Mayim Bialik's Breakdown - Brian Posehn: Gentle Giants, Weed, and Dungeons & Dragons

Episode Date: April 20, 2021

Mayim and Brian discuss their life experiences and dissect Brian’s transformation from "nerd" to famous comedian and the impact of being a big man. Brian recounts his time working with Mayim on the Big Bang Theory and his excitement playing Dungeons and Dragons with Mayim and other members of the team! Mayim examines recent scientific research on the therapeutic potential of this socially engaging tabletop game! The conversation leads into a discussion of coping mechanisms and subsequent discussion of Brian’s use of marijuana. Both Brian and Mayim examine the risks and benefits of marijuana use. BialikBreakdown.com YouTube.com/mayimbialik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When did you find kind of the community of D&D? Eighth grade became aware of it. And I went to the club at my school. And they did not want me in there. So I was even turned down by the D&D kids. Hi, I'm Myambiolic. And welcome to my breakdown. This is the place where we break things down so you don't have to.

It's Myambiolic's breakdown. She's going to break it down free. Today, we're going to be breaking down a lot of things regarding the writer, actor, and comic Brian Possein. You might know Brian from The Big Bang Theory. He played Bert, the geologist, who my character had some really fun scenes with. We teased him a lot as a geologist on the show. Before we talk more about the things we're going to talk about with Brian, and Pocene, a really fascinating guest. I'd like to introduce you to Jonathan Cohen, the man who makes neurosis look hot.

Hi, Ma'am. There he goes. How you doing? Just gathering things to be worried about. Jonathan, tell people about our website. Our website is biolicbreakdown.com. That's BIA. Oh, who's going first now?

Apparently you. BIA. L-I-K. Breakdown.com. where you can ask Mime anything. Anything? Anything about mental health and well-being, which pretty much leaves almost nothing off the table.

Also, Mime is very curious, so you can also send us facts and tidbits there, and she might comment on them. I love to comment on things. I'm very excited for today's episode. Yeah, it's a really good one. Brian Possein is someone that I got to know really only after knowing him for a couple years.

He's very, very shy. He's a very private person. Those kind of people are always very, very interesting to me. And so when he came to work on Big Bang, I wanted to know so many things about him. We quickly discovered that we were both nerds, which is important. I was really the only nerd on the set of the Big Bang Theory until he came along and Kevin Sussman came along. John Ross Bowie's like a different kind of... John Ross Bowie is more of like a geek.

He's kind of cooler than me and Kevin and Brian. Anyway, Brian and I ended up participating in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign for several years. I've been part of this game with Eric Kaplan, who's the co-executive producer of Big Bang Theory, and Kevin Sussman and Maria Ferrari, another one of our producers from Big Bang Theory. And we had to be playing for several years, kind of an early version of Dungeons and Dragons called GERPs. It's such a long nerd ball story. Anyway, we added Brian in the last couple years, and that's when I really got to see a lot of his kind of comedy genius. and his playfulness, and we have kids around the same age,

and so we would talk about that, and he has a podcast where he just plays D&D. So we actually have a lot in common, and Brian's the kind of guy I would have hung out with in junior high and high school, exactly like he was, not like, oh, the way he is now is, you know, he's so cool and fun. I mean, like, I really gravitated towards guys like that,

really since elementary school. I was friends with a kid who kind of had a very Brian posseineness to him, and those kind of dudes were always, very interesting to me. And indeed, Brian has a very, very interesting story. Word of the day. The word of the day is actually three words of the day. They go together. Cannabinoid hyper-emesis syndrome. Very good. Cannabinoid hyper-emesis syndrome. So... Say it three times fast. Cannabinoid hyper-emesis syndrome. Cannabinoid hyper-emesis syndrome. Cannavinoid hyper-hemis syndrome. Still doesn't get clear. Keep going, though. Tell us what it means.

This is a good word of the day because one of the things we're going to talk about with Brian, is cannabis use. And especially how the use of pot as self-medication has pros and it has cons. And especially in this last year, you know, exactly the time that you and I formulated this podcast, a lot of people have been struggling with ways to make themselves feel better, especially in the absence of a lot of the outlets that we usually, you know, have been able to to have. And pot use and drinking has absolutely increased. I mean, I didn't just anecdotes. from the people that I know, that's absolutely true. Cannabinoid hyperamysis syndrome is, it is not, it's not a typical syndrome. Of all the people who show up in emergency rooms with copious vomiting, which is what hypermesis is, and I think I'm pronouncing it right. I mean, we could both be wrong. About 6%, it's due to repeated pot use.

You know, pot, which is actually used to stop nausea, especially from chemotherapy. in some people, it builds up in their system so that they have copious, copious vomiting and abdominal pain. It can lead to significant kidney problems. Now, this is not a word of the day so that, like, I scare people from smoking pot. I just think that it's a really, it's a beautiful example of how complicated the body is, you know, and how certain bodies will not react well to chronic use of pot. and by the same token, some people smoke pot and never show up with this kind of thing.

But I think what's interesting is that hot showers often make it better. The way that you actually make it go away is to stop smoking and let it literally kind of like leave your body. But probably the most fascinating statistic, which may not even exist for our word of the day, is that most people will go back to smoking pot even after having this kind of significant. If you experience it once, does that make you more likely?

That's a great question. I actually don't know the answer to that, but I think it's very similar, and then we'll stop talking about depressing things. It's very similar to, you know, people who end up in the hospital for alcohol poisoning or people who OD and end up in the hospital and get another chance at life. That's often not people's bottom. You know, we don't get to decide what someone's bottom. I would think if I ended up in the hospital retching for days and losing weight and constantly vomiting with like crippling pain, I'd be like, this is not for me. Like, no thank you, universe. Maybe try a different strain.

Try a different strain. It's really a pleasure to welcome Brian to Miami-Biolix breakdown. There's so many things that I want to talk to him about. I want to talk to him about, yeah, how he got to be the Brian that he is. I do want to know when he got that tall. Like, was he 10 and that tall? Was he a giant toddler? I want to know.

We're going to ask him. We're going to find out. And we're also going to ask him. has been very public about his pot use. That is one of the things that he has been public about. And I believe, yeah, it was in, you know, some of the research that our intern did that he publicly quit smoking. So I'm actually curious about that. So let's bring on my friend, the wonderful Brian Possein. Break it down. Hello, Brian Pocene. Hey, how are you? Okay. Thank you so much for tolerating me in this space. You tolerate me in a lot of spaces. You

tolerated me on Big Bang for years. Uh-huh. And you tolerate me when we play D&D with Eric Kaplan and all our nerd friends. I enjoy your company. That's not to enjoy. Okay. Well, thank you for being here. I'm going to embarrass you and make my way through your bio because there are people who

made no certain things about you, but not all. You're not only an actor. You're a writer and you're a stand-up comic. And did stand-up comedy come first? Yeah. That's what I've been doing the longest. And that's why I moved to Los Angeles and, you know. When did you start doing that?

