#563: Sarah Silverman — The Joy of Being Alone, Becoming Your Own Best Friend, Insights from Therapy, and More

Optimal, minimal. At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking. Can I ask you a personal question?

Now? We're just in a perfect time.

What if I did the opposite? I'm a cybernetic organism. Living tissue over metal endoskeleton.

Show.

This episode is brought to you by Helium ten Helium ten 10 is an all in one software suite designed to help entrepreneurs launch, manage and scale profitable ecommerce businesses on Amazon as well as on walmart.com. So whether you're an entrepreneur who wants to start a business on your own terms, or you want to scale your existing ecommerce operations, helium ten can help. They process more than 2 billion data points daily. That's a lot of data. Have a robust 450 plus million ASIN database and provide at a glance analytics like seasonal trends for products, profit estimates, and more asin. Just so you know, that's kind of Amazon SKU code of sorts, somewhat like an isbn, so they can really provide the teleum ten intelligence across many, many different products and product categories so you can make the best decisions possible. They also have educational resources, award winning training courses, free webinars, podcasts, and community support. I did a bunch of vetting on these guys with help from all of you actually looking for recommendations how much you would recommend them, and I've been very impressed with the feedback I've seen on social media from their community of 1 million plus users. So they cleared the hurdle and here they are. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, helium ten will teach you how to build a thriving ecommerce business from a to z. You'll be able to tap into Amazon's existing customer base, product demand and shipping infrastructure to launch your business. And just as a reminder, Amazon will handle all shipping and returns for you. And if you want to take your business to the next level, helium ten's community of experts, cutting edge strategies and advanced trainings led by multimillion dollar sellers as well as their tools, will help you scale, save time and improve your customers experiences, plus manage your financial health, ad spend, and much more. Join more than 1 million helium ten users worldwide by signing up for a free account at helium ten Tim. That is helium 10 Tim. Sign up for free at helium 10 Tim. This episode is brought to you by Athletic greens. I get asked all the time what I would take if I could only take one supplement. I've been asked this for years. The answer is invariably ag one by athletic greens. I view it as all in one nutritional insurance so you can cover your bases if you're traveling, if you're just busy, if you're not sure if your meals are where they should be, it covers your bases. I've recommended it since the four hour body, which was God eons ago 2010 and I did not get paid to do so. With approximately 75 vitamins, minerals and whole food sourced ingredients, you'll be hard pressed to find a more nutrientdense formula on the market. It has a multivitamin, multimineral greens complex probiotics and prebiotics for gut health and immunity formula, digestive enzymes and adaptogens. You get the idea. It is very, very comprehensive and I do my best of course to focus on nutrientdense proper meals. But sometimes you're busy, sometimes you're traveling, sometimes you just want to make sure that you are getting what you need. Ag one makes it easy to get a lot of nutrition when whole foods aren't readily available. It's also NSF certified for sport, making it safe for competitive athletes as what's on the label is in the powder. It's the ultimate all in one nutritional supplement bundle in one easy scoop. Right now, athletic Greens is giving my audience a special offer on top of their all in one formula, which is a free vitamin D supplement and five free travel packs with your first subscription purchase. Many of us are deficient in vitamin D. I found that true for myself, which is usually produced in our bodies from sun exposure. So adding a vitamin D supplement to your daily routine is a great option. For additional immune support. Support your immunity, gut health and energy by visiting athleticgreens.com slash Tim, you'll receive up to a year's supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs with your subscription. Again, that's athleticgreens.com slash Tim hello boys and girls, ladies and germs, this is Tim Ferriss. Welcome to another episode of the Tim Ferriss show. This is your host, Tim Ferriss. My guest today is Sarah Silverman. You can find her on Twitter at Sarah S-A-R-A-H-K. Silverman Sarah is a two time Emmy Award winning comedian, actress, writer and producer. She currently hosts the Sarah Silverman podcast and stars in the HBO Max animated series Santa, Inc. Opposite Seth Rogen. She will next be seen opposite Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson in the feature film Marry me. Other upcoming projects include TBS's stupid Pet Tricks, an expansion of the famous David Letterman late night segment, and the indie psychological thriller viral starring alongside Blair Underwood. Her memoir called the Bedwetter, Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pea, which went on to become a New York Times bestseller, is currently being adapted into a musical with the Atlantic Theater Company to premiere in April 2022. Silverman served as creator, executive producer and host of the Emmy nominated series I love you, America, which streamed weekly on Hulu and saw her connecting with people through honesty and humor on stage. She continues to be recognized as a force in standup comedy. Her latest standup special, a Speck of Dust, debuted on Netflix in May 2017 and culminated in two Emmy Award nominations and a Grammy Award nomination. Her additional film and television work includes Battle of the Sexes, I smile back, Wreckit Ralph. Wreckit Ralph, two Ralph breaks the Internet, Masters of Sex, and Bob's Burgers. You can find her on social, as mentioned earlier, on Twitter at Sarah K. Silverman and on Instagram at Sarah Kate Silverman. Sarah, welcome to the show. It's nice to finally see you.

Likewise.

And I thought we would start with an unfinished story from my perspective, which came about when I had Covid and I was isolating, and I was watching multiple episodes of comedians in cars getting coffee. And I watched your episode where you had coffee with Jerry, and you were beginning to tell this heartfelt story. You said, I went through a terrible depression. I remember my stepfather says, what does it feel like? And then Jerry jumps in to say, excuse me to the wait staff, can I get some half and half? And you're like, really? Was it that much of an emergency? And then the edit cut to a different segment of the conversation. So I was wondering if it's possible for you to finish the cliffhanger, because I was actually interested to hear the rest of that. I went through a terrible depression. I remember my stepfather saying, what does it feel like? And then you got cut off by the half and half.

Wow. Yes, I can tell you. Exactly. And it's one of the few very clear memories I have of that time. Depression came over me when I was 13. I always say, as fast as getting the flu, you ever get the flu? And from one moment to the next, you just go, you feel fine, and then you go, oh, my God, I have the flu. Like, that fast. It's just like a cloud covering the sun, and all of a sudden it's dark. It lasted for a few years, and it was the put on Xanax. That's a crazy story. And ultimately was just given more and more and more until I was 13 and taking 16 Xanax a day. Four Xanax. Four times a day.

Good lord. Wow.

It just doesn't even seem possible. It can't be legal to be giving a child that much drugs. My mom and my dad were kind of trying to come up with solutions and fix things, and my stepdad was the only one who just asked me what it felt like. And it was the first time I had to think about what it felt like. And I really came up with the perfect description, which is it felt just like I was homesick, but I was home, so there was no way to satiate it. There was nothing to hope for. There was no home to go to. I was home.

Yeah. And that was where, if we place you in time, where were you at the time?

Two oh six county road, Bedford, New Hampshire 3110.

Sure. Can you think of or identify anything that led to that wave crashing over you at that time? Is there anything that you can point to that acted as a trigger?

I remember the moment it happened. What was happening? I was a chronic bedwetter, and we had the 8th grade camping trip, which was a four day camping trip up Mount Cardigan, and I was the student leader, and I cried the whole time. And I had diapers hidden in my sleeping bag. And I just felt humiliated and homesick. Nobody caught me with the. I slipped diapers in my sleeping bag so that I wouldn't pee in my sleeping bag. I was 1213,