Seesawing Libidos | With Stephen Bogardus

The Modern Love podcast has featured stories exploring the complicated realm of the human heart. In this episode, it's all about the body.

Let's just put it this way: Is your sex life lackluster? Do you desperately want to fire things up with your partner? Careful what you wish for, because it just might come true.

It did for comedy writer Marc Jaffe. Actor Stephen Bogardus brings us Marc's story, titled "Finding Equilibrium in Seesawing Libidos."

More about the voices in this week's episode

Tony-nominated actor Stephen Bogardus is currently co-starring on Broadway in Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s bluegrass-inflected musical, Bright Star. His 12 additional Broadway appearances include, "Les Misérables," "The Grapes of Wrath," "Falsettos," and "Love! Valour! Compassion!" Mr. Bogardus has performed in regional theatres throughout the country, most recently as Fredrik Egerman in Stephen Sondheim’s, "A Little Night Music," at Boston’s Huntington Theater Company.

Stephen’s television and film work includes, "The Blacklist," "Elementary," "The Good Wife," "Julie & Julia," and "Gold." As a Princeton undergraduate Stephen sang in the a cappella group, The Nassons, and performed in The Triangle Club.

Marc Jaffe has been acting funny for over 30 years. After getting his MBA from the University of Michigan he pursued the typical business career of stand-up comedy. Within a few years of moving to LA, he was headlining comedy clubs, working cruise ships and appearing on numerous stand-up TV shows. He had married, settled back in Cleveland and continued his stand-up career when he was offered a job writing for an obscure TV show called "Seinfeld." It soon became less obscure and Marc continued to commute to LA and write for that and other TV shows. Slowly, he shifted to his own projects which were independent from the West Coast. These included authoring several books, most notably the best-selling "Sleeping With Your Gynecologist – Tales From My Marriage to an OB/GYN," a comedy game show called "BONK" and a syndicated column which ran for 7 years called "The Quiz and Stuff."

In 2008 his wife Karen was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Marc and Karen used her diagnosis as fuel to be creative and raise funds for a cure. Marc wrote a play called Side Effects May Include… which had runs in Cleveland, Chicago and toured from North Carolina to Florida with a percentage of the proceeds going to Parkinson’s research. They also formed a foundation called Shaking With Laughter that raises money for research through events with an element of humor. Karen is also one of the founders of InMotion, the nations’ first free wellness center for Parkinson’s patients that offers exercise and movement classes as well as support. Amongst his other collaborations with Karen are three incredible daughters.

Did you like this episode? Make sure you subscribe to Modern Love: The Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts. And don't miss our "Leaps of Faith," listener-generated bonus episode -- where we hear your stories of love, loss and redemption.

Check out the world wide map of Modern Love (below) to learn more about other listeners and their thoughts on life and love. Don't forget to to join the wider Modern Love community on Facebook.