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  • Haley McGee
    • Feb 24, 2021
    • 4 min read

Season 1: Episode 2 - Comedy and The Cost of Love with Naomi Ekperigin and Andy Beckerman

Updated: Jul 2, 2021


Is there a cost of mining your love for material? How do you navigate careers in the same industry and working with your significant other?


Professional comedians, co-hosts of the Couples Therapy Podcast and real life couple, Naomi Ekperigin and Andy Beckerman talk professional jealousy, the baby question, sex negativity and how being in therapy makes everything easier.


Listen here or scroll down to read the rest of the show notes.





Episode Summary

This is the second ever episode of The Cost of Love. Welcome.


Haley McGee is a love idiot. She’s also an actor and the author of the forthcoming book, ‘The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale’. On The Cost of Love Podcast she’s talking to a wide range of experts to try to figure out if the cost of love is worth it.


Each episode features a conversation between Haley and someone in the know, and they dig into that strange juicy place where love and money collide.


This hilarious and illuminating episode is all about the cost of love and comedy with professional comedians and real life couple, Naomi Ekperigin and Andy Beckerman, co-hosts of the Couples Therapy Podcast.


11 years into their relationship they have a lot to share on being together and working together while maintaining a relationship that is 80% joyful.


In part one, ‘Everyone’s a Love Idiot’, Haley grills Andy and Naomi with a series of questions that attempt to quantify their romantic histories. We learn many times they've been in love, had their hearts broken and pined after disinterested parties. Naomi tells us how much money she feels she's owed by an Australian who did her dirty. And Andy paints of picture of sitting by a tennis court alone in Pennsylvania, singing out loud, when he realised it wasn't going to work out with his high school girlfriend.


In part two, ‘Brains Over Braun’, we apply their expertise in comedy to the concept of the cost of love and conduct a cost-benefit analyses on their relationships with comedy, love, each other and working together.


The conversation covers...

  • How Naomi and Andy felt about comedy as kids and how they fell in love with it as adults

  • The origin of their relationship, meeting in a student show at UCB in New York.

  • What negotiations went into starting to work together on their podcast, the hard lines around what they are allowed to joke about, setting boundaries that keep the spark alive

  • The cost of mining their love for content

  • Using humour to resolve conflict (on stage and off)

  • Coping with professional jealousies and guilt

  • Why having kids while pursuing careers in the entertainment industry feels like an impossible bargain

  • The value of therapy in making it all work

  • Haley gets some sage advice on how she should proceed when working with a lover

  • Why Naomi is famously "sex negative" and Andy "sex neutral"(JK JK - it's a joke, but we dissect it)


In part three, ‘Free Hugs’, Naomi, Andy and Haley answer a listener question about love and money, this one is all about what to do when you find out your partner hasn't paid their taxes in ... well, forever.


Before signing off, Haley talks about what this interview illuminated for her about the value of good listening.


We end with "Both Hands" by Ani DiFranco, the song Naomi listened to on repeat when falling in love. Click the link to listen to the whole song.



About Naomi Ekperigin and Andy Beckerman

Naomi Ekperigin is an actor, stand-up comedian and writer. She’s written for shows like BROAD CITY and appeared on just about every major US TV network as an actor. In 2017, Rolling Stone listed her on their "10 Comedians You Need to Know" list and you can watch her Comedy Central Half Hour special on cc.com. She was a regular on the hit podcast 2 DOPE QUEENS, and you can see her in the 2 DOPE QUEENS TV series on HBO.

Andy Beckerman has been writing and performing comedy since 2009, he co-created and executive produced a comedic pilot about race called INSIDE CAUCASIA for truTV. He’s written for shows like THE PETE HOLMES SHOW and CEDRIC'S BARBER BATTLE. Andy also hosts the podcast BEGINNINGS about the creative origins and childhoods of writers and performers. Many years before all this, Andy was a PhD student and adjunct professor of philosophy at Temple University.


Together they host Couples Therapy Podcast. Once a live show where comedians who were close to each other talked about their relationship, now in quarantine, each week they’re joined by a guest to answer listener advice questions. Every Wednesday, they also do a live video Couples Therapy in Quarantine on Twitch.



Books & Some of the Other Things Mentioned

Love Languages - what are the love languages & what it's useful to know yours and those of the people you love (not just your lovers)

Demon Dialogues - from Dr. Sue Johnson

Upright Citizens Brigade, NYC

Break-Up Tunes Naomi & Any Listened to on Repeat ...

Naomi listened to Untouchable Face by Ani DiFranco

Andy listened to Superchunk's cover of Magnetic Field's 10000 Fireflies and I Am Trying to Break Your Heart by Wilco


Support the Podcast

This week The Cost of Love is supported in part by... Bedfolk Use our the this link when you buy your gorgeous, ethically made, 100% cotton or 100% linen bedding from Bedfolk and we get a small percentage of your order!


Our Ko-Fi Account ☕️

Use our Ko-Fi link to donate £3 (or more!) to support the work we do putting this podcast together. https://ko-fi.com/costoflove 💸❤️


Stay in Touch

Follow The Cost of Love on Instagram @thecostof_love, Twitter @thecostof_love and Facebook

Follow Haley McGee on Instagram @yeshaleymcgee, Twitter @yeshaleymcgee and Facebook


Submit a Question about Love & Money

Email costoflovequestion@haleymcgee.ca and give us some context while you're at it! We'll try to answer it on a future episode.



Photo by Arin Sang-urai

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