Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Podbit · Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Jackie Tohn Returns

Explore episode Jul 13, 2026
Arts
The Calm After Nobody Wants This

Jackie Tohn Returns · Jul 13, 2026 Arts

Jackie admits she spent decades performing for every room — rising to the occasion, being 'bitty,' proving she was funny to people who didn't know her yet. Nobody Wants This gave her permission to stop. She watches younger actors doing the same thing now on set and feels only recognition, not judgment.

Where this was said

Career Advice: Diversify Your Bag and Stop Waiting for the Phone

At 1:11:18 · chapter starts 1:10:40

Jackie's most direct career advice segment begins with her endorsing Dax's framing that Hollywood is a war of attrition, and adds her own: you must diversify your bag. An actor who only acts and waits for the phone to ring is done. When Jackie started doing stand-up — about five years before GLOW — she stopped waiting and became a joke machine, going out and being seen by managers and comedy people. That's what led to Montreal, which led to visibility. She identifies the greats — Sarah Silverman, Tig Notaro — as people who are conspicuously unhurried and calm, and says recognizing that 'the greats are fucking chilling' was a revelation. She can now observe bit-heavy people on her set with sympathy rather than judgment, remembering that's exactly what she used to do.

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