Over the past couple of weeks, John and Genevieve have been sharing their favorite buddy comedy podcasting duos. And not that it's a competition, but one of my favorite duos is out here making history!

Last week, the popular podcast Giggly Squad, hosted by Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo, announced their Gehls Gehls Tour in early 2027. Fans were gagged to see that the New York City stop was at none other than the iconic Madison Square Garden, making them the first female-hosted podcast to headline the venue. The night sold out within minutes, so they added another night, then another, then another. They now have three sold-out nights at The Garden and a fourth already filling up. Insane! Literal pop stars can't produce that kind of turnout.

You may be wondering, who are these women and how have they managed to sell out one of the most iconic venues in the world three times over? To understand their meteoric rise, let’s take it back to the beginning and introduce you to one of my favorite theories: All roads lead back to Bravo (I feel a future Worth the Chat edition forming…)

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Hannah and Paige got their start on a little Bravo show called Summer House. If you've been a Worth the Chat reader since the beginning, you know my love for Summer House runs deep. In fact, the all-consuming drama that unfolded this spring sparked my first edition: We need to chat about Summer House. 

For the uninitiated, the show’s premise is simple: A group of friends spends their weekends living together in a Hamptons sharehouse. And as with any good Bravo show, even the most mundane disagreements have a way of turning into full-blown screaming matches.

During one particularly heated dinner in Season 4, fellow castmate and notorious hothead Kyle Cooke was going on one of his signature tirades while Hannah and Paige sat at the opposite end of the table, laughing and having their own conversation. Annoyed that they weren't paying attention to him, he dubbed them the "Giggly Squad." Watch the moment here.

And thus, a podcast empire was born. Thanks, Kyle!

What started as a funny scene became a series of Instagram Lives during the early days of the pandemic, which they turned into an official podcast in October 2020. Hannah's time on Summer House came to an acrimonious end shortly after, while Paige stuck around until Season 9. But their friendship survived the reality TV machine, and six years later, they're still giggling. 

Interestingly, despite Bravo being such a major part of their origin story, the two have rarely ever mentioned the reality show on their podcast. They’ve built an audience far beyond the show’s fanbase, kinda like how we all forget that Kelly Clarkson or Jennifer Hudson got their start on American Idol.

While they may not talk about it, they certainly don’t shy away from it either. I find the whole arc incredibly satisfying: A man trying to make two women feel bad for giggling instead of paying attention to him. Rather than shutting up, they turned his insult into an empire around doing exactly what annoyed him in the first place. Now, six years later, tens of thousands of people pay good money to hear them do it. The irony is delicious!

Since leaving reality TV, Hannah has made a name for herself as a stand-up comedian, turning viral man-on-the-street interviews into a comedy career that now includes specials on Netflix and Hulu. The yin to her yang, Paige is a fashion influencer with a razor-sharp wit and an uncanny ability to dress down any man with a single sentence. They complement each other perfectly, with the kind of banter you have with your closest friends, where an hour can pass in the blink of an eye.

And that's essentially the premise of Giggly Squad. The podcast is a stream-of-consciousness conversation covering everything from botched Botox and boys to cults, Cybertrucks, celebrity gossip, and their respective mothers. There are no guests, no elaborate segments, and very little structure. Just two friends talking about whatever comes to mind. Which, when I think about it, describes an overwhelming number of podcasts in my own queue.

I've started thinking of these shows as comfort listens. The kind you put on while you're getting ready, folding laundry, or sitting in traffic, where the hosts become such a familiar presence that listening feels like catching up with friends. You don't necessarily care what they're talking about; you just enjoy being part of the conversation.

And judging by those Madison Square Garden ticket sales, I'm certainly not the only one who feels that way.

If you're new to Giggly Squad, I actually recommend starting with Hannah and Paige's appearance on Amy Poehler's Good Hang, another of my favorite comfort listens. Amy is one of the funniest people alive, and getting to know these two through her eyes is a great introduction to their friendship and humor. 

Plus, the three of them, alongside Poehler’s creative partner Kay Cannon, have a scripted comedy series in the works at Netflix starring the giggling duo!

From there, scroll through the Giggly Squad episode titles until something piques your interest; they're a delightfully chaotic preview of what you're getting yourself into. For example, are you ready to giggle about this week's "jet lag, dolphins, and laxatives"? I certainly am.

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Meredith is the Managing Editor at Pix Media and has been covering TV, movies, podcasts, and books for 8 years. Raised on VH1's I Love the... series, E! True Hollywood Stories, and The Real Housewives, Meredith has been fluent in pop culture since infancy. She religiously watches every Bravo show, lives for HBO Sunday nights, goes deep on reality-scandal discourse, and has a TBR that is physically taking over her apartment.