After his education was completed, Moe was a traveling actor and director with
Missoula Children's Theatre before moving to Seattle. There he acted in several fringe theater productions in the nineties and served as an understudy in productions at
Seattle Repertory Theater. Eventually, his interest turned to writing and he wrote plays that were performed around Seattle. His musical,
The Big Time, co-written with
Chris Ballew of
The Presidents of the United States of America, was performed at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 1998, he was hired as a Senior Editor at
Amazon.com. Moe was hired at
KUOW, Seattle's NPR station, in 2001 as a staff writer for
Rewind, a national news and satire show hosted by
Weekend Americas Bill Radke. Moe was the host and producer of
The Works, a weekly interview program which focused on business and technology. Moe also hosted
The Power of Voice, a weekly listener call-in show on local and national issues. He had been working for two and a half years as a host and producer when he became the senior staff reporter and permanent fill-in host with
Weekend America. On August 16, 2008, he became host of the problem, replacing
Bill Radke and Desiree Cooper, who became a senior correspondent for
Weekend America. Moe developed and wrote the weekly segment "A Little Bit of Weather Everywhere", presenting unique events happening around the country, and the weather for the day at these events. After the cancellation of Weekend America, Moe became the host of
American Public Media's
Future Tense on May 3, 2010. On Monday, September 20, 2010,
Future Tense changed its name to
Marketplace Tech Report as it became part of the
Marketplace portfolio of programs. On September 10, 2012, Moe left
Marketplace Tech Report to devote his full-time attention to hosting the radio variety show
Wits.
Wits was a stage and radio show performed in the
Fitzgerald Theater. It began in 2010, and a podcast was created in 2012. The show consists of interviews, comedic sketches, musical performances, and a game show between the two guests, who have included
George Takei,
Maria Bamford,
David Cross, and
Neil Gaiman. When Wits ended, Moe turned his attention to creating and hosting podcasts.
Writing Moe is the author of
The Hilarious World of Depression, published in 2020, a memoir of his experiences with major depressive disorder. The book chronicles the development of the illness, the suicide of Moe’s brother Rick, and the development of the podcast of the same name. Moe is the author of
Dear Luke, We Need To Talk, Darth: and Other Pop Culture Correspondences, published in June 2014. The book is a compilation of fictitious letters, notes, and messages based around familiar songs, movies, TV shows, and sporting events. He is also the author of
Conservatize Me: How I Tried to Become a Righty with the Help of Richard Nixon, Sean Hannity, Toby Keith, and Beef Jerky, published in October 2006. The book chronicles Moe's attempt to become a conservative. The book contains several encounters with political experts, historians, and enthusiasts of all affiliations. His work has appeared in the
McSweeney's anthologies
Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans, ''The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes
, and Mountain Man Dance Moves''. He has also written for
The New York Times Magazine,
Reader's Digest, AARP, The Seattle Times, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, and the Seattle Weekly. He is also the author of
Pop Song Correspondences, a feature on the McSweeney's website, which also became a recurring segment on the
Wits radio show. Moe has performed selections from
Pop Song Correspondences at Seattle's
Bumbershoot festival.
Podcasts In June 2015, Moe along with rapper
Open Mike Eagle launched
Conversation Parade, a podcast in which the two discuss the Cartoon Network animated series
Adventure Time. The podcast has featured guests like
Jeremy Shada (the voice of
Finn the Human),
John DiMaggio (the voice of
Jake the Dog),
Hynden Walch (the voice of
Princess Bubblegum),
Adam Muto (the series' co-executive producer and
showrunner),
Kent Osborne (
Adventure Times head writer),
Niki Yang (the voice of BMO and Lady Rainicorn),
Olivia Olson (the voice of
Marceline),
Jesse Moynihan (former storyboard artist),
Jessica DiCicco (the voice of Flame Princess), Elizabeth Ito (one of the show's supervising directors), and
alternative country musician
Neko Case. In 2016, Dr. Craig Bowron MD FACP, contributor at
Huffington Post, wrote an article announcing and recommending a new podcast by John Moe,
The Hilarious World of Depression. The Hilarious World of Depression won the Webby Award for Best Comedy Podcast in 2017 and led to Moe's book of the same name. The show ended in June 2020 as Moe was laid off from American Public Media amid the growing pandemic. Moe began the
Depresh Mode podcast in March 2021 as part of the
Maximum Fun network. It follows a similar format to the previous show and again focuses on long-form interviews, often with creative artists and public figures telling stories of their own mental health struggles. Guests have included
Jamie Lee Curtis,
David Sedaris, and Surgeon General
Vivek Murthy. The show's episode with actor
Joel Kim Booster talking about his active depression led to an LA Press Club award. Moe created
Sleeping with Celebrities, a comedy and sleep aid podcast, in February 2023. Moe created but did not host the podcast
You Are Not Alone: Voices of Recovery for the
National Alliance on Mental Illness and won multiple awards for
Our Whitman, My Story, a promotional podcast for Whitman College. ==Personal life==