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Therapuss with Jake Shane

Session 115: Dan Levy

09 Apr 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What travel experiences do Alice and the host share?

12.029 - 13.911 Alice

Okay, Alice is here.

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14.152 - 15.393 Unknown

Hey everyone.

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15.433 - 17.736 Alice

Alice and I just got back from Japan together.

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17.756 - 20.54 Unknown

We did. I don't think we're fully recovered yet.

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21.121 - 22.042 Alice

In what sense do you mean?

22.062 - 24.605 Unknown

You know, we like didn't really do it right.

25.126 - 25.426 Alice

At all.

25.726 - 31.934 Unknown

No, and like I kept telling you and you didn't believe me and now I'm just like having like some post-trip depression about it.

32.195 - 33.336 Alice

Like what do you wish we did?

Chapter 2: What post-trip feelings do they discuss?

62.567 - 63.028 Jake Shane

You started crying.

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63.048 - 67.695 Unknown

Oh, no, I actually had to take a minute. It was, do you remember that?

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67.915 - 68.717 Alice

I just remember.

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68.737 - 70.72 Unknown

Oh, and should we talk about the TikTok?

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70.74 - 71.601 Alice

What TikTok? TikTok.

72.391 - 97.42 Unknown

in Kyoto oh yeah when I tried to make my TikTok that was just horrible I tried to make the Phoebe Bridgers day off in Kyoto and I kept trying to get a shot of what was it I was trying to get your shot and I and but then it was Ali's shot and then it was back to me and I kept being like just I don't want to be in it I just I just don't and then we had to separate again and then CG was like really just like handling the entire thing she was like our like

97.805 - 105.493 Unknown

group trip leader. And then also like just trying to keep the peace between all of us. But she was, she was like on my side.

105.653 - 108.436 Alice

She did demand quiet time when we were skiing and I got back to the room.

108.876 - 114.882 Unknown

Yeah, that was bad. So that was definitely like the worst day. Cause that, but why did you fart in my face?

Chapter 3: What were the highlights and lowlights of their trip?

144.87 - 172.431 Alice

We were set on getting Alice a Birkin. Instead, do you want to know what Alice did? She spent, you'll never believe how many hours. Four hours. Four hours. In a Muji. She spent four hours in a Muji. She showed up to dinner with two suitcases full of stuff from Muji. And I didn't really know about Muji, but then I was in Boston and I passed a Muji.

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173.792 - 181.14 Alice

And I was like, why did she care to go to Muji in Japan for four hours? She kept texting me, hour two, still here.

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181.54 - 185.524 Unknown

Just wooden spoons. That's all you bought? So many wooden spoons.

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185.875 - 186.896 Alice

Have you used them? Where are they?

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187.057 - 193.286 Unknown

Nope. You know, I've taken them out of the suitcase, but they're still, you know, like they feel too good to use.

194.147 - 194.748 Alice

From Muji?

198.834 - 205.584 Unknown

So when you got your Birkin, that was a really big highlight because like we could all just like breathe. Like it had happened. Like he made it his mission.

205.604 - 206.866 Alice

No, it wasn't my mission. It was not.

206.886 - 211.052 Unknown

But then like it was a super, super high high. And then like just it was tears from that.

Chapter 4: How do they reflect on their friendship and shared experiences?

688.601 - 692.348 Alice

I don't mind. Good. Well, I want to hear about big mistakes.

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692.328 - 694.151 Dan Levy

I'm just so happy to talk about it.

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694.171 - 712.127 Alice

It's amazing. There was this one, not to spoil. Well, it's not a spoiler, but you were in bed with your boyfriend. And you had this line that I just thought was so moving where you said, God is perfect, but the people that interpret him are not. I thought that was really beautiful. Thanks.

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712.147 - 730.576 Dan Levy

You know, like when you're in a comedy and you're playing a pastor, the last thing I wanted was to make religion the butt of the joke. I think it's easy. I think it's lazy. And I really wanted his relationship to faith and to God to be real. Right.

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730.736 - 742.923 Dan Levy

So we worked with a gay pastor to authenticate the scenes that we were writing in the church and make sure that like at no point was Christianity ever going to be the butt of the joke. Right.

742.963 - 758.049 Alice

And it wasn't. No, it never was. It never was. I was so moved by it. I was in. I watched it. We were on a road trip from Boston to New York and I watched it and I stopped everyone in the car and I wouldn't shut up about it for like an hour. I thought it was just so well put.

758.67 - 768.485 Dan Levy

It's so nice to like have people watch something that you've just been like working on for a year and no one really, like none of my friends, none of my family like knew what I was doing.

768.505 - 769.005 Alice

They didn't know you.