1987. I was 21 years old. Okay, got it. Okay. It was when I could get into a comedy club legally. I'd been preparing. Like, I decided to do it when I was going to college. I was around 20.

I decided I'm going to do it. Started writing jokes. And then checked in with these comedy clubs and got in, like, the week I turned 21, I started telling jokes on stage. Just five years ago. Just five short years ago. Yeah, yeah. So you had obviously recurring role in Big Bang Theory, which is where I got to meet you.

You were also, the first place I ever saw you was on the Comedy Central Sarah Silverman program. You were absolutely hilarious. And I remember that's actually like you're one of those presences that like I instantly liked you. I instantly wanted to know like who's this. Like just your voice, the way you held yourself. Very, I just, I loved you on that. Well, so you have a podcast. Yes.

And you're also involved in Deadpool, correct? Yes. Okay, so tell us about both of those things. Well, separately. Separately, yes. Deadpool, I wrote for about three and a half years. We did 45 issues, myself and Jerry Duggan, who now is a Marvel writer on his own. But he was a pal of mine, and we wrote a thing called Last Christmas for Image Comics.

and then just became friends with guys at Marvel. Comic-Con, that's my real thing. Like, I am an actual nerd. When I first got to Big Bang, I had to ask around and find who the real nerds were. You found us. I think gravitated towards you. But, yeah, those, I mean, that's my favorite thing. Comic-Con was my Christmas till COVID made it go away.

But I wound up meeting these Marvel guys, and then we pitched. there was a space in Deadpool and they needed some writers and we pitched a whole year and next thing we knew we did three and a half years but wow and your podcast tell us about that

but doing that a while nerd poker first started like in the first wave of podcast maybe we're a year or two behind everybody else but I've done it for a long time and and it's basically we just play when people came to me and said

hey, do you want to do a podcast? I didn't want to interview my friends and do like the thing Mark Marin and those guys were doing. I just wanted to play D&D basically. So that's what it is. We just record. I've had a weekly game going for almost 15 years now with this friend, this group of friends. And we just, that became the show.

Is it poker or is it D&D? It's D&D, but I call it nerd poker because to me, the attraction to D&D is being with your friends. And it's more about, it's less about the game and more about this, this weekly thing with this pot of people that really know you and, and they get you and, you know, and we can be ourselves. Tell us a little bit about young Brian. Tell us like where you're from and, you know, thumbnail sketch of like, what'd your folks do? How were you raised? Did you have siblings? Like, who was young Brian? Mostly raised by a single mom. My dad died when I was two.

raised in Northern California, grew up near Stanford, and then moved to San Jose in Sonoma. The Ho, as we call it. I have family in San Jose. We call it the Ho. Nice. Yes. Lived in San Jose until I was nine. Don't remember too much about it. And then moved. It's the same. It hasn't changed since like 1972. And then Sonoma was this little, you know, tourist town that wasn't fun to grow up in as the weird kid. I'd just gotten glasses when I moved up there. I had been, you know, so I had a vision problem that was diagnosed and hadn't been before. And so now I had that thing, you know, and immediately got made fun of. And just, it wasn't a great experience.

But that, I think it had a big part of why I do comedy. Did you have siblings? No. Just you, you and your mom. Was your mama creative type? Not really, no. She was a social worker and was really good at that. She worked with developmentally disabled kids up at the state hospital up there.

After my dad died, she put herself through college. She went to San Jose State. That's why we were there. Amazing. And then by the time I turned eight or nine, she started looking for jobs at different state hospitals around California. and then we moved up there. Was your dad a creative type? Yeah, he was.

He had a regular job, but he was really into stand-up. He died young. I mean, he died at 24, 25, so he didn't get to really do what he wanted to do. But he was, I took some cues from him. I went to the same junior college as he did up in Sacramento. Wow. And he was into theater and comedy. And I think he might have even, think he might have tried comedy

if he had been able to, you know, live long enough. Right. My Ambialx breakdown is supported by Superpower. We all know the feeling of leaving a doctor's office and kind of feeling like we didn't get anything out of the experience that was useful. Maybe they're like, you're fine, drink more water. There's no real data.

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quite tall. I did a little research. You're in the top 1% of height, making only 0.048% of men in the United States taller than you. You're very tall. How tall are you, Brian? Does it say how we die first, too? Stop it. No, how tall are you? Six foot six. Like you could be a basketball player. Sure, if I was given coordination, also, along with my freakish height.

I want to know how long you've been this tall. Like, when did you hit this height? Oh, yeah, that's a good story, actually. Go ahead and tell it. I grew eight inches in one year. No, you didn't. It was terrible. It was super painful.

What year was it? Was it like 30? 18, 19. Wow. After high school. So you were just like 5'10. You were that dude. 5'10 in high school.

And then within one year. Was it a surprise to everyone? To get to 510 was not without pain. I had had, you know, growing pains, literal growing pains. But when that one, that one, One year, I mean, I could feel like my arms and legs stretching. I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh, but that's like out of a horror movie. It was, I wake up just going, no, and my arms just growing, you know.

That's into like, I need to find clothing that fits me because you're very tall. You do not fit a twin or full bed. No. I was already out of a twin at 510, but then, yeah. And my mom and I didn't have a ton of money, so I was. always hanging out of, you know, whatever, you know. Sure. And then growing too quickly through clothing and her not being able to, you know, keep up with me. Wear a potato sack till you're done. Just wake me when you're done.

Pretty much. Wow. And we thought at 510 that I was like, oh, I guess this is it. My dad was 6.8. Oh, your dad was 6'8? Yeah. And my mom was 6'8. Yeah. And my mom was 6 feet even. They met in a tall club, which is also interesting. It doesn't take a neuroscientist. You were going to be taller than 510. Right. But my mom and I weren't convinced when I was, you know, it seemed like I leveled out. And then just, well, in 18, by 18, you usually are, you know, it's not unusual. Jonathan, you are a giant in the Jewish world. Talk about when you became as tall as you are.

So I thought I had a good story that I grew three quarters of an inch between 21 and 22. Oh, wow. That doesn't clear. I thought I was totally done. But I think the most frightening part of that would be like 18 to 19 and you grow eight inches and you're like, what is 19? 20 going to be like. Oh, I know. Well, I think once I got to 6'6,

we're like, ah, this feels... This feels about good. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so I do have a question, though, in terms of, like, weight distribution. So you also, you have to put on weight when you're that much taller. Like, were you a lanky 510,

or were you always like a Zoftig kind of... Well, now I'm big, but I was made fun of for being skinny. Like, I was... Yeah, oh, yeah, kids, that was the thing. I couldn't put weight on. You know, I had weedy arms and just I was, yeah, skinny legs and the whole, the whole deal, my ribs were always showing. Right.

