Speaker
Lena Dunham
Appearances over time
1 episodes
Episodes
1Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Lena Dunham spent eight years writing her memoir Famesick, starting just three months out of rehab.
Lena's mother tells her she could give 50% less energy in social and professional situations and everything would still be fine.
A 'mini pig' is officially classified as any pig under 500 pounds — meaning 'teacup pigs' don't exist.
Farm sows can grow up to 1,400 pounds, putting the 'mini pig' scale in stark perspective.
Unlike dogs, you can't judge a pig's adult size from its piglet size because pigs keep growing until they are five years old.
Pigs have three sets of teeth in their lifetime, losing their teeth twice — a fact Lena Dunham finds endlessly notable.
Meishan pigs are a Chinese breed dating back at least 5,000 years, now critically endangered, and are known for huge litters of up to 17 or 18 piglets.
Meishan pigs are exceptional mothers, producing huge litters of up to 17 or 18 piglets at a time.
Rabbits are crepuscular, meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk — which explains why Lena's rabbits repeatedly land on her face during the night.
Lena Dunham began writing her memoir Famesick just three months after leaving rehab, initially thinking she'd just jot down experiences to purge them.
As a teenager, Lena Dunham would plug in airline headphones close to the TV and take notes on SNL reruns airing at midnight on Comedy Central.
Natalie Portman and Rashida Jones have been friends for almost 30 years, a connection Lena Dunham got to observe on the set of Good Sex.
Lena Dunham says turning 40 feels like gaining a cloak of invisibility — in the best possible way. The pressure of 'shoulds' and 'musts' starts to dissolve, and you finally feel okay saying 'that's not for me' without guilt.
Lena's first pig, Victor, talked all day because he was lonely. So she got Cherry. On their first meeting, Cherry bit Victor on the butt as hard as she could — and from that moment, he knew she was in charge. Now she spends most of her time sitting on his head.
Natalie Portman says Lena Dunham is one of the best directors she has ever worked with, citing her uncanny ability to give specific, detailed compliments alongside precise notes — and the energy and generosity she brings to every person on set, every single day.
If you give a pig treats without asking for a trick first, you end up with a 200-pound animal with an attitude problem — and it's entirely your fault. Lena Dunham's brother pointed out that this is exactly what she'd done to every person she'd ever dated.
Lena Dunham's mother has told her for years that she could give 50% less energy in any situation and everything would be fine. It's the same overdelivering pattern Amy Poehler identifies in women broadly: give everything, burn out, become bitter.
Nora Ephron showed care through an encyclopedic mental Rolodex — the right bagel shop, the right hair blowout, the specific lightweight Patagonia zip puffer you need on a film set. Lena Dunham realised only later that Ephron was doing this for hundreds of people simultaneously.
Lena Dunham wrote a book about how exhausting press tours and self-promotion are — and then had to go on a press tour to promote it. She wanted to drop it like a surprise album and hide in her bedroom for six months.
Natalie Portman called in to say she dreams of owning a pig, but there's one problem: wild boars in France will mate with domestic pigs and create a dangerous hybrid. So it's illegal where she rents. Responsible pig parenting has never sounded so extreme.
There is no such thing as a teacup pig. A 'mini pig' is any pig under 500 pounds. Pigs keep growing until age five, have three sets of teeth, and need a companion — you cannot just give them playdates. For beginners, Lena recommends the ancient Chinese Meishan breed.
Lena agreed to do the charity celebrity Great British Bake Off and got as far as planning a cat-shaped crumpet. Then the production told her she'd need to make her own pistachio butter, study jam-making, and that the ovens go on at 8 AM — and nobody is allowed to touch the knobs. She walked.
As a teenager, Lena Dunham would sit inches from her landlord's old TV with airline headphones taking notes on SNL reruns at midnight. She also forged her school ID to make herself old enough to get standby tickets — then felt so guilty she confessed before she could ever use them.
Jemima Kirke didn't want to do the Jessa-betrays-Hannah arc. Lena had to convince her it was acting, not real life. But the betrayal was necessary: it let audiences see Hannah as someone who can be genuinely hurt — and revealed that she never believed she had the power to hurt anyone else.
Hollywood taught Lena Dunham that being sick means being 'defective' — replaceable, disposable. She spent years hiding chronic illness to protect her career, watching Lady Gaga's Five Foot Two documentary in disbelief that someone had finally put these experiences on camera.
Fans watch Girls to feel cozy nostalgia for early-adulthood chaos. Lena Dunham, meanwhile, says watching it is like a ticking bomb thriller — so tense she has never rewatched a single episode since the show ended.
Lena says she'd anthropomorphize the robot too much and spend her emotional energy worrying about it. Amy says she'd be fine with one until it killed her. Neither is in a rush.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Society & Culture 50%
- TV & Film 30%
- Comedy 10%
- Leisure 10%
Connections
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