The Rich Roll Podcast

Jenny Simpson, a three-time Olympian and Olympic medalist in middle-distance running, sat down with Rich Roll eight weeks after collapsing at a community mile race. She had no pulse and required more than twenty minutes of CPR before being revived. The cause was an inherited heart condition that no one had known she had. The conversation covers the collapse on June 16th, the five days she cannot remember and what those days were actually like, and the early stages of her return to health.

Rich Roll speaks with Tommie Runz, runner and sobriety advocate, about his journey from morning drinking and denial to nine years of sobriety. Tommie shares the moment he finally told the truth about his addiction and how ultrarunning became a spiritual practice that transformed his life. They discuss the illusion of functional alcoholism, the importance of inclusivity in trail running, and the philosophy that sobriety must come first. This episode is a testament to the power of honesty and endurance in rebuilding a life.

Rich Roll speaks with Hunter Biden, a writer, painter, and lawyer, about the decade he spent being publicly dissected. The conversation explores the trauma beneath his addiction, the anatomy of relapse, and the difference between guilt and shame. Hunter reflects on what changed when his covers were pulled so completely that nothing held power over him anymore. Seven years sober, he calls the worst years of his life a gift.

Hellah Sidibe, a former professional soccer player turned transcontinental ultra-runner, shares the mental architecture behind his 3,349-day running streak. He explains how the daily discipline rebuilt his mind and cultivated a relentless positivity. Hellah discusses gratitude, his belief that abundance flows from how you walk the earth, and happiness as moments created with others. He also positions himself as a counterweight to online grifters who prey on vulnerable young men, offering an antidote of hope and presence.

Manoj Dias, meditation teacher, author of "Still Together," and co-founder of the mindfulness studio Open, joins Rich Roll live in New York at Rivian's Performance House. The conversation covers wellness as a secular religion, mindfulness as a choose-your-own-adventure, and what lies beneath the language of optimization. Dias explains a practice an NBA team uses before taking a shot, then opens the floor to audience questions. He closes by guiding the room through several rounds of five-count breathing followed by gratitude.

Emmy-winning Beef creator Lee Sung Jin joins Rich Roll to discuss the Jungian shadow work embedded in the hit series. He shares how the specificity of his characters creates universal resonance, recounts the worst year of his life and the pivotal scene it produced, and reveals the name he lived under for twenty-five years before reclaiming his identity. The conversation explores how personal evolution is always within reach — we just get in our own way.

Rich Roll talks with Johannes Klæbo, the most decorated Winter Olympian in history, about his rise from a middle-of-the-pack junior to sweeping gold medals at a single Games. They discuss Norway's philosophy for developing athletes, the training accident that became his signature uphill technique, and his grueling 32‑hour weekly training schedule. Klæbo also reveals the surprising non‑training adjustment he made before his record‑breaking Olympics, and the mindset that keeps him relentlessly competitive.

Zac Clark, founder of Release Recovery and winner of The Bachelorette, shares his raw journey through addiction and recovery. He discusses the pivotal role of community over willpower, the concept of emotional sobriety, and how running became a cornerstone of his healing. The conversation includes a shocking anecdote about conning a surgeon for opioids and the stranger who changed his life.

Ryan Holiday joins Rich to discuss Christopher Nolan's film adaptation of Homer's Odyssey and the philosophical and moral lessons the poem was built to convey. They explore why interpretation is a personal obligation, the hubris that Nolan intentionally left out, and how the Sirens function as a metaphor for confirmation bias. Holiday draws a provocative parallel between Odysseus' struggles and the twelve-step framework, and distinguishes between perseverance and true persistence. The conversation frames the film as a contemporary lens for engaging with ancient wisdom.

Michelle Khare, Emmy-shortlisted creator of YouTube's "Challenge Accepted," sits down to discuss her evolution from anxious creator to stunt performer willing to hang off a C-130 mid-flight recreating Tom Cruise's most dangerous sequences. They explore the convergence of the creator economy and Hollywood, the psychology of fear-setting, and the philosophy of walking toward what scares you. Khare reveals her personal framework for distinguishing between calculated risk and recklessness.

