First impressions of Taylor Swift's 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. See Kate and her sister Kelly's live reactions in 4 parts on patreon.com/bethereinfive if you're in the crowd and screaming MORE!

This week, a magical marvel of a solar event stuns the world, and Kate and Caroline can’t be bothered to go outside. Instead, they take a look into their mirrored furniture and do some self-reflection, such as why we always think the current version of ourselves participating in lightning-fast trend turnover is “timeless.” They also discuss various topics like avoiding popular movies and tv shows that will bum them out, fast furniture, SoulCycle music, etc. At one point, Kate goes on a rant...

This week, Amanda Montell (linguist and bestselling author of Cultish) is back on the pod for the first time since the LuLaRoe deep dive. This time, they’re discussing Amanda’s new book (out April 9) called The Age of Magical Overthinking, which explores our cognitive biases and the power, disadvantages, and highlights of magical thinking. Broadly defined as the belief that one’s internal thoughts can affect unrelated events in the external world, the book (and this episode) examines topics...

This week, Kate is joined by Cassey Ho, best known for her blog/brand/YouTube channel Blogilates and also for being CEO and lead designer behind her apparel line POPFLEX. As the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Cassey's non-negotiable, pre-destined career path was medicine. Despite her dream of becoming a fashion designer being severely suppressed, she found her way out of biology and into design and fitness influencing in the heyday of YouTube and now has amassed millions of subscribers...

This week, Kate solo snorkels through a variety of topics, including but not limited to: Power ranking Ms. Rachel songs Calculating how much money she probs makes Hand-slapping campfire songs as millennial folklore 2000s songs with a maybe problematic cultural flair The Giving Tree is not the vibe Minor controversies with Ms. Rachel’s troupe Olivia Rodrigo Concert People don’t understand Plan B A Frito Pie/Traveling Nacho hangover Hero school cafeteria lunches Dodgeball as a torture...

Kate is joined by comedian and TV host Michelle Collins to discuss this week’s events and related tangents. They venture into topics such as royal conspiracy theories, Meghan Markle’s new business venture, a brief spiral over the 5 hard R sounds in American Riviera Orchard, the Oscars, Cillian Murphy’s height, British slang, hair yearbooks, Kate’s mom life, and Love is Blind, among other topics. Enjoy!

This week, we head back to Plathville because Kate has a very special guest on the podcast: Olivia Plath. Kate and Olivia talk more about her background and upbringing outside of the Plath family, deconstructing fundamentalist Christianity, more about the "courting" phase with Ethan, their political differences that weren't aired, and expands on the MLM/credit card story, among other topics related to the show and Olivia's personal faith journey. Kate also floats her theories about the...

This week, Kate’s solo and back to answering listener voicemails, and each tangent makes less sense than the next. From useless things we learned in school, to mute models and mouth tape, to Wilma Flintstone pioneering statement jewelry, to her journey with tummy time, to an ethical dilemma about using other people’s numbers at the grocery store for discounts, to TS album leaks, some midcentury litterbug lore, and more, this episode is a weird one. She had a great time. Enjoy! Call...

This week, Kate’s solo and back to answering listener voicemails, and each tangent makes less sense than the next. From useless things we learned in school, to mute models and mouth tape, to Wilma Flintstone pioneering statement jewelry, to her journey with tummy time, to an ethical dilemma about using other people’s numbers at the grocery store for discounts, to TS album leaks, some midcentury litterbug lore, and more, this episode is a weird one. She had a great time. Enjoy! Call...

Three hours, two legal pads of notes, and one millennial whose mom read her book and is now ready to talk about it. After six years, Kate’s mom finally graces us with her presence on the Be There in Five podcast main feed. Listen to the third hour on Patreon if you'd like at patreon.com/bethereinfive in the coming days. Enjoy!

This week, Kate is joined by Katie Gatti Tassin from the podcast beloved by many Beths, @moneywithkatie. This isn’t a money episode in terms of how you spend or invest it, but a broader conversation about the weirdness of money, our fascination with it, Kate’s personal anxiety about it, the conflicting ways they both feel about capitalism, the ways they’ve evolved since Girlbossing too close to the sun, while also acknowledging that the way we all were too delighted to watch the Girlboss burn...

This week, Kate has pop cultural commentator Lex Niko (@lexniko) on the pod to catch her up on the past couple of weeks' pop cultural events. They talk about the Grammy’s, Celine Dion and Taylor, Super Bowl week & WAGS, their ideal Usher setlists, and what’s going on with the royal family, among other topics. Enjoy!

