Wendy Lobel on ‘Anxiety Club’

Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air

The Ringer

Society & Culture

4.8 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Larry is joined by Emmy Award-winning producer Wendy Lobel to discuss her directorial debut film ‘Anxiety Club’, currently streaming on Jolt.film. They begin their conversation by talking about why Wendy wanted to make the documentary and exploring the ways that the standup comedians featured in the film use their craft as built-in therapy. This leads to Wendy and Larry sharing personal and professional anecdotes about therapy and anxiety, while also shining a light on where medication intersects with the overall issue (9:05). Next, Wendy tells us about her process for directing ‘Anxiety Club’ and the biggest surprises that occurred to her when making the project (23:22). After the break, they talk about subject authenticity when making a documentary and the obstacles that present themselves when trying to capture the deep areas of people’s personal lives (33:23). They end the pod by highlighting Marc Maron’s significance in regards to the film and breaking down some of the important things that should be known about combating anxiety (41:20). Host: Larry WilmoreGuest: Wendy LobelProducers: Brandy LaPlante and Chris Sutton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	As the 21st century was getting underway, Hollywood released a series of films that were daring, entertaining, and absolutely unmissable.
0:09.0	Films like, 25th Hour, Bring It On, Zodiac, and No Country for Old Men.
0:15.0	They arrived during the George W. Bush era, a chaotic time in America.
0:19.0	Think 9-11, Katrina, the mortgage crisis. After the Bush era, a chaotic time in America. Think 9-11, Katrina, the mortgage crisis. After the
0:24.3	Bush years, the country would never be the same, and neither would Hollywood. I'm Brian Raftru,
0:31.8	and in my new limited series, Mission Accomplished, we're going to dive into some of the biggest
0:35.9	movies of the bush years.
0:39.5	And look at what they said about the state of the nation.
0:45.5	We'll go behind the scenes with filmmakers and experts and relive some of your favorite movies from the early 2000s.
0:48.9	From Donnie Darko to Michael Clayton, from Anchorman to Iron Man.
0:57.0	So slip on your sketchers, dig out your old Nokia, and join me from Mission Accomplished, starting August 12th on the big picture feed. All right, welcome back, everybody.
1:11.6	I'm very excited to talk with this person and this film.
1:15.0	It's so fascinating, you guys.
1:16.7	And once again, some are reading, some reviewing, you know, what are you going to do with your time?
1:22.7	Well, I got the right thing.
1:24.7	We're going to watch a movie about anxiety, so what you're going to do. So Wendy LaBelle,
1:29.1	she's the Emmy winning director and producer. Her work's been in ANE, MSNBC, PBS, Nickelodeon.
1:35.3	She did, worked with one of my favorite people, Nick News with Linda Ellaby. I was a huge fan of
1:40.4	hers from the 80s when she was doing overnight that brilliant news show, which I believe
1:46.8	changed a lot of news personally. I think so too. She was brilliant in her own right. And, you know,
1:52.2	it's an Emmy Award running. But she has a movie called Anxiety Club, which is fascinating. We're going to
1:56.5	get in and talk to that. But Wendy Lobel, welcome to Black of the Air. Thank you so much. I'm really
	...

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