For episode 1,000, Rich Roll sits down with Malcolm Gladwell (New Yorker staff writer, bestselling author) and Chris Chavez (journalist, founder of CITIUS MAG) for an unscripted conversation about the state of running, how America dominates some sports while failing at others, the craft of interviewing, and how to build an audience with integrity. No agenda, no notes—just three podcasters thinking out loud.

Mark Dowdle, an endurance athlete and former football and lacrosse player, explores the intersection of endurance athletics and identity. The conversation examines how we construct narratives about who we are, how physical extremes reveal authentic self, and the process of decoupling from limiting beliefs. Topics include transforming pain into purpose, vulnerability as connection, faith, and the relationship between action and mood—with Mark's record-setting 306-mile Backyard Ultra victory as the through-line for exploring what happens when we push past the edge of perceived capability.

Rich Roll marks his podcast's 1,000th episode by reflecting on the origin story with his wife Julie. They recall starting as a creative experiment in a yurt on a Kauai mango farm while their family faced foreclosure, exploring how crisis became the crucible for everything that followed. The episode celebrates 14 years of the show and the gratitude for the audience that made it possible.

Danny McBride, writer, actor, and producer of "Eastbound & Down," "Vice Principals," and "The Righteous Gemstones," discusses his new collection of short stories, "Thrilling Tales of Modern Men." The conversation explores masculinity, disappointment, the manosphere, and the psychology of the aggrieved modern male—a figure McBride has spent 30 years satirizing. Beneath the comedy lies a deeper examination of how men construct narratives about themselves and their place in the world, with the real antagonist being internal rather than external.

Dr. Kelly Starrett discusses human performance and the pitfalls of modern wellness culture, which he sees as a secular religion fixated on optimization while ignoring fundamentals. They explore the carbohydrate revolution, why the brain prioritizes safety, the Enhanced Games, and the transformative power of play. Rich also details how a pre-pod play session reframed his approach to starting over.

Rich Roll sits down with nutrition scientist Simon Hill to examine the decline of the vegan movement after its peak around 2020. They dissect how overhyped meat alternatives, misleading health claims, and a culture of sanctimony eroded trust, while the issue became politically charged and tied to masculinity. Rich also reflects on his own role in the movement's messaging. The conversation offers a candid reckoning and a more grounded path forward for plant-based eating.

Rich Roll speaks with Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien about his new solo album "Blue Morpho," born from a long depression. They discuss creativity as a pathway through mental health struggles, childhood trauma, the dark night of the soul, and the necessity of embracing uncertainty in the artistic process. The conversation also touches on the limits of AI in creative work and the unexpected synchronicity between Ed’s album and Rich’s own book. Throughout, O'Brien reflects on the transformative power of making art from pain.

Rich Roll explores the concept of "fulfillment maxxing" as an antidote to modern self-obsession and digital overwhelm. He frames the problem around three habits we chase (the three P's), identifies the comfort crisis as a cultural condition, and argues that discomfort is actually the price of meaningful living. The core prescription: put the phone down, take small contrary actions, make peace with discomfort, and recognize that service—not self-optimization—is the cure for emptiness.

Rachel Entrekin is a professional ultra runner and three-time Cocodona 250 champion. She shares the mindset shift that led to her outright win: moving from chasing outcomes to chasing joy. She discusses her 'why not me?' self-belief, an encounter on the final climb that boosted her, and her road back from an eating disorder. Her story offers a reminder that people are capable of far more than they believe.

Andrew Yang, entrepreneur and founder of Noble Mobile, returns to discuss the hidden machinery designed to colonize your attention through phones and AI. The conversation explores how technology companies engineer addiction, the cognitive costs of over-reliance on AI, and why willpower alone cannot protect you from these systemic forces. Yang argues that the problem isn't individual weakness—it's architecture.

Rich Roll and Adam Skolnick dissect the Enhanced Games—a pay-to-play athletic competition where performance-enhancing drugs are legal and encouraged. The episode explores the event as a cultural flashpoint: a collision between transhumanism, narcissism, and the myth of self-optimization. Bryan Johnson presides over the spectacle from under a UV umbrella, while athletes compete in a framework that inverts everything sport traditionally claims to represent.

