Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Thank you.
When I first dreamed up this show, I wanted to have conversations that demonstrated just how elastic the idea of reclaiming can be. In every episode, I've asked the same question. What is something that you're working on reclaiming right now? Across our first 48 guests, the answers have taken us everywhere, and the episode you're about to hear includes reclaimings from all of them.
Chapter 2: What inspired the concept of reclaiming in this podcast?
Sidebar, one of our guests even reclaimed her misaligned zodiac sign. Here's Savannah Guthrie, Malala, and Miley Cyrus to start. And if you're not driving, consider watching this episode and the full conversations on YouTube. The last question that I like to ask everybody is what's something that you're working on reclaiming? It could be a part of your identity, a thing, a place, whatever.
Is there something? I loved that this question was going to be asked because it really made me think. But there is something that I am not currently reclaiming, but I intend to reclaim. And you are going to laugh. OK. But I used to love to sing. Oh. And in my 20s and 30s, I sang a lot and played the guitar. And I'm not saying I was Taylor Swift or Kelly Clarkson, but I had a decent singing voice.
And a lot of friends asked me to sing at their weddings, which I did. And I really loved writing music and singing. and playing my guitar. And it's something that I lost along the way with working so much and then having kids and being busy. And then also the fact that I am 53 and my voice is so scratchy now, I don't know what to do about it.
So if I do start singing again, I'll sound like Stevie Nicks if I'm lucky. But I think having kind of the courage to pick up my guitar and try to figure it out and sing a little bit is something I'd very much like to reclaim I love that. It would only be for me. I'm not going on a coffee house tour, but something that I could do on my couch alone like I did so many, many years in my 20s and 30s.
That's amazing.
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Chapter 3: What are some unique things guests are reclaiming?
I did not play the guitar, but I used to sing too. So maybe we'll find one of those like local choir, you know, they do the group. Or just come over. I'll get the guitar. We'll sit on the porch and we'll just have our own little concert. I love it.
I want to reclaim more of my own autonomy and agency in how I want to live my life and less so the expectations, less so the noise out there. And it's really hard to separate both because what we hear, what we see, it affects us a lot. And I'm... as human as everybody else. I have those emotions too, but I want to ensure that I am listening to myself and I'm being true to myself.
So this is what I want to reclaim.
Yeah. Your compass, your own compass. Yes. Are you in the process of reclaiming anything right now that is, it could be an idea, a thing, a person, it could be anything? You know me, that's like a tangent. So let me try to whittle it. Girl, I am here for your tangent. I'm the queen of, or give me a voice memo.
Oh, wow.
Yeah. I come in with like the four minute, 40 second. Oh, that's short for me. Yeah. Okay. So am I reclaiming anything at this moment? You know, this album for me, this is not in any way a retirement or a goodbye, but it is the last lap. I call it the last lap around the sun in this particular way. This album is my newborn and it's keeping me up all night and it's exhausting.
And I am really grateful for this record. It's worth it for me to... put this much into this creation because by the way, I already have, I'm working on this album for two years. I've already put so much that this last little stretch, the album is beautiful, has its own legs. Now, um, I can set it free to become someone else's baby. Yeah.
You know, um, but in this particular way, the amount of commitment that I've put into this particular creative, uh,
child I don't know when I'll be ready to put this much pressure on myself about something and one thing in particular again so I'm kind of reclaiming what music that dividing what is the music versus this part yeah the talking about it the promoting it the the fueling it you know I just kind of want to make it and release it next time
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Chapter 4: How does reclaiming relate to identity and agency?
I think it's kind of true.
I think that it gives you this weird feeling False bravado because you just can't.
I've lost my dignity on stage so many times that there's either nothing left or there's nothing left to take. Yeah. Yeah. So I'd say I'd reclaim dignity, but I think I might have lost that above a pub in Moseley years ago on the 99th gig that went horrendously wrong. What is something that you have lost that you would like to find or reclaim or recreate?
And it could be a physical object, a place, or a part of your identity. Oh, it would have to be my dad. That would be it.
