Out of Patients with Matthew Zachary
Out of Patients with Matthew Zachary
Matthew Zachary is the healthcare policy love child of Jon Stewart, Howard Stern, Thomas Paine, Ralph Nader, and Jerry Seinfeld. He has 19 years of receipts to prove it. Editorially independent. Answerable to no one. What started as The Stupid Cancer Show in 2007 became Out of Patients. The first online health podcast in America, predating the medium itself. Zachary survived brain cancer at 21, built the young adult cancer movement from scratch, and spent two decades channeling patient rage into something the system never saw coming. Now he is marching into Washington. Out of Patients goes where the comfortable shows will not. Politics. Healthcare policy. Economics. Institutional accountability. Consumer protection. The forces shaping what 330 million Americans can access, afford, and survive. Battle-scarred patients. Exhausted caregivers. Rare insiders brave enough to name what is killing us. And the occasional elected official about to find out what an organized patient constituency actually looks like. This is the show that started the conversation America is still not ready to finish.
April 1, 2025

Love Is Rare. Life Is Strange: My Best Friend Sarah

Love Is Rare. Life Is Strange: My Best Friend Sarah

Sarah Armstrong—forever Sarah Oakden to me, no matter what the legal documents say—isn't just my best friend. 

She's my first college friend, my musical theater soulmate, and the first person who truly saw me as an artist. She was there when I walked onto Binghamton’s campus, and she was there when I walked into cancer hell. And, because we’re nothing if not in sync, a few decades later, she got her own cancer badge of honor, and I was right there with her every step of the way.

This episode is a love letter to friendship, music, and those moments that change your life forever. We nerd out over Sondheim, Binghamton's infamous "Theater 101 with Dr. Susan Peters." and the weird and wonderful rabbit holes that turn into entire alternate realities across decades of aging gracefully and falling with style.

We talk about how cancer is the worst club with the best people and how surviving it together just adds another verse to the song we’ve been singing for 30 years. It’s funny. It’s real. It’s a master class in love, laughter, and musicals that should have been bigger; with a big tip of the hat to Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer for their acclaimed musical "I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road"

Oh, and RIP to the legendary Denny’s on Vestal Parkway. You will be missed.




FEEDBACK:

Like this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship inquiries, email podcast@matthewzachary.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sarah Armstrong—forever Sarah Oakden to me, no matter what the legal documents say—isn't just my best friend.

She's my first college friend, my musical theater soulmate, and the first person who truly saw me as an artist. She was there when I walked onto Binghamton’s campus, and she was there when I walked into cancer hell. And, because we’re nothing if not in sync, a few decades later, she got her own cancer badge of honor, and I was right there with her every step of the way.

This episode is a love letter to friendship, music, and those moments that change your life forever. We nerd out over Sondheim, Binghamton's infamous "Theater 101 with Dr. Susan Peters." and the weird and wonderful rabbit holes that turn into entire alternate realities across decades of aging gracefully and falling with style.

We talk about how cancer is the worst club with the best people and how surviving it together just adds another verse to the song we’ve been singing for 30 years. It’s funny. It’s real. It’s a master class in love, laughter, and musicals that should have been bigger; with a big tip of the hat to Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer for their acclaimed musical "I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road"

Oh, and RIP to the legendary Denny’s on Vestal Parkway. You will be missed.


FEEDBACK:

Like this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship inquiries, email podcast@matthewzachary.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.