Episode #PLACEBO: John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats on where all that coping music comes from

The Hilarious World of Depression

American Public Media

Comedy, Comedy Interviews

4.8 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2017

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When we asked listeners about their favorite songs to listen to while battling depression, The Mountain Goats’ music kept coming up. We caught up with the band’s founder, singer, and songwriter, John Darnielle, to learn about what goes into his process. We also find out about the music he listens to and the other ways he copes with the depression that has dogged him for many years. Special bonus: a brand new John Darnielle poem.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Is depression funny?
0:02.0	Oh, it's hilarious.
0:03.0	I mean, it's like the thing is,
0:04.0	it's not only it's a very good question,
0:06.0	but no, it's totally hilarious.
0:08.0	I mean, the thing is, a lot of the sorts of jokes you make
0:12.0	when you're down in the well do not sound funny.
0:16.0	Other people, sometimes I'll be telling stories
0:20.0	about the abuse that I encountered when I was young on stage.
0:24.0	And details of them will strike me as very funny, right?
0:27.0	And I could always tell who my people are in the audience
0:29.0	because of the ones who don't look horrified.
0:31.0	I don't know what to do.
0:32.0	I get it.
0:33.0	It's like, that's funny.
0:34.0	It's not funny.
0:35.0	It's pretty funny though.
0:36.0	Music
0:49.0	It's the hilarious world of depression,
0:56.0	placebo addition.
0:57.0	I'm John Moe.
0:58.0	Placebo's are many episodes of the show.
	...

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