<\/p>\n
\n\tDave<\/a> Burd \u2014 or Lil Dicky<\/a>, as he\u2019s known in music circles \u2014 would prefer we not refer to his latest project as a podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s not that it\u2019s not a podcast,\u201d explains his wife and co-host, Kristin Batalucco, \u201cit\u2019s that it\u2019s a podcast and more.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFriends Keep Secrets,<\/em> which is the title of the non-podcast podcast, is a collaboration with Batalucco and Burd\u2019s other best friend and Dave<\/em> co-star, Benny Blanco<\/a>. As they explain it, they\u2019ve rigged Burd and Batalucco\u2019s home with a dizzying number of cameras, and the trio and their weekly guest \u2014 a rotation of bold-faced names like Ed Sheeran, Gwyneth Paltrow and Paul Rudd \u2014 will move through the space as wide-ranging conversations occur. In the case of Sheeran, for instance, new music is made in one room, while discussions of parenting amid fame, his former legal battles and his personal collection of famous movie props (i.e. the hands from Edward Scissorhands<\/em>) take place in others.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe multimedia show, which dropped its first episode Tuesday, marks the first public outing for Batalucco, whose background is in advertising and production. She married the viral rapper-turned-FX star in 2025 but has remained strictly behind the scenes until now. \u201cI\u2019ve always been fearful of putting myself out there,\u201d she says in her first-ever interview. \u201cSo this is me doing exactly the thing I\u2019ve always been scared of, and it\u2019s been an interesting exercise in just letting go.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFriends Keep Secrets<\/em> is produced in partnership with Jay Shetty\u2019s newly launched media network, Perfect Strangers, and is available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and, well, anywhere podcasts are found. Blanco, an acclaimed music producer\/songwriter and husband to Selena Gomez, is hopeful that people will watch as well as listen.\u00a0They all jumped on a Zoom in mid-February to discuss the new foray along with their other projects, their desire to start families and, ideally, to move culture.<\/p>\n \n\tLet\u2019s start with the genesis of this project. What did you want to do and say with it?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> I think we\u2019ve all had independent thoughts as time has gone on about entertainment and what we love doing, and one of those things is just hanging out with each other and joking around. Those are the best times in my life. And the whole origin of me even wanting to be an entertainer started with me just being the guy who was entertaining his friends when we were hanging out on a Friday night. The only reason I had the confidence to even go for [the career that I have now is] because my friend group laughed at my dumb jokes.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> And for all the Andrew Tates and terrible people in this world, I saw an opening because I love hanging out with my friends, and it just so happens that my two best friends are the funniest people that I know and maybe the funniest people in the world. I was just like, \u201cWhy isn\u2019t there something like this that you can have on in the background or in the foreground, instead of some dude talking about taking steroids and being a shitty guy to women?\u201d And we have such an eclectic group of friends, so sometimes the person that we\u2019re talking to is going to be my mother and sometimes it\u2019s going to be Selena Gomez. Or we might be talking to a guy that\u2019s at the forefront of A.I. and then talking to a man who created the fart machine.<\/p>\n \n\tHighs and lows.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> Yeah, and Chuck [Editor\u2019s note: for those who didn\u2019t watch Dave, Blanco often refers to Burd as Chuck<\/em>], what\u2019s the thing you say every time about sitcoms?<\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> [Hesitates<\/em>.] Look, I don\u2019t want you to think that I\u2019m saying we\u2019re making the next Seinfeld<\/em>. But I think in today\u2019s day and age, for a show about a group of friends that\u2019s kind of living in a show about nothing, to have the same cultural impact that those sitcoms of the nineties had, I really honestly feel like it might be better served in this new multimedia format than even a show like Dave<\/em><\/a>. Kristin talks all the time about reaching people, so I\u2019ll let her say it\u2026<\/p>\n \n\tBATALUCCO<\/strong> I just feel like I spend more time on TikTok or the Internet, and I really crave authenticity from people, and I think that there\u2019s such an appetite for people being more real and themselves, even if it is celebrities. And we saw that as an opening for us because we love to just hang out and laugh and not take ourselves seriously and it\u2019s good to put that stuff out there.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat\u2019s your allergy to the word \u201cpodcast,\u201d Dave?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> As an individual, I\u2019ve never really consumed podcasts, so for me to go all in on something that is something I\u2019m not even necessarily listening to or absorbing on my own [doesn\u2019t make sense]. Also, when I think of the word \u201cpodcast,\u201d I really think of audio. I know that it\u2019s transformed over time\u2026<\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> And you think of the thing that you didn\u2019t want \u2014 you\u2019re in front of a microphone with headphones on.