You know?
Maybe my kids being really young, I guess, again, my older kids being young, I really am enjoying doing it the second time with the age difference. I think I didn't relish it quite as much as I should have. And relish them as much as... I mean, I spent a lot of time with them now. We're very close, so I don't feel like I did a bad job. I just wish I could go back to that.
Go back in time and re-experience things. I'd love a time machine. Mm-hmm. Me too. Wouldn't you? Oh, yeah. Me too.
Yeah.
Here's actor Adam Scott, Chelsea Handler, Olivia Munn, and Molly Ringwald.
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Chapter 5: What role does humor play in the process of reclaiming?
Okay, I'll see if I get it right. I think I have it written. It basically was like, if I hadn't been fired from the White House, I wouldn't have ended up at the Pentagon and met Linda Tripp. Yeah, exactly.
And we were like, oh. And it was so good.
But it just was like, and that, your comment, and mixed with all of these others that was like, oh, that happened to me too. Oh, they're actually saying it.
That's what propelled us kind of to this chair. It is lemons to lemonade. It is showing ourselves and people that if you own what happens to you, for better or for worse, as you have, my darling, is... It propels you on a road to a greater sense of fulfillment, ownership, pride, agency, control, success.
And so I think that that's it and that we've lived that. Reclaiming the sort of – stigma around getting fired. We really believe that, again, because of the sort of world we're in in 2025, that you are not alone. We joke that you don't have the exclusive on getting fired anymore. Sorry.
The last question I ask everyone is, is there anything right now that you are currently working on reclaiming? And that could be a person, an aspect of your identity, a place, a thing. I think, I think, even if it's, I don't know that it's entirely conscious, but it seems to me the very thing I was saying to you a few minutes ago about walking up my walkway going, why do I have to?
react the way that I react to X, Y, and Z thing ever. Why can't I be different? I think I am working on reclaiming the idea that where I am and what I'm doing is absolutely fine and enough. And the prospect of investigating all that is going to be a lifelong journey and trying to kind of
You know, reclaim some of my, you know, I think a conversation that I've been having a lot also with Amanda is about, like, reclaiming our joy. Yeah. You know, because there's so much. It's really hard given what's going on in the world. And at the same time, also, like... You know, we know a lot of people who, like, we're at that age now where it's like, so-and-so has cancer.
This person's going through this. This person's getting divorced. This person, you know, and all of a sudden it's like, whoa, this person's, a friend of mine's brother died. And it's just like, we keep sort of going, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Slow down. Where can we go where we try to have some fun? Disneyland. Yeah. Like, let's have some fun. Yeah.
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Chapter 6: How do guests describe their ongoing reclaiming journeys?
But, like, you know, there were all these times during the, like, media circuit and everything where it, you know, it became very serious. And so I'm working on a book of comedic reflections. I'm not joking. I know. Yeah.
April Fool's was yesterday, so you know.
It was making me laugh. So it's called Hey Yang, Where's My Thousand Bucks? And it will be coming out next year. So I'm working on that.
What do I want to reclaim? I feel like I'm on my way to reclaiming this. And it's a, I think I went so hard with my career for so long. And I took like six months off when Max and Finn were born. We didn't go anywhere. We didn't leave the house. We were just like in lockdown baby mode. I didn't take any work. And then I got very busy. And what I want to reclaim is... I think more of a balance.
People talk about this all the time. I've thought that I was getting closer to balance or having balance, and I was not. And it's really been interesting because I stopped touring properly, and that is a whole different world for me.
And, you know, I was sitting around with Stephanie these past few days saying, gosh, this must be what it's like to just be a person where, you know, we sit and have coffee in the morning and take a walk and I go record your show. So something that I'm asking all my guests is what is something that you're working on reclaiming right now?
