Nooze Hounds: Rod & Karen Morrow of ‘The Black Guy Who Tips’
Episode 99
On episode 99 of the Nooze Hounds podcast, I’m joined by Rod and Karen Morrow, co-hosts of The Black Guy Who Tips podcast, to discuss their journey in the medium since launching in 2010 and how things have evolved in social media, the podcast industry and American media as a whole during that time.
The couple will host a live recording of The Black Guy Who Tips at Stage Door Theater on Feb. 28. The show will feature interactive versions of popular games from the podcast like Guess the Race as well as stand-up comedy from friend of the show J-L Cauvin.
In our recent Arts & Culture feature story, we tell the story about how the two went from childhood sweethearts to influential podcast hosts thanks to their drive to keep creating and a refusal to be anything but themselves while prioritizing nuance over engagement farming and empathy over rage-baiting.
Read more: Couple Behind ‘The Black Guy Who Tips’ Become Podcast Pioneers
On the podcast, we go deeper into how the married couple has stayed true to their shared belief in context over clickbait throughout a 15-year career in podcasting, even as the social media environment around them has become all the more toxic.
“I don’t think you really get too far coming at people or attacking people,” Rod told us earlier this month. “We’re nice people, so our feedback and our fanbase is actually really nice. Over the years, being a podcast listener, I’ve noticed, ‘Oh, you just get out what you put out.’ If you have a really mean, nasty show, an attacking show, that’s what your fanbase is going to be. That’s how they’re going to respond to you.
“I don’t put content into the world to try to hurt people,” he continued. “I try to put things out there that I believe in, things I think would be helpful, and I tried to put it in a way over the years that at least has some nuance and compassion to it.”
The Black Guy Who Tips Live will take place on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. at Stage Door Theater in Founders Hall, 155 N. College St. Tickets start at $40.
Remember you can catch us on Spotify and other places where you find podcasts, and be sure to check out Queen City Podcast Network for a slew of other great Charlotte podcasts that aren’t quite as good as ours but pretty damn close. Find past Nooze Hounds episodes here.
