Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies

14th Street Studios | Michael Osborne

Famous & Gravy is a celebrity biography podcast with a twist of self-reflection. Each week, host Michael Osborne and a guest choose a celebrity who died in the 21st century — musicians, athletes, actors, comedians, and cultural icons – and they dive into the hidden elements of their biography. The format is built around segments that probe a simple thought experiment: Would you want that life? Our goal is to learn what a celebrity's life story can show us about ourselves. Every episode opens with a blind quiz that pulls clues from their New York Times obituary. After the dead celebrity is revealed, we move through categories such as grading the first line of their obit, 5 things I love about you, and guessing the net worth. The back-catalog covers such figures as Prince, Kobe Bryant, James Earl Jones, John Denver, Aretha Franklin, David Bowie, Fred Rogers, Patrick Swayze, Tina Turner, Muhammad Ali, Waylon Jennings, Gene Wilder, Betty White, Steve Irwin, Nelson Mandela, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Tom Petty, Robin Williams, and over a hundred more. New episodes weekly. Full video on YouTube. Play the opening quiz yourself: hello@famousandgravy.com

  1. 4d ago

    New York Times Obituary Writer Sam Roberts on the Art of the Obit

    After five years of grading obituaries from The New York Times, Famous & Gravy finally has a conversation with with someone who actually writes obituaries from The New York Times. Sam Roberts is on the show to share his experiences as a NYT obit writer and to talk about his new book Are They Dead Yet? Roberts has written roughly 1,500 obituaries over his career. He and Michael dig into what actually goes into that first sentence of an obituary: accuracy, notability, economy of language, and the pressure of a deadline that can show up with almost no warning. Roberts tells the story of writing an obituary for Jesus of Nazareth, a piece he expected to get torn apart and got almost no pushback on, and explains why Alfred Nobel spent the rest of his life trying to outrun the one obituary that got published about him too early. Along the way, Michael runs Famous & Gravy's own grading criteria past a professional to see if the show's been fair. Famous & Gravy is a celebrity biography podcast that asks what a celebrity's life story shows us about ourselves. This week, we ask the person who writes the first draft of it. LINKS: Are They Dead Yet? The Art of the Obit by Sam Roberts Sam Roberts's imagined obituary for Jesus of Nazareth Life Lessons from Dead Celebrities (Substack) Dead or Alive quiz game Famous & Gravy on Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads Famous & Gravy official website See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    New York Times Obituary Writer Sam Roberts on the Art of the Obit

  2. Jul 29

    Iceman Transcendeth (Val Kilmer)

    Val Kilmer walked off his first professional set at age 13. It was a hamburger commercial, he thought the burgers looked terrible, and he refused to sell them. He never got paid, and it turned out to be a preview of the rest of his career. Kilmer once said he heard he'd gotten cast in Batman moments after walking out of a bat cave in Africa. He also claimed he rode a horse home faster than should have been physically possible the day his father died. Those stories come from a devout Christian Science faith that later shaped how he handled his own throat cancer diagnosis, including an initial refusal of treatment his children eventually talked him out of. The disease took his speaking voice, and by the time the 2021 documentary Val came out, his son Jack was narrating some of his father's own words. The film traced a career that ran from Jim Morrison and Iceman in Top Gun to Doc Holliday in Tombstone, alongside a reputation on set that made him one of the more polarizing actors of his generation. Famous & Gravy is a celebrity biography podcast that asks, "What does this celebrity's life story show us about ourselves?" If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 50 "Golden Rose" (Betty White) and Episode 51 "Goofball Stud" (Bill Paxton). LINKS: Val Kilmer NYT Obituary I'm Your Huckleberry, Val Kilmer's memoir  Collider article on why Val Kilmer quit Batman Val Kilmer talks with Larry King, previews Top Gun 2 Famous & Gravy quiz: hello@famousandgravy.com Website: famousandgravy.com Dead or Alive quiz game Famous & Gravy on Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads Famous & Gravy official website See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Iceman Transcendeth (Val Kilmer)

  3. Jul 22

    Famous Friend (Matthew Perry)

