Hello, dear listeners, John Moe here. Great episode of Depression Mode coming up with

Zach Cornfeld of the Tri-Gyyes and Ira Glass of this American Life. Ira Glass? You got Ira

Glass? I know, right? But first, I want to note that we are currently in the Max Fun Drive. This is when

I come out and talk to you a little bit and I point out that the things

you enjoy, like this podcast, they cost money to make. We ask you to recognize that and support

depression mode so you can enjoy it and everyone can enjoy it for a long time to come. Not asking

you to pay for the whole thing, just like 10 bucks a month. You get some cool

thank you gifts and you make a positive change in the world. Our show is helping people understand

mental illness. It's helping people not be afraid of mental illness. It's helping people get

healthier. But we can only do that with your help.

Go to maximum fun.org slash join. I am in my home office in Los Angeles. And when I say

home office, I really mean the room that I throw all my bullshit into and have a scattered,

uh, frazzled desk.

So I'm in the corner that hides the mess so that you can't see what I'm actually living in.

It's depression mode. I'm John Moe. I'm glad you're here. It used to be that if you saw a performer on screen, in TV and movies, they got there after lots of careful consideration. Agents, producers, directors, all had to carefully select what was really a pretty small group of people to turn into stars.

And they were careful because it was a hugely expensive process to make a movie or a TV show.

The public image of those stars was then carefully cultivated and controlled to protect the financial investment.

And if those stars had vulnerabilities, a mental

illness, a chronic physical illness, that was kept quiet. It's not like that anymore.

There are famous influential performers on YouTube now, where the barrier to entry is

practically non-existent. Getting a show on NBC, that was very difficult.

Getting on YouTube and putting something out to the world? Go ahead. Got an idea? Make it. Will it find

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