Ask Caroline & Cristen Anything: Part 1

Has Stuff Mom Never Told You ever run into taboo topics? Would you like to know more about podcast regret or Caroline's Proust questionnaire? How has the show affected the co-host's romantic lives? Tune to learn the answers to these questions and more.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to stuff Mom Never told you. From housetop works
dot com. Hello, and welcome to you the Bonus podcast.
I'm Caroline and I'm Kristen, and we are doing a

(00:23):
couple of bonus podcasts for you, a little bit of
christening Caroline behind the podcast and for it, we thought
it'd be fun to do basically a Reddit style ask
us anything, where we went on Facebook, on Twitter, on Tumbler.
If you're not following us on all of those, you

(00:43):
should be, and said, hey, ask us anything, well answer anything,
and you guys responded really fast and really well, you're
very funny. I like how funny you all are. Yeah,
And there were a lot of questions, not just about
the podcasting process, which I was expecting, but all about
who Caroline and I really are, Yeah, deepest of hearts

(01:05):
and beings. And nobody asked about sandwiches. No one asked
about sandwiches. That was even a prompt And none of
you asked about sandwiches. Caroline, do you want to go
ahead and tell the listeners what your favorite kind of sandwiches?
I have so many it would take too long, Okay,
but I appreciate your interest. Well, I thought for these
two bonus podcasts that we're doing. A good way for

(01:27):
listeners to get to know us a little bit better
is to kick off each one with the Pivot questionnaire, which,
for fans of Inside the Actor's Studio is the questionnaire
condensed from the Prooft questionnaire for Vanity Fair fans. And
I've I've been waiting my entire life for someone to
ask me these questions. So I just I'm living in

(01:48):
a dream right now. Yes, So this is what James
Lipton asks his celebrity guests after every Inside the Actor's
Studio episode. But I decided, you know what lipped in,
We're gonna do it to kick things off. So Caroline,
I hope you're envisioning me by the way as James

(02:09):
lippto absolutely the beard. It's like I'm seeing it right here.
What is your favorite word? Oh gosh, probably uh m, sandwich?
What was your least favorite word? Schedule? What turns you on?

(02:29):
I love your accent um sandwiches. I'm seeing theme what
turns you off? Mm hmm? Poor drivers? What sound or
noise do you love? Sound or noise do I love?

(02:49):
Probably like the sound of a puppy. It's very cute.
What sound or noise do you hate? Um birds outside
my window on the weekends waking me up? Oh? I
was gonna like that. I'm obviously a hateful person. It's fine.
What is your favorite curse word that you can say
on this podcast? Oh? Crap? Okay? What profession other than

(03:16):
your own? Would you like to attempt? Archaeology? Oh? Didn't
have to think about that one. For the cool hat,
absolutely and really an excuse to wear cargo shorts. What
profession would you not like to do? Oh? Accountant, Caroline. Finally,
if heaven exists, what would you like to hear God

(03:37):
say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? I bet
you feel stupid? And Welcome to the bonus episode. A
little bit more about Caroline Irvin. So, uh, why don't
we get to some questions that folks had for this episode?
The questions that we picked were ones that were directly

(03:58):
related to our thoughts on podcasts and kind of who
we are behind the podcast, And in the next episode
we'll get to more of the advice ee kind of
stuff that folks asked. So you want to you want
to shoot out a question, Caroline? Yeah, Nathan and Jennifer
wrote to us asking about relationships, particularly our relationships and
how our significant others view our podcast. Nathan specifically asked,

(04:24):
I feel like I know you know both of you
pretty well in spite of the fact that we've obviously
never met. I imagine someone knowing so much about you
while you're just getting to know them would make it hard,
you know, So, what do people think about you based
on listening to your podcast or do they Kristen, Well,
first of all, I'll say that it is kind of
intentional that we don't really talk about our significant others

(04:45):
on the podcast, you know, kind of separating the personal
and the professional. But in the now four plus years
that I've been doing stuff, Mom never told you. The
introduction to the podcast is always a step in the
dating process. And I know that a guy is is

(05:08):
serious about about me, about Kristen, not so much if
he brings me flowers, but if he references a podcast episode.
It has happened almost, you know, every every time in
the in the in the so many men, no, uh,
I'm sure you've experienced this where it's like all of

(05:29):
a sudden things are going well and then they just
kind of slip in like, oh, I was listening to
the podcast recently. Yeah. No, the the gentleman that I'm
dating right now. Um, I think part of why I
liked him so much to begin with is that he
wasn't scared when I brought up what our podcast is about.
He actively joined in the conversation and wanted to talk
about some of these topics. And he listens to it

(05:51):
now and again. And you know, I'd never expect anybody
I'm dating to like actively be devoted to the podcast
the way I am and the wyte some of our
listeners are. But it it's nice to be able to
have some of those conversations. And his mom and sister
both like us on Facebook. Two. It's very it's very cute.
Uh So, so that's that's that. Do you think that

(06:12):
covers that? What are significant others think about podcasts? They're
cool with it? Oh, I will say that it's kind
of funny because my boyfriend studied philosophy in college and
for whatever reason, stuff I've never told you is in
the Philosophy Channel and iTunes and we rock the Philosophy Channel.
Thank you listeners for making us the number one podcast

(06:36):
in the Philosophy Channel on iTunes and uh It never
ceases to amuse him that when he goes in and wants, like,
you know, like a hardcore philosophy podcast, we're everywhere with
our back to back photo, he cannot escape it. So
I've got a question here from Stephanie for you. She asked,
have any of your chosen topics turned out too embarrassing

(06:58):
to podcast about? And similarly, Angela asked on Facebook has
there been a podcast you two were not able to
do because it was too inappropriate? And what was it?
I would say the answer is no to both of those. Yeah.
I feel like there are topics that we just naturally
know to stay away from, um, either because it's too

(07:20):
far out of what we what are focuses, or just
be because maybe it's we're it's out of our depth. Yeah.
Aside from the women in Islam interview that we had
with Hina a little while ago, we stay pretty much
away from religion just because that makes our lives easier. UM.

