An Ode to Karen and Georgia, My Podcast Friends

Two years ago, I was studying abroad in London, England, a simple statement that makes me unbearably nostalgic. I was taking classes and I had my first office job in the west part of the city. Not only was I living on my own in a foreign country, taking classes and traveling to other countries, but I also had a work commute three times a week to a new job. I felt like I finally was starting to understand what being an adult was. 

While my internship was very rewarding, data entry is only so interesting for so long, and while the BBC Radio they played in the office was interesting, I was looking for something more. I’m a huge true crime fan and I was just starting to get into podcasts, so when a list of the top true crime podcasts suggested a show called “My Favorite Murder,” I figured I’d give it a shot. 

Hosted by Karen Kilgarriff and Georgia Hardstark, these two true crime-obsessed friends spend an hour and a half every week telling each other crime stories. They’re categorized as a “true crime comedy podcast,” which Karen acknowledges during every liveshow can be an off-putting concept to some people. This show, as I quickly learned, is so much more than that. 

Beyond the stories they tell each other, Karen and Georgia are extremely honest and vulnerable about their lives. They speak openly about their relationships with their parents, their previous addictions and the mental health issues they have dealt with in their lives. They somehow make all that, and the murder, funny, without degrading themselves, their experiences or that of the victims they describe. In fact, there are stories I listen to that leave me more empowered than I’ve ever felt before, and the show acts as a way for both Karen and Georgia, but also for their listeners, to reclaim their traumas and educate themselves about the dangers the world poses to them. Women are much more likely to be the victims of the gruesome crimes they discuss on MFM, so why not learn about those stories, remember the women impacted by them and celebrate the survivors?

Karen and Georgia became my friends during that internship, and I carried them with me when I returned home to the States as well. That summer I worked for my dad from his home office which was an extremely rewarding job, but it helped having their voices in my ear while I organized his Excel documents. 

The main purpose of this piece, besides being a love letter to Karen and Georgia for keeping me company during jobs in new and sometimes lonely places, is an encouragement to listen to MFM and shows like them. Murder and comedy is not the most obvious pair, but I’ve never had a moment while listening to their episodes where I thought they were being disrespectful. On their show, words and the feelings of others matter so much, and it’s refreshing to listen to two people who have been through some of the most terrible life experiences discuss equally terrible things in a way that finds a silver lining in the story, that copes with these stories positively.

If I’ve sold you, MFM releases a mini episode every Monday and a full episode every Thursday. Go give them a listen, and remember to stay sexy and don’t get murdered. GOODBYE!!