there should be some security system in place where they can't both be on the same flight.

I mean, too short is your security.

Oh, my gosh. What else do I have? I have some new music cues. You say.

All.

Of this.

Crazy.

Stuff.

That I do not want to hear.

Your voice sounds really good there.

Listen, that isn't me, honey. That isn't me.

Oh, okay.

But I guess when you think about all these new iHeart cues, the real thing you could say is silence is the purest truth. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. These are actually starting to be pretty amazing. Okay. I'm really happy that you're feeling better that you found love, you're married. I appreciate the call. Anything else you want to say? Well, I guess part of the reason I was asking about brain issues is because this whole theme of this episode has to do with that. We're talking to a doctor. We're talking to a comedian who had to get brain surgery. It's all here.

Okay. I'm going to go slam my head against the wall. Wait a minute.

No.

No, just kidding. Yeah.

That's the boss.

What's that one? I need that one.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Why are these songs so good for this call? I mean, you're going to slam your head in the door immediately. How did we get to this point? Anyway, I don't even think I can hang up because there's an error message on my screen here. Oh, did I get.

The honors of.

Hanging up on you? Yeah, hang up on me. Call me a bitch and hang up.

All right. I'm going to hit my little pad, which sounds. Bye. Bye.

Stupid bitch. You forgot to call me a stupid bitch. Nice guy. Nice call. Okay. How did we get to this point? These music jobs are amazing. Okay, so thanks, iHeart. Loving the music.

How did.

We get to this point?

Now did we get somewhere? Now did.

We get somewhere?

Away from what we were before.

Away from what we.

Really are. (cell phone ringing) Hello?

Hi.

Hi. What's your brain or head problem?

I had.

A brain injury once.

(electronic noises) Itried to help me.

How was it?

It was pretty shit.

I.

Got a concussion playing rugby. I wasn't allowed to like- Just thank you. Huh? I was just saying I hit the no thank you sound effect in response to getting a concussion. Oh, sorry. No, I mean, from your point of view, no thank you concussion. I'm on your side. Sure. Thanks. Oh, my God. Yeah, I wasn't allowed to raise my.

Heart.

Rate for two months. Wow. Yeah, it sucked.

Have you ever had a brain injury?

Not yet. Not yet. Well, God willing. Wait, how did you get the concussion? Rugby? Yeah, that's tough. That'll get you. Rugby will get you. There's no two ways about it. It will leave you... Hard to hear that drop. I think the B is cut off. It's supposed to say, broken and alone, but it sounds like, broken and alone. But also maybe it's just not easy to hear.

Well, this is where it ends.

Between you and me. I just can't not pretend to see.

What.

I do not see. Wow, that was really nice. Thank you. How's your brain now? It's okay.

My.

Teacher at the time, she would always come up to me and say, You're not the same. You're not the same. What the fuck? And that was a little disconcerting. What the hell? Was she trying to be funny? Fuck, that's terrifying.

I know.

I thought I was in some Finneas-Gage situation. Whoa, I don't even get the refs. But you know what? I'm not good at refs. I never get references. I'm always like, What is that? Finneas-gage? He had a metal rod jammed into his face. Did you get a metal rod? No, but his whole personality changed because it went through his frontal lobe. Damn, damn, damn. But still, when you were like, my teacher would always say the last thing I was expecting was, You are not the same. I know. I know. It's not the most nurturing.

It's terrifying. But I think I'm okay now. We'll see in 15 years. Here's you in class. You're walking around. Actually, I wanted to put footfall in the sound cues, but I don't have it yet. Okay, so you're walking around, you're walking around, and then you see your teacher and she looks you dead in your eye. You are not the same. You're pretty much what I went down. She told me every day for a week. Yeah, you're like, What's her homework for tonight? She's like, You are not the same. You're like, You're getting fucking weird. Did I hit my head, or did you hit your head?

She was a little odd.

She may have. She may have. Yeah. But she just told me to enjoy the time I had left. One time you're driving down the freeway, and you see a car that looks a lot like your teacher's car, and it's tailing you. Then it pulls right beside you. There she is, the teacher. She's neck and neck. Her car is beside your car. The window comes down. You are not the same. And she peels off. She drove off. That's violent. You're like, What the fuck is up with this lady? I don't know. She had an edge. She had an edge. She was on one. All right, well, listen. Good call.

Not really. Yeah.

Totally good call. Sorry. Totally, good call. Sorry. You're all right. Oh, fuck. That needs a different trim there. We're working on the fly here. That is a starting mid-sentence. Okay. Anyway, well, I guess it's time to go. All right, I'll see you. All right. You're still here, aren't you? Oh, do you want me to hang up? I thought you were self-ejecting. Whoa, maybe one day because of my head injury. Right. And then I thought you were self-ejecting, and then I was staring at squinting at the screen, and I saw the time was still counting off. All right, well, okay. Well, then I guess I'll hang up. On this episode? No, this is the thing. I'm actually turning the tables on this episode. This episode only, you can say, Fuck you, bitch, and hang up on me. You don't want to? Not really. I was hoping to get the treatment, but whatever. All right, fine. I'll do it. You seem like a real sweetheart, but I got to go. Bling-ding-ding-ding. Looks like we're out of time. Goodbye. We'll do this. I did it. Didn't want to. Tried to give her the opportunity. People like having someone in control, you know?

All right, so what a head injury centric ep we have. Why? I don't know. It just worked out that way. Is it interesting to you? Is it a head scratcher? Wow. Is it too medical, arguably, this episode? It's fun to have range, though, isn't it? It's fun to never know what to expect in a way, isn't it? I think that's something that people who like this podcast like, You don't know what you're going to get. Anyhow, I had a roommate in New York who was a physical therapist for people with head injuries, and she said that they were like... A lot of times people with head injuries are mean. They'll say exactly like, Oh, that's an ugly shirt, and stuff like that. Seems like that's a funny side effect of working with people with head injuries. As you get insult at it, it's like they become roast comedians. I know someone who fell off a horse and similarly people were like, He was never the same. You don't really want to hear that after you've fallen off a horse. You're like, I'm sorry, what? You've never been the same again. That's the scariest side effect.

That's the most sci-fi side effect of an injury. So you the person you think you are. Yeah, that's not who you ever were before. Because I bunked my head, what the fuck? All right, so we got a schizophrenia and a concussion. We got a schizophrenia and one concussion. And somehow, that's enough. I didn't used to really do interviews on this podcast. I don't think I did with people that I had never met and things like that, aside from callers. This iteration, we are reaching out to people that fascinate us, I want to say, but it's really me. I'm reaching out and trying to see, can you come on the pod? Yeah. One of these people is this neurologist that I started watching this Netflix series, Lennox Hill and Emergency NYC. Basically, it's like emergency room visits. I think that it was just such riveting television. It did give me absolute insomnia because you really just realize anything could happen at any time. Human bodies are not... We're vulnerable yet strong at the very same time. Anyhow, but Dr. Langer was just this character on there who's so passionate and he works so hard. Anyway, he's just very like, you just very...

I admired him watching it. But it is funny because he did a video interview with me, and I'm embarrassed. I actually have to set it up that I'm a little embarrassed because I couldn't have been trying to... First of all, I'm dying in sorry. I'm trying to do a serious interview with a neurologist. How dare I? And second of all, I'm trying to use medical speak and verbiage to impress him. I don't know. I just want to just acknowledge. I think I am being weird in this interview, but it's like my first interview, I think, that I did for the podcast this new iteration. I keep saying iteration. Iteration. Yeah. So anyhow, I couldn't believe he agreed to do it. I was very... I do feel very... I was excited I got to talk to him. I think we're still figuring out the combination of comedy and extremely serious things. But let me know what you think of this old Dr. Linger interview. Also, we have a special guest in the show who is a comedian who also had some brain-related struggles and trauma. Again, straddling the line of comedy and just, Holy shit, fuck.

Sorry this happened. What a fucking awful thing. Let's hit a sound cue. We discussed it beforehand that, Oh, there's sound cues and stuff, but still I felt dirty. This is like a confessional. I just drew 500 hearts on a pad of paper. So basically what I'm trying to say is, listen, this is all a grand experiment. Thank you to Dr. Langer for coming on the show, our surprise comedian guest for your vulnerability, your honesty, your fortitude. Let me know what you think. I should also say that the comedian interview ended in a horrific manner in which I felt like a character on Lisa Kudros the comeback. There was no getting around it. So get ready to really analyze the ending. Am I a bad person? Let me know.

Looking to make a change, ready to make the move to Electric? Did you know you can save up to 2,005 across the electric range at Frank Keen MG? Choose from the fully electric MG ZS SUV, MG 4 hatchback, and the MG 5 estate. But don't delay, this offer is available for a limited time only. Go to frankkeenmg. Ie and book your test drive today or visit our showrooms in Ballymount, Dublin 22. Terms and conditions apply. Visit frankkeenmg. Ie for more information.

