In answer to the question, “What’s new?” I’m a podcaster, y’all!
😂I’ve launched me a podcast called 💉✂️BANGS ‘N’ BOTOX: Women Who Wear Aging Well. Now that I’m speaking for the “older” trees – yes, this is my thinly veiled reference to The Lorax – I figured a podcast was tooootally necessary. 🌳Plus, I seemed to have a pesky gap of free time in my schedule between 2:00 a.m. – 4:00 a.m., where I found myself just lying around sleeping. Sooo…I’d love it if you’d give it a listen.
🎧9️⃣episodes – and counting‼️ – have gone live so far:
- 🐔Are you a chicken with a spring?
- 🚀This is the inaugural episode for my humorous podcast about aging: BANGS ‘N’ BOTOX. (I call it my podcast pancake, and when you give this a listen, you’ll hear why.) 🥞In this segment I cover the format of the show which includes storytelling, sit-down standup comedy bits, and motivational snippets. This time around I shared a story – and rant – about when I was talking to a much-older-than-me boss who told me I wasn’t a “spring chicken.” 🐔Now, I need you to know we weren’t talking about spring, chickens, nor anything to do with fowl or seasons of any kind. We were talking about my career, which I dared to think wasn’t over in my 50’s. I also talk about permission…as in YOU DON’T NEED PERMISSION to create your own opportunity. What do YOU really, really want to do in your life? What opportunity(ies) can YOU make FOR YOURSELF? Don’t wait…if not now, when?🙋♀️
- 👄Tell me a story with your lips.
- 💡This episode of BANGS ‘N’ BOTOX is all about using storytelling and humor as coping mechanisms.😂 I can only lie prone on my comfy-cozy bed yodeling out, “Why me?” for so long before even the dogs get up and leave. 🛏️For me, I end up with way better results when I channel my angst, sadness, grief, and life event detritus into something I create or something I process in the moment with humor. 🌞In this way, I alchemize my challenging emotions into emotional gold.🪙
- 💪What IS a good body, anyway?
- 🛰️Today’s episode of ✂️BANGS ‘N’ BOTOX: Women Who Wear Aging Well 💉orbits around a pretty heady theme, namely, THE FEMALE BODY, and how the perception of it is impacted by unrealistic narratives, ideals, cultural expectations, AND AGING. ♀️ Whoooaaa…that requires a double snap, right there! 🫰🫰Multiple relatable stories like the ultra-funny “Held Prisoner By My Sports Bra”💦illustrate the challenges and sometimes humorous outcomes that arise when podcast host Diane Dean-Epps has been forced to navigate these unrealistic norms. ⛵Diane says she has a good body; a great body; the best body. Listen in to find out how she can even make that claim. ☑️
- 👩🦳 Hair’s the thing.
- 💇♀️Episode 4 of BANGS ‘N’ BOTOX offers up HAIR-lariouspuns as Diane talks about her devotion to her hair and where that lands her on the superficiality meter with equal parts candor and humor.🎯😂 🏎️She amusingly describes her hair highlights as racing stripes letting us in on—sort of—the special secret sauce crafted by her hair magician that creates her anything-but-natural hue. 🪄 🪞When faced with the mirror Diane says she’s able to ignore most of the work aging has performed on her face—fine lines, not-so-fine lines, cavernous pores, unsightly spots that can’t remotely be classified as beauty marks—because she JUST focuses on her manufactured mane. 👩🍳 🏰In the story-time segment, Diane entertains us with “The Summer of My Discon-tint” which speaks to the perils of home hair dying coupled with the further perils of trying to teach teenagers when THEY witness first-hand the perils of home hair dying. 😮
- ✨Honey…maybe?
- 👫 ➕ 💖 🟰🪄 The topic this time around is what Diane calls “Active Senior Relationships.” While this subject is suitable for the 50+ crowd, truth be told, this is a relatable discussion for anyone who is rocking a (committed) relationship. 🔏 Secrets to a happy long-term relationship may not be offered up, but there are plenty of quippy “warm” tips and amusing asides. ♨️ (Spoiler Alert: Grooming figures in…and lists…so many lists.) 🪒 🚿📝 Having an Authentic Relationship🆚a Facebook Relationship is one of the keys to happiness. 🗝️ What that REALLY looks like—and how you measure the aforementioned happy—is hilarious as told by the 42-years-and-counting married host. It’s all wrapped up with a fun—and funny—Story Time segment. 🏰
- 👚 What are you wearing?
- 😜Diane isn’t afraid to tackle—more like poke fun at—the tough(?) issues of our day. That means, this time around, she addresses the hot button topic🚨that is Elderwear, to wit: how elders should—and do—dress. 💯Our intrepid host aims to amuse, inspire, and empower you as she tells you the amusing story about getting stuck in her sports bra—yes, you read that right—and she offers up plenty of laughs even when she delivers truth bombs.💥 📢This show riffs off the question yodeled out by pop culture journalists to famous people when they sashay down some sort of red-carpeted or gold-doubloon-encrusted walkway at a posh event. 💎ᴠɪᴘ🎟️ 👗 In that scenario they want to know what designer the celebrity is wearing. 🏛️In the baby boomer and baby boomer-adjacent female fashionista version, when we don’t live up to the societal standards set for how we should be outfitted, the very moral fiber of society begins to fray, leaving us hanging by a thread. 🧵(Or so it would seem, given the sheer number of “helpful hints” provided by younger family members, women’s magazines, and fashion “experts.”) 📺This episode answers the 🔥burning🔥 question on all our minds. How SHOULD non-influencer, non-famous, non-asked-about-what-we’re-wearing active seniors dress? Muumuu? Tube top? Something in between? 😅Tune in for answers, quips, and even more questions.🎙️
- 🦹♀️ What are YOUR (senior) superpowers?