Okay. So, so then obviously once you grow, like you got like, oh, I have a different body type now is what you had to reckon with. But even though still in my 20s, I was skinny. Forever I thought I would just be skinny. And then and then my body told me in my 30s and 40s that, no, dude, there's, there's effects to, just eating whatever the hell you want. As John Ross Bowie says, eating like it's your fucking 12th birthday. That'll do it.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, especially as a comic and just being up late, you know, I ate a lot of junk food and a lot of diner food. And then eventually my body was like, nope, this is what's going to happen. You're not going to be skinny for the rest of your life. Okay. That's a fascinating story.

I need to, this might sound like a silly question. Were you dating anyone at the time? Like, was someone dating 510, Brian? And then they were dating? Dating 6-6, Brian. No, Brian might not have ever met girls if he hadn't started doing stand-up comedy. I'm a total late bloomer. I, yeah, 21 was what I, and I, that wasn't even,

it didn't even have a girlfriend until I was 24, probably. Right. No judgment here. I'm a super late bloomer. I liked girls. They just didn't like me. Well, you know. And I always, I always went for the wrong ones.

I always went for the cheerleaders. And then I'd find out later the nerdy girl kind of liked me. And I was like, God damn it, you know. What was it like being different? Because, you know, many of us are different in different ways. You know, you had a real, especially having that height, you know, kind of coming into your own as a young man. What was that like? Was it depressing?

Was it isolating? Did you turn it into a reason to have a sense of humor? Did you experience depression? Like, did it feel lonely? Like, what was it like to be you? Well, my humor, I think. think came from loss. I think it came from losing my dad and then losing my favorite grandmother in high school. And it just, it became like, Gallo's humor was the first thing I was, that

appealed to me was, you know, making fun of a shitty situation. That came from that. And as far as, like, kids being made fun of, like, I learned kind of not to fight back because, when I did, I would get into worse trouble because my mouth was always, I was always a little bit smarter than the kid that was making fun of me. And when I pointed that out, it never went well. And the first kind of things I got picked on in my new school were kind of, I felt were on me. Like it was me being, like, I bragged to these kids that I had won the reading contest at the town library over the summer. I thought that was the way you met friends by going, hey, you know, I got, I got free ice cream

because I read more books than any of you idiots. And maybe I didn't say it like that. But, you know, things like that where I was like, oh, maybe I'm the problem. You know, when I would get beaten up, it was like, oh, maybe I should have shut the fuck up. And so it was that, you know, it was not fun until. Junior, senior year, I have such a like 80s movie transformation where I was like Lucas, you know, I was the nerdy kid and then met a friend of mine who's a lifelong Navy guy since then. But he, he was the cool guy at school. He was on the wrestling team. And we met at summer

school and bonded over Pink Floyd. And then suddenly he was bringing me to the parties. And we were, doing music at school and playing. We were DJs during lunch and everything. And that, like, turned everything around for me. It didn't get girls to go out with me, but it got them to know my name and be a little more accepting. And then guys weren't punching me anymore because my friend was going to punch them back. So was music a source of comfort for you and, like, identity?

A lot of escapeism, a lot of, like, because my mom and I didn't really get along either. So there was a lot of like reading. I became a huge Stephen King fan, comic books, horror movies for life, heavy metal started. I got into Kiss at nine and 10. And then from Kiss, it was like, I want something harder, faster, whatever it was. And I got lucky in the, in the early 80s, music was changing so much. So I got into heavy metal like on the ground floor. as it kind of became mainstream. Did you, I mean, I was a late bloomer in many, many aspects. Like, I didn't drink literally until I was 21.

I mean, I was in Paris once where I was allowed to drink. But, like, it was with my parents? Like, I don't even know if that counts. Did you experiment with drugs? Like, was that also part of your, like, did that feel good? I drank, but no, I didn't smoke pot until my 20s. Uh-huh. And what was drinking like?

I mean, did it, like, were you aware, like, oh, this is just like, I like drinking and whatever? Did you identify any component of like, oh, I'm a, I like myself better when I'm like this. I was a little more fun when I had a couple of beers in me and I kind of leaned into that at a certain point. Right. It's like, oh, I'm that guy now. Like, oh, I'm the crazy guy.

I'll jump out of a tree if I have a six pack of Mickey's Big Mounce and then I'll do something stupid and entertain my friends. There's a little bit of that. Not as sad as it sounds saying it out loud. I think it sounds like a hoot. I mean, I got no problem. No judgment. here. So when did you, when did you find kind of the community of, of D&D? I mean, you know,

all the things you listed are, are sort of the precursors, you know, to comic books and things like that. Like, that's, you know, kind of the world that many of us resonate in. I even have a funny story with D&D. So I was eighth grade, became aware of it and was like, oh, this seems like something I would really like. And I went to the club at my school and they did not want me in there. So I was even turned down by the D&D kids. What did they say? No, I walked in in this one kid who I won't say his name, but just saw me and went,

Posein, what are you doing here? And I'm just like, no, you're right. Yeah, I don't know. And turned around and didn't play D&D really until. my 20s. That even, I got into a weird way. I was working at a record store with a guy, and the guy's like, hey, this buddy of mine,

we play D&D, and it's just the two of them. And I was like, that seems weird. I had, you know, heard it was more social than that. But they had this kind of sad two-person D&D game. And I got to come over one night. And they made it. Like, I had been, D&D was, you know, growing up in the 70s. My mom was Christian, but not crazy,

And there was always the, hey, kiss will make you, you know, turn you on to Satan. Sure. Dungeons and dragons will turn you on to Satan. All these. Satan was just waiting and all these different things. He's just hovering. Yeah, just hanging out and a movie you might like. And then next thing you know you're satanic.

Oh, you're enjoying something? That's Satan. But, yeah, so I was kind of scared off by it. And then when I, in my 20s, working to the record store, I go to my friend Rick's house. He actually plays Slayer. We're smoking pot. And they actually felt satanic. And I was like, I kind of like this, though.

But when we play D&D now, it's way less satanic. My brother played D&D. He was four years older than me. And it was always like the thing I wasn't allowed to touch. I wasn't allowed to do. There was a lot of, there's a lot of precision. There's a lot of OCD-friendly things about D&D. There's a lot of rules.

There's, I mean, back in the day, you know, and I guess still now, we used, you know, printed out sheets. And my brother used to, you know, give me like a blank. one that I could just like play with. But there was this real magic, you know, to that piece of paper, that character sheet, you know? Absolutely. And they used to play at like lunchtime, you know, at the benches when I was a kid, but I was never really allowed to play.

And I then, I dated someone for the better part of five years who was a total D&D, like, I think he had played for like 38 years. Like something ridiculous. And so I started playing, you know, what I realized is that it's a lot of the thinking patterns required for the kind of people I tend to like to hang out with. And, you know, when Big Bang Theory was taken to Comic-Con, and, you know, it was like Kaylee and Kanaal were warning me, like, there's a lot of really interesting people there. Just like, I'm warning you.