When Walter Isaacson set out to write his biography of Elon Musk, he believed he was taking on a world-changing figure. That night, he was deciding whether or not to allow Starlink to be enabled to allow a sneak attack on Crimea. What he got was a subject who also sowed chaos and conspiracy. I'm thinking it's idiotic to buy Twitter because he doesn't have a fingertips feel for social, emotional, networks. And when I sat down with Isaacson five weeks ago, he told me how he captured it all. They had Kansas spray paint, and they're just putting big X's on machines. And it's almost like kids playing on the playground. Just choose them up left, right, and center. And then like, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, he doesn't even remember it. Getting to Mars, done excuse being a total of. But I want the reader to see it in action. My name is Evan Ratliff, and this is On Musk with Walter Isaacson. Join us in this four-part series as Isaacson breaks down how he captured a vivid portrait of a polarizing genius. Listen to Ayn Musk on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Tune in to the new podcast, Stories from the Village of Nothing Much, like Easy Listening but fiction. If you've overdosed on bad news, we invite you into a world where the glimmers of goodness in everyday life are all around you. I'm Katherine Nicolai. You might know me from the Bedtime Story podcast, Nothing Much Happens. I'm an architect of cozy, and I invite you to come spend some time where everyone is welcome and kindness is the default. When you tune in, you'll hear stories about bakeries and the walks in the woods, a favorite booth at the diner on a blustery autumn day, cats and dogs and rescued goats and donkeys, old houses, bookshops, beaches where kites fly and pretty stones are found. I have so many stories to tell you, and they are all designed to help you feel good and feel connected to what is good in the world. Listen, relax, enjoy. Listen to stories from The Village of Nothing Much on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Join us for the Can't Miss live music event of the holiday season, our iHeart Radio Dingle Ball special. Coming to ABC, December 21st. Starring Cher, Olivia Rodrigo, Cisa, Niall Horan, Sabrina Carpenter, One Republic, Jellyroll, time rush and more. Tune in to the iHeart Radio Jingle Ball Special on Thursday, December 21st at 08:07 central on ABC and stream next day on Hulu and Disney+.

Oh, my... Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness, gracious me. No, this is huge for me. This is huge. Oh, man. I cannot believe. I swear to you, I have told my nearest and dearest-.

You're embarrassing me.

No, this for me, I don't know what to tell you. This is huge. Thank you for doing this, first of all. For the listener who isn't in the know, this is Dr. Langer, a brainfluencer, as only I have called him, because everything has to be some type of influencer now to get anyone's interest. I'm calling you a brainfluencer. I became obsessed with Dr. Langer through, would you call it a docuseries?

Yeah, it'd be probably the best thing to call it.

A docuseries. I don't actually know which came first. Was it Emergency NYC or Lennox Hill?

Lennox Hill was first. I'm much older than Emergency NYC.

Really? I didn't notice. I swear to you. I swear. Now, these are two incredible series that show... Well, Emergency NYC seems to have more focus on just general emergency room visits.

Yeah, it's a little more dynamic and moves around a lot and has a little more shorter form. It doesn't follow the stories of the patients as much as it follows the different health care practitioners, but it's a little bit more diverse, more women, which I think is good.

Listen, you're underselling it. -across the.

Air in New York City.

It's an emergency room docuseries. This is what I think is so fascinating about it. The whole reason that everyone rubbernecks when there's a traffic accident, this show is like rubbernecking and bringing you right into what happens next. I think it satisfies some primal urge of the fragility of life, but also the endurance of life and dances on that razor's edge. For me, that's where I like to live. Again, thank you for being here. You're such a passionate person, which I think comes through in the show how much you care about what you do. What were your passions as a child?

I probably drove my mom crazy.

Okay, good. My son might be a neurosurgeon.

I'm the oldest of three boys, but I was always the peacemaker with my two younger brothers. But I think I was always attracted to science and always was a little creative and a little edgy. But I was also a little insecure and wasn't an athlete. I wasn't the most popular guy in the room. I got a little heavy when I was little and was a little insecure with the girls. You probably got bullied when I was in seventh and eighth grade, so I probably had a chip on my shoulder and wanted to prove that I was as good as everybody else, probably where this all started.

Listen, I think everyone that was cool in elementary school is pretty much a loser as an adult, as a rule. I think that all checks out. So when you went to med school, how soon did you have to define your focus?

I mean, the sooner, the better, just especially in competitive residencies, you're better off knowing sooner because you need to build your CV and your experience to be more competitive. But I remember thinking like when I was in college about doing neurosurgery. But back then, neurosurgery was not like it is today. The operations were much bigger and they were more dangerous. We didn't have some of the imaging and the technologies that we have now. The outcomes were uniformly worse. The types of people, uniformly men that went to neurosurgery were a little bit more cavalry and narcissistic and edgy, and maybe not as emotionally aware of themselves if you get my drift. I mean, it was a cowboy field. I think we still have an output of that today, but it's changed a lot because the outcomes are better, the technology is more less invasive. It isn't so gory and crazy as it was then. But I was in between the two transitions. By the time I got to medical school, neurosurgery, MRI had come out. I mean, MRI changed our business. That came out in the mid-nineties and I finished... Actually, I'd say late '80s. I finished medical school in 1991.

That was around the time an MRI I was really becoming a dominant force in healthcare. That really changed neurosurgery because we were able to create safer pathways to brain problems and the technology that got so good. I was really attracted to it around then.

And is it something that's very hard to be like, Okay, I want to operate on brands. Is that harder than, say, gastroenterology? Is it a more competitive?

I think there's a bit of mystique about the brain that sets it apart. There are certainly tough operations. We do some very dangerous things, but I think pediatric heart surgery or cardiothoracic surgery is equivalently technically challenging for the most difficult neurosurgical procedures. But there are a lot of neurosurgical procedures that are no more difficult than most general surgery procedures. It's just when you're involved in the brain and the downside of even a minor complication is so much greater that there's a certain mystique about being a brain surgeon that I think is not always well-deserved.

Were you a risk taker? Because it seems to me in these surgeries that you have to be comfortable with all the risk of... You're frequently talking about you want to cut more tumor out, but you're worried that you're going to limit mobility or some other aspect of brain function.

I'm not a risk taker, at least physically. I've gotten very good at snow skiing until I broke my neck, but I talked to Alex, do you know who Alex Holnold is? The free climber who was in the.

Movie Free Soul. Oh, yes. I am obsessed with him as well.

He's an amazing guy. He makes a mistake, he dies. If I make a mistake, I hurt somebody. There's an inherent difference to fear. We fear for ourselves versus being for our patients or for our reputations or for medical, legal reasons. The fear is different. They're definitely fearful. But his response to fear was training. I think that he feels so confident in himself when he climbs because he prepares so well that he doesn't feel fear.

Wasn't there some surmising that he had some particular brain in which he.

Doesn't have- They've studied him and he said they put him in this imaging system. He didn't show any fear. He goes, Frankly, the pictures they showed me weren't very scary.

But he might not feel fear. He doesn't seem to.

Teddy did actually. He did feel fear and it made him train harder. He once got near the top and got lost on the climb and thought he was going to die, and he felt fear. Then he ended up getting out of it. But before he climbed Alcapitan, he trained all over the world looking at different environments that would mimic Alcapitan. He trained himself through the fear. I think the way I look at it and what we do, it's not quite the same, but I feel bulletproof in most neurosurgical environments because I've trained really hard and I know that I'm as good as I can be. It's not an ego thing. It's just I've worked really hard and I know what my limitations are. If I get a problem, I ask for help. I'm not afraid of asking for help. That mitigates a lot of fear because that's why at our place, for example, my partners and I, we all work very well together because we're willing to say, Hey, you want to help me out on this? That really takes away some of the fear element. We know what our strengths are. No, I'm not necessarily risk taking when it comes to patient care, but I like challenging things and I train hard to get better at what I do so that I'm as good as I possibly can be because that's what I want to be.

Now, you mentioned your ski accident. Do you still ski as one?

Yeah.

Still ski? Okay. But as a viewer, I was like, These producers, they put a log on the mountain or something because they created this situation where the doctor himself is now a patient. It's such good television. And then other people are getting pregnant on the show. You go, Are these producers injuring people and incriminating. How does it... It seemed a little too coincidental. So you had this traumatic spinal injury, right? Skiing?

Yeah.

And your wife said to you, What do you want your quad playlist to be? Listen, I like gallows humor, but I was like, That is fucked up. Did you think that was funny? Oh, yeah. Really? I was like, Oh, I was too on the edge of my seat. I was like, This is... For whatever reason, I was like, No, don't say that to him. He's going to pull through.

I know. First of all, a lot of the women who were on the show were, I think in both Lennox Hill and in NYC were childbearing age. If you're willing to go on the show, you have to have a little bit of... You want to show your true self or have people see that or else you're crazy to do it. I think they chose to have babies while they were on the show, which was a remarkable thing. I thought especially the NYC scenes were just unbelievable. But they're just so dramatic. There's nothing more dramatic than a baby being born. What the trouble is in the general public's view of this, they have this pushing and then all of a sudden the baby's in a blanket, looks all cleaned up and everything. I just think that even when I saw those, I was just blown away, especially the C-sections. It was like, Holy crap. We're not seeing that stuff very often. I thought it was really fantastic.

