"Adulting" The Terrifying and Hilarious Moment You Realize You’re the Adult in the room (And You are Clueless What to Do)
Episode Description
Dave and Asher Hold It Down: Adulting, and the Things We Still Can't Figure Out
Jon's out. The substitute teachers are in charge.
In this episode, Dave and Asher fly solo for the first time in nearly two years of podcasting — and somehow manage to hold it together. Mostly. They spend most of the episode wrestling with one deceptively deep question: at what point did you realize YOU were the adult in the room? And does knowing that actually make you feel like one?
From colonoscopies to root canals and Gatorade-plus-antacid pre-fast routines, Dave and Asher take an honest — and very funny — inventory of what it means to be in your 40s. They talk about watching athletes you grew up idolizing retire and become millionaires while you're still figuring out the thermostat. They talk about mentoring the next generation at work while privately Googling how to hang a picture frame. They talk about laundry — a lot — and the creative workarounds that keep households running when you're too proud to admit you never really learned.
But underneath all the humor is something genuinely real: the weight and beauty of being the generation in the middle. Old enough to be the ones people turn to. Still young enough to remember when we thought the adults had it all figured out.
Plus: substitute teacher stories, a very eventful little Tyke's car incident, a parent-teacher conference confession, LeBron vs. Jordan, a prank from Toys R Us, and the world's most relatable Seder question.
Jon — we miss you. Come back soon.
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⏱️ Chapters with Timestamps
00:00 — Cold Open: Dave Asks His Wife About His Maturity. She Laughs.
00:27 — Welcome to the Carpool Guys Podcast
01:02 — Jon Is Out — Dave and Asher Go It Alone
01:22 — Substitute Teacher Stories: Mrs. Bach, Mrs. Henry, and a Saved Life
05:47 — Dave's Career Started as a Sub — Shout Out to Rabbi Hammer
07:16 — Smart Boards, Coaching Boards, and the HANC Basketball Championship
08:34 — Orange Juice, Decaf Coffee, and the Post-Fast Routine Debate
09:30 — The Bagel, Tuna, Herring, and OJ Breakfast Club
10:49 — The Big Question: When Did YOU Become the Adult in the Room?
12:10 — Colonoscopies, Pillboxes, Gout, and the Reality of Getting Older
14:09 — Root Canals, Dental Inheritance, and the First Cavity at 30
15:00 — When Athletes You Grew Up With Are Now Retired Millionaires
17:36 — LeBron vs. Jordan: The Eternal Debate
18:16 — Taking Pictures WITH Athletes vs. Taking Pictures OF Your Kids With Athletes
19:49 — Adulting at Work: You Don't Need All the Answers
21:00 — Mentoring the Next Generation: The Shift From Sink-or-Swim to Sit-Down-and-Talk
24:30 — Supervising Interns for the First Time: It's a Little Scary
25:47 — The 15-Year Window of Adulthood and What Comes After
27:09 — Taking Care of Your Health Differently: Recovery, Moderation, and Lactaid
28:01 — The Adulting Moment: Adding an Antacid to the Pre-Fast Routine
29:02 — Things Our Parents Did That We Wish We Knew How to Do
29:33 — The Picture That Fell Off the Wall and the Les
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