Ben McKenzie (on cryptocurrency)

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Armchair Umbrella

Comedy, Music, Tv & Film

4.6 • 69.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2026

⏱️ 113 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ben McKenzie (Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, Easy Money) is an actor, author, and outspoken cryptocurrency skeptic. Ben joins Armchair Expert to discuss growing up in a civically minded family in Austin, studying economics at the University of Virginia, and stumbling into acting success with early fame on an unnamed hit show. Ben and Dax talk about navigating imposter syndrome after overnight success, transitioning from acting into writing and directing, and what led him into investigating crypto markets during the pandemic. Ben explains why behavioral economics reveals how irrational people really are, how financial systems exploit trust and hype, and why the promise of “easy money” taps into something dangerously universal.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome, welcome, welcome to armchair expert.
0:02.5	Experts on expert. I'm Dan Shepard. You're Lily Padman. I am. And we have an expert that will be confusing to people. I was confused. You were very confused. You saw Ben in the yard and you said, oh my God, it's that Ben. Yeah. When I read that we were having Ben McKenzie. Ben McKinsey on, and I knew it was an expert episode. and I saw what the episode was about.
0:24.5	I read that we were having Ben McKinsey on, and I knew it was an expert episode, and I saw what the episode was about. I read the write-up. I was like, oh, okay, so there's an expert with the same name, and then walk in, and it is the actor. It is. And I got to tell you, I say this in the fact check, one of the actors I've ever met my life. He's so fucking smart.
0:38.6	I had such a blast talking to him.
0:40.5	Yeah.
0:40.9	And yes, he has done his homework.
0:43.3	He has an incredible book about this topic called Easy Money on New York Times bestseller.
0:50.1	And a new documentary that's in theaters now called Everyone is Lying to You for Money.
0:56.3	And he's obsessed with cryptocurrencies.
0:59.3	And are they really a currency?
1:00.9	Can you use them to buy things?
1:03.1	What are their value?
1:06.5	Very entertaining.
1:08.2	Obviously, you know him from the Hosey.
1:16.0	Southland, Gotham. Great dude. So glad we had them. Please enjoy Ben McKenzie.
1:28.8	This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. I feel like Spring always does this thing where you realize you've been thinking about something for a long time. And suddenly it feels like, okay, maybe I actually do something with it.
1:31.8	Totally. It's less pressure, but more like readiness.
1:36.4	Yeah, like you've been sitting on an idea or a project or even just a perspective you care about,
1:40.2	and now you're like, maybe this deserves to exist somewhere outside of my own head.
1:44.3	In May being Mental Health Awareness Month, there's already this broader conversation happening.
1:48.9	People are more open, more curious, more willing to engage. Which is where something like Squarespace comes in. It makes that jump from idea to actual thing feel way less overwhelming. You can build a
1:55.3	site that looks good, works well, and actually reflects what you're trying to put out there.
	...

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