Fail Better with David Duchovny
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About This Podcast
To be human is to fail – period. And not just to fail once, but to fail a lot. As the author Samuel Beckett said: “Fail again. Fail better.” This saying means a lot to me and my family – so much so that my daughter got a tattoo of it. Why are we, and so many others, so deeply concerned by failure? And if it’s something we all do so often, why are we so afraid of it – especially those of us here in win-at-all-costs America? In this podcast, I sit down with successful, thoughtful people like Ben Stiller, Bette Midler, Sean Penn and more to talk about failure – or what they labeled “failure,” but what was really an unparalleled opportunity for growth and revelation. I even want to delve into my own hardest moments, when I wrestled with setbacks, shame, and fear. We’ll still fail again. And again. But maybe if we fail better, we’ll feel better -- and maybe if we can all laugh together in failure, that's a start.
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Recent Episodes
Fail Again: The Family Business with Robert Downey Jr.
This episode originally aired July 22, 2025 The spotlight has certainly taken its toll on Robert Downey Jr. over the years. But much like his beloved MCU character Tony Stark, there's an undeniably…
Fail Again: Chris Carter Wants You To Believe
This episode originally aired June 3, 2025 The X-Files was always about turning something mysterious and untraceable into something known — so what better time to capture the elusive podcast…
Fail Again: Aimee Mann Is In My Pantheon
This episode originally aired November 19, 2024 It was a real magic moment to connect with Aimee Mann, a musician I’ve listened to for decades. She indulges my curiosities about lyric choices and…
Fail Again: Griffin Dunne — An Actor Builds Character
This episode originally aired July 30, 2024 The nephew of Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, and son of Dominick Dunne, becoming anything other than a writer feels almost sacrilegious. Yet Griffin…
Fail Again: Failure, Freedom, and ‘Friends’ with Maggie Wheeler
This episode originally aired February 11, 2025 While Maggie Wheeler is known by millions as the iconic Janice on ‘Friends’, she has been my real-life friend for even longer. Back in the late 80s, we…
Fail Again: Kumail Nanjiani’s New Ambition
This episode originally aired August 13, 2024 When I first met Kumail Nanjiani, we were on set on the X-Files, chasing down the shape-shifting Were-Monster. Since then, I’ve seen Kumail undergo his…
Fail Again: Kathleen Hanna’s Music is Her Message
This episode originally aired August 16, 2024 Being “indie famous” is complicated, and Kathleen Hanna isn’t here to water it down. Her career making feminist punk music — most notably in the band…
Fail Again: The Buoyancy of Rob Lowe
This episode originally aired January 14, 2025 Throughout his long and varied career, Rob Lowe has become an expert at reinventing himself. He left behind his bad-boy image from iconic 80s movies to…
Fail Again: Roads Taken and Not Taken with Jason Beghe
This episode originally aired October 15, 2024 I’ve known Jason Beghe for 50 years and counting, ever since we met one fateful day in a high school biology class. I watched as this rambunctious and…
Fail Again: Sean Penn and the Squared-Away Individual
This episode originally aired June 18, 2024 There are few actors left who embody the ethos of old Hollywood. Sean Penn is one of them. We got together at his place for a face-to-face exploration of…
Fail Again: Failure Matters with Jaleel White
This episode originally aired March 18, 2025 To me, there are few sitcom characters more memorable than Steve Urkel on Family Matters. So getting to talk to the actor Jaleel White — about his…
Fail Again: Chris Evert Hates To Lose More Than She Loves To Win
This episode originally aired April 22, 2025 After an illustrious tennis career, of course Chris Evert cherishes the wins and broken records. Yet, the sting of defeat is also etched in her memory,…
Fail Again: Failure-ish with Kenya Barris
This episode originally aired February 25, 2025 Kenya Barris, the creator of "Black-ish", knows a thing or two about resilience. Eighteen failed pilots before he finally struck gold? That's…
Fail Again: A Forensic Analysis with Emily Deschanel
This episode originally aired July 8, 2025. My interview with Emily was one of our most popular of 2025, so we’re playing it again to cap off the year. Emily Deschanel spent over a decade portraying…
David Duchovny Gets Weird with Pete Holmes
While we’re on holiday break, I wanted to share one of my favorite conversations from 2024 — my appearance on Pete Holmes’s podcast, You Made It Weird. Pete and I dive into the big stuff: creativity,…
Fail Again: Catching Up with Gillian Anderson
This episode originally aired on November 12, 2024. Gillian Anderson and I share a connection unlike any other. The Dana Scully to my Fox Mulder, we are the only ones who understand what the other…
S1E65 John Seabrook’s Family Was the Vegetable Version of ‘Succession’
John Seabrook is a journalist and author best known for his work at The New Yorker magazine. This means he didn’t go into the family business: large-scale industrial agriculture. During their heyday,…
S1E64 The Many Lives of Peter Weller
Sitting across from Dr. Peter Weller — another actor/author/academic like myself — I knew I was in for an engaging conversation. But as Peter explained the shape his life has taken, I saw beyond his…
Introducing: Don't Listen To Us with Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody
For the Thanksgiving holiday, who better to hear from than a family who has fought hard for the communication, compromise, and comedy that fuels their daily lives? Don’t Listen To Us is an advice…
S1E63 Kyle MacLachlan (Directed by David Lynch)
The actor Kyle MacLachlan readily acknowledges the immense impact that the late director David Lynch had on his life and career. After making his on-screen debut starring in Lynch's sci-fi epic Dune…
Frequently Asked Questions
Fail Better with David Duchovny has published 102 episodes since April 2024, covering topics in Society & Culture.
Fail Better with David Duchovny is currently highly active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 53m.
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