Benny Blanco and Lil Dicky Wanna Be Your Besties

And in an industry saturated with famous people who have also found themselves turning friendship into a podcast, Friends Keep Secrets brings something entirely new to the formula.

Dave and Kristin’s house have been kitted out with a plethora of hidden cameras. It’s not a matter of just listening to the trio discuss anything, from chicken marinade to Selena Gomez, Benny’s wife, experience with living with bipolar disorder. (Selena was, naturally, the podcast’s first guest.) It’s watching them throw their heads back in laughter, how they position themselves around a kitchen island, how Selena and Benny relate to the latter’s feet — obviously their first viral moment.

It’s why Benny recoils from referring to it as a podcast in interviews. To be honest, it’s probably more of a sitcom slash reality television hybrid.. It feels authentic in its humanity, messy in its improvisation structure, and genuinely delightful in its portrayal of Young Adults Hanging Out.

Even the retro aesthetics of their branding — which sees the trio in ‘90s fits through a mildly vintage lens — feels like a deliberate nod to Seinfeld, titan of this aforementioned genre. When I jump on Zoom to talk about Friends Keep Secrets with Benny, Dave and Kristin, the descriptor feels somewhat misplaced. Speaking to me from their car and home in Los Angeles, respectively, the trio exhibit absolutely none of the snarky and sardonic near-nihilism that so defines the Seinfeld quartet. Instead, they are warm and relaxed, speaking across the screen divide with informal ease and thoughtful generosity. At one point, Benny and Dave’s quipping brings New Girl to mind.

Read on for their exclusive interview with PAPER magazine.

Hey guys. Thanks so much for speaking with me today. Can you tell me about the origin story behind Friends Keep Secrets?

Dave: I wish we had a better origin story. Kristin is my wife, Benny is my best friend. They’ve become best friends as a result. And we have always been talking and hanging out. We have so much fun together, and we were just thinking about the current landscape of media, and we thought that there's a little bit of a gap for what exists for what our specialties are, which is just being ourselves and hanging out, and hopefully people find it entertaining.

I think it’s a really important moment in time right now, to celebrate hanging out with friends as something that is good and healthy and important. What do you want both your fans and future audiences to take from this?

Kristin: I feel like it’s a reminder of being yourself and hanging out with your friends, and the importance of that. I mean, I think it’s important to spend time with people, and connect with people. I feel like we don’t have a lot of that.

Dave: She always says there’s a loneliness epidemic.

Kristin: I don’t know. I might be making that up.

Benny: Everyone’s living in a world where there’s all these Andrew Tates and all of this toxic energy. You don’t have to think about this so much. People in the street come up to me and they're just like, I feel like I'm just hanging out with you guys, and it feels like I'm not listening to a podcast. It feels like I'm included in a conversation.

We've only had one guest so far, and it happened to be my wife. But every time someone goes on a podcast or does an interview, it's the same questions [every time]. You're like, yes, I know where Selena Gomez was born, but I didn't know that she was going to get her back cracked, live in front of everyone. You see a lot of people really buttoned up, and it's really cool to see everyone let down their guard in an interesting way, where it feels like you're just hanging out with friends at home.

Kristin: Yeah, that’s a huge thing. Just reminding everybody that we’re all human and it’s as simple as that. Especially with, like…

Dave: Big stars?

Kristin: Yeah.

It lifts the veil of separation between the public and these figures that so many look up to so much.

Dave: Yes!

Dave and Benny, I know you guys are best friends. Kristin, I love that line when you’re like, oh, women will relate to what it’s like to hang out with your husband and his best friend and be the third wheel. I want to know how you guys became friends in the first place.

Dave: Benny was just a big fan of mine, so he reached out to express that. Actually, he reached out on the first day I ever released anything. It was my first day as Lil Dicky, publicly. The content made it to him, and he tweeted me. And then we just ended up talking on social media a bit. As soon as we met in person, we instantly became best friends.

Benny: That story is a complete lie. No, he’s blurring the truth a little. But, you know, every time we go in and we do a recording of – you’re going to see me doing quotes here, “podcast” – I look at Dave and Kristin and I say, I love you guys. This is the best day. We have a fucking really good time doing it.

