Josh Peck: The Surprising Truth Behind The 127lb Weight Loss | E238

With Drake & Josh, I felt pissed that I ... that started this whole mess. (bell rings)

Josh Peck, ladies and gentlemen.

He's an actor, comedian, one-half of Drake & Josh. A staple of my childhood. Hug me, brother! The headline of the first 10 years of my life was single mom, never knew my dad, didn't have enough money for a slice of pizza.

15 years old, Drake & Josh, one would assume that you'd be, like, set for life.

There was no residuals, and I'm as worried about next year's financial status as anyone else. I don't have that security, and I- I do want to say that I was not properly appreciated for my work. If I wanted to, at will, I could blow that up. (blowing)

18 years old, you lose 127 pounds.

Yeah.

One would assume that dropping 127 pounds would make you feel different about yourself.

I dealt with the effect, but I didn't deal with the cause. It was anger at my dad. It was anger at my circumstance. Everything was going right, and I still didn't feel like enough. Substituting what I used food for, with drinking and, and with other substance, at 21, it all came barreling down on me. I- I hurt relationships and work, I worried the people that love me, and I realized that I needed to do something. And what you do in that moment decides what's gonna happen next for you. You cannot think your way into right acting. You have to act your way into right thinking.

Is there anything that's really helped you that you might recommend to someone listening at home?

Yes. So ...

Before this episode starts, I have a small favor to ask from you. Two months ago, 74% of people that watch this channel didn't subscribe. We're now down to 69%. My goal is 50%, so if you've ever liked any of the videos we've posted, if you like this channel, can you do me a quick favor and hit the subscribe button? It helps this channel more than you know, and the bigger the channel gets, as you've seen, the bigger the guests get. Thank you, and enjoy this episode. (music) Josh, having read through your story extensively, it's quite clear to me that the, the most pertinent part of your story, and really, like, the through line begins, the sort of dot in that through line begins with this dynamic your parents had when you were very, very young. Can you take me back to 1980s in New York to give me the context that I'll need to understand to understand the things we're gonna talk about today?

Sure. I, uh, I was born in 1986. I, uh, was born to a single mom, and I never knew my dad. I was sort of the result of a, I guess what you would call a fling. Um, my mom always says, "You were a surprise, not an accident," so I like the way she, the messaging she's attached to that. But basically, my mom and dad knew each other sort of through business. They had a night, um, and nine months later came me. So, sort of so many different, especially now having two kids of my own, knowing how the process of creating life can be, uh, tenuous and random and arbitrary, and it can be incredibly easy or incredibly hard, to know that they were together once, and it just sort of happened that way is, uh, kinda crazy. It makes you believe, like, "Oh, maybe I'm meant to be here," or at least that's what I tell myself. But yeah, I, uh, I was the result of that, and my mom, who was 43 at the time, knew that she'd always wanted to have a child, but wasn't sure if she ever would, and immediately took it as sort of this gift. And my father who was in his 60s at the time and had a whole other family looked at it differently and decided not to be in my life, and I wound up never meeting him. And so, my origins were very much my mom and I sort of, uh, navigating the world together.