It's a very interesting place. And I got there, and I was like, there's nothing alarming at all about anything happening here. Like, I grew up in comic book stores and record stores, like, waiting for my dad and brother and just, like, leafing through. Like, those were my people. Had you never been to a guy? I had never been to, no, I had never been to a convention. And I mean, I just wanted to like walk the vendor aisles. Like, that's what I wanted to do. And I remember the fascination with dice, with D&D dice had never left me because that's what I wanted like from my brother's set. So as an adult, it was very liberating to get to finally play D&D. And then I started playing with Eric Kaplan, who is one of the co-EPs on Big Bank Theory, who really is, you know, kind of my, my real life counterpart, you know, in the writer's room from all my, you know,

years on Big Bang. And we ended up adding you after a couple years that we had been playing. And so we've gotten to play together. But what I thought we would do just for kicks, I have some stats on D&D. And I want to see how many we can conquer together. Just so you know, I was so happy when you guys invited me. Because I was aware of your game and was like, that would be fun. I hope I get to know them well enough to where they asked me to play. We have a super good time. The early years were a whole learning curve, which I'm glad. You missed out. You had the cool kids game.

We did. We did have the cool kids game. But it's like also, I mean, I was talking to you about this the other day and this might come up again. Like, I don't feel significantly different as an adult than I did as a, you know, awkward, you know, kid who was in chess club, the only girl in chess club. Like, that's essentially still who I am. Like, you dress it up different. But like, that's really, that's the core of who I am is I want to hang out with those kind of people. Okay.

Here's, this is a fun little game. And, okay. The average D&D game includes how many players? Like, just average. Four. Okay, five. Five. Okay.

How many campaigns do you think there are worldwide at any given time? Wow. It's in the millions. Yeah, I'm not even aware how many people play. I know. I know it's way more popular now than it ever has been. Well, that's the stat we're going to get to. It says there are an estimated three million campaigns worldwide.

Wow. Yeah. The game is most popular in three English-speaking countries. What are the three English-speaking countries where the game is most popular? Yeah, I was going to say Canada. Canada is the number one, yes. Oh, wow, number one, even more than the United States. That's number two, and what's number three?

Some of Scandinavian, maybe. So it's interesting. Australia. Oh, okay. I mean, so anyway, the game is more popular. Canada, the U.S. and Australia. The popularity of the game, it says, began declining in 2004. It hit a low in 2012, but then fifth edition came out in 2014, and now it's been steadily

increasing. This is a really interesting stat. Based on the data sample from this research that our intern helped us do, 40% of chosen characters fall into, quote, standard Tolkien-based fantasy characters. You know, your dwarves, your elves, your humans. What's the most popular class? Uh, rogue. Fighter.

Fighter, yeah. Okay. The least popular is what I usually like to play. I had no idea. Cleric? Bard. Oh, Bard, yeah. A bard, yeah.

40% of current players are younger than 25. What percent of current players are 40 or older? What percent of players are 40 or older? God, I don't know. 15? 11. Oh, okay. We give points for being anywhere near.

the answer. That's pretty good. What percentage of the player base identifies as female? This actually shocked me. Is it more? Is it? It's not more than 50%. It's not more than 50%. No. Okay. 35. 35. 39%. Very good. The game has been used in psychotherapeutic treatment. This was interesting. I didn't know. Its ability to create structured social engagement has been found to be helpful, especially in children with autism, because of the formation of shared community, the practice of empathy and creative engagement. I found that really, really interesting because- That makes sense, though. Right. Well, and I think that's kind of what I wanted to, you know, to poke at a little bit. I'm an introvert, you know, who lives my life as an extrovert. But in general, if you look at kind of the classification of introverts versus extroverts,

you know, introverts are people who feel tapped out by interacting with other people socially. and extroverts are people who really thrive on that kind of interaction. And I didn't even really think much about this until, you know, a handful of years ago, someone said something about like how excited they were to like go to a large event. And I was thinking, what? There's people who like actively want to do that. And especially this past year, I've heard people saying like, gosh, I just, I miss people so much. I'm like, no, I like, there are certain people that I like.

But what I've found is that for me, D&D is a really safe place to socialize. I never liked going to bars. I never really was a party person. But the thing about D&D is I do get to interact with people who are interested at the level that I'm interested at understanding the world at. It's an incredibly important social outlet. And I remember, Brian, like, you know, in the time that I got to work with you, we often barely spoke words to each other. And I remember I'm very drawn, and this is like a topic of a whole other episode, I'm very drawn to people who are hard to draw out. And I'm sure it's like it's dad issues.

And I wasn't sure if maybe you didn't like me. Because like, I think I remember I totally fan-girled out on you, you know, when I first met you. I was like, I am a huge fan. Like, I loved you on Sarah Silverman and I just think you're amazing. But I realized, like, you're a very private person. You're a very quiet person. And then when I found out you did. stand up, I was like, he gives himself to audiences. Why can't he give himself to me? But I was so interested in how much fun we do get to have in a group setting, like when we play. And I wonder sort of what your experience of that is with meeting people and having to socialize and what that feels like. You know, do you identify as someone who is socially anxious? Do you just like to be

quiet? Like, talk about it. I, when I first got to big band, I you know the whole thing was like fly under the radar you know like be funny yep uh be on time uh you know what I mean give 100% when you're a guest on a show that's already established you know I'd had some weird experiences I'd had some shows where not everybody was cool and and everybody was at your show and but it took me a while some of us are cooler than others though you know it took me a while a while to come out of my shell I mean it's still you know it's that's That's been a big thing for me my whole life is to do I feel comfortable around people enough to start to make jokes because that didn't always fly.

And so like some people go, you're dark or you're weird. And then so like, you hear that enough. You're just like, okay, well, I'll just keep that shit to myself and just get through this. So there was a little bit of that. And then, you know, so then once I realized I was kind of the family is when I got more comfortable there, once I kept coming back. And, you know, it's like maybe the sixth or eighth episode, I started to go, okay, well, they don't hate me here. You know what I mean?

Yeah, the story I tell about my time on Big Bang, because I started as a guest star, you know, I was a guest star possible recurring. And then they brought me and Melissa back, you know, throughout, you know, kind of season four. And they had started bringing her back in season three before I even came on. You know, I was just like pinned for episodes, you know, here and there. I wasn't a regular for most of season four. and there was some episode, I don't even remember what it was, and I remember I came home on a Friday, because we would rehearse Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,

and I called my manager, and it was kind of out of the blue. I just said, like, I think this is probably my last episode. Like, I feel like they're just kind of, like, done, you know, like, I don't really know. I'm like, I'm doing my best, and, like, it's funny, but, you know, I just, I think this is it. And she's like, oh, you never know. And literally that day, before end of day, we got a call that they were offering, me to be irregular. I thought, well, I clearly have no idea. I can't read anything. I completely,

you know, and that's about how clueless I feel in a lot of realms of my life. But it can be a very hard read, especially when you're joining something. You know, I likened joining, and I'm sure you felt this way too, as like, you know, joining the last year of high school in like the last semester two weeks in, you know, when everybody's got their locker and their alliances. I felt even more out of place. It was so funny to be on a show about nerds where I felt like the biggest nerd there where I would walk in and go, God, these guys are so fucking cool. No, that's, well, that's, and honestly, like, that's exactly what it was like before you came along and before, before Kevin, you know, was more of a presence. And even John Ross Bowie,

you know, like, he and I had stuff to talk about, like, well, those guys I bonded with immediately. Like, the other guest guys, when I would see them, it would be like, oh, my God. God, how are you? Like, you know, so good to see you and I have something in common and, you know. Well, and I think also that's, you know, that's sort of the aspect of like what I was like when I felt out of it and too nerdy and too whatever. That doesn't really go away. And, you know, people, there are people who seem to have a sense of confidence.