    Matthew Perry died in 2023 at fifty-four, and despite his very public battle with addiction, the first line of his obituary made no mention of his disease. Michael Osborne and Alice Orr argue that Matthew Perry is a case study in fame and addiction, working through his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, where he admits he has no memory of filming three entire seasons of Friends. They get into his broken engagement to Julia Roberts, the sponsor turned business partner, and the question of what it takes to cultivate a quality of self-love when the disease of addiction is always working against you. Famous & Gravy is a celebrity biography podcast that asks, "What can a celebrity life story show us about ourselves?" If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like: Episode 119, Hungry Ghost (Anthony Bourdain)Episode 108, Gonzo Troubadour (Hunter S. Thompson)LINKS Alice Florence Orr, Managing Editor of Podcast Review NYT obituary, Matthew Perry Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthew Perry's memoir Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip trailer, the canceled Aaron Sorkin pilot  Matthew Perry puts Peter Hitchens to shame about addiction Best moments from the Friends 2021 reunion Interview with Tom Power about his memoir Your Favorite Podcast Host is (Probably) in Recovery, Osborne article published in Podcast Review Famous & Gravy quiz: hello@famousandgravy.com Website: famousandgravy.com Dead or Alive quiz game Famous & Gravy on Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads Famous & Gravy official website See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Famous Friend (Matthew Perry)

  4. Jul 15

    Extra Gravy: Marco Polo with Denis Belliveau

    Marco Polo spent 24 years crossing the Mongol Empire and came home with stories so wild that his own neighbors called him a liar. In this episode, Michael sits down with Denis Belliveau, who in the 1990s spent two years retracing Marco Polo's actual route: from Venice through Afghanistan during the warlord period, into a newly opened Iran, and across the Silk Road into China, without ever boarding a plane. Denis made a documentary from the experience, which was nominated for Emmys. He now shares his story with students to inspire them about travel, geography, and culture. His website is In the Footsteps of History: https://inthefootsteps.org/ This is one of our occasional off-format conversations, built around a single interview rather than the show's normal segments. Even though it's been 700 years, we still want to know what can a life story, shows us about ourselves? Denis talks about getting held at gunpoint near the ancient site of Balkh, being among the first American civilians allowed into Iran since 1979, and the strange coincidences that kept opening doors along the way. He also gets into who Marco Polo actually was: a natural storyteller who charmed Kublai Khan as a teenager, and a man whose curiosity outran the prejudices of his own century. Thanks to Rachel Huss for telling us about Denis. Read her article here! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Extra Gravy: Marco Polo with Denis Belliveau

  5. Jul 8

    Intuitive Dreamcatcher (David Lynch)

    David Lynch died in 2025 at seventy-eight, and his own obituary somehow never mentioned Twin Peaks or Mulholland Drive. Michael Osborne and longtime Famous & Gravy editor Jacob Weiss spend this episode on the gap between David Lynch the public weirdo, the mind behind Blue Velvet and Eraserhead, and David Lynch the strikingly normal man underneath: a lifelong devotee of transcendental meditation who loved coffee, cigarettes, and burgers more than he loved being understood. The strangest thread they pull on: a filmmaker whose work returned again and again to smoke and fire died as the Los Angeles wildfires burned around him, at the same age David Lynch always seemed to defy. Famous & Gravy is a celebrity biography podcast that asks,  "Would you want that life?" If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like: Episode 82, Rebel Rebel (David Bowie)Episode 75 Love and OJ Jokes (Norm MacDonald)LINKS NYT obituary, David Lynch "David Lynch Keeps His Head," David Foster Wallace's 1996 profile referenced in this episode KCRW's David Lynch daily weather forecast archive Naomi Watts, Laura Dern & Patricia Arquette Tell David Lynch Stories Documentary on the midnight movie circuit and Eraserhead's cult run Famous & Gravy quiz: hello@famousandgravy.com Website: famousandgravy.com Dead or Alive quiz game Famous & Gravy on Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads Famous & Gravy official website See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Intuitive Dreamcatcher (David Lynch)

  6. Jul 1

    Star-Spangled Voice (Whitney Houston)

    Whitney Houston. Gospel choir prodigy raised by soul royalty, Super Bowl anthem reinventor, the rare voice the drag community refuses to parody, reluctant face of pop music's "crossover" wars, three-octave talent behind the best-selling soundtrack in history. She grew up singing in the choir at New Hope Baptist Church, trained by a mother, Cissy Houston, who'd once backed up Aretha Franklin, with Dionne Warwick as a cousin and soul music running through the family before Whitney Houston ever picked up a microphone professionally. In 1991, her team made one quiet change, shifting The Star-Spangled Banner from a stiff 3/4 waltz into 4/4, and turned the national anthem into a charting Super Bowl hit. The Bodyguard soundtrack still outsells Saturday Night Fever, Titanic, and Purple Rain. And when Diane Sawyer asked her, on camera, to name her biggest devil, Whitney didn't say cocaine. She said: "me." Host Michael Osborne and guest John Watts wrestle with the narrative of her addiction and an abusive marriage, and how we understand her talent. They dig into the night she was booed at the 1989 Soul Train Awards and met Bobby Brown hours later, her close bond with Robyn Crawford kept just out of public view, and the squeaky-clean "princess" image Clive Davis built that never matched the goofball she actually was at home. Famous & Gravy is a celebrity biography podcast. Every episode asks: Would you want that life? If you enjoyed this episode you may also like Episode 74 "The Masterclass Act" (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Episode 101 "Soul Queen" (Aretha Franklin). LINKS New York Times obituary for Whitney Houston Whitney Houston's 1991 Super Bowl National Anthem performance Whitney Houston's 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer Whitney Houston's 2009 interview with Oprah Winfrey Dead or Alive — the Famous & Gravy quiz game Famous & Gravy on Instagram, Facebook, Threads famousandgravy.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Star-Spangled Voice (Whitney Houston)