769.206 - 790 Dan Levy

Well, you like squirrel away. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I don't really like talking about work that much. So when I'm with my friends, we're not talking about, I'm not like. Right, right. I wrote a great line. Do you want me to read it for you? Like that's not what it is. So it's nice now to like have the show be on its way out or I don't know like when it might be out. Okay.

Chapter 5: How do we navigate feelings of self-doubt and insecurity?

2658.717 - 2665.17 Dan Levy

Really? Well, yes. Because I'm sure and unassuming. No, I think you're incredibly charming and people want to be around you.

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2666.213 - 2676.864 Alice

Wow, thank you so much. Well, you know that. I really don't sometimes. Okay, sometimes. I really... No, I really... Sometimes you do that. I really feel very annoying sometimes.

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Chapter 6: What impact does public perception have on personal relationships?

2677.465 - 2678.827 Alice

Have you ever felt that way in your life?

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2678.847 - 2680.088 Dan Levy

I feel annoying every single day.

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2680.368 - 2683.952 Alice

I really feel... And then it's hard when people online are like, no, you are annoying.

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2684.032 - 2698.387 Dan Levy

Yeah, yeah, 100%. You'll read one comment. You'll see people saying the nicest things, and then one comment that speaks to... a thought you've actually had. And you're like, that's it. That person with an anonymous bot. They got me.

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Chapter 7: How do we deal with the pressure of audience expectations in creative work?

2699.088 - 2699.408 Alice

They got me.

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2699.429 - 2700.61 Dan Levy

They know exactly who I am.

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2700.811 - 2714.611 Alice

It's that scene in girls where Lena Dunham says everything you could have possibly, you could possibly say to me, I've said to myself already in the last 10 minutes. That's right. And that's, that's, but I, and I really felt that the other week, like I was reading stuff and I was like, Ooh, I feel that way.

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2714.791 - 2741.648 Dan Levy

I also think that, the press cycle at this point is such a tornado that if, if something works like for shits, we, we were, I mean, you know, you get into the kind of cycle of, of people wanting to talk to you because your show's a hit. And then the more you talk, the more you speak. And then the more you speak, the more you're aware of yourself speaking. And then by the end of it,

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Chapter 8: Why is it important to stay true to your creative vision?

2742.32 - 2763.305 Dan Levy

I was so kind of embarrassed of the level of exposure that I had that it's almost permanently scarred my relationship to like myself in a way. A lot of the therapy that I'm doing is like, no, you're not embarrassing. Was there a moment that really stuck with you? No, it's not a moment, but you can see it happen.

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2763.525 - 2786.67 Dan Levy

Like someone goes from like making something that's cool, that catches on, then there's the like photo shoot cycle where suddenly it's like a million photo shoots and now we're whatever. Then you go through like a cycle of talking about your work. And when you talk about your work and people pedestalize your work, then you start to talk about the like...

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2787.022 - 2799.455 Dan Levy

how profound your work is, which you've never thought about before. Then you start to talk about, okay, well, like, I guess I am doing something important. And then when the dust settles of all of it, you're like, what a clown.

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2800.336 - 2800.696 Alice

Really?

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2800.736 - 2828.433 Dan Levy

For me at least. Yeah. I, I think I walked away from when the Emmys happened and we, we want, I mean, I said it in my Emmy speech, which breaks my heart. I actually said when I won my last Emmy of the night, can't believe that's a sentence. That was awesome. I think I said, I apologized. For just being.

2828.633 - 2855.498 Dan Levy

Because I was so aware that this was the moment when people were going to say, okay, they have too much. And I was aware of it in real time. And it's one of the big heartbreaks was the fact that culture or the way that we respond to people's success can sometimes be vicious after a certain point. It's like you see it with people.

2855.538 - 2877.243 Dan Levy

It's like we lift them up, we lift them up, we lift them up, we lift them up. And then at some point, there's a tipping point where the media decides, okay, they've had enough. Why do you think that is? Because you can't, the balloon can't stay afloat forever. Right. It's just how this works. And I think I remember in that moment feeling insecure.

2877.283 - 2905.02 Dan Levy

And then I heard a conversation that was happening publicly. There was a podcast that happened where someone was saying like that I didn't deserve all that I got. And I thought, again, it's that moment of like, oh, someone sees me. Yes, yeah. And it took me a long time to realize I did deserve what I got.

2906.261 - 2936.839 Dan Levy

And also, I was hearing this from another gay person, and I thought, more than anything else, if I win, you win. If I get to make more things, you get to do more things. The more that culture sees... us succeeding, the more they want to give us things. And it's very short-sighted because it's like, this is a hit, let's recreate it. But I remember at the time thinking like, damn, okay.

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