Conservationist Paul Rosolie joins Rich Roll to make the case for ground-level conservation and the urgent need to protect the Amazon. He shares how indigenous wisdom has shaped his work, recounts a controversial brush with the Discovery Channel, and describes his encounters with uncontacted tribes. The conversation also links environmental destruction to a broader crisis of meaning and challenges the belief that one person can't make a difference.

Joe Hudson, executive coach to leaders at SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, and Apple, explores the psychological patterns that undermine our own success. The conversation covers avoidance behaviors, emotional regulation, the Golden Algorithm framework, inner critic dynamics, and why self-understanding matters more than self-improvement tactics. Hudson offers direct feedback on Rich Roll's own patterns, making this as much a live coaching session as an interview.

Rich Roll explores his recent 72-hour iboga ceremony experience with his wife Julie Piatt. They discuss what led him to this root bark medicine used by Gabon's Bwiti people for thousands of years, the confrontational nature of the ceremony itself, the rebirthing process that emerged, the role of the divine feminine archetype, and the subtle shifts in his consciousness and relationships in the aftermath. Julie reflects on witnessing the experience from outside the ceremony space.

Andy Glaze, a firefighter paramedic and ultrarunner, discusses his descent into addiction, the turning point that redirected his life, and how movement became a catalyst for emotional healing. The conversation explores PTSD recovery, the limits of running as a coping mechanism, and the practical algorithm of personal transformation. Glaze doesn't hold back about his journey from rock bottom to rebuilding.

Dr. Paul Conti, psychiatrist and author of 'What's Going Right,' joins Rich Roll to flip the script on mental health. Instead of focusing on pathology, Conti explores what goes right by examining the three human drives, the structure of self, and the role of boundaries. They discuss how being hard on yourself is a form of self-sabotage that slows personal growth. Conti introduces the 'simple goodness' principle as a foundation for understanding human potential. The conversation offers a hopeful reframe for anyone struggling with self-criticism.

In this solo riff, Rich Roll explores intentional living in a reactive world through his 4 AM workout discipline, the creative boost that comes from embracing constraints, and the principle that action precedes mood. He advocates adopting the tortoise as a spirit animal for steady long-term progress and closes with the story of an old teammate who broke a decade-old record at age 50, illustrating the power of consistency over time.

David Epstein returns to discuss his new book 'Inside the Box' and the provocative idea that constraints—not unlimited freedom—unlock superior creative work. The conversation examines the sharpshooter problem, the satisficing framework, how algorithmic platforms colonize attention, and the tension between rigid goals and opportunistic pivots. A candid back-and-forth between host and guest reveals deeper themes about autonomy, transformation, and playing the long game.

Dr. Stacy Sims joins Rich Roll for a live audience episode to challenge conventional health and fitness advice for women. Drawing from her expertise in exercise physiology and nutrition, she argues that fasting, excessive cardio, and calorie restriction can be detrimental to female physiology. Instead, she advocates for heavy resistance training, eating in a fed state before and after workouts, aligning meals with circadian rhythms, and reframing perimenopause as a phase of opportunity rather than decline.

Dr. Stacy Sims is an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist whose mantra – "women are not small men" – has reshaped how women approach their health. Recorded live with a studio audience, we challenge the conventional wisdom around fasting, cardio, and calorie restriction.

Roll On, al fresco! Adam Skolnick came over. We went outside and let the conversation breathe. No studio walls. No agenda.

Rich Roll and Adam Skolnick record outdoors, discussing how self-optimization can inhibit real living, the value of depth over data-driven existence, the sterile 'dork problem' in podcasting, the joy of rediscovering creative play after 14 years, and shared anticipation for the Artemis II moon mission.

Marcus and Amber Capone are the subjects of the Netflix documentary “In Waves and War” and founders of Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions.

Marcus and Amber Capone, subjects of the Netflix documentary 'In Waves and War' and founders of Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS), join Rich Roll. Marcus, a former Navy SEAL who completed six combat deployments, suffered traumatic brain injury and suicidal ideation that nearly ended his marriage and his life. The couple discusses how Stanford research into ibogaine treatment rescued Marcus, saving their family and launching a mission to help other veterans access psychedelic therapy. In a personal revelation, Rich also shares his own experience with iboga, which he underwent 19 days prior, for the first time publicly.

