Is anxiety funny? Of course. Anxiety is very funny. Okay. It's really funny because it's like,

you'll see something like a spider and that'll make you want to shit your pants. Like, that's funny.

It's Depression Mode. I'm John Moe. I'm glad you're here. We talk to a lot of creative people with mental health challenges on this show, and it's about to happen again. And a lot of times I find myself wondering if the mental health issue can be both an obstacle and an inspiration.

Like, of course, it's an obstacle. No one would choose anxiety or depression. No one signs up

for obsessive-compulsive disorder because it sounds really great. No, these things create

problems. We know this. But I'm often really fascinated by the art made by someone

who's lugging a mental condition around. I'm fascinated and I'm comforted. It often makes me feel

understood. It makes me like humanity. It's inspiring. And those are good feelings to have.

Lisa Hanna Walt deals with anxiety and depression and panic attacks has for a long time, and she creates characters who deal with a lot of that stuff too,

in ways that are sometimes hilarious and sometimes deeply moving.

And those characters are often birds and horses who talk and worry and have jobs and houses

and bills to pay. That's Lisa Hanna-Walt's world. She was one of the creators of BoJack Horsman,

an animated show on Netflix about a talking horse who's a former sitcom star.

On that show, Bojack has lost everything and tries to put his life back together.

It's one of the most honest depictions of depression that I've ever seen, even though it's a

cartoon talking horse. Or maybe because it's a cartoon-talking

horse? I'm not sure. Go watch Bojack Horseman. Lisa Hannawalt is also the creator of Tuka

and Birdie, an animated show currently on Adult Swim, about birds trying to deal with life

and with their own minds. It has more wisdom, gravity,

and honesty than you see in most TV shows, and it's also a cartoon show about birds.

I mean, it's about people, of course, but the people are birds. In this clip, Birdie,

played by Ali Wong, talks to her best friend Tuka, played by Tiffany Haddish.

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