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Growing up, I was obsessed with Sesame Street, and my family had stocked up on all the VHS movies for my viewing pleasure. One of these classics included Elmo in Grouchland, where I was first introduced to the talented Mandy Patinkin as the cartoonishly extravagant, blanket-stealing villain Huxley. From this character to the iconic Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride, I have loved Patinkin’s work for quite a long time now. So, you can imagine my pleasant surprise when I found out that he and his wife of over 40 years, Kathryn Grody, have started a podcast together entitled Don’t Listen to Us.
In this podcast, the couple, along with their son Gideon behind the camera, invites listeners to submit their questions, ranging from quandaries they need advice on to simple inquiries about how Patinkin and Grody navigate life together, and they try their best to answer them and provide different perspectives. Now, I’m not normally the type of person to listen to podcasts on a recreational basis, but listening to this one has given me a semblance of hope and has provided me with some much-needed laughter. Despite the title telling you the contrary, I insist on telling you why you should listen to Don’t Listen to Us.
a calming, engaging listen
One of the reasons why I have found it difficult to get into podcasts is because many of them don’t stimulate my mind enough. Oftentimes, due to the over-saturation of the podcast space, in my opinion, it can feel like I’m listening to the same thing by similar people, a lot of times with a message being delivered by someone who just wants to sell you a course or a product by the end of it. These kinds of podcasts stress me out and don’t engage me in a way that keeps me wanting more. That’s where Don’t Listen to Us is different.
What Patinkin and Grody bring to the table is a calming, refreshing podcast that really stimulates my mind and can do two things at the same time. It can help calm me down and bring me back to the present moment when life gets too stressful, and engage my mind so that I feel like I’m actually learning something. And that something I’m learning doesn’t have to be random factoids or something stereotypically “smart”; it’s learning from two individuals who have more life experience than I do and whose perspectives on life are so incredibly profound, but also raw and human at the same time.
a good laugh, a good cry, and some good advice
Listening to this podcast over the past few months has reminded me to appreciate the simple things in life, one of those being just some good old-fashioned laughter and a meaningful discussion. When the couple receives a question from a listener, they try their best to give advice based on their many years of life experience, which is very engaging to listen to. A lot of the time, Patinkin and Grody have very different takes on a question, and they provide different answers than one another, but it’s fascinating to listen to because you may get something very insightful from both of their responses.
One example that demonstrates this beautifully is one time when they got a question from someone whose friend got their dream job, but they were morally against the company the friend would be working for, and they wanted to know how to go about it with the friend. On one hand, Patinkin’s advice was pretty cut and dry. He advised the listener to talk to their friend and let them know what they think about the company they’re going to be working for and how it goes against their moral compass, as to steer them away from this company that the listener believed is causing harm to people. On the other hand, Grody asserted that she needed more context about the company and what harmful practices they’re engaging in. That said, she did agree with her husband that they should talk to their friend about why this bothers them. However, she didn’t say it should be in the efforts of convincing them to turn down the job, but rather to give them a different perspective on their current situation.
With the couple bouncing off of each other with playful banter and engaging meaningfully with each other’s arguments, this podcast has become one of my favorites. At times, it can get emotional when discussing heavier topics, or simply just topics Patinkin and Grody are passionate about, but that’s part of the magic of Don’t Listen to Us. The wide variety of subjects the couple chooses to discuss and the emotional depth and thought they bring into the space are what keep me listening, and I have no doubt it will touch many of your hearts as it has touched mine.