Andrea Dunlop (on Munchausen by proxy)

[0] Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert, Experts on Expert.

[1] I'm Monica Padman and I'm joined by Dax Shepherd.

[2] Hi.

[3] I'm Dax.

[4] Oh, I'm Dax.

[5] I like the lift weights and eat steak.

[6] Oh, boobs.

[7] That wasn't fair to Andrea Dunlop at all.

[8] Not really.

[9] Andrea Dunlop is a writer and a host of an award -winning podcast, which we talk about a lot in this episode called Nobody Should Believe Me. This was tasty.

[10] This is all about Moonschausen, and Moonschosen by proxy, one of our favorite topics.

[11] This episode is so fascinating.

[12] I've just told everyone I've encountered since then about this.

[13] So a lot of people are waiting for this episode to drop.

[14] She has also written several books.

[15] Women are the fiercest creatures losing the light.

[16] She regrets nothing.

[17] We came here to forget in Broken Bay.

[18] But please check out, nobody should believe me the podcast.

[19] It's phenomenal, and we discuss a lot.

[20] We really get into it here.

[21] Andrea Dunlop.

[22] Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now.

[23] Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.

[24] Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.

[25] He's an armchair expert.

[26] He's an armchair expert.

[27] Hi.

[28] I'm so sorry, I'm like.

[29] Oh, no, Apple.

[30] Dax.

[31] Nice to meet you.

[32] I have to wait till Monica arrive, see her out my window, then color coordinate my outfit.

[33] So I'm always delayed.

[34] It'd be pretty awkward if you guys clash.

[35] Yeah.

[36] It wouldn't work.

[37] It just simply wouldn't work.

[38] It's not in a stew.

[39] You're going to have trouble telling you apart now, though.

[40] That's one of the main issues.

[41] We hear that a lot.

[42] Truth but told, you're mildly responsible for my tardiness.

[43] I am?

[44] Yeah, because I got really sucked into your podcast while I was working out.

[45] We love to hear it.

[46] Yeah, and I was getting distracted.

[47] That's a really good compliment.

[48] I'm going to take that one and carry it with me. Yeah.

[49] Yeah.

[50] distracted listening.

[51] Then I was distracted.

[52] Oh, I want to write that down to bring that up.

[53] And then I was like, what are we doing up here?

[54] Oh, we're in the middle of exercising.

[55] Let's get back at it.

[56] Sure, sure, sure.

[57] And then I would cycle through that loop again.

[58] That's amazing.

[59] As long as I didn't cause any injuries, I'm extremely glad to hear it.

[60] They usually surface the next day.

[61] So TBD, I was lifting with bad form.

[62] Good thing.

[63] I have insurance.

[64] I don't know if my liability insurance covers that, but we'll see.

[65] That'd be a pretty wild claim to levy.

[66] I mean, I deal with very litigious.

[67] Oh, yeah.

[68] There's nothing.

[69] They can't find a way to see someone over.

[70] Look what she brought us.

[71] What do we got?

[72] They have really cute tote bags with her books in them.

[73] And they say armchair expert on them.

[74] ACX.

[75] My friend who works for Lanzan is also a huge fan.

[76] So we collaborated on, yeah, Margaret.

[77] You're from Seattle, or you live there?

[78] I am.

[79] I'm from there and I live there.

[80] And you grew up where exactly?

[81] I grew up in Woodenville, Washington.

[82] It's a little suburb.

[83] northeast of Seattle.

[84] It was very quiet and rural when I was living there.

[85] It's gotten a lot busier.

[86] Is it north of Bellevue?

[87] It is east.

[88] Do you ever go to that janky water park that was just south on the four?

[89] I guess it's the 405 that loops through there.

[90] Wild waves, baby.

[91] Yes.

[92] I just told Monica's story.

[93] That's Monica where my shorts failed me. Oh, it is.

[94] Yeah, I went down this long slide and I got up out of the water and the girls was like, oh, your entire ass is out.

[95] Amazing.

[96] By the whole back of the shorts ripped apart.

[97] I'm so glad we've both been there.

[98] Wild Waves, that was a real, like, destination when I was growing up.

[99] Maybe it is, Janky.

[100] I haven't been there since I was a kid, but, I mean, it was practically Disneyland.

[101] Of course, and I shouldn't have said.

[102] Take responsibility for your feelings.

[103] Janky was the wrong word.

[104] A, I loved it, B, everyone should go.

[105] It's a wonderful place for your family to make memories.

[106] But also, water parks in general, it's a tremendous amount of people with recycled water.

[107] And the thought of being fully newly your genitals out in the very public water, I think is why I leapt to Janky.

[108] was a janky situation, it sounds like.

[109] There we go.

[110] I was the jankiness.

[111] We actually took the kids earlier this year to Great Wolf Lodge.

[112] Are you familiar with Great Wolf Lodge?

[113] Yes, absolutely.

[114] Yeah.

[115] And that really solidifies your point of like all water parks have an element of jankitude.