Yeah, but on the other hand, I don't want to be anti-feminist, but I did feel the brain stuff was really the meat and potatoes for me.

Well, I see the brains all the time. I just don't see childhood very often.

Okay, I have so many questions I'm trying to now... First of all, why do people wait so long with massive tumors? Some people were coming in, they had tumors on the top of their head. They could have been wearing a hat in 45-mile-per-hour winds, and it would have stayed on. I'm going, Why didn't you come in sooner? Do people put it off out of fear, or is it a financial thing? What do you find mostly that leads people to delay medical care?

Well, first of all, most tumors don't cause symptoms right away. They have to grow relatively large before they become symptomatic unless they're picked up incidentally, somebody gets an MRI for some random headache, or it's pressing in a particularly sensitive location that causes a deficit. Usually, reason why tumors that are you can't see. It's one thing of a thing going out of your head.

But.

People did. They had a huge- Those are rarer. That was a cancer, I think, that was untreated, and people get a little bit nihilistic about it, I think. They said, Nothing, nobody could do for me. Then it gets infected. Those are rare cases. There are cases of these massive tumors growing out of somebody's head. There are sometimes they can cause frontal lobe syndromes. They're so big inside, they start to grow out and they just become neglectful. That's rare. Other times they just start small and you keep covering it up. Before you know it, it becomes like, Oh, my God, I really should see somebody. People procrastinate. That doesn't happen that often when they're visible. But the invisible tumors also you'd be surprised how large a tumor has to get back for it can cause a problem in certain locations of the brain. That the brain, as long as something grows slowly, usually accommodates that mass effect until something can get quite big.

Is it cell phones? Do you think cell phones are increasing brain tumors?

I don't think so. I don't think it's good data. There's some limited data that may have some country, but I certainly wouldn't bet on it. I don't think there's enough data to say that.

Okay. What about like, when I was trying to get pregnant, I did acupuncture because it saw that clinical trial showed it improved fertility. Is there anything like that for the brain in terms of supplements or foods that you eat or sleep? Is there things that you personally have seen that degrade or help the brain?

Well, there's no question. Negatives are cigarettes, alcohol, and certain drugs. What about ecstasy? I'm not terrible, not great as far as some of the newer in vogue things, MDMA, LSD, certain hallucinogens. People are them safely, and I can't say they're bad for the brain, but they may not be good for the brain. They may be good for opening up your mind. They feel great. Which really is a separate thing. If you're a burner, people love going to Burning Man. I don't think it's bad for their brain, and people seem.

To be- The music is bad for your brain. Yeah.

People get really opened up about stuff like that. But as far as good for your brain, I think that's a different story. There are things like Metformin, the statins, and then there are certain probably foods that are the Mediterranean diet. It's probably a good thing for aging, which tends to improve brain function. But what's probably most beneficial to brain is good sleep and being around social environments and being stimulated. I think in limiting mental illness, people who are depressed don't live as long and they aren't as smart. They basically lose brain function from their chronic depression. It can happen. I think there are a lot of factors. The best advice I give people is, moderation. Try to limit certainly cigarettes. I drink, but I don't drink too excess. I like a couple of drinks once in a while. During COVID, I drank way too much. I think it was just more.

Time to- What was your drink of choice?

Tequila.

I.

Like vodka too.

Straight to the top. Okay, wait. How many hours of sleep do you get a night as a brain expert?

I try to get seven if I can.

Same.

That would be ideal.

Same. Seven to eight. Eight is amazing.

Seven is livable. I wear an Aura Ring, so I keep track of it.

See now, aren't you scared of all that and what it does to the body? Just having tech on your body?

Well, that's if you're of the cell phone, Elk, but no, I'm not.

Afraid of it. You're not afraid. All right. Any fix for Alzheimer's on the horizon? I'm probably going to get that.

Not that I'm aware of, unfortunately, no.

Okay, next question. Any fix for Alzheimer's? That's funny. Thank you. What do you think about AI? Is it going to be changing the whole game with brains? Are they going to make us half robots?

I think that I'm certainly not an AI expert, but I'm using it in multiple areas of my life. I think that it's a revolution, yes. I think that it's going to change the way we do pretty much everything. I would think, yes. That has to do with brains. It has to do with technology and the way this is going to be adopted. I think in general, it's going to make us better. It's going to make life more complicated. It's going to make certain businesses go away. It's going to create new businesses. It's going to create stress on people as far as intellectual property and the value of your own skills, if they could be duplicated by a machine. I read recently there was a voice that was part of OpenAI was using, this one guy's voice, and now he is the voice of all the... When you create a speech, you can say, Make a speech for me, and I want to hear it, and it's his voice. I think actors and actresses and writers and people who create entertainment, they have to rethink potentially the way they're making a living because I think these things are going to be much easier to just pump out newspapers, the way we get information.

We're all in peril. We're all in peril. Here's my question. How many years till I walk in to get my brain surgery? It's like a robot standing there that's like, I'm Doctor 787-09-2-03. Please lay down. Like, how many years out?

It's one of your great-grandchildren.

Really?

Yeah.

But maybe they're half robot, too. Who knows? I don't even know that we'll have great-grandchildren. That's how fatalistic I am. So that might not be the.

Person that- These people get Alzheimer's.

Is there any fix for Alzheimer's? Here's a question. What are you smartest and dumbest about outside of the hospital? In your personal life, what do you feel like you're really smart about? And what do you feel like you're pretty dumb?

Dumb is easy. I can't remember anything. I lose stuff, my keys, my wallet, my phone. I lost my car once. Yeah, it's terrible.

Okay, so things don't matter to you. Things, items. Yeah, I think I know someone like that. Things don't matter. I think I know someone.

Like that. I like to think that I'm just very curious. I like stoic philosophy, and I'm really interested in Greek and Roman history and the impact that's had on Western civilization. I'm very curious about that.

What about medicine and Greek times? Any interesting facts there?

They weren't doing a whole hell of a lot. Really?

Leeches? No leaches?

Yeah, they didn't understand a lot yet. That was pre-science. They had some ideas. They were learning about anatomy and they were experimenting with things that probably you wouldn't even consider on your worst enemies. But they weren't real medicine yet.

When was the first brain tumors successfully removed? Do you know?

Probably early 1900s. There were attempts earlier than that, but that's when I think late 1800 or early 1900s were... I mean, neurosurgery itself is a relatively new field that did follow general surgery, anesthesia. It's all in the mid, like the 1920s, 1930s, there was a neurosurgeon named Harvey Cushing who really star of the field who came from Johns Hopkins, then was at Yale and at the Brigham in Boston. But I think that it's still a relatively less than 100 years old, our business.

And already going to be outmoded by robots. That's a short lifespan. Gosh. Any fix for Alzheimer's?

It's never going to get old.

Is it? It feels like it's evergreen right now. I already asked about your ski accident. Okay, now question about coffee. I'm a coffee enthusiast. Right here, I got my little coffee always. Do you not drink coffee a lot because it makes your hands shake for surgery or anything like that? Or do you think coffee is good for the brain or not?

Coffee. I like coffee. I drink it every day. It doesn't make me shake. I've been drinking coffee since I was probably an undergraduate. There are people who have a... We all have a little bit of a tremor. Inherently, some people it's more coarse than others. Yeah, exactly. Some people, the coffee exacerbates and other people don't. I don't really feel like I'm any worse when I drink a lot of coffee. If you're tired and drink coffee, really tired, up all night tired, probably worse because you're just jittery.

What's your go-to coffee order?

I just get drip coffee, milk, and sugar.

All right, you sweeten it up.

I don't like waiting in line for some person to make it. It takes way too long. Just get me the coffee, I'm out of here.

No special milk for you.

Just give me the freaking coffee. I'll take whatever milk you have.

Badass. A coffee cowboy, let's say. Okay.

Looking to make a change? Ready to make the move to electric? Did you know you can save up to €2,500 across the electric range at Frank Keane MG. Choose from the fully electric MG ZS SUV, MG 4 Hatchback and the MG 5 estate. But don't delay, this offer is available for a limited time only. Go to frankkeenmg. Ie and book your test drive today or visit our showrooms in Ballymount, Dublin 22. Terms and conditions apply. Visit frankkeenmg. Ie for more information.

