This week on the podaroo, we talk with Cat Byers—historian AND author of the upcoming book Morgue AND most importantly our very smart and thoughtful friend!!!

We chat about the mental clash of going from living a "normal" life to realizing you're living on top of centuries upon centuries of juicy history and how studying the stories of past deaths can be a surprisingly effective way to learn about life—both others' and your own.

And of course it wouldn't be a true Clashists ep if we didn't wind our way through the twisted tunnels of life's inevitable career changes—from Cat's food styling past (think: mashed potatoes as ice cream and glued-on sesame seeds) and why she was once convinced she hated history.

It’s an episode about the past not as a museum piece, but as something you’re constantly tripping over—and about pushing yourself off proverbial life cliffs, even when that leads you to...well, death.

Check Cat out on:

• Instagram @heymorguegirl
• Her blog (Gabby's personal obsession!!): https://www.catbyers.com/blog
• Linktr.ee for some great other pods she's been on!

What happens when you live enough lives that your palate can’t keep up? This week we sit down with Caitlin Gunther— New Yorker in Paris, author of The 75 , and writer for pubs like The New York Times, Wash Post, Harper's Bazaar, Condé Nast Traveler, Eater, Bon Appétit & more! — to trace the many shockwaves of a life lived in reinvention: from law school at Cornell, to a life-altering lunch at Septime, to unglamorous gigs in global kitchens, and an eventual transition to food writing in Paris. We ask: what happens to your sense of taste—food, style, people, ambition—when life keeps on ... well ... keeping on? Does it remain a constant, or does the whiplash of change recalibrate what we crave??

Don't worry, we leave plentyyyy o' room for unhinged friends, fashion identity crises, painful breakups, and (maybe most importantly!!!) cheesy ramen & Cheez-its.

** excuse some audio issues in this ep - we're workin' on it <3

• Read The 75 here: https://caitlingunther.substack.com/
• Find more of Caitlin's video interviews on her IG, here!: https://www.instagram.com/caitlintgunther/?hl=en

This week we’re joined by comedian Sarah Donnelly—an American double agent who’s been doing stand-up in France for 13 years. We get into the big questions, like: Is French humor actually more sophisticated, or do they just say it with an accent? Can the French actually make fun of themselves (because… could’ve fooled us)? Which swear words hit in both English and French? And MOST importantly — how is one EVER brave enough to do stand up in the first place?!?!

See more of Sarah!

• Instagram: @sarahdcomedy
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sarahdcomedy
• Her famous Picard TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sarahdcomedy/video/7343192174512672032?lang=en

The Prisonic x Monoprix collab: https://www.monoprix.fr/lookbook-prisunic.html

Today we're talking about the slow, creeping horror of realizing that the things you once thought were cool…aren’t. Maybe you aged out of them. Maybe you matured. Maybe you moved zip codes and discovered that being “insanely busy" or “performatively confident” or a "relentless partier" doesn’t translate outside your original habitat. It’s the life clash of having to retire your old identity badges and admit that some of your personality was realistically a ... regional trend.

All that, plus we’re snacking on some AMERICAN-LY sweet (*wink, wink* — see our IG) treats as a form of cultural regression.

Today on the pod: we interrogate the cultural pinnacle of Passport to Paris in a playful ~petite ep~. Questions we ask ourselves include but are not limited to: which parts of the movie actually hold up 26 years later? Which aspects are now painfully dated?? And which were never true? Why does everyone speak a mystery language? How do they make headscarves look like high art? Should we be trying quail eggs? And maybe the singular most crucial question—are more cowboy hats the answer to Parisian stranger energy? Spoiler alert: no probably not but stick around anyways.

Today we're joined by actor, writer, filmmaker, and new-ish Paris resident—Clark Moore—to tackle our most oft-heard accusation: that Americans in Paris are inherently annoying. From casting ourselves as the city’s main character, to treating Paris like a personal art incubator, and the well trodden theater-kid-to-Paris-pipeline, we explore the behaviours that grind the gears of outsiders & locals alike.

Are we just as insufferable as the incessant rumours say, or, well .... are y'all just jealous?? Come at us baby. Years of Parisian "c'est pas possibles" have thickened our skin.

Referenced:

• Bloomberg's "Revisiting Paris Syndrome in the Smartphone Era": https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-10-24/revisiting-paris-syndrome-in-the-smartphone-travel-era
• Gateway guy theory: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOb3f2BkRaa/

Where to find Clark!

• Clark's Substack, Wistover: https://clarkmoore.substack.com/
• Read his essay in the first issue of the new literary magazine, Souvenir: https://www.souvenir-paris.com/
• @mrclarkmoore on IG

Being in your 30s is WEIRD. Some would even say it’s peak time for life’s biggest ~culture clashes~. Your friend group suddenly starts to splinter—one falls in love and moves to farmhouse upstate, another has a baby and starts coping with the dreaded "witching hour", and the other is still out until 2 a.m. lighting shots on fire on a Wednesday ("leave me alone" -Gabby). In this episode, your fav duo is talking diverging timelines, mismatched milestones, and whether friendship can survive when everyone seems to be living a significantly different reality. Also: "Snack & Spiral" is back, and unsurprisingly a seasonal flavor of Bret's chips plays a starring role.

Vogue: Why Is It So Hard to Maintain Friendships From Your 20s in Your 30s?

The Cut: Our friendship survived bad dates, illness, marriage, fights. Why can’t it survive your baby?

Y'all we are SO excited to be back with you again after a way way too long hiatus. But here we are for Season 2 of Clashists!! One of us grew a human being inside their body and the other continued to strike out on Hinge. We'll let you guess which was which. We recap our fav things we ate, bought, and obsessed over this past summer (and, well, early fall) and catch-up on some ~cultural~ happenings—namely how the heck they just dropped (??!) that jewel-laden crown, and why you should just shut up already about Belly's Sacre Coeur view. Love you, missed you.

Does your vibe actually shift when you swap languages? Is French really the sexiest language? Is the fear of looking like an idiot thwarting our impending fluency? This week, Gabby and Dani are joined by linguist and language wizard Beatriz Lopez to unpack the wild (and painfully exhausting) subject of bi- (and tri) lingual brains. We get into whether speaking French actually rewires your personality (spoiler: sort of), why flirting feels smoother en français, and whether French actually deserves its rep as a hard-to-learn language—or if we're just A+ whiners. Come for the sociology, stay for the existential crisis.

Today on the pod: culture shock meets bedroom talk—we’re diving deep with Jessamy Holland, a psychosexual and relationship therapist based in Paris. She helps Dani & Gabby break down everything from the thrill and heartbreak of international dating, to navigating intimacy across cultural norms, to the quirks of French‑vs‑American expectations around sex, communication, and romance. Can she solve the dilemma of why Gabby despises dating French men? Or why French partners struggle with the word "sorry"? Only time (or, you know, this episode) will tell. Plus - tacos, Percy Pig gummies, and...brie + sugar??

No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model: https://www.amazon.com/No-Bad-Parts-Restoring-Wholeness/dp/1683646681

Saving Sex and the City 3 Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5yHlD9lmwJavFz83AjI5yr

Tiktok of the girl @ Charli XCX reading her breakup text: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdyJp58r/