How To Protect Your Peace - The Art of Self-Care with Heather McMahan

Getting Better with Jonathan Van Ness

Sony Music

Science, Self-improvement, Comedy, Education, Society & Culture

4.9 • 21.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Travel nightmares, cocktail jazz, & laughing gas…oh my! This week, JVN is joined by comedian and certified delight, Heather McMahan (host, Absolutely Not) They’re talking: baths vs. showers, jazz scatting, preferred quesadilla orders, comedy in 2025, mid-flight medical emergencies, eyelashes, meeting people where they’re at, finding rituals that ground you, healthcare in the UK, The Golden Bachelor, and much much more! Heather McMahan is an actress, comedian, and podcaster whose sharp humor and self-deprecating storytelling have made her one of the most beloved voices in comedy today. Her Netflix special Son I Never Had! debuted in 2023 to widespread acclaim, holding a Top 10 position for a full week. Known for her candor, relatability, and ability to find humor in chaos, Heather has toured internationally, selling out iconic venues including Radio City Music Hall during her Comeback Tour. She’s been called “an auditory David Sedaris for the millennial set” by The Hollywood Reporter and continues to connect with fans across stand-up, television, and her hit podcast: Absolutely Not Catch her in The Bamboozled Tour continuing this spring. Full Getting Better Video Episodes now available on YouTube. Follow Heather McMahan on Instagram @heatherkmcmahan Follow Getting Better on Instagram @gettingbetterwithjvn Follow Jonathan on Instagram @jvn Check out the JVN Patreon for exclusive BTS content, extra interviews, and much much more - check it out here: www.patreon.com/jvn Senior Producer, Chris McClure Producer, Editor & Engineer is Nathanael McClure Production support: Chad Hall Our theme music is also composed by Nathanael McClure. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey Better Babes. I'm Jonathan Van Ness and welcome back to Getting Better. Today we have one of my
0:04.4	very dear friends, comedian who I'm obsessed with and someone who I think's work is so important in the world and just makes you laugh. She is none other than Heather McMahon. She really is one of my favorite people. She's a wealth of knowledge on all things. In today's episode, we're going all over the place. But a little bit more from Heather. Heather McMahon is an actress, comedian, and podcaster whose sharp humor and self-deprecating storytelling have made her one of
0:25.6	the most beloved voices and comedy today. Her Netflix special, Son I Never Had, debuted in
0:30.7	23 to widespread acclaim, holding a top 10 position for a full week. Known for her candor,
0:36.7	relatability, and ability to find humor and chaos,
0:39.7	Heather has toured internationally,
0:41.5	selling out iconic venues,
0:42.9	including Radio City Music Hall,
0:45.0	during her comeback tour.
0:46.7	She's been called, quote,
0:47.8	an auditory David Sedaris for the millennial set
0:50.2	by the Hollywood reporter and continues to connect with fans
0:53.1	across stand-up, television, and her hit podcast. Absolutely not. Catch her in the bamboozled tour continuing this spring. And if you love this chat, there's a bonus episode with Heather waiting for you on our Patreon. There's an episode leak in the description. Put on your sea belts. We have one of the best guys of all time, Heather.
1:10.9	How are you?
1:11.4	I'm good.
1:11.9	I'm so glad that you're here. Your hair looks great. Wait, can I tell you something, sidebar? Okay, so you may not know this about us, but we met in Atlanta. And I can't remember for us our first or our second date. But I have to tell you, since then, I did an episode about trauma dumping. and just between us, I have to tell you, I'm sorry.
1:28.5	Why?
1:28.6	Because our first, like, salad date, I fully trauma-dubbed.
1:30.6	We would not even talk about it. I did an episode about trauma dumping and just between us, I have to tell you, I'm sorry.
1:28.4	Because our first like salad day, I fully trauma dumped,
1:30.6	we would not even talk about it. But I just want to tell you, thank you so much, because you've been such a good friend for such a long time who's given me space to be like fucking crazy and you make space for my craziness and I feel like you still want to be friends and I just love you for that. I love you. I think you're fantastic.
1:42.3	We met years ago.
	...

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