When Walter Isaacson set out to write his biography of Elon Musk, he believed he was taking on a world-changing figure. That night, he was deciding whether or not to allow Starlink to be enabled to allow a sneak attack on Crimea. What he got was a subject who also sowed chaos and conspiracy. I'm thinking it's idiotic to buy Twitter because he doesn't have a fingertips feel for social, emotional networks. And when I sat down with Isaacson five weeks ago, he told me how he captured it all. They have cans of spray paint, and they're just putting big X's on machines. And it's almost like kids playing on the playground. Just choose them up left, right, and center. And then like, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, he doesn't even remember it. Getting to bars doesn't excuse being a total. But I want the reader to see it in action. My name is Evan Ratliff, and this is On Musk with Walter Isaacson. Join us in this four-part series as Isaacson breaks down how he captured a vivid portrait of a polarizing genius. Listen to Ayn Musk on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Tune in to the new podcast, Stories from the Village of Nothing Much, like easy listening but for fiction. If you've overdosed on bad news, we invite you into a world where the glimmers of goodness in everyday life are all around you. I'm Catherine Nicolai, and you might know me from the Bedtime Story podcast, Nothing Much Happens. I'm an architect of COSE, and I invite you to come spend some time where everyone is welcome and kindness is the default. When you tune in, you'll hear stories about bakeries and the walks in the woods, a favorite booth at the diner on a blustery autumn day, cats and dogs and rescued goats and donkeys. Old houses, bookshops, beaches where kites fly and pretty stones are found. I have so many stories to tell you, and they are all designed to help you feel good and feel connected to what is good in the world. Listen, relax, enjoy. Listen to stories from The Village of Nothing Much on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Join us for the Can't Miss live music event of the holiday season, our iHeart Radio Dingle Ball special. Coming to ABC, December 21st, starring Cher, Olivia Rodrigo, Cisa, Niall Horan, Sabrinna Carpenter, One Republic, Jellyroll, Big Time Rush, andand more. Tune in to the iHeart Radio Dingle Ball special on Thursday, December 21st at 08:07:00 Central on ABC and stream next day on Hulu and Disney+.

So I'm sure everyone asks you, did you do a lot of press for your shows?

We did. You'd be surprised. The first one we did a lot more, we knew it was coming out in June of 2020, around February or January. The COVID thing threw a curveball into all the things we had planned. There was a fair amount of promotional stuff. Netflix was a little bit of a different company in June of 2020 than it was in March of 2023 also. They had a lot more money to spread on marketing. They were, I think, a little bit more on their own. There was no competition.

Now they're on their last leg, right?

Yeah. Last legs, but they're not struggling with getting new subscriptions and they're fighting about password protection, all this stuff. They've shown some austerity in the last few years that they were spending... They must spend a lot more money on our promotion. The first show, they did the second one. But even the first one, we did some interviews ahead of time. They released the shows The Press. We had a lot more interest, I think, the first time around. The second one, it seemed less intensive. We didn't have nearly The Press. Wasn't quite as interested in the second one as it wasn't the.

First one. Wait till this goes up.

But it was COVID the first time, too, so who knows?

Yeah. Are brains often impaled?

Impaled on what?

Anything. I mean, can anything just penetrate the skull? Have you seen anyone come in with a spike in their head or anything?

When I was in Resin, I saw the nails from roofing nails.

Yeah, like a nail gun.

Yeah, some guy tried to shoot himself with that to kill himself, and he had a big nail on his head. That's the worst I've seen. But we used to see a lot more of that when I was a resident, gunshots. I've seen pictures of arrows and things like that, but it's not that common in New York City.

Is there any world where a nail gun would have worked? I mean, that seems like a- Oh, yeah. Really?

Oh, yeah. We're getting the right place.

I would think that was someone who wanted to live.

I get other ways to try to pretend to kill yourself other than shooting a nail into your head.

I mean, it doesn't seem ideal, certainly.

No, I think I'd choose a different way of faking it.

If I ever needed brain surgery, would you pro bono do it in exchange for some TikTok posts?

Oh, yeah.

For sure. Okay, great. Have you seen a show called Save My Skin?

Nope.

Listen, I have to tell you, that was my follow-up. Because after I finished your shows, I was like, I need more. I need more. I haven't watched Dr. Pimple-popper. I haven't watched many medical shows. But when I was pregnant, I did watch Boston ER, and for some reason, it soothes my anxiety or something. Save my skin. This lady is cutting open, boils, and just the most disgusting things, pulling them out. She always describes how they smell. And I was wondering, do brains have a smell?

No. One of the reason why I did general surgery is because all these wounds and infections and drains and it wasn't clean surgery. Gi surgery, operating on the intestine.

Oh, yeah. Loud and clear.

Talking about- No surgery tends to be pretty clean in general. And it's beautiful. It's really fantastically beautiful.

I mean, it is. I honestly... Brains, for some reason, they're just not disgusting to watch those surgeries.

Well, it's pretty amazing. I mean, I never get bored of it.

Yeah. Would you ever and have you ever eaten brain? Or is that too close to home?

I have not eaten brain.

You know, it's a delicacy.

And I don't plan.

On it. You will not.

Now.

Here's rapid fire, yes or no questions about risk taking. Would you cliff jump?

With like a parachute?

I said rapid fire, yes or no. Yes. Would you Julianne vegetables on a Slicer thingy?

Yes.

Would you horseback ride?

Of course.

Really? See, now I personally feel like once I've seen one person paralyzed by horseback riding. I'm like, I probably could take that off the itinerary. I'm also surprised you ski again after your injury.

Yeah, skiing was always a... It's something I really did not want to give up. I think that certainly you can make a case for... But I didn't do this. It was a total accident. I just wasn't paying attention. I went off a cliff. I wasn't seeing something ridiculously hard. But I definitely gave me pause to go ski again. But I took it slowly and I just love it. I'd skied ever since I was a kid and I took lessons for years with my wife and the things we used to do together. I just really enjoy it. It's just love. It's something that's really a part of my happiness. I definitely am more sensitive to like, Okay, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to put myself in harm's way. But I went back to bail this year and I went back and visited the place where I fell. I went to a.

Ski patrol. Did you start weeping?

I'd found me. I invited them out for dinner the night before and they took me up on the mountain. It was really an amazing day. Hopefully, lightning doesn't strike twice. I think that would be really rare to suffer the same.

Injury twice. Can you imagine if you skied and you skied right off that same cliff again?

I mean - I slide, slip down it.

Oh, right. Okay. Yeah, because you remember those guys who were like lion trainers? And then the lion attacked them? Oh, yeah. I forget their names, but you know. I don't.

Know why. They're out of your control, though. Again, I mean, it is a dangerous sport, probably a lot more dangerous than anybody really cares to know. Not so much breaking your neck, but limbs and things like that. But I know so many people have gotten hurt skiing. It's really pretty common. My injury was particularly severe, but their people have been a lot worse than me. I can say to myself, really lucky to have gone through what happened to me.

Is that the most common form of... What have you seen as the most common form of head trauma?

Probably the most common is sports. That's probably the most, and at least the most, head trauma, though it's not severe head trauma. Probably the next is car accidents or bicycle accidents. I actually used to ride a bike. I fell off my bike and broke my scapula rather than my hitting my head. I broke my helmet too. I think skiing is a rare cause of head injury. It does happen, but you have to be going really fast and lose control and usually hit something, skiers more commonly tear an ACL or break a finger rather than have a head injury. It's much rarer to have a head injury, but it can happen. Natasha had just been died of a blood clot after a ski accident. Michael Schoemaker was in coma after a ski accident. So it does happen. And it just turns out that Sunny Bono was in a bad ski accident. Wealthy people do ski a lot. And so you often hear about these things, the people in the media and celebrities who are skiing and they get themselves in trouble. But I do think we do a lot of things that are risky.

Did you just check an email?

No, just one of my texts came up.

Okay. Everything okay? I don't pay attention. No, listen, I feel like for the most part, I think I've pretty much asked you everything that... Look, I prepared. I was excited.

So what got you to podcasting?

I don't even remember at this point. I started a long, long ago. This is actually the relaunch of my podcast. You're a comedian, right? Yeah, I do stand up and acting and writing a little bit of everything.

I'm going to have to start doing that.

It's going to be such a tragedy when I get Alzheimer's because listen, this is my moneymaker. Actually, I also did want to know how is your colleague that had to have the surgery? I liked him a lot, and it was... Feel free to say I don't want to talk about it, but I was curious how he's doing. It seemed a little vague at the end.

Mitch is doing well. He's cured right now. He just is retiring this year. He's going to take an administrative job and he's cancer free. He had to have radiation and the radiation side effects are tough. It really affected the bone and some of the skin around his face, so he's quite irritated there. But that's why he's actually doing really well. Has a new girlfriend and he's he's a good life. I think he's a little uncomfortable sometimes from the side effects of the treatment rather than the cancer. But he was really up against it. I think he really is happy that he got where he is. He's a bit of a curmudgeon, as you can tell from the- Which I love. But he's a great guy.

Yeah. But see, that was the other thing. You both had these issues. I was like, These producers are probably going, Oh, my God.

I told John. I said, John, we can't have a third show. You're next.

Yeah, seriously. How's he doing? You two seem like a real killer duo. Not killer, that's a bad word.

Yeah, John is great.

He's fantastic. Yeah. And you've been working together for decades.

Yeah, we were resident. Well, he was a junior resident to me back at Penn in the 1990s, and then he came to New York after I did, and then he joined me at Lennox in 2014.

Yeah. Well, you seem to have an incredible communication and relationship. What did you do? Yeah, no, I was really inspired by truly your passion for your job. I think for me, I'm always so struck by people who just love what they do and always learning and growing from it. I really think that that's about it on my end. I hope this is silly enough because I'm just genuinely interested. But before we break off, do you think in our lifetime there will be a fix for Alzheimer's?

I do think.

So, yes. Great.

Be you. You're going to be okay.

Well, thank you. And any shows or anything you want to plug that you have coming up?

