Fail Better with David Duchovny
Lemonada Media
To be human is to fail – period. And not just to fail once, but to fail a lot. As the author Samuel Beckett said: “Fail again. Fail better.” This saying means a lot to me and my family – so much so that my daughter got a tattoo of it. Why are we, and so many others, so deeply concerned by failure? And if it’s something we all do so often, why are we so afraid of it – especially those of us here in win-at-all-costs America? In this podcast, I sit down with successful, thoughtful people like Ben Stiller, Bette Midler, Sean Penn and more to talk about failure – or what they labeled “failure,” but what was really an unparalleled opportunity for growth and revelation. I even want to delve into my own hardest moments, when I wrestled with setbacks, shame, and fear. We’ll still fail again. And again. But maybe if we fail better, we’ll feel better -- and maybe if we can all laugh together in failure, that's a start.
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Top 10 Fail Better with David Duchovny Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Fail Better with David Duchovny episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Fail Better with David Duchovny for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Fail Better with David Duchovny episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Kumail Nanjiani’s New Ambition
Fail Better with David Duchovny
08/13/24 • 52 min
When I first met Kumail Nanjiani, we were on set on the X-Files, chasing down the shape-shifting Were-Monster. Since then, I’ve seen Kumail undergo his own transformation — into a leading man and big-screen superhero, playing memorable characters with depth, heart and humor. Only, he doesn’t always see it that way. We chat about his love of the X-Files and how he’s recently found new ways of approaching his life, relationship and career with more presence and joy, rather than stressing about the outcome.
Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/
For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2 Listeners
Gabor Maté and the Reason We’re All Addicted
Fail Better with David Duchovny
05/14/24 • 48 min
This is my most personal episode so far, but it's really about the wisdom of Dr. Gabor Maté. The author, physician, and public speaker reminds us all how we sometimes become too comfortable with self-criticism and regret. We talk about parenting, collaboration, and addiction, and I leave the interview feeling a level of gratitude that I don’t know what to do with. Here’s that conversation.
Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/
For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1 Listener
Bette Midler and the Meanest Man in Showbiz
Fail Better with David Duchovny
05/10/24 • 43 min
A long time ago when I worked as a bartender at Radio City Music Hall, I caught the second half of a Bette Midler show, and it blew me away. More than forty years later I ran into her at a restaurant in Santa Monica and said hi. I'm thrilled that she agreed to sit down and talk to me about a couple things that have gone wrong in her storied career. Tune in to hear about workplace horrors, how being self-deprecating doesn’t make me special, and what it really means to know thyself. All hail The Divine Miss M.
Follow David on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/
For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1 Listener
Catching Up with Gillian Anderson
Fail Better with David Duchovny
11/12/24 • 63 min
Gillian Anderson and I share a connection unlike any other. The Dana Scully to my Fox Mulder, we are the only ones who understand what the other was going through during those X-Files years. But so much was left unsaid — until now. We got a chance to open up about the ways we might have failed one another during that wild ride, and we both examine the ways we’ve grown since. Gillian also caught me up on all her ventures and adventures — her work, her writing in the sexual fantasy compilation Want, and her cheeky new “unconventional wellness” line of soft drinks. It’s good to rediscover an old friend.
Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. And this week you can hear even more from my conversation with Gillian! But only with Lemonada Premium. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/
For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1 Listener
Failure Matters with Jaleel White
Fail Better with David Duchovny
03/18/25 • 55 min
To me, there are few sitcom characters more memorable than Steve Urkel on Family Matters. So getting to talk to the actor Jaleel White — about his approach to acting, his take on Hollywood in the ‘90s and now, and what it’s meant to have a character follow him into adulthood — was as illuminating as I’d expected. As a pillar of show business and an astute observer of it, Jaleel is someone whose perspective I deeply appreciate. Plus, his new memoir ‘Growing Up Urkel’ is thoughtful and nuanced, and I’m grateful we could reflect on it together.
Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kara Swisher Is So Much More Than the World’s ‘Musk-splainer’
Fail Better with David Duchovny
02/18/25 • 77 min
As someone who knows tech giants like Elon Musk more deeply than most reporters, Kara Swisher doesn’t have a ton of patience for them. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have empathy. Reflecting at this pivotal moment, she’s stripping away the facades of these powerful men to reveal their true characters (typically, cringeworthy pretenders). She and I share an energetic back-and-forth about what makes these disruptive innovators tick, what worries her about that, and what, despite it all, still manages to make her feel hopeful.
Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Aimee Mann Is In My Pantheon
Fail Better with David Duchovny
11/19/24 • 55 min
It was a real magic moment to connect with Aimee Mann, a musician I’ve listened to for decades. She indulges my curiosities about lyric choices and instrumental training, and I learn how much goes on behind the scenes of an Aimee Mann production. We talk about the traumas of her past, which hardships do and do not influence her work, and why there feels like a creative imperative to turn pain into art. Then, to lighten things up (at least a little) we bond over some of our favorite artists of years past, like the sneakily somber Steely Dan.
Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/
For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mary Trump Knows We’re At a Crossroads
Fail Better with David Duchovny
08/06/24 • 59 min
Mary Trump, niece of former president Donald Trump, has long lived in the shadow of her family’s name. And as she writes in her new memoir, Who Could Ever Love You, the darkness of that shadow affected generations of Trump children long before it took hold of the world. We talk about her grandfather, Fred Trump, the business-minded, manipulative patriarch who molded his son Donald in his own sociopathic image. It’s a vivid family portrait, explaining so much about the systems and ideologies that created a man so reluctant to fail.
Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/
For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Check it Out: “The art of failure with David Duchovny”
Fail Better with David Duchovny
08/27/24 • 31 min
I recently sat down with organizational psychologist Adam Grant for an episode of his podcast, ReThinking. Even though he was the one interviewing me, he shared some of his own valuable insights from the world of academic research. In our conversation, we discuss the importance of accepting your failures, how falling short of your goals can be a good thing, and whether nice people really finish last.
As an organizational psychologist, Adam Grant believes that great minds don't think alike; they challenge each other to think differently. In ReThinking, he has lively discussions and debates with interesting thinkers to uncover bold insights and share surprising science that can make us all a little bit smarter. If you like this interview, you can find ReThinking with Adam Grant wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/
For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jia Tolentino Battles The Internet
Fail Better with David Duchovny
10/29/24 • 44 min
Jia Tolentino has the internet to thank for some of her biggest successes. In the 2000s, it offered her connections beyond her strict religious community and gave her a place to share her writing with her millennial peers. Her “online” insights carved out a niche at The New Yorker, and her 2019 essay collection, Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, made a big splash with readers who felt similarly mired in digital disillusion. But these days she’s swearing off social media and seeking out the sublime elsewhere. Jia and I discuss the joys and perils of living life online (or even adjacent to it), the unexpected impacts of digital surveillance, and what all of this means for raising children.
Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/
For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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FAQ
How many episodes does Fail Better with David Duchovny have?
Fail Better with David Duchovny currently has 59 episodes available.
What topics does Fail Better with David Duchovny cover?
The podcast is about Society & Culture and Podcasts.
What is the most popular episode on Fail Better with David Duchovny?
The episode title 'Kumail Nanjiani’s New Ambition' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Fail Better with David Duchovny?
The average episode length on Fail Better with David Duchovny is 48 minutes.
How often are episodes of Fail Better with David Duchovny released?
Episodes of Fail Better with David Duchovny are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Fail Better with David Duchovny?
The first episode of Fail Better with David Duchovny was released on Apr 16, 2024.
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