I don't, I just hadn't acquired it. It's not what I was born to acquire. So for me, like, those really were the cool kids. And I've known Johnny Galecki since I'm 13 years old. Like, we knew each other. We used to hang out. And he was always, like, that cool guy. Yeah, but also, like, he wore fancy scarves and, like, leather shoes with no laces and no socks.

And I was like, he walked out of a magazine. And Kaylee was on the cover of Cosmo. But I think it was really, really nice. And, you know, for me as a female, I often, oftentimes find more men to bond with in this arena than women. And I remember whenever interviewers would ask us, like, who's a geek here? And, you know, God bless. Melissa would be like, I'm a theater geek. Does that count?

Right. If you don't have a collection of dice, no, it doesn't count. No, I remember straight up just asking guys, like, on the set, like, hey, are you guys actually into this? And they were all like, nope. Yeah, they're really not. I would hang out in the comic book store set. Yeah, me too. I was on the set, like holding up DC comics going, oh, clearly they, you know, because

It's Warner Brothers, but no Marvel allowed. And no one wanted to talk about that. Right, exactly. I could have talked to hours. No, and whenever I would give people the tour of our set, like my favorite place to take them was my favorite room, which was like the production set design office. Because we had like every D.C. expensive, like the figurines that cost $1,500 at the comic book store,

we were like, we had them by the dozen. It was insane. That would have been a podcast just talking about the set design and hanging out in the comic book store. Oh, so much fun. Well, we missed that iteration. Have you ever been in therapy? Is it something you've partaking? Yeah, well, so basically my therapist, I've had one in LA, the same one the whole time I've been here. And the whole time, she's just been telling me that I've been holding on to old shit and that I'm cooler than I think. And, you know, that's like the biggest thing, you know. And my wife, too, you know, it's like, no, you're not, you're not that geek.

And I am, I am geeky about things, but it's really about these old feelings of, you know, and it was other kids calling me names. And finally, you know, nerd became empowering in the 90s, but for a long time, it wasn't. You know, it was the bad word that I had heard on. I'd never even heard it till happy days and then kids called me it at school. when did you start going to therapy i'm trying to do the math of how long you've been in la well no i so i went to uh play therapy as a kid after having my dad die and and uh i had some issues at school so i i went i'd like to say my mom started me if i was in san Jose

i probably started seeing one around four or five do you remember anything of what play therapy was like no i just remember getting on the floor with this cool british guy and he had had all these models of ships. He had a Queen Mary model. And he was just into that. I remember him being into ships. And I remember just playtime sitting on this comfortable rug and just talking to him and playing with toys. And he would talk to me about how I was feeling and things like that.

I remember that. I remember knowing that he wasn't really my pal, but it felt like he was. You know what I mean? And it was like a doctor, but not really. I remember that feeling. And then high school, my mom and I really didn't get along. So we went to, we had a whatever you call it, parent and kid therapy. We went together.

And then I saw that therapist alone through high school too. So just I would go, we'd have sessions with my mom. And then we'd have sessions in Santa Rosa by myself. And then we'd drive home and I'd get yelled at. What was the basis of your not getting a lot? along with her. Like, I mean,

just generally speaking. It never got worked out. My mom passed away last year and we never, we never really worked our shit out. I mean, were you just like very, very different?

Did she want you to do things a certain way? Or were you like playing music too loud? It was a little bit being raised by a kid is the way my current therapist words it. You know,

my mom was a really smart lady but then wasn't able to really talk to me in the right way. Got it. You know. So there was a lot of resentment and a lot of teen anger that's still like, you know, it was, yeah. It hangs on, doesn't it? Yes.

So as an adult, are you like a classical psychotherapy person? Do you do cognitive behavioral therapy? Like, do you do anything hippie-dippy and way out there? Like, I've tried? Not really. My therapist is pretty down the middle. She's tried a couple of things where they didn't fly with me with things that you might call hippie-dippy. What was it?

I want to know. Like just kind of role playing things. Oh, I hate that. Not role playing, but just forcing me to do something different than just talk about things on you. What I liked about it the most was, and I don't currently go right now, but I was going before COVID. And we've done some phoneers. But I feel like, for me, the biggest thing was stand up. And I needed her to get through, you know, when I didn't want to go out.

And going back to COVID, like, this is kind of a great thing for me, staying home. Like when you were talking earlier about being an introvert, I definitely am. And I maybe should have never been a stand-up comic because I only really like the joke part. I like I like writing jokes and I like telling them to certain people, but I don't like all the people in my audience. Like, I look at an audience and I can count who I'm. wouldn't hang out with. And it's just, and it's a lot of stress involved. I hate, I used to hate flying. And so I was using therapy mostly to like build myself up to like, okay, you got to do this thing that you hate this week. And I talked to her about that. And a lot of the stuff we talked

about was still mom issues, you know. How a shy, introverted kid gets into stand up is dealing with not wanting to go, getting support from a therapist. Like, how does that change you to start, you know, being successful at stand-up and to ever feel more comfortable on stage? Like, when does that start to happen for you? Well, no. I mean, I don't think I ever got comfortable on stage. I can do it. I can. I mean, and I know I know that I can do it. And so I do it. And but it wasn't something that I loved, you know, and it's complex. I hate sounding like I don't like my job, but my job of stand-up, you know, creates a lot of stress. It's a complex thing.

You know, I love it. I'm good at it. I mean, I can at least feel like I don't think I'm a shitty comic. That would be bad. But it's really nerve-wracking, doing it. Does that make sense? Well, it 100% makes sense. And I just like, because you're successful, because you're good at it, and I'm a fan of your stand-up. Like, there's a part of me that's just wondering, does it ever go, like, can you flip that switch and be like, yes, I have all these feelings. Yes, it's really uncomfortable.

Yes, I don't want to do this. But, like, is there that part of you that you're connected to that's like, but I go up and it usually works out pretty well to, like, help you, like, bridge through that moment? Because it's like, you know, we talk about this on the podcast. Like, our feelings are temporary, even though they feel so immediate. It's not that I'm nervous about eating. it because I have more confidence than that. I know I know that I can do it. I think the stress comes from the other stuff. It comes from the being away from my family, being away from my dogs,

just being social when I don't want to be. And then pot helps that actually because you meet a stoner after a show and you, you know, start smoking pot with them. You don't have to talk to them really. It's something to do. It's like, yeah. So hold on both of you. Hang on a second. Does it change for you then if you're in like a local show? Is it significantly less anxiety provoking? It depends.