Nope, I'm plugging your show. I appreciate you asking me. It's really an honor to do stuff like this, and I appreciate that you love the show. The reason we're doing the show was to really be influential in a way that-.

A.

Influencer. -or Instagramer or other types of influencers are influencing our kids and our young people. I think seeing people love doing something for the good of mankind and for the good for humanity, it's important that the people see that. Unfortunately, we probably didn't get as many views as the Pipple Popper or the Tiger King. But I think we should see the effect this had on young people going to medical school or even going to surgery. We've had a real impact on young kids. If that's the end result of this, it was.

Worth doing. I can't let you end on this level of humility because the show is incredible. Everyone here should watch it. I'm going to take calls from callers and talk to them about any head traumas or brain issues that they've had after this. So it'll be an episode with that theme. But I really encourage callers to check the show out so we can talk about it. It's really fascinating. I honestly couldn't stop watching it. It gave me complete insomnia every night. But there's something extremely energizing about it and profound. I can't let you sit here and and talk so humbly about it. But yeah, thank you. I hope you'll listen to the episode and hopefully cure Alzheimer's one day.

Hopefully, a lot of people listen to your show.

Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. You never know.

I'll put on my Instagram.

Thank you. I got to follow you. I didn't even know you're on there. What is your Instagram?

Dr. D. Langer. Come on.

All right. Well, thank you, Dr. D. Langer, on Instagram. Good luck with all those brains out there.

Good luck with that Alzheimer's. It's going to get better someday.

Thank you. Fingers crossed.

All.

Right, peace.

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When Walter Isaacson set out to write his biography of Elon Musk, he believed he was taking on a world-changing figure. That night, he was deciding whether or not to allow Starlink to be enabled to allow a sneak attack on Crimea. What he got was a subject who also sowed chaos and conspiracy. I'm thinking it's idiotic to buy Twitter because he doesn't have a fingertips feel for social, emotional networks. And when I sat down with Isaacson five weeks ago, he told me how he captured it all. They have cans of spray paint, and they're just putting big X's on machines. And it's almost like kids playing on the playground. Just chews them up left, right and center. And then like, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, he doesn't even remember it. Getting to Mars doesn't excuse being a total. But I want the reader to see it in action. My name is Evan Ratliff, and this is on Musk with Walter Isaacson. Join us in this four-part series as Isaacson breaks down how he captured a vivid portrait of a polarizing genius. Listen to on Musk on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Tune in to the new podcast, Stories from the Village of Nothing Much, like easy listening but for fiction. If you've overdosed on bad news, we invite you into a world where the glimmers of goodness in everyday life are all around you. I'm Katherine Nicolai, and you might know me from the Bedtime Story podcast, Nothing Much Happens. I'm an architect of COSE, and I invite you to come spend some time where everyone is welcome and kindness is the default. When you tune in, you'll hear stories about bakeries and the walks in the woods, a favorite booth at the diner on a blustery autumn day, cats and dogs and rescued goats and donkeys, old houses, bookshops, beaches where kites fly and pretty stones are found. I have so many stories to tell you, and they are all designed to help you feel good and feel connected to what is good in the world. Listen, relax, enjoy. Listen to stories from The Village of Nothing Much on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Join us.

For the Can't Miss live music event of the holiday season. Our iHeart Radio, Dingleball special coming to ABC, December 21st. Starring Cher, Olivia Rodrigo, Cisa, Niall Horan, Sabrinna Carpenter, One Republic, Jellieroll, Big Time Rush, and more. Tune in to the iHeart RadioJingle Ball special on Thursday, December 21st at 8:7 central on ABC and stream next day on Hulu and Disney+. (outgoing FaceTime ring) Hello?

Oh, my God.

Did I.

Just get through? You did. How are you?

I'm so excited to talk to you about brain issues. Do you want to talk about my brain issues? Do you want to talk about my brain issues?

I've been looking.

For someone like you.

And.

You've been looking for somebody to- Welcome. How is your day? Hold on. What are we doing? We're not going back to small talk. I want to hear- No, sorry. Yeah, I want to hear- Let's talk about brain injury. Yeah, the story.

Okay, so it will definitely ties into your health.

Issue stories, too.

I didn't have a traumatic brain injury or anything like that.

I'm.

Sorry. However, I do have a handful of a handful of autoimmune diseases. Uh-uh.

Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Uh-uh.

And so, yeah, I had this crazy thing happen.

How are you going to be and switch me like that? Didn't you say at the start that you did have a brain problem?

Well, I have a brain problem, though, but it was a chemical imbalance with my thyroid hormone.

We'll accept. Will allow. Let's hear it.

-which was a product of an autoimmune disease.

Oh, my God.

I can't believe I got through, and this is my subject that I decided to bring up.

A panic.

Wait, who tells me? Can I tell you? I mean, do you have any questions?

Oh, my God. You are losing. Hold on. You haven't still told me your story. This is crazy. Did your autoimmune disorder affect your memory?

Because probably did. But also, I'm just such a big fan, and I was like, I'm not going to get through. And now I'm here, and so you know how that goes.

Okay.

So my story. Okay.

I'm trying to think of how I should start it without it being too long winded. But basically, I started to lose weight really rapidly, and I started to notice that I was really anxious and nervous all the time. Then the brain stuff started happening, and it's a result of having this disease called Grave's disease, where your thyroid is very, very overactive. It's like your body.

Is just.

Getting bond with thyroid hormones. It's just like very intense for all of your organs since it's like your endocrine system basically control everything in your body. It can go really haywire. It did crazy things to my brain. My memory was off. There were times where I would forget how to use a spoon to stir a pot. I would be like, I'm just trying to stir this pot. I know my brain is telling my hands to do it, but then it just.

Wouldn't happen. That's a classic physical comedy. Your hands cannot stir a spoon in a pot. My God. Really? Wait, I don't even understand. So, Graves disease just fucks up your brain and then all your motor skills?

Well, it definitely depends on... Some people will get it. Men and women get it differently because women have other hormones going on in their body that are also affected by it. And also some people can just like, they can get it and it's not very severe. But I had another autoimmune disease that was affecting it. So they were gasing each other up really hard. So it got super, super intense. And also it's not common. So it took me four years to get diagnosed properly.

That actually, I wasn't laughing. That was my producer. I actually wasn't laughing on that moment.

That's okay. I'm laughing.

So it's all good.

I'm alive and my brain.

Works now.

It works enough that I could type in the telephone number. Do you want to talk about my brain in truth? Do you want to talk about my brain and tooth?

Do you want to talk about.

My brain and tooth? So yeah, it was all about like, finding a doctor that actually could diagnose me, and that was a long process. And a lot of people with thyroid disorders do go through similar situations where I think a lot of doctors think that it can just be more mild. But then once my blood work started to get.

Full.

Then they were like, Oh, your thyroid hormones are like four times the amount a normal person has. And I was like, Cool, that must be why I lose weight so rapidly. I could eat so much food and I still just am constantly losing weight. That's amazing. And the hard thing about that is once you start to look good, losing weight, people are like.

How can.

You be sick?

You look so good. Welcome to Hollywood, honey. Welcome to Hollywood. People diarying in their pants every day and having their period for three weeks. And everyone's like, You look fabulous, darling. I'm so proud of you. That's called O Zempified. You ought to know.

I've almost had enough Because.

Listening to youhas got.

Far.

Far too tough. These medical stories, I'm really like, in my head, I'm going, What am I doing? I'm asking people to tell their horrific medical trials and travails, and then I'm like, laughing at it? I don't know if this is good content, I'll be honest. The thing is, no one wants to hear about anyone's medical problems. So is it somehow therapeutic? Please say yes. Please say yes.

I think so. And also, I'm laughing about it. I don't know. I feel like if we can laugh about it and then somebody maybe hears it and they're like.

Oh, shit. Yeah.

Maybe I should get my thyroid check.

Seriously, honey. Seriously, I'll be like, ding, ding, ding. Let me press this random button. Ding, ding, ding, ding.

I did. You better not be the rest of.

My time keeping me in the.

Light, telling me lies. Telling me the lies. You better not trust out...

You better not know. Well, it doesn't relate to the call, but what a bop. Thanks, iHeart. Oh, I know you love iHeart. Iheart. I never have access. Now I don't have access anymore to some of the songs I used to play on my podcast, but what I do have is... Ding, ding, ding.

I.

Did.

You better not be wasting my.

Time keeping me in the light.

Telling me lies. Telling me lies. You better not, because that ain't smart. You better not know.

So life, one door closes and another door opens. Isn't that beautiful? And same for you, right? You're all medicated up and healed now. No medical problems anymore.

Well, so I had my thyroid removed and everything got so much better after that. But then your body, it legit took my body a year to balance back out andry. I think I'm trying to get rid of all of the hormones that were pumping through my cyst to get on normal levels. But yes, things are way much better. Way much better. Way more better.

Hormones. Hormones. Hormones. Hormones. Got hormones cranking through my cyst. Got hormones. Got hormones cranking through my sister.

Got hormones...

Got hormones cranking through my sister. That's a remix for you. And we'll leave a little space here. Maybe Kojack will make that for you. I'll make the audio. Got hormones crank and through my sister. Got hormones crank and through my sister. Got hormones crank and through my sister. Got hormones crank and through my sister. Let's see what Kojack does with that. I love it. Excellent. Listen, good luck. What a journey. What a journey.

