Peter Sagal Has These New People In His House

Episode 7

3rd May 2021

The Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me host went through a brutal divorce and spent some time in the absolute depths of depression and anxiety, all while hosting a comedy show. Now he’s remarried and father to a new baby and things are going really well.

Episode notes

Peter Sagal always sounds chipper and fun on the hit NPR quiz show Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me but that’s always been just one part of his personality. In recent years, Sagal went through a divorce that resulted in his three daughters cutting off all contact with him. He spent some time coming to grips with some depression issues that he had been experiencing and largely walking away from most of his life.

Peter was also up against the portrayal of the dad who loses everything in movies and television, where said dad somehow proves to be a hero and wins back the hearts of everyone who left him. Because in Peter’s case, that’s not how it worked. His daughters still don’t speak to him.

But now some other people do. He remarried and recently became the father to a baby boy named Elliott (“two Ls, two Ts, don’t get it wrong, I have,” he says). It’s been a hard road in recent years but Peter’s learned a lot about walking through it and he likes where he ended up.
Joining us on Depresh Mode this week for the Max Fund Drive are Maximum Fun founder and Bullseye host Jesse Thorn and Depresh Mode senior producer Laura Swisher.

It’s Max Fun Drive! Support Depresh Mode here at www.maximumfun.org/join. Get your Depresh Mode pin starting at the $10 donation level.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.

In this episode...

Host
Producer

Guests

  • Peter Sagal

About the show

Join host John Moe (The Hilarious World of Depression) for honest, relatable, and, yes, sometimes funny conversations about mental health. Hear from comedians, musicians, authors, actors, and other top names in entertainment and the arts about living with depression, anxiety, and many other common disorders. Find out what they’ve done to address it, what worked, and what didn’t. Depresh Mode with John Moe also features useful insights on mental health issues with experts in the field. It’s honest talk from people who have been there and know their stuff. No shame, no stigma, and maybe a few laughs.

Like this podcast? Then you’ll love John’s book, The Hilarious World of Depression.

Logo by Clarissa Hernandez.

Get in touch with the show

People

How to listen

Stream or download episodes directly from our website, or listen via your favorite podcatcher!

Share this show

New? Start here...