Nick Bilton is a Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, a New York Times bestselling author, and screenwriter.

This is a solo AMA focused on my diet and fitness routine in the aftermath of spinal fusion surgery.

Max Jolliffe is the Moab 240 course record holder, elite ultrarunner, and one of endurance sport's more unlikely origin stories.

Tiger Woods' recent DUI arrest has everyone asking why. I have some thoughts on that. And some personal experience. In this solo episode, I draw on my own history with addiction to illuminate what's really happening beneath the spectacle.

Arthur Brooks is a Harvard professor, bestselling author, and one of the world's leading authorities on human happiness. This conversation explores what he calls a psychogenic epidemic — a crisis of meaning driven by the very technology we can't put down.

Simon Hill is a nutritionist, physiotherapist, and host of “The Proof” podcast. We dig into the newly released U.S. Dietary Guidelines: what changed, what the evidence actually supports, and how the final document diverged from the advisory committee's recommendations.

Dr. Tommy Wood is a neuroscientist, physician, associate professor at the University of Washington, and the author of “The Stimulated Mind.” I came into this one with a lot on my mind. My mother has Alzheimer's, and for two years I've been watching this disease dismantle someone I love.

Bill Burnett and Dave Evans created perhaps the most popular course at Stanford, "Designing Your Life," and co-authored the book "How to Live a Meaningful Life." This conversation explores the intersection of product design and personal development.

This is my first solo episode — and honestly, out of my comfort zone. Which is exactly why I needed to do it. The recent Channel 5 interview between Shia LaBeouf and Andrew Callaghan went wildly viral. Most of the discourse has been voyeuristic or vilifying.

Ken Rideout is a masters world champion marathon runner, recovering opioid addict, and the author of the new memoir, “Everything You Want Is on the Other Side of Hard.” This conversation explores the childhood trauma Ken spent decades outpacing, the addiction that nearly destroyed him, his wife Shel

Tom Sachs is a contemporary artist and cultural provocateur known for turning branded consumer objects into high art.

Bone smashing. Steroids. Crystal meth. 13-year-olds letting AI judge their faces. It's called looksmaxxing – and it presents as self-improvement. Underneath, it's a deftly weaponized pipeline to nihilism, misogyny, and self-destruction, consuming millions of young men right now.

Michael Easter is a New York Times bestselling author, UNLV professor, and the mind behind “Walk With Weight.” This conversation explores rucking, the evolutionary movement pattern humans are built for that modern fitness has largely overlooked.

Dr. Dawn Mussallem is a Mayo Clinic oncologist who survived stage 4 cancer at 26, heart failure, and a heart transplant—then became the first person to run a marathon within a year of receiving a new heart.

Roll On is here—and this one has teeth. Adam and I unpack the tale of two Alexes—Honnold and Pretti—and what that juxtaposition reveals about the best and worst of human nature.

Alex Honnold, the world's most accomplished free solo climber and subject of Oscar-winning Free Solo, just climbed Taipei 101 live on Netflix.

James Nestor is an acclaimed science journalist and author of the international bestseller "Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art." This conversation explores why so many of us breathe dysfunctionally—and how it may be connected to chronic ailments.

Bruce Wagner is a novelist, former student of Carlos Castaneda, and author of fifteen books, including his latest, "Amputation." This conversation explores his use of Hollywood as a laboratory for human behavior, crafting transgressive fiction that skewers the desperate while searching for transcend

Dr. Elizabeth Boham on functional medicine approaches to womens health — hormonal balance, metabolic health, and nutrition strategies across the lifespan.

Brad Stulberg is a bestselling author, executive coach, and one of my favorite thinkers on sustainable high performance. This conversation explores the dualities in personal development, discipline and self-compassion, striving and surrender, intensity and joy.

Dr. Maya Shankar is a cognitive scientist, host of the podcast “A Slight Change of Plans,” and author of “The Other Side of Change.” This conversation explores the challenge of navigating involuntary change, whether it's injury, loss, or a future that suddenly collapses.

