I’ve noticed that comedy folks tend to do well on Celebrity Jeopardy. Robin Thede, Lisa Ann Walter, and Patton Oswalt all had strong games, and of course Ike Barinholtz. The MADtv alum won the celeb version in 2023, then came back the next year to play in the Tournament of Champions. CB and I were both blown away by how smart he is! Anyway, Ike is also a frequent collaborator with Mindy Kaling, and that includes co-creating the new basketball comedy series Running Point, out now on Netflix. He also co-stars in The Studio on Apple TV, with Seth Rogan, Catherine O’Hara and Kathryn Hahn.
Ike just appeared on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast to promote the show, and the two middle-aged men (Ike is 48, Dax is 50), talked about how they think they’ve each grown into their looks as they’ve aged. Dax noted he thought his hair in particular looked better now than when he was in his 20s, which prompted Ike to reveal that he gets platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections to help out his own mane. But they’re painful, so he uses laughing gas to get through the procedure:
“Some men, it gets a little bit easier. You don’t look as bad as you get older,” Barinholtz said.
“Relative to your peers, you start looking better,” Shepard said. “If [you’re] taking any care of yourself.”
“All you gotta do is wait it out,” Barinholtz said. “Everyone’s gonna get old and ugly, and you’re gonna still stay the same.” That prompted Shepard to reply, “This hair was thin in my twenties, but it ain’t bad in my fifties.”
“Hello?” Barinholtz said, sharing he’s had “no plugs, just a little bit of PRP. I do the PRP,” which Shepard said he hasn’t tried.
PRP, or platelet-rich plasma injections, use the patient’s own blood to create a serum that can either promote healing — such as an injured joint — or help stimulate hair growth and treat male pattern baldness, John Hopkins Medicine explains.
“I went the first time, and it hurt so much,” the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire winner said. “It’s just kind of waking stuff up [in your scalp]. And then I went back. I just remember it hurt so bad, and the nurse was like, ‘I forgot. Do you like the laughing gas?’ And I was like, ‘That’s a f—ing option? Yeah. Yes. Yeah.’”
“So now when I go, you suck on [the laughing gas tube],” he said, adding in a slurred voice, “and you’re like, ‘Do you guys watch White Lotus?’”
“Meanwhile, you can hear all the popping,” he said, referring to the injections, “but you can’t feel it.”
“[White Lotus creator] Mike White is a genius,” he added with the same slurred voice. “I’m just like, ‘Give me the good stuff, baby.’ It’s so nice. It’s the only time you can do it legally.”
“And with medical supervision,” Shepard said. “It’s like you’re free to get as high as possible, and there’s a staff to bring you back.”
I thoroughly enjoy hearing two grown men candidly discuss their thoughts on beauty and aging and personal maintenance regimens. At the same time, I reserve my right to feel a bit conflicted over the fact that looking better as you age is a grace so easily afforded to men. It works both ways! Men care just as much about their appearance, and women continue to become even more fabulous as we age. Stepping off my shea butter soapbox now.
As for PRP, it seems to mostly be used for sports injuries and hair loss. (I wonder if a certain former Football Association president has heard of it.) My own curly hair is my greatest vanity, so I don’t begrudge Ike for seeking treatment with the means he has available to him.
Photos credit: Gregg DeGuire/Image Press Agency/Avalon, IMAGO/Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon, Getty