So yes, it's still all about how I feel because I don't feel comfortable at certain places. The comedy store I've never felt comfortable. So even though I'm at the level I'm at and I've had people go, hey, how come you don't do sets at the store? and then I'll go do a set at the store and then I'll remember why because it's not fun for me. I hate knowing that it's on my calendar

that I have to be there. It's a stressful event because you don't really get paid when you do the sets in L.A. So financially it's not worth anything. And then I don't get a spark out of making that audience like me. But the improv, I don't mind going.

But there's still a little battle of like leaving the valley. I live in Encino and I like my house and I like my space. And, you know, there's a little bit of that of like not wanting to leave, you know. Let's take someone who, let's say, is not an alcoholic or does not have a problem with drinking, right? Many people have that experience of when I have a glass of wine, it's easier to, I mean, fill in the blank, you know, it's easier to go on a date. It's easier to flirt with someone. It's easier to go into a meeting. You know, You know, whatever it is, you know, alcohol, it's, it is. It's a social lubricant, you know. And for some people, that becomes the crutch, you know, which which then takes their life down an entirely different path. You know, I think the same is also can be true of pot as well. It's a bridge to removing that veil of inhibition, which some of us have more of than other people, right? Right.

Is that what you feel pot is? Is it that bridge between sort of like a more comfortable version of you and you? Yeah, it is. But then also it doles you, which is another thing. That's the negative thing. But sometimes that's a positive. Like there's a part of me that likes being dulled because I've got so much anxiety going on in my brain and so much other, you know, bad thoughts that, you know, the pot can make those go away or be less, less intrus. or less loud.

Yeah, in that sense, do you see it as, I mean, it is therapeutic and it can be. And it's a social thing with certain people. I have a handful of friends that we might not be friends if we didn't have that. No, it sounds bad. It doesn't sound bad. That's like the bond.

And it's with a lot of creative people, comics and writers, friends of mine, that that's became our thing. And then when we do, you know, sure we aren't having big conversations, or sometimes we do, but a lot of it is smoke this and get comfortable and get, you know, get quiet, get, you know, into where the silence doesn't bother you. How does it impact your writing to like to write one way or another?

I have a friend who uses it only to punch up things, but I, and I always thought that was a funny way to go about it. Like he goes, when he's writing, when he's writing the first draft, he's not high, but when he's going back, he's able to, you know, he thinks he loosens up. For me,

there's not any rule to it. I, uh, sometimes we'll feel too high to write and then just go, okay, well, that's not the answer. We'll come back to this.

But, uh, other times it totally helps. Like coming up with a premise, whether it's sketch, whether it's writing something for Deadpool, uh, whether it's,

you know, working on a feature or anything or animated. It does, help or my stand-up. I quit pot for three years, too. And that was a big thing for me of like, in my head, I was like, am I going to be silly still? I mean, I'll still be able to write jokes, but am I going to find that silly place? Because my style, what I like about what I do, my own comedy, I like walking this line of dumb and smart together. And I like, I feel like some of my favorite stuff I've been involved with treads that line, whether it's,

Sarah Silverman, Mr. Show, the things that I'm the most proud of for me are, hey, that's kind of, was that written by a smart guy or a dumb guy? You can't tell.

You know what I mean? Like there's, there's qualities to it, high brow and low brow. And I like silliness. And I was a little concerned when I wasn't smoking that would I still be able to find

this kind of stony silliness? And could you? Yeah, absolutely. because it was always there. I think that's a really interesting point because a lot of people are like, oh, weed makes me this or that, but it's actually, as you articulated, it's you had that thing and maybe we'd helped you slow down or access it or whatever it was, but to be able to still do that, I think is hugely important

and knowing that you can have it without that. You know, they say if you want to find out why you use, stop using. And I'm curious what, if there were any other revelations you had, you know, about either what was missing or what was hard. I mean, I think you already probably knew it, but I'm just curious if at that stage in your life, you know, for those three years, if you learned anything different, I'm curious about your relationship. Yeah, well, and I want to get back to that. I want to get back to maybe not being completely sober, but there was something good about those three years. So I don't know. But without beating myself up too much about it, it's a thing. I don't love that I feel like I use it as a crutch sometimes. I don't love that about it.

Without getting too far into, like, political stuff, but or just everything out there, it's been hard for me to quit the last four years. Yeah, it's been a hell of a year. It's been a hell of a year and a hell of a four years. I'm just going to, I will own this on your behalf. And this is why I started this podcast was because the last year has introduced anxiety into people's lives who literally never even touched it. I had people reaching out to me like, I can't sleep.

I can't eat. What? Should I go to the doctor? No, you're. anxious because the country's on fire. The world is literally on fire. And I think that for a lot of people, I mean, look, this is where 12-step programs are thriving this year. Because those of us who resonate in the rooms of the 12-steps, which I do, were like, oh, we got this. Like, this is what the steps were made for, for all the things you're powerless over. And here are the things that we do. And we go to our meetings and you can just, you can do it from your bed now.

So it's been a very interesting year, and that's literally why we started this podcast. So I appreciate you talking about it, Brian, because I think a lot of people are struggling. And if not struggling, they're questioning their use and they're asking themselves, why am I using this? How frequently should I be using this or not? And then to hear someone who has quit and quit for a long time reflect on both using and not using and sort of benefits or not benefits. And I think it's super helpful for people who may.

Because there's a whole other chunk of people who just use without thinking about it. And I think that has its own negative consequences. Yeah. And I do this thing where I'll go, well, now it's not the time. You can't, you know, and it just hasn't felt the time for, especially this year. Absolutely. No, I, yes. I gained weight because of COVID.

Like, I'm the heaviest I've ever been. Right. Because food is another thing. And, you know, but also without being too on the nose, pot. It doesn't help. No, it doesn't. Well, and I think also, and I think that's the sort of, you know, when I have spoken to my kids even vaguely about pot, like, that's what I say. When we look at, you know, when we see whatever, someone in the news, like doing something powerful and amazing, or we hear about some kid who excelled in this way and donated all this money to charity.