Will Bulsiewicz on the gut microbiome as the root determinant of chronic inflammation — the silent driver behind 3 out of 5 deaths. Fiber diversity (not just quantity) is the single most important dietary variable for microbiome health.

Mark Manson is the author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and host of the Solved podcast. Back for his third appearance (eps. 476, 882), we skip the backstory and pull questions from a fishbowl.

The finale is here. Let's close this thing out. Part 2 explores courage, honesty, creativity, relationships, and balance. Bravery. Addiction. Love. Mastery. And why fulfillment doesn't require sacrifice. It's been fun putting this auditory yearbook together.

Happy holidays from the RRP mothership. Another year in the rearview. Time for what's become one of my favorite traditions, our annual “Best Of.” 12 years running now. This year was packed with an astonishing array of guests—too many to feature here.

Kevin Hall on why diets fail: ultra-processed foods hijack the brain's reward system, causing people to eat 500+ more calories per day compared to whole foods. The obesity epidemic isn't a willpower failure — it's an environmental one.

Rutger Bregman on the crisis of meaning in modern work: 25% of workers believe their jobs are socially useless. Moral ambition — redirecting talent toward the world's real problems — is the antidote to both bullshit jobs and the meaning crisis.

Gregg Renfrew is the founder of Beautycounter and now Counter—a pioneer in the clean beauty movement. Five years after our first exchange, Gregg returns with her story about navigating imposed change.

Roll On returns! Just in time for the holiday gauntlet.

Todd Marinovich is a former NFL quarterback, USC Rose Bowl champion, and the subject of the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "The Marinovich Project." This conversation explores the duality of engineered perfection and performance-based love.

Oliver Burkeman is a bestselling author, journalist, and the mind behind “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals” and “Meditations for Mortals.” We explore our broken relationship with time and Oliver's philosophy of imperfectionism, which dismantles the delusion that productivity is a mor

This Fasting Compilation features Dr. Alan Goldhamer, Dr. Valter Longo, and Dr. Michael Greger to discuss the science of strategic deprivation. We explore why visceral fat behaves like a tumor secreting inflammatory molecules that drive chronic disease.

Elizabeth Gilbert on addiction beyond substances — sex, love, codependency. Six years of celibacy as self-care after buying drugs for her dying partner. The hardest recovery isn't from substances; it's from patterns of self-abandonment.

Ethan Suplee: 530 pounds at his heaviest, congestive heart failure at 29, now a competitive bodybuilder. The transformation wasn't linear — yo-yo dieting, relapse, body dysmorphia. 'Just diet and exercise' is both true and deeply insufficient.

Valter Longo on the Fasting Mimicking Diet and its implications for aging, cancer, and diabetes. Therapeutic fasting triggers autophagy — the body's cellular recycling system — and promotes stem cell regeneration. Five nutrition pillars for longevity.

Cory Richards — National Geographic photographer, first American to summit an 8000m peak in winter. His achievements masked bipolar disorder, PTSD, and alcoholism. The paradox: the accomplishments that saved his life became the prison that delayed his healing.

Vanity Fair correspondent Nick Bilton discusses the dark underbelly of Silicon Valley: how the tech industry creates products designed to addict, why former tech leaders wont let their own children use their products, and the growing technologist-to-Luddite pipeline.

Arthur Brooks presents the science of happiness: why achievement addicts are the unhappiest successful people, how to transition from fluid to crystallized intelligence, and practical frameworks for building a happier life.

Peter Attia on Medicine 3.0 — shifting from treating disease to preventing it decades before symptoms appear. The four pillars of longevity: exercise (most important), nutrition, sleep, emotional health. Zone 2 training as the foundation.

Gabor Maté on the connection between childhood trauma and adult disease. Unhealed trauma isn't just psychological — it creates physiological stress responses that manifest as autoimmune disorders, cancer, and addiction. The body keeps the score.

David Goggins on the 40% rule: when your mind says you're done, you're only at 40% capacity. His origin: abused as a child, 300 pounds, barely literate — became a Navy SEAL, ultramarathon runner, and pull-up world record holder through pure mental discipline.