[116] Yeah.

[117] Can I add into that Great Wolf Lodge, which is fantastic.

[118] My children have never been happier.

[119] Vegas for kids.

[120] But there's an added component, which is it's indoors.

[121] It's a water park indoors.

[122] It is a water park indoors.

[123] That way it's all year round.

[124] Oh, so.

[125] moist.

[126] Very humid.

[127] It then occupies two of the three states that matter can be in because it's in liquid and now it's also in the air.

[128] The communalness.

[129] You know what I'm saying?

[130] That is not for me. It really is.

[131] And it gets packed.

[132] So there was just a point when we're at the water park where I was like, there are too many people in this wave pool.

[133] I need to get up.

[134] Nope.

[135] I shan't think about that.

[136] I'll never go in any.

[137] Just all the people and all the variables of all the germs and it's all just trapped in a Ziploc bag.

[138] But it's a really fun place.

[139] No one should miss out on it in their life.

[140] Okay.

[141] What were mom and dad doing in that area?

[142] Were they in Arrow at all?

[143] Yeah.

[144] So my mom was a homemaker, which was lovely for us.

[145] And my dad, he is an entrepreneur.

[146] He has always worked sort of adjacent to aerospace stuff.

[147] So when I was younger, he was doing sort of consulting and business turnaround work.

[148] And then he eventually bought.

[149] an aerospace subcontracting firm where they made parts for all those companies.

[150] And then he developed a software for manufacturing.

[151] And so that's what he does now.

[152] He is 76.

[153] He is going strong.

[154] And you have hominy siblings.

[155] Just the one.

[156] Just your sister.

[157] And she's older?

[158] Little under two years older.

[159] So we were very close in age.

[160] So you have, actually, let's go through some of those things first before we get to the podcast.

[161] So did you go to University of Washington?

[162] No. My husband did.

[163] So, you know, go dogs, all that.

[164] Yeah.

[165] I went to the University of Redlands, actually, down here.

[166] I think L .A. people sometimes know it.

[167] It's a very small liberal arts college.

[168] I played tennis there.

[169] It was great.

[170] Oh, tennis.

[171] Redlands is a place you debate getting off to get in and out on your way to Palm Springs.

[172] I think that's the best way to describe Redlands.

[173] It's a very small town, but it's very cute for college towns.

[174] I wanted to go to a big school, and then I actually loved going to a teeny tiny school.

[175] So it was a really good experience.

[176] But did you have a fantasy of L .A. in Southern California growing up in Seattle?

[177] And you get to Redlands.

[178] You're not really there.

[179] You're very close.

[180] That is very true.

[181] And yes, I was hell -bent on going to school in California, partly because of the tennis, the lure of being able to play tennis outside all the time.

[182] Like, I wanted to change.

[183] I think I only applied to schools in California.

[184] I played to like one school in Washington.

[185] Would you go watch matches down at Laquinta?

[186] Yeah.

[187] So my parents have a little place out there.

[188] And so we went to the tournament for years and years.

[189] Indian Wells.

[190] Yeah, Indian Wells.

[191] Which is really fun.

[192] I really want to go.

[193] Oh, it's so fun.

[194] Once I started watching that tennis show.

[195] I need to get into this because everyone's been talking about it this week.

[196] Oh, it's so good.

[197] And challengers.

[198] Oh, I was thinking of challengers.

[199] What were you thinking of?

[200] On Netflix, there's a doc series match point.

[201] Yeah, it's by the people who make Drive to Survive, box to box.

[202] They make all these incredible, compelling sports documentaries.

[203] And you can watch them about sports you would never be interested.

[204] Golf.

[205] I can't stand golf.

[206] The fucking show is amazing.

[207] Can't get enough of it.

[208] Currently, the Tour de France one just came out.

[209] I'm in the middle of it right now with my daughter.

[210] Oh, fun.

[211] It couldn't be better.

[212] This is how I feel about football.

[213] I do not like watching football, but I love Friday Night Lights.

[214] They're like, I love a football arc. I love football as a metaphor, but I don't love watching football.

[215] Totally.

[216] What did you major in at Redlands?

[217] I majored in creative writing.

[218] You know, that would be one of the things, too, I wanted to, but didn't have the balls.

[219] I should have maybe just done film and television at college.

[220] I didn't.

[221] What did you major in?

[222] Anthropology.

[223] Okay.

[224] And I now know you've never heard the show because I say it almost every episode and people make fun of me for it.

[225] Yeah.

[226] Exactly.

[227] Okay.

[228] So you did creative writing.

[229] And what is the work output when you're majoring in that?

[230] Are they encouraging you to just write volumes and volumes of work?

[231] Yeah, I mean, you just write a lot of very bad work.

[232] And that is your job when you're that age.

[233] I also want to say, I have listened to a bunch of episodes in the show.

[234] Thank you very much.

[235] You don't have to listen.

[236] It's just shocking you would have made it through an episode where I didn't say.

[237] Maybe you have PTA