About Monica McCarthy
Monica McCarthy is the creator and host of The Happier Hour: Philosophy To Help Life Suck Less. She is also the founder of Cheshire Parlour, an agency bringing meaningful dialogues to communities including Holstee, Impact Hub, 92Y, and Escape The City, where she has curated and facilitated hundreds of events focused on purpose and interdisciplinary connections. Most recently, Monica is honored to be a Founding Faculty Member for The School of Life in North America.
She is also passionate about actual happy hour (pass the bubbly) and speakeasies (pass the bourbon).
Monica’s interest in philosophy began at Pepperdine University as a student in The Great Books Colloquium, an honors program exploring works Plato to Nietzsche, from Homer to Dostoevsky, from Augustine to Freud, in a discussion-based cohort.
Monica is also an actress, and has performed on Broadway and in television and film, from from NYC to LA to Japan to the UK.
Speaking of travel, Monica's passport is never far away. So far her travels have taken her to about 50 countries on 6 continents and counting. But she still has zero sense of direction.
About The Happier Hour
Why The Happier Hour?:
Equal parts philosophy and self-help (with a dash of humor thrown in for taste), The Happier Hour is both a podcast and an event that aims to make philosophy useful for the rest of us. Each episode explores a modern-day dilemma, via the lens of the greatest philosophers of all time, and often with special guests in the hot seat who know about stuff. Think of The Happier Hour like the joy that comes from a strong drink at half the price, while surrounded by friends and friends you haven't met yet!
Who it's for:
The Happier Hour is for curious minds who want to be better people while having more fun at the same time, without going back to school. Maybe you took a philosophy class in school or maybe not. You don’t have to have any background in philosophy to enjoy the show! The two root words of philosophy are philo meaning love and sophie meaning wisdom, so if you love wisdom you’ve come to the right place!
How it works:
Once a month(ish) we gather for a live show and taping of The Happier Hour in NYC.
If you can’t attend the event you can join the conversation on the podcast via Itunes, Spotify, or Stitcher, with additional commentary to dive deeper into the topic or philosopher or philosophic movement. When the mood strikes there are also The Happier Ever After-Hours podcast episodes which are inspired by a story in culture that is related to a problem that philosophy can help with.
Every episode ends with a question for self-inquiry or to foster conversation with someone else.
