Episodes to get you Started (or to Revisit)

With over 500 episodes to choose from, here are a few curated lists.

Sometimes I’ll get an email from someone saying, “Hey, I just found your podcast. What are your favorite episodes?”

While it’s nice to hear from a new listener, that’s an impossible ask. I have no clue who this person is, so I don’t know what would resonate with them. And I’m sure my experience as a participant in the conversation is radically different from a listener’s experience. Also, I’ve been doing this since Barack Obama’s hair was black, Osama Bin Laden was happily watching porn in a cave, and Joe Rogan was claiming he’d never leave California. So let’s say my memory of all 550+ episodes isn’t exactly crystal clear.

But I spent a recent afternoon looking through the archives and, while I can’t say which episodes are my personal favorites, I’ve put together some lists of good ones to get you started (or to go back to if you missed them). These are in no particular order, and roughly categorized. You’ll see some cross-posting, because some folks are prime examples of two or three categories (i.e. famous and an author and a porn star and a comic, etc.).

Without further ado, here you go. (Drop me a line if you think of some I should add.) Also, lots of these folks have been on more than one episode, which is signified by “++.” In those cases, I’ve linked to their first appearance, but if you want to hear more with them, just do a search of the archives for the additional episodes.

Freakin’ Famous. Other stuff too, but pretty freakin’ famous:

• Joe Rogan and Duncan Trussell (Comics/podcasters)

• Wim Hof (“The Iceman”)

• Simon Rex (“Dirt Nasty,” star of Red Rocket)

• Peter Sagal (NPR host)

• Angela White (World’s #1 Porn Diva)

• Dan Savage (Sex and relationship guru)

• Dr. Andrew Weil (Early psychedelic researcher/alternative health pioneer/best-selling author)

• Neil Brennan (Co-creator of The Chapelle Show, comic)

• Tony Gonzalez (Hall of Fame NFL player)

Amazing Stories. Prison, tragedy, hard-won wisdom, unusual obsessions:

• Lodhi (Solo motorcycle trip from London to Islamabad in 1968)

• Troy Mitchell (Fourteen bank robberies/prison escape)

• Bruce Lisker (Falsely convicted of murder/28 years in prison)

• Richard Bandy (Awoke from surgery with no memory of his previous life)

• John Porter (Rattlesnake obsessive)

• The Death Letter (Mysterious and moving)

• Alisa Esposito (On death, grief, redemption)

• Tim Scully (Major LSD chemist in 1960s)

• Chris Jaymes (Best man at his mother’s wedding … to his best friend)

• Charris Ford (Ecological rapper)

• Aron Ralston (Cut off his arm to survive hike in Utah desert, played by James Franco in 127 Hours)

• J.R. Martinez (Severe burns in Iraq/motivational speaker)

Scientists. Lots of these folks are also authors, as well as researchers:

• Bruce Damer (Origins of life/Space exploration)

• Jeff Leach (Microbiome/anthropologist)

• Jesse Bering (Sexologist, author)

• Frans de Waal (Primatologist, author)

• Stanley Krippner (Parapsychologist, author)

• Dacher Keltner (Psychologist, human nature)

• Charlie Zender (Climate scientist)

• Brian Hare (Primatologist/canine behaviorist)

• Dean Radin (Parapsychologist)

• Charles Grob (Psychiatrist, psychedelic therapy)

• Carl Hart (Neuroscientist)

• Ginger Norwood (Physicist/mathematician)

Music:

• Rick Beato (Multi-instrumentalist/producer/educator)

• Carsie Blanton (Truth-teller, singer-songwriter)

• Colin Craveiro (Singer-songwriter)

• Greg Simmons (Preserving endangered music.)

• Tao Ruspoli (Flamenco guitarist/Italian royalty)

• Steve Mullins (Ethnomusicologist)

• Simon von Gend (Singer-songwriter)

Comics:

• Joe Rogan

• Neil Brennan

• Jake Johannson

• Nikki Glazer

• Chris D’Elia

• Bryan Callen

• Theo Von

• Ari Shaffir

Friends and Family:

• Julie Ryan (my mom)

• Beth Ryan (my sister)

• Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan

• Justin deRuyter (Firefighter, crazy rafting experience)

• Cacilda Jethá (Partner, psychiatrist, co-author of Sex at Dawn)

• Anya Kaats (Partner, podcast host, writer)

• Tao Ruspoli (Film-maker, photographer, musician)

• Debra Berger (Artist, designer, bohemian)

• Chris and Nani (Hosts of luxury camp spot in rural Tanzania)

• Murphy Pelot (At 13 and at 21)

• Stanley Krippner (Friend, professor, mentor).