<\/p>\n \n\tBATALUCCO<\/strong> Yeah, you expect to see two people sitting across from each other with microphones, and this whole idea was more like, one, how do we make people, including ourselves, feel comfortable in a space where everybody\u2019s used to letting their guard down? And then two, how do we invite people in, not just the guests, who are participants in this world, but how do we invite an audience in to feel that relaxed vibe?<\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> And yeah, most of these people are our friends, but occasionally there are people who aren\u2019t our friends, and by the end of the interview, we\u2019re, like, dinner with them. We become friends with these people, and so I really think it\u2019s going to be just as fun for us as it is for the listener. I look at Dave and Kristin at the end of every week and I\u2019m like, \u201cThis is the most fun I\u2019ve ever had in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> By far the most fun thing I\u2019ve ever done in my career. Also, a lot of the stuff that I\u2019ve done takes a ton of planning, just such disciplined execution, the opposite of living in the moment, whereas this is living in the moment with my two favorite people on earth, and inviting other people to come and share this space. So, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessarily that I have an allergy to the word \u201cpodcast\u201d or really anything against podcasts at all; I just think that what we\u2019re doing is kind of\u2026<\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> Better.<\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> I\u2019m not saying that.<\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> I\u2019m saying it. And you know why I\u2019m saying it? Because I think every industry needs a moment where it gets shaken up, and I really think that what we\u2019re doing. And if we do it right and everyone agrees with us, this will be the new standard of how these things are put out and shot.<\/p>\n \n\tBATALUCCO<\/strong> It just seems obvious to us. You can get so much more creative with how you show up for people on video, and the most energizing and exciting part to us was how do we take this thing that people really do connect with and make it more dynamic for the video platform.<\/p>\n \n\tHow do you ideally want people to consume or experience it?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> I\u2019ll take audio, but video is where we shine because it\u2019s something that I feel like hasn\u2019t been done. We\u2019re kind of blurring the line of, is it streaming? Is it a podcast? Is it an interview series? Is it a TV show? Is it NPR\u2019s Tiny Desk<\/em>? You see Ed [Sheeran] come on and we\u2019re making a song from scratch.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> For me, the thing that I love maybe the most about it is that it really can be consumed wherever people consume media. For example, I said that I don\u2019t listen to podcasts, but let me tell you, I\u2019m sure as hell on Instagram and TikTok all the time, consuming bite-size pieces of content the same way that every single human being age, like, 13 to 50 is consuming media, and half those clips that I\u2019m seeing are from podcasts.<\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019m curious to hear what role you think you each play here?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> In my life and in Dave\u2019s, we\u2019re put in situations that a lot of people aren\u2019t put in. It\u2019s like, I was hanging out with the Obamas the other day. That just doesn\u2019t happen. But what I love about Kristin is sometimes someone really famous will be about to come over and Kristin\u2019s like, \u201cDo you think they\u2019re going to like me?\u201d\u00a0 She brings the most human element to this show because it\u2019s like she is in the rooms and she does know these people but sometimes it feels like she\u2019s where the listener is in that moment.<\/p>\n \n\tShe\u2019s the audience proxy?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> Yeah, and it just feels so magical to me. But if we\u2019re having on a guy who\u2019s a monk, I\u2019m not scared to be the one who\u2019s like, \u201cDo you have to be bald to be a monk?\u201d \u201cAnd if you\u2019re not bald, do you have to shave your head?\u201d \u201cAnd are you allowed to masturbate?\u201d There\u2019s so many things I want to know, and I\u2019m not afraid to sound completely [absurd].<\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> For me, 75 percent of the podcasts that I\u2019ve been a guest on, I\u2019m being asked the same questions and telling the same origin story over and over again. So, I\u2019m not particularly interested in the origin story. We haven\u2019t had Mark Zuckerberg on yet, but I\u2019d be interested in just seeing how Mark Zuckerberg leans on a counter and then talking about that choice of leaning. Of course, we\u2019ll get into other stuff too. But I also don\u2019t want to look up a lot about the guest before.<\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> Yeah, I don\u2019t care where the person grew up, unless it has a great story that naturally comes up.<\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019ve only seen a rough cut of the Ed Sheeran episode, which was an hour and 45 minutes. Obviously, that\u2019s not what listeners are going to hear, so I\u2019m curious, in the editing process, which will you lean into: the making of music together or the discussions about things like film and fame? Which one speaks more to what you want to do with this?