(07:42):
But I don't think that we actively steer clear of controversy.
For instance, UM, I remember the first big, really controversial
topic that Molly and I tackled was abortion, and we
were a little bit nervous about doing that just because
can you pick a more polarizing topic right now? Um,
And we you know, wanted to take our time and

(08:04):
be respectful and also be as a political with it
as possible. And uh, listeners responded very positively to that, because, Um,
I think we're able to approach controversial topics because we
do try to steer clear, at least so the politics
and stick to the facts and merely educate people about
what an issue is, not how they should feel about it, right. Yeah.

(08:26):
I mean, I think the only time I've ever been
embarrassed by something I've said into this microphone is if
I accidentally let myself get to judge or snarky, because
I think I'm a pretty snarky person. But I tried
to you know, I do try to be fair to
our listeners. Um, but if it's a silly topic like
the jassling, then I just let it fly. Yeah. Grisha

(08:49):
on Facebook asked if there's anything you regret saying on
the podcast, something you wish you could take back, And
I was thinking about this, and I don't know that
there's anything that I necessarily regret saying on the podcast,
But there have been a couple of times where people
that I know who have listened to things when I'm

(09:11):
talking about more of my personal life. Um who I've
had to have conversations after the podcast about things that
I have said. Is that so vague? No? I mean yeah,
I mean I think that's true. I don't have a
lot of like my parents are so proud of me
for doing this, but they don't listen to it. That

(09:31):
I was like, you have no idea that your celebrity
is particularly Sally. You have no idea that your celebrities
on my podcast? Yeah. My my dad has made a
couple of comments saying, like you you always talk so
much about your mom, Well what about me? And I'm like, Dad, no,
I clearly you don't listen. I mentioned you, and I
will be completely honest and say that the episode can

(09:53):
You Be Friends with an ex? Precipitated a negative reaction
from an X, but that's how it goes. I also
liked Stephanie's question on Facebook which episode do you girls
think would be best to give a first time listener
to the show? And I picked three? What are they for?
A funny? A current event like current interests, and then

(10:15):
one about diversity, Bobby pins or aasling Pinterest. What's the
interest in Pinterest? And transgender? One on one great that
has gotten a lot of good feedback. Are there any
any first time episodes that you that pop right into
your I would encourage people to listen to back when
I first started, when I first joined you, Kristen, I
think I had so much fun doing our Cirkish side

(10:38):
show Freaks episode and also Mermaids. Those those were fun
to talk about. Okay, So for some random questions that
aren't specifically about the podcast, we heard from Louise, who asked,
what's the one thing that your mom did tell you
that stuck in your mind? For me? Then this might
sound weird, and I know that it's reductionist, but her

(11:01):
enduring advice has been never tried to change in man,
my mom, and I still I hear her voice in
my head when I'm in the mall, be aware, because
if I was ever like tripping over something or like
staring too long and somebody was coming up behind me,
And so that's why I get angry in the mall
when people aren't moving fast enough, because I hear my
mom's voice going be aware. Yeah. Sally Ashley asked if

(11:24):
you had a pet unicorn, what would you name it? Sparkles?
I mean, obviously Sparkles, I would name mine. Ryan Gosling.
Greg asked, have any one of you formally given up
shampoo in favorite of vinegar? I don't even know what
that means. No, it's been well, we did an episode
a really long time ago. Greg, you you're a legacy
listener on the no Pooh no shampoo people do and Nope,

(11:50):
still use shampoo. I do, although clearly not enough for
some of these hygiene people that were in these studies.
Um Katie asked what our favorite beer was. My favorite
beer right now is Bells too hearted? Mine too? Really?
I love I'm I you know, I have a really
strong connection to Michigan, so I like any Michigan things

(12:11):
and and Bells is from Kalamazoo. Yeah, I wish I
had some right now. I do too, But I also
like Red Brick from Atlanta, because you know that's how
I roll a t L. Yeah, and asked no real question,
but could we get a beer? Yeah, if you were
around us, we would. We would drink a beer near
you because we love beer. Yeah, yes, that's true. And
uh finally Rachel asked a very simple question. Cats are

(12:34):
dogs dogs? Duff cats? Cats? Oh my god, Battle of
the podcast host. Well, thank you to everybody who wrote
in questions. We really appreciate how funny and smart and
wonderful you are. Thank you for participating in and sending
us excellent love. Yeah, thanks for being interested not only
in our podcast but also and who we are. And

(12:56):
your feedback totally keeps us going. It makes our day
and encourages us and keeps us on our toes because
y'all are some real sharp folks out there, and we
appreciate your your loyalty now and hopefully forever, forever, for
the rest of all time. And before we close out
this bonus episode, we got a quick word from our sponsor,

(13:24):
so I hope you've enjoyed this bonus episode. We got
another one coming your way next week, so keep an
ear out for it. We will have more questions and
answers for your listening pleasure, and as always, you can
find me and Caroline here as well as Facebook dot com,

(13:46):
slash stuff Mom Never Told You, on Twitter at mom
Stuff Podcast, and on Tumbler at stuff Mom Never Told
You dot tumbler dot com, and if you want to
do your brain of favor, you should head over to
our website, it's how stuff Works dot com for more
on this and thousands of other topics. Is it how
stuff Works dot Com? Yeah,