- 😂 This show is both motivational AND funny when the BANGS ‘N’ BOTOX “Super Host” talks about superpowers and how EVERYONE possesses an exceptional skill or natural talent where they excel uniquely. 🤹♀️🪄 Superpowers—senior and otherwise—can be a mixture of the serious AND the humorous. 🐹Maybe you’re a gerbil whisperer, an accurate weather predictor because your achy, trick knee “talks” to you when a certain weather front is coming in, ⛈️ or maybe you have a photographic memory. 🖼️👩🍳🎧Well-positioned in the podcast mix are the BEST recommendations—called THE SOMETHINGS—along with one TO-DON’T. Guaranteed you’ll share these with your friends as soon as you hear them. ☎️ (Please do come back and finish listening to the show, though.😜)📜 While Diane provides a chuckle-inducing list of quirky superpowers, the funniest example surfaces during “Storytime with Diane,” when we learn about Diane’s odd superpower that isn’t so much super as it is just plain hilarious. 👏(Hint: A water bottle & yoga mat figure prominently. 🧘♀️➕💦🟰🫣)🍀 Luckily, it’s within real-life discomfort that a comedian finds comedy gold, and this story—and the episode—delivers the mother lode of yucks and truths. 💯
- 🤶 Falalalala…’tis foofy drink season!
- 🌟 🌟 🌟 ‘Tis the Season for foofy drinks! 🌟🌟 🌟At the time of recording this episode it’s December which means the show is holiday inspired. 🦌🦌🦌🎅🏻 If there’s one thing you can say about our BANGS ‘N’ BOTOX “Hostess with the mostest,” she LOVES a good theme! 💚❤️ 💚❤️ 💚🪭 🙇♀️ This time around, Diane fangirls over caffeinated beverages, specifically coffee drinks infused with all manner of peppermint, pumpkin, gingerbread, caramel, and egg nog yumminess.🍵🍬 🍫[🤫Psssttt…she also provides seasonally-inspired bonus content, rolling out, “Oh, Christmas tree of controversy.”🎁] 🚫🍞🍶🍨Being lactose-intolerant, gluten-intolerant, and fun food-intolerant, she plans her holiday espresso-based treat schedule meticulously because there’s no way she’s willing to permanently eschew these offerings. This means Diane builds ample room into her active senior schedule for subsequent down time due to nausea, hives, and gastrointestinal mutinies. 😵💫🎧Along with what’s become a staple of the show—THE SOMETHINGS—when Diane shares her recommendations related to what she’s watching, doing, and reading—she introduces a new segment called the “TO DON’TS.” 👏📖😅💡 👩🍳While hilarity, storytelling, inspiration, and connection are baked into this podcast, Diane adds that extra seasonal savory ingredient: CARE. She reminds us all that, inamongst the holiday hubbub, we need at least a modicum of “ME” time—which includes downtime—for that all-important self-care. 💆🏻♀️😴🧘🏻♀️
- 🐶And they call it puppy love.
- 🐾This episode has really gone to the dogs!🐶Are you a BIG-TIME dog lover, like our funny AND “pour out a cup of auditory kindness” BANGS ‘N’ BOTOX author (https://www.amazon.com/BANGS-BOTOX-Jo…) and podcast host?❤️🚀The New Year launches with Diane’s tail wagging big-time as she celebrates the fun that is being the new Mama of her fur baby—Teddy. 🧸Peanuts cartoonist, Charles Schulz, really knew what he was talking about when he famously wrote, “Happiness is a warm puppy,” unconditional love being a HUGE gift, along with providing humorous writing fodder. 🎁😂Diane artfully weaves together her hilarious stories about puppy adoption—including her story time piece🏰, AND THEY CALL IT PUPPY LOVE (https://udayton.edu/blogs/erma/2025/1…) —with her inspiring messages about self-care that includes small joyous moments. ✨
🔗Here are the variety-pack of hosting services where you’d find the podcast
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Podcast Description
Let’s face it: until someone invents a time machine, we’re all getting older whether we like it or not. BANGS ‘N’ BOTOX exists as a podcast launching at least 1,000 conversations about A-G-I-N-G, and what-all that means for us non-famous, non-influencer, “regular” women who are partners, Mamas, Mimi’s, friends, worker bees, and other descriptors, but we’re ALWAYS relevant. Diane Dean-Epps is here to make sure we get in a good laugh or 10, along with her patented feel-good motivational offerings. P.S. Wanna get a feel for the podcast? Check out Diane’s humor book, BANGS ‘N’ BOTOX (Amazon).
Podcast Press
BANGS ‘N’ BOTOX: New Humor Book and Now a Podcast (The Union newspaper)
Diane Dean-Epps, Writer 