I literally, from the time they were very little, I said, do you think that person was up drinking and vomiting in a, you know, alley all night? no mother. Do you think that person was mainlining heroin all night? No mother. So like, I know that it's not fair to do that, but the fact is like when I speak to a lot of young people, and that's what I say, the longer you can wait before starting to introduce a crutch into the way you function socially and academically, the more your brain has the ability to learn those other skills, and the more your brain has the ability to adapt. And the same is true of pharmaceutical drugs, which we are peddled on the daily. The sooner you start dumping that into your system and the sooner doctors tell you, oh, you're having trouble with your menstrual cycle. Let me put you on an

antidepressant, right? The sooner we introduce that, we do. We rob our brain and our body the ability to start navigating. And I feel the same about alcohol. Like, I'm a lot more fun after a drink. Like, I think probably 100% I'm a lot more fun. But the fact is, I'm grateful that I didn't try that at 14 and at 16 because I might have been one of those people who was a cautionary tale for other people's children. Yeah, well, I'm glad that I waited till I was 22 for weed too. You know, I knew kids that smoked pot and, but I wasn't at that point. I may not have made it out of high school, I think, if you had given me access to that. Brian, I think you're so delightful and really it's such a pleasure to talk to you

and also to know you and to get to be one of the people who gets to hear your weird jokes and your dark jokes and people who have your skill set have a fearlessness that I really, really envy. And I'm really grateful that I get to, you know, I get to see that, you know, in you,

in our private off-camera moments a little bit. Thank you. Thank you so much, Brian. That's the longest period of time I've spoken to Brian. I mean, we've played D&D that goes for hours and hours, but that's different. We're in a group setting. That's a slow to warm up person, meaning even at the beginning of us talking, you know, he was shy. And then he really just kind of like started going.

I've never seen his stand-up. I'm a stand-up connoisseur. You may not know. I've never seen his stand-up. But when he would tell me, because I would try and socialize with him, like on the set of Big Bang, and I would say, oh, did you have a good hiatus? And he would always say that he was, like, going these places to, like, to colleges. And I was thinking, like, he seems so shy.

Like, what does that like, you know, for him to get up on a stage? And I just really loved hearing about, I remember, I mean, his mother passed, you know, we kind of, you know, had a D&D session right after and very hard. He also had some, like, amazing killer jokes about it. Like, and I remember thinking, like, wow. you know, his mind, like, he's a real master of, you know, joke craft. Anyway, I'm just really grateful that he opened up and wanted to talk to us. I think it's important, too, to have people openly talking about using pot.

It's now been decriminalized and legalized, both for medical use and recreational use in many states. And people are having new relationships with this substance. Also, like, huge shout out to him for, like, like, it's the elephant in the room. I can't tell you how many people when I've spoken to about what's their year been like like it comes out in like the eighth or ninth time you check in with them like I've been smoking so much weed I don't think it's healthy

or oh I've just taken to drinking starting at 4 p.m. Not that he said that. No, no, no, I'm saying though like I've been hearing this from people that I know because it's kind of like people are bored and it numbs you out like who wants to think about

what's going on in the world all the time. I have tremendous respect for people who can operate at that level of like, like people who work in newsrooms. Like I'm sure that there are some who smoke pot and drink, but like they live and breathe like this world all the time. They've got something. I don't. I can't do that all the time. So whether you're filling it with, with alcohol, with pot, with food, with work, you know, I mean, that was most of my life really as an adult is like I would just work myself into the ground. Like, oh, I'd work a 10 hour day. I'd come home and then I'd work another six hours.

Like, that was completely, that's how I, you know, they say emotions can't hit a moving target. Like I just like kept moving, kept bouncing. Like, do this, do that, drink that. So, you know, like, yeah, he touched on what a lot of people are experiencing, which is everybody's going to be impacted by things differently. I mean, that's like the dumbest thing I've ever said. But I remember there was a friend of mine when Trump got elected in the first place. she really went down the rabbit hole of her mental health existence. She was put on medication.

She was having active panic attacks, like really, really had a breakdown. And I remember at the time, I don't know if I owe her an amends for something that I just thought and didn't tell anyone else. At the time, I was like, seriously? Like, come on. Maybe she had the foresight to know what was about to happen to us. Okay, so that's the shamanic option. Maybe she had the foresight. But maybe it was also just that, like, that's where she was at in terms of her emotional capacity, her emotional stability.

And I can't fault that because at any given time in my life, let's just pretend this had happened the year after I got divorced. If Trump had been elected the year after I got divorced, what would have happened? I would have given up custody of my children and either gone to live at the Tassahara's End Mountain Center above San Francisco, or you would have had to put me in a hospital. because the amount of emotional information that I would have been trying to process with my God-given genetics and with everything about my functioning, I don't think I would have been able to handle it.

I'm completely serious right now. Also, if I was a kid right now and you put me in a Zoom class, F that, I would have found ways to misbehave if I didn't have them before. I'm interested about this idea of too much emotional information. And he talked about marijuana, one as a numbing agent and he said well sometimes I don't want that information and he was describing

that some of that information is anxiety but I'm tying that back to your story of going to live on a mountain top like you were experiencing an enormous amount of information at that time so I'm wondering about the connection between information like the amount of information that we're processing and everybody's brain has a different capacity also but I'm also wondering about capacity of our individual brains to process amounts of information but also maybe some of us just have more information that's coming. Well, I mean. Like more extrasensory information.

Okay. Yes. The first level is that there's brain variability. Okay. And then the second level, which we talk about a lot, is there's environmental variability. You know, you take two brains and you put one in an abusive, you know, deprivation, neglectful abandonment situation. And that's going to do something different, you know, to the identical brain as if you

were in an in immersive, enriching, nurturing, loving environment. Do those exist? I've heard about them in storybooks. Okay, so there's those levels. I'll say this first. Then we get to the level of the variability in certain people's brains is such that they are receiving more information. And that's not to say that they're operating on a different plane of existence, but... I'm pretty sure that's what we're saying.

I think different plane of existence sounds too out there to people, but there's a scientific explanation for a different plane of existence. And what it is is that there are people who hear differently. And there are people that experience physical sensation differently. So for those people, oftentimes things like information that has high stressful emotional content does affect them differently. So my thing, stories about like, I hate to say this, animals being tortured is like the most painful thing and I fixate on those. This is one of the reasons I had to take a break from news because there's something in me that like I'm fascinated with the set of emotions that I feel when that empathy and that rage and that terror gets kicked up. But it becomes a compulsive act for me of pursuing that

story and following it through and find it's just it can become it's overwhelming. and it's almost the only way to understand it is to immerse myself in it. And the other kind of level of that is that there are people, and this is more of a spiritual concept, there are people who feel differently. And so they're going to get flooded sooner. And the people who typically have that connection with the world historically were healers and shamans because you would take, you know, take the people in any given village and you've got one who when you feel something, they feel something. They're empaths. And that's not fantasy

unicorn fairy dust. Like that's a true thing. And often those people are demonized, burned at the stake, pathologized, called hysterical. And the fact is there are different capacities. Yes, that we're born with, and you can foster those and you can make them grow. So what Brian was talking about was also that he may have a different sensitivity. And he is seeking resources to manage those. I mean, we all are. We all are. Back to your comment about the animals and the feeling that you get when you read a story about animal cruelty.