This week, Kate’s on the road for her book tour and her recording technology is lacking (and her episode posting is lagging) but she figured she’d tell you what she’s up to! This episode is a hodgepodge of Kate & friends reporting live from various moments on the road, from backstage at House of Blues with Caroline Moss talking about Jett & Pookie to an after-show with her sister Kelly to a rainy poolside gab session with her sisters in law in Orange County. Deeply sorry again for...

This week, Kate's sharing a full chapter from her book coming out Tuesday (1.23!), One in a Millennial. This is an excerpt from the audiobook, chapter 3: You've Got Male, which details Kate's first experiences developing an online identity in the 90s via AIM, and discusses the lore of dial-up, the art of building a screenname, finding a vacation boyfriend, mastering the art of going idle, and the realization that boys who wouldn't talk to her in person seemed to really like her behind a...

A discussion about tweens, the modern history of the teenager, tween third places of yesterday and today, makeup counters, growing up too fast, and finger-pointing at the parents, influencers, and brands allegedly responsible for behavior that, in Kate’s opinion, is less aligned with being subjected to oppressive beauty standards and more related to what kids do best: play and explore. Enjoy!

This week, Kate discusses her most recent pop culture obsession, the reality show Welcome to Plathville on TLC. Since she roped many of you into this mess over the holidays, she figured she’d kick off the year by kicking off her shoes and taking this toe-headed DIY failed cult of a crew in Cairo, Georgia for a deep dive. Instead of her usual in-depth style, since she got into this like 12 days ago, she shares her thoughts in the first hour and then brings in a longer-term fan of the show (and...

This week, Kate and her sister are reporting live on Christmas Eve from North Carolina to talk about the hottest topics, like shows that are five years old they just started binging (Welcome to Plathville), drinking liqueurs that are over 20 years old, or finding out about school-aged kids having anonymous Deux Moi-style Instagram pages for rumor spreading, and they also discuss an AI scam that has been a source of debate at the Kennedy family Christmas. Then they read listener-submitted...

This week, Kate shares crowdsourced holiday traditions that listeners submitted via e-mail and on Instagram in case anyone wants to be inspired to create similar traditions. Easy listening that is festive, fun, and, spoiler alert: has a LOT of cinnamon buns. Enjoy!

This week, Kate brings back the leftover stories from last year's episode "Tis the Damn Seasoning," when listeners submitted stories (inspired by the TS song) about the magic/misery/nostalgia of reconnecting with a hometown beau over the holiday season. Some stories are from Patreon, some are new musings, but overall this episode has all the Hallmark-y vibes for your holiday season. Enjoy!

This week, we have a classic BTI5 deep dive about two cult documentaries Kate watched this week, Escaping Twin Flames and Love Has Won. She feels confusion and rage galore as she explores each organization’s core values, quirks, tactics, scandals, and leaders to try and understand what it means to be a believer in someone who, despite having objectively zero charisma or appeal, manages to gain control of your entire existence. She also examines details she felt were left out of Love Has Won,...

This week, Kate is joined by author, host of Pulling the Thread, and former Chief Content Officer at Goop, Elise Loehnen, to discuss her NYT bestselling book, On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good. Enjoy!

This week, Kate is joined by Allison Horrocks and Mary Mahoney, self-identified Mollys and hosts of the Dolls of our Lives Podcast (FKA American Girls), to talk about their newly released book, Dolls of our Lives. They discuss the origin story of American Girl dolls and why they were vital to so many of our girlhoods, Pleasant Rowland’s brand of feminism, their tie to Colonial Williamsburg, reexamining historical plot lines, hot takes about Uncle Gard, and so much more AG lore, e.g., the doll...

This week, Kate is joined by Ryan Bailey (from So Bad It’s Good with Ryan Bailey) to talk all things Bravo and current pop culture. They discuss his experience at BravoCon, Bethenny’s “reality reckoning,” old-school MTV shows, RHOSLC, RHOBH, Southern Charm, and so much more. Enjoy! 

This week, Kate starts by raging about people who say watching TV is a waste of time and/or is the lowest form of intimacy one can achieve with their partner. After pontificating about why TV matters, Kate then discusses how heartwarming it was seeing footage of Friends revived online this week following the tragic news of Matthew Perry’s passing and enlists her sister Kelly to join her in talking about a variety of topics and moo points surrounding the iconic TV show, e.g., how shows like...