What's the 411? UT grad's podcast 'Normal Gossip' to perform live in Austin this week
You didn't hear this from us, but the podcast "Normal Gossip" is coming to Austin this week.
"Normal Gossip," which just wrapped up its fourth season, shares one piece of regular-people-not-celebrity gossip in each of its episodes. Knitting club drama, fake deaths, bird lamps and mysteries such as the case of who put a hot dog in a toilet. These stories are just a morsel of what the podcast has to offer. (We're really obsessed with it. The pocket watch episode keeps us up at night.)
"Normal Gossip Live" hits the stage Wednesday night at the Paramount Theatre. The show includes a live telling of a gossip story, games, a special guest and secret-sharing. Tickets are still available online and start at $40.75.
The podcast is hosted by University of Texas graduate Kelsey McKinney and is produced by Alex Sujong Laughlin. Laughlin and McKinney created the podcast, which is part of Defector.com, a publication they co-own.
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"I'm excited to come back to Austin. It feels like a home show," said McKinney, who graduated from UT in 2014.
McKinney grew up in Flower Mound, a town northwest of Dallas, where she was taught in the evangelical Christian community that gossiping was a sin and a woman's one at that. McKinney remembers double underlining a verse in her Bible about not gossiping. But her religious upbringing didn't keep McKinney from gossiping; it just made her feel bad about it when she did.
Eventually, McKinney realized gossiping isn't necessarily a bad thing, but an often powerful one. Sharing stories builds community, teaches us how to behave and can be a safety tool. Throughout producing the podcast, McKinney's relationship with gossip has changed from thinking of it as just an exhilarating thing about people she's close to, to understanding it as "infinitely human behavior."
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For "Normal Gossip" to work, dozens of people send in their gossip stories via email or phone call. McKinney receives emails full of documents like PTA correspondence and PowerPoints about stories. Someone sent her a whole Google Drive the other day.
Stories that make the cut to become an episode of the show are the jaw-dropping ones, the kind that make you immediately want to go tell a friend about.
"The chair saga is a perfect episode, right? We got an email that was like 'vagina chair ruined relationship,' and I was like, 'Greenlight it,'" McKinney said.
Once a story is chosen it is anonymized — the names, places, and other identifying factors are changed. Changing details doesn't make the gossip any less juicy. Anonymizing stories also makes the stories more fun for the listener, McKinney explained.
"Part of why we wanted it to be normal gossip from the beginning, and not celebrity, is that once you're talking about a real person, it becomes more morally ambiguous. It's harder to be extremely judgmental about someone you know exists. Whereas if we're talking about a friend of a friend and changed their name and location, I can say, 'I think this girl is being dumb,'" McKinney said.
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The story of "Normal Gossip Live" has been told 15 times now as the podcast tours around the country. Austin is the only Texas stop on the tour.
McKinney says attendees can expect a fun, interactive show.
"You know, we get emails from people saying that they are gasping in their cars or on their walk, and I assume that's fun. But what I know is fun is gasping with 1,000 other people, right? It is truly really fun. I love the show," McKinney said.
If you go
When: Wednesday, July 19
Where: Paramount Theatre, 713 Congress Ave.
More information can be found online at: austintheatre.org.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 'Normal Gossip' podcast tour to stop at Austin's Paramount Theatre
