Big Mood, Little Mood with Daniel M. Lavery

Danny gives thoughtful, eloquent advice, and I really enjoyed his book as well. His guests, however, can be pretty hit-or-miss. It’d be great if he can invite more guests whose expertise or lived experience is relevant to giving advice (eg the psychologists and social workers tend to be good), versus writers and other podcasters who can sometimes give questionable advice at best, and sound apathetic or sarcastic at worst. While I enjoy being introduced to artists I did not know, I’m not sure people looking to market their own work are necessarily the most qualified people to give advice. The format doesn’t seem to do justice to people who are writing to Danny about their heartfelt problems.

big mood, little mood has been my emotional support podcast for the past 3 years (starting when danny was dear prudence) and i am on the one hand despondent to hear of its ending, but on the other i respect and support danny’s choice to move on to other projects! it has meant so much to have a podcast that satisfies my unending need for gossip & on which the host and guest also have such consistently good takes that align with my values/worldview/interests. when my friends ask me for advice i think of what danny would say (and believe me, they KNOW that is what i am thinking.) also, this may be very parasocial of me, but i feel very seen by anything danny shares about how his mind works. danny, i’m not sure if you’re reading this and it’s therefore weird of me to be using the third person, but thank you so much for putting this into the world, and i am very excited to see / hear / engage with your future work!!!

I love Danny and have learned so much about how to be a good human from him over the years.

But I wish he picked “juicer” letters more frequently. Some of them are boring and have predictable answers/responses