Thanks for coming.

On this journey with me. It's taking us down the road with your story.

Chelsea, thank you so much for starting the plot again. You're bringing.

People a lot of joy. Thanks for being here. All we need is joy. All we need is love, right? I just sounded like a real radio host. Thanks for calling. We'll see you tomorrow on the morning Zoom.

Bye-bye. Bye.

Well, folks, we've blithered about this and that and talked to so and so in Hoosie, what's it? We talked to Dr. Langer, the esteemed Dr. Langer. And you know what? What's that out on the horizon? It looks like it might be someone who had some major stuff going on inside her nogging. Here I am, pulling up to go closer. Let's see if we can get the full lowdown of a person, a comedian, a friend, a comedy friend, I mean, you know, who has been through it with her nogging. I had about this. I didn't know the full story. I asked, Would you want to talk about this on my stupid podcast? We played dumb sound effects during very dark stories. She said, Yeah, let's do it. Now, did I handle it correctly? Is this the right tone? You'll be the judge of that as always. But I'm very honored that she chose this podcast out of all the three million podcasts, and that's just shooting here in L. A, that she could have shared her tail on. It's a competitive market. She had 5,000 offers to share the exclusive on this. And she chose to call Chelsea Peretti.

Without further ado, please give a warm CCP welcome to.

Morgan Murphy.

I don't know if we were recording, but I was saying that I associate you with the San Francisco punchline, where I feel like you were just like, I think you started stand up before me by a year or two or something like that.

Yeah, I started when I was 19 officially, and then San Francisco Molly at the Punchline was… At that time, I was like, They're like, Drive five hours to do a set? Sure. So at that time, she would let me do the Sunday potluck-type show. So I just went up there as much as I could because it was just a place to get stage time at a club.

But.

I had like that. I remember one trip, me and Riley Newton sharing a twin bed in a comedy apartment that didn't even have a working sink. So you're brushing your teeth in the bathtub, that era. But I would just... Right. Even the worst moments, I was just like, This is cool. This is...

Yeah. I never really dealt with those comedy apartments. I don't know why. I guess I just like...

I could see you being above it then.

I don't know.

I could see you having enough common sense, even with no comedy experience, to be like, Oh, we're not doing that. I just didn't.

Yeah, I was like, I don't know. I felt like as soon as I... Well, I started making... I don't know, I did stay in a few shitty hotels and stuff. But as soon as I started making any money, I was like, Give me... Itry to figure out what you call it, but you get the shitty hotel room money and you.

Then.

Put it towards a different room where you supplement it. I don't know what it's called. Anyway, but all this to say that I just remember my first impression of you so strongly being this cool, hot, comedian at the San Francisco punchline that everyone liked. I don't know. You just seem really popular.

It's so weird to hear other people's perception of you and then think about and go, wow, that's not at all what was going through my head. I was just scared.

You seemed cool and you seemed like... Andand then you had... I feel like I haven't watched a ton of really anyone stand-up in recent years because I actually think stand-up is insane. When I think about even the most interesting person I know, I don't want to hear them talk for an hour straight. It's like, Can you let anyone say anything? It's just a crazy art form.

It's like if a movie was just one monolog. Yeah.

You're just like, Is there anything else that's going to happen? We're merely listening to you this entire film.

I'm actually very with you. I often think about how narcissistic it is. I'm like, This is the most... There's years in therapy where that's all I kept talking about. I was like, I can't keep doing this. This is the most narcissistic thing a person can do.

Totally. And also, it's like so many comedians. It's so fake because whatever is going on in your life.

You're like get.

On to. As soon as Itry to feel like I'm too moody for it, and I'm too like, I don't know. And then also, I just sometimes feel private. I'm like, Oh, my philosophies or my... I want to say social, emotional development, whatever it is, is in progress. I don't want to share definitive snapshots of it at every stage of my life. I don't know. But anyway, all this is to say you're Morgan Murphy. Welcome to the pod. I interviewed this guy. Well, first of all. Okay. I interviewed this guy, Dr. Langer, who has this series that I love. Have you seen it? Lennox Hill and Emergency NYC.

I've seen an episode. I think I started it or saw it. It's very engaging. It's like the emergency room, right? Well, not that engaging. Isn't it the emergency- You only started it. Well, no, but it's the emergency room one? Yeah. Yeah, I've definitely seen it. I've just been... I know.

Been a while. I started an ep. It's very engaging. Now I'm wondering, now that you've experienced... Well, I haven't laid out what you've experienced. Actually, I don't know. I want you to explain to me what you've experienced. But you've had brain surgery yourself. And is that make it where it's like you don't want to watch some show where people are having emergencies? Is it not fun to.

Watch people get brain surgery? No, I like it. And that stuff... I like the rush of that. There's not a lot of planning for the work they're doing. I like watching people.

Do.

Very hard things very fast altogether.

Yeah, that's the stakes are so high. And then you think about stand-up, which for me, with someone who does have stage fright and anxiety, and most of the time I walk off stage, I'm like, I didn't like how I did something, or I didn't like how someone in the audience seemed to feel or whatever it is. I'm always picking at it. So then you go, Well, this is a job with actual stakes, which actually... Anyway, regardless, can you walk me through what happened and what It was your first sense that something like, did you know for years that something felt off in your brain and.

What happened? There was some stuff that was revealed later that I answered some questions in hindsight Oh, some symptoms that were just written off, but they weren't... The stuff that I started feeling, which was mid 2019, I started feeling... It's very hard to explain the level of pain, but a pain in my throat. At the time, I thought I just had an insane ear infection, and I kept... And then a lot of sensation issues that were just strange that I didn't know how to describe yet, but the most alarming symptom was that somebody took a fire poker that had been left in the fire for a day and just went right through my throat and through the- Like nerve, very nerve. Yeah, the base of my tongue and my throat. It would stop me in my track, swallowing, speaking, chewing. And then all of a sudden, just a wave of pain that is like… Think of all the pain you've ever had. It's like broken bones and being cut or whatever, stab, shot. I don't know what pain you've had, but it was like a.

Different- You're making me feel like I really haven't.

Had that much. I hadn't had that much. I had had broken bones.

You're in samples. I'm like, I mean, I did break a couple of fingers doing yoga recently.

I think the easiest way to explain is if you have a pinch nerve in your back or something, but then imagine that times a thousand and it's your throat. I was like, This can't even... It's like a curse from a fairy tale. You're just like, This can't actually be a.

Real.

Thing. This is.

Too insane.

What's the fairy tale part? Or like a sad fairy, you know what I mean? Dark, scary fairy tale. You tricked the wrong troll and they were like, Here's what I'm going to give you your grandkids or whatever. And then they got this. It was like horrific pain. I started going to the ENT, Dr.

— Do you believe in trolls?

I do now, after this. I started going to the ENT multiple times a week just in there, sobbing. I was a modern family at the time. My life was like... I felt writing and I was like, things were good. But then I'd leave work and I would just go to the doctor and I'm.

Just- So for weeks you're having- Yeah.

-extrem e pain. Extreme pain that would just stop speaking and have to wait for it to rise and be like 30 seconds and then it would just shut down.

And your first doctor's visit, are they like, Oh, it could be melano.

Yeah, it was all looking at my throat. And this was like a few months of fast forward to being at a doctor you only go to for emergencies, and now suddenly you're there multiple times a week. Right. And going like, Something's very wrong. And they were looking up my nose and down my throat and giving me those medicine and stuff. Nothing really working. And then I had an endoscopy, and they were noticing.

Little.

Things, but nothing was helping me. And then a few months into this process, which I learned later was a very short time, actually, to get to a diagnosis, my doctor was like, There's this thing. And he's like, I just want to rule it out. It's neurological. I want you to go to a neurologist. And then he got me into this neurologist, and she diagnosed me in 30 seconds.

Really?

Yeah. It was one, me telling her what was happening. And I also had what they realized when I went to this doctor was that I had damage to the glass of pharyngeal nerve, which is like a nerve that goes to your parts of your face, your tongue, your throat. Really? And the nerve wasn't acting right. So nothing was happening right. And then what I also realized was all the stuff I had said like, Oh, there's definitely like my sinus is totally clogged. And for months, they're like, No, it's totally fine. And I kept saying, no, it's like nothing's happened. I can't get any air up there. No, you are. And it's a strange thing. What I realized was half my head was internally numb. I had no sensation up in my sinuses and stuff, and that's what I was-.

But it's crazy- -registering.

-that you're going to all these people who aren't considering that this could be going on. I mean, I guess.

Obviously- Yeah, it's common to have... There are people who've gone years and had teeth removed and stuff because it's so rare that the miracle that he even to this neurologist as quickly was that in his 40-plus years of practice, I'm his only case he's ever seen.

So.

That- In case of what? What was.

