Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People

As the year turns, Gethard keeps the tradition alive by talking with callers two minutes at a time about their hopes for 2026. We hear from familiar voices and first-time callers alike, all checking in with what they're reaching for in the year ahead. New jobs and new hobbies, hiking big freakin' mountains and a surprising number of aspiring piano players, all packed into our annual New Year's Resolutions ritual.

Our caller immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico just weeks before 9/11. He talks with Gethard about growing up as an immigrant in the Midwest and how figuring out his place there led him to question everything else in his life, from religion to relationships to identity itself.

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Home on a snow day, a Canadian caller talks with Gethard about parenting, mental health, and dealing with a difficult change in her life. Along the way, they get into Star Wars, Italian brainrot, and whether or not Newfoundland is the New Jersey of Canada. Plus, our caller tells some stories that prove what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, until you share it on Beautiful Anonymous.

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This week's caller is in the middle of a major life pivot, leaving a successful career as a college athletic trainer to become a Montana game warden. He and Gethard talk about the pressure to chase achievement for the wrong reasons and what it means to realize you built a life you never actually chose. They also get into the ethics of hunting, some wild ride-along stories, and we get an update on the caller's dad, our ...

This week's caller had the neighbor from hell. She shares that story with Gethard, recounts some recent travel adventures, and then opens up about a major life change happening right now. It's an open and honest call with someone who's determined not to be defined by the heavy stuff.

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Gethard talks with a movie studio security guard calling in mid-shift. They get into local clown drama with surprising real-world stakes, the importance of keeping your dreams alive no matter what your day job is, and what happens when Spielberg catches you with your proverbial pants down. Plus, Geth's favorite TV appearance: Noches con Platanito.

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A year after unexpectedly losing her partner, this week's caller shares how she's been rebuilding on her own terms. She and Gethard talk about grief, community, resilience, and the power of telling our stories so we don't have to carry them alone.

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A grassroots journalist calling in mid-haircut connects with Gethard over a shared love for community media. Together, they break down why public access matters now more than ever: how local TV and community-powered news can connect neighbors, build trust where traditional media has fallen short and, most importantly, help people tell their own stories. They swap favorite public access oddities (including a cat-costume...

This week's caller has dedicated her life to understanding hoarding disorder. Years ago, she married someone whose relationship with collecting changed the course of her own life. Now she's on a mission to educate others and replace stigma with compassion. She and Gethard get into what hoarding really looks like, the reasons people find it hard to let go, and how shows like Hoarders have turned personal struggle into p...

A caller checks in from a Costco parking lot to mark one year sober after 25 years of blackout drinking. He talks about kicking opioids, rebuilding his life, and what it's like to actually remember things again. He and Geth get into punk shows, lost friends, and how addiction doesn't always look the way people think it does.

Plus, Dog Talk makes a rare appearance from behind the paywall.

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Here we are. Episode 500. We celebrated the only way that makes sense. With a few hundred listeners packed into a theater in Jersey and a caller whose story pretty much sums up what this show is all about.

Our 500th caller is one year out from a stay in a mental hospital. She opens up about what it was like to lose her grip on reality in a pretty intense way and shares how far she's come with self-awarenes...

You've  heard us talk about it. Here's your reminder. In the last nearly TEN YEARS of Beautiful Anonymous, Gethard has had 499 unforgettable conversations with our callers. This Friday, October 17th, we're recording number 500. We'll be live at Kevin Smith's Smodcastle Cinemas in beautiful Atlantic Highlands, NJ. Get your tickets now, then come hang out, grab a shirt, get to know one another, and maybe win a chance to ...

Gethard talks with a caller who shares her story of adopting a young girl and what happened when, after a year, that child chose to return to her foster family. It's an honest conversation about one person's experience with adoption, the unpredictability of parenthood,  and finding a way forward when something you've hoped for doesn't turn out the way you imagined.

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An Australian on a solo vacation calls in from Italy. She and Gethard chat about travel, trade stereotypes about each other's countries, and get into how the rest of the world views the U.S. right now, all while the caller gives us a little walking tour of the charming Italian town she's calling from.

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This call starts at Burning Man but quickly opens up into a far more complicated conversation about grief, abuse, healing, and the long work of rebuilding. But the playa stays in the mix throughout, a touchstone for how this caller has tried to redefine life along the way. And, of course, we make a stop at the Orgy Dome.

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This week, Geth talks with a railroad worker who shares what it's really like on the job. They get into the nitty-gritty of trains, unions, and infrastructure, and explore how the rails often reflect bigger truths about where the country is headed. 

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This week, Geth talks with a firefighter/EMT who's training to be a paramedic. They get into the vital importance of volunteer work, what it's like to serve in rural communities versus tourist towns, and how showing up in moments of crisis can remind you what humanity is all about.

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Raised by a zoologist in a house full of wild animals, this psychology professor's life has remained just as untamed: coaching junior roller derby, a stint making high-end chocolate, parenting a trans kid, and that's just for starters. Unpredictable but never aimless, her conversation with Gethard is just as wide-ranging as her life.

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This week's caller takes us into the complicated, messy, and deeply human world of sex work. The conversation stretches from personal experience to bigger questions about society. It's thoughtful, challenging, and impossible to boil down.

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