Oblivious brides, rich cousins, extremely thin apartment walls: These are all things Kelsey McKinney is intimately familiar with. As host of the wildly popular Normal Gossip podcast (the show hit 10 million downloads in one year), she’s also intimately familiar with other people’s secrets, as are the podcast’s “gossipmongers,” aka the listeners who tune in each week to hear McKinney dish dirt. Vulture and Time Magazine named Normal Gossip one of the best podcasts of 2022.
@mckinneykelseyWhen she’s not swapping secrets or nailing down the next episode with podcast co-creator and producer Alex Sujong Laughlin, McKinney, who lives in Philadelphia, is co-owner and features writer at Defector Media. She’s also written about growing up a gossiper for the New York Times and got the idea for the podcast during the pandemic when, she told CBC, “Every phone call I had with my friends was so depressing…I just really missed the light, happy gossip from my friends of friends.”
Now in its fourth season, the podcast is taking its show on the road. Their first-ever cross-country tour sold out shows in New York City, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia, and may be headed to a city near you next. Also, word on the street is McKinney has a new book coming out next year. Needless to say: We’re all ears.
Ready for the tea? “Your gossip stories will be better and more entertaining if you tell a short backstory drama at the beginning to set up the characters,” McKinney told us. “Dramatic people always have more than one drama.”
