Depresh Mode with John Moe27 Sep 2021

Janet Varney Wasn’t In Being John Malkovich. But She Lived It.

Podcast listeners know Janet from the JV Club podcast here on Maximum Fun. Television audiences know her from You’re The Worst and Stan Against Evil, among many other credits. And fans of live comedy might know Janet as one of the founders of SF Sketchfest.

But there was a time in Janet’s life when she didn’t know her as much of anything. As a young person, she dealt with depression and anxiety as well as a condition that you don’t hear talked about nearly as often: DPDR, or depersonalization derealization disorder. It’s a condition that brings about periods where you feel like you’re separate from the body that you’re traveling around in and like the world you’re in isn’t necessarily real.

Janet says the movie Being John Malkovich was a revelation in that she saw a big screen depiction of what this felt like.

We learn about Janet’s girlhood goth phase, wearing lots of black in the hot Arizona sun, an exciting move to California, a dispiriting foray into live journalism, and, well, figuring out who she is.

Listen to Janet Varney's podcast The JV Club on the podcatcher of your choice. Follow Janet on Twitter @janetvarney and on Instagram @thejvclub.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here.

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindepresh

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(299)

Jo Dee Messina on Hard Times, Jesus, and Her First Album in 12 Years

Jo Dee Messina has a long career in the music industry: number one hits, platinum and gold records, many awards. She’s a country music icon. Jo Dee just released Bridges, her first new album in 12 yea...

13 Jul 51min

Best of Depresh Mode: Hanif Abdurraqib on Cultivating a Support System, Depression, Anxiety, and Basketball

Hanif Abdurraqib is a MacArthur Fellow, accomplished poet, and critically lauded author of numerous books, including There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, which is now out in paperbac...

6 Jul 50min

We Should Praise Addiction, Not Condemn It, Says Anthropologist Elizabeth Roberts

The title of Elizabeth Roberts’ new book, In Praise of Addiction, is likely to catch your attention, maybe even set off some cognitive dissonance in your mind. But the University of Michigan’s Elizabe...

29 Jun 52min

Cartoonist Gemma Correll Saw a Therapist with a Clown-Festooned Office. Once.

British-born, LA-based author and illustrator Gemma Correll had a couple of reasons to choose the motif of an amusement park for her new anxiety book, Anxietyland. One, she loves amusement parks and ...

22 Jun 46min

RFK Jr. Wants To Take Your SSRIs Away. So What Are Democrats Doing About It?

Secretary of Health & Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is, to put it mildly, a skeptic of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medication, a form of meds that millions of Americans use r...

15 Jun 50min

Robyn Hitchcock is Fundamentally Delusional, Welcomes Birds

If you’ve ever listened to Robyn Hitchcock’s music, you know that it can get pretty surrealistic. Some might say divinely bizarre and eclectic. Others might just say weird. All of that’s fine with the...

8 Jun 1h 4min

Blake Mycoskie Helped the World, Got Rich, Retired to a Life of Ease, Then Fell Apart

There is no Tom behind TOMS Shoes. It’s short for “Tomorrow’s.” There is a Blake, however. Blake Mycoskie founded the company in 2006 under the model that for every pair sold, a second pair would be d...

1 Jun 58min

An Episode About the Grind, Singer Zayna Youssef of Sweet Pill, and YOU

Yes, the episode is about a rock singer but it’s also about any of us who grind away for the benefit of our work and the detriment of ourselves. The sudden cancellation of the band Sweet Pill’s extens...

25 Mai 53min