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> You saw the unfinished version, but the finished version is not going to go from an hour 45 to, like, 50 minutes. It\u2019s probably going to end up being\u2026<\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> Like, an hour 42.<\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> Yeah. And not every episode. Some episodes are best served [shorter], which we\u2019re learning as we\u2019re making this. I just don\u2019t want people ever to feel bored.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat\u2019s the pitch to guests?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> We probably each have different pitches.<\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> I send out a lot of things to friends and these are my exact words. Dave might not like this, but I say, \u201cWe\u2019re making a podcast,\u201d and then I say, \u201cI\u2019m embarrassed to even call it a podcast because it\u2019s so much more.\u201d Then I usually say, \u201cWe rigged up Dave and Kristin\u2019s home with like a gajillion cameras, and you\u2019re not going to be asked any of the questions you\u2019d normally be asked \u2014 you\u2019re just coming to hang out with us and everyone else is going to have a fly-on-the-wall experience of how it actually is to hang out with you.\u201d Like, I\u2019m not sure anyone\u2019s ever seen Selena Gomez get on the ground and have her back cracked during an interview. So, I usually just pitch it like that and then I end every single one by saying, \u201cNo pressure, we don\u2019t want anyone to feel like they\u2019re coming on because they have to. I only want people to come on that want to have a fun time with us because the only way it\u2019s going to work is if you come on and let go.\u201d And only one person I asked was noncommittal, but I\u2019m not going to tell you who it was. Everyone else said yes.<\/p>\n \n\tDave, is your pitch different?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> My pitch varies per individual. But I don\u2019t think this is the type of thing where people are going to come on and talk about the book that they\u2019re putting out that week. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re even going to let people dictate necessarily where [the episode] comes out in the order. <\/p>\n \n\tBATALUCCO<\/strong> It\u2019s not really set up as a place to stop on your PR thing. Not that it can\u2019t be.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIdeally, your guests will forget the cameras are there and open up. What happens if and when they come back to you, asking you to cut whatever it is that they just revealed?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> We would say, \u201cAbsolutely, we\u2019ll cut it. No problem.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBATALUCCO<\/strong> I feel like one thing that\u2019s important about our [show] is we\u2019re really not out to get, I don\u2019t know what the word is\u2026<\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> Clicks for drama?<\/p>\n \n\tBATALUCCO<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n \n\tYou\u2019ve had a who\u2019s who of major stars come through already. What\u2019s been the biggest surprise thus far?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBATALUCCO<\/strong> I would say the connection after.<\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> But I\u2019m not surprised by that. Honestly. I\u2019ve felt this way my whole life, and I\u2019m sure you and Benny have too. We\u2019re such natural connectors with people. Our whole lives, the feedback we\u2019ve always gotten has been like, \u201cWow, you\u2019re so warm and sweet and fun to be with.\u201d So when I meet someone, I\u2019m used to them having a positive experience.<\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> The biggest surprise to me is that I forget that there are cameras, and we have a lot<\/em> of cameras. They literally have to blink a light to tell us we\u2019ve been going for too long. But it\u2019s so fun and interesting because you\u2019re sitting there, mostly with people who are our friends, but you get to ask them questions you normally wouldn\u2019t ask. I\u2019m not normally sitting with Ed asking, like, \u201cHey Ed, would you say that raising children as a famous person is hard?\u201d Or with Gwyneth Paltrow, I was like, \u201cWhat\u2019s it like waking up when you\u2019re 20-something and you look to your right and Brad Pitt is in bed with you?\u201d I mean, we\u2019re all thinking the same thing\u2026<\/p>\n \n\tBut this is a format in which you can ask that.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> Yeah. The last time I went out to dinner with Gwyneth Paltrow, we were at sushi with her husband. I\u2019m not like, \u201cHey, so, when you were 20, what were you thinking about Brad Pitt?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWho\u2019s left on the list of dream guests?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> All three of us want the Obamas.<\/p>\n \n\tWell, Benny\u2019s been hanging with them\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBLANO<\/strong> I have not been hanging. It was one time. One very short experience. It probably felt so minimal to them but it felt very maximal to me.<\/p>\n \n\tIn one of the episodes I watched, you talked about the freedom you\u2019re afforded when you\u2019re making something like this outside the system. That said, if a Netflix or a Hulu or FX came to you and said this is something they\u2019d want to air as a TV show, would that be appealing?