The diagnosis? It's called Glossopharyngeal neuralgia or pharyngeal neuralgia. You have cranial nerves. I don't know if you're familiar with these cranial nerves. They're these nerves that go to they stem from your brain stem, and they go to parts of your face. Another one I had issues with was the hypoglossal nerve, which controls the tongue. I couldn't go to the dentist and stuff because I couldn't control my tongue or make it do what I couldn't lift up my- You can do that. I can do some things now. And so, yes, this is months. This neurologist diagnoses me. I get very lucky to end up at a facial neurologist specialist, which is like, again, that's usually many steps down.

They give you a facial and all the steam.

Yes, I got.

Lay, but so cool.

That that exists. Yeah, she gave me wonderful steam and was like, You're going to be in pain forever. And so it's so funny because it's hard to hit these moments and then not say, in hindsight, this was the best thing about this moment. But in hindsight, the best thing about winding up with her was she refused to give me any opioids, which having met online some people who had what I had, that becomes a big issue with trying to treat this pain. But she was like, Hey, it's only going to work for a week, and then deal with a problem. I started doing all these crazy experimental treatments at that point. My job had ended.

Your job ended because.

Of the- No, I mean, the job wrapped. I crawled to the finish line of my writing job, and I knew the big moment where I was like, This is really bad, was I was talking to people about what's the next job? I was going from writing jobs, and I knew that I couldn't take one. But that was the moment where I was like, This is really not good. So I said, I can't, in good conscious, commit to somebody else. And in stand up, I'd already retired from because I couldn't guarantee that I'd be able to speak when I booked a set. So I end up at this doctor, and I start doing these experimental, meaning just insurance won't cover it, treatments for the pain. I thought I was just trying to get them to come and learned about a whole world of medicine that I never knew existed, which is I was just giving them all my money. I thought at first when I said yes to everything, because you just get desperate, and you're just like, It's like the same reason I started reading Buddhist literature. I was just like, Whatever's next. I thought like, Oh, this is going to be snake oil.

All of a sudden I started feeling these benefits.

From what?

One was these injections I'd get into my neck in short, like radio signals.

So they have to stick the antenna of a radio?

They stick. It almost looks like a nitty-needle. And again, at this point, I'm like, I'm 42. I was 38 when this all started. And I was a babe. I have to also say this line, the pandemic started. So a lot of these appointments, I was just there alone. And and I'm fucking crime. But you hear the churnible clicking, the radiation clicking because I have to watch it as it goes in and they hit a nerve that I guess is closer to the center of your neck. Those worked. Then I was doing infusions of ketamine, which I had never done.

You talked to Reggie Watts about that.

Well, I knew people who've done it for depression and stuff, the amounts I was doing, I guess, were pretty bananas.

I don't have to kill a horse.

Yeah, they had to kill eight horses. But I would do these through the pandemic. I was staying three days in a row next to my neurologist's office and doing three days of six-hour infusions a day. And then after the first three day infusion, I come home, I go, Well, they took my money and I got bambooled. I'm a mark. That was stupid. And five, six days later, when the pain started to shoot up, where it used to go to a thousand, it stopped at a seven. And it became-.

And this is from the-.

From the Ketamine? No, this is from the Ketamine. The AM radio was for the... I couldn't sound like I'm making this up.

For- It was.

Country music. But the AM radio helped my ability to swallow. One of the diagnosing tools is called the sphenopalatin-ganglionblock. And it's like a COVID test up the nose. Imagine if a COVID test went to the eyeball and they numb the nerve. And the minute she did that, I said it felt like someone took a grape fruit out of my throat and you start to put all these connections together. So that was the diagnosis. But yeah, five days after the first three-day ketamine infusion, my pain was at a level that was... I wasn't going to work. I knew that was still out of the picture. I was on so much neurological medication that I also felt very stupid. I was like, I'm markedly dumber than I've ever been. And so I was like, okay, well, this is best case scenario, right? But I found something that works. I'll spend all my money on it, and then I won't have any. And then again, not even imagining what's after that. You're just like.

Whatever it takes. Get me my next fix.

Get me my next fix. I needed that every six weeks. It would go away. Some people do it once a year, once every couple of years, depending what you have. At this point, I already had multiple brain MRIs. They couldn't figure out what was causing what I had. That's an important note.

Okay, hold on. Important note. We forgot to do. We discussed these sound effects before. Okay, there. That's a ding.

I should say when I got... By the way, if I'm talking too much, you can say this is where usually we stop and.

Then I talk. Well, I have to confess that I did hit the boring anecdote button as a joke at one point when you were talking.

I don't get to hear when you do it.

I forgot about this whole thing because we started talking. But when we were messaging about this, I was like, I do dumb sound effects. You're like, Great. I was asking how much you want to be silly or not, and it's up to you. You were saying you were into it. We could have our headphones on and do these things. But I truthfully just got caught up in listening to you, and I forgot. Then I hit one, and then I immediately felt guilty about it. No, it's all right. I just have to clarify that I got your consent in advance.

Yeah, you did.

Okay. I want to read some of these. Wait, I don't want to lose where we are. But anyhow, the jackpot is when something absolutely bananas happens, okay? That's largely reserved for bear attacks.

Wait, so I can watch it. I can go, Wait, actually. Oh, I thought that was more like breaks.

Yeah, that's someone leaving.

The situation. Oh, I meant like a record scratch. Is there a record scratch? No, I'm going back and reminding you that I'm making a point that might be necessary for the story down the road. Okay.

During anecdotal progress. That's short.

I'm at the doctor. She diagnoses me through that block. And also, she realized that I don't have... I don't have the gag reflex.

Oh, yeah.

That means this is very much- And I'm basically a producer. I'm a producer. No gag reflex.

Now, did you take that out for a spin?

You're a guy's dream.

Can I say something? The saddest specific. This is sad.

The saddest specific. I don't know if I'll be the judge.

Of that. No, it actually is heartbreaking. When all this was happening, I realized, also because I couldn't control my tongue and because anything I did could cause all this pain, I realized one of the first things I focused on was that I would never kiss again. Of course. It was like such a specific thing where I was like, Yeah, I'm never going to work again. I'm never going to have any... But also like that one thing.

That's a.

Fucking of course.

Of course. Anytime anything physical fails you, you go, Oh, my God. I was so lucky to be fucking smooching every dude and comedy. I was just smooching.

I was the great- I was the great smoocher of the art. But I was like, Okay, those days are behind me. God.

I mean, the isolation and that it was all in the pandemic.

Yeah, it was wild.

So you're dealing with all this.

Anxiety and- Yeah, in- The day they diagnosed me, they were like, We want to get you in tomorrow for a brain MRI because there's different things that can cause this. And then you're also like, When they want to get you in for a brain MRI at 6:00 AM the next day, then you start to go, Oh, now I'm extra scared, boring anecdote.

No, I was going to go when they... I'm too late. I don't know where my buttons are. That's a gasp. 6:00 AM the next day?

No. I stayed at a hotel by the... Again, one of the things I was doing, too, was just spending. I was never a money spender. And I was like, I'm just going to stay at the Four Seasons.

Amazing.

I'm going to just pumple comfort. If I can get a half a second of comfort, I'm just going to do it. And once money means when you're like, Oh, this and there. So God-blessed her, Tyg, Natarow was very kind enough to meet me the next morning at the.

Four Seasons. At the Four Seasons. She sacrificed herself and went to the.

Four Seasons. Well, she didn't stay there. No, she did sacrifice because I was so terrified that, of course, this at the time was not long, long after Tyg had been very wonderfully open and public about her health struggles. And I was like, My life is over. And now I'm terrified about the summer. And she met me at six in the morning to just let me say how scared I was, basically, and ask for advice that really you can't be given. But Tigg is so good at it because she'll laugh through the hardest moments. And then all of a sudden, there was like, John Stewart, people walked into the hotel and they're like, Tigg. I just.

Ran into people.

People came into the hotel were excited to see Tigg. I think the Houston Rockets Coach or something. People at the time were... I'm sitting there like, It's all over. Tig the tar.

Are you in.

The lobby? Yeah.

Wouldn't this be a room.

We were having a coffee. There was nobody there. The people who happened to walk in.

Happened to be like- I hate to say my mind is wandering to just, Oh, having a coffee at the Four Seasons with a friend sounds so nice. It sounds so nice. But I know I recognize that's not.

The topic. But that was the whole point was like, how do I give? What am I saving anything for? So at this point, who cares?

That.

Makes total sense. So I'm like- Comfort.

Comfort, yeah. Like my horse. No, a horse. I take my kingdom for a horse.

Yeah. If you're crying and you're scared, you might as well also have nice socks on or whatever. You know what I mean? There's little things that help. Yes, 100%. That's what I tell everybody who's sick, get some socks. I have the first brain MRI, and they don't find what they're looking for, which is a tumor MS, something very visible pressing against the nerve. The ketamine treatments, all this shit, yeah?

They.

Don't find it. They don't find it. I'm getting all this stuff. I'm realizing, okay, I got all these treatments that at least are keeping me in what I would.

Call- Level seven pain.

-a livable amount of pain that I knew was going to happen every day, but I also was able to start going like, Well, what does a life look like if all that you're supposed to do is observe the flowers? You start to just map out what a almost entirely philosophical life.

Will be.