Occasionally there’ll be someone we don’t know, and by the end of the time filming with them, we’re going directly from filming to going out to dinner. And we’ve become actual friends with these people.

I know that Gwyneth Paltrow and Ed Sheeran are in upcoming episodes. How do you decide who to quite literally invite onto both your podcast and into your home?

Benny: I say the same thing to everyone. I write them a message, it’s some version of like, “Hey, me, Dave and Krits have started this podcast. I’m embarrassed to even call it a podcast. It’s so much more than that. Blah blah blah.”

And then I invite them on. I say the same thing every time, I say, there's zero pressure. All we want is people who want to do it. Because it works the best if you're stoked to be there. And we don't just do celebrities. Sometimes we interview my mom, or one time, we found someone on the street. We just walked up next to a person and found someone and started interviewing them. It's the reason why this show works. Because it's people just hanging out.

Dave: Well said.

You guys have also recently collaborated with Instagram to launch Secret Friends, an alternative to Close Friends on Stories. You’ve opened up your inner circle to hundreds of millions of people. How did that come about?

Benny: I happened to be eating with the CEO of Instagram. I was telling him about the podcast, and we were literally spit-balling random ideas. I was like, I’d love to do some sort of thing where we can do something with friends. He said, well, what’s your podcast called? I was like, oh, it’s called Friends Keep Secrets. I said, I want something where people can see special content if they follow us. And then he was like, well, why don’t we call it Secret Friends?

It’s a brand-new feature that’s never been done before. Instagram have a whole team dedicated to just doing interesting, cutting edge things. They’re always down to do really off the wall stuff, and just try things that are new. It’s so cool how quickly something like that can happen.

Dave: We really appreciate IG for that.

Benny: Now, I know you’re wondering. Where’s Kristin? She remains private.

Kristin: I'm on my journey over here, on my private Instagram. I have noticed an uptick.

Dave: More follower requests.

Kristin: I’m taking a break from the internet for a second.

I love that. Can I ask more about that?

Kristin: Yeah! I’ve always been private, like my Instagram. I did think about this the other day. I don’t really know why I haven’t undone it.

Dave: I guess you want to maintain the life you’ve lived.

Kristin: Work life balance. I also think it’s a scary world out there, and they’re immersed in it. I haven’t been yet.

Benny: I respect it.

Kristin: Baby steps. It’s a lot to put yourself out there. I’ve never done anything like this. I feel like I’m just trying to do it a little bit more, inch by inch.

Benny: You think fame has changed you?

Kristin: I don’t even know what’s going on. I’m not online right now.

Dave: Someone said, has Kristin been recognised yet? I said, me and Kristin haven’t left the house in two weeks.

Kristin: I just read the news, which might be worse. Honestly, I think I should go back to social media.

Dave: Stare at the wall.

Kristin: I do love my Explore page. But I’m taking a break.

Dave: I never utilize the Explore page.

Benny: My Explore page is fully catered to me. I love it. I only see little animals moving and cooking.

What is your particular internet obsession at the moment? Like, what totally online niche has consumed you?

Benny: Dave, tell them yours. The one you send me, where it’s like, the little fruits eating.

Dave: Oh, yeah! I don’t know, it’s AI generated, they’re fruits, but they’re personified as babies. So they have the spirit of a toddler. And they kind of eat the fruit that they are. It’s like watching a baby blueberry that looks like a toddler eat a blueberry. Very satisfying.

I’m kind of obsessed with AI slop, it’s such a guilty pleasure.

Dave: I’ve never heard AI slop, but I like the phrase.

Benny: Mine’s a lot of basketball moves, like showing you how to be a better basketball player. And they seem so easy, then I try to implement them on the court. And it’s not as easy. I’ve recently fallen down a thing where these basketball players play one on one in other countries, and it’s so aggressive. I’m really into those.

Photo credit: "Friends Keep Secrets" co-hosts Benny Blanco, Kristin Batalucco and Dave Burd, photographed by Aidan Cullen