Do you think that, A, it is. you tapping into some childhood or rage or unprocessed anger, resentment that you then transpose onto that situation. B, some sort of empathic experience

where you tap into the rage and cruelty of humanity because as much as we are loving and kind, there's also that aspect of humanity that's difficult. B, some combination of those two, or none of the above. The example that I gave is a combination of personal feelings, which is really kind of the genetics plus environment. It's who I am. I mean, it's who all of us are. I'm just using

myself as an example. That's who I am. Intuitively, mostly I feel that it's more the empath in me. And yeah, I do think that there is another option where I do feel connected just as a person with a spiritual practice and a scientific practice of understanding and wanting to understand the molecules of our existence, I do feel both a communal joy and a communal suffering. Like I have an awareness of that. But again, what that translates to is this world is not really equipped for me to kind of function like that on a daily basis. Because, you know, if we fully grasp the terror of the darkness of humanity, like none of us would want to get up. We would wouldn't get up. So there's like a suspension of disbelief that we all have to go through.

That's what Brian is talking about. That was his uncomfortableness. And like, that was the shifting in his seat because we force ourselves to learn how to live in an unlivable world in many ways. And it can be very, very crippling. I'm so really uplifted, you know, by getting to talk to him because also I just love a story of someone who had to work so hard to find their way. you know, like losing your dad. I mean, that's, I, I chose not to go there. I actually don't know the story. But when he said his dad died, you know, before he was even 25, like, and just him going

and thinking of like little Brian, I think he had a little redhead, you know, like little Brian going to play therapy and just like how much his mother then had to take on. I mean, just it's, that's an unbelievable template. And then to add to that, just feeling awkward or or being different or being a nerd or like not knowing that you had an eye condition, like just those little things. But then also his growth was a huge catalyst for a whole other kind of growth. And so just like, I just love that path. And I'm so grateful that he took us, you know, on it with him.

He really was very generous with his story. Yeah, I adore him. Ask my anything. Yeah. Anonymous from Studio City asks, is there a right amount of marijuana? Like an okay amount? Like I assume I'm reading between the lines here because this is a short one and we wanted to choose something that related to our general subject matter here. But I think the question is what's too much?

Right. And is there like an appropriate amount? And you're going to say it really depends on the individual. Oh, you know what? And it's a combination between our nurture and our nature. Let's ask the non- neuroscientist. Jonathan, is there an answer to this? Would you feel different if you knew this question was being asked by a teenager? I support and totally agree that the brain should have as

much time with being its own natural self as possible. Lots of people say that the brain doesn't fully finish developing until 25. I don't know if you agree with that. There's some frontal lobe and impulse control that we definitely, if you've been to a frat party, you've seen that in action. So having been a teenage male and an early 20s male and now a almost 42 year old male, I would say that my brain has changed drastically in those years, my ability to have impulse control, my ability not to feel the urgency of situations and like the need to fix things immediately. My executive functioning still isn't great. My planning, I'm more of the creative side. So different episodes. Different problem. So I would say that we should give ourselves as much time.

Okay, great. So that being said, is there an okay amount? Probably less. Oh, does it depend on the person? Probably less is more. Ah, less is more. So you can have a glass of wine a day. Can you have a joint a day?

I guess the question would be, what is a joint? Are we talking about like, you know, a glass of wine is however many ounces? And, you know, is it is a joint a gram? I would say a gram for an individual. And I guess there's also tolerance and sort of how that tolerance builds is a scientific question. I'm curious about. You know, I think that the simple answer, and this question is being asked by a young person, the simple answer is I do believe that there is an amount of marijuana that can be consumed in a social fashion the way some people will drink socially. However, we have a culture that really favors the normalization of pot use.

And the fact is it is a very, very powerful social lubricant in a way that alcohol isn't. They do not function the same. So it's hard to give a comparison of like, this is the right amount or this is an okay amount of pot. because so much of our reaction with pot is not predictable the way wine will be. So the example I give my kids is if you take 100 people and within, you know, within 50 pounds of each other, you take 100 people, you take 100 people and you give them each two beers, you can probably have a pretty predictable bell curve of what's going to happen and it's probably going to be skewed even one way. It's not even going to be a, nobody cares about

parabolas right now. But anyway, you can have a pretty predictable. pretty predictable trajectory for what their behavior is going to be like, how it changes, what their recovery will be like, and what they'll look like tomorrow. Okay? If you up that to four beers, you're probably also going to have a pretty predictable, pretty predictable trajectory. The thing with pot is it acts differently than alcohol does. And especially with young people, pot's the kind of thing that one hit can land you in a panic attack. one hit. If you're susceptible to panic attacks, you can be around other people smoking and you'll get a panic attack and still ask people to take to the hospital and then they're all stoned and no one can take you. I've never been in that situation. What? So we have a lot less predictability with pot, which makes it harder to determine what's an okay amount, like an okay amount from a teenage perspective. In addition, the ability to feel numbed out and at ease.

I believe is a lot more attractive because there's a lot less side effects than going on a bender with alcohol. So the ease with which you feel you can be at ease is a lot more accessible, especially for young people. And the fact is it's not like smoking a cigarette and it's not like having a glass of wine. So that being said, you know, at the point I'm at in my life, I literally don't even have one drink a week. Like it's just, it's not worth it anymore. It disrupts my sleep. I'm not interested. There were times when I drank. There were times when I drank too much, you know, like too much for my comfort, my lifestyle. And I think that you will find people who are like that with pot or like, oh, I'll do it once in a while. A thing to look out for is if you are having

a life that you otherwise wouldn't have without pot, that's probably too much. Meaning if you find that the things you want to do are best done when you're stoned, that's too much. Because you're denying yourself the ability to learn the things that we need to learn to be mature, responsible adults. Meaning, let me just give an example. Like, oh, I have to be stoned to go on a date. I have to be stoned to go to class. I have to be stoned to go to sleep. I have to be stoned to go for a job interview.

These are things that are indicating that you're using it medicinally. So maybe instead of what is too much we're talking about, because I interpreted too much as the amount of use or like the quantity of use, but really what we're talking about is the frequency of use. Yeah, I mean, the fact, it's, yeah, it's very hard to talk amounts with pot. Like I said, because one hit, depending on your chemistry, depending on what your day was like, depending on what anxiety you've experienced, It is a hallucinogenic class of drug.

It does some strong things. And yes, there are different strains and there are different things and blah, blah, blah. But the fact is it has a lot less predictability. And the pot that was available to us when I was young is very, very different than the pot that is available now. And that's also something that nobody likes that answer. So Anonymous from Studio City. If you don't like the answer to that, hit us up again and we'll do a redo. Ask us next year's.

Don't smoke for another year. We'll talk about it then. If you enjoyed this conversation, you might enjoy going to our website, biolicbreakdown.com. That's BIA. L-I-K. Breakdown.com. We'll put up some interesting. There are some interesting articles there. And we'll link to Brian's stand-up so mine can see it. Oh, my gosh. I love anything, Brian. I do. I really need to get into that. So, all right, from my breakdown to the one I hope you never have. I'll see you next time.

down for you she's got a neuroscience phd or two one fiction one now she's gonna break down it's a breakdown she's gonna break down she's gonna