Authors (Pick one at random or see whose name you recognize):

• Dennis McKenna

• Wade Davis

• Neil Strauss

• Mary Roach

• Tim Cahill

• Richard Schweid

• Tucker Max

• Gabor Mate

• Danielli Bolleli

• Tony Perrottet

• Dan Carlin

• John Colapinto

• Michael Shermer

• Eric Berkowitz

• Geoff Dyer

• Jude Angelini

• Johann Hari

• Rutger Bregman

• Robert Wright

Sex:

• Angela White (“The Meryl Streep of Porn”)

• Greg Lansky (Hugely successful porn producer/director: Blacked/Tushy)

• Nina Hartley (Maybe the biggest porn star of the 70s/80s)

• Icy Mike (Co-Founder of Reality Kings, huge online porn company)

• Dan Savage (author, columnist: Savage Love)

• Betty Dodson (Pioneer in women’s empowerment/masturbation)

• Susie Bright (Feminist icon, author, former sex worker)

• David Ley (Psychologist, expert in men’s sexuality, author)

• Asa Akira (Former porn star)

Travel/Adventure:

• Justin Alexander (World traveler/disappeared in India)

• Wade Davis (Author/adventurer/NatGeo explorer)

• Bruce Parry (Explorer, TV host: Tribe/Going Tribal, with Bruce Parry)

• Callie Russell (Alone, season 7)

• Pree Kastelic (Hiked Appalachian trail)

• Nathaniel Farmer (Hiked Pacific Crest trail)

• Fabian Dittrich (Congo to Silicon Valley to Montenegro)

• Don Mirra (Special forces/Yosemite climber/SCUBA expert)

• Aidan Raley (Modern hobo)

• Peter Gorman (Editor of High Times, Amazon explorer, sapo pioneer)

• Tim Cahill (Author, Founder: Outside magazine)

• Ricardo Serpa (Motorcycle explorer)

• Paul Kloppenburg (Hitched from Amsterdam to India in 1969, when he was 18)

• Akshay Nanavati (Fearvana)

• Jeff Shapiro (Base jumper, wingsuit flyer, paraglider)

• Zofia (Motorcycle from Europe to Thailand)

• Ben Horton (NatGeo explorer, photographer, paraglider)

• Kraig Adams (Solo hiker, minimalist)

• Malith (Hitching rides on sailboats)

Talking Out My Ass (TOMA) episodes, in which I tell stories from back in the day:

Episode 1: In which I introduce the series, talk about why I’m telling these stories, and lay out the ground rules I’ve set for myself. Then, I get into the first story, which covers my last two years of high school in Fairfield, CT and Cazenovia, NY.

Episode 2: I skip most of my junior year at Hobart College, and head for Alaska. Along the way, I meet a guy named Ed, who tells me a strange and powerful story about his encounter with the Manson family, and Ed catches the fish of his life in Petersburg, AK.

Episode 3: From the last stop on the ferry, through the Yukon Territory to Fairbanks. "You guys see the bear I just shot?"

Episode 4: In which Russ and I find ourselves wearing shorts without underwear in a medium-security Alaskan prison.

Episode 5: When the salmon don't come, there's no work to be had in Kenai, Alaska. So what do you do? Get some tequila!

Episode 6: I get meta in this one—reading a paper I wrote 20 years ago about a near-death experience that happened to me 25 years ago. Damn, I'm getting old!

Episode 7: In which I spend some time working the slime line, scam my way out the door, and wake up on the wrong side of a jealous performance artist.

Episode 8: It's 1983, and I'm on my first trip to a foreign culture with a sharpened Kung-Fu star hanging from my neck. One thing leads to another and I realize I've stumbled into something far deeper, and more dangerous, than I could have imagined.

Episode 9: My second summer in Alaska. This time, I got a job on a tender, and found myself engaged in an epic struggle for the soul of a young man.

Episode 10: A tribute to Parliament-Funkadelic, with thanks to my friend, Mike, and The Edsel Ford Funk Victory Tape.

Episode 11: Love builds on having been loved.

Episode 12: In which I decide to live in New York City and wander into a solid gold trap.

Episode 13: I arrive in India and start fucking up big time right away.

Episode 14: From a very cold houseboat on Dal Lake in Srinagar to the Deluxe Video Coach, this one is all about changing plans at the last minute.

Episode 15: It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Episode 16: Adventures with camels, mace, and a special woman in Jaisalmer, India.

Episode 17: A long-awaited TOMA episode in which lots of worlds interconnect: an apartment in Barcelona, a drunken night in Kenai, and a snake at a water trough in Sicily.

Episode 18: What if what seems like pain to us is experienced as pleasurable — even necessary — to someone else? In this TOMA episode (the first in years!), I talk about a couple of relationships in which I had to face my incapacity to participate in someone else’s pain — even when their suffering is an important part of their journey, and they may even be “enjoying” it.