Pod Only Knows: Interview with ‘The Black Guy Who Tips’

Ever feel like you wish you could sit down with some of the amazing podcasting pros of color and pick their brains beyond the mic? We had the opportunity to do just that while at the inaugural PodCon. First in our Pod Only Knows series is the comedically honest The Black Guy Who Tips, a podcast hosted by real-life married couple Rod “Rodimus Prime” and Karen Morrow whose motto is “nothing’s wrong if it’s funny.” Black Nerd Problems: What was it that drew you to podcasting as a specific medium? Rod Morrow: We were both big podcast fans, still are. We probably listen to— Karen Morrow: Hundreds! RM: Yeah, I probably have at least a hundred in my phone right now. So we were definitely inspired by this podcast “Keith and the Girl”, and they were just two regular people recording a podcast and they had jobs and they were just talking about life. After I got laid off my first time, we were like, “We should start a podcast! And once we get the technology we should invite people on via Skype or the phone.” That was what really got us interested; listening to other people and wanting to contribute our own opinions in a space, where at the time, there weren’t very many Black opinions. BNP: What inspired the casual style? There’s so many styles, and sometimes people are afraid of the casual style because they think they might ramble. What drew you to that?

KM: These are conversations we would have had anyway. Like the conversations people hear are the exact same conversations we have …