The actor Kyle MacLachlan readily acknowledges the immense impact that the late director David Lynch had on his life and career. After making his on-screen debut starring in Lynch's sci-fi epic Dune (1984), Kyle expected superstardom — only to see the movie flop commercially. However, the connection he forged with Lynch led to a lifelong friendship and a filmography inhabiting the director's unforgettable and mysterious worlds. I look back at my time on set with Kyle as the iconic Dale Cooper on Twin Peaks, and we dissect our characters in the 2017 sequel series. Plus, we learn how Kyle’s Pacific Northwest roots led him to become a winemaker, and why he started a podcast to learn from 20-somethings. As I feel at any opportunity for us to connect, I’m reminded why perhaps David Lynch was just as lucky to find Kyle.

Read Kyle’s New York Times opinion piece about David Lynch here.

Fail Better is now on YouTube! Watch this episode here.

Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Find more video podcasts on our YouTube channel. Stay up to date with Lemonada on X, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.

The actor Kyle MacLachlan readily acknowledges the immense impact that the late director David Lynch had on his life and career. After making his on-screen debut starring in Lynch's sci-fi epic Dune (1984), Kyle expected superstardom &mdash; only to see the movie flop commercially. However, the connection he forged with Lynch led to a lifelong friendship and a filmography inhabiting the director's unforgettable and mysterious worlds. I look back at my time on set with Kyle as the iconic Dale Cooper on Twin Peaks, and we dissect our characters in the 2017 sequel series. Plus, we learn how Kyle&rsquo;s Pacific Northwest roots led him to become a winemaker, and why he started a podcast to learn from 20-somethings. As I feel at any opportunity for us to connect, I&rsquo;m reminded why perhaps David Lynch was just as lucky to find Kyle.
Read Kyle&rsquo;s New York Times opinion piece about David Lynch <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/opinion/kyle-maclachlan-david-lynch.html">here</a>.
Fail Better is now on YouTube! Watch this episode <a href="https://youtu.be/B-gcbM7LDi8">here</a>.
Follow me on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/davidduchovny/">Instagram</a> at @davidduchovny. Find more video podcasts on our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@FailBetterwithDavidDuchovny">YouTube channel</a>. Stay up to date with Lemonada on <a href="https://twitter.com/LemonadaMedia">X</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lemonadamedia/">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lemonadamedia/">Instagram</a> at @LemonadaMedia.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on <a href="http://bit.ly/lemonadapremium">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://lemonada.supportingcast.fm/">Spotify</a>, or wherever you get your podcasts.
For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to <a href="http://lemonadamedia.com/sponsors">lemonadamedia.com/sponsors</a>.

To be human is to fail – period. And not just to fail once, but to fail a lot. As the author Samuel Beckett said: “Fail again. Fail better.” This saying means a lot to me and my family – so much so that my daughter got a tattoo of it. Why are we, and so many others, so deeply concerned by failure? And if it’s something we all do so often, why are we so afraid of it – especially those of us here in win-at-all-costs America? In this podcast, I sit down with successful, thoughtful people like Ben Stiller, Bette Midler, Sean Penn and more to talk about failure – or what they labeled “failure,” but what was really an unparalleled opportunity for growth and revelation. I even want to delve into my own hardest moments, when I wrestled with setbacks, shame, and fear. We’ll still fail again. And again. But maybe if we fail better, we’ll feel better -- and maybe if we can all laugh together in failure, that's a start.

To be human is to fail – period. And not just to fail once, but to fail a lot. As the author Samuel Beckett said: “Fail again. Fail better.” This saying means a lot to me and my family – so much so that my daughter got a tattoo of it. Why are we, and so many others, so deeply concerned by failure? And if it’s something we all do so often, why are we so afraid of it – especially those of us here in win-at-all-costs America? In this podcast, I sit down with successful, thoughtful people like Ben Stiller, Bette Midler, Sean Penn and more to talk about failure – or what they labeled “failure,” but what was really an unparalleled opportunity for growth and revelation. I even want to delve into my own hardest moments, when I wrestled with setbacks, shame, and fear. We’ll still fail again. And again. But maybe if we fail better, we’ll feel better -- and maybe if we can all laugh together in failure, that's a start.