I think the ING is very important. I think like there will never be an ED of like it's done, reclaimed, period. But reclaiming, I think through the kids and through my work with experience camps, I think it's what grief is, like what loss is.
is emotional but it's like if we if we can help them change what it feels like to be a child that's lost someone and for those of us that can start to change for us as adults what it can be like to lose someone we're never gonna get rid of loss, but if we can add more community and less loneliness around it, that's the goal.
And I think it's something that I will always now that I found this work, like always be working on reclaiming for myself and also like for my dear friends that I've made and my family and the kids, like reclaiming how our society sees grief maybe would be my answer.
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Chapter 7: What is the significance of reclaiming joy and happiness?
Yeah, I'm aware that the world feels like it's going down and burning in a trash can right now. And how radical would it be for me to actually find joy now? And it can be in... the bite of a really juicy peach or planting a garden or playing the piano.
I mean, whatever that is, a bath, whatever that is, like giving yourself the approval to go, I'm not gonna postpone my joy and I'm not gonna put my life on hold. I love that. Everything's not perfect. I am really, I am working on holding my center on reclaiming what I know to be true. and letting anyone else's projections, opinions, alternative facts exist in a separate circle.
Like I'm working on really reclaiming my core and not letting it be infiltrated by other things, which is a practice for me as an activist because I watch our democracy being, you know, Hacksawed and sold for parts. And I have to work on that because it is a calling in my life and I have to figure out how to keep it, you know.
If your life is a house and this sort of core I'm talking about is like the bedroom, you know, where you're meant to sleep, you can't let your work into your sleeping space. And so I'm trying to keep the activism at the kitchen table and keep my room quiet for me.
The question I ask everybody at the end of our chat is if there's anything you're working on reclaiming right now, and it could be a thing or... Well, for me, it's an easy answer. Oh, great. Good.
Make it easy for me. I am reclaiming our video game series in the form of a three and four remaster.
Oh, my gosh.
That news just broke.
Okay.
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Chapter 8: How do guests navigate reclaiming their health and well-being?
And I needed to be because things were not great. Things were happening that were sad and health-wise and parents and loss and like a bunch of stuff. And my light kind of got a little dimmed because I got a bit beaten down. And then I was still famous. So then I was angry about being famous because I didn't have any freedom. So there was this like 10, 15 years of just... angst.
And I'm watching myself wanting to, I'm getting bits of it back. And it feels so good that it's like, I feel like the Macy's Day Parade balloons when they're being like blown up and they're just going to soar over their life and be like, oh, it's okay. You did well. Just love, have that peace of mind. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of to float, feel, feel full and feel light, you know? Yeah.
That's really beautiful. I'm going to say my time. Yeah. Even back to like the not posting on social media or I feel like I am so quick to just give my time away and I'm working on saying no more. And like, I do have a people pleaser thing that I'm really trying to work on and I'm
And I just want to be way more intentional on the things I do and not be driven by this fear of like, but I have to make money now. And it's like, you can relax. There will be more opportunities down the line.
Just to be just a little more conscious of what I'm spending my time on, who I'm spending my time with, and just making sure that there is a good balance and that it's not all work, work, work. I thought about this on my way over.
Yes.
And I was like, I want to reclaim my body. And I was like, no, I don't need to. I like my body. I have a very good relationship with it. So I'm going to reclaim my health. So I have type 2 diabetes and I had high blood pressure and high cholesterol and stuff and a little touch of sleep apnea. And I've just been working really hard on... I'm figuring out how to not have those things anymore.
And I'm on Manjaro. It is what it is. Yeah, I've just been trying to reclaim my health. And I have lost like a little bit of weight. And sometimes people will comment on it. And I don't love that because I'm not doing it for aesthetics. I liked how I looked fatter. I thought my face looked real cherub-like and adorable. It's still adorable. Hey, thank you. And cherub-like. Thank you.
And that's why I drove here, because I wanted to hear that. But, like, my butt was bigger. And I just, like, I felt more confident at that size. I feel less confident smaller. But, like, my numbers are better. So I'm like, well, that's what's important. I would like to live for... As long as I'm supposed to, and I don't want the things wrong with my body to make my life harder. Right.
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