On this episode of In on the Bit, Christie sits down with comedian and former physician Mike Bodhi for a conversation that spirals beautifully through improv, medicine, burnout, existential dread, ADHD brain chemistry, stand-up vulnerability, pandemic trauma, public health collapse, astrology panic, and whether libertarianism is just America’s emotional support waiting room.

This episode is about Joe Bates’ long, strange relationship with stand-up, why he stopped chasing it, and how improv became a healthier creative/social outlet. The strongest spine is: stand-up gives you freedom, identity, ego, and pain; improv gives you structure, community, and relief. The episode also becomes a funny inside-baseball conversation about comedy clubs, open mics, delusion, social media comics, bad stand-up, character work, and the Denver scene.

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In this episode of In on the Bit, Christie Buchele sits down with Matt to talk through what’s actually happening on stage when a set works—and when it doesn’t. What starts around bombing turns into a more honest conversation about control, reading the room, and how much of comedy is just reacting in real time instead of trying to force something to land.

They get into the difference between missing a joke and losing the audience, how comics learn to adjust on the fly, and why some of the best moments come from things not going according to plan. It’s a look at the part of comedy you don’t see from the crowd—the constant recalibration, the instincts you build, and the reality that getting better isn’t about avoiding failure, it’s about knowing what to do with it.