What It's Like When Your Partner Dies
Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People
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. Sign up for to get ad free episodes and access to exclusive audio including 5 Random Questions with this week’s caller. Leave us a voicemail at (973) 306-4676 Give yourself and your loved ones the most extraordinary feeling sleep with 25% off sitewide, plus free shipping and extended returns during Boll & Branch’s best sale of the...
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Public Access Forever
Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People
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 cuddle show) and Geth shares how his own public access days somehow ended up tied to a Supreme Court case. Sign up for to get ad free episodes and access to exclusive audio...
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Hoarding Disorder Expert
Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People
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 public spectacle. Sign up for to get ad free episodes and access to exclusive audio including 5 Random Questions with this week’s caller. Leave us a voicemail at...
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Quit Opiates, Alcohol, and Cats
Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People
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. Sign up for to get ad free episodes and access to exclusive audio including 5 Random Questions with this week’s caller. Leave us a voicemail at (973) 306-4676 Layer up this fall with pieces that...
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Episode 500! (Live from Atlantic Highlands, NJ)
Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People
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-awareness, perspective, and so much humor. She and Gethard also get deep into some classic Jersey debates with our audience (porkroll vs Taylor ham? Does Central Jersey exist?), who share some of...
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Episode 500! Live This Friday at Smodcastle Cinemas!
Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People
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 be a future caller. It’ll be our usual mix of chaos and heart… or at least we think so. Live shows are unpredictable. Could be the best call ever. Could be...
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A Different Adoption Story
Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People
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. Sign up for to get ad free episodes and access to exclusive audio including 5 Random Questions with this week’s caller. Leave us a voicemail at (973) 306-4676 Head to for tickets to our 500th episode,...
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An Australian in Italy
Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People
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. Sign up for to get ad free episodes and access to exclusive audio including 5 Random Questions with this week’s caller. Leave us a voicemail at (973) 306-4676 Head to for tickets to our 500th episode, recording live at Smodcastle Cinemas in New Jersey! For a limited time get 20% off...
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WASBAND
Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People
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. Sign up for to get ad free episodes and access to exclusive audio including 5 Random Questions with this week’s caller. Leave us a voicemail at (973) 306-4676 Head to for tickets to our 500th episode, recording live at Smodcastle Cinemas in New Jersey! Head to and...
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Railroad Life
Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People
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. Sign up for to get ad free episodes and access to exclusive audio including 5 Random Questions with this week’s caller. Leave us a voicemail at (973) 306-4676 Head to for tickets to our 500th episode, recording live at Smodcastle Cinemas in New Jersey! Listen now to the Life Kit podcast from NPR. Keep it classic and cool this...
info_outlineA 911 dispatcher calls in to walk Gethard through the ins and outs of emergency dispatch. From how calls get prioritized, to the systems that keep everything moving, there’s a lot more happening behind the scenes than people realize. It’s a fascinating look at a job most of us only think about in a crisis.
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Head to wellnesstogether.org/allhandsondeck to learn more about the people and places meeting mental health needs in creative, community-rooted ways, building connection, care, and lasting change
Head to punchup.live/chrisgethard for tickets to That Show hosted by Gethard at UCB Theatre.
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