Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Luana Anders, Matthew Perry, River Phoenix, Bob Saget

As usual - Jennifer and I have no idea what we're going to talk about, or who we're going to speak to.

We have our moderator on the flipside, Luana Anders to thank for our guest list. 

Today's podcast is the 2023 DAY OF THE DEAD version.  We start off talking about Jennifer's latest events, (JenniferShaffer.com) - as we note in this podcast, by remembering our loved ones, we realize this is the DAY OF THE NOT DEAD.

Because what people report is that when the play is over we go home.  Without exception.

We invite whomever wants to speak to us to check in with Luana first. And she brought Matthew Perry.

Jennifer points out that he's been coming in to her sessions during the past week.  Friends of his that she was reading, brought him forward.  So it's not like Jennifer and I thought "Oh, let's talk to Matthew."

So I asked him the same questions I ask everyone.  In this case, I knew that he had done his first movie with River Phoenix - and that when they become close friends, River's sudden death affected him directly.

In this session he talks about the people that he's helped with their addictions, he talks about passing away after a game of Pickle ball (accurate, but Jennifer didn't know that), he talks about seeing River on the flipside. He says "He likes what we're doing, and he has friends Jennifer will be speaking with and he wanted Jennifer to "get used to it."

He mentions his book during the podcast: Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir. I looked at the prologue and put a sentence at the end of the podcast from the book: "If you like, you can consider what you're about to read to be a message from the beyond, my beyond." 

Jennifer saw Bob Saget come through - and said "The comedian who we spoke to who golfed." She didn't remember his name - I said "Garry Shandling" because Garry did come through to talk about golf... but in this case, she was referring to Bob Saget (who corrects me later in the podcast.)

We spoke to River Phoenix about his journey - about how he shows up to his brother Joaquin often and he's aware of those visits. (Only he could answer this question.) For those interested in attending a Jennifer evening, see JenniferShaffer.com - fun events in Manhattan Beach and around the southland. 

Hank Azaria showed up in our podcast with Stephen Hawking talking about a story he told on the Late Show. 

It's another mind bending podcast.

Fellow has a strong sense of humor. My laughter is reflected by doing this kind of conversation weekly for 8 years. 

Bless his heart. Hope this helps someone. He says he's grateful he left a book. If you're missing him, or want to talk more about him - check out his book. "Every day should be the day of the dead" he says. "Love well. You have to love yourself in order to love others." River Phoenix. "I'll be back." Bob Saget: "Laughter is great medicine."