Fail Better with David Duchovny

By: Lemonada Media
  • Summary

  • 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.

    2025 Lemonada Media Inc.
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Episodes
  • The Grit and Grind of Steve Lukather
    Apr 15 2025

    As a founding member of the band Toto, Steve Lukather is well aware of the song you probably know him for. But Steve, known to most as “Luke”, has plenty of other claims to fame. Luke is a seriously talented guitarist and writer with more than a dozen albums to his name from Toto alone, not to mention an almost infinite number of credits and Grammys from his session work with stars like Paul McCartney and Quincy Jones. It all started with the enthusiasm that Luke’s parents expressed for a musical career, guiding him toward frequent lessons, hard work, and the practice of showing up to a studio every day and putting in the hours. Being a working man is what led him to where he is — and, as any young player would dream, it’s also what got him the ultimate compliment from Jimmy Page.

    Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.

    Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

    For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    49 mins
  • Introducing: Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan
    Apr 11 2025

    We’re excited to introduce you to Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan, a new show from Lemonada Media.

    As Meghan, Duchess of Sussex builds out a business of her own, she’s getting advice and insights from a handful of amazing women who have scaled small ideas into successful companies. These fly-on-the-wall conversations will no doubt inspire anyone who’s interested in turning their own entrepreneurial dreams into a reality and anyone else who just wants to hear what really happens behind the scenes.

    We’re going to play you a little sneak peek of the first episode, featuring Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of Bumble. After you listen, search Confessions of a Female Founder wherever you get your podcasts, or head to: https://lemonada.lnk.to/confessionsofafemalefounderfd

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    8 mins
  • EXCLUSIVE PEEK: Reflections on Alec Baldwin, Kenya Barris, and more
    Apr 8 2025

    This week, we’re offering another peek at the kinds of things you might hear in Lemonada Premium. At the end of each regular episode, there’s a snippet of my thoughts about the conversation, but those are just snippets. My post-mortems are much longer than that, and we publish the full versions exclusively for Lemonada Premium subscribers. Today, we’ve pulled a few for you to hear from some of my favorite interviews. If you want to get these kinds of insights each week, subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And as added incentive, you'll also be able to get bonus content from all the other Lemonada shows when you subscribe.

    As you’ll hear in this episode, I’m publishing my first book of poetry. You can pre-order now at https://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/about-time-preorder/

    Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.

    Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

    For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Show more Show less
    43 mins
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This is a Down to Earth View from the Top

This is such an amazing, relaxed conversation between friends, with so many interesting stories.

This is instantly my favourite podcast.

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Imperfectly Perfect

I started listening to this podcast out of my own live and appreciation for David Duchovny as an actor, musician, and writer and within the first few minutes of the first episode I realized I’d keep listening because it felt more real and raw than I was expecting. I’ve laughed, I’ve cried, and I’ve come to very big realizations through his various interviews and anecdotes that are inherently based on the fundamental truths we all face. I have enjoyed every guest he’s had on, even those I wasn’t familiar with, and I’m so thankful he’s decided to do this podcast on failure and how one can ultimately succeed through their failures. I highly recommend listening to this podcast, especially for those on the fence simply because of the thought “another celebrity pretending to be relatable, but I’m no where near famous or accomplished enough to relate” - this is NO WHERE near that. This podcast is filled with relatable, real problems, the thoughts and doubts that run through us all, and how everyone fails, and THAT’S OKAY.

Thank you for sharing this with us, David. I truly can’t say how much I appreciate your candid words, even if you have doubt about sharing them in the first place. They matter.

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