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Did you hear what happened?
But it isnt ending outright.
Joining Hampton as cogossip curator will be her oldICYMIproducer, Seera Spragley Ricks.
McKinney and Laughlins decision to step away is consistent with their philosophy of doing things their way.
But for now, theres the season finale, which sees McKinney passing the torch off to Hampton mid-episode.
Kelsey and Alex, tell me about your decision to step away.
Its now this beautiful conveyor-belt production process!
Kelsey McKinney: We really feel like weve built something that doesnt depend on a single person.
The whole time we ran the show, Id joke that if I died, everything would be fine.
Did it take time to warm up to the idea at all, Rachelle and Seera?
Or was saying yes pretty instant?
Rachelle Hampton:It wasnt a hard sell at all.
Ive been a fan ofNormal Gossipsince well before it started.
Seera Spragley Ricks:Ive been a fan of the show since the beginning too.
Was there ever a possibility you might have ended the show outright?
There wasnt ever a point where we were like.
Oh, were gonna end it.
Laughlin:[Laughs.]
People who havent read 10,000 gossip submissions in the last three years or whatever.
Rachelle and Seera, what differences should we expect?
Do you reckon you have different tastes in gossip than Kelsey and Alex?
Hampton:Thats an interesting question.
I think most gossipmongers have similar tastes.
All of us have a shared sense for what makes a good story, a good piece of gossip.
But therearegoing to be changes, right?
The most visible of which is that the show is being taken over by two Black women.
Were still figuring all of that out, of course.
Lets shift into a quick retrospective here.
Its not the content itself, right?
Thats part of why the audio medium has been so good for this show.
You canfeelit in peoples voices, right?
Its innate on some level.
And what has makingNormalGossiptaught you about making podcasts?
Laughlin:That its not that hard to treat people well.
That its not that hard to have a humane production calendar and workload.
That its not even that expensive!
Hampton:Ill second that.
Theres this idea out there of content over everything just keep pumping things out!
McKinney:And you know, Nick, thats what everyone tried to get us to do early on.
Everyone was, like, c’mon do two episodes a week.
And we were like, We will die.
We would have become husks.
We wouldnt be the best versions of ourselves at all.
I would like to hear from each of you what your favorite episode is so far.
McKinney:Hes trying to get us canceled.
Laughlin: My answer would be the last one.
McKinney:Yeah, in some ways, Alexs answer is the right one.
Its always the most recent episode that Im like, Oh yeah, this one fucks.
Weeklys Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger.
Ricks:This is a tough one!
I lovethe one with Brittany Luse[MFAs and Other Mistakes].
Whats the episode that people talk to you the most about?
McKinney:Oh,Rachelles knitting circle[Can I Say Something Bitchy?
], which is a really early one that people talk about all the time.
Laughlin:Bird lamp definitely comes up a lot.
The landlord one [Vigilante Renovation, with Jasmine Guillory] as well.
Laughlin:Oh, Ill always be attached to it in some way.
McKinney:Im excited for my relationship with it to be less professional.
To be able to accept those stories on the street without people being like, You cant use it.
Because I was never gonna use it anyway.
What can I keep?