  7. Jun 24

    Extra Gravy: Chip White, Vanna White's Brother

    Vanna White has been on Wheel of Fortune and American television for more than 40 years. Her brother Chip White has spent a lot of that time figuring out what it means to live in her shadow. Chip hosts Relatively Famous, a podcast about the relatives of famous people. He came up to Austin to talk with Michael about Vanna: her surprising business savvy, the misconceptions people carry about her, a Guinness World Record, and how she met her late fiancé at Chippendales. The conversation also goes into recovery, unconditional love, parenting, and the best advice Chip ever got from his sister. This is an Extra Gravy episode — one of Famous & Gravy's off-format conversations where Michael follows his curiosity outside the usual structure. No quiz, no obituary, no category...just a little extra gravy. Famous & Gravy is a celebrity biography podcast with a twist of self-reflection. The central question every episode asks: would you want that life? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Extra Gravy: Chip White, Vanna White's Brother

  8. Jun 17

    Sexy Munchkin (Dr. Ruth Westheimer)

    Dr. Ruth. Sex therapist, Holocaust orphan, Haganah sniper, Sorbonne psychology student, host of the radio show Sexually Speaking. She go her own show when she was 52, and become a household name almost a decade after that. She survived a Kindertransport train out of Nazi Germany at ten, was trained as a sniper because her height made her a smaller target ("with a gun in my hand I am the equal of a soldier who's 6 feet 7," she said), and talked her way into the Sorbonne without ever finishing high school. By the time she died in 2024 at 96, she'd written 45 books, including Sex for Dummies, and become the only person in America who could say "masturbation" on television and have parents thank her for it. Host Michael Osborne and guest/spouse/soulmate Alison Osborne dig into what actually made Dr. Ruth singular: the grandmotherly delivery that made taboo subjects feel safe, her outspoken support for AIDS education and the gay community at a moment when most public figures wouldn't go near either, and the real net worth that turns out to be far smaller than five decades of bestselling sex advice would suggest. Famous & Gravy is a celebrity biography podcast. Every episode asks: would you want that life? If you enjoyed this episode you may also like Episode 109 "Late Bloomer" (Betty Ford), Episode 20 "Notorious Dissenter" (Ruth Bader Ginsburg), and Episode 81 "Dimpled Ambassador" (Shirley Temple, re-release). LINKS New York Times obituary for Dr. Ruth Westheimer.Ask Dr. Ruth — official trailer, Magnolia Pictures — the 2019 documentary that traces her path from Holocaust orphan to sex therapist, and the basis for a lot of the episode's biographical materialDead or Alive — the Famous & Gravy quiz gameFamous & Gravy on Instagram, Facebook, Threadsfamousandgravy.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Sexy Munchkin (Dr. Ruth Westheimer)
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Famous & Gravy is a celebrity biography podcast with a twist of self-reflection. Each week, host Michael Osborne and a guest choose a celebrity who died in the 21st century — musicians, athletes, actors, comedians, and cultural icons – and they dive into the hidden elements of their biography. The format is built around segments that probe a simple thought experiment: Would you want that life? Our goal is to learn what a celebrity's life story can show us about ourselves. Every episode opens with a blind quiz that pulls clues from their New York Times obituary. After the dead celebrity is revealed, we move through categories such as grading the first line of their obit, 5 things I love about you, and guessing the net worth. The back-catalog covers such figures as Prince, Kobe Bryant, James Earl Jones, John Denver, Aretha Franklin, David Bowie, Fred Rogers, Patrick Swayze, Tina Turner, Muhammad Ali, Waylon Jennings, Gene Wilder, Betty White, Steve Irwin, Nelson Mandela, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Tom Petty, Robin Williams, and over a hundred more. New episodes weekly. Full video on YouTube. Play the opening quiz yourself: hello@famousandgravy.com

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