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> I think entertainment is shifting so rapidly that this is<\/em> the type of stuff that Netflix is going to end up wanting to put on their platform, and so I fully anticipate all of those companies coming to us at some point and talking to us, and I look forward to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tOutside of this, what\u2019s left on your collective bucket lists?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> I think all three of us have individual bucket lists and often there\u2019s overlaps where we can work together. For example, I think on my bucket list and Kristin\u2019s is children at some point, and I think, even though independently it\u2019s on our bucket list, the overlap will work out beautifully.<\/p>\n \n\tIt would be awkward if it didn\u2019t.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> It would be awkward. But for me, there are so many things that I want to do creatively that I\u2019ve had the chance to start doing, like movies. I\u2019ve got several different movies in the works right now. One of them is that hard R comedy that I talked about on the Ed Sheeran episode. That is my baby amongst all babies. And then musically, I feel like, honestly, I\u2019ve only scratched the surface and I\u2019ve got more music to release than I\u2019ve ever had in my entire career and then there are also other TV shows that I\u2019m working on and there\u2019s the DreamWorks animated movie<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tBATALUCCO<\/strong> I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m allowed to say where, but I have a show in development.\u00a0And I\u2019m hoping this opens more doors.<\/p>\n \n\tHow about you, Benny?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> I feel like I\u2019ve been so lucky to accomplish all these things that I\u2019ve gotten to in my life, and honestly I feel like I\u2019ve just stumbled into all of them. I\u2019m not necessarily good at anything, so I\u2019m just hoping nobody pulls the veil off anytime soon. But, yeah, for me, the thing I definitely want to achieve the most is having a family. I guess mine are more like the normalcy moments. But I\u2019m also just stoked to be alive and in the conversation.<\/p>\n \n\tBefore I lose you three, you\u2019d asked Ed Sheeran to come up with an ideal headline for his career. So, I\u2019m asking you, what\u2019s your ideal headline for this story?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> I think this is just a tremendous question.<\/p>\n \n\tSo, give it to me\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> You\u2019re putting me on the spot.<\/p>\n \n\tBATALUCCO<\/strong> I feel like this is where you shine, Dave.<\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> Well, here\u2019s what I\u2019m thinking about: I know when I\u2019m bullish how it can read in text. Sometimes I read the articles back and I just can tell how it looks, so that\u2019s always on my mind whenever I do any interview. Especially when I\u2019m asked to provide the headline. What do you think the headline should be?<\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019m not there yet, and I\u2019m much more interested in your take.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s the headline, but I want this [show] to come out and move culture in a really cool, interesting way and I want people my mother\u2019s age to be talking about it, and I also want 13-year-old kids at school being like, \u201cOh my God, I can\u2019t believe they did that thing last week.\u201d I want it to have an impact.<\/p>\n \n\tBATALUCCO<\/strong> Maybe the headline could just be, \u201cWe like them!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> Who\u2019s we? The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>?<\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> That\u2019s a pretty cool headline. \u201cWe like them.\u201d Do you think that\u2019s going to be the headline?<\/p>\n \n\tI don\u2019t know yet, you guys.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> I got stung by a bee and my leg is a little swollen, maybe that could be part of the headline? I don\u2019t know. <\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> I should have said this earlier but what\u2019s also really fun about this is that it comes back every week. It\u2019s consistent. A lot of my passion projects like the movie or my show or an album, these things take years to come to fruition and it can be hard. I started my career being a child of the Internet and every week I was coming back and building a connection with people. And then once I made it, the tasks at hand required so much of my bandwidth that I wasn\u2019t able to do that anymore and I think my hardcore fans would be like, \u201cI love him, but he disappears for years.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBATALUCCO<\/strong> Yeah, this is a much more consistent world.<\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> \u201cBrutal consistency.\u201d Maybe that\u2019s the headline.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> That doesn\u2019t make sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBATALUCCO<\/strong> Or maybe it\u2019s I \u2014 like, from you \u2014 \u201cI Love Them.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBLANCO<\/strong> I like \u201cWe love them.\u201d Or what about \u201cWe Love We\u201d? Or just, \u201cBig?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBURD<\/strong> Okay. Bye guys.<\/p>\n