Chris Carter Wants You To Believe

Fail Better with David Duchovny

Grace Cohen-Chen

Society & Culture

4.6 • 534 Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The X-Files was always about turning something mysterious and untraceable into something known — so what better time to capture the elusive podcast interview on camera? That’s right: Fail Better is now on video, and we’re kicking off this new chapter with the one and only Chris Carter, the creator of The X-Files. And he came prepared, alien embryo and all. There’s so much to discuss about the show, and I even reveal my newfound theory about Mulder’s motivations. We also trace Chris’s labyrinthine career path from surfer to sculptor to writer, and he opens up about the critical response to the reboot — and why no one truly understood the ending, despite him leaving clues in plain sight. Fail Better is now on YouTube! Watch this episode here. Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Find more video podcasts on our YouTube channel. Stay up to date with Lemonada on X, 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's morning in New York.
0:02.8	Oh, God.
0:06.2	Hey, everybody.
0:07.3	I'm Mandy Patinkin.
0:08.7	And I'm Catherine Grady.
0:09.8	And we have a new podcast.
0:11.7	It's called Don't Listen to Us.
0:14.1	Many of you've asked for our advice.
0:16.1	Tell me, what is wrong with you people?
0:19.2	Don't listen to us.
0:20.3	Our Take It or Leave a Adv Device show every Wednesday, out now.
0:24.7	A Lemonada Media Original.
0:34.7	I'm David Dukovny, and this is Fail Better,
0:37.4	a show where failure, not success, shapes who we are.
0:41.7	Chris Carter is a TV and film writer, producer, and director.
0:45.1	He's also an avid surfer and master craftsman and artist, but most importantly, in my life, he's the creator of the X-Files.
0:52.6	We actually had just gotten lunch a few days ago with Julian Anderson as well.
0:56.5	And, of course, Chris had a story to tell me about what happened after we parted.
1:00.8	So we picked up there.
1:04.0	Let me tell you the funny story.
1:06.3	You and I had lunch with Julian on Saturday.
1:09.5	And I dropped you off, and then I went to... and I had lunch with Julian on Saturday. Saturday.
	...

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