Also imagining like, What if I can not swallow in the future? What if I cannot speak? Yes, all those things twice. And then I don't know how to make a year and a half sure, but basically in the pandemic, a very nice friend of mine offered me, now this just sounds like almost like glutton, this privilege, offered me. He said, Hey, I'm going to my house in Hawaii on the beach with a few people for the pandemic. We're getting out, like classic rich people scooting. I said, I can't go. I'm tethered to this neurologist. I literally, I'll be there for weeks and then I'll-.

And that was unconventional to be tethered to your neurologist.

Yes, I was tethered to my neurologist. And I was like, I won't. He's like, It's a free house in Hawaii, and I will be in a volcano tootsweet. He then got alarmed that basically he kept telling me, You're accepting too low of a quality of life and you should keep looking for more answers. He ended up knowing a neurosurgeon in New York.

That guy- But why did he escalate it to neurosurgeon?

Well, because they knew what I had. I had my diagnosis, but what they couldn't find through three MRIs was what was messing up the nerve. They had decided that it was probably a virus, probably some even more rare version, a rare cause of a rare thing. And by rare, the numbers I read is like two to seven out of a million people, this can be a thing. I had a pretty.

Extreme- Have you met the other person?

I've met one person who was living publicly with this thing and it would be more complex case than me. And I became-.

Best friends.

She was very helpful.

Bff.

Yeah, BFF.

Wait. So the diagnosis, the long word that you said before.

Glossofaryngeal neuralgia.

Or.

Pharyngeal...

That is.

What you had. They knew what I had, but they couldn't figure out. They go, Okay, this nerve is definitely damaged. We can't find out why. And it was like, usually they'll see like it's a tumor, MS, or a compression of the nerve that they can see on the MRI. And for whatever reason, they couldn't see mine. This woman I was talking to on Instagram, she has MS. So she's had multiple, I would say, bouts of this. That's not even a fair word. But yeah, so I became pals with her. In any case, this guy gets me in touch, not even gets me in touch. He says, Why not keep looking? Will you do me a favor? Will you write out your last year? And I'll just maybe he can't help. Maybe there's nothing to do. Write your last year out on paper. And then kept bothering me and kept bothering me. And I finally did send it to him.

Now, what level of detail? What did you go into?

It was just medical stuff. I wasn't.

Like- Oh, okay. Not like.

Bagel brunch. No, no, no. It was like- Five-mile run. -last Thursday, I made a salad. I learned how to cook mahi-machi.

The doctor is like, Stop right there.

Yeah, I got four pages into a book before I realized it's a cult. I sent this guy a letter. Again, every turn now, I expect nothing because I'm just like, I've had three MRIs. You've given up. I've given up on everything that isn't what I'm already doing. This guy ends up wanting to get on the phone for a phone call, and I could sense the moment he went from the diagnosis was he was skeptical. This is a person who actually has this to being incredibly interested.

And that's like- And this is a doctor?

This is a neurosurgeon. No, it's just like a deli guy. No, it's just a... I'm losing track of who's who. Sorry. This is a neurosurgeon who offers to.

Chat with- Wait a minute. Now that detail.

Fascinates me. Yeah, I was given his phone number. And he then got interested because I say to people, if you're going to have something bad, it should be very rare because then doctors are.

Like- Fascinated.

They get excited. They're like, yeah, they're like, I'll fix her. And so he got interested. He was asking me questions like, what does it feel like to drink a cold beverage? Very specific questions. And I would just explain to him. And then I think he was suddenly like, Oh, this is real. And we talked about me maybe going out to New York where he was a chair of neurosurgery. He said, I want to send you to my colleague in San Diego. I went down there.

You have to meet the guy on a beach.

He's on a full surfboard, everything. Yes, he's a backup catcher for the Padres, but he part-times, he moonlights. So I go down there and I do what feels like movies where the military is examining an alien or something, like a full day, one of those full-day hospital things where you stay in a room and different doctors come in and examine you and watch you swallow things, and then followed by this MRI and this machine that... There's only one of the MRIs that he wanted to try to use. And then three days later, I get a call. I assume it's all nothing. And he said, We found where your nerve is being compressed.

Don't look at me laughing because the thing is, I just looked at my watch. I'm like, Oh, my God. I have a dinner reservation in 15 minutes. I was also trying not to just as soon as your story wound up going... It's truly like I couldn't seem like a worse person than in this scenario.

But I'm sure.

There's a 15 minute. But that's what people expect, right? Yeah, that's my brand, I guess. I mean, even though, listen, I do think I'm a good person, but not across the board, I guess. But there's usually a 15-minute grace period with reservations. I think on my end, I'm going to be okay. Now, do you have not gone to any podcast? Is this an exclusive?

I did a couple. I did a like one and a half, I guess. I've talked to a couple of people. But yeah, I think this is the most in-depth I've gotten. Look, I didn't know you had dinner.

No, I didn't realize at all what time it was. Because that's the thing. I was hanging on every word. I lost track of time. Then I looked and I go, Oh, my gosh. It was not on my mind until the very end. Right at your diagnosis.

Right at the moment.

Until then, you were hanging on. Yeah, until then, I was like on every... No. But anyway, well, I don't know how to wrap this up, really, because I just think that it is crazy how when you're in perfect health that you take for granted your health. And then as soon as anything goes wrong, you really realize how much you take it all.

For granted. The craziest thing is how everyone says that all the time. That's shit. No, no, no. I mean, in life, the most obvious stuff people say, what it takes for you to go, Oh, yeah, that's true. That thing everybody says about how you don't know.

I feel that a lot. As I get older, I feel that a lot about everything my mom told me when I was younger. Now I'm like, Oh.

But.

It's taken a long time to realize a.

Lot of them. Yeah. I used to walk around the house. I get my horseies walk around going, You can see, you can hear, you can walk. I used to repeat the things I could do.

This is heartbreaking.

Is it? I thought it's like.

It's inspiring. Well, I think most inspiring things are heartbreaking. But wait, let's just say that- Let's say this. Yes. Are you writing now?

Yeah.

I know the answer to this. I'm just only simply saying this for the listener. You're writing for one of the rest shows.

On Abit Elementary.

Oh, I thought it was Blippy. I'm just kidding. That's for the parents. Worst show ever existing. Abit Elementary, hold on, which is such a great show. Are you kissing? What's that? Are you kissing?

I have kissed. My tongue is good. It's everything's like.

A little tricky. I'm trying to force you into a simple happy ending. Your tongue.

Is elastic.

Your kissing, you're writing on the best show. Thank you, Morgan. I'm trying to keep. Let's keep the crowd show moving. Let's keep the show moving. When people emcee comedy shows. No, I mean, listen, what did a fucking ordeal? I'm not trying to minimize it. What would you like to leave the listener with? Is there any piece of advice? Is there any spiritual edict that you now live by? Is there any just medical advice? What should the listener take away from this story? Should I provide this?

Is that my job? It's funny because I do have jokes about this story, but I'm reluctant to-.

Wasted.

On here. I get it. No, not wasted. I find myself being that person that keeps going, Keep looking. Keep. Never stop. Never stop looking. The things I say, I feel like things an old person might say, but I do tell people I know where I would have stopped looking had somebody else not told me.

Friendship really is the answer.

Friendship is the answer.

Friendship is the answer.

Yeah, so don't stop looking and demand to be listened to about.

Your things. Don't stop looking. I actually had trouble keeping eye contact there because I almost felt like you hated me when I was singing Don't stop looking. I was like, Wait, you know you're talking to somebody like, showbiz. Showbiz layered on top of you go in someone's eyes and like, Do they.

Hate you? I feel like I don't know how to panel.

This story. I know. I know. Listen, don't get me wrong, I'm up against that same situation right now where I'm like, I can't wrap this up. We got to stay podcasting. We can't end the podcast. But this.

Is what happens when two people who don't know how to play the like, folks, this is like the two. We need one person on here who's like, speaking of trauma and then- Right.

Like Natasha Legere right now, she would know what to do.

Yes. Speaking of mouths that work, someone's got to get some dinner. Right.

Yeah. It's me. Will that 15-minute, Grace period, will it work out for me and my family? Morgan, thank you for... Honestly, I do mean this sincerely. Thank you for sharing your story because it's not always... Comedy is weird, right? We're a joke about everything horrible, so that's my MO and probably yours. But on the other hand, you don't want to sell yourself out. Again, if there's anything you think of that you don't want on here, I'll cut it. I'm one of the best-hearted people in the business. That's the conclusion about your turmoil and your trauma. Anyhow, but no, sincerely, thank you. I feel like I introduced the sound effects too late. They weren't working. That piece of it, I again apologize for.

I thought you did a great job.

Okay, thank you. Well, listen, let's have you back every episode.

Okay. I'll see you next time. I'm going.

To shake on it every ep. All right, thank you. This is Morgan getting in her car?

Yeah. Bye, Morgan. Bye.

You seem like a real sweetheart, but I got to go. And then here's me getting in my little Maserati. We have matching Maserati's. Hey, this is an epilog. I just want to let you know that I did make it to my reservation and the dinner was fantastic. There are some happy ending out there.

You just got to.

Look for them. Okay, peace, everyone.